Join us on the Frontlines with our weekly review roundup. This is where we have assembled to give our thoughts on various issues that are released each week. This week we have Jay, Justin, & Kat giving reviews for books from Aftershock, BOOM! Studios, DC Comics, Image Comics, and Marvel Comics! Check out the reviews below and let us know what you think in the comments below or on Twitter. Welcome to the FRONTLINE REVIEWS, hope you enjoy the experience!
OBERON #2
"The Endless Labyrinth"
Created & Written By: Ryan Parrott
Art By: Milos Slavkovic
Letters By: Charles Pritchett
Cover By: Milos Slavkovic
Incentive Cover By: Marco Rudy
Price: $3.99
Bonnie Blair is now with Oberon, and he needs to test her to find out if she is who/what he thinks she is. Ryan Parrott Tweeted "I look forward to letting you down profusely from this point forward." after I reviewed the first issue, and all I have to say is I hope he continues to let me down like this! I love good mysteries and I like to mystery behind who/what Bonnie really is, but also Bonnie herself, she is very relatable and makes you immediately invested in her. But what really pulls me in with this issue is the expansion of this world, we are seeing new places, meeting new people and going deeper into their lore. Milos Slavkovic does a great job again with the art, making feel like I am seeing illustrations of an old book, which really helps with the Shakespearian elements at play. Now let's see if Ryan can let me down again next month! ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
RONIN ISLAND #1
Written By: Greg Pak
Art By: Giannis Milonogiannis
Colors By: Irma Kniivila
Letters By: Simon Bowland
Cover By: Giannis Milonogiannis & Msassyk
Pre-Order Cover By: Ethan Young
Variant Cover By: David LaFuente & German Garcia
Unlocked Retailer Variant Cover By: Kris Anka
Price: $3.99
After the Great Wind survivors of three lands live and work together as Islanders until the Shogun arrive and the Byonin attack. I think Pak has entered a new phase of his career with his creator-owned titles. Right off the heels of his fantastic creator-owned series "Mech Cadet Yu" Pak has hit another out of the ballpark. Ronin Island is a fun book that sets the feeling of an "Avatar: The Last Airbender" or "Legend of Korra" where we get this new world that simultaneously gives you a glimpse of the past while holding footing in the present. I loved the slight moments of humor that the story and the art both bring into the issue giving it a totally different feel I thought it would have. Speaking of art, Giannis Milonogiannis is amazing His style brings that Avatar feeling to the forefront for me, especially with the humor. ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
ADVENTURES OF THE SUPER SONS #8(OF 12)
"Jailhouse Rocked"
Written By: Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils By: Carlo Barberi
Inks By: Matt Santorelli
Colors By: Protobunker
Letters By: Rob Leigh
Cover By: Dan Mora
Price: $3.99
Superboy, Robin and Joker Jr. are on the run from Rex and his Injustice Army. We are gearing towards the end of this maxi-series and this is the beginning of that. What is Rex's ultimate plan? Can the Super Sons stop it from happening? I know I am in for it all, the Injustice Army is really cool and visually awesome to see these younger versions of classic villains. I hope this young Green Lantern is on the up and up and not some prisoner who is lying to them, and if he is why isn't he the Teen Lantern? Barberi has done an excellent job of visually bringing the fun of Tomasi's script to life on the page and his take on these classic looks for the Injustice Army need to be made into toys! ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
BATMAN #66
"Knightmares Part 4: Cat"
Written By: Tom King
Art By: Jorge Fornes
Colors By: Dave Stewart
Letters By: Clayton Cowles
Cover By: Mikel Janin
Variant Cover By: Evan "Doc" Shaner
Price: $3.99
Batman is stuck in a series of nightmares. Can Selina Kyle be the key to breaking him out of them? Tom King has an amazingly brilliant poetic style to his writing, even when he isn't writing about poetry. The exchanges between The Question and Selina is like this dance of words which is just beautiful to watch on the page. Jorge Fornes does a great job taking King's script and or "written choreography" and makes it this beautiful imagery on paper. ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #9 (OF 12)
"Crisis"
Written By: Geoff Johns
Art By: Gary Frank
Colors By: Brad Anderson
Letters By: Rob Leigh
Cover & Variant Cover By: Gary Frank & Brad Anderson
Price: $4.99
Doctor Manhattan is revealed to the heroes in the DC Universe as they confront him on Mars while the public turns on a comatose Superman. I am loving Doomsday Clock (except for the shipping schedule) the event is beginning to wind down, which we see here as we are finding out what is going on with Doctor Manhattan and that he may not be the one behind everything. But I have to say, the current political commentary and influence here was very blatant and forced here, so it does lose some for that. Gary Frank is a master of his craft and each issue is just perfection. Frank manages to give us a modern yet classic feel to the story which really fits in with the Watchmen Universe. ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
YOUNG JUSTICE #3
"Seven Crises Part 3"
Written By: Brian Michael Bendis
Art By: Patrick Gleason & Viktor Bogdonovic
Inks By: Jonathan Glapion (pgs. 12, 14, 15, 18), Alejandro Sanchez
Colors By: Alejandro Sanchez (pgs. 1-5), Chris Sotomayor (pgs. 6-16) & Hi-Fi
Letters By: Carlos M. Mangual & Josh Reed
Letters By: Josh Reed
Cover By: Patrick Gleason & Alejandro Sanchez
Variant Cover By: Evan "Doc" Shaner
Price $3.99
Bart finds Conner and we find out how he got there and what he has been doing since he got there. Man, this issue has me so torn! I do like that we got to see that this is indeed the pre-Flashpoint Conner Kent going to Smallville High and all but man he totally blew his identity which isn't Conner, he has grown from that selfish child we saw in the past and this felt like a regression. The whole baby thing, has me scratching my head too about what is going on with that storyline and everything. This issue totally missteps the main plot and underplays it, which I don't know what to think of it. The art here though is solid and brings to mind the original Young Justice series. ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
Verdict: 4 ¼ Stars
PAPER GIRLS #26
Written By: Brian K Vaughan
Art By: Cliff Chiang
Colors By: Matthew Wilson
Letters By: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover By: Cliff Chiang
Price: $3.99
Paper Girls #26 is a solid return for its last arc as Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang give us a peek at what the girls are up to as they were thrown into different time periods. What I love about this the most is that each time period is an allegory to each girl’s individual journeys. The strongest character narratives continue to be with KJ and Mac. KJ is thrown into the conservative 1950s. My favorite scene is when KJ beats up a boy because he tries to steal her shoes, and he asks who KJ is. She walks away and says she’s still trying to figure that out. This sums up KJ’s journey perfectly, and the biggest theme of the series - self-discovery. But the best emotional punch comes from Mac as she’s thrown to the abyss - symbolizing her inevitable end. As for the artwork, Cliff Chiang delivers some of his best work yet with the new character designs of older Erin, Tiffany, and KJ and the vastly different worlds he creates for the time periods the girls are dumped into. Paper Girls #26 is spread a bit thin, but still a good addition to marking the beginning of the end with a lot of story to digest. ~ Kat @ComicUno
CHAMPIONS #3
Written By: Jim Zub
Art By: Steven Cummings
Colors By: Marcio Menyz With Erick Arciniega
Letters By: VC's Clayton Cowles
Cover By: Kim Jacinto & Rain Beredo
Variant Cover By: Pepe Larraz & David Curiel
Price: $3.99
The Champions train while Miles still deals with his decision. Meanwhile, the team teams up with Dust against a crowd of anti-mutant rioters and someone from Sam's past comes back. Jim Zub has done it again! I loved this issue finally, Marvel has a teen book that I can read again! The weight on Miles' shoulders gets heavier when he realizes he saved the girl before time was reset. I also love the call back to Sam's book and all here as well as bringing in Dust! YES! YES! YES! I want Dust to join the team, she is one of the best young characters in marvel today but is sadly hardly ever seen. ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
THE IMMORTAL HULK #14
Written By: Al Ewing
Art By: Kyle Hotz
Colors By: Paul Mounts
Letters By: VC’s Cory Petit
Price: $3.99
The Immortal Hulk #14 is by far my favorite issue of the series and my second 5-star rating of the year. It was perfect and defied my expectation going into this issue. I thought this would be a by the numbers confrontation between Betty and Bruce, but this was so much more. It was about her relationship with the Hulk in general. Her relationship with her father, her husband, and even herself. This was the best-written version of Betty that I have seen in a very long time. I love that Al Ewing doesn’t forget her time as Red She-Hulk, he actually embraces it. Betty still wanted to be the Red She-Hulk - to be Bruce’s equal, and her rage quickly forms to hate as she realizes that Bruce has taken everything away from her.
This was not only a great character journey for Betty, but it also connects all the themes Ewing has been developing throughout his run - no Hulk ever dies. This doesn’t just mean Bruce, but all the Hulks that have fallen. In this issue, Betty is shot in the head. The story keeps reminded us that she’s not Red She-Hulk anymore, but once a Hulk always a Hulk. Just like Bruce, Betty revives - and this brings up questions about the recently deceased Red Hulk. Is he actually dead? The Immortal Hulk has predominately been a story about Bruce, but now Ewing is building the pieces to make this a narrative about all the Hulks - and I am totally on board! In addition, Kyle Hotz on pencils and Paul Mounts on colors make this issue completely haunting and creates a great ambiance. This was a perfect issue of Hulk, a must read! If the series continues on this stride this could become one of the best Hulk series, and one of my favorite comics on stands. ~ Kat @ComicUno
MEET THE SKRULLS #1
"Family Unit"
Written By: Robbie Thompson
Art By: Niko Henrichon
Colors By: Laurent Grossat
Letters By: V.C.'s Travis Lanham
Cover By: Marcos Martin
Variant Covers By: Niko Henrichon; Declan Shalvey; Skottie Young
Price: $3.99
"Project Blossom" is a top secret project that will prevent the Skrulls from hiding amongst us and it is up to the Warners to stop the project from being completed. This was a great first issue! Robbie Thompson sets up this issue perfectly! Right away we know who the Warners are, what their mission is and we get a feel of the threat they face. This has that cold war sleeper agent vibe while exploring the family unit, and I was shocked by the depth they had, especially the loss of a member of their family. Niko Henrichon does a great job on the art, we get this great nuclear family era art style that right away puts us into this setting and this world which doing nice emotional scenes played out with the faces. ~ Jay @ComicBookTheate
UNCANNY X-MEN #13
Written By: Matthew Rosenberg
Art By: Salvador Larroca
Colors By: Guru-eFX
Letters By: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover By: Salvador Larroca and Rachelle Rosenberg
Variant Covers By: Bengal, Scott Williams, and Brad Anderson, Mike Mckone and Rachelle Rosenberg
Price: $3.99
Uncanny X-Men #13 sees our X-Men team have found a temporary place to stay with an old friend of Logan while they come up with their next move. Seeing forces continue to mount against them, Cyclops has come up with a new plan for the X-Men, perhaps a final plan. This time it’s simple, a list of all the X-men’s biggest problems that are still unresolved. Set with the newfound direction the team sets out to find it’s the first target. Of course one of the highlights of this issue comes as they all need uniforms, and Wolverine just so happens to grabbed some classics from the mansion before it was completely gone. We get to see each character in arguably their most iconic uniforms, so a great treat for longtime X-Men fans. Matthew Rosenberg continues to delivery a solid X-Men story with what could be a great long story arc to complete the list that was revealed in this issue. Art and Colors in this issue were outstanding contrasting the team against dark backgrounds was a great choice throughout this issue. Now having a defined objective for the team, I’m excited about the next issue and to see who’s the next name on the list. ~ Justin @ExileState
Find out where these books and more fall in the Frontline Six's Top 5 on this week's Frontline LIVE Tuesday, at 10:00 PM ET!
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