Weekly Comic Roundup: Action Comics , Batman, and More

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful

than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings

at a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It's

a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman! Yes, it's

Superman! Strange visitor from another planet

who came to Earth with powers and abilities far

beyond those of mortal men. Superman! who can

change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel

in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark

Kent, mild -mannered reporter for a great metropolitan

newspaper, fights a never -ending battle for

truth, justice, and the American way. And welcome

to the comic concierge podcast the podcast that

leaves our comics are for everyone. The key is

finding the right one This is one of my weekly

wrap up episodes where I talk about the previous

week that was in the world of comics, pick out

some of the most notable issues and give you

my thoughts and opinions on them. In addition,

I do start each week with my recommendation of

the week, though my recommendation of the week

is a little bit different. It's not necessarily

the best book of that given week, rather the

best ideal starting point for that week. So if

you're walking into the door of a comic book

store and wanted to know a good place to start,

whether you've been reading comics forever, whether

you've never read a comic book. or if you're

getting back into them, what would that comic

be? And for this week, it was actually kind of

obvious, but sometimes when it's obvious, it

is the right answer, and that is Action Comics

1000. Yes, Action Comics 1000 has been building

for some time. A lot of anticipation of this

comic. It'll probably be the biggest individual

issue of the year when it just looks at plain

sales -wise. The question then becomes, though...

Is the book any good and yeah, I gotta say it

is really solid Ultimately, it is this 90 page

love letter to the character of superman as it

should be I think going through this if you're

a superman fan You will get everything that you

can ask for for the most part and It's a collection

of a number of different short stories written

by some of the most notable Superman writers,

in one case director, as well as some other of

the bigger names today like Scott Snyder and

Tom King also have some stories. And of course,

probably the biggest thing that this Action Comics

1000 also has is that it's the first work by

Brian Michael Bendis with DC, and specifically

the character of Superman, which will be continuing

after this with his Man of Steel series that

will actually pick up the story that he has in

this issue. I liked each story that this had

somebody enjoyed more than others for me I think

the people actually had the best stories in this

and it makes sense because they're the ones I've

been working on Superman for some time now is

Dan Juergens and Peter J Tomasi Dan Juergens

has a very first story in it from the city that

was that has everything and That is a story that

is very much embodies what this Comic is and

it's an appreciation of Superman Metropolis is

supposed to it's trying to have this Superman

day where they recognize Superman for all the

work that he's done And all the lives that he's

helped and the thing is though when you have

someone like Superman or Clark Kent it's hard

for him just to pause for a moment and appreciate

and take time to be praised because he's always

worried that he can be used elsewhere, that there

are other things going on. So a lot of things

are put in place for that to happen. And it's

just kind of a sweet story that encapsulates

why many people love Superman and what he means

to the world that he resides in. You know, he

is the ultimate hero. And I think that is through

and through. And we see that, you know, people

not only those that have been saved by him, in

the sense of, you know, from a burning building,

but even those that he's helped better their

previous lives, getting them out of the life

of crime, to even the fellow superheroes, and

how they appreciate him, and what they'll do

in order to make sure that he realizes that.

So, I think it was a really good way to start

this special, this 1000 issue, just to basically

say, yeah, this is what we're trying to do, is

take some time and recognize the character of

Superman. I'm never ending battle by Peter J

Tomasi is Great because it kind of does a quick

highlight of the life of Superman and it's him

fighting a vandal savage and within that fight

It's like internal struggle and that struggle

showcases a lot of notable things that have occurred

in the life of Superman and I thought it was

a kind of a good way like a good snapshot of

some of the biggest moments in his career as

a character and I thought it like the the concept

worked well and it covered a lot a lot of ground

because of that so I ended up really just appreciating

that aspect of it and you know you got to give

a lot of credit to Peter Jay Tomasi and Dan Juergens

and we'll talk about their work after this as

well with what they've been doing with Superman

I know there was a recent article about you know

can Brian Vankelbender see Superman and I think

maybe many made the good point that they Superman

doesn't need saving ever since we birth he's

really been back on track and their work is a

big reason for that. Some of the other stories

I enjoyed, they weren't, I think, as good. They

had their points. I did enjoy, like, Jeff Johns

and Richard Donner had a really quick story.

Really what worked for that for me was the art

of Oliver Coppell. It's a very simple story where

it's about this car and the guy trying to get

it fixed because it ran into Superman and it's

just a Quick thing even like Tom King's story

where it's Superman in the future in the very

very future as Earth is being destroyed and Lastly,

of course, it's like well, how was Brian Michael

Bendis's story? How did that hold up and I didn't

like it I didn't like where he's going with it

It's probably the least hopeful out of all the

other books and all the other stories. There's

a little bit more drama there, but it makes sense

because it does end on a cliffhanger where it's

gonna be picking up in the future in the Man

of Steel series. And I was a little bit indifferent

about that. I felt like it would make more sense

if this was really self -contained and not connected

to anything else. But I also understand when

you have an issue like Action Comics 1000 that's

gonna be your biggest seller, that you're gonna

have to utilize that. popularity and continue

it and keep that momentum going. So it would

be really stupid for DC not to think of a way

to point to their next big project with Brian

Michael Bender. So I get it. I don't begrudge

them by any means by doing that. I would say

that the one thing that really seemed missing

within this though was that there wasn't a lot

of love to the original creators of Superman.

Now, if you look into the history of Superman,

you know that Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created

the character and there was a lot of issues after

that. You know, they kind of lost the rights

to the character and it's been a legal battle

that's been going back and forth for some time.

I thought it would make sense just to maybe have

a forward or some sort of essay by either if

it's, you know, the Dan DiDio or someone or a

current writer or even by Michael Bendis just

about their work or recognizing them or doing

something special to Indicate like yeah, they're

the ones who made this possible. They're the

ones who were there for action comics 1000 I

thought that was the one big piece that was missing

within this. I don't know if that was included

within there Within the the hardcover that came

out last week or if they'll include it when this

is collected in something else But it just seemed

like a good opportunity considering all the bad

blood that's been going back and forth Considering

this is a celebration of the character of Superman.

Why not take some time and you know have a lengthy

Celebration for what they did recognize what

they put into this character and what they made

the industry that they were able to mold. You

know, we're gonna have a billion dollar movie

this summer, two billion dollar movie based upon

superheroes, and they're the ones who kind of

started the superhero genre the way it is. And

if you're gonna have an opportunity to thank

them or make sure that people realize who they

are and what they did outside of just the general

public of the comic book fan, this seemed like

a good opportunity. But ultimately, I do have

to commend DC for everything they put within

this. I think it is well put together. Collection

of stories that do exactly what they should and

recognize a character of Superman Like if you're

a person who wants to know why is this character

been around so long? How did action comics get

to 1 ,000 issues? this showcases just what he

means as a character on all the different levels

just the hope he can provide, the earnestness

of him, but also just the craziness and wackiness

of it, too. If you're someone who hates Superman

and has never really liked him as a character,

I don't think this will really turn you around

on him, per se. I know people have some issues

with him, but I think you can't deny just the

legacy that he has held. I also have to give

DC a lot of credit for the fact that they have

10 variant covers all at the normal cover price,

like at $7 .99, and $8 for 90 pages is a pretty

good bargain, and the fact that you can get all

the different variant covers without having to

spend $80 like you do with some of the Marvel

issues, I think DC is... doing a lot of things

right for a lot of, you know, whether the quality,

with the quality of the comics are taking a lot

of chances. And it does seem like they're really

trying to look at what Marvel's doing and the

complaints and criticisms that people are laying

on them for some of the variant cover incentives

that they've had and said, no, we're not gonna

do that. They easily could with an issue like

this. This is probably gonna be the biggest selling

comic in some time. I'm not sure how many it's

gonna sell, but considering all the variants.

But they didn't, and. That says something, so

I appreciate that as a fan of a comic book fan.

So myself, I picked up two varying covers, and

I'm hopefully picking up the Mike Oliver cover

that was unfortunately sold out in my local comic

shop, but luckily I'll be picking that up elsewhere.

So yeah, again, this is the obvious choice for

recommendation of the week. The biggest comic

of the... Of the year in a way if you are comic

book collector I think many have already been

picking this up But I see a lot of people who

maybe have never bought a comic book just taking

the chance because hey, it's a thousandth issue

We all know anniversary issues will be worth

a lot of money probably not but the good thing

is it's a good book and that's all really get

asked for also coming out this week was Superman

45 so a lot of love for Superman as I mentioned,

you know with Peter Jay Tomasi and his work and

the anniversary issue. This was his last issue

of the Superman story since rebirth and This

reminded me of what I loved when he first took

over the title in rebirth I haven't been loving

a lot of the Superman since then really after

the first year I felt like it was really inconsistent

that first year though. It was amazing was like,

oh man This is the best Superman comics I've

been reading for some time this got to me got

back to basics in the sense of It's very simple.

This is The Clark family is now getting ready

to move from Hamilton to Metropolis and it's

just that story and that's what I loved about

this book was taking the character Superman and

humanizing him with his relationship with Lois

and of course Jonathan Kent and I love the father

-son dynamic here and there's some really tender

and sweet moments within this One that comes

to mind is when Jonathan and Clark are going

in to plant a flower that was given to him by

Swamp Thing, a callback to the Superman annual

that happened a few years ago. And he was able

to pass on some advice utilizing that plant,

which I thought was a really great metaphor.

And I don't want to ruin it here. So I don't

want to, I won't do it justice, but there's also

some really great moments with Lois and she's

cleaning. The house and you see just the house

is vacant and empty and you see that kind of

that Realization kind of sink in and what that

means to her and in some fun moments as well.

It's not just depressing It's really a good encapsulation

of everything that this run was about like action

comics was everything about Superman for the

last, you know, 80, 90 years. This was Superman

Rebirth since the beginning and all the work

that Peter Jason Mossy has been kind of putting

into this title. A lot of the storylines, you

know, even the most recent from the Bizarro universe

is tied upon. They go to the local fair, which

was one of my favorite issues of this run again.

And I just, it's just really pleasant away. And

I, you know, often giving someone, giving a character

a kid is a death nail, but it works for Superman

because he's really everyone's dad. So when you

actually of him an actual kid to be the father

figure for it just works and it works really

well I just you know you don't see a lot of great

families within any type of medium and people

tend to be at each other's throats they hate

each other or they're you know it's people are

incompetent this is you know a loving family

that gets gets together and you know gets along

decently well and there's something about that

it's so Uncommon nowadays in a way. So I think

I kind of appreciate that and I think it sets

a stage now for Brian Michael Bendis to come

in and do what he's gonna do with it and I you

might go a different direction. I'm not sure

but I do it just you know kind of have a give

a tip to the hat to what Peter J Tomas he's done

with this title and if you're someone who maybe

Stepped away from it like I did Peter Peter article

II I would highly advise going back to 45 because

it's one of the best issues of the Superman that

I've read in quite some time I will say that

this is probably the best week of comics I can

remember in some time. It is so packed. You would

think with Action Comics 1000 that people would

step away and not worry about putting things

out this week, but it was the opposite approach

where it's like great comic after great comic.

I don't think I've had a week where I've had

to not talk about some really great books simply

because I don't have enough room and overall

schedule to make it work, but... One book I had

to talk about that was happy to see return was

Batman creature the night number three The first

issue came out at the very end of last year and

the second one a few months ago So it's been

some time and this series. I can't wait to sit

back and read it as a whole It's written by Kurt

music and drawn by John Paul Leon And it's similar

to Kirk Busick's previous series Secret Identity

that he did with Superman which was like taking

place in a real world setting with someone who

was a fan of Superman and things that happened.

This takes place again in more of a real world

setting and centers on the character of Bruce

Wainwright who like Bruce Wayne saw his family

killed in front of him and is now dealing with

the repercussions. He grew up as a huge Batman

fan and like that fandom has kind of carried

him throughout and because of the tragedy that

he has dealt with he's found out that he's been

able to kind of Manifest this Batman like creature

to help him and help him solve not only his problems

and issues, but the problems of the of people

he knows, as well as some of the crime issues

that are occurring. It's like this psychic connection

that he has with this creature. It's not necessarily

him, but it enacts his thoughts and wishes and

his innermost desires, or what it assumes is

his innermost desires. It just really seeks to

keep Bruce safe. So it's just a lot of tiebacks

into the real world of Batman and how it correlates

with one another. There's a commissioner, Gordon,

but it's really a detective named Gordon. It's

just Cure Music is a master storyteller when

it comes to the superhero genre and this is an

example of this and I'll be honest, I think I

need to go back and read this as a whole or reread

it because there's a lot packed into this and

I think by the end of it... Wasn't exactly sure

what it was attempting to say not in the sense

because it was bad execution I think it was more

so user error on my part where it ended up on

a little bit more of a dour note than I was expecting

What I really liked about this coming up was

that Bruce Wayne White despite the fact that

he was dealing with such tragedy He wasn't this

dour character that like hit in the shadows or

was just ultimately depressed He kind of tried

to utilize his his Issue for good and you know,

he was not detached from the rest of the world

per se He tried to create some connections. I

just felt the approach to him wasn't just like,

okay, let's make him like Bruce Wayne He had

that darkness, but it didn't overwhelm him like

it could have but I was so that means ending

a little bit a little bit more surprising that

I thought it was gonna go Again, and I gotta

also say huge kudos to John Paul Leon because

his work is really strong as well. The way he

draws his Batman creature, the thing that makes

me think about is if you've seen Batman Begins

and in that movie where the people of Gotham

are given the fear serum and they see Batman

and he looks like a man bat, like that's like

a demon bat. Like a man body near the end of

the film. It's kind of what reminded me of the

way he made he draw that character, but really

inventive panel design as well and He is able

to meld the fantastical in the real world got

a very unique sense to it Which is important

because it's the book that is out out of the

realm of normal comics And although it's only

three issues each issues about 48 pages, so it

has a lot of story to it And that's why I said

I think I need to go back and reread it as a

whole because it's been a while since I've read

the second issue and the first issue and There's

a lot of story there, but it's this is just done.

There's no doubt in my mind. This is a great

book I appreciated it. I thought it was phenomenally

put together I was just when I was trying to

look into see what ultimately is it trying to

say I Had some uncertainty there which could

be a good thing because I could mean that it's

trying to see a number of different things But

I'm probably gonna do this series in a more in

-depth look at in one of our concierge episodes

Coming up. So if you're a big fan of the series,

I'm curious what people thought of it I'm looking

forward to when it's finally collected which

will hopefully be very soon also out this week

was Batman number 45 and it's not Very often

where you know Superman and gets overshadowed

by Batman and even though we have Batman creature

of the night and Batman 45 it does feel like

ultimately this is Superman's week and I think

even like writer Tom King and Batman fans would

say like oh, yeah Okay, let's give this week

to Superman That being said I really enjoyed

Batman number 45 and it's hard to talk about

without giving away the entire premise of this

issue, but Ultimately, the most important thing

to know is that booster gold shows up everyone's

most dysfunctional time traveler is trying to

do good and he messes up as you would expect

him to do and what he's trying to do is figure

out how to get a wedding present to Batman like

what do you give to the person who has everything

like Batman and he tries to answer that question

and Probably messes up as severely as you could

for someone in his status, basically. So it's

a lot of fun. I thought there was some really

great humor in this. When we get into this world,

everything seems kind of off. There's almost

pieces that reminded me someone of like RoboCop

where we see these commercials of people advertising

anti -theft Joker technology and it's done by

Jason Todd as they're trying to, not to get your

wheels stolen by the Joker. And I'm like, okay,

I find that kind of funny. And it has that. Normal

Tom King sense of humor and he can write booster

go pretty well. So I would I would recommend

this I wasn't the biggest fan of the last issue

of Batman for Batman number 44 which was Catwoman

getting your wedding dress and you saw the kind

of the history of the Batman cat catwoman relationship

throughout the years I thought that was okay,

but I did by the end of it I was just kind of

I don't know what I learned there with this It

was a little bit more straightforward and I do

like the fact that Tom King is basically like

I'm gonna milk this Batman Catwoman relationship

for everything I can finding new ways to approach

it storytelling wise and made me really enjoy

this issue So I know there's a lot of poor larging

opinions when it comes to Tom King's Batman book

I don't know why I get why because it's not your

traditional Batman story, but I will say this,

this is probably the least amount of Batman I've

seen in one of his books and I think that was

good. I could see a lot of people who don't normally

liking this stuff liking this, since it's kind

of taking place outside of the realm of the normal

continuity which people tend to forget about.

But yeah, I have enjoyed this and I'm looking

forward to see how this wraps up. Also coming

out this week Which is weird to say also coming

out kisses continues to be one of my favorite

books that is on the shelves right now And that

is mr. Miracle number eight again by Tom King

and mr This takes place shortly after the events

of the last issue where we saw big Bartha and

it's got free give birth to their child and now

they're kind of dealing with the How do you be

a new God and have a child at the same time?

And we'll see how the difficulties that come

there as it's been the case with this series

since the beginning There seems to be more to

it. There seems to be something secretly happening

in the background. We're not sure exactly why

Mr. Art's art continues to be great, but we get

a little bit more of those You know where the

focus seems to be lost like, you know, like an

antenna being unscrewed sequences here and there.

But what I really loved about this issue, again,

it's been the one consistent thing about the

series that I found really fascinating, is taking

the mundanity of normal day life and juxtaposing

it with the idea of being a new God and how that

is affecting. And this happens in this issue,

some really great ways where we see Scott Free

legitimately going to war, you know, on New Genesis,

on Apocalypse. And the dialogue that's on the

page is actually conversation about how to get

their child to sleep utilizing car seats and

how different that life is. I also love the fact

that he utilizes Funky Flashman in this. For

those that don't know, Funky Flashman was Jack

Kirby's kind of caricature of Stan Lee when he

came over to DC, which is basically a poke at...

Stanley and he is the nanny which is kind of

funny. I'm like, okay. I love that That's a great

idea. So I've just been really enjoying just

everything that's within this I feel like similar

to Batman creature of the night I you could spend

an entire hour looking at like pages or or issues

just dissecting what it's all Encountering and

I think by the end of this once we get to the

12th issue, but I take a deep dive and look at

it as a complete whole and, you know, look at

what exactly it's going on. And I know some people

have had issues because you're not sure exactly

everything. There seems to be some sort of mystery

that you're, you know, a lot of things are kind

of left out that you're given room to connect

the dots. And I guess I kind of appreciated that.

And I just, I love the each issue. It approaches

a different idea and how that idea is executed.

And this Gerard is, it's the best thing doing

his entire career. He did great job on shares

a Babylon in the Batman issues that he did but

this is something completely different and uh

especially just in progression story progression

is something really special also like in this

issue the song of um you know that classic there's

there's around him I'm gonna buy you whatever

and how it bookends this issue I thought that

was again Tom King excels at structure and he

finds new ways to do that with each passing issue

Mr. Miracle. So I highly recommend it. I say

every time I talk about this book, when it comes

to a craft standpoint, it's on another level

compared to most books on the shelves right now.

I've been talking about a lot of the books that

I did really enjoy and really love. I gotta leave

some room for some book I wasn't a big fan of,

and that is The Case for Damage number four,

another addition to The New Age of Heroes. I

have not really loved this series from the beginning,

but I thought I'd give it one more shot. Damage

number four start to new story arc. I thought

okay poison ivy is in this I the idea of the

character of damage is going against poison ivy

I'm like that could work. I could see what that

why that Could actually make this arc be improved

compared to what came before but again, I think

what this Sirius has lacked since the beginning

is the fact that I don't really know much about

the character damage or why I should care about

him outside the fact that he causes a lot of

destruction. Why Hulk works is because we end

up caring about Bruce Banner for the most part.

Yeah, all the destruction's helpful and all that

craziness, but the fact that the person underneath

there, Bruce Banner's made into a complete character,

makes it work. With damage, I can't even think

of the main character's actual real name, and

he's not really given a lot of time. to do much,

it's been mostly damage doing everything. And

also, this feels exactly like that. It feels

like a Hulk clone that isn't really doing much

more different with that concept, unlike some

of the other New Age hero books. The biggest

difference is that he's only damaged for an hour,

but again, that... Hooker that idea has not been

really I don't see the point of it. Like it hasn't

really made a difference storytelling wise since

the beginning It's like always damaged for an

hour. How does that up the stakes? How does that

make the story more compelling? It just seems

like something they tagged on to it. It's like

one hour of destruction It's a cool tagline,

but it doesn't really do anything for the narrative

all that much and the other piece like I thought

the art in this was good it wasn't as good as

the first three issues and this entire Idea new

age of heroes was built to say art does matter

you know that's the big thing like art does matter

because we live in a world where Rarely are artists

kept on books they tend to interchange within

the same issue let alone this you know the same

series and We're the fourth issue in and we already

have a new artist And I'm like if this is your

idea of the premise of this series is to say

artists do matter Then you're completely undercutting

that by the fact that we have a new we have a

new artist already in the fourth issue I get

artists are busy. They have a lot to do and you

know, you can't hit deadlines all the time You

have to bring people in then don't make that

your selling point That's all i'm saying or give

the book more time or or what have you so It

just I don't know to me. This is the biggest

misfire for this entire new age of heroes storyline

And I thought the story itself was just kind

of blah the the fight between damage and poison

ivy Was kind of fun. We only get a tidbit of

it. So There'll be more of it in the next issue,

but I find it highly unlikely I'll continue talking

about this book just because I tend to kind of

complain about the same thing So at this point,

it's just my own fault All right, let's go over

to the world of vertigo for death bed number

three I know vertigo is not does not have the

same type of cache It once dead when it was in

its highest form in the 90s and early 2000s There

have been some good series that have come out

of vertigo, you know Unfollow and sheriff's of

Babylon as I mentioned previously some of the

other series have not been all that great I have

to say though that deathbed has been a shining

beacon for them. I'm like if we get more series

like this It's pretty phenomenal I will say though

the like, you know The thing that the thing vertigo

is missing is somewhat of an identity like I

don't love young animal stuff But I know young

animal book when I read it Vertigo at this point

like everything is very different. There's there's

no connecting tissue Even like when vertigo was

at its strongest like you can kind of tell vertigo

book when you read it I don't know. It's not

not necessarily a necessity, but it's something

that comes to mind I will say that this is probably

the best thing that Joshua Williamson has written

in some time I like this flash stuff, but I feel

like he's getting a lot of freedom with this

and the centers on the character of Antonio Luna

and he is like if you took the most interesting

man in the world and built a character around

him and he was near his death door but now he's

kind of taking time to reflect on his past life

and this is centering on the church and cult

that was actually designed around him and but

as you would expect with the cult things don't

go as expected and it's just really been this

reflection of his life and you know realizing

that the lust and the sex and you know kind of

the lifestyle that he once lived was not as um

eventful or not as meaningful as he thought it

was or he's seeing it's much more problematic

as he moves on so i've been really enjoying this

series i just really i've also been really enjoying

the art of riley masamo in this it's got a really

unique cartoony style to it The character design

models are really interesting. It's unlike really

anything else on the shelves right now, and I

don't know a lot of his work per se, but I'm

glad that he's getting an opportunity to draw

a book like this, because this is not a style

I would see really working in a superhero book

per se. Obviously, it's a mature reading as part

of it too, but very different. It's kind of the

word I would associate this entire book with.

There's nothing really I... could really pitch

and hold this in and saying it's like this or

it's like that. It's its own thing, which is

really good to see. And like I said, if you're

looking for a book that's out of the norm, this

is one I would highly recommend. And third issue's

not a great one to jump in. I think you could

probably understand enough of it, but I would

recommend going back to the first issue, which

was okay. It's been getting better with each

passing issue, which is a good sign overall for

a series. All right, well let's... Take a break

from DC and go over to Marvel because contrary

to popular belief They also released some books

this week, too And to be honest, they released

some really good books that I wanted to take

some time and talk about starting with Infinity

Countdown number two and Infinity Countdown is

somewhat of a conundrum to recommend not because

it's bad. No, it's great I'm really liking this

book. But the first issue of Infinity Countdown

was it's been this continuation of the Guardians

of the Galaxy series Jerry Dugan was writing

so it's kind of impenetrable if you've not been

reading that like it's so much tied into everything

he was establishing there that if you went into

issue one God help you because I'm assuming you're

gonna be lost even with like the intro pledge

to kind of bring you up to speed but what I really

love about this is this feels like the best kind

of cosmic storylines we've been getting with

Marvel since the days of the Amnet and landing

and what they did it's just He has a really great

voice for the character. I love that he's kind

of expanding upon the lore of this world, which

I think a lot of the other cosmic stuff just

try to repeat what came before. Even though this

is dealing with the Infinity Gems, it has a different

approach to it. I love the character that he

created, the Gardener, what he's been doing with

Gru, and how he utilizes Gru within this too.

And this also has a lot going on for this issue.

There's a lot of different moving pieces within

this. Guardians of Galaxy are again the centerpiece,

but you know Nova even characters like Adam warlock

and Ultron have all showed up and again It has

that galactic galaxy level type of storyline

that you want to see with an infinity Countdown

level with an infinity type of story. This is

probably you know This is really the prequel

story to what will be the main story coming up,

but it doesn't feel like that This does not feel

like This is not feel like a prologue that you

can skip. I really enjoyed this book You know

if this wasn't the main story it would be good

enough on its own so if you're a person who really

loved the cosmic stuff of Guardians of the Galaxy

Annihilation way back when and you've been really

wanting to you know see something like that Do

not pick up this issue not because it's not good,

but go back and start with the Jared Eugens run

on the Guardians of the Galaxy read those and

continue here because it's he's really building

something special and I think because of that

Marvel saw what he was doing It's like hey, let's

take what he's doing throw the infinity tag on

it because we have that billion dollar movie

That's coming out utilize that and tell this

story and because of that, I think we're getting

something special So there are some rumors about

Guardians of the Galaxy being canceled. It's

not really canceled It's just rebranded which

is fine saying this good now. I'll be a happy

camper also coming out this week was amazing

spider -man 799 as Dan slot is nearing his epic

end to his spider -man run and The storyline

has been saying going out swinging and I think

that is uh True for in a sense of the storyline

as well as Dan lot saying, you know what you

want me off of spider -man Well, guess what?

I'm gonna see my best for last and tell one of

my best spider -man stories in my entire run

and that's actually what he's been doing and

I know there's been a lot of people really happy

dance lots leaving people many people have said

he's been on it for too long and i don't necessarily

disagree with that i never thought it got to

the lows some people said it did i think he was

building a story and people like hated the glowing

spider they hated the fact that spiderman became

this type of iron man s type of character and

i was like he's clearly doing this just to then

take it pull the rug out of a character but That's

what's happening here. On paper, the idea of

the red goblin should be god -awful. Taking the

Carnage symbiote, giving it to Green Goblin,

Norman Osborn, and making a character out of

it, it sounds really stupid. And maybe it is

stupid, but it's working. And Dan Slott can do

that. He did that with Superior Spider -Man,

and now he's doing it with the storyline. It's

just Dan - Slott is underrated in his ability

to craft a story, and we were reminded about

that here. He's really great at laying breadcrumbs

along the way, letting them slowly build, and

then finally revealing them. Also, giving you

an idea of where you think he's going, only to

circumvent those and do something else. This

starts off with Peter Parker. and not spiderman

trying to utilize his friends to help and stop

the red goblin utilizing people like silk to

check out the daredevil goal miles malice does

help aunt may making sure that she's safe because

red goblin basically is threatened to take his

entire world and destroy it and he's trying to

do everything to save that with some special

appearances from some other characters within

this a lot of reveals in this within this issue

and again i don't want to spoil those but He's

packing a lot in in this final run and I, you

know, he's only got a couple issues left and

I'm happy to see that it's ending in a strong

with the Fantastic Four that he's going to be

taking over shortly. He's also been doing Iron

Man when Bendis leaves too. So if you're someone

who. long ago gave up on Amazing Spider -Man

because you weren't enjoying it. I would say

go back and jump on this arc because it's worth

it and Steve McNiven is one of today's best comic

book artists and he shows it here. I've seen

a lot of people try to do the Red Goblin and

not many have done it nearly as well as he has.

So him drawing Spider -Man has been a treat and

I'm hoping he, at least I'm not sure what he's

doing next, but anytime he's drawing a book,

I'm usually gonna be reading it. All right. Well,

let's move over to Avengers 689 as this no surrender

weekly storyline is during its end I think it's

been going on for I don't know 80 weeks at this

point I'm not sure but it's been quite felt like

quite a while not because it's not been good.

I've actually been enjoying no surrender a great

deal I've not talked a lot about it The show

is kind of waiting to try to get to its very

end and this is not the last issue But it pretty

much wraps up the majority of the story. It seems

like 690 It's really gonna be more of a day new

mall trying to tying some pieces together This

is where the bulk of the action meets it meets

its climax And I just love the story a lot because

love is maybe a strong word I've enjoyed the

story a lot because it just reminded me of why

I enjoy the Avengers as characters. It feels

very much like an updated version of Secret Wars

or a type of annual you would get in the 80s.

Some of the best Marvel's writers have kind of

come together and you have people like Mark Waid

and Al Ewing and putting their minds together

and each of those, Greg Pak, and they all have

different... Strength when it comes to writers

certain characters that they can do better than

others And I think they've been able to do kind

of combined forces to do something special I

love how this entire series has been able to

make room and give a lot of minor characters

some huge spotlights from living lightning to

Quicksilver to the rogue It feels like a lot

of the characters have in new character Voyager.

I've had opportunity to shine And I love how

this the utilized Grandmaster where it's very

much a callback to previous Avengers storyline

with Hawkeye where he utilizes the pick a hand

to beat Grandmaster and this Poker plays around

them and I thought that was a lot of fun. So

it's like these never -ending huge gigantic battles

and then it all comes down to a hand of poker

and being able to bluff you out of a situation

or maybe not buff your weight out situation.

So if you're our Avengers fan, this is not a

good issue to jump in on. Go back and maybe when

this is finally collected and read it and enjoy

it, it's, you know, this is not the most sophisticated

story in the world. It's not rewriting the book

and how to tell a superhero story. It's just

like, okay, remember those Avengers stories we

really liked? What if we did one of those? And

that's what it's been doing. So, you know, Jason

Ehring's gonna be taking this over shortly, but

I think, you know. I have not loved a lot of

the Avengers stuff before this. I did not love

Mark Rage 1. I didn't really read much of the

other Avengers stories, though I did enjoy Occupy

Avengers when it did exist. But I think this

kind of combined it all and told something really

special. So yeah, kudos to Marvel because I did

not think a weekly Avengers story would work.

I don't know how well it sold but when it came

to quality even art the art was great, especially

this issue and Considering it was a weekly series

didn't have any delays the art remained consistent

even when the artist changed like this was a

Work of magic when it came to writing art and

editorial kind of making this all work They had

it planned out really well, and you don't see

that a lot with Marvel today's day and age So

when you do kind of have to give him a tip of

the hat, so But yeah, and guess what? It's a

new week, so what does that mean? We'll be talking

about our Jeff Lemire book, because that's what

we do here at The Comic Conjurers, we're everywhere

we can, and this week it's Black Hammer, Age

of Doom, as this series returns, and I'm so happy

that it's come back. We've talked about, Greg

Babler and myself talked about volume one and

volume two of Black Hammer previously. Since

then, we've gotten a lot of the spin -off series,

like... Sherlock Frankenstein and Dr. Starr both

of which I've enjoyed a lot now though we are

getting Black Hammer age of doom number one and

To make sure people are aware. This is a continuation

aware volume to left off. This isn't a new storyline

This isn't another spin -off. This is continuing

that story from the very moment where Black Hammer's

daughter takes his hammer and raises it and remembers

everything and we see what happens next. I will

say, you know, this is an issue I've been waiting

for for some time. I've been really anticipating

it since Black Hammer ended, really hoping for

something great. And I think we got a good issue,

but I was actually surprised where this was much

more low key than I was anticipating. And I,

you know, being a fan of Jeff Lemire, I should

have known better, but. There was actually not

a huge amount of story for this issue, which

is not necessarily a bad thing This has not been

a series that was been built upon plot. It's

been built upon character So I should know better

but what we see is like it kind of just setting

the table for what's going next and speaking

of which majority of this issue or our characters

sitting around a kitchen table just having a

conversation with one another and coming into

realization that they need to take charge of

the situation that they're in and figure out

what exactly is happening and why they're stuck

in this town. So it, and then then we see that

a black camera starter is transported to another

dimension or something of that nature. We're

not sure what exactly happens and what it means,

but Again, a lot of mystery is solved. It seems

like every time you think something's gonna happen

or we're gonna get answers, nope. More questions

are raised. So I'm really curious where this

is going. Not saying this was a bad issue, this

was a good issue. This has been a slow burn from

the beginning and that's not changing by any

means, but. Yeah, I guess by the end of it. I

was actually kind of surprised I'm like, oh wow,

I thought there would be more and at first I

was a little bit disappointed But if I went back

and kind of realized what it was doing it ended

up enjoying it So I will say again, this is not

a good issue to jump in on even though it's a

new number one That seems to be a kind of dark

horses mantra where they kind of split everything

up into miniseries. So This isn't a good entry

point for Black Hammer Highly advise reading

the first volumes first before jumping into this

because you're going to ruin it for yourself

and don't do that because black camera has been

one of the best series on the shelves. This is

not, I think, one of the best issues and necessary

issue in order to get to the next point in the

story. All right, let's move over to the world

of dynamite for James Bond the body number four

and I've been really liking in this miniseries

The James Bond books have been inconsistent.

It's really been dependent upon who's writing

them, which obviously makes sense But I liked

what Warren Ellis did Alex Kant who's writing

this had a good idea. It's yeah It's a gigantic

gimmick, but it's a gimmick that's worked each

issue has focused on a different part of the

body Or the what makes up James Bond from his

actual body to his head to his gut, and this

one specifically focused in on the heart. This

is also, of all the issues in this miniseries

so far, the one that's been tied to the previous

ones the most. The other ones were more so standalone.

This one is to a certain extent, but there are...

Callbacks to the events of the previous issue,

which I wasn't necessarily expecting but it's

still pretty good But the premise of this is

the sense that James Bond is attempted almost

killed by an assassin Based upon what he did

with the previous issue. He is able to get away.

But within that he is briefly wounded but luckily

he's found by a person who is this former doctor

who's Stationed out in the cabin brings him brings

him to his cabin nurses him and they kind of

strike up a relationship Not a sexual relationship

just to make that clear it's kind of just back

and forth with one another and You know for James

Bond book. This is just conversation for the

most part it starts it sets itself up and I'm

thinking oh this is gonna be like skyfall the

end of skyfall where they start homologuing the

office their cabin thinking that this assassin

is gonna be coming to come get him and I will

say it ends up going a different route than I

expected but what I think has been really effective

about this series so far is rounding the Qualities

of the character of James Bond, you know, we

know everyone knows who James Bond is probably

the most popular character Considering how long

he's been around but sometimes his his Development

can be skin deep or you know, he's not the most

complicated character in the world This is showing

that he can be if approached well, and I thought

this was a really good issue One of the best

of the series so far. I didn't love the last

issue. I thought it was okay This is one of the

one I really appreciated In its approach and

had really strong conversation out Scott the

writer. He can write some really good dialogue

It's a it's a underrated trait, but he's really

good at it I've enjoyed some of his stuff some

of some of it I've not loved as much like he's

doing days of hate right now, which I've enjoyed

here and there I've depending upon the issue,

but this has been working really well So I'm

curious to see where this goes next So if you

are a huge James Bond fan, I would say even if

you're not a huge James Bond fan This is something

I'd recommend picking up Staying World of Dynamite,

let's go to John Wick number two, and this has

been a book that's been, a lot of people have

been anticipating for some time. The first issue

came out way back in September, and now it's

kind of been delayed and delayed for some time.

I'm not really sure why exactly. You know, it's

a licensed book, so maybe things didn't happen.

But this is written by Greg Peck and drawn by...

Giovanni Valenta, which I'm probably pronouncing

horribly wrong, but it is that is about the character

of John wick and unlike James Bond I would say

that if you're not a huge John wick fan I don't

think you're really gonna enjoy this this place

takes place in the world of John wick it's I

think a prequel to the events of the actual John

wick movies and it has what you expect if you

love John wick in the kind of the Underground

world it was building all the world -building

that it did this expands upon that a little bit.

Gives us a little bit more background about the

character of John Wick. We do see that he does

have an affection for animals, even cats. And

of course, it's John wick. So there's a lot of

kick -ass action by the end of it I was actually

was surprised that there wasn't as much action

as I would think really It's waited until the

end which is kind of like the case with with

John wick when it has his action It goes in headfirst

and it usually has extended action sequences

and then moves on to the next thing and and that's

the case here and story -wise It's okay. It's

not fantastic. It's you know, it's John wick

being John wick and it's exactly what you would

want Giovanni Valencia's art, I think, does the

job well. The action sequences are well handled.

I do like the fact that we see John Wick, you

know, he utilizes some of his intelligence as

well. The art does his job, the action sequences

flow well enough. You know, this isn't a licensed

property that's like breaking the mold, like

something like the body is, it's just kind of...

Existing in the world of the movie and just kind

of expanding upon it slightly. So it's like with

that. It's enjoyable It's not a high recommend

as I indicated but if you love the first two

movies and you want more of that and You know,

who knows if we're gonna get a John wook three

or when that's gonna happen At least you have

this to rely on the biggest Hope of course is

that the third issue doesn't take 18 months to

come out as well alright, let's move over to

the world of IDW for Antar the Black Knight number

one and man did this Issue blew me out of the

water. Like I did not anticipate or Liking it

nearly as much as I did I kind of picked it up

on a whim thinking. Yeah, the cover looks interesting

I like trying new number ones doesn't look like

something doesn't look like something I would

typically associate with IDW But they've been

surprising me like the highest house. I've been

really loving that it was another great issue

this week But, Entire the Black, number one,

I'm like, okay, let's check this out, and by

the end of it, I'm like, wow, this was really

in the running for my recommendation of the week.

A very unique news storyline, and what I was

really impressed by was how much story was packed

into this first issue. And I was thinking by

the end of it, I'm like, oh, this must be an

extended first issue. Sometimes you see that,

especially with any issues where the typical

22 to 28 pages, it's 30, 45, just to add in more

story. But no, it's normal length. It's only

32 pages long by the end of everything. And still,

within those pages, a lot was said. And as the

title will indicate, it does. Focus on the character

of an tar who is the slave who was pointed to

slavery? But the beginning of it actually focuses

on her his mother who was a runner and by that

meaning she would run from location to location

passing on different messages because she was

quick she had quick feet and she was able to

get to location location faster than most but

she is eventually captured and put into slavery

and some horrible things happened to her including

one of the Slave owners taking her and be using

her to have a child and even though that child

is his son he ends up he Antares still put into

a slave and considered a slave because his mother

is so it's got an interesting dynamic within

that And we also learned a little bit more entire

about the world he resides in the trial and tribulations

that he's he's facing And I think really the

use of first -person narrative or narration allowed

for the story to flow really well. You were able

to kind of combine both of those, the flashback

sequences with the present day very fluidly,

that they were tied together really well. And

also I have to say the art of Eric Battle, and

that should indicate that this is written by,

I'm gonna pronounce this incorrectly, Nanide

Okafor, pronounce that incorrectly, I apologize,

but most likely, that I knew neither of them

before going into this. I didn't know much about

this. Actually going into this, I thought this

was... a situation where IDW took a comic from

Europe or Asia or something of that nature and

decided, oh, we're gonna translate that for American

audiences, which tends to happen, but no, this

is an original property and man, it's fantastic.

Work of Eric battle was really great. There's

a specific sequence where we see Antar kind of

go toe -to -toe with a lion and on the covers

I'm not giving anything away, but that sequence

was something else and Just he's it's got a unique

look to it And if you are a fan of European comics

it has a similar style to that even with the

coloring So I would highly recommend this if

you want something that is outside the realm

outside the norm. It's got that epic type of

quality thinking of something like Ben Hur, you

know, taking place in this far off land. So I'm

really looking forward to this, seeing where

it's going. I love it when that happens when

you just try a new series to see if it's gonna

be any good and you're like, wow, that was freaking

amazing. And that was the case here. And not

only do I have a great series to look forward

to, some new creators that will be now on my

radars, I'll be looking forward to see what else

they do next. Also coming out this week was her

infernal descent number one from aftershock comics

written by Zach Thomas and Laurie Nadler and

drawn by Kyle Charles and This was a book I'll

say that it took me a little bit to really find

my footing with you know halfway through them

like I don't know if I can continue with this

it's just there's a lot of dialogue to it and

I was a little bit lost but It tells the story

of a woman and it opens up and you see that she's

very distraught and we learned that she lost

some family and then she's haunted by the ghost

of William Blake and she informs him he informs

her that Her family is in hell and facing, you

know ultimate peril, but she can go try to save

them. So she does that just that like a Dante's

Inferno asked type of storyline where she actually

travels into hell to try to help her family and

free them from the bondage that they're undergoing.

And it's a search in looking for them. And throughout

that search in this first issue, she runs into

another number of different literary figures

from John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost to

Edgar Allan Poe to classic philosophers, even

Jimi Hendrix makes an appearance. And I think,

you know, if you're someone who is Literature

nerd or you probably appreciate this much more

than I did in the references that was making

much of this I think went over my head. I'll

be honest. I'm Clearly not smart enough for everything

within this book But what where I struggled with

it at beginning was that it does drop you right

in like, you know She is haunted by this ghost

that she doesn't seem to really pay that much

attention to or is that surprised by she goes

into hell and it just like it drops you right

into this world and you're kind of having to

buy things right away which is not necessarily

a bad thing but just trying to figure out where

exactly this was going the point of it and kind

of got lost in a lot of the dialogue you know

or sorry William Blake does speak in verse so

that did get a little bit Tiresome in a way but

once you kind of get the flow of it and you kind

of get used to get an understanding of where

it's going by the end I was actually you know

if I bought in and I think if I read we read

it a second time I probably would appreciate

it more and enjoy it more and I would say that

my issues were I think more so user error or

not I should say it's not the quality of the

book or the execution of it it's just because

I wasn't picking up what it was putting down

and I Think a lot of people really enjoy this.

I think some might be taken aback buy it because

of, you know, how deep it is in the world of

literature. So if that's not your thing, that

might not work for everyone. But I do like Zack

Thompson a lot as a writer. He wrote the drags.

He also wrote Cable that came out this week,

which was actually quite good, but didn't have

the time to talk about it. But yeah, I think,

you know, Aftertalk's been doing a lot of inventive

things and this is another new series from them

that I'm looking forward to. And I'm thinking

I'll like the second issue even more now that

I have a better understanding of what exactly

this is trying to do. Also out this week was

infinity eight number two from line forged comics

I talked about the first issue a few weeks ago

and I really liked it it takes place in the future

infinity eight is the name of the spaceship and

The main character agent Yoko Karen was most

of this has been her Basically spacewalking as

the ship was coming into crash course with this

civilization that was destroyed it was almost

as if like a planet was Blown blown blew up and

the remnants of which are just floating into

space So she's been spending most of these two

issues exploring that. The issue is there's an

alien race that is on that Infinity 8 that has

this unyielding desire to eat. decaying material

and that includes like this world that is there

now with these dead creatures and much of this

issue is actually just a chase as there's a character

that's trying to take her out which I didn't

fully understand the reasoning behind that quite

yet. I don't know if it's just because of what

they're facing or what exactly is going on but

I did really enjoy this a lot and a lot of it

is because of the art of Dominique Betrayal a

betrayal does the character designs in the this

world? It reminds me of something like HP Lovecraft

in a way. It's very tongue -in -cheek in its

execution, but the Creativity that's on display

is insane is just every move from one thing to

the next which is ever I'm just impressed by

just the versatility that he's shown as a writer

within these first two issues and I've really

liked the look of it has almost like a retro

feel I almost felt like reading it like it remind

me somewhat of I'm like all red not in the execution

per se but in the sense of it has a timeless

quality to it that Still feels a little retro

even with the character design like she's this

astronaut with like this gigantic helmet She

almost looks like it and like the female version

of Adam strange in a way So if you like something

like that one of like an updated version of a

character like that You know sci -fi flashed

Gordon other but with a little bit more of a

mature take to it Mature in the sense of there

isn't in the whole meaning a lot of different

things because there's nudity At least it wasn't

the first issue not much not much in this but

it doesn't shy away from the sex either So, uh,

yeah, this has been a lot of fun. I've enjoyed

this I I didn't know what to expect of it with

issue one, but I'm really liking this Like it

is indicated. This was just really more of an

action -packed issue looking forward to see where

it goes next All right. Well, let's move over

to the world of image comics for infidel number

two, and I really like the first issue of infidel

and it takes place in New York City and centers

on this Muslim family and they're residing in

this apartment complex that previously was the

area of a terrorist attack and lives were lost

but they're still living now people are starting

to move back and live there and the complicated

matters even more the grandmother Not a big fan

of the the Muslim less style and his kind of

litter feelings been known in more ways than

one What I really liked about the first issue

with that I thought there's a lot of drama within

the story outside of the fact that it was a horror

book You know that like I felt like even without

the oral elements you had enough there Which

to me is a good sign of a horror book This issue

was much more focused on the horror pieces, which

makes sense as the main character is seeing all

these decaying figures and ghostly images, they

seem to be haunting her. She's not curious because

her medication's not working or if it's an actual

true -life ghost, but this really brings them

up to a new level. I also like the fact that...

with this issue that the grandmother gets a little

bit more dimension to her. We find out that maybe

she isn't as big, doesn't have as much prejudice,

or maybe she has grown and realizes kind of the

fault of her ways. And if you're a horror fan,

you typically know what that means. If someone's

actually making growth, it's not a good sign

for their future. Or at least that's what it

seems like. But, you know, there's a lot of horror

comics out there. And what I like about this

one, in some ways, just something like Gideon

Falls, is that it... Succeeds on establishing

atmosphere and you know, there are a lot of like

sequences where we see these insane looking creatures

and faces and Like that just kind of it just

keeps you on edge throughout even even when they're

just having conversation You never know when

it's going to pop up, but it's not necessarily

a jump scare more So like kind of just like what

is it just almost intrigue, but scary intrigue

in a way So I this is what I think even a better

issue than the first one. So if you're looking

for a new horror comic to kind of jump into,

I think you could jump into this one well enough

and understand what was happening without reading

the first issue, but I would advise going back

because it's been a really solid series. So,

you know, Image has a lot of great books out

right now. As I mentioned, Gideon Falls, and

I think though this may not have the name recognition

of some of those other ones, I think it's executed

just as well. Speaking of which another new image

series debuted this week with skyward number

one And if you're looking to get me hooked into

a series right away Skyward number one is did

a pretty good job of that because I thought the

opening of this book was really true strong It

really set the stage of like holy crap what what

just happened this takes place in a world where

Earth stops functioning like it should for some

reason gravity stops working It's like even less

than the moon so you could literally float away

if you don't Tie yourself down to something and

with that a lot of destruction has occurred So

we get an opening story where we kind of see

the day it happened, but then it flashed forwards

a few years really decades later where the world

has kind of been able to reestablish yourself

and people seem to be functioning somewhat normally

and this new fountain norm where gravity doesn't

work nearly as well and A lot of this issue.

I think was mostly built upon like kind of establishing

that idea our main character Character and seems

to be a messenger that travels from location

to location Which is a good way to utilize the

functionality of this world almost feels like

this is destined to be a video game in some time

and just to see how people function and Like

how things happen how you get from place to place

how you deliver goods? How guns are not utilized

the way you would expect them to be? You get

a little bit of a character development in this

not a huge amount if anything I would say that's

the one thing that was somewhat missing But is

certainly can be built upon Moving forward you

also don't really know why it happened. There's

a lot of questions in the sense of like why isn't

gravity working? How does that function? How

exactly is the world seems to be somewhat normal?

It's not like people are starving to death There's

no it doesn't seem like like, you know, this

is not a dystopian future or anything like that

But then it's like well, how are people planning

food? What happened to all the animals? There's

a lot of questions that aren't fully answered

yet Like what about water like the ocean like

it seems like that shouldn't work. You know,

I don't know. I'm not or I'm not scientifically

as proficient maybe as I should be. So a lot

of those questions have not been answered or

raised yet, but you know, it's only the first

issue. But I really enjoyed it. I think it also

is, you know, it's limited on dialogue, so it's

a really quick read and utilizing the art a lot.

And the movement is really solid too. I think

the weightlessness is portrayed effectively.

So, you know, like I said, there's... Images

the last few months has been pumping out a lot

of big number ones This isn't to me on a top

of the list, but it's a it's one I'm certainly

gonna be keeping with and hoping that it you

know continues to take this premise and Utilize

it. Well, all right. Well, I got one more book

to talk about and that's about of saying number

two from Oni comics All right. Well, let's get

to the last issue of today with the ballad of

saying number two brought to us by od comics

The first issue was I think fine enough it had

somewhat of a familiar premise where we see there

is this kid who's also deaf who was a Hitman

for the mob because he's prolific when it comes

to martial arts do some things that cause problems

and his requires him to go on the run to avoid

being kind of killed by people he he basically

went too far with and the problems that arise

and the second issue continues from there where

you see him on the run and people are after him

and he ends up befriending a lady who takes him

in and it's like you know something like porn

identity or something like that where someone

tries to help and gets caught up in the middle

of it everything too and I just like the back

and forth I like that even though she's not a

ninja like he is she does know how to hold his

own, but really I think what makes this work,

if you're a martial arts fan and you like those

type of movies, it's taking that idea and just

making it into a comic book form and with kind

of over the top characters and the people chasing

him are like this metal band ninjas and they're

like dedicated to metal and crazy mohawks and

crazy design, so it's almost like the Warriors

meets comic book. Superheroes meets martial arts

movie. So it's just kind of it's a lot of fun

the art The action is fantastic. Like like I

said with John with number two that that was

good, but this was on another level so I think

if you like John Wick, I think this is actually

much better. It's a fun story. Like I said, it's

not Revenge of the Wheel. It's effective in doing

what it's set out to do. It's a good palette

cleanser if you're just looking for something

fun, kind of crazy. I had advice picking this

up because this is certainly written by people

that are fans of the martial arts genre and are

getting their character to exist within that.

I think that's okay. I think it's a lot of fun

if if you're a person that like loves kill bill

if you're a person who who loves those like in

a over -the -top Japanese Asian martial arts

films You you got a comic for you pick it up

again. It's from only press So they do have an

eclectic group of comics and doesn't necessarily

to me seem at first like it only press comic

because of the large amount of violence, but

you know, they do tend to branch out here and

there. So I will be continuing with this and

I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes

next. But that will bring us to the end of today's

episode Like I said, there's a lot of books to

talk about and I could have talked about a lot

more But don't want to waste too much of your

time There's a lot of fun things planned if you're

not listening to it I recently spoke with Mark

Russell the writer of the Flintstones extra state

flesh that snaggle putch Chronicles prez and

upcoming judge dread series You can check that

out if you go back and look at the episode feed

upcoming I'm gonna be continuing my conversation

from Matt with some holistic reviews over Howard

County we're going to be talking about volume

2 and also and coming weeks I'll be speaking

with Matt Fridley from My Fellow Cinema Geek

from the Cinema Geek Podcast about Silver Surfer.

That was a fun comic conversation. I'm looking

forward to people hearing that. And some more

things planned that I think you will all enjoy.

If you want to interact with the show, there's

a lot of ways to do so. You can send us an email

at feedback at geecastradio .com or movierevolt

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Just search to Comic Concierge. You can also

go to the episode post at geecastradio and early

.co .uk. Also, you know, want to be cool and

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appreciate that but ultimately that's the end

for this week remember that comics are for everyone