DoctorFinger
01-18-2009, 10:37 AM
Welcome to Week One of the Official Colony of Gamers Comic Book Reviews
Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.
Colony of Gamer’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 2 – Week 1
Final Crisis #6 (of 7)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencillers: JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy & Doug Mahnke
Inkers: Christian Alamy & Jesus Merino
Colorists: Alex Sinclair & Pete Pantzasis
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.
Editor: Eddie Berganza
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/FC-6.jpg
How To Murder the Earth
After six issues I finally have the words to describe Final Crisis. It's a mash-up. Morrison taking most of Jack Kirby's 70s-era work for DC and remixing, sampling, blending it with his own work at DC. The result is like most mash-ups: some cool moments, but you'll never have a complete appreciation of the piece unless you're already deeply immersed in both feeder streams. Unfortunately the primary feeder stream here is 35 years old, and while the broad strokes - Darkseid, anti-life, Metron, etc, etc - are fairly well ingrained in the DCU, the details which are so much the focus here and are much less well known.
First up are the cool moments. Mr. Talky Tawny (the sentient tiger who pals around with the Marvel Family) gutting the now Tiger-esque Kalibak, and being acclaimed lord of Kalibak's tiger troops. Checkmate's plan, which involves escaping to a parallel earth if the superheroes fail. Luthor and Sivana (of all people) defeating Libra and beginning to free people from ant-life. And the big one, Batman (fresh from RIP and Last Rites) using the bullet which killed Orion back in issue 1 to shoot Darkseid before he's blasted by the Omega Sanction. Then you have the not-so-great stuff. The Flashes discussing how they have to outrun Death (in the form of the Black Racer) to defeat Daekseid. The inexplicable art errors which have turned Shilo Norman from Black to Asian, Jay Garrick from White to Albino Asian and Linda Park from Korean to Irish. Superman & Brainiac 5 in the future with the Miracle Machine (wha?), then Supes showing up at the end out of nowhere to (lovingly!) cradle the dessicated corpse of Batman. The whole is pretty densely packed but at the same time amazingly scatter shot. You're never 'watching' a scene for more than four pages at a time, and there are at least 6 different storylines running in just this issue. Oh yeah, and there's an implication here that the real menace is not Darkseid, but something beyond the walls of the Bleed. Introducing a new 'Big Bad' in the final issue? That's not good storytelling.
Bottom Line:
It's rare that I say this, but Final Crisis is so dense that it really needed a couple more issues to really spread it's wings. As is, it feels like a barely connected series of 'cool moments' spawning around a Jack Kirby homage.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
GI Joe #1 (an ongoing series)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: IDW Comics
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Penciller: Robert Atkins
Inker: Joe Clayton
Colorist: Andrew Crossley
Letterer: Chris Mowry
Editor: Andy Schmidt
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/GIJoe-1.jpg
It's a new publisher and a new day for GI Joe. How does it go? Not so great, unfortunately.
The bulk of the issue is spent sketching out the primary GI Joes. If you watched the cartoon as a kid you'll probably be familiar with most the main cast: Duke, Scarlett, Shipwreck, Snake-Eyes and Hawk, with Beachcomber, Dial Tone, Torpedo and Frostbite as secondary characters. You get a glimpse into their personalities and relationships, particularly the failed romance between Duke and Scarlett. Unfortunately the lion's share of the book is taken up with these personalities, and not enough time is given over to the conflict. A bit of mysterious technology his being shipped overseas. Tech that apparently takes the form of a super-soldier which decays shortly after activation. One of these dissolvo-bots takes out a cargo ship then (the same one? a different one? it wasn't clear) takes out an weapons dealer. The Joes salvage one of these bots, but don't know it yet.
Usually I'm in the camp of people who like a lot of character development, but this issue took it a bit too far. I know there's a threat out there - in the form of these dissolvo-bots - but it doesn't feel like a threat yet. Even a couple more pages devoted to building it up would have been nice. Oh yeah, did you notice the one word I haven't mentioned yet? That's right, Cobra. They're name-checked a couple of times as a name the intel has picked up, but they have no overt presence here. Part of the charm of a reboot like this is the anticipation of meeting certain characters and concepts which you know are coming, but Dixon seemed to take it a little too far this time. I want to see Cobra, and the absence was felt. Not a bad issue, and one which I'm sure will read better in sequence with the rest of the story arc, but as a stand alone story or as a #1 issue it missed the mark.
Bottom Line:
Dixon spends a lot of time setting up the personalities and relationships between the Joes, but the threat - the antagonist - is so shrouded in mystery it practically disappears. A little more time building whatever it is up as a threat and a little less on the soap opera romance and it would have been a better book.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
Hexed #1 (of 4)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Boom Studios
Writer: Michael Alan Nelson
Artist: Emma Rios
Colorist: Cris Peter
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Editor: Matt Gagnon
$3.99 (download it for free on MySpace, courtesy of Boom Studios (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=462133402))
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Hexed-1.jpg
Hexed is the story of Lucifer. Or, more precisely Luci Jennifer Inacio Das Neves. Luci is both a thief and a witch, using her skills to steal magical artifacts. But as is the norm, she's a thief with a heart of gold. She steals artifacts for an old woman named Val, Luci's only real friend in the world. She spends a night breaking into an oh-so-trendy club to retrieve a pair of angel wings, which were forcibly removed from their owner. Luci comes off as cynical, but also aware of her cynicism and she tries to hold onto as much of her innocence as possible. Newcomer Emma Rios does a very nice job on the art, giving everyone some very nice visual personality, although at times she seems to be trying too hard for the photorealism that's so in vogue lately. This is especially true when Luci comes home to find her old employer Dietrich pointing a gun at her. Dietrich deals in the bad side of magic, and Luci ran out on him after she discovered the book she was supposed to pinch was not in the clutches of a demon, but was being held by the sect of nuns dedicated to protecting it. Dietrich blackmail's her into one more job, a job that involves invading the realm of a demon lord.
Yeah, there's a real 'Buffy' vibe at times here. Young, female protagonist immersed in mystic crap the rest of the world thinks is a myth. It's a bit more cynical and dark than Buffy, but the comparison is not a bad one. Nelson only uses a few characters, but the primaries get a lot of 'screen time' and are consequently pretty fleshed out. The magic seems interestingly deep too, with Luci having to cut a hole in the corpse of a recently deceased fat guy to access the demon realm. The mysteries laid out, the interesting characters and the little glimpse of the world itself makes me want to come back. The fact that Boom is releasing the series for free online also helps a lot.
Bottom Line:
A fun mix of heist movie and teenage magic story.
CoG Says: "Love It!" (4 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png
Quick Hits
Action Comics #873 - So the New Krypton story ends pretty much exactly where we thought it would, with the 100,000 Kryptonians off the Earth (with a few exceptions) but still in a position to be a threat down the road. A good story, but it didn't live up to the hype
X-Infernus #2 - They're doing a good job making me feel for Magik/Illyana, but it still feels like it's missing something.
Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.
Colony of Gamer’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 2 – Week 1
Final Crisis #6 (of 7)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Pencillers: JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Marco Rudy & Doug Mahnke
Inkers: Christian Alamy & Jesus Merino
Colorists: Alex Sinclair & Pete Pantzasis
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.
Editor: Eddie Berganza
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/FC-6.jpg
How To Murder the Earth
After six issues I finally have the words to describe Final Crisis. It's a mash-up. Morrison taking most of Jack Kirby's 70s-era work for DC and remixing, sampling, blending it with his own work at DC. The result is like most mash-ups: some cool moments, but you'll never have a complete appreciation of the piece unless you're already deeply immersed in both feeder streams. Unfortunately the primary feeder stream here is 35 years old, and while the broad strokes - Darkseid, anti-life, Metron, etc, etc - are fairly well ingrained in the DCU, the details which are so much the focus here and are much less well known.
First up are the cool moments. Mr. Talky Tawny (the sentient tiger who pals around with the Marvel Family) gutting the now Tiger-esque Kalibak, and being acclaimed lord of Kalibak's tiger troops. Checkmate's plan, which involves escaping to a parallel earth if the superheroes fail. Luthor and Sivana (of all people) defeating Libra and beginning to free people from ant-life. And the big one, Batman (fresh from RIP and Last Rites) using the bullet which killed Orion back in issue 1 to shoot Darkseid before he's blasted by the Omega Sanction. Then you have the not-so-great stuff. The Flashes discussing how they have to outrun Death (in the form of the Black Racer) to defeat Daekseid. The inexplicable art errors which have turned Shilo Norman from Black to Asian, Jay Garrick from White to Albino Asian and Linda Park from Korean to Irish. Superman & Brainiac 5 in the future with the Miracle Machine (wha?), then Supes showing up at the end out of nowhere to (lovingly!) cradle the dessicated corpse of Batman. The whole is pretty densely packed but at the same time amazingly scatter shot. You're never 'watching' a scene for more than four pages at a time, and there are at least 6 different storylines running in just this issue. Oh yeah, and there's an implication here that the real menace is not Darkseid, but something beyond the walls of the Bleed. Introducing a new 'Big Bad' in the final issue? That's not good storytelling.
Bottom Line:
It's rare that I say this, but Final Crisis is so dense that it really needed a couple more issues to really spread it's wings. As is, it feels like a barely connected series of 'cool moments' spawning around a Jack Kirby homage.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
GI Joe #1 (an ongoing series)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: IDW Comics
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Penciller: Robert Atkins
Inker: Joe Clayton
Colorist: Andrew Crossley
Letterer: Chris Mowry
Editor: Andy Schmidt
$3.99
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/GIJoe-1.jpg
It's a new publisher and a new day for GI Joe. How does it go? Not so great, unfortunately.
The bulk of the issue is spent sketching out the primary GI Joes. If you watched the cartoon as a kid you'll probably be familiar with most the main cast: Duke, Scarlett, Shipwreck, Snake-Eyes and Hawk, with Beachcomber, Dial Tone, Torpedo and Frostbite as secondary characters. You get a glimpse into their personalities and relationships, particularly the failed romance between Duke and Scarlett. Unfortunately the lion's share of the book is taken up with these personalities, and not enough time is given over to the conflict. A bit of mysterious technology his being shipped overseas. Tech that apparently takes the form of a super-soldier which decays shortly after activation. One of these dissolvo-bots takes out a cargo ship then (the same one? a different one? it wasn't clear) takes out an weapons dealer. The Joes salvage one of these bots, but don't know it yet.
Usually I'm in the camp of people who like a lot of character development, but this issue took it a bit too far. I know there's a threat out there - in the form of these dissolvo-bots - but it doesn't feel like a threat yet. Even a couple more pages devoted to building it up would have been nice. Oh yeah, did you notice the one word I haven't mentioned yet? That's right, Cobra. They're name-checked a couple of times as a name the intel has picked up, but they have no overt presence here. Part of the charm of a reboot like this is the anticipation of meeting certain characters and concepts which you know are coming, but Dixon seemed to take it a little too far this time. I want to see Cobra, and the absence was felt. Not a bad issue, and one which I'm sure will read better in sequence with the rest of the story arc, but as a stand alone story or as a #1 issue it missed the mark.
Bottom Line:
Dixon spends a lot of time setting up the personalities and relationships between the Joes, but the threat - the antagonist - is so shrouded in mystery it practically disappears. A little more time building whatever it is up as a threat and a little less on the soap opera romance and it would have been a better book.
CoG Says: "Borrow It!" (3 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG3.png
Hexed #1 (of 4)
Reviewed By: Michael "Doctor Finger" Chauvet
Publisher: Boom Studios
Writer: Michael Alan Nelson
Artist: Emma Rios
Colorist: Cris Peter
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Editor: Matt Gagnon
$3.99 (download it for free on MySpace, courtesy of Boom Studios (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=92159514&blogID=462133402))
http://colonyofgamers.com/images/comics/Hexed-1.jpg
Hexed is the story of Lucifer. Or, more precisely Luci Jennifer Inacio Das Neves. Luci is both a thief and a witch, using her skills to steal magical artifacts. But as is the norm, she's a thief with a heart of gold. She steals artifacts for an old woman named Val, Luci's only real friend in the world. She spends a night breaking into an oh-so-trendy club to retrieve a pair of angel wings, which were forcibly removed from their owner. Luci comes off as cynical, but also aware of her cynicism and she tries to hold onto as much of her innocence as possible. Newcomer Emma Rios does a very nice job on the art, giving everyone some very nice visual personality, although at times she seems to be trying too hard for the photorealism that's so in vogue lately. This is especially true when Luci comes home to find her old employer Dietrich pointing a gun at her. Dietrich deals in the bad side of magic, and Luci ran out on him after she discovered the book she was supposed to pinch was not in the clutches of a demon, but was being held by the sect of nuns dedicated to protecting it. Dietrich blackmail's her into one more job, a job that involves invading the realm of a demon lord.
Yeah, there's a real 'Buffy' vibe at times here. Young, female protagonist immersed in mystic crap the rest of the world thinks is a myth. It's a bit more cynical and dark than Buffy, but the comparison is not a bad one. Nelson only uses a few characters, but the primaries get a lot of 'screen time' and are consequently pretty fleshed out. The magic seems interestingly deep too, with Luci having to cut a hole in the corpse of a recently deceased fat guy to access the demon realm. The mysteries laid out, the interesting characters and the little glimpse of the world itself makes me want to come back. The fact that Boom is releasing the series for free online also helps a lot.
Bottom Line:
A fun mix of heist movie and teenage magic story.
CoG Says: "Love It!" (4 out of 5 Cogs)
http://www.colonyofgamers.com/images/CoG4.png
Quick Hits
Action Comics #873 - So the New Krypton story ends pretty much exactly where we thought it would, with the 100,000 Kryptonians off the Earth (with a few exceptions) but still in a position to be a threat down the road. A good story, but it didn't live up to the hype
X-Infernus #2 - They're doing a good job making me feel for Magik/Illyana, but it still feels like it's missing something.