Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 3: The Shu-Torun War

Star Wars: Darth Vader, Vol. 3: The Shu-Torun War by Kieron Gillen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Interesting as it was to see how the Empire deals with worlds under it's thumb, a fairly mediocre plot unfolds that introduces characters who don't play that big of a part in much of anything. I will be curious to see if this series ever manages to again capture the magic that was Star Wars: Vader Down.



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Swamp Thing: Darker Genesis

Swamp Thing: Darker Genesis by Mark Millar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mark Millar, you're a damn genius. This storyline took me an issue to really get into but man, once I did it was amazing.



Swamp Thing is now the Elemental Champion for the Parliament of Trees, the Parliament of Stones and the Parliament of Waves. All that remains are Fire and Air. Highly recommend to everyone.



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Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood & Vine

Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood & Vine by Jody Houser
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This tries really hard to embrace all of the quirky and lovable parts of Superman as Clark Kent the journalist and Peter Parker the photographer but comes up rather short for me. However, some parts succeed enough that I'm interested in reading the next volume.



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Deadpool Pulp

Deadpool Pulp by Mike Benson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Even though it's filled with oft-used cliches and wouldn't make my list of top noir books, I liked it okay. The ending was a nice twist.



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Injection, Vol. 2

Injection, Vol. 2 by Warren Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Education is the art of making man ethical."

Ellis does a great job building on the foundation laid in the first volume. Vivek Headland is a brilliant detective who is sort of a cross between Sheldon Cooper and Sherlock Holmes.



The character depth and broader story at work are the two things that I look forward to most in the next volume.

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Uncanny X-Men: The Birth of Generation Hope

Uncanny X-Men: The Birth of Generation Hope by Matt Fraction
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Once I got past the horrendous rendering of Beast in the first few pages...



This was a decent if predictable story overall. I'm all for the creation of more mutants. Lord knows they seem to suffer loss more than most other factions within the MU. The underlying story of Emma Frost hiding Sebastian Shaw within Utopia seems to be gaining some steam leading into the next volume.



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Sin City, Vol. 3: The Big Fat Kill

Sin City, Vol. 3: The Big Fat Kill by Frank Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Further proof that Sin City is the truest movie adaptation of comic book source material. This series might be my favorite in comics. Period.



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Angela: Asgard's Assassin, Vol. 1: Priceless

Angela: Asgard's Assassin, Vol. 1: Priceless by Kieron Gillen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



While this had more twists and turns in the plot than Angela: Queen of Hel: Journey to the Funderworld did, I enjoyed the latter quite a bit more. Maybe it has to do with Sera (view spoiler)[actually being Malekith and not ACTUALLY Sera (hide spoiler)] or maybe I just like Marguerite Bennett's work on the character better than Kieron Gillen's. Either way, this was beautifully drawn and very entertaining.



The team-up with the Guardians and the inclusion of Odinson and Loki were also nice touches. I'm excited to see where Marvel takes Angela and Sera in the future because they have a ton of potential.

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Low, Vol. 2: Before the Dawn Burns Us

Low, Vol. 2: Before the Dawn Burns Us by Rick Remender
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"When we stop taking pleasure in the basic experience of being alive, beat-by-beat, we lose everything that makes life worthwhile."


Remender's story takes a small step back for me here. The real beauty of this series continues to be the art of Tocchini.



Some of his panels are absolute masterpieces.



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Batman: Year 100

Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well. That was...interesting. It took a while for me to get into this but once I did it was a pretty quick read.

The art is a bit of an acquired taste I think. Some of it made me cringe but overall I liked it ok.

The story on the other hand was pretty simple. All masked heroes have been taken down and Batman has become an urban legend until he's spotted by the Federal Police. After that the hunt is on to track him down and find out his true identity. The only person able to figure it all out is the original Jim Gordon's grandson. So basically, just like most other Batman stories just set in a different time with a small twist on the regular characters involved.



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Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1: The Epiphany

Martian Manhunter, Vol. 1: The Epiphany by Rob Williams
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars



"The futures so bright...I gotta wear shades."



Fresh off binge watching Season 1 of Supergirl, I grabbed this from the library to find out more about J'onn J'onzz. This starts of well enough but takes a few weird turns from there.



Basically, the Martian Manhunter was supposed to have been a weapon to wipe out humanity on Earth all along, and now his fellow Martians are coming to do it themselves. To ensure his own survival, J'onn has split himself into several other "human" identities.



The art is excellent and the story gets a bit confusing but finishes well.



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Clean Room, Volume 1: Immaculate Conception

Clean Room, Volume 1: Immaculate Conception by Gail Simone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is exactly the kind of creeptastic shit that used to keep me up at night as a kid. Hell it still might.

"You have a fine sleepy-sweet night, hear?"

No, I don't think I will actually. This is magnificent and brilliant and psychologically terrifying all wrapped up into one.



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Spider-Gwen, Vol. 1: Greater Power

Spider-Gwen, Vol. 1: Greater Power by Jason Latour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



More of the same in this volume. Alternate Earth representations of several characters like Harry Osborn and Captain America. Good enough to keep my curiosity piqued for what's next.



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Spider-Gwen, Vol. 0: Most Wanted?

Spider-Gwen, Vol. 0: Most Wanted? by Jason Latour
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Upsy-daisy lazy Swayze. The Vulture's gettin' awayze."



So on this Earth, Gwen Stacy was bit by the radioactive spider, Peter Parker becomes the Lizard and then dies, Matt Murdock works for the Kingpin and Frank Castle is a cop. Interesting alternate Spider-Verse. Wait, that was a crossover event that I haven't read yet. I probably need to track that down.



Robbi Rodriguez does a fine job with the art on this one, just like his previous work on FBP: Federal Bureau of Physics, Vol. 1: The Paradigm Shift.

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Daredevil, Volume 3

Daredevil, Volume 3 by Mark Waid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The climax of the Omega Drive storyline kind of sputters to a finish in this one. While the team-up with the Punisher, his new female partner and Spider-Man is a nice touch, the conclusion seems a bit thrown together. Why is it that Doctor Doom is supposed to be the big bad but he only makes an appearance in a painting? I guess attempting to recreate Daredevil's powers seems believable enough.

The art in this volume definitely takes a step back from the previous volumes as well. From the beginning to end of the story we go from this...



To this...



Maybe the bar was set too high by the previous artist but Samnee's art feels like a real letdown by the end.

Likeable enough overall, but could have been a lot better.

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The Omega Men: The End is Here

The Omega Men: The End is Here by Tom King
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars





Quite enjoyable space-epic here. The story maintains a decent pace through the first six issues but really gains steam in the last six. The art is very good throughout, minus the one or two issues with a different artist.



I have to admit that I had never heard of The Omega Men before reading this, although my limited exposure to Kyle Rayner beforehand did provide a solid foundation of understanding. If you're a fan of intergallactic wars and cosmis power struggles this is worth a look.




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Daredevil, Volume 2

Daredevil, Volume 2 by Mark Waid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like what Waid is setting up with this volume.



The art is perfectly matched to the hornhead and his powers.



Plus who doesn't love a good team-up? Short though it may have been.



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X-Men: Schism

X-Men: Schism by Jason Aaron
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars





Likeable, but not great. Definitely not Aaron's best work here.

So we all know that some fundamental divide occurred between Cyclops and Wolverine even if you haven't read this. I really just wanted to know what that was and it turned out to be a little anti-climactic and felt forced.

The fight between Cyke and Wolvey was well drawn but seemed a bit petty to me. Although, Wolverine's reasoning for starting the Xavier school up again did seem justifiable.



The Regenesis story included in this collection was quite terrible, art and all.



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