Here i am again, with my first review of a regular size DC comic.
This time: Red Robin #3, cover date October 2009.
It's intriguing, but a little hard to follow, since it's part 3 in the series' opening 4-part arc, 'The Grail', part of the Batman: Reborn event. You see, Grant Morrison had 'killed off' Bruce Wayne (Batman) in the six-part Batman: R.I.P. in Batman #676-682. Following his 'death' (really disappearance, leading into Final Crisis, which i will review in a later post), various heroes and villains competed for the name of Batman during the 3-issue miniseries, 'Batman: Battle for the Cowl'. Dick Grayson, the original Robin, emerged victorious, assuming the mantle of the bat, with Wayne's son Damian becoming the new Robin. The third Robin, Timothy Drake, now called himself Red Robin. In this issue he battles a bunch of assassins sent by Ra's al Ghul, an immortal eco-terrorist, in attempt to convince Drake to join him. Now, I'm usually not a fan of Batman Family titles like this one (Superman and Green Lantern are much better), but the sequences when Tim talks to Wonder Girl about his experience during Final Crisis, and his belief that Bruce Wayne was not dead (which was true, as revealed in Morrison's Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne), were well done.
Scores:
Concept: 7/10
Writing: 7/10
Art:8/10
Overall: 8/10
See ya!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Enter a Teenager
Well, here i am with my second post, this time about Archie.
Archie Comics was originally founded as MLJ Magazines in 1939.
It began life as a normal publisher of superhero comics, along with numerous other companies such as Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics) and the already several years old National Comics (later DC). However, what caused their distinction from the many competitors in the newborn comics market, was the first appearance, as a filler in Pep Comics #22, of Archie Andrews. He quickly came to dominate the comic, and then the entire company, which in his honor was renamed Archie Comics.
Since then, they have been publishing the adventures of Archie and his teenage friends and rivals. Nowadays, i'm afraid, they are in the process of undergoing the same change DC and Marvel underwent in the late 80s. Slowly, single-issue stories, or indeed issues with more than one story, are disappearing, in favor of multi-issue story arcs. Nothing wrong with that on principle, but in my view, Archie and the company's other titles related to him, should focus on comedy, as opposed to the Sonic the Hedgehog comics (to which i have recently subscribed, and am expecting my first issue), which focus on drama over comedy.
Anyway, for my first Archie review:
Archie #579, cover date December 2007:
As this issue contains more than 3 stories, i will not go into detail on each one, but give each a rating, and then an overall rating for the issue.
Cover story (Phone-y Problems): 8/10, nice concept and writing, but a little predictable.
Second story (Take your time): 8/10, cute art, but ending is disappointing.
Third story (Double Trouble): 7/10, cute story, okay art, but punchline sucks.
Final story (Energy Food): 6/10, rather unremarkable concept, only passable art, punchline is a little funny.
Overall: 7/10, the first two tales are nice reading, but this issue is not much of a long-time reading investment.
See ya tommorow
Archie Comics was originally founded as MLJ Magazines in 1939.
It began life as a normal publisher of superhero comics, along with numerous other companies such as Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics) and the already several years old National Comics (later DC). However, what caused their distinction from the many competitors in the newborn comics market, was the first appearance, as a filler in Pep Comics #22, of Archie Andrews. He quickly came to dominate the comic, and then the entire company, which in his honor was renamed Archie Comics.
Since then, they have been publishing the adventures of Archie and his teenage friends and rivals. Nowadays, i'm afraid, they are in the process of undergoing the same change DC and Marvel underwent in the late 80s. Slowly, single-issue stories, or indeed issues with more than one story, are disappearing, in favor of multi-issue story arcs. Nothing wrong with that on principle, but in my view, Archie and the company's other titles related to him, should focus on comedy, as opposed to the Sonic the Hedgehog comics (to which i have recently subscribed, and am expecting my first issue), which focus on drama over comedy.
Anyway, for my first Archie review:
Archie #579, cover date December 2007:
As this issue contains more than 3 stories, i will not go into detail on each one, but give each a rating, and then an overall rating for the issue.
Cover story (Phone-y Problems): 8/10, nice concept and writing, but a little predictable.
Second story (Take your time): 8/10, cute art, but ending is disappointing.
Third story (Double Trouble): 7/10, cute story, okay art, but punchline sucks.
Final story (Energy Food): 6/10, rather unremarkable concept, only passable art, punchline is a little funny.
Overall: 7/10, the first two tales are nice reading, but this issue is not much of a long-time reading investment.
See ya tommorow
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The Saga Begins
Well, all ye comic book fans of the Bloggerverse, the DC\Archie Buff has arrived!
I have decided to name my blog thus, for those are the greatest (latter more than the former) comic book companies ever!
You see, in my scheme of awesomeness, it is thus:
At the first place is Archie Comics, which has kept up the awesome since the 40s, with 95% awesome! They have not been given 100%, for no company can put out comics that are all uniformly awesome at all times.
At second place, is DC Comics, the oldest of them all, which has 90% awesome. The reason for this rating is that though they are usually awesome, occasionally they produce bombs (creatively speaking) like Identity Crisis.
At third place, lies Marvel Comics. I would rate it 50% awesome. The reason is that Marvel occasionally publishes something interesting like say, Civil War, but the other 50% (or even more) of the time they suck.
Anyway for my first review, i'm going to review Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and a collection of artists, among which are Curt Swan and George Perez.
So it's good. The concept is interesting (what did happen to Earth-One's Superman following Crisis on Infinite Earths?), the execution is well done, and there are the epic moments one savors, i.e. Brainiac (possesing Lex Luthor) dying, and Superman walking into the Gold Kryptonite chamber. So what's wrong? Maybe just the story after WHMT, 'The Jungle Line' from DC Comics Presents #85, is a bit too brooding and dwells too much on the whole thing with Krypton's 'extinction'. Also, I am not a big fan of Swamp Thing, who feels a bit shoehorned into the story, which in my opinion could have done without him in a regular Superman book (not in DCCP, which teamed Superman up with various other heroes). I guess that's why the description on Amazon says it's a 'additional bonus' 'For the Man who has Everything' is great, good concept, good art, moments like Wonder Woman holding the neural impacter. Maybe it's no wonder that it was made into the second episode of the first season of 'Justice League Unlimited'.
The Bottom Line:
Writing: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Concept:10/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
So that's it for now, be sure to check back tomorrow for my next two cents on comics (Archie review, will alternate between Archie and DC, and occasionally Marvel)!
I have decided to name my blog thus, for those are the greatest (latter more than the former) comic book companies ever!
You see, in my scheme of awesomeness, it is thus:
At the first place is Archie Comics, which has kept up the awesome since the 40s, with 95% awesome! They have not been given 100%, for no company can put out comics that are all uniformly awesome at all times.
At second place, is DC Comics, the oldest of them all, which has 90% awesome. The reason for this rating is that though they are usually awesome, occasionally they produce bombs (creatively speaking) like Identity Crisis.
At third place, lies Marvel Comics. I would rate it 50% awesome. The reason is that Marvel occasionally publishes something interesting like say, Civil War, but the other 50% (or even more) of the time they suck.
Anyway for my first review, i'm going to review Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore and a collection of artists, among which are Curt Swan and George Perez.
So it's good. The concept is interesting (what did happen to Earth-One's Superman following Crisis on Infinite Earths?), the execution is well done, and there are the epic moments one savors, i.e. Brainiac (possesing Lex Luthor) dying, and Superman walking into the Gold Kryptonite chamber. So what's wrong? Maybe just the story after WHMT, 'The Jungle Line' from DC Comics Presents #85, is a bit too brooding and dwells too much on the whole thing with Krypton's 'extinction'. Also, I am not a big fan of Swamp Thing, who feels a bit shoehorned into the story, which in my opinion could have done without him in a regular Superman book (not in DCCP, which teamed Superman up with various other heroes). I guess that's why the description on Amazon says it's a 'additional bonus' 'For the Man who has Everything' is great, good concept, good art, moments like Wonder Woman holding the neural impacter. Maybe it's no wonder that it was made into the second episode of the first season of 'Justice League Unlimited'.
The Bottom Line:
Writing: 9/10
Art: 8/10
Concept:10/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
So that's it for now, be sure to check back tomorrow for my next two cents on comics (Archie review, will alternate between Archie and DC, and occasionally Marvel)!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)