Kelly Gaines 3/1/18 Kelly Gaines 3/1/18

Review: Doom Patrol/Justice League of America #1

By Kelly Gaines

As suddenly as it began, DC’s Milk Wars has ended. For a relatively short event, Milk Wars is loaded with references, ideologies, and narratives that need intense dissection to piece together completely. I wouldn’t say that I’m disappointed, just a little frustrated with the amount of work the average reader will have to do to follow and understand what they’re reading. If you have a sturdy background in Grant Morrison’s Multiversity, the complete history of the Doom Patrol, the Justice League, and all of the Young Animal titles, you have nothing to worry about here. If you haven’t read much of the Young Animals, aren’t up to date with Doom Patrol, and haven’t delved into the history of DC’s multiverse, you’re going to need a lot of breadcrumbs to find your way through this story. Milk Wars is clever, hilarious, and fully embraces the “meta-narrative” trend that’s been taking over more and more in pop culture. However, Young Animals was created as a way to bring new readers into the DC universe without having to feel lost or behind. Milk Wars effectively alienates any new readers of not only DC but comics as a whole. I’ve been a DC girl since about eight years old, and even I had to put reading on hold to look up back issues and google characters to piece everything together. Milk Wars is a smart read for an avid comic fan, but likely a let down to readers hoping to use the Young Animal titles as gateway comics.

Cat Wyatt 3/1/18 Cat Wyatt 3/1/18

Review: Graveland #2

By Cat Wyatt

There was a lot of ground to cover in the last issue of Graveland. The antagonists (the giants) had to be introduced, as did the dire circumstances they brought with them (it turns out that our cities aren’t designed to be stomped on, go figure), and the steps the government was taking to try and bring them down (which up until this point have been unsuccessful).

Smrithi S 3/1/18 Smrithi S 3/1/18

Review: Metropo

By Thea Srinivasan

Whenever we look for answers, we always hope that it’s always going to be simple. Even if we find the answer, we know it in our minds. But how many times do we truly comprehend the answer? Knowing and understanding are two very different things, and it’s one of the hardest concepts to grasp. But for this particular comic, the line tends to blur between knowing, understanding and predicting something from what we know. Before I continue with this review, the following book is an anthology of written and illustrated stories. It is necessarily a comic but a collection of tales from different mediums. If you do not find the idea of written stories or anthologies appealing, I’d suggest you stop reading this review.

Cat Wyatt 3/1/18 Cat Wyatt 3/1/18

Review: Heavenly Blues #4

By Cat Wyatt

In issue #4 our unlikely team finally managed to break into heaven, and I gotta say it isn’t quite what I expect. Nor was the break-in itself, but that’s another story. Now that they’ve made it this far, it’s time for them to go forward with the next step of their plan. After all, their benefactor didn’t invite them up to heaven for a cup of tea.

Smrithi S 3/1/18 Smrithi S 3/1/18

Review: Little Apple vol. 1

By Thea Srinivasan

Honest children are easy to come by. But blunt children are the rarest of them all. This child has a breadth of knowledge to the point she knows how to blend her knowledge with reality. It’s very rare to see anyone be able to speak the truth with eloquence and be able to open anyone’s eyes to what needs to change. It’s very rare to find a girl who is a revolutionary set against the world.

Cat Wyatt 3/1/18 Cat Wyatt 3/1/18

Review: Freelance #3

By Cat Wyatt

Issue #3 of Freelance is back; with the team, we’ve been steadily learning about and growing fond of. Lance is the backbone of the team, he’s also the moral center, even if the rest of them may be less than willing to admit that bit. He’s also more or less the focus, being that he’s superhuman (literally) and capable of handling situations most humans wouldn’t survive. John is the ex-con bad boy, with a catch; he’s pretty sweet on Lance (feel free to ship that pairing). And finally, there’s Tasha, the techie and sassy one of the group. Together they take on missions, doing their best to keep the world safe.

Dustin Cabeal 2/28/18 Dustin Cabeal 2/28/18

Review: Betrothed #1

By Dustin Cabeal

What a surprisingly charming comic. I giggled. Like actually giggled when I read the first six pages. That might not sound like much of a compliment, but laughing is easy. Making some giggle, well that takes charm.

Betrothed is a fantasy story set in high school. It’s roots feel grounded in manga in that we have a chosen boy and a chosen girl that need to save the future of their races. The catch, the charm, is that they have no fucking clue. They meet for the first time in high school, and when the guy touches the girl on the shoulder to get directions, she turns instantly violent. Through their narration and efforts of their friends, we learn that they were both filled with bloodlust upon that touch, but then also something more. I won’t tell you the rest of the scene, but it was a pleasant and fitting surprise.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Motor Crush #10

By Cat Wyatt

With a dramatic cover like the one accompanying issue #10, it’s going to be hard to resist reading this one. Motor Crush #10 starts off with Sullivan Swift (Dom’s father) in a ghastly situation (which maaaay be putting it a bit mildly since I’m pretty sure he’s about to be tortured). The real question is, does Dom know that her father is in danger, and more importantly, does she even know where to find him?

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Batman Beyond #17

By Cat Wyatt

Ever since the last issue of Batman Beyond released, I’ve pretty much been chomping at the bit for this one to come out. We left off with our hero fighting for his life against Stalker. Which is actually worse than it sounds, as there had previously been an understanding between Batman and Stalker. Additionally, Stalker knows Batman’s real identity, which could prove to be the even bigger threat in this fight.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Twisted Romance #4

By Cat Wyatt

It’s time for the fourth and final issue of Twisted Romance. I’ll admit I’m sad to see it go, but all things must come to an end, right? In this issue we once again are gifted with three stories, Treasured is the first story (also the one shown on the cover), followed by Unbound (the text story for the issue), and finally, Legacies finishes off the series.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Batgirl #20

By Cat Wyatt

In Batgirl #19 we last saw Burnside suffering from a sudden and unexpected snow storm (courtesy of a hacked weather app). If that wasn’t odd enough, that fact combined with Penguin being…kind and helpful was certainly enough to get Batgirl’s attention. Issue #20 concludes the story that’s already begun.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Rat Queens v2 #8

By Cat Wyatt

Issue #8 of the Rat Queens doesn’t waste any time, throwing us right into the thick of things. The opening scene is that of Hannah and Sawyer Silver on a ship facing towards what has to be the gloomiest island I’ve ever seen. That combined with Sawyer’s statement of ‘this is the end,’ and I’m more than a little concerned about what is happening to Hannah, and worried about where the rest of the Queens are.

Kelly Gaines 2/28/18 Kelly Gaines 2/28/18

Review: Raven: Daughter of Darkness #2

By Kelly Gaines

*Obligatory spoiler warning, which I apologize for not including more often*

Raven: Daughter of Darkness #2 is an in-depth look at a half demon’s crash course in empathy. Raven, current alias Rachel, is splitting her time between typical high school and telepathic superhero business. We left off with Raven coming face to face with a superhuman creature. The girl, who Raven calls Azure, is able to conjure horrifying illusions straight out of her enemy's nightmares; a power that currently leaves Raven in a tight spot. Raven is unable to tell if she’s the hunter or hunted but remains as determined as ever to help Azure- if helping her is possible at all.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Lumberjanes #47

By Cat Wyatt

Do you think the Lumberjanes will ever get tired of their explorations and adventures? We saw in the last issue that they’re capable of getting scared (not that I blame them, ’The Voice’ is super creepy). Beyond that, I’m not sure these girls are capable of slowing down. When we last saw our campers back in issue #46, they were back in their cabins, but there’s a hitch (isn’t there always for this group?); while they had given up on their quest, their newly acquired friend did not.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: The Silencer #2

By Cat Wyatt

To recap, the Silencer is a new DC series about a woman named Honor (ironic, I know) who is a retired assassin. In the last issue, we were introduced to her quiet home life, which was then rudely interrupted when her ex-organization’s enemy decided to try and go after her again. The second issue continues showing us the fallout from those actions and events.

Benjamin Snyder 2/28/18 Benjamin Snyder 2/28/18

Review: Days of Hate #2

By Ben Snyder

Days of Hate #2 picks up with Amanda Parker and her partner on the run and Parker’s ex-lover Huan Xing picking up the case on their heels. While this issue doesn’t necessarily advance the plot further, it does provide the quiet character moments that were lacking from the first issue. So far writer Aleš Kot and artist Danijel Žeželj adhere to a traditionally successful formula. Days of Hate #1 makes us care about the world and Days of Hate #2 makes us care about the characters involved.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Wonder Woman #41

By Cat Wyatt

In Wonder Woman #40 we saw a lot of events occur, along with the defeat of Silver Swan, we saw something happen to Jason, Darkseid making a move, and Steve unintentionally getting in the way of said move. Issue #41 picks up all those loose threads and continues to weave them together.

In the last issue, we saw Darkseid’s Female Furies (love the alliteration there) take on Steve and his crew in an attempt to gain access to the relic inside the Topkapi Palace. His team won (go Steve!), and they even managed to capture two of the furies while they were at it. Darkseid is very displeased with their failure, a fact he’s currently making clear.

Benjamin Snyder 2/28/18 Benjamin Snyder 2/28/18

Review: Abbott #2

By Ben Snyder

Abbott #2 does enough to meet the lofty expectations set by its introductory issue by introducing a wide variety of interesting characters and leaning more into the supernatural elements of the story and still maintaining it’s detective story roots. Writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Sami Kivelä experiment enough in this issue to stretch out their roots and reach for the even higher heights in future issues. However, I do have some hesitations that the story may go down the traditional “Chosen One” story path that we have seen time and time again.

Cat Wyatt 2/28/18 Cat Wyatt 2/28/18

Review: Suicide Squad #36

By Cat Wyatt

You’ll probably remember that in issue #35 of Suicide Squad it was revealed that Hack was back (I didn’t mean to rhyme there, I swear), but not quite in the flesh. She remembers that she was murdered, but not knowing who did it she’s decided to take out her anger and frustration on all of Belle Reve, Waller, and the Task Force X; which leads us to issue #36, which picks up her witch hunt where it left off.

Jonathan Edwards 2/28/18 Jonathan Edwards 2/28/18

Review: The Beef #1

By Jonathan Edwards

With a title like The Beef and a cover featuring the subtitles “tainted love” and “a biochemical romance,” I went into this first issue expecting a story along the lines of Image’s Plastic from last year. And, since Plastic was the best thing I read from Image last year, I was pretty stoked at the idea of a similarly nontraditional love story, this time utilizing an inverse metaphor and theme (that is to say, about meat rather than, well, plastic). Of course, that was a pretty big conclusion to jump to, so it’s not all that surprising that it turned out to be an inaccurate one as well. Yet, that by itself isn’t the most disappointing thing about The Beef #1. Instead, it’s the story’s utterly familiar setup and stark lack of any meaningful variation that turns this issue into one big missed opportunity.