Comic Reviews - 8/2: Bad art and Booty calls.

Hey all you 1uppers!

Here is another round of reviews by me Chris Z. Lets get to work! 

Avenging Spider-Man #11 - $3.99 - Digital Copy - T+

So this is an ode to the 50th Anniversary of Peter Parker/Spider-Man.  It's a touching story between Aunt May and Peter rehashing the importance of Uncle Ben to the both of them.  The story by Zeb Wells is a decent for the touching tribute type, but nothing ground breaking.  The art which is done by Steve Dillion,  is really bad. Now I am not going to blame Steve, no not because I have a framed sketch by him up on my wall, but because he is consistent in everything he has done. I set the blame squarely on the Frank Martin Jr.  Now Dillions work is still and not very stylish but it has a certain charm that Martin has seem to hinder in this issue.  Every panel looks pixelated and out of focus, and the color pallet is meh at best. Read this story for the Uncle Ben tribute and by all means avoid the art.  If you are looking for good Dillion art work try The Punisher: Welcome Back Frank or any of the Garth Ennis line.

Story - 3/5
Art - 1/5

Justice League #12 - $3.99 - T

Superman and Wonder Woman, sitting on a roof. K-I-S-S-I-N-G....I'm just messing with you. So this is the issue that caused all the hoopla. The League was forced to confront the deceased loved ones.  Then we find out it was all a disillusions created by David Graves to get revenge on the League for losing his family.  This causes a rift in the League. The Green Lantern leaves, Superman and Wonder Woman make out and commiserate, and the League is falling apart.  This issue was a good setup for what's to come and I can't wait to see what comes next. But WTF is TMZ in there for? No other creditable sources available?  The collaborative art is great by Jim Lee, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado.  The three compliment one another's art so well that it isn't that noticeable when the art shifts in style.

Story - 3/5
Art - 3/5

AVX: VS #5 - $3.99 - Digital Copy - T+

Again this is one of my guilty pleasure, because there is no purpose for the book other than see heroes knock the crap out of each other.  The first pits a fight between Hawkeye and Angel. This was a very good fight that shows the strengths and weaknesses of each character which was good to use against one another. Hawkeye wins by being his cunning self and knowing he is out manned and out numbered, her shoots Angel with an arrow after they beat the ever loving crap out of one another.  The second fight is a nice marital fight between Storm and Black Panther.  Now your saying why would they fight? Because according to the book they had a weak marriage, which is crap we really know it's because they both bought into what their superiors are saying.  That being said Storm is giving up on her husband because of Cyclops? WTF? So Storm attacks Black Panther the entire time and all he does is defend himself, which were also pretty lame cop outs.  In the end Storm blindsides Black Panther then takes her ring off and that's the end.  The entire fight was meh the first fight by Jason Aaron was pretty good but not enough to save it.  The art was good, better then most of the regular AVX art.

Story - 2/5
Art - 3/5

Detective Comics Annual #1 - $4.99 - T

PICK OF THE WEEK
The best comic I read this week.  This issue deals with Black Mask escaping from Arkham and trying to locate all the masks from the False Face Society.  Its a great crime drama that plays out like every other cop drama, but it is done well. Criminal escapes, they extort a cohort, and main character chases down bad and solves mystery.  In the end they discover that this was an elaborate set up by Jarvis Tetch to collect all the masks in order to have hypnotics and mind control of the masks to take over the world!  It's also a great testament to the Black Mask's dependency for his mask and the power it has over others. In the end Batman kicks Black Mask square in the jaw which cracks the mask rendering it useless. They put both guys in prison and were able to recover the Masks which are being held, and Mr. Sionis is locked up again.   The art is amazing in this issue it fits the Dective Comics perfectly.  My favorite panel is when Batman, who is on fire, has his palmed by False Face Society strongman. It is great.  I highly recommend giving it a read, even if it is the N-teenth time the story has been told.

Story - 3/5
Art - 4/5

Green Lantern Annual #1 - $4.99 - T

First off, best cover of the week! Second, this was another great issue that dealt with The Guardians and their questionable ethics to remove chaos from the universe. Hal and Sinestro were both buried by Black Hand, and while they both escape and battle Black Hand.  The Guardians don't know any other way to stop to chaos other then create a Third Army lead by the first lantern, which remains a mystery as to who that is. There is a great scene that switches between Hal / Sinster and the Guradians fighting one another as  Hal and Sinestro are reciting the Green Lantern oath.  This angle where the Guardians are pulling out all the stops is an interesting one, because they charge up Black Hand so it will destroy Hal and Sinestro. As they are getting sucked into a vortex their rings merge into one and left to find the next Green Lantern. There are so many questions to answer as the Third Army rises.

This is just like the Green Lantern for me, multiple storylines intertwining and finally coming to a head and leading to a new story.  This is something Geoff Johns is great at and it works to lead to issue #0 of the Green Lanten. The art is by Ethan Van Sciver who is still in full stried and hasn't missed a beat.  It's a great issue, but I feel Batman edges it out in entertainment value for me and it was a complete story. Both are great reads so please pick them up or flip through them at least.

Story - 3/5
Art - 4/5


That's all folks. Until next week. Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Blog.

Also if you wanna Tweet at me hit me up @Zennie87