Krakoa

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4.0 stars

Average score of 174 user reviews

God Is Coming 0

The new chapter in the Venom saga continues! After our hero was badly battered in the first issue, we begin with an exquisitely drawn sequence that shows the symbiote healing Brock on an unprecedented level. I have to say, it was hard for this issue to reach a bar that was set so high by the first issue, so it did lose a star for feeling a bit uneven. Vietnam flashbacks and Eddie's surreal tortured sequences were fine, but I personally wanted a little more action. The monstrous symbiote that app...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

The Name of a Symbiote 0

The first issue of the new Venom series is everything you want from a Venom book and then some. Ryan Stegman's art is excellent and atmospherically grungy. Donny Cates really brings a lot to the table of the Venom mythos. The symbiotes have been mainstays for decades and yet I never asked the questions that were posed in the book. Cates really does a great job of portraying them as an alien race with a distinct identity. I skipped Venomized and a lot of recent Spidey related comics but am very g...

2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

The Fugitive 0

Note: This is my first Spider-man comic since OMIT. Spidey has long been a sore point for us cranky curmudgeons who hold grudges, but I took a shot on this book and it paid off. First of all, I had no comprehension of Peter's current status quo, especially his relationship with J. Jonah Jameson. That said, my confusion did not impede my ability to enjoy this comic. It was an enjoyable read and had a great tone balancing suspense and fun. The art was very dynamic and I have to say this book mad...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Super Fortress! 0

Macross/Robotech is such an awesomely cool concept. One day I fully intend to sit down and watch it. I'm not a big anime or manga buff so I'm often intimidated by older franchises like this that have rabid fanbases and numerous iterations. This issue seems to be a retelling of the first episode? I could be wrong, but I did have a sense of déjà vu. This review, will probably infuriate long time fans, but this issue didn't do much for me. I bought it for the Artgerm cover, and was a little disa...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

A Naive Goddess and a Weary Bat 0

Having recently decided to return to reading current comics, this issue was important for me. This could definitely have made or broken my interest in this book. First thing's first, I got the nonsensically trippy variant cover. I'm digging the colors and really didn't like the standard cover so I was left with this J.G. Jones head-scratcher. I felt the writing was good, even if the story was not particularly coherent. We get to see the team spread thin with multiple crises. I wish we'd been...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

It Lives! The Modern Prometheus Walks Again 2

This first issue in the Marvel series that was part of a wave of horror-related titles is a continuation of the original Mary Shelley novel. This issue begins about 100 years after the events of the novel, just before the turn of the century. Captain Walton is a descendant of the Walton to whom the events of the novel were told by Victor Frankenstein. This descendant is in the North Pole on a somewhat secretive quest to retrieve the frozen (a la Captain America) body of the Frankenstein m...

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

A Surreal Collection of Dreams 0

I love anthologies. Whether it's the horror anthologies of film and TV or seminal comic publications like 2000AD. Dark Horse Presents had a long run from the mid 80's to the early 2000's. This is the third volume of the series and if you combine them, it's technically issue #194. I've rated the stories individually and taken the average for my overall score. The stories are as follows:The first story features Big Guy and Rusty. If you're not familiar with the characters you're definitely missing...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

The Sins and Secrets of the Silver Screen 0

This is without a doubt one of the finest comic books I've read PERIOD. While, I've been an adamant Ed Brubaker fan forever, it pains me to admit I've never read this creative team's crime/noir stuff before. For some reason, I usually catch wind of their work midway through a run. Finally, a first issue! The only thing I can say is that this comic is a subtle tour de force. The writing is flawless, as is the artwork. You really should be reading this. After that you should probably read it agai...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

It's Mercurochrome 0

Let me begin by saying, I don't read any of the current Spider-man comics. The last couple of years, either writing I disliked or art I disliked kept me from keeping up with anything Spidey related. I don't begrudge anyone else their enjoyment of Dan Slott's stuff, or any other recent developments, it just wasn't for me.I picked this up on a whim because it was a pleasant surprise to see a Spider-man 2099 book on the shelf. I've often thought the 2099 stuff was underrated and lost in the quagmi...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

At the Mountains of Madness 0

A career like Grant Morrison is truly unique. His early work on titles like the Doom Patrol was frenzied in intensity and creativity. He later applied that creativity to the sometimes convoluted but almost always satisfied arcs that he brought to characters like Batman. Here, I feel he returns to his roots, and although the DC Universe is still his sandbox of choice, the chaos here transcends the limitations of any previously established continuities. His story telling style here, in which he ...

2 out of 2 found this review helpful.

Re-Examined Mythologies 0

The reinvention of Wonder Woman is no easy feat, though it has been attempted many times before. The inaugural arc has Diana knee deep in a family feud involving the gods in the Greek pantheon. Azzarello's writing really shines in his development of all the interpersonal conflicts. At times, it felt like I was watching a Godfather-esque crime drama with warring family members. The fact that millennia old characters can seem current and relevant is a testament to the crafting of the story. As fa...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

A New Take On Familiar Characters 1

When I first heard about "The Star Wars" I was very skeptical. It seemed like another way to milk the Star Wars franchise with another product. When the concept was explained to me, I still wasn't convinced. After all, I didn't want a rough draft of something that I already enjoyed. I expected that the original concept hadn't made it to the screen because it wouldn't be particularly good. Yet, truthfully, this comic was pleasantly surprising. The writing is solid, and the art is absolutely stel...

5 out of 5 found this review helpful.

Batman Through the Looking Glass 2

I'll say right off the bat, (hahaa) that this is one of the best comics I've purchased in a long time. Batman Black and White was an anthology miniseries in the 90's that featured Batman drawn and written by top talents in a variety of stories largely out of continuity. Now, the concept has been revived. At $4.99 the price is pretty steep, but honestly I feel like lately I've been paying slightly less for significantly less interesting content. The art is gorgeous start to finish. The writing i...

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

House on Haunted Hill 0

This is an interesting spooky little story in which Wolverine is almost an incidental character. David Aja's art here compliments the overall tone of the story very nicely. This is not a superhero comic book but rather a short horror story in which Wolverine is passing through. It involves a bizarre family in a bizarre house in North Dakota. Although the story has some interesting points like the mother being essentially a sentient blob of gore, the dialogue was uninspired. David Lapham falls b...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

WTF (Why the Frankenstein?) 0

I wanted to give this 4 stars. I really did. Initial skepticism regarding Carrie's introduction into the Batverse was immediately put to rest. I liked her a lot here, she felt like she belonged and I ended this comic feeling as if she had always been there. Tomasi made me believe that this person didn't just drop in out of the blue. And there were some flashes of genius on Gleason's part. Some of the panels were bright and vibrant, with a fun factor that rivaled the Kubert art in the flag ship ...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

The Father's Tale 0

I have to come clean right off the bat, I've read my share of Batman comics, but virtually nothing post New 52. I wasn't kept away by anger or blind prejudice, I just frankly never got around to it. Two things made me pick up this book. First, I loved the cover. When CV and other news outlets reported on the death of Damian, I was nonplussed because of the cliche that death has become in comic books. Yet, much of the work in the Bat-titles surrounding the tragedy impressed me and in its best fo...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Time Enough At Last 0

FF #1 snaps, crackles, and pops. If I were to condense what this issue is about in to one word, it would be time. The Fantastic Four are heading out to help find a cure in the space-time continuum for Reed's ailments. In the mean time it'll feel like a year for our new FF.First things first. I really dig Mike Allred's art. Thanks to G-Man's praise, I was enjoying I Zombie and tuned in for any work the master of comic book pop churns out, the complimenting color work by his wife Laura, also excel...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Daredevil Gets (A)head 0

Forgive the bad pun title, but if you read the issue, you'll know what I'm referring to. This was one of the books I recently picked up in an attempt to get back into comics and restore my faith in the big two. Being a Daredevil fan, I was skeptical as to whether this could live up to the hype or if yet another DD series would be another gritty urban retelling of the Frank Miller mythos. This is anything but. Frankly, this is one of the best superhero comics I've read in a long time. It incorpor...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

The Strangest Teens of All 0

Well, I missed issue one and I've missed current comics for a little while, but when I heard the original 60's X-men lineup was coming back and confronting their future counterparts, I couldn't resist. I was skeptical about the technicalities of the time travel and Beast experiencing yet another "mutation" and the prospect of death, but I picked this up and was glad I did. Imonen's art seems be getting a lot of praise, and while it's solid and there are some great panels in this book, overall it...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

A Bat and Two Cats 0

The cool thing about Legends of the Dark Knight is that its stories can take place anytime in the Batman mythos. This particular tale takes place during the period of Batman: Year One. Soooo, that means edgy urban Selina Kyle, young-ish Capt. Jim Gordon, and a badass rookie Batman. That should be enough to get your attention. Next, there's some really great Russ Heath artwork that evokes an older era of Batman. This comic is from 1993, but it definitely has a Bronze Age feel to it. A big contrib...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Kitty & Sarah 0

This issue is all about the relationship between Kitty Pryde and Marrow. The subplot of the X-men in the NYC subway system attempting to foil Flag-Smasher's terrorism plays second fiddle to the bizarre relationship between Marrow and Kitty. Days after reading this issue, I still don't know if I like Brian K. Vaughn's interpretation of these two X-men. I understand that Marrow didn't get to have a normal life and that she has a mixture of envy and resentment for the human race and the more "norma...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Ultimate Tribute 0

This issue was created as a finale ending the Ultimate Marvel Team-Up series. One of the most stellar lineups ever assembled in recent history contributes here. I have to admit, at the time of this review, I have never read a single issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up. And while yes, such a diverse and large group of artists does mean that some of the styles represented here are not appealing to me, I'd say about 80% of the content here was AMAZING artwork. If you're looking for an intricate story ...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

"In the Darkest Night There Exists a Light" 0

I didn't expect to enjoy this. It's a 90's comic through and through featuring one of the "dark" heroes that became a character celebre in the age of Miller-ian Batman and Spawn. Javier Saltares handles pencilling duties here and does an excellent job. The art holds up exceedingly well and he's particularly good at the many action sequences featuring Ghost Rider. Howard Mackie does solid work here. It's perhaps nothing extraordinary that will forever be remembered as great literature, but then a...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Welcome to My Nightmare 0

Gene Day, artist, died at the young age of 31. What he left behind were the unfinished blueprints for a publication devoted to the dark side, called BLACK ZEPPELIN. Orders were placed, but his workload at Marvel and ultimately his untimely death put an end to that dream. Or so one would think. His wife stepped forward in the role of editor, and assembled a talented to group to produce it including Gene's brothers, Dan and David, as well as now legend Dave Sim who was Gene's protege. This issue i...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Morrison as Prometheus 0

Grant Morrison is Prometheus. With Animal Man and Doom Patrol, he brought fire to the reading public. Alan Moore and Frank Miller challenged superhero conventions and conventions within the medium itself, but I feel it is here with this series that the potential of the comic book is fully realized. References are made to the esoteric and at no point does the creative team fear challenging the reader. In this first issue, we get an amazingly humanistic and real take on Robotman, we meet the glori...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Death & Obscurity 0

One cannot help but feel a bit bad for Paul Kupperberg. An otherwise talented writer, who never quite hit the mark with this team book, has to kill off some characters and make way for Grant Morrison to begin one of the greatest runs in comics history. As a devout lover of said run, I wanted to backtrack a bit and see what had paved the way. What had been happening with the DP up until Grant stepped in. First thing's first, I really dislike the cover because it looks rushed, I mean just take a g...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Requiem for a Loser 0

From the opening splash page featuring MODOK's autopsy to the climactic death of a silver age villain, this is a pretty stellar issue of Captain America. Neary's art is excellent, and Mark Gruenwald writes a tale that is both offbeat and poignant. The writing gives a fun look at the inner workings of Marvel's secret evil organizations like AIM and the Serpent Society. The action was effective because it left me wanting more of the Cap vs. Serpent Society combat, and here they are truly formidabl...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

"A Giant Who Has Come to Settle a Debt of Honor" 0

This is a really awesome issue of Conan. Although Conan reads as a saga, my reading of this series has always been via acquisitions of random back issues in no particular order. Said method means once in a while I come across an issue in which the plot is "in media res" and I'm lost until I can read the preceding issues. This one can be picked up as a standalone story. Conan is oddly melancholy (as he often tends to be) and has a supporting cast that I've not seen before, including a little girl...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Hawk, My Brother Spirit 0

I have to admit, I read this issue with the preconceived notion that I would dislike it. Although the cover is is pretty cool, the gold foil harkened back to a time period in which quality would often suffer. Furthermore, yet another iteration of Hawkman complicating an already sadly muddled chronology was not an exciting prospect. But, I like John Ostrander and thought it might be worth a try, and as you can tell from the star rating, it certainly was. Ostrander's writing is solid throughout th...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Disco Daze 0

This is a pretty lengthy and at times bizarre debut issue. Let's start with Bob Larkin's gorgeous cover. It's always been one that's struck me as being impressive and pretty adequately captures the pop sensibilities and superheroes as soap opera characters-feel of the book. Our issue begins with the ultra cliched woman/dark alley/thugs scenario, with Dazzler being pursued by some hoods whom she begins to soundly beat with her light powers and a Pink Floyd song. However, her radio is shot in the ...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

The Newcomer's Perspective 0

I picked up only a handful of first issues when the new 52 started then completely fell away from it for a plethora of reasons. Now, approaching this via an issue purchased impulsively at the supermarket I'm a bit baffled. The main story features a Justice League I don't particularly care for. They're kinda moody and I'm not in love with the casual approach their taking to secrets about one another. Granted, I did pick up this issue mid-arc, and I've no one to blame for being lost but myself. Th...

3 out of 3 found this review helpful.

Citizen of the World 1

Let me put this issue into context for you. Clark has just revealed his identity to Lois. The whole secret identity thing is something that has not aged well at all as Superman has progressed through the ages, so I couldn't really take the brief bit of drama that opens the issue seriously. The scene moves to the Pentagon, where some military top brass have entreated Supes to protect a fictional Middle Eastern dictator while he is escorted back to the U.S. to pay for his crimes (with several para...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

A Tale of Two Monsters 0

This is a really solid issue from the short lived six issue series of the Rampaging Hulk, not to be confused with the more famous Marvel mag of the same name that ran from 1977-1981. In this issue we have the age old tale of Banner on the run. But, hidden beneath this issue's simplicity is a lot of cool stuff. Firstly, one can't complain about a well drawn and written fight between the Hulk and Fantastic Four. Leonardi's style has tinges of both Kirby and Romita Jr., but manages to be his own se...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

A Hero From Another Time 0

This is a pretty bizarre issue of Hulk, which is saying a lot in the era of late 70's - early 80's Marvel in which anything goes, and plenty of trippy wtf stories abound. Bruce Banner is doing his usual vagabond thing, and as fate would have it, while roaming through suburban Los Alamos, arrives at the home of 3D Man, whose youngest son happens to be a big Hulk fan. What follows is an interesting tale with considerable focus placed on 3D Man's origin and motivations. The fight itself is as one w...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Fantastic First Issue 0

The debut issue of the Micronauts is an absolute pleasure to read. With Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden at the helm it's difficult to imagine anything short of amazing if not interesting. I've always had an interest in the Micronauts, but subconsciously dismissed the concept as something of an attempt to cash in on the success of Star Wars. While, Baron Karza and Darth Vader have some similarities and Rann and his Endeavor are close relatives of Han and the Falcon, one cannot simply dismiss this ...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

The Big Red One 0

This is a pretty mediocre issue in every way imaginable. It introduces an obnoxious dull pseudo-villain, the teen jock/jerk "Red 9," who inexplicably is cruising around with a tech suit he can barely handle, throw in a paper thin plot about Spidey doing his best to prove to the state of NY that a cantankerous old man declared by the state to be dead, is in fact alive and about to be made homeless by the clerical error. The art is ok, but this is the epitome of a bad "filler" issue. I love "camp"...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Incredible Diversity 0

Dark Horse Presents issues are always consistently some of the coolest and eclectic comics ever published. This issue is especially a favorite of mine because is feature an obscure and underused character known as Trekker (which is technically her title as a sci-fi futuristic bounty hunter). The art and writing for Trekker, by creator Ron Randall is epic and some of the best science fiction around with that Blade Runner neo-noir feel. Bob the Alien is the second story and is one of the funniest ...

1 out of 1 found this review helpful.

Second Genesis, Eh? 0

This is a surprisingly great debut issue in which John Byrne flexes his creative muscles doing great art and writing. Much of this issue mirrors the masterpiece Giant-Size X-men #1, in which a newly assembled team of X-men battles Krakoa (my namesake), a living landmass. Here, the issue starts with a somber Vindicator ruing over the disbandment of Alpha Flight, and their other trainee dept.'s, Beta and Gamma Flight. The team, however reunites with the added bonus of Beta grads, Marrina and Puck,...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Authority Figures 0

I found this particular issue of Batman to be a bit convoluted. The good news is, you get some cool Jim Aparo art, an early appearance of Tim Drake (if you're a fan), and for me, rather obscurely, the first appearance of the Penguin's foxy chauffeur: Lark. The plot involves Penguin's manipulation of the mute savant Harold, who is rather nonsensically abused by random passerby at issue's start. Penguin uses Harold's skills to have a device constructed that talks to birds. While, I can see why Pen...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.

Perchance to Dream 0

Dark Horse Presents is one of the greatest series in comic book history. Issues like these cement why that is so, with great creative teams flexing storytelling and occasionally surrealist muscles. The first story's cook-off was lost on me because I wasn't familiar with the main characters, though I did find Vooper to be very amusing. Buoy 77 was gorgeous and fascinating, but similarly lost on me because it was the fourth and final installment in the serial. Celtic Warrior was as cool as it was ...

0 out of 0 found this review helpful.