Technofear's ISSUE-ONE-O-RAMA!!!!!

[The Cheap-Arse Film Critic]

Ahem...

...

... what I mean by that is, I recently gave into my urge and actually bought some comics before I stated that I would. I was planning on starting this thread a few months from now, but, looking at what I've picked uo, now seems as good a time as any for it.

With all the huge events happening in the Big two recently, we have been presented with a spat of relaunches and new number ones, and I thought it would be cool to have a thread, in the style of Ray's OYL thread, where I spout off about them and say whether or not they've interested me enough to buy the next issue.

So, without further ado...

The Authority Vol. 4 #1

I was never not going to buy at least the first issue of this book, based totally on the creator's names at the top of the cover. Morrison is instant buy in my world, and I've been waiting for Gene Ha to provide more regular work since Top 10 ended.

Was it worth it? Well...

... kind of. It looks fucking beautiful, there is no disputing that. And that's not just down to Ha's linework, either, as the colour work here is truly breathtaking, anning to the cinematic feel of what we're seeing. The writing, too, is vintage Morrison, although with a more human and appealingly mundain feel to it. There were also, I feel the need to add, a startling ammount of UK-centric references that would sail right over the heads of most non-Brits reading this book, and, given the fact that most of the people reading this book will probably not be British, I found it to be shocking, and made me feel strangely smug at the same time.

However, I have one small gripe with the book. Actually, it's a pretty big one. Not to come over all ds9 here, but...

... where's The Authority? Seriously, I don't think you have to be a foaming Fanboy to be disappointed when the characters on the cover don't make a single appearence in the pages within.

I'll definitely be picking up the next issue, as this issue caught my interest enough to give it that. But I hope the pace picks up soon.

More reviews to come.

[The Cheap-Arse Film Critic]

Heroes For Hire #1

Now, this was just out-and-out fun. I was slightly worried going in that I'd feel a little left behind, because I didn't buy Misty and Colleen's last miniseries, but I needn't have worried, as this was as good a way to debut a new series as possible. The team itself is an oddball collection, which I always like in my team books. I'd say my favourite character so far is Humbug, but I get the feeling he's goint to be a lot of people's favourite character.

It wasn't without a few niggling negatives, though. Whilst fun, Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti's script is wordy, at times boardering on Clearmont Wordy. There are just some captions and lines of dialogue that have no need at all to exist. Black Cat feels misused and slightly out-of-place in this book, Tartantula's shadowy past signals problems with her that can be seen from literally miles away. Billy Tucci's art, too, is a little inconsistant. On most pages it's beautiful, but there are a few pages and panels that have a half-finished, scratchy feel to them.

But those are minor gripes within the context of what I've just read. I can say without question that I will be giving it at least another issue.

[sto110]

i got all those #1s and the authority is the only one that interested me.

[The Zevad]

Okay. Cool.

[The Cheap-Arse Film Critic]

Blade #1

Hmmm.

I really don't know what to make of this title.

I like Marc Guggenheim as a writer. Not enough to keep me buying Wolverine, but enough to make me want to pick up this title. And there are some interesting concepts in here, The Helicarrier of Vampire S.H.I.E.L.D. agents being the most inspired of the bunch. Howard Chaykin also provides good work on pencil duty, even though I personally think his work here is a step down from his work on New Avengers recently.

However, none of this changes the fact that I don't really have the first clue what's going on here. Blade's backstory is shown in flashback, but in a sparce way that actually confused me more than enlightened me. I felt no emotional connection to Blade of his world, and wasn't given any real reason to do so. Even the issues cliffhanger, with the reveal the Blade's father is still alive, didn't really grab me.

I intend to give this book one more issue to get me onside. Otherwise, it has to be dropped.

[TheKraken]

It looks fucking beautiful, there is no disputing that

Oh yes there is, as I said in my review of the book last week...

The Authority #1. The art in this pissed me off. Alot. Gene Ha's linework and Art Lyons' lush colors are completely ruined by the stupid fucking blur filter. I get it. It's the "real" world, so you whip out the blur to make it look more "real." Except that it's not real; It's line art printed on paper, and for line art printed on paper, the blur filter looks like ass. Artists of this caliber should not see 2/3 of every panel blurred out. I want to appreciate them. And 9 times out of 10, the blur was taken way too far. A photograph of a hand lazily stirring a cup of coffee would not be that blurry. A shot of 3 people standing that close together would not fuzz out two of them so badly. This really, really irked me. Ugly, stupid waste of what could've been beautiful pages for an obvious gimmick that wasn't even necessary. The story is fine, whatever, I was really looking forward to the art on this, and it was fucking ruined. The Authority in the "real world" has some potential as a story, but if they keep fucking up the art like this, I can't see myself really enjoying it. Fuck. I thought this was gonna be my book of the week before I opened it up.

I honestly can't believe this didn't bother anyone other than (apparently) me & Jef UK. Especially since so many people said they'd be buying it for Ha's art...

[ds9]

Ahem...

...

... what I mean by that is, I recently gave into my urge and actually bought some comics before I stated that I would. I was planning on starting this thread a few months from now, but, looking at what I've picked uo, now seems as good a time as any for it.

With all the huge events happening in the Big two recently, we have been presented with a spat of relaunches and new number ones, and I thought it would be cool to have a thread, in the style of Ray's OYL thread, where I spout off about them and say whether or not they've interested me enough to buy the next issue.

So, without further ado...

The Authority Vol. 4 #1

I was never not going to buy at least the first issue of this book, based totally on the creator's names at the top of the cover. Morrison is instant buy in my world, and I've been waiting for Gene Ha to provide more regular work since Top 10 ended.

Was it worth it? Well...

... kind of. It looks fucking beautiful, there is no disputing that. And that's not just down to Ha's linework, either, as the colour work here is truly breathtaking, anning to the cinematic feel of what we're seeing. The writing, too, is vintage Morrison, although with a more human and appealingly mundain feel to it. There were also, I feel the need to add, a startling ammount of UK-centric references that would sail right over the heads of most non-Brits reading this book, and, given the fact that most of the people reading this book will probably not be British, I found it to be shocking, and made me feel strangely smug at the same time.

However, I have one small gripe with the book. Actually, it's a pretty big one. Not to come over all ds9 here, but...

... where's The Authority? Seriously, I don't think you have to be a foaming Fanboy to be disappointed when the characters on the cover don't make a single appearence in the pages within.

I'll definitely be picking up the next issue, as this issue caught my interest enough to give it that. But I hope the pace picks up soon.

More reviews to come.

all DS9?