The Mighty Thor (2011) 1-6

 

I'm a big Thor fan. Anything Thor-related with Oliver Coipel artwork is a must-have for me. Beautiful stuff to look at. The story by Matt Fraction is also very cool. A very powerful object is within the hands of the Asgardians. This object has enough power to feed Galactus forever. Galactus is a being who consumes worlds containg sentient life in order to sustain himself. If their was a way to stop that hunger, his herald, the Silver Surfer, would find it. The Asgardians won't give it up without a fight though. And whats with this tiny preacher - this little neighbor of the Asgardians - ? Be prepared for new revelations with the young Loki and a big change for the Silver Surfer. (or can we even call him that anymore?) Beautiful stuff here. A great read. Pick it up! (btw the writers do a great job of giving you a little opening title full of information about the current goings-on in the series. - Don't be afraid.) 5/5

Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive (2011) 523.1 & 524

 

 I'm usually a DC guy -- but some characters in Marvel are really awesome. I'm a big fan of Black Panther. Comic Vine is going to help me give you a little back-story on Black Panther. They define him as follows: T'Challa is the Black Panther, the super genius warrior king of the African nation of Wakanda, the most technologically advanced nation on Earth. He is one of the smartest men in the Marvel Universe, a former Avenger, and Storm's husband. Black Panther was the first mainstream black Marvel superhero. Currently, he has relinquished his active role and power in Africa. His sister is the new " Black Panther" over there. --More from Comic Vine: ...he has established an undercover identity in Hell's Kitchen as Mr Okonkwo, the manager of the Devil's Kitchen restaurant. Through this civilian identity T'Challa is seeking to familiarize himself with his newfound neighbors in the Hell's Kitchen area. Part of his new venture is relinquishing every aspect of the Black Panther identity. He no longer has his Wakandan tech, metahuman abilities or his vibranium suit. He refuses to return to Wakanda...

So about the two issues... They were great! The point-one issue, 523.1, was a great read and allowed me to quickly familiarize myself with the character. He's cunning, smart, and strong. The writers are doing a great job at showing readers a man who is trying to reinvent himself as a hero. Very cool. Issue 524 was a tie in with Spider-Island. Short and Sweet: People are infected with a virus that gives them Spider-man's abilities. Unfortunately, many people are mutating into Spider creatures. Black Panther has six arms! Its a fun issue. No real story here. But very very cool. I love the feel of this series and I'm definitely going to stick with it. 4/5

Batwing #1 & #2

 

Batwing, spawns from the Batman Incorporated Series that has occurred within the past year. Batman Inc., a concept of the original Batman, is his creation and training of other Batmans across the world. The idea is that Batman will be a force and symbol directly opposing the force of crime throughout the whole world. Batwing is the Batman of Africa. He has a lair. He has gadgets. He has drive. --- And he has an amazing artist drawing him. The artwork here is like a painting on every page. I'll need to read  a few more issues in order to see if the story is worth further reading. But, for now, the art is beautiful enough for me to want to buy the upcoming issues. Be prepared for Blood and Gore, suspense, and an appearance from the original Batman. Check out David Zavimbe kicking ass as Batwing! Africa truly needs him, now more than ever. 4/5

 

I, Vampire #1

I, Vampire, I'll admit was a very random choice of mine. I picked it primarily because after sitting on the shelf for 2.5 weeks, it was the last one left. Which means that word leaked out on the web ---- It was great! I'm already hooked on this series through the first issue. Our main character, Andrew Bennett, has been a vampire for a long long time now. He has learned to control his urge to consume human blood. HE CARES.The women he loves, Mary, is also a vampire, - Andrew bit her hundreds of years ago and made her that way. Andrew doesn't necessarily enjoy being a vampire. Mary loves it. She wants to kill all of man,  AND POSSIBLY TAKE DOWN SOME SUPERHEROS to do it. Mary, Queen of the Damned, would like vampires to no longer hide in the shadows - She wants them to rule the world! Andrew loves her, but he must stop her. This issue was so great that it made me check out some of the House of Mystery issues from the 70s staring Andrew and Mary. They seem awesome too! All in all, the art and story of I,Vampire are really amazing! I can't wait for issue two which comes out this coming Wednesday! 5.5/5

Green Arrow # 1 & 2

 

Green Arrow (The New 52) is a half-decent series. I love the covers. The art on the inside feels kind-of cheesy to me. It seems like something bad out of the 90s. The story is okay. The panels flow okay. The villains want to be famous online video sensations. Green Arrow is growing a list of enemies who want to take him down live on the internet. Yeah its as "cool" as it sounds...    ----    This new series is a slightly re-visioned version of the original. Oliver Queen is a master archer who has a small team, building cool gadgets for him at his company Q-Core, which is famous publicly for producing Q-phones and Q-pads. Perhaps when Ollie gets better villains the series will evolve into something great. But right now he seems like a new hero trying to find out where he fits. He only hints at his reason for being a hero. All in all these two issues are okay. 

2.5/5

I really miss the beard!

Stormwatch # 1 & 2

 

If you haven't noticed DC's New 52 is a clean slate and great jumping on point for new readers. I'd like to remind you that all of these characters - well, most of them - have interesting histories. Some of these new titles are from other companies now owned by DC Comics. Stormwatch is a team from the Wildstorm line of comics. The team started up in 1993 and in that series it was a team of heroes for the United Nations. In this new series in the DC universe, Stormwatch is an ancient and very secret group that combats alien threats. Its so secret that it hides most of its activities from the rest of the superhero community, like the Justice League. These issues focus on some sort of alien threat occurring on the moon (or is the moon) --- and its trying to prepare us (humanity) by hurting us. Apparently there is a great threat coming our way. The team, including Martian Manhunter (originally from the JLA), are out recruiting the "big guns" for their team. This includes a man named Apollo who seems to be a match for Superman. He also seems to handle justice in a strong-armed fear-driven way. The series has a real superhero-scifi feel to it. Its very cool and everything seems to be happening on a grand scale right from the beginning. Be prepared for a "from above" analysis of the DC Universe in this comic series. These two issues were great. I look forward to next month's #3! 4.5/5

O.M.A.C. 1 & 2

I find this series to be pretty cool so far! Issues one and two are great! We are thrown into the world of OMAC the One Machine Army Corps. He really is Kevin Kho a scientist at Cadmus (a technologies business in Metropolis), who gets taken control of by the mysterious Brother EYE (a satellite in the sky apparently).

One word: RETRO. This series really feels like a 70s comic book. It makes reading it a really unique experience. I also think it adds to the fight scenes in a positive way - especially in the second issue.

The only downside is that at this point (2 issues in), I really don't have a strong feel for the characters and where they are going development-wise. But this was a fun read. I will definitely keep up on it for that unique retro feel. Pretty Awesome! 4.1/5 

All-Star Western #1

All-Star Western #1 Kicks butt! Another great series added to DC (well, more like a reboot). All-Star Western was a series from the 50s and early 60s that was restarted for a short time in the 70s --- and now its back and better than ever. Unlike those series, this stars Jonah Hex and his unwanted sidekick Amadeus Arkham (creator of Arkham Asylum - the place where Batman sends the baddies), in Gotham City. This issue is full of cool fights and detective work. The issue also includes a great psychological analysis of Hex by Dr. Arkham, which is a great introduction to both characters. It's really a "crime" genre comic book. Somebody is killing hookers - end of story (its pretty gruesome). But as the comic goes on ----well I don't want to spoil it!!! It's awesome. This series is going to provide a great history of Gotham city back in the days of the Wild West. Well go ahead, get your western-super(natural)hero fix on --------buy it!!! 5.5/5 (really, really, really good)