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Old 07-29-2012, 05:51 AM   #1
Rocket
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WE HAVE ISSUES! Comic Reviews 07/29/12 POTENTIAL SPOILERS

Rocket

This week, I decided to review both issue one and two of The Shadow.

The Shadow #1


DYNAMITE COMICS
Writer : Garth Ennis
Artist : Aaron Campbell

As a huge Garth Ennis fan, I was excited to see the announcement he would be writing the latest relaunch of The Shadow (Volume Five). While my knowledge of the character could be described as limited at best, this presented itself as a great jumping on point with a writer I trust. As a general rule, there are two major types of Ennis stories. Depraved and over the top ( The Crossed, Punisher, Hitman, Preacher) or wartime (Battlefields, War Story, War is Hell, Unknown Soldier). This story seems to slant more towards his love of wartime history.




I'll let Ennis and Campbell supply the plot:



Be warned though, Ennis has still written in some gore, this is the worst you'll see in Issue #1, but #2 ups the ante in a much larger fashion....



The Shadow Issue #2



Issue 2 of The Shadow continues the opening arc of the new series, and sees Ennis and Campbell begin to add more adult content to the book. This issue features more swearing, MUCH more gore and violence, and less Shadow. The character in costume is seen on a scant six pages only, to close out the issue.

It's much more evident in this issue, that Ennis and Campbell are doing a good job at capturing the pulp feel of the character in both dialogue and art, as seen here:



By issues end, we have a better, but still not completely realised destination for this arc, and with the recent revelation that Ennis and Campbell are both already off the book (new creative team Victor Gischler and Jack Herbert debut with issue 7) it's hard to find a reason to get too attached to the depiction of the character.

In summation, the writing and art are adequate (though Ennis does have the characters talking in a slang that belies the era) for the pulp feel the book is trying to achieve, but there's nothing here that's terribly innovative or must read.
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Old 07-29-2012, 05:52 AM   #2
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GREEN LANTERN 11

Events in the Green Lantern book are starting to fire up again with the coming of the Third Army!

Past issues have revealed that the Guardians have plans to destroy the Green Lantern Corps and replace them with a 3rd army; the Manhunters being the first army followed by the GLs. Having heard of this prophesy many years ago, Abin Sur, initiated plans before he died through the creation of the Indigo Tribe to counter the Guardians' schemes. Essentially when an Indigo ring is slipped onto a person, compassion completely overrides the wearer's true feelings. Abin was hoping to slip the Indigo rings onto the Guardians before they could finalize their plans. Now we know why Abin's name was mentioned along with the "noks" & "leks" of the Indigo Tribe oath.

Along the way, Hal & Sinestro have made their way to the Indigo home planet and discovered the true nature of the Indigo Tribe. Let's just say they're not as nice as we thought they were. Events transpire and Black hand who's been essentially a slave of the Indigos since Blackest Night escapes, commits suicide and well, you should know the rest if you read last month's issue.

As if Black Hand wasn't creepy enough before, with this issue we get to see him at his undead family reunion with artist Doug Mahnke doing what he sinewy does best. Just check out that cover! To get a clearer picture of what's to come, Hal & Sinestro sneak a peek into the Book of the Black only to find themselves...

So Black Hand is back, Krona's body has yet to be found in the Red Lanterns book, the Guardians are looking to destroy the GLs and a new army is coming? Yeah, writer Geoff Johns is building up to something big...

...and here's the promo pic of what's to come!
The Guardians sure seem to be embracing emotions now dont they?

"RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY"

Last edited by Rocket; 07-29-2012 at 06:00 AM.
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Old 07-29-2012, 07:42 AM   #3
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JLM:


The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009




Written by Alan Moore
Art by Kevin O’Neill
Published by Top Shelf/Knockabout Comics

Finally, the end of Century is upon us. 100 years in story terms, and quite a few in real terms, the finale of the third volume of the League is in hand. And what a finale it is.
The League picks up in the modern world for the first time. Not that it is recognisable as “our” reality, as fictional world continue to clash, nor is the League itself recognizable, or frankly even existent. The League’s failings at the end of 1969 have driven it apart. Orlando is buried in war, Mina institutionalized, Allan nowhere to be seen and the task of stopping the antichrist ignored. Orlando returns to Blighty, where he/she gets a big kick in the pants to start sorting things out, by trying to bring the League back together and getting on with what they should have been doing all along.
Again, the League continues to pluck from established fiction, and there is a clearly gleeful major subversion of a well-known modern franchise (read the book to find out which one) into the villain in ways that are quite shocking, alongside the more minor cameos to play “spot the character” (The Thick of It’s Malcolm Tucker one of the best to date). The League continues to bumble along in sorting things out in their by now established, somewhat clueless, pattern.
The look of this book is pulled back to a darker mood than 1969, but then it starts in dark place. No League, ongoing bloody foreign conflict, Police brutality at home, the onset of the antichrist and maybe Moore’s lack of enthusiasm for modern culture? That doesn’t stop creativity and imagination abounding in the wake of the antichrist, final showdown, or the epilogue pages.
As the concluding segment, you really do need to read the first two books in this series, 1910 and 1969. It will make zero sense unless you are up to speed; it’s pretty bonkers even if you have read them.
Minions of the Moon (the customary prose section) also wraps up. There is a link to the main narrative, but on the whole it is independent. It’s entertaining and brings back the Volume One villain in a clever way to help clear thing up.
If I was to register a dissatisfaction with the book, it would be that the ending is a deus ex machina, resolution appearing almost out of nowhere. It is frankly such a crazy ending that I am prepared to forgive it. As for the series as a whole, Moore and O’Neill could, I suspect, just have gone on churning out Victorian era League. The fact they didn’t, was always going to be a risk, but a risk that paid off in my view. What results is fresher, broader in scope, look and feel than another adventure confined to the late Nineteenth Century would have produced.
Unsurprisingly, I’m going to recommend this. Now that you can read the whole story in one go there’s never been a better time to check it out.
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Old 07-30-2012, 02:55 PM   #4
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We Have Issues 7-30-12 = Justice League Dark

Justice League Dark

When the DC new 52 line up was first announced….this book was quick on the list to intrigue me.

When I realized that Peter Milligan was the writer I was reluctant to get my hopes up. Milligan’s X-Men run and X-Static X stuff really did nothing for me…but I did like some of his Batman stuff…and seeing him once again working on a book that has Shade the changing man in the cast looked promising.

My excitement gradually built when I read more about the lineup of the team itself. With DC merging their mainstream universe with the Wildstorm universe and the Vertigo Universe the Justice League Dark concept felt like it was bursting with potential!



When the series debuted I found myself really enjoying it. The first story arc opened with Madame Xanadu bringing the individuals together that would form the team. John Constantine, Deadman, Shade, Mindwarp, and Zatanna were all summoned in one way or another to unite against the threat of an Enchantress gone mad.

So, how is this team affiliated with the Justice league? Well….when the Enchantress was first confronted by Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Superman….the three of them were easily defeated by her magic. Batman then turned to Zatanna…and Zatanna saw herself as more expendable than the rest of the League, so she set off to see what she could do.




In a humorous moment later in the series Batgirl refers to the JLD team as Zatanna’s team (according to Batman), so the team basically has the Batman’s stamp of approval for the time being.

As the series progressed I started feeling differently about the book. There were still a lot of positives…but Milligan was presenting a group of Magic Based individuals that might be united in a sense to tackle a particular threat….but it was not a team…and it didn’t feel like a reluctant team either. It just appeared to be a group of people that were all trying to stop the same threat….in between moments of Shade complaining about his vest.

Constantine and Dead-Man’s repertoire was keeping the book on my purchase list….but it was definitely sinking.

Then DC placed Jeff Lemire on the book to handle the writing chores. Lemire immediately brought a better feel to the book, and from interviews I have read he has stated that he intends to focus more on the team aspect.



The appeal to the series for me is to see all the different redesigns of classic DC magic characters…which there are a whole lot to choose from. The latest story arc deals with Felix Faust trying to break into a secret government facility known as “the Black Room” which is rumored to hold a plethora of magical items that the government has found themselves in possession of over the years. The introduction of the Black Room seems to be a new motivating factor that brings this team together…to not only protect the items in this room…but to locate some things for themselves as well.






In the latest issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK (#11) Lemire turns things up a notch and Mikel Janin brings some excellent pencils to the table on an incredibly action packed issue. Felix Faust has recruited the Demons Three (Abnagazar, Rath and Ghast) to assist him on his assault on the Black Room that is being defended by the JLD and Steve Trevor. The fact that nobody really trusts Constantine is well handled and there are some double-crosses that you might not see coming during the battle.



Makel Janin’s lay-outs are really impressive…I am not familiar with any of his previous work, but I am enjoying his skills on this book.



The two aspects of this book that I am enjoying the most are the orchestrations of Madame Xanadu…who in this latest issue is seen attempting to recruit a young boy named Timothy Hunter who is believed to one day become the most powerful magician in the world. She is always up to something…and rarely goes where expected. The other thing I am enjoying is the number of cameos in the book that are not solicited on the cover in an attempt to increase sales. Some are one panel…some are several pages, but already we have seen Animal Man, the Resurrected Man, Batman, Batgirl, Steve Trevor, Frankenstein and the Agents of S.H.A.D.E.. It’s just nice to see the adventured of the JLD send ripples through the new 52

If you are a fan of Magic in the DCU and enjoy a solidly presented team book….I would happily suggest Justice League Dark to anyone that would ask. If this is a book that you normally would not try…I would also suggest this to you to give it a try. It’s not the run of the mill book, but it’s not too far off the beaten track. Rumor has it that there will be some more Vertigo characters appearing soon and that alone should be worth the ride.

!tah a ni stibbar 5 fo tuo 4 dilos a koob siht etar I
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Old 07-30-2012, 03:47 PM   #5
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Good to see some reviews again, great idea to post in the comics section as I forget to look for them. I also read Green Lantern here and think that another great adventure is ahead with the Third Army. The only thing that worries me is not anywhere after the Annual do you see anything with Hal or Sinestro in it. Which means the are gone or trapped in the book of the black, who knows. I'm gonna be disappointed if they don't save the day.
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Old 07-30-2012, 04:21 PM   #6
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I figured many do Kal so I'll post each new review thread here and move it to the reviews section when a new thread arrives
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Old 07-31-2012, 10:36 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kal-el View Post
Good to see some reviews again, great idea to post in the comics section as I forget to look for them. I also read Green Lantern here and think that another great adventure is ahead with the Third Army. The only thing that worries me is not anywhere after the Annual do you see anything with Hal or Sinestro in it. Which means the are gone or trapped in the book of the black, who knows. I'm gonna be disappointed if they don't save the day.
When is the GL annual coming out by the way? Next month? Regarding Hal & Sinestro, there's a whole corps of GLs who can save the day. Doesnt always have to be the usual guys in the spotlight imo, especially with that new GL taking center stage in the Third Army pic. That pic is actually a combination of the New Guardians, GL, GLC & Red Lantern covers in October.
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Old 07-31-2012, 11:12 AM   #8
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art in JL dark looks great.
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Old 07-31-2012, 02:31 PM   #9
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Quick suggestion.

Perhaps in 1 st post list what titles and issues are being reviewed below. That way spoilers are out there

Good job all around to everyone on this
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Old 07-31-2012, 02:37 PM   #10
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Perhaps a spoiler tag might not be a bad thing....although I do know that we new reviewers are trying to avoid doing "issue recaps", we are trying to include art scans that might be spoilerific.

Glad for the feedback, thanks all!
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