Amazing Spider-Man Annual #36
Marc Guggenheim (w), Pat Oliffe (p), Oliffe with Lanning (i), Antonio Fabela (c). Marvel Comics.
There’s a lot to love about this comic. It’s a “#36” first of all, which means it’s another instance of going to “original numbering” (which I’m a big fan of). I also like that at the end of a list of his Spider-Man-y accomplishments, Peter Parker thinks, “I even fought a Sentinel once.” I just love how proud he is of that, like Sentinels are the toughest things out there. And of course copious amounts of Ben Reilly! No, he’s not back or anything, but the spider-writers have gone out of their way for years to avoid even printing that name, and here I’m given a montage of Ben Reilly moments. I’m pretty sure everyone should like this comic, but I’m really biased. — Isaac Mills
Isaac’s rating: 4 out of 5
Owen’s rating: 3 out of 5
Booster Gold #22
Dan Jurgens (w), Dan Jugens (a). DC Comics.
Booster Gold has settled into a great rhythm now. It’s doing what I think it should be doing and doing it well. Every month Booster has an awesome, wacky adventure set in a past period of DC history. If that sounds like fun to you, then you’ll have a blast (I know I do); if it doesn’t, then give this comic a skip. This month Booster mixes it with the Perez/Wolfman-era Teen Titans. – Owen Craig
Owen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
Green Arrow/Black Canary #22
Andrew Kreisberg (w), Mike Norton (p), Josef Rubinstein (i). DC Comics.
You know what I hate? I hate when comic-book characters’ real names allude in some way to the powers they possess. The villain of this story arc is a former violinist who was deafened and therefore tried to deafen the rest of the world. And his name is Sean Sonus. Sonus; as in the Latin for sound. So… what? Was he destined to become a sound-themed supervillain or something? Then he picks “Discord” as his super-villain name, which is pretty stupid-sounding. Anyway, this issue wraps up a storyline, so don’t bother picking it up unless you’re already reading. Or unless you like really lame super-villains. — Anya Lipchak
Anya’s rating: 3 out of 5
Owen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
Green Lantern #43
For Isaac’s review of Green Lantern #43, check out our Crossover Corner at the bottom of the page.
House of Mystery #15
Matthew Sturges (w), Luca Rossi (p), José Marzan, Jr. & Stefano Landini (i). Vertigo Comics.
If you’ve been reading House of Mystery, you know that sometimes it seems like a whole issue can go by and nothing happens. This is not one of those issues. Finally, some stuff happens! Cool stuff, too! You know, race-cars, lasers, aeroplanes… that level of excitement. And Rossi’s art is good. If you like good art and exciting stuff, you should probably read this. Unless you aren’t caught up on the series. Then you should go out and buy the first volume. It’s good… — Anya Lipchak
Anya’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
North 40 #1
Aaron Williams (w), Fiona Staples (a). Wildstorm Comics.
I wasn’t planning on getting this comic (to be honest, I hadn’t heard of it), but for some reason it caught my eye. I guess congrats go out to Fiona Staples’ cover. I’m glad I did get it, though, as it’s a great first issue. In introducing the story of a small town whose inhabitants are suddenly transformed but can’t leave, Aaron Williams demonstrates great efficiency in his writing. Within a couple of pages I knew the main characters well enough that I was invested in their transformations. The art is gorgeous. I already mentioned how the cover alone made me buy this book, without knowing anything else about it (which doesn’t happen often with me), but the interiors are even better. If you see this in the store then pick it up! I did and I had a blast. – Owen Craig
Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5
R.E.B.E.L.S. #6
Tony Bedard (w), Claude St. Aubin (p), Scott Hanna (i), Jose Villarrubia (c). DC Comics.
The most interesting thing about this comic is the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”-style guide to races and places. It throws in some funny stuff, but unfortunately it isn’t really the same tone as the rest of the book. The art has improved — it has fewer of those distracting dots-instead-of-lines — but everything still looks far too sparse. It’s also clear that Vril Dox a.k.a. Brainiac 2 is actually STILL recruiting for his team. Six. Issues. In. I guess if I want my smart arrogant character fix, I’ll wait for the next Legion of Three Worlds issue. – Isaac Mills
Isaac’s rating: 2 out of 5
Red Robin #2
Chris Yost (w), Ramon Bachs (p), Art Thibert (i). DC Comics.
I was really disappointed with this issue. After an impressive first issue, this one was quite the letdown. My main issue was with the storytelling — it seems some decisions were poorly thought out and that certain choices weren’t made. One example of this is in the time/place captions: the first caption says “Paris to Berlin. Twenty-four hours from now”, then the second says “Paris. Twenty-four hours earlier”. Why not “Forty-eight hours from now”? I have no idea. The next two time-stamp captions we get are, “Before” and “Interlude”. Having an inconsistent method of telling us when we are makes for frustrating reading. On top of that, the jumping around in time didn’t add anything to the story. No excitement was reached and the scenes didn’t juxtapose with each other to create added meaning. Speaking of no excitement, I can sum up the plot of this issue by saying “Tim slowly learns who is after him, a revelation that was brought last issue to the attention of the reader”. As you would expect, this is less than riveting. After one issue I loved and one I hated, I suppose whether or not I will continue to buy this series monthly will come down to how I like the next issue. Stay tuned! – Owen Craig
Owen’s rating: 1.5 out of 5
Sonic the Hedgehog #202
Ian Flynn (w), Steven Butler (p), Terry Austin (i), Matt Herms (c). Archie Comics.
You know what? The art in this book is actually pretty great. The majority of this issue is a giant fight scene, but it remains compelling the whole way through. The only drop is the Iron King, but he’s a giant ox and that’s just hard to draw, especially since he’s about three times the size of every other character. One bit of the story I was worried about, but a single line of dialogue was enough to keep my fears at bay. It’s amazing how little I need to be satisfied, but there you go. — Isaac Mills
Isaac’s rating: 3 out of 5
The Unwritten #3
Mike Carey (w), Peter Gross (a). Vertigo Comics.
Man, just when I was thinking to myself, “my goodness, I don’t think I like this issue as much as the last two. This issue may only get 4 or 4.5 out of 5.”, Carey and Gross pulled off an amazing last few pages to this issue. In those last few pages, they built beautifully on the literary geography themes that the book has been using so well so far, while clarifying the secondary (and more immediately threatening) story of this first arc. This is another fantastic issue of my favourite book coming out right now. – Owen Craig
Owen’s rating: 5 out of 5
Wednesday Comics #1
Various (w), Various (a). DC Comics.
Maybe my editor will return from vacation next week and disagree with me, but I think that until this whole series finishes, it’s relatively unrateable. Oh, sure, I could call some of the art pretty and some of the stories engaging while pointing out others I didn’t like so much, but I think the best way to review this series is to wait for it to finish and review each story as a whole, individually in one big super-review. We’ll see if my editor agrees. In the meantime, what matters is that if you skip buying this every week you’ll be depriving yourself of an experience that superhero comics fans haven’t had in ages: that of unfolding a newspaper once a week to immerse themselves in single page of full-colour action-y goodness. It’s been a long time since anyone has done this, and with the creators they’ve got on board, it should definitely be checked out. — Owen Craig
Owen’s rating: daring, fascinating and awesome out of 5
Crossover Corner
How important is this issue to “Blackest Night”? Enjoy our special “crossover relevance” rating scale: Essential, A Pleasant Addition, Take It Or Leave It, Adds Nothing, or Completely Unrelated.
Green Lantern #43
Geoff Johns (w), Doug Mahnke (p), Christian Alamy (i), Randy Mayor (c). DC Comics.
We’re finally at the “Blackest Night” crossover, right? Well, sort of. This issue retells the origin of Black Hand before killing him and resurrecting him as the first Black Lantern. However, there’s one perplexing panel where Black Hand steps on something significant — but I can’t make out what it is at all. Despite that one panel, I love Mahnke’s art. It’s a perfect fit for the creepy story. Total lack of Green Lantern though. – Isaac Mills
Isaac’s rating: 3 out of 5
Isaac’s crossover rating: Take It Or Leave It
Owen’s rating: 4 out of 5
Owen’s crossover rating: A Pleasant Addition
