Review: Superman Unchained #1

This series was always going to be good. I mean, it's written by the current "Batman" scribe, Scott Snyder, who has written some of the best stories in the New 52, let alone Batman ones, and pencilled by Jim Lee, who is one of the greatest artists in comics. I went into this series with huge expectations and when I'd finished, I was blown away by it!

I'm determined not to spoil anything in this review, but the ending is genius. Scott Snyder takes a huge historical event and builds it perfectly into this story, and although that method can be used quite a lot in comic books, Snyder pulls it off really well, and it fits into the story brilliantly. He's setting up a really interesting plot, that is turning into a huge mystery, the premise of that aspect alone has me hooked.

Reading through this issue, I realised that these are the best portrayals of Superman and his entire supporting cast in around two years, Snyder has got these characters spot on, and these are what I see as the definitive portrayals of these characters, he wrote everyone perfectly, especially Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen.

One of the thing Scott Snyder does well is having the characters explain events from their childhood and tie them to the current events in the hero's life. He does it all of the time in "Batman" and having Superman compare the trip from outer space back to earth to one of his childhood games from Smallville was a great scene.

Now to the art. I was expecting Jim Lee's pencils in this issue to be brilliant, and they were. Seriously, I don't know how he does it, but Jim Lee is one of the best artists in modern comic books, and I feel that with every issue he draws, he improves. This issue has amazing art, and that is not an exaggeration, and that four page, two-sided fold out... Just brilliant.

However, part of the fold-out is my only problem. It's nothing on the part of the creative team: The writing on the pages was great, the art was great, but how it was organised was stressful. When folded up, the pages had glue to keep the corners together, which then left marks on the page, and it just felt badly laid out.

This is a brilliant issue, truly outstanding, and I can't wait to read more of it.

Rating: 9/10

Review: The Movement #2

I'm just going to start off by saying that this is going to be a very short review, sorry, I feel really tired today. If my review doesn't quite do justice for the issue, just know that it was great and you should definitely buy it!

I'm really enjoying the Movement, it's currently on it's second issue and I feel like it's really got off to a good start.

This series is being written by Gail Simone, who is an excellent writer, she's managed to me care about the cast of this book, who are mostly new characters, and if any are pre-existing, I've never heard of them, and doing that is a sign of being a great writer.

She's also come up with an interesting premise for a series here, and I really enjoy reading about the corrupt police force and crumbling society, it makes for a brilliant read!

Also, this issue has a lot of charm, the fact that the team held a council of war in a play room was just brilliant, and it really lightened up the morning for me! There are some more little moments in this issue that I really loved but I don't want to spoil them, I think you should definitely read them for yourselves.

Now onto the art by Freddie Williams II! I'm starting to enjoy Williams' art the more I see of it, at first I wasn't a big fan but I think it's really growing on me. I think his style really suits this book, and he is one of the best fight-scene artists in comics at the moment. There is a big fight in the later part f the issue and I feel Freddie Williams II really did a great job on it.

In summary, a great issue that managed to keep up to the standards of the first. Definitely a must-read!

Rating: 9/10

Review: Kick-Ass 3 #1

Spoilers for the issue below!

I'd never read an issue of Kick-Ass before this, I'd heard a lot about the two previous series and it's something I'd been wanting to try for a while. I felt that with the launch of the third and final instalment of the main Kick-Ass  story it was a good time to give the book a shot, so I did, and I loved it.

I  think that Mark Millar has come up with a really interesting idea with this series, it's definitely a different type of book compared to all the others on the shelves right now. I was expecting the same sort of Comic book that you see all the time but it just feels different. At the start of the issue a group of heroes team-up to break Hit-Girl out of prison and they straight up get scared and admit they're nowhere near ready. They run away. That's not what you see in many comics, if any, and it's my favourite scene from this entire issue, maybe out of all of the comics out this week.

This book shows just how good a writer Mark Millar can be, it's a unique book and has a really different feel to it, you get the feel that these are real "street-level" characters, not like how characters like Batman are, they're actually walking down the streets. They're literally Street-Level, I really loved that aspect of the book.

I also love the interaction between the characters, especially between Kick-Ass and his friend, Todd. They act like proper teenagers towards each other, I love that aspect of the issue, they act like what I imagine a teen in this situation to act like.

The only real complaint I can find for the story is that despite this being an issue 1, it's not the best place for new readers, I knew I'd be a  bit lost going into it since I haven't read any Kick-Ass before, but I was a bit confused by something. I definitely recommend reading the first trades before this, or watch the films. At the very least, read up on the plot on the internet, I think you'll really benefit from that if you're getting into the story with this issue.

Just one last point on the story, there are references to comics in the issue. It was a shock to see Batman and Fantastic Four references in this issue, it's yet another thing you don't see in other comics, and it really adds to Kick-Ass and Todd's characters to use these, considering they work in a comic book shop.

Now to the art by John Romita Jr. I'm a big fan of Romita Jr's work on Amazing Spider-Man and was looking forward to his work on the issue. I enjoyed it but feel this wasn't his best work; At times, the faces looked a little off and there were a lot of times where the characters looked a little younger than they should have. Apart from that, I really enjoyed his art and think he draws a Kick-Ass Kick-Ass! (Sorry, had to).

In conclusion, a great issue and a good start to the final instalment of the Kick-Ass story. Amazing writing and good art, worth picking up! But you would benefit from reading the first trades before this one.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Green Lantern #21

Usually when a creator change takes place on a big title like Green Lantern I'm a little hesitant about the next writer's run. That wasn't the case for Green Lantern #21, I'd spoken to new writer, Robert Venditti, before and was certain he would do well on this issue, I wasn't disappointed at all.

I'm not going to spoil the issue, because I think you should go out, pick it up and enjoy it as something completely new, without any real knowledge of what's going to happen. The issue has a brilliant start that really gripped me and made me want to keep on reading the issue, then it jumps to a different part of the story, the suspense of seeing the opening scene really keeps you interested right through the entire issue.

Venditti has shown how good a writer he is with this issue, he's shown a clear understanding for all of the characters and respect for the finale of Geoff Johns' run and yet put his own spin on it and make it really interesting.

He's managed to write a brilliant book here and has really built off of the final issue of Johns' run and made it into an interesting new story for Hal Jordan. Another thing I love about this issue is the inclusion of so many characters from the Green Lantern universe, I won't go into specifics but I think Venditti really understands who the Green Lantern fans want to see in the series.

Now onto the art, by Billy Tan. I think Billy Tan is a fantastic artist and did really well on this issue. However, one slip-up did keep jumping out at me throughout the issue: There are quite a lot of pages where the Lantern characters don't appear to be wearing their rings yet are still using them. I know this might seem like a minor problem but this did really stand out to me while reading the issue. Apart from that, I really enjoyed Tan's art in this issue.

In summary, a great beginning to this new era of Green Lantern comics, the Lanterns are shining brighter than ever before with Robert Venditti on board!

Rating: 9/10

Review: The Superior Spider-Man #11

Minor Spoilers for the issue below!

Superior Spider-Man has been quite a good series overall, I have to say, this issue wasn't the best., there were a few exciting moments but I don't feel it was as good as some other of this series' issues.

Just a brief summary of what this issue is about, Otto Octavius, along with J. Jonah Jameson, Glory Grant and Norah Winters travel to the supervillain prison, the Raft, for the execution of the Spider-Slayer, A.K.A. the man who murdered Jameson's wife. I have to say, I wasn't particularly excited by the premise of this issue, I think this is because I don't really care about Spider-Slayer as a villain, he's just not too interesting in my opinion.

This issue was Co-Written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage, and they did do a good job on the issue. Basically, this issue did have good writing, I just wasn't too keen on the plot. The scripting aspect of the issue was good, and I really enjoyed one little scene between Otto and Norah Winters while on the raft and the college scenes on the first few pages, I just don't think the overall plot was as good as some other issues.

Now that I'm done talking about the writing, onto the art! The penciller for this issue was Guiseppe Camuncoli, who is a brilliant artist! He is one of three rotating pencillers for this series and his issues are some of the best in recent Spider-Man comics. He draws a really different Spider-Man to the other artists on the series, he appears more muscly and Camuncoli draws that well.

Another point on the art, the colours. The current Spider-Man colourist is Edgar Delgado, who has done all of the Superior Spider-Man series and a lot of the previous title, Amazing Spider-Man. He is a very good colourist and I think his issues with Camuncoli are the best for both of them. Camuncoli's pencils and Delgado's colours work together really well, and it makes some really good art.

Overall, this issue had an alright plot, good writing but brilliant art.

Rating: 6.5/10

Review: Teen Titans #19

Teen Titans #19 cover.

Teen Titans is a series that hasn't had the best comments from a lot of fans, but I've enjoyed it mostly since the beginning, and I disagree with most of the bad comments it's been getting. That said I did have one or two issues with this...issue, but we'll get onto those later.

Just to quickly sum up what's going on in this issue, Tim Drake has started taking his job more seriously, and isn't really treating the rest of the Teen Titans like equals, more like minions, and they're not taking it too well. They're getting quite suspicious of him, and very impatient with him, since he's barely told them anything about himself but they're risking their lives for his cause. I like that Lobdell is re-enforcing the fact that they aren't a fully formed team yet, and there are still very obvious problems between some of the members, and you would expect arguments between a team of super-powered teens.

I love Eddy Barrows' art on the book, he seems to portray the characters' emotions and movement styles just right. Although it's very different to the previous artist, Brett Booth's, art style which I was a big fan of, it's certainly up to the same standard and is pretty much excellent.

I like Scott Lobdell's writing, and he comes up with some good plots for this book, but I'm not too keen on some of the lines he gives the characters, and he seems to write teenagers quite stereotypically, with too many "like"s. Also, I'm not very keen on his use of thought bubbles, he uses them to explain things that have happened before but makes the characters speak in quite a patronising way for the audience.

My final problem is that you see Beast Boy in this issue, but it's set after the events of "The Ravagers" #12, which doesn't come out until next month, and it sort of spoils what happens in the final story in that book, pretty much revealing that Deathstroke's ruined the Ravagers, and pretty much everything's gone wrong.



Overall, it's a good issue, but I'm not keen on some of the aspects of the story, like how Lobdell writes teens.

Rating:
6/10