CrazyforRAMU's Profile

If anybody can weave a tangled-up meta-story about storytelling and deliver results that are clear, compelling, and free of pretension, it's Al Ewing. This is a clever, subtle, audacious script, and it's a triumph.

It's enhanced further by art that is terrific on its own and also perfectly-suited to the story being told. The artist works wonders, and the colorist makes a significant con tribution, helping keep the complex scene structure straight.

I shy away from a perfect rating only because this is an incomplete story, and I can't be certain about its overall quality until I've finished it. But this start has raised my expectations to the rafters.
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This is a wild, cosmic, philosophical journey, with a nice high-powered mutant fight along the way. The art is powerful and clear, the pace is great (considering how many ideas are flying around), and Storm's characterization is wonderful.

The one caveat I would offer is that this cries out for annotations. The continuity nods come hot and heavy, and if you haven't read through the auth or's whole oeuvre, there are about a dozen points where a mysterious reference could throw you right out of the story.
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This is impressive and engrossing storytelling. The art is polished and dramatic, and it does a terrific job of setting a grand, cinematic stage. The script is nicely suited to that same tone. The dialogue is restrained, and the creators trust the reader to unpack the full implications of brief words and subtle movements.

Admittedly, there's not a lot of plot development yet, but this i ssue does a hell of a lot of world-building. It sets up key characters in intriguing ways. While a few of the questions it raises are frustrating, most are fascinating.
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Robert Forson's story does a terrific job of providing the sense of narrative closure that I missed in the previous issue. The art is beautiful, and the script is talented. In terms of the big picture, though, things remain very inscrutable and mysterious.

This is not a serious book. You could even say it is a silly book.

But that certainly does not mean that it's a bad book.

The humor is the driving force. Together with sharp dialogue and polished art, it makes it fun to accept the silliest of plot developments. Spidey and Ock have amazing chemistry, and they do get a few spots of deeper characterization that lend weight to th e story.
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It still looks gorgeous (though the fight scenes could be a little clearer). And the script retains its wicked skill for closing scenes with snappy lines. Those scenes do tend to stretch on, though, and it feels like overall progress is slow.

This points the long saga of Evil Beast toward a climax. It's still gorgeously drawn. But it's off to a slow start, the dialogue is unexceptional, and Sage's case for her chosen strategy isn't that compelling--even with a huge share of the dialogue devoted to discussing it.

The only problem with this is that it's being published about 30 years late. But…that's a pretty big problem.

This series launches with a big cast and a complicated status quo, and this issue does an admirable job setting it all up. The art is highly polished and detailed (although perhaps a little stiff). The dialogue is clear and suitable for younger readers.

The sheer volume of material (and the expository way it's treated) really drags the pace down, though. Kids may understand it just fine , but I suspect a lot of them will be bored with it--as will most grown-ups.

But with all the stage-setting completed (I hope), perhaps the promising story will develop more quickly in future issues.
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The art's still pretty solid, and, in theory, a frenetic in medias res start should really amp up the tension. But in this particular issue, the running start just spotlights how little interest we have in the characters. It's not tense because we don't care. Using a dull, Z-list antagonist certainly doesn't help, either.

The revelation of the big bad maintains this title's habit of lam pshading what a crass ripoff it is. Either this is an unlikely evolution of a Frank Castle villain, or a completely unrelated force that "coincidentally" picked a name with a lot of Punisher history. Both possibilities are equally discouraging.
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This is my first introduction to Terror, and I was not impressed. But I do think the character had the potential to engage my interest. The art was decent. It's the script, with its clumsy exposition and arbitrary conflict, that turned me off.

All of the threads come together very nicely in this loud, fast combat climax. The art makes things look suitably epic, and the dialogue is natural, with plenty of jokes along the way. What elevates this to greatness are the moments of deep empathy woven into the action, each highlighted by wickedly sharp, memorable lines.

This issue pushes many different plotlines forward by little steps. It's not nearly as frustrating as it could be, thanks to strong art and some sharp dialogue (the lines are a little glitchy during the Penance fight, though).

The creators have managed to hold my attention on all of their story-threads, even the Ilongas, and I admire the amount of talent that requires.

The art is impressive in its details, clarity, and dynamism. The dialogue sounds natural all the way through. This issue's plot developments clarify a lot of what's already been hinted at about Matt's demon problems.

What impresses me most, though, is the pace of the script. It drew me smoothly through the story and helped me figure out She-Hulk's "twist" at exactly the right time: just a page or two before it broke all the way open. That's long enough to build anticipation, but not so early that I felt the narrative structure was in any way clumsy.
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Subjectively, I think I'd like this more if the author found a way to tell the story without supervillains. I contend that that would make the social commentary objectively sharper, too. It's still strongly written and beautifully drawn, but a sharp bite at specific social issues would serve better than gumming at a vague, dystopian supervillain dictatorship.

The world-building is imaginative, especially on the visual front. The social commentary isn't strident (perhaps even too subtle, in my opinion), but it seems carefully reasoned and up to date. The characterization is solid, making it easy to empathize with Steve Rogers in particular.

It's a good comic.

But it's not so good--yet--that I would feel guilty about dismissing it a s "DKR/Kingdom Come, but with the Avengers."
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This issue was a pleasantly surprising start for a self-contained story. There's humor and inventiveness in the dialogue and the plot development. It's illustrated with clean, strong art.

I appreciate that the creators are upfront about this series being a sideshow to the main Fall of X. They take their plot seriously enough to make it engaging, but their tongues are just far enough int o their cheeks to keep Cable's timey-wimey absurdity from getting pretentious.
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It's another slow and digressive installment, with Tony Stark's story hardly moving at all.

Fortunately, Forge's jokes and Riri's character development elevate things, along with some excellent art.

This title is too closely entangled with Invincible Iron Man, so it makes sense that they're suffering through similar doldrums this week.

I find this issue a little more frustrating, though it has Phil Noto art that I love. The plot is developed arbitrarily, relying on off-page developments and an abrupt callback to a one-shot from three years ago. That undercuts the impact of the trag ic twist ending. I LIKE the surprise; I just wish it hit a LOT harder.
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I really like the art. And I think the premise is sound. The script takes a lot of time and a lot of exposition to relay that premise, though, and it ends with the feeling that at least one act is missing.