Oraclechele's Reviews

Two-Face: Year One

Two-Face Year One serves more like a mini-trade paperback then an issue 1. Without a single advertisement and well over 40 pages of story, the $5.99 cover price is worth the buy for Batverse fans.

The duality of Harvey Dent is tackled well by writer Mark Sable although I would have preferred DC let him draw things out into more of a four issue super edition instead of simply two. One of the elements I did enjoy about the recent film was the time spent developing the white knight D.A. which made his fate far more painful to watch. The publisher can't be the only one to blame however. Sable spends some of his limited story telling time providing plot nuisances in the form of brief back stories for the cops that help Dent and Gordon take down the bad guys. These moments, although a nice touch, come off like a mini-prequel to Gotham Central instead of lending themselves to the tale of Two Face.

That's not to say there isn't some insight into Harvey. Much of the character development plays out in flashbacks that are helped immensely by the use of black and white panels.

As for the rest of the art in the issue, it isn't as memorable with the exception of the last page. I also question why Detective Maggie Sawyer and another female character in the plot are drawn so similar making a couple of the panels hard to decipher.

A final word of advice - For those readers picking up the book thanks to the movie, a sales hope if ever I saw one, put the Nolan film out of your mind not just because of the reason I already stated. This is the comic book timeline with a couple small tweaks and nowhere will you find the Joker or Ms. Dawes.

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Sgt. Sausagepant's Reviews

Ultimate X-Men #96

Well, after the kerfuffle I caused last month, I figured I owed Ultimate X-men a review this week. So lets start. (The challenge is still out there though)

First off, Ultimate Northstar is dead. Not sick, not in a coma. So death #4 for Northstar. I can't say I'm ecstatic about this, but there is a story working here. You see, Colossus is beating himself up over it. He feels that if he'd been stronger, been better, he could have saved him. Which is romantic is a melancholy sort of way.

After reading this carefully, I don't think this is the end of the story by a long shot. It's heavily implied that Jean is going to do something big with her Phoenix powers soon, and I can't help but wonder if that will include Northstar and Colossus (I won't spoil things but he's not having a good day right now).

The rest of the issue is quite well put together, including a very neat little visual sequence of Jean Gray as she grows up, that starts and ends with her playing with blocks, in a way. (You'll see what I mean)

Read it.

Green Lantern Corps #26

GLC concludes the Black Mercy story arc with this issue, and I have to say, it has turned out really good. The art is fantastic as usual. We've gotten the origin of the Black Mercy flowers (a sentient Mother Mercy) and found that Mongul was corrupting them so their hosts suffer their greatest fear instead of a vision of their perfect world.

We get the final confrontation with Mongul in this issue, as well as a bit of happiness and sadness. I don't want to spoil anything, but the fight with Mongul is not without it's cost. The writing for this moment, however, was incredibly touching. And at the end we get another surprising moment. I'll definitely be looking forward to Tomasi's future work if he keeps up this level of quality.

Must Have.

Goblin's Reviews

She-Hulk #31

... and we follow up last week's terrible X-Factor with a great She-Hulk. Peter David's three part "He Loves You" storyline has him doing what he's come to be known for - finding new and unique ways to integrate books into the larger crossovers. While an X-Factor/She-Hulk crossover in the middle of Secret Invasion sounds like an odd idea, David pulls it off better here as we get a bit of a fight, some exposition and some neat Darwin evolutions. The art is infinitely better, even if it's influenced by animation a bit much, and the dialogue is crisp and snappy - up to David's usual standards.

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New Avengers #43

This Invasion spotlight shows us just how the Skrulls managed to drop a shipload of heroes in the Savage Land and why they think they actually are the heroes. It's a little boring, but it's a piece of the story that had to be told to make everything fit. The story follows the Skrull Captain America and fills in why he does what he does, why he thinks he is Cap and why the crash-landed heroes think they are the real thing. The art is a better than normal Billy Tan (though I'm still not sold because it's still Billy Tan). File this one under "Not Great, But Necessary To Make The Bigger Picture That Much Better."

Skip It

Jonostarsmore's Reviews

Ambush Bug: Year None #1

Work with me on this, ok? Imagine your little brother or sister when they were at that period in life where they really wanted you to like them and think that they were cool.

Good.

Now take the humor you can find in Archie Comics...hell, go crazy and imagine the humor in Sonic the Hedgehog if you need to.

Got it?

Now combine both of those with the self-referencing humor found in better comics like Deadpool and you can get an idea of what Ambush Bug: Year None #1 feels like.
There are a few comedic highlights in this odd title, but most of the issue spends its time trying to make you enamored with it by forcing you to read joke after unfunny joke.
Overall, if this was handled by a better writer, it could bring some much needed humor to a troubled DC Universe. For now...

Skip It

Uncanny X-Men #500

First, let's take a moment to go over Uncanny's more recent milestone issues shall we?

Uncanny X:Men #300: Fabian Cortez and the acolytes appear and...well not a whole lot happens.

Uncanny X-Men #350: The closest thing we got to a true milestone issue: Gambit is revealed to have been working for Sinister and was directly responsible for leading the Marauders to the Morlocks in the Mutant Massacre.

Uncanny X-Men #400: A weird experimental issue with various artists contributing to its creation. Oh, and Stacy X is introduced...um...thanks?

Uncanny X-Men #450: Chris Claremont brings X-23 to the team...notably, nothing else actually happens.

The point of all this is to be able to say that issue 500 is no different. Nothing really happens. The X-Men are established in San Francisco (but they kind of already were in Astonishing...or is that not being treated as canon?), Magneto attacks (really? Yes. ), and there's even some sentinels involved. It's disappointing to see Brubaker AND Fraction working on this title...only to sizzle out with pages and pages of redundant set up. It's generic. And the writers on here should be able to do better. The art flips between Greg Land's hyperrealism and Terry Dodson's cartoon style and it is NOT a great pairing. Seeing Emma go from a pale imitation of Jenna Jameson to a hard-jawed transvestite within the span of two pages is jarring to say the least. It almost seems as if two different books were meshed together.

In sum, despite the fact that four superstar creators are involved in this project, it still manages to disappoint.

Skip It

That's our short list for the week! See you after con!