EXCLUSIVE! Chad Nevett's Comic Book Mini-Reviews and Star Ratings for the Week of May 23, 2012

Below this post are some brief thoughts on the final issue of Irredeemable. Over at Spandexless, I wrote "1000 or so words on Deadenders, youth, nostalgia, and growing up. Only 40 of them are worthwhile." It's for the weekly Spandexless Reads column that Alec Berry does there. He asked me to contribute a weekly 'essay' that concludes the column each week and I was more than happy to oblige. I may do it again -- or may send him some capsule reviews for the other part of the column. It entirely depends on if I feel like it and if he asks me for something specifically. I have joked to him that I may just send in a weekly capsule review of the pirate back-up strips in the Before Watchmen comics. Or... was I joking? DUN DUN DUN!

Batman, Incorporated #1: You know what I'm oddly excited about? Finding out who Wingman is. Visually exciting, picks up right where it left off basically... Morrison's run began with Batman getting shot in the face. The final year has that, too. Ouroboros. [****]

Captain America #12: You know what would be great? A final page reveal where you don't need to read the caption explaining who the character is. That would be nice. Solid as always. [***1/2]

Journey into Mystery #638: I like the twist. [***]

The Mighty Thor #14: Three plots. Only one that I want to see more of. And it's not the one involving the lame teenager. Where the fuck did that come from? Am I forgetting something from last issue? It seems so out of place here. But, hey, this does feature Donald Blake learning an important lesson and Thor's biggest nightmare. So... yeah, not good. [**]

Prophet #25: Every issue is a surprise. Every page is a surprise. The larger picture becomes clearer while the smaller details are made more complex. Wonderful. That final page is kind of funny. [****]

The Unwritten #37: This issue is like the season premiere or something. A big jump in time, some big changes, a new status quo of sorts, and no Tom Taylor yet. In some ways, this series is more interesting when Tom's just a lingering presence (kind of like Steve Rogers). Seeing the world around him react to his nonsense and craziness is genuinely interesting. As his life is exposed through a book by Savoy, the growth of a cult and what that means is a nice place to reenter things. But, there is a sense of purposelessness that can't be ignored. Everything seemed to build to Tom's confrontation with Pullman that, now, the point of the series is unclear. It's like a TV show that was facing possible cancellation, so it wrapped everything up and, then, got renewed for another season. Maybe Mike Carey and Peter Gross had this planned out (I assume so), but it may take a little bit to win me over again. I am intrigued with where things stand, though. That final page is fantastic. [***1/2]

Later