First up, we have Seven Psychopaths #1 of 3 put out by Boom! Studios. A comic that is a few weeks old that I finally got after my local shop tracked it down for me. How do you kill the most well protected man in the world? Simple, send people who are just crazy enough to not realize its a suicide mission. That is the premise of this three issue mini-series where one British general and one "crazy" professor begin to assemble their crack team to assassinate Hitler. The story and art of the issue have both assured I will be picking up the rest of it. The Psychos each bring their own brand of crazy to the table, assuring an entertaining and thrilling ride even if this one turns out like the history books.
Next up is Ultimate Avenges 2 #3 from Marvel. With our crew of shady characters assembled they go out looking for their target, the ultimate spirit of vengeance. While I really enjoyed the first two issues of this volume, this one was just ok. The art boasted some cool visuals and their were a few lines that gave me a chuckle but overall it didn't grab me. The next issue is probably going to be all out action so we will see if I keep going after that. (Probably)
Brightest Day: Justice League Generation Lost from DC is up next and in my opinion is the best thing to come out of Blackest Night. A quick recap of events so far is Maxwell Lord, former hero gatherer turned anti-metahuman villain, recently raised from the dead wipes himself from the memories of everyone on the planet except for Booster Gold, Fire, Ice, and Captain Atom. As they go about trying tell everyone about Max, he secretly discredits them with various manipulations. In this issue Fire goes to discover why she was terminated from Checkmate while the rest of the gang answers a distress call that is coming from the former Blue Beetle's (who Max Killed) specialized line. This title has it all! Great art, action, comedy, and some interesting drama thrown-in for good measure will keep me on this title for quite a while.
Speaking of the greatest hero you never heard of Booster Gold #33 also dropped this week. In a plot line cross over Booster goes looking for evidence of Max in the one place a man with a time machine would go, the past. Wasn't sure I was going to keep on this title after its recent creative team change since that was a such a fitting end but I am glad I did. Booster's reaction to being scolded by Cyborg was worth the price of admission alone. I am skeptical of how far the two men and a baby plot line is going to go, with Booster and Rip Hunter taking care of the child the former rescued from the future, but it was well handled in this issue with Skeets constantly trying to curb Booster's foul language. A solid read if you have become a fan of the character over the past few years, as I have.
Next up is Nemesis #2 put out by the Marvel imprint Icon. For those of you who didn't read the first issue, or have forgotten it since it was released in March, this comic was billed as "What if Batman was The Joker?" A wealthy manical, genius goes across the world slaughtering cops in complicated fashion till he gets to Washington DC where he captures the president and declares the time and date he will kill the chief of police. In this issue we find out a little Nemesis' back story as well as what his grudge with the chief of police is. Overall the title is just ok, the art is good and the story is somewhat appealing but the lengthy delays between issues is probably going to stop me from picking up the third issue.
Going from evil Batmanesque villain to a tale of 3 Batmen, we have Batman #700 from DC. This anniversary issue features one story spanning 3 different Batman eras (Bruce, Dick, and Damien) and features spectacular art with some of the industries top talent contributing. The Bruce portion really reminds me how much I miss regularly seeing Tony Daniel's art in the books I read, while the Dick one pays a fitting end to Frank Quitley's run on Batman and Robin. Not the greatest bat story I have ever read but it is short and self contained making it a decent one shot.
Moving on we come to out Second Coming double feature. In Revelations: Hellbound #2 of 3 we witness the continued efforts of Cannonball's team to find and rescue Magick from Limbo, and as typical nothing ever goes according to plan in Limbo. Based on the cover alone we can see the Remy has taken a back seat to the horsemen persona of Death. I am one of the few people who never really liked Gambit but over the last few years he has developed into quite an interesting character. While this story isn't necessarily vital to the happenings in the core Second Coming crossover it is certainly a story I am enjoying.
This brings us to Uncanny X-Men #525 (Second Coming Chapter 10). For those of you not keeping up with our band of merry mutants, Second Coming is an X-Men brand crossover. Hope is back from the future and the X-men are fighting to defend her as well as themselves from Bastion-Nimrod and his mutant extinction agenda. Last issue Cyclops was forced to throw up a hail mary and send X-Force along with Cable and Cypher into the future to shut down Bastion's sentinels at their core plant leaving the rest of the X-men to defend the encased San Francisco area as well as Utopia. In this issue the X-men are being worn down by Bastion's forces while the Fantastic Four and the Avengers are having no luck breaking into the orb which has isolated the mutants as well as innocent civilians from the rest of the world. Since I this it the first time I posting about this crossover, I have to take some time and gush about how much I am loving it. Its been a while since a cross-over has delivered on all fronts; great story and art across all books, Keeping the main story in the four associated books (while giving you a little extra in the tie-ins if you desire it), and lets the rest of the universe in without causing the event to go brand wide. If you have ever been an X-men fan I highly recommend giving Second Coming a look, although you might want to wait for the trades now since it is 10 issues in. On any other week this would have been my pick of the week but it happens to be contending with my two favorite titles, the epic Vertigo double feature.
First up is The Unwritten #14. Premise of the series is a young man named Tom Taylor is famous for the Harry Poteresque stories his dad wrote and tacked his name on to but all of a sudden his world his turned upside down when some of these magical beings and items end up being real. This book has had me hooked since day one. An enchanting story the begs the question what if there stories were real or the characters existed to some degree? How would a regular guy react? In this issue we are getting closer and closer to the release of the "fourteenth Tommy Taylor novel" while both Tom and the cabal are anxiously awaiting to see if Wilson, Tom's father, is alive and shows up. The art is great as always and the way modern media is portrayed is worthy of comparison to Dracula (the novel, not the character). If your still skeptical about trying out this book the first issue retailed at a dollar, and is probably even cheaper! If you can't find the first issue let me know, I think I have few extra.
This brings me to my last book, which also happens to be my pick of the week, Daytripper #7. Daytripper is a series where each issue focuses on a particularly important time of our protaganist's (Bras de Olivia Domingos) life. In this issue titled "38" Bras deals with the concept of friendship as he receives a postcard from his best friend, Jorge, who he hasn't seen in five years ever since Jorge left his life behind and went out in search of something else. One of my few reads that has nothing to do with magic or superheroes, it focuses more on a continuing slice of life narrative. A perfect comic to give to anyone that still thinks comics can't be serious or more adult like literature and just like The Unwritten the first issue retailed at a buck.
That is it for comics this week but I do have a few more picks ups to take a look at:
After reading an article about the film The Weathered Underground (pictured bottom middle) in Moviermaker Magazine I had to go pick it up. It is supposed to be a Choose Your Own Adventure type story in film, and I am really looking forward to checking it out. Hoping to get a reiview up for that some time this weekend. Surrounding the film is the various pieces of the Bioshock 2 Collector's Edition. While I am only a few hours into the first game, and already have a stack of games I still need to get to, I am in love with the world of Rapture and could not pass up the sequel for $40. Well that is it for this week comment below about your pick ups, opinions of the items featured, or random anecdotes.
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must say 40 bucks for bioshock 2 special edition is making me quite jealous...i also am reading generation lost and am enjoying it so far, you might want to check out the brightest day series as there have been some interesting twists with those who were brought back, hopefully with half a years worth of releases between the two series they will stay enjoyable, also thinking bout picking up blackest night heroclix starter set am liking the sculpts and character choices...this is the biz by the way in case you cant tell by the name on the post
ReplyDeleteHey man, thanks for the comment. Yeah Brightest Day is good but there is so many stories going on they are all moving slow whereas Generation Lost is focusing on 5 or 6 characters together so it seems to be getting more done. I picked up the starter and probably should have talked about it but haven't used any of the characters. The sculpts are pretty sweet though.
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