The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **LOLtron** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 1:05 pm

Here we are folks, a day late but with a winner to our first contest. Also a first in that this could be the highest scored week I've ever given.

1. Annihilators: Earthfall #1
I'm not sure if I could ever get tired of these guys with and their Marvel Space Opera stories. There is little new that I can say to praise the work of these guys but what has made this particular story so much fun is the team-up with The Avengers. With that addition to the equation Abnett and Lanning have created a story that rivals the glory days of the Skrull/Kree War. Someday I'm going to collect every book these guys have ever written, and you should too! My Score: A

2. Aquaman #3
Before I start this I would like to point out that I am a self-professed huge fan of Geoff Johns, but even I will call his duds exactly that. Aquaman is, thank goodness, not one of his duds. Like Flash, Green Lantern and the JSA before it, he is beautifully crafting another tale that is redefining one of the original seven. It doesn't hurt when you've got Ivan Reis playing at the top of his game as well. My Score: A

3. The Shade #2
Another winner of an issue as the story picks up with a perfect explanation to how The Shade is able to escape Deathstroke's assassination. New villains are introduced and The Shade gains a very important partner. James Robinson is never better than when he is revisiting his old haunt, Opal City. Also, as I have stated many, many times in the past, nobody has ever written The Shade better than this guy. He took a two dimensional villain and made him a real human being. That's the gift of a real writer. My Score: A

4. Alpha Flight #6
The Master of the World is back and this time his plan is to take over Canada first and the world second. It looks like he's accomplished it as he manipulates the ruling party. Van Lente really gets these characters. I haven't enjoyed this team since the golden days of John Byrne. And the final panel with the return of everyone's number one Canadian/ mutant/avenger actually made me grin. I'll give half the credit to Van Lente and half to Aaron for enjoying Logan's face again. My Score: A

5. Justice League Dark #3
June Moone in any story automatically makes it bordering on brilliant for me. Kudos to Peter Milligan for bringing together such a great group of mystical heroes and using The Enchantress as the first antagonist. Mikel Janin's art is close to perfect for this book and I'm a HUGE fan of Constantine and Zatanna as a couple. Nothing wrong with this book at all and more people should check it out. My Score: B+

6. Wolverine and the X-Men
We get down to business with the new school by destroying the rebuilding effort. Aaron has a lot of guts by doing this in my opinion. If he wants to take this book in a different direction than the sister book, having the bad guy attacking right away might not be the way to go. That being said, this was a rockin' fun issue with a great twist for Iceman and Shadowcat. Boy I'm hoping they take this somewhere. I'd love to see a new triangle that could possibly match that of Scott/Jean/Madelyn. I know I'm on the wrong side of this opinion, but I'm not a big fan of Bachalo's art and it detracts from the story for me. My Score: B

7. The Flash #3
I can't believe after all this time since the return of Barry Allen, I'm starting to like this character again. It wasn't that I didn't like Barry; I'm a child of the Silver Age where Barry is "The" Flash. Still, I would argue with anyone that Wally West became the best Flash ever. Here's to Francis Manapul for gently reminding me what a great guy Barry Allen was. Great cliff-hanger ending but I have one complaint... could we see more of the Rogues soon please. My Score: B

Even with poor guesses we have a winner! With just two correct guesses our winner is mrorangesoda!

http://173.199.169.70/index.php/reviews/comics-reviews/starlord-top-to-bottom/17423-starlord-top-to-bottom-for-1123.html/

by **oogy** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:50 pm

Great reviews as always Brian!

The hard part about putting these books in order is that (excluding Alpha Flight only cause I don't read it) they are all so good.

by **mrorangesoda** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:29 pm

I'm a poor guess winner! Cool.

I keep hearing Justice League Dark isn't the dud everyone was worried about- good news.

by **Starlord** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:05 pm

This was really a hard one because the selections given to me were all VERY good books. I had a really hard time deciding what I enjoyed the most this week.

Congrats to Mr. Orange and if you PM me your address I will get that gift card in the mail by the end of the week.

And thanks everyone for reading and for playing. There will be another one after the first of the year.

by **chap22** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:37 pm

Annihilators would probably get a B+ from me story-wise, but the F- art drags it down to a D+/C- overall. My GOD Huat is just terrible.

I also don't get the love for Aquaman. It's gorgeous to be sure, but the story/storytelling is average at best, and I'm already REAL tired of all the commentary from the normal people about how much of a joke or misunderstood figure, etc that Aquaman is. Also, REALLY don't like the new bitchy personality he's given Mera, and if the upcoming solicits are valid and she's now an assassin in the DCnU...blech.

Agree with everything else, except I'm not reading Flash, and I'd actually give Wolvy & the X-Men an A. I may actually be back on board an X ongoing now... :shock:

by **mrorangesoda** » Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:47 pm

Starlord wrote:Congrats to Mr. Orange and if you PM me your address I will get that gift card in the mail by the end of the week.

This was all an elaborate ruse to get my address, wasn't it?

(PM sent. Also, I'll be running a poll on the news stand to decide which comics the prize should be spent on. This may be everyone's chance to get me to read Avengers Academy...)

edit- Nominate a big two book for me to buy with the prize and review for the site here: http://www.theouthousers.com/forum/the-news-stand/nominations-for-you-picked-big-two-trade-t74710.html

by **Starlord** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 12:58 pm

chap22 wrote:Annihilators would probably get a B+ from me story-wise, but the F- art drags it down to a D+/C- overall. My GOD Huat is just terrible.

I also don't get the love for Aquaman. It's gorgeous to be sure, but the story/storytelling is average at best, and I'm already REAL tired of all the commentary from the normal people about how much of a joke or misunderstood figure, etc that Aquaman is. Also, REALLY don't like the new bitchy personality he's given Mera, and if the upcoming solicits are valid and she's now an assassin in the DCnU...blech.

Agree with everything else, except I'm not reading Flash, and I'd actually give Wolvy & the X-Men an A. I may actually be back on board an X ongoing now...

That's kind of funny because I feel that way about the art to Wolvie and the X-Men, but not Annihilators. I cannot stand much of that X-Men art. But I love Mera's bitchiness and everything Johns is doing with Aquaman. But I am so disappointed in his JL that everything else has to be better for me.

You should pick up Flash.