Marvel Comics | Comic Reviews by Walt

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Shades of Pricing

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Walt

I managed to miss Hulk vs. Dracula #3 this week in my regular visit to my local comic shop. Didn’t notice til I got home, so wasn’t particularly worried about it.

Friday night, out of town, I stopped by another shop to grab the issue. Having all of $1.37 in cash on me, of course I had to use my card. Which, at this store means a $5 minimum. Not a huge deal. Just gotta grab one more comic of at least $1.99, basically. Given those don’t really exist, my next option’s a $2.99 comic. Given I’ve settled with what I’m buying of the New 52 for present, and that I pretty much associate Marvel Comics with $3.99, my choice was pretty simple.

The Shade #1. Yeah, it’s 1 of 12, so a finite thing. And no, I have only read whatever’s contained in the Vol. 1 of The Starman Omnibus by way of Robinson‘s Starman work (oh, and the Blackest Night issue).

Yet another example (to me, myself, at least) of where I’m totally willing to try a new comic, or at least that Marvel has SO trained me to “assume” that any of their new comics are $3.99, that I really don’t even give their books a second glance unless–like the issue I was in this store specifically to buy–I already plan to buy the issue.

No clue if I’ll grab another issue of The Shade or not–if I write reviews this weekend, maybe it’ll be in there. I sort of have to read the thing before I make any decisions.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: comics pricing, DC Comics, Fear Itself, hulk vs. dracula, Marvel Comics, New 52, The Shade | Leave a comment »

The Rest of the Stack: Week of October 5, 2011

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Walt

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.

ACTION COMICS #2

Superman’s been smashed by a train, and captured by the government. While his captors question him, Supes is working up enough focus to break free–and woe to those who stand in his way. Meanwhile, his indestructible cape is also put to the test, while Lois Lane gains entry thanks to her father. And it seems Luthor’s out of his depths. Oh, and the actual CONTENT of this issue, the story itself, the thing that I buy any given issue for? 20 freaking pages. For $3.99. Meanwhile, there are 8 pages of generic extras–sketches and internet stuff printed for the sake of pages thrown in to make the issue feel that much thicker, and then the USUAL back-of-the-issue preview for something I’m not even going to buy, and which is not going to change my mind, because either I’m NOT BUYING WHAT IS BEING PREVIEWED…or I’m NOT GOING TO READ it because I am planning to buy it, and don’t want to read a QUARTER to THIRD of its contents before I pay too much for cover price. So on principle alone–$3.99 for 20 pages–this thing is a huge disappointment, and I discourage anyone who hasn’t already from buying the single issue, as such. Collected volume? Sure. I think this’ll be a strong story in the end. But I for one refuse to support this sort of crap for a $4 issue when bought alongside several $3 issues with the EXACT SAME LENGTH STORY. (2/10)

ANIMAL MAN #2

Lots of death, decay, and gore in this issue. Disturbingly so, really. Buddy finds himself drastically affected by “The Red,” and his daughter seems more powerful than her father, leading him to follow the call of the Red. The cover alone is quite disturbing, and the interior visuals are, too. Even some of the tamer stuff is rather creepy–the skeleton of a cat squatting for milk especially rattled me. And yet…for essentially a horror book, something that typically would’ve been Vertigo…it’s fitting. The story doesn’t have nearly the blown-away effect on me the first issue did. But still, something to this–I’m curious where it’s all leading. And hey…it’s Vertigo, yet not. A worthy second issue, and there’s nothing to this one that prompts me to drop it or otherwise not come back for the next issue. (6/10)

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #2

I wish I was overtly enthusiastic about this issue. There’s something just sort of mediocre about it. It’s nothing spectacular. The story’s not terribly engaging, and doesn’t send me running for back issues and chomping at the bit for the next issue. But the story’s solid enough. The art’s not bad–I do like it, really. And together, they make for a quality book. And while there isn’t much that really jumps out or stands out…I liked it. We have the team, already assembled from the first issue, we see them in action, we see them in down-time, we get interaction and we get a built-up threat that justifies the group staying together. And on the whole, this feels like a second issue–we’ve been introduced to the characters, but here we learn a bit more. Unfortunately, there are a lot of characters, so there’s little focus on any specific character. Much of my not being bothered too much by that is my history with these characters’ prior incarnations, so I’m “projecting” what I know of those onto these. Still sticking around for the next issue, and seeing where this goes…if only for Booster Gold. (6/10)

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Filed under: New 52, The, The Rest of the Stack | Tagged: Action Comics, Animal Man, Comic Reviews, DC Comics, Image Comics, Invincible, Justice League International, Marvel Comics, Skybound, Swamp Thing, The New 52, Walking Dead, x-men | 1 Comment »

The Rest of the Stack: Week of September 28, 2011

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Walt

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.

ANGEL & FAITH #2

Faith finds herself questioning Angel and his intended actions, as well as what effect her going along with him–or not–would have. While she does and as they battle some demons, we also get reference all the way back to early in Angel season 1, which I rather enjoyed because it’s a deep continuity reference that even I can “get” with my limited exposure to the tv series. This is one of those series that I think is going to take a bit of a concerted effort to get through. In a way, it’s not one I necessarily want to read in and of itself from the cover alone. Even now, just a couple days after having read the issue, I can’t even remember what the cliffhanger was. And it takes flipping back through the issue to refresh my memory of exactly what went on in the issue, at length. So on the surface, it’s not something that overly engages or interests me. And yet, when I actually read it, I enjoy it. (I also realize that I have got to read those final two volumes of Buffy Season Eight!). I won’t let many series go like this, but at least for now, I’m sticking with this. I didn’t follow the last Buffy series in singles because I hadn’t yet watched the tv series enough to want to (I’d watched 3/4 of season 1, and wasn’t interested in jumping clear across 7 full seasons). This definitely is a series for long-term fans of the tv series–Buffy and/or Angel. I do definitely like that this series allows us to follow Angel and Faith without taking up space in the main Buffy series, allowing all a better shot at the spotlight and character development and depth. (7.5/10)

FEAR ITSELF: HULK VS. DRACULA #2

This series is still building up to the actual battle that gives it its name. Normally I wouldn’t like this, but 1. it’s Gischler–whose writing I’ve come to quite enjoy–and 2. it’s only 3 issues at $2.99 per, which seems quite tame compared to the $3.99 monstrosities that abound with Marvel. On the whole, this is definitely a side-story, but I’m finding it interesting enough to be explored. I’m not particularly enjoying Fear Itself on the whole…but this at least does something with the concept, fleshing out the impact one of the hammer-carriers has simply by existing, simply by being present. Until Gischler‘s Curse of the Mutants arc last year in the new X-Men title, I knew only that Marvel‘s Dracula was a vampire, had had some dealings with Storm and had apparently interacted with Blade. Since then, with the development of the various vampire factions, I’ve come to realize that the vampires can be very much their own culture within the Marvel Universe, much as the Atlanteans or Inhumans or the Shi’ar. Still, 3 issues seems quite short and not a lot of room for intricate development…but it’s a darned sight better than some uber decompressed 6-issue arc. I’d’ve enjoyed something like this at its length being something like one of those Marvel Must Haves, as a triple-sized issue for $6-7. I daresay if such a thing was done, and they were of the quality of this, I’d buy more tie-ins. The art’s not bad, either. It’s sorta cartooney and over the top in a way, but not drastically so, and certainly works to the favorability of this issue. Probably the only drawback to me is that it doesn’t seem like it’s been a month since the previous issue, almost like the series was held and now being rushed out. This’ll be for more die-hard Hulk fans that want everything Hulk; but primarily for the vampire/Dracula fans, or fans of Gischler himself, I think. (8/10)

X-MEN LEGACY #256

OK…I think I’m officially–if I wasn’t already–following this book out of habit. I want this story to end. I’m interested in Rogue and Magneto, in their relationship…and I’m not opposed to the writer playing with the Rogue/Gambit/Magneto triangle. I’m interested in Havok, Polaris, and Rachel in terms of whether or not they’re coming back to Marvel Earth or to remain in the “Marvel Cosmic” realm of things. But this story in general just isn’t doing it for me. I’m trying to like the series, I’m trying to engage after enjoying Age of X. But right now, I’m pretty much ready to throw in the towel and keep up via Wikipedia. I don’t care for the “X-Men in Space” thing, and that holds just as true in this issue as earlier. The art’s pretty good overall, though doesn’t blow me away. It’s certainly not good enough to “carry” the book on its own. All in all, I’m pretty disappointed here–in the story not holding me, and in myself for continuing to buy this series despite rapidly-declined interest. (4/10)