365 Comics...332: Avengers Arena #18 (2013)

This week's Thor's Comic Column has my review of Avenger Arena, the final issue.  Now with this review, which is about how much I love this series as a whole, I don't do any spoilers....

...but I'm gonna now, so step away if you don't wanna know anything.

Okay, so *phew* Cammi survived.  If there was a favourite character for me in the book, she was most certainly it.  Hopeless reminded me why I liked her back in the early Marvel Cosmic/Annihilation days.

Coming out of it alive...Chase and Nico (so both Runaways), Anachronism ( the only Braddock academy surivor perhaps...or maybe Bloodstone pulls through?), Hazmat, Reptil (looks like anyway) and X-23, Death Locket and Cammi...

Chris Powell, Darkhawk, is not on the dead checklist in the title page but he seemed to be killed (again) by Arcade so I'm not sure.  And we assume Apex is dead, right...but I bet we see him/her again real soon. 

I'm trying to figure out who these four kids are in Avengers Undercover with Zemo... there's Anachronism,  Death Locket, and it looks like Bloodstone and Hazmat.  If that is Hazmat I bet we'll see Reptil again.  I have to wonder where Nico, Chase, Cammi and X-23 are going to be next (though I imagine X-23 will show up in an X Book somewhere soon).

(Update)I didn't realize that Marvel already spoiled the outcome of AA a bit when they announced Undercover at NYCC in October.   Apparently Cammi is part of the team, so, yay!  But boo on such big spoilers.  Glad I didn't see that until now.

365 Comics...331: Letter 44 #2 (2013)

I wrote about how excited the first issue of Letter 44 made me not so long ago in 365 #308, but I wanted to say that the second ish is just as good, the quality holds up.  I may have a new favourite book here (well, not THE favourite,  but definitely a must read).  It's very entertaining and the execution of the story seems well thought out and nicely paced so far.  I also thought how interesting the space action sequence was give that Gravity is kind of the new benchmark for such things.  This holds up against it.  I need to dig a little more and discover if this is ongoing or a mini or what...I'm interested to know the long game in order to contextualize what I'm reading.  I guess it theoretically could run for four years, and become Letter 45 thereafter...  it would be interesting to see how a president preoccupied with an alien threat that the public is completely unaware of runs for re-election or if he even wants to.  Or when does 43, the Bush-esque ex-Pres spill the beans accidentally....?  So many story options beyond just alien threat...politics and economics and really robust shit like that can all come into play.  I hope so anyway. 

It's a great book...read it.

365 Comics...330: Five Ghosts #7 (2013)

While I do love Chris Mooneyham's art, and I genuinely like the conceit of the series (that the main character, Fabian Gray, can channel any one of five literary archetypes - the sleuth, the samurai, the vampire, the archer and the sorcerer) I'm just not engaging with the actual character of Fabian Gray.  I liked the first arc, but the subsequent two issues haven't enthralled me quite the same.  It's like when the sequel really doesn't live up to the first movie, and then you realize that there's a confluence of elements at work with the first one that probably can't be repeated, and that within those elements of a lot of them don't work on their own, they only work together.  And when the second movie starts bringing one of those elements into the fore, the whole endeavor starts to buckle under its own weight.  Or maybe not.  I'm kind of rambling at this point and should probably go to sleep.  I may need to come back to Fabian Gray after he finds his sister or doesn't find his sister or whatever.  That was the part of the character that seemed the least interesting to me from the first arc, and not an inspiring motivational trait.  It seems to be coming into focus with at least this arc as Gray is on the search for runes or something to save his sibling and I just don't really care.

It looks really really nice though.  Mooneyham is killin it... but for some reason the shark fight just rubs me the wrong way.

365 Comics...329: Prisoner Of Space (one shot)(2013)

Released through Comixology's Submit self-publishing wing, Serg Sorokin's Prisoner of Space is a wonderful little 22-page one-off about a man alone aboard a massive space craft, unsure of what happened to the rest of the crew and slowly unwinding psychologically.  He sees visions of crew members who seem to be guiding him and pushing him to do more than just give up, but Sorokin has established this survivor as an everyday guy, one full of self-doubt and apprehension, unable to make any leaps beyond his comfort zone... even if his comfort zone is maddening solitude.

The book ends with a twist, as it seems to be aptly suited for an Outer Limits or Twilight Zone-type show.  It's nicely illustrated, with Sorokin keeping a very crisp line, with nice detailing  and vibrantly coloring.  It's a really solid effort from a new talent worth keeping an eye on.

365 Comics...328: Chronos Commandos #1 (2013)

Comixology had a 99cent sale on various Titan Comics this weekend, so I decided to give the first issue of Chronos Commandos a shot.  Military/War things aren't really my bad, nor are dinosaurs really for that matter, but time travel totally is, so mix 'em all together and... well, I'm still not that into it.  It's actually fairly entertaining on a very primal army dudes-shooting-up-dinos and dinos-eating-up-army men basis, but it's not my thing.  There's no hard sci-fi aspect to it, it's just a conceit to hang action pieces upon, which gives it a b-movie feel but with big budget visuals.  Oh, it's a Roland Emmerich film in the waiting.

365 Comics...327: Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1 (2013)

I think I've mentioned before how I have an irrational attraction towards team-up books, but I have the hardest time getting behind team-up books featuring Spider-Man.  I don't hate Spidey, but I'm definitely not a fan.  Scooby-Doo, meanwhile, I do hate.  Not passionately, mind you, but I genuinely dislike the character and the show.  So I'm finding it amusing and/or curious that I'm even considering picking up the second issue of this series... and yet I am.

From what I read it was originally supposed to be a one-shot Batman/Scooby team-up, but writer Scholly Fisch's six proposals for the special were so liked that the publisher extended it to a six-issue mini-series of Bat/Scoob camaraderie, and then liked the progress of the first issue so much that they just went ongoing.  It's ongoing bi-monthly, which is weird, and I'm curious if it will survive more than it's first year.  But I'm more curious about how it will extend out from the Bat-team ups (it's the weirdest World's Finest/Brave and the Bold until then though).

I hope they do more Blue Falcon, I surprisingly enjoyed Scooby Doo: Mask of the Blue Falcon.  I would actually like more odd Scooby/Hanna Barbera team-ups.  Scooby and the Inhumanoids? Scooby and Space Ghost?

365 Comics...326: Samurai Jack #2 (2013)

Amid all the kid-free date nights, movie watching, shopping, Doctor Who marathoning, working and Plants vs. Zombies 2-ing, I've kind of forgotten about doing this thing daily.  But then the "daily" aspect of it has been kind of a joke for a couple months now.

Anyway, last week's Thor's Comic Column  featured my reviews of the Plants vs Zombies: Lawnmageddon (see last post), Samurai Jack #2 and Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1... so, kids comics.

I want to like Samurai Jack a lot more than I do.  I like it, just I want it to be more than it is.  The story is perfect for being both a serial but allowing for each issue to be different stylistically   The artist captures the look of the show excellently as well, but he needs to push his page layouts...like really push them.  Like JH Williams III pushed.  Or Francesco Francavilla... I would love to see a Francavilla Samurai Jack.

I love the subscription cover for this ish: