OLD COMICS

Ok, here's some old reviews.

********************************************************************** UPDATE (08-June-99) Sorry it took so long, but here's some new reviews:

GENERATION X #54 was, as usual, a great comic!! Lots of fun with the usual gorgeous art. Spoilsport looks fab in this issue, and I definitely want to see more of her (so to speak!!). The story is the conclusion of the gang's trip to Madripoor to retreive a sword for Adrienne. Nice touch at the end when it's revealed that the sword was used to kill her husband. (Nicer touch was that Adrienne herself arranged to have him killed!!) A fast paced issue, but good nonetheless.

Not sure about HOURMAN # 5. This issue, he takes one of Rex Tyler's (the original Hourman) miraclo pills and he hallucinates. The story mixes modern art with the "flat" style of art from Rex's time. That was a nice touch. Our Hourman (EH?!) relieves one of Rex's early adventures and experiences his emotions from childhood to his unfortunate death at the hands of Extant (during ZERO HOUR). Amazo also returns this issue and kills a cat (Booo!! Hss!). Hourman recovers from his trip and faces the JLAndroids!! Robotic versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and Plastic Man!! Nice enough story, but if you didn't read the first 4 issues, I don't how much sense this will make....

BATMAN:LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #120: This is it. The unmasking of Batgirl (to find out who she is, scroll to the NEWS section at the bottom the page!). It was a little undramatic, and a complete surprise. However, a the costume is filled by someone else by the end of this issue. A good read. Important, too. (For the cover, see: IMAGES)

PROMETHIA #1 was really good! A nice concept as to the origin of the Promethia power, although reminisent of The Sandman. The text at the end of the issue gave a great feeling of realism to the book. The story surrounds a girl's reaserch into the legend of Promethia and the startling discoveries she makes. This was a better first issue than TOM STRONG and well worth reading.

THE AUTHORITY #3 was, as usual, fantastic. The shock at the end of seeing hundreds of the super-human asassins flying through the sky was worth the cover price alone. As always, this somes with my highest recommendation. READ IT NOW!!

I was surprised how good 100 BULLETS #1 was. This is the new monthly book from Vertigo based of the question: If you could get away with murder, would you commit it? This first story centers around a former gang member named Dizzy who's family was gunned down in a drive-by. She's approached by the mysterious Agent Graves who gives her an attache case with the identity of the murderers, a gun with 100 rounds of ammo, and carte blanche immunity. Thankfully, this story isn't contained within one issue. I think it'll take about 3 issues before this arc is resolved. The only problem with this issue was the dialogue of the gang members. Lots of "ese"'s and "holmes". Made it hard to read. And annoying. Also, it'll be interesting to see if the series becomes focused on the identity of Agent Graves. If it does, it will detract from the premise of the book. Good readin', though. (For the cover, see IMAGES

FLASH #150 features the "death" of Wally West. It's the conclusion of the Chain Lightning story which pits The Flash against Cobalt Blue and The Anti-Monitor!! Excellent story, particularly for the end which shows a number of speedsters running through the speed force with the dialogue: "My name was Wally West. I was the fastest man alive". Brilliant!! Really moving!! This issue also introdues the new "Silver Flash", leading to the big mystery for the next few months; Who is he?! This issue has gotten me interested in The Flash again, and I will be buying it for the forseeabe future. (oh, except for the next issue, which is a flash-back story to the Wally's days as Kid Flash) (For the covers of #150 and #152, see: IMAGES)

********************************************************************** UPDATE (18-May-99)

GENERATION X #53 was really good!! Jay has totally got to grips with these characters!! And I was stunned by how good the art was! I used to hate Terry Dodson's artwork but he's easily one of my favorite artists now. The Rising Sons were ok characters. The coolest being Spoilsport who skates up walls on roller blades! Sounds lame, I know, but Terry renders her SO well! And in this issue we finally get to see where Penance is!! (In the basement, but hey, she's there!) There's also a wonderful scene between the Frost sisters. The bottom line is GENERATION X is good again!!

I was surprised by how good TOM STRONG #2 was. It was actually an enjoyable read! The best part being Tom's apperance on the...well, I'll not ruin it. Read it and see. (Does anyine else get the impression that TOM STRONG was developed in conjunction with a toy company? Hmmm.....)

MAGNETO REX #3 was really dull. But at least it ended well. (SPOILER: He keeps Genosha)

HOURMAN #4 was Ok. It was his showdown with Epoch. I'm not sure whether or not to keep buying this. I haven't NOT enjoyed the series so far but I don't love it either. We'll see what the next arc is like.

Oh.. JLA: YEAR ONE Trade Paperback is a GREAT read!! Not only is it moderatly priced (cheaper that buying the actual series and you know Marvel would have charged a fortune!) and lots of pages but this shows occasional sparks of brilliance such as Aquaman having an accent (something that never occured to me before) and mumbling because sounds travels better underwater. Excellent. I strongly recommend this.

**********************************************************************

UPDATE (03-May-99):

FLINCH #1 is crap. 3 stories that simply don't work in comic format. This wins the Bag O'Shite award for the time being.

X-MEN UNLIMITED #23 Oh my GOD!!!!! WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED TO THE X-MEN!?!??!?!?!? This was terrible and it WASN'T EVEN WRITTEN BY ALAN DAVIS!!!!!!! Prof Xavier broods about the place, giving out, shouting at people and generally acting COMPLETELY OUT OF CHARACTER!!! He whines that the new team doesn't work as well togather as the original and at the end they prove him wrong by , yes, you guessed it, working together!! ARARGAHGHGAA!! Bloody terrible.

Well, what a boring read EARTH X #3 was. I was bored to tears by the incessant dialogue between Uatu and X-51. The bulk of this stoy was taken up by a recap of Namor's history. HELLO?!?! If I was THAT interested I would read the MARVEL HANDBOOK! Tell a new story, please!!! As it is, Captain America and Redwing get about two panels of dialogue before the end, which I assume was supposed to shocking when we discover *gasp!* THE RED SKULL IS JUST A KID!!! OH MY GOD!! WE'VE KNOW THAT FOR MONTHS!! Ya call that a cliffhanger!?!?!?

Hmmmmm, it's been a bad comic week so far, hasn't it?? And I was also let down by JLA #30. This "Crisis Times Five" story is, well, it's not great. Can't quite put my finger on it but it lacks Grant's usual spark. Still, it's bound to be better than what Mark Waid'll come up with.....

That's your lot for now!!

********************************************************************** UPDATE (13-Apr-99):

Righty, read LUCIFER. It's FANTASTIC and the best thing I've read this year.

JLA continues to be fab.

The JSA revival in ALL-STAR comics was good, but as for the one-shots, I only read the GL/Johnny Thunder and Flash/ Mr. Terrific ones. The rest looked shite. Mr. Terrific turned out be a surprisingly interesting character.

GREEN LANTERN: THE NEW CORPS was great.

EARTH X continues to be readable.

THE AUTHORITY #1 was BRILLIANT and I will definitely be buying the rest of this series. This book comes with my highest recommendation. Just read it.

TOM STRONG #1 was........dubious. Not quite sure what to make of it yet but I already hate that goddamn monkey and he was only in it for two feckin' pages (Yes, Americans, "feckin'" IS a word and I didn't just spell "f**king" incorrectly).

Read THE DARKMINDS COLLECTIONS 1 & 2. No point reading it from the current issue 'cos you won't have clue one what's going on. The series is very good and a nice break from regular super-heroics.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS hardcover IS worth the money. It's a huge read.

X-MEN is now officially a gold-plated BAG OF SHITE!!!!!!!!!! And I'm a HUGE X-MEN fan! But sweet jesus, what have the last few issues been about?!?!? Joseph dies, Magneto gets his own country and instead of dealing with these issues, Alan Davis decideds he'd much rather shove the mutants into another dimension where their powers don't work properly. Gee, I haven't read that before!! His reason is that he loves the old stories where the X-MEN went into space and had grand adventures. Well, excuse-f**king-me but I would really like to read NEW STORIES AND NOT OLD ONES RE-HASHED!!!! Alan, go the hell away and give the book to someone with some talent. I'll not be buying this again 'till I see some drastic improvment.

MAGNETO REX is more of the same but at least the art is good.

GENERATION X is finally shaping to be the book it always should have been. The art is improving in leaps and bounds and I , for one, like the new costumes.

Jim Mahfood's GRRL SCOUTS #1 looked like a fun read. I'm a fan of Jim's unique style and I loved the GENERATION X UNDERGROUND SPECIAL but this book is, I'm sad to say, a tad on the crap side of things. The art is, of course, great, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. It started off fun, as 3 girls sit around smokin' dope and then procede to sell it, but things turn crap when guns'n'violence appear for no fuckin' reason. Jim's stab at large corporations (the evil business is "Nykee"...) and obvious anorak-like knowledge of shite Hip-Hop movies 'n' music that most of us don't give a genital wart about are tiresome at best and really break up the plot. (especially the latter). Give it up, Jimbo.

EARTH X #0
Marvel
Well it's finally here. Marvel's version of KINGDOM COME. And it's not a patch on it. Don't get me wrong, this issue was a good read, but a little disappointing. In this issue, Machine Man is transported to the moon to become the new Watcher. Uatu gives X-51 a lesson in the history of history. Seriously. Everything from the creation of Marvel-Earth which made for interesting reading. The artwork is good but I'm afraid taht I really would have loved Alex Ross to do the interior, not just the covers. (by the way, the cover looks an awful lot like the origin of the Human Torch that he did for Marvel Age shortly before the release of MARVELS. Coinky-dink?) Overall, it was OK and yeah,I will be buying the rest of the series. I'll let yis know.
Cover to Issue #0

THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE DEATH
Vertigo
This is a 4 part mini-series which focuses on one woman's attempt to become Death. This series features ideas from The Sandman series. (Death herself doesn't actually appear in this series.) I don't really know what to tell you about this story. It's good but really weird. After reading the whole thing I felt like nothing had actually happened. The artwork was suitably strange and it was nice to see Eblis O'Shaughnessy in a story but to be honest this was a story that simply didn't need to be told. If the idea was to use some ideas from The Sandman mythos then I really would rather have seen a story about Death. My fellings about this story remain mixed. But I'll tell ya that if you don't read this story, you won't be missing much.

Cover to Issue #3

GREEN LANTERN: THE NEW CORPS #1 (of 2)
DC Comics
Well here it is. The story we all knew was coming: Kyle Rayner sets of into space to create a new Green Lantern Corps. Or does he? Well I'm certainly not going to tell you! Go buy the damn book yourself!! Seriously though, this is an astoundingly good read!! I really really enjoyed this story! The artwork was great, the story was fast and the characters are actually quite interesting! Ok, so there are little niggling points (like where are these energy rings drawing thier power from without the Central Battery?!?) and Kyle loses his ring (eh?!?) far too easily but as I said, a great read and I'm looking forward to #2. (I must say, I'm surprised at DC releasing this in a prestige format. That kind of money-grabbing tactic is more Marvel's style)

Cover to Issue #1

JLA #27
DC Comics
It's the JLA versus the revamped AMAZO!! Possesing all the powers of the current JLA (as well as a few other tricks!), Amazo gives the world's greatest heroes a run for thier money as the JLA realise that they must call on all of their reserve members to combat him! But will the combined members of the Justice League, past and present, be enough? This is a great issue which is a fill-in but is still very entertaining. The dialogue between Superman, Batman and Martian Manhunter is brilliant!! And that second page spread of Wally and Kyle is excellent!! This series remains the highlight of my comic-buying month!

JLA #28
DC Comics
"Crisis Times Five" -part 1 It's the first meeting of the new JLA and the Justice Society. Imps from the fifth dimension are invading and up it's up to our heroes to stop 'em! Also, it turns out that someone's managed to "incapacitate" The Spectre! (I won't tell you how) This issue guest starts the JSA (duh) and Captain Marvel. It was an ok issue. I was put of by the different look of the book. I haven't checked yet, but I think they've changed inker and it's really altered the fell of the book. The paper quality was poorer, too. A mediocre issue in a fantastic series.
Cover to Issue #28

The Sandman presents:LUCIFER (#1 of 4)
Vertigo
This is the first part of the limited series based on the former ruler of Hell from the pages of The Sandman. For those of you who haven't read Sandman (shame on you!!), the deal is that Lucifer retired as ruler of Hell and now runs a very exclusive nightclub with a half demon-faced woman, Mazikeen. In this story, an Angel visits Lucifer with a request from Heaven: That he finds and stops the force that is granting people's wishes. Lucifer agrees to do so, for a price. The artwork is very suitable for the book and all-in-all it is very much in the vein of The Sandman. Lots of wordplay and half-truths, things said that hint at secrets not even Angels know... This is an extremely good first issue and I hope that the rest of the story contiues to deliver this standard.
Page from Issue #2

The Sandman presents:LUCIFER (#2 of 4)
Vertigo
Lucifer returns to Hell. If that doesn't mean a whole lot to you then you STILL haven't read The Sandman!! This is just so damn good I haven't the words. buy it. NOW.

STARGODS #2
Conquest Studios
OK, I'll admit it. I bought this for the computer-generated artwork. Sue me. The stroy is a Sci-fi/fantasy mix about all the ancient gods (Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Norse) and a evil force that's going to destroy them all. It's an alright sorta comic, really. The story is enjoyable. I love that convuluted talk! For example: RA: "Your kinsman's bitter action breaks the bow of trust, scattering the elusive fruit of peace." !! Fabulous!!! So over-the-top it's hysterical!! It's expensive but readable. (and the art is fantastic!!)

Picture (not from this issue)

WILDCATS #1
Wildstorm
This is the first issue of the much-ballyhooed relaunch of WILDCATS. Supposed to be a "jumping-on" point for those who have never read WILDC.A.T.S. (Like me.), with art by Travis Charest, this book definitely looks good but lacks....something. I'm certain that fans of the original series are having much more fun with this than I am. It's a nice concept: re-uniting members of the teams six months after they split up. Unfortunately, the story was light-weight and fairly uninteresting and I'm afraid that despite the fabulous artwork, I won't be back for more.

Promo Picture (not from this issue)

YOUNG JUSTICE #6
DC
Fun. That's what this story was! It's the first YJ story I've read since the team was formed in WORLD WITHOUT GROWN-UPS. In this issue, the JLA arrived at YJ HQ to have a little chat with the team. It's a nice story with some VERY funny moments (mostly centered around Arrowette). The artwork is cartoony and reminisent of Humberto Ramos' work on IMPULSE (and I don't think it's a coincidence!) A nice book and, based on this story, yeah, I'd buy it again.
Cover to Issue #6