Weekly Pull List 9-24-14

Surprisingly big week this week. Went into the shop expecting 4 books and came out with 3 of those and 3 others. I'll start with Mr. Kirkman's Outcast 4 from Image. This book is still sufficiently creepy and dark. Kyle and the Reverend agree to help out a detective who believes his ex-partner, who is currently in jail, was possessed. They show up to the prison and the book ends with a very ominous man awaiting their interrogation. I really like Kyle's super power of having an innate ability to hurt demons possessing humans. It's something new and exciting I haven't seen before. This is some of Kirkman's finest work. Great work all around. The art by Paul Azaceta perfectly captures the mystical side of the story. Wonderful book. 4.5 out of 5.

Now over to Marvel for Storm 3. A solid issue that continues in the vein of the first two.  This series has been a little too much "let's save the environment because Storm has weather powers." It's not bad. just seems to be the same story over and over. The best part of this issue is a man named forge has made a weather device which makes it rain. This device would be incredibly cool and powerful. I would be amazed if something like that actually existed. Anyways, decent book. Not my favorite. Probably the next book I will drop, but I'll see if it picks up in the next couple issues. 2.5 out of 5.
Loki Agent of Asgard 6 is my next book. And it is brilliant. The entire story is a battle of wits between Dr. Doom and Loki and I was enthralled the entire time. This is a March to Axis issue which just makes me want to pick up the other lead-in issues. This mini event is promising to be a very solid story. I'm not overly into the over-arching story in this book, but each  issue continues to keep my interest and show me something new. Brilliance! 4 out of 5.

Another March to Axis is over in Magneto 10. A majority of this issue is spent inside Magneto's head as Red Skull uses his stolen Xavier powers to play literal mind games with him. It serves as a telling and personal look into Erik's psyche. Very nicely written by Cullen Bunn (as usual) and the art by Fernandez and Walta is quite brilliant. There's homages and style changes as different memories come up and reflect older eras and designs of the characters. It's quite excellent. 4.5 out of 5.

Now over to Boom! studios for The Empty Man 4. This book is quite similar to the Outcast book. A pair of unlikely partners hunting down mysterious paranormal forces. This issue takes a hard left from mysterious horror towards a ghost invasion story. Solid issue, but it didn't quite hold up to the others. This one felt less new to me. A little more familiar and therefore less exciting. I'd have to give this a 3.5 out of 5.

Last up is Sixth Gun 43. Another step toward the final showdown. The entire one-off cast makes a brief appearance to let the reader know what they know about the end of the world. Not much else to say. It continues where the story is going and still promises to pay off well. 3.5 out of 5.

Weekly Pull List 6-4-14

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.