**AS ALWAYS BE MINDFUL THAT THERE WILL BE SLIGHT SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!**

 

Action Comics  #30

Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Aaron Kuder
Reviewer: Aitch Cee

This comic was more of an in between comic as Greg ties up a few story lines from the previous arc to move into Doomed. A lot happens to kick it off such as Superman goes on a bit of a rampage and is shown the error of his ways by a ghostly (literally) group who deem him dangerous. And Doomsday makes his appearance. Again not too much going on but there is a lot of buildup. Kuder’s are is still great as always and is reminiscent of Frank Quitely’s work. This is still one of the best Superman titles DC is selling right now.

3 out of 5 stars

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter #3

Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Mirko Colak with Cory Smith
Colorist: Lauren Affe
Reviewer: Ray Willis
With last issue raid on the Dragon Knights camp and the death of Andars uncle, Turok finds himself with leading the tribe to a safer location. The third issue begins with laying to rest Andars uncle whom was killed in the previous issue and given a eulogy by Turok but Turok didn’t believe in what he said and decides to lead the group away in worry of the crusaders return or their deadly beasts that are being used by them. As the issue goes on we get to see more of how Turok has prepared for situations if he ever needed to use them. After being alone for so long he’s made use of the environment to his advantage. We also to get to see how ruthless Marion’s father is by using own soldier Tom who request just two hours to look for her, as bait for the T-Rex to chase which a goat was supposed to be bait. Marion’s father also mentions how if she’s does die, he has other daughters which was rather cruel. He cares so much to find the so called gold that he would sacrifice others to reclaim it. Also we get to know about Marion and her ties to the various creatures that have been captured by the Dragon Knights. Also Turok riding a dinosaur and leading the T-Rex back to camp was pretty awesome in this issue.
The story was really good with giving more character depth little by little along the way. It really captures what would happen if a rival country invades a foreign area and tries to suppress it but turning wrong in the worse possible way. Seeing how Greg Pak makes you feel for the characters is really good but Marion’s father does seem like the generic villain though if you’ve been reading comics for along time. His greed will probably get the best of him by the end of this arc or he may survive and do something far worse than what we’ve seen. The art is really well done a usual and the colors are really subtle look.The dinosaurs really well as well with opposing colors on the T-Rex bird dinosaur and the merging colors of the raptor dinosaur. I really love this book and will continue to read it all the way to the end.

5 out of 5 stars

What If: Age of Ultron #1

Writer: Joe Keatinge
Artist: Raffaele Ienco
Reviewer: Oz Longworth Jr.

It’s been almost a year since Marvel rolled out Age of Ultron, a crossover event that started off promising and folded in the last leg like the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth quarter. In fact, the ramifications of the time travel foolery have actually been more interesting than the book itself. You would think with the (at best) questionable feedback the book received, Marvel would try to sweep this lame duck under the rug quickly and quietly. However, we all know that Marvel would gladly sell Stan Lee’s mustache to science if they thought they could get gas money out of it. In that spirit, the powers-that-be over at Marvel decided to give us an installment of What If? that does virtually nothing to tell us otherwise.

Usually, this is where I offer you a brief few sentences covering the premise of the book and tell you about Joe Keatinge’s approach to this future vision, but honestly, I can’t tell you WHAT the hell this book was actually. We really just get things we already knew. Ultron takes over the world, kills most of the heroes and the future sucks. Hank Pym spends most of his time on the run, narrating stuff we can clearly see with his powers of self-loathing. The plus side is that Keatinge does despair really well, building up a truly hopeless situation. As far as characterization goes, this is a strong trip into the psyche of the man built the Earth’s executioner. The only problem is that the ending is so thoroughly depressing and bleak, it makes the whole journey into torture porn which is great if you’re shooting for the superhero version of Hostel, but honestly what’s the point of that. Raffaele Ienco’s art was decent but doesn’t do the scale of Keatinge’s techno-tundra future vision nearly enough justice. The giant robots don’t feel giant enough. There weren’t enough “holy shit” moments for a premise (using that term loosely) such as this one.

Bottom Line: Despite not being completely horrible, this is STILL the worst What If? book I’ve probably ever read.
2 out of 5 stars