Thursday, July 05, 2007

Weekly Comic Reviews -- July 4th, 2007 -- SPOILERS

Happy belated Canada Day and 4th of July!

Yeah, I picked up my books a day early this week and that's why the reviews are coming out today. I picked up three books this week (Runaways #27, Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #5 of 5, and Dark Tower #6 of 7). I also picked up two manga volumes but haven't read them yet, they are Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 1 and Monster Volume 1. I guess I was in the buying mood thanks to my comic shop deciding to sell books at their US prices now instead of the Canadian ones. Woohoo!

Runaways #27 -- So we're back in time and figuring out the story as we go along. Now this book is written by Whedon so that all but guarantees that I'll love it, and the art is very impressive. But it's a weird feeling I had when reading this book. The only way I can describe it is that it seems there's a lot going on with so little happening. You have quite a few twists and turns and loads of characters and it's a lot to take in. I'm definitely going to have to give it another read but what I may do is wait until the storyline is over and re-read the entire thing. I guess in some ways I miss reading this series in its digest form where I get the 6 issues all at once and I can read and re-read them all at once. Having said that, the series and this issue in particular remain on my recommended reading list with solid writing, solid art, solid characters, and just an all around solid book.

Marvel Zombies/Army of Darkness #5 of 5 -- So many limitted series' have been disappointing me as of late when it comes to the ending, including the original Marvel Zombies series, that I had pretty much prepared myself for disappointment. And maybe that low expectation led to me to be very happy with this issue, or maybe it was just a solid enough issue on its own. Again, we get multiple artists taking over the art on this and though it was distracting, it wasn't as bad as earlier issues. But it was a fun issue. Sure, it was all kinds of silly and was definitely pushing the envelope with the epilogue. But Doom kicks all sorts of butt in this issue, Dazzler is a moron (or at least has one moronic moment), and the Ash/Necronomicon stuff was gold for me. And the Wolverine/Hulk/Necronomicon punchline, I laughed. And that was the point, an entertaining and fun look at the world of Marvel Zombies. Definitely makes my recommended reading list though obviously, fun filled zombie stories aren't for everyone and the silly factor may rub some the wrong way.

Dark Tower #6 of 7 -- So, could all three issues actually get a passing grade from me this week? I've referred to the second last book of a series as typically being the calm before the storm but this one doesn't really seem to fit that. The storm is already starting in this issue. As much as I feel I'm missing out on pieces of the story and I need to do a double take to remind myself of what's actually going on, this issue was pretty solid piece of storytelling that's maybe not as hard to follow along as some of the previous issues. And the art has had its ups and downs in this series for me and this issue was an "up". I only hope the final issue is as good. So yeah, this issue does get to be on the recommended reading list for me though it probably doesn't matter, either you've been reading this series and have to read this issue or you aren't and this issue is not a jumping on point for anyone. As for the series as a whole, I'm not quite sure yet. I'll have an opinion on that when issue 7 comes out.

So that's it for another week. Thanks for reading.

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