Week-In-Review: Fantastic Four #603 / Witchblade and Red Sonja #1 / Prophet #22

Well folks, as promised, we have part 2 of this week's comic reviews for your pleasure and we hope you like the titles we've chosen. As always, if there are any series' at all that you would like to see reviewed as they release - all you have to do is ask!

Fantastic Four #603

Story: Jonathan Hickman

Art: Barry Kitson

(Review by Akshay Dhar)

I've never been the biggest fan of Fantastic Four comics beyond the early years under Kirby and Lee, a few good ones here and there but rarely have I consistently enjoyed what is otherwise one of the most landmark, unique and iconic team books in comics. Until Hickman. From now on when it comes to the FF there is the era B.H. (before Hickman) and A.H. as far as I'm concerned and if you've been following his work from his takeover through the launch of the ongoing FF (a.k.a Future Foundation) and the recent relaunch of Fantastic Four, then you know exactly what I mean.

Not a story-heavy issue, this is just part of the final moments of what Hickman has been building for quite a while now with the multi-Reed storyline, the time and space travelling Richards' children all growed-up and all the other little bits that have been weaving around – not to mention the death and VERY recent return (with style I might add!) of Johnny Storm, a.k.a, the Human Torch. We get some funky science, deadly cosmic weapons, Galactus kicking arse and laying the smack-down, Negative Zone armies now ruled by Johnny, lost kids and twists still forming as others unravel and this is a relatively simple issue for what has been a great time with a book (now two books if you include this and FF both). Barry Kitson does a fantastic job on the art and the massive scale action scenes play out really well while never getting in the way of the story, a nice balance.

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.

Fantasising fondly of the "Fantastic Four" (1967 animated series)

When I was a kid in the fourth grade, one fine afternoon a routine bout of channel surfing gave me a completely new channel with a wonderful concept – they broadcast Cartoons right through the day. The channel was then called Cartoon Network, and they used to broadcast mostly Hanna Barbera stuff – which I was new to, back then. I saw a lot of classics I knew (Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes), new stuff I came to love (Scooby Doo, Huckleberry Hound) and a feature that looked too interesting for words – The Power Zone. I remember this part all too well as it was a two-hour programme that featured only action cartoons.

At the outset, I remember running home from school to thrill to the adventures of The Fantastic Four, The Centurions, Jonny Quest, Thundarr The Barbarian and Super Adventures – a gamut of H-B studio works, like Space Ghost, Birdman, Mightor, The Herculoids, Shazzan, Moby Dick, Dino Boy and the Galaxy Trio. These cartoons and the ones that followed – Swat Kats, Captain Planet, Sky Commanders, Galtar and the Golden Lance – inspired me to look for comics featuring action heroes, and to be honest I wasn’t reading a lot of foreign comics, so my action comics were limited to Indrajal Comics and Diamond Comics’ Mahabali Shaka, Agniputra Abhay, Fauladi Singh and Lamboo Motu. Only after viewing these did my interest in foreign comics, as well as in Indian publications featuring other foreign characters (IBH & Dolton both printed Indian editions of DC Comics long ago), and my chief inspiration was The Fantastic Four (1967)

Random Musings - 12 /09/2010

Pax Romana

I have been following JONATHAN HICKMAN for some time now (Pax Romana, The Nightly News, Red Mass for Mars). With his latest stint at Marvel Comics (Fantastic Four, Secret Warriors, Shield) , he is telling very interesting stories through highly innovative concepts. Reminds me of Grant Morrison's work. Is he the next Grant? Hmm..Future will tell.     
 
Just got my TOM STRONG  (by Alan Moore) deluxe edition volume 2. Very few comics are such joy to read these days, but thankfully their number seems to be increasing. The top two contenders undeniably are Hellboy and Atomic Robo. Maybe I should be writing about them someday..

Started Reading "RAIDERS" (Yen Press), the premise seemed interesting : The search for holy grail(or blood!) and some unusual Zombies ( Zombies seems to be new Vampires now! o Wait, we already have a glut of Vampire comics).. but despite of high concept and action sequences, somehow couldn't get emotionally vested in the series...

Deadman Wonderland

On the other hand am enjoying DEADMAN WONDERLAND (Tokyopop) .The characters are slowly growing on me and am looking forward to the next installment. Though this series has much grounds to cover to rival any of the top shonen manga's in the market today, it definitely has potential.

Are you reading Gail Simone's "SECRET SIX"? Why the hell not?

Too many DEADPOOL books in the market seems to be taking the charm away. Marvel: Just do a few books, with quality content. Now Deadpool jokes seem more "eh" than amusing. But I guess, with deadpool movie on the horizon, it was expected.  Me? I just miss my insanely FUNNY juvenile Deadpool...less and less laugh out jokes every day, which is not good.. no.. not good at all

Sayonara ,Zetsubou-Sensei

Still enjoying the dark humor in Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei

"CONAN the CIMMERIAN" is going on a hiatus.. I am not too happy. Hopefully its coming back sooner than later.. I need my Conan fix damnit.

Read an interview with Eric Trautmann ( Co-writer of Checkmate, sadly another brilliant series which was cut short due to low sales) on Vampirella. And I am glad he is not looking jazz up the Sexiness of Vampirella, but rather tone down the over emphasis on (almost) naked female form in lieu of story content. If it would have been any lesser writer than him, this would have been difficult to believe . But Eric has brownie points for CHECKMATE.

Want some more ASTRO CITY... Can't wait till the ongoing starts

Recently read Blackest Night, no emotional attachment whatsoever. That's all I am gonna say to this one.

If its one comic book you read before you die, let it be TRANSMETROPOLITAN, 'nuff said! Here's my post  on it

That's it folks .. Leaving you with a random page of Transmetropolitan , apologies for the scan quality, but if you make a slight effort to read, you would be rewarded  :)

'till next time then