Nov 20 Comic Week in Review

Every week Pablo Gunner uses the little intelligence he has to muster up some written comic book reviews of the titles that he thinks his fellow nerds would want to know about most and the books that didn’t quite make it onto the Comicast. This week he reviewed VERTIGO ESSENTIALS FABLES #1, SECRET AVENGERS #11 INF, AVENGERS AI #6, AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #2.

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS

AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #2 $3.99
(W) Roberto Aguirre Sacasa (A) Francesco Francavilla, Jack Morelli (CA) Francesco Francavilla

First of all I want to start off by saying that I thought that the first issue was overrated. A lot of different sources like IGN and iFanboy were singing its high praises. There’s no doubt that the art wasn’t overrated as Francesco Francavilla is one of the most talented artists in the biz. Somehow it seemed that he improved in this issue as did everything else. One of the things that the first issue failed to do for me was establish each character, their different personalities, and empathy for them and all of that was corrected in this one. The way the story was represented was different as well. The narrative was different too. Whereas the story in issue one was linear this one was not. It had a prologue and interlude. The narrative changed from past tense to present in a story telling fashion that wasn’t overbearing in the least. The story also picked up fairly quickly in fact everything came together rather speedily yet didn’t seem at all rushed. Maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself here since I failed to mention that the premise of this story is that there is a zombie apocalypse starting with the setting of the Archie comics. I have never read or watched anything Archie related so I really had no idea what was fully going on until this issue. Jugghead was the first one to get bit in the first issue so in this one he shows up to the high school Halloween dance as a zombie and starts chomping on the first girl he sees. It gets really dark and sad. I’m excited to see what happens on the next issue as at the end its teased that where they end holed up one of them has been bit unbeknownst to the rest of them. Francavilla is the perfect artist for this book. I love his art. It’s dark, seedy, energetic, and expressive. If a manly guy like myself can enjoy an Archie book then anybody can.

Verdict: STRONG BUY

Marvel Comics

AVENGERS AI #6 $2.99

(W) Sam Humphries (A) Valerio Schiti (CA) David Marquez

This is and continues to be an interesting book. Unfortunately it still doesn’t live up to the hype that from the previous issue. The art seemed to be even better than the last issue for a multitude of reasons. For one I feel like an artist has finally made a strong distinction between Maria Hill and Monica Chang. It helps that they’re also written differently as well. Second there’s an awesome fight between Vision and Demetrios thats both comedic and epicly wicked cool. It started out kind of weird with SHIELD taking out some random old man LMD. Hank Pym continues to be wrecked and distraught by Victor Mancha’s death and his bipolar disorder. It was nice to see him find out that Victor is actually alive so now maybe he can get his crap together and get focused again. The best part of the book was probably when Vision had this epic fight with Demetrios on this other plane of existence that allowed them to change and transform into different being and creatures. At one point in the fight it goes from chibi characters to a fighting game style look. It was all over the place. It was great. This may not be one of the strongest books Marvel is putting out but it’s definitely fun and interesting every time I read it. Like I said though it doesn’t live up to the hype and I say this because the identity of Demetrios has been teased for a few issues now and in this one it’s finally revealed at the end yet I really had no idea who it was. Maybe that’s partially my fault but it wasn’t really explained at all. I suppose I will have to read the next issue to find out.

Verdict: weak BUY

SECRET AVENGERS #11 INF $3.99

(W) Ed Brisson (A) Luke Ross (CA) Nic Klein

This continues and as far as I know or can tell concluded the story of SHIELD Agent Sarah Garza. She is a tech support person that turned out to be an Inhuman. She helped Coulson and Fury against Thanos' invasion. In this issue they have to deal with somebody that was transformed by the Terrigen bomb Black Bolt released. Garza really has trouble with the idea of taking lives, especially people like her. Maria Hill was a total bitch. She was just really demanding, pointing out problems, and providing no solutions. Fury, Coulson, and Rhodey were like clock work in the field. Fury was cold and calculating. The art was some of the best I've seen on this title. It worked well with the street level battle scene and SHIELD settings. The faces, expressions, shading, and colors were some of the most impressive aspects of the book. The issue was a little confusing at first you're caught up to speed really quickly . There's good character moments and it's a solid issue as a one-shot, tie-in, or series title.

Verdict: weak BUY

Vertigo

VERTIGO ESSENTIALS FABLES #1 $1

(W) Bill Willingham (A) Lan Medina, Steve Leialoha (CA) James Jean

Many of the shows on television are slightly or roughly based off of this popular and fairly long running title. Shows like Sleepy Hollow or Once Upon A Time in which involve Fable characters and stories or are in modern times are quite similar. A lot of characters are introduced in this #1 reprint but no reason as to why you should care about any of them yet. There's definitely some interesting characters and concepts in this book. The premise is that there's these Fable characters like Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Jack from The Beanstalk just to name a few that live in a their own little community in New York City. The only plot point that is brought up is that there may be a murder amongst them. The colors are a little too bright for how dark it could be story wise. Besides that minor complaint the art is really impressive, realistic, and awe-inspiring. As a number one issue I'm not hooked but I have no doubt it's at least a good read in trade because it's only $1 though I have to say its worth the money.
Verdict: BUY

You can pick up these comics at Age Of Comics, Kaboom Test Labs, or 

Twin Suns Comics & Games