Weekly Pull List 8-21-13

Big week this week. had a nice variety too. First off we have Sonic Universe 55. I picked this up because I needed an extra book to spend enough for the punch card and the idea of a pirate sonic is super cool. Unfortunately we don't see Sonic at all in this issue. It's more Blaze, Marine, Amy Rose, Cream, Bark, and Bean. I don't know any of these characters apart from their roles in Worlds Collide. That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy this issue. Blaze and co. are roaming the high seas looking for the final Sol Emerald when they come across another ship that opens fire on them. A battle ensues and the issue ends with Blaze onboard Captain Metal's ship as her boat and her friends are sinking. Much like the Worlds Collide series, there's not a ton to talk about. The art does what it needs to. The story is interesting. The twist is unnecessary and doesn't mean a ton to me as I haven't read the story that the supposed prisoner was introduced in. Good book. 3 out of 5.

Next we'll head to Image with Steve Niles' Chin Music 2. Last issue seemed to just introduce the characters. Issue 2 introduces the story.  We follow Elliot Ness investigating a crime scene where he eventually tells the press to not release that Capone is dead to the press. Ness visits Daniel Shaw to arrest him as he robbed Ness the opportunity of bringing Capone in so he will become a legend. The issue ends with Shaw agreeing to bring Capone in alive. Once again, Steve Niles brings out a really awesome, intriguing idea and story. Messing with history is always interesting and adding a mystical element is such a cool way to do it. Shaw is a man who apparently can't die and now he's supposed to bring back the dead Capone? I'm in for the ride. Tony Harris' art is super stylized and eerie and really adds to the story. Super cool book. 4 out of 5.

I decided to try something new with Batman Beyond Unlimited 1. This is a collection of digital issues of Batman Beyond and Justice League Beyond that were released over the last month. Written by Kyle Higgins who was on the Fat Man on Batman podcast recently. While I haven't watched Batman Beyond and this continues that story, I still enjoyed this book. It's interesting seeing the future of the DCU. I like this book, but not enough to buy each issue. I may be picking up the trade when it comes out, tho I think I need to watch the series before I'll really care about these characters. 2.5 out of 5.

Continuing with DC we'll head to Superman Unchained 3. We pick back up with the stand off with Superman, Gen. Lane, and Wraith. A minor scuffle ensues andSuperman surrenders to the seemingly friendly Wraith. When something attacks Tokyo, Superman and Wraith fly across the world when suddenly (gasp) Wraith says he has to kill Superman! This book is losing quality with each episode. The story is losing it's surprise and intrigue with each issue. There were subtle hints throughout the issue that Brainiac is involved. If that's the case I may still be interested, but this villain isn't very intriguing at all and I don't find myself caring what's going to happen. 2 out of 5

Trinity of Sin: Pandora 3 is a Trinity War Tie-in. We get some more back story of Pandora through the ages, which is interesting to see the training she received and to see it pay off at the end when she kills Envy. She promises to explain how, but also says it won't be till next issue. So yeah. Not a whole lot of bearing on the actual trinity war as her fight with the sins goes unseen by everyone. It's a weird decision and I'll have to wait to see how it plays out. Story itself is alright, but the set up gets this book up to a 3 out of 5.

We continue Trinity War with Justice League Dark 23. Everyone's fighting for the box again. Shazam manages to grab hold of it, sending a magical pulse throughout the world to be felt by all the magic characters, allowing Deadman to sense Madame Xanadu's location. The story ends when Constantine shows up and takes the box. It doesn't effect him negatively as "you can't soil a pot that's already filthy" which I found interesting. Zatana and Constantine whisk away to find Madame Xanadu and meet up with Batman and crew. She reveals that the box is actually a doorway and the Outsider says it's time to open it. A lot of good action, but realistically this book could have been half this long. As I mentioned before, I wish that we could have seen better interplay between this issue and what happened in Pandora's book. You can see where they cross if you examine both books. Decent story. Art is great as always. I'm looking forward to the end. See how they work that out. 3 out of 5.

Finally we have The Sixth Gun 33. Drake is mourning his inability to do anything while Kirby Hale, Gord Cantrell, and friends go looking for the dream hunters who are pursuing Becky. And Becky herself is trapped in an alternate reality dream where Hume is still alive and has killed Drake. There's a somewhat tense dinner scene that's interrupted by the dream hunters. When Hume is speared from through the window, Becky grabs his Sixth Gun and heads out to intercept them with Hume's men. Next issue promises to be a nice, epic fight which is super exciting. However, last book hinted that this one would be dealing with dragons so I will not keep my hopes up. This issue is up to par for Bunn and Hurtt. On a side note, he was on a recent Fight for Comics podcast doing an interview. It's a great one and we get some awesome insight into this book. Definitely check it out! 4 out of 5.

That's all for this week. Next week will be much lighter so I will review some trades I read as well.

Weekly Pull List 6-12-2013

Welcome back to another weekly segment of Dan's pull list. I've had a really busy week of work with many long days including working both jobs in one day so it was a well needed break to just sit back and read some comics. At least until I passed out and took a nap. Good week this week!

Helheim 4 - After hitting it's stride last month, Bunn moves us toward a war between Rikard and his undead army and the two witches. It's great stuff. As usual Joelle Jones' art is beautiful and works wonders to enhance the feel of the book. As before this issue is heading towards a fantastic battle between demons and the undead. It gets 4.5 out of 5. It doesn't do anything wrong, but I'm leaving room to grow as I believe it will.

Superman Unchained 1 - The premiere issue of the Scott Snyder written, Jim Lee drawn new series, this book plays off the hype that Snyder has received due to his Court of Owls story over in Batman. His entire run has been beautifully crafted and sufficiently dark so it's interesting to see his take on Superman. We follow Superman as he stops 7 out of 8 satellites that had been knocked out of orbit. After consulting and borderline accusing Lex Luthor of the destruction, Lois points out that all 8 satellites appeared to be saved by Superman. After investigating the sea where the last one fell and finds a hand indent where it was caught. It is revealed that some shady government group has had their own Superman for 75 years or so. While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, I am a bit cautious as it seems to be following a similar arc as the Court of Owls. This doesn't hurt the book, but I will be cautiously optimistic from here on out. Jim Lee's artwork is stunning and really brings Superman to life. All in all it gets a 5 out of 5 from me as it's an incredible opening to a (hopefully, yet quite likely) fantastic story.

Batman 21 - Much like Justice League a few weeks ago, this one was in my box with the rest of my list. As it's Scott Snyder and it's starting a new arc (Zero Year) I figured why not? Surprisingly I was not overly impressed by this issue. We start with a tease that a yet unnamed villain has taken control of Gotham in Batman's absence. Six months prior we see the Red Hood and his gang causing trouble. Bruce meets with his uncle who tells him to come back to Wayne Enterprises, which he of course refuses and then it's revealed his uncle is working with Edward Nigma. This issue didn't stand out to me because there's a lot happening yet nothing leading towards an obviously good story. I may stick around for a few issues to see what happens. 2.5 out of 5.

Mega Man 26 - Part 7 of 12 in the Worlds Collide story. This story continues to be exactly what I want out of it. It's super fun. Has great interactions between the characters. Basic, yet interesting, story. It's just a solid story with great action. 4 out of 5.

Thor: God of Thunder 9 - In part 3 of the God Bomb story we follow the trio of Thors as they head out to attack Gorr the Godslayer. This issue has the feel of an alternative metal concept album. This entire series has been pretty metal. They attack Gorr and have an epic stellar battle. At the end they hit Gorr into a sun and the final page is Gorr standing on his planet over the bodies of Thor. Epic is the only word with enough scope to explain this story. While it is cheesy at moments (young Thor riding a space shark), they are easily overlooked by having three iterations of Thor who all have their own personalities as well as a villain whom we can actually care about. The art is a beautiful, muted style. The lack of realistic images portrays the dark tone of the story alongside the metallic coloration really add to the viking raid feel. Another great issue. Only real worry is that this arc doesn't wrap up before Gorr gets stale. Easily one of the top books I'm reading. 4.5 out of 5.