I got a handful of books this week. First I will start with the Amazing X-Men title. There was issue 8 and annual 1. I'll start with the annual. It comprises two parts. The first is a story where they go to Africa to confront a monster from Storm's past and the 2nd is a history of Firestar with art as if it was drawn by a child. The Storm arc is great and a lot of fun. Art is absolutely beautiful. All the characters are crisp and emotional and there is an obscene amount of atmospheric art (dirt, sand, etc) that really enhances the entire book. I love it. The second part serves as a scrapbook honoring Firestar. There's a page that's only a faux-Egyptian style painting, one that's "drawn" by a student on his math notebook. Incredibly interesting idea. Execution wasn't great. There's several pages and they are all different, making it feel disjointed and choppy. As a collection of art it's pretty cool. As a story being told, it is pretty lame. Overall a decent annual. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 all together.
In Amazing X-Men 8 starts of the World War Wendigo story. Wolverine goes to Canada and meets an old friend only to try to find someone. Turns out he was attacked by a wendigo. Turns out there's tons of them. The other X-Men hope to get there in time to save Wolverine (who has no healing factor anymore.) Okay book. Not a huge fan of Wolverine, but he was used excellently. He's sniffing out a crime scene all detective-like. I like seeing a side of Wolverine that's not the tear everybody apart side. The art is pretty cool. Not incredible in any fashion, but also no problems with it. Solid book. 3 out of 5.
Next up Loki Agent of Asgard 5. Crazy fun book. Loki and Lorelei break into Asgard to find Sigurd and such. This issue acts the same as a third act of a heist movie where they reveal the twist and how they managed to pull it off. Super fun. Art is super cool looking. Where this book ends isn't great, but the journey totally works for me. It's fun which is exactly what I want from a comic book. 4 out of 5.
I finally found Magneto 3 so I was able to catch up on that series. In issue 3, Magneto infiltrates the Sentinel factory and he destroys it. In issue 4, he follows a lead to find some of the mutant smugglers to take them out. In issue 5, he meets a stalker of his and eventually agrees to have her help him. Bunn does great work on this series. The only real complaint I have is that it's moving pretty slowly. It's nice that the issues are fairly stand alone so they work fairly well on their own. Artwork on this book is by Gabriel Fernandez Walta and is wonderful. It has a nice watercolor feel to it, while being beautifully precise. I'll give these 3 collectively a 4.5 out of 5.
Last up for Marvel is Nightcrawler 3. Nightcrawler brings Amanda and their sorcerer friend Margali back to the mansion and fighting breaks out. All of a sudden many, many trimegas show up for a fight. It's a fairly decent read. Not super great, but it's alright. I've got probably 3 issues left for this to amaze me before I drop it. There is a really nice scene between Kurt and Logan in this issue. Logan's all friendly and brotherly towards him and it's a really great moment for both of them. 3 out of 5.
Now let's head over to Boom! Studios for The Empty Man issue 1. A new series by Cullen Bunn. It follows a multi-agency task force assigned to investigate a series of deaths somehow linked to the "empty man." It's unclear if it is some sort of virus, a supernatural monster, or just a plain old fashioned serial killer. Bunn doesn't disappoint with his ability to build the world and an incredible intrigue in what's going on. Can't wait to read more. Vaness R. Del Rey is on art and it looks gorgeous. There's a really sketchy style to it that really works in the horror genre. The characters are pretty decent so far, granted we haven't really seen them much. As usual Cullen Bunn has delivered a masterpiece. Incredible intro to the story and the world. 5 out of 5.
I also picked up Futures End 5 and 6 but don't really remember anything that happened. It's fairly uninteresting and most of the characters feel off due to it taking place 5 years in the future and they aren't the characters that we know now. It's not a great book. So I will be dropping it. Meh out of 5.
Justice League United 2 is another book that's not groundbreaking. It might as well be called Exposition United as it's a lot of talking. It serves the plot of the book, but doesn't do much else. These types of issues are a great argument for waiting for the trade so you can move right on in the story. Art still works fine and I am looking forward to a new arc in this book. That said, I did enjoy the brutal fighting between Lobo and Hawkman. Pretty excellent. 3 out of 5.
Over in Green Arrow 32 Oliver returns to Seattle only to find a super villain team-up in progress and Diggle kidnapped by Richard Dragon. Still my favorite art in a book on a monthly basis. There's some flashbacks that have stylized golden-age art look to them. The story has moments that feel fairly familiar but they are woven together in a new way to make it feel fresh. Great book as usual and it sets up a new story that promises to be good. 4.5 out of 5.
Next up Loki Agent of Asgard 5. Crazy fun book. Loki and Lorelei break into Asgard to find Sigurd and such. This issue acts the same as a third act of a heist movie where they reveal the twist and how they managed to pull it off. Super fun. Art is super cool looking. Where this book ends isn't great, but the journey totally works for me. It's fun which is exactly what I want from a comic book. 4 out of 5.
I finally found Magneto 3 so I was able to catch up on that series. In issue 3, Magneto infiltrates the Sentinel factory and he destroys it. In issue 4, he follows a lead to find some of the mutant smugglers to take them out. In issue 5, he meets a stalker of his and eventually agrees to have her help him. Bunn does great work on this series. The only real complaint I have is that it's moving pretty slowly. It's nice that the issues are fairly stand alone so they work fairly well on their own. Artwork on this book is by Gabriel Fernandez Walta and is wonderful. It has a nice watercolor feel to it, while being beautifully precise. I'll give these 3 collectively a 4.5 out of 5.
Last up for Marvel is Nightcrawler 3. Nightcrawler brings Amanda and their sorcerer friend Margali back to the mansion and fighting breaks out. All of a sudden many, many trimegas show up for a fight. It's a fairly decent read. Not super great, but it's alright. I've got probably 3 issues left for this to amaze me before I drop it. There is a really nice scene between Kurt and Logan in this issue. Logan's all friendly and brotherly towards him and it's a really great moment for both of them. 3 out of 5.
Now let's head over to Boom! Studios for The Empty Man issue 1. A new series by Cullen Bunn. It follows a multi-agency task force assigned to investigate a series of deaths somehow linked to the "empty man." It's unclear if it is some sort of virus, a supernatural monster, or just a plain old fashioned serial killer. Bunn doesn't disappoint with his ability to build the world and an incredible intrigue in what's going on. Can't wait to read more. Vaness R. Del Rey is on art and it looks gorgeous. There's a really sketchy style to it that really works in the horror genre. The characters are pretty decent so far, granted we haven't really seen them much. As usual Cullen Bunn has delivered a masterpiece. Incredible intro to the story and the world. 5 out of 5.
I also picked up Futures End 5 and 6 but don't really remember anything that happened. It's fairly uninteresting and most of the characters feel off due to it taking place 5 years in the future and they aren't the characters that we know now. It's not a great book. So I will be dropping it. Meh out of 5.
Justice League United 2 is another book that's not groundbreaking. It might as well be called Exposition United as it's a lot of talking. It serves the plot of the book, but doesn't do much else. These types of issues are a great argument for waiting for the trade so you can move right on in the story. Art still works fine and I am looking forward to a new arc in this book. That said, I did enjoy the brutal fighting between Lobo and Hawkman. Pretty excellent. 3 out of 5.
Over in Green Arrow 32 Oliver returns to Seattle only to find a super villain team-up in progress and Diggle kidnapped by Richard Dragon. Still my favorite art in a book on a monthly basis. There's some flashbacks that have stylized golden-age art look to them. The story has moments that feel fairly familiar but they are woven together in a new way to make it feel fresh. Great book as usual and it sets up a new story that promises to be good. 4.5 out of 5.
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