Hey y’all! Welcome to the inaugural
Weekly Comic Reviews! I’m so excited to get into this, but first let’s break
down the format for these reviews:
Every week we’ll open with an
introduction where I give a brief overview of the comics I read this week. After
that, I’ll name a Comic of the Week and then we’ll jump into the reviews. I’ll
be giving each issue its own section with a list of the creative team, a story
summary, and then my thoughts on the issue. I will also include a final Verdict of either Buy,
Borrow, or Pass (Which I’m stealing from the immortal Uncanny X-Cast). Buy is
highly recommended, Borrow is a worthwhile read, and Pass is a comic I don’t
feel needs to be read. I think that’s everything so let’s get started!
I decided to only look at five
comics this week because 1. I only read five comics this week and 2. I wanted
to start small. Expect much more next week. I do think it ended up being a fun
week that focused on some of my favorite characters in Superhero comics. They
just happen to all be Marvel this week. Comic
of the Week was pretty easy to decide this week: Uncanny X-Men Annual #1.
Comics Reviewed:
Uncanny X-Men Annual #1, Uncanny X-Men #11, Miles Morales Spider-Man #1, Archie
#701
Uncanny X-Men Annual
#1
Writer: Ed Brisson
Artist: Calls Gomez
Color Artist: Guru-eFX
Letters: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Salvador Larroca and
Rachelle Rosenberg
This is the story of Scott Summers'
return to the life. And that is the most crucial part. It is Scott’s return,
not necessarily Cyclops'. This is my favorite X-Man. I know many people believe
Cyke is a boring stick in the mud. And they’re right, when he’s poorly written.
When a good writer grabs him, as Ed Brisson does here, he is a fascinating
character. Scott is not perfect. This is the man that left his wife and child
to return to superheroing and his ex. The man has convictions and he stands for
them. This century has defined Cyclops as walking the road to hell paved by
good intentions. This came to a head in 2016’s Death of X where Cyclops died of a sickness. This was not a fitting
end for the quintessential X-Man. I never believed he was permanently dead, but
it has been much longer than I expected.
 |
| This is the moment Cyclops is reborn |
The choice of Cable (and by
extension the creative team) to test Scott before releasing him into the wild
was great. Scott when he died was a broken man just trying to survive and keep
his race alive. If he was to be brought back, he had to be in his right mind. The
moment Scott Summers’ was revived wasn’t when Paul and Cable infused him with
the Phoenix Force. It was when he trusted the X-Men with the cataclysmic battle
and went to save one man and his family. Because that’s what Cyclops does.
That’s what Scott does.
Verdict:
Buy
Uncanny X-Men #11
Writer: Matthew Rosenberg
Artists: Salvador Larroca, John McCrea, and Juanan Ramirez
Color Artists: Rachelle Rosenberg and Mike Spicer
Letters: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: Salvador Larroca and Rachelle Rosenberg
I did not care for this issue. At
all. I have had pretty mixed experiences with Rosenberg's writing and this is
definitely on the low end. I don’t feel like he understands any of the
characters in this issue. Let’s consider Madrox, who Rosenberg wrote in a
miniseries last year. He is a joke. To everyone including his wife. This is a
character that was a prominent leader in the X-Men community post M-Day. He had
an entire area of New York he policed. Why is he suddenly some joke character
no one respects?
 |
| Not how I would think Cyke would fight |
Then there’s Cyclops. As I stated above, I am a huge Cyke fan.
I think Ed Brisson really understands the character and brought him back to his
core. Rosenberg is writing a completely different character here. His Scott is
a broken man barely hanging on with no clue how to continue. At the end of the
annual he was hopeful and has a purpose. Here he’s a drunk with little
direction. Even aside from the character issues what happens in here is…not
much. Scott doesn't do anything for 25 pages and then yells at a camera and
then Wolverine prevents him from committing suicide by villain.
Then there’s
Wolverine's story where nothing happens. And Blindfold’s where you see like one
scene that wasn’t in the previous two sections.
 |
| Its just ugly. |
 |
| This is a cool looking page |
The art is this issue is a mixed
bag. The Cyclops story looks really good even if Cyclops is apparently a
martial arts master now. The Wolverine story is not great. The storytelling and
panel composition are fine but nothing special. But it’s just not aesthetically
pleasing. The issues did end on a strong note art wise with the Blindfold
story. The art was generally good looking and had interesting panel layouts and
individual panel compositions.
Verdict: Pass
Miles Morales:
Spider-Man #1
Writer: Saladin Ahmed
Artist: Javier Garron
Colorist: David Curiel
Letters: VC's Cory Petit
Cover: Brian Stelfreeze
Miles Morales is my favorite
Spider-Man. I love Peter and pretty much every other Spider character, but
they’re not Miles. I honestly wasn’t sure if I would like this comic. I’ve
never read anything by Saladin Ahmed and the art team was virtually unknown to
me. Well, it was a good start. The tone of this comic is right. The art is
gorgeous (except in a few spots) and Ahmed seems to a have a good handle on
Miles and his family. Especially the little character interactions.
 |
| It high school me. |
 |
| Sweet baby boy and his mother |
The way Miles interacts with Barbara,
especially at school, is just how I acted in high school. His interactions with
his family, particularly his mother, are excellent with the scene where Rio
hugs Miles is a particular highlight that made me a little teary eyed. Rhino
also has a nice seen that is suitably funny while also subtly showing that he
doesn’t want to fight a kid. Then the reveal at the end happens and it’s
interesting but there’s just not much there right now.
Verdict:
Buy
Archie #701
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Marguerite Sauvage
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover: Sauvage
This is a strange one to review for
me because I really enjoyed, but I don’t really have anything to say about it.
This is a good, solid comic book. The second part of a story arc typically is mostly
place setting with a small amount of forward movement. That's what we have
here, but I just don't understand what this comic is trying to be right now. Is
it a fun Archie comic with some goofy joke and a little drama like Mark Waid's
proceeding run? Or is it a Riverdale-esque
mystery? The general tone and Jughead narration suggests the latter, but I
really don’t know. I trust Nick Spencer though. He has yet to lead me astray.
 |
| Its a good outfit |
Sauvage
on the other hand… is fine. Her art doesn’t do much for me and I think the
faces look a little weird in places. Having said that, I really love her
rendition of Sabrina. I think she looks just right, and her fashion just
screams Sabrina. In fact, the way Sauvage dresses the characters in general is
pretty interesting and good looking.
Verdict:
Borrow
No comments:
Post a Comment