Category: Comic Books

Mighty Thursday #5

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Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn

By Jim Owsley, Keith Giffen & Gerard Jones(Writers); M.D. Bright (Penciller); Romeo Tanghal (Inker); Anthony Tollin (Colourist); Albert T. Deguzman (Letterer); 2003

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Summary

Only the fearless can be entrusted with a Green Lantern’s power ring, the universe’s most powerful weapon. When Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814, crash-landed on Earth, he knew it was time to pass the Emerald Mantle to a deserving human. After quickly studying billions of people, the ring selected test pilot Hal Jordan, who was busy making a mess of his life. Now gifted with an incredible trust, Jordan needs a crash course in both using the ring and what it means to be a Green Lantern. And he had better learn fast — Legion, the alien marauder who has already killed four Green Lanterns, has arrived on Earth to hunt down his fifth.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #4

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Batman: Lovers & Madmen

By Michael Green (Writer); Denys Cowan (Pencils), John Floyd (Inker) & I.L.L. (Colourist); 2009

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Summary from Goodreads

A tale set early in the career of the Dark Knight that sheds light on who the Joker was before he became the Clown Prince of Crime. Discover how Batman first crossed paths with the punk who was destined to become his deadliest foe, and see just how far he’ll go in order to bring down the new criminal insanity that’s inspiring Gotham City’s underworld.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #3

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Joe Hill’s The Cape

By Jason Ciaramella (Writer); Zach Howard (Illustrator); Nelson Daniel (Colourist); 2012

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Summary from Goodreads

Every little boy dreams about putting on a cape and soaring up, up, and away… but “what if “one day that dream were to come true? Eric was like every other eight-year-old boy, until a tragic accident changed his life forever. The Cape explores the dark side of power, as the adult Eric – a confused and broken man – takes to the skies… and sets out to exact a terrible vengeance on everyone who ever disappointed him.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #2

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The Incredible Hercules: Against the World

By Greg Pak & Fred Van Lente (Writers); Khoi Pham, Reilly Brown, Eric Nguyen, & Bob Layton (Illustrators); 2008

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Summary from Goodreads

From Hulk to Herc and still Incredible! WORLD WAR HULK is over, the man-monster Hulk defeated and imprisoned following an earth-shaking battle that left both allies and enemies struggling to pick up the pieces. Having sided with the Hulk, legendary demigod Hercules and boy genius Amadeus Cho are now outlaws, a situation further inflamed by Cho’s grudge against the super-spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and Herc’s feud with his estranged half-brother — Ares, god of war, who isn’t above abusing his new federal clout for the sake of sibling rivalry. It’s Marvel’s mightiest manhunt, guest-starring Wonder Man and the Black Widow – plus an untold tale pitting Hercules against the Incredible Hulk!Read More »

Mighty Thursday #1

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The Amazing Spider-Man: Election Day

By Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr., 2009

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Summary from Goodreads

It’s the climax to a year’s worth of Spider-Man stories as questions are answered and Spidey’s new world is rocked to its core. Who’s the person terrorizing people as Menace? Who’s behind the Spider-Tracer Killings? Who’s going to be the Mayor of New York City? Marc Guggenheim and John Romita Jr. have all the answers.Read More »

Mighty Thursday #0

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I’m a great lover of comic books, but unfortunately I have a tendency to read them infrequently. There are also a great many titles I’ve accumulated in my library that I’ve had for a long time yet never gotten around to reading. Some of these are random volumes that I can’t even recall buying, while others I specifically wanted to read, yet let that desire fall to the wayside after purchase.

Mighty Thursday is my effort to remedy this, where every week I will choose a comic book volume — either off my shelf or newly purchased — and review it. Most of the time this will be one I’ve never read before, but sometimes I will reread a title for the fun of it.

The only requirement I have for these new weekly posts is the medium itself, so while a lot may be focused on the numerous superhero trades I’ve accumulated over the years, I will not be excluding books that fall outside of the genre. Comics are a wonderful art form and I want to explore them more regularly.

Regular posts will begin next Thursday.

Star Wars & Meaningful Side-Stories

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At this point, there’s no denying how much we seem to love side-stories and prequels to series and franchises we know and love. Whether it is Better Call Saul spinning off from Breaking Bad, The Wind Through the Keyhole filling a gap between books in the Dark Tower series, or Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them giving us background on the world of Harry Potter, it would seem we can’t get enough.

I’m personally fine with them, for the same reasons as many others: we get to spend more time in these worlds with these characters. What does sometimes bother me though is a side-story that seems to exist for its own sake. The importance of a prequel or side-story to me is that it adds something. Most the time the main series works as a cohesive story all on its own, so a side-story had best add something that expands my understanding of what was going on and who these characters were, or explore a detail in the world that was a smaller piece of the big picture.Read More »

Comic Book Review – Darth Vader (2015) Vol. 1

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With the release of Star War: The Force Awakens has come a lot of new fiction to the Star Wars universe. Regrettably, this resulted in a lot of the old expanded universe fiction being relegated to “Legends” status in the canon, but I’ve seen it as an opportunity to get deeper into the now more manageable canon of expanded fiction. One such series that saw release in early 2015 was Darth Vader, an ongoing monthly series by Marvel Comics, written by Kieron Gillen with art by Salvador Larroca.Read More »

Reflecting on Brody’s Ghost

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Brody’s Ghost is a supernatural, crime, and mystery comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The story and art are by Mark Crilley, also known for the Akiko and Miki Falls series. He has become increasingly well-known over the last several years thanks to his YouTube channel, where he produces How-To-Draw videos every week. It was through this channel that I first heard about his series, and I started reading back when it came out in July 2010. This past April the sixth volume of the series came out, bringing the story to a close. With the series all wrapped up after five years, I’d like to take this time to reflect a little upon it — not quite as in depth as a review of each volume, but an overview of my feelings as a whole.Read More »

Comic Book Review – Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

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Hyperbole and a Half is a 2013 book by Allie Brosh, compiling anecdotes of “unfortunate situations, flawed coping mechanisms, mayhem, and other things that happened,” from her childhood and adult life. The book adapts her web comic/blog of the same name: text along with intentionally crude drawings done in Paintbrush. Along with seven and a half reader favourite stories included within, there are ten and a half original stories — half because one story is old, but with new content.Read More »