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Marvel Comics Review – Fear Itself #6

If I was complaining about Fear Itself having too much action, this issue definitely put a stop to all of that. It’s the penultimate chapter to Marvel’s Summer event, and it was quite a build-up to the inevitable knock-down, drag out fight coming with The Serpent and his Worthy against the heroes of the Marvel Universe.

Thor is thankfully back on his feet, with some fancy new armor and the Ragnarok sword to face down the Serpent as the prophecy says he would. Does that mean Thor’s reprieve is only temporary? I sure hope not. But at least his dad was being helpful as he continued being a crotchety old man in this issue.

Tony Stark is just finishing up in Svartalfheim with the weapons Odin has allowed him to forge with the foundry there. So now the Worthy will have met their match with the Stark Weapons imbued with Asgardian magic in the form of the Mighty, made up of the world’s mightiest Avengers shockingly enough.

This makes me very excited for the next issue. Even though I’ve thought that the whole Fear Itself event has just been ok, I think the last issue is going to go out with a bang. The Worthy have been tearing the world up with no one on the same level to stop them except Thor and even he was badly wounded. Once the Mighty take them on it’s going to be with tons of collateral damage.

I give the sixth issue a 3 out of 5 grizzlies. I’ve become more and more accustomed to Immonen’s art, while the story dominated over action in this issue. Before I would have given the issue a higher score due to this fact, but when the last four issues were nothing but action it kind of screws up the pacing a little bit. Stay tuned for the final part 7!

DC Comics Review: Detective Comics #1 – New 52!

The new #1 of Detective Comics is off to a dark and gritty start, because you know, that tends to happen when the Joker is involved. In this issue we have Batman on the trail of the Joker in a string of murders that is more intricate and twisted than he thinks. Is it really the Joker or something more that the Joker is playing along with in his own sick and twisted way? You’ll have to read the issue to find out because I’m trying to minimize the spoilers in these reviews.

Only the first in a slew of new #1 Batman comics, Detective really hits the mark with the one man writing and art team of Tony S. Daniel, with extra props to his ink man Ryan Winn. Daniel did a great job of capturing the essence of Gotham City which is many times a hit or miss situation due to so many titles taking place in our beloved hell hole. Daniel has no problem because he has already tread this territory, working a lot with Grant Morrison on the dark knight and some issues by himself in Batman.

Daniel Joker art from Batman RIP

This doesn’t seem to be the Gotham City we know before Flashpoint and the new 52 reboot: The cops are mistrustful of Batman except for Jim Gordon who has red hair and not the trademark white/gray. There’s a Dr. Arkham in charge at the Asylum, when the last one I remember was dethroned as the new Black Mask. However Mayor Hady is still the mayor in the comic book and running for re-election, so that means it’s not taking place before the last year’s continuity or Jimbo is using hair dye. Bullock however is still a tubby slob.

Overall I give the issue a 3 out of 5 bears. It was intriguing enough to make me want to buy issue #2 and see what this Dollmaker person is all about, but it lacked the punch an issue #1 should have had, especially one dealing with Batman. I have faith that Daniel can at least give us a good overall story arc but I’ll reserve final judgment until we have the whole thing laid out.

ITGS: The Urban 30’s C Lorenzo Johnston

Over the next month I’m excited to bring you a series of EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS with the creative minds of the superhero blog The Urban 30. Currently starting their 6th season, you can read their adventures every weekday at urban3zero.com, as well as videos and motion comics from ThreeZeroMedia.

So I encourage you to check out the website and follow along with the team and their adventures, but I also want to show everybody the writers behind the characters. So join me in welcoming the founder of The Urban 30, Mr. C Lorenzo Johnston.

Continue reading ITGS: The Urban 30’s C Lorenzo Johnston

DC Comics Review: Action Comics #1 – New 52!

Anyone who doesn’t like Grant Morrison, please stop reading this article and don’t pick up the issue. Everyone usually has a problem with his extreme takes on certain heroes we know and love, but honestly this one was not too over the top. I guess if you’re disappointed in Supes’ new digs (Jeans, a ‘S‘ T-shirt and a cape) you probably won’t enjoy the comic either. I however did enjoy the issue a great deal.

Once again I can’t figure out the angle of the new number ones aside from attracting new readers. Is it new continuity? Is it ten years before what we now know of the DC Universe? 20 years? Who knows, but I guess who cares! It’s number one and it’s a new beginning! Superman operates a little bit like Batman in this issue, hitting big criminals like a true vigilante and holding them over skyscraper balconies if they don’t talk. Not that Supes would actually kill said criminals… He is relatively new in town, the cops treating him as more of a threat than a help and of course there are those in the shadows monitoring him and the potential threat he poses. I’ll give you two guesses on who’s doing the watching on that one.

I really enjoyed the issue. Like I said, with Grant Morrison writing you expect something completely off the wall but he was a little subdued in this one which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because he still did the job. It’s good to see all of the major characters showing up already, with Lois, Jimmy and Luthor all making appearances. I like the new angle on Clark in the issue as well, as he works for a rival paper against Lois and Jimmy’s Daily Planet. I’m sure eventually he’ll make the switch over but in the meantime it’s more interesting to see him as a rival to Lois instead of a partner. Another thing I found interesting was that even though Superman was always known as invincible, a thing I disliked about him as a hero, he didn’t seem to be completely untouchable in this issue. If they want Superman to not be so boring then they’ll continue having him get beat up a little bit, especially when it’s not involving another Kryptonian or Kryptonite. It’s never good when a hero only has one weakness that hardly ever gets utilized.

Alternate Jim Lee cover

Rags Morales is of course excellent with the pencils in the issue and let’s face it, he rarely misses his mark. I’ll be getting the next issue of Action Comics when it comes out because DC is definitely doing the job of keeping people interested in a whole new jumping on point for their comics. Will it sustain itself for very long? Maybe, but I’m on-board for the moment. I give it five out of five grizzlies because it had everything I wanted, a good fresh story and excellent art I hope the Morrison-Morales duo keeps it up.