1st issue Challenge

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:13 am

Picked up a few new comics while in Orlando....

Beyond #1 (Virgin) - We're doing this book as part of Ep #042, so I don't want to spoil my whole review here

Casey Blue: Beyond Tomorrow #1 (Wildstorm) - I liked this, nice art, interesting story, different from a lot of other stuff I've been reading. The mini is added to my pulls.

Marvel 1985 #1 (Marvel) - Not totally thrilled with the art, but it's OK (art is what prevented me from pre-ordering). That being said, the story was VERY good and I'll be back for more. I have added this mini to my "pull list".

PS: The "yellow" color I've been using for "neutral" is almost completely unreadable, so I'm switching to orange for "neutral".

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 12:29 pm

Batman Confidential #17 (DC) - First issue of the "Batgirl" arc by Nicieza & Maguire. WOW! This was really good. I'll be getting the rest of this arc. Real problem is if I will be able to fight down the "completist" urge and start buying the other issues of this series.

Huntress Year One #1 (DC) - I tried this because it got a "best of the week" from Mike and was pleasantly surprised. Very good story and I'll be picking up the rest of the 6 issue series.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 4:04 pm

JLAFan wrote:Batman Confidential #17 (DC) - First issue of the "Batgirl" arc by Nicieza & Maguire. WOW! This was really good. I'll be getting the rest of this arc. Real problem is if I will be able to fight down the "completist" urge and start buying the other issues of this series.

Huntress Year One #1 (DC) - I tried this because it got a "best of the week" from Mike and was pleasantly surprised. Very good story and I'll be picking up the rest of the 6 issue series.

I just read Batman Confidential 1-16 and really enjoyed the series. There are a lot of continiuity questions but there are some really good stories. I am working on Superman Confidential right now and while not as good as Batman it is picking up for me after the first two issues.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 6:17 pm

Final Crisis #1 - Loved the story and the art.

Trinity #1 - Bagley did a really nice job on the big three and the story was interesting.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 9:57 pm

Final Crisis #1 - Art was OK, I was really underwhelmed with the story. After Infinite Crisis #1 I was STOKED to get #2. After reading this one, it was kind of *meh*. No particular anticipation for #2.

comicm · Post by **comicm** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 6:22 pm

DC Special Raven #1 - It took awhile to get used to the artwork but I did enjoy the story.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:21 pm

Trinity #1 - This story struck me as totally mediocre. This was certainly not something that is going to get me re-energized about the DCU. I was totally uninterested with the main storyline. The "big 3" are having bad dreams about some giant space entity that likes to scream “LET ME OUT!” in the "not so soundless" void of space? *meh* As a first issue, this did nothing to get me excited or draw me in for issue #2. The backup story was something I actively disliked, my mind was wandering as I read it hoping for it to end soon. The art was not to my liking & I have never been a fan of "mystical" stories set in the mainstream DCU, the mystical/magical tales always seemed to work better with a bit of "Vertigo flair" added in. Unfortunately, I went into this series with VERY HIGH expectations, DC really needed to redeem themselves after Countdown. This story did not meet those high expectations for me. Everything about this story was "average", which, mapping to my expectations of what DC needed to do for this weekly series, is a failure. They needed "excellent", not "average" for this series.
That being said, I really enjoyed the scene with Bruce/Clark/Diana having breakfast on the pier. Very nicely done. This kind of human interaction is Busiek's strength, it was just not enough to salvage the overall story for me, especially since the scene was ruined with a needless guest-appearance by the Flash. They should have just made mention of the fact that the Flash had his situation under control and continued on having breakfast.

Ultimate Origins #1 - An OK story, but nothing that knocked my socks off. I'll hang around for the rest of the series, but I have certainly seen MUCH better efforts in the Ultimate universe in the past. This was average at best. Not sure I’m too happy about what they seem to be setting up as a backstory for Nick Fury. Why give him a shady past like this? Bendis can do better than this, in my opinion.

PS: I seem to be seeing my tastes taking a big left turn and diverging from those of Mike Myers, at least with respect to current DCU event books.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:41 pm

Contract #0 (A First Salvo)
Contract #1 (A First Salvo)

Contract #0 is in B&W and is really not a good representation of the series. It reprints some pages from #1 to "give you a taste", and the story is good, but unfortunately, the #0 issue is lacking in a couple of respects.

My recommendation: Skip #0 & buy the #1 when it comes out!! I got a preview PDF of #1 and it is night & day different than the print copy of #0 that I purchased. The story is well crafted, I love the world created, and the art is very nicely done. All the story pages in #0 are reproduced (in color) in #1, so you will not be missing anything waiting for the #1 issue.
DO NOT pass on the series based on the presentation in #0 (try out #1), but if you liked #0, you're in for a treat when the super-sized, full-color #1 comes out.

A couple of comments, directed at the #0 issue:
First, it should have included a "Get to know the cast & the world" sheet instead of diving right into the story. Here is that info (which was not in #0):

Second: The art suffers (A LOT) in B&W. The art is nicely differentiated (via different planes; foreground/background/etc.) by the color in issue #1. This is totally missing in the B&W #0. I think an artist needs to adopt a certain style when drawing something that will be B&W that is different from the style used for color. Since the stuff reproduced in #0 seems to have been drawn for the color #1 issue, the artists did not follow any kind of artistic style that would make the art clearer in B&W.

Regarding #1: The color really enhances the art. Foreground/background differentiations "pop", the art takes on a whole new life. I like the universe that has been set up here, and the main character (Jessie Garret) is really brought to life in this issue. Several stories highlight different aspects of the team from "Stellar Rangers, Inc." and we really get a feeling (through how she acts) that Jessie is a "tough as nails, but with a heart of gold" type of character, and that was very appealing to me. I'm looking forward to seeing how the main story (continued in #2) plays out. There were 3 additional stand-alone tales to round out the 40 pages of story in this debut issue. Each one of these fleshed out another aspect of the world and the relationships between the team members.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 4:30 pm

Beyond #1 (Virgin)

If you want to read this issue for FREE and form your own opinion, Virgin has it available for free download at their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/virgincomics

My thoughts:
This is a sci-fi/fantasy story (depending on whether the inter-dimensional travel ends up being science or supernatural based as the story goes along) with some very nicely fleshed out characters. The problem is that the main character is a real jerk. I found myself actively disliking this guy the more I read the story. This speaks very nicely to how well the character is written, since it evoked a very emotional reaction from me, but it’s hard to fall in love with a book where you hate the main character. The story was interesting enough for me to be back for #2, I want to see what happens, but I’m not loving it because the main guy is very unlikeable.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:35 pm

Batman: Gotham After Midnight #1 (DC) - I've always been a fan of Kelly Jones' art, and he does not disappoint with this story, written by Steve Niles. Old-school Batman, out at night going after the bad guys (who in this case are the Scarecrow & a new villain, The Ax-Man). If you like Batman, give it a try.

Koete · Post by **Koete** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:48 am

Captain Britain and MI 13 #1 (Marvel) - Sharp writing and great art from Leonard Kirk. And that last page, literally, blows you away.

Marvel 1985 #1 (Marvel) - The art is absolutely brilliant and the story will bring out the younger comic fan in everyone.

The Lost Boys: Reign of Frogs #1 (Wildstorm) - I'm a big fan of the original Lost Boys movie and really enjoyed both the first and second issues. In fact, after the first issue, I was wishing it was an ongoing. I give it an orange rating because I think that it will appeal more to a fan of the original film than the casual reader, but if you like horror and vampires getting called "suck monkeys", give it a try.

Darth Kramer · Post by **Darth Kramer** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:51 am

Skaar: Son of Hulk #1 - I am so adding this to my pull list. It's like Conan in space. Pure awesomeness. This is what I wish the Hulk title had remained instead of going into the Loeb/McGuinness travesty.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Thu Jun 12, 2008 5:46 pm

Darth Kramer wrote:Skaar: Son of Hulk #1 - I am so adding this to my pull list. It's like Conan in space. Pure awesomeness. This is what I wish the Hulk title had remained instead of going into the Loeb/McGuinness travesty.

I'm glad to hear this, and look forward to getting this in my DCBS box next Tuesday! We'll be covering this one on Episode #044

HassanT · Post by **HassanT** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:56 am

Skaar: Son of Hulk #1 - I will not be picking up the second issue of this series. I felt that this was very predictible and not very interesting to me. I rather read a Conan book than this Hulk-Conan book.

Trinity 1 and 2 - I am lukewarm on the first two issues. I have concerns that magic is a major theme in this book. I do like the art though. I will stick around for the first dozen or so issues of the book.

Ultimate Origins #1 - - This reminded me of the early Image comics where everything is connected. I wasn't a big fan of that concept

However, I am a big Bendis fan so I am going to keep getting this book and hope it gets better.

BobBretall · Post by **BobBretall** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:47 pm

HassanT wrote: Trinity 1 and 2 - I am lukewarm on the first two issues. I have concerns that magic is a major theme in this book. I do like the art though. I will stick around for the first dozen or so issues of the book.

This bodes ill for me. I feel the same about the magic theme, if it is going to be prevalent in the series, I doubt I'll be sticking around after #4.....

EDIT: Read #2, main story still left me cold, but I liked the back-up.