The Week Begins - February 1st 2010

It’s been too long since a new The Week Begins! So here’s one. Now I’ve only got one comic this week but I thought what the hell I should at least mention 2 other comics that have come onto my radar.

Now as for my reviews, I wrote them up Friday but have been lazy. Finals and a 3 day weekend will do that to you, shooting to post them tomorrow.

Siege #2

Written: Brian Bendis

Art: Olivier Coipel

Despite such a weak start to Siege I am rather hopeful that Bendis can turn this around. Its already looking much better from the preview. Bendis has a key 4 month window to tell this event and if he fails to make the main series big fun and over the top action then this event is a failure in my eyes.

But it’s definitely looking up. Both story and art really impressed me from the preview and if this is any sign as to what Bendis will be doing with the rest of the issue then hopefully he can turn this around and do better after such a weak start to this event. I remain hopeful.

Wolverine: Weapon X #10

Written: Jason Aaron

Art: CP Smith

Ever drop a series and really wish you hadn’t? yeah, that’s me with Weapon X. I really wish I’d stuck with this series but at the time I just couldn’t afford it, so after the 1^st great issue I had to drop it. I’ve heard nothing but great things about this series and want to read it again.

So with a one-shot I figure no time is better then now to at least get my fix even if I won’t be adding the series again to my pull list any time soon.  This issue sounds great. Logan’s got a messed up love life but I’m a sucker for chaotic romance stories like his love life so this should be tons of fun to read.

My only real draw is the art. It looks damn good to be honest. Moody, dark, great for a dark and over the top violent Wolverine story. But for what’s supposed to be Logan reflecting on past loves it just seems out of place. I hope that Smith can still fit the story because of this one’s on the shelves when I get to the LCS no way I’m passing it up.

Ultimate Comics X #1

Written: Jeph Loeb

Art: Arthur Adams

You know what is really bugging me nowadays? I keep finding all these comics I’d love to read, the Flash, Green Lantern, Dark Avengers, but I only want to read them for the art. I mean it looks so gorgeous, how could anyone pass up 22 pages of great art like Dough Mahnke, Francis Manupal or in this case, Art Adams each month?

I would love to pick up Ultimate X, but only because I know it’s going to look great. I couldn’t care less about the story. About this emo-looking Wolverine or whatever happens in to him. Maybe it could turn out to be a really cool series, but I don’t care, I just want to look at the pretty pictures.

Now I don’t usually do this but since I missed a Week I thought I really should give you guys a little something extra, so I’m going to comment on 2 comics from last week as well.

Witchblade #134

Written: Ron Marz

Art: Stjepan Sejic

I decided to wait a week to pick up this issue since it was the only thing waiting for me at the LCS. But I am really excited to check this one out since Marz really blew me away in late 2008 when Sara and Aphrodite fought. Not much to say other then I hope this issue is as good as the last time they met.

Green Lantern #50

Written: Geoff Johns

Art: Doug Mahnke

I know what happens in this issue. It’s awesome. But for some reason I still want to pick it up. Partially because it’s an anniversary issue, but even more so because what I know about it is so awesome I want to read it for myself. If this one is on the stands at the LCS I’ll definitely pick it up. 

New age news: Brightest Day and Spider-man Reboot

Week’s End has been canceled due to my laziness. Also we’ve got no comics coming in for me this week, so I’ll be taking this time to  try and finish some things I meant to finish earlier such as Year’s End, as well as a gust post I’ve been meaning to write for the Weekly Crisis.

Though I may be stopped already from my writing since 2 bits of new found their way onto my computer today. With that said here are the 2 major announcements as well as my commentary on them.

“In Brightest Day” gets it’s own series!

Spider-man Movie Reboot

Brightest Day

So Blackest Night is gearing up to end in just a few months. Only 3 months and 2 issues to go, things are heating up in the war of the light. Hal Jordan has assembled all the Lantern Corps to battle Nekron and his resurrected dead and now all the resurrected heroes of earth are Black Lanterns. After Hal kicks Nekron’s sorry ass back to wherever he came, what’s to come next?

Fans have speculated a lot and finally DC answers the call with Brightest Day. A 26 issue bi-weekly maxi-series starting in April as well as with a 0 issue similar to what Blackest Night had last year on Free Comic Book Day. It will be written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi with an unannounced group of artist as well as David Finch doing all the variants for Brightest Day and its tie-in books.

Yes, it will have tie-in books. Both Green Lantern and Green Lantern as one would expect but also Titans and the new Flash ongoing starring the recently resurrected Flash Barry Allen. All in all it sounds like a massive new project from DC and something that is looking to be really epic.

But what do I really think about?

Well Blackest Night has sort of lost me as far as exciting mega event is concerned. It’s a fun read with some great art but I figure either 8 issues was too many or Johns just didn’t want to give us all the meat of this event in the main event book since right now it’s not really doing much. Oh sure there was that kickass final page to #6 but other then that the series keeps doing the same thing over and over again.

Still I am tempted to check out Brightest Day. If it wasn’t such a huge expense to my wallet I’d probably be eager to check it out but I can’t really be sure if I can afford it. A new maxi-series is one thing, but one that’s bi-weekly would be killer one me and unless I can get a job sometime soon (been looking, trust me) I can’t see this really happening right now.

In the end I want to at least pick up the 0 issue, know what I’m missing out on, but I’ll be honest the chances of me reading Brightest Day are very slim.

Also I’ll admit 26 issues seems like excessive right now. Even if it where just 24 issues it would still be a solid year long commitment and I’m not sure that’s the best way to start up the post-Blackest Night stories with such a massive book like that. It could push away some readers who just want to read one book or the other. The idea of having to check out Brightest Day to know why this certain character showed up suddenly in Green Lantern could be frustrating to readers.

If it where a smaller mini-series or even better, an arc in Green Lantern I think it would have been a smarter move. But Johns and Tomasi seem to know what they want to do, so maybe they’ll prove me wrong with this. It could very well happen and both seem to have  both their ongoings mapped up for quite some time.

I think it also depends on how Blackest Night ends. If Johns can give us a really exciting hook ending that succeeds in leaving me excited for more then I maybe more inclined to check out Green Lantern or even Brightest Day. Though still that’s an “if” at this point since so far Blackest Night has just sort of divulged into fun action but little substance at this point.

Then there’s books like Flash and Titans tying into Brightest Day. I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea. While I can understand wanting to try and sell Flash better by giving it an exciting label of the new event story going on at the same time I just think it would be better for Johns to start the new series on his own and not worry about a current status quo much.

Also as I’ve said I’m not really interested in the new Flash series. Johns’ constant love for Barry Allen and the risk of killing off Iris just for the sake of surprising the readers (seriously, can we ever have a major story without a supporting character dying? Just once? Please?) and it all just seems like a doomed series at this point. But hey at least it will look great in the art department. Maybe I’ll give the first issue a look but my interest is at an all time low.

So while in the end I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the future of the DCU with Brightest Day, for now I’m not really all that excited.

Spider-man Reboot, No More Raimi

Believe it or not I don’t really have a lot to say on this one. Not really. No. The Spider-man movies are getting a reboot. Big whoop. Spider-man 4 was doomed anyway. The writers where constantly fighting over what to do, and even when it seemed like they where close to agreeing it would fall apart all over again. That’s never a good sign for any movie.

Also I hate to say it but I’ve kind of gotten tired with the Spider-man trilogy. The first movie, while not bad in any way, isn’t anywhere near as good as when I saw it when I was younger. It’s a decent fun film but there are lots of stupid parts and it doesn’t really excite me like it used to.

2 is the movie everyone loves, and while I like it, it’s better then the first movie, it’s still not that great. Doc Ock was a great part of it but Peter’s life wasn’t as interesting as everyone else made it out to be. The only part I liked was the musical moment of Peter enjoying being normal again. That and the climax was great, but other then that it was just a solid fun movie.

3 is the one everyone hates and I liked it too. Sure it had more dumb moments, felt rushed at times and ruined my favorite villain, Venom. Though deep down I still had a good time with it and it was better then the first movie for sure and almost as good as 2.

Still deep down this trilogy doesn’t resonate with me as much as it used to. Bigger and better movies like Iron Man and the Dark Knight have taken the super hero formula and perfected them in film making whereas the Spider-man trilogy started the whole trend really so the first movie suffers from that.

So I say go ahead and reboot it. Hollywood is already a mindless shell of it’s former glory, why not just remake movies that are a few years old again and again? I think Saw could use more blood, or maybe the Sixth Sense. Only a matter of time until they get rebooted.

Also the Batman reboot worked. While Begins was in no way a masterpiece (I find it overrated) it was a solid fun film and it did a good job of rebooting the Batman film franchise and lead the way to the far superior Dark Knight. Why not try and work that magic with Spider-man? Besides it’s been a solid decade since the first film and it was a little over a decade when they made Batman Begins from the first Tim Burton film.

So lets reboot it. See if it works. Sure I’ll miss Raimi’s expertise directing but maybe now he can get back to doing Evil Dead 4. Or hey maybe even some other big horror project, that would be cool. Also I got to say I never liked Maguire much as Spider-man. He was a solid Peter Parker, but not a great Spider-man.

I’m sure if the studios put a lot of hard work and love for the characters into the reboot that it could be a great movie. So for now until I hear otherwise I am looking forward to this move and I think it was a smart move on Sony’s behalf.

But in the end I say F*** all that live action movie bullshit. Where the hell is Spectacular Spider-man season 3, Sony?! I don’t give a damn about the movies right now, I want more Spectacular awesomeness.

And so ends this edition of New Age News. Check back in the week for Year’s End (assuming I can actually write it) and hopefully maybe some other little goodies as well. Have a good week ,everybody.

Event Comics Reviews - January 7th 2009

3 event comics in one post, too much epico for you all too handle! And for me as well! Yeah, I’ve got a lot of comics to review from both this week and a prior week, so we’re going to cut this up into multiple parts. Tackling the 3 event comics today, I’ll try to get all the other comics into one post by tomorrow but if I can’t, I’ll post half one day and half the next.

But now onto the comics, today we’re tackling 3 major event comics from the 3 companies I love.

Siege #1

Written: Brian Bendis

Art: Olivier Coipel

Opening Comments: My expectations weren’t too high with Siege, I expected an epic and fun start to things just like with Secret Invasion. Sadly my already low expectations where not fulfilled and Siege turned out to have a painfully thin and weak start to the event.

Story Comments: It’s amazing when I look at how weak this issue was. Here Bendis started Secret Invasion off with a bang, making it feel like something that was trembling all through the Marvel Universe. Then Siege just sort of whispers to start it’s major event.

When you’ve got 4 issues to fill, a slow boring start is not the smart way to grab readers! Maybe Bendis wants to do some kind of build up, but you have to have a little payoff by the end of the first chapter if you’re going to use build up.

Another big fault is Bendis has such a small scope so far in Siege. This issue really just focuses on Norman and his Avengers. No one else. We see a few other characters but that’s not until near the end and even then it just felt like such a small storyline. If anything this issue felt like a below average issue of Dark Avengers really.

With an event that’s supposed to cover the entire Marvel U, or at least a good chunk of it, it would be wise to show more then just a small amount of characters. Really this is something obvious that I shouldn’t have to say, any good event knows to cover more then just one team of characters.

Beyond that the use of characters wasn’t all that great either. We see Norman Osborn being an idiot and then his Avengers being idiots along with him. He makes deals to clear them of all charges after the siege, a good idea but not when you’re sending them into a death trap like fighting gods!

Also I still don’t get Osborn’s direction here as to why he wants to take down Asgard. He says it’s a threat, but it’s not. It hasn’t done a damn thing wrong and yet he thinks it should be attacked? Call me crazy if that’s not poking the sleeping beast that isn’t doing a damn thing to you.

Bendis has done a really good job of showing a more calculated and clever Norman Osborn then beyond his Green Goblin persona. That Norman is a smart man who can do smart things and he generally sees himself as a hero and that’s all fine. But then you kind of ruin that whole idea when you make him do the most stupid thing of all time.

I g uses it’s something about cementing his place of power but if anything attacking Asgard is a bigger threat to it then anything else. No one likes being known as the guy who went to war with whatever country. You think any politician who has ever went to war was generally proud of it? (besides Dick Cheney but he doesn’t have a heart so it doesn’t count) no! It’s a bad move and it makes you look bad!

I was expecting Bendis to give us a feasible reason finally as to why Norman wants Asgard gone. Maybe if we see the Asgardians getting pushy or bossy to the town not far from them or something like that, but no. He’s just doing it because he’s an idiot.

Then there’s the set up with the recreation of Civil War, this time at Soldier Field. While I don’t mind it necessarily, I sort of wish something more interesting would happen rather then just “Oh look thanks to one of them we can attack the rest of them” Isn’t that…I hate to put it this way, racist? If one person of another race does something bad it’s okay to attack all of them?

When Thor shows up things get a little better. We get some solid action…for all of 2 pages. Literally, he shows up for 2 pages and then he’s taken down like that. Lovely. So glad Thor contributed so much to the story, Bendis! Thank you!

This event even fails to have any decent action for crying out loud! Even Secret Invasion, failure as it was, had some superb action and was lots of fun to look at. Bendis just seems to be rushing everything nad it’s annoying as all hell. I know he’s only got 4 issues to tell this story, but I think he could have made much better use of this issue.

Then there’s the final page, what a joke. Steve Roger gets angry! Oooh, I’m so shocked and horrified. Compare it to Secret Invasion’s final page of the first issue and it you would swear this was written by someone else.

As a matter of fact, this doesn’t really feel like a Bendis comic. None of his charming witty dialogue is here. There are no interesting or fun character moments and there is no epic and awesome action. It’s just a by the basics boring read and I feel this could have been written by anyone.

Now in the sake of fairness this issue wasn’t horrible. There was nothing about it that made it an awful read, nothing that made it worthy of a Burn It but it never really ascends from mediocrity. It just feels fine being plain and boring and doesn’t dare try to do anything, making a very  boring read.

Art Comments: While the story failed I had high hopes that the art could save Siege from being a total waste of paper. Sadly even that failed. Now I was not a fan of Coipel’s art on House of M. It was rushed, muddy, just really weak stuff.

Then I saw his stuff on Thor, and it was absolutely gorgeous. So when I heard he’d be doing an event comic, I was excited just to see him get to really cut loose! Sadly that doesn’t happen here. His art once again looks very rushed, even if it’s not muddy anymore.

There are some moments of greatness, like the shots of Thor and Asgard as well as the Dark Avengers as they approach Asgard. But often characters look weird. Norman and Sentry at times have thick foreheads that make them look like the Frankenstein monster!

The art never gets horrible but compared to what I expected it’s just okay. I’m hopeful this was just Coipel having a one issue problem and that he’ll be back up to speed as the event progresses.

Final Comments: Because I’m a sucker for these events I’ll keep reading Siege in hopes it gets better. But if you’re not really into Marvel events or aren’t interested I recommend you go buy a better Bendis book, like Ultimate Spider-man. So far this is a very weak start to what could turn out to be a very mediocre event.

Story Rating: 2 out of 5

Art Rating: 3 out of 5

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

Pass It

Blackest Night #6

Written: Geoff Johns

Art: Ivan Reis

Opening Comments: With Blackest Night hitting a one month delay at least Johns ended it off with an exciting cliff-hanger. Sadly though this issue doesn’t really do much else, but what it does do is still fun as all hell to read.

Story Comments: So this issue is pretty much just the recruitment of the earth heroes into the various Corps really. Sure we get a little bit of fighting the Black Lantern Super Heroes but not much else really.

Still Johns tells a simple issue but still adds a lot of character and personality to it to keep it from being a boring read. We get lots of great dialogue moments and little bits here and there that really are lots of fun to read.

Though as I said, not much else really happens. For one, Nekron shows up for about one panel. He’s supposedly our big bad villain but he’s on the comic for all of one damn panel. He just walks off saying he’s hungry. Wow. Real intimidating badass here folks.

Also Johns failed to fully utilize the black lantern super heroes. We got a nice scene between Wonder Woman and Mera but that was about it. Seems the heroes turned evil don’t really change much. Just more fodder for the Corps members to attack them and that’s not very exciting.

The 2^nd half of this comic is dedicated to showing the recruitment of the new Corps members, Barry Allen to Blue Lanterns, Wonder Woman to the Star Saphires, Mera to the Red Lanterns, The Atom to the Indigo tribe, Scarecrow as a Sinestro Corps, Lex Luthor as an Orange Lantern and Ganthet becomes a Green Lantern. It was all fun to see but it felt more or less like fluffing the comic up really.

Also I despise that Wonder Woman has to wear that idiotic Star Saphire costume. It’s stupid enough when on Carol Ferris (star right on her privates, people, how does no one see that as a moronic design?) but it looks even worse on Wonder Woman and it’s just frustrating to see.

Still it was nice of Johns to finally explain why he was focusing on characters like Mera, the Atom and Barry Allen and giving them a larger role in the series then just as super heroes fighting the Black Lanterns. It boosts them as more important to the story and I liked that.

Also that final 2 page spread just left me grinning. I especially loved seeing Scarecrow as a Sinestro Corps member. All of it was just so awesome and I really loved it as it left me pumped and excited for more next month.

Overall the story wasn’t mind blowing and it was very simple, but it was a fun read and that was nice.

Art Comments: Reis is doing pretty well even in the face of a delay. He really nails certain scenes with the characters and I especially loved the 2 page spread. Just all around some really solid and good art.

Final Comments: Blackest Night is looking up, but with only 2 parts left it’s time for Johns to really start firing the big guns. It’s time for Nekron’s end game to begin and time for the epic clash we’ve all been waiting for. For now though this was still a fun build up to it.

Story Rating: 3 out of 5

Art Rating: 4 out of 5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

Check It

Image United #2

Written: Robert Kirkman

Art: Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio

Opening Comments: After an enjoyable first issue I was really excited to see what Kirkman does next in Image United. Sadly this issue is more of the same but even with that strike against it we’ve got a fun read with gorgeous art.

Story Comments: So as I said this is pretty much more of the same, villains attack, heroes fight villains. In between are lots of character moments, most of the solid and some of them are great.

Our opening scene was my favorite as it was between the two Spawns and it was drawn beautifully by Todd McFarlane. Basically Al and Jim go head to head and Jim soon finds that the former Spawn is more powerful then he expected. The scene is really effective in showing that Al is indeed much stronger now and it’s more effective for it.

Though I’ll admit so far his dialogue is rather cheesy. Typical “I want to rule the world, bwah ha ha ha” style stuff and while that’s not necessarily bad I think Kirkman should play to the character’s strengths more and have him come off as more intimidating then just saying he’s really strong. Al can do a damn good job of putting the fear into someone, but that was lacking here. Still a great scene to kick off this issue and I still enjoyed it.

One thing we’re seeing from the villains is that they are getting absolutely ruthless. Attacking hospitals even and stopping at nothing to cause chaos. In most event comics you see villains attack typical places like a big park or a wide open area or a big city area, but the scene in the hospital was more powerful for seeing the villains really trying to do some serious damage.

Also we got a really nice scene with Die-hard. I’m not familiar with the character but his little love confession to Vogue was a really nice scene and it made me feel for the character, even if only a little bit.

One thing that is really cool is we’re seeing more then just the main cast of heroes like Savage Dragon and Spawn. We’re seeing Mighty Man, and the new hero Barricade, and other things and it’s really great seeing these characters get some time in the sun as well as the main cast of heroes and getting to see them all drawn by their creators and interact nicely.

Kirkman really has a love for these characters as well as a solid understanding for them as we see them all interact well and it’s all handled well. Also I must admit there was one line from Savage Dragon “Omega Spawn, that sounds threatening” that made me facepalm. That line just…wow.

So yeah the dialogue isn’t perfect either. While for the most part it’s solid and well done there are a couple of lines here and there that stand out or bug me and I think had Kirkman read over it a bit more maybe he would have realized what cheesy lines must have been writing at the time.

Still the dialogue never goes into horrendous or boring to read. It never drones on and on like it has in Blackest Night and Kirkman really does his best to keep things interesting even when really he’s just telling the same thing of heroes fighting villains.

I did love the scenes with Shadowhawk again. I really wish Kirkman would write the new ongoing series that is in the works, he had a great voice for the character in making Eddie sound young and fun without making him sound like an idiot though.

I was rather disappointed that Witchblade again didn’t really get a lot of page time. She showed up in a couple of pages and got a few lines but hasn’t really contributed as much as the other heroes have and that is disappointing since I really like Sara and was hopeful she’d do more by now.

I loved the scene with Cyberforce and the new character Barricade. It was awesome seeing them interact and Kirkman did a great job of helping show off the new hero and making him a fairly likeable guy as he now seems to be working with Cyberforce and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him through Image United.

One major complaint I had was how little Fortress showed up. He was literally on page for all of a few panels here and there before he was forgotten. I thought this guy was supposed to be our big hero who is our view into the Image world so why does he get all of a few panels?

I figure Kirkman wanted to focus more on the expanding Image Universe rather then just Fortress and that’s fine but I wish we could have seen a bit more of him then just what little we did since he’s supposed to play a big role in this story.

One thing I loved was how well Kirkman is showing the devastation and insanity going on all over the world. Most events just imply the world is under attack and that everyone is in trouble, but Image United is doing a damn good job of showing it and showing all these heroes around the world fighting off the villains and it was really effective in showing what a huge crisis this is.

I did like the ending a lot, it was an exciting way to end it but I’m hopeful that by next issue Kirkman can finally kick this event into high gear.

Overall this was a really fun read, but sadly it really is just more of the same from Kirkman. Villains attack, heroes fight back, rinse and repeat and if not for the great character moments this would be a very thin read.

There’s also the Bloodstrike back up. It’s exactly what you’d expect, Liefeld at his Liefeld-iest. Gore, stupid dialogue and annoying ramblings as well as lots of comments that make no sense and have no context at all. It’s Liefeld, after all. Though it was a decent enough back up to the enjoyable story.

Art Comments: Once again the Image Founders impress me with their skill here. Though I was most impressed by Todd McFarlane, everyone did a great job. Especially Jim Valentino and Marc Silvestri. Sadly Portacio didn’t really have anything to draw but oh well. And again even Liefeld did well. Image United continues to be a gorgeous looking comic.

Final Comments: This book is still something that the long time Image fans like myself will enjoy most. We recognize these characters and the moments they have resonate more with us thanks to our history with them. Still if you’re looking for a beautifully illustrated and fun read then Image United is the place to be.

Story Rating: 3 out of 5

Art Rating: 5 out of 5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

 Check It 

The Week Begins - January 5th 2009

A pretty big week for comics this week. Let’s check it out and hope I can review them all. A note though, my comic reviews will be broken up over the next few days, I have a lot of comics to review.

Haunt #4 *Most Anticipated*

Written: Robert Kirkman

Art: Ryan Ottley

While this is a pretty big week for comics I’m really excited for more Haunt goodness. Last issue was a big step up as far as setting up the emotional resonance with our hero, now it’s time we really get back and have some fun action along with our newly added character developments.

While the character of Cobra was a boring villain in issue #2 I’m hopeful Kirkman can at least make him a credible threat. So far Haunt has been a real badass so getting to see a fair fight with him would be really cool. Overall I’m really excited to pick this issue up.

Siege #1

Written: Brian Bendis

Art: Olivier Coipel

I’d been debating if I would or would not get Siege for a while now, but with the event here and it now in my pull list I guess I’m ready to see what Bendis has in store for us. I’m hopeful for something at least halfway interesting, but at this point I expect Siege to be a fun epic battle and not much else.

Secret Invasion’s biggest problem was that it was far too stretched out. Had Bendis condensed the event, it probably would have been better. Not by a lot, but still. With Siege being only 4 issues it feels like a much safer event investment as it will be done just as soon as it started.

So I’m not really expecting a lot. Maybe a character death here or there, not what I really want but eh. I’m mostly expecting fun super heroes fighting super villains and not much else. You can’t expect much more out of these events these days after all.

Blackest Night #6

Written: Geoff Johns

Art: Ivan Reis

I already know what happens in this chapter of DC’s epic thanks to the magic of the internet but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested in actually reading it in my hands. Sadly my LCS delayed it by a week, not sure why, but oh well. Just something else to read tomorrow and even though I know what happens I’m really looking forward to picking it up and reading it in person.

Ultimate Comics Spider-man #6

Written: Brian Bendis

Art: David Lafuente

I’m really psyched to see how Bendis ends the first arc on Ultimate Spider-man as Mysterio tracks down Spidey and attacks his school. I’m hopeful that Bendis can wrap up the Shroud’s identity as well and do a good job of giving us some closure as we move onto the next arc. All around though I’m expecting another great read.

Top 5 Most Anticipated of 2010

A while back Kevin, fellow Revolutionary, contacted me and everyone else at the Comic Book Revolution for our top 5 most anticipated comic related things for 2010. I kind of lost track of the time with the holiday but got it done. I figured I’d post my top 5 here for you all, though I may post something later on to show my excitement for other upcoming things in 2010.

Happy New Year, everyone!

5. Arkham Asylum 2 Info

Funny how I’m not really all that excited with the return of the real Batman, but the return of him in a video game has me excited as all hell. Yes the recently announced sequel to my game of the year, Batman: Arkham Asylum, has me jumping with anticipation.

But sadly I’m well aware that we won’t be getting the sequel in 2010, unless it’s very late 2010. Usually game sequels are at least a good solid year apart and that’s for a steady series. So while I’m excited for the game, for now I’m just dying to find out more about it.

It would seem the original team of gave designers are behind it, and it would seem that Paul Dini, Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin will be reprising all their roles at least it would seem that way but so far we don’t really have anything definitive saying what the game will be like or any info on it.

There’s no doubt the game will be getting lots of press through 2010, trailers, behind the scenes stuff, etc. They would be crazy not to hype up this game after all the hype and praise the first one got. 2010 will hopefully give us a good amount of knowledge about the game in preparations for what I’m hoping will be an early 2011 release.

I love the first game so much and while the downloadable content has been great I’m dying for more. If Rocksteady can wake their magic wand and improve on some of the small problems the first game had then I think we could be in store for something real special here.

4. Blackest Night’s End

A typical choice I know but up until the last 2 issues of the event I probably wouldn’t have said this. Blackest Night was solid, but painfully predictable in it’s first half but now that it’s entered it’s second half it seems like the real show has begun. I’m excited as all hell to see where it goes.

One thing I’m curious about is the Earth Lantern Heroes. Could Ray still be an Indigo Lantern, or Mera still a red lantern? I know damn well that Barry will be back to normal as will Lex Luthor and probably Scarecrow as well but it’s hard not to hope this may change at least one or two of these heroes.

I’m not 100% certain I’ll be reading Green Lantern after Blackest Night. I want to, but it’s a budget thing. Either way I’m excited for this event all over again and I’m really pumped to see what Johns does next with it.

3. Batman Beyond Returns

It was announced a long while back that DC has plans for Batman Beyond in 2010. Not much else has been said since and I’ve been dying to find out what their plans are for him. I just recently picked up the animated film Return of the Joker (unfortunately it came packaged with the mediocre Mystery of the Batwoman movie) and it was great. It reinvigorated my love for the Batman Beyond series.

My real hope is that the team of Paul Dini, Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami all got together for a new animated film. While we did get a good amount of closure from the JLU/Batman Beyond story I still want one final hurrah for this series. Something really big for Terry. He deserves it.

Also I want to see Max again! Whatever happened to her? She was just as important to Batman as Bruce Wayne or Terry’s Family was. She was his main intelligence person. But she never showed up in Return of the Joker or the JLU story. What the hell, DC? She deserves to come back.

But most of all I want Terry to have his one last final hurrah that’s all him. Much as I absolutely loved Return of the Joker, that was more then just Terry’s movie. It served as filling the gap between the original cartoon and Beyond. While I loved that 10 minute flashback, it was my favorite part of the movie, Terry deserves a movie that’s 100% his.

There has also been talk about a new animated series but I think that’s a much more far off dream. DC seems to be focusing all their extra animated power into the animated films like the new Justice League film as well as the prior movies for Superman/Batman and Green Lantern. So a new animated series seems very unlikely, but if that was the case that would be even better!

Though sadly my best guess is that it’s just going to be a mini-series. While that would be nice too, I’m more used to Batman Beyond in animation so that’s how I’d love to see it. Though if the mini was written by Paul Dini with art by Bruce Timm or Glen Murakami that could be great as well.

Either way I’m excited as all hell to see what DC has planned for Batman Beyond. I’m much more excited for this then whatever the hell it is they plan to do with bringing back Bruce Wayne. We all know how that’s going to go. I’m more excited for a more interesting come back.

2. More Image

I really could fill this entire list up with Image Comics if I wanted. Jersey Gods, Invincible, Haunt, Image United, Witchblade, Angelus, Spawn, the list goes on. Image had another great year with 2009 and I expect 2010 to be no different.

Sadly Image United hit a snag as I predicted, but at least Image is trying to fill the void with new material such as Image United #0 having some extra goodies and Interlude, which will have Invincible! Everyone’s been clamoring for something with Invincible and here we go.

I’m reading Image United mostly just for the characters and the art and 2 parts in and the story has hit a snag. Already it’s feeling dull but I’m really hopeful that Kirkman can bring us back with #3 if it can make it to January on time. Supposedly something back happens there so I’ve got my fingers crossed. Though either way I’ll still enjoy the art at the very least.

Invincible returning to his old costume should be a lot of fun. Though a recent cover teases the idea of him leaving Eve over something and that of course worries me. I’m dying to find out what happens to Eve with her pregnancy. Does she keep the baby, abort it, miscarriage, who knows! Knowing Kirkman though the baby will probably die.

My best guess is that Eve either tells Mark and he leaves her. Or she gets an abortion without telling him, that upsets him that she did that without telling him first so he leaves her for that. Both would be heart-wrenching for the readers so that’s’ where I figure Kirkman is going.

Though obviously there’s a lot more to be excited over Invincible for. It’s just the pregnancy that’s at the forefront of my attention, though the looming Viltrumite war is also exciting as all hell and should be great. Also hopefully this means that we’ll have a reunion of father and son finally.

Jersey Gods hit a little delay but that’s okay. This series is good enough for the wait and it has been my favorite new ongoing series of 2009. Definitely the best new series Image is putting out (sorry but I’m not reading Chew) and it is tons of fun to read each month so I’m really excited to see where the book goes in 2010.

 Witchblade seems to be taking a little bit of a breather and having more short and easy story arcs after following up on the somewhat disappointing War of the Witchblades from this year. That’s a good thing since I’ve been enjoying the shorter and more easy arcs since they are a lot more fun and interesting to read then the long dragged out stories.

Also Angelus started this year but it wraps up in 2010 and I’m really excited to see where Marz and Sejic go with the mini-series. I think it could easily have potential to be the mini-series of the year!

Haunt wraps up it’s first arc in 2 months and that should be exciting though really the entire series has me excited for more. 2010 is looking even better for the young series with Greg Capullo actually lending his brilliant pencils to issue #6 which I’m sure will look gorgeous.

Haunt has definitely been a very interesting series and where Krikman takes it after it’s first story arc is crucial. He’s built up the mystery and is slowly unraveling just a few pieces of it but he’s also got to make sure this series works for more then just it’s mystery, that these 2 brothers can still do the hero thing even after all is revealed otherwise this might as well have been a mini-series or something.

I hate to say it but I’m not very excited for Spawn actually, which is why Image is not higher on the list. Spawn for me was the flagship Image title when I was a kid. It was always my favorite Image comic and now it’s just all falling apart it seems. McFarlane seemed to know what he’s doing but now it’s all just crumbled.

For one he can’t seem to get the damn book out on time. #196 was solicited for September of this year, and now it won’t make it until January of 2010. I call bullshit. I did so on twitter and McFarlane said it was his fault. That Rob Liefeld (guest artist for the issue) had done his part but it was on Todd since he was so busy. That doesn’t make this delay any more frustrating.

Then after the big 200^th issue, we get a new team of 2 people I’ve never heard of. Now I am willing to give the new team a try, after all David Hine paid off big time and I’d never heard of him, but it really just seems like McFarlane has do idea what he’s doing with Spawn anymore.

I love Spawn and I always will but nowadays it’s just getting harder and harder to read this series. It’s the comic that got me back into a comics a few years ago and if not for Spawn I wouldn’t be writing this very post for you all. But I feel like I’m in a relationship with someone who I’m totally committed to and care about, but who doesn’t give a damn about me or anything else.

I really am glad that McFarlane gave some new changes to Spawn. It’s nice to see him trying again but really it just seems like he totally lost all focus and direction. First he fired Brian Holguin from writing the series which was a huge mistake. If McFarlane wants someone to write Spawn, get Holguin for god’s sakes. He’s a 1,000 times better writer then McFarlane ever has been and I can already tell he’s better then the new guy.

Maybe I’m just a scorned fan who feels like he’s been done wrong. But I love Spawn a lot so seeing the series just so unfocused and rocky is really hard for me. I’m really hopeful that by mid-2010 McFarlane can get his crap together and fix his series or I may do something I never thought I’d do, drop Spawn.

Image as a whole though seems to be having a really exciting year with 2010. Every series is doing something new or interesting and I can’t wait to read more as the new year rings in.

1. Young Avengers coming back

Ever since the initial first series ended the YA have been in a bit of a limbo. Inching their way through the Marvel Universe in waiting for Heinberg and Cheung to return for one last hurrah with the characters they created. It’s been a long time coming.

Now luckily Marvel hasn’t totally let the team just sit around and do nothing. A random mini-series here and there to keep them up with the current status quo. Teaming up with the Runaways and recently the excellent Dark Reign mini-series. So far the YA have still been fairly prominent but it’s obvious that they have yet to really come full circle from prior developments of the original series.

Sure Patriot and Hawkeye got together, sort of, and Vision and Stature got together but other then 2 hookups the characters haven’t been able to really go too far with the limitation that was set when Heinberg planned to eventually return to the characters. They haven’t been able to do all they can do.

But now that’s all finally changing as the creators are returning and hopefully going to wrap up all their developments and set a new status quo for the team that other writers could take and run with later on. It would be great to finally see all these points come full circle.

For one there’s Kang of the future, his younger self who wants to be a hero. We saw a glimpse of him in the second half of the first series but since then he sort of just disappeared. I can’t tell if I want him to come back or not. While he was a decent character, him coming back would create a love triangle with Kang/Stature/Vision and I’m rarely fond of a love triangle. They are often very boring.

Then there are characters like Patriot and Hawkeye who both have some legacies to live up to. With Cap coming back I’d think they should touch on Patriot’s thoughts on this and I’m sure Hawkeye wants to talk to Clint Barton some more. These seem like 2 obvious things they should touch on.

I would hope that Stature and Vision would still take place in the series but with their current roles in the Mighty Avengers it seems unlikely that the mini could change them too much since it could have trouble matching up with their current status. It’s all up in the air at this point.

There’s also Wiccan and Speed and the possible return of the Scarlet Witch. I believe Heinberg said he wanted to bring her back and since it would clearly impact these 2 that would be a really fascinating twist and a really interesting read.

There are other things like Hulkling and his ties to the Skrull and Krees but those seem like more far off possible stories. Right now I just hope the 8-issue/bi-monthly mini can wrap up all these plot points so we can have some closure and maybe even a fun shake up of the team. So while 2010 is looking to be an exciting year for new possible stories, I’m mostly excited for a story that wraps up a long developing group of stories. Go figure. Well I’ve always loved the YA so I can’t wait to see more of them come Summer 2010.

Week's End - November 29th 2009

Week’s End is here, and with it a note that I’m taking another Month off from Month’s End, rather I’m just going to say the comic of the month and the most anticipated comic of next month. Month’s End is sort of tricky because often it feels like I’m recycling old Week’s End posts so I want to boil it down to just 2 key parts of the end of the Month and see how that works out.

Now with that said let’s move onto the comics.

Comic of the Week: Image United #1

I’ve stated in the past that some comics aren’t going to get the win just for a higher score. Image United is a good example of that as this week’s issue really blew me away with some gorgeous art and a lot of great character moments but at the same time the plot was very thin.

Though the thing plot was made up for as the characters where all written incredibly well and the artwork was absolutely gorgeous. A stunning view to the eyes and having each character drawn by their creator was such a brilliant idea.

While this issue was really something that Image fans will probably appreciate more then anyone else I still loved the hell out of it and for me it was the best comic this week.

Moments of the Week: Black Lantern Batman, DIE and Omega Spawn

Seeing Batman as a Black Lantern was absolutely awesome this week. It’s a damn shame he wasn’t a major player in the story because I really did love this moment and it was just so awesome seeing him. DC Direct, take note of this and make this figure with Blackest Night series 3.

Of course the awesome final 2 page spread that just left us all excited for more. Sure, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow are all sure to be back to normal pretty soon but I’m certain that Ice will stay dead or maybe even Donna Troy.

What really makes this moment work is the build up. We see all the heroes assembled to fight this great menace, you’ve got the heavy hitters like Superman and Wonder Woman, Nekron doesn’t stand a chance. Then we get thrown over a loop and they good guys are now the bad guys, with very few major heroes left to combat this threat. Awesome way to end the issue.

While this moment was spoiled a month ahead of time as well as with that awesome Jim Lee cover I still loved it. I’m dying to know why Al went bad and even more so I’m dying to see Jim and him go head to head. This moment just appealed to the Spawn fan in me in so many ways, I can’t wait for more next month.

Cover of the Week: Image United #1 Jim Lee variant

Santa, if you’re out there, this baby is at the top of my Christmas list. Seriously this cover is just so awesome in so many ways. For one Lee does a great job of putting in all the characters without making it feel cramped in any way.

Of course what really makes it work is how wicked Omega Spawn is, that evil laugh you can tell he’s chuckling as Ripclaw desperately tries to wound him but fails. It all just looks so great and seeing Lee draw all these characters again was so much fun, I love this cover.

Artists of the Week: Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Jim Valentino, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio and Todd McFarlane.

Making a rare exception here by giving 6 artists the spot rather then 1. But I give top billing to Rob Liefeld, yes that Rob Liefeld the same Liefeld who’s art usually brings me sorrow and anger but really impressed me with some incredible lay out work and solid work on his characters.

Though everyone impressed me. From Erik Larsen, to Todd McFarlane. Marc Silvestri even with his 2 pages of extra character art from outside the opening scene. It was all gorgeous looking stuff from all the artists and I loved every page of it.

Character of the Week: Nekron

Much as I loved the character work in Image United #1, I have to give it to Johns for revealing Nekron to be a serious badass who turns out to be a more major threat to the DCU then anyone figured. I wasn’t sure how this  villain would come across but Johns did a great job making him a total badass and making me want to see more of him.

Comic of the Month: Invincible #68

This month had plenty of good and great reads but I have to give it to Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley for really impressing me this month with a great way to start  back up with Invincible. Some jaw dropping moments and beautiful art made this one an easy choice.

Movie of the Month: Turtles Forever

I rarely get to go to the theater, but when I do I often review whatever movie I just saw. Now this one will probably be a rarity at the end of the month but it’s still something I want to try and what better movie to kick this off then a movie that really does feel like the end of an era.

If you missed my Turtles Forever review, to sum it up, it had some issues but deep down I still loved it and it really appealed to the TMNT fan in me. I really hope we get a DVD of this one real soon as it is a really great movie that no TMNT fan should miss.

Most Anticipated Comic for December: Angelus #1

While this series hasn’t been at the forefront of my radar, I still added it to the pull list as it’s Ron Marz and Stjepan Sejic the great team behind Witchblade. Though lately Witchblade hasn’t been quite as enjoyable as when I started reading, so I’m really excited to see them with this mini-series in hopes that they can recapture some of that magic while focusing on Dani and making her a more interesting character.

Blackest Night #5 review

Blackest Night started out very strong earlier this year but over the past 4 months the main series devolved into “Dead rise, people die, feel sad for dead people, rinse and repeat” and while it never got bad per say, it was just boring by it’s 4^th month.

Now with the big baddie finally revealed and ready to take his vengeance upon the DCU it’s hard not to be hopeful that Johns can get Blackest Night’s main mini-series back on track. Let’s take a look and see if he did.

*happy 300th post, this blog is Sparta! I look forward to making many more for you all in the future.

Creative Team

Writer: Geoff Johns

Art: Ivan Reis

Opening Comments: This is the first issue of the main mini series that feels absolutely important to the Blackest Night saga since issue #1. Finally we’re done with the same shtick and things are getting interesting again. Blackest Night #5 may not be a perfect read but it’s on it’s way to making Blackest Night an important and interesting event again.

Story Comments: Our opening scene with all the different corps members (red, blue, orange, green, Sinestro, star sapphires and Indigo) going to charge up was a nice scene. I read up that they all got together in Green Lantern this week so it makes sense that this issue would pick up from that.

This scene is pretty cool when seeing all the different Corps oaths but it’s made more comedic when Larfleeze doesn’t have one. I really like the character of Larfleeze, he’s so funny even when he’s so badass at times. Seeing him confused as he interacted with the others was a nice scene.

When we jump back to earth with Barry Allen and later Wally West (the two Flashes) fighting hordes of Black Lanterns and Nekron talking I liked this scene a lot two. Usually the dialogue between characters in Blackest Night varies from good to just plain annoying but here Johns really uses the dynamic between these two nicely and it actually has me hopeful for his upcoming Flash ongoing series.

Also we seriously need a Flash Corps. Just saying.

One moment I didn’t like was that for some reason Jean takes Atom and Aquaman’s ex-wife (I’m sorry I can’t remember her name right now) into the ring of Black Lantern Damage. It was just really weird and I’m sure it will make sense in future issues but at the moment it was seriously out of place and annoying.

I did like seeing this series tie into things like the Blackest Night: Titans mini where the new Dove has the strange ability to kill Black Lanterns whenever they go after her. It’s nice to see that Blackest Night does have a fairly tight story where all the things like what happened to the Titans will come into play during the main mini-series.

Also it seems that thanks to the Flashes the Guardians are now free, I wonder if that will play into anything in a future issue of Blackest Night.

When all the Corps show up to destroy Scar, it was absolutely awesome. Easily one of the best moments of the week as it was really cool seeing Johns bring them in now rather then wait until next issue and say “well you got your Green Lantern in the opening, that’s all you need for this month”

Again Johns’ character writing is much better this time around when Hal and Barry meet up and when the Corps attack the Black Lantern power battery. I don’t know why the past few issues had so much useless and uninteresting dialogue as right now we can see that Johns knows how to write important and interesting dialogue as we see right here.

One thing that really confused me about this issue was that somehow the Lanterns attacking the power battery mad it stronger. What’s with that? How does that make sense and why? I don’t mind that it makes Nekron stronger at all, that’s a cool twist really but could you at least give us a quick comment as to why?

Then of course there’s the splash page that left everyone’s jaw dropping, even if only for a moment. Black Lantern Batman. This was a really cool moment and what made it even better was how Nekron uses Black Lantern Batman to create an emotional tether to all the heroes. A brilliant twist.

But then there comes my big complaint, after the tether is made, Nekron lets “Bruce Wayne” (even he uses quotes) to rest. What the hell was all that build up for if he’s not going to be a big villain or power in this story?

It’s the same problem I had with Abin Sur getting destroyed last month. Here we get all this build up to these people coming back as Black Lanterns and you’d think someone like Abin Sur would be a big deal and would make a big splash just as you would think Batman would.

Then they get killed off right away and it’s like wasting all that opportunity to have a cool villain for the story even if he won’t last beyond this storyline. It would be great to see Black Lantern Batman face Dick Grayson Batman and Abin Sur be a major player in this story but that’s been ruined now.

Maybe Johns wasn’t trying to milk the idea of these Black Lanterns but I still wish they would have had a bigger role in this then they did.

Then there’s that other jaw dropping splash page that ends our comic for us. I was expecting some major characters to die. Like I knew one Green Lantern would die (Kyle Rayner was not the one I figured but oh well) and I figured maybe one not so major DCU hero would die  but damn, this was epic.

Now we all know Superman, Wonder Woman and Kid Flash should be fine and back to normal by the end of this series but characters like Ice and Animal Man, probably won’t be so lucky and are probably going to stay dead which would make this final moment have a little more impact.

It was still a really awesome way to end this issue and left me excited to see what happens next month as it was just a really cool ending to what was a really great read.

Overall this was a great read and the most interesting issue of Blackest Night yet. Johns didn’t’ just get the ball rolling, he kicked that thing into overdrive and there’s no stopping it now!

Art Comments: Ivan Reis really does have his work cut out for him. Even when he turns in rushed art it still looks damn good. Though as I said it does at times look pretty rushed, a lot of the regular detail is not there but it’s still damn good looking and he really excels with some gorgeous splash pages.

Final Comments: While Blackest Night still isn’t back to Must Have territory for me this issue was a great step in the right direction for the series and if Johns can keep the momentum going we may just have the most exciting event comic ever.

Story Rating: 4 out of 5

Art rating: 5 out of 5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5

Must Read 

The Week Begins - July 13th 2009

After a week of zero comics we’ve got some good stuff coming in this week even if it’s still a thin list.

Blackest Night #1 *Most Anticipated*

Written: Geoff Johns

Art: Ivan Reis

Taking a bit of a risk here with just buying Blackest Night and none of the tie-ins. Maybe later on I’ll start buying Green Lantern as I’m certain that at least that book is imperative alongside Blackest Night as Green Lantern Corps is no doubt as well. Though it’s all a thing of price range sadly.

But come on, how could this not be the Most Anticipated of the week? It’s the event that’s been so many years in the making. Unlike Secret Invasion which was basically an 8 issue exercise in pointlessness Blackest Night looks like it will be the most worth your money event ever.

Though at the same time I come into this event with some light worry. My biggest is over if Johns can really pull off an 8 issue event without it getting really thin in the middle issues. It’s a very easy problem that just about every writer is capable of falling in to so I’m worried there.

Also there’s the simple fact that I’ve never even read Green Lantern before. My father had a few comics, as well as the Green Arrow/Green Lantern comics which where awesome but this is my first time ever buying a Green Lantern comic myself. Up to know I’ve just kept up to date with online spoilers. Though hopefully all the hype will be worth it.

Overall though I can’t contain my excitement to check this comic out. Even with my worries my excitement is still high and I am coming into this book with high hopes.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #2

Written: Paul Dini

Art: Dustin Nguyen

If Blackest Night where not coming out this week this easily would have stolen my pick for Most Anticipated. While the debut issue of this series had some pacing problems and felt a little disjointed I can’t deny that I did love it as a Paul Dini fan. The man simply ‘gets’ Gotham City very well.

I do have high hopes that with this issue Dini can move beyond the disjointed sub-plots and focus heavily on the main story of Batman and Robin taking on Firefly as it really is an interesting plot for me. Dini fleshed out Firefly nicely last time and I hop he can use the villain well in this issue.

I honestly think this series has the potential to be the best of all the Batman Reborn books. Sure Batman and Robin is cool action and fun but Streets of Gotham is at the heart of what the Batman comics have been all a bout. The dark and gritty world of Gotham city. For that I love it and can’t wait to read more.

Mighty Avengers #27

Written: Dan Slott

Art: Koi Pham

I don’t know if I’m happy or sad that Pham is back on the book. Segovia’s art was absolutely great for me and he fit the book so well that I really hope he returns sometime soon. Pham can be a really great artist when he puts in that extra bit of hard work but often his art can look really sloppy and just plain bad. His work during Secret Invasion being the best example.

This story does sound great and interesting, apparently the Unspoken is the ruler of the Inhumans prior to Blackbolt which is a nice twist. Looking at that cover it’s obvious he’s coming back and will be the new villain for our Avengers which should be interesting.

The last story arc finally got me hooked on this comic and I’m really excited to see where Slott goes from there and it seems he’s finally doing some great character work all around which is great. Another comic I have high hopes for.

Superman/Batman #62

Written: Michael Green and Mike Johnson

Art: Rafael Albuquerque

I know I’ve been rough on the Superman/Batman series in the past. I’ve never been fond of it and I find it to be one of the most pointless books that DC puts out each month. The idea is all right, and maybe even to an extent the execution is worth it but why this needs to be an ongoing series is beyond me. I would much rather this just have been a mini-series or something like that.

But despite all my complaints and frustration towards this series, this one issue looks amazingly great. The concept alone is great, have Supergirl and Robin on their own little adventure in Arkham but then you add the great art and just cool looking character work and this comic looks like a must have. If I could I’d love to pick up this issue as it looks great.

Timestorm 2009/2099 #3

Written: Brian Reed

Art: Eric Battle

All right, first things first, what the hell happened to that awesome original cover they had? They ditched it for a simple mediocre cover by Tom Raney? Color me confused. It’s like getting a big expensive sports car, then the next day there’s a broken down old van in your garage. Makes no sense at all.

After a disappointing first issue I ditched the series as I wasn’t looking to waste 4 dollars a month on it. If it is any good I’ll pick up the collection, if not, well then at least I didn’t waste 4 dollars a month on it.

I must admit I’m rather sad to see 2099 turned into such mediocre drivel. Sure it was never amazing material but for what it was I loved it. Reed doesn’t seem to really care at all about this comic and has no passion for the story and it’s characters which makes for a weak read for the reader.

Still I have hopes that this isn’t the book that kills one of the best comics from my childhood and that in the future a writer who actually cares about 2099 will handle it.