Review: Green Lantern: Rebirth

Before beginning, I would like to offer up thanks to Crackerbob, Chris, and kcgadiyar who came to my aid in my hour of need.  This was written by Geoff Johns, drawn by Ethan Van Sciver, and inked by Prentis Rollins.  I picked up the Green Lantern: Rebirth trade today at the advisement of the above mentioned commenters, and I think I liked it.  I say I think because I had no idea what was going on for the first few pages…. issues… ok, I was clueless for the entire first half but I think I worked it out in the end.  There’s a guy with a ring, except there are lots of guys that could have a ring if the guy dies (there used to be lots of them), but if the guy isn’t really dead or his body might be in the sun but then again it’s in a coffin in the Justice League maybe-secret (I’m not sure but it’s pretty big so maybe not) hideout.  So if there are guys cause the first guy died but then he comes back they can still hangout with their rings…. and stuff.

In all seriousness, I liked it.  Even though I was totally clueless for the first half, it was good.  The story was good once it got rolling, Green Arrow was cool, Batman was kinda a dick.  The idea of the Green Lantern, and the Corps has always interested me, the whole space odessy thing, with all the different lanterns.  It has a Star Wars-esque sort of feel for me, and I really love Star Wars.  I think the main problem for me following the book was they they often refer to each other by their real names, which I am not familiar with yet, but also because there were multiple parallel story lines going on which were all connected, but not in the ways I understood.  Once I went back and re-read them after finishing the book, it was much more lucid.

The Art was very top notch.  Everything was so detailed and sharp.  As I read a comic I often like to stop and appreciate the work the artist has put into each panel; notice which non-dialogue characters they chose to show in the background, and from what angle they visualized the situation.  Van Sciver absolutely delivered in giving me something to look at and be entertained by.  He managed to strike that difficult to obtain balance between having a busy background that distracts from the action/plot, and having a boring background, which really makes a comic seem bland and something you just want to speed through.

I can see that Green Lantern will definately be something I will be picking up in the future.

Review: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness

Yes, I know I’ve been away again, but graduation/real life will do that I guess, those seeking an explanation may skip to the bottom, but I want to talk about the new game from Penny-Arcade.  On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness, or RSPD as it is often abbreviated, came on the market last week, for a pricey 1,600 Microsoft points (roughly ~20 American dollars for anyone keeping score).  A high pricetag for an xbox live arcade game, however alternatively it can be bought for $20 USD for personal computers, either mac or PC.  The game, which marks the first videogame review on this dedicated comic blog, which runs somewhere between 5 and 10 hours on the first complete playthrough is pretty spectacular.  It is fairly obvious that Jerry and Mike, the creators of Penny-Arcade had a decisive role in the creation on this game, and that they were not willing to settle for anything less than perfection when it came to faithfully recreating the atmosphere portrayed by the webcomic.  This is something that their readers take very seriously, and their work shows through with great clarity.  The best way I could describe the game is, you know that feeling when you’ve been away for a week or two, and get like 6 comics to read at once?  Well, its like that but multiplied by a year or so.  This is a whole lot of PA condensed into one place, and to me, that’s just what I was looking for.  The game chronicles the story of your character, gabe, and tycho as they chase the giant robot with a great desire for fruit.  During the course of your adventure, you will battle fruit loving robots, mimes, hobos, living garbage, clowns, babershop quartets, and even possibly a dark god.  If this does not grab you, I’m not sure what will.  The battle system is a little tricky to work out at first, and the blocking can be troublesome, but once you get the the timing down properly, the game gets much easier.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this game to any fan of Penny-Arcade, as well as to any fan of RPG video games.  The art is what one might expect from a webcomic gone animated, and is very similar to what LFGcomic did, as well as Ctrl-Alt-Del in their animated endeavors.  As good as the art is, the dialog is where the fun is at.  I would probably play this game even if the rest of it were terrible, just to see what they say next.  It’s that good, but not with too much over the top language of the blog posts that accompany each comic posting, and in the case that there is, it is either not important, not all that verbose, or Gabe translates for the player in his own indignant way.  I am eagerly awaiting the next episode of RSPD, and although I feel that it was worth the price, I hope it may be a little cheaper, it probably won’t be.  Gabe/Tycho explained their pricing, and it makes perfect sense.  Achievements on the 360 are well assigned, and are not overly taxing without being incredibly simple.  I am generally adverse to providing an out of ten rating in my reviews, but there is such a convention for it in the video game industry that I will; I give Penny-Arcade’s On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness a 8.5 out of 10.

Ok, as promised, here’s my excuse: I’ve been busy.  I spent the last 4 weeks of college working on paper after paper, not having time to read comics, and now having graduated, I’m stuck job hunting, working, and running errands for my family while I try and save enough money to move out.  This is coupled with studying for the GRE’s so that I can go to gradschool to get my Ph.D, because a base level degree in science won’t get me where I want to go.  I will do my best to return to a normal posting schedule, and am still working through reading well over 200 comics to be caught up in what’s going on.  Also, must to my chagrin, I have been failing to read other blogs because I don’t want to expose myself to unnecessary spoilers.  This said, I know I missed Ebay week, and it is still on, just postponed to start next Monday (for real this time I promise).  Mike, if you could email me your article at yourcomicreliefblog@gmail.com along with any preamble you would like me to attach that would be awesome.  Anyone else looking to contribute should contact me there or via comment.

Essential Info: Ebay Week

Ebay week has been slated to start on Monday, May 26th here at Your Comic Relief, and will run until Sunday June 1st.  However, there will be Day Zero special Ebay event at Life of a Welshman, so check in there on the 25th of May, and throughout Ebay week, as there will be information there all week supplemental to everything that’s going on here.  I have some fellow bloggers who may be contributing a guest article, and they will be announced later this week.  There are still spots open in the schedule if anyone still wants to write an article, artists are also welcome to contact me if they would like to do a themed comic strip.  Personal update: 3 days till graduation…

I’m not dead yet!

So, last I was here, I mentioned I was sick. Well “I got better” (ok, last Monty Python reference). I haven’t been around as the end of semester has been hell. I’ve got a pile of probably over 300 comics (I found myself at a rummage sale with comics at 50 cents a comic, some good finds which I’ll write a post about later) that I have to read. That’s well over 4 weeks of comics, rummage sale stuff, a few random Ebay purchases, and Free Comic Book Day acquisitions. Hope everyone is doing well, I’m not gone, still around, and will be back exceptionally soon. I will be getting my undergraduate degree in biochemistry in EIGHT DAYS!

Review: Wolverine: Origins #23

No, this isn’t the correct cover at all, my usual method of getting the cover art is not working this time.

 

Lead-up to the Story

Well, not too much really. Part one started with Deadpool trying to kill Wolverine, probably because he was hired to. I think that’s it; the last two issues have been pure fighting pretty much, it seems like this is probably premeditated because Deadpool, at times, seems to have a plan. He did drop a piano on Wolverine though, and called him a Canucklehead; that should be all the leadup you need, right? This is Deadpool, it’s not supposed to make sense!

 

Plot Synopsis

Wolverine: Origins is written by Daniel Way. Very similar to the lead-up information I gave, this comic is about a fight between Deadpool and Wolverine, complete with Deadpool’s inner monologue, which seems to contain two voices. This multiple personality deal is unexplained, but humerous none the less. The fight itself was eagerly anticipated, because the only other time they met, as far as I know was in the Cable & Deadpool issue entitled “Wolverine & Deadpool,” in which the fight lasted all of…. one panel. Wade Wilson got decapitated, and well, that was it. In this issue, Wilson struggles to fend off the formidable Wolverine, while simultaneously dealing with the very minor problem of having his fingers removed. There is an odd scene in which we see someone walking into a room with a captain America costume lying on the bed, and then Wolverine gets hit with an explosion, something that he seems to deal with a lot. This brings up two problems for this reader. The first of which is that Wolverine’s healing factor seems to have skyrocketed in effectiveness recently, possibly due to the way it was portrayed in the movies. Secondly, it was a freaking explosion! That should do more than the slight cosmetic damage we’re shown, I know his healing factor has been put into overdrive for no known reason recently, but there should be more damage than that! The comic ends with both of them inflicting mortal wounds upon each other, and ending in a somewhat homoerotic pose, ‘dying’ in each other’s arms.

 

Art Critique

The artist for Wolverine: Origins is Steve Dillon, an accomplished artist who is well known for his work on Preacher and Hellblazer. Unfortunately, he just can’t seem to get Wolverine’s face right. It is apparent from the first few pages that there is something distinctly wrong about him. Most of the problem is in the eyes I think, or at least that’s where the problem starts. Wolverine is a damaged goods; he’s insane, he’s also calculating and methodical (they even address that in this issue), but he just doesn’t look it. He just either ends up looking happy, surprised, or constipated. This is all very unfortunate, and I am putting down Steve Dillon a lot, but be sure to understand, I do not dislike his art, everything else is very good, he just doesn’t seem to have gotten Wolverine’s face correct enough for me.

 

Is it Worth Buying?

If you have ever wanted to see the showdown between Wolverine and Deadpool, this, and the two issues before it, are worth purchasing, but otherwise, I would say “not really.” Nothing in this run of Origins really strikes me as fantastic, however, the under-par artwork is saved by Daniel Way’s incredibly good grasp on how Deadpool should be written, it’s funny, there’s a joke in the middle of a fight (which I stole and retold yesterday), and Deadpool is flinging around half-formed insults like it’s his…. Well, it kind of is his job, isn’t it?

My Reaction to the Recent Batman Comics

Usually I am partial to writing a full blown review of a comic if I want to share my feelings on it with all of you. The last two issues of Batman (673 and 674) certainly merit being reviewed; Grant Morrison is a phenomenal writer, and Tony Daniel does a fantastic job with the artwork, but to be honest I just didn’t get it. I was able to follow most of it, but I found myself skipping back pages, trying to figure out if there was something I had missed or not picked up on. I will admit however, that I am not the world’s largest wealth of knowledge when it comes to Batman, and that might be part of the issue here, but I have never had such a problem following the story before. This does seem to be what Morrison was going for though, as Batman himself appears to be incredibly confused by what is happening, and he is far more intelligent than I, or so I’ve been told. One thing that I was particularly upset by was that I could not tell at times who the speech bubble was directed at, and sometimes, the narration seemed to be part of the dialog maybe? Did anyone else find this? It may be that I am just missing something obvious.

Scrull Secret Invasion, who’s a liar?

With the secret invasion looming in the near future, I’ve been getting to thinking about who could be a Scrull.  Yeah, I know, me and everyone else who’s read a marvel comic in the last six months, right?  Specifically, conclusions I may have drawn in comic reviews, that may be viewed in a different way in the light of the secret invasion.  I said in my review yesterday that I love the writing that Brian Bendis has been doing, and he’s going to be writing the Secret Invasion series, according to Marvel.

Ares – in Incredible Hercules:
Here’s a  Scrull candidate if I ever saw one, and from there we can conclude that Hercules probably is not a Scrull; Ares is attempting to use SHIELD to eliminate a non-Scrull under the vise of sibling rivalry.  This is consistent with Ares’s attack on Wonder Man as well.

Namor – in The Sub-Mariner:
Namor, in hind sight is acting very strangely, evacuating Atlantis, teaming up with Dr. Doom, who may also be a Scrull, we can never know.  Although, these conclusions may not be as sound as they could be, because he did save the surface world from the secret sleeper cells, but if we consider that he has essentially positioned all of Atlantis to be a first wave in an invasion, we must always be cautious.

The Night Nurse – in New Avengers :
Very chummy with Jessica Jones, who made a Scrull baby, so we can be relatively sure that she is a scrull.  We’ve seen very little of her recently, other than being friendly with Mrs. Jones and sleeping with Dr. Strange.

More to come in the future, have your own theories?  Leave a comment!

Review: The New Avengers Annual, 2008

Lead-up to the Story

            If you have not been reading The New Avengers recently, you probably should.  I feel like I end up saying that a lot.  But the coming Scrull secret invasion story starting in April started in New Avengers.  Basically, the Scrulls are invading, not just the United States, but the whole world.  Several characters have already been revealed as scrulls, for a full listing, visit my friends over at Panels of Awesome for a full list.  Make sure to check out the Awesome Arena while you’re there!

 

Plot Synopsis

            Having just returned victorious, the New Avengers are jumped by the Hood and his new gang, who manage to break though Dr. Strange’s protection on his house.  A fight ensues, and true to his usual caliber, Brian Michael Bendis delivers an amazing fight scene, complete with witty dialogue that is true to each individual character.  I have talked about this before, in one of my Rapid Fire Review sessions.  Most writers can do one style, for example they can write Spider-man’s witty one-liners, or Luke Cage’s angry dialogue, but very few writers have the ability to make these different characters individual styles play of each other well.  Bendis really is one of the best writers that Marvel has at its disposal, and this makes New Avengers a great read.  Back to the storyline however, Dr. Strange was injured after his last confrontation with the Hood, and this time, it gets no better, Dr. Strange is shot, and must use dark and dangerous powers to finish off the intruders.  But SHIELD is watching, but in a strange, but not overly unexpected twist, Ms. Marvel lets them escape, even though it looks like her team could mutiny at any minute.  The book ends on that cliffhanger, as well as Jessica looking for sanctuary in Stark tower, with her baby, who we know is a scrull.

 

Art Critique

            Carlo Pagulayan is the penciler and Jeff Huet is the inker.  The art is busy, very busy, but not to the point that it is detracting from the story too much.  There is a lot going on in almost every panel, and it never seems to be overpowering.  To be honest though, and that’s something I strive for in these reviews, the sheer number of characters that are involved in the story is daunting; I encourage everyone that owns this comic book to open the front cover, and look at the number of characters listed there, all 36 of them.  Each fight panel has so much going on, it actually reminds me of a Where’s Waldo picture, there’s a lot going on, and you could just look for the main point of the action, but if you actually take the time to really look at what’s going on, you can see so much more.  This leads, in my opinion, to a greater appreciation of not only the art, but amount of effort and thought that the artists put into every comic. 

 

Is it Worth Buying?

            Usually for annuals, I would say no, but I highly recommend it, because annuals are usually pretty sweet.  This one however, ties in closely with the story, and looks like it will be important to fully understanding the secret invasion summer crossover.  So I would say yes it is worth buying on both accounts; important for understanding the overall Marvel storyline, and also for its own sheer enjoyment.

LOLcat Update, and a proposal

As I am currently out of town, and have not been able to reach the comic shop in the last two weeks, I’m going to do a lolcat update, from icanhascheezburger.  This one is possibly one of my favourites.  I’m thinking I might do a weekly posting of the best posting of that week, how would you guys think of that? I’m a little concerned that it might be a little too much of a departure of the stated theme of this blog.  That said, it might be a neat weekly update.  Today’s is one that I really really enjoy, definitely in my top favourites.

So, let me know what you think of this idea.

Review: Daredevil #105

Lead-up to the Story

This has been an eventful story in Daredevil, Hood and Mr. Fear have been at each other’s throats during a turf war. The hood has allied almost every B and C list villain, and the Fear has concocted a new drug that makes his thugs unstoppable, and unwaveringly loyal. To make matters worse, Fear got his hands on Milla, and drugged her. Milla then went crazy and pushed an innocent bystander into an oncoming train, killing her. She was then convicted and committed to a psych ward, as Matt Murdock struggles to keep Milla out of jail, and stop her from admitting to what she did (she’s still crazy), Daredevil has to focus on protecting Hell’s Kitchen.

 

Plot Synopsis

Ed Brubaker provides us with the final part of the six part story line, and with such a lot of buildup, he has to deliver or Daredevil will have just been a total flop. Daredevil, before this story arc, and even in the beginning of this one, was horrifically poor, as I referenced in a previous post of mine, when I claimed I was going to drop DD from my pull list, but gave it one last shot, and he delivered. In short, if this issue bombs, you can be sure that this series is going is lose some readership. Thankfully, it seems we can always count on Ed Brubaker to deliver the comic goods.

We discover, fairly early on in this issue than the turf war was really just a ploy by Mr. Fear to mess with Murdock, to try and push him over the edge, to mess with his wife, and to wreak havoc in Hell’s Kitchen, which Daredevil considers his personal responsibility. It seems to be working. As the previous five issues of this story arc consisted mostly of text, it was a breath of fresh air to have some serious action. Murdock squares off with Mr. Fear, who has seemingly drugged himself to make himself fearless. Despite this attempt at giving himself at an advantage, Daredevil still emerges victorious, and demands he cure Milla. But, much to his dismay, there is no cure, Milla is permanently doomed, good news for those who were not fans of Milla. Could Quesada be on a quest to kill off every romantic figure in the hero’s lives? Does he want all characters to be miserable like Peter Parker before MJ fell in love with him? We’ll have to wait and see, but the similarities are there.

 

Art Critique

Michael Lark, Paul Azaceta, and Stefano Gaudiano do a good job with the art. One might think that having three different colorist, and then an inker, Matt Hollingsworth, on top of that would lead to a very mismatched art style, but it doesn’t. It is done in a fairly bland, and simplistic style that fits the Daredevil franchise very well. Of course it is art, but I’m going to call it a very artistic style, using a very limited colour palate, and because of the limited palate, a strong and confident use of shading. All of these features give this comic a very powerful visage. The other day, when I did my review of The Incredible Hercules, I noted how almost every panel seemed to be filled with motion. Well, here the art style is almost the exact opposite, and was part of my decision to review this one; in Daredevil each panel seems to be entirely static, that is to say, frozen in time. Not just frozen in time, but frozen in high speed action. The fact that this issue is more action orientated really gives the artists the chance they have needed to be able to show off their abilities. Almost every panel is filled with a sense of urgency, and combining this with the more Spartan art style gives the impression that the action had paused for only a second, and the artist had to draw it that instant. It is done very well.

 

Is it Worth Buying?

If you have not been following Daredevil, I would say no, but start up with the next issue, and the new story arc. If you had been thinking about possibly dropping Daredevil from your pull list, I would very strongly urge you to read this issue and reconsider, because it really looks like things will be picking up in Hell’s Kitchen in the coming months.