In 2021 I set a goal to post reviews here for 1,000 comics, and finished the year at 1,008 reviews. It was a stretch - - not to read that many comics, because I actually read quite a bit more. The challenge is to find and take the time to write a fair review of what I read - - but I made it. I’m up for a new year, and a new challenge. My goal for 2022 is to read and document 1,200 comics. That’s an average of 100 books per month, easy enough to check and update. Wish me luck!
# GOAL FOR JANUARY 20, 2022 . . . 67 comics documented
CURRENT COUNT . . . . . 62 comics documented
I don’t know if this is really intended for young adult readership, but I got that feeling as I read the first issue. It’s a little too cutesy with the goofy one-liners, especially the star-struck reactions of the Legion when they meet the League. The art also says to me - - - “teen appeal”. I don’t know why I make these snap judgments, but I’m just sharing with you my feelings as I read this. The beginnings of a good story are here, for sure, but maybe I am once again not the intended audience.
In the 31st century the Legion stop the advance of a gigantic space creature. Before they can wrap up and return to their Earth, a “darkness outbreak” occurs that turns all the lights off. When they come back, only two-thirds of Triplicate Girl are remaining in their timeline. On present day Earth, a similar event occurs and Wonder Woman seems most affected by it, experiencing a great force trying to pull her away.
Triplicate Girl #3 shows up in the Justice League timeline, the process having aged her several decades. Shortly after, Jon Kent (Superman, “the first son of the last sone of Krypton”) escorts the Legion to Earth Now so they can work with the Justice League on a solution to the darkness threat. THREE AND ONE -HALF STARS.
#51 SHE-HULK #1 (Marvel, March 2022)
A fresh start after the big Avengers storyline featuring She-Hulk. As the credits page says: “She’s been in the Fantastic Four. She’s been an Avenger. She’s had the powers of a Celestial. But all that’s over. So, now what?”
Issue #1 appears to be a light-hearted, slightly humorous fresh start as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk/former attorney seeks to find a meaningful beginning. But not before being confronted by Titania, who wants to start a fight.
Then, off to the new job working under an arrogant attorney,
getting an extravagant apartment from Janet Van Dyne, and the formerly dead Jack Of Hearts making an appearance. Well, okay. THREE STARS.
#52 SILVER SURFER REBIRTH #1 (Marvel, March 2022)
It’s so great to see veteran artist Ron Lim illustrating the Silver Surfer once again. With veteran writer Ron Marz at the helm, I’m expecting big things from this mini-series.
A Kree spaceship about to be sucked into a giant black hole. Legacy, the son of the original Captain Mar-Vell. An assist from the Silver Surfer / Norrin Radd. Legacy has questions about his father, whom the Surfer was an acquaintance of.
Suddenly, a barrier appears broken and Surfer and Mar-Vell (now a cancer survivor) are back together against a planetary invasion by the Skrull War Machine. Enter Thanos, the Mad Titan. Color me interested.
THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
Skottie Young is also a great choice to write this, which appears to be a slightly less-than-serious tale of young sorcery students - - kind of a Marvel version of Hogwarts Academy. A big cast of characters here and plenty of side stories to make it interesting.
Calvin, sort of a misfit student, suddenly develops some magical powers which surprise his roommate Alvi when they engage in combat training. Calvin has been getting help from the mysterious and interesting Gaslamp and his puppeteer crony. Dormammu’s kid Doyle has a troubled relationship with Emily (also being wooed with no results by an irritating Iric) and contemplates leaving the school.
Young adult readers should eat this up. Not bad. I’m glad I sampled it. THREE STARS.
#54 - #58 MAD CAVE STUDIOS I posted a review of five Mad Cave #1 issues on this blog for Thursday, January 20.
A historic blizzard is blasting New York City and the town begins to evacuate to warmer climes in New Jersey and Connecticut. A group of young hipsters in the gentrified Williamsburg section of Brooklyn decide to stay and hold a party in an apartment building.
While walking along the snowy, abandoned streets to the party Idaho, a microbrewer who utilizes unlikely and potentially dangerous ingredients in his craft beer, finds an unusually shaped snowman. That turns out to be a frozen human underneath, who Idaho promptly carries to a shopping cart and brings him into the party to help revive him. This starts a turn of events when frozen humanoid creatures menace the party-goers, especially after the lights and heat turn off.
These turn out to be fungus-based creatures (so why the emphasis on snow?) and wouldn’t you know it - - that skunky beer might hold the resolution to the problem.
Many of these characters are caricatures of artistic types and not very likable, except for the pregnant ex-nursing student and her former dorm buddy, estranged but brought together in crisis. How nice, there is a happy ending but not before many have suffered. Perhaps including some readers. THREE STARS.
#60 LUNAR ROOM #2 (Vault, January 2022) The most annoying thing about this urban fantasy series (more werewolf, please!) is the subheadings announcing the beginning of a new chapter every time the scene changes, usually within two pages. Couldn’t the writer just ask for a small text box with location and time, etc?
We learn a little more about this strange world in Issue #2, but not as much as I hoped would be included. Cynthia (“Sin”) Breaker hopes she has found the mage (Zac Zero) who can restore her werewolf powers on a permanent basis and grows impatient when he can’t It’s all related to the Lunar Room shard, and we get a bit of history/flashback related to the Shard (a piece of a mystical sword) and the Knowing, the secret organization protecting it.
Angie, the enforcer/protection money collector employed by baddie Gloria has a new recruit, who learns the hard way not to bend the rules.
Sin wants her former powerful self back. Gloria wants to prevent that. (She and Sin have some similar facial features. Huh.) Zac just wants to employ Sin and the Shard to help him become the most power mage. I guess I like this enough to pre-order Issue #3. Then, we’ll see. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
This issue is popping with familiar faces (although all the names have been changed to avoid copyright issues): Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino’s blaxploitation film character), Steve McQueen (circa bike-riding The Great Escape days, complete with leather jacket), and Yul Brynner (in Westworld gunslinger garb).
A fugue state for Bruce, who looks like Bruce Lee with his Elvis wig off and a lot like the profile in the G-Men’s wanted folder; human constructs resembling dead celebrities; a bag lady with grenades; a conspiratorial robber baron; a band of female mercenaries; a skeletal zap gun; more Molly and Bobby Driver. It’s a bit much. Don’t think I’ll keep going, although the impulse bug might just twist my arm if I spot Issue #3 staring back at me. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
Even though I have a fondness for clever twist endings in crime/horror comics, this story wasn’t close to the level of KILLIAMSBURG. Any story I consider above average (higher than Three Stars, to be specific) is worth a second reading, if only for the entertainment value. When something new to appreciate comes forth on repeat readings, then that is the mark of an above average comic.
Sadly, I had the twist figured out the first time I read this though I did not anticipate the exact ending.
Villagers in a swampy bayou town have heard stories for decades of an old woman living deep in the swamp, one of the “brujas” who steal children, kill and cook them, bathe in their blood and fat, etc. When the latest in a series of young children disappearances occurs, a vigilante party goes out in search of the missing girl and a confrontation with the old woman. Only the interference of the local sheriff keeps them from turning into a lynch mob.
There just aren't enough pages here to develop much characterization or a reason to care. This was a really short short story. TWO AND ONE-HALF STARS.
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