Wednesday, May 15, 2013

New Comic-book Night - 5/15/13

For this week's New Comic-book Night, I picked up 10 new issues... two of them are the latest installments on my pull list, Supergirl and Batgirl, and the other eight are for a new title for me -- Thor: God of Thunder.  I chose to try Thor for two reasons.  First, although issue 8 came out last week, my comic-book shop, which is quite good about such things, still had issues 1-7 in the "current" section, meaning I was able to get them all for cover price -- no "back issue markup."  Second, I have heard excellent things about this series from the people at the Comic-book Community.  I'm still wary of Marvel because of the mutants (I absolutely hate the mutant concept at this point), but Thor usually doesn't have much to do with mutants so I figured it was safe to try this series.



I have not read Supergirl or Batgirl yet, but I have read the first three issues of Thor.  So far, it is outstanding.  Esad Ribic's art is heavily stylized but quite good, and the moody inking and coloring definitely fits the story being told.  Jason Aaron's writing is quite strong.  He's doing something highly experimental here -- telling a story that takes place 1,000 years in the past, with a very young Thor; in the present with today's Thor; and 1,000+ years in the future with a very old Thor.  In each time period, Thor battles against a character called the "god butcher," who has been going around killing gods on many various worlds.  Flipping back and forth between three different eras separated by thousands of years could be a story-telling train-wreck, and most writers would probably not be able to pull it off. There's a very real risk of the story becoming incomprehensible to the reader. Aaron, however, has done magnificently in the first three issues.  The story is clean and easy to follow.  The mystery of the god butcher's motivations and actions is tantalizing. And Thor's single-minded determination to track this villain and protect all the other gods drives the story forward.

As I say, I have only read the first three issues (I am about to head off to read issue #4 right now, in fact). But if the series continues to be this solid through all eight issues, this series is going on my pull list the next time I stop by my comic-book shop.

Note, I can not say the same for Captain America, even six issues in... despite the fact that I like Cap better as a character, what's going on in his comic is just... too weird for me.  I am giving that one till the end of the first story arc (I'm guessing issue 8 or so) and if it doesn't get better, I'm done.  But Thor is looking like a keeper.

6 comments:

  1. Thor is definitely one of the best comics coming out right now. I do think it would be a good idea to try some X-Comics especially through comixology. You can probably get all of the issues of Wolverine and the X-Men which are very fun and not particularly serious. I don't know, just a suggestion.

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    1. Years ago, I loved mutants. But I've despised them since at least the early 90s and nothing has happened to change my opinion of that side of the Marvel Universe. This is why I will never more than dabble in the MU -- because they are mutant-happy and I am mutant-despising. ;) Thanks for the recs... but for something like Wolverine, just... no.

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  2. I also recommend this book because like Thor, it is written by Jason Aaron.

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  3. I've been following Captain America as my son reads it. He's 11 and this is his first comic book series he's followed. He is in love with it and although in the beginning he really liked the flashback stuff, he's starting to wish there was less and less of it. He wants the writer to stick with the current story.

    He's really enjoying it, and I'll have to admit I was afraid he'd hate it with the TV growing in Cap's chest, but my son thinks it's cool and he can't wait to see how it all going to resolve.

    I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Supergirl. Having not read an issue yet, the latest preview had me laughing and I was very entertained by Sanctuary. I just may have to pick it up, someone recommended I grab #19 as well if I do.

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    1. I have not read SG #20 yet, but you probably should read #19, since it's the first part of this story, and it's where PG and SG first meet. This is a new SG writer so I will probably have to reserve judgment for a few months before deciding if I like him or not.

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    2. I have now read Supergirl #20. First, definitely read #19 before you read it. Second, I thought it was quite good. It had some great funny moments, but also some good dialogue and a good, fairly self-contained story.

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