It's a big hoo-rah "putting the band together" episode, conveyed with poetic words and beautiful art. I was certainly rooting for the good guys by the end, but I'm holding my rating a touch shy of "great."

Setting aside the character interactions--which are great--there's not a lot of plot development. The "big picture" progress can be fully summarized in a single sentence. And at least one of the worthiness checks in this issue is questionable.
more

The story speeds along to a delightful climax. Doom and Dino-Doom sound terrific, and the shape of the plot gives Ben Grimm another chance to save the day with brains rather than clobbering.
It's just a bit too speedy and shallow to qualify as truly great, at least in my opinion. Plus my subjective dislike of the art style is still itching me.

None of which is to say I consider this issue less than very good.
more

The art remains great, combining painterly realism with creepy exaggeration to deliver an overwhelming air of menace.

The words themselves are rather restrained, and there aren't many of them. But the script is exactly in line with the art in terms of tone.

The creators are going all-in to trap Peter Parker (and the reader) in a relentlessly terrifying nightmare. And they are *succeeding*.
more

The opening scenes explain the abrupt ending to the previous issue. There's a crucial plot point in the larger story that would either take up an entire issue on its own, or a few pages of summary. The author has elected to handle it with the former approach. It's not perfect, but it works.

We get back to business soon enough: Blade being an absolutely relentless hardass, the Adana dripping stylish evil, and the conflict between the two unfolding in memorable, beautifully illustrated set pieces.

Style continues to outweigh substance, which once again holds this series back from true greatness. But it remains incredibly fun to read.
more

A new creative team does a damn good job of making a silk purse out of the sow's ear of "God-Carnage" nonsense Marvel barfed up this year. By tackling the premise from a more theological perspective, the author excavates some intriguing ideas.

Carnage already has a good head of steam up, but Flash Thompson, his designated foil, just barely gets into gear. So this issue is a little slow.

It's beautiful in its gore and horror, though. I do love Pere Pérez, and this is a sterling example of the artist's work.

If I were a Marvel editor, I would zero in on those moments where failing to use a contraction makes a character sound like a robot (and there are several in this issue) and force the writer to correct them, learning experience-style.
more

This is a fast, intriguing read that did a great job of holding my interest. It's gorgeously illustrated. For once, I'm willing to forgive an artistic collaboration with wildly divergent styles, because they're each outstanding.

What holds my rating shy of greatness is that the otherwise well-tuned script focuses most of my attention on heavily-worn thematic ground for Daredevil. It doesn't dig nearly as deep as I'd like into this volume's more inventive ideas.
more

Once it gets past the initial Rogue scene, this is a speedy, eventful rollercoaster. The plot's so interesting that this fast pace works fine. The art is still shadowy and heavy-lined, and it proves to be an excellent tool for gore and horror. While the characterization isn't all that insightful, the conversations and conflicts between the characters are excellent.

This issue is very well illustrated, and it maintains a brisk, tense pace. The prose is good. The script doesn't delve very deep into the characters, but they all play a role in pushing the plot forward by leaps and bounds. The way their various story threads weave together is truly impressive.

I want to point out, though, that some of the psychological drama of the B strip is undercut when Otto says he "can't strike a child"-- that assertion comes LITERALLY two pages after he slapped Spider-Boy.
more

The heroes win a suitably dramatic, world-spanning victory. One of the things I've enjoyed throughout this series is its ambitious global scope. The final issue falls in line with the storytelling standards of those that came before. It features imaginative words (a few too many of them) and polished art that's not afraid to tell its own story.

The art is pretty good, and the script digs deep into Jean's thoughts and feelings. It's an awfully navel-gaze-y episode, though. This ends the miniseries on a soft note and renders it a bit inconsequential; I suspect all of Jean's soul searching will be (or at least could be) summarized in two to three sentences in Immortal #17.

This might be one of my favorite issues in the whole Marz/Lim Rebirth sequence. The art remains retro, but in a wholly positive way: Ron Lim is showing off the results of all his experience. On the script side, for once, there's enough character and plot development worked into the zappy fights to satisfy my hunger for depth and nuance.

(The fact Mephisto doesn't appear probably factors into my enjoyment, too.)
more

The plot developments are reasonable, and they're conveyed with all-around solid storytelling. I particularly like the art.

But the pace is terribly slow. Despite its logic, the plot doesn't develop very far.

In terms of storytelling, it's a pretty satisfying conclusion. The script is good, and the dialogue sounds more natural than some that's come before. The art is better; I really like Chris Campana's take on Venom.

This finale is not so satisfying when it comes to plot and characterization. Normie and Rascal are distracted from their dark thoughts by an opportunity for heroism and some platitudes from Dylan. But the final scene emphasizes that they haven't really changed, or grown, or made a meaningful decision.

The darkness remains--and that leaves me wondering what the point of this whole series was.
more

This issue offers ample plot developments both in the present and in Talia's backstory. There's plenty of content to consider and savor.

The storytelling used to convey it is subjectively underwhelming. The script is a solid piece of work, but it doesn't fully captivate me. And the art…the art is good as art, but not good as a narrative tool. It veers far afield from the script, it does not flow, and it's often confusing.
more

The plot pushes forward in a logical way, and the art, though stylized, is highly polished (and I happen to like the style).

The script could do a LOT more to engage my enthusiasm for the plot developments and the character interactions, though. The language is dry and stilted, and the character work never really meshes with the plot.

Plus, of course, the revelation of Captain Krakoa's identity is singularly unwelcome--to me, at least.
more

I could (just barely) call it a good comic if it weren't so relentlessly stupid and predictable. My other complaints--the stiff art, the constant anachronisms--I can set aside as subjective.

I appreciate the way the plot is developing, and the art is (mostly) great, but that Hound fight is a total boat anchor. It's too long, and the combat quips are horrifying.

None of the stories here are particularly great. My favorite was No Spider Blues because I fully ship Deadpool and Peter. Something I noticed: In Rob Liefeld's story, there are barely any backgrounds. It's actually insane. We barely know at any point where any of the characters are in space. It will forever shock me that people like this guy's art.

I liked two of these. I hated two of these. I don't consider any of them objectively "good"; I think several are objectively "bad."

Plus, there's a lot of embarrassingly juvenile sexism and chauvinism going on. "Horny fratboi" is possibly my least favorite take on Deadpool.

This issue retains the strengths of the first: polished, imaginative art; a slightly-too-large serving of clever (possibly even pretentious) language; and oodles of fascinating, mystic worldbuilding.

What it adds, boosting it to greatness, is that classic narrative trick: the "innocent newcomer" audience surrogate character.

It's not a new tool, but a talented creator can wield it to great effect, and I'd argue that Jonathan Hickman does so here.

Maximum salt take: Harriet Potter and the Philosopher's Conspiracy!
more

With the stage set and the groundwork laid, this title bursts past world-building into the first stage of a climax. It's all "effect," with just enough "cause" to verify that it all makes sense.

And yet, I'm rating this just shy of greatness. The words and the art are both very good. But they don't fully evoke the potential epic-ness of the latest plot developments. And there are some loose threads that, while compelling on their own, leech focus from the main story.
more

It's slow and perhaps a little too mysterious.

Barring those shortcomings--and you could argue that they aren't even shortcomings--this is excellent.

The art agrees strongly with my personal taste, but I think it's very polished and clear, even if it's not your style. I like the time spent building up a mundane viewpoint character. It makes a nice contrast to jumping straight into the punchy-zappy heroics.

And of course, the core mystery here is that she's probably not all that mundane.
more

Taking a full issue for the antagonist's backstory is right in line with this volume's pace. There's enough material to make it a compelling read.

The storytelling--words and art--never quite break through to exceptional. However, they are consistent, clear, and enthralling. You have to step back from the story and take a moment to appreciate the skill and subtlety with which it's being told.
more

It's corny as all get-out, the plot points are predictable, and the art style--though not at all bad--doesn't really suit the material.

And none of that matters, because it's just a pummeling series of good-feels gut punches and "hell yes" moments, particularly for animal lovers.

And I only realize, here at the end, that this miniseries is ideal for younger readers.

It was a satisfying end to the arc, albeit not a particularly surprising one. The art was terrific, and the prose was decent.

Orchis agent Jun turned out to be a red herring/loose end, though. In retrospect, devoting so much of #45 of her seems to have been a mistake.

I'm happy Chronicler was sent to comics Limbo. Though his powers were interesting, they also tempted the author toward self-indulgent meta-fictional nonsense. I think he should stay in Limbo, too; he'd present the same temptation to other authors.
more

It's a collection of cool scenes that run smoothly at a brisk pace, but the "big picture" plot development leaves something to be desired. It doesn't dig particularly deep into any of its characters, either.

Perhaps the big Warlock reveal was too heavily foreshadowed; I get the sense that the author wanted it to be a bigger surprise.

It's still fun and stylishly drawn; I'm hoping that it reads a little better as part of the complete series than it does by itself.

At least the Dagger scene from #2 makes sense now.
more

It's entertaining for sure, and the plot takes a nice left turn before winding up where I expected it to be. But overall, there's not a lot of development. On the character side, what we get is spread a bit too evenly across the entire team for any one Guardian to stand out--which isn't a terrible fault. The art's appealing and the dialogue has its fair share of good lines.

Peter's reaction to Rek-Rap mirrors my own feelings about most of this volume: "Ugh, this buffoonery wastes a lot of time. Wait, the buffoonery's important?!"

I wonder how much of that similarity is intentional self-parody and how much is ironic serendipity?

Anyway, the storytelling standards remain pretty high. But the friction between the ludicrous and the dramatic erodes my enjoyment.
more

From Frank Castle to Joe Garrison? Who's next? Bill Militaryplace?

I love the art. And the script conjures up some memorable action set-pieces, garnishing them with tasty tough-guy one-liners. In terms of storytelling, this might have the makings of a great comic.

But the relentless, shameless ripoffitude oozing from every pore means that it's not even a good comic (though it's close).

In-universe, there's a cowardly throwaway line that suggests--utterly unconvincingly--that the perfect recreation of the Punisher's iconic look is accidental.

And outside the narrative, no part of the premise suggests anything except utterly cynical imitation.
more

Pay attention to the title: While Blade has his role to play, this is really an epilogue to Marv Wolfman's original Tomb of Dracula series. Blade going full vampire doesn't really change his character, but it does lead to doom for the Big D himself.

The plot is solid, and it's relayed with workmanlike storytelling skill. But it lacks any real inventiveness or surprise. It makes for a decent dessert after finishing the 70s run, but it is by no means a must-read.
more