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Post by defiant1 on Jan 8, 2011 9:29:48 GMT -5
Although you can't really see any potential for the book long term, I don't really see a need for this to exist as a self contained story either. If this is only meant to be a 5 issue mini, I'd have to knock my score down -.5 on this. It's still a fun comic, a decent read and nice visuals. But I'm personally getting tired of comics with no need to exist. I've bought too many of those lately. Marvel is putting out a bunch of Thor related mini-series and spin-offs (which what Thunderstrike is) because of the upcoming movie which is strange because The Mighty Thor has always been one of Marvel's hardest books to sell. Also Thunderstrike has the unfortunate reputation of being "one of awful 90s that no one really likes except a few die hard fans" comics. Is it any wonder why Marvel would want to bring the series back as a mini-series? Now MAYBE[/u] if the sales are decent Marvel will bring the series back and try it again as an ongoing series. [/quote] Problem solved. None of the Thor books did well. Flooding the market with the different titles hurt sales on all of them. df1
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Post by G on Jan 8, 2011 12:42:52 GMT -5
Although you can't really see any potential for the book long term, I don't really see a need for this to exist as a self contained story either. If this is only meant to be a 5 issue mini, I'd have to knock my score down -.5 on this. It's still a fun comic, a decent read and nice visuals. But I'm personally getting tired of comics with no need to exist. I've bought too many of those lately. Marvel is putting out a bunch of Thor related mini-series and spin-offs (which what Thunderstrike is) because of the upcoming movie which is strange because The Mighty Thor has always been one of Marvel's hardest books to sell. Also Thunderstrike has the unfortunate reputation of being "one of awful 90s that no one really likes except a few die hard fans" comics. Is it any wonder why Marvel would want to bring the series back as a mini-series? Now MAYBE[/u] if the sales are decent Marvel will bring the series back and try it again as an ongoing series. [/quote] Eh, there really wasn't any need for the book in either regard (mini or ongoing). The finished product is a nice book and I'm not disappointed I own it and read it. But to see this going into the land of a 5 issue self contained seems like.....why bother? It seems pretty pointless. And for the record, I've never been a fan of Thunderstrike either. I'm personally a fan of just plain Thor. Thor isn't the type of hero that can be spread too thin. He's like the low end of the A-Listers. I do think the Thor ongoing series was rocking there about 6 months ago. It was one of the best comics Marvel had going. But I don't like the new artist (or more notably, the colorist) of the current issues. I picked up a few of the other Thor mini's and they've ALL SUCKED and I'm pissed I bought them. Keep the efforts on the main Thor title. I could have maybe supported Thunderstrike as a side title, but not in mini-series format. If it has to be that way, I would rather it didn't exist at all. No loss at all.
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Post by bigw1966 on Jan 9, 2011 12:52:51 GMT -5
Thor the mighty avenger was pretty good. And a couple of the one shots. As for the current Artist on Thor, he is really good, but myself I would brefer to see that Artist on aheavy sci-fi book. Not sure about the more Pastel coloring he is using either.
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Post by G on Jan 12, 2011 13:38:02 GMT -5
John Bryne's Next Men #1 IDW Writer - John Bryne Artist - John Bryne Cover - I was a bit disappointed when I opened my DCBS order and had this cover. Believe it or not, I was kinda hoping for the team shot fan out (1st issues are okay for that kinda thing). However, once I read the story the cover has grown on me because it is indeed a true insight cover in a cryptic way. As for the book, John Bryne seems to be a polarizing figure in comics. I see a lot of people either love or hate him. I have to admit, he's almost seemed forgotten about in my mind. I know he's been doing things, but I haven't bought anything until I seen this Next Men title. I purchased a lot of the original, I liked it then. I didn't read the whole thing because I picked it up from dumpsters a few years after it came out. I kinda thought Bryne had watered himself down though and being a Dark Horse book, it never thrilled me too much. I decided to give this another chance when I seen it advertised. The Next Men have just been awakened from an experimental sleep where they have lived subliminally in another dimension each experiencing their own version of their world, each have similar but different experiences, each trying to put together what really happened and what was an illusion. Each finding reality bringing surprising realizations? Or are they awake at all? Are they still in their sleep and this is all part of it? What is real? Who is whom they seem to be? Why are friends enemies and vice versa? The entire comic is great at giving pieces to what is happening and yet not giving you a clear picture of what truly is the story. Its sorta like a mystery slowly unraveling. One of the difficult things with ordering with DCBS is I am ordering 3-4 months in advance. So often I buy a first issue or one of a series and do not by the follow ups because if I dont like it, I'll end up having 2-3 more coming before I turn it off. With this one, I went on faith and have been purchasing the follow ups. I'll keep buying it until the comic turns me off. As of this point, I'm glad I continued to purchase. I'm looking forward to the following issues. This was a good enjoyable read. As for the art. John Bryne draws better with his quick sketches than a lot of artists do with full effort. Yes, it still is nowhere as tight as his X-Men/Fantastic Four days, but I have to say compared to the last few times I actually purchased John Bryne books and was disappointed, this seemed like an improvement over before. He's mastered drawing quick and still make it look good and believable. I actually think he's improved since I last seen him. Yeah, its still quick stuff, but he lays out and finishes his pages at a higher level than most. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Being a mystery type beginning unfolding, I'm waiting to see how this plays out to give it a final grade. As it is, I'm glad I'm on with it for a few issues. I'm gonna give it a chance. I have to be honest, compared to the Dark Horse Valiant relaunch, this blows that away in spades! I'll give it a 4.0 on a 5 scale. Being a bit confusing may throw some off and Byrne has enough talent to draw as good as he wants and leaves a bit off the table. But still, I think he's picked it up compared to what I seen from him the last time I picked up a few of his books. I think he did a kick ass job on this! I hope all those who talk shit about him see he's still got what it takes to make quality comics.
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Post by defiant1 on Jan 12, 2011 14:59:30 GMT -5
The last Byrne comic I bought was FX by IDW. The story and art were both childish.
df1
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Post by G on Jan 18, 2011 17:22:04 GMT -5
27 Image Comics Writer - Charles Soule Artist - Renzo Podesta Cover - I would imagine this was copied from a photograph with a fair amount of justice to it, it gives a good vibe of looking like any photo you would see from a concert. The photoshopped circles add the affect that music is taking place from the instrument. Beyond that, it's rather ordinary and isn't even that great. Unfortunately it happens to be probably the best picture from the entire book. Format - I've heard this book is a bit on the hot side, but I would expect it to be forgotten about by time anyone reads this. I wouldn't normally mention a format, but it's worth noting here, I'm finding this is considered "Golden Age format" which means its oversized much to about the size of what Golden Age comics were. This sounds nice when you think of it at first. You're getting a bigger comic for the same price. Problem is, I don't have a damn bag and board for it and if I did, I couldn't fit it into a comic box. To be honest, this is a bitch and not anything special. I would have been far happier had this book have been regular sized. Amazingly, 2 of my comics this month showed up in this startling Golden Age size (Iron Siege from IDW being the other). I have to be honest and say I don't want it. If you want to make some Treasury Sized comics again, fine. But this size is so outdated, it'll be forever before I have a need to buy bags and boards for this and especially a box. Being unique isn't always a good thing. Story - Unfortunately, the story isn't unique either. We start with a gifted guitarist whose band has just made the bigtime and are starting to enjoy the fruits of their success when suddenly our hero begins developing a case of painful fretboard hand and can no longer play. Desperate to get back his normal feeling he begins seeking remedies to cure his hand. He is told that his career is over and to move on with his life. Of course, being a rock star, that's not about to happen. So he begins searching out alternative ways for a cure. As a last ditch effort he finds a doctor over the internet (more dumbness) who apparently has cured other ailing rock stars before including a drummer who was paralyzed from the waist down. According to legend, he was able to get the drummers leg's working again. Our guitarist goes to meet our doctor on his 27th birthday. You know 27 is supposed to be the critical age for musicians as legends tend to die at 27 such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. With some reluctance our guitarist hero agrees to let the doctor do his procedure which has him undress and locked inside some kind of contraption cage which affixes not only the doctor's naked self, but also cages of nine cats, because cats have 9 lives and 9 x 9 is 81 or 8 + 1 = 9. At this point, Im thinking....whatever. About the time our hero thinks this is too far fetch to continue, a bolt of energy takes over and our star goes through some pain until the smoke clears. Our guitarist now finds himself alone. The doctor has apparently fried himself doing this. (Why he fries himself over this sap and not with others before him is beyond me). Our guitarist calls 911 to report the death and leaves the scene to return home. Of course he wants to check out his guitar abilities. Same old pain. But then he discovers a built in amplifier or some contraption now built into his chest. He flicks a few buttons and now he's back to being a rock god. He calls his bandmate and has him listen over the phone. It's time to get the band back together. Both are eager to cash in on the rock god scene once sagain. After getting off the phone, our guitarist continues to play only to find his talents are once again gone. He continues to fiddle with the buttons built into his body but to no avail. He still sucks. He has however picked up the magic ability to sculpt things out of nothing and he's also being visited by the dead which he can now see. End of issue. Before I tackle how I felt about the story, let me first say the art sucked. This looks like coloring book of low grade art or 8th grade amateur art done just well enough to read along to it. But honestly, thats all it did. It really was shitty in my opinion. I really hate seeing subpar artists get work like this. If this had been some 500 issue low budget, barely heard of Independent, I would have felt this was good experience for the guy. Instead, this is Image Comics. If this guy can do this, than I really think they should offer bigw a book and let him have a shot at the big time. He's far better. This guy sucks and gets to tag Image Comics to his resume. This guy is so bad that whoever hired him should be fired immediately. The story is just too dumb and too cliche. It's the old sold your soul for the devil to be a rock star story just twisted enough to call it your own, but really, thats all this story is. Its unoriginal. Furthermore, its plain dumb. While I was reading it, I didn't understand why the doctor got naked too. For a moment there, I thought he just locked up his victim into a cage and now he was going to have gay sex with him. Instead the doctor is only too happy to have himself killed over a guitarist's hand. The cats angle was dumb too. The contraption in the chest was dumb as well. Dude should never need another amp for the rest of his life. However, he's more concerned with his hand than the fact that he has a bunch of buttons growing out of his chest. That fact alone would have had me freaking out, instead you would think he grew tits and now has something to play with at home. And to top it off, he can now see dead people. 6th Sense anybody??? This comic is little more than a mildly clever cover with nothing but smoke and mirrors on the inside. I wouldn't recommend this to anybody and I have to say I have plenty of other books that are worth far less than what I pay for it that deserve a lot more attention than this piece of garbage. The longer I think about this story, the more my score goes down. Originally I was going to give it a 2.5 because maybe it merited average, but when I really though of it, it really isn't average. It sucks a lot more than most. I almost settled on 1.5, but that's just too generous. A .5 would be too severe. I guess if you're bored its worth a look. But there is very little about this book I find redeeming. The fact this book ever got any bit hot at all amazes me. Another concern that today's crowd really doesn't care about comics because the Image it gets is worth more. I guess I'm settling on giving this book a 1. There is just too many better things out there. Don't waste your money.
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Post by cyberstrike on Jan 19, 2011 15:40:51 GMT -5
27 is one of those stories if you just read or heard a very vague concept or plot synopsis you might think it sounds cool and might be intrigued to try it out, but once learn more about it, or read it, you see it for what it is: a complete and total piece of shit.
Now maybe a top notch writer and artist could might be able to make this book into something really cool, although I doubt I'll ever be interested in it.
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Post by G on Jan 19, 2011 19:56:33 GMT -5
27 is one of those stories if you just read or heard a very vague concept or plot synopsis you might think it sounds cool and might be intrigued to try it out, but once learn more about it, or read it, you see it for what it is: a complete and total piece of shit. Now maybe a top notch writer and artist could might be able to make this book into something really cool, although I doubt I'll ever be interested in it. Yeah, this about sums it up. The story would have been cooler if it had been about real struggles a band faces. Instead of this selling your soul to the devil kinda feel. Great art could have made it into a 2.5, but to be honest, the story is perhaps weaker than the putrid art. And that's saying something..... This book truly is a 1 in my opinion.
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Post by G on Mar 9, 2011 0:40:31 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #588 Marvel Comics Writer - Jonathan Hickman Artist - Nick Dragatta Cover - For the type of comic this is, this cover is reflective of what to expect inside. You see the Fantastic Four in the background at their best. You see the Fantastic Four in the foreground, with their grief. Interior - It's too damn bad the Fantastic Four ended the way it did. The book was currently my 2nd favorite Marvel Comic trailing only Captain America and quickly gaining on that. The book was on a roll. The writing was solid and the art has been superb. The Fantastic Four have been almost fun again which is something I haven't been able to think or say much since perhaps the John Byrne days. Then they had to go and get clever and pull one of those death stunts that short term will spike sales but long term is going to alienate tons of readers, myself included. To put it mildly, it was just plain unnecessary to play this card on this book at this time. It more or less has pulled the rug out from under it and ruined all momentum. They just didn't need this. Instead of being a comic that was becoming an awesome place to jump in and enjoy the ride, this book now marks would will assuredly be a point where many readers jump off. Yes it is touted as being a last issue and it reality it is. But we all know the new ongoing series FF is slated out later this month and apparently it picks up where this left off, but only in a whole new direction which I personally find appalling. As it is, this mostly silent issue brings a lot of visuals to it and without words is easy to follow. We follow in the moment and days following Johnny Storms death. We see the moments where everyone realizes Johnny is dead and how they react to it and how they try and deal with it. It appears the Thing is taking it especially hard as he was the helpless witness who watch Johnny get killed. Right at a time when the two may have never bonded better. We witness the funeral where many of the usual suspects you would expect would show up to pay respect, but what is surprising is seeing Dr. Doom show up to pay his respects as well. Later as everyone moves on with their lives, we see the surviving members of the FF struggling to cope. One somewhat moving scene is seeing the Thing battle both the Thor and the Hulk in a way that allows the Thing to let it out. Finally we see Reed Richards going over a to do list when suddenly the book ends with his father showing up. If the book would have ended here, this could have been a very memorable issue and I think it should have just continued on with the same numbering and so on. Regrettably, we see a backup story with Spiderman and Franklin Richard discussing how they both lost their Uncles and both felt they could have prevented it. It's Spiderman that helps Franklin move on. This light hearted moment wouldnt have been so bad if it wasn't for what was also seen in this issue....and that was... A preview to the new FF series showing the FF in new white costumes and a new member....Spiderman himself. I must admit, I about vomited when I seen this. For a book that had such a strong run and ending, this new beginning just feels wrong for every conceivable reason. Its just nothing I'm interested in seeing and yet, I know being a fan of the FF, I'll pick it up. I'm just not sure how far I'll make it. Because seeing Spiderman as a member of the FF is just down right deplorable to me. Although the art doesn't live up to the level of Epting, Dragotta did a wonderfully solid job for a silent story. He had to add the nuances to get the experiences of each scene to mean something. He did exactly that and captured the moments extremely well. I'd like to see this guy do other things, but to be honest, I'd rather have Epting back. All in all, if you take out the backup and the oncoming preview to the new FF...I'd rate this around a 4.5. It was a wonderful book in it's own right. Unfortunately those features are there and really its a smack in the face. I can't really make this comic higher than a 3.5. Its the other facts that kill this book. As it was, Fantastic Four #588 does what all the other recent Fantastic Fours have done.....they've kept the title on a roll. Unfortunately, as the title on the cover says, it looks as though this comic has come to an abrupt end. And really there is plenty of other comics Marvel has that this could of or maybe even should have happened. But certainly not the Fantastic Four.
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Post by G on Mar 9, 2011 7:12:45 GMT -5
Li'L Depressed Boy #1 Image Comics Writer - S. Steven Struble Artist - Sina Grace Cover - I pretty much knew what I was getting when I seen the cover and made the decision to buy this. In some ways I like the cover because it is a snapshot of his day. Interior - Li'l Depressed boy was a cute little story about a introverted teenager trying to make it through his days. He likes rock music and video games. He obviously likes girls too. How or why he seems to be in the shape of a rag doll while everyone else is human, is beyond me. This story would work just as well if Li'l Depressed Boy was as human as the rest of them. Maybe more so. Perhaps the overall effect is to make him more sad looking. Maybe it's to sit around and go awwww at him. Whatever the matter, you end up not paying attention to it as the story progresses. What does progress is Li'L Depressed Boy has somehow caught the attention of a rather extroverted, cute rocker girl with tattoos and piercings who plays aggressive with our hero. We witness Li'L Depressed Boy in those awkward states of being unsure of himself and liking what he's sees and what he's doing. He's falling pretty fast and hard for his rocker chick, but he's trying to play it cool. Its a good thing she is aggressive or else this relationship wouldn't go anywhere. At the end of the day and an apparent date at a concert and some dinner, Li'L Depressed Boy gets kissed as they separate for the evening. He gets inside his room and does that "winner" look we all do after we get that 1st kiss. Li'L Depressed Boy actually seems pretty lucky and maybe, just maybe....he's actually a happy boy. Like I said earlier, I thought I knew pretty much what I would get when I purchased this and it delivered. The only mystery to me would have been to what degree did it deliver it. It delivered it rather well and convincing enough that it felt like I was reliving a couple of my teenage moments myself. From the awkwardness to the amazement that this chick likes me. Li'L Depressed Boy kind of brings those moments back. Nothing too shocking or offensive here. LDB play's it safe. The formula works. Although there is nothing truly special here, there is nothing really wrong either. I'd buy it again if I wanted to keep up and enjoy it, but honestly I probably wont because I have doubts the book will live much if any above what I've already seen. I have my doubts about this book moving forward. But on it's own merits, LDB was a nice little diversion for my day. I enjoyed it. I'd give it a 3.5.
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