pick o the week 27.8.12

Aye Ah pretty much died of laziness back there. I said id try to keep things moving. Keeps things updated. I failed. I apologise. Wont happen again. Though it probably will. Comic book quickies was getting a bit draggy to be honest. Just kidny put all my soul in to it any more. So lets put quickies on hold for a wee while and try something a wee bit different for a bit. I say different its really an easier to do quickies. Less effort yay !

AMERICA'S GOT POWERS #3

 

Yup my first pick of the week is Americas got powers #3. A book ware super powered humans fight in a tournament themed satire of current day talent shows.

I quite like Americas got powers. Its quite a nice solid read. Now that's really perplexing for me. Normally id look down on team millers output. Now yeah I know its Jonathan ross and image but ross and miller are totally bros like. I was fairly cynical about the book before issue one hit the shelf's but in the spirit of the new 52 I decided to give this new number one a try. I have to say I was fairly blown away with how not horrible it was. I was sure the book would be full of hateful characters and gore but I was pretty well wrong . Now aye there are hateful characters but there written to be hateful not unintentional hateful and there were deaths but they weren't overly violent. Yeah so surprisingly good. To me at least.

 

Now its not like the books all rainbows and sweeties but every time something looks like its going to end badly or turn out horrible the book takes a side step into not nastiness. Like in issue two we see that a lot of the super's that take part in the games are apparently killed or critically wounded. Now that something id find very heavy and bleak but the cliff hanger at the end of that issue reveals that the super's in this particular universe cant die and are almost immortal. Now again that could have gotten fairly bleak with the super's living forever in perpetual agony. But no they can heal as well.

Now again that's the main thing I take away from issue three, things could have gotten really bleak and unpleasant again but weirdly for the third issue in a row they didn't. This time a machine is introduced that trades a super's powers to someone ell's. It also leaves the super a withered husk. Now see that's ware I was all ohh aye dropped the not nastiness ball there ross. But no. the super's just regenerate over time.

Really I guess you cant go wrong with a tournament arc. It really is the greatest story format of all time. Maybe some competition from buddy cops though. Hmmm buddy cop tournament arc... very promising.

comic book quickies 7/8/12

ACTION COMICS #12

written by Grant Morrison art Rags Morales

Superman LIKES. My actual word. No words. No ACTUAL words. Damn fine comic.

DETECTIVE COMICS #12

written and art by Tony S. Daniel

You know something man. I'm quite enjoying this arc. Mind blowing likes. Its still that gritty brown shooter vibe batman with silly silver age hints but this arcs been weirdly more enjoyable than the ones that came before it. Well really its been massively more fun than that last penguin arc. This mad radiation lad story's kinda the same deal but its been less confusing and more action packed. Well more fun action. Aye so its nice to be able to say nice things aboot detective comics for once. Its been a long ass time since I was able to do that.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #12

written by Dan Jurgens art Aaron Lopresti

That's it done and dusted. The JLI are dead. Well surprisingly not. Most of the members make it to the final curtain alive and well and there's a JLI annual coming up. So that nice. Shame the book never really went any ware. Which can be fine at times. Not all books need a hardcore get things done shit gets real plot but when the second half of the run kicked in everything started to decline. Thoughts glorious six or so issues were damn fun and action packed. Then again those long lost days were the best damn days of our youth. The second arc started well. Buddy cop batman a booster gold is all comics really need to be. Some ware along the way though the plot took a turn toward the dramatic. Sadly dramatic. Things just kept happening. Weirdly realistic and un fun things. I don't know man. I just don't understand kids theses days and there dramatic comics.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #9

written by team marvel art by adam kubert

YES what a comic. What a god damn amazing comic. Spider-man. Really its insanely dumb to say at this point. But my god. What an actual lad. Takes down two of the phoenix five with spider banter and SHEER not giving up-ness.

comic book quickies 31/7/12

Gotta say this was a this was a damn satisfying and hefty week that I thinks to do with green lantern being delayed and popping up here.

THE FLASH #11

Written by Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato art by Marcus To

Barry Allan is now the bartender for a rouges bar. FUCK YES.

AQUAMAN #11

written by Geoff Johns art by Ivan Reis

Damn likes. Damn ! I get that big goff john's writes reconstructed Saturday morning cartoons with ranger teams as far as the eye can see and magufin based plots. I really love that. Aquaman has been like that but on ACID. But an inconstant acid. Not so this month. The Saturday morning cartoon ness hits you in the face like a sledge hammer this month. A blazingly sunny and warm sledge hammer. The relics held buy aquamans team are the millennium items. I never got that before. I'm so sorry. I failed you an a very basic reference level. Not digging the aquaman killed black mantas dad plot line but it wasn't as big a deal this issue. Its still a deal but not as big a deal. Still damn solid book.

GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #11

written by Brain Tony Bedard art by Tyler Kirkham

Its still terrible. But I quite like it. Its shite. Not badly written shite just auld pre awesome shite. Like it be a fine ass comic if it had been released in the seventies or eighties. Its just going on. Still trucking away doing its not being a ranger team thing. I'm still buying it so that's something.

TEEN TITANS #11

written by Scott Lobdell art by Brett Booth

Aye so its still pretty middle of the road clunky stuff. That said it has been getting better every issue thought it still has a long way to go before ill call it a damn gid read. Getting there though. Getting there.

FF #20

written by Jonathan Hickman art by Nick Dragotta

Space ! I always wanted you to go there. Quite liked this issue. Some nice we bits of banter with the ff being the ff which is something I'm always wanting to see.

GREEN LANTERN #11

written by Goff Johns art by Doug Mahnke

Buddy cop based comment !

BATMAN INC VOL 2 #3

written by Grant Morrison art by Chris Burnham

So I here DC were pulling this issue from the shelf's over the Denver shooting. I don't really see why. There's one panel ware a teacher pulls a gun on a classroom. No one gets shot though so un less I'm missing something big id have to say DC are over reacting a wee bit. What can I say about the actual comic. Bat cow makes another ladish appearance. So that's nice.

THE AVENGERS #28

written by Bendis art by Walter Simonson

Gotta admit it. Bendis you magnificent bastard king. You've pulled it back. I opened up this issue and was all like BENDIS whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy !!!!!???? see there's no proper speech bubbles in this entire comic. It has like a booky thing at the side that's like narration. I knows. Its so bendis. BUT the actual content of the issue is god damn awesome. To me at least. Red hulk soldiers off to utopia to assassinate Cyclops. Gid solid plan there. The bit that pulled bendis back for me was when rulk de hulks into thunderbolt Ross and infiltrates utopia big boss style. Fuck yes. Admittedly I don't read much hulk comics so this might be a conmen thing but this just blew me away when I read it. I was all ready to rage and then ross's manly moustache pops into view. Well played bendis. Well played. Really I think I have Stockholm syndrome for bendis's avengers. I genuinely don't know how ill feel or cope when he finishes his run.

comic book quickies 23/7/12

BLUE BEETLE #11

written by Tony Bedard art by Ig Guara

Its all right. Its weird likes. I really shouldn't have liked this issue but for reasons I quite lock down I quite like it. The book really is doing the third beetle a big injustice. Big jamie on the run from home living ruff on the streets of new york really shouldn't be what this books all about. But it is. And I don't mind as much as I should. Its probably because its not offensively or even boringly bad. Just not hitting the right vibe bad. Booster gold put in an appearance this moth. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ! Sadly its to fight the beetle and not be bros or buddy cops like they should though I should say it dose look like there's still room for that to happen. You see what I mean about missing the vibe ? Seeing booster on the cover this issue gets you thing aye ! Booster will show up and sport Jamie's shite out even just a wee bit. But naw boosters just adds to the beetles problems. Still I go to give them credit for sticking with this whole narrative direction you get a lot of points for stick with it ness from me.

SUPER GIRL #11

written by Michael Green and Mike Johnson art by Mahmud Asrar

Iv said it quite a few times this past year. Super girl is god damn AMAZING. She just wont stop punching dudes. That's a pretty simple thing I knows but you'd be surprised by how menny comics just fly by without nary a single punch being thrown. Comics ware theses nothing but endless talking and DRAMA. Now don't get me wrong not every comic ever should be wall to wall fisty cuffs. Just most of them. So like iv said many times before supergirls one of those books. Aye sure there is plot happening and there are characters wandering aboot that plot which is nice to see but the book knows what its aboot. FIGHTING. That's really grand to see theses days. Right now supergirl herself isn't the greatest of character and really needs to settle in and talk things out with superman. But she's getting there.

JUSTICE LEAGUE #11

written by geoff johns art by jim lee

Still not digging the league. This arcs been just a wee bit pish really. Things happen and I'm like so what ? The books not really had any meaty meat to it since darksides defeat. Honestly I couldn't tell you this arcs villains name. Thieve got all the big guns on board and not doing anything with them. I'm not expecting massive revelations and wham moments every issue but I was sort of expecting consistent epicness. Cyborg exists. I noticed that this month. dosent do much elles. Which is a shame what with him being the wild card on the team. He's a cool guy and a want to see him justifie his place on the team. But naw he's just the leagues teloporter. The book still has the banter at least which should be half the battle but I'm just not getting the books vibe. They did that silly hero vs hero fight when emotions run hight thing. Do people like that ? I always thought that was bad writing. Well nah that's too harsh more like writing from another age. That's fair enough if your writing a throw back styled book and I know the the big goffs a silver age lad but I doubt that's what he's going for here.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #8

written by team marvel art by Adam Kubert

I don't know what the actual word on the street is but I get the terrible feeling that were slowly spiralling towards mutant victory. That's pretty sickening to me. See its been a fun read so far but a vs x has made me fairly anti mutant. I'm pretty sure that's not what forty plus years x books have been shooting for. This was namors big day out issue and it went quite well I think. He gets both the phoenix and the shite kicked out of him. I like namor. He's a bastard. But a fun bastard. Most of the time. You cant deny that he forms a damn fine buddy cop team with Dr doom. Aye so a vs x has been a load of fun despite the shilling of the x-men its just going to interesting to see if marvels as mental as they look.

comic book quickies 16/7/12

Aye well I kind of gave up back there for a while. Not really sure what happened. The reviewer soul just sort of left me. Don't know what happened. Think it might have been the relentless march of time. Dark times. But fear not. I see ware I went wrong. So I set forth to set things right. I secluded myself in a cabin down in the woods then I grew a damn narly beard. Then all I did was chop wood all day long. Training for this day. Montaging. So iv shaken off my funk. Lets talk aboot comics !

SUPERBOY #11

written by Scott Lobdell art R.B Silva

Aye it was gid. My Reviewer powers have returned ! Well to be fair this months issue was pretty fun. IT HAD A GIANT ROBOT. Love me some giant robots. So bunker from the teen titans was guest staring this month hanging out with superboy. They fight crime together. You could almost say they were buddy's. Buddy cops ! Supes gets that S tattoo that he was sporting on the cover of teen titans #1 waaaaaaaay back when the world was young. So that's nice. Only took them them about a year. Really I had completely forgotten aboout that wee detail it was sooo long ago. Nice comic though. It had a nice summers day vibe to it and it definitely had plenty of fighting in it. Well maybe it didn't. But fighting a giant robot counts for double if not triple the amount of awesome points fighting some other random dude would.

FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E #11

written by Matt Kindt art by Alberto Ponticelli

Wellity welliity. Mad mystery stuff going on here likes. Fairly tempted to say mad mystery shite. Its that mad. Well its not mad. We've all seen madder is what I'm trying to say. We do live on there internet after all. Quite like me some Frankenstein. Plenty of action to be had and franky is such a bad ass lad. Sure there's some times wares he's a bit to grumpy for my likening but I guess that's the character. I still here from certain peoples that they still just don't like the art. Fair enough likes its not for everyone though I do think it fits the tone of the book pretty perfectly. Really it could only be better for me if it was drawn in the 70s scooby doo style. Ayes id pay good money to see that.

BATMAN #11

written by Scott snyder art by Greg capullo

Its the big final of the night of the owls. Batman busts out his special no your insane technique Lets meet back here in a month to see what the worlds like post owly night.

A VS X THE FIGHTS #4

fight 1 written by Rick Remender art by Brandon Peterson

fight 2 written and art by Kaare Andrews

Gotta say I quite like the the fights. Why wouldn't aye. ITS ALL FIGHTANG. Some of the match ups werny the ones I was waiting on the egege of my seat to see but the book knows what its and isn't trying to be anything else's and its definitely got the right SOUL to it. Fight one was damn decent with daredevil vs psylock.e Nice fighting but it did bring up the fight that the x-men are full of shite with the psychic ... eh shite. Psylocke canny mind crush dare devil because of his super senses. So would that protect every avenger with powers like that ? Like would spider-man be able to power through with his spider sense ? Interesting to think about at least. Fight two was bull. BUUUUUUUUUULLLLLL MAN. Thor vs god damn Emma frost. Who really likes Emma frost ? Fan service aye I get that. But DAMN shes HATEFUL. Is that the point internet ? Are we meant to hate her ? Is that the point ? TELL ME !

DEATHSTROKE #11

written and art by Rob Liefeld

The 90s ultra lad dose not disappoints. Well actually to be fair now aye its terrible. But that's fine. I still like it. Yeah the arts probably worse than it was back in the day. Fair enough. The plots dumb and a wee bit boring and contradicts itself every other page. Aye those are totally accurate things about it. But cooooooooooome oooooooooooooooooooooonnnnn its the big lad liefeld ! There's really not much more I can say to convince you. Well I could but they'd be terrible terrible lies.

Short and sweet this week. Gotta relearn my killer skills and develop a work ethic. See ya next time !

comic book quikies 12.1.12

What did I just say not five minutes ago. Time moves way too fast these days. Its Tuesday again. How the actual hell did that happen ? I could swear I had more time to play with. Really it this point its more spooky than confusing though it still is confusing. HOW DOSE TIME WORK.

GREEN LANTERN #10

written by Geoff Johns art by Doug mahnke

I'm sorry I complained about this arc way back when it started all those years ago. Yeah its only been about four months but still. Aye so all this indigo tribe pish has turned out to be be pretty damn gid. Finally stuff is happening again with hal now fully aware that the guardians are mad bastards. You'd have thought he'd have noticed sooner but meh he's had a lot on his plate that auld Hal Jordan. Mainly being kirk from star trek but still. I'm still not all that happy about sinestros buddy cop development but he was more lad-ish this issue so ill let that slide. For now. They really need to make him a full buddy cop sharpish. Its been ten god damn months and he's still space Hitler. Thought at this point space Hitler is more of a heroic good guy than the guardians of the galaxy. It will be interesting to see ware the blue space lads go wither there plan for ULTIMATE POWAH. I'm guessing nowhere but maybe the big goff lad will surprise us.

SUPERBOY #10

written by Scott Lobdell art Sebastian Fiumara 

Again this issue really surprised me with how much I really enjoyed it. Don't know what to say. Maybe it was the change in art that did it for me. Cuz the art was really nice all sketchy and stuff. Plot wise it was superboy and wonder girl lost of a desert island. They weren't really lost as they can both fly and it was more of a jungle island but lost on a desert island was the vibe the comic was going for. Castaway on a desert island ! That's what I'm getting at. Comic did get me thinking can wonder woman fly ? I really should know the answer to that . She is one of the big three over at DC. Never really read wonder woman so I cant be sure. Ill have to look into that. Aye so this comic was a lot of fun. Which is good. Comics should be fun. Not dark and depressing point making things. No they should be fun like batman paunching dinosaurs into space ! Batman dosent paunch any dinosaurs into space in this issue. I'm sorry. Batmans not in this issue at all. This issue DOSE have dinosaurs though. Which is cool. Dinosaurs are one of those basic ingredients in awesomeness. Your comic not awesome enough ? BOOOOOOM drop a dinosaur in from orbit ! So yeah this is one of superboys happy issues. He still brings up the fact he's a living weapon but he dosent go all angsty about it. Count that as a win.

FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E #10

written by jeff lemire ? i could sware it was the new guy. mind blown. art by Alberto Ponticelli

Aye so its all change this issue. Well that's what I should be saying. The writers changed so that should mean all change every ware. But naw the new guys just carrying on ware the other dude left off. Maybe I'm just jumping the gun and this new guys just a gust writer but I remember being told that frankys book was getting a change of creative team. I was disappointed to here that as this book had been damn entertaining up to this point. Gotta say though this issue was still pretty gid. A little confusing in places and a little rushed but still pretty gid. I think its because the auld artist stayed on. I say stayed on this might be a interlude guest spot issue thingy. Anyway it was gid, lots of fighting lots of bug men. Lots of poetry. Eh not really my thang but I see ware there age going with it. Oh wait no actually I don't. There a mystery developing I here that's totally out of my grasp. I get the feeling that references are being made that I don't get. Fair enough likes. Gid issue of a gid book.

BATMAN# 10

written by scott snyder art by greg capullo

THOMAS WAYNE jr !

FANTASTIC FOUR #607

written by Jonathan Hickman art by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Dose anybody care about the black panther. I'm not putting anybody down. Id genuinely like to know. I dunno man something about the auld lad rubs me the wrong way. He's just so smug. He's probs not but I cant stand all this pish about wakanda being all super advanced. He keeps talking about it and I'm like GET TO FUCK. It just gets to me is all. If it had all this powah why dosent someone invade and take it over. Aye I here dr doom tried and failed so I'm going to put that one down to a doom bot. Aye I'm playing favourites. So what about it. Norman Osborn tried to invade asguard so its not like there aren't people out there crazy enough to try try and take a super advanced nation on. Aye ranting about stuff I don't understand all right. Still a good issue all right.

DEATHSTROKE # 10

written and art by rob liefeld

See right canny really defend this comic. Like I said last time. Its bad. Really really bad. But that's not the point. Not the point at all. See its a comic written AND drawn by rob liefeld. We live in a world ware that's possible. Logically I'm not sure how to think about that but it makes me feel happy. Yes I do like liefelds work ironically. How can you not. Its so very bad that it becomes so very funny. There is a part of me that genuinely likes his work. All the shoulder pads and pouches. All the bad art and grim dumb plots. Its so 90s. Yes I'm terminally nostalgic but not for 90s comics as I never read American comics back in the day and only found out about the dark age relevantly recently so I cant claim that its nostalgia that blinds me to the truth. Stll ill chance my luck and say I thought this issue showed signs of improvement in both art and story. Now it was still bad. There's this one page of lobo riding a motor cycle that's hilarious. Aye so I liked it .

comic book quickies 12/6/12

Ahh this week. I don't know what happened to this week. Well I do. But its not that much of an justified reason. I'm lazy all right, I shouldn't have left it this long to write this quickies. But I did. And know all the shame in the world has saddled up to my front door. Its a hefty shame. It weighs down on my shoulders. Like some sort of hefty weighty thing. But you got to know I'm like an auld man theses days. Time flys by so god damn fast. See last Friday. That just happened but it feels so long ago to me. The sinister thing is that the opposite is true. See Christmas ? That feels like last week. Half a year ago feels like last week you see what I mean ? Its sinister this adult time. It trys to mess with your head. Your sitting there aww like I can put off this weeks comic reviews for a wee while then boooooooooooooom its the space year 3029. so my point is I'm just lazy.

ACTION COMICS # 10

written by Grant Morrison art rags morales

Action comics is gid likes. I'm almost positive iv said that before but I'm going to keep on saying that. Mainly because it is gid but also that's all I can really say about it. Overall its pretty gid. Some issues are not all that gid but most are fairly gid and there are some that are damn gid. Its been like a year so I feel I should clarify that when I say gid what I really mean is that its good. I'm Scottish you see. Hopefully iv beaten that fact into your face by know. Action comics might not be everyone's cup of tea. Its weird like. Course its weird its Morrison after all. But damn its weird. Not out of this world. Heh. Out of this world. Superman. Heh. Yeah its not offensively weird and its not too mind bendingly weird. Yet. And I think we can all agree its not Japan weird. No its just got this weird tone to it. And like I said during its first few moths I found it hard to get to grips with that tone. To grapple with it if you will. To grab it with BOTH HANDS. I personally love it. Its like the big guy of week one. The big boss if you get me. Always the first to be read. Like last month the cover was all this issue superman of earth 23. so aye that shites totes getting read first. You know to drink in the madness. Aye so this issue was gid.

DETECTIVE COMICS #10

written and art by Tony S. Daniel

Detective comics. Its quite pish really. Well to me anyway. I'm no a big fan of the overly grim and gritty style of writing's comics. Well that is until I am. Depends how well its done and what type of grim and gritty it is. I'm probably too quick to brand something grim and gritty ill admit that. But see this detective comics run. Its just so god damn brown. Batman for the cod generation. Hmmm that's harsh. And not particularly accurate. Grungy is another word id chuck at it. The art dose have that blurry grungy vibe to it. And that's nice. Cant accuse it of not sticking to its guns in that way. Though I suppose it has gotten just a tad sillier of late was 60s batman grade villains making appearances. There's been this back up story featuring two face. I'm like aye two face he's a bit of a lad. But hoo lee hell I just really don't care. Like at all. AT ALL. If the main story's brown. The back up is some sort of new as yet un discovered ultra brown. Now that dosny make it instantly bad. Its just I go to read it and I cant. Its grittiness is paralysing. So I'm not giving this book a fair chance. I'm sorry. If something epic and blazingly soulful happens suddenly ill let you know.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #10

written by Dan Jurgens art Aaron Lopresti

Why justice league international. Why. You were a lad. No you were more than that. You were MY lad. What happened to you ? You used to be the guy. Back in the day you were more justice leaguey than the main justice league book. But now. God. Look at you. Your about average. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. You had a gid team. Not a grate team but ll the pieces were there. Plenty of lads. The problem is nobody really got to do anything. Yeah you beat tron lined kirby space miner dude. Fair enough likes but that was a hell of a long time ago. Yeah damn. Those were the glory days. But now its the end of days. The JLI is ending. Depressing. Why DC. Why. Yeah its not been as gid. But harsh likes. Ill miss you JLI you were a lad. Ill never forget that. You are a lad. Manly tears people of the internet. Manly tears

MUDMAN #4

written and art by pual girst

Buy mudman please. Its so very very gid. Its about this guy with mud powers. He's a lad. You knew I was going to say he was a lad and I just did. Right there. Because he is. Hmmm how to explain. Its a very well written and drawn comic. Hmmm well that was short. Its a very British comic. Now not in that novelty all Britain is England and of Britain is London kind of way. No its got that special laid back casual tone to it. And there's this bus likes. The sheer VIBE. Of this bus. It's practically indescribable. Its an actual British bus. Pretty standard stuff I here here you say. Naw pal. That bus made my day. What ever day that was. Last Friday or was it Saturday ? See what I mean about time moving too fast but also way too slow ? So the Paul girst lad. He's knocking the book out the park. Aye very American way of saying its damn fine comic but I feel a book this good deserves it. People should read mudman. Its very gid.

AVENGERS VS X-MEN #5

written by team marvel art by jr jr

So I hope you all remember what Tony stark did during civil war. I remember. You should all remember. He was a god damn Nazi. An honest to god Nazi. I'm not joking and I'm not taking the pish. I want to like iron man. But god damn do marvel make it hard to like that negative zone concentration camp building bastard. Id welcome it if marvel ever tried to do a new fifty two style reboot so that all the insane character ruing things stark did could be washed away. Now I have to say with this issue stark might have puled it back. He built an iron mecha and used it to kill the phoenix. It was glorious. And I know what your saying. I can here you now. But stark has built mecha before. Aye fair enough. Last time I noticed was the hulk buster armour from world war hulk and that was no that flashy. Aye so big lad stark might and I say might just have pulled it back. Oh aye this comic was avengers vs x-men. Sorta forgot about that what with all this mecha talk. Aye so Cyclops's x-men team is the phoenix now. Yes all of them. Yeah Cyclops was a MASSIVE bastard before but god damn he's more unbearable now than ever. Also namor king of the oceans has fire god powers now. Aye naw pal. I hope the ocean takes namor aside at some point down the like and asks him what the shite he's up to. Aye so a quite liked this issue.