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Jean Grey

The Pull List, Jan. 31, 2018: Dark Ark, Detective Comics, Moon Knight, Reactor, The Realm, and more!

February 2, 2018 by krisis

My pull list keeps growing in size as I get caught up with more current comic books! I read 21 new comics released earlier this week on January 31 – and I would have read even more if I managed to catch up on my Superman reading in time for these reviews!

Here’s The Pull List for the week, as broken out by publisher (though they’re reviewed in alpha order, below).

  • Aftershock Comics: Dark Ark (2017) #5
  • Amigo Comics: Call of the Suicide Forest (2018)
  • Dark Horse Comics: Hungry Ghosts (2018) #1
  • DC Comics: Dark Nights: Metal #5, Detective Comics (2016) Annual 1, Milk Wars (2018) JLA/Doom Patrol Special, Mystik U (2018) #2, The Silencer (2018)
  • IDW Publishing: Dread Gods (2017) #3
  • Image Comics: Bonehead (2018) #2, God Complex: Dogma (2017) #4, The Realm (2017) #5, Void Trip (2017) #3
  • Marvel Comics: Avengers (2017) #678, All-New Wolverine (2016) #30, Captain Marvel (2017) #128, Jean Grey (2017) #11, Moon Knight (2017) #191, Old Man Logan (2016) #34, Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey (2018) #5
  • Vault Comics: Maxwell’s Demons (2017) #2, Reactor (2017) #2, Songs For The Dead (2018) #1

As you will discover below, I am not shy about giving low ratings to comic books. A lot of sites shy away from covering comics they think are weak or bad, but I think that does the fans and industry a disservice. We can’t only talk about comics that are brilliant or at least better-than-average – that signals a death of critical discourse!

I’m just as interested in the weak books as the strong ones, because they help set the standard of what’s great in comics and the tough reviews might still help those books find fans.

Enough chatter – let’s take a look at my top Big Two and Indie books of the week before getting to the full list.

Top Marvel/DC Comic of The Week

Detective Comics (2016) Annual 1, DC Comics

A stunningly good tragic origin story for Clayface with the best artwork I’ve ever seen from Eddie Barrows, which is really saying something because I always love Eddie Barrows.

This is the kind of comic book single issue you can hand to a brand new fan who only vaguely knows the Batman mythos. Tom King has been knocking out terrific one-offs like that on Batman, but this James Tynion story is different in that it delves into the core of an existing character instead of inventing a new plot.

My understanding is that this departs a bit from the established Clayface original, which we’ve seen several times in the past – so, I appreciate if some regular Bat-readers aren’t into getting more of it. However, considering the events of the recently concluded story arc in Detective, this feels like the perfect time to reestablish Basil’s origin.

Top Indie Comic of the Week

The Realm (2017) #5, Image Comics

4.5 starsThis comic is on fire!

The Realm has quickly become one of my favorite comics on the stands with its blend of post-apocalyptic terrain with fantastical monsters out of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. This issue has a downright wild amount of siege action coming from every which direction, which puts the central quest on hold while our protagonists fight for their lives. (They aren’t all successful in that fight.)

There are major shades of Helms Deep here, with the goblins trying to breech the wall of a make-shift city. The action was frantic, but never hard to follow. It even revealed some new information about our characters in the midst of the chaos. There was some wonderful panelling to build tension to a fever pitch during the battering ram portion, but it also gave us several moments to reveal things about our cast…

…the ones that survive, anyhow.

And now, on to the other 19 comics I read that were released on January 31, 2018!

[Read more…] about The Pull List, Jan. 31, 2018: Dark Ark, Detective Comics, Moon Knight, Reactor, The Realm, and more!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Aftershock Comics, All-New Wolverine, Avengers, Bonehead, Call of the Suicide Forest, Captain Marvel, Clayface, Dark Ark, Dark Horse Comics, Dark Nights: Metal, DC Comics, Detective Comics, Dread Gods, God Complex: Dogma, Hungry Ghosts, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, Jean Grey, Marvel Comics, Maxwell's Demons, Milk Wars, Moon Knight, Mystik U, Old Man Logan, Phoenix Resurrection, Reactor, Songs For The Dead, The Pull List, The Realm, The Silencer, Vault Comics, Void Trip

This Week in X: Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey concludes, plus All-New Wolverine #30, Jean Grey #11, and Old Man Logan #34

February 2, 2018 by krisis

It’s the fifth week of new comics in 2018, and it’s a climactic week for the X-Men!

Tom Taylor and the stellar art team of Juan Cabal and Nolan Woodard wrap up the “Orphans of X” arc in All-New Wolverine #30. Jean Grey goes through an unexpected transformation in Jean Grey #11. Our aged Logan has a brief reunion with a lost love and then the plot lurches onward in Old Man Logan #34. And, finally Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey concludes with issue #5 and … you guessed it, the return of Jean Grey!

I was underwhelmed by the conclusions of both Jean Grey books, which felt much ado about nothing to me. It would have been more interesting to have Jean appear out of nowhere. I have a lot more to say about this on this week’s “This Week In X”!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: All-New Wolverine, Dennis Hopeless, Ed Brisson, Jean Grey, Juan Cabal, Matthew Rosenberg, Nolan Woodard, Old Man Logan, Phoenix Resurrection, This Week In X, Tom Taylor

This Week in X: Legion #1, Phoenix Resurrection #4, and X-Men Blue #20 & Annual 1

January 26, 2018 by krisis

It’s the fourth week of new comics in 2018, and it brings a bumpy week of four X-Men titles that are all kind of average.

We have the debut of Peter Milligan’s Legion #1, the penultimate chapter of Matthew Rosenberg’s Phoenix Resurrection #4, Cullen Bunn wrapping up a major arc on X-Men: Blue #20, plus the kickoff of a new crossover with Venom in Bunn’s X-Men: Blue Annual 1.

As much as I abundantly loathe the time-displaced original X-Men, I couldn’t help but be thoroughly impressed with how Bunn reinserts some urgency and mystery into their title just as it his the 80-issue mark.

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Crushing Comics, Cullen Bunn, Jean Grey, Legion, Matthew Rosenberg, Peter Milligan, Phoenix Resurrection, This Week In X, X-Men, X-Men Blue

This Week in X: Excalibur Returns (sort of) in X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue climaxes, and more!

January 12, 2018 by krisis

It’s the second week of new comics in 2018, and that means a whole new batch of X-Men comics books to help you catch up with!

This week brings five books with it – mid-arc issues of the two Ed Brisson old guy books in Cable #153 and Old Man Logan #33, the middle installment of Matthew Rosenberg’s Phoenix Resurrection, a climatic turn of events in Cullen Bunn’s X-Men: Blue #19, and an adorable pair of standalone stories in X-Men: Gold Annual #1.

None of these books are a must-read, but it’s nice to read a week of X-Men that’s solid across the board… well, except for one book, as you’ll hear in just a minute.

Don’t feel like reading right? You can watch the video version of This Week in X! This is not the same material as the full post below, although some of my opinions in the video overlap with the post.

Love the video? Love this post? Please let me know, because “This Week In X” is a pilot right now – there is no guarantee I’ll continue it past the end of this month unless folks are clamoring for more! [Read more…] about This Week in X: Excalibur Returns (sort of) in X-Men Gold, X-Men Blue climaxes, and more!

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Adriano Di Benedetto, Alitha E. Martinez, Armor, Art Adams, Blink, Cable, Cory Petit, Craig Yeung, Cullen Bunn, Djibril Morissette-Phan, Dono Sánchez-Almara, Ed Brisson, Externals, Federico Blee, Frank Martin, Jay David Ramos, Jean Grey, Jesus Aburtov, Joe Caramagna, Jon Malin, Leah Williams, Leinil Francis Yu, Longshot, Lorenzo Ruggiero, Marc Guggenheim, Matthew Rosenberg, Michael Garland, Mike Deodato, Monty Nero, Old Man Logan, Phoenix Resurrection, R. B. Silva, Rachelle Rosenberg, Rain Beredo, This Week In X, Travis Lanham, X-23, X-Men Blue, X-Men Gold

Crushing Comics S01E037 – Grant Morrison’s New X-Men (and why he writes the best Jean Grey)

December 12, 2017 by krisis

I start off this episode musing about the skill of talk show hosting. It’s one thing to be able to extemporaneously monologue with coherence, but it’s another skill entirely to be able to do that while doing something with your hands – like unwrapping bricks of comic books.

The books I wind up unwrapping are a major part of the uncanny origin of my now-massive comic book collection. Grant Morrison’s New X-Men were the first trio of books I had delivered to our new house back in 2010. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with them since then, though even from my first read it’s been clear to me that Grant Morrison understood Jean Grey like no writer before him – and, none after have gotten the chance!

Want to start from the beginning of this season of videos? Here’s the complete Season 1 playlist of Crushing Comics.

Episode 37 features Grant Morrison’s complete run on New X-Men, covered in my guide to New X-Men and X-Men, Vol. 2.

Filed Under: comic books Tagged With: Collected Editions, Crushing Comics, Grant Morrison, Jean Grey, Marvel Comics, New X-Men, X-Men

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