LEGENDS OF TOMORROW / BLOODSHOT REBORN [Reviews]: Sugar & Spike.

While Legends of Tomorrow #1 doesn’t have much to do with the television series, it’s still a fun anthology that explores some of DC Comics’ lesser known heroes. There are four stories contained within the issue: Firestorm, Metamorpho, Sugar & Spike, and the Metal Men. Each story has different writers and artists working on it. To be honest, I was unfamiliar with all of these characters so it was interesting to learn about them through these stories. At a whopping eighty-five pages long, readers will definitely get their money’s worth and most of the vignettes are sufficiently fleshed out.

Out of the stories I enjoyed Aaron Lopresti (Robin, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Matt Banning’s (Wonder Woman) Metamorpho the best. The art and writing were top notch and very interesting. The way Metamorpho’s shape-shifting is depicted is novel and creative and flows well from panel to panel. The least successful story of the bunch was Firestorm—it starts out too suddenly and doesn’t really go anywhere by the end of the tale. Perhaps it could have done with some extra backstory in the beginning, but as it stands, it feels incomplete. I was most excited to see that legend Len Wein (Swamp Thing, Wolverine) was the writer for Metal Men, but unfortunately the story felt stale and flat.

Yildiray Cinar’s (Superior Iron Man) art was pretty slick though and keeps it from being a total bust. Since there are four very different stories in this collection any comic fan should be able to find something that tickles their fancy. 4/5 Bibles.

Bloodshot is back, and this time in Valiant’s first ever Annual issue! This first packs in several writers and artists including Jeff Lemire, Kano, Ray Fawkes, Paul Maybury, Michel Fiffe and Benjamin Marra. We take a trip through Bloodshot’s life, pre-Reborn, starting with a large-sized story based at a familiar camp with a familiar horror story. Yes, that same camp and with a similar campfire story as Jacob (yes Jacob, not a misspelling) is said to be terrorizing the campers. Ultimately his existence is very different and the familiar story is not what it seems.

From there Valiant takes us on a journey through other parts of Bloodshot’s world as we see more from Bloodsquirt, a backstory on Jacob, and more. For this Saint, the first three stories are enjoyable and what I hope to see from future Bloodshoot Reborn issues, with good artwork and writing; however, the last story is odd and feels like a trip through a should-be-forgotten part of his past. It actually reminds me of some of the odd, terrible comics from the Bronze and Silver age of comics (you know…where the really weird stuff went down). If that was the intent, then it succeeded. Perhaps readers would be better off just enjoying the first three stories in this anthology, and not taking the fourth too seriously. Or even reading it at all. I only wish I could rate this issue in that way, with three strong stories only; but, alas, the fourth story must be included, and this bible score suffers a bit as a result. 3/5 Bibles.

After seeing Wonder Woman’s breathtaking — and entirely crowd-pleasing — screen debut in Batman v Superman, I found Meredith Finch’s tale in Wonder Woman #50 to be disappointingly lackluster. The author’s efforts to demonstrate Diana’s oft-ignored compassionate side are welcome (especially in light of Diana’s emergence as the God of War and Queen of her warrior people) and definitely commendable; that said, “The Wu” still has to agree with Ares when he called her “pathetic,” as she battles him for her life and powers while declaring her love for him as a great mentor. It all seems a bit contrived. That said, the art, colors, and letters by the creative team consisting of David Finch (newly announced artist for Rebirth Batman #1!), Johnny Desjardins, Scott Hanna, Brad Anderson, and Rob Leigh did a beautiful job of transporting readers into the ancient world where myths, gods, and goddesses are real.

However, The Wu is curious as to where Finch will take Wonder Woman on this journey to uncover family secrets and undo her family’s wrongs before DC Comics’ Rebirth of Wonder Woman begins (with returning writer Greg Rucka and artists Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott). Hopefully the next step of this journey will convey a little more excitement and tension than this last chapter. 2/5 Bibles.

Sometimes, you have to wonder what the hell people are thinking. Marvel is dropping a metric shit-ton of comics out into an insanely crowded marketplace and hoping that some of them stick. It only makes sense that if they want fans to read their comics, they want them to stand out and grab those readers from the jump. Otherwise people just move on to the next book.

Hyperion #1, written by Chuck Wendig (Star Wars Aftermath) with art by Nik Virella (GI JOE), is a slow burn. Our amazing hero spend most of the issue driving an eighteen-wheeler and hitting strange villains in the heads with tree branches, but almost no time in his costume. It’s a little like reading a Superman comic in which Clark Kent wanders aimlessly through a few pages. The hero towers over the green-haired girl who finds him and asks for his help as she runs from a bunch of mutant hicks from Appalachia who hate her for reasons that will become clearer if a reader somehow returns for the next issue. Virella’s art is nice and humanistic, well-suited for the story. He’s good at the human touch and getting across emotion. It’s just a shame that we never have a reason to care about these particular humans. Time to move on to the next book. 2/5 Tractor-Trailers.

Hello folks. This is your boy “The Belser” here fresh from a day at LA WonderCon. Feet hurting, Walker drained and all type of sleepy. My assignment, however, is to look over a new comic entitled Delete. So let’s take a brief look past the cosplayers and down at these pages.
Here’s the story: A seemingly foreign family–a husband, wife and a little girl–is on the run; while waiting to leave the country, they are discovered and the parents are mowed down. The girl is left in the care of a large, simple-minded handyman named Spencer (“Papa Justified”? Haha). Meanwhile, the man responsible–a mysterious man in a tailor suit–apparently has ties to the little girl. I found both the writing (by Jonah Hex vets Jim Palmiotti and Justin Gray) and art to be simple and not particularly engaging. This first comic had no real excitement and is basically a setup for an evolving storyline. However, the lack of excitement in the premiere comic doesn’t make look forward to the run itself. Who would think the days of expecting a full story in a comic are gone? 1/5 Bible.

Holy new suit Batman! Back with a vengence, the Dark Knight returns to reassume the Bat-mantle in awesome fashion. Quite literally, in fact. Bloodied, broken and unbowed, Jim Gordon refuses to give up the good fight and let his city fall. The big bad has other ideas, however, and turns their tech against them, much the way I anticipate our robot overlords of the future doing. And just when things can’t get any worse, BAM! Outta nowhere the Caped Crusader busts on to the scene, kicking some ass with his newest gadget, a U.N. Flagpole. As an aside, the U.N. could learn a thing or two from Batsy. One thing is for sure, the Bat is back.

Writer Scott Snyder (Swamp Thing, American Vampire) has a unique ability to shape the motion of a story much like a conductor leading an orchestra to a crescendo. From layered dialogue to perfectly timed quips, Synder expands upon the notion that every upstanding citizen of Gotham plays their part in the fight against crime, but there can be only one Batman. Basically, he’s the Highlander.

On pencils and ink, Greg Capullo (Spawn) and Danny Miki (Ultimate X-Men), respectively, put together a tableau of several styles, each tailor made for the scenes they depict. They give us a look at the brighter side of Gotham from the underbelly that created the Bat, making the city look like it finally has hope. Kinda like turning Detroit into Oakland. Baby steps. Anyway, as far as the action animation, it’s amazing! The shift in intensity from one battle to another is as significant as the shifts in tone and color palate. Like the transition from the pole dance mentioned above to seeing a first-person throw down in thermal vision for example.

The triumvirate of Synder, Capullo and Miki have resurrected the presence of Batman in Gotham city just in time for Easter. And like the rabbit who hides eggs on a day a dude came back from the dead, Batman brings hope back to the citizens of Gotham, despite circumstances making little to no sense whatsoever. Yet, in the end, it is we the reader who will reap the benefits now that the Bat is back in town. 4.5/5 Bibles.

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