Comic Book Weekly Reflection 3/29/13

So yeah… not much this week from me!  Sorry about that folks, but I ended up having a ton of work I needed to get done in my college classes.  As such, I wasn’t able to get to comic I really wanted to check out this week; like East of West, Young Avengers, and Justice League Dark.  I’ll be checking out their next issues hopefully.  Still, I did cover some comics, so let’s talk about them!

 

Be warned, there will be spoilers below!

 

Batman Incorporated #9: This is the aftermath after Damian died and how the Bat family is dealing with it.  Sort of.

 

By sort of, I mean it’s only one of many other things going on in this comic.  We got what is going on with Jason Todd, what Squire is up to now that Knight is dead, Heretic meeting with Talia, a funeral, and some other scenes.  It’s really hard to describe the plot of this since it’s honestly all over the place.  The pacing and narrative flow are terrible in this comic.  Barely any moment is given enough time to develop before quickly jumping to something else.

 

The emotion in this comic is quite… complicated.  The funeral scene is quite fine, though a line within the eulogy was a bit questionable.  Damian choosing to be Robin?  Sure, but to do so he tried killing off Tim at the time.  Not really the best memory of the kid.  But that’s nitpicking.  What isn’t though is some of the cheesiness in this comic that takes away from sadness.  Having Batman doing a Darth Vader “Nooooo!” pose, a reaction shot from a cow (who really doesn’t fit the tone of this issue at all), and some cheesy lines that don’t really work.

 

One of the odder things in this comic is how much it crams story elements and subplots into it.  There’s just so much happening like I said, but what’s weird is that the story did not advance at all.  So much going on and yet it’s strangely decompressed at the same time.  I didn’t know that was possible.  Plus, some of the elements in the comic, like Squire becoming the new Knight, are not really all that developed.  It is like, “Hey! I could become Knight now” and BOOM!  Next page she is and with a costume that fits.

 

Then there is the art!  We got two different artists on this comic, Chris Burnham and Jason Masters, and man are their styles different.  Burnham goes for a messier and dirtier look with his art, while Masters is much cleaner.  The change is extremely apparent and really throws me off while reading this.  Top it off with awkward and weird looking faces and bodies, and got yourself a strange looking comic.

 

I spent way too much time on this comic already.  It was bad and no emotion or decent character writing can save it from its other problems.  Morrison, what the hell has happened to your Batman run?

 

FF #5: Now wait just a minute!  I never did a reaction for this comic you may ask.  Well, you are right.  I did not.  However, I did go over this comic in a review on another website.  Check out the link below to hear my thoughts on this comic:

 

Is It Good? FF #5

 

Five Weapons #2: Last we left Tyler in the comic, he was about to face down the club president to the blade club (or was it knife?).  In a rather interesting and quite clever display of intelligence, he figures out her weakness and disarms her without a single weapon.  From here, he continues to defeat the other club leaders and make a reputation for himself among the students and the teachers, all who are really not impressed with him.  However, he may be getting in over his head as he runs afoul of the club president for blunt weapons and that he may not be able to keep up the charade that he is not a Shainline after all.

 

If you remember my reflection where I talked about the first issue, I made note that I was concerned with Tyler becoming too invincible.  Luckily, this issue makes it clear that it won’t be a problem.  He really has no chance against these people unless he figures out their weaknesses and he constantly acknowledges he won’t last long here as well.  It allows us as readers to be worried about him and get more into the character, who is already rather complicated character from all the stuff we’ve learned about him in this issue.

 

Everything else continues to be quite strong with new characters being introduced, dialogue being engaging and amusing, the art is appealing and makes everyone distinctive, and the comic also surprised me by breaking my expectation.  I assumed the whole comic was going to be solely about him beating each club one at a time, with one club each issue.  However, that’s not the case since we find out he defeated a bunch of them off screen.  It looks like it’ll be developing into something else, which I’m real clear on yet.

 

Outside of a lack of action and the comic didn’t leave me with the same amount of excitement for it like the last issue did; this was still really a lot of fun to read.  I’ll be sticking with this to the very end.

 

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic #5: Finally!  I get to read this damn comic and see how it is.  Wish I could have read the last issues on a particularly darker week when they were more needed, but whatever.  This issue kicks off with a new writer and a new arc; with the main six ponies have been having nightmares and restless nights for the past week.  When having a sleepover together, Rarity is kidnapped by black smoke/fog that had been invading all of their dreams.  They meet with Princess Luna, who informs them the smoke is the remains of Nightmare Forces that had previously turned her into Nightmare Moon and is after all of them for defeating it last time.  Now they must team up and head to a nightmare dimension to rescue Rarity, who may be in a lot of trouble.

 

Having read the comic now, it’s a lot of fun like I hoped it would be.  Characters are memorable and distinctive, outside of Applejack who really does not stand out much, with their lines and quirks.  The art is nice looking and has its own unique style that is different from the show.  The plot is rather interesting and definitely has appeal for the fans with it going back to Nightmare Moon from all the way back in the first two episodes.

 

It’s not really deep, thought provoking, or even the greatest comic ever.  What it is a purely fun and enjoyable comic for all ages, something I do not see enough.  For the fans of the show or parents who want to get their young kids into comics, this one is highly recommended and also my pick of the week.  Hopefully my luck keeps up and I’ll be able to read the rest of the arc.