Comic Reviews for May 6th 2009

It’s always cool to come home from the comic shop and read comics, especially really good comics. But this week wasn’t as strong in reading department as I had hoped it would be.

Jersey Gods #4

Written :Glen Brunswick

Art: Dan McDaid

Opening Comments: I’m sure everyone reading right now can think back to a time when they made a decision that was really smart of them. Maybe it was something simple like seeing a movie you weren’t and it wasn’t a really big decision. I feel Jersey Gods is that really good decision I made, I was curious, but unsure, but damn am I glad I am reading this awesome new series.

Story comments: We see Zoe walking down to the mall after getting her new job of shopping and writing about it. Her narration is quirky and fun like always as Brunswick really gets in her head and uses her narration to tell the story without stretching out the opening.

She finds some jeans that are illegally made, as the dealer herself as well as her bodyguard attack the seller. This leads to some funny moments as the designer, Delia, has a crush on her bodyguard and wants Zoe’s help to get them together. This series has a quirky romantic side to it’s serious action side and Brunswick is doing a great job on playing both without them ruining the each other.

Going from last issue with Barock’s capture by Deltus, Deltus is nearly about to kill Barock when the asteroid heading for Neborn comes to his attention. He agrees to a truce with his enemies and lets them go free. Again, the dialogue shines as usual as we see a funny moment just as they head out for Walker City.

Then something a tad…odd happens, it seems the Gods are able to fuse and become giant towering behemoth Gods. The temptation to make a Dragonball Z joke is painful…it’s definitely one of the weirder twists as we see the two warring cities join forces as 2 new beings, Fusion and Union. They try to stop the asteroid but it doesn’t work, leaving Neborn doomed.

I have an idea of where this is going…Neborn will be destroyed and this will lead to the Gods relocating to earth, which will lead Barock back to Zoe, wrapping up the introductory arc nicely. It’s just an idea of where it may go.

We then have Zoe captured by the Chinese Mafia as our cliff-hanger, leaving me worried about her.

Overall Brunswick tells another great issue of this continuously great series. He writes all the characters with a passionate flare that shows he clearly loves writing for them and has been spinning an epic and awesome tale that shouldn’t be missed.

Art comments: It’s taken 4 issues but McDaid’s art has grown on me to the point where I can say I’m impressed. His style is certainly unique but as the issues have progressed his art has grown more powerful and to my liking. He is getting emotion more well and still pulls off epic scenes such as Fusion and Union trying to stop the asteroid. I admit, it’s still not quite to a level where I could give it a solid 5, but it’s still some great stuff.

Final Comments: Jersey Gods is a series that has come out of nowhere for me and completely stolen my heart. The story, characters and powerful artwork have made it a comic that should not be missed out on.

Writing: 5 out of 5

Art: 4 out of 5

Overall: 5 out of 5

Must Have

Marvel Zombies 4 #2

Written: Fred Van Lente

Art: Kev Walker

Opening Comments: After a very strong first issue, I was rather disappointed at the lack of interesting or fun over the top moments waiting for me here. It was still another good read but…something seemed to be lacking this time around.

Story Comments: We have Jennifer Kale narrating for the opening of the story where she records her farewell video should she die on the mission. It’s some good narration into her character but it only lasts a few pages.

Picking up where last issue left off, Son of Satan blows up the ship, killing all the zombie fish men. This was my favorite moment as it was the same over the top greatness from last issue, but that’s about as wild as it gets.

From here we see the Hood pondering if he should purchase the zombie virus. Dormammu tells him to do it, so against his friend’s advice he goes for it. We then see Zombie Deadpool rambling on, surprise I know. We see him talking to Simon Garth about them busting out and it’s kind of funny but not by much.

The Midnight Sons show up near Black Talon’s rendezvous point shortly after the Hood shows up. Hood has brought some of his Z-list pals and the Midnight Sons and them fight. It’s an okay but kind of boring fight. We get a funny moment when Jennifer is fighting, uh…some glowing naked girl. We also see Morbius being a badass which was cool. We get a great moment from him saying “We are not heroes, we are monsters!” which was great but I was hoping for more moments like that.

After Deadpool infects Black Talon’s flunkies and Morbius shoots them up with the air bullets the virus adapts and becomes some living bog of flesh eating, gruesomely eating some of the Hood’s pals. A nice twist that will lead into next issue with Man-Thing. We end when Jennifer, frightened as she’s recollecting the attack from Zombie Deadpool back in volume 3, is approached by Dormammu.

Overall the story was all right, characters are okay and the plot is moving along nicely. But something just doesn’t quite click this issue, maybe it was the lack of real zombie action like what we got last time because this didn’t quite read as well as I’d hoped it would.

Art Comments: Kev Walker is a continuously great artist as he does well even with the Just Okay story of this issue. Characters look fairly good and he gets a few chances to really show off his stuff.

Final Comments: 2 chapters in and I’m a little worried for the 4^th volume of the Marvel Zombies. The lack of zombie action and anything really funny or over the top certainly hurt the story, even though it was still an all right read.

Writing: 3 out of 5

Art: 4 out of 5

Overall: 3 out of 5

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Witchblade Annual #1

Written: Jay Faerber

Art: Eric Basaldua

Opening Comments: I’ve heard a lot of good things about this Faerber fellow, he seems to have written some popular Image comics (been considering Dynamo 5 for a while) and from what I have heard he sounds like a great writer. So I was happy to hear he’d be writing the one-shot story for the Witchblade Annual, since Witchblade is my favorite comic out right now. While the first aver Annual for Witchblade was nicely done, at the same time, it doesn’t really do much for me.

Story Comments: The story is fairly simple, women are going around murdering men for no good reason and cannot even remember the incident. The reason being is unknown and the only tie that Sara and her partner Gleason find are in that they all have used the same plastic surgeon.

This is a fairy simple mystery one in done storyline that may or may not have some importance in later issues. One thing I have to point out is an ongoing joke about how Sara looks like a super model and people question if she’s ever had plastic surgery. It’s sort of a poke at how female main characters often magically look like a goddess all the time and it was funny, especially Sara’s reactions.

The idea itself is an interesting one, but at the same time the fact that it’s their doctor making them do this was fairly obvious the second Sara points this fact out. We see that the doctor is a fairly nice guy, often patching up disfigured kids, but with some medallion he found he is controlling his patients and making them kill the boys who teased him for being an ugly kid.

I’m not sure really about this, it seems like the typical scorned villain but it’s not like he lost a loved one or was ever hurt by these boys as a child. Simply teased, I know that can scar a person but…lead to murder? Really? I’d think that would be over the top for any sane person.

Sara stops the doctor, gives the Curator the medallion and goes off with Gleason to the precinct. We also got a back up story called Ned, not much to say about it really, an interesting little story that will no doubt be picked up in future issues of Witchblade.

Overall the dialogue was nice and it was well written, but the story itself doesn’t really excite me or grab my attention. Faerber does an all right job but he doesn’t quite tell too great of a story and it’s not at the same level of often greatness that Ron Marz is able to do each month. Still a solid story at least.

Art Comments: Basaldua is a great artist, his style matches the story and he does everything nicely. Though his style doesn’t have much to let it stand out from other artists, it’s still really good art.

Final Comments: I had higher hopes than what I got with this issue. And for the price of an extra dollar, it doesn’t really feel worth it. It was well written enough to where if your interested you should check it out, but for the price tag and overall lack of anything deeply interesting it wasn’t too great.

Writing: 3 out of 5

Art: 4 out of 5

Overall: 3 out of 5

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