-
5 (12) 4 (34) 3 (24) 2 (4) 1 (4) 3.7 starsAverage score of 77 user reviews
-
Green Lanterns beat Krona and save the Little Blue Guys 0
Love this book and it doesn't hurt it's a key. Earth 1 and Earth 2 Green Lanterns concoct a scheme to switch rings to counteract their weaknesses that Krona tries to advantage. Further they even switch minds as well as rings. Convoluted plot but the Guardians lock him up for good.It's a shame that in modern continuity that Alan Scott is gay. There is no way. To cater to a minority population and then ruin a character like Alan is not right. In GL 40, all that is cared for by the reader is a gala...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
A Forbidden Love, A Battle Won 0
AquamanYou ever notice sometimes how “serious” critics take these superhero films and chop them to pieces, have likely never read a comic book in their life and more often than not have the imagination of an earthworm?Excuse the rant!First Thoughts: Super impressive film, very much on par with the Silver Age silliness combined with the modern day badass hero Aquaman.Story and Plot:His intro in Justice League was fair, just enough to interest us. As with most DC films, the characters...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Aquaman Battles a Diver Turned Monster in a struggle for Power! 0
Showcase 32First Thoughts:The Showcase series originally was a try-out issue of a new DC character who, if successful, got his own mag. All in color for a dime! Early Aquaman fought monsters and had his sidekick Aqualad along in their undersea adventures.Story and Plot:Aquaman and Aqualad discover a diver in trouble. The diver is rescued and gives a tale about a wizard and deep-sea treasure. Through a series of situations and traps, Aquaman, helped by his ability to tell fish what to do – ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Wild & Crazy Prehistoric Antics 0
Sea Devils #18 starts off with strange creatures stealing coffee bean bags. Why? Biff says it’s because they want a cup of coffee. He gets panned. Our intrepid quartet get in their subs and find bags of coffee along the way. Could they be lured into a trap? Eventually we find a prehistoric area where if you hang around long enough you turn into a finned creature right out of Atlantis. As they change, Biff makes a joke about Judy. He is panned. People are killed in this one. Also the funkiest, w...
2 out of 2 found this review helpful. -
Spectacular Look at the Golden Age! 0
The 100 page Super Spectacular series was really fun to read. The Batman tales from the 1940s even more so.This issue is designated DC-20, printed September 1973 and has ten pretty decent stories from the Golden Age of comics.The development of "Harvey Kent" (later "Dent" in modern comics) was interesting -- a madman throws acid on half his face, and he turns to a life of crime. The story is an interesting mix of romance, knocking some sense into Harvey's head, and as Harvey turns from crime ho...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Pretty Bad "Horror", Cheaply Made -- Waste of $4.75! 0
This has got to be one of the worst horror comics I’ve read in a long time. For $4.75 you get a black & white, penciled-styled art relating more to gore and incomprehensible stories than anything else. Beatty writes and draws these six stories which seem to be more for shock value than anything else. Take the “Giants Fishing story.” These ordinary people somehow end up in a lure basket and people are being skewered onto a hook as bait for fish. How’d they get there? Who knows? The ending was...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Dust, Dirt & Danger as Buffaloes are Slaughtered 0
The Thundering Herd is a decent adaptation of the Zane Grey story. Dell Comics didn’t wear the “Comics Code Authority” seal, soon after Congress and others accused comics companies of contributing to juvenile delinquency, since their comics were “good comics.” And it’s true. Their four-color issues were fun to read and dealt with wholesomeness but also tended to sugar-coat the realities of life as here on the open prairies. The Kindle version starts out with a nice painted cover of a cowboy as ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Escape to a Planet to Watch the Fight of the Century! 0
From October 1963 comes the Silver Age Superman in his continuing battle with Lex Luthor. In this issue it is said that their boyhood rivalry finally comes to a head in this issue.The cover is striking. Superman being beat up by Luthor on a red sun where Supes has no powers. How the heck did that happen? Looks like Curt Swan art on the cover.There are two stories inside. The first has Luthor in jail, brooding about Superman and how jealous he must be for Luthor’s supreme intelligence. No one can...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Five War Novels 0
I remember the old 100 pagers from DC comics but never picked up a war comic of that era.These stories are pretty cool. The Viking guy comes to us as he is on his way to Valhalla, but then gets swamped in some dimensional warp and ends up on a Nazi battlefield. Since the "huns" have been around a few thousand years, it's only natural that a Viking will want to stave in a few Nazi helmets. Robert Kanigher wrote most of this comic book and he does a great job of keeping in the excitement and horro...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
The Untitled are Entitled, I Guess! 0
I admit I’m not that familiar with The Outlaws. I did enjoy the Red Hood, aka Jason Todd, from Lob’s book “Hush”, but Hood is leaner and meaner in this one.Anyone who reads reviews knows the basic idea that Jason teams up with Roy, formerly known as Arsenal, and Starfire, where all humans look alike to her and she’s pretty free with the sex card.Several of the scenes are clearly sexist, such as Starfire in various states of nudity, which is OK for a red-blooded American male like me, but that’s ...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Origins! 0
Being inundated by origin stories, at first I said to self, "No, not again!" Origins, reboots and so on, you get burned out as a comics fan. But with being impressed with Johns' Green Lantern series, I gave it a shot.Nice hardcover book, easy to hold in the hands as you admire Frank's artwork. Batman as Bruce Wayne, a happy kid living in a mansion, part of a family that helped build Gotham (along with the insane family, the Arkam's. There is an attempt to connect the families, but this is not a ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Secret Agent Man 0
This fun Silver Age book takes advantage of the I-Spy and Man from U.N.C.L.E.-style TV shows at the time. Aquaman is being duped by a duplicate of a government agent, and Aquaman inadvertently helps OGRE to capture and get ransom money in exchange for the delegates.I found the story somewhat interesting: How he blows off Aqualad at the start of the story, how Aquaman sees a signal that he's needed by the government (a ruse, but the story never explains how OGRE found out about these secret codes...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
No Free Lunch! 0
The Before Watchmen limited series continues with The Nite Owl #1.My fav writer J. Michael Straczinski and my fav artists Andy and Joe (Our Army at War) Kubert son and father team really rock with this series.A boy who adores the Nite Owl, has his room plastered with the stuff – action figures, posters, comics, etc. Who could not relate? Or a father who berates the kid. Alas, who could not relate?The story turns from bad to worse when Daniel finds his mom being belted by his father. Joe’s art is...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
A Different Take - Liked It! 0
The film is not "better" than Tobey MacGuire's version of Spiderman in the first film; in fact it is not really a "remake." It's a reimagined version.What's best about this version? The fact we return to the original Stan Lee(creator of the Spiderman mythos)/Steve Ditko (original artist) tale of a nerdy boy who falls for Gwen Stacy. And like that original story, we have Captain Stacy, a kind Uncle Ben (played seriously by Martin Sheen) and a very sympathetic Aunt May (surprisingly well by Sally ...
4 out of 4 found this review helpful. -
The Kennedy Connection! 0
Before Watchmen: Comedian #1 digital combo pack variant coverThe Comedian was interesting. The story unfolds where the Comedian is pals with the Kennedys. Apparently Jackie knows about the Kennedy-Monroe affair and convinces the Comedian to take care of her and he does, by getting Marilyn to overdose. They also mention the Chicago mobster Giancana, who rumor has it was an operative who attempted to kill off Castro. But I can’t find anywhere that Giancana had an affair with Marilyn. Hmmm.Well, de...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
The Curse of Fame 0
Not to reveal too much, but this next Before Watchmen outing is pretty good, with art and writing by Darwyn Cooke and Amanda Conner, it involves Silk Spectre #1 in dealing with her own problems of loss and being a single mom, and hoping to train her daughter to be a fighting superhero, that she forgot that her daughter is really just a teenager with the problems and loves and jealousies she needs to put up with, growing up. But growing up with a famous mom who has a less than moral past.It’s a c...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Entertaining Bio! 0
The Minutemen issue with DC Comics’ “prequel” of Alan Moore’s and Dave Gibbons’ classic was nicely done. The problem I had with the original Watchmen were the many vignettes and breaking up the story into news articles – which is OK, but was overdone.Rather, Darwyn Cooke (DC’s New Frontier, Richard Stark, etc.) does a great job of updating the beginnings of the Watchmen and reflects on what would happen if a team of heroes got together during the Great Depression. How would they get together?The...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Decent Stepping Off Point! 0
This issue was a bit better -- we see Kara a prisoner on a space station run by a crazy guy. An employee pities her as she struggles against the pain of a kryptonite meteor rock! I liked how the writers developed the idea that with compassion you can actually foregoe your mad employer's plan at world domination -- except when you get caught! Kara is still struggling with the idea of being on Earth and discovers a clue -- a red crystal -- that may hold the key to her origins. Unlike the...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Unnecessary Origin 0
Do we really need another Supergirl origin? I do understand the whole New 52 thing and there has been some amazing work done with the Bat books and to a large degree with Swamp Thing. Even Action Comics has some great points. But I did not like having to read, again, about Supergirl arriving, not knowing what's going on and now in this comic she doesn't believe Superman when he says the planet Krypton was destroyed. And then she ends up on a space station run by a bad guy. Shades of Lex ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Clobbering Time At Last! 0
Fantastic Four No. 601After the exciting events of #600, with the Human Torch alive and well in the Negative Zone and comes into the middle of an armada of Kree ships bent on destroying Earth, Johnny Storm has a plan of his own to help.Cover: The cover is pretty minimal, with The Thing looking hard out of the cover with those baby blues as he is about to lay into an enemy. If you saw #600, this could only be The Sentinels, and you're right!Characterization: It's taken me awhile to catch up with ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
I Missed Some Issues, But So What? Great Wrap-Up! 0
Detective Comics 4, New 52I saw Tony S. Daniel's first New 52 Batman story in Detective Comics 1, and I'm sorry to say I missed the next two issues so I had to play catch-up with this new issue.Cover: Batman is all tied up with a bunch of Jokers pulling the strings. How did Batman get into this mess, as his muscles bulge from struggling against the ropes. Is it worth the $2.99?Characters: Bruce Wayne hits the streets running and catches up to a hood, Raju, who will play a pivotal point later in ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Simone's Arc Ends, A New Chapter Begins! 2
Batgirl No. 4, The New 52Cover: Finally, a battle between Mirror and Batgirl, with a boot in his face enticing the reader to open this book up quick! Ardian Syaf does great work on the cover and artwork. Gail Simone wraps up the arc entitling this tale "An End to Dreams."Illustration:Batgirl in a wheelchair. What? Yeah, we start out with some psychological angst between Batgirl and Barbara's identities. She argues with herself and has a nightmare about it – "why did you get a miracle when so man...
0 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Batgirl Bites - And That's a Good Thing! 0
Batgirl No. 3, The New 52Though Batgirl is more knowledgeable than ever about her antagonist, The Mirror, this book is more about her relationships with her father and Nightwing (the former Robin, Dick Grayson). Gail Simone does not write a maudlin reminiscence although does a few flashbacks to reacquaint the new reader as to their relations, but spends a bit more time on that than is comfortable. Still, a decent middle arc issue.Cover: Batgirl knocks Nightwing out with a two-boot bash in the he...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Issue 2 Review 0
Comicvine is missing the second 1994 issue, so here we go:The 1994 edition of Archie’s Christmas Stocking comic was a lot of fun. The 1995 calendar fold-out was good, and the Dan DeCarlo cover is fun and sexy. What entertainment we got for $2.00 back in the 1990s!In the first story, Jingles makes an appearance and uses his computer to put in all the gang’s wishes – wishes that involve dating Archie without Betty or Veronica finding out. But Jingles falls asleep on his keyboard and Archie ends up...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Morrison's Great 0
Grant Morrison, our favorite Scotman, is a very creative writer and came up last January with an interesting idea: train more Batmen throughout the world and call it Batman, Inc. Bruce Wayne arrives in Japan with the Catwoman as they attempt to stop a gang that deals in Death – the gang kills this guy Mr. Unknown and we see how Batman deals with this. After a few tussles, we meet Jiro, and he shoots the Lord Dead man dead! And a trap with a squid at the end, and Catwoman all tied up, is kinda si...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A Good Start 0
There’ve only been five issues done so far with this series. In the first issue, David Finch writes up Batman’s involvement in his town of Gotham. Even as Bruce Wayne spends time working on his Batman, Inc. project, a missing woman, Dawn Golden, whom he knew as a sullen child, comes into his life again as a victim.Great panels as he tussles with Killer Croc, doped up on Venom, that increases Croc’s strength, and gets him to talk. After some brooding with his butler, he finds the Penguin is invol...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Swords! 0
Sword of Valor (1990)This is an independent imprint, A+ Comics, and frankly I bought this only for the Frank Frazetta cover! I mean look at it, it’s pretty fierce.Some of my favorite DC and Marvel crew are also in this one – Jim Aparo and John Buscema along with Tom Sutton. Great Silver and Bronze Age guys that’s a pleasure to read.Roger Broughton, the publisher, explains how he bought out Charlton and American Comics Group (oh, that’s what happened!) and that there are other ideas coming than H...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Sexy Holiday Cheer 0
The sexy horror host Elvira had a special holiday edition in her Elvira’s House of Mystery magazine back in 1987 with a neat George Perez cover. Santa certainly is enjoying himself!The first story is a parody on A Christmas Carol, where Cain ,Abel and Destiny help realize that getting Christmas “shoved down your throat” once a year is better than a lot of things. Wow! Good Frank Springer art. Frank is better known for working on Marvel’s Dazzler and Nick Fury, Agent of Shield.The second story is...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Has a Flare for the Dramatic 0
OK, so I'm not a big fan of Flare nor of the Heroic Publishing's stable of heroes. I got this book since it was regarding the holiday and found the cover story to be about Thanksgiving but also regarding racism. The "racist" in the story is a 12 year old girl who resents Flare, the new girlfriend of a man in this black family. Everyone else accepts her, especially as she can float around with super-powers. The story does not end well, really. The girl finally comes to grips but goes through...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Retro Review - Thanksgiving 1990! 0
There is nothing on this planet more corny, hilarious and "out there" than the science fiction of DC Comics from the 1950s and 1960s. Strapped by the Comics Code Authority, comic book companies were trying to come up with stories that were not shocking or bloody but unfortunately when the opposite side of the pendulum, writing fair and forgettable stories.Despite this, great art by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson raised the bar on these books.Strange Adventures 132 I picked up for a song mainly ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
I Want Your Children! Good First Issue! 2
J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman (writers and artist) put together a decent Batwoman 1 story, just enough info to keep you guessing what's going on and luring you deep into a twisted storyline that of course leads to Issue 2.The story starts with a mysterious, ghost-like thing that captures children – they call her La Llorona, "the weeping woman." Not much is known of her, except when we get to the centerfold of the comic and find a thirteen year old (see the hand) dead and another missin...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Retro Review -- Ditko & Ayres Magic! 0
Strange Tales 122I love the done-in-one stories from the Silver Age of Comics – or should I say the Marvel Age of Comics? Stan Lee penned some pretty plenty powerful pieces of scripts for the two stories in 122.The cover proclaims the "Three Against the Torch,", art by Don Heck and written by Stan "The Man" Lee. The villains are a bit lame, but they're not super-powered, yet they have the skill and strength to take down Johnny Storm before they move on to his sister.Trapped in a mobile home and ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Strange Bites 0
This Doctor Strange book takes a few issues from the Tomb of Dracula and Doctor Strange series of comics from the mid-1980s and weaves together a story arc that is fun to read as well as, at least for me, some interesting art skills. You can't beat the master Gene Colan and his stuff shines as we first encounter Count Dracula and Dr. Strange does not fare well. In fact he gets himself bit! Even his astral self has a hard time. Drac is no push-over for sure. We do see some other guys ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Dark & Incredible Saga! 0
First Impressions:Claremont and Byrne did an exciting job of presenting the X-Men and their confrontations with Dark Phoenix, an incarnation of Jean Gray who has no heart or soul, but just desires raw power and lets nothing stand in her way! I'm not a big X-Men fan though the many issues I have read deal with teenage angst, relationships and flaws that Marvel made famous. Marvel was unique in showing the flaws in their heroes. Plans and Plots:In the late 1970s/early 1980s many of the X...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A Decent Start to the Series 0
The first issue of Mystery Men reads like a crime novel or a film noir, complete with corrupt cops, sensuous women, a serial killer and a couple of guys with extra guts or extra powers who want to find out who killed Alice Starr, a Broadway actress and wish to team up. I'm not sure where Mystery Men is going yet, but I was impressed with the art. The violence that comes off the pages (a guy gets shanked right through the chest, a woman lies bloodied at the foot of a bed) thanks a psychopath...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
A Decent First Issue But Why? 0
First Impressions: The comic is now moving into its seventh issue -- but the character was not that popular in 2005, why try to resurrect her now? This comic just came out of nowhere and I liked the cover so I picked it up. Despite the "warning" about the book being a "synapse-shattering superhero debut" I thought it not bad. Anya Corazon reminds me of the earlier Spidergirl way back in Amazing Fantasy 1 as Arana. Not to be confused with Spiderwoman nor the alternate universe Amazing Spid...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Strange Space 0
Some of these Silver Age comics are hilarious, many times inadvertently. In the first panels of the first story, a radio telescope has spotted a strange object in the sky. "Jim, come quick," Fred says. Jim listens on the speaker and gets angry that he was interrupted from changing the water in his aquarium! I mean hello, can you do your job, Jimmy? He continues to complain that his fish might die, but the kids are taught that fish exhale and breath water just like people breath air. ...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Life After Storm 0
I have not been keeping up with Marvel's First Family until recently and was saddened by the hype, uhm, I mean news about the death of Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. The way it ended with him sacrificing himself before hordes of beings bent on overrunning the Earth was cool, but why didn't he just "nova" and wipe them out? I am hopeful that this is a temporary comic book death. Even so, the Torch has been around since 1961 and a Golden Age version years before that, so this is indeed the ...
0 out of 0 found this review helpful. -
Miss This Issue & You're a Poozer! 0
This issue starts the War of the Green Lanterns arc in earnest, as Johns further expands what was introduced in 63. The Guardians on Oa continue to complain about Hal Jordan and their desire to capture him. The story dwells a little too much on this and I think it's a waste of panel space. Let's get some action! Great centerfold art in this one! Krona shows up on Oa with all the spectrum entities and he uses them in evil fashion on the Guardians. What is even more shocking is that the Ye...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful. -
Retro Review: Aliens and Lee Elias Art! 0
The cover really captures the imagination. This guy who became four parts alien is suddenly split into four equal creatures and three of them all attacking him! I used to love this kind of comic book as a kid -- the bright cover, the fantastic premise and silly story were clear draws for me -- along with a large glass of Hi-C punch and 12 cents plunked down for a bit of cheap entertainment. Ultra is our Multi-Alien. This is the May 1966 issue. Captain Ace Arn at first is despondent...
1 out of 1 found this review helpful.
Use your keyboard!
- ESC
Log in to comment