The beginning of the Next Batman is like the beginnings of Batman without the death of his parents mixed a bit with the problems of the mutants in X-Men, that is, it is an exciting but trite beginning, which is good because it fulfills the function of entertain, however personally there is nothing that tells me to stay and buy me, much less when it is a jumble of stories that follow or summarize, it is a presentation book about the numbers that will come regarding what concerns Gotham.
Outsiders that was decent, nothing extraordinary.
A suicide squad guy with an Arkham Knight who stole Captain America's armor with everything and a ridiculous shield with an A.
In short, it fulfills its function of entertaining, there is nothing new on the horizon, only old formulas that make it seem new and two somewhat boring stories. for my taste. more

good tempo here, very quick read. Bishop story getting old, but we get to see Hope be a bad A$$

Strongest start to a Batgirl book post-Flashpoint so far.

Good post event setup for future of the title. Maggie Braddock is the best.

Colours (as with most Hickman X books) are amazing

It's difficult to pick up where an event left off, but I think Excalibur is on the right track. Extra points for including Blob, it was a nice call back to X-Tremists.

This was fine. I feel like this series is so turbulent. Sometimes it's good and interesting, other times it's kind of a slog. I didn't find myself gripped by the reveal here. It's a thing that's happening.

perfect example of how artist and colorist can make an ok story , great

Pepe Larraz holy shit

No one will find me here, as I'm writing this in 2020 but holy smokes this run was good. So much attention on Uncanny X-force. Nice transition / non-arc issue.

Pretty okay issue. Way better than Brisson's stories about Beak's father or Glob Herman and his chickens preaching sermons.

So let's break it down:

Are the characters likable? No.
Is the story good? Not thus far.
Is the art good? It's average.
Is it really Image's Watchmen? Big no.
Does it pander to general comic fans? Yes.
Is it written like a Netflix pitch? Yes.
Is it really closer to the comic equivalent of Ready Player One? Yes.

I have liked the majority of Donny Cates' work, really only disliked Death of the Inhumans before this, but this one comes off as really amateur and something that anyone in the business could have wrote. In fact Brian K. Vaughan dies in the beginning, and this story actually reminded me of a more mainstream take on his Private Eye concept. more

Marauders
Volume: 1, Issue: 16
“Consequences”

Publisher: Marvel @marvel
Writer: Gerry Duggan @digduggan
Artist: Stefano Caselli @stefano_caselli_art
Colors: Edgar Delgado @delgaduck
Letters: Cory Petit
Cover Artist: Russell Dauterman @rdauterman & Matthew Wilson

The time has come for the ladies of the Hellfire Trading Company to deliver justice upon the Black King, Sebastian Shaw. Bursting through his front door, Kate begins her beating as Emma removes his mutant abilities. Humiliated and manhandled at every turn, even tossed from a window before a mortified Glob, Sebastian believes his retribution at an end following a brutal maiming by Lockheed. However a sip of whiskey proves to be poison, leaving Sebastian a shell of a mutant and at the mercies of Storm, Emma and Kate.

That beating was epic! The scene with the window and Glob had me laughing out loud! “Hi Glob!” I loved Emma and Kitty at each other’s throats in Astonishing, but I love Emma and Kate’s sisterhood even more.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)
Reviewed by: @meanadam of The Comic Book Club of Instagram
Note: Follow @the_comic_book_club on Instagram for more reviews! more

The whole storyline is shallow, just like three kids fighting each other, or three Donald Trumps since they also run a country.

Another "after the world collapsed" dystopian book. The vibrant color scheme - a rarity for a genre that lives in variations of earth tones - draws strong comparisons to the new We Live series, but the story couldn't be more different. Rather than race toward an escape as We Live chronicles, this is more of a hiding in the shadows and trying not to be killed by "the Network". There's much more depth to the story -- rescuing a corpse of a child and somehow rebuilding it into a live human being, the food and larger natural world being a hazard, the plot point of the now-teen child "uploading" (whatever that means) -- and it'll be interesting to see how it develops over the six issues.

Art is quite good, and (thankfully) out of pace with the current trend toward manga-inspired illustration. The pages look like paintings, so much that I am surprised that the artist and colorist are different people. It's genuinely hard to tell where the line art ends and coloring work begins in some places. I could easily see an artist with watercolors or a digital drawing program just doing the whole shooting match, a la Liam Sharp in some of the more recent Green Lantern issues. The book is beautiful. more

S.W.O.R.D.
Vol. 2, Issue: 1
“Mysterium”

Publisher: Marvel @marvel
Writer: Al Ewing @al_ewing
Artist: Valerio Schiti @valerio_schiti
Colors: Marte Gracia @martegraciacolor
Letters Ariana Maher
Cover: Valerio Schiti & Marte Gracia

S.W.O.R.D. has officially been reinstated with the Peak space station being outfitted with Krakoan technologies, officially signaling the first mutant space program. While inspecting Commander Brand’s progress, Magneto bares witness to their marvelous first mission. Utilizing Krakoan Gateway technologies and a team of teleporters, a specific grouping of mutants known as the Six unite their abilities to breach into the unknown, and seemingly appear in the White Hot Room of the Phoenix and retrieve a strange stone. S.W.O.R.D. aims to pave the way for mutant-kinds place in the universe.

This first issue of S.W.O.R.D takes its time setting the stage and introduces an epic roster of B-list characters which I am beyond excited to see taking the spotlight. Did I misinterpret this or did they really just rob the Phoenix? I feel like this book is going to be a lot of fun. Add that to the fact that Valerio Schiti & Marte Gracia’s artwork throughout is amazing. A lot of potential with this title and I’m excited to see how it all goes.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)
Reviewed by: @meanadam of The Comic Book Club of Instagram
Note: Follow @the_comic_book_club on Instagram for more reviews! more

This is basically like Star Trek, but with X-Men.

As someone who isn't familiar with at least half of these characters, it introduces and sets them up quite nicely. Nice to see Manifold getting more leave since Wakanda. Lots of interesting faces to see here, can't was sit to get to know them.

For our first mission we quite literally have a journey into mystery, like I said, very final frontier, good science fiction stuff. The art is great, and the characters are all written well. Mags seems a bit cheerful, but who wouldn't be with such promise.

Theres a lot of X books now, and at this point each one needs to justify its existence. This is a great example of how to still feel fresh and interesting snd make use of the large cast of mutants available to choose from. Down for more. more

Marte Garcia is making me really appreciate colors and I hope colorist start to get more shine. Good setup and nice intro to this series, but the art and colors put this about average. This is also a book that I wanted to experience in both digital guided view and with a physical copy, those full page spreads when the 6 began their thing provide a different experience on both formats that is great

more

decent setup, but this might be better consumed in a trade vs monthly floppies. Got bored upon first read, but after rereading issue 1 and this together, I appreciated it more

This comic is a novelty that is setting up the stage for something unique. Donny Cates and his team are doing a fantastic job. Also, that little reference/homage to SPAWN in the prison was great.

stop making good interesting black label books, its killing my budget

THE GOOD:

-Holy fuck, this was good.

-I mean, Andrea Sorrentino may be my favorite artist of all time. His work just appeals to me so much. I can't really put my finger on it, but it just scratches that itch unlike anything else.

-Jeff Lemire's dialogue is fantastic here. I'm currently reading some of his older stories, and it's clear that he has really grown as a writer and not resorted to name hype alone and gotten lazy. He's truly finding what works and doesn't work for him and it's truly showing.

-That opening was so good and twisted. This comic did just such a great job executing its flashbacks.

-Ben is an interesting, compelling character.

-Mr. Smiles is just…. so good. This comic feels really memorable, unlike most recent Joker comics. I know that a creepy children's book isn't by any means new or original, but the execution here is just wonderful.

-The psychological horror is so perfectly crafted here. I like how Ben remains compelling and relatable throughout. Because that's what makes a great psychological horror story, not just creepy imagery.

-Speaking of imagery, great, great job on that as well.

-That sequence where Ben gets out of bed was fantastic, despite being predictable. The art and atmosphere really sold it. It was also straight out of Gideon Falls.

-That narration towards the end just sent chills down my spine. I like how the horror of this is so much deeper than surface level.

THE BAD:

-I got nothing. There were a couple flaws, I guess, and it's not super original, but the execution was enough to win me over. This is definitely a 10-star comic for me. more

Almost missed this because of the stupid logo-free cover. I am really not digging the Year of the Villain stuff at all, and I think BMB would have preferred to skip it as well. The stuff with the Invisible Mafia and Leviathan is a lot more interesting, anyway.

But what kills the issue is the usual subpar work from JRJr, who hasn't drawn a comic I like since the 80s. Why did DC poach him from Marvel again? And BOOO for his inability to draw Leoni at her proper weight. more