Your friendly neighborhood basketball-themed rating system, AFTER MY BRAND NEW TABLE OF CONTENTS!:
Comics
Batwoman #0
Batman #2
Wonder Woman #2
Batman: Odyssey #1
Supergirl #2
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1
Justice League #2
The Unexpected #2
Manga
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi ch.449
One Piece ch.643
Naruto ch.560
Bleach ch.469
Kuroko no Basket ch.106+107+108
Fairy Tail ch.255
Hajime no Ippo ch.952
Volumes
Batman: Blink
Rating System
MVP = Most Valuable Pages. Best issue or chapter of my week.
STAR = Good comic being good, makes me want to keep reading it.
GLUE = Not outstanding, but not bad. Could be worth reading.
FUNK = Good series has an off week. Haven't lost faith yet.
BENCH = Subpar comic. Doubting its value. Needs to redeem itself.
CUT = Bad comic. Not worth continuing to subscribe.
Batwoman #0I only found out about this one recently, and ordered it from a reputable online shop the moment I heard. I'm a born-again Batwoman fan, and this comic didn't disappoint. Serving as an introduction to the character and a teaser for her then-upcoming series, the comic is narrated by Batman, who's trying to confirm his hypothesis that Batwoman's alter-ego is Kate Kane. Well, he's right, and this comic's pretty good. Not as good as her own series or Elegy, but the art's stunning. Practically a given for J. H. Williams. GLUE
Batman #2Batman #1 was probably my favorite of the first month of the New 52, so how about its sequel? Worth every penny. It's a display of Bruce Wayne / Batman's prowess as a detective, philanthropist, and mentor in addition to his superheroism; it's a comic that has Gotham City as an interesting character just as important to the story as Batman; and it's excellent both in action and mystery. The book does everything that the first issue did, plus moves the story along, resolves a red herring from Batman #1, and hints at what Batman's up against. The bad guy Batman encountered seems like a new version of Owlman at first glance, but I think is a new villain called The Talon. Talon's quite the bad-ass as well as a total mystery with a cool conspiracy backing him/her/it. Word. MVP
Wonder Woman #2Very cool. We see portrayals of Hera, Eris, and Hermes that I am 100% okay with as a Greek myth enthusiast, with Hera particularly true to form and entertaining, but they're also dark and foreboding. This is not a happy book. It continues the story from #1 at an admirable pace and ends with the intervention of a god that shows what level powers are at work here (re: not the stuff of mortals). I'm absolutely sticking with this one. I'm also a big fan of the art; colors are bold and vivid, and the stark images used in battle scenes create an aesthetic that is cartoony, but with an elegance evoking Greek pottery. Solid overall. STAR
Batman: Odyssey #1Well, I guess I needed one comic to confuse the bejeezus out of me this week, and Batman: Odyssey was up to the task. It calls itself #1, but it should be #7. I didn't know at the time of purchase, but Odyssey was intended to be a 12-part limited series by writer/artist Neal Adams. It went on hiatus earlier this year after six issues, and restarted its numbering system at #1 this week. The story's pretty cool, with Batman traveling to a lost world populated by Neanderthals and evolved dinosaurs while protecting R'as Al Ghul from his estranged assassin son, but I was definitely more than a little lost being dropped in the middle of the story. Odyssey is... not bad, but the best plan is probably to wait for an inevitable trade paperback if you really want it. Which I don't. BENCH
Supergirl #2Better than #1. We get scenes from Krypton, we get pretty good dialogue, we get a Superman vs. Supergirl fight scene, we get possible foreshadowing of future developments (General Zod!?), and it all adds up to an interesting new reboot of one of DC's iconic female characters. I am officially on the fence in subscribing to this one (this is praise and not criticism). It's reached my area of maybe-maybe-not along with Batwing and Resurrection Man. GLUE
Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1This will be the last #1 issue of the New 52 that I buy. Probably. Anyways, I thought it was quite good, but not something I need to subscribe to. I can see the potential of the team and its characters for good action, comedy, and drama, but I wasn't compelled enough by any particular detail of the story or by the comic's new development on the final page. Frankenstein is a likeable-enough protagonist, but his new teammates were hastily created and came out of nowhere, literally. No hate, but not love at first sight either. BENCH
Justice League #2Better than #1, but still a little slow for my tastes. Unlike my old beloved Justice League cartoon, it appears that Green Lantern will bring the sarcasm and snark while Flash is a more serious voice of reason instead of vice-versa (I know that Stewart+West is not Jordan+Allen, but still). The combat scenes with Superman were pretty solid, with Superman keeping up his trend from Action Comics of being a bit more of a dick than recent comic book Superman, but with the armor he wears in series other than Action Comics in the New 52. This comic is art-intensive; there's a two-page spread of a single image of Superman breaking through some Green Lantern construct chains. We also get some interesting scenes with Cyborg that are probably an origin story in the making, and there are a few amusing teasers at the end that hint at Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Captain Marvel joining the team eventually. Overall, far from a bad comic, but I wish the action would move along a little faster. GLUE
The Unexpected #1Wow. Very nice short story anthology. It's a large-sized comic, at about 140 pages and costing eight dollars, with twelve or so short stories with horror or magical realism themes. Each story is about ten or eleven pages long, but worth every panel with very strong art. They range from dialogue-free memoirs of a stage magician to a Mexican immigrant farmhand wrongfully accused of killing his employer's grandson. Each story relies on a twist ending or a unique gimmick, but this is definitely an interesting read. If you can, stop into your local comics shop, take five minutes to read the first story (written and drawn by WATCHMEN's Dave Gibbons) and see what you think. Maybe not the most sophisticated shorts, but pretty good. One of them is probably the weirdest zombie concept I've ever heard of. GLUE
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi ch.449
Started slow, seems boring at first, but once you read the final-page twist and think about what happened, you see a diabolical scheme take shape. The next several chapters could be normal training arc chapters and I wouldn't mind - Jenazad's sinister intentions add a gravity that this series probably really needed. I don't want to sound like a total creep, but I am worried and fascinated by what might happen to Miu soon. Besides being undressed, because that's nothing new. GLUE
One Piece ch.643Pretty much the chapter I wanted. We're teased a few of the new skills learned by Brook and Usopp in the time-skip and different groups around Fishman Island are informed of the situation. Not as good as last week's chapter and it could have used more action, but the story's hitting the right notes. Next week we'll get some "WHY WE FIGHT" shit from Hodi that is sure to enrage Luffy, and then soon after we'll have a month or two of classic One Piece arc finale battles. No complaints here. GLUE
Naruto ch.560Madara enters the fray and I'm glad that several of the combatants asked the obvious question out loud: if this guy's the genuine article, who the HELL is Tobi? Turns out the real Madara is also a powerful motherfucker of an opponent, and I look forward to the shenanigans that Kishimoto will draw to stop him. Good week for Naruto. STAR
Bleach ch.469The Byakuya fight continues and the Rukia fight begins. I still think Tsukishima's powers are bullshit and his fight with Byakuya will probably end in a similar bullshit manner. Kubo's (and Rukia's) love of stuffed animals hits the forefront in the Rukia fight, and it could end up entertaining or end up lame as a result. I'll... let those cancel each other out. GLUE
Kuroko no Basket ch.106+107+108
Three chapters scanned at the same time this week... and they seemed anticlimactic. 106 was a showcase for Hyuuga and his 3-pointers; 107 was a final challenge by Hanamiya but ended in our heroes' victory; and 108 was a series of reactions by the players and onlookers. I feel this was a wasted opportunity - the events of these three chapters should have taken up five or six chapters. There needed to be more panels spent on the action on the court, especially Hanamiya's extremely short-lived comeback, and perhaps less commentary from the stands (populated by Seirin's former opponents, naturally). I still like this series a lot and hope that we finally meet Akashi soon - he or Aomine will clearly be the series' "final boss." I won't hate on Kuroko for ending this game with a whimper, but maybe I shouldn't expect every basketball manga to be as richly detailed and perfectly paced as Slam Dunk. FUNK
Fairy Tail ch.255
I'm going to hold off on reading this one for awhile, and let chapters build up before starting again. In a total cop-out, readers are teased at some potentially world-ending circumstances, but then everything turns out to be okay and all that has happened is a seven-year time-skip where the main characters haven't even aged at all. I'm sure many readers are relieved, but I can't help but wonder why the tease was necessary to begin with and why a usually-pretty-good manga resorted to such lazy plot development. Seriously, almost a Mai-HiME level of bullshit character resurrection. CUT
Hajime no Ippo ch.952
Slow-build chapter. Normally these are a disappointment, but Ippo does them so well and so often that I hesitate to hate on it. We get some (wanted? unwanted?) nude Kumi action in this chapter, and some banter between the families of the three fighters in the upcoming arc. The fight I'm most interested in is probably Aoki's, because his usually result in relying on hilarious tricks and shenanigans. I have a bad feeling that it won't be three victories for Kamogawa and might even end in Aoki and/or Kimura's retirement, but I'll see soon enough. Or, you know, next year if I'm lucky. FUNK
Batman: BlinkThis is a special edition 100 page comic. I mostly picked it up because it was a neat-looking one-shot and that it was written by Dwayne McDuffie. Dwayne McDuffie was an African-American creator of comics and cartoons who died in February earlier this year, and I think that Blink was the last comic he may ever written, or if not then close to it. He's most famous for criticizing the stereotyping of ethnic superheroes of the past and for creating several superheroes of many different races for both DC and Marvel. His most famous creation is Static, who eventually had his own cartoon, Static Shock, produced by McDuffie. He then went on to co-create the Justice League cartoon with Bruce Timm and several other animators from Warner Brothers, and was the creative lead on Justice League Unlimited.
Truthfully, the reason I am a superhero fan today is the DC Animated Universe of the 90s and early 2000s, especially Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. McDuffie was one of the major creative minds behind that universe, so I have a great deal of respect for him. When I saw that this comic was recent and written by McDuffie, I had to get it. Turns out I'm glad I did. Within is a ~70-page Batman story and a ~30-page Superman story, unusual in that they aren't narrated by their subjects for the most part. In Batman's story, the narrator for at least half of the book is a blind man who has the unusual power to see the world through the eyes of anyone he touches. This blind man witnesses a murder and collaborates with Batman and the police department to bring the killer to justice. Very solid overall, and I was impressed with the unique premise. In the Superman story, Jonathan Kent recounts a tale to Martha Kent of when Superman fulfilled Pa Kent's childhood dream of visiting outer space. It's brief, but pretty good with some heartfelt moments.
And now, after three paragraphs and 100% of my readers, I'll conclude this bitch. This was a very good comic book with old-school sensibilities. Dwayne McDuffie, you will not be forgotten. STAR
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Wow, I am so, so sorry for this long-ass clusterfuck. I went overboard at Phoenix Comics yesterday, plus I had a bunch of manga scans this week. I have at least four other graphic novels I ordered arrive from Amazon along with Batwoman #0 (seriously). Next week you'll get one or two of those, plus my fourth-week DC stuff: Aquaman plus whatever others I feel like.
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