Star Wars Adventures #1

From last summer's purchases.

Title: Star Wars Adventures
Issue: 1
Date: September 2017
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Derek Charm, Jon Sommariva, Sean Parsons
Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow, Denton J. Tipton, Peter Adrian Behravesh
Cover: Jon Sommariva

The copy I got is the "RI-B" cover variant.

The opening chapters of two stories here, set in the Star Wars universe with an all-ages style.

First up is "Better the Devil You Know" featuring a pre-Force-Awakens Rey, living as a scavenger on Jakku and forced into a situation where she must save her Junkboss, Unkar Plutt from enemies or risk having him replaced by an even worse local mobster. I really loved the art style on this story, especially the cute and fierce interpretation of Rey, who is portrayed as confident and capable even while stuck in the bad situation has was in on Jakku,

The second story featured Emil Graf an explorer traveling through "Wild Space" with a small crew of odball companions. Emil doesn't get much to do in this story, as the bulk of it is a flashback to prequels-era Coruscant and an adventure involving a pickpocket who tries to steal from Obi Wan Kenobi.The flashback story was fun, and the framing sequences did a good job of introducing Emil and his crew with a nice sprinkling of humor.

In the end, I was more interested in reading more of Rey's story, but I did enjoy both.

Rating: 7.5/10

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #1

Fourth comic out of five somewhat random recent releases that I got at Newbury Comics in Braintree MA during my short trip back to the US recently.

Title: Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures
Issue: #1
Date: 2016
Publisher: DC Comics / IDW
Writer: Matthew K. Manning
Artist: Jon Sommariva
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colorist: Leonardo Ito
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Cover: Hilary Barta, Jason Millet


This is the "Incentive Cover" variant.


All-ages (animated series versions, basically) crossover featuring Batman and TMNT. The problem with these crossovers is the amount of setup involved in introducing the characters to each others worlds (and to each other). This comic suffers from that problem a bit, but at least makes a concerted effort to tackle it in an efficient way.


The story builds a bit slowly. The Turtles and the Batman do not actually meet face-to-face in this issue.

The basic scenario has a bunch of the Batman rogues gallery dumped into the Tuirtles' version of New York by way of an alien portal. Batman has an encounter with Two-Face that gives him his first clue that something is amiss. Meanwhile, the Turtles, who are familiar with the portal technology, battle Clayface in the New York sewers.


There's an attempt a a "shocking" ending bit, although it somewhat fails because it's actually badly out of character for the villains involved.

 There was nothing really awful about this story so far, but not much to get excited about either.

Rating: 5/10

Wonder Woman Rebirth #1

This is one of the recent DC books I picked up at Newbury Comics in Hyannis MA on our summer visit home.

Title: Wonder Woman: Rebirth
Issue: 1
Date: August, 2016
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Matthew Clark, Jeremy Colwell, Sean Parsons, Liam Sharp
Colorist: Jeremy Colwell, Laura Martin
Letterer: Jodi Wynne
Editor: Chris Conroy, Mark Doyle
Cover: Liam Sharp, Laura Martin

One problem with the constant reboots of continuity that DC and Marvel have been doing more and more frequently, really ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths, is that it is very easy to fall back on an "everything you know is a lie" type of story.

That's what's happening here in this Wonder Woman reboot. There is a random action sequence with a self-reflective monologue thrown on top of it, questioning the various inconsistencies in Diana's origin story, while giving glimpses of a "current version" of a retold origin.

This transitions into a sequence where Diana uses the Lasso on herself in an effort to discover the truth about her origins. Clever idea, but not as well executed as I was hoping it might be.

This leads us to Olympus, some generic fighting, and nothing resolved.

Oh, and by the way, everything we have been told is a lie. Maybe.

Visually beautiful (awesome cover, and the interior art delivers too), but not much substance beyond some half-formed ideas.

Rating: 4.5/10

Swamp Thing #4

Had to take a hiatus for a few days due to crunch time at the day job. Back to the comics! I'm continuing through the DC New 52 #4's.

Title: Swamp Thing
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott Snyder
Penciler: Marco Rudy
Inker: Marco Rudy, Sean Parsons, Michael Lacombe
Colorist: David Baron
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Editor: Matt Idelson, Chris Conroy
Cover: Yanick Paquette, Nathan Fairbairn

William Arcane murders the patrons at a diner for no real reason, and Alec has a conversation with the Parlaiment of Trees.

New art team on this issue, and the result was gorgeous. The issue is loaded with full-page spreads (and even one two-pager). There are creative layouts and truly captivating visuals throughout this issue. The visual of Alec and Abigail sleeping side-by-side surrounded by the forces of the Rot and the Green is the most beautiful single page that I've seen so far in the New 52.

As far as plot goes, this was primarily a chance to set up future conflicts, but it was all handled with such dazzling visuals that it definitely managed to have a "big issue" feel to it.

Rating: 8.5/10

Action Comics #4

Title: Action Comics
Issue: 4
Date: February 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison, Sholly Fisch
Penciler: Rags Morales, Brad Walker
Inker: Rick Bryant, Sean Parsons, Brad Walker
Colorist: Brad Anderson, Jay David Ramos
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau, Carlos M. Mangual
Editor: Wil Moss, Matt Idelson
Cover: Rags Morales, Brad Anderson

In the midst of a full-scale robot invasion, the people of Metropolis begin to realize that Superman is one of the good guys. I particularly liked Clark's reaction to the police who try to arrest him (As a huge robot looms over them: "Slap on the bracelets, boys. Otherwise, stand back and let me do my job.").

The alien force behind the robot invasion is the same force that "collected" Kandor. Now it's grabbing a significant chunk of Metropolis (including Lois Lane). Meanwhile Superman has his own problems in the form of John Wayne Corben AKA Metallo.

But Superman has some backup too. As it turns out, Corben isn't the only guy named John who can put on a suit of armor.

Steel gets the backup feature, and his introduction is handled in short-and-sweet style that integrates nicely into the overall plot. And references back to the original tale of John Henry are always fun in Steel's stories.

Rating: 7.5/10