Comic Books/Graphic Novels – Primary Ignition

A Superman: Son of Kal-El #7 Micro-Review – The Importance of Compassion

Posted on 01/20/202201/20/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Superman: Son of Kal-El #7
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Cian Tormey, Raul Fernandez (Co-Inker), Hi-Fi (Colors), Dave Sharpe (Letterer). Cover by John Timms.
 RELEASED: January 18, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

One of the things that makes Tom Taylor a great Superman writer is that he understands how important compassion is to the character. For my money, Superman should be overflowing with compassion for others. It’s practically one of his powers. He should have great compassion not only for the innocent, but for his enemies. We see a tremendous example in this issue, as Jon approaches a giant monster with an open mind and heart, as opposed to clenched fists. Good form.

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A Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1 Micro-Review – Two of Every Hero

Posted on 01/13/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Daredevil: Woman Without Fear #1
AUTHOR: Chip Zdarsky
ARTISTS: Rafael De Latorre, Federico Blee (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by Chris Bachalo.
 RELEASED: January 12, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The Earth didn’t move for me on this one. But still, it’s a perfectly serviceable first issue.

Frankly, I spent less time wondering about the story at hand, and more about why Elektra is suddenly our second resident Daredevil. That’s just the world we live in now, folks. Two Spider-Men. Two Batmen. Two Supermen. Two Daredevils.

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Batgirls #2 Micro-Review – Good Chemistry

Posted on 01/13/202201/13/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Batgirls #2
AUTHORS: Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad
ARTISTS: Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern (Colorist), Becca Carey (Letterer)
 RELEASED: January 11, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Like issue #1, Batgirls #2 is able to scrape by on the chemistry between its three main characters. There’s definitely life to this book. But it’s lacking in the villain department. It feels like we’re looking at leftovers from the “Fear State” storyline.

Good chemistry can get you far. But at the same time, only so far…

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Robin & Batman #3 Micro-Review – Sequel, Maybe?

Posted on 01/11/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Robin & Batman #3
AUTHOR: Jeff Lemire
ARTISTS: Dustin Nguyen, Steve Wands (Letterer)
 RELEASED: January 11, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I maintain what I said last time: Robin & Batman feels like a story with a beginning, an end, and then the middle from another story shoved in. That stuff with the Teen Titans from issue #2 felt very out of place to me.

Still, in the broad sense I enjoyed Lemire and Nguyen’s take on Dick Grayson’s early years as Robin. I wish they’d had more issues to work with. Maybe even a series. Then they could have had time to explore both the story with Croc and the Titans stuff.

Sequel, maybe?

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Captain America/Iron Man #2 Micro-Review – The Eye Has It

Posted on 01/10/202201/10/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Captain America/Iron Man #2
AUTHOR: Derek Landy
ARTISTS: Angel Unzueta, Rachelle Rosenberg (Colorist), Joe Caramagna (Letterer). Cover by Alex Ross.
 RELEASED: January 5, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Love that cover with the eye showing through the Iron Man armor. It’s so simple, yet it’s one of the better Marvel covers Alex Ross has done recently.

We get some of the banter between our two heroes in this issue that was missing last time. But I’m still waiting for them to tackle the elephant in the room: Civil War.

Landy is good with Veronica Eden. He’s able to make her funny without turning her into a parody. Or worse: Making her annoying.

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Robin #9 Micro-Review – An Overachiever

Posted on 01/08/202201/07/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Robin #9
AUTHOR: Joshua Williamson
ARTISTS: Roger Cruz, Norm Rapmund (Inker), Luis Guerrero (Colorist), Troy Peteri (Letterer). Cover by Simone di Meo.
 RELEASED: December 28, 2021

This issue overachieves, in my opinion. The fight against the big “Lazarus Demon” is better than I thought it would be. Damian has a nice rah-rah moment with the other tournament fighters. There’s even big callback to Batman: Year One. Tough to ask for more, right?

Alfred is clearly cast as a paternal figure for Damian in these issues, which I have mixed feelings about. They lay it on a little thick in this issue in particular.

I’m still missing the classic red, green, and yellow Robin colors. When does the gray suit go away?

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Superman ’78 #5 Micro-Review – Is that Shaggy?

Posted on 01/07/202201/07/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Superman ’78 #5
AUTHOR: Robert Venditti
ARTISTS: Wilfredo Torres, Jordie Bellaire (Colorist), Dave Lanphear (Letterer). Cover by Francis Manapul.
 RELEASED: December 28, 2021

For whatever reason, this issue decides to give us a cameo from Shaggy of Scooby Doo fame (among various others). Why? Well, why the hell not…?

I really can’t say enough good things about Wilfredo Torres’ art in these issues. This is truly a career performance for him. His art really sells you on the idea that this could have been one of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies.

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A One-Star Squadron #2 Micro-Review – Sympathetic Yet Comedic

Posted on 01/06/202201/07/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: One-Star Squadron #2
AUTHOR: Mark Russell
ARTISTS: Steve Lieber, Dave Stewart (Colorist), Dave Sharpe (Letterer)
 RELEASED: January 4, 2022

This issue does a nice job of making Minute Man, who we spend most of the issue with, sympathetic yet comedic. That’s not necessarily an easy balance to strike.

Minute Man goes to a comic book convention in this issue. *sigh* I miss conventions. Namely C2E2.

Mark Russell does a great job of making One-Star Squadron genuinely funny. As such, it’s a joy to read. I’m not sure how nice it is to Power Girl and Red Tornado from a character perspective. But that’s another matter entirely…

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Deathstroke Inc. #4 Micro-Review – Excitement and Possibility

Posted on 01/04/202201/05/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Deathstroke Inc. #4
AUTHOR: Joshua Williamson
ARTISTS: Howard Porter, Hi-Fi (Colors), Steve Wands (Letterer)
 RELEASED: December 28, 2021

Deathstroke Inc. is essentially our title character and Black Canary facing off against a mixed bag of enemies from across the DC Universe. In this issue, for instance, we get the Legion of Doom.

I’ve talked in the past about how that approach creates a feeling that Williamson is simply throwing a bunch of off-the-wall ideas into one story. But the upside of that approach is that it feels like anything can happen in Deathstroke Inc. That makes for a lot of excitement. Not to mention possibility.

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Comic Books/Graphic Novels, Micro-Reviews

A Teen Titans Academy #10 Micro-Review – Proper Use of an Invisibility Cloak

Posted on 01/03/202201/05/2022 by Rob Siebert

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

TITLE: Teen Titans Academy #10
AUTHOR: Tim Sheridan
ARTISTS: Mike Norton, Tom Derenick, Alex Sinclair (Colorist), Jeremiah Skipper (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer). Cover by Rafa Sandoval & Alejandro Sanchez.
 RELEASED: December 28, 2021

Raven has a line in this issue where she tells Stitch that a magic invisibility cloak isn’t meant for sneaking around. I found that both hilarious, and a little stupid. From an in-universe perspective, what else would you use an invisibility cloak for? Perhaps we should ask Harry Potter.

As this series has gone on, we’ve learned bits and pieces about Red X. In this issue, the details air on the sympathetic side. While we still don’t know who it is, that does give this mystery character a bit of a teenage flair. That’s an interesting little twist.

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