Batman and Robin #14

          I thought my subscriptions had ended for this series, but then this arrived in the mail. I absolutely hated the previous issue, It was one of the worst things I've ever had the misfortune of reading. I hated the plot, the art the writing, I vented to one of my friends about it for an hour straight. I didn't like that Pyg was in it, I didn't like defacing Thomas Wayne, and even suggesting that Joker wants to repent and become a hero was just distasteful.
          In this issue, you find out that "Thomas Wayne" is actually the "Black Glove" (whoever that is) and he tortures Pyg into joining his side, against Batman the Joker kidnaps and beats Robin. Joker puts Robin up for ransom, so that he can have Batman stop Pyg and the Black Glove. Pyg and BG capture commissioner Gordon and are giving him a contagious narcotic when Batman comes in and joker gas' some people.
          I hated the last issue, but I loved this one, and I now understand the last one. Morrison and Irving are doing something really good. They are showing Gotham in as realistic a way as possible. It's villains, and the heroes. This has been tried before, several times. It has never worked out perfectly, Frank Millar's Daredevil did it pretty well, you can argue that Batman the Dark Knight Returns, and Strikes again did it well to, but this is done particularly well. I didn't like his work with Arkham Asylum, it looked like he was trying too hard, but he's doing a much better job with this one.
         He did a great job with the Joker in this issue, especially when he said he liked a Robin that brought his own crowbar. That and Morrison of course made him more realistic. So now that I understand what Morrison is doing with this arc, I like it a lot. This arc is a must buy.




Grade: 9/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

secret Avengers #4

         I really don't like this series that much. I absolutely loved the first issue, but then it got very boring, and when a Sci-Fi space cop, mutant a norse god, and a super soldier is boring, then you know something's not right. Also I was very upset that Brubraker didn't use Nova to his full potential. Even though I think he is very much a knock off of Green Lantern, he still has some interesting things about him. When he's the villain and not even used in the way I want at all (he's one of the things that attracted me to this series) it's just a disappointment.
        In this issue Steve Rogers put on the Nova helmet and used it to fight the actual Nova. That and Ant Man tries to stop a bunch of suicide bombers from hitting mars.
        The fight scene between Nova and Rogers was great, but unfortunately that was the best part of the comic. When a comic has something as controversial as suicide bombers, and the best part of the comic were two Sci-Fi figures fighting, then you know that you aren't using the comics full potential. Besides those two things the comic was very, very boring.
        The art was great, it had the seriousness of the Captain America, but it wasn't too dark.
        I might pick up the next issue because I'm curious to hear about why Nick Furry was there, but after this story arc is really complete, I'm done with this series for a while, I have enough comic series to keep up with I don't need one that I really just am bored with. I'll probably pick it up in a couple of arcs when Brubaker has his stuff together, and has the basic gist of the series, until then I'm done. The series had so much potential, but it ended up just being boring.
       This is an issue that isn't really bad, but I won't recommend it. I did like how the cover matched the Avengers cover. (see Avengers #4 review)






Grade: 4/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Amazing Spiderman #641

          This is the concluding issue of One Moment in time. This is some of the greatest writing, and story telling I've ever seen. As I've said before Spiderman was created to be entertaining, not just his wall climbing alter ego, but also the nerdy, teenaged, photogropher. Now he's not nerdy or a teenager, and he's not really a photographer, but his alter Peter Parker is supposed to be just as interesting as Spiderman, and thats why I love this arc.
          In this issue Doctor Strange consults with Ironman and Reed Richards, and they find a way to hit the "cosmic reset button." MJ is alive and well, Aunt May is fine, everything is back to the way it should be, but MJ is upset that Peter didn't let her forget, she wanted to forget. So finally MJ and Peter (back in the present) decide to be friends and move on with their lives.
          I really like the use of Doctor Strange, it's a believable way to put everything back to where it was. Sometimes when writers try to put things back to where they were, writers come up with some very convenient way, like Doc Strange had some magic time elixir. It was Tony Stark and his conflicting moral views with it that really did it for me. That's what made this sound genuine. Plus it was interesting. I also liked that MJ wanted to forget, that also made it better. Stark and MJ was the difference between this being a kids book and a serious comic.
         I'm very interested to see how this efects the sereis, and the character, now that they (MJ and Peter) have gotten this off their chests, I'm very curious to see what changes. On top of that, both styles of art were done really well in this series. And even on top of that this is a great cover. I'm exited to see the next story arc, and the rest of the series.
        This was a great arc, and it ends with a fantastic issue, that can only lead to better ones. This is a must buy.
        




Grade: 10/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Avengers #4

          This has been a solid series. Although It has been a little confusing, but when there is a brake in the time stream, thats all you can really expect. I'm very happy that John Romita Jr. is drawing this series, I  love his work, he's a great artist. I do like this arc, but I'm exited for the next story arc, when things have calmed down a little.
          In this issue Wolverine, Noh-Varr, Captain America and Ironman are in the future, and the rest of the Avengers are in the present. The man who appeared last issue is apparently an old friend of Spiderman named John Killraven, who was shot back in time and now is slowly coming back. The team that went to the future are knocked out and brought to the old Hulk, and an old Tony Stark, Hulk is holding Ironman and the future Ironman is about to stab him.
         First off, I have to address the cover, nothing was bad about it, it's just so close to the cover of Secret Avengers #4 (review coming soon) If that was done on purpose, cool, if it was done by accident, I guess it's still cool.
        In every issue that has been in this series so far, Bendis writes an okay comic, and then at the end he has a scene that makes the comic so much better. This one definitely had that. The rest of the story was okay, it was just one weird thing after the next, and when that happens there are to many thing going on the plot gets to complicated, I get confused and suddenly the comic doesn't live up to its potential. I could have done without  John Killraven, and just getting rid of that would have made this comic, and this series much better.
        So right now there is a huge, uncontrollable battle in the future, and there is a huge, uncontrollable battle in the present. I wish that Bendis would focus on the future more. His sections about the present were dull. They should be there, otherwise people would wonder what happened, but I just wish Bendis would focus just a little more on the future.
        This issue was a disappointment, last issue was the best issue in the series, and this I'm afraid is the worst one. The future stuff was good, actually it was great, there just wasn't enough of it, and the rest of the comic was complicated and boring. Buy this one if you really, really want to, but otherwise don't waste your money.
       Just one more thing, on the next issues cover there is a picture of Vision, I really hope he's not just on the cover and then doesn't appear in the comic, but if he does appear in the comic, it's going to be really good. I'm very exited for the next issue but this one was a disappointment.



Grade: 5/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Namor #1

            

             Curse of the Mutants is another comic event like Shadowland, however the there is a difference. Shadowland is flawless, and I do have some doubts about how good Curse of the Mutants will turn out to be. So far this and X-Men are the only Curse of the Mutants stories I've read. The X-Men series has been satisfactory not great, but not bad. I'm surprised not to see Janus (see review of Death of Dracula) in the X-Men series yet, and I also am wondering when the Brotherhood is going to make an apperance. When both of those things happen the event will become so much better, because then there would be no loose ends, and everything's better when it has the Brotherhood in it.          In this issue Namor is trying to find the head of Dracula which is underwater being protected by the Aqueos. (AKA: underwater vampires) He runs across a group of rogue soldiers called the Tridents. They bring back to body of Namor's old general. They all go looking for the head, they find it, and now they are fighting their way out.
        I really love the art in this story. A lot of times Namor stories just look like normal stories with a blue background. Olivetti did the art, and he found a way to make the book have a very aquatic feel to it. When you look at the page it feels very aquatic, cool, and (for a loss of a better word) floaty. The basic story its self was kind of " been there done that." Man goes in search of treasure that will help him in a bigger cause and other people die to help him. The writing was what made up for that. Stuart Moore voiced Namor very well he gave him the "I hate everything and everyone around me" kind of feel to Namor, which he should have. Plus Namor's dialogue was good, there was never really a dull moment in this comic, which is a good thing.
         Overall this comic was a little more than satisfactory, and I will recommend it, but not highly. It's a buy if you want to, if you'r really not interested don't waste your time.
        




Grade: 7.5/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Legion of Super-Heroes #4

           This series has been just okay, over all I'd say that this series has been a disappointment. It had the Legion and the Green Lantern Corps and even though I like Sci-Fi they were the Green Lantern Corps and Legion of Superheroes which just kind of overloaded the comic so that I got confused, and I couldn't figure  out what was happening with Earth-Man, so it was just a big mess.
        In this issue Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl find their kids on Avanlon, which is now being ruled by some Darkside worshiping cultists. Earth-Man rejects an offer to kill all of the Titan refugese. The legion decides they need a new leader and schedeled a vote to kick Cosmic Boy out. Sodam Yat sends the new Guardian thing to find a new member of the corps.
          The best issue of the series. I wouldn't say it's a jumping on point which is a shame because this comic is really good, but if you haven't been fallowing this series so far you would probably be lost. I like the thing that is happening with Sodam Yat, it just took me a couple issues to warm up to it. I also really liked the Darkside worshipers, it makes sense (well... as much sense as any Sci-Fi thing can) an all pwerful being, those tend to have worshipers. Plus it made for a great fight scene between the cultests and Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, and Lightning Lass.
        I found the Earth-Man plot a little predictable, but I was surprised how great Levitz made it. I knew that he was going to pick the Legion over the Corps (other wise the character wouldn't even be in the series) but Levitz found away to make him go from the absolutely evil person who everyone hated, to a loose canon that could possibly be a really cool character. He's kind of like the Guy Gardner of the Legion.
      I really, really liked the art in this issue. The fight scene was drawn great, the polliticle scenes were also done great, and every other kind of scene in this issue was just great. I;m not a big fan of the covor, but the cover only matters so much.
       Overall this was a great issue, I wouldn't start here, but based on how great this was I would deffinently start reading when the next story arc starts.





Grade: 10/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Shadowland #3

          Shadow land is without a doubt in my mind my favorite mini since the Civil War. I used to read a lot of Daredevil but I stopped when he got involved with the Hand. I wanted him to be like the vigilantly that he was before, not the head of a group of ninja assassins. So naturally Shadowland would appeal to me , I hope that this is what bring Daredevil away from the hand, and so far Marvel is doing it in a way that is just so fantastic. Shadowland is written and drawn beautifully, and it includes some B list characters that I never get around to reading about, but I still find them interesting. (ex. Ghost Rider, Punisher)
         In this issue Daredevil and the Hand are still fighting Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Spiderman and a whole bunch of different fighters. Punisher comes in and starts shooting at every one giving the fighters time to escape.  Later Master Izo comes in and reveals a secret about Daredevil. Meanwhile Moon Knight and Ghost Rider destroy all the ninjas in the Shadowland prison and all the prisoners escape, and at the end Daredevil goes to resurrect Bullseye when someone else enters the picture.
        Another stellar issue. I have said before I hate it when issues are just giant fight scenes, and I was ready to take away from this issues grade for it, but I went back and read it again, and really there isn't that much fight scene, and I thought that was great. I think I might of gotten confused because the comic had such a fast pace. The fight scene was interesting and just plain cool, and the rest of the book was interesting and just plain cool. The secret was not my favorite thing, what happened was Diggle wrote the story, and now he needs to fix Daredevil as fast as possible. It could have been worse, but it could have been better. With each issue Daredevil just becomes different. He became evil when he killed Bullseye, then even more so when he ordered the Hand to kill the Fighters, and now he's bringing back Bullseye so that he will be loyal to the Hand. That is just a perfect order. I forgot to mention that I wanted Diggle to bring Bullseye back but I wanted him to do it in away that wasn't too fake, like Luke Cage made it to the hospital and the doctors saved Bullseye. I think the way that he's coming back is really good.
     So this issue was still really good, but I cant give it a ten out of ten because of an error with the secret that Master Izo said, but it is still a great comic and I recommend it highly.



Grade: 9.5 /10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Detective Comics #868

          I've said it a thousand times, but I'm going to say it again, I love the Batman villains. So naturally copycats interest me. The previous issue was pretty good, it wasn't the best thing I had ever read, but I'm glad I picked it up. So I wanted to continue with the story arc.
         In this issue the Jokerz are still  in the streets. But where there are copy cat Jokers there are copy cat Batmen. So now there is a war between the Guardian Bats (who use guns) and the Jokerz.  Batman tries the Joker gas so he can see how it feels, and then the head of the Jokerz announces free money day. Then we find out a plan that the Jokerz have to hide the gas in pharmaceuticals.
        Free money day, and hiding the gas (in what I think was) pharmaceuticals, that is exactly what the Joker did in Batman. (the one with Jack Nicholson, and Michael Keaton) If that was done on purpose I think that is pretty cool, because it's a copy cat Joker, lets have a copy cat Joker crime. But if that was done by accident, then that ruins the comic, if it's just a complete copy off the movie then I've lost all respect for David Hine. I thought the Guardian Bats were okay, I've seen things like that hundreds of times, but when there's a copy cat Joker, there is a copy cat Batman.
        The scene where Batman tries the Joker venom was fantastic, he's been fighting the Joker for years, trying to get inside his head, and now he knows how he feels, the only thing that would have made that better, is if Bruce Wayne was alive, and he's the one that went through that. Plus it would be cool to see that done in more serious art. But for the most part I really like the art.
         Scot McDaniel's pencils and Guy Major's color were both great in this issue, they captured and enhanced the insanity that was shown in this comic. You have people dressing up as clowns and going on crime sprees, and then you have people dressing up as bats, and killing the clowns. That is just plain crazy, and the art really magnified it.
        I can't really grade this comic because I don't know if what David Hine did was on purpose or not, and just hearing that would be the difference between a great comic and an awful one, so I can't grade it, but I'll recommend buying it.



Grade: N/A/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Freedom Fighters #1

             I've been waiting for a Freedom Fighters series since Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters was canceled a couple of years ago. The Freedom Fighters are severely underplayed characters and I'm glad that they are finally getting the publicity they deserve, as well as an ongoing series.
             In this issue Black Condor and Firebrand battle some white supremacists called the Arayan Brigade, at the same time the Human Bomb is trying to blow up an inhabited asteroid, and while that is happening Ray and Phantom Lady are fighting some weird thing that is like Starro but it is like a bunch of gunk. Once all of those have been handled someone kidnaps the Vice President, and the President sends the Freedom Fighters in to rescue her.
             In the past I have talked a lot about starting in the middle of a series, but this issue is a great starting issue, it says hey were back, all of the characters are included (unless they decide to bring back Doll Man, which would make me very happy, and continue the idea that this was a good starting arc) and it was interesting. There were parts of this issue that were just a little too "campy" for my liking, but that only happened once or twice in some small insignificant part of the comic. I thought that Palmiotti did really just a great job defining the characters in the first issue. It showed that Phantom Lady was some kind of party girl, it showed Uncle Sam's love for his country, it brought back the jokes that were always made about how scary the Human Bomb actually is, so it brought back the characters that I love, and did it without missing a beat. Just like in the Civil War, and some recent Captain America issues, I really like the political implications in this comic, they were only for a page or two and they weren't drawn out, so it was enough to make this a well rounded comic between serious, interesting, fun, and just an introduction.
              This issue was pretty good, even if you haven't heard of the Freedom Fighters before this would be a fine starting point for anyone, plus its just a good comic.



Grade: 8/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Wolverine #1

            I like the X-Men, I always have. Among my favorite characters is Wolverine. Although to be honest I wasn't too exited about this series but I saw it at the comic store and decided to pick it up.
           There are so many Marvel events happening I have difficulty keeping them straight. There is Curse of the Mutants, Shadowland, and now there is Wolverine Goes to Hell. There is one good thing about having all of those events, and that I like all of them. Shadowland is flawless, Curse of the Mutants is really good, and now I'm going to talk about Wolverine goes to Hell.
            In this issue Logan pays weekly visits to paster Wraith, and one day he doesn't come. Instead his demon possessed body comes and burns down the church that Wraith worked at killing several people. Wolverine's sole is in hell, and a bunch of people came after Wolverine's girlfriend , who is then rescued by Mystique.
            I do like this arc, but if I were Jason Aaron I wouldn't start with an arc where your main character is already dead. Other than that  this comic was pretty good.  The art was very well done, it had a sort of "sketchy" feel to it that made the comic more enjoyable. I liked that Wraith was in this issue, the only time I've seen him before was in Wolverine Origins, and I really didn't like that movie, so this was a good, successful redemption move. On top of all that I thought Guedes depiction of a kind of classic hell was done really well, I've seen it before when artists try to over complicate demons or hell and it ends up looking really bad, but this was done well.
        So this issue was good, not great, good. It was good for Wraith, and the art was amazing, the story was okay but placed badly, and the actual Wolverine was barely in the issue. Again it was good not great.




Grade: 6/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Shadow Land #2

           Shadow Land one was one of the best comics I've ever read. I really liked the story, art, panels, dialogue, and... well just everything about it.  I really hope that Shadowland is what it will take to put Daredevil back to the state is was in a couple years ago.
           In this issue Moon Knight puts himself in prison so that he can infiltrate Daredevil's castle. Kingpin goes to Luke Cage and Iron Fist because he wants Daredevil taken out as well. Then he goes home and summons something that brakes everyone who was in Daredevil's prison, out. At the end Luke Cage, Iron Fist and others go to talk to Daredevil, which turns into a fight.
          This issue was just as good as the previous one. Daredevil did look like a oppressive tyrant last issue, but this time it was very thick. As I've said before I enjoy when authors take a brake from fights and add something else, weather it be some more character insight, development, or personal conflict. All of those are included in Shadow Land. Diggle voiced all of his characters. Sometimes it's just perfect. In this issue the standout was Kingpin. He sounded like he should, and was just the perfect amount of stuck up that he should have been. That and I alway love the funny banter that comes via Spiderman, and in this issue it was great. I've only seen the banter done flawlessly in two series, surprisingly not in Amazing Spiderman. The two series are Shadow Land, and Avengers. I want a little more Spiderman in both of those series.
          Story wise this comic was mainly fallowing Luke Cage and Iron Fist. I really didn't know much about them until I looked them up a couple of days ago, but Diggle did a good job with them in this series. This is the issue where Daredevil goes totally over the edge, and I really like that, because even though I want Marvel to go in the other direction, I can see a path that gets rid of Black Daredevil and brings back the classic red one, but not the sort of path where DD sees the error of his ways and comes into the light again.
         I was shocked to read that some people didn't like Shadowland, and I advise you to disregard all bad reviews for this comic or any other issue in this series and read them.



Grade: 10/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Green Arrow #3

          This series has been beyond disappointing. For some reason Krul keeps mixing up Robin Hood and Green Arrow. I really which he would stop that, because it's been going over the top.
So Krul's writing has been amateur at best, plus he's messing up the story, and on top of that he can't even figure out what character he's writing for.
           In this issue, some guy named Galahad, from King Arthur's round table dips Ollie into a pond that was in the forest and saves him. Why he's in the pond he comest to a realization that his worst enemy is himself, so that to survive he has to fight himself. After that you get a little bit on some health organization sending the rich people a message by killing someone when he was opening a hotel. After that there is a little more on Rochev.
           Well, the writing is still bad, the story was okay, and Krul still doesn't know who his character is. When Galahad came out I was very disappointed. Krul tried to mix the stories of King Arthur and Robin Hood in this issue, the only problem is, is that Ollie Queen is the Green Arrow, not Robin Hood.
          I was very upset with the way that Green Arrow survived, because he should have been dead before Galahad even reached that pond. I wish it was something like he did die, but then he met Deadman or some other white entity thing, in heaven, and that sent him back. (If you think of something else please comment) Although I did like the scene where he was fighting with himself. I thought that was the best part of the story, it was written pretty well and drawn very well, so I liked that a lot.
         I felt like the Rochev thing was rushed. This woman is taking over, what is practically and empire because of something, and Krul spends around six panels on it. I know that could have been much, much more elaborate, but at least it closed that door.
           So over all this was another disappointment, and this series is still really bad, and I'm not renewing my subscription at this rate, but I did like the cover.



Grade: 4/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com