Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 3/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: Andy Kuhn, Bobby Curnow, Comic Reviews, cxPulp, IDW, IDW Publishing, Kevin Eastman, Krang, Ninja Turtles, Ronda Pattison, Shawn Lee, splinter, Stockman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Tom Waltz | 1 Comment »
The Rest of the Stack is my general mini-review coverage of new comics for any given week. It’s in addition to (or in place of) full-size individual reviews. It’s far less formal, and more off-the-top-of-my head thoughts on the given comics than it is detailed reviews.
THE HYPERNATURALS #3
I’m continuing to get drawn in, and the odd vocabulary elements are feeling a bit more normal. I’m liking the flashbacks that are fleshing out the present, and beginning to get a sense of the continuity that’s been built from the start of this series. You know something’s being done right when I’m interested in going back to re-read the issues so far just to appreciate the world that’s been built in such a short span of time. The story is engaging and the characters are easy enough to identify with. The art continues on a high note as well. Though I saw this issue’s end coming a couple pages early that ramped up the tension which made the cliffhanger both that much more appreciable and a bit anticlimactic, as if it ended a panel or two too soon.
BLOODSHOT #3
Three issues in, and I’m quite enjoying this series. Having figured out the art style for the flashbacks vs. the present, I quite enjoy the shifts, as we follow Bloodshot on his quest to find out the truth about his past. While he seeks his past, Project Rising Spirit is determined to remove him from the field permanently. The story kinda sucked me in on this issue; as said, recognizing flashbacks made this a much more enjoyable read and didn’t seem disruptive at all. I like both visual styles as presented here. As I keep saying, I’m enjoying this new take on a “classic” character; even knowing this isn’t the original “version” doesn’t bother me. Sort of a cross between Marvel’s Ultimate Comics line and DC‘s New 52, with the best of both worlds. Definitely looking forward to the next issue.
ARCHER AND ARMSTRONG #2
The cover to this issue puts me in mind of a cover from the early issues of the Wolverine relaunch back in ’03 or so, where we see grumpy Wolverine on the ground, a line of bullet-holes across the wall–and him; and just looking at it, you know someone’s in for a world o’ hurt. Here, we get a look at the two title characters and a scene that kinda plays on the state of things, and (at least to me) comes off as rather amusing. Archer with a crossbow, pondering the Armstrong, who he’s shot umpteen times but calmly (cheerfully, even!) drinking a beer. With his parents’ reality revealed, Archer breaks from them and decides to join Armstrong, and the two begin their quest for the parts of The Boon that are scattered throughout the world. Of course, it wouldn’t be a quest if it was easy, and things sure don’t start easy for the pair. I really like this new take on the characters–it’s fresher and somehow seems a bit more realistic than the classic. I also like that the title characters don’t spend the entire first arc or two against each other–I’m far more interested in how they handle things as a “team,” with such drastically different backgrounds, personality, and abilities. The story keeps me interested, and I like the art–and the character designs. This Armstrong looks younger–and more presentable–than the classic, and somehow, that brings more of a sense of “fun” to the title, amidst the darker, more serious elements.
TMNT MICRO-SERIES #8: FUGITOID
This issue introduces us to the Fugitoid–an alien scientist in a robot body. This issue as a whole is “the origin issue” for the Fugitoid, detailing the robot as well as Dr. Honeycutt, and the motivations that led to the Fugitoid’s situation. While the essense of the original origin is present, details have obviously been changed–and it works really well for me. The art’s pretty solid, and pulls off the “alien, yet similar to Earth” vibe. The story itself is good, though I found out after reading this that the issue spoils something from the next issue of the main TMNT title–though I didn’t feel like there was anything particularly revelatory, and actually thought this played off stuff we’ve already seen. We get a glimpse of an entire culture that works far better for me than their use in the classic cartoon–taking a campy, goofy concept and making it a valid, reasonable element for the current continuity. The issue ends with no ad for a next issue, and I’m unsure if there will be any more–the first collected volume was 4 issues, and this is the 8th–making another complete 4-issue volume. I hope these continue; as I’ve indicated before–I’d gladly keep buying this companion series to the main title, with different creative teams and spotlight characters.
TMNT COLOR CLASSICS #4
While the turtles are out searching for Splinter, they are ambushed by the Foot, who want revenge for the death of Shredder. While battling the ninjas, the turtles come across a strange building marked with the letters “TCRI”–which they recognize as the same as what was on the canister of goo that mutated them. When they investigate the building further, they find plenty of oddities, including the inhabitants of the building, and an alien device they’ve built that spells major issue for the turtles’ future. The story is fairly simple, and things kinda scoot along quickly. This is still early in the existence of the TMNT, so for me it’s more the ideas that were put forth than actual grace in execution of the story. The art’s solid, and quite a contrast to contemporary takes on the characters. Still, I like it, and it’s really cool to see this colorized in a single-issue format; if I didn’t know it started out black-and-white and had no attention called to it, I’d have a hard time believing this wasn’t a color comic to begin with. Despite the various collected volumes already out, I hope this Color Classics series lasts long enough to re-present the entire Mirage vol. 1 TMNT series…though I wouldn’t entirely mind if it skips a bunch of the middle stuff and just re-presents the “core” Eastman/Laird stuff of the first 11 issues, Micro-Series, Return to New York, and City at War arcs.
Filed under: Archer & Armstrong, Bloodshot, Hypernaturals (Boom! Studios), IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW), The Rest of the Stack, Valiant | Tagged: Archer, Armstrong, Bloodshot, Boom!, color classics, Fugitoid, Hypernaturals, IDW, Micro Series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Valiant | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4.5/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: April, April O'Neil, Barbara Randall Kesel, Bobby Curnow, Comic Reviews, cxPulp, David Petersen, Heather Breckel, IDW, IDW Publishing, Marley Zarcone, Ninja Turtles, Shawn Lee, TMNT | 1 Comment »
New #1s may work. In a way, they’ve worked quite well on me in the past year. If I recall off the top of my head, I bought around 30 of ’em last September/October with DC‘s New 52 initiative. Of course, I didn’t stick around very long on any of the titles, topping out around 8-9 issues of Animal Man and Swamp Thing. While I’ve largely kept up with Batwing, that’s been always a month behind for the “discount” on the digital, and I suppose another exception would be following up from Batman with a couple digital issues closing out the Night of Owls stuff.
But this summer, I’ve found myself fairly invested in and enjoying 7 new titles from #1, as well as the just-past-the-one-year-mark Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title from IDW.
Despite the $3.99 pricing, I’ve made exceptions for these for being non-Marvel/non-DC mainstream books.
And they’re all either completely new, original properties, or PROPERLY-done relaunches/reboots.
The Boom! titles (Higher Earth, Extermination, and The Hypernaturals) 
are all brand-new original properties that I’ve gotten in with on the “ground floor” from #1 (or the FCBD) issues, and thus far am following them with the new release of each single issue. As new properties, obviously these are fine being in the low numbers. They’re not mere continuations of existing continuity or new iterations of otherwise identical titles (and sometimes creative teams).
And then with the Valiant books (Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, Harbinger, and XO Manowar), the original titles have been gone more than 12 years, and the current company is ITSELF a whole new iteration, sharing only name and 
properties with the original Valiant. And since they’re not picking up with where the original Valiant properties left off in the late-1990s, it only makes sense to start fresh, with both new #1s and new continuity.
Even TMNT is forging a whole new universe from any of the prior-existing universes, and I’m enjoying the plethora of stuff that IDW‘s been pumping out there. With a year or two between the end of the “Volume Four” series by original TMNT co-creator Peter Laird and draining the last of the done-in-advance queue of work on the 
Tales of the TMNT title, a whole new company in control of the characters, a new license…it makes sense there’d be a new #1, and new “history” for the characters.
It just does not sit well with me the constant renumbering that Marvel–in particular–does; such that it’s actually in itself on principle turned me off to everything post-AvX (and got me to drop all the tie-in AvX titles). DC has at least had the “guts” to hold to the new numbering, keeping the books on schedule, and giving in and having various “waves” of books–cycling titles OUT that aren’t working and 
cycling in new ones, such that there’s beginning to be a hint of numerical diversity rather than “everything” being the same number each month.
But having come through the 1990s and the 2000s, having followed many characters for nearly two decades, the new stuff just isn’t (as a whole/in general) sitting well with me, and I’m even more put off by the pricing. I’ve bought DC and Marvel since their output was $.75 to $1, and as the prices have crept (and LEAPT!!!) upward…it’s just so hard to “justify” $3.99 (even $2.99) on titles/characters I 
remember paying only $1.50 to $2.25 or even the more recent $2.50 for.
With the Boom and Valiant stuff…it’s starting at $3.99, and broken record though I am, I’m just somehow more “able” to accept the higher price for stuff that’s rooted in the present, with today’s prices, rather than paying today’s prices for yesterday’s properties.
I also don’t have lengthy backstory to try to catch up on at high prices or out of print collected volumes to justify paying high premiums for. 
And rather than be told that continuity doesn’t matter because of the sheer volume of continuity…these are all young enough titles that the “continuity” isn’t even an issue yet any more than it would be for ANY self-contained story.
After 23 years of keeping up with comics, it’s sort of sad to realize that of the ongoing titles I’m keeping up with, I’m looking to bail on the only title in triple digits (The Walking Dead) in favor of the collected volumes, which leaves the highest-numbered issue to the TMNT at #13 (last week).
Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Archer and Armstrong, Bloodshot, Boom! Studios, extermination, Harbinger, Higher Earth, Hypernaturals, IDW, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Valiant, XO Manowar | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 3.5/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: Andy Kuhn, Bobby Curnow, Comic Reviews, cxPulp, IDW, IDW Publishing, Kevin Eastman, Ninja Turtles, Ronda Pattison, Shawn Lee, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Tom Waltz | 1 Comment »
The Rest of the Stack is my general mini-review coverage of new comics for any given week. It’s in addition to (or in place of) full-size individual reviews. It’s far less formal, and more off-the-top-of-my head thoughts on the given comics than it is detailed reviews.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted much, so this is part of my “catching up” on the past month and a half or so.
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES COLOR CLASSICS #3
I’d forgotten this issue’s story. I guess it had to be somewhere, but my memories of these early issues jump from the turtles meeting April and dealing with Stockman and the Mousers right into what is probably going to be in #4. Yet, we get some pretty important stuff going on here as the turtles find Splinter missing (possibly killed by the Mousers), and actually turn to April for help. We also get the obvious inspiration for “the Turtle Van” (but less commercial). And the issue ends with the introduction of characters that inspired one of the primary characters in the classic cartoon series. The story itself is pretty basic…nothing all that deep, but still enjoyable enough in itself. I really like the art here as it’s just “classic” for me (biased though I must admit I am). The color added blends very well with the original black and white, such that it’s hard to believe this wasn’t a color series to begin with. (7/10)
RAPHAEL #1
Beyond the first issue of the TMNT Color Classics, I wasn’t sure how IDW was going to go about reprinting these issues, and sorta feared the Micro-Series issues would be merged in with the numbering, resulting in TMNT Color Classics being its own numbering that wouldn’t correspond with the issue being reprinted. However, this issue simply reprints the Raphael issue as itself, and I love that. The issue’s story is pretty basic and cliche, lacking much of the depth that we eventually get with the characters. Casey’s introduction here doesn’t work so well for me, but every character has to start somewhere. There’s also some clunky dialogue with Raph that just doesn’t seem to fit ANY version of the character I think of. The art’s classic Eastman & Laird (duh) and looks quite good in this new colored format. (7/10)
AVX #8
This issue is largely focused on Namor, as he lays waste to Wakanda, and the Avengers dogpile him, ultimately learning some useful information about the Phoenix Force and its interaction with multiple hosts. Storywise, this was one of my least-favorite issues–but then, that’s largely because Namor’s one of my least-favorite of the Phoenix Five (coming in just behind Illyana). It’s also increasingly difficult to take the scope of this story serious in the face of ongoing stories in other books seeming to have nothing to do with what’s unfolding in AvX, and that even some of the actual tie-in books are barely pulling a “red skies” level of involvement. The art’s a mixed bag for me, with some of the pages looking good and others just looking horrendous to me. (4/10)
AVX #9
Nine issues in and there’s just enough of a “completist” in me to grin ‘n bear it: I started following this series, and now I want to finish it, just on principle of finishing it–though I dropped all the tie-ins cold-turkey due to frustration at Marvel continuing its cycle of not even letting one event finish before announcing the next, and the spoiling of the end of this series, and Marvel Now… This issue’s another beat-down issue, with the Avengers piling on Colossonaut and Magik, with Spider-Man taking the worst beating of the bunch this time. The art continues to be mixed, with some panels looking excellent while others look generic and a bit rushed by comparison. This is the three-quarters mark of the series, and I’m quite ready to get to the end. (5/10)
AVX #10
Cyclops has shown up to take Hope away from the Avengers, though she makes it clear she does not wish to go with him. Fighting breaks out, and Hope even gets to ride a dragon, before turning her powers on Cyclops with an unintended effect. After the previous issue, the Phoenix Force is all the more concentrated in Cyclops, which makes Hope’s effect all the more meaningful. With the ending of this issue actually pulling me back into stuff and looking forward with interest to seeing how this story’s going to conclude. (6.5/10)
Filed under: Avengers vs. X-Men, Avengers vs. X-Men (event), IDW Publishing, MARVEL, Marvel Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: avengers, Avengers vs. X-Men, Avx, Classics, color classics, colossus, Comic Reviews, Cyclops, Hope, IDW, IDW Publishing, Magik, MARVEL, Marvel Comics, Micro Series, Namor, Ninja Turtles, One Issue Micro-Series, Phoenix Five, Raphael, TMNT, TMNT 3, x-men | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: Bobby Curnow, Comic Reviews, cxPulp.com, Dan Duncan, IDW, IDW Publishing, Kevin Eastman, Ninja Turtles, Ronda Pattison, Shawn Lee, shredder, splinter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, Tom Waltz | 1 Comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: Ben Epstein, Bobby Curnow, Casey Jones, Comic Reviews, cxPulp.com, David Petersen, Ian Herring, IDW, IDW Publishing, Micro Series, Mike Costa, Mike Henderson, Ninja Turtles, Shawn Lee, TMNT | 1 Comment »
The Spell Thief, part 1
Written by: Matt Forbeck
Art by: Martin Coccolo
Art Assists by: Christian Duce
Colors by: J. Edwin Stevens
Color Assists by: Baileigh Bolten
Letters by: Shawn Lee
Edited by: Carlos Guzman
Cover: Christopher Moeller
Published by: IDW Publishing
Picking up right from where the previous mini left off (though with a different word from our hero), this issue opens with Dack standing before some castle. Triggering its magical defenses and eventually making his way inside, the Planeswalker/thief encounters some fantastical creatures and a Titan, all of whom continue to slow him down from catching Sifa, the planeswalker that apparently destroyed his hometown. But in order to escape the titan and becoming a permanent part of the titan’s collection, Dack may find himself facing the one thing he doesn’t want to face.
Art-wise, I’m not entirely impressed with this issue. It occurs to me that I am most entrenched in quasi-traditional superhero comics, or darker gritty stuff (such as Hellblazer) and this certainly isn’t either of those. The art is by no means bad–it’s distinctive, and this has a LOOK that screams “fantasy” which makes it fit into general Magic: The Gathering/fantasy for me. But I’m also so far removed from the game that this just reeks of generic fantasy to me.
Which brings me to the story itself. For one thing, despite a recap on the inside cover, this feels like it should at best be a #5, not a new #1. It could be a new arc, allowing for 4-issue collected volumes, but as a #1 I find nothing to like about the main character, no real reason to care one way or the other about his “quest,” and all that. I read the first issue of the first mini, bought the subsequent issues but haven’t yet read ’em with other reading I’ve been doing (except to get the plastic off #4 to verify just how closely these two series are).
I’m sure there’s a LOT of stuff that’s going right over my head that would jump out at long-time MTG fans/players. Probably folks familiar with current/recent stuff with the game would recognize spells and such used in this issue. But being “out” for so long, nothing’s obvious to me.
Then there’s the most glaring, heinous problem with this issue that soured me right from the start: this thing’s a whopping $4.99! Bad enough the derth of $3.99 comics…for that extra $1 I foolishly “expected” this to be extra-sized, maybe a bimonthly series with extra pages and thus the extra-sized price. But everything about this seems to match the previous issue: 22-page story, cardboard center to try to keep the book’s shape in shrink-wrapping; included genuine/playable game card…
But the card is not at all worth an extra $1 to me, and if that’s what drove the cost up, shame on everyone involved!
If you’re a big fan of MTG and enjoy fantasy comics…you’ll probably have a lot more appreciation for this than I did. As it stands, I’d be inclined to continue with the series for an ongoing overall story working off the concept of planeswalkers and such–the “core” of Magic: The Gathering–but I am so absolutely put off by the $4.99 price for 22 pages of story that I have every intention now of avoiding subsequent issues.
Story: 4/10
Art: 6/10
Overall: 5/10
Filed under: IDW Publishing, Magic: The Gathering | Tagged: Baileigh Bolten, Carlos Guzman, Christian Duce, Christopher Moeller, Comic Reviews, Dack Fayden, IDW, IDW Publishing, J. Edwin Stevens, Magic, magic: the gathering, Martin Coccolo, Matt Forbeck, Planeswalkers, Shawn Lee, The Gathering, The Spell Thief | Leave a comment »
Full review posted to cxPulp.com.
Story: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Filed under: cxPulp.com, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW) | Tagged: Bobby Curnow, Comic Reviews, cxPulp, Dan Duncan, Foot, IDW, IDW Publishing, Kevin Eastman, Ninja Turtles, Ronda Pattison, Shawn Lee, shredder, splinter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, TMNT, TMNT #11, Tom Waltz | 1 Comment »
Comic Reviews by Walt 