The TALKING COMICS Review Round-Up

Every week, the Talking Comics collective posts a mega-list of the comics they’re most excited to pull off the shelves that week. Check back here to see if the comics on the Pull List met the team’s expectations with reviews and quippy quotables!!! Click the links to go to full reviews and reflections!!!

Also, check out our weekly Favorite Comic Book Covers of the Week column for more coverage of last week’s new books!

Also also, WRITE FOR TALKING COMICS!!! Apply now!!!

This week’s contributors:

• Jesse Bowden (@JesseBowden)
• Deanna Chapman (@deeechap)
• John Dubrawa (@thisjohnrd)
• Huw Parry (@h_paz)
• Matthew Iung (@iceo1000)
• Hernan Guarderas (@hguarderas93)
• Bob Reyer (bobreyer@talkingcomicbooks.com)
• Steve Seigh (@dead_anchoress)
• Nate Mondschein (@33andMoonshine)
• Max Mallet (@globetrottermax)
• Vivek Kembaiyan (@just_Vivek)
• Lorna Maltman (maltmanlorna@gmail.com)

And lovingly edited by Joey Braccino (@joeybraccino)

New Comic Book Day – August 31st, 2016

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ACTION LAB

Monty the Dinosaur #1 – By Bob Frantz & Jean Franco

• Wait and see.  A good start, but I can’t help but feel it would read better as a trade. – Lorna

[Editor’s Note: For Lorna’s full review of Monty the Dinosaur, click here!!!]

BLACK MASK STUDIOS

Kim & Kim #2 – By Magdalene Visaggio & Eva Cabrera

• BUY. Ughhhh this series is so good. Funny, dynamic, authentic–the way the characters in Kim & Kim bounce off of each makes the price of admission worth it. Add in the whole interstellar bounty hunting and supernatural necromancy stuff and you’ve got one of the most exciting comic books on the stands. Check it! – Joey

DC COMICS

DC Comics Bombshells ANNUAL – By Marguerite Bennett & Elsa Charretier

• BUY.  This is an easy verdict.  Marguerite Bennett digs deeply into disciplines like literature and history to add to this addition to DC Bombshells.  Character redesigns are fresh and aesthetically pleasing.  The book also boasts an impressively intelligent and diverse cast of super-heroines.  It’s a little steeper than the average DC Rebirth title, but is easily worth the price point. –Max

[Editor’s Note: For Max’s full review of DC Bombshells, click here!!!]

• BUY. Max said it all very well. This book is fun and it always keeps it fresh. The art is consistently high quality. Bennett is one of the best in the business, there is no doubt. – Nathan

Legend of Wonder Woman #9 (of 9) – By Renae De Liz & Ray Dilon

• Buy the Trade – As a Wonder Woman fan, there’s so much to love about this series. Renae De Liz has done an incredible job capturing the spirit of Golden Age stories in a way that still feels fun contemporary and new. I am especially fond of her take on Wonder Woman’s supporting characters; Etta and the Holiday girls are a delight. De Liz nails the core tenants of Diana’s character; she is self-less, formidable, and curious, but she is also quite serious. I would like to see Diana have a bit more fun in a second season. Now that the first season of the Legend of Wonder Woman has come to an end, do yourself a favor and pick up the trade paperback. – Jesse

[Editor’s Note: For Jesse’s full review of Legend of Wonder Woman, click here!!]

• Buy- If you’ve been “single-issuing”, you’ll want to purchase this lovely book to complete the first arc; if you’re someone who has just discovered the joy of reading stories about a more-classic interpretation of the Amazon Princess due to Greg Rucka’s work, Jesse’s recommendation about the trade is spot-on!–Bob

Suicide Squad: War Crimes – Special – By John Ostrander & Gus Vasquez

• On the fence. There is plenty in this issue to enjoy, especially for fans of Ostrander’s original Suicide Squad work, but the lack of depth is a disappointment. -Vivek

[Editor’s Note: For Vivek’s full review of SS: War Crimes, click here!!]

IDW PUBLISHING

Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me #1 – By Devin Faraci & Vic Malhotra 

• Buy. As a whole, the comic comes together well and IDW has a great adaptation on their hands. As a fan of a show like Dexter, the decision to check this out is easy. If seeing how the wheels churn for a sociopath is something you find intriguing, this is the comic for you. Also, if you’re just into crime novels in general and love to see a nice comic book adaptation of one, then check it out. It may even make you read the original book. – Deanna

[Editor’s Note: For Deanna’s full review of Faraci’s adaptation, click here!!!]

TMNT Universe #1 – By Paul Allor  & Damian Couceiro (back story by Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, and Bill Sienkiewicz)

• Check it out. I haven’t read any TMNT before and enjoyed the main story in this one, which was funny and well-paced. The back-story was very short and didn’t go far enough for me to get a good feel for how it’ll go, though both stories will be continued. – Vivek
• Buy – As an established TMNT super-fan and long-time reader of the main title, I felt right at home with this book from the off. I’m glad Vivek didn’t feel lost at all in the main story as there were a few little mentions of things that are calls to the main book that had me concerned for new readers. Capturing the feel of the main book, but very much looking to do its own thing, I’m pretty excited to have two TMNT titles on my regular pull list. The back-up story felt like it deserved a page or two more to flesh itself out, but there was just enough there to grab me. Even though it had a larger page count, I really hope this book doesn’t stick with the $4.99 price tag. With DC double shipping books and Marvel about to hit their All-New-Now-Then-Marvel-Here-Right-Now…..Now! launch, little books like this can’t really afford to price themselves out of the market. – Huw

X-Files Origins #1 – By Jody Houser & Chris Fenoglio 

• Buy. The story is a great start to what could potentially be an entertaining foundation for one of the most widely known television series ever made. The X-Files was, and is, a paranormal character study of Mulder and Scully, and if this series proves successful we’ll get to see a different side of their story. If you’re already a fan of The X-Files, chances are you’re in love with the two leads and that’s more than enough of a reason to pick this up. If you’re not a fan, they’re still two great coming-of-age stories that explore the idea of losing someone close to you. – Hernan

[Editor’s Note: For more of Hernan’s thoughts on X-Files Origins, click here!!!]

IMAGE COMICS

Jupiter’s Legacy Vol.2  # 3 – By Mark Millar and Frank Quitely

• Buy! It’s hard to describe this issue without spoiling it, so I’ll just say it felt like an emotional culmination of many of the most poignant threads in the preceding Jupiter’s Legacy and Circle stories. Until this issue, I didn’t feel like this volume was living up to the first one, but that changed here. – Vivek

Lazarus #24 – Greg Rucka & Michael Lark

• You need to be reading this book! – Seriously, how are you not reading Lazarus? Rucka and Lark continue the Cull arc. It’s been a bloody good follow up to the story’s previous installments. Rucka is so good at creating nuanced protagonists that the reader will instantly love. I just want Forever Carlyle to find happiness – Damn you Rucka! – Jesse

Saga #37 – By Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples 

• Buy –  Saga is back y’all! In this issue, Fiona Staples gives readers exactly what we want, robot dicks. For me, it’s excellence continues to transcend the medium. And I think most people would agree that Saga is one of the best comic book stories of all time. If you’re not already reading it, check out the first issue for free on Comixology. I promise you won’t regret it. – Jesse
• BUY. This and all thirty issues before it. It will be worth every penny and minute or your respective money and time. – Nate M

[Editor’s Note: For more on Saga #37, check out Nate’s full review here!!!]

Tokyo Ghost #10 – By Rick Remender & Sean Gordon Murphy 

• Buy. Now as easy as it is for me to tell you to go buy this issue, I can not in good conscience  just recommend issue ten regardless of how stunning and beautiful it is. So as a further recommendation, the first trade is available on line and hopefully where ever you buy comics and the second one will be out in October so if you like what you read you won’t have long to wait for more. – Matthew

[Editor’s Note: For Matthew’s full review of Tokyo Ghost, click here!!!]

MARVEL COMICS

All-New Wolverine ANNUAL

• Buy! All-New Wolverine hits its one-year anniversary with this issue and there’s no better way to celebrate than with an epic team-up with one Spider-Gwen. There’s a lot of genuine belly-laughs in this issue as the two discover they’ve been swapped into the other’s body, and what ensues is nothing short of manic fun. Even if you haven’t been keeping up with this series, this is a basic one-and-done kind of story that should be read. –John D.

[Editor’s Note: The one and only Steve Seigh reviewed the All-New Wolverine ANNUAL this week! Check it out here!!!]

Ms. Marvel #10 – by G. Willow Wilson, Takeshi Miyazawa, & Adrian Alphona 

• Buy. This issue starts with a touching flashback that shows Kamala in second grade that just made me melt. In the present day, Ms. Marvel has to deal with the feeling that everything is moving out of her control, as she puts in motion a plan to make things better. – Vivek

• BUY!–By keeping the consequences to the “Civil War” personal, G.Willow Wilson has, whilst seemingly keeping things simpler, actually given them amazing depth and complexity. Beautifully touching in both flashbacks and the present day, this is simply a stunning piece of work,–Bob

Silver Surfer #6 – By Dan Slott & Michael Allred (Special Oversized 200th Issue)

• Buy! Silver Surfer’s 200th issue spectacular is a lot less looking back on the past and more business as usual but when business is this good, that’s not a bad way to go. There’s a special guest star in this issue that lends to some humorous interactions with the Surfer but the real star of this show is Dawn Greenwood. She continues to grow as a wonderfully complex character, one that I look forward to seeing almost as much as the Surfer each month. If you haven’t already come aboard this wonderful series, this issue is actually a decent jumping-on point, so now’s your chance. –John D.

Spider-Man #7 – By Brian Michael Bendis & Nico Leon 

• Skip – Mile’s adventures had hit a good little vein of form in the last couple of issues, but this brings it all to pretty much a grinding halt. Choosing to focus on Miles’ moral dilemma in a battle he’s destined to be on the outside of just feels like an excuse to milk the Civil War II event even further. I get that showing the scale of what’s happening matters, but this really didn’t warrant hijacking an entire issue of a book that was just hitting its stride. – Huw
• Skip. I was really looking forward to this one after the last issue, but unfortunately it does almost nothing to move the plot forward, instead focusing on Miles’ (legitimate) angst about taking sides in Civil War II. It’s never a good sign when you feel like a comic book could have better told it’s story in 3 pages instead of 20. – Vivek

• Skip. There’s something a bit disheartening about a Spider-Man Civil War II tie-in that spends most of the time talking about how Miles Morales doesn’t belong in the ongoing fight of that event. So why have this tie-in at all? Why not just pick up with business as usual, which as of last issue was just getting good with Jessica Jones being placed into the mix? Jones gets only a little bit of the spotlight because this is mostly about Civil War II and how dark and depressing it’s all about to get. As someone not reading that event who wants his Spider-Man book back, I echo the sentiments on the very first page of this issue:  “Please…stop.” –John D.

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And that’s our Pull List for this week!!! If you happen to pick up any of these books, please join the conversation here or on twitter and let us know what you think! As we update the site with reviews and verdicts on these comics, we’d love to include your input!

#READCOMICS