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Weekly Comic 100s: Go Go Power Rangers, Dead Day, Suicide Squad, and More!

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

God damn, did I miss some of these books. Go Go Power Rangers. Tom Taylor’s Suicide Squad. Alienated.

God damn it’s great to have them back.

TITLE: Go Go Power Rangers #31
AUTHORS: Ryan Parrot, Sina Grace
ARTISTS: Francesco Mortarino, Simona Di Gianfelice (Inking Assist), Raul Angulo (Colorist), Ed Dukeshire (Letterer). Cover by Eleonora Carlini and Angulo.
RELEASED: May 27, 2020

A new zord formation, the “White Tiger Mechazord” (NOT Megazord), makes its debut in this issue. That’s kinda cool. This series is just about done, but it’s still cranking out new things.

On the downside, this issue also shows us Jason, Zack, and Trini flat out lying to Zordon about the peace conference in Switzerland. They’re not even lying well. They come off like grade schoolers lying about why they don’t have their homework done.

“Uh….I went to a peace conference. In Switzerland!”

TITLE: Dead Day #1
AUTHOR: Ryan Parrott
ARTISTS: Evgeniy Bornyajov. Colors by Juancho! Charles Pritchett (Letterer).
RELEASED: May 27, 2020

Be VERY careful about your feelings for somebody. I’ll only half in jest say that’s the big message I took away from Dead Day #1, our second Ryan Parrott offering of the week.

Dead Day presents us with a world in which the dead come back as what I gather are zombies that can think and speak…? It’s still a little unclear. Either way, you’ve got that trusty plot point of main characters endangering themselves over a former or potential love interest.

My only complaint is that the figure drawing is a little off. Hopefully that tightens up with time.

TITLE: Suicide Squad #5
AUTHOR: Tom Taylor
ARTISTS: Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas (Colorist), Wes Abbott (Letterer).
RELEASED: May 26, 2020

They’re doing something to break up the usual “captives with brain bombs” formula, which I’m pleased with. This Taylor/Redondo/Lucas team has done a great job keeping me engaged. With new characters, nonetheless.

What’s more, it looks like we’re about to start integrating heroes like Batman and the Flash. Given Taylor’s approach to Suicide Squad, that offers a lot of intrigue.

Redondo’s style is fairly straightforward, though it still has a nice kinetic energy. In that respect, it certainly doesn’t hurt that we focus on a speedster for most of this issue. But my point stands.

TITLE: Rogue Planet #1
AUTHOR: Cullen Bunn
ARTISTS: Andy MacDonald, Nick Filardi (Colorist). Letters by CRANK!. Cover by MacDonald and Nic Klein.
RELEASED: May 27, 2020

Basically what we have here is a horror movie where the monster is an entire planet. Our heroes, naturally, are trapped on world.

Rogue Planet #1 is…okay. The story is okay. The art is okay. Nothing too remarkable. But nothing offensive. Nothing yet, at least. It’s one of those books that’s just kinda there. As such, I’ll pick up issue #2 if I can afford it. But I’m not sure there’s room in my stack for a book I know is strictly okay.

TITLE: Alienated #3
AUTHOR: Simon Spurrier
ARTIST: Chris Wildgoose, Andre May (Colorist), Jim Campbell (Letterer).
RELEASED: May 27, 2020

Holy crap. This issue got dark.

Or perhaps “mature” is the right word. It zooms in on the teen angst stuff, which I liked. But then Sam and our little alien friend tackle…well, look at the cover and you can probably guess. It’s fine. There’s nothing offensive or wrong about it. But tonally it seems like a swerve turn.

How bad is it that with the world in the shape it’s in today, I found myself relating to the teen character griping about society on his YouTube channel?

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Weekly Comic 100s: Undiscovered Country, Legion of Superheroes

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

*”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Nothing too in-depth here. Just straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Undiscovered Country #1
AUTHORS: Scott Snyder, Charles Soule
ARTISTS: Daniele Orlandini, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Matt Wilson. Lettering by crank!
RELEASED: November 6, 2019

This is one of those stories that’s just close enough to being possible that it’s…unsettling.

The United States of America walled itself off from the rest of the world 30 years ago, with no foreigners coming in or out. Now, as war and disease ravage the rest of the world, an American representative mysteriously invites diplomats behind the wall. What they see is…unexpected.

While it’s got a lot of the standard exposition you need in a first outing, I highly recommend this one . It’s worth the price alone for that first two-page shot of the border wall…

TITLE: Legion of Superheroes #1
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis
ARTISTS: Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger (Co-Inker), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist), Dave Sharpe (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 6, 2019

I’ve never been able to get into the Legion of Superheroes. Long story short: Too many characters to keep track of, and not enough reasons for me to care about any of them.

This first Legion issue is gorgeous, and there are a few cool ideas in it (most notably what’s happened to the Earth). We even have Superboy as our fish-out-of-water main character. But for me, it ultimately suffers the same fate as every other take on this world. They really needed a strong hook with this first issue. I didn’t see one.

TITLE: Young Justice #10
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis
ARTISTS: John Timms, Nick Derington, Gabe Eltaeb and Dave Stewart (Colorists), Wes Abbott (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 6, 2019

While Naomi is advertised on the cover, she appears on exactly one page and says nothing. Just sayin’…

Still, Bendis fares much better with this group of teen heroes. Ten issues in, Young Justice is still a lot of fun. This month, Tim Drake gets a new hero name (“Drake”) and costume that the verdict is still out on for me. But at least now he’s got his own identity, independent of his history as Robin.

In addition, our main story is juxtaposed with an origin story for Jinny Hex, which adds a grounded, almost gritty texture to her.

TITLE: Batman #82
AUTHOR: Tom King
ARTISTS: Mikel Janin, Jordie Bellaire (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer). Cover by David Finch and Alex Sinclair.

This cover has a weird gimmick to it. A thin plastic with the logo and the explosions, with the shot of Bane on the inside page. But said page is just another cover. So…what was even the point?

Thankfully, Mikel Janin is back as Batman and Catwoman take on Bane. It’s got all the quips we’ve come to expect from Tom King at this point. Frankly, it’s gotten too over the top for me.

While ambitious, “City of Bane” is starting to feel padded and drawn out. Keep in mind, we’ve got three issues to go.

TITLE: Lois Lane #5
AUTHOR:Greg Rucka
ARTISTS: Mike Perkins, Gabe Eltaeb (Colorist), Simon Bowland (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 6, 2019

The opening pages of this issue are awesome, as Lois talks to another passenger on a plane. Rucka plays devil’s advocate about “fake news.” Later, he actually dives into what terms like “off the record,” “on background,” and “deep background” mean. As a former journalist, I love that stuff.

While Lois Lane is a great read, I admit I’m having trouble keeping track of what the central mystery actually is. The murder of a journalist sparks Lois and Renee Montoya’s investigation into a high-level government conspiracy. Still, they’ve got me coming back for more, and that’s what matters.

Follow Primary Ignition on Twitter, or email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com.