Reply With QuoteSubscribing for easy find later. I'm excited about this book. I really like Cloonan's work, but the majority of what I've seen has been in b&w. color will be neat to see.
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This week we are reading: American Virgin #1 (Vertigo) by Steven T. Seagle and Becky Cloonan, chosen by Jono
Next week we will be reading: Annihilation Prologue (Marvel) by Kieth Giffen and Scott Kolins, chosen by PeteL
Our reviewers this week are:
Jono - 8.5
Raydawggie - 8
GTAzn - 8.5
Shwicaz - 9
joespam - 8.5
JayPee - 7
itsdlevy - 8
SteveZegers - 6
Kirbys corpse - 4.5
PeteL - 9.5
Binx - 4
Akira - 6
Doug - 9
Slingy - 5
Jonny Z - 8.5
JABSEN - 7.5
The Yankee - 6
Criden - 8.7
Andreas - 4
dEnny - 5
Our Previous 16 weeks of reviews (scores lost during the Image Board crash)
Week 1 - 11/17/04 – Captain America #1
Week 2 - 11/24/04 – Flash #216
Week 3 - 12/01/04 – Darkness Vol. 2 #17 (av grade 3.7)
Week 4 - 12/08/04 – Demo #12
Week 5 - 12/15/04 - Plastic Man #13
Week 6 - 12/22/04 – Goon #10
Week 7 - 12/29/04 - Legion of Super Heroes #1
Week 8 - 01/05/05 – Flaming Carrot #1
Week 9 - 01/12/05 – Majestic #1
Week 10 - 01/19/05 – Human Target #18
Week 11 - 01/26/05 – Conan #12 (av grade 8.3)
Week 12 - 02/02/05 – Black Panther #1
Week 13 - 02/09/05 – Young Avengers #1
Week 14 - 02/16/05 – Ex Machina #8 (av grade 8.4)
Week 15 - 02/23/05 – X-Men #167
Week 16 - 03/02/05 – Ultimate Iron Man #1
Week 17 pick - Shining Knight #1 (Morrison & Bianchi) av grade - 7.8
Week 18 pick - Invincible #21 (Kirkman and Ottley) av grade - 6.3
Week 19 pick - Expatriate #1 (Moore and Latour) av grade - 5.4
Week 20 pick - Temporary #2 (Hurd & Smith) av grade - 7.4
Week 21 pick - GLA #1 (Slott and Pelletier) av grade - 6.8
Week 22 pick - Nightwing #107 (Grayson and Hester) av grade - 5.8
Week 23 pick - Iron Ghost #1 (Dixon and Cariello) av grade - 4.9
Week 24 pick - City Of Tomorrow (Howard Chaykin) av grade - 6.2
Week 25 pick - Villains United #1 (Simone and Eaglesham) av grade - 5.7
Week 26 pick - Desolation Jones #1 (Ellis and Williams III) av grade - 8.9
Week 27 pick - Guardian #2 (Morrison and Stewart) av grade - 6.1
Week 28 pick - Adv. Of Superman #640 (Rucka and Kerschl) av - 6.1
Week 29 pick - Son Of Vulcan #1 (Beatty and Grant) av grade - 3.7
Week 30 pick - JLA #115 (Johns, Heinberg, Batista) av grade - 6.9
Week 31 pick - Wildsiderz #0 (Campbell and Hartnell) av grade - 2.9
Week 32 pick - Astro City: The Dark Age #1 av grade - 7.3
Week 33 pick - Albion #1 (Moore and Oakley) av grade - 5.0
Week 34 pick - Gotham Central #33 (Rucka, Brubaker, Kano) av - 8.5
Week 35 pick - Mutopia X (Hine and Medina) av grade - 5.2
Week 36 pick - Athiest #2 (Hester and McCrea) av grade - 6.9
Week 37 pick - JLA: Classified #10 (Ellis and Guise) av grade - 6.9
Week 38 pick - Justice #1 (Ross, Krueger & Braithwaite) av grade 7.9
Week 39 pick - The Winter Men #1 (Lewis and Leon) av grade 5.3
Week 40 pick - Batman: Journey into Knight #1 (Helfer & Huat) av - 4.4
Week 41 pick - Jack Cross #1 (Ellis and Erskine) av grade 6.1
Week 42 pick - Runaways #7 (Vaughan & Miyazawa) av grade 7.8
Week 43 pick - Ghost Rider #1 (Ennis and Crain) av grade 6.4
Week 44 pick - Thor: Blood Oath #1 (Oeming and Kolins) av grade 7.1
Week 45 pick - Wolverine #32 (Millar and Andrews) av grade 8.2
Week 46 pick - Losers #28 (Diggle and Wilson) av grade 7.4
Week 47 pick - FF/I M : Big In Japan #1 (Wells & Fisher) av grade 5.6
Week 48 pick - F N Spider-Man #1 (David and Wieringo) av grade 7.3
Week 49 pick - Fin Fang Four #1 (Langridge & Grey) av grade 8.8
Week 50 pick - Book Of Lost Souls #1 (JMS & Doran) av grade 5.6
Week 51 pick - Hero At Large #2 (Hogan and Treece) av grade 6.3
Week 52 pick - DMZ #1 (Brain Wood) av grade 7.7
Week 53 pick - The Thing #1 (Slott and DiVito) av grade 7.5
Week 54 pick - Walking Dead #24 (Kirkman & Adlard) av grade 8.4
Week 55 pick - Generation M #1 (Jenkins and Bachs) av grade 7.3
Week 56 pick - Marvel Team-Up #15 (Kirkman & Medina) av grade 6.0
Week 57 pick - Amazing Joy Buzzards 2 #3 (Smith and Hipp) av grade 5.1
Week 58 pick - Testament #1 (Rushkoff and Sharp) av grade 7.4
Week 59 pick - New Avengers #14 (Bendis and Cho) av grade 7.6
Week 60 pick - Sable & Fortune #1 (Cahill and Burns) av grade 4.4
Week 61 pick - Ares #1 (Oeming and Foreman) av grade 8.2
Week 62 pick - SGT. ROCK: THE PROPHECY #1 (Joe Kubert) - 7.7
Week 63 pick - Nextwave #1 (Ellis and Immonen) av grade 9.1 Bendis deleted the thread
Week 64 pick - Betty and Veronica Digest #163 av grade 4.2
Week 65 pick - Fables #46 (Willingham and Fern) av grade 7.5
Week 66 pick - Daredevil #82 (Brubaker and Lark) av grade 9.6
Week 67 pick - Ast. X-Men #13 (Whedon & Cassaday) av grade 8.5
Week 68 pick - Ms. Marvel #1 (Reed and de la Torre) av grade 7.3
Our higest average grade so far was for Daredevil #82 with 9.6
Our lowest average grade so for is Wildsiderz #0 with 2.9
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What we do: This is a fanbased review group, open to everybody.
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Last edited by Thudpucker; 01-03-2007 at 09:02 PM.
Subscribing for easy find later. I'm excited about this book. I really like Cloonan's work, but the majority of what I've seen has been in b&w. color will be neat to see.
I am made out of water. You wouldn't know it, because I have it bound in. My friends are made out of water, too. All of them. The problem for us is that not only do we have to walk around without being absorbed by the ground but we also have to earn our livings.
-Philip K Dick
Confessions of a Crap Artist
There was a 6 or 8 page first look at the end of December's Y: The Last Man. I've been cutting back a lot on comics, but I had to add this one based off just that little bit.Originally Posted by PeteL
Good pick, my friend.
i'll be joining in for this one. i loves me some Becky Cloonan!
Becky fucking rules.
www.thedakotaversion.com
American Virgin #1
The truth is, even if the writing on this were piss poor I'd still buy it every month. Thats how much I love Becky Cloonan's art. Luckily, the story was pretty good. Some of the supporting characters seem a little stereotyped (like the scumbag bible thumper parents and hillbilly cousins), but overall the book felt fresh and new. Except for Adams mom, who seems to be heavily influenced by the Angela Landsbury character from Manchurian Candidate. But maybe I'll be proven wrong about that, it is only the first issue after all...
The art was fucking awesome (as if you even had to ask), my only complaint being that Becky didn't do the cover art, but whatever. I was a little worried I wouldn't like her stuff as much in color, but I still loved it.
*Sigh* Becky, will you marry me?
Art 9.5
story 7.5
total 8.5
Good first issue. The art was great, and the concept was absolutely hysterical. The crazed religious mother is a laugh riot, and so is the stoner brother. "The kidnapping" was one of the most deliciously twisted things I've ever seen.
And then it all went to hell in the last 3 pages. There's an absolutely shocking twist that made me do a double take, and this comic goes from being one of the funniest of the year to one of the darkest. So dark, in fact, that I'm not certain I want to continue following this story. So I'll give this book one more issue to see where they go with this. If it's done well, it probably has a permanent place on my list. If not, dropped.
On the first issue, I give this an 8/10. But frankly, it's a little hard to judge because this first issue will likely be nothing like the next.
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www.grayhavencomics.com
I gotta say, I was pretty surprised with this book. I bought it for Becky Cloonan's artwork (not a follower of her work, but I've heard good thing). The ending had to have been a great twist to the story. Once it got to that point, I was like, "Oh $#!T." Happy to say that this book is now on my pull list. I'll give this an 8.5/10
Jason Truong
Blog!
I got to read this in November, and I have to tell you, its good to finally be able to talk about it 'in-depth'...
at first , just glancing at the book, I wasn't sure if Cloonan was the 'right fit'...it was also the first time I think I ever saw her work in color, so I also think (at first), tha the coloring so surprised me because I wasn't used to seeing her lines 'muddied up'. (I don't mean it was 'messy', just covered with...color? ink? not sure what the word is, sorry I can't explain it better)
After 'diving in', as it were, I was just 'into it' immediately. I found the angle where the parents ended up being the smarmy hucksters that I assumed (before reading the book) that Adam would be.
Adam's mom's facial expressions when we first meet her, over exaggerated with largesse, but somehow feral told me all I needed to know about her. Nice job, Becky.
Steven T. Seagle's script captured me, and I was willing to go along for the ride, even when the story went into places that were sort of unexpected, or unconventional.
The ending was a shock that I didn't see coming, and while on the one hand you can argue that it is using its shock ending to comment on current events in a sort of 'offensive in your face' way....
It can also be argued that Seagle is showing us current events, and using events and images in his story that we are familiar with, no matter how uncomfortable it may make us.
The story holds a resonance, especially in light of the recent news stories on teen abstinence groups like 'silver ring thing' (or whatever they are called) that go around to schools and teach kids not about the joy of sex, but the joy of abstinence. The kids make a pledge to remain abstinent until marriage, and after 'taking their vows' (as it were) they get a silver ring as reminder of that promise.
After that ending the book can really go wherever it wants to, and I will be sure I will be along for the ride.
9/10
(would have gotten a ten, but the cover was sort of a turn off, although I realise it was 'literally' tongue in cheek)
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