THE GHOST BOX! Quick Shot Reviews

ACTION COMICS #23.3 (LEX LUTHOR): Charles Soule does a great job in capturing the megalomaniac at his most ‘lomaniacal. This is the most terrifyingly evil and villainous Lex we have gotten so far in the two years plus of the New 52 – and it is a welcome sight. Lex Luthor needs to be up there with the likes of the Joker and other diabolical characters of the DCU, but until now he’s been regulated to pulling strings from behind bars. No longer. This wonderful Villains Month Issue changes the game and lets the dogs out of the cage – so to speak. The art from Raymund Bermudez leaves something to be desired, and not my cup of tea, but with Soules strong writing I can get past it. My fave moment of the issue: Lex is leaving prison and asks the guard if he wants his prison uniform to sale and get money to send his kid to college. The Prison Guard does want it, but when Lex says all he has to do is walk over and take it, the Guard stands motionless – this scene speaks volumes about the power Lex has and perfectly captures everything he is about. This is Morrison turf. Good stuff. WRITING: EXCELLENT / ART: FAIR

BATMAN & ROBIN #23.3 (RA’S AL GHUL): Here we get a little history lesson of Ra’s courtesy of James Tynin IV – he takes us through time and the many incarnations of the Demon’s Head and shows us just what makes him tick, and just what pisses him off too. The Secret Society’s offer for Ra’s to join them is just one such thing that does piss him off. When you lay down an ultimatum like “Understand.. if you reject The Society’s offer, you will not survive. They will not allow it.” Yeah right, you know how that’s gonna turn out. The art by Jeremy Haun is serviceable but nothing to write home about. I doubt we will see Haun again until the NEXT DC September interrupting Event. My Fave moment of the issue: The last page with Ra’s staring out the window at the large world he longs to conquer. We just know he will always be there – watching. WRITING: GREAT / ART: GOOD

 

DAREDEVIL #31: Sorta like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, there are just some things you can rely on – Daredevil being awesome is one of those things. You just know that each month when you crack open that comic that you are in for a treat. Mark Waid has outdone himself on this title and you can tell the dude is having a ball writing this series. It shows in every aspect of Daredevil from the huge all encompassing story-lines to the small subplots it all leads to one place  – brilliance. This issue is no exception and I got just what I have come to expect  after reading this series for 31 months, another wonderful story. This one about how Daredevil has to reign in an angry mob without hurting them – they seem to be influenced from some outside force. Luckily DD has friends in high places and in my fave moment of the comic, Hank Pym answers the call for help by sending in some of his flying ants to seed the clouds and make it rain, thus putting the “damper” (sorry, couldn’t resist) on the Mob Rule.  Along with Mark Waid, this series just wouldn’t be as great without the amazing storytelling skills of Chris Samnee. What else can be said but this team and this series will go down as being one of the greatest ever. How does it feel to witness history? WRITING: EXCELLENT / ART: EXCELLENT

HARBINGER #16: Dudes, those first 5 or 6 issues of this series completely and totally sucked me in. The telling of how this team of super psi heroes/kids got together and banded to overthrow the evil Harada and Project Rising Spirit was excellent storytelling and comic booking at it finest. We grew to know all the players and care for them in a way we kinda wished we did for those X-Men over in the Marvel books. Here at Valiant they took the time to explore each character and give us insight to what makes them tick. And the end result is an investment by us to this series month after month – we can’t wait to get our grubby paws on it. I will say that ever since the Harbinger Wars things have been a tad rough and the series got a little sidetracked there for a bit – but with this issue #16 things seem to be on the upswing and back to where they need to be.  Did Kris really kill Torque? We find out in this mind fuck of an issue where we travel inside of Torque’s psyche and the gang experiences just what takes place inside his brain – and let’s just say it is a Bro’s Paradise.  My fave moment of the issue: Torque asking Kris not to take his Crazy Train – uh, you kinda had to be there.  WRITING: GREAT / ART: GOOD

SAVAGE WOLVERINE #8: I love Joe Madureira’s art. His hyper-stylized characters are unlike any other in comics and make you actually STOP and just look at the pictures. You know what I mean? There are some comics you just read the word balloon, give a quick glance at the panel art, then move on. Not so with a Joe Mad comic – I have to spend at least a few minutes just soaking in the drawings. Fucking unreal and totally awesome shit that makes me happy I read comics.  This story of Ninjas, Kingpins, Elektra’s, and giant monsters by Zeb Wells is just the springboard for Madureira to do his thing. Well’s writes with Mad’s strengths in mind and Mad does not disappoint. It is a tour de force and makes you wish Joe drew more comics these days. My Fave moment of the issue: Wolverine and Spider-Man sitting in Logan’s apartment after all the adventure is over – and Spider-Man tries to talk. Wolverine shuts him down. WRITING: GOOD / ART: EXCELLENT

 

ZERO #1: Ales Kot has gone from unknown to one of my Top 5 comic book writers in the last few months. I first discovered him when he took over Suicide Squad there for a few issues. He completely revitalized that series, doing a 180 and made it a MUST READ. So of course DC comics decides to take him off the title. Idiots. But anyway, I’m not here to talk shit about DC comics (we do that in other places on this site), I’m here to sing the praises of Kot’s new Image series Zero. I love it when I’m reading a comic and I wish that there were more pages to read – like I know I’m reaching in the end of the book but I fucking wish there were more pages to read cause the story has enthralled me and I don’t want it to end. Zero wastes no time in setting up a fantastic mystery revolving around our hero? Is he even a hero? Who knows at this point, all we know is that Edward Zero works for The Agency and that he has been sent in to a war zone to retrieve a top secret device. Seems simple yeah? Well there is a lot going on underneath the surface and when you reach the last page – which comes WAY too soon for your liking – you cannot wait for issue 2. This a great comic! My fave moment of the issue:  Zero sees the collateral damage of his mission in the form of a dead kid. It is here, this moment, that we glimpse there is more to Edward Zero then being just a pawn of The Agency. WRITING: EXCELLENT / ART: GREAT