Sunday Comics

Welcome to another edition of Sunday Comics!  In case you were wondering why these don't seem to be occurring as often, it's because they're now a monthly post instead of a bi-weekly post.  I haven't been as reading as many comics lately, so it's more productive to do it at the end of each month.

Hawkeye Vol. 5: All-New Hawkeye

Writer: Jeff Lamire

Artist: Ramon Perez

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Now, I don't normally do graphic novel reviews in my Sunday Comics posts, but with the amount I read, unless I have something particularly special to say about it, I'm just going to include them here. I'm a big fan of Hawkeye, as you may know from reading my other reviews of this series, but this one fell flat for me.  That's not particularly surprising since it's coming off one of my favorite comic arc's of all time (seriously, go read Fraction and Aja's take on the characters immediately!).  There was no way it could be better, or even as good.  And as a comic, it was very good, something I would probably recommend to people.  My big problem with it is the fact that the story that was set up in the end of Fraction and Aja's run, one I was eagerly awaiting, is not the one this looks like it will be covering.  This installment certainly did a lot of work to set up a whole new plot, one that doesn't seemed tied in at all.  I shall wait patiently to see if I'm wrong.  The art, while it can't stand up to Aja's, is gorgeous.  I loved the difference between flashback scenes and real time.  I'm eager to continue this series.

Teen Titans Vol. 1: It's Our Right to Fight

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Brett Booth

Rating: 3 Stars

This just doesn't seem to be my month, huh?  Another book I was pretty excited for was this one.  I love Teen Titans (the classic Cartoon Network show and some of the older comics) so I was looking forward to this rendition.  Like many other New 52 relaunches, I just wasn't happy with it.  The art was great, but overwhelming since they seemed to want to cram something into every single corner and it often didn't meld with the story, leaving me feeling lost.  The story was decent, but certainly over-the-top ridiculous.  I didn't like the new origin stories and personalities assigned to characters I was used to seeing one way and I didn't like that, when trying to connect them all, it seemed like they were just being thrown together at the expense of the story.  Also, it reminded my of Inhumans a hell of a lot.  I don't know which came out first or whatnot, but I'm more familiar with Inhumans, so this felt like a rip-off.

Fall Wrap-Up

Haha, well, I might be a little late on this one, since fall has long since passed at this point.  I wanted to continue the tradition of seasonal wrap-ups, though, and talk about my favorite reads from the last few months.  So, without, further ado, here are my favorite reads since this summer:

Horimiya Vol. 1

This is probably the only manga that's managed to catch me within the first few pages.  Thanks to my friend, M, who recommended it to me (and a few seconds later I ordered it) and got me hooked.  Absolutely adorable romance about two high schoolers with secrets.  I really recommend you pick this up.  Plus, volume two comes out in only a few weeks (I'm so excited!).

Cress

This was my favorite installment so far.  It totally blew me away, and just

rocked my world completely.  I recommend reading my review if you want to see me get all nostalgic for it.

Shadow and Bone

This one took me far to long to get to.  I loved it (though I didn't give it five stars) and am so glad that I finally picked it up.  Only holding off on buying the next book because of funds.

Hawkeye: Rio Bravo

Mind blowing amazing conclusion to an already amazing series.  I don't think anything else will be able to top this ending for quite some time.

You may notice that this is a rather short list, and while I read a ton of books that I liked, I haven't read that many that I absolutely loved and blew me away.  Which is a shame, and something I hope changes by the next time I do a wrap up.

5 Star Graphic Novel Review: Rio Bravo (Hawkeye Vol 4)

Writer: Matt Fraction

Artist: David Aja

Edition: Paperback

Buy Links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository

Goodreads Link

Rating: 5 Stars

Related Reviews: Little Hits | Hawkeye v Deadpool | LA Woman

Hawkeye is one of the best graphic novels you will ever read.  Not only is the art gorgeous and the story compelling, but the issues are unique and experimental, including, in this volume, one told via sign-language.  Somehow, Fraction and Aja have gotten it to work, and I'm so sad to be saying goodbye to this phenomenal run.

To avoid spoilers I'm keeping this review short.  Here's what you most need to know:

This volume is the most serious of all of them.  It takes the story up a notch and onto a level it hadn't touched before.  It also managed to wrap up the current storyline, and, borrowing from Kate's adventures in LA, sets up the next one.

Clint's relationship with his brother and the women in his life is expanded upon, and our hero finally realizes what it means to really lean on someone, and he finally accepts it, though he still has a lot of work to do in that department.  He also discovers what it means to be a hero- at least for him- and rises to the title.  There are also flashback scenes that give an in-depth view of his family and history.

Since Kate's a bit busy for the majority of this story, she's not around very much.  While I did miss her presence, new characters filled the gap nicely.

Overall, this was an amazing end to an amazing series.  I can't wait to see where the character goes and plan to pick up volume five sometime in the near future.

Graphic Novel Review: L.A. Woman (Hawkeye, Vol. 3)

Author| Matt Fraction  Artists| Annie Wu and Javier Pulido  Rating| 4 Stars

Edition| Paperback

Buy Links| Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository

Related Reviews| Little Hits | Hawkeye v Deadpool

Graphic Novel Review: Hawkeye vs Deadpool

Author| Gerry Duggan  Artist| Matteo Lolli and Jacopo Camagni  Rating| 4 Stars

Edition| Paperback

Buy Links| Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository*

This was a really fun read.  It lacked seriousness, but that's not too surprising seeing who was headlining the title.  If you're a fan of either Hawkeye or Deadpool, you'll enjoy this one.

Sunday Comics

Sunday Comics is something I do every other week in order to review and comment on the comics I've recently read.  Since I read so many, and since they're so short, I like to keep them all in one place.  These last two weeks I've read fourteen comics.  I also signed up for Marvel Unlimited.  So far it's been an awesome decision.  At only ten dollars a month I'm able to read a huge amount of comics- recent ones and older ones.  It's wonderful and I really recommend it!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Recently Bought

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.  Click here to be taken to their website.

I know that this week's theme is ten books to recently come into my possession, but I feel like I just did that in my weekly wrap up and I don't want to repeat that.  So, instead, I'm doing the last ten books I bought in hardcopy.  This gets rid of all the ARC's and galley's I've recently received (there are many) and the abundance of eBooks I've gotten.  In no particular order...

5 Star Graphic Novel Review: Little Hits (Hawkeye, Vol. 2)

Author| Matt Fraction

Artist(s)| David Aja, Francesco Francavilla, Steve Liever, and Jesse Hamm

Edition| Paperback

Publisher| Marvel

Genre| Superhero Comic

Rating| 5 Stars

Man, I love Hawkeye.  The character of Clint Barton is so different in the movies and the comics.  But I love both versions.  And, of course, it's hard to hate Kate Bishop, too.  Since they both hold the mantle of Hawkeye, I'll refer to them by secret identity from this point forward.

Matt Fraction and David Aja deserve all the awards.  The stories read more like peeks into Clint's life than a full-fledged epic journey.  This type of story-telling allows for unconventional stories, such as the whole issue told from a dog's point of view.  You could still understand the story, even though the language was at a minimum.  And the art is beyond amazing.  It's all simple, clean lines and I can't get enough of it.  If David Aja could just do the art for everything everywhere that would be great, thanks.

The over-all story arc continues in this one, and the plot thickens as a new villain is introduced.  I'm not sure how I feel about him, yet.  Readers are also given a close-up and personal look at Clint's romantic life, and it's one part heartbreaking, the other part humorous.  Kate's story is kept at a minimum in this volume, though I'm fairly certain volume three is dedicated to her solely.  The ending of Little Hits, in which she plays an integral role, is bittersweet and wants you ready for more.

When I recommend people a place to start with comics, I always go with these.  They aren't very confusing, nor do they throw obscure characters into the mix.  Plus, cameo's from Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Iron Man don't hurt.