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:
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.
