Weekly Comic Reviews for July 2nd, 2008 -- SPOILERS

First up, Happy 4th of July to my American neighbours to the south. :)

Secondly, I'm going to try and keep spoilers to a minimum in my reviews from now on. I know that sometimes I'll break that rule (especially when I feel compelled to explain something I disliked in a book) but I want to try to be better about it. I want people looking for reviews so they can decide whether they want to read the book to not have the book ruined by my reviews.

And it was another busy week for me with 6 books. Two were final issues though.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #16 -- I thought this issue was a strong start to a new storyline. I strongly suggest Buffy fans new to comics pick up the Fray TPB to catch up (plus, I really liked it). But you don't need to before reading this issue. It sets up things well. The dialogue is your usual Whedon stuff though sometimes I found myself going over certain parts a few times to try to understand some lines, those crazy kids and their lingo. The art was pretty solid though some of the characters seemed a little too thin or stretched out in some panels. All in all, I liked it a lot and I'm really looking forward to this storyline as well as the ongoing storylines that popped up nicely here.

Angel After the Fall #10 -- I remain somewhat disappointed with this series. I like a lot of the main storyline elements but I just think it's not being handled as well as it could have. Some of it is the writing for me and some of it is the art (though this issue was not drawn by Franco Urru, it still has some problems for me). This was one of the stronger issues for me but I still had problems with it. Some of it is simple artistic stuff like the layout of panels on one page in particular not being easy to follow. I'm eager to see how things tie up as we finish out the series but I'm hesitant to recommend it to others.

Echo #4 -- This series continues to go on at what seems like a snail's pace for me. I really do like pretty much every aspect of the book. The art is solid, the characters are interesting, the dialogue and storytelling are great. Yet every time I finish an issue I think "that's it???" And it's weird because I think back now and there actually was a fair amount thrown into this book but I don't know how much really pushed the story or the characters along. This book is actually getting dangerously close to falling off my monthly purchase list. It may be something I'll wait for TPBs for (if they even make them) so I can read more of a full story than what I'm getting every month.

Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #2 (of 5) -- To be honest I didn't remember much of the first issue so I'm glad Tek gave a very brief recap. And it turns out, it wasn't even all that necessary. But this was a fun issue. Yes, it's probably more geared towards fans of his show. Or at the very least, you should "get" Colbert in order to "get" Tek Jansen. But overall, I really enjoyed this book including the secondary story.

American Splendor Season 2 #4 (of 4) -- Season 2 comes to a close with more "excitement" as we spend some more time in Harvey Pekar's world. We have a visit to the doctor (including having to jump start his car again), taxes, organizing his recods, and trying to remember ideas for this comic. American Splendor isn't for everyone but I find it very addictive. Most of all, I love how Harvey has shown comics can be so much more than muscle men in tights and busty women in ... well, almost nothing. For people looking for something very different I recommend picking up the "American Splendor: Another Day" TPB or the American Splendor film.

Dark Tower: Long Road Home #5 (of 5) -- This was a pretty good concluding issue to this series. It had a lot of the usual "issues" for me that I've talked about too much I think. Overall, this series had some interesting stuff to it and some pretty artwork to look at. But I think this is the end of the road for me. I'll keep an eye on the next series and maybe pick up the TPB at the end but I just don't think it's for me. Though I think it's definitely a solid book that you might want to check out.