This week in comics : What's New

GREEN LANTERN  #5

Writer: Goeff Johns

Artist: Doug Mahnke

I would go ahead and call this the strongest issue of the current volume if this hadn’t involved a cliffhanger

 everyone knew the conclusion to last issue. So yes, rings made by Sinestro can’t attack him, which is why the new GL recruits in the form of the residents of Korugar can’t attack Sinestro. The issue follows the path you would have expected it to follow last issue, with Sinestro inducing moustache-twirling awesomeness to free his home planet with the help of Hal Jordan, only to subsequently have him sent off the planet nevertheless.

 The difference made is in the amazing work on character with both Sinestro and Hal, as well as some kick-ass artwork by the dependable Doug Mahnke (though I would still have preferred Ivan Reis on this title). The issue ends as you would expect any Geoff Johns GL story to end : with the Guardians hatching up a sinister plan.

Score : 8.2/10

THE DARK MATTER #01 (OF 4)

Writer: Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie

Artist: Garry Brown

You wake up in a derelict ship floating  in space, with no memory of who you are and why the hell you are you there. You start looking for clues and find six others like you waking up and being in the same condition as you are.

Welcome to the world of THE DARK MATTER.

What is specially interesting is that the book's got a Predator(2010) movie-like situation. Unknown place, lots of weapons, one babe and five guys (the movie had more guys). The group 'o six then start searching the ship for clues leading them to an encounter between a crazy/psychopath/human looking thing which attempts to kill one of the member.Later on, it's brainwashed and forgets everything and becomes a good guy(there's a lot of “people forgetting stuff” thingy in the story). 

Garry Brown's art reminds me of Alex Maleev (before he started working digitally) and bold,rough lines.

The story, according has a good amount of suspense, action and sci-fi factor. And my favorite

part is the last page of the comic, where it indicates that some BOOM-BAAM-BADDAM(action) stuff is sure to happen and to know that, do yourself a favor and buy it now.

Score- 8.5/10

UNWRITTEN #33

Writer: Mike Carey

Artist: Peter Gross

Unwritten has been, for the most part, brilliant. It’s a comic that you really need to use your brain cells to decipher. It won’t tell you blatantly what’s going on, you’ve got to piece it together, connect the dots, read every line of dialogue written. This isn’t a comic that treats its reader like a baby.  And boy is this comic good. If you haven’t read them, go to the nearest store, go online and buy the Trades. If you like comicbooks, don’t miss this one. And if you haven’t read this book ever, I’m sorry to say I can’t explain it here. It’s something you have to read and experience. It’s too complex to make a non-reader understand. 

So how does this issue stack up? Well, it is bloody darn good. It continues the story of Tommy Taylor, the protagonist, who is, in this story arc, hunting down the people, a sect called “The Cabal”, who killed everyone he knew, his assistants, his agents, publicists, teachers, classmates, ex-girlfriends, EVERYONE. But this isn’t a normal revenge story. It’s a literal WAR of words. And Tommy, here, has the power of Literature.  

This whole “war” in Unwritten is, in fact, fought by literature, and how Mike Carey, the writer, uses this premise, with the literature folding into reality, it’s nothing short of brilliant.  Mike Carey never falters. In terms of writing, every issue has been very well done. It isn’t groundbreaking or earth-shattering or shock inducing, but it’s solid, good writing. 

I wish I could say the same about the art. Peter Gross’ art has been pretty okay for the most part of the series. The writing lets him experiment sometimes by putting in a comicbook character from the forties into present day London. Those bits are brilliant. But with this issue, there’s something off about the art. The faces of the protagonists are never really the same. I mean, they seem to be done in a different style almost every panel. Like, there’s one character who is drawn with a lot of lines on his face, and on the next panel, his face isn’t rugged anymore. Magically, it’s smooth and devoid of lines on the face. Maybe it has something to do with the themes of the book, but it isn’t working. It just seems odd.

All in all, this is a well written, solid issue. Could have been brilliant with a little better art.

Score: 8/10 

LOBSTER JOHNSON : THE BURNING HAND

Writer: Mike Mignola, John Arcudi

Artist: Tonci Zonjic

I’ll just say it first : I’m a huge Mike Mignola fan and I’ll read just about anything with his name on it. Hellboy, BPRD, Amazing Screw-On Head, ANYTHING. Lobster Johnson comes from the pages of Hellboy, where he first appeared in Conqueror Worm. He was created as a tribute to pulp heroes of the old, like Doc Savage, Zorro and the Shadow.  

He previously appeared solo in the Iron Prometheus, which was a great read. And now he returns in The Burning Hand. Burning Hand is set during the early 1930’s, when silent films are being replaced by audio and Hitler is just beginning to rise. I really like how Arcudi and Mignola establish this time period. It just feels genuinely like a story of the 1930’s. But that said, this issue is somewhat of a slow burn. 

Lobster Johnson barely makes an appearance. Instead, it centers around a controversial journalist  Cindy Tynan. She’s written well, but come on, it’s a Lobster Johnson comic, and he’s a pulp hero. You expect him to turn up Guns-ablazin’. And nothing eventful really happens throughout the book. It just feels like a slow introduction to the character. And there’s a scene which seemingly has no relevance to the rest of the story. It doesn’t introduce any characters, and doesn’t even have any of the already introduced characters. I guess Burning Hand will read better in a collected edition. It’s just too much of a slow burn of a comic. Not like last week’s Strain which was, like this one, all about the set-up. Strain did a brilliant job of introducing all the characters, Ephraim, Nora, Zack, Ephraim’s ex-wife and Setrakian. This one, it only introduces us to three.

But I’ll be damned if I said the art isn’t brilliant. And it isn’t heavy on the black ink, it relies on the colors instead. And Dave Stewart does a brilliant job of the coloring. I’d say this one will rank among his best work. It’s that good.  I really like the use of wide panels in this one. Gives it an appropriately more movie-ish feel. I’ve never even heard of Tonci Zonjic, but I’m liking his art. It’s refreshingly easy on lines, great inking, and the angles look like a silent film from the late twenties. As I said, these guys really get that 1930’s feel into the book. The art is really good on this one.

I wish we had more Lobster Johnson in this one. But the cliffhanger assures us there’ll be more action next time, so I guess things will considerably improve. I’m following it. I’ll read the rest of the issues and most probably buy the collected edition when it comes out.
Unwritten is a book you should pick up for the writing. This one, you should pick up for the art.

Score: 8/10

WOLVERINE AND THE X MEN #4

Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist : Nick Bradshaw

“Wolverine is the headmaster of Jean Grey High School”. That sentence totally convinced me to check this out. The first issue was brilliant. There was action, some drama, it was funny. But the second and third issues were ‘meh’. 

This one is far better, actually, thanks to a new pupil in the school. Genesis. Don’t know who he is? Heard of Apocalypse? That’s him. Genesis is a clone of Apocalypse, and possibly Apocalypse himself. And then there’s Angel, Warren Worthington, but there’s something wrong with him. Terribly wrong. The students are written well, although, at times, they feel terribly two dimensional. There’s the nerd, there’s the rebel, and the students are generally rowdy. Wolverine gets called “headmaster” (I’m never going to come to terms with that). Iceman is angry. And then there’s this brilliant scene with Deathlok, who’s been invite by Kitty Pryde to give a lecture on “Future History” but ends up predicting the futures of a few students. And with Genesis in the class, you know that this “future predicting” scene isn’t going to be very pretty. It’s very well written.

And the art looks exactly like something drawn by Art Adams. Nick Bradshaw copies his style well, but not well enough. It’s good for the most part. He gets the characters right, but he doesn’t do any of Art Adam’s angles. The angles are, in fact, pretty generic.

Colors are just ‘meh’. But I’ve come to expect that from Marvel. Any issue where the artist himself isn’t doing the color, it ends up somewhat lackluster. These guys at Marvel don’t seem to take colors very seriously as the folks back at Dark Horse.

All in all, it was a fun issue. But that cliffhanger is completely ridiculous, but a good attempt at shocking people and spicing things up. They did something like this with X-Factor a year back, and it didn’t work in the end. I don’t think it’s going to work this time, either.

Score: 7/10

AMAZING SPIDERMAN 677

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist : Emma Rios

At comic addicts we try to review new series which are just starting out, after all its our responsibility as comic addicts to sample the new material out there and let you know if you should be picking them  up as well. So with this in mind, Amazing Spiderman is a title we normally won’t focus on. So what makes this issue so special?

This issue guest stars Daredevil and is writer by its scribe Mark Waid. He brings his A game to this issue and the chemistry between Spider-Man and Daredevil is the best I have seen in ages. The dialogues spark with energy and quite a few instances actually made me laugh out loud, which in today’s comic world with all the crisis and the wars is not a bad thing at all. More Mr. Waid , more! He continues the overall plot of the regular Spidey author Dan Slott and delivers a great character piece for both the protagonists. I had almost forgotton comics could be this good

This story continues into Daredevil #8 , so If you haven’t been reading Daredevil we strongly suggest you pick the book up , as its the best Matt has ever been. Mark waid has revitalised a character who was brutally marred by the “Shadowland” fiasco. Daredevil has been the critical darling of reviewers last year and there is a strong reason for that. Use this opportunity to familiarise yourself with the old-new-Daredevil!

Score: 9/10

WHISPERS #1

Writer/Artist: Joshua Luna

Whoa! This was a breath of fresh air..This comic is the first solo outing for Joshua Luna of the famed Luna Brothers duo (Ultra, Girls,Sword) and he hits this one out of the park straight away.

The story is about Sam , a germophobe and slightly neurotic who discovers he has been having  out of body experiences that he has been passing off as “dreams”. At night his spirit (I presume) is free to roam the earth while his body sleeps in the bed and he has been visiting his friends. Much of this issue is build up where we discover Sam’s worlds , his friends and his loves.

In a lesser author’s hand the out of body experience shtick could have turned into some very familiar tropes -“pervert” /”lets me be superhero” / “revenge”, but Joshua turns this tale into an examination of Sam’s personal self and his life and it is intriguing.

I cannot wait to see where Joshua takes this story to and how this all is going to end.

People who have been following Luna brothers know what to expect with the art: clean visuals  and elegant colors .

P.S: the first few pages would have you wonder what is lingering on the next door handle you come in contact with!

Score: 8/10

SCARLET SPIDER #1

Writer: Chris Yost

Artist: Ryan Stegman

Wow.. When I started reading Scarlet Spider I had no idea it would be this good! First things first though... This comic stars Kain, yup the same Kain from the yesteryear’s Infamous Spidey Clone saga. If you are one of those who hated the clone saga (like me!), please remove all your prejudices regarding that storyline and come and visit this book anew.

For all intents and purposes this is a fresh start for Kain ( at least for now). All Kain wants to do is live out his life away from the shadow of his past. As the tagline for the comic says, he has all the powers of spiderman but none of the responsibility and this is exactly why he makes for such an interesting character. He is not a do-gooder but he isn’t evil! He trudges a fine line between a hero and an anti-hero.  Somewhere down the line , I think its his Parker genes that explains his compulsion to get involved in helping people despite him trying his best to ignore his impulses. This comic is not going to change your life, but it will keep you entertained.

The art is clean and expressive , though I found the colors a little bright . This does not suit the tone of the story sometimes.

Try it, you might like it.  

Score: 8/10 

- Reviews by Anupam Sarkar, Anubhav Sharma , Anubhav DasGupta and Mayank Khurana