Alright, let's give it another shot this week!
As per Arn's idea, I'll list my pull list and then my choice or choices.
Batwoman 0
Green Arrow 6
Teen Titans 89
Uncanny X-Men 530
X-Men Legacy 242
Batwoman 0:
I wanted so badly to give this one to Batwoman, but I had a few disappointments. The story itself is only about half the regular length. The rest is a preview for issue 1 coming in February. Had it been longer, it would've probably been my favorite as I was the most excited about it. But also, Williams' art was split with Amy Reeder's, who'll be doing the 2nd arc of the book, and when the art was side to side, Williams' very clearly out shown hers. I liked her Kate Kane, but not much else. Maybe on it's own as the only art in the book it'll be fine, but on the same page as J.H.? Like shooting yourself in the foot to be honest.
Uncanny X-Men 530:
Portacio is gone, and so is the awful art he brought with him. I know most everyone here doesn't care for Greg Land, but he was a welcome return for me. Though I finally see the problems in his work. The Sublime Corporation creates their own heroes here, modeled after the original X-Men (which I dug) but their 'Angel' looks Identical to Emma Frost. I mean Identical. Unless it turns out to be one of her sisters, bad form. But this plus a new story and return of who I'm pretty certain was The Collective Man made this a cool issue for me.
So I think based off this, with Teen Titans almost breaking in but I'm still holding reserves on the Krul/Scott run for another issue or so, I'd give it to Uncanny. Though probably in part to a lack of longer story in Batwoman and few other books coming out this week for me.
What about you guys?
Book of the Week: November 24th
Moderator: Mr Wallstreet
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Tragic Angelus
- Posts: 3397
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- Location: Indiana
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Mr Wallstreet
- Posts: 3734
- Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:21 pm
It's not just Batwoman that is half an issue but lots of other DC books (or is it just the Bat books) are half their usual length with the remaining part of the book being a preview for the upcoming Bat title with Snyder & Jock.
Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have many other strong titles on my pull list but I enjoyed Batwoman the most. It was a bit of a different kick off than is usual for a new title; it was split evenly with a detective narrative and action, something that's done a lot but not very well. I did notice the difference in the art in some areas but it wasn't enough to completely annoy me.
I really liked the cover art & the Batwoman art (which if I'm reading the breakdown correctly was done by J.H. Williams). It's a bit hard to describe but it looks like a different variation of Alex Ross's art. It looks just realistic enough but it retains its comic booky look.
Notable mention goes out to JSA #45, not for being great but for being predictable and going back to the well to fill up on another Nazi story in record time. Dickheads. Please don't misread this, I'm not defending Nazis, I'm just sick of them being used excessively within the JSA.
Also, I haven't read Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy or Fables in ages
Maybe it was the fact that I didn't have many other strong titles on my pull list but I enjoyed Batwoman the most. It was a bit of a different kick off than is usual for a new title; it was split evenly with a detective narrative and action, something that's done a lot but not very well. I did notice the difference in the art in some areas but it wasn't enough to completely annoy me.
I really liked the cover art & the Batwoman art (which if I'm reading the breakdown correctly was done by J.H. Williams). It's a bit hard to describe but it looks like a different variation of Alex Ross's art. It looks just realistic enough but it retains its comic booky look.
Notable mention goes out to JSA #45, not for being great but for being predictable and going back to the well to fill up on another Nazi story in record time. Dickheads. Please don't misread this, I'm not defending Nazis, I'm just sick of them being used excessively within the JSA.
Also, I haven't read Uncanny X-Men, X-Men Legacy or Fables in ages
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Tragic Angelus
- Posts: 3397
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 4:44 pm
- Location: Indiana
I totally get you on the JSA front. That's one of the most overused cliches for that book. I don't think Captain America fights them every 4 issues (excluding the Red Skull maybe) but the JSA fights nothing BUT Nazis. It gets repetitive fast.
And as for J.H.Williams, his art is amazing, but his true true talent lies in his layouts. If you pick up the Rucka/Willaims Batwoman arc from Detective Comics you'll see that he does incredible things that really ground the story in a comic book world. Layouts that are centered around the Bat Symbol, jump across double page spreads in amazing patterns, and more fill the whole collection. It's truly amazing.
And as for J.H.Williams, his art is amazing, but his true true talent lies in his layouts. If you pick up the Rucka/Willaims Batwoman arc from Detective Comics you'll see that he does incredible things that really ground the story in a comic book world. Layouts that are centered around the Bat Symbol, jump across double page spreads in amazing patterns, and more fill the whole collection. It's truly amazing.
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jedispyder
- Posts: 2150
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- Location: Cincy
I've only read half the books so I'll put blurbs on those:
ACTION COMICS #895 - Really enjoyed this, loved the idea of Savage waiting hundreds of years to face an adversary at a specific point and when it finally happened he missed it. Still a bit confused as to the sciency portion of the issue but next issue will be interesting.
BATWOMAN #0 [I haven't finished her arc on 'Tec yet, or at least I don't think I have, so I want to read that before I read this]
DETECTIVE COMICS #871 [trying to decide whether I want to catch up with the past missed issues of 'Tec or not, this is a whole brand new arc]
FRINGE TALES FROM THE FRINGE #6
GREEN ARROW #6 - So not digging this title anymore. The fight was interesting, as was the whole "I dug up your mother to grab this ring", but overall just fell flat with me. The end of the issue showed a bit of promise with the forest actually spreading out and growing new trees out of nowhere.
JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST #14 - This was a great but weird issue set 120 years in the future, loved seeing the new JLoA and all that. Time travel makes my head hurt but I did like how it was mentioned you can't change the past but you can mold the future. Damian being 130 years old was pretty cool, and it does set up the rest of the series.
TEEN TITANS #89 [still trying to catch up, I think I'm on issue 79 now]
SKULLKICKERS #3 [still haven't gotten around to reading 1&2 yet]
TRUE BLOOD #5 - While I am still enjoying this, I feel this would be better as a smaller series or just a graphic novel instead of a mini-series.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #649 [still haven't read the last issue or two but excited about this since we've got a Hobgoblin!]
CAPTAIN AMERICA #612 [only bought the Tron Variant, it was cover price and cool looking. I'll read this arc eventually through downloads]
SECRET AVENGERS #7 - Pretty sure this will be my last arc on this. It's interesting but it's not interesting enough for me. I do love the idea of Steve Rogers being a Black Ops guy and doing things his way and love seeing Beast on an Avengers team again, overall I'm just having trouble with this arc.
UNCANNY X-FORCE #2 - I got so excited seeing Holocaust in the first page and then got very disappointed to see it was a Danger Room exercise, yet that was a badass exercise! The new Horseman are pretty interesting but I'm trying to figure out who is who. War is the only stated one. I'm guessing Drummer Boy is Death (would figure him for War instead), Bug Lady is Plague, and Carpet Lady is Famine. Hoping we learn more about them next issue. I am VERY interested to hear how Apocalypse came to be in this form, hope they explain but doubt they will. And was that Ozymandias hiding in the background, he looked like him but didn't look like stone. Overall this is a fun series, albeit it is a shitty title...
UNCANNY X-MEN #530 - I just don't like Greg Land's art, while it is beautiful it doesn't make sense sometimes with facial expressions. Must be the whole "Hey, I'm just tracing over this art work with a different angle and hope no one notices." The plot itself is mostly great, still a little confused with what they're going to do with Shaw (especially since he didn't appear in any of the last half of the issue when we saw Emma). So besides the art, I did love the issue.
X-MEN LEGACY #242
DAYS MISSING: KESTUS #1 - This was pretty interesting but it did sort of fall flat. I can't remember the last arc and this one jumps right into the plot without exactly explaining some stuff. I'm reading a review from someone and it makes more sense now. I missed a couple of things during the first read, which is likely cause I did it so late in the night (or at least that's my excuse, lol).
KEVIN SMITH GREEN HORNET #10 [still haven't read the last issue or two]
ACTION COMICS #895 - Really enjoyed this, loved the idea of Savage waiting hundreds of years to face an adversary at a specific point and when it finally happened he missed it. Still a bit confused as to the sciency portion of the issue but next issue will be interesting.
BATWOMAN #0 [I haven't finished her arc on 'Tec yet, or at least I don't think I have, so I want to read that before I read this]
DETECTIVE COMICS #871 [trying to decide whether I want to catch up with the past missed issues of 'Tec or not, this is a whole brand new arc]
FRINGE TALES FROM THE FRINGE #6
GREEN ARROW #6 - So not digging this title anymore. The fight was interesting, as was the whole "I dug up your mother to grab this ring", but overall just fell flat with me. The end of the issue showed a bit of promise with the forest actually spreading out and growing new trees out of nowhere.
JUSTICE LEAGUE GENERATION LOST #14 - This was a great but weird issue set 120 years in the future, loved seeing the new JLoA and all that. Time travel makes my head hurt but I did like how it was mentioned you can't change the past but you can mold the future. Damian being 130 years old was pretty cool, and it does set up the rest of the series.
TEEN TITANS #89 [still trying to catch up, I think I'm on issue 79 now]
SKULLKICKERS #3 [still haven't gotten around to reading 1&2 yet]
TRUE BLOOD #5 - While I am still enjoying this, I feel this would be better as a smaller series or just a graphic novel instead of a mini-series.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #649 [still haven't read the last issue or two but excited about this since we've got a Hobgoblin!]
CAPTAIN AMERICA #612 [only bought the Tron Variant, it was cover price and cool looking. I'll read this arc eventually through downloads]
SECRET AVENGERS #7 - Pretty sure this will be my last arc on this. It's interesting but it's not interesting enough for me. I do love the idea of Steve Rogers being a Black Ops guy and doing things his way and love seeing Beast on an Avengers team again, overall I'm just having trouble with this arc.
UNCANNY X-FORCE #2 - I got so excited seeing Holocaust in the first page and then got very disappointed to see it was a Danger Room exercise, yet that was a badass exercise! The new Horseman are pretty interesting but I'm trying to figure out who is who. War is the only stated one. I'm guessing Drummer Boy is Death (would figure him for War instead), Bug Lady is Plague, and Carpet Lady is Famine. Hoping we learn more about them next issue. I am VERY interested to hear how Apocalypse came to be in this form, hope they explain but doubt they will. And was that Ozymandias hiding in the background, he looked like him but didn't look like stone. Overall this is a fun series, albeit it is a shitty title...
UNCANNY X-MEN #530 - I just don't like Greg Land's art, while it is beautiful it doesn't make sense sometimes with facial expressions. Must be the whole "Hey, I'm just tracing over this art work with a different angle and hope no one notices." The plot itself is mostly great, still a little confused with what they're going to do with Shaw (especially since he didn't appear in any of the last half of the issue when we saw Emma). So besides the art, I did love the issue.
X-MEN LEGACY #242
DAYS MISSING: KESTUS #1 - This was pretty interesting but it did sort of fall flat. I can't remember the last arc and this one jumps right into the plot without exactly explaining some stuff. I'm reading a review from someone and it makes more sense now. I missed a couple of things during the first read, which is likely cause I did it so late in the night (or at least that's my excuse, lol).
KEVIN SMITH GREEN HORNET #10 [still haven't read the last issue or two]