4 issue test #45 - Sideways

It’s been a nice few years of reviewing comics, but I’m bringing the 4 issue test to a close. There are 2 reasons behind this. The first is because they have be done much later than my usual reviews, which are usually done 2 months in advance, and I like to at least try and have a 4 issue test out before the 5^th issue comes out. Doesn’t always work, but that’s my intention

The second reason is constant reboots. And I’m particularly aiming my gun at Marvel here, if you’re gonna keep rebooting your titles every year, what’s the point in me even reading them. I’ve basically dropped my Marvel titles to Ms Marvel and Star Wars related stuff. Although a lot of that is down to titles I was enjoying coming to an end, with no other writer taking over for some reason.

Speaking of writer’s taking over, word to DC and Marvel. A new creative team is not enough to justify relaunching the entire title. We don’t need a Superman #1 just because Bendis is involved, especially if essentially it’s just continuing where it was left off. At least when Darth Vader relaunched, it decided to take place in an entirely different period of his history. But rant over, how are we gonna end this, on a brand-new DC Character: Sideways

The event Dark Knights: Metal is a decent one, it brought Martian Manhunter back into the fray after a long absence, delved into the Hawkman/Hawkgirl mystery and more importantly was a decent story in its own right, although it had far too many one-shots and tie-ins. No Justice #1, which followed immediately after was also a good read. But before we got that, we got ‘The New Age of Heroes’ a line of new characters who had origins linking to the event, there were about 8 titles, and I’ve heard good things about some of them, but the one that intrigued me was Sideways.

As plotters we have Kenneth Rocafort and Dan Didio. I’ll leave off criticising Didio, but he was involved in a lot of poor creative decisions during the New52 and even before then. You might remember Kenneth Rocafort, he was an artist during the second Teen Titans run in the New 52, at least the issues I reviewed. That wasn’t well written, but I was OK with the art. Helping Didio out with Dialogue is Justin Jordan, I have next to nothing I can say about him since I haven’t read any of his work.

Rocafort also handles the artwork, with colouring by Daniel Brown. Don’t have much to say about him either, since I haven’t read his work, but he was also on later issue of that Teen Titans volume I reviewed. So, let’s just take a look

4 issue test #45 - Doomsday Clock

4 issue test #44 - Marvel 2 in One

Want to talk about Marvel Legacy? No? It’s barely relevant any more anyway? There’s another f*cking relaunch happening at Marvel? OK, this is the last year I’m doing 4 issue tests, they were supposed to be a steady stream of titles throughout the year, these days every time I’m done with relaunch there’s another one ready to bite.

Let’s talk about Marvel Legacy, it’s a prelude to Marvel’s next event, less than a year after the end of Secret Empire (colour me shocked there) it brought back Wolverine and it offered a tease that the Fantastic 4 would reunite for the first time since Secret Wars.

At the end of Secret Wars, Reed basically remade the multiverse and he, his wife and kids are off exploring it. The Human Torch was a character in Uncanny Avengers as for the Thing? He briefly joined the Guardians of the Galaxy before being recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. by Maria Hill, the same Maria Hill who had been relieved of her position in S.H.I.E.L.D. because of her amoral super villain prison. He was investigating Victor Von Doom, who came out of Secret Wars and for some reason decided to become Iron Man… yeah, I don’t get it either but I’m not reading his title so maybe there’s an explanation there.

On the writing duties for this… strangely named title is… Chip Zdarsky. You may remember him way back for being the writer of Jughead, I hated Jughead… but then his run on Spider-man has been well received so maybe it’s a sign I’ll like it.

4 issue test #43 - Runaways

We’re going for something a little different this time, Runaways was not a traditional superhero story, it was the tale of a bunch of young children, banding together to keep themselves from becoming like their supervillain parents. Some had powers, some didn’t but over time they became more than friends.

I’m paraphrasing a little, I never read the original Runaways but I was intrigued enough to pick it up when it started coming out. On writing duties for the relaunched title we have Rainbow Rowell, a well acclaimed author of young adult fiction… that I’ve never read. What I do know is this is her first time writing a comic. Kris Anka is on art duties, and he has somewhat more experience in Marvel, starting with X-men and even recently doing art for Captain Marvel. Matthew Wilson is handling colouring and he’s got some serious credit in the industry, with Star Wars, The Mighty Thor and Captain America in his crosshairs at Marvel currently.

I don’t know anything about the characters or their history, and I’ve yet to see the show on Fox so let’s see what kind of first impression this comic leaves.

4 Issue Test #42 - The Defenders

Note: At the point of typing the Defenders series hadn’t come out yet.

Luke Cage, Daredevil, Iron Fist and Jessica Jones, together they are the Defenders, a street level Superhero team that deal with things below the pay-grade of people like the Avengers. I’ve reviewed a lot of their individual outings with all but Jessica Jones not meeting the standard I look for in comics.

So, in the writer’s seat we have Brian Michael Bendis. If you ever want the definition of a hit-and-miss writer, look up Bendis. I literally did an editorial on why Civil War II was a piece of sh*t. But Bendis also wrote Jessica Jones which I enjoy and was responsible for all the Miles Morales Spider-man issues, which have mostly been good, so maybe something’s here to enjoy. Let’s find out.

4 issue Test #41 - Darth Vader

It’s been a while, but we’re back and it’s time to correct a mistake I made long ago. When I picked up Star Wars, it was great, I did not pick up the Darth Vader series that ran alongside it. I eventually bought it in trades and it’s awesome. But a new Darth Vader series came out recently and I’m going to be giving it the 4 issue test.

4 issue test #40 - Super Sons

Robin has an ego, Jon Lane-Kent has powers. They’re the sons of Batman and Superman and they get on like a house on fire. And by that, I mean the fight that would inevitably ensue between them would leave the house on fire. And boy was it fun to watch them play off each other. Superman did a 2-part story featuring the both of them learning to get along, not extremely successfully, but it’s been hinted since the beginning of Rebirth that they’d be getting a title between them and here it is.

In the writer’s seat is Peter Tomasi who already has experience writing both Robin back from when he was writing Batman and Robin and Jon-Lane Kent from his Superman title. He was the one who wrote the initial crossover, and instigated the dynamic between them. In the art department we have Jorge Jiminez who has a wide range of credits from DC, having done Arrow and Smallville Comics to Earth 2: Society and issues of Superboy and Superman.

Does the gimmick wear or is this a new classic team-up? Let’s take a look at #1-4

4 issue test #39 - Kamandi Challenge

We’ve got an interesting one here, first it’s a continuation of an old DC comic style, and we have the titular Kamandi.

Kamandi is a character I only have a passing interest in. He was created by Jack Kirby as a rival to Planet of the Apes when DC couldn’t get the rights to the franchise. Jack Kirby is a legend in comics, creating the New Gods for DC and also having a hand creating a lot of Marvel staples, along with Stan Lee of course. They call him ‘The King’ for a reason.

But to the DC Challenge idea. This is where things get a bit more intriguing. Usually a 12-issue mini-series like this would have a consistent writer and artist on the whole arc. Here, though, each issue is tackled by a different artist and writer. There is a bit of a game about setting narrative traps, where an issue would end on a cliff-hanger the next writer would have to resolve. Of course, it couldn’t be impossible, since the writer would have to provide their own idea for a resolution.

Seeing how this is tackled, it doesn’t really fit the 4-issue test style I usually use, so there may be some changes to the style I use here, but we’re still looking at the first 4 issues, so let’s take a look.

4 issue test #37 - Jessica Jones

Next and actually last in the Marvel now stuff is Jessica Jones, a title I specifically picked up because of the Netflix series, for those wondering my opinions on DD season 2 and Luke Cage. I thought DD started strong but ultimately went off track around the half-way mark and was overly depressing and Luke Cage was average if not a little higher.

I know I'm cheating a little with this image but... I also don't care

Writing this comic is Brian Michael Bendis, who’s writing Spider-man which somehow I’m still reading and Civil War II, which was utter utter utter utter sh*t (see my recent editorial). So yeah, Bendis is hit and miss with me and mostly miss but the was the one responsible for the interpretation of Jessica Jones the Netflix series was adapted from so maybe he’s struck again, let’s take a look.

4 issue test #36 - Champions

OK Marvel, we need to talk. In 2015 you did Secret Wars III, in 2016 you did Civil War II because the movie was coming out and in the wake of that, you’ve done a relaunch, only a year after the last one! Marvel Now (yet another recycled title) launched a few new titles with new creative teams. Unlike with DC Rebirth and the last Marvel relaunch, I’ve been more cautious picking new titles. There are only 2 I plan to cover. One is Jessica Jones (next week my friends) we also have Champions

And yes, it’s another title with the younger Avengers written by Mark Waid, who was less than impressive with his All New All Different Avengers title. But Waid still has some residual goodwill from Archie to allow me to give this a fair shot. Is it worth the read? Let’s take a look

4 issue test #35 - Blue Beetle

 

If there’s one thing I learned from watching Young Justice: Invasion again is that Jaime Reyes is a fascinating character. Well, that coupled with Linkara’s retrospective on the character last year.

He hasn’t had a great history in comics, both his series were cancelled due to low sales but they’re trying again, but they have a new gimmick. Ted Kord, the previous incarnation of the Blue Beetle made his reappearance in the New52, his father was killed by Lex Luthor in the opening issue. Well, technically he was blackmailed and the crime syndicate killed him whilst Luthor ignored him but semantics. Anyway, Ted Kord was a Blue Beetle in previous continuity but it appeared that they’d retconned it, especially given how young he was in that.

Speaking of continuity, far as I can tell, this book brushes the previous Blue Beetle continuity under the rug and sets it on fire for good measure. Given what I’ve heard about it, I’m not sad about that. We have a fresh start; can they make good on it? Let’s take a look.

4 issue test #34 - Trinity

Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman in the same issue. Sold. Writer: Francis Manapul… ok, expectations lowered a bit.

Look, I have not read a lot of Francis Manapul’s work, I dropped the New 52 Flash after the first issue, I was less than impressed. And I’ve seen what happens when someone tries to do double duty as both writer and artist on the same title, JLA was not a great, sure it isn’t the same writer but the constant delays of a title like this worry me. But DC seems interested in getting titles out at their allotted time lately, so we have Clay and Seth Mann and Scott Anderson doing #3 and Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy and HiFi doing the art for #4. Could this ruin the feel of the book? Let’s take a look.

4 issue Test #33- Gotham Academy: Second Semester

 

Time to look at DC Rebirth Again!

Not all DC Rebirth titles had rebirth specials. Neither of the two we’re covering this month did. Gotham Academy: Second Semester doesn’t even come under the rebirth banner at all. Gotham Academy had a decent start to it, but something went wrong just before December last year, one of Kerchl’s last issues was delayed and the following issues, following a yearbook anthology motif, were drawn by other artists, most notably Adam Archer, who you may remember drew the Ratchet and Clank comic.

In this series, Kerchl joins the squad as a writer, with Adam Archer providing the art all the way through. But does this affect the quality of the comic? Well, let’s take a look

4 issue test #32 - All Star Batman

I’m still trying to erase Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder from my memory. Fortunately, despite the similar title, this title has nothing to do with that. All Star Batman

Now, a quick proviso on writer Scott Snyder. He has a lot of well-acclaimed work and most of it is well-deserved but… I think he might be a tad overrated. His Court of Owls work is fantastic and his run with Dick Grayson’s Batman is second to none. But then I have to look at the previously reviewed Batman Annual #1 (plug) and his two Joker arcs, neither of which are that great in my opinion. Not horrible, just not great. I honestly think Snyder is at his best dealing with villains that don’t have a tonne of backstory and character. He can remodel lesser villains but when dealing with the mainstream villains, and yes I’m counting Mr Freeze, his work is less than stellar.

So, yes, it does worry me that his first arc is focused on Two-Face, one of the more high-profile Batman villains. Plus, this title promises to be a villain palooza with villains being chucked in left and right. Batman: Eternal had this but it was a 52-issue mini-series with a number of different writers, this is a 5-issue arc.

John Romita Jr does the artwork for this series. Whilst I do like the artwork of Greg Capullo in Scott’s previous Batman run, John Romita Jr did some great work back during his Dick Grayson run, so I’m looking forward to seeing what he has up his sleeve.

All Star Batman is longer than most of DC comics’ offerings and sports a $4.99 price tag, nearly double what DC is offering for everything else. Padding it out is backup feature. I’ll cover the backup story separately as part of the review but I’ll be judging each issue as a whole when I come to scores.

4 issue test #31 - Titans

It’s DC Rebirth time again!

The return of Wally West, the ginger haired one not the black one which was introduced in the New52, was one of the most celebrated parts of the rebirth special, but where does he go from here, the one place he will always be welcomed, the Titans.

This story is written by Will Abnett, who had written Titans Hunt, a mini-series coming from the wake of Convergence which shows the group coming back together to fight a threat they’d left behind, it’s a good story and worth the trade in my opinion. The artwork is done by Brett Booth, who tends to be hit and miss but there’s no denying it’s more attune to my taste than someone like Frazer Irving, god his art sucks.

Anyway, but how does this new Titans book stack up? Let’s dig into the Rebirth special and #1-4 and find out.

4 issue Test #30 - Captain America: Steve Rogers

It was only a matter of time before we got to this one, although it took nearly 2 weeks for the final issue to arrive. This comic eared significant controversy over things I’ll discuss in depth. Nick Spencer does not strike me as an idiot, but it would be idiotic to assume this twist could escape controversy. For many outside of comics, Steve Rogers is Captain America so him coming back and reclaiming the mantle was inevitable and it happened during the Assault on Pleasant Hill crossover. A lot of the crossover did help set up this title, but I’ll give details as they happen. Let’s take a look and see if this infamous book offers something to soothe the burn.

4 issue Test #29 - Power Man and Iron Fist

I loved Power Man and Iron Fist during the Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes stories. And whilst Luke Cage was hardly my favourite character in Jessica Jones, he left a decent impression and despite the production problems I am looking forward to Iron Fist’s series when it eventually comes out. (I will review Daredevil season 2 eventually)

But of course, something really grabbed my attention and if you were been hanging around my facebook page at the time of release, you know what I think of the #1 cover which was used as a promotional poster. So, will this series surpass my expectations? Let’s dig in.

4 issue test #28 - Spider-man

This is probably the best of these variant covers, although who thought putting the word Miles over the image made it look any better? 

Miles Morales is in the main Marvel Universe! They collected a lot of his stuff in trades recently and I’ve found them highly enjoyable. Will the latest in the line of Brian Michael Bendis’ books impress or should he have stayed in the now defunct Ultimate Universe? Let’s take a look.

4 issue Test #27 - Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

So, S.H.I.E.L.D. concluded with #12 and a couple of problems notwithstanding (particularly with the S.H.I.E.L.D. anniversary issue) it was a great run by a great writer, Mark Waid (and I’ll admit the last 2 issues of ANAD Avengers are improvements over the first 6 issues – although I’m still considering dropping the title)

So, with Mark Waid no longer on the title we have Marc Guggenheim who is one of the big guys on the CWTV universe. So we have him partly to thank for the bullsh*t Arrow has been through of late. Also, can you not see the irony of having a DC TV producer working on the tie-in comic for its major competitor?

Anyway, let’s dig into Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1-4 and find out what’s going on

4 (well, actually 2) issue Test #26 - Starbrand and Nightmask

Ok, we have a little dilemma here. Starbrand and Nightmask was intended to be an ongoing series but the solicitations are in for June now and Starbrand and Nightmask are nowhere to be seen. It’s written by Greg Weisman, of course my conclusion is to recommend it, so I really don’t want to spoil 2/3 of the series.

So what I’m going to do is the first 2 issues only, 1/3 of the story, let’s take a look.