All about the books we love

Black Bolt, Vol. 1: Hard Time by Saladin Ahmed

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


First off, the art is very good. Secondly, it's been forever and a day since I've read anything about the Inhumans so I was a little taken aback by some of the details (like Black Bolt and Medusa) but that doesn't much matter. This is more about BB and various Marvel villains.

BB has been incarcerated in a space prison where he had planned to put his brother, Maximus but Max used his powers to switch places somehow (how exactly BB was incapacitated for all of this is never made clear) and BB wakes up in this prison where torture and killing the prisoners only to resurrect them to do it again and again is the main form of punishment. Also whatever it is the Jailer is (we learn much later on) he has something that inhibits powers so BB's deadly voice is nullified and villains like Crusher Creel can't use their abilities either.

Honestly, Crusher, Blinky (a young alien) and the other side characters are actually a bit more fleshed out than BB. Maybe it's because we know BB well, that he's this stoic king etc etc but I wanted more for him which is why I gave it three stars.

I mean, he's powerless. He's being routinely murdered and revived. His brother is on the throne doing god knows what. Is Medusa in danger as a result (it's made clear he still loves her in spite of being broken apart). And there is a flat line of emotional content for all of that. About the only emotion we get from him is with Blinky at the end and when he thinks about Lockjaw (but how could you not love Lockjaw?)

The story moves along predictable lines naturally. We need to see BB win and escape because that's more emotionally rewarding than say someone figuring out Max's plans and riding to the rescue. (Though I loved what Lockjaw did along those lines).

It was good but not particularly memorable.



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Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The original line of Detective Comics ended and Neil was asked to send it off in style and while there were things I liked about it, it did fall flat for me overall (Which is sad since Neil so obviously loves the Bat)

What I liked best was the nod to all the various eras of Batman in both artistic style and how the characters were. It's set at Batman's funeral and he is being eulogized by all his villains (and a few friends) It was a neat idea but might have been a tad overly long and once Bruce realizes it's a NDE the story takes a weird bounce with an end that didn't work for me.

There were several other short stories in this as well, none tremendously memorable. I did like the black and white one that proposed that being a character in a comic book is a job like acting. The final story with some reporters trying to show the other side of Bats' villains (the good side) and Neil worked in some fun Easter eggs into this like Dr. Chilton working in Arkham (from Silence of the Lambs) and a John Constantine cameo.

The art was very nice, especially when it was emulating the 40s era Batman but overall I was glad I got this from the library vs my own pocketbook.



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Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Set in the 40s and (I think) the 90s, this looks at Hellboy's origins with a team of WWII allies race to stop a Rasputin-esque (Or potentially actually Rasputin now immortal) and his allies as they try to raise a demon to help bring Ragna Rok (sic) about (tapping straight into the Nazi's paranormal interests). This is how Hellboy ends up on earth.

Fast forward to the present day (again this was pubbed in the mid 90s) to a moment when Hellboy loses the man who raises him, sending Hellboy along with Abe and Liz to find out what is going on. The trail leads to a cursed house, a family obsessed with arctic exploration and an old enemy.

The story and the action were good but there were artistic choices in this that I didn't like. The heavy use of black shadowing made Mignola's art muddy. Also Hellboy himself is inconsistent, often having this huge torso on tiny legs that was unsettling (and other times he's still huge but his legs fit the body).



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Teen Titans: Beast Boy Loves Raven by Kami Garcia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Here's the thing with superheroes, they get reinvented ALL the time (making the cries of 'that's not my insert name here' wails of fans even more annoying) Technically Gar is older than me (and I'm in my fifties) so he's had many faces. I was there for the beginning of Teen Titans and they're close to my heart so I came into these books cautiously.

And it's hard to review these without my own biases showing. That said I love this version of Gar. He's far less annoying than the 90s era one. Raven, on the other hand, I'm on the fence about. I think it's because the 90s era one was a favorite (so was Gar for that matter annoying though he was) That Raven read older, more put together. But if I set that aside, I have to admit, this younger feeling Raven is pretty cool too.

I'm still missing Raven's stand alone in this series but knowing most of her history I'm okay, though I missed out on her foster sister who plays a role in this.

Raven and Gar meet and sort of hit it off. They're both in Nashville (of all places) lured there by Slade Wilson, not knowing it's a set up. Both are hiding their natures from each other (Understandable when one is part demon and the other is just learning what he is). When the people Slade is sort of working with (i.e. H.I.V.E. I assume) kidnap Raven and Gar it doesn't go unwitnessed.
Raven's foster sister (who has powers of her own) and Damien Wayne (I'll admit it, I was never a Batman/Robin reader so I barely know who he is and have little preconceived notions about him) see it and come to help.

The romance aspect is sweet (and talk about things that brush up against my preconceived notions) and the action is great. Picolo's art is outstanding. Seriously want to see more of his stuff. Love it.

This series is really intriguing so I guess I'll have to track down Raven's stand alone and the upcoming Damien and Dick follow up to this.



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