Hello again my friends! I am your humble and awesome host, Anthony Silva of Comic Issues fame, back again with my week of reviews for 4/6/11. It was a light week for me, so I took the opportunity to try out a couple books that aren’t usually on my list.They say variety is the spice of life, and if that’s true then you gotta shake things up once in a while to keep it fresh. This week I got three new books that I’ve known of, but haven’t taken the leap to try out until now.
Also a little special news for you, the Comic Issues cast will be attending Kingdom Con! It’s an great little gaming convention in sunny San Diego, Ca with all the heart of our last convention Anime Conji and half of the Black Butler cos-players! If you’re in the area or you’re looking for a reason to make a road trip, come by and spot us spinning dice and kickin’ some orc ass!
Top Pick: Fear Itself #1 Creative team Fraction (writer) Immonen (pencils) Von Grawbadger (inks) Martin (colors)
And so it begins… After months of an unstoppable hype campaign the first issues of Fear Itself hits the shelves. If you haven’t been reading any Marvel books then let me simply say that Fear Itself is Marvel’s spring event which looks to be revolving around Thor’s corner of the Marvelverse. In this issue more groundwork is laid upon what Fear Itself: Prologue had started.
Sin (daughter of the Red skull) is after an artifact that the Red Skull had hidden until he could figure out what it was, but where Red Skull failed Sin has succeeded, as we find her wielding a strange hammer and new powers. Meanwhile in Tornado Alley the Avengers (all of them) and Thor are backing Tony Stark’s new plan to rebuild Asgard in Kansas where it’s been since the Siege event. Stark is looking to build relations between the gods of Asgard and the people of Earth while boosting the local economy, but Odin doesn’t like what he’s seeing and decides to have a violent talk with Thor.
Fear Itself #1 is everyone you expect and want from the first issue of an event. We’re given just enough bait to hook us in for more while Stuart Immonen gives us all the amazing art and layouts that we can eat. Personally I’m not a big fan of events, but that’s mostly because of money that it always costs me. For the same reason I’ll only be following the main Fear Itself book, and whatever bleeds into the other titles that I pick up normally. I’m hoping that it’ll be enough to satisfy my comic book hunger because this is looking to be a sweet ride.
Runner up: B.P.R.D. The Dead Remembered #1 Mignola & Allie(writer) Moline (pencils) Owens (inks)
My runner up pick was a close one between a couple new comers, so what I do in these situations is think about what I want more of right away; The Dead Remembered was the one I had to go with. Beginning with the murder of a suspected witch in 1693 Massachusetts centuries later Prof. Broom takes a young and angst filled Elizabeth Sherman on her first trip out of the B.P.R.D. Liz may have more than she expected on this trip as the ghost of the murdered witch is stirring and maybe out for revenge.
I’m an admitted noob with it comes to the Hellboy books, but I’ve always wanted to jump into that paranormal world. I’ve always been a fan of ghost and goblins and the Hellboy books always have them both. Mignola and Allie can’t go wrong when they’re writing about the Salem Witch Trials so I’m definitely looking forward to spooky-goodness.
Also this week:
Amazing Spider-man Annual #38 I’ll lay it down bluntly for you guys, I’m not a big fan of the Annuals. I always give them a chance and I’m usually disappointed. This issue follows Spider-man, Hulk, and Deadpool as they’re all accidently transported to an alternate reality where Uncle Ben is still alive and Spider-man is the greatest hero who ever lived. But not all is well in Whoville, as things aren’t as great as they seem.
Ultimate Captain America #4 Cap’s moment has come: he must believe that America is built on lies or stay true to what he knows in his heart and die. Captain America’s not a super solider just for his good looks though, and it’s a hammer to balls kinda fight from there on out. This Ult. Cap story comes to a bloody end as the two super soldiers go head to head.
Brightest Day #23 BLACK LANTERN SWAMP THING!! What else do you need?! This book is another one that I picked up on a whim but it’s was worth it for Black Lantern Swamp thing. But wait there’s more, the White Lanterns have returned along with a blast from the past. The only question is will they be enough to stop evil once and for all?
Orc Stain #6 After hearing a little buzz on this book I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately this was not a new reader friendly book as I was confused from the beginning. I did however see enough to know that this book just isn’t gonna be for me. Orc Stain is like Ren & Stimpy if it was published in Heavy Metal Magazine… but with Orcs instead of a dog and cat.
That’s going to bring this review to a close. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to let me know what you all thought of the books I reviewed and the ones I missed. Be sure to come back next week as I’ll be up to my nose in X-books and hopefully the new Flash book will finally come out.