I came to Sandman late. Picked up the final arc Kindly Ones because Marc Hempel was drawing it. Hempel caught my eye in college when My roommate Bill collected a coulpe of graphic novels about a simple man in an asylum named Gregory.
Hilarious and touching stuff. I had no interest in Neil Gaiman though I quickly became a fan. Luckily a gaming buddy of mine Eric, had all the trades in his collection and I caught up. Now my Vertigo title was the Invisibles and I was deep into that journey, but Sandman mixed all the magical story sources I enjoyed. I was in. I was affected by its ending and never found another Gaiman joint that held my attention like he did on Sandman. Imagine my excitement when it was announced that Gaiman was returning to Dream and the art was being helmed by one of my favorite current comic artists, J H Williams III. I missed the first issue when it came out two weeks ago. So I held my reviews until I read it. I am also finishing up a big move, so time has been a tight commodity. Anyway I finally got it so let the show go on...
11. X-Men Gold 001
Enh...not so much.
First of all, Olivier Coipel cover Noice! Still I feel tricked by the cover. I thought there would be more pin-ups and original vignettes connected to current continuity. Instead I got five stories giving some insights into past events from X-men mythos. Nice to see some creators I have admired through the years I did notice how profound storytelling styles change. Claremont still writes ALOT of narration and could not survive without thought bubbles. Stan Lee well is Stan Lee and scripts like everything is a commercial...in a good way and nothing beats a bunch of pages from the master Walt Simonson. The Banshee/Sunfire tour of Memphis was hokey. The Wolverine doing Batman and breaking down his crew was a little brutal, and the Magneto prelude to Onslaught dream sequence took me back to a time when X-men was getting to big and aimless. I the end I felt a little cheated. While I got a sense of how much many of these characters have changed I wasn't wowed. The snippets of scenes from current X-titles pissed me off 'cause I had all the books they came from. Still that Coipel cover.10. X-Men Battle of the Atom 002
awwww BOoooo!
Bendis nooooo. He let me down at the end... again. Ya'll know Age of Ultron ended flat. I think the pace of this story was too fast for the number of chapters. The last couple chapters where fight fillers with little plot progression. And more Time problems. I see another Time event coming up for MArvel after this Cosmic stuff runs through. Mark my words. I guess events are now continual bridges to each other with little story resolution but lots of change and occurrences. Two different artist obviously rushed and very different visually for the artist credited on the cover. Too jarring with indistinct detail. I did enjoy the epilogues. I'm still down for some of the individual titles and the event did its job of making me take a second look at titles I dropped so that's a success. Just didn't feel the pay-off.
9. Infinity. Part Five of Six.
Hm. Ain't that something!?
You know that pay off I was missing in X-men BOTA was present in this that I have been panning. My bad. While I think every comes together fast in comparison to the build p, but that's Hickman's structure. The aftermath of victory really grabbed me. The Avengers are bad muthas throughout galaxies. Mad respect. More than Earth's Mightiest Heroes, they are Galactic! But still there is a bridge. Thanos insinuating himself in the narrative of Infinity comes to the fore by entering the MAde Men of MArvel's(trademark pending) hidden citadel, the Necropolis and prepares to take advantage of their technology. And Thane is introduced. I won't pick up Six but did enjoy this issue.
8. Ultimate Comics Cataclysm 0.1
Ohh you got me!
I thought this was the beginning of the event. It was not. It was the prelude to the event. I enjoyed it. I'm taking peeks into the Ultimate Comics world and like this Fialkov guy. I liked the Ultimate version of the Vision and found its relationship to Falcon interesting. The comparison between 616 and Ultimate reality was clever. I may follow this event at BAM. These events are getting expensive.
7. World's Finest #17
Why can't I quite you?
Sorry Sigler I still dig Levitz. The current artist has gotten the feel of the characters while still having a very energetic style. This may come from the breakdowns by industry mainstay Scott Mcdaniels. RB Silva brings energy to very well designed and dynamic layouts. I like Helena and Kara and want to see how they fare in the face of what's happening in Earth 2.
6. Avengers #22. Infinity tie-in.
Eating crow!
Great issue. Down for this coming home from war narrative. Helped me understand Hickman treating this book like a military operation. These are soldiers. They are on a high. Nice veteran rookie moment between Eden and CAP/Capt Marvel/Thor. Classic. Stills feels rather matter of fact in execution. It has delivered. Its an Avengers World.
5. Amazing X-Men 001.
I mean- its Nightcrawler.
I wasn't reading X-men titles when Kurt Wagner died so I never got the chance to miss him. He has always been one of my favorite X-men and a great voice in the throng that is X-men. Doesn't look like they are over thinking his return just making it happen. Nice action by Mcguinness, but do we need another X-title to re-introduce Nightcrawler? I admit I really enjoyed this issue but my budget is being stretched. Oh and the reappearance of Firestar, right when Iceman gets single.
4. Mighty Avengers 003. Infinity tie-in.
More crow. Yum.
This was a good issue. The characters had a chemistry together and the execution of more fantastic scenes took the focus off of Lands figure drawing and more towards his overall layout and panel progression. Our maybe I just liked they way he did Adam the Blue Marvel. I felt like I was seeing Icon. sniff. Still don't like his Spectrum but the actions panels in this issue were dynamic. Luke's speech was a bit ham-fisted but consistent. Some times its good not being a snob.
3. Earth 2. #17.
Still interested....
James Robinson left, abruptly. He was building to some interesting stuff. His final issues was game changing to say the least. Tom Taylor picks up the ball with out missing a beat. His dialogue read a little less stiff than Robinsons. I liked that. Not excited about Earth 2 Batman but Tornado is a cool concept. Lets see where this continues to.
2. Sandman Overture 1.
....
I held up my reviews to get this book. I was looking forward to it. Anytime Gaiman does something with his Sandman mythos its like a special meal. I have to enjoy the parts and the whole and sitback and ruminate on all the courses. I'm just down for this book. JH Williams does incredible art and shines in magical landscapes. Promethea is an unparalleled reading experience and look forward to what he does in Dream's world. Nice to hear Gaiman's voice again. Though I'm sensing a little stiffness but it dances. I'm sure he's just warming up. And now the second issue has been delayed. Damn. I'll wait though...I'll wait.
1. All New X-men 018.
My man-crush on this creative team is getting embarrassing...
These are people Kitty has know her whole life. Her easy compliment to Scott was surprising welcome in the midst of all this mutant strife. Her moments with Illyana were promising in the shadow of all that's been going on since Schism. Iceman(boy) sets some stuff off his chest...kinda. Jean Grey continues to be the coolest. Like beyond Gidget. Henry McCoy remains a layered character with interesting insights. Slim is introverted but dedicated to getting better in the midst of an uncomfortable time. New costumes and the return of a story device that I thought Bednis used very successfully at the beginning of the BAttle of the Atom. Makes me wish he could do that with Xavier back in the day. All the interior monologues he may not have been able to block out and the insights that were forced on him. These guys do great superhero soap opera comics.
No comments:
Post a Comment