Review: Promethea, Book Three

Promethea, Book Three by Alan Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The loop cracked

This books big problem is that the writer didn’t want to write about the fun stuff. The last part of this book is the writer doing what he did in volume 2 and that’s show-off his views on the occult. The actual story in this book is a forced ending to move the writer onto something they are more interested in. There isn’t a real resolution just get through the people stuff and end it on the magic stuff. The problem is not everyone wants to read more of the magic stuff. The writer didn’t care he just wanted to have his work show his views on magic. That made for a mostly boring book.

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Review: Promethea, #2

Promethea, #2 by Alan Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Magic school school, sort of

This is just the writer showing off what he’s read about magic. It’s more of him trying to teach you about what he believes and less about any story. Most of it interesting but the rest of it starts to drag. By the end it has you saying, okay, I get it, you’re into wizardry. It’s fine to see but the rest of the story plays as annoying background that doesn’t seem to matter in the end.

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Review: Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1

Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1 by Jonathan Hickman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good start

It’s just a good beginning to a new Avengers run. I wouldn’t call it anything more than good. If you’re looking for something better that comes later.

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Review: Batman: Year One

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the good Frank Miller Batman story. A man on a mission is the premise of the story. This is the Batman story that you can let your friends read and they can understand why Batman is cool. This story has the drama and action that you expect from Batman. It also shows that his is not the only life affected by living in Gotham City. The art carries parts of the story that don't need words. I think of Frank Millers Daredevil work and realize that his stories with Mazzuccheli are as gripping as Year One. This is the Frank Miller that is a great writer. This is him at best when writing superhero-noir comics. I recommend this book over the Dark Knight Returns so you should give this a try for yourself.

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Review: Promethea, #1

Promethea, #1 by Alan Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It’s a start to something familiar.

If you’re looking for Alan Morres best work this is not it. If you’re looking for him to write about two subjects that he doesn’t usually overload on, magic and sex, this is it. The story starts off about a girl discovering some magical goddess power but that gets brushed aside to the writer can spend the rest of the book talking about magic. Before that we get a wizard bribing the girl for sex in exchange for an intro to magic. The rest is two snake’s talk no about Tarot cards.

This ends up being the writer acting like he’s a modern Prof. Dumbledore teaching you how magic works. The problem is not everyone signed up for a magical history lesson. While it is interesting to a point it does get so esoteric that readers can easily lose interest in the characters. No one really sticks out as their only role is to get to the next lesson in the writers views on magic. There’s better stuff that you can read from him without all of the showing off.

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Review: Top 10

Top 10 by Alan Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Comic supercops

It's one part Law & Order and the other a nostalgia trip through comic book history. By the standard that Alan Moore is held to this is just above average. It's not great but it's better then what most writers can do. The ending is flat and you have to read the other related books to really get a better grasp on what he wanted to do. This is a fine intro into the universe of ABC (Americas Best Comics) but it wasn't the best thing that he created in this line.

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Review: The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1

The New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 by Marv Wolfman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is just the start of what ends up being one of the cornerstone runs of DC Comics. It gets better later but this volume is just a soft intro to some incredible work. If all you have seen are the animated series then this is where you get the characters and stories that you've seen on those shows. There are very few series that have the same impact as this run in any comic series.

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Review: DC Comics: The Art of Jim Lee Vol. 1

DC Comics: The Art of Jim Lee Vol. 1 by Jim Lee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wrong format

If you really want to get the best out of reading this book the digital format is not the way to go. If you are able to read the large physical print format do that instead. That is a better way to experience the art of this art book. There's no story here, it's a sketch book with some retrospective information within it. If you really want to deep dive into Jim Lees work and life this isn't the best way to do it. Keep in mind there's none of his Marvel work in here so enjoy his DC work and then look to spend money on his Marvel works. It's still a nice view but not a great read.

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Review: Space Ghost

Space Ghost by Joe Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

More than coast to coast

This is the hardcore origin story of Space Ghost. Take out any comedy or kiddie views on why a man would choose to be a ghost. The chase for justice starts with a need for vengeance for him. From there we see the start of what could have been really fun. This is a one off so you can get in and be done with just this book. I think more of this could have been great but this is still a solid story for a ghost.

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Review: Teen Titans: The Silver Age Vol. 2

Teen Titans: The Silver Age Vol. 2 by Bob Haney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Decent closeout

While not as fun as volume 1 it's still a nice read. You can move onto the other Titan books knowing the original run ended like this.

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Review: Teen Titans: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1

Teen Titans: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 by Bob Haney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Go, Go, Go Titans

If you're use to Teen Titans Go! this is a 1960s version of that type of story telling. I'm a Teen Titans fan so reading this was good to me. It's not for everyone but if you don't mind some dialogue that is outdated there's still a good group of stories in this book.

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Review: Avengers: The Enemy Within

Avengers: The Enemy Within by Kelly Sue DeConnick
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It’s more Carol Danvers has a headache

The book is more Captain Marvel than it is an Avengers book. It tries to establish that she has villains who are able to defeat her but they actually come across as generic. The art doesn’t work as the different artists are either poor or the shift from one to another is distracting. Overall this is a force your way through kind of book.

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Review: Camelot 3000

Camelot 3000 by Mike W. Barr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A comic that actually blends high fantasy and space opera well. This is the book that got it right. So there's sword and laser guns and it all makes sense. If you don't think King Arthur in space can work this comic proves you wrong. It's a book that was actually ahead of its time when it was released. The themes in it are very adult for a comic book about King Arthur. I think this comic fits in today which is something that very few comics can do.

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Review: Wolverine Classic Vol. 1 (Wolverine

Wolverine Classic Vol. 1 (Wolverine by Chris Claremont
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Slow start

It start the Wolverine regular series but it does so slowly. The end of this book isn’t even the end of the actual story. It’s fine but just that.

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Review: The Mysterious Affair at Styles

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dive into the world of mystery with Agatha Christie. That's how it should be introduced. The thing about this book is the tropes. The problem is this is one of the book series that established the tropes. Reading it kind of spoiled because you can guess whodidit already. Still seeing how Poirot solves the crime is most of the fun. The manorhouse murder mystery started here and I can see why it became popular.

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Review: King Thor

King Thor by Jason Aaron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Runs end

This closed off Jason Aaron’s run on Thor and not fast enough. I didn’t care for his tun on the character. This was an average book by itself but overall his run wasn’t good. It did influence the fourth Thor movie but you can see why that movie wasn’t good. There were and have been better Thor stories then this one so read one of those instead.

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Review: The Complete Peanuts, 1950-1952

The Complete Peanuts, 1950-1952 by Charles M. Schulz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s a start

While I grew up reading the Peanuts strips and watching the cartoons I never really got into them. This is the best starting point you could have to follow the entire series. All from the beginning and just going to the end. If you’re familiar with this type of humor then you’ll get plenty of it. Overall it’s good, the extra interview and biography stuff is fine to read as well.

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Review: Old Man's War

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm glad to see that there's still good quality Science Fiction being written. One of the things that is a concern nowadays is the comparison of older writers to newer writers. The classic writers set such a high bar that you end up wondering if some of these newer writers can match what came before. This book gives me hope that there are is a writer or two who can write a high quality Sci-Fi book.

This story is about an old man who gets the opportunity to live another life on a distant colony after he serves time in the Colonial military. From there we see what he goes through in the first few years of his service. A few twists and turns but we get to the near-end at the end. 

If you've read Starship Troopers or have seen the movie this has heavy vibes of that work. The story is written well in the diary format you find in Starship Troopers. The story has many of the themes you find in that book. The connection gets acknowledged by the author at the end of the book so the connection was not accidental. The difference being that this book leaves itself open to a sequel. 

I think I'll look into more of this writers work. I also have to credit the editors of this book. There's been plenty of time when I've read a book that feels like the tone shifts at the most random points. This book didn't do any of that, it stuck to what it was doing and that kept the book moving along nicely. This start into this writers works was a good start which I hope continues into more books.

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Review: The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Out of the night when the full moon is bright. 

Comes a horseman known as Zorro. 

This bold renegade carves a "Z" with his blade, 

a "Z" that stands for Zorro. 

Zorro the Fox so cunning and free. 

Zorro who makes the sign of the "Z".

I watched many episodes of the Zorro television show when I was young. I didn't watch every episode obviously but I enjoyed what I saw. I read some comics but I knew that they were based on a book so I had it in the collection. Now that I've read it I'm surprised by how different it was from the depictions that I've seen before. 

The book is actually far more serious then what is usually shown. Zorro actually does most of his work at gunpoint. We're use to seeing him flash the blade and in the end carve the Z into his foe. In the book he mostly points a gun at people and maybe uses the blade later but mostly to prove a point. The book reads episodically with short chapters. You can visualize everything that is happening as the author wrote the story as to leave very little to the imagination of whatever the seen is. And Senor Zorro wears a full covered mask and cowl to not have any opportunity to identify who he may be.  These changes present the story in a more serious light as Zorro fights against the oppression of the Comandante and cruel Governor. 

The book is a fast read if you get caught up in it. The only issue is the ending. The last two chapters undo the serious nature of what's come before it. It provides a happy ending but makes you wonder how could they continue with more books in this series after that ending. That being said the rest was fun to read. So, if you want to swash your buckle or buckle your swash there's plenty of that in this book up until the end but the ride does continue in later volumes.

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Review: Ka-Zar by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert Vol. 2

Ka-Zar by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert Vol. 2 by Mark Waid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Flat follow

While it starts off well the story declines as it goes on. The Thanos arc ends flatly and the Evolutionary arc is even flatter. The little monkeying around thing doesn’t save the story. This wrapped up Waid and Kubert on Ka-Zar but it wasn’t a good way to go.

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