Comic Reviews: Batman and Superman, Batman and Robin, X-Men, FF, X-Men: Legacy, X-Factor

Falls off so quickly The Batman Chronicles # 7 - The first story is pretty neat - you get to see differences in how Batman and Superman interpret the law and due process as they fight to save a woman who may have been falsely put to the death penalty. And Batman and Supes even disagree on what circumstances would mean she was there falsely. I liked it a lot.

Which is why it was such a disappointment that the other two stories sucked so badly. Maybe it’s just me, but I felt like the second story was pointless other than to show Dick Grayson kicking butt. And the last one was so random that I wished I could get back the few minutes I spent reading it.

Huh, I actually preferred the intro to this arc Batman and Robin # 24 - The Streets Run Red, Part 2 of 3: Exit Strategy Kinda weird seeing where this is going. I almost feel like the action is going to be rushed in the next issue since it’ll be 3/3. I really liked issue #23 more. I think it was partially the art style and partially the content. With this issue the art was so surreal I wasn’t sure if that was supposed to represent The Red Hood’s frame of mind or something. Things got a bit muddy during the fight because of it. But not too bad. I am curious to see how it ends. I’m glad that Dick is going back to Nightwing because in the last issue both Bruce and Dick were dressed in the same Batman costume and it wasn’t 100% clear to me which Batman was taking part in this issue. (I’m pretty sure it’s Dick) So a little weak, but I’m still curious to see where it goes from here.

And Now for Something Completely Different X-Men # 11 - Blood Hunt At least that’s how I felt when the Xavier’s story kicked off. The premise and the intro to the book set you up to think it’s about Jubilee being accepted into the X-Men. And it is….kinda…..in the sense that Xavier tells the story to her because of her angst. The reason I gave 4/5 is that I actually liked Xavier’s story. And if I started penalizing issues for having misleading covers and intros, I think half or more of the books I’m reading would be 2/5 stars. It seems to be a huge trend again to have lying covers.

The story is pretty neat once you get to the reveal and I’d probably have given it 5/5 if it weren’t for two things: the story Xavier tells is irrelevant and will probably have nil impact on anything and I almost feel cheated after the setup from the first few pages. But I’m not completely opposed to backstory - that’s always fun and it’s great to think that a character that has existed since the 1960s (in real life) could still have new stories to tell.

Also, maybe I’m not not as into the mythology as most others, but did anyone else think the story was going to have something to do with Ororo?

I like it! X-Men Giant-Size # 1 - First To Last, Part One This has everything for true X-Men fans. You’ve got the old team from the original X-Men. You’ve got the new team. You’ve got Scott getting his loves confused. A very intriguing plot that makes you want to hurry and get X-Men Vol 3 #12. There’s action, there’s examples of Scott’s leadership and how it’s been questioned in the past - which we all know is leading up to this Schism event this summer. Of the 3 or 4 X-books I’ve read in the last month, this is my second favorite. (This month’s X-Force was awesome) Definitely grab this one if you’re into X-Men or think you’ll want to get into X-Men with the whole schism thing.

A great start to a new book FF # 1 - The Club So I read issue #3 first and I was VERY confused. (It was the oldest issue my local comic shop had) Reading issue #1 now, I can see the setup a lot better, although there’s still a lot that needs to be explained. The parts with Ben were pretty heavy on the emotion in a great way. The team is doing their best to deal with Johnny’s death.

The writing is top notch. I LOVE the artwork in this series. The ONLY complaint I have is that the art is a little hard to follow in the fights. I found that true in issue #4 and I find it true in this issue. So far it’s the only criticism I have of this series. Definitely pick it up while you can and be a part of this new book from the beginning.

Many Stories About to Burst Free X-Men: Legacy # 249 - Age of X: Aftermath, Part Two I’m jumping into the middle of the X-Men books right now. The last time I read the X-Men was right before Onslaught. (Just got the TP so I could finally read that story) There’s clearly a LOT of stuff going on right now. This book is busy and is essentially 3 different stories happening at once. I loved the first story, about Magneto when he was in the concentration camp. The second story about a mutant with multiple personalities was a bit much to jump into. The third one was about Gambit and some girl dealing with the aftermath of the Age of X. Oh, and you get to see who Rogue chooses to be with. A good, busy book. I wonder how much of this ends up tying into Schism this summer.

The Cover Does it a little disservice? X-Factor # 220 - Original Sins I passed over this book quite a few times in the last few weeks. Something about it just made me think the story inside was dumb. I ended up picking it up because I’m surveying all the X-books. Little did I know that a great story lay within. The X-books writers have been on a roll - they’ve had a lot of strong stories to start up their story arcs. I must say that I love the intros that Marvel has in their books now. It makes it much easier to jump right into the story. While the story was relatively action free throughout the beginning, I loved the characterizations. I’m a sucker for characters who don’t have a clue like Shatterstar. It tends to be a great commentary on life if done well. Apparently something bad will come of the fact that Rahne got sexed up by a norse god. I’m very curious to see where the story goes. I’m also curious how much investigation goes on in X-Factor. Originally, I thought it’d be like the Scooby Doo of Marvel or something. Thankfully that appears not to be the case.

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