Check out what I checked out this week.
Whether the comics are inspiring or disappointing, I read them all.
Welcome to The Pull List.
And, as always…Spoilers ahead!
Penguin: Pain & Prejudice #3
Writer: Gregg Hurwitz
Art: Szymon Kudranski
Colors: John Kalisz
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99
Gregg Hurwitz’s character study of Oswald Cobblepot shows that it takes a blind person to see the beauty inside the monster. If love is a battlefield then the Penguin’s love life is a theatre of war because the violence and hatred that consumes his life has the capability to take a backseat.
Crime and mayhem aside, the softer side of this iconic villain is more complex than someone with mommy issues. It takes a special kind of love to infiltrate the heart of an individual who grew up with an immense amount of hatred and torment. The tone and style of Kudranski’s art accomplishes two important things: it compliments Gotham’s seedy underbelly along with the dark side of Penguin’s ruthless aggression and depicts the light that can be found even in the darkest of places as Batman lurks in the shadows.
Grade: A-
Venom #10
Writer: Rick Remender
Art: Lan Medina, Nelson Decastro
Colors: Marte Gracia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $2.99
The alien symboite feeds off anger and aggression in order to turn its host into a killer.
Flash Thompson just lost his father and now he realizes his family is in danger and to matter worse, Captain America is standing in his way.
Anger, content and all kinds of emotions surface when one loses someone close. Not being able to mourn the loss forces one to keep everything bottled up inside and that is just what the symboite needs to prey on in order unleash its wrath. No complaints with the art and it shined the most during the fight in the snow between Cap and Thompson. The cover has some meaning to the end of the story which is sure to give you a little bit of a chuckle to cap off an entertaining story.
Grade: B+
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirco-Series: Raphael #1
Writer: Brian Lynch
Art: Franco Urru
Colors: Fabio Mantovani
Publisher: IDW
Price: $3.99
If Raphael is your favorite Ninja Turtle, this is the comic book for you.
Brian Lynch brings out the classic attitude we have all come to love from the wearer of the red mask.
The story takes place immediately following the last issue of Kevin Eastman’s series. Two of the most popular bad guys of the series and cartoon make their debut and a need mutant character emerges who could be either friend or foe. The characters name is Alopex who is a female snow fox and the art really hits its stride when her origin story is revealed. The ending just might make your jaw drop and will bring you back for issue 2 as Michelangelo takes center stage in act two.
Grade: B
Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes #2
Writer: Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman
Art: Gabriel Hardman
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Price: $3.99
Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes takes place 20 years before Taylor lands in ape civilization.
It was always apparent that Dr. Zaius knew more than he was letting on in the original movie.
He is portrayed as good guy in this series who is trying to get to the bottom of a murder in which the most sacred law of “Ape shall never kill Ape” There is more than a murder than meets the eye and the council is not happy with Dr. Zaius’ idealistic nature which is weird and interesting to see if you watched the movie. The story also touches on the political aspect of life in Ape City as Chimpanzees are almost considered second class citizens. The artwork did an excellent job of depicting facial reactions of the characters. If you liked the movies, you’ll like this book. Bottom line, buy it.
Grade: B
X-Men #22
Writer: Victor Gischler
Art: Will Conrad, Steve Kurth & Jay Leisten
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
The country of Puternicstan, which is near Transylvania and Latveria, has bought an army of Sentinels. However, they not bring used for mutant destruction.
They are being used to destroy their political rival, the country of Symkaria. Colossus, Storm, Jubilee, Psylocke and War Machine investigate the matter and try to put an end to the chaos until things go from bad to worse. The story moved along at a nice pace and there was nothing special or bad about the artwork. Gischler’s run with the series has been interesting because he is tasked with using different X-Men characters every three or four issues. It must to be difficult to find your groove as a writer when things change quickly but Gischler has done a nice job of adapting with the changes.
Grade: B-
