I Breath Comics

This is the last story of the FF, so all bets are off and anything can happen in this story. That's what attracts me about this type of story. They can do things that would never be allowed in a regular series.
 
The story starts with a bang, the last battle with Doom where the group suffers the biggest loss. After that there is a time jump which bring us to the new status quo of the entire solar system, all thanks to Reed.
 
There are many elements at play here, Alan Davis obviously wanted to cram as many classic FF characters as he could, as well the rest of the Marvel U. This story's scope is big.
 
Unfortunately all these elements don't really mesh together well, it seems implausible that they all happen at the same time. I thought there'd be a unifying thread, but there isn't.
 
That being sad I did enjoy each story thread on its own, and I obviously loved learning about the new status quo. The end feels a bit sappy, but I did feel for Sue. I thought that part was very well done.
 
The art is obviously gorgeous to look at. Davis doesn't pull any punches here. There is plenty to admire here. If I had a criticism is that at times it feels too crowded, too much color and not enough focus.
 
Still, I enjoyed this story for what it was.

 

Hitman in my mind is the best series by Garth Ennis. His Preacher was great at the start, but the quality decreased towards the end. It's still a good series. But Hitman has been consistent throughout the run, and I really liked the ending.
 
So I was very glad to see one more story from the same creative team, this time starring the JLA. I still remember the Superman issue of Hitman, I really liked that one. This mini is really an expansion on that story, including more heroes, more action, and more moral dilemmas.
 
The action story is good enough, but the main attraction of the story is what the JLA thinks of Tommy, and Tommy's role in the world. There are a lot of references to many issues of the Hitman series, which is a treat for fans of the series, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment for new readers.
 
I am glad there is a new Hitman story, maybe they will reprint the entire series in TPB.

 

After watching the movie adaptation, I obviously went back to the source and listened to the audio version of Stardust written by Neil Gaiman. At the same time I also looked at the illustrated book.
 
This is a really good fantasy/fairy tale for adults. There are many scary scenes in this book, but it also contained many light hearted scenes. The style in which this is written is very poetic. I usually don't care much about that style, I am not a literary guy, but in this book it really works.
 
I think listening to it read by Neil Gaiman made it even better, it jus

t sounds really nice. There are so many characters in this story, all of them memorable. However many of them have a very small role, sometimes they are introduced and never seen again. I do wish that they would either have a bigger role, or just not introduced at all. Their presence wasn't really needed for the plot.
 
Another little problem at the end, I though it was weird the way Tristran dealt with his real mother, Gaiman didn't go into that at all, not even a brief mention.
 
Other than that, I thought this was a very good story, and the illustrations by Charles Vess were also excellent. His style is the quintessential fantasy art in my mind.

 

This is a nice little story that reminded me of some superhero comics taking place during the WWII. In particular Captain America, The Golden Age and others. However this story is told with a more realistic twist, where governments don't just accept super powered people with having some kind of control over them.
 
Each of the characters here probably have a corresponding superhero from Marvel or DC, but they are not a real team, they are just a bunch of people pulled together by the government.
 
It's fun to discover what their real purpose is, maybe even shocking to some. But I really like the more mature tone of this story, which is greatly enhanced by the excellent art by Jeremy Haun. His style is perfectly suited for this tale, a realistic style for a realistic superhero story.
 
This is a quick read with a star middle and end. It's well worth the price of admission.

 

7th Son was the longest podiobook I've listened to. This is a trilogy series, but I started listening only when the 3rd book was already started. So I worked my way through the first two books quickly, then caught up with book 3 and listened every episode as soon as it was released.
 
The different listening frequency really affected my enjoyment of the books. I really liked the first two books, it started very mysteriously, with a great concept of 7 clones. I was hooked immediately, wanting to know more about their past.
 
During the first two books we learn most of where they came from and the people that were involved, with many interesting and shocking twists. In the meantime we also got a few "action scenes" that ramped up the tension even higher.
 
However once the 3rd book started, the only mystery left was John Alpha's plan, so the majority of this last book was more about fast paced action and people being killed. At this time I basically lost the passion for this story. I was still interested in it, but the weekly (sometimes 2-3 weeks) frequency really dampened my interest, and I just wanted to know how it finished. I just wasn't invested in it anymore.
 
To make things worse, there a lot protracted final action "scene" which I almost didn't pay attention to, except to remember who died and who didn't. Once that was done, I thought we'd either get more surprises (maybe a final twist) or the book would be over. Instead we get a few more chapters of... nothing much. I didn't really care about the details of the cover story, and although the funerals were nice they could have been shorter.
 
In hindsight I wish I only started 7th Son after it was all done. I probably would have enjoyed the last book better.
 
Still, this is a good thriller/mystery novel. JC Hutchins did a very nice job with the production quality of the audio files, and his voices are very well done. I'd recommend this to anyone, now that the story is finished.

 

This is a mini telling the story of the super soldier serum development, from a very different perspective. It starts introducing us to 3 characters, all African-American living their own lives in different parts of the USA.
 
Then they are drafted into the military and go to war (WWII). They end up in the same group, and that's when things start to go wrong. They are part of the experimentation for the super soldier serum. Some of them die from the experiments, some of them survive.
 
This was a very grounded story, not at all a superhero story. It was very much about the discrimination against blacks and the culture at that time. So when one of the soldiers was reading a Captain America comic I was wondering if this story was in the Marvel Universe at all. I got my answer soon afterwards.
 
I really liked how this tied into the Cap story, and what he does in the present. Somehow I felt touched by the last issue.
 
My biggest problem is that I was very confused while reading this story. There is a lot of information in each issue, however not everything is spelt out for the reader. Some things are implied, some other things I just didn't understand from the dialog. Luckily for me each issue has a "story so far" blurb, which is actually clearer than the comic pages.
 
The art by Kyle Baker is nice, but I could hardly distinguish the soldiers. Luckily he didn't have to draw too many superheroes, I really don't think his style is suited for a serious superhero comic. Maybe a parody though.

 

Jeph Loeb had big success with this series and I always wanted to check it out. Now that I have I will share my thoghts.
 

1-6: World's Finest, Ed McGuiness
This first arc surprised me a lot. It introduced the characters and their relationship, and it also showed them fighting many super villains as well as cameo appearances by many fellow heroes. What really surprised me was the main villain being Luthor, who ends his presidency in this arc. That's a huge event in the Superman/DC universe. This to me said that this series is totally in continuity and tells important stories, as well as self contained ones. I was a bit disappointed that the meteor/Darkseid connection was not fully explained in later issues. The art by McGuiness is nice, but it's not a favorite of mine. It is a little bit too cartoony for me, it takes me away from the seriousness of the story.
 
7: Protege, Pat Lee
This story is about Robin and Superboy, who recruit Toyman, a character seen in the first arc. This was interesting in that it very briefly explored the relationship between the sidekicks and S&B. Other than that this was basically an excuse to have Pat Lee draw robots.
 
8-13: The Supergirl from Krypto n, Mike Turner
Following the arrival of the meteor, we also get a new Supergirl (I am totally confused on the other Supergirls). I liked the way this new character is introduced, I especially liked the conflict between Superman and Batman on how to treat her. It makes sense that Wonder Woman is involved as well, which makes it even more interesting. There is also a death in this arc, and though it's not a huge character, it still makes this series "count". I was fooled by the surprise death towards the end, I really thought that was it. But I didn't like how Superman dealt with Darkseid so easily. He could have done it before. I was also disappointed at the end: after Darkseid is gone, we find Kara hiding, afraid to let people know about her. Then she just reveal herself to everbody?!? The art by Mike Turner is very nice, and obviously well chosen for Supergirl and all the other Amazons running around half naked. I do like his style, but his characters look too much like models.
 
                                        14-18: Absolute Po wer, Carlos Pacheco
This story started as an elseworld, presenting us with the main concept: 3 villains from the future go back in time and kill all superheroes during their origins, except for Batman and Superman, who are adopted by them. So now we have "bad" Superman and Batman who rule the world. As I said, a good premise. We also get other versions of DC characters, however I am not too familiar with DC, so I didn't get them all. At the end the time travel becomes very confusing, and although I understand the concept I just don't "believe" it. In particular I have problems with the fact that Superman and Batman remember everything that happens to them, even though they come from alternate time lines, as well as different times. This is more like a Silver Age explanation, which to me is not acceptable. The art by Pacheco is very clear, I like his style though it does not excite me too much.

19: Supergirl, Ian Churchill
This is just a set up for Supergirl's ongoing series, where we setup her status as well as Luthor's interest in her. I was midly curious about Lex's involvement, but I don't think I'm going to read her series.
 

20-25: With a Vengeance, Ed McGuiness
This last arc sees the return of McGuiness, this time dealing with an arc that might be more appropriate to him. Mxy and Bat-mite's involvement means a more cartoony story, also thanks to Bizzarro. Unfortunately for me, I do not like any of those 3 characters. Not to mention that basically everything that happened does not count. This story reminded me a little of the first arc in JLA Classified, drawn by McGuiness and written by Morrison. I was totally confused by both.
 
26: Sam Loeb
This last story was plotted by Jeph's son Sam, who died of cancer. So this is just a tribute to him by his father and a long list of artists. The story goes back to Robin, Superboy, Toyman, where they just have some fun. The backup story by Jeph Loeb and long time collaborator Tim Sale was very emotional.
 
Overall I wouldn't call this a favorite series of mine, but it did have some great moments and great art. I did not like the internal dialogs from Superman and Batman, it felt like a gimmick to see their opposing point of view on everything that happened to them, which might have worked at first, but after a while they were distracting me from the main plot. I do not think they really told me anything new about these characters. None of the 4 arcs blew me away, I had some problems with all of them.

 

When I first heard of the concept of the Illuminati I wasn't sold on it. I thought it was just an excuse to have yet another secret society of superheroes. Reading this mini changed that impression though.
 
I thought seeing these heroes band together and intervene in some of the important events in Marvel history was neat. The first three issues were about three crossover events from the past. These were all interesting in how they deal with the problem.
 
The fourth issue was about the new Cap Marvel, which I am not sure who it is. I guess it's just too recent, so I haven't read it. This didn't resonate with me like the previous issues exactly for that reason. And as much as the opening dialog is funny/amusing, it didn't feel necessary.
 
The last issue is the big reveal of who is a Skrull, and it is the official start of the Secret Invasion. The war has begun, but there is no united front to deal with the enemy, especially after Civil War.
 
The art by Jim Cheung is again outstanding. He truly is my favorite artist at the moment. He tends to draw everyone as young kids, even his Iron Man suit looks "young", but they all have a distinct look, which is what matters. His storytelling is also very clear.
 
This mini has me pumped for what's coming up in Marvel next year.

 

Bendis is really laying the ground for next year's big event at Marvel. So in preparation for that I am catching up on his New Avengers. Spoilers follow.
 
His Civil War arc on New Avengers 21-25 showed us which side some of the Avengers chose and what were the consequences. Each issue stars one particular character and is penciled by a different artist.
 
Even though these stories are well integrated with the main Civil War series, they are basically self-contained stories that go deeper into the character's thoughts and some of their history. I thought these were well thought out character stories, as well as giving us some action and tie-ins with Civil War.
 
The art was mainly good, but reading them one after the other the difference was jarring. No matter how good Civil War was (or not), these felt like fill-in stories. I can't wait to read more and get closer to the Secret Invasion threads later on.

The next arc is Revolution (#26-31) where things really start heating up in the Marvel U. There are two time lines being

told in parallel. One is the aftermath of Civil War, where Cap's group is hiding from Tony Stark and his Mighty Avengers in Doc Strange's place. There is another confrontation between the two Avengers teams, which establishes their motives again.
 
The other time line takes place in Japan, and it involves Maya Lopez (Echo) being kidnapped by the Hand, lead by Elektra. Of course this is where the big reveal about the Secret Invasion is. Bendis also summarizes in very few words what's been happening since the beginning of this title, and ties everything to the Skrulls, though it's just a supposition at the moment.
 
There is also the return of Hawkeye, which is fine by me, but how he comes back isn't even explained, actually Hawkeye himself makes a comment about how that doesn't really matter.
 
After the big reveal in 31, the current arc deals with Trust (#32-37). Nobody trusts each other, everyone is suspect and Bendis does a good job of showing us that everybody could be a Skrull. However he also gives us a way to believe that everybody in this team is not a Skrull, thanks to a spell by Doc Strange. But of course we don't know if that really works.
 
The other thread in this arc is The Hood and his band of villains. The way Hood deals with Tigra is interesting, but in the middle of the Invasion as well as things happening in Mighty Avengers (Ultron, Venom etc...) this feels like filler.
 
The art in the last two arcs is by Lenil Yu, which I always liked but here is a little bit different. His line is rougher, making this a very dark book. However his layouts are always inventive.
 
There are 3 more issues before the Secret Invasion event starts. I usually read comics in arcs, not single issues, however I don't think I can do that with this series anymore. I am really excited about this storyline. This series has been conceived with the Secret Invasion, so everything will culminate in that story. My only worry is what is Bendis gonna do after that story?

 

I wasn't blown away by Planet Hulk like a lot of people, so even though I was interested in World War Hulk, I didn't have very high expectations. It turns out I like this better then Planet Hulk.
 
This is a very fast paced action packed simple story: Hulk returns to Earth looking for revenge. The whole mini is about Hulk battling the earth heroes, in particular Black Bolt, Iron Man, Reed, Doc Strange, Sentry.
 
I like the way the heroes keep finding ways to stop Hulk, but this time he is really unstoppable. I am not sure I buy that people would love the fighting arena and cheer for the Hulk, but I liked that Hulk wants the heroes to know what he went through.
 
The twist at the end was expected, someone else was responsible for the destruction of Sakaar, we just didn't know who exactly.
 
The art by John Romita Jr is perfect for this title. His fighting scenes feel epic, just the way he draws Hulk, the big Iron Man combat suit, the demon Doc Strange, the Sentry... they all look massive and powerful.
 
There is a victim to this war, but I won't spoil it here. The final page is just a tease for future titles.
 
Overall I really enjoyed this story. I am not sure I am that excited about the future Hulk titles though. Do we really need 3 series?