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ménage à trois: 1/5/05

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 8, 2005
Post category:Reviews
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[One Marvel, one DC, both published the previous Wednesday, plus a random indie from whenever I feel like it, each reviewed quickie-style: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]A double dose of Marvel this week, thanks to the late shipping New Avengers #2 and nothing of interest from DC as I bailed on both Toe Tags and Detective Comics this month. (I did give in and pick up last week's Batman #635 which turned out to be a good decision.) Joining Team Bendis this week is The Tomb of Dracula #4…

Review: Secret Skull #1-4

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 23, 2004
Post category:Media Reviews
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Steve Niles' Secret Skull mini-series starts off strong, jumping from a quick dream sequence featuring a cemetery zombie attack in broad daylight to a Batman-like vigilante in a skull mask tracking a gang of thugs through the night, one of whom it somehow knows will kill an innocent girl the next day. Except he won't get the chance as the Secret Skull executes a violent pre-emptive strike, leaving the thug's head on a pike in an alley along with the sliced-and-diced corpses of his cohorts. For the past two and a half years, the Secret Skull has been at work,…

ménage à trois: 12/15/04

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 19, 2004
Post category:Reviews
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[One Marvel, one DC, both published the previous Wednesday, plus a random indie from whenever I feel like it, each reviewed quickie-style: 1 Minute=bad, 10 Minutes=good. Connections, if any at all, may be forced purely for the experience.]"The best laid plans..." sometimes go awry, and in this case, it's Marvel's fault as I wasn't interested in anything they published this week. As such, it's a double dose of the Distinguished Competition, with Identity Crisis #7 and Batman: Gotham Knights #60 hooking up with Devil's Due's Mu #1 for an immensely satisying group session.First up, arguably the most anticipated comic book…

Review: New Avengers #1 / The Ultimates 2 #1

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:December 4, 2004
Post category:Reviews
Post comments:1 Comment

To say I was skeptical about Marvel go-to-guy Brian Michael Bendis' New Avengers seemingly self-serving reload would be quite the understatement. Based on the ill-conceived complete disaster that was Avengers Disassembled, and it's half-assed epilogue/retrospective in Avengers Finale, I was fully prepared to hate it on sight. Boy was I wrong! After the requisite - and, thanks to its brevity, sad in that wow, that really was lame kind of way - first page recap of the Disassembled disaster, Bendis starts things off with a shadowy meeting between a silhouetted figure and a thug who turns out to be Electro.…

COMMENT: On Reloads and Relaunches

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:November 22, 2004
Post category:Media Pop Culture
Post comments:3 Comments

Answer: Everyone that bought a copy of Astonishing X-Men #1. [See the end for the Question.]As someone who stopped buying comic books back in the early 90s - missing the worst of the speculator-driven boom and bust - and started again last year, I can see both sides of the "Relaunch/Reload" debate that seems to be flaring up on several fan sites.As Comics Buyer's Guide pointed out in a great article a couple of months ago, the comic book industry doesn't really know very much about its audience. Other than the accepted stereotypes - predominantly young, male, into superheroes and…

Review: Superman/Batman #8-13

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:November 12, 2004
Post category:Reviews
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I reserved judgement on this until it was complete, hoping there'd be a little more to it than than fanboy pandering, but alas, it is what it is. Credit Jeph Loeb for giving the people what they want, I guess. From his lazy, summer-blockbuster plotting and scripting, to Michael Turner's incredibly overrated artwork, this story arc bored me senseless. Another Supergirl. Whoopee! I imagine there's bigger plans for her in the near future but this overblown introduction certainly doesn't have me anticipating them. Never has Superman been more annoying, or Batman so predictable, and their navel-gazing narration was frequently trite…

My Top 5 Comic Book Titles

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:November 11, 2004
Post category:Personal Pop Culture Reviews
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(ongoing series only) 1. Gotham Central - I'm a big fan of strong characterization and tight plotting, and this Batman-themed take on the classic police procedural, a la Hill Street Blues and Homicide: Life on the Street, features some of the strongest writing in comics. Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka are terrific, and Michael Lark's gritty artwork matches them note for note. He'll be sorely missed but I'm hopeful that DC will tap a replacement with similar sensibilities. 2. Teen Titans - I fully expected this series to take an immediate downhill turn for the worse after the thrill-ride of…