Comics of November 28, 2018 + NaNoWriMo update

NaNoWriMo’s gone better for me than I expected. I was hoping to have another 200,000 word year, but I didn’t expect to make it. Working a full-time job certainly made writing more than 4,000 words on a work day very difficult, when in past years, I tended to be able to write around 5,000 words even on days that I worked. But it turns out that my word counts on my days off more than made up for that. Since I had no travel plans this year, I saved up most of my vacation days for this month.

More specifically, I just got back from a 5-day weekend full of writing. I was hoping to average at least 10,000 words a day that weekend. Apparently that wasn’t enough though, because I wrote at least 10,500 words each day. On three of those days, I wrote more than 12,000 words. On one of those days, I wrote over 14,000 words. I reached my month’s goal of 200,000 words this past Monday, and I’ve still added to it since. For the fun of it, I could even say that I got paid to write on those days. I might even be on track for my second highest total word count ever.

Anyway, it’s time to talk about comics. This week, I picked up Weapon Hex 2, Uncanny X-Men 3, Fantastic Four 4, Red Sonja 23 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 88. Not sure if I’ll get to a full review, because I’m tired in more ways than one right now, but if I do, it’ll be linked below.

Uncanny X-Men 3 review

Weapon Hex 2 is fun. This 2-issue series isn’t long enough to carry any dramatic moments with all the storytelling it does, but I don’t think anyone was really expecting that anyway. This issue contains several awesome action beats, some fun dialogue, and an ending that feels like it would be dramatic if this were at least a 4-issue miniseries. If you’re a fan of X-23, this is a fun little alternate universe version of her, and it could also be worth checking out for fans of the Maximoff twins as well. That said, this story does seem to be based a lot more on X-23’s origin than it is on the Scarlet Witch’s.

Fantastic Four 4 is fun. The FF returns to Earth to find that a lot has changed. Not sure what else to say here. It feels like this series could be really good, and this issue is enjoyable, but in a way it hasn’t really started yet. It still doesn’t have a clear direction going forward. Fans of the Fantastic Four will likely enjoy this, but it’s the next issue that I’m sure a lot of long-time fans are really looking forward to. After that, we’ll see where this series is heading.

Red Sonja 23 is fun. Sonja is pretty much forced into a deal with a king, whose son she killed some time ago. She must recover an axe that was lost generations in the past, from a couple of very intelligent hoarders. It’s a one-off issue that tells a simple story that’s perfectly fitting for the character. Anything else I say will risk spoiling the fun. Red Sonja fans will probably enjoy it, and this is a pretty decent issue to check this series out if you’re interested.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 88 is brilliant. It concludes the battle that started a couple issues ago, between the EDF, the Triceratops mutants from space, and the mutants who arrived to help. Despite the massive cast involved in this issue, it doesn’t feel the least bit overcrowded. This issue also gives us a few strange, yet compelling reveals, some great one-liners and a lot of action. It was enjoyable from the very start, but then it got unexpectedly sad and dramatic. This comic really does have a bit of everything and it’s all well done. If this series hadn’t already turned me into a Ninja Turtles fan already after years of being casually interested, this issue would have won me over. If you’re a TMNT fan, you should be reading this series. It’s that simple.