Anthony Schultz Comic Reviews

Thus far, this was my favorite issue of the Night of the Owls' event. It hit in all the right places and provided an excellent foundation to easily tie-in all of the other Bat Family members. With the writing, penciling, and inking in mind I give Batman #8 four-and-a-half out of five stars.

Morrison's script is fantastically written! It was humorous, poignant, and continues upon the excellent groundwork that Morrison laid down in the prior volume.

I give Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1 five-out-of-five stars.

The issue then peaks as Nelse finds out that his hospitalized friend has been conducting some illegal business on the side, owes money to some very nasty individuals, and that is the truth to why he was roughed-up in the first place. In an effort to protect his friend, Nelse heads back to the phone booth and transforms yet again, except under the guise of Captain Lachrymose!"an emo clad hero that draws upon the most traumatic events of a person's life for strength and power.

Overall, the first issue of the Incredible Hulk was phenomenal. Purchase it, love it, and just allow Aaron to take you on a journey into the heart of the beast.

I give Nightwing #8 four-and-a-half stars out of five. Honestly, I didn't expect any less from Kyle Higgins and besides being a Night of the Owls prelude Nightwing #8 stands as a solid comic book in its own right. Stayed tuned for my reviews on other Night of the Owl crossovers and tie-ins with my soon-to-be published Red Hood and the Outlaws #8 and Batman #8 reviews.

In a sort of epilogue, the penultimate loose end is tied up via an assassination, and a great cliffhanger closes out the issue which will lead directly to the next Winter Solider arc. So far, this is my favorite issue of the run, and receives five-out-of-five stars.

If you can stand a strong and deep narrative, rather than nonstop action and violence, then pickup The Massive. It is incredibly poignant and just as James Cameron re-packaged environmentalism in his hit film, Avatar, Brian Wood has done the same type of re-packaging except within a different medium. With this in mind I give, The Massive, four-and-a-half stars out of five.

At the end of the day, I rate Avengers vs. X-Men #1 three-and-half stars out of five. It lies directly between fair and excellent, but readers definitely deserved a better quality product for the price and the hype.

I still think that Marvel is using an uncredited fill-in artist (perhaps several) for certain panels, but like I mentioned it was fewer and farer between then last issue. In a panel towards the end of the issue, Wolverine's facial expression is ridiculous at best. The look appears to be trying to convey a feeling of enamoredness, but it instead looks like a 1950's male cartoon character seeing an attractive female character. It's very unlike Romita's style and testifies to the fact that a fill-in artist has been used to meet deadlines.

Due to Wolverine's subordination of Captain America's orders during the battle of Utopia (in the first two Avengers vs. X-Men issues) Captain America questions Wolverine's motives and trust as the Avengers' jet flies over Antarctica en route to Hope's possible location. Their argument escalates until Captain America and Wolverine windup battling till Wolverine gets thrown out of the jet into the snow below.

Also, for more content by Anthony visit his website, Idiosyncratic Wit, at Wordpress (dot) com, or his comic book blog, The Martian Manhunter.

There is some skepticism about the crossover, but personally Snyder's plot work has only improved and I am looking forward to seeing what the new DC has to offer in the ways of crossovers and events. Don't forget to check back here for more coverage on Batman's Night of the Owls event. Throughout the next couple months I will be breaking down and analyzing each issue in a new segment cleverly prefixed and hash tagged, "Night of Owls."

I am giving Earth 2 three-and-a-half stars out of five due to the fact that it's entire existence owes itself to another comic set in another universe and that the drastic changes made to core DC characters might be off-putting to some. However, the art was slick, and like a coin, some might like the shinier side of Alan and Jay.

I give Fairest a recommend and thumbs up for the subscription pile with four-out-of-five stars.

Overall, I thought that Marvel made a solid play at an anniversary issue. It was a hundred-pages hefty and intertwined several key plot points presented in the Future Foundation and the earlier Fantastic Four run. I feel like they missed out on some moments, but all in all I will be purchasing the next Future Foundation and Fantastic Four comics. Fantastic Four #600 receives three-and-a-half stars out of five.

As mentioned, I personally think that the Red Hood and the Outlaws should have cut the Night of the Owls crossover entirely and focused on their own story arc, and then somewhere along the core issues of Scott Snyder's Night of the Owls event they could have introduced the Red Hood's role with a brief explanation and a couple of panels. With this in mind, I'll be rating the eighth issue of Red Hood and the Outlaws with three-and-a-half-stars out of five.

If you want to read a comic that has the potential to dive into serious political topics, specifically racism and immigration, that is also laced with a little extraterrestrial flare then this is the comic for you!

Even if you were frustrated with the conclusion of Fear Itself and its subsequent point issues check Winter Soldier out"it's worth the gander.

Overall, the issue was light on the action (save for the battle between Dr. Doom and Winter Soldier), but did an excellent job sowing up some of the hazier details to pull the comic back to its heart"the story.

The artwork still follows the paneled noir setup, but considering the content it continually works wonderfully. Also, every once in awhile a more avant garde page is thrown in for good measure"nothing too brash, but definitely not mundane. The only disappointment I had with the issue was thecover. Thus far Winter Soldier has had some amazing covers that have immediately set the tone for the issue, but issue number four's cover art is clich and reminds me of a late '80's VHS cover. At first glance I honestly thought Swarzenneggar was doing a cameo.

I did enjoy World's Finest, however, there are some inconsistencies in the continuity.

Detective Comics #9 gets three-stars-out-of-five for being flashy, but not really extrapolating on the Night of the Owls story arc. Pick up any number of the Night of the Owls crossovers now running through DC's Bat Family titles at Merlyn's in downtown Spokane. Check back here for more reviews on the Night of the Owls as they release!

This comic has its problems, but personally I have read worse first attempts that have eventually turned over solid story arcs and continued on to bigger and better things in later issues. That being said, I will be giving Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1 three-out-of-five stars, and I will be picking up the second issue to see if it improves.

Overall, the issue is short, J.T. Krul's writing is mediocre and clich at best, and the art was decent--but definitely short of spectacular. I was already hesitant diving into a Krul penned comic, and after reading G.I. Combat my suspicions were wholly realized.

From my understanding one of the main tenants of the Ravagers' dynamic is the simple fact that they are essentially tortured meta-humans with a tampered moral compass. As a group they are going to have to ascertain their place upon the good vs. evil battlefield, and instead of setting some underlying narrative to dive into this as the series progresses there are particular snippets that try too hard to explain something too complex for the infancy of the series.