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Vault Comics

The Pull List: Batman, Brave and The Bold, Damnation, Maestros, Mighty Thor, Punks Not Dead, and more!

February 25, 2018 by krisis

Doctor Strange: Damnation #1, art by Rod Reis

I know it seems impossible, but The Pull List has grown even bigger this week for the third week in a row! That’s because I finished catching up to present on a number of DC and Marvel books, plus I picked up five smaller press books.

  • DC Comics
    • Batman #41
    • Batman & the Signal #2
    • The Brave and The Bold #1
    • Damage #2
    • Deathbed #1 (Vertigo)
    • Justice League #39
    • Milk Wars – DC Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye / Swamp Thing Special
    • Super Sons #13
    • Superman #41
    • Trinity #18
  • Image Comics
    • The Further Adventures of Nick Wilson #2
    • Ice Cream Man #2
    • Maestros #5
    • Redlands #6
    • Twisted Romance #3
  • Marvel Comics
    • Astonishing X-Men #8
    • Avengers #681
    • Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan #5
    • Doctor Strange – Damnation #1
    • Generation X #87
    • Infinity Countdown Prime
    • Mighty Thor #704
    • Tales of Suspense #102
    • The Incredible Hulk #713
    • Venom #162
    • X-Men Gold #22
  • Smaller Publishers: Dark Horse, Dynamite, IDW, Vault Comics, Zenescope
    • Belle Beast Hunter #2, Zenescope
    • Heathen #6, Vault Comics
    • James Bond: The Body #1, Dynamite Comics
    • Mata Hari #1, Dark Horse / Berger Books
    • Musketeers #1, Zenescope
    • Punks Not Dead #1, IDW Publishing / Black Crown

Pick of the Pull

Big Two (Marvel/DC) Issue of the Week:
Mighty Thor (2016) #704

A bloody, thrilling, heart-rending comic. Aaron has somehow amped up the drama in each of the last three issues as we hasten towards a potential Ragnarok at the hands of the Mangog and Jane Foster’s death at her own hands if she takes up the mantle of Thor just one more time.

Yet, beyond those looming disasters there is still Makelith’s war on the Ten Realms. Mangog is just one facet of that. Even in the dimness and tragedy, Aaron finds shining moments – Jane with her friend in the cancer ward, a father and son joined in battle, and a mother casting aside a snake that has wounded her before.

All the while, Dauterman and Wilson are turning in a quality of artwork never seen before at Marvel comics – truly, one of the pinnacles of art at Marvel in over 75 years of publishing.

This story has officially become the best Thor story in my eyes, and it just might be Marvel’s best longform story of all time. I’d place it alongside Mark Gruenwald Captain America and Chris Claremont X-Men at this point.

Best Small-Pub Issue of the Week:
Punks Not Dead (2018) #1, IDW Publishing / Black Crown

An utterly madcap introduction to Punks Not Dead (and, for me, to Black Crown comics, which are edited by Shelly Bond distributed by IDW). This book is part Injection, part Sid and Nancy, and a little dash of the more lighthearted issues of Sandman.

It follows a teenage boy and his scam artist mom as the kid picks up some kind of supernatural echo of the deceased Sid Vicious in a dingy airport bathroom. Meanwhile, the beleaguered Department for Extra-Usual Affairs is busy putting minor demons out of the closet at 10 Downing Street with a staff of one.

This book is funny, unique, and looks freaking brilliant. Artist Martin Simmonds is simply incredible, drawing a real-seeming Britain with amped up color and clever use of cut-and-pasted patterns to ground it in real, textured reality. I am in love with this book, and will not only be keeping up with it, but also checking out other titles from Black Crown. [Read more…] about The Pull List: Batman, Brave and The Bold, Damnation, Maestros, Mighty Thor, Punks Not Dead, and more!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Alex de Campi, Amadeus Cho, Amilcar Pinna, Astonishing X-Men, Avengers, Batman, Batman and The Signal, Belle Beast Hunter, Berger Books, Black Crown, Cave Carson, Charles Soule, Christina Straight, Christopher Priest, Cullen Bunn, Damage, Damnation, Dark Horse, DC Comics, Deadpool vs. Old Man Logan, Deathbed, Declan Shalvey, Doctor Strange, Donny Cates, Further Adventures of Nick Wilson, Generation X, Gerry Duggan, Greg Land, Greg Pak, Heathen, Ian Churchill, Ice Cream Man, IDW, Image Comics, Incredible Hulk, Infinity Countdown, James Bond, James Robinson, Jason Aaron, Jordie Bellaire, Justice League, Maestros, Marvel Comics, Mata Hari, Mighty Thor, Mike Deodato, Mike Henderson, Milk Wars, Musketeers, Nick Spencer, Punk Not Dead, Redlands, Steve Skroce, Super Sons, Superman, Swamp Thing, Tales of Suspense, The Brave and The Bold, The Pull List, The Signal, Tom King, Trinity, Twisted Romance, Vault Comics, Venom, Vertigo, Wonder Woman, X-Men Gold, Zenescope

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

Back Issue Review: Black-Eyed Kids, Lady Mechanika, Warframe, and more!

January 28, 2018 by krisis

Welcome to another week of Back Issue Review! In this post, I share my capsule reviews of comic books I read that were not newly-released this month.

My reading this week was entirely focused on non Big Two comics (that means no Marvel and no DC) and largely on checking out books with women protagonists I hadn’t read before.

This post includes reviews of:

  • Black Cloud (2017) #1-2
  • Black-Eyed Kids (2016) #1-15
  • Bonehead (2018) #1
  • Dread Gods (2017) #1-2
  • God Complex: Dogma (2017) #1-3
  • Interceptor (2016) #1-5
  • Justice League (2016) #22-24
  • Lady Mechankia (2010) #0-2
  • Maxwell’s Demons (2017) #1
  • Morea (2017) Vol. 1
  • Paper Girls (2015) #11-15
    (AKA Volume 3)
  • Reactor (2018) #1
  • The Realm (2017) #1-4
  • Rose (2017) #1-4
  • Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose (2000) #1
  • Void Trip (2017) #1-2
  • Warframe (2017) #1

Unfortunately, most of those weren’t very good, but I did come away with a pair of new favorite titles, plus one I enjoyed but couldn’t commit to because we’re from such different worlds. [Read more…] about Back Issue Review: Black-Eyed Kids, Lady Mechanika, Warframe, and more!

Filed Under: comic books, reviews Tagged With: Aftershock Comics, Back Issue Review, Black Cloud, Black-Eyed Kids, Bonehead, Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Dread Gods, God Complex: Dogma, Guy Major, Image Comics, Interceptor, Jim Balent, Joe Pruett, Justice League, Lady Mechanika, Maxwell's Demons, Meredith Finch, Paper Girls, Reactor, Ron Marz, Rose, Szymon Kudranski, The Realm, Vault Comics, Void Trip, Warframe

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