Comic Book Reviews For The Week of 12/08/10

It was a rainy day outside the Comic Vine office today. Great weather for staying inside and reading/reviewing comic books. Although, this week's stack of comics did feel a little light. We did have some new miniseries, one shots and follow ups. Check out what we read today and what we thought. 
  

 == TEASER == 

Witchblade #140

If you like a good cop/detective story, you'll love this issue. This week is a very small week for books, especially good, quality series, so your best bet, if you want to read something that is awesome, is to pick up Witchblade. Sadly, I can't believe I've been putting off Top Cow books for so long. Everything I've read by them in this past year (Darkness, Artifacts, and Magdalena) has been some of my favorite stuff of the year. I highly recommend this issue. 

Read Mat's full review here. 
  

Thor #618 

Thor's a notoriously difficult title to get new audiences to relate to. And it's just as notorious for the difficulty of finding new angles  on the thoroughly-explored Norse mythology. This team thus deserves double-praise for circumventing both of those possible limitations in a exciting and fresh arc like this. Although, I do have to say, I wish it could move along at a quicker clip.     

Read Zack's full review here. 
 

Shadowland After the Fall 

Shadowland is over, and I'd recommend reading the main story over this. As I said earlier, it has a good creative team, but the book is a redundancy. Sure, there's a tad more info on what happened to DD, but it's simply not needed. This is the worst possible issue to jump-on and read as well. Borrow it from a friend if you're really interested.  

Read Mat's full review here. 
 

The New Avengers #7

There has been some clarification on the team roster. Even though this issue allows everyone to unwind after the last big battle, we do find out little bits of information. The story and characters are moving forward as the stage is being set for the New Avengers next adventure. Bendis shows that this is more than just another Avengers team. These guys feel more like a family. WIth the new members added to the team, I'll be looking forward to what will happen next.     

Read Tony's full review here. 
 

Booster Gold #39

In a lot of ways, I see this as a complementary title to Power Girl. While both characters were introduced during the days of the JLI, of course, there's a stronger parallel in the fact  that they're both good-hearted heroes who aren't always the sharpest tools in the shed. BG might not being going through as Baroque a breed of angst here, but his struggle with grief still has truly-moving pathos.     

Read Zack's full review here. 
 

Queen Sonja #12

I’m a huge fan of Conan - - from the movies to the comics and all the way back to the original Robert E. Howard stories - -   but I’ve never actually gotten into any Red Sonja stories before this. Though the series is pretty far along, it remains quite accessible to the neophyte who’s never crossed paths with this warrior woman before. Still, the experienced Howard fan is going to appreciate how legitimately rooted this all is in the fabled Hyperborean age. 

Read Zack's full review here. 

 

Justice League Generation Lost #15

Winick’s integration of the current history reset storyline in Wonder Woman is truly inspired. Continuity can sometimes be a hindrance, but this is a case where a shared universe has allowed for an inventive round robin that justpiles interesting angles on. This book continues to be on of DC’s best and it’s exciting to notice how it interlocks with Brightest Day, Power Girl and even this week’s Booster Gold.     

Read Zack's full review here. 
 

Detective Comics Annual #12 

The Batman story was the least interesting of the three, which sort of surprised me, Batman: Detective Comics #12 Annual is a collection of three stories; each one  features very unique and different characters which happen to be connected by a single underlying theme. This issue is also one of our first looks into Batman Incorporated and the logistics of the new team.      

Read Sara's full review here. 
 

Chaos War: Ares 

 As I mentioned, I question if this would’ve been better in some form other than a full-length one-shot. Still, it gives some great forboding hints about the Chaos King’s current play in the larger crossover. Also, it’s a great reunion issue for anybody who enjoyed the long-missed initial series that Oeming did featuring Ares however many years back.   

Read Zack's full review here.  
 

Widowmaker #1

This book almost feels like it's taking place outside of the Marvel Universe. There is a serious tone here that pushes the book in a different direction from the Hawkeye and Mockingbird series. McCann and Lopez have taken the characters to a new playing field that was only hinted at before. Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Black Widow are up against a serious foe. This book is the perfect spy thriller/superhero combination. I only hope all the characters can survive this four-issue miniseries.  

Read Tony's full review here.   
 

Project Superpowers X-Mas Carol

A Christmas Carol has been remade, parodied and paid tribute to thousands upon thousands of times. Thus, it’s an accomplishment that Gerwa found a way to take some digs at the story while still following its beats rather sincerely. This reminded me of some of the better Astro City stories where a self-contained character portrait is told against the surreal backdrop of a superhero world.  

Read Zack's full review here. 
 

Superboy #2 

This didn't feel like the quite the same Poison Ivy from Gotham City Sirens. The action is quick but we are rewarded with a mysterious twist at the end. I'm still trying to get used to Superboy's friend Simon but I'm not sure if that will happen. Superboy felt as if he made decisions too quickly but the tease at the end will provide for an interesting plot in future issues.

Read Tony's full review here.     
 

What If? Wolverine: Father 

What If? stories have lost some of the charm from when the series was first created. These days you can count on there being a sad ending for the characters involved. If the characters could see all the tragedy in these alternate universes, they would never complain about the hardships they face. The idea of Wolverine being able to raise Daken surprisingly isn't one that I thought about before. Wolverine has been in fatherly roles before but you don't really think about him with an infant. Whether or not there's a happy ending, I'll  leave for you to discover. Part 2 of the Deadpool/Venom story won't make a lot of sense unless you read Part 1 last week in the Iron Man: Demon in an Armor What If? issue.  

Read Tony's full review here.  
 

The Flash #7 

I didn't think I'd enjoy a Flash story that was missing both Barry Allen and Francis Manapul. Geoff Johns' writing has been consistently solid throughout this series. The fact that he made me care about Captain Boomerang says something. The ending clearly opens the door for some bad times headed in Barry's direction. Now it's time to start counting down until the next issue.     

Read Tony's full review here. 
 
EDIT:
Adding another issue that needed to be reviewed. 
 

Fables #100

All hail Fables! I was a little late getting into Fables. The nice thing for me is that meant I was able to plow through the first few arcs in trade format. This 100th issue has that trade feel to it. It is a worthy milestone issue fitting for Fables. Everyone involved did a smashing job delivering the story we've been waiting for. It might not be new reader friendly but there are some endings and new beginnings. The story of Fables is far from over. Big things happened in this issue and there are clearly big things that will happen in the next few issues.      

Read Tony's full review here.