-
The Coffin 1 (September 2000)
A lot of the issue is spent in Hell. Well, at least a third of it. There’s a lot of visuals of Hell and those are cool because it’s Mike Huddleston and I love Mike Huddleston. Unfortunately, the stuff in Hell is totally unimportant. Even when it seems like it’s reaching a point of being… 📖
-
The Guild (2010) #3
I’m glad I spent 150 words talking about the gay boyfriend last issue because this issue we find out he’s not really gay, he’s just an omni-sexual egomaniac. It’s so much less interesting… because all Day does now is revert the relationship back to the first issue. Third issue, but the keyword is reversion. This… 📖
-
The Guild (2010) #2
This issue ends… I don’t know if poorly is the right word. Let me explain. So our hero, Cyd–I find it interesting female comic book writers feel the same need to give their female protagonists “cool” names as the male ones do–is dating a closeted gay guy. He’s been lying to her while sleeping with… 📖
-
The Guild (2010) #1
I have a hard time believing the set-up. I like the book, but the main character doesn’t seem particularly realistic. She’s incredibly self-aware, self-aware and engaging enough to basically carry the book as a passive protagonist (she does buy a video game), so it’s inexplicable she’s with her lame boyfriend. Yes, he is a would… 📖
-
The Guild 3 (May 2010)
I’m glad I spent 150 words talking about the gay boyfriend last issue because this issue we find out he’s not really gay, he’s just an omni-sexual egomaniac. It’s so much less interesting… because all Day does now is revert the relationship back to the first issue. Third issue, but the keyword is reversion. This… 📖
-
The Guild 2 (April 2010)
This issue ends… I don’t know if poorly is the right word. Let me explain. So our hero, Cyd–I find it interesting female comic book writers feel the same need to give their female protagonists “cool” names as the male ones do–is dating a closeted gay guy. He’s been lying to her while sleeping with… 📖
-
The Guild 1 (March 2010)
I have a hard time believing the set-up. I like the book, but the main character doesn’t seem particularly realistic. She’s incredibly self-aware, self-aware and engaging enough to basically carry the book as a passive protagonist (she does buy a video game), so it’s inexplicable she’s with her lame boyfriend. Yes, he is a would… 📖
-
Homicide Bureau (1939, Charles C. Coleman)
Oh, those silly liberal apologists, not letting police detective Bruce Cabot beat confessions out of suspects. Don’t they understand these criminals are really working for the Nazis? Okay, Homicide Bureau never actually says Nazis, just warring foreign powers, but they mean the Nazis. The funniest part of the movie is the end, where the police… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #7
This issue starts off terrible. Fraction uses three narrators–Ben Urich, Tony Stark and Peter Parker–and it’s a rough fit. Well, maybe not with Tony and Peter, that transition is actually, pretty smooth. But the Ben Urich narration? With Fraction capitalizing every proper noun to show EMPHASIS? It’s horrific. But the story isn’t bad. There’s a… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #6
Aww, the Iron Man helmet on the last page looks so sad. It’s a bad issue, to be sure, and a terrible way to end this story arc–it’s way too compressed–but it’s only the third worst issue so far in the series (and, I’m hoping, the last bad one in the series). I think there’s… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #5
Well, this issue’s pretty lousy. Not much in the way of people in it–mostly just Iron Man versus Iron Monger Jr.–so Larroca does all right. The fight scene isn’t exactly exciting or engaging, but it’s a competent action scene. But the writing–not even the entire issue, just the end–is awful. See, if Tony Stark’s supposed… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #4
I’m of two minds about this issue. Maybe three. On one hand, it’s a talking head book. There’s almost no Iron Man armor appearance (with Tony in the armor) and, even when there is an appearance, he’s talking to someone. In other words, it’s a Salvador Larroca talking heads book. It’s exceptionally ugly. But the… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #3
Bring on the expository dialogue, I haven’t heard enough from Zeke Stane about his stupid skin getting burnt up by his organic Iron Man setup. Is his name supposed to sound like a synonym for track marks? Because it kind of does; it’s appropriate, because he’s a crap villain. This issue reads, again, like a… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #2
What’s with Larroca and faces? Hasn’t anyone told him his digital art for faces looks just plain awful? The issue has really solid art for the first eight pages or so and then I realized why–he’d only drawn like one or two faces. Once the faces are there, it looks awful again. I can run… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 7 (January 2009)
This issue starts off terrible. Fraction uses three narrators–Ben Urich, Tony Stark and Peter Parker–and it’s a rough fit. Well, maybe not with Tony and Peter, that transition is actually, pretty smooth. But the Ben Urich narration? With Fraction capitalizing every proper noun to show EMPHASIS? It’s horrific. But the story isn’t bad. There’s a… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man (2008) #1
I’ve read this comic before. I don’t like it. It’s half sequel to the Iron Man movie and half adaptation of that movie’s distinct action sequences. I also don’t like Larroca’s artwork here. Maybe I don’t like him in general, but I know I don’t like him here. It’s plastically slick and photo-referenced. To describe… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 6 (December 2008)
Aww, the Iron Man helmet on the last page looks so sad. It’s a bad issue, to be sure, and a terrible way to end this story arc–it’s way too compressed–but it’s only the third worst issue so far in the series (and, I’m hoping, the last bad one in the series). I think there’s… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 5 (November 2008)
Well, this issue’s pretty lousy. Not much in the way of people in it–mostly just Iron Man versus Iron Monger Jr.–so Larroca does all right. The fight scene isn’t exactly exciting or engaging, but it’s a competent action scene. But the writing–not even the entire issue, just the end–is awful. See, if Tony Stark’s supposed… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 4 (October 2008)
I’m of two minds about this issue. Maybe three. On one hand, it’s a talking head book. There’s almost no Iron Man armor appearance (with Tony in the armor) and, even when there is an appearance, he’s talking to someone. In other words, it’s a Salvador Larroca talking heads book. It’s exceptionally ugly. But the… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 3 (September 2008)
Bring on the expository dialogue, I haven’t heard enough from Zeke Stane about his stupid skin getting burnt up by his organic Iron Man setup. Is his name supposed to sound like a synonym for track marks? Because it kind of does; it’s appropriate, because he’s a crap villain. This issue reads, again, like a… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 2 (August 2008)
What’s with Larroca and faces? Hasn’t anyone told him his digital art for faces looks just plain awful? The issue has really solid art for the first eight pages or so and then I realized why–he’d only drawn like one or two faces. Once the faces are there, it looks awful again. I can run… 📖
-
The Invincible Iron Man 1 (July 2008)
I’ve read this comic before. I don’t like it. It’s half sequel to the Iron Man movie and half adaptation of that movie’s distinct action sequences. I also don’t like Larroca’s artwork here. Maybe I don’t like him in general, but I know I don’t like him here. It’s plastically slick and photo-referenced. To describe… 📖
-
Detective Comics (1937) #499
Well, Batman fights the crooked miners union again this issue… but this time… he wins! Actually, it’s a really nice story about Batman and Blockbuster saving a bunch of miners in a collapsed shaft. Conway takes his time, reintroducing everything from last issue (I love the recaps comics used to integrate into the stories), then… 📖
-
Detective Comics (1937) #498
It’s Batman versus the crooked coal miners and guess who wins? Not Batman. Okay, maybe I’m abridging a little, but not by much. Conway makes Batman a little too human here, way too fallible (he gets hit in the head with a shovel–isn’t he supposed to know when people are sneaking up on him?). It’s… 📖
-
Detective Comics 499 (February 1981)
Well, Batman fights the crooked miners union again this issue… but this time… he wins! Actually, it’s a really nice story about Batman and Blockbuster saving a bunch of miners in a collapsed shaft. Conway takes his time, reintroducing everything from last issue (I love the recaps comics used to integrate into the stories), then… 📖
-
Detective Comics 498 (January 1981)
It’s Batman versus the crooked coal miners and guess who wins? Not Batman. Okay, maybe I’m abridging a little, but not by much. Conway makes Batman a little too human here, way too fallible (he gets hit in the head with a shovel–isn’t he supposed to know when people are sneaking up on him?). It’s… 📖
-
Dracula: The Company of Monsters (2010) #1
Dracula, as a vampire (at least, how he usually looks as a vampire), appears on the cover of this comic book. He does not appear, as a vampire, in the interior. Instead, we follow Evan. Evan is a naive blue blood whose evil multi-national corporation is going to resurrect Dracula. I didn’t learn the resurrection… 📖
-
Detective Comics (1937) #497
The main story is dedicated to Will Eisner, but besides some rather obvious Spirit references, I don’t get it. I mean, it’s not like Batman spends the issue getting beat up. That one thing aside–it’s not even a problem, it’s just a strange dedication–the issue’s pretty good. It’s Batman the adventurer, with some nice moments… 📖
-
Face/Off (1997, John Woo)
A lot of Face/Off is okay. Nicolas Cage does a great job as the hero stuck with the villain’s face and makes it worth watching. The same can’t be said for John Travolta, who’s only a little better as the villain with the hero’s face than he was as the hero (the movie’s got a… 📖
-
Dracula: The Company of Monsters 1 (August 2010)
Dracula, as a vampire (at least, how he usually looks as a vampire), appears on the cover of this comic book. He does not appear, as a vampire, in the interior. Instead, we follow Evan. Evan is a naive blue blood whose evil multi-national corporation is going to resurrect Dracula. I didn’t learn the resurrection… 📖
-
Detective Comics 497 (December 1980)
The main story is dedicated to Will Eisner, but besides some rather obvious Spirit references, I don’t get it. I mean, it’s not like Batman spends the issue getting beat up. That one thing aside–it’s not even a problem, it’s just a strange dedication–the issue’s pretty good. It’s Batman the adventurer, with some nice moments… 📖
-
After Dark (2010) #1
Wesley Snipes helped create After Dark. There’s no mention of if he did it before or after debtor’s prison. I imagine if the comic had a tax evader as a character, it might be a lot more interesting. The story, if I can figure it out, is about an atmosphere destroyed earth with no real… 📖
-
Time Bomb (2010) #1
Holy cow, what a fun comic book. I think I might like this one more than any other Gray and Palmiotti book I’ve ever read. It plays like a big budget TV miniseries from the eighties or something–time travel to stop the Nazis from destroying the world in the present (a rough description, but accurate).… 📖
-
After Dark 1 (July 2010)
Wesley Snipes helped create After Dark. There’s no mention of if he did it before or after debtor’s prison. I imagine if the comic had a tax evader as a character, it might be a lot more interesting. The story, if I can figure it out, is about an atmosphere destroyed earth with no real… 📖
-
Time Bomb 1 (July 2010)
Holy cow, what a fun comic book. I think I might like this one more than any other Gray and Palmiotti book I’ve ever read. It plays like a big budget TV miniseries from the eighties or something–time travel to stop the Nazis from destroying the world in the present (a rough description, but accurate).… 📖
-
Agents of Atlas (2006) #6
Parker ends Agents of Atlas with M-11. It’s very appropriate since he’s been the biggest mystery of the series and to the team members. There’s something incredibly tragic and beautiful about the character; Parker goes for it and succeeds. It’s too bad M-11 couldn’t carry a limited of his own. The issue itself, setting Jimmy… 📖
-
Agents of Atlas (2006) #5
And here again, Parker does the improbable. The issue has a relatively short present action, something like a half hour. Maybe a little more, but the big part of then issue isn’t long, as watched on a clock. Well, actually I’m wrong–it’s indeterminate. Parker sticks with Derek as a narrator, which brings–I’m realizing for the… 📖
-
Agents of Atlas (2006) #4
Oh, Jeff Parker, how I love thee. This issue–this modern Marvel comic book–takes place over a week. Maybe even a few days more than a week. Parker resolves the previous issue’s cliffhanger, brings in a new character, has two big action sequences and has time for character development and a bunch of summary action scenes.… 📖
-
Agents of Atlas (2006) #3
After opening with a nice fight scene–it starts with just Jimmy, then brings everyone in–the issue moves to some Atlas investigating. The book’s title still doesn’t make any sense in the context of the content, which is kind of awesome. I wish I remembered what I thought it meant at this point during my first… 📖
-
Agents of Atlas (2006) #2
Derek, the SHIELD agent, narrates this issue. The result is a more procedural issue, like Parker is trying to keep the reader a few steps removed from the principle characters. He does it a few times, more obviously, in the narrative, like when Venus says hello to a changed Bob. A little about the art.… 📖