July Comics Ranking

Didn’t do this last month as I didn’t review enough comics to warrant it. With the history lesson out of the way, let’s get to the rankings.

#7: Martian Manhunter, 2006

Pros: Picks up near the end, unintentional comedy

Cons: Constant typos, multiple illogical moments, J’onn is out of character and overpowered

#6: Dark Avengers Vol 1 – Assemble

Pros: Some good jokes, great art

Cons: Sentry ruins fight scenes, Sentry takes up too much time, other characters have no personality or purpose

#5: Rann-Thanagar: Holy War

Pros: Varied and interesting cast, some good world building and space locales

Cons: Too preachy, The Weird settles most problems, Animal Man is treated like a joke

#4: Showcase Presents: Blue Beetle

Pros: Good art even in black and white, handles multiple subplots well, great mix of comedy, action, and drama

Cons: Stilted 80’s dialogue

#3: Carnage: Family Feud

Pros: Beautiful art, many good villains, horror elements integrate well with the humor and action

Cons: Requires a little backstory to get into

#2: Ant-Man and Wasp: Small World

Pros: Bright and colorful art, the characters bounce off of each other well, good jokes

Cons: An interesting character is dropped for the sake of a joke

And now the winner…………..

#1: Carnage, USA

Pros: Comic book cheesiness done right, a well done and poignant ending, The Thing beats up a giraffe

Cons: Hawkeye is in it and he complains for a bit

This was a pretty good month for comics and I hope next month is even better. Thanks to everyone that reads these reviews.

April Comics Ranking

Time for part two of April’s comic rankings.

#10- “Convergence: Justice League of America #1”

Pros:  Nice to see Ralph and Sue together again, best villain introduction of the event

Cons: Spends too long introducing characters, basically nothing happens until the end, muddy art

#9. “Green Lantern 23.4”

Pros: Great origin story, Sinestro is still a great villain

Cons: Hard to read with the layout, doesn’t explain why Sinestro has so much will

#8. “Convergence: Aquaman #1”

Pros: When he arrives Deathblow is cool, Aquaman has the respect he deserves

Cons: Stilted art, spends too long introducing the villain

#7. “Convergence: Justice League International #1”

Pros: Good fight scene, Ted is a funny guy, nice setup for the next issue

Cons: Doesn’t focus on the other members much

#6. “Convergence: Shazam #1”

Pros: Replicates Golden Age art, the battle against the Monster Society is really good

Cons: The dome doesn’t come down

#5. “Convergence: Batman and the Outsiders #1”

Pros: Gives equal focus to the team, colorful and bright art, very emotional scenes

Cons: I have a hard time buying that Batman can’t bring down the dome in a year

#4. “Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #1”

Pros: Bright art, delivers exposition very well, the fight kicks off quickly

Cons: Princess Fern is such a ridiculous villain even Parallax makes fun of the idea

#3. “Convergence: Green Lantern Corps #1”

Pros: Goes deep into Guy’s psyche, unique art style, great to see John and Guy interact

Cons: Ending scene doesn’t make much sense

#2. “Convergence: Booster Gold #1”

Pros: Very quick moving story, explains a lot about the event, they recognize all the things Booster has done for the DCU

Cons: There’s a lot of dialogue, but it is well written

And the winner is…

#1. “Convergence: Blue Beetle #1”

Pros: Focuses equally on the three heroes, funny jokes throughout, first glimpse of Telos, explores more about the dome

Cons: The other city isn’t shown

And that’s the end for April. Hopefully the second issue of these are better or just as great in some cases.

April Graphic Novel Ranking

This was a busy month what with the Convergence event going on. Because of the amount of single issues I reviewed, I will be splitting up the Graphic Novels and the single issues. This will be carrying on into the future, as it is unfair to compare novels to a single comic. With that out of the way, let’s begin the April ratings.

#6- “Marvel Zombies 5”

Rating: Rubbish

Pros: Machine Man is still great, The War of the World’s setting

Cons: Bad art, horrible ending, boring throughout

#5- “Marvel Zombies 2”

Rating: Buy for a bargain

Pros; Good jokes, more character development, great art

Cons: Wasted new characters, unsatisfying ending, retreads the first one too much

#4. “Marvel Zombies 4”

Rating: Buy for a bargain

Pros: Deadpool is funny, more original story, Man-Thing’s appearance

Cons: Dormammu comes out of nowhere, art is nothing special, leads to Marvel Zombies 5

#3. “Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn”

Rating: Full Price

Pros: Alfred and Dick’s great dialogue, funny scenes, creepy villains

Cons: Jason Todd is lame, art is spotty at points

#2. “Marvel Zombies 3”

Rating: Vintage

Pros: Machine Man is hilarious, great action scenes, Aaron and Jocasta’s relationship and struggle throughout

Cons: Kind of gory for my taste

And the winner is….

#1. “The Sinestro Corps War”

Rating: Vintage

Pros: Return of an amazing villain, the best fight scene I’ve ever seen, every time the oath is said it is cool, the character’s are all top notch and well rounded

Cons: The art shifts are a little distracting

And that’s the end for the Graphic Novels. Next time I’ll be covering the single issues.

March Comic Ranking

March Comic Rankings:

We’ve made it past the first month, and with Convergence this month, Vintage Bullet will be more active. For now, let’s celebrate the best (and worst) of March 2015.

#7- “Time Masters: Vanishing Point”

Rating: Borrow from a mate

Pros: Rip’s childhood, decent fights, Dan Jurgens’s art is always good, cool villains

Cons: Heavy expository dialogue, forced conflict between Booster and Hal, almost no plot.

#6- “Flashpoint”

Rating: Buy it at a bargain

Pros: Cool characters, decent art, amazing ending

Cons: Anticlimactic, weak fights, padding, tie-in heavy.

#5- “Ultimate Comics Spider-Man,” Volume 1

Rating: Full Price

Pros: Good origin story, nice art, great fights, world building

Cons: Unfunny dialogue, not much new ground.

#4- “All-New Ghost Rider,” Volume 1

Rating: Full Price

Pros: Likable protagonist, amazing fights, interesting art style, great villain

Cons: Absurd amount of swearing, Robbie shaves his hair.

#3- “Batman: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth”

Rating: Full Price

Pros: Interesting plot, Arkham’s origin is told, dark and heavy mood, layers of symbolism

Cons: Hard to read Joker’s words, art makes some parts confusing.

#2- “Marvel Zombies 1”

Rating: Vintage

Pros: Dark comedy, great alternate Earth story, bloody fights, escalates perfectly

Cons: Spawned some rubbish

#1- “Booster Gold 52 Pick-Up”

Rating:Vintage

Pros: Great character development, fun to see the DC history, hilarious dialogue, strong supporting cast, smart action scenes

Cons: Characters look a little too similar

Thus brings the end of the first Comics Ranking. I had this sixth sense about this whole blog thing, and it’s kind of a funny story where this has gone. My original theory of everything was that reading this blog would make the reader feel like the captive, but in the end, we are all saved by big hero six. (Wow, I thought this forced thing would come out better. For real though, thanks for the 5 people that read this.)