Sunday, June 3, 2012

Where I review Wonder Woman Blood, Star Trek/Doctor Who, and books I'm reading





3 out of 5 stars for Star Trek The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #1
Written by Scott & David Tipton with Tony Lee
Art by J.K. Woodward
Lettering by Shawn Lee and Robbie Robbins
Edited by Denton J. Tipton
     Here's a preview of the book if you want to check it out.
     There isn't a fan of Doctor Who who hasn't thought about this crossover happening but knew it probably never would come to pass. The same could be said for a lot of Star Trek fans. Even in the realm of comics I don't think many people saw this coming but IDW has brought these two historic storytelling franchises head to head.
     I didn't even order this book, didn't buy the Previews it was in, but my comic shop knows me, as a good store should know it's regular customers, and they had it in my folder waiting when I came in on Friday.
     As with most first issues this was mainly setup. I can always deal with that in a first issue as the same with the first few chapters of a prose story. With that said the second issue is where you grab or lose a reader. So looking forward to what they have ahead for us.
     There are six different covers to this first issue so you are sure to find one you like. I liked all of them but as I'm ranted about before, I hate photo covers of any kind, just not my thing.
     The story art by Woodward was pretty cool. I liked the look of it for the most part. The only problem you find at times with painted books were the artist has to capture an actors likeness is they sometimes get a look from photo references and a head can look almost cut and pasted onto a body. That may have happen once or twice here but for the most part I really enjoyed the art. It keep the story going and had some really nice touches in places.
     So overall I'm a huge Doctor Who fan so I'm going to be picking up the next issue of this story no matter what but even if I wasn't a huge fan of either series they got my interest with good storytelling art, nice setup, and some quick fun off the bat hits. Now the question will be, will this be just be another thrown together crossover or will it be the story so many fans have been waiting so long to see. With the choice of Borg and Cybermen, a truthfully predictable pairing of foes to face, it will take some good twists and mixture of fan wank moments to make this stand out and be what it should be, a classic.


3 out of 5 stars for Wonder Woman Vol.1: Blood
Writer, Brian Azzarello
Artist, Cliff Chiang
Artist on parts 5 & 6, Tony Akins
     I will say off the bat that the only reason I didn't give this book a 4 star review was the artist change in the middle of the book. That's just really jarring to a reader and as this is one of the core books for DC its really disappointing.
     I liked Tony Akins art and would have enjoyed if he had done the artwork throughout the book and the same can be said for Cliff Chiang who is a artist I always love but the change just pulled me out of the story for a bit that keep the stories wheels in a spin for a little space of time and that's never a good thing.
     But I will buy Volume Two when it comes out. They sold me to at least check out a few volumes of the series. This is a Wonder Woman I can get behind and recommend to friends.
     My local comic shop likes to call this, "The best Vertigo book that isn't a Vertigo book." or something along those lines. I agree but I will also say it's just a great Wonder Woman book period.
     I know some people are really upset about the changes that have happen to Wonder Woman's origin and I didn't really like it either but those changes did happen and since they are there lets be happy Brian Azzarello had the skills to use those changes so well to tell his story.
     It's hard for fans to deal with big changes but when it comes down to it in comic book reboots you have to look with new eyes. These aren't the characters a lot of us grew up with. It's hard to do sometimes when dealing with a book you may care so much about but otherwise you live only in the past and with the character changes that have always happen in comics at Marvel and DC that's almost impossible and still find enjoyment.
     And as I mentioned this might not be the characters but those weren't the characters my brothers or my father grew up with either. Some changes might hurt and piss us off more as fans but the changes are a constant flow from DC and always have been.
     Also I want to say I want my Wonder Woman this way. I want her carrying a sword. I want blood in her stories. I want centaurs losing their heads. Don't give me a Wonder Woman who lets Batman and Superman preach to her when she had the courage and guts to break a mans neck to save lives. She's a warrior, not a superhero.
     And on the issue of hardcovers because when am I not ranting about hardcovers. I still hate the fact that DC has released so many of the New 52 collections in hardcovers but I guess I "threw my fan boy morals away" and when I picked this up. Someone said those words to me through a DM message on Twitter. But don't worry Fan Boy Gods, it's probably going to be the last time I do so. No more backsliding for me. I'm a huge long time comic book fan so I do stuff like that, impulse buys, but I still think DC is operating counter to their goal of attracting new readers by these hardcovers.


Books I'm reading:

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson
*I'm still reading this but if you want to know about the series check out this write up on Geektress. One of my favorite pop culture websites. I'm a slow reader so its not any sort of judgment if it takes me a long time to finish a book. I really like this series and if you like urban heroes like The Punisher and Daredevil I'd say check this out.


Drift by Rachel Maddow
*I'm a slow reader normally, even more so with non-fiction but this is one of the best non-fiction books I've read in a really long time. As I've said so many times Rachel Maddow is one of the few News people in the mainstream media I can listen to.

How To Archer by Sterling Archer
     *Funny as shit. If you like the show, check out this book. The writer did a good job of capturing Sterling Archer's voice with this book. Some funny as crap fucked up stuff in here but you can't do Archer without that. Now what I want is a book by Pam.

     And a little note to end. The show that got me to pick up a hardcover comic collection by how much love they kept throwing at that book: Comic Book Reviews - FFFIC Episode #47 This show is hosted at and by people from my lcs Famous Faces And Funnies. Check out the show. The only comic book video review show I watch.


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