Category: Comics

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Comics Film Reviews

Thor: Ragnarok Review

“Kneel before your queen.“

 

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I enjoyed the first Thor movie and its epic feel that really hasn’t been replicated in other Marvel movies, despite some pacing issues. The second one was fine, shining in the interactions between Thor and Loki amid a serviceable but somewhat lackluster plot and paint by numbers villain.

Third time is the charm here, and this was a flat out blast. Ragnarok feels like a music video come to life in places in the best way possible. Thor and Loki again provide the movie’s emotional core, and with a logical plot that still manages a couple of nice twists and a larger than life antagonist the layered story shines. Of course on top of all of that are healthy layers of action and humor.

Said humor largely works and several awesome moments had me unexpectedly laughing out loud. However in other parts it admittedly tries way too hard, and the characterization of a certain green supporting cast member felt really odd, with depth and consistency often sacrificed for running gags. The movie also drags just a touch in the middle and the use and/or absence of certain characters from the previous movies was … interesting. On the other hand, there are also great new cast additions.

Overall though I thought this was fantastic, with a strong story featuring compelling characters and numerous fun moments.

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Comics Reviews

Hinges: Mechanical Men Review

“Mechanical Men” is the third and final collected volume of the webcomic Hinges.

 

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Hinges started strong with an initial volume (Clockwork City) that introduced a just awakened Orio to a curious new city and some ominous happenings. Volume 2 (Paper Tigers) widened the scope a bit and, while I felt it wasn’t quite as strong as volume 1, continued Orio’s tale in a fairly compelling way. Both proceeding volumes were highlighted by compelling characters and moments of genuine emotion.

After the harrowing events of Paper Tigers, Orio is left dejected and unmotivated. But the changes in Clockwork City since she’s been gone provide quite a shock upon her return…

 

Mechanical Men brings everything together in a reasonable conclusion. Without getting into spoilers I’ll admit I wanted more explanation on certain things, but this was a strong finish regardless. There were enough details provided there to follow the important reveals and resolutions, and as throughout the story was anchored with really great character moments (for several of the cast) worked into the escalating stakes and danger. The end scene in particular was perfect.

Overall Hinges is a compelling, incredibly illustrated read right up until the end. There was potential for it to reach even greater heights, but what’s here is an easy recommendation as it is.

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Comics Reviews

Hinges: Paper Tigers Review

“Paper Tigers” is the second collected volume (of three) of the webcomic Hinges.

 

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Clockwork City was an excellent introduction to Orio and the world she woke up to. There were strong characters, an interesting city readers got gradual glimpses into, and intriguing and harrowing strange happenings to build mystery and tension.

Paper Tigers shifts gears a bit, and while still quite good I didn’t find it quite as engaging. I wanted to learn more about how things worked in Clockwork City before moving on to the mysteries of what lurked outside, and a lot of this volume felt less like a compelling, unfolding mystery and more like the author was holding too much back. The general idea is fine: the readers are exploring with Orio and learning things as she does. But at this point Orio has more of a framework to work with than the reader, and the disconnect broke immersion for me a bit. I was less into the ordeal Orio was going through now and still wondering about what had come before.

That said, the larger world of Hinges does hold a lot of fascination and danger, and in the end it feels like a significant amount of progress has been made in the overarching story. Character development, particular with Orio and Bauble, continues to be the biggest strength of the series and generates genuinely emotional moments throughout this book.

As with book 1 the art is beautiful, although I found action sections a bit hard to follow this time and some of the color palates made details hard to process. Stopping to reexamine panels wondering exactly what was happening again breaks immersion and the story’s momentum.

This is a hard volume to review. I wanted more from it. Much more. But what’s here is still very good overall and makes narrative sense, with some huge reveals and developments going into the final volume.

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Comics Reviews

Hinges: Clockwork City Review

“Clockwork City” is the first collected volume (of three) of the webcomic Hinges.

 

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I originally started reading Hinges without any foreknowledge, based solely on randomly coming across the wonderfully haunting opening image of the main character, Orio. I wasn’t sure what to expect but was very intrigued, and was incredibly impressed as I began her unique tale.

Orio wakes up with no memory in a strange clockwork town called Cobble. While disorienting to Orio it’s apparently not unusual as and administrator immediately begins her initiation. It’s a wonderful way to start as Orio is in the same limited information state as the reader, but with other characters already on hand to provide a little framework we get a nice, seamless introduction to world. It’s delightfully imaginative, from it’s doll and marionette citizens to the “ODD” companions they all have to the general design of their surroundings. Little hints and details about how Cobble works are unobtrusively given as the comic progresses while the main focus stays firmly on the characters.

And what delightful characters we’re given. The silent Orio is a strong lead, possessing something that makes her immediately endearing. The reader feels for her confusion, admires her determination and cheers her strength. The lovably mischievous Bauble is a source of humor, trouble and mystery in equal measure. Add in several strong yet diverse personalities around them and Hinges has an excellent cast all around.

One of the unusual things about Hinges is the use of numerous sections without dialog. Authors that are confident enough to get out of the way and let the story proceed at its own pace and its own manner make me very happy. When used right it really enhances pacing and impact. One of my favorite manga, A Bride’s Tale, is a great example of this and I love it in Hinges too. The plot moves at a perfect pace and good use of this technique is a big reason why.

The art is exquisite. It has a soft feel that occasionally “hardens” a little when tension or danger are present. The subdued color palette helps establish a great atmosphere for the comic and subtly changes in different locations. In general the coloring is among the best I’ve seen in comics.

Clockwork City is a great start to a comic that became an instant favorite of mine. I couldn’t wait to learn more about Orio, Bauble and their strange little world.

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Comics Reviews

Usagi Yojimbo Vol 31 Review

The Hell Screen is volume 31 of Stan Sakai’s samurai epic, Usagi Yojimbo. It’s another volume that benefits from having read Usagi’s previous adventures but also stands reasonably well on its own.

 

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For those who are new to Usagi, a comment from my review of Vol. 1 on Sakai’s choice of medium that has remained relevant throughout the comic’s long run:

“The use of amorphous animals as the characters might seem unusual to first time readers, but it gives Sakai more visual diversity and symbolism to play with, and is executed with such finesse that it quickly becomes impossible to imagine the book without this choice. Don’t mistake the presence of animals as people as a sign this is a ‘kid’s book.’ Usagi Yojimbo covers a period of war, political unrest, and an unhealthy level of danger and can get dark and bloody at times.”

 

The titular story is three parts long and features the return of one of Usagi’s most trusted companions in a murder mystery amid the backdrop of temple marked for possible redevelopment. It features a disturbing screen depicting Hell at it’s center, and various suspicious individuals with their own agendas and paranoias. The mystery honestly isn’t as compelling as usual this time, but the story was more about the themes of conflict and selfishness anyway and appropriately well told.

 

The trade is filled out with four shorter stories that similarly feature a mix of themes relating to desperation, consequences, and looking beyond the surface. The inevitability of fate is also looked at, from a couple different points of view. There’s a story of a town victimized during their struggle to survive a rainstorm and flood and a thoughtful follow up about the fate of one of the citizens at the hands of a monster, a contrast of debt and duty, and a tale of responsibility and sacrifice that sees Usagi escort a man and his elderly mother to see his father in the mountains.

The messages (both positive and negative) are a little heavy handed this time but fit with the ongoing narrative and Usagi’s character. The story with the greatest potential ended too quickly and in a predictable, unsatisfying manner, but there are a couple of gems here as well.

Overall this is another good installment in Sakai’s epic, if not quite reaching its usual standards in my eyes.

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Comics Film Reviews

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Review

“I am Groot.“

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Here’s the short version: Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is great fun. Engaging, largely hilarious, and just plain fun.

Admittedly there are moments when it feels like they’re trying too hard (including occasional instances when the comedy is overdone, forced, and/or uncomfortable), and it doesn’t quite have sense of wonder of first movie since we’ve seen Quill and company before, but overall this was a fantastic ride.

The plot’s a little more focused and the characters are developed well, including nice spotlights on Nebula and Yondu, and a strong debut for newcomer Mantis. Of course as expected the show stealer is Baby Groot, who’s done pitch perfectly to be adorable, funny, and engaging without crossing over into annoyance. The movie’s absolutely BURIED in pop culture references, but it fits with Quill’s character as established in the first movie.

I had a wonderful time with Guardians 2, to the point where I got so caught up in the ride and enjoying the movie’s twists and turns I forgot about a couple things I had predicted would happen in this movie to the point I was surprised when they occurred. Can’t ask for much more than that in terms of immersion.

 

 

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Comics Film Reviews

Doctor Strange Review

“We never lose our demons, we only learn to live above them.“

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Doctor Strange is perhaps the hardest Marvel Comics hero they’ve tried to adapt so far, yet the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch (and several excellent supporting actors) had expectations fairly high for the latest puzzle piece in the unfolding Marvel Cinematic Universe. I was extremely curious as to how the mythical elements and certain parts of the mythos would be handled, and for most part really liked what they came up with.

Being both a Marvel movie and the origin of a new hero to the MCU, there are formulaic and cliched elements to Stephen Strange’s introduction. Also, some of the supporting actors are considerably better than what they were given to work with.

That said, everything did come together extremely well due to nice touches of foreshadowing here and there and a couple of strong twists. Strange himself, the Ancient One, and Mordo were given nice complexities and reasonable depth, and were all superbly acted. The special effects were brilliant and really anchored the idea of magic in the MCU along with of course providing the expected spectacles and chaotic actions sequences. The climactic battle is stunning, clever, and totally in character, which is everything I could have asked of it.

There are little things in Doctor Strange that could have been done to elevate it even farther, but by the same token there are numerous little things that WERE done that add up to make the Sorcerer Supreme’s screen debut a thoroughly enjoyable endeavor.

 

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Comics Reviews

Gotham Academy Volume 2 Review

Gotham Academy is not a normal school, and even there Olive Silverlock is not a normal student. But with a like minded group of inquisitive misfits, Olive investigates secrets regarding both the school and her own past.

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There’s no way around this: volume 2 of Gotham Academy was quite disappointing. After six atmospheric and fun issues in volume 1 that established a cast of quirky characters and several intriguing mysteries, the pacing just completely falls apart in this installment and the story collapses under its own weight.

The phenomenal cliffhanger from the end of volume 1 is blown off in a single issue with the featured hero acting incredibly out of character and ham-handedly isolated to interacting with just a single member of GA’s established core cast. I actually expected it to be revealed as an imaginary sequence and would have preferred that given the tone and characterization inconsistencies. So much potential wasted.

After that we properly refocus on Olive, but the tension and slow build of the first six issues are replaced with reveal after reveal with no lead up and far too little explanation. The developments are interesting, but everything from secrets about Olive’s past to relationship developments and conflicts among the cast to various secret agendas and schemes are all thrown at the reader too quickly for any real emotional impact or for anything to truly click and resonate. Even with my extensive familiarity of Batman mythos it was a chore to follow all the implications and name-drops, and someone reading GA in isolation would be totally lost.

It’s a shame because Olive and her struggles are intriguing hooks to the book, and other things ranging from the diverse personalities of the support cast to the vivd yet atmospheric art all make me want to like this more than I do. But in a single volume the comic has gone from a mysterious, foreboding adventure with touches of humor and a pace that fosters reader curiosity to crash-TV style “shock of the month” storytelling that doesn’t allow anything to fully develop and feels like a couple of years worth of plots and twists have been stuffed into six issues.

What a reversal. I still love the concept and some of the characters, and “Calamity” isn’t horrible by any means, but neither is this even remotely the same comic I started reading in “Welcome to Gotham Academy.” Don’t know if I’m up to continuing, as while I am still interested in seeing how things turn out for Olive I don’t feel I know enough detail about what happened during this volume, let alone having the framework to process the next batch of info dumps. We’ll see I guess.

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Comics Reviews

Raven #1 Review

Dealing with the loss of a friend and teammate as well as the weight of her legacy, Raven seeks to explore her human side a bit by moving in with her aunt’s family and living a “normal” life for a while.

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Raven’s a character I’ve always liked, but never really read too many amazing stories about. A different take on her written by New Teen Titans legend Marv Wolfman was too intriguing to pass up.

And different this most certainly is. The whole hook of the concept is watching Raven try to be normal, and it was pretty entertaining to see her try to “blend in” a little in her new home and attending high school. Wolfman does a good job of providing those moments without letting them overwhelm the comic, and lays in a mysterious, superhero appropriate underlying story that we just see hints of in this first issue. Alisson Borges’ art is admittedly uneven in parts, but is spot on most of the time and suits the tone and events in the comic well.

It’s not perfect and maybe not what longtime Titans fans wanted from a Raven solo, but I find this take compelling and entertaining overall and am interested in reading the rest as it comes out.

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Comics Reviews

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell Review

This trade collects the entire Arkham Asylum: Living Hell miniseries (issues #1-6).

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To call the main characters of Living Hell even “third-string” Batman villains would be generous, but Dan Slott reminds us that characters don’t have to be popular to be interesting. Across six issues he builds a compelling tale of the world’s worst nuthouse.

If you dislike supernatural elements creeping into Batman stories or require the Dark Knight himself as the focus, this won’t be for you. It’s also extremely creepy in tone and fairly graphic – I would normally expect something like this to be under the Vertigo imprint. Even with the title “Living Hell” I wasn’t expecting something this dark (especially from Slott, who is more well known for his comedic ability).

But those who can handle the elements mentioned above will find Living Hell well worth the read. Things tie together surprisingly but reasonably, horrific events tie directly to the plot and character arcs, and it was all engrossing enough that I couldn’t stop reading until I was finished.