[Comics] - Evil Avatar's Weekly Comic Book Reviews - Year 2 - Week 10

[Everlost_MI]

Welcome to week ten of Evil Avatar’s Weekly Comic Book Reviews.

The Evil Avatar’s Comic Book Review Weekly giveaway is under going a change that’s effective immediately. BCBcomics (http://www.bcbcomics.com/), owned by Evil Avatar reader Kish, has been gracious enough to allow the randomly drawn winner to choose four comics from a list of what BCBComics has in stock. The list which will be in the neighborhood of 200 to 400 titles that will be emailed to the lucky winner after the drawing.

A huge thanks to BCBComics for continuing to provide Evil Avatar with these giveaways. In addition, I've personally had nothing but top notch service in ordering my books, TPBs and toys through them.

The deadline of entry submissions for week ten is midnight EST on Sunday, March 12th. The selection of the random winner for the March books will occur on Monday, March 26th. Click here (everlost_mi@evilavatar.com) to submit your entry and don’t forget to include your Evil Avatar screenname. Remember, you can submit one entry each week to increase your chances of winning.

Remember...if you’re tired of missing out on your regular or new comics then you’re in need of a reliable comic book subscription provider. Evil Avatar’s Comic Book Review Weekly giveaway provider, BCBcomics. (http://www.bcbcomics.com/) They offer comic book subscriptions (http://www.bcbcomics.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=7
) with many fringe benefits including no hidden costs, 30-35% off of cover price (depending on the publisher), all issues are bagged and boarded and cheap* shipping on all orders (*see BCBcomics’ website (http://www.bcbcomics.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=7
) for the details).

In addition, the comics featured on BCBcomics home page are 50% off or just $1 if you’re a subscriber.

Remember, these are NOT spoiler-free reviews.

[Everlost_MI]

Week Ten:
Evil Avatar's Weekly Comic Book Reviews – Year 2 - Week 10
By Everlost_MI (Brian K. Nichols), Editor in Chief

Aquaman #40 (An ongoing series)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: Butch Guice
Colors: Dan Brown
Letters: Todd Klein
Editor: Joey Cavalieri
Price: $2.99 US/$4.00 CAN

http://www.evilavatar.com/images/thumbs/comics/aquaman40.jpg

This is the first Aquaman issue in DC’s One Year Later universe wide event and it opens with Arthur Joseph Curry being telepathically called by a sage named the Dweller in the Depths. Aquaman helps King Shark, who still bears the chest scar from a previous fight with the last incarnation of Aquaman, in an overwhelming fight as they make their way to answer the Dweller’s call. Upon meeting the Dweller, Aquaman tells his slightly different origin and the Dweller foresees his future being a mix of the various pervious incarnations of Aquaman.

Kurt Busiek appears to be restarting and merging the long-winded and odd history of Aquaman in a more cohesive story for new and long time Aquaman readers. The story has a decent start and creates more questions than answers, which hopefully will generate enough interest for returning readers. The dialogue and characterizations are decent but what causes this issue to shine is the detail artwork by Butch Guice. Guice’s work is reminiscent of Joe Kubert and fits nicely with Busiek’s story that is a mix of the past and present of the various Aquaman stories. The lettering style by Todd Klein bears mentioning as it adds another bit of flavor to the storytelling.

Bottom Line:
The issue was enjoyable but it may cause a ruckus amongst Aquaman fans as once again the character is undergoing retconning. I am on the fence if this issue has enough to catch and keep those who normally don’t follow Aquaman. I’d recommend at least leafing through this issue to see if it cause any sparks, the potential is there for an interesting storyline.

Rating: 3 out of 5 EvilEyes
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e3.jpg


Detective Comics #817 (An ongoing series)
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: James Robinson
Layouts: Leonard Kirk
Finishes: Andy Clarke
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Price: $2.50 US/$3.50 CAN

http://www.evilavatar.com/images/thumbs/comics/detective817.jpg

This is the first issue involving Batman in DC’s One Year Later universe wide event. Since the Infinite Crisis, Bullock has returned to the Gotham Police Department, Gordon is back as the Commissioner and Batman has been MIA. Harvey Dent formerly Two-Face had stepped in as a more extreme vigilante protector of Gotham during Batman’s absence. However, Dent steps aside as Batman and Robin return to help Gotham from a more powerful Poison Ivy while alluding to the terrible things that occurred during and after the Infinite Crisis. The Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder have returned but the questions of where they’ve been, what happened and who’s under the masks are begging to be answered.

James Robinson has crafted an intriguing story that is filled with excellent dialogue and characterizations. This incarnation of Batman appears to be less brooding so far and the way Robin and Harvey Dent are portrayed is pregnant with possibilities. The artwork by Leonard Kirk and Andy Clarke is excellent as it gives off the nostalgic feel of classic Batman art while being very detailed. The use of light and shadows helps solidify the various motifs about the missing year and what’s been going on during the absence of the Dynamic Duo.

Bottom Line:
This story arc is an excellent chance for those who have wanted to get back into Batman but didn’t know where to dive in. For long time fans this story arc indicates a return of characters to their forms as well as some interesting shakeups.

Rating: 4 out of 5 EvilEyes
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The Ultimates Volume 2 #10 of 12
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Story: Mark Millar
Pencils: Bryan Hitch
Inks: Paul Neary with Bryan Hitch
Colors: Laura Martin
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Price: $2.99 US/$4.25 CAN

http://www.evilavatar.com/images/thumbs/comics/ultimates2_10.jpg

The issue opens up with the origin of The Liberators and quickly shows how The Ultimates are far from being defeated. I simply cannot put into words what this issue does or is about. You have to truly experience it for yourself and this issue makes up for the long delays in the series. Mark Millar has created a pulse-pounding action packed script chucked full of political views, superb dialogue and excellent twists on the characters. Bryan Hitch’s artwork is top notch with great action sequences, explicit detail to every inch of the panel and facial depictions that add to the immersion of the story.

Bottom Line:
If you enjoy the Avengers or a modern take on super-hero teams filled with action, suspense and intrigue then this issue and series is for you. If you’ve been on the fence for whatever reason, it’s time to take the plunge.

Rating: 5 out of 5 EvilEyes
http://www.evilavatar.com/images/icons/e5.jpg

What else is worth reading this week…

· Hellboy: Makoma #2 – Another great Hellboy story.
· Netxwave #2 – A hilarious Warren Ellis story that will make you beg for more.
· X-Factor #4 – Peter David continues to create one hell of story with this excellent cast of characters.

The deadline of entry submissions for week ten is midnight EST on Sunday, March 12th. The selection of the random winner for the March books will occur on Monday, March 26th. Click here (everlost_mi@evilavatar.com) to submit your entry and don’t forget to include your Evil Avatar screenname

Remember, you can submit one entry per week to increase your chances of winning.

[Everlost_MI]

Anyone else notice the "Lost" numbers in the first panel of FNH Spider-Man #5?

[bardockkun]

Anyone else notice the "Lost" numbers in the first panel of FNH Spider-Man #5?
Weren't the Lost numbers also on the cover of Catwoman, the one where she's posting for a mug shot and holding the number to Lost?

Also Ultimates #10 was good, but honestly i enjoyed #9 even more so since it was more on an epic holy shit scale type of moment. I think that deserved the 5 evil eyes more then #10.

[kokyunage]

How long before Ultimates 2 vol 2 comes out in paperback?

[earthworm48]

It would be a while after issue 12 is published.

Look at it this way:

Issue #13 of the new Runaways came out last month and the vol. 2 TPB of that is due out next month, collecting #6 - #12. So about 4 months until Ultimates 2 vol 2 hits.

[Dr.Finger]

Did anyone notice that the 'Dweller of the Deep' in Aquaman had a water hand?

[Deadend]

I love the Ultimates.

I also love Nextwave, such a great new comic, completely irrevelant, pointless and funny.
"Fin Fang Foom's Heart... is broken" golden.

I also think the Ultimates is great, and shows that the Ultimate universe should not be too contunity heavy, as the events in it do not match up to anything in the other Ultimate books, other than the facts that the other chracters exist, which is nice, as I would hate to have to buy USM to get a part 3 of whats happening in the Ultimates, then UFF for another chunk, and finally UXmen for the last bit.

[Spigot]

It would be a while after issue 12 is published.

Look at it this way:

Issue #13 of the new Runaways came out last month and the vol. 2 TPB of that is due out next month, collecting #6 - #12. So about 4 months until Ultimates 2 vol 2 hits.
Grr. I just picked up the first volume of Ultimates 2 and now I'm torn between scouring the shops for the next 4 issues or waiting for another 4-5 months for the trade. Grr...

[bardockkun]

Grr. I just picked up the first volume of Ultimates 2 and now I'm torn between scouring the shops for the next 4 issues or waiting for another 4-5 months for the trade. Grr...
Buy it, before Jeph Loeb and Joe Mad ruin the series and Ultimates become a joke.

[Pigeon]

Is it wrong of me to have such a hard-on for ultimate Hawkeye?

[Kefkataran]

I FINALLY picked up the Ultimates 1 Vol.1 today -- or rather my wonderful girlfriend did. I'm two chapters in and already I can see what all the hype is about. Talk about a wonderful book. This gives me high high hopes for Civil War, and I'm almost definitely going to pick up Ultimates 1 Vol.2 later this week. Mmm.

[Spigot]

Don't forget to get the Ultimate X-Men trade that has the Ultimate War story arc. It sets up Ulitimates 2.

I'm debating donating my copy of the Ultimates 2 trade to the library as they were the ones who had the Ultimates 1 volumes and all the other graphic novels that rekindled this love... But I also really want to keep the trade for myself :)

[Kefkataran]

Don't forget to get the Ultimate X-Men trade that has the Ultimate War story arc. It sets up Ulitimates 2.

I'll be getting to it in time (likely before I get Ultimates 2 v.1). I'm collecting all the Ultimate U books in trade form. :)

[earthworm48]

Are all the Ultimate U books worth it? I mean, I'll probably pick up Ultimate secret e.t.c. in book form (probably even Extinction, couldn't quite get it into my pull list when the last 2 came around), but I'm not sure about Ultimate Spiderman and Xmen books as there are so many! I could probably pick my way through on the weeks that there are less games or comics I want, but it would take a while!

My Ultimates 1 Hardcover arrived a couple of weeks ago, a great purchase if I do say so myself!

[Spigot]

I haven't read any Ultimate books that disappointed me. Some are better than others (I LOVED the Blockbuster trade of USM) but I find the quality of the art and stories to be quite high.

[earthworm48]

All I've read have been of good quality, its just wether (sp?) or not its worth it to buy them ALL, as there are so many now, with all the Spiderman ones, X men, Fantastic four and the more limited ones like Ultimate team - ups and Daredevil & Elektra and ultimate Elektra.

[AspectVoid]

Are all the Ultimate U books worth it? I mean, I'll probably pick up Ultimate secret e.t.c. in book form (probably even Extinction, couldn't quite get it into my pull list when the last 2 came around), but I'm not sure about Ultimate Spiderman and Xmen books as there are so many! I could probably pick my way through on the weeks that there are less games or comics I want, but it would take a while!

I would suggest before you buy, go check out your local library. A lot of them carry TPB comics, so you may be able to find a good chunk of the Ultimate books that way. That'll let you read them and save money.

[Spigot]

I'd get Ultimate Nightmare, Secret and Extinction (when the trade comes out for it), the Ultimates, Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Spidey.

I've read most of the trades for those titles and they were all great. As for Daredevil, Elektra and Iron Man, I'm not so sure as I haven't read any of those titles. I do like the Ultimate version of Iron Man though. I just haven't read his standalone title.

Soo... what's coming this week that we need to get excited about?

[Dr.Finger]

Are all the Ultimate U books worth it? I mean, I'll probably pick up Ultimate secret e.t.c. in book form (probably even Extinction, couldn't quite get it into my pull list when the last 2 came around), but I'm not sure about Ultimate Spiderman and Xmen books as there are so many! I could probably pick my way through on the weeks that there are less games or comics I want, but it would take a while!

My Ultimates 1 Hardcover arrived a couple of weeks ago, a great purchase if I do say so myself!
Right now all four regular Ultimate U titles (U X-Men, U Spiderman, U FF and the Ultimates) are somewhere between really good and frackin awesome. I've enjoyed, but not been blown away by, Ellis' Ultimate Gah-Lak-Tus trilogy. Ultimate Hulk v Wolverine is also tremendous.

[HardScores]

It would be a while after issue 12 is published.

Look at it this way:

Issue #13 of the new Runaways came out last month and the vol. 2 TPB of that is due out next month, collecting #6 - #12. So about 4 months until Ultimates 2 vol 2 hits.

About Runaways... bout the first two trades (vol 1). Read them.... proceeded to order every other trade (vol 2), get #13 for the same shipment and add the series to my SUBs. It reads like it's written for teens (all the characters are around 16, cept for the 12 year old) but the writers don't defend some of the sludge that spews from their mouths. It's just a good series, thus far. I hope vol 2 is as good and so far from the previews once I get caught up and the Pride returns in this new arc it should continue to amaze me. A+ material, definitely support this - it has Cloak and Dagger in it, for God's sake!

[Kefkataran]

Are all the Ultimate U books worth it? I mean, I'll probably pick up Ultimate secret e.t.c. in book form (probably even Extinction, couldn't quite get it into my pull list when the last 2 came around), but I'm not sure about Ultimate Spiderman and Xmen books as there are so many! I could probably pick my way through on the weeks that there are less games or comics I want, but it would take a while!

The appeal for me, I guess, is that it's so strongly collected and hasn't been around too long that you can really easily get every book and be into this very strong universe. And for the most part, the Ultimate U books are the best you can get at Marvel. They try to keep their A-list talent on them (Jeph Loeb taking over Ultimates aside).

All I've read have been of good quality, its just wether (sp?) or not its worth it to buy them ALL, as there are so many now, with all the Spiderman ones, X men, Fantastic four and the more limited ones like Ultimate team - ups and Daredevil & Elektra and ultimate Elektra.

The way I'm doing it is just very slowly. Picking up one or two each month when I'm at a comic shop or bookstore and ocassionally having people buy them for me for birthdays and such. Dunno if I'll ever actually reach a point where I have all available at the time, but I'm not too concerned.

Soo... what's coming this week that we need to get excited about?

Just wait till the Comic Day thread. ;) We'll have plenty of discussion about what's coming out this week there.


About Runaways... bout the first two trades (vol 1). Read them.... proceeded to order every other trade (vol 2), get #13 for the same shipment and add the series to my SUBs. It reads like it's written for teens (all the characters are around 16, cept for the 12 year old) but the writers don't defend some of the sludge that spews from their mouths. It's just a good series, thus far. I hope vol 2 is as good and so far from the previews once I get caught up and the Pride returns in this new arc it should continue to amaze me. A+ material, definitely support this - it has Cloak and Dagger in it, for God's sake!

We've been singing the praises of Runaways here for a long time, and we've gotten several people to pick up the big hardcover volume and start on it, so most of us are with you 100% :D

[Spigot]

Just wait till the Comic Day thread. ;) We'll have plenty of discussion about what's coming out this week there.
But I want to know nowwwwwwwwwww...

Does the list come out on Tuesday, or Wednesday? I just like to be able to send my comic ninja out for the titles I'm looking for (although I'm seriously concidering getting a subscription shortly to save on all this hassle) and I rely on you guys to let me know what new issues are coming out on a weekly basis.

You guys recreated this monstrous monkey on my back. Now you have to deal with it :eek:

[AspectVoid]

But I want to know nowwwwwwwwwww...

Does the list come out on Tuesday, or Wednesday? I just like to be able to send my comic ninja out for the titles I'm looking for (although I'm seriously concidering getting a subscription shortly to save on all this hassle) and I rely on you guys to let me know what new issues are coming out on a weekly basis.

You guys recreated this monstrous monkey on my back. Now you have to deal with it :eek:

Comiclist.com tends to update late Monday night. As for things coming out this week, I know that the next issue of Ultimate Spidey comes out, which I'm happy about, as I am a fan. Besides that though, I can't think of anything. Last week was incredible, so it only stands to reason this would be a slow week.

[Spigot]

Ah, that's exactly the kind of list I was looking for. Thanks for the info. Now I won't have to seek out your cumulative wisdom.

There goes my weekly thrill.

[HardScores]

I use an online service for my comics... 30% off trades when you have subs on the site. The closest (good) comic book store is like an hour away - even though It's probably the best in New England (Sarge's, if you've heard of it). But I pay like $5 for the Runaway trades on Scifigenre and I'm getting 52 through them... so... I recommend them if you need to do it online. I just got a big order the other week because there were some arcs/entire series I wanted to start: Walking Dead, Ult X-men, Runaways. Walking Dead is good so far (Kirkman is the best, I hope he actually works on Invincible ONCE this year...) and Ult X-men was... packed, to say the least. Seems like they had so much to tell in little space - it takes like 6 pages for them to put the first team together... all of the huge events and battles make it seem like a condensed version of Uncanny X-men. Although I like Ultimate Jean Grey - it makes sense for Wolvie and Cyclops to fight over her now... sory, just didn't find her all that attractive in regular X-men. Does that make me a bad person?

[Kefkataran]

I use an online service for my comics... 30% off trades when you have subs on the site.

What site, and do they do single issues too? I'm currently signed up to start getting most of my books with BCB starting in May and they do single issues for 30% off when you subscribe. :)

[Kish]

What site, and do they do single issues too? I'm currently signed up to start getting most of my books with BCB starting in May and they do single issues for 30% off when you subscribe. :)

Actually it's 30% on Marvel and 35% on everything else, this includes preorder trades. Subscribers are about to get 35% off on everything pretty soon, think in the next two months and trades may (not sure yet) just to 40%.

[HardScores]

I was referring to scifigenre.com. They're in north Carolina.

I was looking through your site, Kish. Nice. You'd probably ship faster than a NC place... hmm.....

[Kefkataran]

Actually it's 30% on Marvel and 35% on everything else, this includes preorder trades. Subscribers are about to get 35% off on everything pretty soon, think in the next two months and trades may (not sure yet) just to 40%.

Impressive. You win still. :p

[Everlost_MI]

But I want to know nowwwwwwwwwww...

Does the list come out on Tuesday, or Wednesday? I just like to be able to send my comic ninja out for the titles I'm looking for (although I'm seriously concidering getting a subscription shortly to save on all this hassle) and I rely on you guys to let me know what new issues are coming out on a weekly basis.

You guys recreated this monstrous monkey on my back. Now you have to deal with it :eek:

The update list is now out on Diamond Comics website (http://www.diamondcomics.com/shipping.asp) for comics shipping this Tuesday (3/8) and for next Tuesday (3/15).

[Kefkataran]

I've got a very small list this week (as you guys will see on the Comic Day! post tomorrow), and to be honest it's a relief. Some extra cash in the wallet to make up for all the trades (Ultimates Vol. 1 and 2, probably Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1 before I leave the Cities) that I've been picking up this week

[bardockkun]

I've got a very small list this week (as you guys will see on the Comic Day! post tomorrow), and to be honest it's a relief. Some extra cash in the wallet to make up for all the trades (Ultimates Vol. 1 and 2, probably Ultimate X-Men Vol. 1 before I leave the Cities) that I've been picking up this week
Same, in fact a good thing considering OYL. Hell, calm before the storm far as im concerned.