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BobBretall wrote: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.

Same for me and I agree on all counts.

However, do you think the orders on their titles are safe enough to stave off cancellation down the road? They seem to fall to around the 14k mark after initial 'first issue fervor'. If that 14k is the norm, is that enough orders to maintain the company for the long haul, ya think?

I truly hope so, as I was out of comics during their initial release (the 90's comic scene drove me screaming out of every comic shop) and this is like a blast of fresh air for me.

Perry wrote:

BobBretall wrote: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.

Same for me and I agree on all counts.

However, do you think the orders on their titles are safe enough to stave off cancellation down the road? They seem to fall to around the 14k mark after initial 'first issue fervor'. If that 14k is the norm, is that enough orders to maintain the company for the long haul, ya think?

I truly hope so, as I was out of comics during their initial release (the 90's comic scene drove me screaming out of every comic shop) and this is like a blast of fresh air for me.

I agree with Shadowman as well. 5 for 5 with Valiant.

I don't think they can expect much more than around 14k. That's pretty high in today's market for an indie I think.

BOOM seems to cancel books around 5k but Valiant may have a different profit model. Either way, I'm enjoying the Valiant stuff so I hope that number is okay

Perry wrote: However, do you think the orders on their titles are safe enough to stave off cancellation down the road? They seem to fall to around the 14k mark after initial 'first issue fervor'. If that 14k is the norm, is that enough orders to maintain the company for the long haul, ya think?

I think that's decent circulation for an indie publisher. If they can't sustain a book at any circulation >7k they should throw in the towel.

Yeah, I see that my boy Terry Moore survives on 7k but he also has payroll of essentially one (plus printing), but if you think that 7k is the point an indy publisher should be able to stay afloat and profitable with an entire group, well hell, we got plenty of wiggle room.


I just thought it would be higher. More on the 12k range at least.

BobBretall wrote:
Great Pacific is a story I really liked (and I liked the art too) so this one got a solid green from me.

I loved Great Pacific. Thought the story and art was just great.

Storm Dogs #1 - I really liked this one. Great art, great story, about a team of scientists\investigators looking into a series of deaths on a remote planet. The planet is inhabited by primitive locals, and employees of a mining company. The characters, the world, and the mystery were all setup up perfectly by writer David Hine. Very "Alien" feel. Good stuff. 5/5

dbm wrote:Storm Dogs #1 - I really liked this one. Great art, great story, about a team of scientists\investigators looking into a series of deaths on a remote planet. The planet is inhabited by primitive locals, and employees of a mining company. The characters, the world, and the mystery were all setup up perfectly by writer David Hine. Very "Alien" feel. Good stuff. 5/5

I agree. I picked this up off the rack at the LCS (I skipped pre-ordering it) and loved it. I then went & added it to my DCBS pull.

Thunderbolts #1 - In general I liked it (enough to come back for #2). A lot of that is Dillon's art.

That said, there were some pretty fundamental storytelling failures. It's a #1, I'm assuming Marvel is hoping to have new readers coming on board. There were a lot of unexplained story bits for people who've read a lot of Marvel books, but a lot was left unstated and would be confusing (I think) to new readers. Maybe Marvel's just given up on new readers being able to jump on board with a #1, or the concept of new readers in general. It seems to be more persuading lapsed readers (like me) to give a new book a chance.

Also, is the girl with pink hair Psylocke? She's not on the cover, but was in Ross' flashback & also that page with Venom, Elektra, & Deadpool who Ross did talk to, so I'm guessing he'll be recruiting her too.

Non-Humans (Image)
With art from Whilce Portacio and an interesting concept I ordered this one and pre-ordered the next couple of issues before receiving issue #1. It's only a four issue mini so I'll finish it off. The first issue set the situation up and didn't seem to suffer from decompressed storytelling, but it wasn't really well executed. The story doesn't seem to play to Whilce's strengths as an artist. On the first page there was a misspelling, and this occurred a few more times throughout. These bother me. Each comic only has a few hundred words in it - please do a spelling and grammar check. This is something Image should offer as part of the cost of purchasing the banner. The story itself felt very much like a cliche cop story with a bit of a Blade Runner vibe. The protagonist is a cop with all of the stereotypes - addiction, angry ex, messed up kid, rookie partner that he resents being paired with, and a number of fellow officers he just can't stand. The writing just felt rather amateur and Whilce's art didn't help matters any. And I love Whilce art but it felt unfinished. I like the concept and I do want to see what happens with a few of the characters so I'll finish it out, but if this were an ongoing series I would drop it.

Witch Doctor - Mal Practice
As with the previous Witch Doctor titles this is great. Our three favorite supernatural medical practitioners are back and acting just as crazy as ever. Think of this as a continuation of the previous one-shot and mini series. While the editorial blurb indicated you should have read the one-shot to fully enjoy this, I think a new reader could jump on board and get full enjoyment out of this series. And most likely you'll want to fire up Comixology and read through the previous offerings anyway. The story moves along at a nice clip, the art fits perfectly, each character has a unique voice and presence, there's humor, gore, heroics, and great writing. In short - get this book.

Avengers Arena #1 - (Marvel) - Sometimes you can have a perfectly good book that just doesn't work for you personally. This is my problem with this title. The artwork is fine. The story is decent and even points out the obvious Hunger Games/Battle Royale inspiration for the book. My problem is I really do not like the premise. I read and enjoyed Avengers Academy and to use those characters to fuel the death count of another book is not appealing to me.

I am picking up this book through the bundle deal at DCBS so it has until they stop doing that to hook he me.

spid wrote:Avengers Arena #1 - (Marvel) - Sometimes you can have a perfectly good book that just doesn't work for you personally. This is my problem with this title. The artwork is fine. The story is decent and even points out the obvious Hunger Games/Battle Royale inspiration for the book. My problem is I really do not like the premise. I read and enjoyed Avengers Academy and to use those characters to fuel the death count of another book is not appealing to me.

I am picking up this book through the bundle deal at DCBS so it has until they stop doing that to hook he me.

I had a similar take down the line on this. I'm perhaps a little less adverse to the idea of killing off all of these characters (but HIGHLY skeptical that ANY of them will die -- I'm guessing the "deaths" will not be real), having not been a fan of Avengers Academy. I think it was good enough that I'd be inclined to pick it up in the cheap ins or borrow it from a friend who had it. Which is more than I would have thought when I first heard of the book.

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AVENGERS #1

Uhg.

Yep, about sums it up. Not sure if it was personal over-hype on my part, thinking of what Hickman could do, or if it is the revelation of what Hickman just did do. Or perhaps my biggest complaint is what it appears Hickman forgot to do. The overall pacing of this book was so disjointed, so badly paced, that it felt that Hickman forgot to turn in some pages. Or at the very least, some panels. Every other page I read, I flipped back to see if I had mistakenly flipped over two pages, instead of the desired and proper 'one' page.

Okay, look, I am all for non-compressed story-telling. I get that people are not too happy when Bendis takes 4 books to tell one book worth of story, but jeez, Hickman, slow your roll a tad. This felt like three books pressed down and over edited into just one.

I honestly liked what he is showing in the overall plot. The Avengers facing a supreme threat. Sure beats having them face The Wrecker on their first 'new writer' day out, but the pacing just sucked here. S.U.C.K.E.D.

Say what you will about Bendis, but he understands pacing. You may not like his pacing, but he is constant with his panel to panel flow of time. That is a critical aspect of static media, you need proper pacing. Hickman dropped the ball here.

I expect a lot more from one of my favorite writers. I am sure he will deliver ... I hope so ... just not with this issue. Unlike Bob (WEEKLY COMICS SPOTLIGHT spoiler ahead) ... I thought the art pretty much saved this issue from being a total dud for me. I can understand his distaste for the art, but it was done in such a way that I found somewhat refreshing, as odd is that is (end spoiler)

Anyway, I love Hickman's stuff, love it, usually, with this issue set softly to the side, so here's hoping the pacing and the personal attention to characters, not just plot, shines through in issue #2, or this may be yet another bi-monthly Marvel comic that gets the ax from my pull.

spid wrote:Avengers Arena #1 - (Marvel) - Sometimes you can have a perfectly good book that just doesn't work for you personally. This is my problem with this title. The artwork is fine. The story is decent and even points out the obvious Hunger Games/Battle Royale inspiration for the book. My problem is I really do not like the premise. I read and enjoyed Avengers Academy and to use those characters to fuel the death count of another book is not appealing to me.

I will applaud Hopeless for not making this a Hunger Games/Battle Royale riff, even though that's what it seemed it would be from the solicits.

What this really was is Arcade's Murderworld if Arcade was actually capable of murdering someone with it.

That said, not for me.

Perry wrote:AVENGERS #1
Not sure if it was personal over-hype on my part, thinking of what Hickman could do, or if it is the revelation of what Hickman just did do.

Personally, this could end up being an entire Marvel franchise that I opt out of (like X-Men). I'm giving it a few more issues to grab me but early signs are not good.