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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) #34 [Review]

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Walt

teenagemutantninjaturtlesidw034Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Art: Mateus Santolouco
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Cover: Mateus Santolouco
Published by: IDW
Cover Price: $3.99

While heading to Harold’s lab to seek his assistance, Donnie and April run across Casey and Angel. Angel accompanies the duo to the lab, while Casey heads off on his own, still dealing with recent events. Harold’s been busy, and whatever his intentions with a security robot, the thing predictably-ish loses control, forcing the turtle and his human allies into combat…which leads to the introduction of another familiar name to this series. Meanwhile, Leonardo and Splinter discuss priorities, and we leave off with the latest development with a couple of uneasy allies.

Story-wise, not a whole lot to say for this issue. This definitely feels like a developmental issue…not really “treading water” or anything, but definitely <b>A</b> “middle chapter” of a middle chapter, so to speak. We do get some good development in Harold’s place in things, though that sort of adds to this middle sense–after City Fall and the quieter Northampton, this issue (and arc) feels like it’s more laying the groundwork for a coming showdown with Krang and his Technodrome.

We have the introduction of a familiar turtle robot, which is ok–I’m not a particular fan overall, though I’ve owned the action figures and not had a terrible problem with the cartoon episodes. This take on the thing put me in mind of the current animated series’ version…perhaps simply because that’s the most recent I’ve seen. Whatever my feelings about the use of the character (which works well even if I’m not the biggest fan)…I really like the visual!

Which leads to the issue’s art: I continue to really dig Santolouco‘s visual style with these characters! As I’ve probably said previously, I don’t care for April’s hair style of late, but that isn’t necessarily a comment on the art as much as one guy’s preferences. The visual take Santolouco brings to the book is enjoyable, and a bit different (moreso for the turtles), but has come to be another favorite of mine.

All in all, another quite solid issue of a series that–nearly three years in–continues to have me looking forward to each new issue, and marveling at the excellent blend of all the previous iterations of the TMNT that this brings to the fore: a sort of mash-up, taking the best of all the past and giving us this present continuity…a continuity that I’m coming to regard as a favorite in itself.

Given IDW’s short 4-issue arcs / 4-issue-TPB pattern, this is the 2nd chapter of 4, so not in itself a jumping on point, though still a strong “episode” in itself, worthy of reading for a casual fan–particularly one of Donatello–if not essential.

I enjoyed the read; the look of Metalhead, and exclaimed out loud at the recognition of Nobody.

Filed under: 2014, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Ultraforce Action Figures…After All This Time

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Walt

While I’ve been aware of them for at least 15 years (and I’m pretty sure I was aware of them earlier than that), it’s taken until just this Spring for me to finally acquire any of the Ultraforce action figures.

ultraforcenightmanandprime

Several years ago I ordered a Prime and Hardcase figure on eBay, but that never quite worked out (and shame on me for never pursuing the issue). But then just a couple weeks ago, a friend led me to a vintage toy store, where I found the Night Man figure for $3. And then barely a week later at a local one-day show, I found Prime also for $3.

Certainly a couple of my coolest “finds” in a long while…and can’t beat the price (especially with them still being on the card!) Thing is, my apartment’s such a mess, while I don’t relish leaving them packaged, I probably will until I can do some major cleaning and rearranging to properly display the various figures–including these.

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Superman…Full Circle

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Walt

Last week, The New 52 has officially come “full circle” for me. I was introduced to comics in late 1988 by my grandpa, but it was Spring 1989 when I discovered “they still made comics,” and my Mom bought me my first few comics–including my first-ever issue of Superman…#31. Now the New 52 Superman series has hit #31, meaning that for me The New 52 DC universe is now as old as the previous DC Universe was, when I was introduced to it. Like it, love it, or hate it…

Superman31s

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Thanos Annual #1 [Review]

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Walt

thanosannual001Damnation and Redemption

Writer: Jim Starlin
Penciler: Ron Lim
Inker: Andy Smith
Colorist: Val Staples
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover: Dale Keown & Ive Svorcina
Assistant Editor: Jon Moisan
Editor: Wil Moss
Published by: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99

It’s safe to say that Thanos is one of my favorite Marvel characters. However, perhaps that’s something to be further quantified: Thanos as written by Jim Starlin is one of my favorite Marvel characters.

While I have yet to read the entirety of Annihilation or Annihilation Conquest; or the Thanos Imperative, or even the more recent Infinity, I’ve been loosely aware of the character’s recent appearance and involvement in Marvel stuff. I’ve been sucked into buying various issues solely on the appearance of Thanos on the cover, the promise of the character within.

So it was the almost random “notice” of Jim Starlin writing and Infinity Gauntlet artist Ron Lim on art that prompted my purchase of this issue.

Despite the aforementioned favoriteness, it’s been a long time since I’ve read most of what I vaguely recall having once read–maybe 15 years since the original Infinity ____ volumes, a decade since the shortlived “ongoing” series…a fact that’s rather “idealized” Thanos for me, and coated things with that sweet nostalgia of childhood memories that so often props something up IN memory but leads to disappointment upon revisitation.

As such, I was prepared to be quite disappointed in this issue.

I’m not a fan of the standard cover…however, I opted to purchase it over any of the variants I saw. In the short term gratification sense, I probably would have preferred the Ron Lim cover…but I feel strongly enough on the “issue” of variants that I would have been quite disappointed having something LABELLED as a variant rather than the “real” cover. Particularly given the “core” creative team of this issue being Starlin and Lim, it’s truly beyond me why neither of their covers were “the” cover and instead shuffled off as variants. Starlin‘s own cover actually fits the interior story, and Lim‘s is equally as fitting visually…whereas Keown‘s cover is a generic (and not even particularly “iconic” to me) image far more suited as an interior “pin-up” page if not a variant cover instead of being the standard cover.

This issue is essentially a prologue, setup, for the forthcoming graphic novel Thanos: The Infinity Revelation. We open on Thanos upon his first major defeat in Marvel continuity–having lost the Cosmic Cube. Dealing with the massive failure, he is approached by Mephisto, but the intervention of an Infinity Gauntleted avatar of Thanos appears and takes this Thanos on a journey through time and space, as it processes various events and how they play into the younger, defeated Thanos’ future. We’re ultimately given setup for a new event in Thanos’ life, which presumably will be chronicled in the OGN this Fall.

I recall being pleasantly surprised at the ease with which Starlin brushed off several years of less-than-ideal characterization and use of Thanos in Infinity Abyss–that the appearances of Thanos in Ka-Zar, a Hulk Annual, and even a Thor-versus-Thanos arc in Thor’s own title proved to be duplicates of the ACTUAL Thanos; less than perfect at that. So this issue referencing multiple “avatars” of the Infinity Gauntlet Thanos fits right in with past precedent and gave me no pause at all, where it may have with other characters.

As a fairly simple one-off story, this worked well for me, giving me a chance to dip back in with Thanos without feeling like I actually missed anything from Infinity or anything else I didn’t feel lost, and actually quite enjoyed the touches on continuity that I recognized.

Visually, this entire issue was quite a treat. It had a feel of the familiar that I appreciated–and EXPECTED. While familiar, the coloring and such certainly showed through as “modern,” keeping this from feeling entirely like some ’90s throwback. I don’t much like Thanos’ appearance without his headgear, but having seen imagery of him without it before, everything fit. In the various detailing other than noticing how ugly he looks without the headgear, nothing of the art itself jumped out as a distraction. 

I enjoyed seeing familiar scenes and characters, and the only one I really didn’t recognize offhand was what I believe to be a “current” version of Adam Warlock that I’ve not actually read in-continuity yet.

The $4.99 price of this issue is a bit steep; I read the thing cover to cover in under 20 minutes…but then, these days, that’s par for the course to me with a Marvel issue. Steep price point for a quick read, whether it’s good or not.

To best of my knowledge, this is not a follow-up to Infinity, and that story seems to be solely referenced by the “previously” page, so you need not have read any of that to enjoy this. Similarly, if you’re looking FOR Infinity follow-up, this isn’t really gonna meet that expectation. 

However, if you’ve read or are familiar with the Thanos stories from the late-’70s and 1990s to early 2000s, and you’re a fan of Starlin‘s work in general and Thanos in particular, this should be a pretty enjoyable read and whet your appetite for an original graphic novel apparently due out in August this year.

Filed under: 2014, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Thanos | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Doomed Week 1

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Walt

A few months ago, partially due to DC‘s Villains Month as well as the recommendation of Michael Bailey, I picked up Superman/Wonder Woman, and have stuck with it for these past several months.

Then I found out about something called Doomed, and eventually, somehow, found myself looking forward to it.

Well, the story finally hit this week, and…hit HARD.

doomed_week_01

A $4.99 one-shot and two $3.99 issues…three parts of what I believe is “only” a 4-5 part thing…all out the same week.

Way to overload stuff instead of spacing these things out! Especially with the one-shot, which could have (presumably) shipped “whenever,” and the rest of the series shouldn’t have been too hard to “stagger.”

Now I look at stuff due out next week, and looks like there are NO new chapters to this Doomed (Infected?) arc.

Bummer.

Might get around to an actual review of these issues, or something more in-depth, this weekend.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Rai #1 [Review]

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Walt

Rai #1 Plus EditionWelcome to New Japan

Writer: Matt Kindt
Art: Clayton Crain
Letters: Dave Lanphear
Associate Editor: Alejandro Arbona
Editor: Warren Simons
Published by: Valiant
Cover Price: $3.99 ($4.99 “Plus Edition”)

This is–even more than Unity–probably my most-anticipated new release title from Valiant. And while I normally avoid variant editions like a plague, I wound up picking up the “Plus Edition” when I found it a couple days after having bought/read the regular edition.

On the whole, I mostly prefer the regular edition…the only really worthwhile (to me) part of the “Plus” material was the map of Japan 4001 A.D. that gives a lot of detail to the various levels of the future country that can’t possibly fit in-story (at least not in a single issue). I really don’t care whatsoever for the “bonus” Spylocke stuff, and would have been quite content leaving that to what it was in the regular edition. The “selling point” of the “Plus Edition” is that these 16 pages of material won’t be reprinted in the collected edition…though somehow, I can’t see the map going for long without inclusion, as it could prove a very useful bit of information to have (at least in the eventual deluxe edition hardcover). I groused last year about DC‘s “poster” fold-out from Superman Unchained #1 and how that seemed pointless…seeing this map, this (again, to me) is exactly the sort of thing worthy of being a poster fold-out!

The bulk of the issue itself is focused on the fact that for the first time in a thousand years, a murder has been committed. This leads to the involvement of Rai–a guardian of Japan. Our viewpoint character is someone curious to see Rai “live,” to see this legendary figure, and we get a fair bit of context from her narration before we shift to getting the same from Rai himself.

This issue felt rather immersive, as I just sort of got lost in the reading and the exploration of this futuristic Japan. I was certainly influenced by knowledge of the classic version of Rai from the ’90s Valiant universe and what I’ve come to know of that version of the character. It’s that knowledge that made me all the more curious about what I’d find here, and to see what would be done with the character. As with many first issues, I found myself taking this in much as I would a tv show I was checking out–I recognize where we may have been introduced to supporting characters, though with only a single “episode” there’s little telling what will last and what’s just setup outside of the title character himself.

The story certainly interests me–I’m very much looking forward to the next issue–but I can’t just rattle off names of characters or anything on the initial read-through and re-perusal.

Visually, this is a beautiful issue–I really like the character designs, and nothing stood out to me as distraction. The art just fits the story and has something about it that just fits the title, the character, and the overall concept. It’s got a realism to it that I like but it still manages to be recognizably a comic and not something trying to be a photonovel or anything of that sort.

I don’t touch on covers (other than grousing about variants) as much as I ought, but this cover is–to me–possibly the most “iconic” of the Valiant issues this year, and probably for the entire current run of the publisher. The title logo is properly familiar yet simple and new; the cover image is really only about half the cover, but is nicely offset by the white bar with the logo (regular edition) and offset by black on the plus edition (which I like slightly better). The cover design itself is eye-catching and shows all the issue’s information clearly (publisher, issue #, title, creators) with a striking image of the main character.

Rai #1 Regular EditionTo me, this is the best of the Valiant launches–the title catches the eye from the cover, the interior is great visually, the story is engaging with a solid balance between divulging necessary information to hook me as a reader while leaving plenty of details to the imagination or future exploration, and simply leaves me quite interested in the next issue. Further strength lies in this being officially set in the Valiant universe, in the same time-period (4001 AD) as the most recent Eternal Warrior arc, and yet you don’t have to have read ANYTHING else from the publisher to “get” this story and its characters. This can be read entirely by itself, as nothing more than a sci-fi story set in a futuristic Japan.

While my ultimate preference would like in a singular edition with no variance in covers and content (even at a $4.99 instead of $3.99 price point), this is about as good as it gets when it comes to first issues these days. Whether you’ve read anything else from Valiant classic or present, if you enjoy sci fi or futuristic stories, or just something with a legendary guardian figure wielding a sword, I highly recommend checking this out, whichever edition you’d find.

Filed under: 2012, Rai, Valiant | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of May 7th, 2014

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Walt

This week had a moderate haul. Since I picked up Batman Eternal #s 1-4 last weekend, and it’s “only” $2.99, went ahead and picked up #5. And having just read Futures End #0, I went ahead and picked up #1 (again, key being that it’s “only” $2.99!). I feel like I’ve been getting All-New X-Factor out of “habit,” unfortunately…really need to catch up on that reading to decide how far I’m actually sticking with it!

Only one Valiant this week–Archer & Armstrong. And the newest Turok…hard to believe that’s already on issue #4! And the latest TMNT Color Classics, re-presenting the final chapter of Return to New York, this time in color.

20140507haul01

In the simple amusement of ’90s stuff for only 25 cents, I snagged this colorful Cyber Force issue, as well as Zorro #0 from Topps.

20140507haul02

Found a bunch of issues of Jim Starlin‘s ‘Breed, including some sort of gold-foil edition of #1. Pretty sure I have these from last year sometime, but as most of a “run,” figured I’d snag ’em again to be sure.

20140507haul03

Ditto on ‘Breed II…

20140507haul04

A relatively rare find (for me, at least), snagged the entire six-issue (#s 0-5) mini-series Codename: Firearm. I know I have this series at least once-over, but again…complete series, all right there, for less than half the price of a current Marvel…yeah, pretty much a no-brainer for me.

20140507haul05

Finally, A Touch of SIlver #s 1-4. Not sure what to make of these, but they looked interesting. The covers with the photos caught my attention, and for $1, figured I’d get ’em to flip through more at my leisure whenever.

20140507haul06

All in all, not a bad haul, with a good mix of new stuff and some nice quarter-bin issues.

Next week I think the Superman arc Doomed starts, and since I’ve been keeping up lately with Superman/Wonder Woman, I’ll probably follow it just for the heckuvit. Plus, I want to get Superman #31 “in honor” of the 1980s’ Superman #31 being one of my first-ever comics.

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

Son of Batman and the Best Buy Figurines

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Walt

The newest DC Animated film came out this week: Son of Batman.

sonofbatmanwithfigure

And as with the previous ones, I snagged it this week before I could talk myself out of it. And as with a number of the previous ones, I got mine from Best Buy because of the figurine it came with. While I’d hoped we might get a Robin, sadly this one was merely Deathstroke.

dcanimatedfigures20140508

Still, he’s another addition to the growing set in my display cabinet…

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Not So Free Comic Book Day

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Walt

Last weekend included Free Comic Book Day 2014 on Saturday, May 3rd. While the “free” side didn’t work out QUITE as planned, I did wind up scoring some stuff I would not have if I hadn’t been out with a friend hitting 5 shops and a Half-Priced Books in one day:

FCBD2014_01

Since Batman Eternal #s 1-4 were all available in one go, AND “only” $2.99 rather than that frustrating $3.99 “everything” seems to be these days, I decided to take ’em as a “set” to give the thing a shot. I’m also all about Image‘s $9.99 vol. 1s, and will try most anything at that price point. Half Price Books had the New Avengers vol. 1 OHC for $9.99 as well, so I figured: why not?

FCBD2014_02

I also found Conan the Savage #4–a magazine/comic I’ve been trying to find for over a decade. Also picked up the “classic Valiant” Magnus #s 7 & 8…a bit pricey at $6/ea, but still well below my max of $10 for any single back issue of anything in 25 years. Found the old Bizarro’s World TPB for cover price (even all these years later) and decided to snag that as well.

Also snagged some 50-cent-bin comics–primarily a bunch of the post-Zero Hour #0 issues from DC from 1994 and a bag/boarded copy of the original The Ray mini-series #s 1-6.

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Sentinels of the Multiverse – My first post

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Walt

sentinels_stack_0402A few weeks ago while visiting with a couple friends out of state, we stopped by a comic & games shop, where I wound up buying a paperback, and both my friends bought new games.

One of those games was the base set of Sentinels of the Multiverse.

The game was fun–certainly appropriate for us, as it’s got an obvious and definite comic feel to it.

It’s a cooperative game–players each have a hero deck, taking the part of that hero character, and play against the villain and environment decks, which are “run” by the rules of the game and specifics on the cards. As such, there are numerous combinations of heroes and the villain(s) to be fought, in various environmental scenarios. (I’ll probably get into more detail in a later post).

Probably the most appealing–to me–aspect as far as the game itself goes is that it’s NOT a “collectible” game. You buy the base set, and that’s what you’re buying: the base SET. Not just a selection from a set, or a random assortment of cards from a set. The entire. Base. Set. Maybe you’re new to the game and haven’t “previewed” what’s included to “know” what’s in the set, but technically…you know what you get when you buy the set. Buying the base set, I got the same set of cards my friend did, and anyone else buying it gets the same. No blind booster or “starter deck” packaging models.

So when I decided to “buy into” the game for myself, I ordered the base set, and liked the idea of the “combo pack” re-presenting the first two expansions in one box. But that was just the start: I quickly ordered the remaining expansions, which arrived this week.

And I have the feeling I’m only beginning to scratch at the surface here…

sentinelsofthemultiverseeverythingasofmarch2014

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