Jacked #1

I can think of few things to be more thankful for than the overflowing cornucopia of consummate creator-owned comics we’ve been bountifully blessed with this year, of which Jacked already stands among the best.

Justice League of America #5

The blame falls mostly on myself. I’ve made impulsive purchases before, and ought to have learned my lesson by now. Not only so, but all the resources to inform me of my impending purchase were a single click away. But, instead of taking the time to confirm the name of the issue’s writer and artist,…

Star Wars #12

  According to Zeno’s Dichotomy Paradox, in a footrace between the much quicker Achilles and a much slower tortoise, wherein the later starts with a lead, Achilles could never hope to catch the tortoise.  Indeed, no matter how long he runs, he could never even reach the starting point from which the tortoise began the…

Vader Down #1

Yoda lied.  In the murky swamps of Dagobah, Luke inquired of the wizened Jedi, “Is the Dark Side stronger?”  Yoda assured the fledgling knight that it was easier, more seductive, but not stronger. Yoda and his former student Obi-Wan have been known to tell the truth “from a certain point of view.”  But for viewers…

Huck #1

Mark Millar is the master of reinvention. After reinventing Earth mightiest heroes The Avengers into America’s mightiest military branch in The Ultimates, he went on to give the world his own version of the Justice League (Jupiter’s Legacy), James Bond (The Secret Service), Flash Gordon (Starlight), Doc Brown and Marty (Chrononauts), and too many other…

Black Knight #1

Black Knight is not a terrible character, nor is Black Knight #1 a terrible story.  But it is an example of terrible storytelling. One of the more baffling trends in the modern age of comics has been the proliferation of the first-person narration boxes as a storytelling devise.  A synthesis of the third-person narration boxes…

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Held up in some abandoned Soviet mining facility was the enemy, a Templar-esq secret society called Trinity with ties to the Vatican and roots back at least as far as the Crusades.  They may not have been as nefarious as the Nazis that other archaeologists frequently faced, but for Lara the conflict was personal: one…

Superman: American Alien #1

Alienation, paradoxically, is one of the most universal human emotions. It is no great leap of logic  that led to the fictional aliens of literature and cinema being appropriated as metaphors and megaphones for creators to opine on the subject of alienation to their audience.  And as popular culture’s most well known alien, it likewise…

All-New, All-Different Avengers #1

“There came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat.  On that day, the Avengers were born – to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand!  Heed the call, then – for now, Avengers Assemble!” These are the iconic lines which preamble innumerable issues…

The Ultimates #1

The Ultimates is a name which carries heavy expectations.  Just as Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight redefined the character of Batman for thirty years since (in large part for leading to Year One, upon which Batman Begins had its foundation, and more recently being the main influence behind Dawn of Justice and the DC Cinematic…