A pretty great end for the first volume of Al Ewing’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He and Juan Cabal really make the story good for the most part. The exposition with the 616 Moondragon was a really nice touch and shows us how she feels about there being a perfect version of her in the same universe as her, but comes from a different one. We see how the rest of the guardians (both teams) are doing with each other and get a leave off with a cliffhanger with them. The ending though was the cherry on top for me. This was phenomenal. more

“You are Moondragon.... and I am the Dragon of the Moon. I think it’s time we had a meeting of the minds. Don’t you?”

- 616 Moondragon

Al Ewing is three-for-three in this new volume of Guardians of the Galaxy! This issue deals with the aftermath of the battle with Olympus and the death of Peter Quill. The beginning with the “I Am” dialogue was a bit weird, but you can feel the emotion in that scene with how Gamora and Drax react to Peter’s death, and Gamora is the most heartbroken from this. The team has become divided. This issue was emotional and heartbreaking. more

Al Ewing’s delivers once again with this issue, and Juan Cabal is a fantastic artist. Our heroes are a bit outnumbered and outgunned against the Olympians, but with a little help from an old friend, they finally escaped but at the cost of a great character. Al Ewing really knows how to write these characters and their personalities. While the pacing wasn’t as great as the first issue, it was still enjoyable and incredible. With that, we end and a low note with the death of a great friend. more

As the first issue to Al Ewing’s Guardians of the Galaxy, this was a perfect start. Juan Cabal’s is definitely up there with Iban Coello for me as he really nails this issue’s tone and atmosphere with his art with the help of Federico Blee. The page composition is phenomenal and and gives us a sense of intrigue and suspense. The characterization of everyone here was done incredibly, especially that of Richard Rider, Peter, and Rocket, they were a highlight of this issue in my opinion. The Olympians in this book, are pretty well done too. This was an incredible start for Al Ewing and his run on Guardians of the Galaxy. more

This conclusion was a rushed, but wholesome ending for me. Terry Dodson’s art was a bit choppy in certain panels but it’s nothing that brings the book down completely. The battle between the X-Men and the Doom bots ends with a deus ex machina type that final blow, but overall, it’s not a bad ending. The moment with Franklin and his family was honestly a wholesome moment, and one of my favorite moments of come out of this miniseries. Seeing Reed and his son hugging it out was a tearjerker. In the end, The X-Men and the Fantastic Four make amends and apologize for what doing what they did. Franklin can visit Krakoa and he’s only a few steps away as there’s a portal close by. The last pages with Reed, Charles, and Erik was a bit of a mixed bag. Charles erases Reed’s memory of the devise he used to cloak Franklin’s mutant genes and how to rebuild it. They seem more antagonistic than normal for me. I kind of get the reason why they did this, but they acted a bit out of character. Regardless, this was still a great ending to this miniseries. more

The way Chip Zdarsky writes Doctor Doom here is amazing and makes him the smartest person in same room with Reed and Beast. And the way that Franklin is portrayed is honestly good. Despite Doom seemingly ulterior motives for wanting do this other simply for Franklin, Franklin is willing to grow threw with it. And we even get a nice father son moment between him and Reed.! Plus, Terry Dodson’s art is just amazing, and although some people don’t like it, I personally do as that along with the colors perfectly capture the atmosphere this story. The X-Men and Fantastic forming a flimsy alliance in order to find the missing mutants, suspecting that Doom is hiding them somewhere. And they do. But when Wolverine accidentally kills a Latverian thinking it’s a Doom bot, this causes Doctor Doom to unleashed his army of giant Doom bots on the X-Men and FF. This was awesome. Overall, Chip Zdarsky was 3 for 3 with this issue. more

This is getting really good. Sue Storm is pissed thinking that the X-Men have Franklin and Valeria, and even more so thinking that they value Franklin’s life over Valeria’s simply because she’s not a mutant. While Reed Richards isn’t willing to go to war with the X-Men, the other members of the FF are willing to invade Krakoa. This makes the FF no better than the X-Men as they are acting out of character despite their reasoning for invading Krakoa. But the biggest highlight of this issue was in involved Doctor Doom is in this story. The way Chip Zdarky characterizes Doctor Doom is really well-written in this book and the twist at the end was the cherry on top for me. Aside from the slight disoriented characterization for the FF, this was still a solid issue. more

This miniseries is off to a great start. Chip Zdarsky and Terry Dodson make a great team for this particular story. While I haven’t read the most recent volume of Fantastic Four, the opening issue gives us a sort of flashback story to what has been going on with Franklin Richards, so that’s enough for me. I love the struggle that Franklin is going through with his powers as they are depleted. The characterization for Reed Richards was well done here, in that he can solve universal problems every day of the week but he can’t find out why his’s son’s powers are being drained by the second. And how could I forget the X-Men. Now, the way the X-Men are portrayed, specifically Charles and Magneto, is an interesting thing. They act like segregationists in that they want to keep every in the world on the island of Krakoa, where they can live in peace, and be safe. While Franklin wants to go with them, the Fantastic Four are reluctant to let him. So a confrontation goes breaks out between the two teams. Neither side wins. The ending intrigued me with someone the FF are familiar with being introduced here. This first issue, with some minor but not long lasting flaws, is an incredible start for this miniseries.
more

With this being my first ever comic book, I can definitely say that I was not disappointed. Alan Moore gave, without a doubt, the best Joker story that had ever been given to us, even to this day. And Brian Bolland was the perfect artist for this book. This book encapsulates the philosophy of the Joker in that everyone can go insane after “one bad day.” The way Joker proves this, or tries to prove it, it kidnapping Gordon, undressing his daughter, and showing him photographs of us daughter. This is possibly one of the worst plans that Joker has come up with. People thought killing off Jason Todd was a pivotal Batman moment, well, Killing had definitely surpassed that storyline. This story is so ambiguous yet so intriguing at the same time. It gives perfect characterization of the Joker, and solidifies the relationship between Batman and Joker and shows us how similar they are to each other. Alan Moore really knows how to write an antagonist with the Joker, and he didn’t disappoint. This story is literal perfection. more

This hit me in the feel. With this being the last issue to these miniseries, I honestly didn’t expect to end in such a somber way. Spidey, Uncle B, and Silk defeat Hydra and save Ines Dad. But he tells her to stay away, despite her convincing him to back back to her, to no avail. Peter hugging Uncle Ben was such a wholesome moment for me, along with a montage of him and Cindy spending time with their families despite their families not knowing who they really are. That was an amazing moment in this issue. With that, the group goes back to the present to stop Ines from traveling to the past. The end was pretty sad as it kind of makes the book seem pointless, but the story itself was a blast from the past. For me, this was a nice comic book and a pretty good read for others out there. more

Now this story is amazing. Todd Nauck’s art in this pretty consistent overall and he along with Robbie Thompson make the story good. In beginning with the science presentation makes me feel like I’m reading Ultimate Spider-Man #1 all over again, but when we get to the part where the Spider bites Peter, it ends a pretty funny way. C Rex appears and the reveal who it was piloting it caught me off guard. From there the team decided to infiltrate Hydra’s base and take the battery from the prototype C-rex time machine and travel back to the present with the time machine from their time. As a one-off adventure, and aside from some filler dialogue, this miniseries was pretty good. more

I think I underestimated this series. While the pacing is kind of slow for the most part, it does give us great character moments between Peter and Ben. You can tell how much Peter missed Uncle Ben. While things are looking up for Peter now that he gets to meets his Uncle once more, Cindy is more conflicted considering that she’s been isolated after getting her powers. We get some more explanations to what exactly is going on, and the backstory to this Rex machine that sent Spidey and Silk back in time and the person who stole it from Hydra. With this being the second issue, a slow at that, this was a blast from the past (No pun intended). more

This first issue was really enjoyable for me. The relationship between Spider-Man and Silk is flimsy as best during this point and time. But with the situation their in, they’ve got to work together in order to get back to future. They travel back in time with this machine called Chronosaurus Rex who is essentially a time machine created by Hydra. After landed in the past Hydra kind of come out of no where are from there they duke it out. Now, Todd Nauck is a great Spider-Man artist, but in some pages his work is somewhat sloppy was nothing that will bring the book down completely. In fact, in like the humor and lines of dialogue that are implanted here. In the end, Spidey and Silk retreat and run into a certain someone from Peter’s life. Overall, this was a fun and enjoyable issue. more

With this being the last issue to the second volume of Jason Aaron’s Avengers series, I’d say this ended on a high note. Black Panther is recruiting numerous people with powers or other abilities and form a new kind of team for the Avengers, but lead by BP. While I may not no most of them, I like how diverse and unique each and every one of them is. Some are human while some are walking animals or have different shaped bodies and such. Jason Aaron is definitely coming into his own with this series. more

Now this is an example of how you don’t need action sequences to make a story good. While She-Hulk and Thor felt a bit out place and didn’t really fit within the story at all, we have the other segments that truly make up for that. In fact, those two stories have a connection in a sense. Black Panther has gathered people from different nations and countries of Earth to discuss a treaty of sorts, an alliance, that can aid the Avengers and plenty of others who are fighting the same fight as we are, including themselves. While the majority of these people agree, Ursa Major doesn’t agree and says that Russia doesn’t need the help from anyone and isn’t willing to give others their resources or intel. From they they discuss about an incident that happened off the coast of Alaska, something that no one in the room knows, but Coulson does, in the second segment of the story. We see Phil Coulson interrogating someone, asking them if they are a spay for the Avengers and the person keeps denying, and this is where he reveals the fact that the Squadron responded to another attack by Namor and his Defenders of the Deep. From there, he kills the person. We don’t really find out who he was, but nevertheless, this was deep. Overall. This was a great issue, but it would’ve been better without Jennifer and Thor going on a date. more

This just might be one of the best issues of this new Avengers series. The stories are numerous but very engaging all with incredible art, page composition, action sequences, and being set ups for what’s to come in the near future of the Avengers as a whole. The stories we get here give give us some great character moments, the story with Odin and Robbie Reyes. With Robbie being the new Ghost Rider, he still trying to get a handle on what it means to be and Ghost Rider, so Odin decides to tell everything about the past riders before him. That was some nice characterization for these two characters. Loki and Wolverine’s story was a bit unexpected, the panels were completely rotated, but I think that worked well with the story, as it sets up the War of the Realms event. The last story is set up for a certain someone to join the Avengers. Each story has something new to bring to the table with great character moments, fantastic art, incredible page composition, set ups for future arcs, and so much more. This issue was definitely one for the ages. more

First Loki, the Namor? If I’m being honest, I think Jason Aaron really knows how to write a good villain. The lines of boxed dialogue spoken by Namor show us for what kind of person Namor truly. He really isn’t a true villain, he’s just doing what he believes is right he his people and kingdom. He doesn’t trust the surface dwellers or even the Avengers despite their pleads to stop and just talk. Atlantis had also taken some blows from the Dark Celestial Invasion and doesn’t need help from the Avengers, but in stead he has his own under water Avengers, the Defenders of the Deep. As for the rest of the issue, it was pretty great. The way David Marquez and Justin Ponsor draw action sequences was incredibly well done, and they do it better than Ed Mcguiness and David Curiel in my opinion. Despite the quirky dialogue choices, the issue, overall, was awesome. more

With this issue, I’d say that Jason Aaron is two for two. This issue not only gives us some breathing room after the conclusion of the Final Host Arc, but also develops the Avengers relationships with one another in charismatic ways. The way Jason writes these Avengers was incredibly well done. David Marquez’s art and Justin Ponsor’s colors together make the issue look great. Their styles work so well together and I might go as far as to say that they make better artists than Ed Mcguiness and David Curiel. This is definitely my current personal favorite issue from this this series. more

After coming off the rushed conclusion from the last issue and reading this, I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the best issues from this new Avengers series. Some people call this a filler issue, but I don’t think that at all. This issue gives us the origin for the very first Ghost Rider, and I think this was handled pretty well. A young cavemen who would be named Ghost, was born different, smarter than all the other cavemen. Because of that, he’s become an outcast among his friends and family. This was some deep stuff that I didn’t expect from this series, and I loved it. As time went on, he became the first Ghost Rider all thanks to Mephisto. After years of riding on his Mammoth for years, he comes across his family’s killer. While the issue was left a bit opened ended, this was a nice conclusion. As a stand-alone issue, this was handled pretty well thanks to Jason Aaron’s writing and Sara Pichelli’s art, which was great. more

The last issue was aI guess. Now I like Jason Aaron as a writer, and this issue was pretty rushed. Ed Mcguiness’ art was great and it didn’t really give the panels much room breath, and I feel like he was trying too hard to make his art and panels and big page spreads too flashy and colorful. This so called Uni-Mind that stopped the dark Celestials was so rushed too. We see it and one page and that was it. The concepts sounded great, but the executions could’ve been better. As for the rest, it’s alright, but it would’ve been better as a 2-part finale. more

Now this was a blast! This just might be the best issue in this first volume for this series. Aaron’s writing continues to make the story better than ever before with this one, and Mcguinness’ art was also great. We learn that the Earth was the result of a dying Celestial that fell on Earth and poisoned it with its blood, tears, and vomit; forever changing the Earth’s evolution. This was weird but wild to find out. After Cap’s rescue, the rest of the team regroups in Russia and this is all hell breaks loose. The ending was wild and amazing! Again, this just might be the best issue for the first volume of this new Avengers series. more

After the somewhat good issue 2, the rest of the issue continue to become better, not just story-wise, but in terms of the pacing and page composition. The backstory we get from Odin in this issue helped to hype of the last battle against the Final Host. You can tell from his expression that whatever the fight between the Final Host and Odin and his primordial Avengers has taken its toll on him as he’s definitely hiding something from Thor. The story continues to pace itself as Loki continues to reveal more about story about the history of an ancient Celestial that fell onto Earth four billion years ago. It seems as though Jason Aaron retcon Ed the story we’ve been told about the Celestials long ago, but i think this will work just fine. And with that, this issue is a great setup for what’s to come. more

Ok, so this was a nice improvement over the last issue. While nothing too important happens in this issue, Jason Aaron still continues to make the story good. In fact, the way he writes Loki’s dialogue is spot on as he really knows how to write him. During his bits of dialogue, get get nice foreshadowing for what’s to come. Meanwhile, the Avengers, although not doing much, come up with a plan on how to find Loki, Cap, and the Final Host and try to figure out how to stop this horde of bugs from coming and also try to gain an upper hand with Thor and She-Hulk going to Asgard for answers. While this issue slows things down a bit, I does so in a way that sets up the story, with a vast improvement on the page composition after the last issue. While nothing too major, happens this was a nice read. more

This issue was a bit of a letdown. While the story and its context remains strong thanks to Jason Aaron, Ed Mcguiness’ art kind of took a little drop in quality. There were a couple of panels that this flat and somewhat boring composition and perspective, not too mention there was a lot more dialogue during action sequences that I like.. Nothing that damages the issue completely but still worth noting. But in here, we get a fight between She-Hulk and Ghost Rider, which although short was amazing. Meanwhile, the dialogue given to us by Loki gives us a good picture as to how and why the Avengers assembled in the first place, going so far as to calling himself “the greatest Avenger who ever lived.” Considering that he’s the reason the Avengers were founded in the first place and now he’s the reason they are now being RE assembled in this story, you can definitely see the parallels between those situations.

While this issue isn’t on par with the first issue, it was a fun read. more

This was an amazing fresh start for the Avengers as a whole. Ed’s art is just amazing and perfectly fits within the story. Both he and Jason Aaron make the story good. The backstory of the pre historic avengers was done incredibly well, which helps set up the plot for what’s to come. The conversation between Steve and Tony was the main highlight of the issue in my opinion. Tony wants to be able to move on and leave the avengers in the past but Steve thinks that it’s time for them to get back to how things were with the team. Their whole talk was very philosophical and shows the reasons for what they want to do after their different situations from not too long ago. Throughout this issue, we get to see what the other members are doing. Black Panther and Doctor Strange and trying to figure what’s lying dead beneath the after, Captain Marvel is trying to investigate some kind of wormhole, Jennifer is trying to not Hulk out, and Robbie Reyes is trying to figure some things out with his hell-possessed car. From here on outcome it’s all hands after deck after dead Celestials fall from the sky and the Final Host arriving on earth. This was wild. Overall, aside from some strange dialogue choices, this was a great start for the Avengers. more

As the last OGN released under the imprint DC Ink (now that it’s getting its name changed), I’d say that this book ended the imprint on a high note, sort of. This OGN is based off of a novel of the same name from DC Icons with great art by Chris Wildgoose. The story revolves around a younger Bruce Wayne as he’s just turned eighteen years old. After getting into a car accident chasing down a groups called the Nightwalkers, Bruce is placed under probation and Detective Draccon sends him to Arkham Asylum. While working there, he meets Madeleine, the youngest inmate in the Asylum, and who decides to help him in his fight against the Nightwalkers, in her own way. From a story perspective, this wasn’t bad, but not as good as I remember it to be. Some of the characters, like Bruce’s friends, were criminally underutilized, and were just there for the most part. And the big reveal at the end just came out of no where and feels like a retcon to what was established earlier in this story. Also, for a book called “Batman: Nightwalker,” this book even focus on him becoming Batman. It’s all about Bruce Wayne and just Bruce Wayne. If they wanted to they could’ve just renamed it “Bruce Wayne: Nightwalkers” and I’d be okay with it. Overall, this wasn’t too bad, but this book still left a lot to be desired. more

I read this a while back, and I didn’t really enjoy it that much. But now that I’m rereading all of DC Ink’s OGNs, including this one. I realized just how amazing this graphic novel was. Mariko Tamaki makes the story good with his writing, and Steve Pugh’s art is just incredible, as it perfectly captures the tone of the this book and the character of Harley Quinn in this story. Because this line of comics is outside of continuity, they are able to take some liberties with many of its characters here. This version of Harley Quinn, while younger, still acts like the Harley Quinn we all know in more ways than one. Poison Ivy, who’s only referred to as Ivy in this story, is a notable departure from how we’ve seen, but this was an pretty interesting take. And the two form a friendship with each other. In a sense, they act like two sides of the same coin. The character of Joker in this story was given a rather interesting take, but his identity was a bit predictable. In this story, Harley moves to Gotham to live with her grandmother, but she had died unfortunately. So, this group for drag people and a gay person named whom Harley calls Mama sort of adopt her and make her a part of the family. Throughout this graphic novel, we get dialogue from Harley, referencing themes from multiple fairytales and comparing to what is happening in her world. And her world is not like the fairytales. One of the topics that might be divisive in this book is the situation that Harley’s neighborhood. Buildings are being condemned, people are being driven out of their homes, and small businesses being replaced. It pretty much relates to what we experience in the real world. But this is done to drive the story forward.

Overall, this was a great addition to DC Ink. While this might be a bit divisive in some ways, this is definitely a fantastic read, especially for fans of Harley Quinn. more

DC Ink is three for three with this new OGN. Kami Garcia has given us a on Raven that feels so fresh to us readers. Her writing of Raven in this novel is just superb and gives us a Raven that we’ve never gotten in the OG DC Universe. Gabriel Picolo’s art is just amazing. His art can be very loose, but in a good way, especially when it perfectly captures the theme of this story. In the beginning of this book, Raven looses her memory is a car accident which takes the life of her foster mom, leaving Raven all alone. But with Max and her mother, she starts to develop a relationship with them. Max here is an all new character who’s not in the regular DC continuity, as she was created by Kami Garcia for this novel. They way she’s characterized in was handled pretty well. She’s Raven’s friend and her guide when it comes to spiritual anomalies. Now because of her memory, Raven starts struggling with her new powers as she doesn’t know how to control them, which is why max is here to help. The relationship between Raven and Max was incredibly well written and well paced throughout this whole story. Max does whatever she can tell help Raven remember what her past life was like. With Raven having no memory of her past life, she feels insecure about whether or not she wants to remember who she was before the accident. But spending time with Max and her now friend/love interest, Tommy, she starts to enjoy what life she has now.

What Kami Garcia has given us is a Raven that we never truly got in the DC universe. Everything about her feels fresh. With all that, I can definitely say that this is the best OGN from DC Ink. more

As the first OGN I ever read, specifically from DC Ink, I have to say that I was not disappointed by this. This graphic novel gives us an elseworlds origin story for Selina Kyle aka Catwoman. And the way Lauren Myracle writes this was impressive and gave us a version of Selina that we’ve never seen before. And her co worker and the artist of this book, Issac Goodhart, provides us some incredible and beautiful artwork and colors which perfectly capture the tone and atmosphere of this story. Selina in this book is portrayed as a 15-year-old girl who lives her life on the run after her mother’s boyfriend drove her out of her home. She lives on the streets, abandons her friends, and steals for her safety. But eventually meets a group of people who she grows attached to despite what she has gone through in her home. This was a Selina Kyle/Catwoman that we never really saw in the main DC continuity, but it was amazing. That being said. the couple of subplots were a bit jarring to say the least. A story about a dog-like monster roaming the streets of Gotham was the most forgettable aspect of this book, but I think it served to act as the darker side of the story. Selina relationship with Bruce Wayne was done fairly well, but I think she had more chemistry with Ojo in my opinion. Also, the book covers abuse, animal cruelty, cutting; all that definitely make this book very mature and for older teens in a sense and should not be read by kids under the ages of 10 or 12. This made the novel a difficult read. Aside the minor flaws of this book, this is definitely one of the best OGNs from DC Ink. more