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

 

Chew -Warrior Chicken Poyo #1

Writer: John Layman

Colors/Artist: Rob Guillory

Color Assists: Taylor Wells

Reviewer: Ray Willis

 

From the team that brought you the acclaimed series Chew, we are given Warrior Chicken Poyo which is a really good issue and laughed a lot throughout this issue. Who would of guessed a bad ass chicken to get his own series. Poyo is set up to be a super soldier in a way that goes around saving people when evils is a foot. The first little story at the beginning has Poyo saving the president and kicking butt which was really funny and awesome to see, then shrinking down to fight the nanites that were sent into the president. In the second story Poyo is sent into another realm with a group other characters other realm to stop the evil groceryomancer.I had fun reading this issue, it really had a lot of pop culture references throughout the entire issue such as the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, Wizard of Oz, and Lord of the rings.

 

The writing by John Layman is really funny and clever with Rob Guillory art which meshes really well together. The art is really solid as always from Rob Guillory and I can admit I haven’t read Chew in quite a while but this title really struck my interest to read. I didn’t find anything bad about this issue. If you like a good comedy with an interesting protagonist with some funny moments, dialogue, and really good action check this title out. Also there is a great teaser at the end of the issue with some zombies and the groceryomancer looks like Ming from Flash Gordon.

 

5 out of 5 stars

 

Sandman Overture #3

Writer: Neil Gaiman

Artist: J. H. Williams

Reviewer: Lee Gordon

What is in a Dream? When I was first introduced to Morpheus, it was thirty-two issues into Neil Gaiman’s vast story. As each issue progressed forward, I also searched the back issues, buying each one and enjoying the story he weaved that much more. After seventy-five issues, the song was done and now after two decades, the melody lingers on. I visited a comic shop in Virginia while taking a few days off from work and there on the new release rack was Neil Gaiman’s latest. The first issue was a great opening salvo and the second issue took off running; but the third issue gives us Hope. Dream of the Endless is off to see the City of Stars and in doing so, he intends to find his killer and to make sure he doesn’t do murder him again. J.H. Williams has never illustrated a comic book better than this one. The panels are vibrant, the colors are rich, and the detail steals the story away to new heights. Dream travels with Dream; one is the version we knew and the other is the Dream we don’t. Also, for the first time we see Dream laugh…and in the very end we see the stars are coming out. As dreams are lucid after we awake, they slip away much like this issue describes. I am left with a feeling of nostalgia after only moments of closing the comic. I can’t wait until the next issue and wish the series was limited like the first one, for seventy-five issues, not the six that are already scheduled. 4 out of 5 Stars

 

X-men #17

Writer: Brian Wood

Artists: Paco Diaz and Phil Briones

Reviewer: Aitch Cee

Part of me has a feeling that this book will read better as a collected volume but truthfully to say, Brian Wood’s run on this book did not stick the landing with this last book. For all the hype of The Future being this big villain, it really boiled down to the X-men fighting off trees. Holy Wizard of Oz, Batman!!!

Worse yet, what could have been an epic showdown between Jubilee and the Future was cut short by someone else thought to be more helpless than the entire team and to be honest, it was just all over too soon and too fast and the amount of it all was an anti-climactic ending. Diaz and Briones are was brilliant as usual and I hope that we get to see more of their work but this story arc at the end was just disappointing.

 

2 out of 5 stars

 

And since we missed last week…

 

Saga #21

Writer: Brian K. Vaughn

Artist: Fiona Staples

Reviewer: Oz Longworth Jr. or Oz-imus Prime, the Boss of You

I suppose a book being so good that finding new things to say about it gets difficult is a good problem to have when you have to read/review so much bullshit on a weekly basis. That doesn’t mean it’s not still a little fucking annoying. Be that as it may, the fact that this Saga consistently takes the title of Best Goddamned Book In Comics every time it hits the shelf is something that deserves to be discussed. And so we shall once again.

Well, shit is picking up steam as a couple of conflicts that have been brewing over the past couple of issues start on a collision course with Alana and Marko. Meanwhile, our unsuspecting family copes with the stresses of maintaining a fairly anonymous but quiet life in their respective ways. The real draw of this plotline highlights the real draw of this book as a whole is that even when shit gets weird, it STILL feels like natural progress for the characters. Brian K. Vaughn can put the character through a shocking change without it feeling like a reach for shock value. As anyone who read last month’s issue will tell you, you end up reading these scenes where you’re saying, “Well, okay, that makes sense, but holy shit!” You feel like these are characters you get to know well enough that you could explain how they got to a certain point in their story as well as you could for a friend or family member. Vaughn has crafted these characters with all the love and attention to detail one would raise a child. Meanwhile, there’s not much else I can say about Fiona Staples’ artwork that college professors haven’t said about the Sistine Chapel. Every one of pencil strokes is a master class in itself. Staples is basically the flagship artist in Image’s movement toward cornering the “Just Plain Weird” genre.

Bottom Line: Yep, Saga’s still here and still awesome. This book is basically required reading for anyone who needs to be schooled in character development (I’m looking at you, Michael Bay).

 

4.5 out of 5 stars

 

Armor Hunters Bloodshot #1

Writer: Joe Harris

Artist: Trevor Hairsine

Colorist: David Baron

Reviewer: Ray Willis

The Armors Hunters have come to destroy the X-O Manowar armor and other armors that could be dangerous. M.E.R.O. refused the requests of the Armor Hunters and the Armor hunters kill millions of people in New Mexico. Livewire traveled to retrieve the highly dangerous Bloodshot, to aid them in the fight against the Armor Hunters. This tie-in is really good and shows pieces of what Bloodshot was up to before he was recruited by Livewire. Bloodshot is a very dangerous guy and the soldiers that are giving the task to track him down are really outmatched for what Bloodshot can do. He’s literally the ultimate black ops agent with nanites in his blood that helps in many situations.

 

The real reason Bloodshot is there is to keep the Armor Hunters from destroying Malgam and Bloodshot does have a chat with him. The Armor Hunters send down their attack dogs with piercing screams and Bloodshot is called into action but before that he needs to get into the armory. Bloodshot gets the upper hand but gets blindsided when trying to get the base under control and ends up with an Armor Hunter making an average appearance. The issue was really solid with not a lot negatives. The Armor Hunters attack at the end was a bit underwhelming, some of the characters faces do look similar but nothing too bad, and Bloodshot is a bit lacking in his abilities other than manipulating tech and stuff. He’s actually a little bit underwhelming against the creatures but it’s only the first issue of the tie-in. The action was really amazing great, the art, and colors really make the story come alive. I hope to see more of Bloodshot going full one hundred percent in the next few issues of the tie-in.

 

4 out of 5 stars

 

Amazing Spider-Man #4

Writer: Dan Slott

Artist: Humberto Ramos

Reviewer: Lee Gordon

 

I always loved the romance between MJ Watson and Peter Parker. I grew up with the flirtations and was rewarded with issue #290, when Peter proposed. Annual #21 was a jackpot issue, with two covers to choose from. I never thought about buying both.

Joe Quesada changed all that, treating decades of continuity with wild abandon, giving Peter a Brand New Day. And ever since Dan Slott took over, I’ve truly enjoyed the title. Superior Spider-Man was exceptional, but having Mr. Parker back is like wearing comfortable shoes.

Issue #4 of the Amazing Spider-Man never made it home unread. On my public transit commute, I realized I couldn’t wait. I pulled the comic out of the brown paper bag and engulfed myself. I was finally getting more than a few pages of a character rumored to change Peter’s life forever. I was expecting Silk to be another Speedball or Alpha, but Dan made her so much more. Here was a character that was built right into Peter’s origin as Spider-Man. The story was even mixed with another tale from years ago with Ezekiel and Morlun, but don’t tell Marvel that, they might start over again with a number one.

Cindy Moon was a classmate of Peter Parker, and before you ask, “Why are we just hearing about her in 2014 and not 1963?” I will tell you it is because of Original Sin. If Thor could have a sister, why couldn’t the radioactive spider bite one more person?

Ezekiel hid Cindy away from Morlun. She practiced her abilities in secret as Peter used his in public. She’s stronger, faster, and has even developed a more advanced power set, including barbs in her webs; yes,”her” webs, but it doesn’t stop there. Peter’s Spider sense reacts to Cindy in a whole different manner; it attracts him to her, much like I imagine his spider tracers do after flicking them on his prey (super-villains).

I’m going to skip the part about the Black Cat and the part where we find out Morlun is alive. I’m even going to skip where Silk freaks out as Peter mentions that Morlun was killed…and killed again. Silk is so enraged with this news that she quickly lands one on Peter…twice; once with her hand, and on the final page with the final panel, once with her lips!

Suffice it to say, not only was this the best Spider-Man comic I have read in a while, it was the best comic book I have read in a long time, period! I think once I get done at work I’m going to read it again.

5 out of 5 stars