Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Vague Reviews!!!

Hey there X-Maniacs, I'm not really in the mood to do any full reviews(hence the lack of a Superman: Secret Origin review)but I figured I could at least throw a few thoughts out there on some of the books I've read lately and see if anybody feels like talking more about them. Okay? Alright! Let's get going then.

First up is going to be X-Men vs Vampires #1(of 2). I bet if you try really hard you can probably figure out what this comic was about... No? Give up? Okay. It was about the X-Men taking on vampires in a couple of mini stories. I think there were 4 new stories(and a reprint of the X-Men taking on Dracula for the first time)and for the most part they weren't half bad. You had a Dazzler story, a Husk story, one about Martha Johansson(you know, the brain in the jar from Grant Morrison's New X run)and a Magneto story. If I had to choose I'd say the Magneto story was the best, but there really wasn't a “worst”, which is a bit of a surprise considering that these type of comics usually suck. Nice work Marvel! I'll give this one a 7 1/2 out of 10.

Next we'll take a wacky trip into the mind of one Grant Morrison with Batman & Robin #14. I'd say that I understood about 35% of what was going on in this comic, which was definitely an improvement, since I usually understand about 7% of what goes on in this series. The good was definitely Joker's interactions with Damian. It was nice to see Grant take Joker and move away from the way he had been portraying Mistah J during the Batman RIP storyline. Sorry, but I like my Joker in the purple suit telling jokes, not in a tank-top with a split tongue. The rest of the story I could have done without. To say that I hate Pyg is a massive understatement and I just don't know where Grant is trying to go with this Black Glove thing. To be honest, I'm kind of shocked that the whole Black Glove story is STILL going on! Score-wise, I'll go with a 4 out of 10.

Staying with DC, I also checked out Red Robin #16. Here we have Red Robin once again butting heads with Anarky. Anarky has been running around killing teenagers who fit the profile of being Red Robin, which Red Robin naturally doesn't take very kindly to. The fight doesn't end conclusively as Anarky manages to escape, although Red Robin does manage to rescue the original Anarky from the clutches of the current Anarky. Confusing enough? First off, I REALLY like the idea of Anarky becoming a reoccurring/arch-enemy type of character for Tim, because let's face it, that's something that he's never really had. As for the story itself, it was good. I can't really think of anything to complain about, so I'll score it a 7 out of 10 and move on.

And I'll end things with the pick of the litter, Avengers Prime #3(of 5). This comic was a blast to read. The story was cohesive, the dialogue was at times laugh out loud funny and the artwork was by Alan Davis, so you know it was good. We get a kick ass battle between Thor and Hela, Steve Rogers scaring off a horde of ogres with a stern look(man is he awesome...)and Tony Stark riding a horse in the nude. What more could you want from a comic?! This one was written by Brian Michael Bendis, who seems to be regaining more and more of my respect with each new comic he puts out lately. Where has THIS Bendis been for the past 4 years?? I mean there was a time when I wouldn't even read a Bendis written comic because I KNEW it wouldn't be worth my time, but since Siege ended, Bendis has been on fire! Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself with all of this praise... This comic gets the best score of the night with a nearly perfect 9 1/2 out of 10.

So there you have it, four comics down and posted about. As I said earlier, if you want to discuss one of these books in more detail, drop me a comment and I'll be sure to get back to you. I've got to say, tackling these comics in this format was a lot easier than trying to review every single little thing that happened in the book. I'll leave you tonight with two pages from Avengers Prime #3. Until next time, X out.What can I really add to this?

9 comments:

  1. I felt the same way about Batman and Robin. The EXACT SAME WAY, about Joker, Pyg, Black Glove and everything you said. It's so hit and miss that I don't even care enough to review it anymore because They all end up as long rants, even though that issue was somewhat interesting.

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  2. Dude, it's weird, because I didn't HATE this issue(as I usually do with this series), hell, there were some parts I really liked(the stuff with Joker), I just want this whole damn Black Glove thing over with now. It's dragged on for WAY too long now. Take it out back, shoot it already and put it out of OUR misery! :D

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  3. I'm wondering how Tomasi is gonna clean up after Grant leaves this series, I think he's the one taking over. And yeah The Joker stuff was surprisingly good.

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  4. Really? That's good news in my book. Peter did a good job with Nightwing, so here's hoping when he takes over we'll get the return of classic Batman, not Crazy Grant Batman. Isn't Grant gonna be on the Bat books for like 2 or 3 more years though?

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  5. Yeah but he'll be doing Batman Inc., yes another Batman book. And Tomasi will in fact be taking over for the Batman and Robin series at issue 17.

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  6. Huh, so I'm guessing Batman Inc.(whatever the hell THAT means)is going to become the defacto #1 Bat-book now. So we'll have Batman & Robin, Batman Inc. AND Batman most likely done by different writers? Hmmm.....

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  7. Can't wait for Avengers: Prime in trades. I love that Alan Davis!

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  8. I don't think it'll disappoint, Kello. The artwork is obviously good(Alan Davis is one of those rare artists even I know!)and the story hasn't disappointed yet. Once again Bendis manages to surprise me.

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  9. You would be correct X, that's whats gonna happen when Bruce returns apparently.

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