Saga of The Swamp Thing Book 2 Hardcover / trade paperback

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben & Shawn McManus
Collects: Saga of The Swamp Thing 28-30, Swamp Thing 31-34, Swamp Thing Annual 1


After reading Vol 1 (review here) , I trust all of you are here now, are you? Good, then I'll begin in earnest.


Previously, we saw how that the Swamp Thing, contrary to what he thought, was never Alec Holland....his body was a tangle of vegetation with only the consciousness of Alec Holland to guide it. The question is...what happened to the real body of Alec Holland? That question is answered in this issue, when Swamp Thing finally lays the body of Alec Holland to rest. This issue has Shawn McManus as guest artist.

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

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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:

Rajat's Random Ramblings: Retrograde in Review (Too many R's?)

 

Imagine an Earth, very similar to our Earth, yet different.

Different in many ways, despite being so similar.

Residents of this other earth do not use iPhones – they can only trust and rely upon their own "eye".

The world wide web means less than a spider’s web to them.
The only computer they can use, is their own brain.
There are none of the easily recognizable gadgets and products which we have become so used to that we can’t even imagine leaving our house without them.

What? Getting mixed up, yet intrigued?
Welcome to the world of Retrograde.

A whole new world born from within the folds of imagination that had found its roots in the brain of Akshay Dhar.

After a few independent stories, Warblade and WereHouse, we finally get to witness Akshay’s solo work on a series and I must say it was well worth the wait.

Retrograde is the story of a world without technology, where modern science no longer has much meaning and humans have to rely on their own mind and body to survive from day to day.

No, we are not talking about an Amish colony (although that might have been fun). It is a much darker and bleaker place and the residents' struggle to stay alive and carry on to the next day is a regular exercise.

It is a black and white book which, as I have previously stated, is one of my favorite mediums and suits the tone of the story well. Color might not have looked as effective as the shaded black and white does.

Avik Kumar Maitra is the artist for the series with inking and coloring by Swapnil Singh and Naval Thanawal respectively.

The artwork is raw and exciting to look at. If it does not look immediately impressive or striking, that feeling will subside quickly as you move ahead through the story.

The pencils are executed very finely and Avik seems to have done a commendable job in giving it exactly the kind of tone that suits the environment.

PREVIEW: The Hobbit (2012, 2013)

Good day to you all folks, one and all!

Welcome home to another wayfaring excursion into the heart of nerd-dom!

Today we have more treats in store, specifically (as you might have already guessed!) treats relating to the still-in-production and VERY highly anticipated prequels to the epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (hereafter referred to as LotR) by Peter Jackson.

WTF happened to Peter Jackson!?!?

Fans have been waiting with bated breath and twitching eagerness to get glimpses of this new venture by the already legendary film-maker and now there are things worth sharing!
With his success on the LotR series, Jackson has shown that he has not only the skill and talent to pull of these adaptations, but also a basic love for the originals and desire to do them justice - it is this last part that shows in his work so far and garners him the respect of fans and peers alike, it also gives a certain confidence to this new venture.

The 12 Geek Days of Christmas

The Holiday season is upon us which means the constant bombardment of Christmas music, images of Santa his elves and his reindeer, red and green everywhere. Yes, even if Christmas isn't a holiday you celebrate it is still all around. The cheery atmosphere is nice, but how much of it is geared towards geeks? "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" is all we've got.
Not quite good enough.

We here at Comic Addicts have decided to do a series that helps make the holiday traditions a bit more geek friendly. We're putting a comic spin on the age old traditions. Each week there will be a new addition to help you get into the holiday spirit.

Today we feature the 12 Geek Days of Christmas. You will note there are two versions. The first is a realistic list as to what could be given as gifts. The second list is pure geeky fantasy. You'll have to imagine the tune in you're head, cause we're not going to sing it.

REVIEW: Saga of The Swamp Thing, Book One (Hardcover)

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: Stephen Bissette, Rick Veitch, John Totleben
Issues Included: Saga of The Swamp Thing #20-27


What do you do when a comic title just doesn't sell anymore? I'm asking "you" not as a reader, but as a publisher, who does this to feed his family, and thousands of other families including the talent, the assistants, the distributors, the stockists and what not!

You cancel the book. Painful to the demographic who has been heartily supporting your book, but it gets done. Look at X-Men. Sixty-six issues into it's initial run (by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, and later Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake, Neal Adams and more) and the company stopped new issues.


Or you give it to an A-list writer, who'll probably turn him into an A-list character. It's worked with Green Lantern (Geoff Johns), The Incredible Hulk (Peter David), The Flash (Mark Waid), JLA (Grant Morrison) and Neil Gaiman (Black Orchid, Sandman) among others. Hell, did we ever imagine a day when the top selling characters at DC & Marvel would be Green Lantern & Iron Man, respectively?
I for one didn't.

Marvel New Galore : The Phoenix Returns as Bendis quits Avengers

This week Marvel announced their next big summer event in the form of ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ a 12-part crossover being written by the Marvel Architects (Bendis, Hickman, Brubaker, Aaron and Fraction) with Art duties being handled by John Romita jr., Oliver Coipel and Adam Kubert. 

Click to enlarge!