Weekly Comics Review for 5/8/13
Yes, I’m finally catching up with stuff post-Comicon.
Archer & Armstrong #0 – Yes, we finally have it. The origin of the Aram and his brothers. Gilad has been the warrior, Ivar was the smart one and the leader, and Aram was the… well… I guess “creative one” is the nicest way to put it. We get to see how the brothers got the Boon as well as an interesting connection between Armstrong and The Epic of Gilgamesh. It’s great to see the brothers together. Hopefully we’ll see more of this in the future.
Avengers Arena #9 – The secret of Apex is revealed. S/he is actually siblings sharing the same body. (Ok, haven’t we seen this before? Penance was 2 sisters. Then there were Starhawk from the Guardians of the Galaxy and Cloud from the Defenders who were male and female sharing the same body. I think this is overdone.) Apex is still not one to be trusted as she takes out another o the heroes. We’re down one more and we STILL don’t know what’s happened to Chris Powell since Chase has the Darkhawk amulet. How much longer is this going to drag on? They’re a bunch of heroes. They should be working together against Arcade. Sheesh!
Demon Knights #20 – It’s the countdown to the end of the title. How better to end things than a search for the Holy Grail. With the help of the Amazons, the Knights start on their new quest. I think we all know nothing goes easy for this group and this time they get it in spades. It seems someone has let loose the Kraken! EEP!
Grimm #1 – One of the current popular supernatural shows hits the comics thanks to Dynamite. Nick and crew head off to Vienna in search of his mother. As they hunt down clues (They could really use Scooby and the gang here.), they run across wesen and another Grimm. Guess they are all over the place. (Let’s just hope she likes Monroe.)
Harbinger #12 – Harbinger Wars tie-in – The team shows up in Vegas and meet up with the kids who escaped Harada’s clutches on their own. Mix a bunch of kids on their own in the world for the first time with our team of mismatched yet powerful misfits and this is just a recipe for trouble. Some of the two group do match up some to hang out and chat and have fun though.) Makes you wonder what’s going to happen when everyone else shows up.
Justice League of America #3 – After defeating the Justice League androids (You knew that wasn’t really them, right?), the team decides to infiltrate the Secret Society with their own secret weapon, Catwoman. Of course, Green Arrow gets in the middle of it and almost blows the whole thing. (He had to get involved somehow.) But Catwoman gets the society’s attention and they send Blockbuster and Signal Man to get her. Signal Man? Really!? Of all the characters they could bring into the New 52 universe, they couldn’t think of someone better than him? *headdesk* Oh, yeah, and Stargirl isn’t too happy with things since she learns her place on the team is just to be the pretty face front person for the media. I’m not sure how Waller doesn’t get her ass kicked more often.
The Ravagers #12 – In case you hadn’t guessed from previous issues, Deathstroke’s knife is a teleportation device. (Does it teleport them as soon as it touches them or is he actually stabbing them?) It’s Caitlin vs her clones and ending up in Harvest’s hands along with most of the Ravagers as Deathstroke walks away with Rose and Terra. Beast Boy is left behind where Raven gets him and takes him off to the Teen Titans storyline. Where will all this go since this is the last issue? Who knows. I hope we see Niles Caulder again… maybe with a Doom Patrol title? Enough books are getting cancelled that it’s time to try them.
Not a bad week, really. I think the top recommendations this time go to Archer & Armstrong, Demon Knights, and Justice League of America. With the exception of Avengers Academy (Why am I still buying that?), I’d say they were all a good read though. And if you’re liking Archer & Armstrong as much as I am, watch for a Phoenix Comicon spotlight on Valiant coming up. There’s a few more weeks of reviews coming up soon as well as my review of Phoenix Comicon and a couple more spotlights on top of the one mentioned.
