tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91567882060362594992024-03-14T00:49:39.616-07:00The Q Review - Comic Book Reviewsdrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.comBlogger389125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-85005194161543838802011-10-31T07:25:00.001-07:002011-10-31T07:25:52.538-07:00Spaceman #1With a ten-year collaboration on the critically acclaimed 100 Bullets already under their belts, along with the preceding Jonny Double and a brief flirtation with mainstream waters in Batman, it's becoming pretty clear that Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso have a good thing going. Their latest effort, the nine-issue limited series Spaceman, signifies a triumphant return to the seedier type of drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-76257086354803903592011-10-31T07:22:00.001-07:002011-10-31T07:22:54.715-07:00Wolverine and the X-Men #1It's opening day for the rejuvenated Xavier school for mutants, and this time it's not just the underclassmen that are adjusting to a new environment. Following the events of Schism, Wolverine's found himself headmaster of the east coast squad, and he's appointed a faculty full of familiar faces. In further evidence of the cyclical nature of all things human, (or homo superior, as it were) many drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-6086003473689175152011-09-26T09:46:00.000-07:002011-09-26T09:47:06.288-07:00Star Trek (2011) #1Confidence is a trait James Kirk never seemed to lack in Star Trek's recent film reboot, but for that quality to truly manifest itself into something meaningful, it requires the respect and loyalty of one's peers. That's something we never had a chance to see in play during the squad's first adventure, as Kirk spent the entire tale proving his worth and, ultimately, staking a claim to the drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-71484408125997013082011-09-05T12:32:00.001-07:002011-09-05T12:32:59.180-07:00Planet of the Apes #5When this issue rolled into my review box, I momentarily paused to consider how such a lucrative franchise had managed to avoid this medium for so long. After all, the intelligent blend of sci-fi and fantasy seen in the Apes seres has typically fared very well in comic books, and without any concern for prosthetics and special effects to get in the way, the concepts and ideas behind the story drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-30502056356958032512011-09-05T12:30:00.000-07:002011-09-05T12:33:11.091-07:00The Rinse #1
With no shortage of crime drama on the shelves today, it can be difficult for new books in the genre to make their mark, particularly ones without the benefit of a big-name creative team. In the case of The Rinse, new from Boom! Studios, the goal is to overcome both issues by shedding light on a heretofore under-explored aspect of the shady man's business: the laundering, or "rinsing," of dirtydrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-87612118838772522372011-08-29T05:27:00.000-07:002011-08-29T05:29:31.551-07:00Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011) #1With no less than eight different titles in its past, each bearing their own unique set of continuity implications, one might think the ship has sailed on ever truly rebooting the famed TMNT license. And, considering the somewhat speckled public reaction to the turtles' animated relaunch efforts, the timing of another fresh take might be considered suspect as well. However, considering the tidal drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-48275967798801213622011-08-15T06:35:00.000-07:002011-08-15T06:37:27.069-07:00Detective Comics #881An interesting thing about children – sometimes they don't fall far from the tree, as the old adage says, but sometimes that fruit lands on a slope and rolls into dark, unfamiliar territory. Such is the case with Commissioner James Gordon, whose biological son and adopted daughter are the figureheads of this month's drama. While Barbara has always embraced the path of the righteous, fighting drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-46872008975061433912011-08-15T06:33:00.000-07:002011-08-15T06:35:38.799-07:00Hellboy: The Fury #3With nearly twenty years of stories behind him, Mike Mignola's Hellboy is still moving forward with a voracious appetite, investigating the supernatural issues no one else dares to touch. On this adventure, though, he very well may have bitten off more than he can chew. That's no hyperbole either, as the scale and stakes have never been higher, both for Hellboy and the planet itself. Staring downdrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-50464460950990480912011-08-08T05:32:00.000-07:002011-08-08T05:34:02.151-07:00Daredevil #1It was bound to happen sooner or later: when the primary facet of a character's personality is the way he handles a series of increasingly gloomy situations, eventually there's going to come a time when the storm has to break. A hero can either resign himself to his fate and curl up in the gutter or seek to reverse his fortunes with a new outlook on life – and I'll give you one guess which drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-22961175992564050982011-08-08T05:31:00.000-07:002011-08-08T05:32:54.303-07:00Superman #714With their days numbered thanks to the publisher-wide relaunch that arrives later this summer, one could easily come to the conclusion that the air's been let out of many of DC's upper-tier books. And I'd love to tell you differently, that the creative teams in question are using the impending shake-up as motivation to tell the stories they've always wanted to tell, not a death sentence looming drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-31292599752952738272011-05-09T10:03:00.000-07:002011-05-09T10:08:06.833-07:00Action Comics #900It seems Lex Luthor has unveiled a plan to usurp Superman as the preeminent power in Metropolis, and once again he appears to have accounted for every possible out the Man of Steel could discover. This round, Lex has been infused with the power of a god, gifted by a nameless, faceless entity formerly housed in the Phantom Zone. Naturally, though, Omnipotent Luthor's first act isn't something out drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-67497691154887031862011-04-21T11:56:00.000-07:002011-04-21T11:57:47.590-07:00Malignant Man #1When your day-to-day involves a hospital gown, waiting room music, clusters of whirring medical equipment and a series of stern, sympathetic looks from the doctor, it can be tough to find something worth living for. Such is the case for Alan Gates, a cancer patient who’s just been told he has less than a month to live. So it shouldn’t come as a total shock that, when confronted with an armed drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-84395613167730894922011-04-11T14:18:00.000-07:002011-04-11T14:19:43.098-07:00Fear Itself #1Let's just take it for granted that things are a bit rocky in the Marvel Universe. Though the classic Avengers have finally reassembled, Norman Osborn has been removed from power and the sun seems to be rising over the horizon, things are far from perfect both within Avengers mansion and outside its golden gates. And as the unrelenting dust storm begins to start up yet again, the publisher's mostdrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-8830245291230593382011-04-11T14:14:00.000-07:002011-04-11T14:23:33.143-07:00Green Wake #1Image's latest foray into the surreal, Green Wake, provides yet another chance for the versatile publisher to showcase its flexibility. The mini-series, a murder mystery set in a Silent Hill-styled purgatory for hopeless spirits, is horror in a more subdued manner than, say, The Walking Dead or Hellblazer. Its lofty aspirations seem to be of a cloudy, atmosphere-dominated tangle in the same vein drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-74257212771379504052011-03-14T06:13:00.000-07:002011-03-14T06:14:24.400-07:00Herculian #1Though it may not appear to be the case from the cover, Herculian is a bit more than a simple, tongue-in-cheek homage to the bygone days of superheroic excess. Granted it’s not without such dalliances, but on the large this single-issue package is more like a stream of consciousness playground for one of the industry’s quirkier imaginations. Erik Larsen, who’s been virtually absorbed by Savage drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-89043454452927376542011-02-23T09:50:00.000-08:002011-02-23T09:51:22.623-08:00Hellblazer #276John Constantine can never be accused of standing still in one place for too long. At the helm of Vertigo’s longest-running series, Hellblazer, John's been to prison on several continents, vacationed in a dozen different planes of existence, died of cancer, stared down the devil and lived in a cardboard box. Most recently, he’s added a scarred brow, thumbless left hand and raven-haired bride to drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-55091546635298427072011-02-23T09:48:00.000-08:002011-02-23T09:50:08.932-08:00Uncanny X-Force #5Though it is but five issues old, already Uncanny X-Force has asked a series of morally-vexing questions refined enough to distance it from the other titles in Xavier’s family. By its very definition an unusually dark wing of the school, the latest revision of this team features a roster that’s united by the residue of evil on their soul. Archangel, Deadpool, Wolverine, Psylocke, Fantomex – thesedrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-40930829418083756022011-02-15T06:23:00.000-08:002011-02-15T06:26:01.935-08:00Deadpool and Cable #26It’s been more than a year since Cable took a dirt nap at the conclusion of the X-Men’s last major crossover, Second Coming, and even longer since the last issue of Cable & Deadpool hit the stands. The duo did enjoy a single-issue reunion at the tail end of the deceased gunslinger's self-titled series, though, which I’d presume is responsible for this one-shot’s inherited numbering. Given drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-77408132082378752512011-02-15T06:22:00.000-08:002011-02-15T06:23:31.329-08:00From the Vault: Doctor StrangeWhen you’re running a business in the creative industry, there are bound to be unexpected casualties. That’s just as true in comics as it is anywhere else, perhaps more-so, and this long-lost Doctor Strange story is one such victim. Originally plotted and illustrated thirteen years ago, it sat in an unfinished state for over a decade when Marvel Universe, the series it was intended for, ran drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-37187299886260408732011-01-31T12:50:00.000-08:002011-01-31T12:52:14.311-08:00Fantastic Four #587Well, this is it: the issue you've been hearing about in all the filler segments of the local news. This month the Fantastic Four lose one of their own, and (if we're listening to all the hyperbole spewed by the Marvel promotions department) nothing will ever be the same again. Frankly, I'm surprised the mainstream media still buys into these grandiose claims of heroic death in the comics drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-73286611520137726012011-01-31T12:47:00.000-08:002011-01-31T12:50:11.407-08:00Wolverine and Jubilee #1The perennial runt of the litter, Jubilee's never had a fair shake from anyone: her family, her teammates, her readers… even her life. Perhaps most distressingly for the young former Generation X'er, that trend doesn't seem to be changing course. De-powered by the Scarlet Witch along with most of the mutant race on M-Day, Jubilee felt isolated just hanging out with her former teammates, despite drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-68461881802090845122011-01-25T14:55:00.001-08:002011-01-25T14:57:45.783-08:00Heroes For Hire #2Disintegrating completely after a pretty rough run of things during World War Hulk, it’s been a little over three years of inactivity for Marvel’s ragtag group of mercenaries, the Heroes for Hire. Appropriately enough, since it was a company-wide summer crossover event that led to their split, it was Daredevil’s recent mega-storyline, Shadowland, that brought them back together again, albeit withdrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-51935316267851536622011-01-25T14:53:00.000-08:002011-01-25T14:55:04.379-08:00Spawn #200Like the reanimated corpse at its epicenter, after two hundred issues and eighteen years of publication, Todd McFarlane’s Spawn is still slowly lurching forward. But as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and despite the intimidating volume number and a new protagonist, this series is still in virtually the same place it was way back in 1992. A borderline giddy, drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-47823908501424241032011-01-25T14:51:00.000-08:002011-01-25T14:53:16.057-08:00Avengers Prime #5The classic Avengers squad of Thor, Iron Man and Captain America may have finally reassembled into a single formidable unit once more, but they’re still badly in need of a group hug. After alien invasions, assassinations and superhuman registrations, the three heads of this all-world superhero stable still have some major issues to work through – and, fortunately enough, they’ve stumbled into thedrqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9156788206036259499.post-4760029931133354132011-01-25T14:48:00.000-08:002011-01-25T14:51:42.358-08:00John Byrne’s Next Men #2After fifteen years, comics legend John Byrne has returned to his first creator-owned property, Next Men. A pondering on the feasibility of a squad of government-created superhumans in the real world, the series was a moderate hit for Dark Horse before Byrne placed it on the backburner to investigate new ideas in the mid-'90s. Now, in addition to adopting a new publisher, the series seems to be drqshadowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14114632623890865250noreply@blogger.com0