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