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"These reviews are based on the Sneak Peek
titles sent out by Marvel, DC & Image. It's not everything that's shipping for
the week, but it is a real good cross-section of this weeks releases. Check the
bottom of the page (after you read my reviews) for a link to some SNEAKY PEEKIES
of future titles" |
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 BOOK
OF THE WEEK:
GHOST RIDER #1
Comic Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Writer: Daniel Way, Artist: Mark Texeira/Javier
Saltares
While Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain work on Ghost Rider:
Spirits of Vengeance Marvel launches a new Ghost Rider
series using two people who worked on one of the previous
series-Texeira and Saltares. This new series begins with the
Devil playing with the flame headed rider as he attempts
another in a series of escapes from Hell. It seems that the
Devil enjoys playing with Johnny’s head and a slug that GR
encounters as well. Way has a lot of fun setting the
relationship between the three up before the ending that has
dead things coming up out of the water with one riding it.
He has promised to explain and create a more static
continuity for the character as well as explain the whole
Johnny Blaze/Danny Ketch relationship which suggests that
the two won’t be brothers this time around. Now if you
remember the history of the character any Ghost Rider series
always starts out hot (no pun intended) then somewhere along
the way the book loses fans faster than Taste of Chicago
right after it closes but this may have a chance since Way
is hot at the moment and there is buzz around the movie
after people saw the cool trailer. Tex has always been able
to hit deadlines so the book should also come out on time
and a book that arrives when it is supposed to in stores
always has a shot at becoming a hit.
MSRP: $2.99
1st DAY SALE Price: $1.79 (That's 40% OFF,
Wednesday Only!)
Alternate Reality Price: $2.54 (That's 15% OFF, All
This Week!) |
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 A
MAN CALLED KEV #1 (of 4)
Comic Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Writer:
Garth Ennis, Artist: Carlos Ezquerra
Fresh of his last limited series (or as fresh as Kev can be) misfit operative
Kev Hawkins returns in another limited series that will have him saving the day
even though he doesn’t want to. Ennis starts us off with a memory of Kev in
Belfast when he was a soldier that shows a moment of growth before we end up in
a public place. Here we see Kev meeting his new boss and being told he has 24
hours to leave the country or his career as a bodyguard and security consultant
will be destroyed due to a Paris Hilton moment. Ennis introduces an older friend
and sets up the adventure we will be following in the next few months while
laughing at the funny bits and wincing at the extreme nature of the violence.
The story is casual in its sense of layout but Garth is trying to reel us in by
dropping a bread crumb here and there before connecting things on the path. The
Ezquerra art is much cleaner than we are used to.
MSRP: $2.99
Alternate Reality Price:
$2.54 (That's 15% OFF, All This Week!) |
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 X-MEN
#188
Comic Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Writer:
Mike Carey, Artist:
Chris Bachalo
Last week the Ed Brubaker/Billy Tan team took over Uncanny and this week the new
team of Carey and Bachalo take over X-Men from Peter Milligan and Salvador
Larocca and as was the debut last week this one is spectacular. We begin here in
Mexico with the appearance of Victor Creed (Sabretooth) in a bar arranging
passage and as the character he meets there comments Victor is of all things
scared. Carey moves on from there with an action sequence that is drawn to
perfection by Bachalo and shows that Rogue is a very dangerous and now reckless
member of the team. That is followed with a reminder that the relationship
between Scott Summers and Charles Xavier is nowhere close to where it one was as
the mission seen earlier is discussed as well as a show of how powerful the
threat the team will be up against. All of this leads to the arrival of
Sabretooth at the Institute for what he says is sanctuary and we know from what
we just read is anything but. It does give him a reason to be on the new team
and makes us wonder just what/who they will be up against. There is a lot more
action here than we would have expected from a Carey written book but as usual
his dialogue is on the mark. Bachalo goes into overdrive with atmosphere and
this is some of the best artwork he has ever produced. What’s interesting about
the teams the new writers have come up with is that the mix doesn’t include who
we would expect and seems to be avoiding having the teams bump up against one
another with one in space, one dealing with threats in a different way and the
Joss Whedon team fighting threats from within. For those of you who are
wondering why Cable is on the cover and not inside the book I would guess he has
no reason to be there yet and the figure in shadow on the wraparound cover is
probably in the issue (using the theory of never introducing something you
aren’t planning to use) but not ready to do anything yet.
MSRP: $2.99
Alternate Reality Price:
$2.54 (That's 15% OFF, All This Week!) |
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MARVEL ROUND UP…
Wolverine: Origins #4 contains a battle between Captain America and Logan over
the fate of Nuke that is one of the most brutal ever. We learn here something
that we didn’t know about the former Daredevil foe and when the issue ends we
see that some of Logan’s friends decide to pay a visit…two of the Annihilation
limited series end this week with Silver Surfer and Super Skrull. The Surfer
ends with the returning of the status quo and him reporting to Galactus as a
herald while kicking the crap out of Ravenous since he had already eliminated
everyone in his path. The change does give the character purpose and suggests a
less whiny but tougher Surfer. The Skrull regains his hero status among those
who actually like the arrogant alien and as is the case in the books that are a
part of Annihilation there is much violence and destruction…Marvel Adventures:
Fantastic Four #14 is pretty entertaining as it has the team escaping death
traps created by the Grandmaster…Squadron Supreme #5 shows the team laying waste
to a town in the conclusion to the series first arc as a non mature readers book
but when you read this it is hard to believe that. We learn more about the
history of team member Edith here and what we learn suggests that she is going
to be an issue someday as another player is introduced for the other side…Ms.
Marvel #5 has her and Doctor Strange fighting one of her old foes before the
events of Civil War arrive at the end of the issue. This book has been
consistently good with the art getting better as the pages turn…Iron Man #10
shows us what is going on with Tony Stark after the events of the last issue and
as the cover shows the Sentry decides to drop in for cake and juice. The writing
team of the Knauf’s has done a great job keeping readers on their
toes…Sensational Spider-Man #28 is drawn by Clayton Crain so even if the story
sucked it would be good but the story is well done. We see the effect of the
identity reveal on one of Peter Parker’s students and Doctor Octopus takes major
offence of being beat up by a 15 year old whose aunt he once dated.
DC ROUND UP…
Firestorm #27 concludes the current arc and shows us a few things about the
Firestorm matrix that we didn’t expect before showing us someone we would never
expect. This is supposed to lead up to a storyline that writer Stuart Moore has
been building up to for a year but somehow I find this title to be sort of just
okay…American Virgin #5 starts the second arc of the title and I must say that
for a book where the lead character is a virgin there is a lot of sex here.
Warren Ellis believes that writer Steven Seagle is holding back here and the
real star of the title is artist Becky Cloonan and I think he’s right but this
book seems to be holding out for an audience that just isn’t there…100 Bullets
#74 ends ‘The Wake’ and the issue is bloodier than most. This book is ending in
26 issues and here we see the pieces moving further along the board. Eduardo
Risso has a lot of fun here beginning with a series of two page spreads and the
Dave Johnson cover is worthy of a poster…Batman: LODK #208 has more great Ariel
Olivetti Batman art along with a just okay Bruce Jones story. The sequences
between Batman and the Penguin are some of the best one on one sequences out
there but the battle between Batman and the steroid case on the cover is too off
the wall and distracts from the story…Rokkin #1 is another addition to the new
sword and sorcery line at Wildstorm. The art is very well done and the story
does an incredible job telling us something we have been told countless
times…The Next #1 (of 6) contains some of the worst art I have ever seen and a
story that should have been better left untold.
IMAGE ROUND UP…
Strange Girl #9 ends the initial chapter of the series and really did nothing
for me to be honest which is why I don’t get the book. There is an audience for
this title it just doesn’t include me…The Cryptics is from Steve Niles and Ben
Roman. It contains the misadventures of weird looking kids and moments of
sublime humor. The art is purposely cartoonish and I admit I laughed quite a few
times…The Walking Dead #29 can’t be described as entertaining because this isn’t
that kind of book but it is interesting and remains one of the best books Image
does. The scheduling issues that cursed the book in the past seem to be more or
less resolved with the book being closer to the solicitations than ever and as
always Charlie Adlard proves to be the man here…Task Force 1 #1 ships from the
Jim Valentino wing of Image (and yes, that wing seems to be getting bigger) and
shows the forming of another team of heroes that will be forgotten a year from
now…remember Hawaiian Dick: the Last Resort? Well the last issue finally ships
this week so dig out those old issues so you can remember the story. Guns,
ghosts, violence and uniquely colored art make the book worth buying even though
they took the deadline out back and shot the hell out of it for hours, went to
sleep, woke up and shot it some more.
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"See, I told you I'd be
down here. We've got a bunch of SNEAKY PEEKIES of future
MARVEL, DC and IMAGE titles right
HERE" |
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All
Books/Characters pictured herein are © Copyright 2006
by their respective owners. No rights given or implied
by Alternate Reality, Incorporated.
Reviews © 2006 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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