Comics Reviews (December 24th, 2014)
From worst to best, with everything something I willingly paid money for, if not wisely.
Also, as I am now more aware of my Christmas schedule, my Last Christmas review should manage to go up sometime tomorrow, and not, as previously expected, on Boxing Day. You can still back that at Patreon, as well as my Doctor Who in 2014 wrap-up post and, starting in January, coverage of Sherlock Season Three, just to fill the gap between the last Eruditorum and the start of the Capaldi reviews.
But now, comics.
The Massive #30
Thirty issues of my life I’ll never get back.
All-New X-Men Annual #1
I’d hoped that this would cohere more in its second issue, but it didn’t really. There’s no sense in which this story needed two over-sized issues and $10 to tell, and it didn’t benefit from being held back for months after the actual event in the comics. On the whole, kind of a mess.
Daredevil #11
New storyline. I think I’ve definitely hit the point of being a bit bored with Mark Waid on Daredevil. This is a perfectly serviceable “the sort of thing Mark Waid does on Daredevil” story, but it’s increasingly clear he’s gone through his best ideas and is on to the second tier of them.
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #3
Woo! Axis is over! This book can actually get on with doing interesting stories now! This isn’t bad, and has a good fight scene, to be fair.
Loki: Agent of Asgard #9
Loki wielding Thor’s hammer is beautiful, but I have to say, this entire arc gets overshadowed by its cliffhanger. Still, this is the only Axis-related comic that’s held my interest at all, and that deserves some credit. Was this the worst Marvel crossover in recent memory? I struggle to think of something quite this dire in a while. Given the one-two punch of Original Sin and this… well, at least I have hope for Secret Wars.
New Avengers #28
Hickman’s finally gotten his eight months later pieces on the board how he wants them, it seems, and is now getting around to making interesting things happen. And this issue, while not necessarily full of interesting things, at least has some interesting things that happen in the final couple of pages.
Uncanny X-Men #29
Surprisingly eventful, with an absolutely fascinating state of play at the end of the issue. I’m excited to see where this goes, not least because of the teases for Cyclops’s future offered by Hickman in Avengers.
Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #6
I worried that the Rob Williams issues of this were going to be weaker than the Ewing issues, but this is a fantastic formal experiment that makes strong use of the structure of a comic book, and has a Nimon in it to boot. THE NIMON BE PRAISED.
