For any of us who are dudes that would have been coming-of-age as antiheroes began standing in for real heroes" who all popped collective male envy boners as bad guys started getting dealt good guy problems "there was a time when Thomas Alsop would've seemed pretty cool too. But now we're older. Smarter. Stronger. Now is NOT that time.

While Eman Cassalos renderings of the epic showman have a sort of Gothic appeal, it isnt enough to give me any idea of whats going on.

The Black Vortex, then, in this storyline, exists in many places in time, and falls into the hilariously incapable hands of Peter Quill and Kitty Pryde, who, along with the other characters in the issue, are drawn by Ed McGuinness (Hulk) to appropriately reflect the YA audience demographic he and writer, Sam Humphries (Avengers A.I.), are apparently writing for.

I get it. I get the joke. But it's a stupid joke.

But ultimately Django/Zorro #1 just totally lacks the whizz-bang of pulp comics it should be emulating. This is most clear in the sorry attempt at a climax, in that final panel, when we, as the reader, discover that Don Diego is actually the legend, Zorro.

Whats missing in this story, unfortunately, is a sense of itself. Granted, its a copy of a copy of a copy, sure, and thats fine, but it never catches hold! Even the art itself, byChee(Tag) the simple lines and muted grey hues convey a vague overall atmosphere. Hopefully in the next few issues readers will be treated to a break into act three rather than the act two holding pattern thatThe Damnation of Charlie Wormwoodseems stuck in.The Damnation of Charlie Wormwood

So here's the thing: Blood & Judgement was fresh, and vaguely familiar. It was like dj vu. It seemed, perhaps, seminal. It crackled with a mid-century noir flame; the same buzz as those old radio plays. Don't get me wrong, Midnight In Moscow is good, but not quite dj vu. This is more like a memory: fading, but a little too familiar to be exciting. In fact, it seems so familiar, this time it's almost boring.

Take myrecommendation, and buy the issue for the dense prologue and quick ignition. To delight in the specificity of really responsible sci-fi world-building. Or for Matteo Scalera (Deadpool, Valen the Outcast) and Moreno Dinisios (Dead Body Road, Resurrectionists) splashy, almost whimsical, messy and freneticpanels. But if youre going to GET INTO it, Id say buy the farm. Go back. Re-read. Get into it. Eat it up.

The truth is, it's a fast, fun read, and for any of us who are fans of Flash Gordon mythos (if you can call it mythos), this contemporary spin on our ace athlete, Flash, and the good Doctor, and Dale Arden, is a perfect, bite-size example of how slick sure-handled genre pieces can be when written in a modern tone.

I'm giving it a hard time, but it's a really fun comic. On an honest note, for any of the faint-of-heart, I will say this comic is violent. I assume most of you will not have a problem with that. I don't either, I just wanted to put it out there" So, it's violent. And the violence comes as a shock, because the art is playful enough that it doesn't presume violence

MPH is kinetically spectacular fanboy fare wrapped up in the gritty currency of a Curtis Hanson movie" If you don't want to pick it up, just think The Avengers-meets-8 Mile and you'll have the general idea.

This comic book is like American Splendor for X-Men fans. Everything in Ordinary is ordinary, until you find the extraordinary in just how ordinary everything is. Even what actually is extraordinary.

This particular comic is more of an anthology " albeit a spectacular one " and I wanted to give credence to a new original series. But, c'mon, it isn't like those four nunchuck-wieldin' mutant knuckleheads haven't gotten plenty of attention since their 1984 debut. And from those early days back in Mirage Comics black-n-white, to the glossy sheen of a more kid-friendly appearance in Archie's Adventure, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello's collective journey out of the New York City sewers is deftly chronicled in this slick volume.