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Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam! #5 [Review]

Posted on June 14, 2009 by Walt

Mr. WHo? Mr. Atom!

Written By: Art Baltazar & Franco
Drawn By: Byron Vaughns
Inks: Ken Branch
Colors: David Tanguay
Letters: [no credit given]
Asst. Editor: Simona Martore
Editor: Dan Didio
Cover: Mike Kunkel
Publisher: Johnny DC (DC Comics)

This issue, just by not being by Kunkel seems to lose some of its magic. It’s still a solid, fun issue…but for one thing, it felt like I just sped right throughout in about half the time it’s taken on previous issues. While I don’t have the prior issues onhand for immediate comparison, I think a large difference is in panel size and action–the panels seem larger than I remembered for this series, and far more open with less action…almost as if the previous issues were super-compressed compared to this issue’s “standard” sort of appearance.

Billy and Mary battle a giant robot. That’s really the main plot here. Familiar elements are present–the kids’ living situation, Billy’s job, etc. The story’s fairly simple without being overly simplistic. The visual tone remains kid-friendly (as it should, given it’s part of the kids’ line). The art is also quite reminiscent of Kunkel’s…while the interior is not Kunkel’s, it does not seem all that far off from Kunkel’s cover image.

If you’ve enjoyed this book thus far, this issue is a bit of a step down from what it was…but it’s still a good book, and much more enjoyable than a lot of fare out there. With Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade done with, I daresay this is my favorite of the Johnny-DC line. We do have a “To Be Continued” on this issue…but it seems more one of those ominous “Not the End” types, not so much a “the-hero’s-in-danger” cliffhanger. As such…this makes for a fine one-off issue….from introducing the main characters and their status quo, introducing the threat, dealing with the threat, and winding down on the action, you needn’t have read prior issues to enjoy this, nor does it make one anxious for the next issue.

Recommended.

Story: 7.5/10
Art: 7.5/10
Whole: 7.5/10

Filed under: Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam, Comic Reviews 2009, DC, Johnny DC | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Green Lantern Corps #37 [Review]

Posted on June 14, 2009 by Walt

Emerald Eclipse part five

Story & Words: Peter J. Tomasi
Penciller: Patrick Gleason
Inkers: Rebecca Buchman & Tom Nguyen
Colorists: Randy Mayor & Gabe Eltaeb
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Adam Schlagman
Cover: Gleason, Buchman & Mayor
Publisher: DC Comics

Sodam Yat uses his Ion powers to transform Daxam’s sun into a yellow sun, thus granting all the Daxamites super-powers so that they can fight back against their oppressors. Meanwhile on Oa, the Lanterns continue battling the excaped sciencell prisoners, with some fairly unlikely alliances forged in the midst of battle. Finally, Scar throws off pretense and sets into motion what she’s been building toward for awhile now.

All in all, a decent issue story-wise. It’s cool to see what the GLs are doing all over the place and not just one or two specific GLs on a single planet. We get to see Yat continue to do spectacular things worthy of the tremendous power he harbors..and the fact of his doing it fits perfectly with a cosmic-level book such as this. Seeing things deteriorate on Oa adds a bit of desperation to things–again giving cause to wonder how the GLs are going to fare against the Black Lanterns soon to rise if they’re having this much trouble now without the Black Lanterns invading/attacking.

As usual–such that I feel completely repetetive even talking of it–the art is not at all to my tastes, and is a serious detraction to the book. I’m sure the style has its place, but for this reader at least, its place is not this book.

Given the story elements, I do recommend this issue for those already following the book and/or following everything related to Blackest Night. It’s not a great jumping-on point in and of itself, though if one wants to jump in amidst the ongoing action, this isn’t a horrible point to do so, either. Still…let’s just get to the “main event,” now, can we? I’m almost ready to just dive on in, and let a “flashback story” fill the gap later.

Story: 7.5/10
Art: 6/10
Whole: 6.5/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2009, DC, DC Universe, Green Lantern Corps | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A shelf o’ toys

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Walt

Been meaning to share this for awhile now. I finally acquired one of these Knape &Voght wall shelves, which meant more of my action figures ‘n such could come out of hiding/congregate upon it in the living room.

The thing pretty much speaks for itself…

Living Room Shelf #1 - June 11th, 2009

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Booking Through Thursday: Niche

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Walt

Booking Through Thursday

There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)

But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.

What niche books do YOU read?

As I look around this room, I don’t think I really have any niche books. In fact, with the rare exception (Cretaceous Dawn, for one–I ordered it after seeing a Facebook ad), my books fit (what I, at least, consider) mainstream genres. Next to graphic novels (will get to those in a moment), I have a bookcase devoted to Christian literature, while another bookcase is taken up with fantasy (primarily Dragonlance and Magic: The Gathering, with some Aliens and MechWarrior (sci-fi) thrown in.

Now, for the crowd I run with, comics/graphic novels are pretty common (and presumably most anyone reading my blog has at least some sort of interest in comics), but at the same time, it’s possible that comics could be considered a niche in this way.

I’ll take it one step further, and choose a specific comic series: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’m eagerly awaiting next month’s release of TMNT Collected Book vol. 1 and the TMNT: Future Tense volume.

Already in my collection, I have a TMNT volume collecting the entire original run of Tales of the TMNT as well as 4 volumes collecting arcs from the current run of Tales of the TMNT. There’s a volume collecting Michael Zulli’s work on TMNT; a volume collecting the 2007 movie adaptation and its prequels; another collecting the first arc of the Dreamwave series based on the 2k3 cartoon. I have a new volume that collects the original TMNT Adventures mini-series from Archie; then four volumes from Tundra Publishing that collect issues 5-16 of the ongoing TMNT Adventures series. I have four volumes from FIrst Publishing that collect the first 11 issues and the Leonardo one-shot from the original TMNT series (In color!). I also have the adaptations of the first three films, and a random too-thick-to-be-just-a-comic/not-really-a-TPB volume collecting the “Return to New York” storyline.

Offhand, I don’t know of anyone else with a TMNT collection like this. A couple years ago when I attended an event featuring Ryan Brown, I opted to bring one of those Tundra TMNT Adventures volumes–I recall his being surprised, as he had never even seen these.

Point being…popular as the TMNT are in general, the comics seem far more a niche thing (it’s rare to even find the new, monthly-for-the-last-several-years Tales of the TMNT series in comic shops). So I guess they’re my niche-books.

Filed under: Booking Through Thursday, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Chiming in on Captain America

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Walt

So, Marvel–or the comics news sites, or some combo therein–managed to hook me.  Last week while I was at my primary local comic shop, I asked if I could be put down for a copy of Captain America #600.

I had picked up the first couple issues of Brubaker’s run when they came out, and didn’t find it to my liking at the time.  I returned with issue #25, and stayed on til #45 (18-part Death of Captain America epic, and the first three “Bucky issues.”  Decided to bail on the book to wait for the trades (and lookie here, I only lasted the equivilent of a single arc and I’m coming back).

I don’t know what the “big news” will be next Monday–whether it’ll be a Return or actual Rebirth of Steve Rogers.

But to be honest, I sincerely hope the news does not involve “the” (nor “a”) return of Steve Rogers. At least not yet.  I just last week finished reading the Captain America Omnibus (1-25 plus a couple specials), and adding that to what I read in singles from 25-45…it’s just far too soon in my mind for them to be bringing Steve back. With 25 issues of build to get to the death, and another 18 issues to get Bucky officially into the costume…I can’t honestly believe they’d (Marvel) force Steve’s return when Bucky’s only actually BEEN in the costume for 9 issues.

I think back to the 1990s and changes wrought–remember the bone-claws Wolverine?  That particular change stuck for a full SIX YEARS (real-world time). So much so that I think that version of Wolverine was actually starting to get a bit of notice outside of standard comic book readers (I have zero stats to back that up, though).  (But when one looks at stuff like the Ultraverse crossovers, the Overpower card game, possibly video games, etc…)

I hope that Bucky stays in the costume for at least a few more years.  Even then, at this point I think I’d find Steve much more interesting in a General Hawk sorta way–circa the latter issues of the first Devil’s Due G.I. Joe series.

But hey…time’ll tell. Right?

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Reviews Index is back!

Posted on June 7, 2009 by Walt

Only took me about five months, but I’ve finally fixed the reviews index page.  I was keeping it updated every week with new reviews I’d posted, but around the turn of the year discovered that something with links and line breaks had resulted in the same URL being linked as several different issues/numbers, meaning many of my reviews were not linked at all to the index page.

Now, if you look at the top of this page, you’ll see the Reviews Index next to the Quotes link, and all my reviews written since September 2008 are linked to on that one page.

Later this year when I get a chance, I’ll probably go through the comixtreme archives to see what older reviews of mine are still available and link to those, and I’ll begin taking those that are no longer available on comixtreme that I still have on my computer and post those here as Back-Issue Reviews, so that (ideally) all the reviews I’ve written since October 2004 will be available either here, or over at comixtreme.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Leave a comment »

Batman and Robin #1 [Review]

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Walt

Full review posted to comixtreme.com.

Story: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5

Filed under: Batman and Robin, Batman: Reborn (event), cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Justice Society of America #27 [Review]

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Walt

Ghost in the Darkness

Script and Pencils: Jerry Ordway
Inks: Bob Wiacek
Colorist: Hi-Fi Designs
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Associate Editor: Rachel Cluckstern
Editor: Mike Carlin
Cover: Jerry Ordway
Publisher: DC Comics

As the various JSA members go about their lives after the latest incident with Black Adam and their membership issues, a new threat shows up. First, Alan Scott’s son traps several members in the house, forcing the team to act against him, despite his claims of just trying to protect them. It’s quickly discovered that there’s more at play than first suspected, and that it is yet another “ghosts issue” for the team.

I passed on this issue when it first shipped last week–I wasn’t interested in sticking around post-Johns, and was content to go out on the high note Johns left this book on. But guilt at being in a comic shop and otherwise walking out empty-handed, I chose this issue as my token purchase…based largely on noticing Ordway’s name on the cover.

I was definitely correct in my assumption that the visuals would be top-notch for the issue, given Ordway’s being the artist. This is beyond a passive “no complaints” about the art–this is an active recognition that the art is very strong top-level stuff that I greatly enjoyed.

The story on the other hand feels rather…generic. I’m not a fan of generic “ghosts” stories, and actually avoided the Gentleman Ghost arc that closed out the previous version of this series around Infinite Crisis.

Though the characters here all seem familiar, and I want to like ’em with OR without Johns…there’s still a shift all around, and I can’t honestly say one way or the other whether I’ll be picking up the next issue or letting this title go.

Recommended for the art and for the die-hard JSA fans. Those following the book specifically for Johns’ writing may be disappointed–at the least, don’t leap into this issue thinking it a seamless change from Johns’ tenure on the series.

Story: 6/10
Art: 9/10
Whole: 7.5/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2009, DC, DC Universe, Justice Society of America | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Spawn #192 [Review]

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Walt

Endgame (Part Eight)

Writer: Todd McFarlane
Pencils: Whilce Portacio
Inks: Todd McFarlane
Color: Jay Fotos
Lettering: Tom Orzechowski
Editor: Todd McFarlane
Cover Artists: Whilce Portacio, Todd McFarlane, Jay Fotos
Publisher: Image Comics

Part Eight?!? That means this is my EIGHTH issue of this title in a row, and if it hasn’t been quite monthly, I sure haven’t noticed a lateness. I’m not even sure–including duplicates–that I even OWN 8 issues of Spawn before this story.

That said…this is still one of those books that I’m a bit “iffy” on. For one thing, I’m not all that thrilled when I learn more about the characters and story from the letters pages and other sources outside the story in the book itself. I learned from the letters pages in this issue, for example, that the new major protagonist Jim apparently first appeared waaaaay back in issue 3 as a then-throwaway character. I’m also not all that familiar with the fairly large cast of characters, and so feel like there’s something of a shadow hanging over my reading experience; that I’d almost get more out of reading online summations of the story in text format with no visuals at all.

This issue sees the new Spawn meeting several apparently old players, or entitities tied to old players. He finds out a bit more about himself and the costume, which keeps things moving along, but it doesn’t feel like there’s REALLY a lot going on, even though there is. I’m increasing contemplating the fact that I’d probably get MORE out of this title reading a collected volume.

The art continues to be a high point, and it seems Portacio’s a perfect artist for this book. The only drawback is a certain factor in some of the panels that seem almost over-the-top “graphic” and violent–moreso than maybe necessary, and in one case almost more bloody than seems plausible given the rest of the image.

On the whole, as far as the title and characters go, it seems that offing Al Simmons and allowing essentially a fresh start (and withOUT numbering shenanigans, to boot!) was the best thing to happen to this book. At the least, it’s made me a regular reader for the better part of a year–something that never before happened in the 16-some years this book has been in existence.

Story: 6.5/10
Art: 8/10
Whole: 7/10

Filed under: Comic Reviews 2009, Image, Spawn | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Superman: World of New Krypton #4 [Review]

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Walt

Full review posted to comixtreme.com.

Story: 3/5
Art: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

Filed under: cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe, Superman: World of New Krypton | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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