Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles Comic Reviews

Hi folks.  Well this is my third comic review post.  I have had a few hits so far.  If you are becoming a regular reader, I would love to hear from you.  Please take a minute to leave your feedback.

My first offering for this week is the All New Atom #1-6.  It is written by Gail Simone and drawn by John Byrne with covers by Ariel Olivetti.  This six issue launch tells the story of, you guessed it, the origin of the All New Atom.  In a nutshell a genius named Ryan Choi emigrates to the United States in order to take up the position as professor vacated by Ray Palmer.  Somehow he just knows that Ray has left him a Quantum belt somewhere.  It takes him no time at all to locate the belt and the adventures as the Atom begin at once.  Now I just want to say right off that I have always thought getting small is the lamest super power ever conceived!  And I’m not just picking on the Atom here.  Ant-man, Yellowjacket, and even the Wasp.  All lame!  Ok…the wasp is kind of cool!  LOL!  So anyway, the Atom soon encounters a bunch of tiny people living in his new home town, as well as a godlike creature called M’Nagalah.  It seems that a war is brewing between M’Nagalah, the little people, and normal humans.  The Atom decides that he has to intervene.  There are some interesting scenes when he gets swallowed alive by his date, who is transformed into a giant by M’Nagalah.  At one point Ryan declares that he has to go save the president of the United States.  Sounds fun, but we never actually see this happen.  Apparently this was captured in a Brave New World Preview, which I did not buy.  Overall, this story was really bloody confusing.  There were some funny moments, and I did not hate the story, but I can’t give it more than a 3 out of 5.  At some point the art switches from Byrne to Eddy Barrows, and it is really too bad.  I love the fact that Byrne does not feel the need to make all the male characters into full time bodybuilder types and all the female characters into breast implanted Hooters girls.  Still, I give the art 5/5.  I liked it.  The coverwork is adequate.  Not always relevant to the storyline inside the comic, but passable.  I give it 3/5.  And for relevance and continuity I will only give this issue 3/5.  I am no expert on the DC Universe, but I do not believe that M’Nagalah is a player in the grand scheme.  The only thing that might give this story any leverage is if Ryan Choi sticks as a character, and I honestly would be a little bit surprised is Ray Palmer is gone for good.  I cold be wrong.  So overall, the comic rates 14/20.  Not a bad read.  I can’t give it a strong recomendation, but if you like the Atom, give it a try.

Next I have Red Sonja #34, written by Brian Reed, and drawn by Mel Rubi.  The cover was rendered by Fabiano Neves.  This is a really interesting story where Red Sonja is basically on a boat on the River Styx with a mysterious figure she calls Charon.  He takes her on an introspective journey, trying to discover who she is and what her purpose on earth really is.  He tries to convince her to go to her final rest and leave the world to combat Kulan Gath without her aid.  In the end she realizes that Charon is actually Kulan Gath himself and slays the wizard with the help of Death himself.  Red Sonja is given the choice now of going to her final rest, or going to be reincarnated to continue the battle with Kulan Gath once more.  She chooses the second option and soon reemerges as a child.  The cover is really good, but has nothing whatsoever to do with the comic, so I give it 4/5.  The story was really enjoyable.  It left me a little confused at the end, but my lack of knowledge about these characters could be more to blame than bad writing.  I give the writer 4/5.  The art is a mixed bag.  I did not care for all of it, but it was well done and created mood very effectively.  5/5.  And lastly, regarding continuity, I think you have to give this one 5/5 since this is the only title with these characters, and when it comes to Red Sonja, you just don’t get a more relevant bad guy than Kulan Gath.  5/5.  My total score for this issue is 19/20.  Run to your comic store and buy this today!

I have been doing A LOT of reading this last week, so I have many titles to choose from here, but next I think I will go with Jonah Hex #32.  Written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, and drawn by Jordi Bernet.  I loved Jonah Hex when I was younger.  The stories had such simplicity.  They were really enjoyable in the spaghetti western tradition.  I think that is what they are going for here, but they failed miserably in this case.  There are more holes in this story than swiss cheese.  The story starts with a fat Mexican asking Jonah to kill a matador who has been bedding his wife.  Jonah flatly refuses, then proceeds to get drunk.  Once he is good and swimming, a bunch of costumed ladies attack him and beat him into unconsciousness.  He wakes and finds himself tied up in the arena with a bull cruising about.  Soon the bull starts to gore him, but miracle of miracles, the matador he was asked to kill, actually saves his life.  Next we see him taking target practice as he often does when he is recovering from horrible wounds.  The matadors baby sister tries to get Hex to bed her and he tells her to grow up first.  Then he walks into the arena and kills the fat Mexican in broad daylight.  It is said that the Mexican has many bodyguards, but apparently they were all on break.  Lets just get through this one quick.  Cover 2/5.  Story 1/5.  Art 2/5.  Significance has to be 1/5.  Total is 6/20.  I do not recomend this story at all. 

Well I think I have one more review in me for tonight.  How about Detective Comics #845.  Written by Paul Dini, drawn by Dustin Nguyen.  I liked this issue.  I do not buy Batman very often, but the cover was captivating for me.  5/5.  There is really a lot to like about this story.  There is a new serial killer in Gotham.  When it becomes obvious that Batman is completely stumped, the Riddler throws his hat into the ring and declares that he will find the killer.  There is some really interesting interaction as Batman enters a chat room for sleuths to spit ball on who the killer could be.  The other chatters turn out to be some colorful characters including Barbara Gordon, and the Riddler himself.  At some point the Riddler gets a private message and rushes off.  Lucky for him the Batman figures out that the killer is somebody whose wife was killed in one of the Riddlers criminal ventures and he has been killing people in order to bait old Eddy.  Batman arrives on the scene and saves his life.  Story gets 5/5.  Art gets 4/5.  I do not particularly care for the style of art contained in this book, but I have to admit that it is very well done.  And for relevance… well I just don’t REALLY know.  I am not a DC junkie, so I can’t say much about it.  It features many of the big players in the Batman family, so I will give it 4/5.  I doubt anything that happened in this issue will have any impact on the future of the DC Universe.  Total score is a big 18/20.  A great done in one story.  Recommended reading. 

That is all the reviewing I am going to do for this week.  I will just give you two more quick ratings:

Supergirl #30 : 13/20

Robin/Spoiler Special #1 : 15/20

The last word goes to Xuthl’s Wilderness Comics and Collectibles which has just made the move from EBay to Comic Collector Live.  Go to http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Seller.aspx?id=cc0608d3-03c2-4b73-81dd-40662b76b9c9 and check out the titles I am offering for sale.  Please remember to consider the cost of shipping as part of the total price.  You will find my prices are often the lowest available.

Also, if you collect current comics, I encourage you to consider ordering your books from me.  I charge cover price plus $3 shipping and handling for the first book and an additional $1 for each book after that anywhere within Canada.  This may sound expensive, but with the cost of gasoline continually rising you really can’t lose.  This is also ideal for readers living in cities and towns without a local comic shop. 

Lastly, if there is a book you are looking for but can’t find, drop me a line and I will see what I can find for you.  I have a good network of sellers and have had great success in the past.  Feel free to contact me at xuthl@yahoo.ca. 

Have a great week!