Comics Picks For 19.02.2014

Another very slow week, mostly due to traveling again. And now I’m in India for a cousin’s wedding, so I have big doubts that I will be able to read all that much in the next two weeks at least. Its certainly going to be quite a challenge.

Still, there were some really good entries this week, and I’d recommend almost all of them, barring like two of the issues. Definitely check out Kings Watch #1 if not anything else. More Phantom goodness? Hell yes, please!

Anyway, here’s another edition of this new feature. Full reading list, as always, is available here and all my comics reviews are available here.

Unity #4 (Comics Review)

I keep saying this and it never gets old for me: despite everything “new” that the Big 2 have done of late, Valiant Comics is still not done pulling out all the stops to establish themselves in the big leagues of superhero comics. Their Unity ongoing, which is a team-up comic featuring some of their biggest heroes, is proof of it. I wasn’t sure what all to expect from it when I heard about it and the book has been a very pleasant surprise. It has kept me coming back month after month, and I suppose that is evidence enough of how much I am enjoying reading this series.

In the first three issues, we saw a superhero team go up against one of the most powerful men on the planet. It was quite a brutal three issues and featured some of Matt Kindt’s best writing. He’s been very hit and miss for me, but with this series he has definitely a hit, and that is pleasing on a personal level since the Valiant universe is so very different from what exists at the Big 2. It is fresh, it is unique, and it also a whole lot of fun. It also helps that the art on this series is so damn good.

Comics Picks of The Week 15.01.2014

Once again, a very light reading week, with no graphic novel reading at all. I took a trip to India and back over the weekend, mostly because preparations for a cousin’s upcoming marriage and mom’s treatment, so reading time was extremely limited. I’m even behind on my novel reading at the moment, so I’m generally not doing well on that front at all.

Some really fun titles launched this past week, such as Night of the Living Deadpool, so it was an entertaining week at least, for the most part.

Anyway, here’s another edition of this new feature. Full reading list, as always, is available here and all my comics reviews are available here.

Unity #3 (Comics Review)

There have been a lot of big events in comics of late. Last year alone saw some really major events from the Big 2: Throne of Atlantis, Battle of the Atom, Trinity War, Infinity, Age of Ultron etc. And the new year is also heralding quite a few more from both of them. But, I have to say that in terms of uniqueness and freshness, nothing quite beats Valiant’s Unity series, which continues to surprise at every turn. Perhaps that’s because Valiant’s sandbox is pretty new. Perhaps that’s also because writer Matt Kindt is doing some of his best work here. Regardless, Unity is a series that I’m really enjoying.

The first two issues of the series were fairly good. My lack of familiarity with the characters has been an element that has hampered my enjoyment to some degree, but I won’t deny that both issues were some of the best issues I read last year. The third issue, released this week, builds on both of them and it provides a really great change in the status quo of things. Something that is unexpected. And the way that it ends, in the epilogue, well, big changes are in store it seems!

Best of 2013 Part 2c: Monthly Comics

A few days ago I did my best of 2013 list for the books I had read in the second half of the year. In a departure from previous such lists I divided the books and the comics into separate posts so that I didn’t have one massive post up. Massive posts are a bit tough to handle, especially when you are promoting them on social media. And with the split posts, the directions are different and there’s no unnecessary crossover.

So, with the novels and graphic novels already having been covered, I now delve into my favourite monthlies of the year. This is the final “best of” list I’m doing for 2013 that involves reading.

You can check out my top-of-the-month lists on my Reading Awards page and this list is both an extension, and a continuation of what goes on there.

Let’s see what makes the cut and which comes close then!

Comics Picks of The Week 11.12.2013

Looks like its going to be the month of busy weeks. The last two weeks I’ve read two graphic novels each along with all my regular monthlies and this past week proved to be no different. Both Detective Comics Volume 4 and The Flash Volume 4 proved to be exceedingly good and now I have two more series that I need to catch up on for the New 52. Tall order, but doable. And as regards the usual monthlies, there were comics across the board, in all sorts of ways: genres, publishers, characters, etc, etc. The year has slowly transformed over the months into a really solid year for comics overall.

I still haven’t made any dent in the pile of graphic novels I have to read, but I’m not too worried about any of it, to be honest. Already used to that phenomenon from my novel reading.

Anyway, here’s another edition of this new feature. Full reading list, as always, is available here and all my comics reviews are available here.

Unity #2 (Comics Review)

Superhero team-up books are quite fun because of the diversity they have to offer in terms of characters and their backhistories. Whether you talk about an X-Men book or an Avengers book or a Justice League book or whatever, team books bring together the best and the brightest and do some fun things with them. Of course, the experience itself is subjective and some team books can be terrible, but I’ve generally enjoyed them as starting points. And that’s what Valiant Comics’ Unity #1 did for me last month, and what I hoped Unity #2 would do this month.

Which it does. Aplenty. After all the momentous events of the previous issue, we are in for a real treat this week as well as Matt Kindt and Doug Braithwaite return for another excellent issue. The first issue served as a really good introduction to various high-profile characters of the Valiant universe. That’s where the second issue comes in to build on everything that has already happened and move the story forward significantly. I definitely enjoyed the new issue, more than the previous one I should point out.

Comics Picks of The Week 13.11.2013

Managed to read a handful of more comics this week, since there were a lot of titles released that I was really interested in, and a couple from previous weeks that I hadn’t been able to get around to at the time. As usual, it was all a mixed reading experience, with some really good comics mixed in with some bad ones and a few that straddle the fence between the two extremes. More positive ones than negative ones.

No graphic novels this week sadly, since this week was a real slog in reading, again, and I was struggling for time in general with everything else too. Perhaps this coming week can be different!

In the meantime, here’s another edition of this new feature. Full reading list, as always, is available here and all my comics reviews are available here.

Unity #1 by Matt Kindt (Comics Review)

From everything I’ve seen around me, Valiant Comics is emerging as a publisher with some solid clout in the industry. Much as Top Cow did when it was created, Valiant is redefining the superhero genre in its own way by giving us a fresh generation of superhero(ish) characters to get invested in. And they publish some non-superhero titles as well, such as Fred Van Lente’s excellent Archer & Armstrong, of which I’ve read the first volume so far. Unity #1 marks my first Valiant comic in several months as I finally take the full plunge into the universe/setting that Valiant is creating.

Unity #1, the attraction is that it is being presented as a team-up book, Valiant’s own version of a Justice League team-up or an Avengers team-up. Despite how complex they can be, I find team books to be a good starting point, especially when they bring several different type of heroes such as, again, Justice League or Avengers. And that’s what I’m seeing in this comic as well. Written by Matt Kindt, I had some doubts about it since his writing of late hasn’t really been working for me, but I gotta say that this was much better than I expected!