Comics of June 25, 2014

It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means. Comics!

Before I get into this week’s pulls, a brief update on my fiction writing since it may affect my posts next week. The official editing process for my first book begins on the 30^th, so depending on how that goes, my comic related posing might be slower next week than usual. Also, I recently finished the second draft of a story I wrote a year ago. It’s the third book I wrote for my series, and will probably be the 6^th continuity wise. It’s also my favourite entry in the series so far, and the longest. The first draft was 83,846 words and 326 pages. The second draft is 120,671 words and 473 pages, my longest draft by 26,000 words.

Now, it’s time for comics. The issues I picked up this week include Amazing Spider-Man 3, Ms. Marvel 5, X-Force 6, Avengers Undercover 6, New Warriors 6, Guardians of the Galaxy 16, Tomb Raider 5, Batman 32 and Red Lanterns 32. Here are my first impressions, and links to full reviews will be added as they’re posted.

Ms. Marvel 5 review

Red Lanterns 32 review

X-Force 6 review

Amazing Spider-Man 3 is fun. It deals with a number of plotlines at once and manages to combine a few of them. Spider-Man and Black Cat meet for the first time since Peter Parker got his mind back, and their fight got interesting fast. Besides that, there isn’t all that much character development in this issue. Instead, a number of character mindsets were simply repeated without much progress. This one is mostly about plot development and it works, but the character focus isn’t as strong as Dan Slott usually is. This is still an easy recommendation for Spider-Man fans though.

Avengers Undercover 16 is good, but it’ll probably anger some people. As the cover and solicitations suggest, this issue is all about Deathlocket and her first mission for the Masters of Evil. Without spoiling who, it’s possible that one of the Avengers Arena survivors is killed in this comic. In terms of writing quality it’s better than most AU issues so far, but it’s also right back to the kind of book that Arena haters despised.

New Warriors 6 is fun, but not great. The New Warriors have their first encounter with the Avengers since reforming. While it’s entertaining, it feels like so much more could have been done with this issue. I want to like this series, but it’s been disappointing so far. I’ll give it one more issue to win me over.

Guardians of the Galaxy 16 is good. Some of the hopeless situations from the previous issue kind of solve themselves, while two of the Guardians are rescued by their allies. Captain Marvel finally shows up after her frustrating absence in the last issue. There’s also a brilliant encounter between Starlord and the king of Spartex. This title isn’t nearly as good as Brian Michael Bendis’s X-Men work, but this issue is a step in the right direction. Plus it has Captain Marvel, and that’s always a plus.

Tomb Raider 5 is great. After returning to the island of Yamatai at the end of the last issue, Lara Croft gets down to business with sneaking through the island and searching for her friend, Sam. There’s also a great flashback showing how the friends first met and how, despite having opposite personalities, how they grew so close. The action is good too. Whether you’re interested in an action/adventure comic or enjoyed the 2013 reboot, this is an easy recommendation.

Batman 32 is good. It’s the penultimate issue of Year Zero, with Batman finally tracking down the Riddler’s location. I still have problems with this storyline, but this issue works in a number of ways. It’s worth picking up for Batman fans, especially if you also like the Riddler.