OK this is a comic book review thread. This is different to the comic of the month as it can be a review of a comic that has just come out or one that has come out years and years ago. I encourage people to give a brief, spoiler free synopsis of a comic or trade or story arc they have recently read and give it a a rating on my super cool scoring scale. They should say if they liked it or not in terms of art and plot and then give it a number according to my scale......
super cool Scoring Scale (or in brief, S.S.S) goes from 1 which is the worst to 10 which is the best...
S.S.S
1 point = Worst comic/trade/story arc in human history, burn it or feed it to your pet dinosaur.
2 points = pretty poor, you'd might keep it to use as toilet paper but it still has many faults
3 = Just plain, vanilla bad.
4 = Just about makes a worthwhile read
5 = I wouldn't promote it but part of me enjoyed it
6 = Endearing but has room for improvement
7 = I would actually buy this as opposed to just illegally downloading it.
8 = As Tony the tiger would say this comic was"gggggggrreeeeeaaatttt!!"
9 = I love this comic/trade/story arc enough to carry around in my utility belt wherever I go.
10 = If this comic/trade/story arc were a woman, I'd probably sleep with it.
Ok review away!!!! I might start with a review to get the ball rolling.....
Review of Ultimate Spider-man Clone saga storyline.
Synopsis
Peter has a really sucky time as from nowhere clones of Peter with pretty significant differences to him start showing up everywhere. These include a Scorpion like Peter a deformed peter and a female Peter. There are guest stars Galore, shock after shock and Mary Jane plays a more significant role than expected throughout the story.
Good/Bad?
I thought this was a pretty decent read. the plot was at a very fast pace as Bendis delivers shock after shock and each issue ended in such a cool way. The art was fantastic and looked sooooo sleek. I was never a fan of the FF but Bagley draws them sooo well IMO.
S.S.S?
8 = As Tony the tiger would say this comic was"gggggggrreeeeeaaatttt!!"
I made a much better than this a few months ago, but it got shut because somehow "Comic of the Month" encompasses reviews (even though comics come out weekly).
It's rescue time for G.A!!!! Discover more about Dinah's friendship with the Amazons, more references to Speedy's aids (yawn) and Connor tries to save Daddykins!!!
Good/Bad?
Art = pretty good. I didn't like it at first but as the issue progressed I enjoyed it more. As for the plot, well i was surprised at how much things slowed down in this issue compared to the wedding special and issue #1 but it was hardly a stagnant issue. The dialogue between G.A and his Connor/Black Canary and Speedy with each other and the Amazons is played out beautifully. Whilst it's not the most complex of plot lines I intend to treat this reboot as a light hearted romp for the arrow family, and i think it was intended to be read that way.....
Wesley Gibson is a loser. Both his parents are apparently dead and his life absolutely sucks, that is until he finds out he is the son of the world's most deadly assassin. unfortunately to earn his dad's will Wesley must take up in the family business and join a society of Super villains who have secretly been ruling the world since 1986.
Good/Bad?
I'll start with the easy side, art. Art = Fantastic. J.G Jones is amazing.
The plot is much more difficult to review. The storyline and concept is brilliant. I loved Mark Millar's Ultimates, Civil War and Chosen (In that order) and this story is almost as good. Almost. The main character (The guy in my sig) is pretty badass. there are tons and tons of fight scenes balanced with a pretty decent plot. However I didn't like the overuse of swearing. Usually I'm not bothered or couldn't care less about swearing in comics, but I thought this series over did it to the extent I struggled to find a page without someone using F's an B's. I can understand why someone would use it to try and be cool but it was far too much. Also as absolutely fantastic as the plot was, I didn't like the ending. The storyline progressed at a great pace and the action scenes were really enjoyable but there were a couple of occasions where I could think of better ways of writing the story for much greater plot twists but maybe it's just my opinion. Overall a really fun read.
S.S.S?
9 = I love this comic/trade/story arc enough to carry around in my utility belt wherever I go.
The origin of the most iconic comic character, Superman! Supes stops a dastardly plot and shows several criminals why he's a total badass.
Good/Bad?
Art= Atrocious. But it's old so I'll let them off.
Plot= Surprisingly better than anticipated. It was almost like two stories in one. There was very little devoted to Superman's origin which was really surprising and the plot felt more like something Batman would handle (Corrupt politicians) rather than your normal extraterrestrial threat that we know Supes can take on. Nonetheless it was light hearted and enjoyable.
S.S.S?
5 = I wouldn't promote it but part of me enjoyed it
Seaguy, issues 1-3 by Grant Morrison, Cameron Stewart
Synopsis:
A three issue mini from the Vertigo line, Morrison sets this in a stand alone universe. Our protagonist is the likable but rather odd "Seaguy" a wannabe superhero in a world where, since the death of the "Anti-Dad" there has been no evil worth fighting. He's friends with an anthropomorphic, cigar smoking puffer fish by the name of "Chubby Da Choona." We get some nice exposition in the first issue, where we learn that Seaguy's life is boring despite his wishes for adventure. By the end of issue two, its off to the secret history of the moon, and a discovery of a plot by a vast, eye-ball corporation to replace things of wonder with mass marketed consumerism, which includes buying the moon. There's also a sub plot involving a living, sentient food source called Xoo, which everything from soda to cracker's is made out of.
Review:
You get from this very much a feeling that Morrison was introducing a lot of elements in this universe, including fallen former heroes, Seaguy himself, and this bizarre, normality enforcing corporation, that he intended to play with and refine, a feeling which is reinforced by the fact that this three issue mini was supposed to be followed up by another two minis. In a sense, a lot is left unfinished, which left me feeling a little discorcenated, and to be honest, a little uneasy. The last shot is the same we get at the beginning; a cheerful and unworrying Seaguy playing a friendly game of an odd form of Chess with an avatar of Death, called the Gondolier. This wouldn't be odd, except for the fact that Seaguy's best friend has been killed, and replaced, and Seaguy's memories have been destroyed in order to think that the replacement is perfectly normal. The comic is a powerful statement on our willingness to replace things of great wonder and hope with cheap and easy filler- repetitive cartoons and the Xoo food stuff. A little frightening and disqueting.
All in all though, you get a sense that if Morrison had more time to play with this, it could have been excellent, but as it stands, I've seen Morrison use these same ideas and to better effect- the consumerism and repetitiveness of life versus wonder and beauty was refined by him in Doom Patrol, Kill Your Boyfriend, and the unbelievable Flex Mentallo (gotta write a review for that sometime). The landscape of the comic is strange, enchanting, and well done, and if the universe of Seaguy had been more fleshed out, I feel like we could have gotten something wonderful.
Art, is of course, killer, as it's from the incomparable, Eisner-nominated Cameron Stewart, best known for his work on Catwoman, Transmetropolitan, Seven Soldiers: New York Guardian, and my personal favorite of all his work, the Vietnam War based "The Other Side." Stewart's realistic trippiness lends itself well to Morrison's script- an Egyptian moon looks almost exactly how I imagine it. It's a little weak in places- I feel like he either shouldn't be doing layouts himself, or he should practice a little bit more with visual story-telling. However, his facial expressions and his sense of movement are SPOT ON, and always excellent. You can almost tell exactly what a given character is feeling just on how they look.
All in all, I'd give this comic a seven- good reading, but there's better stuff on the same subject out there by the same author. The art is definetely worth taking a look at though, and it's a great example of something that if it just had a few more issues to develop, could have turned out really well.
The first half of the story is devoted to a past tale of the titans. (Back when Nightwing was still Robin and Wally was Kid Flash) The Joker attacks a celebrity with Bizzarro and the Titans are forced to stop them. The second half of the issue is devoted to Cyborg training a new team of C/D listers to become the next Teen titans as the Original Titans would not answer the call. However everything goes downhill from there...........
Good/Bad?
Art = Fantastic. I've always liked Churchill's stuff and I think he would be good artist on Nightwing's title as he draws the character well IMO.
Plot = pretty poor. I loved the first half of the story which was almost like a flashback of sorts as it was fun and action packed. When these new Titans are recruited, I found that I really didn't care about them. They were boring and felt very two dimensional in their character traits, one was jokey or one was timid and the other aggressive etc etc. The issue really picked up in the last couple of pages with this shock ending which really surprised me. However the beginning and end of an issue isn't good enough for me when all I have to keep me interested in the middle is the art. It had a great start and finish, however the rest sucked.
I agree. It's worth it for the art and for the opening part, where we get to see Titans classic. Anyone who's a fan of the old school Haney era Titans ought to be pleased.
I was a little disappointed with the second part- I adored Lil' Barda and Power Boy, and I was sad that they didn't get a chance to develop, getting killed instead by this new threat.
KMC Community Forums
I might start with a review to get the ball rolling.....
Nov 18th, 2007 09:22 PM
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well I hope mine survives. If nobody bothers to rant and/or rave in here, I will 
