Sunday, December 11, 2011

Back of the Bin Reviews

scan0056
There's no theme for this group of reviews, but no less interesting, of course. A nice range of genres and characters, from Sherlock Holmes to Quasar. Some recommended comics to Dig for, some that definitely deserve to be Buried, and a couple I’ll leave to your judgement while you Sift through the bin...
 
This stack: 
Squdron Supreme #1 (1985)
Legion of Super-Heroes #2 (1984)
Immortal Iron Fist: Director’s Cut #1 (2007)
Karate Kid #1 (1976)
Original Man #1 (1992)
Quasar #1 (1989)
Sherlock Holmes #1 (1975)
Badger #50 (1989)





scan0060
Squadron Supreme #1
At first, I wasn’t really connecting with Marvel’s knockoff Justice League, but once it moved past the standard heroics and into dissecting the characters themselves, I was sold. CBNAH’s own Joseph R.L.B. championed 'Squadron Supreme’ over the more popular realistic superhero tale, 'Watchmen’. I can’t say that, based on issue #1, Squadron is better than Watchmen but I can see the potential. Sadly, the art is run of the mill but heroes that mock DC’s big guns AND a legit storyline..? Dig...
 
Legion of Super-Heroes #2
I keep trying to get into this title on my own, outside of these reviews. I’ve bought several issues but just have never had a good reading experience with the Legion. Each comic is a hodge podge of appearances by heroes with “boy” or “girl” in their name, with either not enough
scan0058
substance or too much unknown background history to really get what’s going on. If only the plots were as coherent and dynamic as the art. Dig...
 
Immortal Iron Fist: Director’s Cut #1
iron Fist is one of those characters, like Moon Knight and Spider-Woman, I love the idea of but rarely get into their solo comics. You get as much of Danny Rand’s unique 'tude as you do Iron Fist lore, alongside fantastic art. I’d caution you, though, to Sift for good Iron Fist titles. as I don’t think all his titles stand up to this run...
 
Karate Kid #1
From the pages of the Legion of Super-Heroes comes, the one without super powers, Karate Kid. I went into this fully expecting it to be a
scan0061
joke. I mean the guy’s name is Karate Kid. But I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Even with it’s mix of origin story and spin-off set-up, the comic quite enjoyable. The art is nothing to write home about and his defeat of the villain is straight out of 'Comics 101' but this gets a positive recommendation from me. There’s something about the Karate Kid, himself, that really struck a chord with me. He’s not a likeable guy, in my opinion, but I like him. I want to call him a dick and still root for him...Dig...
 
Original Man #1
This true indie comic was published by Omega 7 Comics. And by indie, I mean: no frills (and no ads), strictly amateur made comic. Far be it from to shit on someone’s labor of love but other than solid cover art the book looks as if they were inked and coloured by used utensils from around the house. The basics drawings are ok, the layouts and action are actually well done but the execution is...unfortunate. With a
scan0048
hero with 20 different powers and heavy handed pro-black tone, that even gave me a bout of “white quilt”, 'Original Man’ just doesn’t deliver. Bury any issue you might happen to run across...except this one. It’s worth a bargain buy just to read the opening comments from the creator about his ex-partner, racism in the comic book industry, and Marvel and DC’s plot to steal the new African American market...
 
Quasar #1
A sort of dragging origin story, Quasar’s self defeating personality not only saves him but the comic, as well. A lacklustre “cosmic” comic, Sift through this run of Quasar books (I previously recommended his later later series as Dig).
 
Sherlock Holmes #1
scan0062
Published by DC, I’m surprised Holmes and Watson didn’t make it into the DCnU. Though, I guess, he would’ve been in direct competition with Batman as lead detective and we couldn’t have someone outdo Batman, lol... Jokes aside, this book was a surprising bummer. Maybe I suffer from having seen so many adaptions of Sherlock and this particular story but it certainly didn’t add anything special to its presentation. Going to have to recommend you Bury this title...
 
Badger #50
This borderline screwball comic, from First Comics, presents a hero who’s sort of a mash up of Aquaman, Guy Gardner and Moon Knight. Not being familiar with the character and the intended tone of the book, I found it hard to jump right into the fun. After getting a feel for the humour and characters ‘Badger’ is a really refreshing comic. Badger’s multiple personalities (played, here, better than Aurora and possibly Moon Knight) and questionable powers are hilarious, but reigned in with street-level super heroics and slight environmentalist/leftist message. Interesting book with crisp, bright art... Dig...

No comments:

Post a Comment