What I Thought: December 8, 2004
Demo #12- Beautiful in every way a comic can be. (Mint)
She-Hulk #10- Continuity ahoy. This remains one of Marvel's best titles. Before reading the book I was wondering if anyone knows or cares who Titania is, but the story makes you care. I can't say the story has the same feel with Pelletier handling the art, but as far as superhero artists he's not a bad choice. Here's to Pelletier making the title his own. (Near-Mint)
JSA #68- Props for including Rip Hunter in this book. I also really really love this book because of all the DC universe history thrown into it. Johns loves this stuff and so do I. There's one scene in this book that I'm sure someone will call Johns out on though. I'll leave that for them to do. (Very Good)
Superman/Batman #15-Huh? This whole alternate universe future Superman, present Superman, past Superman has me scratching my head. Stupid time travel. Having said that it has a lot of stuff packed in for the fanboy in me so it's not all bad. (Fair)
Bullseye: Greatest Hits #4- What is it with Marvel and all these great sleeper titles. I am absolutely loving this series. The entire thing takes place in a cell with absolutely nothing allowed inside and I'm sitting literally on the edge of my seat reading this book. Way is now one of my favorite writers after this and his recent Sabertooth mini. Give this guy a villian anthology or like Super Villian Team-Up and I'll be there. Team him up with Dillon on art and it's even better. (Near-Mint)
MK Spider-man #9- Forget the naysayers I actually like this book and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It's over the top violence and throws villains around like Hush did, but I don't care. I like it. This issue sold the series for me as it almost wraps up the longstanding mystery of who was behind May's kidnapping along with setting up a theory as to why all these villains have popped up to plague the wallcrawler all these years. This series has a bad case of the decompression blues or I would have given it a higher score. (Very Good)
The Spectacular Spider-man #22- This Spider-man title is going down fast. It was great before the relaunch, but since then it's been sinking faster than the Titanic. Jenkins, what happened? (Poor)
Aquaman #25- This issue felt...different. Almost like I was watching a film with some weird jumpcuts thrown in the middle of it. There we are watching Aquaman deal with a heroin trafficing into Sub-Diego and all of a sudden we have a scene with some violent policeman with a skull on his cruiser and then we're back to the drugs again? What the!? Did I get a page from some other comic or something. Other than that it's an ok story, but that scene through me off a bit. (Good)
District X #8- This is another one of those titles that Marvel puts out under the radar that deserves more readership. The story continues to take unexpected, but entertaining turns as more of Mutant Town comes into focus. It's a nicely written drama series as tensions between Bishop and Ortega come to a head while underground mutants (shades of morlocks?) strike back at the world that has been taking their kids from them. Good stuff. (Near-Mint)
Doc Frankenstein #1- Wow. What happened to Skroce. He was a good artist, but now...now I would count him as one of the greats. Am I the only one who sees some of Darrow's influence in his work lately? The detail is just outstanding. I'll be watching this series to see his work, but the story shines as well. Maybe it relies on the dialogue boxes a little too much, but not bad for a first outing by the Wachowskis. Good all out action with great art. (Near-Mint)
Bloodhound #6- Good. Not alot more to say other than that. This is one of those books that I find myself enjoying, but can't really explain why. I shouldn't like Clevenger, but I do. I guess I'm hanging on because he's one of those characters that rides the line like Wolverine used to. One of those characters where you aren't sure from one moment to the next if they're the good or the bad guy. There aren't too many of those characters left in comics and if there are they're watered down versions of what they once were. (Good)
Nightwing #100- I love Nightwing and I love Devin Grayson, but please please please let this be the end of Nightwing moping and feeling sorry for himself. Can we see the return of funloving Dick Grayson instead of "I'm going to shoot myself Dick Grayson". This title just isn't any fun anymore. (Poor)
JLA #109- Eh. There's some stuff about Qward that's interesting and it's fun to watch the Syndicate do their nasty business, but it's creeping at a snails pace. Let's get on with it shall we? The book is called JLA. (Fair)
Still to read- Wonder Woman #107-110, Angeltown #2, Gotham Central #26, Rising Stars #23, and 100 Bullets #56.
Grading System:
Mint: Near perfect in every way.
Near Mint: Nearly perfect with only minor imperfections allowed.
Very Good: A little better than the average comic book.
Good: The average comic.
Fair: These books are mostly readable although quality is low.
Poor: Pick it up if it's a quarter otherwise you might as well pass.
She-Hulk #10- Continuity ahoy. This remains one of Marvel's best titles. Before reading the book I was wondering if anyone knows or cares who Titania is, but the story makes you care. I can't say the story has the same feel with Pelletier handling the art, but as far as superhero artists he's not a bad choice. Here's to Pelletier making the title his own. (Near-Mint)
JSA #68- Props for including Rip Hunter in this book. I also really really love this book because of all the DC universe history thrown into it. Johns loves this stuff and so do I. There's one scene in this book that I'm sure someone will call Johns out on though. I'll leave that for them to do. (Very Good)
Superman/Batman #15-Huh? This whole alternate universe future Superman, present Superman, past Superman has me scratching my head. Stupid time travel. Having said that it has a lot of stuff packed in for the fanboy in me so it's not all bad. (Fair)
Bullseye: Greatest Hits #4- What is it with Marvel and all these great sleeper titles. I am absolutely loving this series. The entire thing takes place in a cell with absolutely nothing allowed inside and I'm sitting literally on the edge of my seat reading this book. Way is now one of my favorite writers after this and his recent Sabertooth mini. Give this guy a villian anthology or like Super Villian Team-Up and I'll be there. Team him up with Dillon on art and it's even better. (Near-Mint)
MK Spider-man #9- Forget the naysayers I actually like this book and I'm not ashamed to admit it. It's over the top violence and throws villains around like Hush did, but I don't care. I like it. This issue sold the series for me as it almost wraps up the longstanding mystery of who was behind May's kidnapping along with setting up a theory as to why all these villains have popped up to plague the wallcrawler all these years. This series has a bad case of the decompression blues or I would have given it a higher score. (Very Good)
The Spectacular Spider-man #22- This Spider-man title is going down fast. It was great before the relaunch, but since then it's been sinking faster than the Titanic. Jenkins, what happened? (Poor)
Aquaman #25- This issue felt...different. Almost like I was watching a film with some weird jumpcuts thrown in the middle of it. There we are watching Aquaman deal with a heroin trafficing into Sub-Diego and all of a sudden we have a scene with some violent policeman with a skull on his cruiser and then we're back to the drugs again? What the!? Did I get a page from some other comic or something. Other than that it's an ok story, but that scene through me off a bit. (Good)
District X #8- This is another one of those titles that Marvel puts out under the radar that deserves more readership. The story continues to take unexpected, but entertaining turns as more of Mutant Town comes into focus. It's a nicely written drama series as tensions between Bishop and Ortega come to a head while underground mutants (shades of morlocks?) strike back at the world that has been taking their kids from them. Good stuff. (Near-Mint)
Doc Frankenstein #1- Wow. What happened to Skroce. He was a good artist, but now...now I would count him as one of the greats. Am I the only one who sees some of Darrow's influence in his work lately? The detail is just outstanding. I'll be watching this series to see his work, but the story shines as well. Maybe it relies on the dialogue boxes a little too much, but not bad for a first outing by the Wachowskis. Good all out action with great art. (Near-Mint)
Bloodhound #6- Good. Not alot more to say other than that. This is one of those books that I find myself enjoying, but can't really explain why. I shouldn't like Clevenger, but I do. I guess I'm hanging on because he's one of those characters that rides the line like Wolverine used to. One of those characters where you aren't sure from one moment to the next if they're the good or the bad guy. There aren't too many of those characters left in comics and if there are they're watered down versions of what they once were. (Good)
Nightwing #100- I love Nightwing and I love Devin Grayson, but please please please let this be the end of Nightwing moping and feeling sorry for himself. Can we see the return of funloving Dick Grayson instead of "I'm going to shoot myself Dick Grayson". This title just isn't any fun anymore. (Poor)
JLA #109- Eh. There's some stuff about Qward that's interesting and it's fun to watch the Syndicate do their nasty business, but it's creeping at a snails pace. Let's get on with it shall we? The book is called JLA. (Fair)
Still to read- Wonder Woman #107-110, Angeltown #2, Gotham Central #26, Rising Stars #23, and 100 Bullets #56.
Grading System:
Mint: Near perfect in every way.
Near Mint: Nearly perfect with only minor imperfections allowed.
Very Good: A little better than the average comic book.
Good: The average comic.
Fair: These books are mostly readable although quality is low.
Poor: Pick it up if it's a quarter otherwise you might as well pass.
