Teen Titans #26 Review

Written by:

Scott Lobdell

Art by:

Tyler Kirkham, Art Thibert

Cover by:

Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund

Teen Titans 26 The Origin of Kid Flash...Continued

  People seem to either love this ongoing series or hate it, i am somewhere in the middle. In this issue we FINALLY get some answers about where Bart Allen, or Bar-Tor(as he is called in this issue) is from. I've only been waiting over 2 years for a few answers, thats not too long is it?

Art

  The cover had me intrigued at my comic shop, it depicts Bart holding a deceased or passed out girl in his arms dressed in an outfit similar to his, Bart looks distressed, his team in the background lighting all over the place. Since the first issue i've enjoyed the art in this series, and its only gotten better, much better. The panels flow well from page to page, along with the story. One major thing i love about this book is that although its a teen titans book, the art looks mature, much more mature than the atrocity that is The Flash 26 (Yes i hated the art in that book, with a fiery passion). Bart is shown in the future (the one we all, including himself have been waiting for) with a black suit and mask, honestly i kind of love it, its a good switch from the typical Kid Flash/Impulse suit. My favorite panel would be the one where he is holding his sister in his arms and cursing the air. It's a human side of Bart that is refreshing to see, even with the circumstances. Keep up the good work guys.

Story

  So far I've been enjoying this take on The Teen Titans. Yes, its very different and more far fetched than any other Titan series that i have read, but that's one reason i enjoy it. We  see how Kid Flash gets his speed powers, although they show 2 things that happened and I'm unsure if it was one or the other, or if it was a combination of the both. But i like how it's different from Barry, although it seems that he has no ties to Allen and that kind of disappoints me. I am loving finding out about Bart's dark life in the future, its a good dynamic to his childish, arrogant and self proclaimed ladies man personality in the present times. I like how the team seems to be second guessing their support of Bart after finding out some of the startling truths they have learned from the future "police" that has bart in custody. It turns out Bart was the leader of a rebellion, rebelling against what is called the Functionary. and his sister happened to be fighting with the Functionary. I'm rooting for Bart here, even tho the Titans seem unsure of what to do.

Verdict

  Buy! Im not ashamed to say im a modern Teen Titans fan and i want to see this series keep going so it can blossom one day. I like where its headed, the art team is perfect and im enjoying the writting. Although if a heavy hitting writter were to take it on i would welcome that with open arms....Cough....GEOFF JOHNS....Cough......

Make sure you buy and support DC comics, i am a fan of physical copies and people like me and you won't be able to read and review for others if they stop making them.

4/5

Superman Unchained #5 review

Written by:

Scott Snyder

Art by:

Jim Lee, Scott Williams

Backup Art by:

Dustin Nguyen

Cover by:

Jim Lee, Scott Williams

A Place Between

I have never been a big SuperMan fan, but with Jim Lee doing the art and Scott Snyder writting Superman Unchained, i decided to give Clark a chance this month. #5 is my first issue of the unchained series and i'l be following it from here on out.

 Superman Unchained #5 is the first Superman comic i have ever purchased! I am glad that i did! It has been months since i have thoroughly enjoyed a single monthly issue of a comic like this. I plan on Olympic level diving straight into this series.

Art

  Jim Lee's pencil work in this issue is top notch and combing  with Scott Williams inking and Alex Sinclair's coloring this is a visual orgasm. The colors are bright and pop out right at you and definitely fit the tone of the story going on. Wraith is the shining star here art wise, he looks sinister and awesome at the same time. This is just what i needed to see after reading the abomination that is The Flash 26.

Story

My first Snyder story was the New 52 Batman run. Just like that series, this one has me hooked right away. I dig the fact that Wraith was used as an atom bomb dropped on Tokyo, and all the science and earth stone talk going on with General Lane. Although all of this does confuse me since im delving in during issue 5, im going to have to pick up the previous issues to fully understand it. But Snyder managed to hook me anyways. The conflict between Wraith and Superman in the fortress was well played out written so well. Snyder makes you really sense these 2 characters have for each other, even though they seem to be at odds. I can't wait to see where Snyder takes this.

Verdict

  Pick this up if your into Snyder's style of writing. Some people criticize his tendency to go in-depth with all of his dialogue, but that's something that i love about his writing. Snyder really digs deep into the characters that hes writing and brings out traits and new things about these heroes that no other writer has before. He also has turned me into a Superman and Batman fan, which no other writer has been able to do. All that genius writing mixed with Jim Lee's incredible artwork, i believe that this run is going to be one to remember. Luckily i have the previous issues to keep me busy until next month's issue!

5/5

The Flash #26 Review

  Here is the start of a new review format i will be doing from now on. I realized what i was doing before was not well thought out, and didn't do the reader much good. So from now on i will try and not ruin the entire story while still informing you, and giving my opinion in a short well thought out review.

Written by:

Christos Gage

Art by:

Neil Googe (FIRE this man)

Cover by:

Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund

The issue that sucked alot

  The Flash 26 feels like a filler issue, not a very good one. I personally am  a huge flash fan, since i was a kid he was my favorite hero so i try to put that aside and not let my emotions get involved, but with this one i couldn't help it.

Art

  The penciling and colors/ink are more than a let down. Following Francis Manapul's epic artwork during his run is a hard lead to follow. But the creative art team took one of the best drawn new 52 books, and filled it with dull colors and child like pencil work. It's not all bad, but it had a cheesy feeling and it left me annoyed and hopeful that a new creative team will be continuing this monthly series as soon as possible. Manapul's art was the definition of the work epic when referring to comic art. He made the flash look vibrant, smooth and just plain awesome, Neil Googe should be fired.

Story

  My personal feelings aside, Gage did do a good job with the story i enjoyed the fact that he took Barry out of his element and had him struggle to get the bad guy. Which in this book turns out to be Spitfire, who he has a personal vendetta against. I enjoyed his take on Barry s inner dialogue with him self. But he failed to give me the feeling that i was reading a comic about one of the greatest heroes the world has ever known.

Final Thoughts

  My verdict is to SKIP THIS BOOK, the only reason to buy would be cover, or if your like me and just want it to keep your collection going, but the cover is a huge mislead. The inner artwork is a borderline joke and in my opinion, an embarrassment to this series. I do my best to not keep up with creative team news, i like to be completely surprised when i go to my comic shop and pick up my books, but this was a bad surprise.

2.5/5

Harley Quinn #1 Review! Harley's a Hotty!

 Writers - Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti 

Artist - Chad Hardin

 Harley Quinn 1 - Hot in the City

  This is a spoiler re-cap/review! I do not own these characters, they are owned by DC Comics. I am here to provide Comic noobs and anyone else with re-caps and reviews of comics from DC's New 52. Go out and by these books so people like me have something like this to do!

   As promised here is my Harley Quinn review of the first issue that just came out this past week and.............Harley is a Hotty! An evil, twisted, but still cute and loveable villain / occasional anti hero. I love how DC's artists portray these female characters nowadays, they are always hot! And that i can not be mad at (I hope I'm not chastised for this lol). She was never one of my favorites, but when i saw this on DC's release schedule the cover left me anticipating its release, and this past Wednesday i rushed to my Comic Shop to pick it up.

  It starts out with Harley on the move with all her belongings hilariously stacked up and tied to her bike, with her rodent pal tied to the front of the bike. On the first page she refers to Mr J, the joker as her past flame, i always thought she was too good for him anyway! Shes on the way to claim an apartment / commercial business building that was left to her in an associate of hers will.

  This was my absolute favorite part of this comic. Harley sees some typical a-hole walking down the street on his phone, dragging his dog behind him, the dog and Harley connect eyes and she sees how sad he is, they have a moment and Harley starts to tear up. She takes her whip out, and whips him around his neck. In the next panel you see the dog all happy on the front of her bike as his previous owner is being dragged behind them!

  Some guy on a bike is tailing them, he has a wanted poster with Harley's face on it, with a reward. He shoots at her but misses and ends up crashing. She takes her over sized Quinn Mallet and knocks the guys head off! She arrives at her new building which is on Coney island, the perfect place for someone like her. She meets a few of the tenants, who all seem to be in the circus or some kind of freak show business. She is greeted by a businessman, or lawyer, who shows her around the building, and gives her the 411 on all the money she owes because she is the new owner. Harley can't believe all this is hers. I love how she seems so grateful, Joker never truly appreciated her, you can tell she never truly felt loved or had anything to really call her own like this.

  Harley lines up some interviews so she can pay her bills and get by. She puts on some make up, gets all dolled up and goes to her first interview for a position as a therapist. Then shes heads to her second interview at a roller derby rink! She cleans up the competition and beats the crap out of everyone and gets the job. She heads home and is resting on her roof top in a bikini, with all her pale beauty all out there. Someone else tries to assassinate her, but a stocky little gentlemen she met earlier saves her live. Then she finds the wanted poster and realizes someone has a hit on her.

  The art is beautifully done, its play full but still can be taken seriously. Harley is hot, i cant sat that enough!!!!

  My verdict is that i loved this issue Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti are giving me the Harley Quinn that i want to read. She is twisted,cute,insane and lovable all in one. She is still a crazy psychopath who wont hesitate to kill if she needs to. But they do it so that you forget at times how crazy she is, but not for too long, soon enough she will be making someone pay for their wrong doing. They make you fall in love with Harley in a way that i never have before. They made me really care about her, i want to see her triumph in the end, from now on i will be routing for her no matter who she is up against. I can't wait for next month. BUY BUY BUY!

SuperGirl #1 Last Daughter of Krypton

All characters belong to DC Comics, i do not claim any rights to any character. I just review the books i feel are interesting.

 Writers - Michael Green & Mike Johnson

Penciller - Mahmud Asrar

Inker - Mahmud Asrar & Dan Green

SuperGirl #1 - Last Daughter of Krypton

 Name: Kara...Super Hero name...SuperGirl

  Let me start off by saying.... I LOVE THIS BOOK! For some reason, while in my Comic Shop in Central Connecticut, i gravitated to SuperGirl before i picked up Superman. In my opinion Superman is the the most recognizable and biggest/greatest hero of all time. I'm a person who usually goes for the underdogs first, so o guess that's why i quickly bought all the issues of DC's New 52 in my shop.

  The book starts out with Kara (SuperGirl) falling to earth in a meteor show just like her cousin Clark Kent. Unlike Clark, Kara ends up ripping through earths mantle and crash lands in Siberia, Russia. In the captions there is someone talking frantically, this person is talking to someone else sounding like they are giving orders to find out exactly where Kara is landing. At this time I'm assuming it to be some sort of Government sect. The art in these panels are AMAZING! The colors are vivid and beautifully drawn.

  "Have you ever had that feeling... Like you've been asleep for a really long time? For what seems like a lifetime? And you have crazy dreams. Things you didn't even know your brain could imagine. But when you finally wake up"...

Kara steps out of her pod and takes her first steps on earth. She thinks shes dreaming because its snowing, and it hasn't snowed on Krypton in her lifetime. At this point shes unaware of her super powers since on Krypton they have a weak red sun, and the Kryptonians powers manifest when they are on planets with young yellow suns, this is how they draw their power. Being on Siberia she should freeze to death, but she can't even feel it.

This is my favorite page from the book, i feel like the artist really captured her emotion in the bottom panel, looking at earths beautiful landscape for the first time. In the second panel i thought she looked hot while she was catching snow in her palm... lol!

 Immediately she is rushed by a small army of buffed up iron-man like robotic soldiers! They yell at Kara telling her to stop but shes an alien who doesn't speak any human language. Kara still thinks shes dreaming, and in one panel shes just smiling at the giant metal men rushing her. They surround her, she finally realizes that she can feel this, this may not be a dream after all. She keeps telling herself to wake up, but she already is and is not in a very good place! The men recognize her costume and the S on her chest, its similar to Superman's costume since they are cousins.

This is my second favorite page, Kara sees the sun for the first time, you can see the emotion and pain in her eyes when she snaps out of it, and feels the sun for the first time and her eyes light up! This scene was epic!

    Those eyes are a hint to RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!
She shoots one of the metal men with her laser eyes then gets punched in the face. Shes burning up inside because this is all new to her, and she is mad and doesn't know how to control her powers, not a good mix. She punches another mental man flying over a mountain! She continues beating the metal guys into the floor with like rag dolls or action figures. her power is radiating through her veins. She falls to the floor because intense sounds are flowing through her head all at the same time, shes hearing things from all over the world, her body is adjusting. They hop on her, thinking shes pinned but she brushes them off like dandruff off a shoulder. she rips open a suit and realizes there's men inside, but they don't speak Kryptonian so they can't communicate verbally.

  This is where Superman appears! And also where the issue comes to a close. Talk about a cliff hanger.

  My final thoughts are that this book was EPIC! Non stop hot girl going all SuperGirl on metal robotic giant men! There were a few moments when she first stepped on earth that i feel the artist and writer really captured her confusion and feelings in that moment. You can feel her pain and fear, her eyes could tell her entire story. I can't wait to review book 2 and the rest of the series. I hope i can influence a few people to pick this up, its seriously worth it.

Verdict - Without a doubt BUY!

Green Arrow #1

   All images and characters are owned by Dc comics, i do not claim to own any of them, or the images.

  Welcome to my Dc comics review/spoiler page! If you do not want the stories from the books that i will be reviewing, go back and read them and then come back! If not sit back and enjoy as i go through the Dc universe! Hopefully i can influence a  few of you to buy some interesting books, and i hope i can help you save your money if a  book blows! (Dc's new 52 is hit or miss!). 

  My first book will be Green Arrow #1
Writer - J.T Krul
Artist - Dan Jurgens
Inker - George Perez (The LEGEND!)
Oliver Queen...Hero Name...Green Arrow 

  This comic follows Oliver Queen aka the Green Arrow,. if your new to Green Arrow, this story jumps right in. It doesn't go over his origins in book 1. A lot of new comers make that mistake and assume that because it's book 1 that they are getting it from the beginning. More often than not comic writers choose a different method of story telling which can be scattered throughout different books. You have to a be a patient reader! 

  The issue starts at Queen Industries, which is the business that Ollie's father founded. In the second panel the names "Wayneteck (Bruce Wayne's company" and "Lex Corp (Lex Luthors company) i was excited to see their names, it led me to believe that we will be getting to see some Batman or Lex appearances in the future, or at least some gadgets. Inside a meeting, Emerson (The man Ollie's father left the company to after his death) and the head of the company are holding a meeting about what seems to be about Q Core (Ollies division at Queen Industries) not doing so well. As usual Ollie is out on Arrow duties. While Emerson is bad mouthing Oliver, it turns out Ollie is listening in the entire time. 

  The first 2 page layout following was very well drawn and inked! Thanks to the legend George Perez lending his gifted pencil skills for this first issue. The pic depicted Ollie standing on a ledge over looking some villains outside a club in a fancy sports car like some celebrities, Ollie says,

"villains should be in constant fear of imprisonment. But instead of ostracizing them like vermin, our society glorifies them".

  Ollie has a girl named Naomi who is his tech nerd and genius behind the scenes and in his ear providing him with in-tell, surveillance and locating his targets. Arrow has no superpowers so Naomi is vital for his success and survival. Ollie is tracking villains Brute Dynamix, Doppelganger and Super Charger who all are on a boat which is in the back of the club. Arrow drops in through a window on the roof and the fight begins! Ollie being the arrogant hero as he is, taunts Super Charger for posting videos on youtube for attention. He shoots Brute with a trick arrow which knocks him off his feet then shoots Charger next and Charger panics. At this point passengers are jumping ship to escape the madness! Now Arrow shoots some kind of trick arrow that allows Naomi to take control of the boat remotely from her location. Then Arrows goes back and hits Doppelgangers with some kind of gadget that looks like a metal circle that has arms that come out of it that wrap around Doppelganger preventing her from using her duplicating power.

  Arrow then takes out Brute with his marital arts skills and ends up kicking him off of the boat, mocking them saying, "Your not villains, your not even bada##es, your punks". To make it worse he says,

"why don't you all sign up for a reality show, it would be an easier way to get attention you wannabees crave"

Arrow shoots an arrow through Chargers hand and takes him out with a left punch from hell! Fight over, Arrow wins! I was hoping for a more exciting fight though, it seemed very quick. I would have like to see Arrow do a few more cool kicks and somersaults.

  Arrow disappears from the company for 2 days, and it seems like he really hates being there. There is definitely lots of tension between him and Emerson. The 3 bad guys he fought on the boat got their powers artificially, scientists in France are trying to figure out what drug they took make them that way. We cant just have any random Joe schmoe running around with powers! The issue comes to a close with him taking to his buddy Jax who makes his weapons, although he is reluctant to do so. He is in the fence about being apart of Ollies night life. Although its his choice, he knows what Green Arrow is all about. On the past page they show the 3 bad guys from earlier being broken out of prison by some super bad guy crew.

  I'm not sure  how i really feel about this book so far. The Green Arrow along with the Flash are the heroes that i fell in love with early. They are the ones i looked up to and idolized. Having read a lot of Arrows books throughout the years, i expected more. I am doing my best to not compare this to past classic runs. What i got out of this book was an arrogant rich boy who runs around town doing "good". I liked it though, the art was beautifully done and i really appreciated what George Perez did, too bad hes not here for every issue. I know that it is just the first issue, but i wasn't blown away in any way. I hope that in the coming issues they can make me fall in love with the character all over again.

  Recommendation - Buy., if you are an Arrow fan. If your unsure about getting into him, skip.