Assorted Reviews (Because Something Needs To Go Here)

I went through a week and a half with no air-conditioning in my apartment. That led to less blogging for two reasons: the laptop overheated too often and comic-book-related thoughts had no chance of pushing out angry thoughts about a property management team that couldn't manage to fix the issue within a day or two.

I'll be getting back on the regular posting thing, but in order to put something up now, I'm going to share the pellet reviews I've done for the Best Shots team over the last few weeks.

Brightest Day #1 (Published by DC Comics): When #0 came out, I was fairly critical of it. I felt it jumped around haphazardly and had no flow to it. Whatever it was trying to do, it didn’t seem that successful at it. But issue #1? Much better. In his BSA of the issue, Troy Brownfield draws a favorable comparison between BD & 52…and I couldn’t agree more. This is due to fixing many of the problems in the #0 issue. Deadman seems more like a character and is used less clumsily as a transitional tool. We’re given a better sense of what the cast is going to encounter in the series. We’re shown that there’s something more than just observing a day in the lives of the characters going on here, which is better than what we were given in the initial issue.

Brightest Day #3 (Published by DC Comics): There’s something about how the different segments of this issue were weaved together that was not entirely satisfying. Each bit feels less substantial than the number of pages devoted to it suggest it should be. Without using Deadman as an obvious tool of the story, it seems like the team is unable to or unwilling (for some unknown reason) to make all of the scenes read like parts of an overarching story rather than a weirdly structured anthology title with possibly one too many stories than it can service in the room available. Which isn’t to say the book isn’t enjoyable. It manages to be well illustrated and entertaining enough to be worth purchasing and continuing to follow, despite the nagging feeling that it could be better executed.

Mighty Crusaders Special #1 (Published by DC Comics): If you can get over the feeling that this was made into a special just to be able to milk an additional #1 out of the upcoming series, it is an enjoyable read as a primer on the Red Circle characters. There are several writers involved in this special, but only one pencil artist…and you come away with the sense that it benefited from both of those creative choices. Each of the Red Circle characters seems to have their strong/unique voice (possibly made easier by the team of writers vs a single writer from the previous series), while a single artist helps make for a consistency to the visuals that was sorely needed. If more of the Red Circle titles had this type of artwork, I’d hazard a guess that they might have been more successful , ironically keeping this special from ever being needed.

The Matriarch #1 (Published by Arcana Studios): Richardson & Yarbrough craft a pretty enjoyable new character: a single mom, trying to balance raising her son with being a super-heroine and working for an ad agency. It’s a good, solid read, though, through the first chapter, that wasn’t my initial opinion. In that chapter, there seemed to be a rush to get as many of the character’s little hooks out on to the page as quickly as possible. While the urge is understandable (or would have been if there wasn’t so much room left in the book), it really hurts the character’s chance to naturally grow on the reader. Thankfully, the second chapter has a much better flow to it. It isn’t perfect, as the idea behind what the protagonists are fighting against could be more clearly defined, but we learn about the characters in a much more organic way than the prior chapter. The third chapter more closely resembles the first than the second, but creators were successful enough in the middle of the book for the good will to transfer through to the end. It’s worth a read if you can snag a copy. (edit: I didn't realize this had previously been a webcomic at the time of review)

Stunning What?!?!

I didn't realize this when I finished reading the book, but it hit me much later.

BLACKEST NIGHT: BATMAN #3 of 3

Solicitation reading: "The stunning conclusion arrives!"

While I will grant them stunning (albeit not in the way they meant), I call bullshit on conclusion. A conclusion suggests the end to a story. The issue in question doesn't present an ending, but a really questionable dodge to buy more time for the heroes without even wrapping up the character-specific-zombie subplot.

You'd have expected the mini-series to completely deal with the Blackest Night Grayson/Drake subplots...rather than have them fly away into the night.

Now I can look forward, with dread, to the Blackest Night: Superman final issue set to be in my box, where the subplot will, undoubtedly, fly up, up and away.

DC Comics: Blackest Night In August

I've been slacking on the blog, lately. I can't really blame it on work getting in the way, because I've done more blogging with a much more hectic schedule. Regardless, I'm planning on making this a daily thing again starting now.

With that out of the way, I'm...at work. Waiting for the project to get under way, I figured I'd compose an entry via e-mail. Stupid internet filters keeping me from Blogger. Images will follow the text entry and be corrected to go with each proper entry later this evening.

In August, DC is dominated by Blackest Night. This brings no complaints from me, as I've been looking forward to it for a long time. As we're discussing solicitations, you don't want to read further if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Nothing outside of what is in the solicitations will be stated.

Blackest Night: Superman #1

The Shane Davis cover is a striking image and a bit unexpected for me. Jonathan Kent isn't THIS Superman's dad, so I wouldn't necessarily expect that would be a target of his. The interiors are going to be by Eddy Barrows, which isn't everyone's favorite choice, but I think he'll exceed expectations. For all the grief I've given James Robinson for his writing since returning, I've been converted to a believer again. The World of Krypton stuff is reading very nicely. I'll give him a mulligan on that Atlas arc from this point on and try not to bring it up again.

Blackest Night: Titans #1

While I'm not thrilled with the proliferation of tie-in mini-series for this event, JT Krul has supposedly been consulting Geoff Johns on this (meaning it may avoid being a completely unnecessary riff) and has shown a lot of enthusiasm in his interviews. I would have to say I'm more concerned about Ed Benes on the book. His habit of posing characters for excessive T&A shots can be very distracting. I'm hoping he'll avoid doing that with a Black Lantern Terra.

Blackest Night: Batman #1

This mini screams of cash-in more than the other two, despite it being Peter Tomasi handling the scripts. I've been very impressed by his past work and he's obviously deep into the Blackest Night plans, having handled the run-up on the Green Lantern Corps series. But Deadman, "cries of the dead rising" and Black Lantern Flying Graysons, while possibly making for a good story, don't seem like they'll handle an intregal plot point for the event or move it forward in any noticeable way. I've yet to encounter any Adrian Saef artwork that I'm aware of, so that's a completely unknown quantity. I'd like to assume that putting him on a Blackest Night AND Batman book means he's a great talent...but I've been burned by that sort of thinking before. I'll still pick this up on the strength of Tomasi's previous work.

Blackest Night #2

Yeah...vague solicitation. Almost no point in having one: it has nothing to sell the issue in it and, honestly, doesn't need to anyway. At this time, retailers are aware this is going to be something big and their existing customers have already communicated in some way what their level of interest is in the book. The only thing that would necessitate a solicitation would be to express that some Spider-Man unmasking or Captain America catching a bullet with his chest level stuff is going to happen. Maybe if this was Marvel, it would have just read "Nuff Said!" and been done with it.

Green Lantern #45

While the idea of seeing the non-green factions go at each other (rather than this being driven completely by the Guardians' gang) piques my interest, zombie Sinestro Corps cannon fodder doesn't. I'm not complaining, because we've certainly known that not every Black Lantern was going to be a marquee character. Just saying it does nothing to amp my excitement to see the issue. Then again, with Geoff Johns & Doug Mahnke on it...I didn't really need to be amped further. The John Stewart/Katma Tui bit is worth looking forward to, assuming they can give it the space it needs to be effective.

Green Lantern Corps #39

In what may seem contradictory, I am excited by the idea of Green Lanterns being revived in Black to go at their former colleagues. The reason is this: we know and care about many of the living Lanterns and even a few of the dead ones. There's not nearly as much emotional weight to a fallen Sinestro Corps member fighting against a live one, since we don't know them or their relationships nearly as well. I know some of them have been given personalities as Mongul was establishing his control of the group, but that's still far from where we stand with the GLC and its diseased members. I think Tomasi and Gleason tend to do "all hell breaking loose" pretty well, on top of that.

SCHWAPP!!! Encore: Black Adam: The Dark Age Review

One of my weaker attempts to put more of a multimedia twist on my vlogging. Still, it reviews the whole of the Black Adam: The Dark Age back when it was only available in single issues. Now it is out in a paperback form, is still a great piece of work by Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke, and still carries a SCHWAPP!!! guarantee that you'll love it.

SCHWAPP!!! Special: Black Adam: The Dark Age Review

***do not adjust audio until review begins***
***the music is designed to play much lower than the review***

In this installment, we take a look at one of the best mini-series of the past year, BLACK ADAM: THE DARK AGE (from DC Comics).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Adam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Mahnke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Tomasi

SCHWAPP Comics Vlog Week 20

Hey Kids, Vlogs!

This week's reviews are up. I might drop some nuggets during the week, but this is the only guaranteed vlogging for the moment.

Nightwing: The second issue of the new creative team, Peter Tomasi and Rags Morales. How good is it? Well, I'm constantly checking eBay for a bronzed Tomasi keyboard, if that's any hint.



Teen Titans Year One: The second issue of yet another updating of classic stories. What does this one add? Other than amazing Kerschl art, IMs, and text messaging, the answer is: not a lot.



Justice Society & Infinity Inc: Two books. Two families. One is a functional melting pot and the other is a dysfunctional mess. View the vlog and see which one comes out best, in my estimation.