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Strange Adventures #1 (DC) - This is the logical follow-on to the previous Jim Starlin "DC space" series. If you liked those (and I did) you'll probably like this too (I did). We are following the adventures of the likes of Adam Strange (now on New Rann aka Prince Gavyn/Starman's Throneworld), Captain Comet, and a little tiny bit of the Weird (who I assume will get more time on-panel in future issues). I could have done without Bizarro, who I don't think really fits with the other characters, and that's the only thing holding me back from declaring this great. To me, Bizarro in this book is kind of like Lobo in "Reign in Hell", and that is a character out of place.


Note: I also read World of New Krypton #1 & New Avengers: The Reunion #1, but you'll need to wait until WCS #082 next Monday to hear what I thought of those.....

BobBretall wrote:Strange Adventures #1 (DC) - This is the logical follow-on to the previous Jim Starlin "DC space" series. If you liked those (and I did) you'll probably like this too (I did). We are following the adventures of the likes of Adam Strange (now on New Rann aka Prince Gavyn/Starman's Throneworld), Captain Comet, and a little tiny bit of the Weird (who I assume will get more time on-panel in future issues). I could have done without Bizarro, who I don't think really fits with the other characters, and that's the only thing holding me back from declaring this great. To me, Bizarro in this book is kind of like Lobo in "Reign in Hell", and that is a character out of place.


Note: I also read World of New Krypton #1 & New Avengers: The Reunion #1, but you'll need to wait until WCS #082 next Monday to hear what I thought of those.....

You are such a big tease.

Super Zombies #1 (Dynamite) - First, 22 pages at $3.50. I guess I was not so happy with this book from the time I left the store.
In my opinion the highlight of the book was the art and even more so the color within the book. Really caught my eye and kept it to the book. Unfortunately my mind left after the first page. When introducing some (of the many) characters the artist used such a wide view of events that I couldn't really see the characters they were introducing.
Now I admit that I did read through this pretty quickly (while the wife was feeding our 7 month old) and maybe a second time through will help but this story just did not grab me at all.
I enjoyed the look of my .159 cents per page book but not enough to pick up a second issue.

Soul Kiss #1 – Didn’t do it for me. Nothing really seemed to happen and I didn’t really like the main character. Pass.

Jersey Gods #1 – I like this, cool art, and an interesting story with a lot of future possibilities. I’m not well versed in Kirby, so this was new to me

Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys #1 : I liked it, but not enough to get me on-board. I just didn’t feel all that drawn into the mystery; I don’t really care what happened enough to get it on-going. I might pick it up on the cheap, as I would still be interesting in reading it.

Mighty #1 – I can’t remember what the original solicitation was, so I’m not sure where this story is going. Loved the art, and the story was good, but I feel like I’m missing something. Shouldn’t I have a pretty good idea what the series is going to be about after reading the first issue? Or maybe I do and was expecting more?

I also really enjoyed North World v1 when it came out; looking forward to v2. An interesting mix of genres like Scott Pilgrim, but not as out there. Better? I guess I think so since I’m following one and not the other.

dbm wrote:Soul Kiss #1 – Didn’t do it for me. Nothing really seemed to happen and I didn’t really like the main character. Pass.

I just read #2 and it went off in a direction I had not been expecting but that was really cool. Then again, I really liked #1, so continuing to like it with #2 is not a big surprise.

Killer Of Demons #1 – The premise is an average guy gets a visit from an Angel telling him he has a mission from god to kill demons. These demons appear like normal people to everyone else and he is the only person who can see them. The issue sort of wavers between is he really seeing demons or is he having a breakdown.

If you have seen the show Reaper it has that same sort of humor dynamic except instead of the exchanges being between the hero and the devil it is the hero and a cupid type of angel. The artwork fits the tone of the book and overall I really enjoyed it.

R.E.B.E.L.S #1 - Guess I'll join the love fest - this was great! Loved the art, loved the storytelling. One of the better single issues I've read in a while.

War of Kings #1 (of 6) Marvel - This turned out to be a good first issue of an event comic. It's got a great Star Wars feel to it without the reference being to over the top. Lots of action but also setting up a good story. Yeah it's $3.99, but this first issue was only a buck through DCBS or HC. Abnett and Lanning are continuing to write good Marvel cosmic comics. I'm also now a fan of Paul Pelletier's art from GoG.

Life and Times of Savior 28 #1 IDW - This is interesting enough for me to want to at least check out the next issue. The first issue was released on March 11. The #2 issue is solicited this month in March Previews as it skipped a month. This is a heavy handed political type of story commenting on violence in society and superhero comics. The art is Silver Age inspired Kirby but with modern coloring. This would be an easier sell for me if it was 2.99, but all IDW titles are 3.99. I'll probably continue with the series after #2 because I'm a fan of J.M. Dematteis.

War of Kings #1 -- Excellent start to this cosmic event book. Fast paced, well drawn, and lots of avenues for this to turn.

Killer of Demons #1 -- Scott Wegener's artwork was a bit more simplistic than I remembered it from Atomic Robo, and I was a bit disappointed by the depth of it to be honest. But I'm intrigued by the story. Is he whacko or is he really seeing demons?

The Unknown $1 -- What a fun, quirky series. How many times have you thought, "I had that idea but never got around to doing anything about it!" Well this is the story of a guy who gets a ton of great ideas, only to see them taken from him. Only he's NOT imagining things, someone really is stealing his thoughts.

Killer of Demons #1 (Image) - This was awesome! If Dave does end up being crazy, I'll like the series a LOT less, but as it is, intriguing concept, and I didn't mind the art, it worked for the story (made it a bit less graphic violent).
Thanks, Spid, for turning me onto this one!

Life & Times of Savior 28 #1 (IDW) - I thought the story was brilliant, but the art dragged it down a notch for me, it just wasn't working with the story for my own personal taste. DeMatteis touched on lots of themes/concepts from the super-hero genre and had some novel takes on those standard conventions.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 (DC) -
A good story, but one that seems to exist to fill in a gap between what went before (the alleged death of Batman) and what will come next (who will be the new Batman). This is not a story that cries out to exist for any reason other than it needs to fill in an information gap. This is something that hard-core Batman fans will want to read, but casual Batman fans can easily pass on.

Caped #1 (Boom!) - I really liked this story. The premise is that super-heroes can't save the world & do mundane stuff like get their dry cleaning done and do the shopping, and not everyone is billionaire Bruce Wayne with Alfred. So, for the middle class super-heroes, they get personal assistants. Caped is the story of one of those PAs for a super. The term "Caped" in this book is used by the PAs to mean, essentially, getting screwed over by a super. Anyway, I liked it, I'll be back for #2.

Groom Lake #1 (IDW) - This was frikkin' awesome! 5 out of 5, in my book. Space aliens are real, and you sure don't want them "probing" you

If you love Ben Templesmith art and weird alien conspiracy theories, I predict you'll love this book.

Star Trek: Crew #1 (IDW) - John Byrne can certainly tell a great Star Trek story. This is perfect for anyone who is a fan of classic Trek. If you're not a Trek-fan, probably best to steer clear, but if you do like it, then this is a treat. You get to see the story of the shakedown cruise of the ship that will be the NCC-1701 Enterprise. See Dr. Boyce & Captain Pike's "Number One" as a young cadet in conflict with pre-"Big Head" Klingons. Great stuff.


Rawbone #1 (Avatar) - This one was not to my taste. Possibly authentic pirate dialogue, but really hard for me to wade through. A bit too much gleeful violence against women (of the pirate-era variety) for my liking (threatening a women to be raped by the ship's mascot monkey?? **shudder**) I'll be skipping the rest of this series.


The Incredibles #1 (Boom! Kids) - Mark Waid really captures the feeling of the characters, better than a lot of other movie continuations I've read. If you liked the movie, you should like this comic. A great debut to the Boom! Kids line, this would be a great comic to get & read with your kids if they liked the Incredibles movie.

Don't know if I wasn't in comics-reading mode this week or what, but a lot of stuff left me wanting that I really expected to love.

Groom Lake #1 -- I thought the art was a little sparse, even for Ben T but ultimately it was good enough for rock and roll. But the story left me hanging. Lots of classic UFO cliches thrown about with no indication of how this is really going to be different than a 50s conspiracy/tinfoil hat movie I might see on late night TV. I've preordered the book and will continue to give it a look, but I had high hopes for this that were only partially met.

Flash: Rebirth #1 -- I think my lack of connection to Barry Allen as a character really played a role here. I found Barry to be offputting, uber serious and frankly, not very interesting. I also had no Earthly idea who the other speedsters were and whether they were significant [I'm talking about the corpses and the villains, not Bart and Wally and Jay]. I just didn't care. Now, it's possible I might have felt the same way reading the 1st issue of Green Lantern: Rebirth on the day it was released, but instead read it as a complete, and much heralded trade. Overall, I would give this story a 3 for a lot of reasons. I'll read it because it's 'important' and I believe Johns can easily turn a slow 1st issue into a masterpiece by the end, but color me nonplussed with the first issue.

G.I. Joe: Cobra #1 -- Wow...I almost felt like I was reading a Greg Rucka Queen & Country issue rather than a G.I. Joe issue featuring Chuckles! I've been enjoying the entire IDW relaunch and, for me, this was the strongest of three very strong series. Gone are the days when every Cobra soldier or G.I. Joe grunt magically popped his parachute as his vehicle explodes. Chuckles does WHATEVER he needs to do in order to further the mission, and I can't wait to see where this goes from here.

Irredeemable #1 -- Mark Waid is evil. Yep, he sure is. Look, I love gory comics and have no problem with gratuitous sex or violence if I feel it furthers the story. But there is one line that I just can't stomach being crossed. I won't spell it out for fear of spoilers but anyone that read this issue knows what I'm talking about. I feel like it's a REALLY lazy plot device that shows up in TV these days a ton [my wife and I always joke about whether we've programmed our Tivo to record shows about sick/dying children because it appears to happen in so many shows] and Waid is/should be a better writer than that. We didn't need the Plutonian to do that in order to understand he was heartless and capable of anything. Seriously. All in all I felt this issue was OK, but not the "holy crap I can't believe he came up with that idea!" others are describing. I mean, I think the only think that's surprising about this issue was that Mark Waid wrote it.

Oracle: The Cure #1 -- I decided to pass on the vast majority of the Battle for the Cowl stuff on principle, and am instead going to try out the 1st issues of every Bat-book coming out of it and decide which I'll stick with from there. Once they put Daniel on the writing chores for the main event, I decided I didn't need to read it, or the ancillary titles. But I made one exception, and that was Oracle. Mainly because I've always enjoyed the character, and held Birds of Prey [particularly Gail Simone's run] as one of the better 2nd tier DC books of the last few years. This book was a lot of fun. I had no problem following along, thought there were nice touches that re-set the stage for Oracle's status quo, and agree with John and Bob that the art was rock solid.

Caped #1 (of 4) (Boom Studios) - This was just an OK first issue for me. The writing was alright but I thought there could have been some more unique humor. The art was flat for me, I didn't like or hate it. I've already got #2 on pre-order, so I'll check that out but I probably won't go further than that.

Irredeemable #1 (Boom Studios) - The story was interesting but the art just wasn't doing much for me. The supporting superhero team was laughable, they just seemed so goofy. I don't know if that was intentional or not. I already have the second issue on pre-order, but at this time I don't see myself going any further.

Rawbone #1 (of 4) (Avatar) - It's too bad because I like the art but the story just wasn't any fun for me. The art has has a unique look and it fits a pirate story well. There's a lot of nudity and violence but for no good reason other than to shock us. I was looking for a good pirate yarn but this wasn't it. Unfortunately, I already have issue #2 on pre-order but I definitely won't be going further than that.

Star Trek: Crew #1 (of 6) (IDW) - John Byrne proves in this issue why he's been called a modern master. He's doing both the writing and the art, and it's both really good. It's got nice one and done story within this issue but also building within a larger story arc. Byrne is clearly having fun creating within the Star Trek universe and I'm glad to be along for the ride.

Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye #1 (of 3) (Vertigo) - I really enjoyed both writing and art on this issue, a 5 out of 5. Yes, it was weird as it doesn't follow a traditional story line but that was OK for me. I was thoroughly entertained and I look forward to the next issue. The art was cartoonish but it was so well done that it really added to the Morrison's odd writing style. The whole issue was fun to look at without even reading the text. There was 32 pages of story by my count, making that $3.99 cover price a little easier to take.