Weekly Comic Reviews

Hello all, I'm a little late with these reviews, huh? I would have gotten them up earlier, but it was the third Thursday of the month, so I was at a youth group event called BEYOND. Well, chances are you're watching The Dark Knight Rises right now, so enjoy it! This week we have Namor attacking Wakanda, four-legged carnivores versus two soldiers, and Wonder Woman losing her cool with one of the League members.

Avengers vs. X-Men #8

Official description

• Last stand in Wakanda as an out-of-control Namor invades this sovereign nation in pursuit of the Avengers! • And a shocking truth stands revealed that may cause fractures in the X-Men’s alliance!

Review

Now this is what I'm talking about. This issue had it all, great action, good story, very good writing, and fantastic art to top it off. The heroes, (the Avengers) are technically on the losing defensive side, yet at the same time there's a slight hope for them without making it too cheesy. There's some really great splash pages here, such as the opening scene with Namor destroying Wakanda and the Avengers all about to gang up on him. This is how you do action scenes in world-scale event, every blow is felt. It's brutal, (especially what Namor does to Red Hulk) and one of the best fights in this event yet. It's easy to forget that Bendis, one of my least favorite writers currently, is the one that did this issue, the writing is top notch. From Captain America to Namor, the writing is the issue's strongest aspect, great drama here. Spider-Man's lines range from cringe-worthy to admittedly humorous, so that's mixed. Adam Kubert takes on art duties, and it's some fantastic work. For once Spider-Man is drawn as he should be, reminds me of him from the late 90's.

Overall it's by far one of the best issues yet in this event. With a very interesting plot development at the end, it'll be hard to wait the two weeks to see what happens next.

9/10

G.I. Combat #3

Official Description

• It’s modern warfare versus prehistoric horror in “The War That Time Forgot”! • The Unknown Soldier and his newfound super powers head to Pakistan in search of chemical weapons…and retribution!

Review

Take away dinosaurs, what does G.I. Combat have? Really, if there's no dinosaurs, all it has is the second story, Unknown Soldier. This series I've been buying really for The War that Time Forgot, which has been pretty fun. The writing could be better, and it slightly improves in this issue. It's by no means great, just generic stuff, but nothing too generic seen in the previous issue. This one definitely had a pretty big excitement and heart-adrenaline factor. As the four legged carnivores emerged, you could feel and almost hear their panic as if this were a film. The action featuring the dinos was pretty intense and satisfying, only thing is that it's too short. This should be the main thing, not half and half with the other story. I was extremely disappointed at how fast this part of The War that Time Forgot ended. Unknown Soldier continues to be an interesting ride. It would probably work better as its own separate series though. The art is glossy for The War that Time Forgot, the dinos look great. The art in Unknown Soldier is more gritty, as it should be.

Overall The War that Time Forgot is like a SyFy original movie, only with an actual budget and script. It's fun, noting great, but fun. Unknown Soldier continues to be an interesting story.

7/10

Justice League #11

Official Description

• “The Villain’s Journey” part three! • Batman , Cyborg and Aquaman battle Element Woman! • Continuing the origin of SHAZAM!

Review

Eleven issues in, and here we are with some of the League members fighting each other. You would think with the five year gap stuff like this wouldn't happen. The two best things about this issue is Graves and Jim Lee's amazing art. Graves has been established pretty well in this arc, a much better villain that what Darkseid was. The scene with him and Steve's sister was pretty intense and greatly written. The writing in this issue is pretty good for the most part. However, it has some of the same problems. Civilians sound really dumb, and I mean really, really dumb. And there's something off about Wonder Woman, her lines sound rather cardboard and forced. And then Steve's sister saying she's going to "haunt Wonder Woman for the rest of her life?" I mean really? I found that pretty funny, not haunting. It just sounded so strange. If you're going to buy a comic solely for the art, this would be the one to get. I almost chuckled a bit at the awesome splash page with Wonder Woman, cause you saw it coming. The Shazam backup story (this is how a backup story should be, long enough but short so it doesn't get in the way of the main story ) heats up with Black Adam taking center stage, intense stuff there. Billy is still annoying, and his adoptive brother has a very creepy smile.

Overall it's a pretty good issue with a great villain, minor writing annoyances aside. The Shazam backup continues to be solid way to introduce Captain Marv-I mean Shazzam to The New 52.

8/10