Batman: Black Mirror [Hardcover]

This hardcover collects seven months of batman stories published in DC Comics. The collection is organized into sets of smaller stories, with an overarching plot from one story arc to the next. The artist change from one story arc to the next, but the art does not suffer with this. The more self-contained parts of the story are quite interesting and present newer additions to the Batman mythos. The overarching story is one of the best Batman yarns I have read in the last couple of years. An old enemy who was not an enemy returns and creates problems not only for Batman, but also for Oracle and for Commissioner Gordon. The ending is chilling. Overall, very enjoyable.
Story:4.5
Art:4
Overall:4.25

Al Nordeste de Arzew

This is a graphic that, as far as I know, is being published originally in Spain first. The art team is Spanish, while the writer is French. It is an interesting effort that tells the story of a group of families whose immediate ancestors immigrated to Argelie, which has now been their home for 1.5 generations. The time is the late fifties-early sixties, when Argelie became independent from France. The story focuses on a few kids and on how they live the transition from being in their home to being invaders and having to go back to France, where they are also looked at as invaders. It is an end-of-innocence tale that is beautifully told, without sentimentalism or easy tears. The story is well written and the drawings and colors are impressive and evocative. Read it if you can.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4.7
Overall: 4.6

Le Bel Age

This is the first of a series of french graphic novels about the (origin of) friendship between three girls that will come to share a life. It all starts when one of them gets into trouble because she decides to share her flatmate's boyfriend. Another of the three is a Ph. D. student who his fighting to complete her thesis and the third is a young women who decides to return to college. This first volumes ends when the later two come to visit the former's apartment in order to become her flatmate(s). It is difficult to tell whether this is worth it or not. I very much enjoyed Merwan's Pour l'empire. That is why I gave this book a try. The drawing is excellent. I will have to wait for the second volume before deciding whether to see this series to completion or not.
Story:2.5
Art: 4
Overall:3.25

Moriarty: The Dark Chamber

This is the story of what happens to Prof. Moriarty after surviving his final showdown with Sherlock Holmes. In a not so surprising turn of events he becomes much more like his opponent than he might have expected and starts to lead a (sort of) honorable life. Then, things change and while fighting for his life he learns that maybe, just maybe, his nemesis in this fight may not be who Moriarty thinks. It is a good Sherlock Holmes story, that reads quite well. However, the drawing are too crude for my tastes and even though they help the story flow, it took me more than 70% of the book to not notice them and just enjoy the story.
Story: 4
Art: 1
Overall: 2.5

A Red Mass For Mars [Paperback]

A Red Mass for Mars collects the comic book miniseries with the same name, from Image Comics. It is a story about how the world ended, then got better and is now about to end again. It ended as we might expect it to end tomorrow if we look at world politics today, although there is a twist to it. It got better thanks to "a few good and powerful men", some of which turned out either to be too powerful or not to be so good. These men split and went into different states of isolation. The second ending is now coming and those who are left need to band together again to avoid the end and/or rebuild. I liked the story quite a lot. Lots of shades of grey and preciously few black and whites. Johnathan Hickman does another superb job writing and Ryan Bodenheim drawing are perfect for the tale. Go read it.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Sherlock Holmes: Year One TP

Sherlock Holmes Year One is the collected edition of the six first issues of the comic book series with the same name. It basically deals with the life and times of Sherlock Holmes right before and up to his first meeting with Dr. Watson. There are mysteries, crimes, smugness, bedrooms that look like pig-houses, and all we came to expect of Sherlock. It is an entertaining read, although I don't think it brings anything new to the myth. Sherlock solves a couple of crimes, and the series ends with the beginning of "A Study in Scarlet". You could do worst with your time than read this.
Story: 3
Art: 4
Overall: 3.5

Who is Jake Ellis?

Who is Jake Ellis is the collected paperback for a five issue miniseries from Image Comics. It is the story of a spy who becomes a criminal and is kept one step ahead of trouble by an imaginary friend that somehow always tells him what he should do to escape the situations he gets involved in. As the book progresses, they approach the crux of how they come to be and we get to find out whether the imaginary friends is real or not. It is a classical spy yarn why some brush strokes of sci-fi. It reads well and the drawing is quite good. If you like spy thrillers give it a shot.
Story: 4
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.25

Everlast

This is a story about a group of "beings" with human aspect that go about saving the few elected human from the end of the world. They take the electeds to paradise, or a paradise. Once the final elected is in paradise (or maybe because the final elected is in paradise) the world will end. The collectors betray each other, fall in love, have doubts about themselves and their jobs, and every other cliche you can come up with. The writing is terrible. The story is as derivative as they get. The art is inhomogeneous in a bad way, although I like many of the artists contributing. Furthermore, it is often detrimental for the understanding of the story, as one page is followed by another without any relationship to it. Avoid.
Story:0.5
Art:1
Overall:0.75

X-Men: Prelude to Schism [Hardcover]

This is the compiled hardcover for the miniseries Prelude to Schism. This miniseries is about how and what the leader of the X-Men, a group of super-powered mutants, decides regarding how to deal with a looming menace that threatens to kill all members of the group. This is not a book where you see the whole process or what the menace is. You just know that it is coming, it is deadly, and a decision has to be made in a short time. Each part of the story focuses on how one of four members of the team lives that short time. As a TV show or as a serial of four comic books (which is the original format of the series) this plot device might have worked better than in a compiled edition, where a lot of it seem repetitious and been there done that. The story is competent and the art is very inhomogeneous, as artists change from one part to the next. Read it if you are a die hard fan of the X-Men.
Story:3
Art:3
Overall:3

Criminal, Vol. 6: Last of the Innocent

Criminal is an ongoing American comic book series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips. This is the sixth volume, which finishes off the story started in vol. 5. It reads pretty well as a stand alone book. This book is a crime story about an husband that marries into money and is widowed into even more money. As opposed to most crime stories, in this one crime does pay off and enables the criminal turning the clock back on a life and relive it again in a different way. It is a nice read with good, functional art.
Story: 4
Art: 4
Overall: 4

El abrazo de Neptuno

This Spanish comic book, by Calo is about nothing, really. A somewhat psychedelic story about a group of young people who decide to travel through southern Europe during summer and have their van stolen. Then, they have to continue travelling any way that they can. In the mean time one of them is lost and finds he is related to an old European deity. All in all the drawing and colours are nice but the story is quite bland.
Story:1.5
Art: 3.5
Overall: 2.5

Dentro de la noche

This is a Spanish black and white comic book by Eduardo Gonzalez. It is a collection of short horror stories that are nicely done, both story wise and drawing wise. The horror is, for the most part, psychological and you don't see a lot of blood and guts. The stories are very much in the vain of urban myths and the whole thing reads nicely, without being excessively original.
Story: 3.5
Art:3.5
Overall:3.5

Quai d'Orsay, tome 2 : Chroniques diplomatiques

This is the second volume of a graphic novel series about the foreign affairs minister (equivalent to the american secretary of state) of France and the comings and goings of his team, all of it seen from the eyes of one of his junior speech-writers. The minister is thinly disguised Dominique de Villepin and the president is thinly disguised Jacques Chirac. This volume follows the times immediately before the Iraq invasion by the USA, with all the maneuvering that went behind curtains to get the UN's approval for the invasion. It is highly entertaining and every single characters is extremely engaging. The writing is superb. The writer is an anonymous diplomat that writes this series under a pseudonym. He seems to have been right in the middle of it all, making for a very "true" book. The art is also perfect.In general I do not like Blain's art, although I like his books. However, in this case, his art serves the story so perfectly that any change would have made for a worst book. Go read it
Story: 5
Art: 4.8
Overall: 4.9

XIII Mystery, Tome 4 : Colonel Amos

This is the fourth volume in a series that explores and further defines some important characters in the first cycle of the french graphic novel series XIII. While the main series had a one writer/one artist team for the whole duration, this spin-off has a different writer/artist team for each volume. In this case the writer is Didier Alcante and the artist is François Boucq, a favorite of mine. In the story Alcante has us follow the Coronel has he attempts to find our who an important Israeli spy is, and as he is in turn investigated himself and protects a family he never suspected he had. It is quite run of the mill stuff in a spy thriller, but it reads OK. Boucq also deliver and the art is quite nice. It was a fun, if somewhat predictable, read.
Story:2
Art:4
Overall:3

Muraqqa', Tome 1 : Vêtue par le ciel

Muraqqa' is a French graphic novel about an Hindu woman in Africa that is a good artist and is recruited to draw the lives of women in the palace of the "Emperor of the World", in the middle ages. This first volume follows her as she moves from drawing animals in the wild to drawing the human beast in closed quarters. She follows the petty intrigues between the different women and faction in the palace. While drawing the different women she strives to keep herself distant from everyone. Story wise, I liked the book. Drawing wise, it is a different story. Ana Miralles draws very pretty pictures. However, all women of the approximate same age she draws are the same woman and almost all man are the same man. Anyway, I may pick up the following volumes as the story is fairly nice.
Story: 3
Art: 3
Overall: 3

FreakAngels

FreakAngels is one of the best sci-fi comics from the last decade. It is written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Paul Duffield. It is the story of 12 teenagers that are born with freakish powers, and how they literally change the world twice on their road to being grown-ups. First, they physically change the world that surrounds them and deal with growing in this changed reality and then they change it back to what it was, before vanishing and becoming adults, maybe. However, this second change is probably more impacting than the first. I won't say anything else, so that you may enjoy it without knowing any more about it. The story is now complete and you can read it in one go. To do that, either got to the webcomic or buy the six collected paperbacks.
Story: 5
Art: 4.8
Overall:4.9

Silver Surfer: Devolution

The Silver Surfer is a character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the sixties. In short, he is the herald of an almost all powerful entity that eats planets. A large part of the pathos for this character has to do with his internal fight between being caring and human and being aloft and distant. Silver Surfer: Devolution is the n^th turning of the wheel in this pathos, with a slight twist. In previous stories, The Surfer had been depowered, but had not stopped being The Surfer. In this story he goes back to being Norrin Radd and feels the consequences of being human in full blast mode. The idea is nice and Pak has a good history of written great super-heroes yarns. However, this time around, the writting does not quite live up to the idea. There are areas where the story feels rushed and there are other areas where you can actually "see the seams" of the whole thing. The final script needed a final polishing that it was not given. The art is not exactly my cup of tea, but those of you who enjoy Steve Segovia will enjoy it too.
Story: 2.5
Art: 2.5
Overall: 2.5

Superman: Return of Doomsday

No. Just no. This is a terrible book. If you have no idea of who doomsday is (he killed Superman long ago) and that the Superman you see today was killed and resurrected, you will read a book where a monster defeats and kidnaps super heroes almost haphazardly. If you know who doomsday is, you will read a book where a monster defeats and kidnaps the super heroes that carried the legacy while superman was dead. No idea why. Maybe I'll change my mind if I actually decide to pick up the follow up to this, which is not likely. DC should probably have held off from splitting this into two paperbacks and publish just the complete story. In the meantime don't waste your time. Go read something else. Even the art is uneven.
Story: 1
Art: 2.5
Overall: 1.75

XIII, Tome 20 : Le jour du Mayflower

XIII is a franco-belgian graphic novel series that was created and drawn by Van Hame and Vance. The first cycle of adventures follows a spy, XIII, who lost all memory of his identity and former life. In volume nineteen, after finding our who he might be, XIII defeats all his enemies and finally has the freedom of a regular life, still without his memory. In this volume a new cycle of adventures starts and it looks like this time around he will find out about his past. During the story that is told in this graphic novel XIII reconnects with older (possible) friends, and as it seems that he will finally figure out his memory, a new enemy emerges and by the end of the volume, his life is back to the status quo of most of the previous cycle. The book is competently written and the drawings are even better than Vance's. I look forward to reading the next volume.
Story: 3
Art: 4.8
Overall: 3.9

The Boys Volume 9: The Big Ride

This is volume 9 of the ongoing series The Boys. In this series we follow the adventures of a group of five individuals and a dog, The Boys, that have chemically enhanced abilities. They are a (rebel part of a) secret agency that follows the lives of super-heroes and do damage control of said heroes, mostly by destroying them when they misbehave. In a way it uses a plot device for story progression that is similar to that of The Nam, in the sense that the story unfolds around a new recruit to the organization, that slowly understands what he got himself into. It is a very refreshing look a super-heroes and how they could come about in real life. It is a very politically incorrect series, with sex, drugs, and violence jokes running rampant. I have thoroughly enjoyed all its previous paperbacks. However, for me, this is the paperback that brings the series to maturity. It is very well written, and drawn and we begin to see what lies underneath the leader of The Boys. We see how the (not so) new (anymore) team member comes to the realization of what he might have gotten himself into and how he tries to begin controlling the situation. This is the quietest of the paperbacks so far, and there are very nice scenes between the different characters. The ending is chilling and it is one of the best comics I have read this year. I was very sorry to see my favorite character die, but after reading the ending I understood that it was for a good cause... Recommended
Story: 5
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

The 'Nam - Volume 1

To be fair, what I have just read is the Spanish hardcover for this paperback. This edition is much nicer than the original, and the translation is decent. It tells the story of a unit of soldiers that fight in the Nam, with its mixture of new soldiers, and old warheads that are either about to die or about to go home. Even though this is a war book, it centres mostly on the interactions between the American soldiers during the breaks between battles and military actions. The human interactions between the different characters are very believable, and they make the stories moving. The story in this volume is mostly told from the point of view of a newly arrived soldier who is still fresh and naive. We follow him as he becomes more savvy and learns how the world works in a war. This story was originally published in the eighties, but it is still very good. The writer, Doug Murray is a Vietnam war veteran and he clearly knows what he is talking about. Michael Golden, as usual, makes a superb job with the drawings. Recommended
Story: 4.5
Art: 4.7
Overall: 4.6

U-BOOT INTEGRAL. LIBRO UNO

This is an interesting mix between a war story, a story about the rise of an economic empire, and a sci-fi yarn. In WWII Dr. Mengel boards a submarine in Germany that is destined to got to the Amazon. Mengel experiments on the the crew, and when they reach the Amazon, the submarine is stranded. 10 years latter explores find the submarine and save one single member of the crew. Meanwhile, in the future, several killings seem to be related with the business started by that single survivor. It is an interesting book, go read it.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4
Overall: 4.25

El Gran Duque

This is a compilation of 3 French graphic novels about German and Russian fighter pilots of World War II. specifically, it is the story of a German flying ace who is patriotic but not Nazi and of a female Russian pilot who is as good as the German. The story follows the ending of the war and the atrocities that were done by both sides and of the love affair that develops between the two pilots from just a few fortuitous meeting under less than ideal conditions. I am not a fan of war stories but this is a pretty good one. Because make no mistake, it is a war story and not a love story. Those of you who liked Battlefields will love this book.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Fallen Angel: Return of the Son TP

This looks like the final book for the Fallen Angel series by Peter David. In this collected miniseries, the history of Fallen Angel since the beginning of time, of her creator, of her son, and of the deal she made to have her son back is revealed. The heroin rebels against and destroys the status quo of the series in a very interesting way. The religious overtones are quite nice and the whole thing is well written, fun to read, and consistent with what has been going on before. It also provides closure to the whole series. The drawing is also quite nice to look at. Recommended, together with the omnibuses for the remainder of the series.
Story: 4
Art: 4
Overall: 4

Flashpoint [Hardcover]

This book collects the mini series Flashpoint, which is about timer paradoxes and faster than light objects in the context of super-heroing. The original Flash wakes up on morning and suddenly the world has become completely different than it was the night before. He lost his powers and his life is completely different. In general, the worl is a much darker place than before. In the book The Flash must figure out what caused the change and revert it, if he can. He does both and finds that some times we are our own worst enemy. I am not crazy about this book. The story and the art are competent, but no more than that. Nevertheless this is probably an important series in the genesis of the new DC universe. If you have nothing better to do, go and read it.
Story: 3
Art: 3
Overall: 3

Lagrimas en la Lluvia

This is a Spanish graphic novel that adapts a Sci-fi book by the same name. In brief this is the story of a future where human-like androids have been developed and live side by side with humans. Said androids have the same rights as regular human beings. They also have a limited life span, just as PK Dick's replicants. We enter the world at a time where human-replicant racism is at a high and elections are close. What seems like a series of terrorist attacks by androids takes society to the brink of a civil war. An android female detective and a human police officer investigate the case and have their world views and lives shaken during the process. The adaptation is fairly well done and the drawing is quite nice. If you read Spanish you could do worst than read this book.
Story: 3.7
Art: 3.5
Overall: 3.6

Feynman [Hardcover]

Jim Ottaviani has been writing comics about scientists for more than a decade now. He does a good job and so do his artistic collaborators. In this case, he and Leland Myrick tell the life history of Richard Feynman. They base heavily on the books about Feynman. The format that Ottaviani choose is very similar to that of books such as Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!. In short, if you have not read anything about Feynman, read this book. It is fun, well written and well drawn. On the other hand, if you have read one of Feynman's biographies just skip it, because you will learn nothing new.
Story: 3.5
Art: 3.5
Overal: 3.5

Ultimate Spider-Man: Death of Spider-Man

This is the last volume of the saga of Peter Parker, the first Spider-man in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. In this volume we read the supposedly final adventure of this Spider-man and his death at the hands of the green goblin. Death was never final in American comics, which is a motive for not giving this as much importance to this comic as you might think. The other side of this argument is that typically "death comics" can be used to write story that are in some way out of the ordinary and touching, allowing for writer to rise and shine to the occasion. In this case, and even though I typically enjoy Bendis' writing immensely, the writing is underwhelming. In fact, it is more bland than usual. The drawing, by Bagley, is as competent as always.
Story: 3
Art: 3.5
Overall: 3.25

Justice League: Generation Lost, Vol. 2

This is the second and final volume of the 24-issue maxi-series JLA Generation Lost . This goes back to a version of the Justice League that was created in the 1980s by J. M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire. This was an incarnation where the justice league was mostly composed of secondary heroes and the general mood was sit-commy. In this new outing, one of the main members of that league has gone bad and wants to change the world, using many of the heroes from that incarnation to do so. Simultaneously, he made the world forget who he is and that he ever existed. It is the heroes' job to revert this and stop him. Unlike its inspiration source, this is a fairly gritty and humourless comic, where drama and super-heroing take the centre stage. If you like super-heroes and the JLA, there are worst things that you can do than read this book. Both the writing and the drawing are competent.
Story: 3
Art: 3
Overall: 3

Aâma, Tome 1 : L'odeur de la poussière chaude

This is a Scifi adventure by Frederick Peeters, the author of Lupus and Koma. His science fiction is typically intimist and not space opera-ish at all. In this new story, we find a couple of brothers that could not be more different travelling together to a colony that was set in a distant planet and lost contact with the home planet. After getting there, one of the brothers wakes up on a distant location, with amnesia, a damaged robot, and a travelling journal that could reveal what happened to the other brother and to himself. He must remember what happens while he returns to the colony to be saved, because he does not know if what or who caused the situation is in the colony itself. The story is very well written and the drawing is superb. I would recommend this to people who liked Solaris.
Story: 4.5
Art:4.5
Overall:4.5

Red Light Properties (Web-comic)

Red Light Properties is a comic by Dan Goldman. This is the story of a marriage that just broke up and whose ex-spouses co-own a Realtor agency that cleans haunted properties and puts them back on the market. There are eight stories published so far online, with the first being the longest. The other seven range between 4 and 30 pages. I read the whole thing in one go and it was quite entertaining. There are page transitions that don't make a lot of sense, where the dialog and time sequence of events seems to be slightly off, but by and large It is a fun series. Great to read on your tablet, if you have one.
Story:3.5
Art:3
Overall:3.25

Supergod

Supergod, by Warren Ellis and Garry Gastonie is a high concept science fiction story of the last days of the world. Different nations created different super beings. The beings do not feel human and use the planet as their playground, with disastrous effects. In the end only one of the beings survives, and he does so by doing nothing until all other beings have killed each other off. The survivor is a good metaphor of the way its mother nation has always interacted with its neighbours. The story has clunky bits, which is surprising from Ellis, but is thoroughly enjoyable. The art is quite nice and very appropriate for the story. Go read it if you like Sci-Fi. Go read it NOW.
Story:4.5
Art: 4
Overall: 4.25

Caroline Baldwin, Tome 15 : L'ombre de la chouette

This is volume 15 of the ongoing french series Caroline Baldwin. This is a series about a Canadian woman detective that has a less than healthy life style. In the latest instalments of the series, Caroline has been tending towards healthier life choices and this volume starts with her cohabiting with a man on stable basis. During the 48 pages several mysterious things happen that on one hand place her and her partner in physical danger and on the other place their relationship close to the edge. This volume ends on a cliffhanger that will make me wait anxiously for the next volume of the series where the story will conclude. Lately Andre Taymans presents adventures that take two volumes to conclude. I have enjoyed this series in the past, and was somewhat disappointed by this story because it looked like a series of mysterious events with no connection. I had to take on faith that all of this will make sense in the next volume. On the other hand, the art is better than ever in its clarity and effectiveness. It is a pleasure to look at the pages. Anyway, this may not be the best volume to start with if you want to read the series.
Story: 3
Art: 4.5
Overall: 3.75

Bomb Queen (Vol. 6): Time Bomb TPB

Bomb Queen is a comic about the queen of a city within the USA that has been declared an isolated territory. All criminals are sent to this city and are allowed to roam about free. The city is governed by an hyper-sexed, hyper-evil, under-dressed woman that has brains that are as large as or larger than her breasts, which are of considerable size. In this installment, the newly elected Barack Obama decides that a city of criminals in the middle of the USA is not admissible and war between him and the Queen follows with unexpected results. Jimmie Robinson, the author, is a very smart man who really knows how to effectively draw. He uses this comic to take shots at everything in society and in comics, from the sexual objectification of woman, to politics, to the overuse of Obama in recent american comic books. If you are easily offended this is not the book for you. Otherwise, go pick it up and read it.
Story: 4.5
Art: 4
Overall: 4.25

Terres Lointaines T4

This is the fourth in a series of albuns by the Brasilian artist/writer Leo and artist Icar. In summary the story of a family on Earth whose father immigrated to a distant planet in order to make money for all of them. Years later, the father sends money so that the family can go and meet him. When getting to the planet, with a society that feels very much like the wild west with aliens, there no sign of the father. In this album, the son finally meets the father and it is not pretty. Leo is a master in creating and populating alien worlds (See for example Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Antares, Les Survivants or Dexter London). This is series is his least successful effort thus far. It is, nevertheless, entertaining, both in story and art.
Story: 3
Art: 3
Overall: 3

Atar Gull ou le destin d'un esclave modèle

This is the story of the vengeance of one man, spanning three continents. A vengeance against enemy tribes, against white slavers and against another man. The story follows a slave, born in an African tribe, from his teenagehood until is late adulthood in Europe. Many things happen in the middle, and the strength of purpose of this man only becomes apparent more than half way through the book. That is also when the authors give us a lesson on how monstrousness and virtuousness can be one and the same. This graphic novel is very well written and the drawing is quite nice. Fabien Nury writes very effectively and Bruno draws very nicely with very few lines and with a good use of shadows and light. If you read French, you could do a lot worth than reading this.

Story: 3.5
Art: 4
Overall: 3.75

Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer [Hardcover]

This is another installment in the continuing saga of the universal security corps of the DC universe, known as the Green Lantern Corps. The concept is reminiscent of the Lensmen by E. E. Doc. Smith. A group of people from different planets is given a green ring that can project energy constructs that are limited by the imagination of the bearer alone. They band together in a corps and protect the universe. Other corps, with different goals, have rings of different colors. They interact in many different way that go from love to hate to testosterone filled confrontations.
In this book, the builder of the yellow rings goes out to attract and get revenge against the main bearer of said ring, by kidnapping his daughter, who bears a green ring. This means that green and yellow corps go after the weapon maker, with the expected pathos and destruction following. A more or less surprise ending makes the story interesting for those who follow the series. For those who do not, this book may just be a tad incomprehensible.

Story:3
Art: 3
Overall:3

Chew (Vol 4): Flambé (TPB)

Chew is an ongoing comic book about a cop that can see the past story of the stuff he eats, in a world where the most powerful law-enforcing entities appear to be the FDA, NASA and other regulatory bodies of the same sort. This comic is plagued with interesting and very weird food-related powers. It is fun and outrageous. In this volume, the leading character Tony Chew has to deal with an alcoholic partner, a boss that is trying to kill them both by always sending them to the more dangerous missions, a daughter that has some highschool secrets and is kidnapped and a sisters who works at NASA and hides that she too can see the history of what she bites. The art is distinctive and nice and the story is quite fun.
Go read it.

Art: 4
Story:4
Overall: 4

Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates Hardcover: Death of Spider-man

For those of you who know Mark Millar, this is just him being him. For those of you who don't, this is a super-heroes story with a spy flick twist in the middle. The book takes place in Marvel's Ultimate Universe and follows the comings and goings of a set of Counter intelligence organization-sponsored super powered people, after some disaster has scattered them in the middle east. This is mostly a predictable device from the writer to distract from the real story, which is simply a childish power play between the bosses. Millar writes lightly and everyone seems card-board Paris Hilton-y in their reactions. Easy and fast to read, fun and with many in-jokes for people who have been following previous book. However, sufficiently well written for these in-jokes to go unnoticed by the uninitiated.
Leinil Yu and Steve Segovia do a good job with the art and the book looks nice.

Story: 3
Art: 3.5
Overall:3.5

Love & Rockets #4

The new installment by the Hernandez brothers is a delicate book, but one would never guess it from the first story. It starts slowly by following a slice in the life of Maggie as she tries to get her life back to what it was at the beginning of Love & Rockets. After, the stories slowly build up and the phantom vampires stories already has a very effective conclusion. The surreal intermezzo with the five question game being played between Fritz and someone else is quite moving and the final story is just the strongest final that this book could have. The art is as good as always in its clear line influence.
Highly recommended, even for people who do not regularly read Love & Rockets.

Story:4.5
Art:4.5
Overall:4.5

Holy Terror

Holy Terror is the new book by Frank Miller. It will not leave anyone reading it indifferent. As Miller states, it is propaganda and propaganda alone. This makes the story flimsy at best. In fact, it is often non-existent, when you follow through the book. However, overall, I thought this was a worthy buy. Miller continues to evolve as an artist and his graphical storytelling abilities are still at the top of the profession. He can show more with a few ink stains than many artist with laboriously rendered drawings. He seems to be evolving away from the regulars blocks of shadow and light that were typical from his previous works in Sin City and 300 into more organic and psychedelic uses of ink blots. However, in comparison with another artist that also uses similar approaches, Bill Sienkiewicz, Miller's ink blots are much more intelligible and easy to interpret. Nevertheless, at times you see Miller's laziness sprouting here and there, even in the art.
All in all, I like the art book and decided do completely ignore the story.

Art:4.5
Story: ---
Overall:---

3''

3'' is a French graphic novel by Marc Antoine Mathieu. It is the story of three seconds in a day. The authors tells a set of stories that happen during these three seconds simply by following and zooming on the light that is reflected by objects with shining surfaces. There are no words whatsoever and yet it probably the album that took me longer to read in many month. The intricate artwork, the stark black and white contrast and the camera movements are nothing short of a magical tour de force of the 9^th art. On top of all the graphical inventiveness, the story is a fairly interesting thriller that is only grasped on a very slow first or second reading.
I highly recommend that people buy this book. When you do so you get a password that gives you access to the book in movie form. You can view the progress of the story as slowly as you wish.

Art: 5 stars
Story: 4 stars
Overall: 5 stars