July 3 Comic Week in Review

This week for our written reviews we cover the books that weren't quite good enough to make it onto Comicast #88. Enjoying us tearing into some of this weeks books such as Thunderbolts, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, Guardians of The Galaxy Tomorrows Avengers, Deadpool Kills Deapool, and Earth 2.

DC

EARTH 2 #14 $2.99

Writer: James Robinson, Art: Nicola Scott, Trevor Scott

There wasn’t much substance in this issue. Maybe I’m just saying that because I don’t recall much of it but the way I see it is if it wasn’t that memorable then it’s not worth talking about or remembering, obviously. What I do remember though is a lot of fighting. Green Lantern, Doctor Fate, and Flash decide to take the fight to Steppenwolfs borders. The plan is to prove their allegiance to the Earth and World Army that they are here to help, save, and serve. It kind of backfires on them though when the World Army, who was trying to be covert about their own attack on Steppenwolf, get caught when the second line of Steppenwolfs defense is sent out to attack. That was pretty much it. There was a little talking amongst some other characters who I cannot recall, one of which wears a Turban and works for the World Army, but it felt pretty inconsequential considering that they were talking about the World Armys attack on Steppenwolf which was already in the process. The art continues to be very well done as Nicola & Trevor Scott are a superb team. The art never faults to impress but I can’t say the same about the story.
Verdict: STRONG SKIM

Marvel

DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL #1 $2.99

Writer: Cullen Bunn, Artist: Salva Espin

If you like most of the stupid Deadpool crap such as Deadpool Killustrated then you will probably like this. The art is actually the best part about this book though that's not saying much. I honestly didn't care much for the art until it actually got to the part of the story where the Deadpool Corps shows up to warn 616 DP that there is a Deadpool scouring all the universes killing every other Deadpool. Yeah it was a little too much Deadpool for my tastes as well as it was a head and mouthful of DPs. A lot of the jokes fell flat for as for the main Marvel NOW! title using has me rolling and wondering why my sides are so sore the next day from all the laughter. I've read some good stuff from Cullen Bunn and I've read some real poopers from him too ie Deadpool Killustrated and now this. Sorry for all the bad jokes and puns I'm just trying to keep in spirit with Deadpool and this crappy book. Unless your just a hardcore DP fan or an idiot which I think that’s what you have to be to be a hardcore DP fan then this title is for you otherwise it's not. To say the least I could not care less about this book but if you do then thats ok too.
Verdict: PASS

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY TOMORROWS AVENGERS #1 $4.99

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Michael Oeming, Ming Doyle, Michael Del Mundo

This is merely just a collection of new stories of each character of Guardians. Some of them are good, really good, and just ok. The art is what fluctuates the most as there is a different art look and style for each story. The first story was about Drax. The art was the least fitting and enjoyable of all of the stories. The story  I liked the most was about Gamora as it showed how hardcore and badass she is. There wasn't very much dialogue. It was nice how well the art made the majority of the story flow. They all just felt like snippets or teasers for the actual ongoing title. Overall they really did nothing for me. The art was solid and the stories weren't bad but none of them really went anywhere.
Verdict: SKIM

THE SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN #1 $2.99

Writer: Nick Spencer, Artist: Steve Lieber

The look of the art reminds me most of Captain America & Bucky. In other words it has that old timey look and feel to it. Considering the story they're telling it didn't really fit. The art is great but the story is about the depressing, mundane life of these losers who are now calling themselves the new Sinister Six despite only having 5 members. So now that I think about it maybe it does fit if thats what they're going for. There’s no doubt that this is different from a lot of the books Marvel is putting out but I personally could not care less about reading about these losers. Its obvious that the story is surrounded around this Boomerang guy. Its made pretty clear that he's not a good guy, that he’s a real d-bag, and even his team doesn't like him. He ends up in jail because of an interaction with Spider-Man. He gets a couple of his guys to take care of some stuff for him. In the process they find out he was planning something without them. Once they find out he decides to include them. Its apparent that he's gearing up his team for a heist and one that will turn out sour in the end. Despite the anticipation that they're trying to build up for the next issue I just couldn’t get interested. I appreciate the look and feel of the art but thats about all I cared for.
Verdict: weak SKIM

THUNDERBOLTS #12 2.99

Writer: Charles Soule, Art: Steve Dillon

First off Dillon is back so that means that at best this issue will look mediocre and it did. Second I want to mention that the writer is the same guy that writes Swamp Thing. Soule focuses this issue on Punisher. The narrative is from Frank Castles point of view and what he's doing for the mission and task at hand. Honestly the idea that Elektra and Punisher is one of the most contrived, unbelievable gimmicks I have ever read or heard about during my whole history of reading comics. I can’t imagine either of them being interested, attracted, or anything of like towards each other for any reason. The fact that Soule attempts to somewhat make sense of this relationship shows that he has some cojones and the chops to pull it off. Its spun more as Frank finding a way to get more info out of her as a way to take down or approach this mission. This may be the best issue I have read of this series yet. If Charles Soule continues to write for this title I might stop hating myself for reading it and picking it up on a regular basis despite Dillons subpar art. I’m starting to thing that subpar IS his art style. He did do a decent job on this issue though. Some parts look better than others. Its unfortunate that he's so inconsistent because he really could be a good artist if he tried more often than not, at least thats what it looks like considering all that I have seen of his work. Enough about him though, overall this was a good, fresh, new writing direction for this title all the while keeping true to not only the current storyline and plot but everything that has happened in every past issue. How or why this title is still going on I don’t know but for now it’s slowly getting better.
Verdict: SKIM

You can pick up these comics at Kaboom Test Labs or Twin Suns Comics & Games