Weekly Comic Reviews for March 24th, 2010

Just the one book this week.

The Guild #1 -- I was a little worried going in to this book because I wasn't sure what to expect. I find it can be very hit or miss when a celebrity writer does their first comic. Sometimes their inexperience with the medium really shows, at least for me. That was not the case here. There were quite a few scenes that were done very well, that took advantage or at least were written for the comic format. The art was effective, it fit the story with the different styles working well between the "real word" and the game world. I think I may have been looking for a bit more of a distinction between the two (not really sure what, maybe different borders or a more contrast colour palette) but it was effective as is. The story had a good mix of highs and lows to keep the reader feeling for Cyd and wanting to see what comes next (even if we know things won't end well in some respects). Definitely a must read for fans of the show, and I'd say it's good enough to stand as an intro for those who haven't watched the show.

More Comic Reviews

I think Jimmy Corrigan is going to take me a little while longer to read than most books. There's a lot to take in there. So last night I took a break from it and read Astounding Wolf-Man volume 3 and Irredeemable volume 2. The Irredeemable review will contain SPOILERS, though I'll try to keep them to a minimum.

Astounding Wolf-Man volume 3 -- I started this series because I'm really enjoying Invincible but there's just something missing here. I just can't get in to the story as easily or really connect with the characters like I can with Invincible. This isn't that I'm using Invincible as the measuring stick for what I'll read, it's just that overall I can't really get into this series that much. It's interesting and enjoyable enough I suppose but it's not really something where I'm eager for the next volume. In fact, if the series wasn't ending with issue 25 I'd probably have stopped picking it up but now I'm a little curious to see how it finishes off. It's still a good comic and probably worth checking out, I just don't think it makes my reading list.

Irredeemable volume 2 -- I enjoyed the first volume more than I expected to. This one had me hooked up until the Plutonian's tipping point was revealed. There was such a build up to the story and you really saw the Plutonian's mental state getting pushed to the edge but then the scene with Samsara popped in and it just felt a little off. I know it was everything else going on and the Samsara thing was just the straw that broke the camel's back but without a build up of the relationship between the two of them or even just Samsara that straw felt extra weak. It was disappointing given everything else that's going on in his life. The scenes with the Plutonian talking to the people through the TVs, radios, etc was pretty scary though. This book does a great job of really giving you a sense of fear and horror, and that may be why the Samsara stuff just felt a bit off. I'm interested in volume 3 and still recommend checking this book out (at least for the first volume, don't write it off too early) but we'll see where it goes from there.

Weekly Comic Reviews for March 17th, 2010 -- SPOILERS

Again, just one book this week. Be warned though, the review may contain spoilers for the Fall of the Hulks.

Incredible Hulk #608 -- Not reading the other Hulk book kind of hurt here with the events taking place at the same time but I refuse to pick that book up. It wasn't a total wash though, this book was still easy enough to follow (ie. the Red Hulk failed). And the set up for the upcoming "Hulked Out Heroes" wasn't as bad as I was expecting. This issue had a nice number of twists and turns, and flowed nicely. Every aspect of the art, from the pencils to the colours, was really well done. I really would love to see Pelletier become the regular Hulk artist. The story is still not blowing me away but it looks like it's going somewhere interesting.

I guess that's all I have to say on that. Next up on my reading list is Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth.

LongBox Digitial Public Beta

LongBox Digital went "Public Beta" yesterday so I immediately downloaded it to my new macbook pro. Rich Johnston over on Bleeding Cool has a good rundown of his initial use of the application, much of it applies to my first use but I figured I'd comment on it a bit more here.

After creating my account I went to check out ordering and reading a book. It all seems easy enough though there is not much there to begin with (I understand why and hope more will be coming soon) so I decided to give the Darkness a try. I didn't really want to experiment much with the viewer, I'm not really the kind to play around much with software, so I just found settings that seemed to work enough for me (which didn't take too long) and started reading. The reading experience wasn't bad though there were a few times where it was obvious the page layouts were either designed for a long page or just not all that good (and these may have been highlighted more by reading it here). But in a way, I'm not really expecting a perfect reading experience here, just something good enough that I can give some comics a quick read to see if I'm interested in picking up the series in TPB or to catch up on some one-shots that I usually think are over-priced for the content they deliver.

So my initial experience hasn't turned me off and I'm really looking forward to updates (both to the software and the books available).

Weekly Comic Reviews for March 10th, 2010

Let's just get right to it shall we...

Elephantmen #24 -- It's been a little while since the last issue so it took me a bit before I could really get back into the story and everything that's been going on. The beginning narration, explaining the devices implanted in the Elephantmen was helpful and interesting, I just don't know if that much narration (when combined with the initial radio dialogue) made the first few pages a little too word heavy. I think I could re-read that portion and think it went well one day and feel totally different the next. In the end, it just is. Getting to the point, we have the start of what promises to be an emotional storyline for Hip and Ebony as well as a couple other stories getting massaged a bit. More solid writing, solid artwork (both in appearance and storytelling)... My reviews of this series really are sounding like a broken record at times. :)

100K

At some point on the weekend (while I was dealing with a nasty sickness that you really don't need/want to hear the details of) Divine Leap hit 100,000 page views. I had mentioned it in my author comments on last week's page and for a few days it looked like I jinxed it as my daily page views dropped to below my average but a weekend push put me over.

I've had mixed feelings about this "milestone" but now I think I need to say "screw it" and just embrace it. I've been way too depressed about, well, pretty much most things and I know people are getting tired of it. I know I am. So in that spirit, I will be doing a special "Thank you for the 100K page views" sketch and I'll be taking suggestions for this sketch (either here or on the Divine Leap page or email or however) up until midnight Friday. After it's done (hopefully this weekend) I will post it and then send it out to the person who suggested it if they want it.

Weekly Comic Reviews for March 3rd, 2010

I decided to pick up the first issue of the Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks series, so two reviews for this week.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #33 -- I thought things were improving with this series, this issue brought me back down again. I will admit, I'm upset with the Twilight reveal and wasn't too happy going in to this issue. And it made the first part drag on as I knew the reveal. Then the second half of the book just seemed to be a lot of confusing dialogue because you can't have the characters just come out and say what's going on can you? There were a few moments that made me smile or felt Buffy-ish but all in all, a fairly disappointing issue for me.

Fall of the Hulks: Savage She-Hulks #1 -- I admit it, I didn't like the idea of Lyra taking on the title of "She-Hulk" but I have been pleasantly surprised. So even though I haven't been impressed with Fall of the Hulks so far I decided to give this series a try. On the one hand, I like the characters and felt the writing was good. On the other hand, for me, it's still tainted by the Fall of the Hulks storyline. I do have to say, the good outweighs the bad for me on this one so I'll be picking up the rest of this series.

The Walking Dead Volume 11

After a few issues with Amazon I finally got volume 11 of the Walking Dead. The revolving door of characters can be a positive (giving new perspective and keeping it from getting stale) and a negative (at least for me in that it's been so long since volume 10 that I can't remember who's who). So it took me a few pages to get back up to speed in this volume. I really enjoy this story for the character moments and their interaction with one another in the face of the horrors around them (zombies and others). On the one hand the story of what was happening with this latest group they come to meet didn't really do much for me. It was definitely horrific but with everything else in this series, I guess I must be desensitized to it. But the levels it pushes the main characters to is extremely emotional and the last few pages really bring it to a head and is really well done by both, writer and artist. Now I just have to wait for the next volume to come out.