Pull List 4-2-14

It's been a few weeks due to family visiting and general busy-ness so I have quite a few books to catch up on. We'll start with Superman Unchained 6. All the Nuclear Missiles are launched. Superman tries to stop them all with the help of Wonder Woman and Batman. Wraith is still a villain version of Superman. The story is fairly lame and feels familiar and I'm pretty over it. It's got one more issue to hook me or I'm out. The art is beautiful, but I'm just bored with it. 2 out of 5.

Sixth Gun 39 is another great issue. Death, visions, flames of perdition. All this and more are brought together for a very action packed issue that keeps you reading and waiting for number 40. While this issue doesn't matter a ton in the grand scheme of things, it's a very suspenseful episode. There's still one or two issues of this arc so I'm interested in seeing where they're taking it since this feels like the end of it already. Great stuff as usual. 4 of 5.

Next up: Thor God of Thunder 20. King Thor is fighting Galactus to prevent him from eating the Earth while Thor the Avenger is trying to prevent Roxxon corporation from damaging the world to make a profit. Another great issue. Loads of fun. Seeing King Thor taking on the Devourer of worlds is great. The only problem I have with this issue is I just read a Mighty Thor trade where they fight Galactus from only a few years ago. Apart from the redundancy of that aspect of the story, it's nice to see a hero trying to save the world from humans instead of an evil villain. Ribic's art is as incredible as ever. The faces are a lot more detailed than a lot of books out there, which in itself is a great touch. When everything looks great, the book feels top notch. 4 of 5.

Lazarus 7. Forever visits her sister Johanna and has her interrogate the hostage to get info of the "terrorsist cell" while the nomads head to lift. Solid filler issue. Most interesting part was Johanna interrogating Emma, though it was more of a bribery situation. Great intrigue and mystery. Keeps me interested in the next issue which is the goal of comics really. Not much else to say. Don't know what lift is apart from there's a lot of people trying to get to it. It's fun and original. 3.5 out of 5.

Onto week 2. Amazing X-Men 5. Another super interesting story. Nightcrawler and friends are fighting Azazel and his crew in an action packed issue that brings Nightcrawler back to life! (What? I know I am shocked.) Story-wise it's alright. Art and lasting impact-wise it's an excellent issue. Looking forward to see where the next plot is going to take us and who will be joining the cast. 4 out of 5.

Serenity number 3 came out and it was great. River dreams about the academy and what they did to her and she wants to go rescue the other children, Zoey gets transferred to a remote prison camp, and our old friend tries to take over the ship. The first two are interesting developments and promise to lead to good things. The last plot was super abrupt and not as believable or interesting. There's a few good moments, but not super great. The art is growing on me this issue, so that's definitely a plus. The characterization and dialogue feels like a continuation of the show. I love this book and can't wait for the next one. 4.5 out of 5.

This week was pretty villain-centric. I'll start with Pretty Deadly 5 which wraps up the first arc of the series. I read it and was thoroughly lost and confused. I then reread all 5 and the series is very dark and interesting. The narrative function of a dead bunny and a butterfly telling each other the story of death's daughter and the heart of the world. It's got a lot of complex legends and tales all interwoven masterfully. The art is excellently dark and dirty, very fitting for the darkness of the story. Wonderful work all around, but I will wait for the trade on the second story methinks. Much more enjoyable that way. 4.5 out of 5.

Let's head back over to the mind of Cullen Bunn with Magneto 2. While hunting down his lead on the Omega Sentinel Erik remembers his time in the holocaust and how he witnessed the death and betrayal of a couple of friends. Naturally, he sets up a trap and manages to take out several of the people who work for those who created those sentinels. Vigilante Magneto is a sweet take on the character. And flashbacks to World War 2 are always fun. The design for Magneto has already grown on me so that's no longer an issue. This issue was structured quite well and flowed nicely. Great story with excellent history and art that will blow you away. 5 out of 5.

Now for the follow-up to Loki speed dating in Loki Agent of Asgard 3. I don't know what it is about this issue, but I had a hard time reading this one. It has old Loki go back in time and manipulate a young Odin into owing him a favor and giving him a sword that is special for some reason. Just didn't excite me at all. The art was pretty cool but I paid for a Loki story and there was too much Odin that didn't seem to matter. I hope it pays off in the future, but right now it's just a meh story with pretty good art. 3 of 5

Green Arrow 30. Another incredibly beautiful issue by Andrea Sorrentino. Interesting build up to the so called "Outsiders War." Turns out the supposedly dead body of Green Arrow last issue was just Magus pulling a trick. it's a nice issue, just a little odd that it undoes everything we thought we knew at the end of last issue. It's good stuff. Just another middle of the story issue. Good stuff. It's a good suspense builder. Waiting for the powder keg to blow. 4 out of 5.

Pull List 2014 Part 1

And we're back. I didn't get to my last batch of books last year so I'll briefly go through those as well as what I've picked up so far this year. I got Justice League of America 10. A continuation of the forever evil tie in story with Martian Manhunter and Stargirl looking for the rest of the heroes. Good book. Then in issue 11 Stargirl and J'onn travel across the U.S. to get to her parents. Fighting, flashbacks, getting jumped by Despero and ending underwater fighting to surface. Nothing too incredible, I think it will be a better story after we get a few more issues to complete the story.

Lazarus 5 and 6. War is still building between the families. I need to go back and reread these issues. It's been a while. Still good. Rucka is as good as ever. Fun story. Great world. Beautiful art. I have zero complaints about this book.

Pretty Deadly 3 and 4. Another book that will be better in its entirety. Although issue 4 was the best so far as it actually led somewhere. There was some actual development that will matter after this issue. It did feel like a lot of set up, but I wish that this is where we were after issue 2. I will be rereading this series before the next issue so I will get more in depth at that point. The art in the most recent issue took a slight step up. It's almost as if Emma Rios is getting more comfortable with the book. It's got water color style muted colors that tell the gruesome story in the best way.

Thor God of Thunder 16 and 17. The conclusion to the Accursed story. A less obvious touch on a fairly obvious twist made this not quite as good as the previous godbomb story, but it still ended fairly well. As usual the dark elves are predictable in their savagery and chaos-loving natures for a great twist which promises this won't be the last of Malekith. Very solid arc overall, probably a 8 of 10. I'm really looking forward to where the book is going.

Superman Unchained 5. Decent book, but incredibly well written. The whole story feels pretty familiar, even though I have nothing to really compare it to. Wraith is an enemy, then a friend, then he isn't, then he is, and then he fires all the nuclear missiles in the world. The flashback to the first time Clark fries is pretty sweet. It's a fun story, but not the best. I'll give it another issue or two but it's not lasting long.

Next up is Green Arrow 27. Part 1 of the Outsiders War. Decent issue. The art, as usual, is phenomenal. Not really sure how to explain it, but I'll try. Sorrentino uses smaller panels to draw emphasis on small detail or transition between bigger moments. It's amazing. Easily my favorite art of any book right now. Story wise, Oliver goes back to the island and Shado helps convince him that he was stranded there for a reason. The book ends with a pretty shocking twist. I'm kinda wary about it and am withholding judgement until I see how it plays out. I've liked Lemire's work all over the New 52 so far, so I'm hopeful. Great book. Looking forward to the rest of this story.

Velvet 3. My favorite new book from 2013. A great spy thriller set to beautiful art by Steve Epting and incredibly colored by Elizabeth Breitweiser. It's a dark gritty tale is matched by the smooth watercolored backgrounds and stunning art. This issue introduces you to a character you grow to admire in the 23 pages of this single issue. Great mystery and intrigue. The characters are great. It's like reading a James Bond movie if Bond were female. Fantastic all around. Can't wait for more.

Finally I got a few issues (35-37) of Sixth Gun. It's not my favorite story of the series, but it's still got the mysticism and action that usually comes with it. Bunn nails it with the story and Hurtt's art is still excellent. I'm with this book as long as they keep making it. So that catches us up from the holidays. I'm hoping to keep this going steadily and get more other blogging in, so keep the good vibes heading this way.

Bi-Weekly Pull List November Part 1

Several books over the first two weeks of November, and they're most of my favorites. All from the big two though. Over in Marvel I picked up a pair of books by Jason Aaron. The exquisite Thor: God of Thunder 15. This book takes the League of Realms through Alfheim and Jotunheim chasing Malekith and his band of dark elves. There is drinking, merriment, epic battles, and all around goodness. Aaron does great work exploring the worlds and showing Thor and his group. It's a whole bunch of fun and Garney's art helps portray the joyous, yet serious mood of this issue. This is still one of my favorite books ever! 5 out of 5.

Next up, I picked up Amazing X-Men 1. A book coming off the Battle of the Atom story and heading in a nice direction. Nightcrawler is sitting on the edge of paradise (read heaven) when Azazel and his little red BAMFs show up and they have a little showdown. Back in Westchester, Firestar shows up at the Jean Grey school for her first day of teaching. After a busy, busy day the teachers discover a portal inside a wall where a bunch of other BAMFs are hanging out. The discovery leads to Wolverine and Northstar being sucked in to warp them to paradise where they run into a giant pirate ship. Not a whole lot of interesting stuff here. But the promise of seeing Nightcrawler being a badass. It promises to be an epic series for sure. 4 out of 5.

Now over to DC. We've got Superman Unchained 4. This book is pretty good. Seperman teams up with knock off Superman. It's fun and there's a lot of solid action. Not much to say about it, but I like it and am in for the long run (even the short run if the rumors be true). 3 of 5.

Justice League of America 9 follows the Martian Manhunter and Stargirl as they go through the prison to find the others. Stargirl catches up with J'onn as he faces off with himself then they escape, only to be met by Deathstroke and several other villains. And oh yeah... the Manhunter is in Stargirl's head. Alright story. Great art. Fun book. Hope it goes well. 3 of 5.

Lastly, I've got Green Arrow 25. This book has the Zero Year tag on it. It takes place as Oliver returns to Seattle. Mrs. Queen has gone to Gotham to help those in need, accompanied by none other than John Diggle straight from CW's Arrow!! She gets attacked when Batman steps in. As he's about to lose, Green Arrow shows up. As always, Sorrentino's art is phenomenal and stylistically awesome. Great issue and a solid book all around. 5 of 5.

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 7-10-13

We're back with my weekly pull list. It's later than normal since I started working nights at one of my jobs so my schedule's been off. Got a very nice variety this week so here we go.

Let's start with Thor: The Dark World Preview 2. There's light spoilers in this so skip to the next review if you don't want minor plot points ruined. This issue was much less of a repeat of scenes we've seen in the movies and branches out better and actually sets up the movie. It's not great and the use of the tesseract to repair the bifrost is glossed over. I wish we had time to explore the other worlds more and see more of the repercussions of the bifrost being destroyed, but I imagine that's what the movie will be. 3 out of 5.

Superman Unchained 2 comes next. We start off in a fantastic sequence where Superman is saving the world's tallest skyscraper as it's falling down. Real interesting story as Snyder does. The appearance of the new "Superman" as he amps up to fight the actual Superman is badass. We also see a new version of Lex in a version of his armor and has an experiment go wrong which drives him a little nuts. Very few complaints about this book apart from the art. Now it does look beautiful, but the characters all look pretty similar, especially the scene with Superman and Batman talking. It's distracting and weird. Still a great book and I'm excited to see where it goes. 4 out of 5.

Mega Man 27. Part ten of Worlds Collide follows Mega Man and Sonic invade the Wily Egg base. Again, I'll review the whole series in a month or so when it's done. 4 out of 5.

Justice League 22. Part one of Trinity War. We see a lady visit Madam Xanadu to see the future. She flips over her tarot cards with the heroes' pictures and they use that as a narrative function to show what's happening with the other characters. I was totally on board until they had Superman attack someone unprovoked, thus starting the battle in Khandaq. I'm sure it will be explained away in the coming issues, but it irked me a lot. Overall a solid kickoff to the story and I hope it continues going that way. 3.5 out of 5.

Helheim 5. Still a really neat book. If you like vikings or mysterious magic you need to find this book.  In this issue we see Rikard fighting his way through many undead monsters to one of the warring witches. It's brutal violence at its most beautiful and it looks fantastic as usual. Excited for more! 4 out of 5.

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.