This is the first new Star Trek comic I've read in a while. It's pretty good too. It strikes me as the start of a pretty thrilling story full of action. I don't yet know the full story behind the series this crossover is made of, but if I like it enough I may stick with them and pick up their older issues too.

IDW's recent Star Trek books have all been a pleasant surprise, and this one isn't an exception. Loved the mini-fights between all couples (romantically or otherwise), and yes, I'll admit it, I'm still having this mini crush on Lily, who, while occupying the same spot as a certain Wesley C., is very busy being absolutely everything that W.C. was not, AND in an integral & important part of the story in a "really smart & valued crew member" sort of way. (Also, she's cute. Erm... I'm not rambling, am I?) more

Judging by the cover I had expected something *much* worse, but the first pages seemed quite readable, so frak it, I'll have one!

As I'd hoped, it was much better than expected, not as childish-over-the-top as I'd feared, just normal-over-the-top, and fitting rather well between the other parts of the "Day of Blood" mini-saga. Just a bit of a breather & in the only spot where it would have fitted.

IDW took a bit of a risk here, but it worked! more

Loki #4 is a prime example how well art can fit a story, and how a story should fit the art. Especially the art (after all, this *is* a visual medium) is "just right"... not a single panel is overdone or underdone, and all images keep a clear distance from the popular "itchy scratchy" style that always makes comics look like there's an urgent deadline lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce upon the artists, the writers and Us The Readers. (And buyers.)

It's sad that "just right" has become a bit of a rarity, but I'm truly happy it still can be done, even making the story appear a couple of pages longer than it actually was in the process. (Happens when one gets "drawn in" a bit :D )

In short: Great conclusion to the miniseries, BUY, BUY, BUY THIS BOOK! (And the ones before that if you haven't done so yet - which accidentally rhymes.) And, oh yes, NEXT VOLUME PLEASE, if possible with the same team! more

And *poof* ...my review disappeared. So I'll just do the rating and repeat: very pretty pictures, very old school, but the story was nigh incomprehensible.

Oh well, this way I've at least spared you the "Starlin Sock" story. :P

To be completely truthful, this book contains issues 3-7 of the 5(!)-piece 2020(!) miniseries, of which only the first 2 were published; #3 was never released. It's distinctly possible that #5-7 were going to be put together to make an extra-large #5. It's also a quite enjoyable read, and it's nice that all the work having been done, finally found its way to us, readers & us, Gwen-fans. The only thing I disliked were the period-discrepancies, like the back-then-unthinkable computer stuff, which is supposed to make younger readers relate better. (No, I don't believe it either.) more

Maybe it just took 3 issues to get used to one another (including me), but this time I somehow got into the "feel" rather easily - although another trick might've been not to read this book as a Marvel comic, but mix it up with a few non-Marvel/non-DC books.

Anymoo, this time I think I got it, and I've actually become curious what will happen next!

in short: carefully recommended, just don't put it in your Marvel stack ;) more

I'm amazed, flabbergasted... how on Arakko do they manage to keep the quality level THIS high? Also, the build-up from 8 seconds to 8 hours, to 8 days really helps to build suspense like crazy, you just _can't_ stop thinking how things will unravel even further after 8 genie-infested _weeks_! (Only... #5 will probably be about the first 8 months, then 8 years, then 8 centuries, then... ...then what? 8 Big Bangs? :D )

In short: YES!! Recommended!! (Loudly even!) :D more

I'll admit, I was a bit afraid that the creators wouldn't be able keep the quality of the 1st issue as extremely high as it did, but _they_ did - the only difference is that this issue went for depth instead of surprise.

In short: recommended to the 2nd power! (And KEEP! YHE! QUALITY! COMING! PLZ! :D )

...OMG, this book is really SO darn good!... :D :D :D

TAAIA IS BACK! Yay! (I had hoped for this 'cuz she was totally cool in the last Defenders' iteration.) Loki never had a very well caught insaner (is that a word?) & Frightening (to the readers) look in his/hers/its/thines/thoues eyes, and even Tigra unexpectedly made me LOL. (Since we don't have spoiler tags, it's in her second panel.) Art & story went together seamlessly, although the pacing was a bit uneven in places (which is not unusual in first issues, so thou areth forgiventh) & which made the story feel kind of a bit too short... four or five extra pages would've been ideal imho. Anymoo, it immediately made me fly over to rant about it, and that's usually a good thing. ;)

In short: very promising start, if you liked the previous Defenders, you'll like these too, TAAIA IS BACK (yay!), recommended!

.
...now if only someone could inject a bit of the "Steve & Steve" -Englehart & Gerber- madness of yore, which was my fave Defenders period before other writers killed it totally dead (and don't even START about D.A.K.'s Dollar Bill), it would be perfect - but you're close!

P.S. TAAIA IS BACK (yay!) :D more

A fitting place for Jae Lee's art - but didn't the writers know that muslims recognize Jesus as the penultimate prophet and therefore would never call him "false"? I hope this will be explained later on, because it makes the book sound a lot like anti-islam propaganda & not something I'd recommend.

Yes, I know it's supposed to be satire, but it just doesn't _read_ as such. Also, most characters are wafer-thin - not something I'd expect after a Second Coming (including various -probably real- miracles). Finally, when comparing this title to "that other Second Coming" book, it _does_ fall hopelessly short, and already forgetting most of it 15 minutes after reading just won't do, guys! more

I enjoyed it. I think it didn't give us much but, I liked the realness of it, and the creepiness of that little thing.

So this is officially the golden age of James Tynion IV.
I love how personal he spins his tales of horror. And as more original work comes out, mixed in with his big two projects, his style gets sharper and better.

His characters are lost and misplaced, regardless if they're facing matters overwhelming beyond their control from external forces (like in Nice House on the Lake) or against nightmares from realms that exist deep within our psych (like in Nightmare Country). Another similarity is what makes these characters tick and how personal he gets with the relationships between them and other characters or the relationships they have with themselves.

On the page, the horror unfolds from the disconnect between those relationships.
The horror that comes from a book like DC vs Vampires, no matter how fun, comes from the betrayal that comes between the superheroes there. And then there's the complex relationships of those in Something is Killing the Children. And how all these relationships form systems that are difficult to escape from, like in Department of Truth.


So, it is no surprise, that the complex relationship of the trio at the center of The Closet fits into those molds, this time in a much more down-to-earth scenario.


"He's going to internalize all of that!" the wife yells in anger out of fear of being made out the villain.
"We'll leave all this behind tomorrow" the husband whispers to his son almost wishing in vein that all HIS problems would disappears.

"It's more about taking the fear seriously" says the bartender. Tynion's philosophy of horror displayed out in the open.

These people feel relatable, their situation feels resonating, the premise is one of the most familiar; it is the everyday and we feel at home, even during these character's flawed moments.
As familiar as those early memories of being in bed, in the dark, scared shitless of the things hiding in the corners... or the closet...

And so Tynion just simply asks, what if it was real?
more

Didn't really expect much... I'm not into horror, and there was that typical scratchy newfangled ho-hum artwork again, but hey, let's give it a chance!

At 2/3 I was hooked! It became really exciting & suspenseful (is that a word?), and I had to keep myself from turning the pages faster and faster (you probably know the feeling, even with digital versions). And, oh no, the closet monster is _real_ and it's going to... [sorry, spoilers!]

In short: very well written (still no fan of this kind of art tho'), very believable 3-dimensional characters, great suspense, recommended! more

Up to now, this was a pretty OK book. But the blood & gore & torture stuff in this issue was _really_ too much. In fact, it was _so_ much too much, I've completely lost any interested to see how it will play out. Bye, guys.

I don't know if this issue was meant to make us like Freyja, hate Odin or remind us that Angela from Spawn is a Thor character now, either way, not a lot happened.

He destroyed the Bifrost by... holding on to the ground REALLY hard?! Sweet Christmas, this is bad.

Full disclosure: I'm not following Thor. I read this as a Hulk tie-in, and will be reviewing it as such.

The art is not great. There are almost no backgrounds, the figure work is sketchy, and Martin Coccolo's usual facility with facial expressions is noticeably absent. He appears to be doing an impersonation of Ryan Ottley, which is hilarious because Ottley is off the Hulk book now. The coloring is dull and muddy, Matt Wilson is doing nobody any favors. Both artists have done much better work. The book looks rushed, and incomplete. It reminds me of an early 90's issue of Brigade.

Speaking of terrible stories... yeah, Donny's back to smashing action figures together in the sandbox. This comic has plumbed new depths of absurdity. To start with, Thor is now a hulk - which looks great on the cover (Thanks to Gary Frank for giving me something to be positive about.), but falls on its face in practice. Thor-Hulk and Hulk hit each other. A lot. Then Hulk becomes Thor, because... why not? Then Thor-Hulk breaks the Bifrost, the magical bridge that transports people to Asgard, by holding on to the ground REALLY, REALLY hard! Banner, somehow, Knows all about Titan (whatever that is) despite %$#$-all having been explained about it in either series. The comic ends with the Thor-Hulk and Hulk-Thor punching each other hard enough to make a planet explode.

There is no character development. There is no plot. There's barely any setting, judging from the art. I'm thoroughly disappointed, and I can't wait for this to be over. more

Rather underwhelming. Readers deserved a lot more - except the ones who loooove 2,000-page slugfests, cuz it totally reads like one.

The art is nice, though. :P

(Bytheway, the whole "Space Ship Hulk" thing still fails to grab me. Maybe a 2 or 3 year Hulk-Hiatus is in order to give poor Bruce some R&R time after everything he had to go through in the "Immortal Hulk" run?)

It's got some cool visuals, some absurd fun and a big fight. Other than that, not much else.

This is the weakest issue I've read so far in the Banner of War crossover. I really liked the idea of a Thor-Hulked version and how was it introduced in the previous issue but, this was not a good issue, neither battles scene were so exciting. Almost no dialogue at all, nor a clear story, this was really just punching (and in previous issues was done much better).

Another weak point in this issue is how Hulk is drawn. It really reminds me the one present in the movies, a version which I do not like at all for its "smart" look.

I really hope that the last issue could be better, specially now that we also have a Hulk-Thored piloted by Banner and the All Father. more

This is the best or the worst thing I've read in a while.

You know, I _really_ wanted to like this book. I really did. But half of the writing is choppy and/or rushed and clearly intended for people who are already familiar with the subject(s), and the other half is downright condescending and made me feel talked down to, as if the authors wanted to say "Now you know how Black people must have felt in those days". Same goes for the art, which varies from OK to downright _bad_ (I mean, just look at page 7 of "Black Russians"... was the editor pressed for time, so they just snuck it in?) and if you want to do a piece on an important Black musician, GET HELP from someone who can draw guitars, keyboards[1] & drums, or at least use reference photos. (The Internet has millions of those.) If mr Prince really started out on a guitar like that, it's a bl**dy miracle he progressed anywhere beyond the C major chord.

You had the chance to do something beautiful here. And then you blew it. :'(

.
[1] This is the easiest one, so pay attention! Any ordinary keyboard is divided into groups of 7 white keys, called C D E F G A B + repeat until you run out of keys (or, if you're into the Sound of Music, which I must have seen 7 times when I was a child: doe, ray, me, far, sew, la, tea & back to doe), with the C on the left of the 2 black keys. (To complicate matters: not all keyboards start with a C, so you need to know where to find one!) In between those 7 white keys are 5 (FIVE!) black keys, grouped as 3, skip 1, 2, skip 1, so the order becomes: W B W B W B W + W B W B W (& repeat). End of lesson! ;) more

...must... ignore... tilted... panels...

Nope, can't do it, again a completely unreadable issue (I forgot what I had read as soon as I closed the book), for 100% caused by the Terrible Tilted Layouts.

I _did_ ask you to stop doing that, didn't I? ;-P

Ah, finally!

If you've seen my previous "What if Miles Morales..." reviews, you might remember I thought the first 3 installments were rather underwhelming. And Miles as Thor sounded like an attempt to make things even worse.

Now while this issue probably isn't everybody's cup of Warriors Beverage (prune juice?) it was so for me. While still being a completely ridiculous concept, it didn't shy away from that, but totally embraced it in a really fun way.

In short: not for everyone, truly ridiculous, great fun, recommended! (And an unexpected plot twist to boot!) more

Help me out here... I just _know_ I've seen something like this in comic book form before, but even the most logical search terms on Google ring no bells. Anybody?

Other than that: great book, exciting story, great art, can't wait until #2 comes out, definitely recommended!

This was fantastic! I am loving this book so far