This, truly, was a big week from Dark Horse Comics. 10 new issues and 5 Graphic Novels. I wish The Occultist would stop coming out. It really is awful. Otherwise, it was a solid week.
This was a big, second week of 2012. Plenty of new issues were available as well as some new Graphic Novels. Since next week is a small week, we'll review the Graphic Novels then. Titles are scored on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the very best possible. We take the time to read these books so your time isn't wasted.
House of Night - Issue 3
This issue was much more preachy than the last two issues. Still, tolerance of others and young female empowerment are still very much worthy of everyone's time. Especially the unusual theme of non-violence which you rarely see in comic books. Plus, it was kinda sexy. Oh, and the cover is still fantastic and the interior artwork isn't far behind.
Score: 8 out of 10
Kull: The Cat And the Skull - Issue 4 (of 4)
Sadly we said good-bye to Cat Power! This series was well written with clearly defined characters and obvious heroes and villains. Pretty great for sword and sorcery. The art is OK but the coloring is great.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand - Issue 1 (of 5)
Lobster Johnson is back! Barely. He's only in three or four panels but his fingerprint, er, claw-mark is all over the story. The story begins with a homicide-filled Scooby-Doo style mystery, is carried by magnificent artwork and story-telling, and finishes with true tension wrapped in a meaningful history lesson.
Score: 9 out of 10
The Occultist - Issue 3 (of 3)
This issue was easily the weakest offering of the week. The story is disjointed and is filled with terrible dialogue. Characters are loathsome and the stereo-typing is atrocious. The cover is nice and the coloring isn't awful. That this was published is disheartening. Thankfully, it is a mini-series and hopefully we won't see another mini-series about this subject.
Score: 1 out of 10
Dark Matter - Issue 1 (of 4)
Not the worst comic of the week but fairly average. We couldn't tell if the pencils and inks were just amateurish or a homage to the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz. There is a lot of pointless punching and kicking and much of the dialogue is not very good.
Score: 5 out of 10
Orchid - Issue 4
This book might have benefited had the title been "The 99%." Class warfare seems to be an underlying aspect of the story that Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello is writing about. Unfortunately, those are the best aspects of this book. We kept hoping it would get better, from prior issues, and we continue to be disappointed.
The story is silly and the characters do things that just seem arbitrary. A brand new character is introduced in this issue and the first half of the book is devoted to this character's back-story. And, at the same time, we know almost nothing about the title character, other than she makes threats because her brother is dead. We think he's dead. It's not really clear.
The art is kind of different and that's alright.
Score: 4 out of 10
Star Wars - Knights Of The Old Republic: War - Issue #1 (of 5)
The hero is unmemorable. The art is average. The coloring bland. The story doesn't make much sense and the characters have no clear motivation.
Score: 4 out of 10
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 - Issue 5
This is a great issue, even if you're not fluent in the language of Joss Whedon. Characters grow and change and relationships experience the same. The art is very different than what you tend to see in main-stream comics and it just seems to work. From the blooming art to the blooming title character, this one is spectacular.
Score: 8.5 out of 10
Star Wars: Agent Of The Empire - Iron Eclipse - Issue 2 (of 5)
If you enjoy Star Wars and James Bond, you may think this is the best comic book ever. It's exciting and sexy. The plot is clear and fun and the characters make you long for the next issue. It's everything the last three Star Wars movies should have been.
Score: 8 out of 10
The Strain - Issue 2
The artwork is average but it doesn't take away from the story. The mystery is great but the characters are very mechanical. Not as good as issue one but still pretty good.
We want to point out that in our review of issue one, we were unclear in attributing the writing credit which should have been for the great David Lapham. Sorry about that Dave.
Score: 7 out of 10
Like we said above, this was a big week. Titles worth your time include Buffy, Lobster Johnson, House of Night, Star Wars Agent of the Empire, Kull, and The Strain. Steer clear of Orchid, The Occultist, and Dark Matter. Overall this was a pretty great week for Dark Horse comics. Next week will be a few new issues and some Graphic Novels we didn't get to this week.
It makes me sad that Agent of the Empire is so good and Episodes I - III were so goddamned awful. If only Lucas would have hired real writers and directors for his films. I am hoping The Strain rebounds as this issue was feh.
0 comments:
Post a Comment