Week In Review : Edgar Allen Poe's The Conqueror Worm #1 + Judge Dredd #1 + Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow #19

Edgar Allen Poe's The Conqueror Worm #1 (Dark Horse)

Story & Art : Richard Corben

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Ah, what an intriguing concept. Turn one of Poe's acclaimed poems into a one shot comic book. Edgar Allan Poe lies in that rare literary hallowed ground where a writer/poet always yearns to tread but fears immensely to do so. For to do so would be to walk in the shadows of giants. Not everyone is ok with that. It invites comparison and critique from the highest circles and rounds of amateur barbs as piercing as they are uninvited. However you have to realize that most of this criticism is with good cause. You don't just touch a Poe poem and be done with it. You best be prepared to bleed a part of your soul into that work and make it shine real good. Cause if you don't. Then one of these nights you might just meet the master himself. And then you will bleed.

Week In Review : B.P.R.D 1948 #2 + Captain America #1 + Deadpool #2

Hey folks!! Welcome back to another week - we're running a little late, but here's some of our picks from the week past. 

New reviews of this weeks books will be here this weekend so stick around!

B.P.R.D 1948 #2 (Dark Horse)

Story : Mike Mignola and John Arcudi

Art : Max Fiumara

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Well awesome another BPRD book. I cannot get me enough of these books. They never disappoint and each book leaves me with the growing realization that the end of the world will be brought about when Hellboy breaks out of Hell and runs loose - on Mignola's schedule, not the Mayans'. But that is a personal view. Anyhow, 1948 serves as a throwback, taking us into a simpler time when The Professor was still a little green around the edges and Hellboy was a little monster learning the ropes from his army family. Which means it is a time when some major reveals can really happen. But alas, my hopes are undone.

So far.

Week In Review : 47 Ronin #1 + Before Watchmen Moloch #1 + Colder #1

Pardon the belated posts this week folks, the festivites of Diwali (amongst other things) had us terribly short on time and we were not able to post these up sooner! 

47 Ronin #1 (Dark Horse)

Story : Mike Richardson

Art : Stan Sakai

(Reviewed by Anubhav Dasgupta)

There is a saying that the tale of the Forty Seven Ronin is the definitive Japanese story. From what I’ve gathered, it’s a tale that more or less commands a huge chunk of their culture, much like our myths of Ram and the Mahabharata.

“To know the tale of 47 Ronin is to know Japan.”

And that’s not far off from the truth. 47 Ronin feels like a very Japanese tale. There are some stories that just feel classy, that feel noble, like Seven Samurai, Citizen Kane, Kumonoso Jo and this comic feels like one of those stories. It doesn’t cheat you with gimmicks and cheap shocks, but simply tells a story, and a good one at that.

Week In Review : American Vampire #29 + Justice League Dark #11 + The Goon #40

American Vampire #29 (Vertigo)

Story : Scott Snyder

Art : Rafael Albuquerque

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Skinner Sweet is back. The monster from the old wild west returns to doing what he does best. Hunting down the old breed of vampires. And this time he is doing it for Uncle Sam. Partnering up with his old crush/protege Pearl Jones. The two of them are set loose in Hollywood to undertake their own witchhunt. While the government tries to sniff out the communists, the two of them are here to bring to light any incidents of Vampires being hidden among the rich, affluent movie magnates.

Skinner Sweet and Pearl Jones always have such wonderful chemistry together that its a wonder most issues in the series arent centred about them. Skinner's character is pretty much what drew a lot of people to this series, including me. He acts as a perfect foil to the good hearted Pearl. Add to this the fact that we know the European breed of Bloodsuckers indeed have something up their sleeve (thanks to Lord of Nightmares) and this story becomes doubly interesting.

Week In Review : B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth Exorcism #2 + Debris #1 + Star Wars Blood Ties Boba Fett Is Dead #4

B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth Exorcism #2 (of 2) (Dark Horse)

Story : Mike Mignola and Cameron Stewart

Art : Cameron Stewart

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

The best part about a two comic story arc. Is that it has to be sharp and slickly done. You wont find useless filler villains, or feints and counter feints. There isnt any room for them. What you would expect is direct storyline, no holds barred. And that is exactly what you get. In spades.

Exorcism, deals with one of the many secrets of BPRD. One of the many tangents in this Hell on Earth where the agency interfered without even know what it was interfering in. And must now bear the price. An ancient Demon of great power and potency was imprisoned on this Earth. Its time of freedom now at hand, BPRD Agent Ashley Strode will venture into realms best left untouched to complete her mission.

A wonderful throwback to the old spooky Hellboy storylines, this comic works wonderfully. The artwork is just plain awesome, and the writing as always top notch. If you are looking for a good

Week In Review : Alabaster Wolves #4 + B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth The Devil's Engine #3 + Mars Attacks! #2

Another week over and one last lot of new comics folks!
Today our team breaks down three of the most interesting titles on the stands - Alabastar Wolves has been making some waves in horror circles under the pen of Caitlin Kiernan and BPRD has been like a juggernaut of insanity for the past year and is still going. And to wrap it up, we've got the utterly insane Mars Attacks comic!
Enjoy!

Alabaster Wolves #4 (Dark Horse)

Story : Caitlin R. Kiernan

Art : Steve Lieber

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Ah, Alabaster Wolves... So much potential, so much disappointment and yet so much hope. First off, I really like this series. It has a dash of myth and legends interspersed with a lot of interesting characters. On the downside we are dealing with a primarily Christian mythos here. Our heroine has a guardian angel, and I dont mean that in a metaphorical sense. She literally has an angel watching her back. Talk about real firepower.

As for the heroine herself well she manages to hold her own. A cheeky albino brat out hitch-hiking through the wilderness with a bird to keep her company and a kitchen knife to serve as a weapon. Not good odds I know, even with an angel watching your back. But she survives, rolling on from one near disaster to another near death experience. Monsters and ghouls are thick in this book, werewolves prowl the shadows. And the old rules of riddling are still held sacred.

WEEK IN REVIEW : American Vampire-Lord of Nightmares #1 + Avengers #27 + AvX Versus #3 + Deadpool #56 + Knight Errant - Escape #1

Welcome back to more new-release reviews! Today is dominated by Marvel titles because this week there were a bunch of new AvX related tie-ins that we knew folks would want to read.

But despair not if you have little interest in the Marvel Summer Event, there are a couple of less fighty-spandex titles on the list as well, starting with this Vertigo wonder that kicks the list off!

American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #1 (Vertigo)

Story : Scott Snyder

Art : Dustin Nguyen

(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)

Another Felicia Book story, and this one steeped heavily in Vassals of Morning Star lore. Needless to say you should not be picking this book up unless you are an American Vampire fan. And in case you are an American Vampire fan, then congratulations... you just found another American Vampire comic book. An awesome continuation of an awesome series. With only slightly less awesome characters.

What? I'm a Skinner Sweet fan okay. And Felicia just never did it for me.

But that doesn't mean she didn't do it for anyone. And even though I begrudge her slow yet inevitable takeover of the limelight in the American Vampire saga, I do respect her prowess and recognize her necessity. She is the perfect heroine for this saga. And it seems that the vassals of the Morning Star have let loose the perfect villain for the saga as well.

Week In Review : Batman #10 + Before Watchmen:Silk Spectre #1 + Conan The Barbarian #5 + Planetoid #1 + Spider-Men #1

I love a good new-release day and this week has been an amazing one, with a slew of great comics to check out!

Not only do we have several titles from DC fresh after the harrowing events on the Night of Owls, but also the start of the second Before Watchmen series and many, many more to read.

Here's some of our picks of the ongoings and even a new Image series - now go ahead and enjoy! (and make sure to be back here tomorrow for more new releases in burst-reviews!)

- Editor

Batman #10 (DC)

Story : Scott Snyder

Art : Greg Capullo (main story) & Rafael Albuquerque (back-up)

(Reviewed by Anupam Sarkar)

I've been reading Batman comics from time immemorial (actually, about 10 years) and to me this issue is the perfect example of why I like Batman. While most go with action or a relationship crisis, very few writers can capture the detective in Batman. Amongst those few is now Scott Snyder.

To start with, the story - Snyder does a masterful job. Not going knee deep into spoilers, I can say that this issue has a major revelation at the end (cough...something to do with Lincoln March...cough). And everybody's going to love it. Not only does it give weight to the “New 52 Batman”, but it also shows that the Wayne's are not as squeaky clean as people thought they were.

As of the artwork, Greg Capullo amazes me after each consecutive issue. The man is an active volcano of talent! There are however only a few panels which show the Court of Owls, in all of which they are dead (literally). But, throughout the issue Capullo maintains the owl vibe. One of my favorites is the second page from the issue. Be sure to check it out.

Week In Review : Ame-Comi Wonder Woman #1 + B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth The Transformation Of J. H. O'Donnell + Star Trek TNG / Doctor Who : Assimilation2 #1 + The Ravagers #1

Back for more dear readers? Well we're as happy to be here as you are and we've got a new lot of fresh-off-the-presses comics reviewed just for you!

Ame-Comi Wonder Woman #1 (DC Digital)

Story : Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

Art : Amanda Conner

(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)

If you had told me months, weeks or even days ago that I would not only be reading but thoroughly enjoying a comic based on a really cheesy Wonder Woman statue created as a gimmick and be a proper fan by the end – I'd have smacked you sideways and sued you for defamation. And I would have been dead wrong.

The first big-awesome on this comic? It's created by the master-class team of Gray/Palmiotti/Conner that brought us the much-missed Power-Girl series (pre-reboot) that was and still is one of the single best heroine-centric series. Period. I admit openly that I'm overjoyed to find that amidst the mess that DC is making of a lot of titles that could be better and screwing-up the mainstream (not completely but a fair bit) titles, it's great to have a book that is lighter, more enjoyable and disconnected from the massive weight of history that DC just doesn't seem able to shake off for some reason.

Week In Review : Avengers #25 / B.P.R.D: The Long Death #3 / Batman #8 / Nighwing #8 / Ragemoor #2 / The Shadow #1

 Avengers #25 (Marvel)

Story : Brian Michael Bendis

Art : Walter Simonson

(Reviewed by Anubhav Sharma)

As I’ve said last week, I’m a big fan of Bendis penned event tie-ins, mainly because he gets the level of characterisation and depth stories as big as the events we’ve been seeing for the last half decade which may not fit in well with all the big action in the main books. At face value, one may not see how relevant this issue is to AvX as a whole, but deep down it gives much needed buildup on the Avengers side of the conflict at the core of the event, and serves as a bridge between the recent Osborn storyline and AvX. Captain America and the Protector, in particular, get their motivations fleshed out, which explains some of the former’s decisions in AvX so far and the latter’s solicited actions.

Of course, one can’t talk about this issue without talking about the return of legendary artist Walt Simonson to Marvel. With modern colouring techniques showing is art in a new light, it’s safe to say it as the same level of dynamism he was known for at his best. Also, is Thor particularly looks as majestic as ever.

SCORE : 8.2 / 10

C2E2: New Comic News!!

Good day one and all!

Apologies for a hectic week and not enough comic-y goodness for all of you (largely my fault, but I blame the IPL and various other things for our shortcomings!) but we intend to make up for it and then some in the days to come!

For those of you who follow this stuff, there's a HUGE load of comic news that came out during the recent Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, popularly known as C2E2 amongst fans. I've been keeping an eye on their news and announcements and have for you here a sumptuous feast of some of the most choice and tender treats to tickle your taste buds!

This post is a special recap where I've tried to put together as much of the news as possible for your geeking-out pleasure (in alphabetical order for general ease of use!).

So let's just get to it shall we?

To kick things off, from the strange and frighteningly awesome Avatar offices:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Michael DiPascale’s new project announced at C2E2 is Hero Worship which will premier in July. Keith says that Avatar Press rarely does superhero comics, noting the exceptions by Warren Ellis, and Christos Gage, saying they don’t do them unless there’s something unique about them. He then describes Hero Worship a bit, telling us Zak Penn will be writing, and it’s a six issue miniseries and is about society’s worship of superheroes and how that can be used to screw the system. The main characters are Adam and Zenith. Adam is a normal boy and Zenith is a Superman-style superhero. Adam is Zenith’s biggest fan, and the book is not really about him, so much as the world around him.

New Home for Geeks!

Free Dark Horse motion web-comics. Gaming round-table sessions. Critical and fan favourite web-series. The best of Indie culture. A Fantasy book club. All in one place.
Got your attention? Yeah, thought it might.

I don't know how many of you out there are familiar with a lady named Felicia Day. I would say less than 50% would know here, though according to her its probably only 10%. Hopefully a lot more than I'd guess, but just in case I'm wrong:

Felicia Day is an American actress, known for her work as "Vi" on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and for parts in movies such as Bring It On Again and June, as well as the Internet musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Day is also the star, script writer and producer of the original web series The Guild, a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also starred in the Dragon Age Web Series; Dragon Age: Redemption (you really should check this link out!), which she wrote. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Web Television.

At only 32, she is the creator and star of The Guild, an online series whose episodes have garnered over 150 million views since it began in 2007 and for which she's won two best actress Streamys as well. Oh yeah and earlier this year the Hollywood Reporter named her one of the industry’s top 50 digital power players on a list that included George Lucas.
So there you have the basics, essentially she is a geek icon - writes comics, acts in cult favourite movies and TV shows (Buffy, Eureka, etc) and is a complete gamer through and through. In fact her profile both on facebook and google+ have huge followings that reflect her diverse fan-base, recently she's even been hosting hangouts on G+ with fan.

BUT today is less about Felicia as it is to share about the website + video channel she has just launched mere days ago, titled simple Geek and Sundry.

Week In Review: B.P.R.D. : The Pickens County Horror #1 / Bloodstrike #26 / Daredevil #10 / Justice League Dark #7 / The New Deadwardians #1 / Voodoo #7

Welcome fellow ComicAddicts, to another new week of releases - and do we have a load of amazing titles for you guys this week! In fact we had so many great releases that we have more than the usual number today AS WELL AS TOMORROW! So dive in and enjoy!

B.P.R.D. – Hell On Earth : The Pickens County Horror #1 (of 2) (Dark Horse)

Story : Scott Allie

Art : Jason Latour

(Reviewed by Anubhav DasGupta)

None of our usual BPRD players turn up in Pickens County Horror. There’s no Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien or Johann Krauss. Instead, we are treated to two field agents who land up in South Carolina to investigate something about a fog that, well, “moans”. There are Vampires in this issue.

Firstly, this comic is not groundbreaking or mindblowing, but it gets the work done. What really stands out in this issue is the art. I love this Latour guy. This is the only comicbook of his that I’ve read, but he’s impressed me, and I’m totally going to fish around for more of this guy’s work. The amount of character he brings out in each and every panel is amazing. And the nighttime scenes are just brilliant. It also helps that Dave Stewart is handling the colors. I bet his colors would make a page drawn by even Rob-goddamn-Liefeld look good, and with Latour’s art, it not only looks amazing, but also adds to the story.

The pace is just right. This comic takes its time, letting us know the characters before heaping the good stuff on us and ending with our heroes in a questionable situation. This is textbook horror storytelling.

Week-In-Review: Adventure Time #2 / Conan The Barbarian #2 / Saga #1 / X-23#21

Adventure Time #2 (BOOM! Studios)

Story: Ryan North + Lucy Knisley and Zac Gorman (backup stories)

Art: Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb

(Review by: Rijul Raut)

Hoo boy. Let me start off by saying that Adventure Time is one of my favourites of all cartoon TV shows, nay, of all TV shows. Its mixture of bizarre action, surreal humour and the best friends anywhere, ever, makes me watch this show for hours and hours. So when I heard that it was getting a tie-in comic, I was ecstatic. I had extremely high expectations of this comic, and boy, does it deliver. Some pressing issues prevented me from reading the first issue, and so I must bring before you a review of Adventure Time #2.

The main story continues on from the first issue, with the Lich having captured Finn, Jake, Dessert Princess and Ice King inside a mysterious bag. Marceline, Bubblegum Princess and Lumpy Space Princess (boy, this comic has a LOT of royalty. Marceline's a vampire queen) are also caught during the events of this comic, and the plot deals with them trying to find their way out. There are tiny, three-panel mini-comics on the bottom of some pages, and they are hilarious. My favourite moment has to be the Ice King's pet penguin Gunter reading Ice King-penned fan-fiction.

Wayfarer Special: Top 10 Indie Comics of 2011 (Part 2 of 2)

And so once more into the breach dear friends, as I bring us to the second half of this happy little countdown of the Indie comics that I loved the most this past year. Yes, I know, it's been a long gap since Part 1 of this little countdown and the New Year is well into it's first quarter, but it is what it is - I felt that coverage of our Comic Con in Delhi and all that came out of it took precedence and this could wait just a bit.

Before I get to the final leg of the countdown, a quick listing of the books that almost made it to this top ten but fell just shy. I wish I could have made this list longer and perhaps I will review them all in the near future, but in the meantime I think they all deserve an Honourable mention:

• The Goon (Writer/Artist: Eric Powell)
• G.I.Joe Cobra (Writer: Christos Gage and Mike Costa, Artist: Antonio Fuso)
• Scarlet (Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Alex Maleev)
• Scalped (Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: R. M. Guéra)
• Artifacts (Writers: Ron Marz, Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins, Artists: Michael Broussard, Stjepan Sejic)
• Super Dinosaur (Writer: Robert Kirkman, Artist: Jason Howard)
• Fallen Angel: Return of the Son (Writer: Peter David, Artist: J.K.Woodward)

So thank you for your patience and now without any further rambling along on my part, lets just get to it shall we?

05. HELLBOY

Click to enlarge

Writer: Mike Mignola w/ John Arcudi

Artist: Various

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

For those of you that have been following Mike Mignola's worlds as they've evolved in the Hellboy, B.P.R.D and related series, I think you know what I mean when I say that for so many years now they have been the most consistent, creative and amazingly put together comics – among the best comics as a medium have to offer in a sense. For those that have not, you are really missing out on something special.

The various story arcs and such together form such an amazing, long-running and vast story-line and world that it's amazing they've managed it for such a long period of time – and the hand of creator Mike Mignola is definitely visible in every single book, even the one's he has not directly scripted himself. Of course credit where it's due to the talents who've worked with him and been able to strike a nice balance between their own work and style but ever retaining the unique look and feel that Mignola brought to the comic-medium. The truly awesome part being that it remains this damn good even after 17 years!

Week-In-Review: Army Of Darkness #1 + B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1 + The Darkness #99 + Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1

ARMY OF DARKNESS #1

Story: Elliott R. Serrano

Art: Marat Mychaels & Chris Ivy

(Review By: Akshay Dhar)

This review must be prefaced by me informing you that if you have a love for either the Army Of Darkness and Evil Dead movies, Ash Williams and/or the inimitably awesome Bruce Campbell – then you will already relish and enjoy the comic. Also, you should bear in mind this is in essence a horror-action-comedy before you read it and start taking it seriously as you do so. Just enjoy it for what it is, thats what it does.

Taking a new direction on the mythology of the Army Of Darkness with chosen ones and adding in a whole new “Ash” Williams character, a bit of a surprise this time, what with it being a girl and all that. Torn from her time by magic and possibly fate and thrown into ancient Egypt with new and ungodly powers, Ashley is now on her own (more or less) as she fights an survives what is clearly just the beginning of deadly adventures to come as the malevolent big-bad watches from afar. With the original Ash in just a cameo moment, it was a bit of a let-down given the cover which makes you dive in hoping to geekily enjoy seeing the Boom-stick in action. But in the end Serrano has done a good job and the end result is an amusing and well portrayed story in the horror-comedy genre that sets an interesting opening stage, now I just hope he can build on it nicely hereafter.

As for the artwork – I make no bones about the fact that I'm not the biggest Mychaels fan, given his artistic lineage under the tutelage of the man who makes anyone with any aesthetic sensibility face-palm at will, Mr. Rob Leifeld. However he seems to have made some progress and while not spectacular, he does a basicaly decent job and seems to have surpassed that particular teacher for sure – plus I think some nice inking by Ivy also helps in that department quite a bit.

SCORE : 6.4 / 10

Week-in-Review: Battle Scars #4 + Conan the Barbarian (2012) #1 + Fantastic Four Season One GN + The Ninjettes #1 + Scarlet Spider #2

Another week, another set of comics for you to read! Well as we've endeavored to do every single week (and plan to keep doing) my fellow Addicts, we bring you another round of selective bullet reviews of what's what among this week's releases. So without wasting any more time, lets get to it!

Battle Scars #4 (of 6) – Marvel Comics

Story: Chris Yost (with Cullen Bunn & Matt Fraction on plots)

Art: Scott Eaton

(Review By: Anubhav Sharma)

*SPOILER ALERT*

The “biggest secret in the Marvel Universe” gets revealed in the new issue of Battle Scars, and it’s something that pretty much everyone already knew, courtesy the internet. So yes, Marcus Johnson is actually Nick Fury’s son, and he’s poised to lose an eye in the next issue and fill up the reservation for a one eyed African American director of SHIELD just in time for the Avengers. The issue reads a little too fast, with too little happening in too much time. Here’s a summary : He meets Deadpool, Taskmaster, the Serpent Squad and ultimately his father. Scott Eaton’s art has messed up anatomy in plenty of places and generally fails to add any excitement to the fight sequences.

SCORE : 4.2/10

Conan the Barbarian #1 – Dark Horse Comics

Story: Brian Wood

Art: Becky Cloonan (drawings), and Dave Stewart (colours)

(Review By: Rijul Partha)

It has been so long since I last read a Conan comic (nearly 1½ years) and even longer since I read a Conan novel, that I have nearly forgotten the specifics of the Cimmerian's adventures. This, then, marks the return of a lapsed reader. The quality of the Conan comics has always been high (as with other Robert Howard properties - Kull: The Cat and the Skull being a recent example) and for this title, expectations were high, with Wood 

being known for quality storytelling in Demo, Northlanders and DMZ. I am pleased to report that he does not falter, and delivers a cracking first issue to the series.

Special Review: Dark Horse Presents #8

Today folks, we have a very special review of a new comic released this past week. It's a single comic but is so huge and loaded with talented creators' work that we felt deserved a reviewing all its own. This edition of Dark Horse Presents is brought to you by various writers and artists including John Arcudi, Brian Wood, Howard Chaykin, Neal Adams, Andi Watson, Al Gordon, MJ Butler, Beau Smith, Duncan Fegredo, Geof Darrow, Kristian Donaldson, Thomas Yeates, Mark Wheatley, Eduardo Barreto and has been reviewed by one of our newest additions to the Comic Addicts family, Mr. Anubhav DasGupta:

I’ve been following DHP somewhat sporadically, and checked out this issue mainly because it carried a few Hellboy/BPRD and Beasts of Burden features, and although they were amazing (and probably the best of the bunch), I found myself staying back for a few more of the stories.

The Neal Adams and Howard Chaykin features just went over my head, but I guess that’s because I haven’t checked out the previous parts. But the post-apocalyptic Tarzan story (that celebrates the franchise’s 100^th anniversary), the Time-travel story, the aforementioned Hellboy epilogue and Beasts of Burden short are nothing shy of amazing. Writing and art on all of these are absolutely amazing, nothing short of brilliant.

Week-in-Review: Avengers – Solo #1 / The Activity #1 / Catwoman #4 / The Immortal: Demon in the Blood #1

Well hello folks! Welcome to our premier edition of "Week-in-Review" which we teased you with just a few days ago.
Today I have for you some great and some surprising picks from the books released this past Wedesday. We will try and bring you a list like this every week on Monday's to give you a flavour of what's new and what's hot and whatever looks good in between - and once in a while when something is really to be avoided, we'll bring warnings! Now enough of me gabbing, on to the reviews!

The Activity #1

Story: Nathan Edmonson

Art: Mitch Gerads

I was definitely looking forward to this book from when I heard about it – not just because Image has been having a banner year and putting out some of the most awesome books, but because this is Nathan Edmonson's follow up to the magnificent Who Is Jake Ellis and his ongoing Grifter for DC. Like Jake Ellis, this is a secret agent and espionage kind of story, but where that was about someone on the outside bucking the system, this story is about a team that is the best of the best and the go-to guys for the elite, and so on and so forth – you get the idea. A sweet little opening chapter that has a new recruit joining the team (not the newest idea, I know) it acts as a 'testing the waters' kind of mission both for the characters and their new team-mate as well as for the reader and I personally found this to be a brilliantly thought out and engaging read with great characters. Plus, Mitch Gerads brings a nice style to the comic, though his art may not be everyones favourite, his layouts and choice of focus and detail are amongst the most awesome I've seen!

Most definitely on my pull list from here till it finishes, gets cancelled or Edmonson leaves at the very least.

SCORE: 4.7/5 

NEW COMICS: Zero-day bullet reviews - Avengers X-Sanction/The Ray/The Strain

Welcome Addicts to the inaugural week-in-review from ComicAddicts.com - a space we are planning to bring you a selection of the comics released that week in short, quick and easy reviews to help you see keep track of whats good and bad with each Wednesdays releases!

This week we kick-off our reviewing with review by Anubhav and Akshay, our comic obsessed work-horses who brought you the blow-by-blow every week for the DC Comics "New 52" releases. 

First out of the gate, the hotly anticipated Avengers: X-Sanction by superstar creative duo, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinessas reviewed by Anubhav Sharma

(Click to enlarge)

Avengers X-Sanction

Ah Loeb, you make me sad.

Avengers: X-Sanction reunites the Jeph Loeb – Ed McGuiness creative duo that first brought us the Red Hulk (a.k.a "Rulk"). And its Déjà vu all over again. It’s all back: mindless smashing, every character who is not the protagonist is dumbed down, people acting out of character all over the place. This certainly does not fit well with Loeb’s earlier amazing work. Continuity errors aside (I thought Radioactive Man was a good guy now?!), and despite some unexpectedly good character work in the future sequence, this series does look like something you can miss, even if you’re looking forward to Avengers vs. X-Men. There is some extremely horrible dialogue involved, which, along with out and out bad pacing, gives the reader the feeling of nothing really happening throughout the issue. I’ve never been a very big fan of Ed McGuiness’ art, but in some ways, it is the almost-saving grace of the book with some big screen action and things blowing up.

As a book I was really hoping to like, a big disappointment.

Verdict: 5.2/10

Next up we have a double review (in keeping with the New 52 reviews) of DC's reinvention of The Ray: