Month: January 2007

Most Overrated of 2006: Series

I just remembered I’m supposed to be doing some sort of a pithy opening to these things. Aw hell, screw it! On to the picks! Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. “Nextwave is my choice, though Civil War is a close second. I can’t fathom why fanboys keep coming back to Ellis’ joke with himself. Too bad…



Y: The Last Man Volume 1- Unmanned

By Brian K. Vaughan (W) and Pia Guerra (A) Published by Vertigo/DC Comics. Cover price $12.99. Originally published as Y: The Last Man 1-5. The Plot: Every mammal on Earth with a Y chromosome drops dead at the same moment, except for 20-something escape artist Yorick Brown and his helper monkey Ampersand. The Positives: Unmanned…



Most Underrated of 2006: Artists

Cliff Rathburn “When you think of comic book artists, you usually think of pencillers. I know I do. The inkers and colorists kind of get forgotten, even though Laura Martin and Dave Stewart are probably just as good as coloring as John Cassaday and Tim Sale are at drawing. Cliff Rathburn provides gray tones for…



The Starman Problem

As I mentioned a few days ago, I was having trouble getting into the new Justice Society of America series due to Starman’s incomprehensible babbling. Yeah I thought maybe the words were clues, but they weren’t clues that made sense to me and the character didn’t mean enough to me to warrant investigating. I could…



Rated D for Doom: A Look at Comic Movies in ’07

Last year saw the release of quite a few new movies based on comic books. On the one hand, you had the incredibly decent films like “V for Vendetta,” and on the other, we were left with quite disappointing fare in the likes of “Superman Returns” and “X3: The Last Stand.” When all was said…



Doomed from the start?

As we look back at the comic industry’s successes and failures over the past year, I thought it’d be nice to take a look at our own here at the Legion of Doom. Back in September, we launched a weekly feature – the Book of Doom. Each week, a rotating member of the Legion would…



Most Overrated of 2006: Artists

Too Many To Pick From “I say this only because Marvel’s promotional material calls him a “comics legend,” but Howard Chaykin is not a comics legend. His work can be pretty good, and he is amazingly thorough with surroundings, I think his work often falls far below the lofty praise it’s given. Also, I’m not…



The Golden Age

By James Robinson (W) and Paul Smith (A) DC Comics, $19.99 The Plot: After World War Two, most of DC’s golden age heroes (i.e. the original Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, Atom and Manhunter) have essentially quit from crime fighting. Meanwhile, a jingoistically patriotic hero (Tex Thompson, the Americommando) returns from the war to great fanfare,…



Previews: Okko #1 and The Killer #2

I’m not sure if these are on shelves yet, but I just found them in the mail from Archaia Studios Press as preview material. And, unlike when it took me way too long to review The Killer #1, I figured I should post something on these while they were fresh. Interestingly, both of these series…



Worst to First: 1/17/07

A weak week, with only four books, but a strong showing from DC, earning my every dollar. It could be argued that there isn’t much point in writing a weekly review when I pick up so few books (a regular load for me is 8-10), but what can I say? I only read books that…