I've was thinking that I should review something, you know, give my unsolicited opinion to the internet about something I’ve seen, heard, or used only briefly. But I can't really think of anything ... oh wait ... I did get some comics Monday. But unfortunately I don't have them with me just now. Meh, I'll wing it anyway. In no particular order; First up is The Flash #225, it concludes many things. The first is the latest story arc and the second if Mr. Johns run on the title which has been 5+ years. But I'm reviewing the comic as a whole. The issue is great; the art is good, and the story is exciting. If you've been following The Flash then you would thoroughly enjoy this issue. My only complaint is on the story as a whole (the last 4-5 issues), titled Rogue War. The Rogue War looses it's purpose and it focus, both as a story and from the Readers perspective (me) to the point of being an afterthought (about 1 page of this issue having been dwindled down since the first of the story arc). The admittedly more interesting Zoom/Flash story was focused on more.
Next up Green Lantern #4. Art=great. I enjoyed the dialog between the characters and Hal's visit to Oa. Having not read Hal's romp into insanity (circa 10+ years ago), I cannot attest as to how well this comic corresponds to that but I can say that from what I know it jives just fine.
Superman #...uh whatever. Meh. I like superman, I really do. Just the last few issues of the super-titles have been lack luster. All are setting up for the coming Infinite Crisis, which is fine. But a few months ago all the titles switched talent. Then about 1 issue came out before they started doing cross-overs. And last months Sacrifice could've been done in one (maybe two) of the four issues. We get three issues of Supes day dreaming and one issue that's actually interesting and it's a Wonder Woman issue! (not that I have anything against WW, she's cool.) The feeling of 'meh, whatever' aside. The format of this issue was good. I liked the overlay of Jimmy Olsen’s article to the happenings in the comic. It's actually a lot better than the last few issues. But it's still ALL set-up. meh ... whatever.
Astonishing X-Men #12: At first I thought this was a pretty good ending to this long-in-the-tooth story. But I don't think it was. The X-men once again don't actually solve the problem they were faced with ... okay, maybe they do indirectly. This comic is all about style and fluff ... mostly fluff. This 'story', more like anecdote, could've been trimmed to a lean 2 comics instead of 6. Of course that would force Marvel to have the writer (Joss Whedon) come up with more stories and the artist to draw more that three panels per page. Comic books are not movie Storyboards they're comics, which means that I'll want to put down my $3 to get the next issue, which by the way I won't.
Seven Soldiers: The Shining Knight #4 of 4: First off I must say that the art in this and previous issues is beyond spectacular, I mentioned Simone in a previous post, you should go to his website. Okay, now story. Not really an ending, which isn't surprising. I don't mind because it was awesome and I am getting all the seven soldier stuff. But these minis are solicited to be self contained and enjoyable by themselves. I wonder if it's true. Some questions are answered and some are not and we even get answers to questions which we didn't even think to ask. Needless to say I really liked it.
B.P.R.D. Black Flame #1 (really #18): As usual Guy Davis makes brilliant sense to be the artist for such a weird 'spooky' book. The story is a direct continuation of the previous ones. Everything was done extremely well. It has good set up for the next issue with out being overtly dramatic. I'm just not sure if any old Joe Shmoe could pick this up and like it with out reading previous issues. A side note: I really have to applaud Dark Horse on the lay out of all their comics. There aren't excessive ads and they're well placed, not interfering with the comic itself. And just the general presentation is great. Nice Job.
Ex Machina #12 or 13, I can't quite remember. It's the conclusion of a very short story arc. Rightly so, I'd hate Ex Machina to join in on the band wagon; bloating out their stories. The arc, which I think was just two issues was exactly as long as it should have been. A nice mix of sci-fi and reality. There are little things in Ex Machina that elude to the greater mythology of the main characters powers. It's never directly addressed. And this issue is no different; just a brief mention of something, almost an aside. Great stuff.
Superman/Shazam #1 (mini series): A telling of Supes and Captain Marvel's first meeting. I really like the art. It gives me a Saturday morning feeling without the cute or distortion. The pacing seems a bit drawn out but I can deal with it; there were a couple pages that bothered me. The story seems so far, nice and simple. This is fine because the point of this mini is to have Cap and Supes side by side. Which we all love.
edit: man, I really should run this stuff through spell check before I post it.
