The Pull List #74 - September 28 2016

A weekly column in which Jake gives short blurbs about the comics he’s picked up that week. Reviewed in the order read, which varies but generally by increasing anticipation.   Disclaimer: he knows very little about art, at least not enough to considerably honor such tremendous undertakings, so…yeh, there’s that.






Batman Beyond: Rebirth #1

Writer: Dan Jurgens
Artist: Ryan Sook
Colorists: Jeremy Lawson & Tony Aviña
Letters: Travis Lanham
DC
After being believed to have been dead, Terry McGinnis returns to Neo-Gotham and to being Batman, sans Bruce in his ear.  But, it seems an old foe from Batman’s past has also returned, one determined to retake their place in Gotham’s underworld.  Jurgens's script does a decent job of catching new readers up to the status quo of the comic, as it’s not exactly a direct lead from the TV series.  We don’t find out everything, but there’s enough to familiarize the audience.  Book’s art captures the feel of the original series while doing a bit of modernizing to reflect the changes the world has gone through.  I’m still not entirely sold on the new costume design (red eyes instead of white) but I can learn to live with it, particularly if the writing and art are so strong across the title.  


Ms. Marvel #11

Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artists: Takeshi Miyazawa & Adrian Alphona
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Marvel
The character assassination of Captain Marvel, uh I mean, Civil War II continues to take its toll on Kamala as she attempts to right the wrongs she’s allowed to happen under the auspices of predictive justice.  Essentially, this issue goes about the way you would expect, which at this point is a bit noisome in its predictability.  Again, that’s not really the fault of Wilson and more in the fact that the book has to tie-in to the CW2 nonsense.  Still, at least the art remains as in credible as ever.  Miyazawa and Alphona have drama aplenty to portray and they both nail it perfectly.  The book gets out from the CW2 banner next issue, so hopefully things improve.


Spider-Woman #11

Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Veronica Fish
Color Artist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Marvel
The character assassination of Captain Marvel, uh I mean, Civil War II continues.  At least Jessica Drew is as mad about this as I am.  There’s some great emotion going on in the issue and Hopeless masterfully lets us in on all of it.  Fish executes every panel flawlessly.  A good bit of anger after this CW2 nonsense.  The book gets out from the CW2 banner next issue, so hopefully things improve.


The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #12

Writer: Ryan North
Artist: Erica Henderson
Color Artist: Rico Renzi
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Marvel
Taking a short break from all that CW2 nonsense.  After leaving Brain Drain (you remember him right? …no?) and the other billion heroes living in NYC to handle crime for a bit, Squirrel Girl travels to Northern Ontario for vacation but winds up confronting her greatest nemesis: boredom.  This might be the funniest issue of Squirrel Girl yet, thanks to the antics of the aforementioned drainer of brains.  Henderson’s expressions and physical comedy on priceless.  A great outing for a great series.


The Ultimates #11

Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Kenneth Rocafort & Djibril Morissette
Color Artist: Dan Brown
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Marvel
The character assassination of Captain Marvel, uh I mean, Civil War II continues…oh, wait, I actually liked this for the most part.  Weird, considering how this is the issue that most involves Carol.  After the Anti-Man breaks both himself and Thanos out of the Triskelion, can the Ultimates overcome their differences in time to stop these world-ending threats?  Ewing does a lovely job of keeping the tension between the characters while showing them being fucking adults and solving a problem, kinda how this whole CW2 thing should have gone anyway.  Sorry.  There’s some really great character moments in here, from Thanos’s monologue about his new worldview to Ms. America’s impassioned speech about her beliefs.  Rocafort and Morissette knock the art out of the park, with Rocafort handling the aforementioned breakout scenes and Morissette covering the excellent super-fight afterwards.  Coupled with Dan Brown’s lovely unifying colors, you’ve got a pretty great issue despite it being mired in the CW2 bullshit.  

BOOK OF THE WEEK
New Avengers #16

Writer: Al Ewing
Penciller: Paco Medina
Inker: Juan Vlasco
Color Artist: Jesus Aburtov
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel
At last this book has ascended to the potential it could always reach.  Crazy science.  Awesome superheroics.  And fun.  Just pure fun.  Also, little to do with that CW2 bullshit.



But wait, there’s more!

CharlieDanger82 is helping out this week to cover some the new titles for DC Rebirth. Think of it like a backup story in your favorite book, just with less talented writing.






Golden Dogs Vol. 1 - Fanny
http://newcomic.info/uploads/posts/2016-09/1475053568_98888de8c254fc7f9d5f47441783b52b.jpg
Writer: Stephen Dresberg
Art: Griffo
Colors: Roberto Burgazzolli & Bautista
Letterer: Not Credited
Europe Comics

This came out last week and was marked down from $7.99 to $0.98 on Comixology, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. What I got was an intriguing Victorian heist book, filled with sex, murder, robberies and a possible traitor among the 4 "thieves." It's like a grittier Assassin's Creed Syndicate. If you like the game (which I did), you'll most likely enjoy this book (which I did). Not sure if it's still going on, but the second volume: Ornwood is also $0.98.


Writer: Rob Williams
Art: Jim Lee, Scott Williams, Philip Tan
Colors: Alex Sinclair, Elmer Santos
Letterer: Nate Piekos of BLAMBOT
DC Comics

Again, i get the feeling I'm just picking this book up for the back up stories. This week's is about Katana and it's really amazing. Also back in the main book it's the Squad vs. Zod and a Russian Suicide Squad shows up. Not a great issue, but also not the worst comic I've read this week. It's still a fun book.


Writer: Dan Abnett
Art: Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund
Colors: Andrew Dalhouse
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
DC Comics

This comic still gives me all i need in a Titans book. When they're done fighting a techno wizard from the future named Kadabra, they go to plot their next move in a pizzeria... in costume. It's fun, it's entertaining and it's the Teen Titans grown up, but still enjoying their youth. It's great and it's what you would want from a book bearing the Titans title. It's not some stupid book making old characters plain annoying, brainless, angsty or emo, brought together by one of the least likable people in the entire DC Universe.....


Writer: Benjamin Percy
Art: Jonboy Meyers
Colors: Jim Charalampidis
Letterer: Corey Breen
DC Comics

Hey! It's some stupid book making old characters plain annoying, brainless, angsty or emo, brought together by one of the least likable people in the entire DC Universe! Want to be less of a fan of characters like Kid Flash, Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy? Want to see how Damian Wayne makes friends? Read this book! Does it sounds like crap to you? Couldn't agree more! Still, not the worst book I've read this week.


Writer: Simon Oliver
Art: Moritat
Colors: Moritat, Andre Szymanowicz
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
DC Comics

Back to a quality book. John Constantine played a game of chicken with a demon with 8 million souls at stake, won, and no one in the supernatural world took notice? Something big has to be going on and John is trying to get to the bottom of it. It's another wonderful and weird outing for Constantine and the series is really a great read so far.


Writer: Keith Giffen, Scott Kolins
Art: Scott Kolins
Colors: Romulo Farjarod
Letterer: Josh Reed
DC Comics

Ted Kord, the Blue Beetle, was my favorite comic book character growing up. When they killed him off in Countdown to Infinite Crisis, I was infuriated. when everyone came back from the grave on a regular basis, but Ted Kord stayed dead, I was even more infuriated. When I found out the DC was bringing back Ted Kord in a mentor capacity to Jamie Reyes, I was overjoyed.

 After reading this comic, I wish Ted Kord had stayed dead.

 The dialogue in this book is what happens when an old person tries to write young people, NO ONE in this entire book is likable, Ted Kord is a smarmy buffoon, Jamie Reyes is the most prickish teenager ever written, his friends in the comic are the hopeful future prom dates of a meteor heading to the earth and the villains are a mutated ethnic street gang. NOTHING in this book works, NOTHING in this book is worth paying a penny for, and NOTHING kills me more to say than this book is garbage.

So what did you pick up this week? 
Agree or disagree with anything said here? 
Let us know in the comments.

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