Here are links to my comic reviews for PopMatters. Click on the title of the review to read it!
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LATEST!!! New York Comic Con 2007: 03/27/07: When fans come back after the mess that was last year's convention and find that the story given by the people working the floor doesn't match what the organizers sent to them in writing, it would be hard for them to give the convention a third chance.
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- All-Star Batman and Robin 1-3: "One is puzzled as to what happened to the Frank Miller who gained his fame on Daredevil, Ronin, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Is this the same man?"
- American Way #1: "America loves conspiracies. Whether it is about who killed our leaders, the nasty truth about our natural disasters, or who ends up winning American Idol, we always try to construct the story behind the story. We try to explain the unexplainable."
- Bizarre New World #1-3: "No bad guys wanting to take over the world, no alien invasions to fight off, just an ordinary man struggling to deal with an amazing life change."
- Cobb: Off the Leash #1: "The good guys are good, the bad guys are despicably evil, and the girls are buxom and gorgeous."
- Cover Girl: "The back cover compares this book to Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon. This is a comparison the powers that be should not make. They sell their book too short."
- Fallen Angel #1: "Perhaps the title would have had a longer life if it was published under DC's Vertigo imprint, but as a mainstream DC book, Fallen Angel seemed doomed from the start."
- Fell #1-2: "They do more with those 16 pages than other people do with a four issue mini-series."
- G.I.Joe: Sigma 6 #1: "The comic is obviously aimed at children. But skewing the writing to a young audience doesn't mean it has to be boring or lack intelligence."
- Hercules #1 and Caliber #1: "Both Caliber and Hercules offer fresh takes on age-old concepts, but with mixed results."
- House of M #1-8: "The Marvel hype machine has been in high gear, stating that the series would "rip the internet in half". Well, the series is over and the internet is still in one piece, but the Marvel Universe has been rocked by the changes."
- Infinte Crisis #1: "So, comic book publishers have had to walk the delicate balance of paying back loyal fans for their years of devotion by giving a nod to history while not alienating new readers with too much of a focus on years of continuity."
- Jeremiah Harm #1: "Every ten years or so, Giffen, and to a lesser extent, Grant, have re-visited the bounty hunter character in comic book form."
- Left on Mission: "This is a spy thriller with meat. A page turner that stands up with the best Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum have to offer but works on many different levels. It is frothy and deep at the same time."
- Living in Infamy #1: "For a comic mystery to work, you need a skilled writer and skilled artist working together on the top of their game."
- Lost Squad #1: "The press release that came with the review copy of Lost Squad describes it as, "The Dirty Dozen meets Indiana Jones by way of the X-Files"."
- Loveless #1: "If Loveless takes its inspiration from any movie western, it takes it from the Spaghetti westerns of the 1970's, right down to its lead character's more than passing physical resemblance to Clint Eastwood."
- Marvel Zombies #1: "Not only is the word "zombie" proudly listed on the cover, the amount of gore inside would have made Wertham faint."
- Model Operandi: "Comic creator Chris Eliopoulos calls Model Operandi in his introduction “a fun, rollicking ride, with gunfights, action and giant boobs.”"
- Ms. Marvel #1: "Ms. Marvel is the latest Marvel character from the 1970's to get dusted off and receive another title here in the Zero's."
- Nextwave #1: "What do you get when you combine four D-list superheroes, a thinly-veiled Nick Fury clone, a hero whose code name contains an expletive, Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen, bad guys made out of genetically altered kelp, and a giant lizard monster in purple underpants?"
- Nightmare Factory, The:"On one level, this is esoteric horror for esoteric tastes, but as a graphic novel, it’s not a good fit."
- Palookaville #19: "Independent comics can hold a wealth of talent and creativity – or indulge in artistic excess – here's one that does both."
- Planetary Brigade #1-2: "So, we know what we are getting with Planetary Brigade before we even crack open the cover: a not-so-serious story featuring costumed super-heroes, which in today's day and age is a welcome change from the norm."
- Robotika: "Robotika is like the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups of comics. Instead of peanut butter and chocolate, it’s more like, “You’ve got your Samurai Story in my Steampunk Science-Fiction!” “You’ve got your Steampunk Science Fiction in my Samurai Story!”"
- Sacrifice Part 1-4: "A vocal portion of comic readers have wished for a return to a simpler time. A time when their heroes were heroes, not people who would kill or brainwash their enemies because they couldn't think of a better way of dealing with them."
- She Hulk #3: "She-Hulk is a character rumored to have been created as a means of protecting a copyright. She was created so that no other company could leech off the popularity of Marvel's Hulk by creating a She-Hulk of their own."
- Latest! Slowpoke: One nation, oh my God: "Slowpoke, One Nation, Oh My God!, the latest collection of her syndicated Slowpoke strip, has bite, but doesn’t draw blood. That’s only because Sorenson’s arguments are presented with too much intelligence and logic to ever be totally mean."
- Styx Taxi: Pastrami for the Dead, A Little Twilight Music, As Above, So Below: "See, there's a secret that we don't know about the afterlife. There's a window of two hours starting immediately after we die before we have to head to our final reward. Styx Taxi offers a ride to the recently deceased, giving them the chance in those two hours to wrap up the loose ends of their lives."
- Thing #1: "The plot isn't the most complex, and Dan Slott's writing is lacking much of the humor that makes his work in She-Hulk so enjoyable to read. But he does capture the pathos that makes the character of the Thing so interesting."
- Truth, Justin and the American Way #1-5: "The plot mirrors that of the ‘80s TV show, The Greatest American Hero. Only this time, it’s not school teacher Ralph Hinkley who gets an alien suit that gives him superpowers—a suit he can’t figure out how to make work—it’s slacker mailroom clerk Justin Cannell. And while the F.B.I. agent assigned to the case is a dead ringer for The Greatest American Hero actor Robert Culp, the character’s last name is McGee instead of Maxwell and is more foe than friend to our protagonist."
- War of the Worlds: Second Wave #1: "Our hero does something incredibly stupid in order to get the plot --and the entire series -- underway."
- War of the Worlds: Second Wave #2: "Is issue #2 better than issue #1? Yes. Is War of the Worlds: Second Wave a good book? Unfortunately, no."
- X-Factor #1-4: "It is not your typical superhero book, owing more to the works of Raymond Chandler and film noir than Lee and Kirby."
- X-Men: Deadly Genesis #1-6: "I really am not interested in characters I grew up with being sullied."
- Zombie Tales: Death Valley #2: "Their differences are played up in a subtle way, but they are still there and this adds to the drama."
- Zombie Tales: The Dead: "Six stories that are almost completely different from each other. Some good, some bad, but each illustrates the potential for diversity within the genre."
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