This is the place to discuss the episodes of the Comic Book Page podcast, the Comic Book Page website or pretty much anything else of interest to the Comic Book Page community...
BobBretall wrote:Westward #1 - Kinetic - Great 1st issue, futuristic with a pretty cool concept. I'll let their web-site speak for them if you're interested in checking this out: http://www.kinetic-press.com/Westward/westward.html
The Hive HC (Pantheon) - I loved Charles' Burns work on Black Hole, so I was very excited for this. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. This HC was ~50 pages and the story was very disjointed hopping back & forth between realities, the "real world" & a weird mirror reality where the hero slaves in what I'm assuming is "The Hive". I'm not really sure. It's fine if you're going to do something like this, but clue the reader in a bit better over the course of 50 pages so they can follow along a bit better.
The other thing was I was expecting this to be a standalone story, but it ends with a "To be continued...." in "Sugar Skull" which has yet to be solicited and which I'll be skipping anyway. Doing some research I see that this is actually continued from a previous HC "X'ed Out", they could seriously do a better job setting this thing up, marking it as part 2 of a narrative, and putting a bit into the book the help the reader along.
Point Of Impact #1 - (Image) - This is a classic whodunit crime comic. The book opens with a murder and I assume the rest of the 4 issue miniseries will involve who killed this person and why. Jay Faerber is the writer and I have enjoyed his work in the past so I picked this up. The art is in Black and White and is serviceable.
Overall not groundbreaking but a nice change of pace comic.
HassanT wrote:Tower Chronciles Vol 1 - I pre-ordered this because of the creative team and the interesting format; bi-monthly 72 page paperback versus the standard 20 page monthly book. I loved it. I thought Matt Wagner did a great job introducing the characters and Bisley's art was a perfect fit for the book.
I decided not to order this because I hope they will release a collection at every trilogy level. IIRC it will be a trilogy of trilogies...? I probably should have just ordered it because it looked pretty cool. Oh well.
HassanT wrote:Happy #1 - This is my favorite the bunch. Morrison did a great job setting up the characters and story and Robertson's art was amazing. Compared to other Morrison short minis that he has done in the past, I felt this was more accessible.
I really enjoyed this as well. I was actually going to create a quick review of it until I saw yours. As I read it I thought the language, violence, vulgarity, etc were gratuitous, but in the end I felt it was instrumental in telling the story. I think the introduction of Happy wouldn't have been as jarring without the juxtaposition between our protagonist's world and Happy. I think Robertson was a great choice for the art on this. Overall I'm glad I didn't trade-wait this one.
BobBretall wrote:Westward #1 - Kinetic - Great 1st issue, futuristic with a pretty cool concept. I'll let their web-site speak for them if you're interested in checking this out: http://www.kinetic-press.com/Westward/westward.html
Unfortunately, I'm unimpressed by the value-for-pledge$$ on their Kickstarter.
I agree. I preordred #3 through DCBS and he wants $5 for a PDF? Although I see he only has one backer at the $5 level. Hopefully the series will continue past #3.
Steed and Mrs Peel #1 (Boom) - Well, I didn't know Steve Bryant would be off the book already. He did the art on the zero issue. And Mark Waid is just doing the story with script by someone else. The story went in a direction I didn't expect and I wasn't on board for. The art had nice static panels, but the action was a little stiff. I'm going to pass on this one.
MacGyver: Fugitive Gauntlet #1 (Image) - Another comic based on an old TV show. Again, just an okay comic. The story was pretty MacGyver-ery but it didn't grab my attention. I realized this is the same artist as on Steed and Mrs Peel #1. The art as story telling didn't work for me. Not a bad comic just not good enough to make it to my pull list. I think I already have issue 2 on pre-order, which is fine, but I won't be adding issue 3.
Lot 13 #1 - (DC) - This is a DC book that should really be a Vertigo book. Great creepy story by Steve Niles with spectacularly spooky art by Glenn Fabry. I loved this issue & look forward to #2!
Cyberforce #1 - (Image) - This is a book that is really hard to judge. The art is good. The problem is they sort of drop you in the middle of the story and then they jump around a bit with timeline. I am not sure I would say it is confusing, but I would not list it among the great ways to tell an introductory story.
I like the design on some of these characters, but for whatever reason I have never gotten into Topcow's universe. The biggest plus is the first three issues are free so there really is no reason to give them a chance to hook me this time.
spid wrote:Cyberforce #1 - (Image) - This is a book that is really hard to judge. The art is good. The problem is they sort of drop you in the middle of the story and then they jump around a bit with timeline. I am not sure I would say it is confusing, but I would not list it among the great ways to tell an introductory story.
I like the design on some of these characters, but for whatever reason I have never gotten into Topcow's universe. The biggest plus is the first three issues are free so there really is no reason to give them a chance to hook me this time.
Unless it's changed, the first 5 issues of Cyberforce will be free.
BobBretall wrote:Lot 13 #1 - (DC) - This is a DC book that should really be a Vertigo book. Great creepy story by Steve Niles with spectacularly spooky art by Glenn Fabry. I loved this issue & look forward to #2!
Lot 13 #1 - (DC) : I'd have to say this was a red. The art seemed odd in places but maybe it's just the style ... but there were two problems I had that I saw someone else mention in a review as well, maybe on CBR.
1. We see the dad is 40, mom is 36. They talk about their new home and said "It only took 30 years." So they were together at 10 and 6? But okay, maybe that's just an oversight .... but ....
2. As they're driving the van, something happens and they look horrified at what they did, then in the next panel it disappears and they just carry on with "Oh look a hotel!" and that's it ...... I'm sorry, how did they just glaze over that??? That ruined it for me.
abysslord wrote:
1. We see the dad is 40, mom is 36. They talk about their new home and said "It only took 30 years." So they were together at 10 and 6? But okay, maybe that's just an oversight .... but ....
I noticed this & it didn't really bother me. JUst an oversight, not enough to ruin the book for me.
abysslord wrote:
2. As they're driving the van, something happens and they look horrified at what they did, then in the next panel it disappears and they just carry on with "Oh look a hotel!" and that's it ...... I'm sorry, how did they just glaze over that??? That ruined it for me.
To me, that was part of the weirdness going on and it added to the story. Where did the Hotel come from? That's the mystery.....
As to the "odd" art, I think that's just Fabry's style not meshing with you.... It looked like normal Fabry art to me (which I like).
Shadowman #1 - (Valiant) - I don't recall the original Shadowman clearly enough to understand how much this does or does not parallel the original, but that's OK. A benefit of the Valiant relaunches is that they stand perfectly fine on their own, and this one stands really nicely. Another great addition to the Valiant line-up.
Great Pacific (Image) - Overall the story was good enough to where I'm interested in seeing where it's going, but it wasn't a home run yet. I think a few more pages could have helped. The art wasn't my favorite though and that's why I made this orange. With solid art I'd give it a green.
Ex Sanguine (Dark Horse) - I got this because Seeley was doing the writing [co-writing] and art and the premise sounded alright. After reading, I like the story and it was well told so I'm in for the rest. Actually I just finished #2 and I'm more interested than before, so that's a good thing.
X-Men: Legacy (Marvel) - CBR gave this a half-star but I don't think it's anywhere near that. I knew nothing about Legion before reading this and I feel I have a good understanding of who he is after reading this. I love the prison angle and I think there are many ways this story could go. This was a pretty good read.
Colder (Dark Horse) - Wow, for me this was a perfect book. The story started great with strange things, it had a great way to introduce the reader to everything going on in the current time, and a good cliffhanger ... not to mention I like all 3 main characters. Lastly, I loved the art and colors in this book, especially the art. I like it when the pencils take careful notice of even the small details, like the female leads shoes with the laces ... just little things like that all add up.
Night of the Living Dead: Aftermath (Avatar) - There are a lot of zombie-type books out now, and Avatar already has two: Crossed and Stitched. After reading this one, I'll hang around for at least a few more. The art was okay but I would have liked it cleaner, and the story didn't have much there yet .... but I guess I'm a big fan of these type of stories so I'll stick around.