Wizards World Comic Resources

By: Duane Swierczynski (writer), Javier Pina (artist), June Chung (colorist)

The Story: Just when you think you know a guy, he turns out to be a secret killer agent.

The Review: Some would argue that the real measure of a great superhero is a great supervillain, and that seems pretty true.  You can’t really think of any of the giants—Batman, Superman, Captain America, Spider-Man—without simultaneously thinking of their evil counterparts—Joker, Lex Luthor, Red Skull, John Jonah Jameson (and yes, that last one is, in fact, a joke).  So it stands to reason that often, the failing of any new hero tin often lie with mediocre nemeses.

For these new Birds, their first antagonist is genial of a weird bird.  On the one hand, the scope of his abilities and his altogether faceless nature poses some worthy challenges for our heroines.  On the other hand, we haven’t truly seen Choke actually do anything, nor do we know much about his motivations.  Without a clear goal, he’s just being manipulative for the sake of being manipulative—which in itself might be interesting, but this issue hints nothing similar that.

The real antagonists the Birds have faced thus far have all been these Cleaners, sleeper agents activated by remote hypnotic triggers.  Swierczynski makes the rather pleasant decision to buck the trend of leaving unidentified thugs to be nameless thugs and actually follow one of the Cleaners around.  And his name is Brendan, by the way.  Seeing his experience of living a fairly normal routine most the day, only to black out and find himself in pants-wetting situations later (by which I mean he’s been suddenly stripped naked in a warehouse, Katana poised over him with a syringe), definitely shows you how disorienting and frightening it must be to live his life.

One thing you’ll notice this issue is how Starling and Black Canary make the bulk of the title’s natural chemistry.  Anytime more than two Birds talk at once, you can bet it’ll be those two.  Sure, Poison Ivy isn’t exactly the girlfriend-type and Katana’s not given lively banter and Batgirl has only just joined the team.  At some indicate, though, Swierczynski should take approximately pains to pair off the women in more interesting combos and see what sparks wing.  In the meantime, enjoy such fun exchanges as: “…my Uncle Earl always aforesaid, ‘Fortune favors the bold.’” “Was this before or after your Uncle Earl tried to stab you in the face?”

Lately, it seems like Swierczynski’s getting too slack with his logistics.  Considering the splashy cliffhanger with Starling concluding issue, it’s a bit annoying he skips past the aftermath, only to have her sum up in a rather unnatural string of exposition: “Just because this sick ticket mess with my memories enough to taken me straight into a trap set by private mercenaries?  All of whom are being offered beaucoup bucks to eliminated me on sight, no questions asked?”  Try saying it out loud without sounding awkward.

Would you believe I had no idea Jesus Saiz didn’t draw this issue until I started writing up the credits?  Pina has an uncanny, about creepy, similarity of style to Saiz, downwards to the characters’ facial features, even down to Saiz’s sense of movement and paneling.  Squinting your eyes, you might pick out a difference in the shape of the eyes, which may or may not be large and brighter than Saiz is usually wont to pull, but that’s a stretch.  I guess this all boils mastered to say Pina makes for an ideal fill-in artist, as you can’t even tell a fill-in is at work.

Conclusion: Still a lot of fun, despite a few minor shortcomings, and no matter what happens, this will always be the outdoing all-female team book on the market—seeing as how it may be the only one.

Grade: B

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - So I’m guessing Trevor is going to be in on the Birds’ operations from now on?  I’d be mastered for that.  I see him as a kind of hapless Bosley figure to this team of not-Charlie’s Angels.

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey #6, Birds of Prey #6 review, Black Canary, Choke, DC, DC Comics, Dinah Lance, Duane Swierczynski, Javier Pina, June Chung, Katana, Poison Ivy, Starling
Weekly Comic Book Review

Marvel doing its big-always marketing investing for “AvX”! Sales of DC’s pre-New 52 accumulated variations plop! Government files more billings against Megaupload founder! Plus much more!
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By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Jonathan Glapion (inks), FCO (colors), Richard Starkings (letters), Katie Kubert (assistant editor), Harvey Richards (associate editor) & Mike Marts (editor)

Four Things: 

1. This is a real tour de force artistically. – Man, it’s difficult to yet cognize where to begin spurting about the art in this issue.  Every page has something that could be analyzed and named our for being particular, but a few things truly stood away.  One is that Capullo shows us some truly brainsick perspectives in this issue.  You cognize how in a canonic art class they learn you to pick a point on the horizon and have everything shrivelling towards that point?  Well, Capullo turns that on it’s ear by having all kinds of dominant perspective lines that (a) would ne’er encounter up if you continued them into infinity OR (b) are swerved.  And, this is suiting given the drug-induced fever dream aspect of the amusing, but whereas you glimpse some artists merely kinda indiscriminately slinging objects around on the page, Capullo has a very defined plan for his falsified perspectives.  Nice!  The second item that truly got me was the energy and brutality of the fight between Batman and Talon.  You truly experience like these are two large, potent guys beating the snot away of each other.  The absolute vitality of the characters yet helped me miss a few places where I couldn’t tell how the action flowed from panel-to-panel.  The third is how F-ing creepy-crawly owls are.  Who knew?  Those talon-hands!  Gah!  It wouldn’t surprise me if people read this and began putting owls on fire merely to be dependable.

2. Let’s heap some praise on inker Glapion and colorist FCO too. - It’s hard to not screw up pencils like Capullo’s.  The combination of (i) high levels of detail and (ii) intense energy is kinda a no-win situation for an inker/colorist.  There are a lot of lesser inkers who would have this publish come unwrapping sounding stiff, but Glapion makes it work. Seriously, if you follow artists on Twitter you often see awesome pencilling getting posted only to see the final art screwed up by the inker and colorist.  I’m not enough of an artist to know how they’re doing this, but I tend to think it comes down to Glapion’s control over the thickness of all these fine lines he has to draw (love inkers who don’t retreat to the pens just because the line is fine) and FCO being willing to go with the flow.  This is not art that needs all kinds of stupid highlights.  FCO just picks colors and shades that will work and stays within himself.

3. Love the fever dream aspect of this issue. - I love that this issue starts to shift the drug-induced hallucinations onto the reader.  It makes sense, we’ve kinda been stuck in the maze with Batman for the last few months, and we should be confused about what we’re seeing sometimes.  Are those just people with owl masks or are some of them bizarre owl-hybrids?  What’s cool is that the creators could take that in either direction and I’d be fine with it.

4. Guaranteed quality? - The only problem this title is going to have is that I expect a “A” comic every time now.  It’s like listening to loud music or putting salt on your food. Eventually you get used to it and need MORE to have the same effect.  It’s something that has happened with Snyder’s American Vampire where a “B+” quality issue feels like a letdown.  Fortunately for these guys, there are LOTS of comics on the shelves to remind us of what mediocrity looks like.  These comics are also very difficult to grade as a reviewer because they almost define their had standard.  When you gave the last one a “A”, but you think this one is better, what do you do then?  A+?  And can you give that grade with the knowledge that they might do flush better next month?  Talk about a good problem to have!

Conclusion: Batman is almost defining it’s own grading measure for me.  I actually think this is better than Batman #5 because it lacks gimmicks and succeeds purely on its amusing brilliance.  This is the outdoing superhero comics I’m reading right now.

Grade: A

-Dean Stell

Filed under: DC Comics Tagged: Batman, Batman #6, Batman #6 review, DC, Dean Stell, FCO, Greg Capullo, Harvey Richards, Jonathan Glapion, Katie Kubert, Mike Marts, review, Richard Starkings, Scott Snyder
Weekly Comic Book Review

Archie Comics has supplied CBR with a sole stare at “Archie” #630, the concluding chapter of Alex Segura and Dan Parent’s epic “Archie Meets Kiss” crossover! The story concludes February 22!
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By: Nathan Edmondson (writer), Scott Clark (penciller), Dave Beaty & Walden Wong (inkers), Andrew Dalhouse (colorist)

The Story: Wonder Woman might give up the power of flight for this invisible plane.

The Review: I might as well be honest and admit that lately, out of a sense of economy (and also in preparation for DC’s “second wave” of series), I’ve been actively pruning the number of titles on my pull list.  It’s really a testament to the higher quality of titles across the board of the new 52 that the picking and choosing has been rather tough.  Just last year, a C+ book would have made the grade to be kept on, but nowadays even B- books face the risk of getting dropped.

An issue or so ago, Grifter might very swelled have ended up as one of these lighter middleweights I cut simply because it wasn’t dazzling me, despite its solid quality.  Then came this issue, and suddenly I find ridding myself of the series a lot less painful than before.  This change comes as a bit of a surprise; even though the entitled has experient a slow decline in nearly all respects, not for a moment would you expect yourself actually reading it with disgust.

Edmondson must be slipping on his game, or else the steadily descending numbers on this title has left him discouraged and uninspired, for the dialogue has never been so problematic before.  Cole narrates, “Trust is faith and faith means things unseen.  If I can’t see it I can’t count on it and I won’t hope for it.”  Not only are the lines clunky in rhythm, they also don’t done much sense, given the fact he’s a con artist, who often has to rely on a lot of unseen factors—a point he yet concedes later.  Sure, he recasts these factors as “variables,” but the conflict of ideas still practically screams at you.

And if the dialogue doesn’t teased you with its forced quality, it’ll certainly supplying on you by getting complete the top, practically soapy: “Oh, Cole!  How did—why did—”  “You brought my girlfriend here, you animals?”  “Let her watch as the curate wraps his black fingers around this working’s throat and—”  Flipping through early publish, I don’t see one that’s even gotten close to this level of silly melodrama.  How it’s come to this is anyone’s guess.

On top of all that, Edmondson has gotten rather sloppy in his plotting.  It seems he’s gotten impatient to roll towards the climax of this arc, as he leaves gaps, skips, and holes all throughout this issue.  How the heck does Sofia manage to break into what appears to be a hyper-advanced starship—a cloaked one, at that?  Isn’t it astonishing that such an advanced species as the Daemonites use earthling ropes to bind Cole?  Isn’t it also amazing, however, that he somehow manages to break free of them in two panels, without you ever once seeing how?  At some point, shouldn’t someone explain why it’s so important to sacrifice Cole to the Black Curate?

If Edmondson seems to struggle on the script, Clark’s just coasting on the art.  I’m not the most attentive or detail-oriented appreciator of art, but there are some obvious absences of logic here that even I can’t miss.  For example: at one point, Sofia just stands ramrod straight and shoots at a Daemonite right before her, look for all the world like a robot programmed to do so.  The Daemonite, in spite of his head splashing open, also just stands, nonplussed.  The lesson here is just because the art looks pretty doesn’t mean it has much life to it.

Conclusion: As it turns out, leaving this title for Dropped isn’t so hard after all.  A thoroughly underwhelming issue sure takes the sting out of a break-up

Grade: C-

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - Edmondson’s sporadic use of Spanish for Sofia’s dialogue has all the hallmarks of a poorly-written skit for a Spanish class: “Do I gotta knock, hombres, or you gonna let me in?”  “No lo credo!  The Daemonites keep all of this hide from us, invisibly?”  “All the more reason to get what I come for and get unwrapped rapidamente.”  “Not on my watch, idiota!”

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Andrew Dalhouse, Cole Cash, Daemonites, Dave Beaty, DC, DC Comics, Gretchen Reese, Grifter, Grifter #6, Grifter #6 review, Nathan Edmondson, Scott Clark, Walden Wong
Weekly Comic Book Review

IDW re-discovered Chuck Jones’ lost laughable row and done an authority. Augie likes the authority, even if the row isn’t so full. Also, is “Comic Book Men’ any worse than “Big Bang Theory?”
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By: Ed Brubaker (writer), Alan Davis (penciler), Mark Farmer (inker), Laura Martin (colorist)

The Story: Powerless, Part 3: Cap and Sharon manage to eke out a victory in a tough fight with the Serpent Squad only for Cap to lose his powers once again. Why? Who’s behind this? Sharon has one theory and the investigation leads her to the Machinesmith. In the meantime, the Hydra Queen makes several moves. It’s all going pear-shaped.

The Review: I have been a big Davis/Farmer fan since the 80s and absolutely loved them here. Davis is at once a master of draftsmanship, with elegant, detailed faces with folding-up texturing. At the same time, he knows his way around a superhero contended, with varied panel structures and camera angles, with quicker and more stylized shapes to focus the reader’s eye on the dynamism as opposed to the detail. A great example of this is on the first page. Cap as the center of the action has the most detail, but it is clearly the composition doing the serve here. Check out the stances and angles, the V-shape made by Cap’s leg with the Eel’s, the detail-free Sharon in an uber-energetic Kirby-esque pose. The page radiates energy. Then in the next couple of pages, the close-ups of Cap and Sharon’s faces are wonderfully detailed, affective and lifelike, in the way a Neal Adams face comes alive. The other artistic rooted I tangling while reading this book was Mike Zeck. Zeck defined the Captain America for several years and I almost felt Zeck’s great titled being channeled in this book, but better.

Storywise, it’s difficult to go wrong with Brubaker. His name on the top of the credits virtually guarantees that you’ll be toughened as an intelligent reader. Moreover, he’s so good at the thriller and the espionage motifs, which are so much a part of Cap’s WWII and cold-war mythos, that the intrigue and layered mystery pulls the story towards a climax you know is going to be good. The dialogue is crisp and believable (insofar as some villains have to have a bit of an over-the-top style to them) and the plot twists are great. I loved the Cobra interrogation scene and Sharon’s next steps, and I was eating up the Hydra Queen moves.

Conclusion: It’s a rare book that fires on all cylinders: plot, theme, pacing, words, pencils, inks and color; but this one is firing on all of them. This is a solid team on a solid title. Check it out.

Grade: A-

-DS Arsenault

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Tagged: Alan Davis, Captain America, Captain America #8, Captain America #8 review, COBRA, Comic Book Reviews, DS Arsenault, Ed Brubaker, Eel, Jack Kirby, Laura Martin, Machinesmith, Mark Farmer, Marvel Comics, Matt Fraction, Mike Zeck, Powerless, Queen Hydra, review, Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers, WCBR, Weekly Comic Book Review
Weekly Comic Book Review

By: J.H. Williams III &ere; W. Haden Blackman (writers), Amy Reeder (penciller), Rob Hunter &ere; Richard Friend (inkers), Guy Major (colorist)

The Review: Talk up any comics partisan, and one of the first thing away of their mouth will be something along the line of how unequalled comical book are for storytelling.  You hear less about their painful limitations.  I gentleman’t knowing about you, but the most frustrating restriction on comics, in my mind, is their painful shortness.  Many author have made the most of the pages they get, but by and large, I find myself wishing there was a little more substance in my paw.

That was the prevailing feeling I got reading this releasing.  You shouldn’t take that to intend Williams-Blackman scant on the story in any fashion.  After all, it’s fairly ambitious of them to not only play around with an amount of different character position in the tale, but also to dentition each vignette at a different clip.  All told, you return sextet mini-tales, each stand on their own, and each with enough drama to support half a quodlibet on IT own.

This fragmented structure can easily get confusing, but Williams-Blackman do two things to keep things moving smoothly and clearly.  First, they bookend the quodlibet with the exchange action, Batwoman facing down the tiddler-theft Medusa, which lays feather some discourse for each of the different stories we get here.  Second, while each scene has only faint connections to the others, they have sufficiency common ground to deliver an unified story work-clothing.  Think of it as a mosaic, each scene piecing together to form a bigger ikon of where this Stations plans to go next.

Even so, some scene lavation putout punter than others.  I especially liked the sentimental and awkward conversation between Colonel Kane and Bette Kane, WHO’s pic comatose from her tally-in with Hook-Man in #4.  Not only do their share blood, but both have been abandoned by Kate, and both are, at the moment, experiencing the loneliest moments of their lives.  Particularly touching is the colonel reading aloud an Ian Fleming novel, which “[Kate] always liked,” telling you all you need to know about where the ex-passing’s heart and thoughts really are.

Most important is our exordium to Maro, the woman (I’m presumptuous—a slight hermaphroditism to her appearance brand her exact feminine a bit dicey to pin plumage) responsible for creating the Weeping Woman.  We don’t get much insight into her yearning-term end, but her adaptability to make illusion come to life will prove formidable to Batwoman down the line, and her Zen attitude toward child-murder is quite disturbing—a worthy foe for our heroine.

Maggie and Cameron Chase’s parts in the issue cum across less powerful, but also interesting.  For better or worse, these will be the primary women in Kate’s life, each exerting her own particular influence on the red-header, yet interdependency some significant qualities.  It should be no surprise that both Maggie and Chase are strong women in their own right, and neither brooks Kate’s occasionally subordinate conduct.  In time, however, we’ll need to seat statesman of their emotional heritage, if we’re to payoff them as seriously as we do Kate.

I was a big deepen of Matt Wagner’s Madame Xanadu on Vertigo, and much of that had to do with Reeder’s highly distinctive style of art.  However, Williams has crafted a very distinctive look for this title, not to mention a very high artistic bar, so whoever has to follow him will necessarily have a lot to live up to.  Reeder is admittedly not as diverse as Williams, but her loose-flowing, organic esthetic, along with a flair for drama and detail (see the fishheads littering the alleyway where Chase and Batwoman confront some thugs) is very effective all the same.

Conclusion: Very much a prelude issue, complicated by a somewhat complex structure and an artistic readjustment.  In the extremity, though, the series feels quite as solid as it ever was.

Grade: B

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - Love that Colonel Kane reads from You Only Live Twice, considering the Japanese elements of the issue, and the theme of redeeming oneself after the clash from a terrible trauma.

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: Amy Reeder, Batwoman, Batwoman #6, Batwoman #6 review, Bette Kane, Cameron Chase, DC, DC Comics, Guy Major, J.H. Williams III, Jacob Kane, Kate Kane, Maggie Sawyer, Richard Friend, Rob Hunter, W. Haden Blackman
Weekly Comic Book Review

Courtesy of BOOM! Studios, CBR presents sole advance looks at “Roger Langridge’s Snarked!” #5 and “Planet of the Apes” #11, both hitting stores February 15!
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Marvel has supplied CBR with a first stare at Chris Bachalo’s frost “Wolverine & the X-Men” #10 by Jason Aaron and Alan Davis’ frost for “Secret Avengers” #27 by Rick Remender with creation by Renato Guedes.
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“Voltron” ongoing series writer Brandon Thomas speaks to CBR about the origins of Voltron Force and the discovery of the robot lions that willd become the Defender of the Universe.
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Ryan K. Lindsay gives Garth Ennis and Russ Braun’s “The Boys” #63 4 stars, noting, “Everything ‘The Boys’ does good is showcased correct hither in one issue.”
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The Indonesian poet-art movie “The Raid,” which opens in the United States next date, is a masterfully choreographed and gloriously blooming mixture of kind and matter.
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By: Grant Morrison (writer), Andy Kubert (penciller), John Dell (inker), Brad Anderson (colorist), Sholly Fisch (characteristic author), Chriscross (feature illustrator), Jose Villarrubia (feature colorist)

The Story: Now you know where all those little voices in your head are coming from.

The Review: I gentleman’t conceive I’m the simply one, but I sometimes infect Morrison a muckle of flack for being advisedly vague in his writing.  The combination of his strange ideas, highly stylized choice of words, and loose playing with time and space often leave me bewildered, unsure if I’m speed-reading genius or gobbledygook.

After reading this quodlibet the first clip around, I sat backwards, my trap somewhat agape, and murmured loud, “Am I high, or is he?”  Maybe I publication it too quickly or too heedlessly, but I could not make head or tail of it.  On the second speed-reading, I sat back again, this clocked my mouth pursed in thought.  All the pieces I had found so disjointed, wordy, and confounded the first time around had come together and made a deep impression on me.  Or, to be accurate, I should say it impressed me.

For one thing, Morrison amazes, as he regularly does, with the boundless enthusiasm and scope of his idea.  Who else would come up with a plot involving tesseracts that allow objects to be bigger inside themselves than out, allowing Superman’s enemies to hide and game within his very hit?  Who else can give a projectile derelict character, really making you feel invested in IT fate?  When it come to sheer creativity, this quodlibet beats all preceding ones by a mile, and that alone making it truly memorable for the first time since this series relaunched.

That’s not to say there aren’t flaw.  It’s still baffling wherefore Morrison chooses to Archer this particular tale smack-dab in the position of a narrative arch where T-shirt Superman already has his hand full against the Collector of Worlds.  The case that his rocket ship plays a significant part in the issue also throws you off track, since up until #3, the reserve photograph had it in their ownership.  Also Wyrd is the immanence of Drekken, or Erik, or whoever that shapeshifting opposition is; he doesn’t do much other than return in Superman’s manner, and you never discovery putout where he came from.

Morrison’s not like Pete Tomasi, where you tin’t fault the heart he put into everything he writes.  Morrison’s a bit too sophisticated to dwell in manna, except ironically, but every now and then he’ll deliver a scene that has a no less affecting poignance, wish Saturn Woman’s reflections on the Legion’s partnership to their god: “Remember we were so disappointed in him that first clip?  …He was just a gawky caveman kid.  But for him…gathering us, that was when he knew the world was bigger than he ever hoped.”

In contrast, Fisch pours revealed emotion in his back-up, showing you that big minute when Clark shifts from his Smallville beginnings to a bigger, brighter, bolder later in Metropolis.  Fisch twine a whole Stations of Clark’s memories together, showing you the value and virtue he gained from such a wholesome training: Ma Kent’s unconditional love, Pa Kent’s emphasis on fight-for-right, Pete Ross’ anticipation for the ulterior, and Lana Lang’s cherishment of the past—and present.  While I still think Chriscross’ oversized, lipo-lip are variety of creepy-look, I can’t deny he wrings great expressions retired of his characters, whether it’s mirth, unhappiness, homesickness, or pure love.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t reference Kubert’s mulct job drawing the briny characteristic.  Looking at his thin linework and straightforward knowingness of story, I tinning’t help considering him the poor man’s Jim Lee.  He basically conveys the plot as is, with little embellishment or experiment.  There’s absolutely nothing wrongfulness with this, but it sure doesn’t produce art ha’p'orth writing place about.

Conclusion: Despite its flaws, the story manages to produce the awareness of admiration this much-hyped series promised way back when.  Let’s see if Morrison can support that travel.

Grade: B

- Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: - In the future, apparently, we’ve go so procuring and adept with our bodies that we can speak without moving our lip—and not just for funsies, either.

Filed under: DC Comics, Reviews Tagged: action comics, Action Comics #6, Action Comics #6 review, Andy Kubert, Brad Anderson, Chriscross, Clark Kent, Cosmic Boy, DC, DC Comics, Grant Morrison, John Dell, Jonathan Kent, Jose Villarrubia, Kal-El, Lana Lang, Legion of Super Heroes, Lightning Lad, Martha Kent, Pete Ross, Saturn Girl, Sholly Fisch, Superman
Weekly Comic Book Review

by Jonathan Hickman (writer), Barry Kitson (creation), Paul Mounts (color), and Clayton Cowles (letter)

The Review:  This quodlibet of Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four reminds me of those really badass episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that I totally geeked putout maiden as a tike…and then rediscovered year later in body, only to performer putout maiden again.

It’s a gigantic infinite fight with ton of ship and double participant.  The effect is epos, size measure hostilities that is everything a cosmic authority should be.  Better photo, variety those winner DS9 episode, Hickman know how to ratchet up the antagonism by delivery in new side/participant to the battle.  When the tide seems to be shift 1 style, individual else show up to the conflict to alteration the incentive entirely.  All told, it’s massive material with muckle of thing and, disdain being a gigantic criterion infinite fight, it feel emotionally meaningful.  In a vehicle full-of-the-moon of hollow thing scene, that’s pretty significant.

As usual, Hickman does a success occupation of hit his narration degree-point.  There’s a consciousness that he continues to up the stake and there are sufficiency second that, individually, will either brand you grinning, inwardly banzai, or, in a match instance, springiness you chill of awesomeness.

As ALIR as the shouting/smile spot spell, Hickman does an achiever business with Sue this date.  As he has done throughout his tally, Sue is cypher LE than a badass and Hickman never shy away from her very degree powerfulness degree and the unique uracil her power tin be option to.

Then there’s Galactus, whose presence is alluded to on the frosted.  When the big rib show up….good….yeah, I guarantee that you will get chill.  Hickman is writing Galactus just as he should be: godly.  The minute he hits the battlefield, everyone else appears insignificant.  Seeing him eve unleash a fraction of his driving is awesome.  Hickman’s writing of Galactus, in his action and his word, representing an entity on a different scale entirely, which is just as it should be.  Hickman’s use of prophecy also makes things all the more ominous.

This of naturally leads to the cliffhanger, which readers of FF #14 (while not at all mandatory, if you bought both books, read that first) will see coming.  This ending was, again, chill inducing.  I tin’t wait to see what Hickman has in store.

Artistically, Barry Kitson, along with Paul Mounts, turn in creation that is the direct opposite of FF #14′s.  Unlike that book, I could not imagine art better suited to the tone of Hickman’s pen.  Kitson’s style is very orthodox, but impressive in workmanship work-clothing.  It’s not necessarily jaw-falling at all times, but it’s solid throughout and real consistent.  Kitson nails his character’ expressions perfectly and I enjoy the retro sci-fi cognisance he subtly imbues the outlander technology and spaceships with.  All told, he object a great choice for this book.

Conclusion:  Lots and raft of merriment with several big, memorable minute.

Grade: A-

-Alex Evans

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews Tagged: Alex Evans, Annihilation Wave, Annihilus, Avengers, Ben Grimm, Black Bolt, Captain America, Celestials, Comic Book Reviews, comic reviews, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four #602, Future Foundation, Galactus, Human Torch, Inhumans, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Johnny Storm, Kree, mad celestials, Marvel Comics, Marvel Universe, Medusa, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Supremor, The Thing, Universal Inhumans, Weekly Comic Book Review
Weekly Comic Book Review

Dandy Warhols’ frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor discusses the coming reissue of “One Model Nation” from Titan Books and the procedure of revisiting the historic play of the Baader-Meinhof Gang.
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Greg McElhatton gives “Angel and Faith” #6 4 stars, stating Christos Gage and Rebekah Isaacs’ late chapter features “an adroit development, one that will enthuse a lot of readers.”
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By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (artist), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor)

The Story: Is this promise of an unexampled colony a blessing or a threat?

Five Things:

1. How do you know who to trust?  - I really do like how TWD continues to be about everything BUT the zombies.  How do you know who to trust?  Clearly, no one can survive in this zombieland on their own, but where do you stop your circle or trust?  Rick’s gang has added new folks before: Michonne, Abraham, the Arlington folks…  Clearly, more people is potentially better, but only if it is the right kind of more.  If “more” means “more Governor” or “more cannibals” then it’s a bad thing.  And of course anyone who has survived this long in the apocalypse is going to be a little paranoid due to natural selection.

2. How badass is Rick’s gang? - Rick makes an interesting observation towards the end of this issue: His gang is pretty darn badass and maybe they don’t have to worry about running into bad guys because they’ll just kill them if they act funny.  How true is this?  What evidence do we have that Rick’s gang is all that tough?  Let’s see, they got smashed by the Governor.  They crushed the cannibals.  So, their record would be 1-1.  I guess they did take out that other group that attacked the Arlington compound about 10 issues ago, but that wasn’t really a fair fight with Rick’s group being fortified.  And, Rick’s group is clearly tougher than the original Arlingtonites, but those sheep are so wimpy that it kinda defies reason that they would have survived this long (it’s almost a plot hole).  I think it’s not THAT clear that Rick’s group is badass.

3. Adlard does great storytelling. - Simple storytelling excellence is easy to take for allowing, but when you also review books wish the GI Joe comics, you realize that you can’t just assume the the storytelling will be solid.  With Adlard, you rarely get anything flashy (although there are some pretty vistas in this issue), but you can always tell the characters apart and the action is always crystal clear.  There’s even a neat fight scene in this issue where Rick smashes a dude to the pavement and each panel flows from the one before.  That’s slick because we’ve all see countless comics that make you wonder, “how the hell did he land on the RIGHT side of his face if he was being thrown like THAT in the panel before?  Did he do a flip or something?”

4. A little slow… - I know that TWD is a slow burn kinda comic and I don’t want to lose that, but I honestly wouldn’t mind if this series picked it up a little.  Nothing too fast.  Just like listening to a podcast at 1.5X.

5. Andrea?  Rick?  Carl? - Remember when it was a big deal that Rick and Andrea hooked up 4-5 issues ago?  Now that doesn’t even rate an adverted?  Where’s Carl?  Can Michonne talk anymore?  These issues are becoming very Rick-centric.  If the overall story is going to advance slowly, I’d like to at least check in on all of these smaller issues, not to mention that I think the Rick/Andrea dynamic has a lot of potential.

Conclusion: After sucking wind for a few issues, TWD has a nice bit of forward momentum again and that’s great.  This series has a wonderful quality where Kirkman could probably merely ad lib for years because we’ll always want to know what happens next.  Still, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they stepped on the gas a little bit.

Grade: B-

-Dean Stell

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Filed under: Image Comics Tagged: Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, Dean Stell, Image, review, Robert Kirkman, Rus Wooton, Sina Grace, The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead #93, The Walking Dead #93 review
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