Latest Comic Book Reviews (06.02.2011) - The Walking Dead # 85; Daken: Dark Wolverine 9.1 & Wolverine (vol. 4) #9

Alright time for the occasional comic book review folks.

We got two nice gems from the "House of Ideas" featuring both the adamantium-clawed Wolverine and his son Daken in their own comic book series.

What? Wolverine has a son? 

Yes, the guy had sex with tons of women in his lifetime. Chicks dig him. It's his curse.

All my reviews after the cut.

Wolverine (v4) #9
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Daniel Acuña
Cover by Jae Lee and Michael Ryan
Published by Marvel Comics

To tell you the truth, this is the first time that I have read a single Wolverine series. But that didn't make it any hard for me to pick up because Marvel has kept me updated thru their "Previously..." section where they summarize what transpired the past couple of issues. 

Its very helpful for new readers. I wonder why DC can't do that in all of their books.

Ok so let's cut to the chase: Wolverine was sent to hell by an unknown figure(s) last issue. Possessed by a powerful demon, he was only saved from the entity by the female members of the X-Men by getting into his mind thru some psychic hoopla. Of course, Wolvie is pissed off and now is on a mission to get revenge on the ones who put him thru that debacle - starting with the shape-shifting Mystique. 

Aaron introduces a very interesting character in Lord Deathstrike, a super-powered assassin who has the ability to fire bullets from far away places like Argentina and still kill his target somewhere in China. He's got some serious firepower, tech and some kind of mystic hokus-pocus that makes him a tough opponent even for Mystique and Wolverine. 

Deathstrike actually sets up the whole high-octane, cat-and-mouse threesome action in this issue, but he would have been more effective if some of his origins and motives were explained a bit. Hopefully Aaron will shed some light on this later.

I don't like Acuña's art style, but his dynamic storytelling and using just the right amount of gore and blood was impressive. His cinematic sequencing is easy to understand and stands out on its own even without any narratives and speech-balloons.

The only one treat with this is Jae Lee's beautiful cover. Seeing Wolverine and Mystique nose-to-nose is fantastic. But don't be fooled, that doesn't happen in the story. Its way opposite of that flirty cover page - as always.

Overall, this issue isn't that great  unlike many comic book reviews say, but it would definitely keep any reader interested and coming back for the next installment. 

Rating:

Daken: Dark Wolverine 9.1
Written by Rob Williams
Art by Ron Garney
Published by Marvel Comics

Wolverine's prodigal son Daken. Same adamantium claws, same healing factor, same- sniff sniff" abilities that works like Spidey's own spider-sense. 

But one thing that makes Daken very much different from his father is his empty and hollow personality that makes him pretty much... uninteresting. And Rob Williams writing in this issue doesn't even rectify that problem or help the character in any way.

Melodramatic narratives can only do so much when it comes to superhero comic books. You don't expect readers to appreciate a lot of incessant blabbering within the lines of "Okay. I'm gonna stop imitating my dad and be my own man and hopefully people will like me. Time to move to freaking Los Angeles and probably cheer for the Lakers on the next NBA season!"

You just actually read the whole premise of this issue. Well, except for the Lakers thingy. But he does move to LA just to show everybody that he can do something noteworthy of our attention.

Daken does spit a lot of those boring lines and I can't help but think why Williams can't just give this character something to do other than distracting the Avengers in their own turf just to say goodbye to his dad (Wolverine). This "dark Wolverine" is such an interesting villain that he could actually be a main foil to his father's heroics - and the whole superhero community for that matter - but yet, writers can't seem to get him for some reason.

Garney's art is just okay.  Nothing special or anything that catches the eye when it comes to delivering the right emotion and facial twitches necessary for the script. He does have a good sense of style in his penciling though, but sadly wasted. More like the main character itself.

Everything on this issue is so-so. And based on the reviews I have read for past issues of this series, It seems to me that I'm not the only one who's disappointed.  

Marvel would be better off cancelling this series if their creative team won't be able to pick things up for Daken as soon as possible.

Rating:

The Walking Dead #85
Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard
Published by Image Comics

After the zombie-chopping events in issue #84, Robert Kirkman comes back with a more "silent" approach that speaks a lot about the direction this comic book is going to take.

Our guys are back to the drawing board once more after all the dead zombies, planning carefully for their next steps for a safer community.

This main story thread is mixed with smaller individual character developments - like the falling-out of Abraham and Rosita's relationship (after the latter found out that Abe was screwing Holly), Maggie and Glenn's optimistic hopes for the future, and last but not the least - Rick's monologue - which made me guess whether he is actually starting to collect himself again, or teetering at the edge of his remaining sanity. Character development was something missing the past issues, and Kirkman was quick to address that in his latest installment.

These developments were nicely depicted by Adlard, his panels and illustrations more vivid. His washed inks are better than the last, and his sequencing of events worked well for the story.

Probably not as exciting as the previous issue, but Walking Dead #85 still presents a very interesting peek towards the future. With a half-faced and seemingly dying Carl showing some "life" at the last panel, Kirkman seems to have got his creative juices flowing again, and maybe he will treat us for a big shocker sooner or later.

Will Carl die or live for another day? That's the big question right now, and as much as Carl fans hate it (based on the tons of hate fan mail) - his ultimate fate is going to be decided eventually by Kirkman's hands.

Rating:

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Latest Comic Book Reviews (05.04.2011): Avengers 12.1, Morning Glories #1, The Walking Dead #84

Pretty slow day yesterday so I got to read three comic books to say the least. I have one from Marvel featuring their marquee super-team, and two horror flicks from Image Comics that includes zombies and some school girls in them. I thoroughly enjoyed each titles and I just wanted to kill some of my time so here I am writing some kind of review for each. 

Ok, before you click ok the jumpie link down there, let me note that the titles are rated by the number of stars I give them, with 5 stars being the highest. That means if a title gets a rare 5 stars, then that should be really m'effin good! 

Now that we got that out of the way, you can now click on the jump for all of my reviews. 

AVENGERS 12.1

Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Brian Hitch

If you checked this site yesterday, you would have definitely noticed the disappointment I had regarding the preview covers of this "newbie friendly" Avengers title. I said I would give it a shot despite the bad art covers, and after reading the whole thing, I was kind of wrong with the first impression I had, because this was a good first step by Bendis and Hitch after all. 

Bendis goes on to make this an easy read as possible as promised in order for new readers to get easily hooked with Marvel, and with his simple storytelling that clearly sets up the next events to this arc by the end of the issue, he accomplishes just that. 

Gathering the Avengers on a mission to track down a missing Spider-Woman was a good idea, though it made every thing a little bit cluttered on some of the pages, with everybody trying to talk and insert their own punchlines. Bendis manages to put in some nice humor though in Beast, Spidey and Captain America's mission briefing dialogue, while putting some of the spotlight on the green-haired Abegail Brand of SWORD. Nice to see her again after reading Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run. Wolverine's angst and machismo showboating doesn't help the story though. 

There's a lot of naked Jessica Drew (aka Spider-Woman) spreads in this issue as well, that is reminiscent of the 90's comic books that had a lot of "bondage" and sexual innuendos under it. She's all tied up, sweaty and bloody all over the place, boobies exposed which the boys would like.  Its a nice eye-candy though, I have to say. 

Then the bad stuff kicks in. Pulling off a team of evil and big-intelligent heads doesn't cut it for me. They don't look like a formidable threat to the superteam and rightfully so, they asses got handed over - but not without unleashing a familar opponent that could pose a REAL threat for the Avengers. Truth be told, that's the only good thing they did in this issue, asides from seeing Jessica Drew naked. 

When it comes to the art, Thor hammering Modok was a cool panel in particular that shows Hitch's wide-screen cinematic art style. He actually manages to do that with every explosive action scene which is always good to see. But then again, the art was not that impressive, mainly because of the inks. Hitch should get a better inker that would complement his style because his already lazy illustrations just got ruined even more. Clearly, a lot of patching up that needs to be done in this department. 

Rating:  

MORNING GLORIES # 1

Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Joe Eisma

Image Comics has one promising series right here. And honestly, I thought that this was about high-school romance, and a coming of age story about 6 different teenagers. But damn I was wrong. What I actually got was a creepy, mysterious and bloody story featuring six troubled teenagers in a prestigious school known as the Morning Glories Academy. This first issue was a blast - literally - in every sense of the word. 

And speaking of blasts, the beginning of the issue is something that is really misleading due to the action-packed, thriller-kind of escape-plan scene that quickly turns in to something more... supernatural... with a lot of brutality. That kind of messed me up, and just wanted to turn my head on the pages and see what the fuck was all about. 

And when things get revealed one by one, such as the fact that all of the students in the academy (our 6 protagonists included) all share the same birthday; until the final panel that reeks of horror and "OMG" statements, I was wanting for more just to get to the bottom of this mystery. Indeed, it was a nice storytelling technique that was truly engaging and gave me an idea on the possible routes this series might take in the future. We  get a bunch of questions popping out too, but whatever the answer to those questions are - one thing is for certain: there's going to be a lot of spooky things running around. 

Nick Spencer does a great job on establishing the character's individual personalities which is pretty much as standard for first issues. We got Hunter-  the everyman and geeky good guy; Zoe- the flirtacious chick who reminds me of Lindsay Lohan for some reason; Jun - the guy from Tokyo and the silent type who would only talk if you talk to him; Ike - the rich, perv guy who acts like a cool jack-ass; Jade - the definite emo babe who looks like she's gonna go on a emotional tear almost everytime unusual or bad happens; and finally Casey - the brainy Physics chick who looks like to get the most number of spotlights on this series. See how I am able to differentiate all of them? That's because Spencer didn't complicate things too much in introducing these characters and the gave them equal treatment in this issue, thus you get each character's unique individualities. That includes the damn mysterious teachers and professors at the school that I'm sure would get freakier as the story continues.

Rod Esquejo's cover is amazing, great art mixed with manga and anime sensibilities, just like Joe Eisma's interior art. Eisma's art was not that too impressive for me, but I thought that he was still able to handle this book pretty well, except for a couple of panels where he just "re-used" certain backgrounds and facial expressions that doesn't really help to the book's narrative structure.  That is something that needs to be worked on. The colors blend nicely to Eisma's lines, as well as the inks, so other than the "lazy" sequences that can be improved, there's nothing much to complain about in this solid first issue. Very well done. Looking forward for a more wicked treat as the story unfolds. 

Rating: 

THE WALKING DEAD #84
Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard

I mentioned many times before that this one of my favorite ongoing monthly series, and Kirkman delivers on the conclusion of the "NO WAY OUT" story line after the shocking cliffhanger ending back in issue #83.

Carl is now hanging for dear life after he was bitten and insult to injury, the zombie horde is now invading the whole complex. Kirkman wastes no time in doing some good 'ol hack and slash scene with Rick just running all by himself and his trusty ax towards the abominations. I thought he was slowly going to be killed because there we're just so many of them, but then we see something entirely that we have seen rarely in this series - teamwork. Real cohesive teamwork from all the guys, and a sense of camaraderie and sacrifice for each other that we haven't seen. So they club and kill all the zombies they can until they thin out - which is basically the whole issue in a nutshell.  In a way that works, but hack and slash scenes can only do so much in this title. This is something that should be toned down next time.

We don't see much casualties in this issue  and understandably so, because that would leave Kirkman with a crippled cast and he doesn't want that. No real sense of character development too as every body was just on  a zombie-killing spree. The real disappointment was that scene with Rick talking to his son Carl who's lying on his bed. I thought that there was too much dialog and corny cliches in it, and that kind of killed the Rick I loved right from the start. He suddenly becomes this revitalized, hopeful and assertive leader once again after doubting and blaming himself a couple of times? I don't understand why that change suddenly happens overnight. That made Kirkman's script inconsistent this time around. But I do get the positive message Kirkman is trying to imply. Maybe he's trying to give off a little bit more light-hearted tone that he feels is needed. 

Adlard's sequential panels during the zombie riot was great in my opinion, he had nice facial expressions each panel changing and adapting to the situations that story demanded, and made great use of the space he had to pack-in all the action necessary. But I noticed that he was also relaxed on some of their anatomy and thus the  character structures we're lousily done as a result of that. Very minimal though and based on Adlard's track record he can certainly jump back next issue and redeem those little mistakes. 

Not so much thrill and build-up by the end of all Rick's verbiage, but at the same time, I smell some good things happening for Rick and the rest of the gang. Just hope that Kirkman would not opt for too much zombie-hacking.

Rating:   

Comic Book Review: The Walking Dead # 81

The Walking Dead #81

Written by Robert Kirkman

Art by Charlie Adlard

Published by Image Comics

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**

Alright, so I'm back with the latest issue of one of the best serials out there and one of my favorites too, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and Tony Moore. And we got a very interesting build-up following issue #80.

By the end of the last issue, we see Jessie kissing Rick and I was thinking what was gonna happen. Is he going to nail her (yeah, I automatically think about sex haha)? And to the best of my expectations, yes folks, Rick nailed the widow (and just to refresh your memory, Jessie is the wife of the guy Rick killed last issue. ). Some might think that what happened between them is wrong... and maybe they're right, but on the other side, this is human nature we are talking about here.

Two lonely people who just lost their loved ones in the most horrifying situation you could ever imagine, and I think that its natural to do anything that would make them sleep at night or at least feel that "inner peace" even if its just for a very short time. Doesn't matter who's taking advantage of who, the point is, whatever it takes to make you feel comfortable and get your head off all the shit that's happening so you won't lose your sanity - then you do it. And true to Rick's telephone situation - sleeping with Jessie kind of got him straight a little bit. He's beginning to realize that her wife is already dead and is no longer coming back and that the conversations he made with her on the phone is just him drifting out of touch. 

We also see the other couples in their own peaceful moments, trying to cope up with the whole situation just like Rick. Kirkman's trying to build up most of the characters mainly to keep the realism intact  because that telephone thing with our boy Rick has to go already -- and fast. I'm glad he realized that. 

I also liked Glenn taking in charge of a situation where they have to get across to the other side of the fence with all the zombies so they could deliver goods to Andrea. Good suspense right there with the rope snapping scene too. Thought they one guy was gonna die.

And just when I thought that nobody's going to get killed and that everybody has everything figured out with that one piece of the fence that's waiting to come down, Kirkman then releases the beasts. As you already know, the fence gives way and we're in for another "OH SHIT" zombies-on-the-loose moment and one guy gets his intestines torn to shreds. Nasty. Rick and the black guy can't seem to fend the zombies off and are fighting for their very lives once again and now I wonder what would happen next after that last panel. They're pretty fucked up. I'm sure Kirkman has something to surprise us next issue.

This is a good issue after all the teasing from issue #80 though it doesn't have anything major except for that stupid fence and Rick's newfound sex partner... err... rather relationship. Still, Kirkman and Adlard knows what their fans want and what made this series click so they are sticking with what works. If it ain't broke, then don't fix right? Hopefully that come issue #82 or #83, we will be able to get in to the thick of things and see some shocking revelations or scenes that would blow our brains out. Kirkman isn't afraid of killing one of his major characters anyway, proven before when he killed Lori and Tyreese way back. We need more of that thing.

Just one question: why is it that Tony Moore is the one who's getting most of the credit for the successful TWD TV show?  I don't get it. 

Comic Book Review: The Walking Dead # 80

 

The Walking Dead Issue # 80

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artist: Charlie Adlard

Published by Image Comics

"Whatever keeps you OUT... Keeps you IN."

It's been a long time since issue #79 ended and I have been waiting for so long on what's gonna happen next on this incredible zombie-saga by two of the best teams in the business today - Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. Now with the season 1 of the  hit AMC TV series of the same name already finished, it was about time for the creators to get back to their desks and continue what they started.

The new chapter picks up where the previous issue left off, with the gang living inside a seemingly peaceful township in Washington, DC, where our main guy Rick Grimes serves as the Constable. He tries to keep  peace and order in town, but he eventually kills a man who is physically abusing his wife (Jessie) and child. After that, the group fights off a surprise attack from bandits, but a big horde of zombies we're attracted in the process and are now attempting to breach the walls of their new found "home". They are able to close the gates and keep the walkers from ultimately invading them, but not without a casualty and a lot of fear coming back to haunt the community.

Douglas comes into his own here, making a very tough decision after one of his friends gets bitten. You can see that his character is slowly becoming strong, a leader in his own right. It would be interesting on how Kirkman would mix this development with the groups current leader, Rick. And of course, the whole comic will not be complete without its trademark: multiple character plot lines develop within the context of the story, and we see a lot of new "complicated" relationships forming. Everybody is kind of alone anyway, and plus zombies are at the gates, so somebody would definitely need someone to rely on in order to get by.

Again, Kirkman shows us why he is a  master at creating great character dynamics and he doesn't forget that what makes his comic book a hit:  diverse characterization with a whole lot of dialogue in every panel which I really applaud. Adlard's black and white art is still unmistakable and are still emotionally-filled while keeping that level of detail that fans loved from the beginning. They are sticking to their old gameplan while trying to mix new things up to get readers excited again, and they didn't fail. This is a solid new chapter after a pretty long wait with Kirkman and Adlard both bringing their A-game.

Now you just can't miss the next issues. And again, if you haven't read a single issue yet from this graphic novel, don't waste your time because this is one of the best on-going series that you would ever read today.

Comic Preview: The Walking Dead #80

Hah, I thought that Robert Kirkman's "The Walking Dead" was over by issue # 79. How foolish of me, because our beloved zombie saga comes back this week with issue # 80 titled "No Way Out".

The gang is now living in some sort of township in Washington, DC together with other survivors, and are trying to live a normal life. Rick Grimes doesn't trust the leader of the town though, who is a  former US. Congressman. Rick is now the Constable of the town and tries his very best to keep the peace within, but he finds out that its not that easy. And before the last issue ended, a group of bandits attacked their town attracting a horde of carcass-hungry zombies. All hell has broken loose.

There goes my short recap for the last issue, so if want to get a sense of what I'm talking about here, start catching up because this Eisner-winning saga isn't gonna end soon.

Check out the preview images and make sure to click after the jump for more.

[images courtesy of Comic Vine]

 

 

Now isn't that pretty? Somebody gets whacked in the head again.

 

Comic Book Review: Battle Pope

**WARNING: MAY CONTAIN OFFENSIVE ADULT CONTENT**

Battle Pope

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artist: Tony Moore

Issues: 13

Published by Image Comics

Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore's The Walking Dead was a smash hit. It gave you everything you could ask for in a zombie-themed comic book: suspense, horror, action, violence, and non-stop surprises. But never did I thought that they would have created a crazier one in Battle Pope, which came before their more popular novel. Not to mention that it is as funny as hell.

Let me tell you right now that this not your ordinary comic book. No, not at all. Its particularly offensive especially for the religious types, because the main character is a drinking, violent and womanizing Pope (Pope Leopold Oswald II, if you want the full name) who did whatever he wanted to do, had sex with women, raised hell and gave the middle finger to anybody who pissed him off.

A sword-slashing and trigger happy Pope? That's kinda cool.

After God cast his wrath on Earth and condemned everyone because of their wrong doing, the demons, led by Lucifer -  (yup, just like the one in the Bible) stampeded their way to Earth. So God appoints somebody who protect the humans from these filthy abominations, and guess what -  he picks the Pope.  The bargain was, if he succeeds in defeating the demons, then he will have his chance of getting that one way ticket to heaven. Woohoo! Sounds like a plan. Then it gets even wackier when God tells him that he would have a  special sidekick to help him in his mission.

I'll give you a chance to guess who the sidekick is. He deserves the special mention. When you have your guess, click on the jump to read the rest of my review. (No Google cheating please...)

The Pope's sidekick: Jesus Christ.  

So a gun-toting Pope trying to save the world and is aided by Jesus. Sounds crazy? Yeah it is, but wait till you read it. Now, for the sake of keeping a non-spoiler entry (in case you haven't read it yet), i'm going to stop right here. Just read it.

Batlle Pope is wonderfully illustrated and its almost like hentai when it comes to the sexually-themed panels. Its almost blasphemous at times, but despite all the religiously-degrading themes and illustrations, I can assure you that everything was done with a wink and a smile. Kirkman's wise-cracking is so good that you would almost chuckle every time, making it one of Image Comics' most memorable titles ever. A controversial, but admittedly fun read.

Comic Book Review: The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artists: Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard 
Issues: 78
Published by Image Comics

Zombies. Death.

That's what you think when you talk about the living dead: walking carcasses that roam around looking for flesh and ready to devour.

But that's not what The Walking Dead comic is all about. It is more than just zombies and death itself. Actually, it is the opposite of all that. It is a story about life.

The whole story is centered around Rick Grimes, husband, a father of one and a police officer from Kentucky who wakes up in a hospital from a semi-coma after getting himself shot in a middle of a gunfight together with his friend, Shane. He finds out quickly that nobody is around at the hospital, only to learn that the whole world has been stricken by a zombie apocalypse. He then begins his journey and hopes to find his wife Lori and son Carl, and other possible survivors while trying to set-up a peaceful and normal life in an otherwise abnormal world.

The walking corpses aren't the ones who are making the noise here.What makes the whole thing so good are the interactions between the characters in the story and how their characters develop as they go into different emotional and mental challenges. Each and every character has a different personality that complements the main character and all others, and combined with a great story filled with topsy-turvy turns, surprises, betrayals and "oh shit" moments, The Walking Dead gives you a perfect balance of just about everything in the emotional spectrum.

When it comes to the art, it is good and definitely gives off such emotion from the characters. It was a nice thing that they did the black-and-white colors on the whole book. I can't imagine it being colored, due to the fact that there are a lot of gory scenes that some people might not be able to take.

To wrap up, The Walking Dead gives us a glimpse of how a zombie apocalypse looks like, and how would human beings think and react in that environment. You will wonder how possibly you can survive in such a stressful and terror-filled world, where death is just always one wrong move away. 

But more than surviving the zombies themselves, The Walking Dead shows that the real fight for survival is not against the dead - but with the living, yourself...and your sanity.

Rating: 5/5

More of The Walking Dead!!! + Links for Issues 1-50

All right, i'm still on my reading journey. Currently finished issue # 30 and the story just gets better and better... Its fucking crazy! I mean, everything is a mess sometimes (and I meant messy in a good way), and then you flip the next page, you get to see something violent and sick. You just won't know what you'll get from this comic, and I effin' love it. 

And I just get to see one of the greatest comic book villains of all time in just 2 issues down the end of number 30. That character is just so damn great. Makes the story more interesting and unpredictable.

For the mean time, I'll grant the request of the people who wanted me to post some links for this great read, and I got 'em! Yey! *claps* Unfortunately, its just issues 1-50 for the mean time since I can't find a collection of issues 51-75 or whatever the last issue number is, but I think these links will do for the moment Thanks to the original scanloaders for their efforts and giving us a FREE effin' read. Woohooo! Enjoy!  

*All files are in .rar file to be sure to download  and install Winrar first to extract them.


*Scanned comic books are in .cbz and cbr files so you would need to download and install Comical to open them. Download it here.

*These copies are purely for ENTERTAINMENT and READING PURPOSES ONLY. Strictly not for sale

The Walking Dead 1-10

The Walking Dead 11-20

The Walking Dead 21-30

The Walking Dead 31-40

The Walking Dead 41-50

Don't forget to say thanks. We got a big comment box down there.

- Gee

Time for some Walking Dead!

I know there's already a hit TV series under the same title, so I thought before watching it, why don't I read the comic book itself? I heard a lot about this graphic novel and maybe its time for me to grab those copies, drown myself with some zombies, and see what the fuss is all about.

Currently read issues 1-10 in a span of an hour and a half before going to work. Yeah, i read ten copies that fast, because when you got something this good, you just get hooked and flip the pages till you get to the next issue. (Damn those cliffhanger endings, they just keep you coming back for more. )

And believe me when I say that it is not your ordinary zombie story. It has that George Romero (yeah, the Night of the Living Dead guy) taste, but better.

I've still got 60 or more issues to go, so I may not be doing any comic book reviews this week - unless I remember any of the titles I've read eons ago.