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Tales of the TMNT #32 [Review]

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Walt

classicreviewlogowhite

Quick Rating: Very Good–Fun!
Story Title: The Eye of Aga-Moo-Tou

Summary: The TMNT and the C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa team up again to tackle the threat posed by Savanti Romero gaining access to the Eye of Aga-Moo-Tou.

talesofthetmnt032 Plot: Laird & Brown
Words: Murphy
Layouts: Ryan Brown
Pencils: Dario Brizuela
Inks: Joe Rubinstein
Letters: Eric Talbot
Editor, Creative Consultant: Peter Laird
Managing Editor: Murphy
Production, Design: Eric Talbot
Covers: (main): Dario Brizuela, (variant): Andres Ponce, Ryan Brown, Steve Lavigne
Publisher: Mirage

Despite never having been a fan of the C.O.W. Boys (I was aware of them briefly in the 90s, but never "into" them), this is great fun. We get those characters back, interacting side-by-side with the TMNT in a way that makes perfect sense in the TMNT-verse, and is just…fun.

A nearly-immortal figure locates the mystical Eye of Aga-Moo-Tou, though the Eye is also located by old TMNT villain Savanti Romero. Meanwhile, at Moo Mesa, the C.O.W. Boys are going about their regular business, when things go all wacky thanks to Romero. Back on Earth, Tsou-T’an-Jin makes contact with and transports the turtles to Moo Mesa, where they find their old friends mind-controlled/possessed by Romero, and the battle for the Eye is joined…

At its surface, this is a rather simple, stereotypical story…mega-powerful mystical artifact located by a villain, first protagonists on the scene defeated and turned on second-wave fellow heroes, yadda yadda yadda. Then again, it really isn’t much deeper than that, if you look strictly at story elements. The fun and enjoyment comes from the specific characters–here, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles AND the C.O.W. Boys of Moo Mesa thrust together in a single story.

The story flows, hitting key beats of structure. Not being terribly familiar with all the characters, I can’t say for certain that everyone’s in-character; the turtles seem to be right on track, so I presume the COW Boys are, too..and given that (as far as I can tell) original creators of all characters involved are…well…involved with this issue, I’ve no reason to believe this does anything but fit both sides of the "crossover" of the properties.

The art throughout is just fine, with all the characters being totally recognizable, and panels clear/clean as to what’s going on. This isn’t just some comic adaptation of a cartoon, but it’s also not one of the darker, gritter of the TMNT stories.
For jumping in cold and just wanting "a" TMNT story, this is a great issue to do so with, and it’s even kid-friendly on the whole–probably moreso than a certain teen wizard’s exploits, for point of comparison.

The great thing about this title is that it features a monthly supply of in-continuity TMNT stories by a variety of writers and artists that include stories set in the characters’ past, present, and future, as well as easily contain property crossovers like we have here. While many titles from bigger publishers might suffer from radical shifts in creative teams from issue-to-issue on writing and visuals, it’s become a sort of staple for this book.

If you can find it, I highly recommend this issue…and really, the series in general for any of you longer-time TMNT fans.

Ratings:

Story: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Filed under: Classic Reviews, INDEPENDENT/SMALL-PRESS PUBLISHERS, Tales of the TMNT (Mirage) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

What If..? Age of Apocalypse #1 [Review]

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Walt

classicreviewlogowhite

Quick Rating: Above Average
Story Title: What If…Legion had Killed Xavier and Magneto?

Summary: Here we’re shown what might have happened had neither Xavier nor Magneto lived to oppose the rise of an age in which the evil mutant Apocalypse rose to rule the world…

whatifageofapocalypse001 Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Dave Wilkins
Colorist: Anthony Washington
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Production: Brad Johansen
Asst. Editor: Nathan Cosby
Editor: Mark Paniccia
Editor-In-Chief: Joe Quesada
Cover Art: Marko Djurdievic
Publisher: Marvel Comics

This holds a lot of potential–the original Age of Apocalypse remains one of my absolute favorite X-sagas, period. And seeing that world played with could be quite cool, taking the concept and pushing in another direction while remaining in the spirit of the original.

Unfortunately, while ripe with potential, this issue lacks the space to truly execute a high-level story re-doing that saga in the space of a single regular-sized comic.

We open with the Watcher informing us that in this reality that we are shown, both Xavier AND Magneto were killed by Legion (the original story saw only Xavier killed, with Magneto’s X-men opposing Apocalypse). The absence of both characters ushers in a different age of Apocalypse; we get a re-imagining of re-imagined characters. When the story kicks off, we see a band of mutants AND other heroes (Captain America, Thing, the "current" Dr. Strange, and so on) mount a final attack to preserve their haven–though one of them has ambition to go beyond merely surviving and seeks to change the whole of reality, despite warnings against messing with such business.

The story’s heart is in the right place, showing this alternate version of an alternate universe. It’s jam-packed with a lot of characters that, for lack of space to truly flesh them out, seem rather contrived and present for the "coolness factor" of showing them; there’s no room to really flesh them out and show where they came from, what brought them to this point.

The art seems rather sketchy, and at points characters seem to be out-of-proportion…This is no standard, clean-lined interpretation of the characters. While this would normally be a complaint with me, something about the context makes it work. The story takes place in a mucked-up world with little to BE bright, sun-shiny/happy about, and the characters can’t afford to be clean-cut "super-heroes" or such, and the visual style lends a certain edge that just works for the tone, allowing a bit of abstractness to get things across.

As with the Onslaught Reborn issue, the quantity of ads managed to annoy me and take me out of the story, and makes me wish all the more that I’d simply waited for the inevitable TPB of all this year’s What If..? issues to read without ads.

Given that this particular story delves back to the core of the Age of Apocalypse, it seems almost out-of-place amidst the others in this batch, taking on stories from the last 3 or so years. In and of itself, it’s an enjoyable enough read, though it feels like a pilot missing a series: I think something like this would have made for an interesting mini-series, giving more detail to the changes brought into the concept and setting things up; all the moreso for the "twist" ending.

You could certainly do better than this issue…but there’s a lot you could find that’s worse. If you’ve followed most of the stories this batch of What Ifs spring from, you might enjoy a collected version more than the singles.

Ratings:

Story: 3/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 3/5

Filed under: Classic Reviews, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, What If? | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

“Classic Reviews” 2011

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Walt

I got my start in reviewing by responding to a call for new reviewers I saw in an email newsletter from X-World Comics. I was offered a position writing reviews for comixtreme.com, and jumped in as the reviewer for the Outsiders (2003 series), Hellblazer, TMNT (2001 series) and Tales of the TMNT (2004 series).

Over time, I reviewed a number of other series, and built up quite a body of work these past 6+ years.

This past summer, due to a number of factors, comixtreme.com has become cxpulp.com, and though the old reviews are technically still available, they’re not part of the site itself anymore. As I’ve also written a number of reviews for this blog–I originally started this blog as a place for me to post reviews of comics that others were covering at comixtreme–and now that my pre-June 2010 reviews no longer have a home, I’ll be posting them here as “Classic Reviews.”

There’ll still be the usual new reviews and other content–but in addition to the usual, these classic reviews will be posted daily for however long it takes until all my pre-Summer 2010 comixtreme reviews are posted in their entirety on this blog.

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

The Web #1 [Review]

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Walt

classicreviewlogowhite

Quick Rating: Solid
Story Title: Spinning the Future; Bad Men

The Web works on tracking down his brother’s killers; Hangman is further fleshed out with a status quo beyond the origin from his one-shot.

web001Writer: Angela Robinson
Penciller: Roger Robinson
Inker: Hilary Barta
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Rachel Gluckstern
Cover: Stanley Lau
Publisher: DC Comics

I’m not used to starting fresh with characters I’ve never interacted with before. With Spawn, I’d read a couple issues back in the 90s, saw a couple episodes of the HBO animated series, read an annual in college, and of course, saw the live-action film. With Invincible (which I started reading recently) I’d read the first trade and the zero issue prior to jumping onboard. Even the Milestone characters I have some passing familiarity with from their original run, Static’s appearance in the DC Animated Universe, and a book I’d read in college about the entire line.

All that said: after reading this issue, I’m not all that interested in The Web. Or rather, the character has potential and it’s cool to "get in at the ground floor" for the reading/discovery experience of the character. But the story doesn’t really grab me in a way that leaves me specifically looking forward to the next issue.

This issue follows on the heels of the one-shot, picking up with the hunt for David’s (brother of John–the Web) killers. We get a flashback to events of the one-shot, and also see the reading of David’s will where he leaves a pair of dice and a gun to John–and a request to protect April (a friend of the brothers). Pondering the meaning of the dice and recalling their history with April, the Web goes back into action to find the killers, and winds up with more than he bargained for.

The story itself is not bad in and of itself. It just feels rather cliched, and though we’re left with a couple of cliffhanger points meant to draw us in, something about it just doesn’t work for me. It’s one of those things like some tv shows–I don’t care to follow it particularly, but won’t necessarily go out of my way to avoid, either.
The art is pretty good and I have no complaint there. I don’t really have any preconceived notion as to how characters should appear, and as I’m still trying to remember who is who, care more that there’s both a difference in characters and a consistency in that difference…and that’s pulled off here overall.

The Hangman
Writer: John Rozum
Layouts: Tom Derenick
Inker: Bill Sienkiewicz
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Rachel Gluckstern

Unlike the main feature, something about The Hangman pulls me in. I’m reminded both of a character from Astro City, and The Spectre as I read this feature…and to be honest, I liked it. There’s a brief scene set in the past of the character, and then most of the scene is spent in the present, continuing to build the character. My main take-away from the one-shot was that the guy can be shot and such–the bullets don’t penetrate the skin, but he still feels them and bruises and all that, which was an interesting concept.

Here we see the Hangman in action, confronting various criminals, giving them a taste–but not the full meal–of death for their sins, cutting them loose with the warning that this WAS their only warning and if they act out again, they WILL know death. We’re given more info about the change between the Hangman and his human self, and shown what his life is during the day (as well as given the fact that he doesn’t need to sleep, and any injuries, damage, and even clothing are refreshed from each transformation).

There’s no particular throughline exactly for this chapter, it’s basically all stage-setting and informing the reader through a slice-of-life look at Hangman’s life what he’s all about and presumably getting us geared up for more plot-driven story now that we’ve some real idea of his status quo (having gotten the origin in the one-shot last month).

I definitely preferred this feature to the main, and it is the Hangman’s story that will keep me interested in where things go for this title.

This issue as a whole isn’t all that bad. You definitely need to have read the one-shots to have solid context for what’s going on in this issue–The Web moreso than The Hangman–but you’re given exposition in both to figure out a bit of what happened prior to these stories. I find myself doubting the legs on these characters, unfortunately…and wonder if they might have been better extra features for other books.

If you’ve interest in the characters specifically, I don’t think this issue is bad at all. In terms of just checking things out, I’m not particularly impressed. The Hangman’s feature on top of the Web’s makes the issue worth picking up to check out, but I don’t recommend going in with any expectation of being blown away by what you read.

Ratings:

The Web
Story: 3/5
Art: 3/5

The Hangman
Story: 4/5
Art: 3/5

Overall: 3/5

Filed under: Classic Reviews, DC, DC Universe, The Red Circle, The Web | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

X-Factor #2 [Review]

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Walt

classicreviewlogowhiteQuick Rating: Good
Title: Star Power

Summary: The fate of Rictor, Madrox confronts his dupe, Layla makes herself useful, and things progress on their course…

xfactor002 Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Ryan Sook & Dennis Callero
Inks: Wade Von Grawbadger & Dennis Callero
Colors: Jose Villarrubia
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Production: Brad Johansen
Asst. Editors: Molly Lazer & Aubrey Sitterson
Editor: Andy Schmidt
Cover Art: Ryan Sook
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Marvel‘s recap page works particularly well here, as it not only recaps the previous issue, but shows (I think full-sized) the central point of the final page of # 1…and though we cut immediately to a "meanwhile," it brings the reader back in enough to have that bit of tension necessary for when we get to the fate of Rictor, who was unceremoniously shoved off the edge of a building by one of Jamie’s dupes in the previous issue.

Layla Miller integrates herself into the team, proving some immediate usefulness, though her explanation for knowing things seems to get on Guido’s nerves. We get a glimpse at the "bad guys" orchestrating some behind-the-scenes events, and a mysterious figure that I’m not even going to try guessing at the identity.

Overall, this issue picks up the threads of the previous issue, and advances the story a bit–resolving a key point of that issue, as well as introducing new elements to the main story, and setting things up for future issues. If the issue seems a bit choppy, it’s from juggling Rictor’s fate, X-Factor HQ, Jamie and confronting his dupe, and other elements of the story in the confines of a single, regular-sized comic. Despite that, fans of these characters–and present writer Peter David–will likely find little complaint other than the next issue not being out yet.

The art works well with the story, keeping a visual/stylistic difference from "standard fare" X-stuff, as well as the noir tone the story carries.

A brief exchange between a couple characters provides an interesting meta-textual commentary on the tile of the "Decimation" event this title is a part of, both addressing reader concerns of no thought going to it as well as providing a jab at the media.

On the whole, this is another fine issue of a fairly distinctive title. If you don’t care about any of the characters or the writer (or the art team), then don’t expect to like it. However, if you enjoy PAD‘s writing, and/or the characters, or even just the art on these particular characters, you will very likely enjoy the issue.
If you’re just curious about things, this is just the second issue–shouldn’t be too hard to locate a copy of the first issue (in whatever print edition) and jump on the ride. Recommended.

Story: 3.5/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Filed under: Classic Reviews, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, X-Factor | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Booking Through Thursday: Any New Year’s reading resolutions?

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Walt

bookingthroughthursdaybutton Any New Year’s reading resolutions?

Now, there’s a fairly easy one…and I actually already answered it at the turn of the year, for the most part.

1. Taking the “To Be Read” Challenge, to read at least 12 books from my to-be-read list. Books determined BEFORE 2011 started. There is a list of “alternates” that may be substituted for any of the 12.

  • The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson
  • The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
  • The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
  • Dragons of the Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
  • Dragons of the Hourglass Mage by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
  • The Wastelands by Stephen King
  • Wizard and Glass by Stephen King
  • The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
  • Ancestor by Scott Sigler
  • Vampire a Go-Go by Victor Gischler
  • Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler
  • Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

2. Adopt-a-Character 2011…adopting Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai. I’ve already obtained and read vol. 1, and look forward to continuing in the series. I’d have to obtain/read at least 2 per month all year to get through the ENTIRE series. While that would be awesome in its own way…it’s not likely to happen. Still, I’d love to be at least halfway through the series by the end of the year.

3. Catching up on some graphic novel reading. I’d like to finish reading Preacher (Vertigo), Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest (Marvel), Transmet (Vertigo), Monster (Naoki Urasawa, Viz), and Ron Marz’ Witchblade (Top Cow) run.

Plus, of course, keeping up with some comics in general, and reviewing. Along with reading, I’m going to make a go at 3 1/2 seasons of Psych, as well as see how far I can get into the entire run of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

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

Marvel.1 Checklist

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Walt

February 2011
Amazing Spider-Man #654.1
Invincible Iron Man #500.1
Wolverine #5.1

March 2011
Captain America #615.1
Deadpool #32.1
Hulk #30.1
Thor #620.1
Uncanny X-Force #5.1

April 2011
Avengers #12.1
Secret Avengers #11.1
Uncanny X-Men #534.1

marvel.1amarvel.1b

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

Steel #1 [Review]

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Walt


Full review posted to cxPulp.com.

 

Story: 3.5/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Filed under: cxPulp.com, DC, DC Universe, Reign of Doomsday (Event), Steel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Change, potential change…fiction vs. real life

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Walt

multiverseinfiniteearths One of the great things about comics is the ability to follow these characters through short OR long periods of their lives. We’re always following them through all these huge changes. Loss of loved ones, of jobs, of homes, of lives. They’re in constant upheaval.

People come and go in their lives. Peter loses a wife or a girlfriend or a best friend. Clark faces the fact that a childhood friend wants more of him than he can give. Bruce sees his son grow up and leave his shadow. Hal loses an entire city.  So many others.

But life–real life–doesn’t move so quickly. We can follow a person’s life for years, generations even, in the realm of fiction. "Here comes tomorrow." Stories of time travel–to the past or future. Glimpses of what may be–or what might have been.

Real life–that can only be experienced in real-time. Now-time.

I’ve read comics for most of my life–and all of my adult life.

But for all outward appearances–whether it’s really me, myself…or a front I may (or may not) subconsciously put forth…

There’s no denying the difference, that which is found between fiction and reality.

Sure, one could lose one’s self within the realms of fiction–outright abandoning of reality. Or one can marvel in it, find a great deal within the realms of fiction–and in so doing, learn more about one’s self, that which is truly real.

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

$3.99: a lingering effect?

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Walt

I’ll be curious about any comic shops with anecdotes about the rollback to $2.99 that DC’s doing.

I just found myself not even CONSIDERING several books that I’ve either known or assumed to be $3.99…as I continue to do with Marvel.

When one is shopping by list, planning ahead of time to budget for the week…how many people may continue to pass on books that have been $3.99? How long until people “realize” that the things are back down to (or still only) $2.99?

And what of relatively new series–such as Emerald Warriors–that practically just started, but people like me passed on it due in large part to the price? For something with so few issues…on the one hand, it’d be tempted to go ahead and track down those few earlier issues. But when they were avoided in the first place for not wanting to pay $3.99 (or more, if they’re already off the shelves as back issues)…tough call.

I suppose time will tell.

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

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