Comics Bundle: 12.10.08

I didn't have a lot of comics this week, which is nice because I'm dead broke. But, wow, a lot of the ones I picked up were good, or at least better than last weeks. Anyways, here's my reviews. I'm also changing my rating, from numbers to a simple "Buy It/Skip It" recommendation. While I do know how to grade games and music by numbers, it just doesn't feel right grading comics the same way.

DMZ #37
Buy It!
Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Ricardo Burchielli





I was thinking of scratching DMZ off from my pull sheet, after "The Island" concluded, but I decided not to until I've read the new arc. I'm glad that I didn't because DMZ had become much more interesting since Parco Delegado won the election. Particularly, Parco, the newly elected Governor of Manhattan, is acting more like a dictator, far from the charismatic revolutionary we used to know, 4 issues back. On top of that, he's asking Matthew Roth, our protagonist, to help him expand his power by finding the fabled Chinatown gold...wealth that they assumed Wilson have. I can't wait for the next issue. There's definitely going to be a civil war in Manhattan, and within Roth himself as his loyalty is divided between two friends.


I Kill Giants #6
Buy It!
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: J.M. Ken Niimura





Originally, I Kill Giants is not on my pull list (it is now). I just fell in love with this book after reading the first five issues last month. Mainly because of how Joe Kelly plays with his readers' perceptions. He'll lead you to believe that this is a fantasy book about Barbara Thorson, a giant killer who can see and talk to pixies. But, in the next page, he'll tell the story of Barbara, a girl with family issues, who refuses to see reality and lives in her imagination. In every issue since the first, the story flows in this flip-flopping manner that makes it hard to pinpoint if the book is really fantasy or the protagonist is just insane. But in this issue a Titan finally shows up, and Barbara beats him up with Covelski, her magical hammer. What's more is that Sophia, her friend, and Taylor, her bully, seems to have witnessed it all. The issue ends abruptly, however, so we'll never know for sure if Barbara did beat the living daylights out of a Titan or she was just throwing tantrums at the storm.


Final Crisis #5
Buy It. (If you have extra cash)
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artists: JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Mark Rudy, Jesus Merino





I've never reviewed Final Crisis before. That's because its first issues were about setting the whole book up, and I find it to be...meh. Besides, it was under the shadow of Secret Invasion. So I wasn't able to give it much attention. But Grant Morrison is finally done putting up the stage. He's now pulling the circle inwards, tighten it up, particular starting with issue #4, giving some sense to the vague details he had set up in the past issues. In this issue, we see the reason behind why Hal Jordan was accused of deicide, and how he was exonertated by Gardner and Rayner. This was much more action-oriented too, as we see the Watchtower resistance and Bludhaven assault failing against the mindless armies of Darkseid. But, that's only because the major players are nowhere to be found, or haven't arrived yet.


Echo #8
Buy It. (If you have extra cash)
Writer: Terry Moore
Artist: Terry Moore





I've been following Echo for a couple months now. But, like Final Crisis, I never wrote any review about it. Which I find odd because I like this book...a lot. I like the story, especially. The book has all the framework of a superhero's origins tale. But it refuses to be told in such a way. Terry Moore is much more focused on the woman behind the battle suit, showing how broken she was, going through divorce and loss of loved ones, instead of the battle suit. I mean, in the past seven issues, Julie haven't used her powers, at least not voluntarily. It was only in this issue that she finally used it to protect herself and Dillon against a villain, a religious fanatic that wants the part of armor that she have. But that, also, is short-lived since Julie is still running for her life, by the end of the issue, instead of finding out the full potential of her armor, don a mask and become a heroine.


Secret Invasion: Dark Reign#1
Skip It!
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Alex Maleev





Secret Invasion was a lackluster (as I've stated in my previous review). But the last page intrigued me to no ends with the introduction of the Dark Illuminati. Questions started sprouting in my mind, like: "What are they are plotting?", "Why is Namor a part of this?", "Is that Emma Frost?". So I just have to buy this book, hoping it will provide me some answers that will satiate me. But, alas, it did not. To some degree, maybe, it answered my questions. Especially, how was Emma Frost picked and enticed to join the team. But it wasn't enough. For the most of it, I thought the whole issue was written so that Norman Osborn can show his big ego off to his fellow crooks.

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