Some Quick Reviews

Alright well here we have  a bunch of reviews from the past two months or so. The rest of the Culling crossover, a few Night of the Owls issues, and two other issues. Since they're all scattered around as for when they were released, I'm just gonna do some quick reviews. A sentence or two then a rating.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #8-Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham, & BATT
I wonder why I stopped buying this series... I wish I hadn't. This issue is a perfect reason why I should have kept reading it. 9.5/10


Superboy #9-Scott Lobdell, Tom DeFalco, R.B. Silva, Rob Lean, & Iban Coello
Part 2 of the Culling crossover...Not a huge fan of this issue, to be completely honest. It was about average at best. 6.5/10


Legion Lost #9-Tom DeFalco, Pete Woods, & Brad Anderson
Part 3 of the Culling...Same as last issue, about average. For some reason Skitter still hasn't shown up again. Weird. 7/10


Teen Titans #9-Scott Lobdell, Ig Guara, & JP Mayer
Part 4 of the Culling...Now this was a good issue. I really liked it. 9/10


Detective Comics #9-Tony Daniel & Sandu Florea
Why did I bother picking up this issue? I can't stand Tony Daniel's story or art. Barely got through the issue. 4/10


Batman: The Dark Knight #9-Judd Winick, David Finch, & Richard Friend
Now this issue I surprisingly enjoyed. Granted I wish that Tim Drake had been in this issue...it's a really good story told from a Talon's point-of-view. Really good issue. Totally recommend. 9.5/10


Worlds' Finest #2-Paul Levitz, George Perez, Kevin Maguire, & Scott Koblish
This issues honestly didn't live up to how good the first issue did. I liked it, but it wasn't as good at the last one. It was honestly about average. 7.5/10


And there we have it! A group of quickies outta the way. Thanks for reading!

Most Viewed Posts in May 2012

It's that time of month again, folks! The time when we get to see which of my posts were the most-viewed over the last 31 days. Oh and one more thing, I know this is a rather small goal, but I managed to break 1,000 views this month for the first time ever. I really thank you all for reading this! I know that I'm probably not getting anywhere near what X-Man & JT are getting over at their blog, but then again they've been at this for longer. So thanks for those of you who have been reading from the beginning and welcome to any new readers! But anyway, back to business...
This month the most viewed post was my interview with Brett Booth from right after Teen Titans Annual was released. Click the link here!
The second-most viewed post, coming in a not-so-close second place is the review of the Teen Titans Annual. You can read that here!
The third-most viewed post, which came in just two views behind the review of the Annual issue, is my interview with Scott Lobdell, which came in the same day as my interview with Brett Booth! Check that out here!
The next most viewed was the preview for Superboy #9, which was part of "the Culling" crossover. You can read that, even though the issue is already out, here!
The fifth-most viewed came again from the Teen Titans Annual and was the preview of the issue. You can check out that right here!

The Runner-Ups:
This month's runner-ups come in the forms of the Green Lantern #9 preview, Batman #9 review, my thoughts on the teased "Trinity War" event, The Confirmed Cast of Earth-2, & the Earth-2 #1 Review! Those are all links so click 'em up and read 'em if you want!

In any case, I'll be back in the coming weeks with a few interesting announcements about the blog and we'll get some interesting changes around here. I hope you guys are as excited as I am for the comics coming out this month and in the coming months! In any event, I'll see you again in a month for the most-viewed of June 2012. 

This Wednesday: 5/9/2012 Edition

This seems to be both a pretty minor and a pretty major comic week, with the only two issues I am getting on my own without the subscriptions are Superboy #9 and Legion Lost #9, aka parts 2 & 3 of the Culling. So I can't wait for that, but on the flip side that means that overall I'm only gonna have two issues this week. Well, I never got Justice League International #9 or Red Lanterns #9 so I guess I'll hopefully be getting those this week, along with Green Lantern #9 and Batman #9. And speaking of, you can see previews of those here and here. I will hopefully have the reviews up soon.

Superboy #9 Preview!

Teen Titans Annual #1 Review!

Teen Titans Annual #1 (The Culling, Part 1)

Story by: Scott Lobdell & Tom DeFalco

Pencils by: Brett Booth

Going into this, I expect it to go something along the lines of any crossover between super-teams who don’t know each other yet: Initial fighting, then teaming up to take down the big baddie. But nonetheless…Brett Booth’s art will make this worth it.

Summary

The issue opens with Red Robin being held at spearpoint by Artemis (as in, the archer chick, not the Amazonian chick) with Thunder and Lightning standing nearby. Tim immediately joins up with them and they head off, while explaining what “the Culling” is. Then a guy named Fist Point steps out and tries to take a toll from the group of teenagers. We see Lightning and Thunder’s powers and quickly take FP down. They meet up with the rest of the Titans, where Solstice is trying to convince Superboy to join them. Then we cut to the Legion Lost-ers inside an arena-place trying to get free. We find that even the teleporting character, Gates, can escape. They realize that they could be back in their time, but quickly disregard the idea. Next we see Harvest send Leash into the arena to bring the Titans and a few select others into the arena for the Culling. Skitter is the only one who doesn’t get pulled in, but we see another person who speaks like she does(!!!) tell her to come with him(?) . The Titans immediately see the Legion there and, of course, immediately attack. As they would in any crossover, both side thinks that the other is the evil villain. We see Bunker’s powers expand some and have some interesting match-ups that I would love to see more of in an AvX: VS fashion. Superboy vs. Wildfire? Red Robin vs. Tyroc? Wonder Girl vs. Timber Wolf? Harvest then tells Leash to begin the Culling, at which point he goes in and grabs a bunch of the other characters we kind of met but who weren’t pulled into the arena earlier, like Beast Boy, Artemis, and Terra. Then they all get dropped into the arena like crazies and the two teams have to team-up to save lives. Then the first blood is spilled when FP “kills” Artemis. (More on why I say it like “killed” later) The teams have some newfound energy and take down the rest of the teenagers without any more casualties. We then see Harvest laughing (???) at the fact that the teams are teaming up, saying that he knew this would happen, so he sends in the Ravagers and all of his lackeys to take down the two teams, effectively ending this annual issue.

Thoughts

So, first things first, this story is very interesting. I have come to realize that the storyline isn’t necessarily ending the whole N.O.W.H.E.R.E. storyline for good, but is more what happens during the Culling. Also, Brett Booth’s artwork is consistently amazing, especially the beautiful splash-pages on which the two teams fight side-by-side. I know that X-Man doesn’t like this storyline, but I really love it. Sure, this whole storyline has dragged on for a while, but it’s a lot better than some of the other New 52 storylines going on. Plus, Batman’s story has been going on for just as long and will continue for longer, so don’t complain. Just saying! I can’t wait for Superboy #9, and hopefully the next 3 parts can continually be as good as the first part. About the thing with Artemis: I asked Scott Lobdell on Twitter how he could kill her so easily and he hinted that she would be returning, but then to one-up that, when I jokingly stated a headline about her return, he asked how she could return if she “never left.” So there will seemingly be more things coming for Artemis is coming stories, so don’t get outraged over her “death” too quickly. Anyway, solid story, perfect art, can’t wait for part 2. This issue easily gets a 10/10.

Artemis: “Move—Blink, even—And I’ll slice your jugular.”

Red Robin: “Actually my carotid artery is about two inches higher. But you’ve made your point.”

Teen Titans Annual #1 Preview!

Teen Titans #8 Review!

Teen Titans #8
Written by: Scott Lobdell
Art by: Ig Guara & JP Mayer

Summary
The issue opens with Red Robin being turned into, well...a bird. Apparently, the Titans launched an assault on N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s (that is a lot to type...) base on the North Pole and the team has seemingly been captured and is being tortured by Omen. It turns out that, at least one of, Harvest's (the big bad guy running N.O.W.H.E.R.E.) powers is to be able to turn the teenaged metahumans against one another. Wonder Girl is trying to free Red Robin, while Solstice and Bunker take some time to relax and think things through. Omen decides to stop transforming Red Robin into a bird and even reverts him back to human form for some reason. Then after Omen rants to Tim for a little, she sends him off to Harvest. Since I'm feeling lazy, the rest of the Titans get taken down one by one. The main interesting thing that we find out in the issue is that Wonder Girl's powers aren't actually her's, it's her armor and such that give her the metahuman abilities and also that she saved the life of "someone close to" her by getting the armor. Aaaaanyway, we also find out (as Brett Booth said the last time I talked to him which you can read here and I'll be talking to him again after the last issue of the Culling crossover is released next month) that Bart can survive without the suit on for limited periods of time and that somehow the fact that he is having weird memories and the injuries he got from fighting Superboy are related. Interesting. At the end of the issue, the entire team is in their New 52-Superboy-esque outfits (also: Superboy was missing entirely from this issue. Just saying) get taken by a guy named Leash(???) who looks exactly like Bunker(!?) but it isn't him. Same color scheme, though. And he's got the little hat thing, too. Weird... Anyway, he ties the team up and they teleport away to wherever Harvest wants them to be. And to cap off the issue, Omen simply states "Hail Harvest."
Thoughts
This issue was really good...for a filler issue. It certainly set up well for the crossover that starts in a week(!!!). I liked it, it set up some interesting stuff that I would like to find out answers for if not in the Culling story, then in the months following soon after. I have a feeling some of the questions about Wonder Girl and Kid Flash's back stories will be answered soon enough. Which is very good. My only gripe with the issue (which will be the same for next month) is the fact that Brett Booth's art isn't here. Not that Guara's art is bad, which is definitely isn't bad at all, it's just that Booth is one of my favorite artists and I think he works really well on Teen Titans. Can't wait til next week for Teen Titans Annual! This issue gets a 9/10!

And speaking of next week, I'm getting Teen Titans Annual #1 (with Brett's art! YAY!) and Earth-Two #1 which I have literally been waiting MONTHS for! Oh and Justice League International #9 and Red Lanterns #9 will both be coming out. But they aren't as cool as EARTH TWO AND TEEN TITANS ANNUAL WILL BE!!! See you all in less than a week!!

                                          Lol. Get it? Because his name is Red Robin, he's turning into a bird? ... Me neither.