Yeah, and I liked Parker's run more than Johns'. I don't know how Parker has avoided becoming a much bigger name than he is. He's fantastic on every book he writes.

 

The Flash Reborn Lightning Strikes Twice.
I simply adore this comic. I love Godspeed character and how it ties to Barry's post Flashpoint story.

Spoiler

I love the "revenge gives you nothing" lesson in this volume.

I'm definitely hooked up enough to buy another volume.
Japanese stuff: Dragon Ball Super Doomed Universe and Kirby issue 4(I suppose it was issue 4)
DBS: The writing is good. It gives DBZ feeling just like the previous saga did, but comparing to the TV adaptation it feels a bit rushed(But at least polished).
Kirby: This issue was simply charming. It was a good read to relax after stessful day. Maybe it didn't got dark like Kirby games always do, but Road Runner type of humour made it up for it. Also the ending was really heart warming.

 

Agreed, he did a great job on Aquaman. I enjoyed his work over on Batman '66.

 

Aquaman vol. 7 - Exiled (DC You) - 4/10
Cullen Bunn, Trevor McCarthy, various other artists
DC Sneak Peek Aquaman, Aquaman #41-48

I had heard bad things about this storyline, and having read it, I'm afraid they're largely deserved. I get that the mandate was most likely to provide a big contrast to the previous 40 issues, but while the story itself is fine, (Atlantean exiles invade Earth) and Aquaman's attempt to rescue innocents before destroying the threat is appreciated, the dialogue and story structure are not good, the new costume is too busy, and the art is "scratchy" and frankly a bit amateurish in places. There are a few good ideas in this mess of a story, and I hesitate to call it a failure, but overall it's not a very good Aquaman storyline. I can see why they wrapped it up and went back to a more traditional status quo rather quickly.

 

PUNISHER MAX VOL.1-VOL.3 9/10
What can I say Punisher was my least favourite character since I saw him for the first time as a kid. He always gave me a feeling of bootleg Rambo who does nothing, but killing in the name of revenge. His role in Civil War didn't end well for him in my eyes, but MAX comics managed to save him in my eyes. I love the writing on these comics. Punisher is set in more realistic reality and his character got reintroduced in great way. I love the touch with PTSD related to his family and Frank showing his human side in VOL.2 and VOL.3 instead of simply " I will kill some thugs today.". I love the creation of Nick Fury's character and giving Punisher his own rogue gallery. The only problem I have is that after VOL.1 the comic tries to be too much for adults and nearly 3 out of 4 stories had sex scenes quite often.

Spoiler

Especially in Barracuda's Arc. This was pure orgy.

I don't mind it, but I'm reading it for some good ol'fashioned action outside the bedroom. Despite of this minor issue I love this reality of Punisher and I can't wait to pick up VOL.4.

Spoiler

My wallet will hate me for it.

 

If you want to read more good Punisher stories, I recommend the old Mike Baron series that started in 1987. Some great stuff in there.

And if you liked Nick Fury in Punisher Max, definitely check out the recent Fury MAX by Ennis and Parlov (the artist from all Baracuda arcs). It's fantastic and it crosses over with Punisher continuity. Also, the even more recent Punisher: The Platoon, by the same team, which is one of the best things Ennis has ever done at Marvel and also features a character from Fury Max.

To be clear, the Fury MAX I'm talking about is from 2012. There was an earlier Fury MAX series from 2002 written by Ennis but art by Darick Robertson. The older one is nowhere near as good and is very skippable.

My final Punisher advice is to drop Punisher MAX as soon as Ennis leaves, because it tanks almost immediately. Also most of the Punisher series that followed are pure junk, even though a couple have normally good writers. Ennis is only my #2 Punisher writer of all-time, but he's also the only person who's written any Punisher stories that are worthwhile in the past 20 years.

Sex occurs in life quite often. A lot more often than blowing people up with claymores in the greater New York area, if we're being honest.

 

Thanks for your advice. When translation of Fury MAX will come out in my country I will pick it up.(I'm trying to support Egmont with their comic book translation. Also collecting hardcovers is fun.)

 

Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography - 1989 7/10

I've been wanting to read this for over a decade, but didn't think it would be so bleak. It felt like something out if the late 80s/early 90s Batman books. This isn't conflicted scientist Luthor, this is the pure Donald Trump/Harvey Weinstein-esque archtype from Bryne's "Man of Steel" reboot ampled up to 11. Even the cover is a painted pock up of Trump's "Art of The Deal" book, which was very popular at the time. I have to admit, this very human Luthor somehow more frightening than the usual version. Not as complex or compelling as others, just frightening in his base-ness. WARNING: There's a point or two in the story of implied sexual abuse and other misogynistic acts that Luthor frankly gets away with, so trigger warnings.

 

Aquaman vol. 1 - The Trench (New 52) - 9/10
Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis
Aquaman #1-6

I figured I may as well try to complete New 52 Aquaman in collected form, since I enjoyed volumes 3-6 quite a bit (vol. 7 not so much.) "The Trench" does a great job of presenting Aquaman in-universe as a hero who gets no respect, the "guy who talks to fish", but who is actually a lot more powerful and capable than people realize. Geoff Johns tears the character down to build him back up later on, and pits him against flesh-eating creatures from the Trench, deep in the Atlantic Ocean. The four issues concerning these creatures work well as a standalone story, but now I also see exactly where they fit into the bigger picture. The rest of the book is composed of issues 5 and 6, one of which furthers the Atlantis plot and sees Aquaman stranded briefly in a desert, and one of which sees Mera interacting with the contradictory people of the surface world with a lot less patience than Aquaman exhibits. It's a very strong beginning to the series, and one which I remember enjoying quite a bit, until the seemingly never ending violence and dreariness of "The Others" led to me dropping the book. Of course, that storyline also looks quite a bit different in retrospect, and since I've probably enjoyed reading most of this series more for the first time in collected form than I might have as individual issues, I don't regret having not read most of it until recently.

 

Aquaman vol. 2 - The Others (New 52) - 3/10
Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis
Aquaman #7-13

This is the storyline that made me give up on New 52 Aquaman (I didn't pick up the series again until Rebirth), and having re-read it in collected format, I'm reminded why I so disliked it. I see where it fits into the larger story that Geoff Johns was telling, and I understand the focus on Black Manta to reestablish him as a major villain before moving on to Ocean Master in the next storyline. I understand the attempt to fill in Aquaman's past in the blank slate that was the New 52 continuity. But the story is honestly a chore to get through, with so many new characters I have no investment in, so much brutality, and just an overall bleak tone that drags on for seven issues. After enjoying "The Trench", I dropped the series when this storyline ended, only recently picking up the collected volumes at a discount and discovering that the series recovered and got a lot better with the remainder of Geoff Johns run and then Jeff Parker's excellent storytelling. I see where "the Others" fits in the bigger picture, and perhaps if it had been half the length and featured characters I cared about, I might have seen it differently. As it is, I can't really recommend this book for anything other than the relevant scenes at the end that explain how Vulko got the sceptre, unless you just like bleak violent revenge storylines. There's certainly a place for that type of plot, but I did not enjoy it at all here.

 

Flex Mentallo -8/10

I'm a sucker for comics as a metaphysical medium.

 

Aquaman and the Others vol. 1 - Legacy of Gold
John Ostrander, Dan Jurgens; Allen Martinez, Lan Medina
Aquaman #20, Aquaman Annual #1, Aquaman and the Others #1-5

6/10 for this one. Like so much else that I've been reading lately, I got this book at a good discount, so despite the fact that I really didn't like the original "Others" storyline, I do generally like recent Aquaman storytelling and wanted more of it, and the price was right. The two John Ostrander written issues are not very good, but the series proper written by Jurgens is better. With a story revolving around the Atlantean artifacts the Others carry and a villain who has a legitimate claim to the gold they are made of, the book is fairly standard superhero storytelling that ties nicely into current Aquaman continuity. I enjoyed it enough to pick up the second volume and finish the series.

 

My Hero Academia volumes 5 and 9.

I bought Volume 5 because it had my favorite scene from the anime: Midorya versus Todoroki.

Volume 9 is what the newest season is covering, but I got impatient and bought the volume.

Overall, fun and solid reads, and now I'm wishing I bought the other volumes.

#5: 9/10
#9: 8.5/10

 

Aquaman and the Others vol. 2 - Alignment Earth
Dan Jurgens, Lan Medina
Aquaman and the Others #6-11, Aquaman Future's End #1, Aquaman and the Others Future's End #1

7/10 - The main drawback to this series is that despite his name being prominent on the cover, this isn't much of an Aquaman series. He barely shows up. That aside, I thought this second and final volume was an improvement on the first, and the various character arcs and revelations were things that could probably only be done with relatively new and unexplored characters. I didn't think much of the two Future's End issues... glad they were included, but like almost all "bad future" stories, we all know it will never happen, making it a "what if" scenario that doesn't always engage. In the end however, I did enjoy the two volumes of this short-lived series.

 

Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network:
I got the exclusive premiere issue from Free Comic Book Day because I could not ignore it. In short, it was better than the live action movie. At least for a premiere issue... the anthology is coming this September. It is more in line with the SAC continuity in terms of the tone. It doesn't go philosophical as the Mamoru movie or another take on Major's origin crap. It's your basic secret agent action and nothing deep for the sake of "Deep" like what many think GOTS is. Also Aramaki was a badass without moving a muscle.

8/10

 

Comixology has had me spending crazy money with their recent sales.

I like that this isn't your traditional super-hero book in that the main character isn't sporting the typical physique. Too bad there's nothing really memorable about the story, though.

6/10

 

The Golden Age Batman omnibus vol. 5 - 8/10

We're starting to move past some of the material previously printed in the Archives with this volume, at least for the main Batman series. I think the World's Finest and Detective Comics stories haven't reached unreprinted material yet. It's all new to me, and this is still an enjoyable package of late 1940s Batman. There's less Joker and Penguin than the previous volume and more Catwoman. Alfred's solo series ends, and I won't miss it. Every four page "Adventures of Alfred" had the same plot. We get more "time travel via hypnosis" storylines where Bruce and Dick visit their friend Professor Carter Nichols. We get a sequel to the story from Detective Comics #42. Commissioner Gordon gets demoted to patrol officer for a story. We've had a few sci-fi stories with time travel and a glimpse into the future, but we get the first "Batman vs an alien menace" story of the type I thought didn't start until the 50s. All in all, this is another great collection, and it's hard to believe I have reprints of almost the first nine years of Batman sitting on my bookshelf (May 1939 to where this volume ends, February 1948) thanks to these omnibus collections. Bring on volume 6.

 

The entire Fables universe in chronological order (or according to the website i used). 9/10.

Still one of my favorite series. Wasnt to big on Everafter where everything just goes to crap (or most of how it sounded like).


Next up: Y the Last Man.

 

Star Wars: The Original Marvel Years Omnibus Vol 2

Rate: 9/10
I started this several months back to get that Last Jedi taste out of my mouth and ended up really enjoying it. It's not exactly what you'd have called Canon even back in the day when the comics were being published, and it's cheesey to a fault in places, but it takes me back to my favorite period of Marvel comics. So many excellent artists and writers did work on the title, particularly Walt Simonson pre-Thor. I'm now a huge fan of Tom Palmer's inking. David Michellini wrote a lot of the issues. Chris Claremont did a couple of bizarre sword-n-sorcery issues I don't even know why they bothered to include the SW characters. These books are cheap on eBay right now, like $40 for 800pgs. One or two less than perfect page reproductions but i recommend to anyone over 35 who grew up with old school Marvel.

 

Jo jo's bizzare adventure part 8 jojolion ch 80

With out much spoilers but I think we have a main villain finally

8/10