Author: Joe Soliz

Dv8: Gods and Monsters #6

“Teenage Riot” (No Spoilers)

This was the issue I was waiting for! We’ve had some great setup with some action here and there but here we finally get a huge battle in this issue. Brian Wood’s storytelling and Rebekah Isaac’s art continue to be married perfectly into this incredible story.

Good storytelling is about balance. As we’ve progressed through the series I think for the most part this creative team has kept a good balance. Some issues read a little slower than I would’ve liked but they were usually followed up by something really cool. But after straddling the fence for so long we finally come to an action heavy issue. I finally get to see Bliss’ tribe in action (not a spoiler, it’s in the solicit). Although, I won’t say which deviant she decides to go after. It is beautifully done and had some amazing fight scenes throughout. I can safely say Isaacs has no problem drawing huge battle scenes. I can’t wait to see what else she’s got in the last two issues.

Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave #3

“Homecoming-Part 3: An Armor of History” (No Spoilers)

Gail Simone is a true master of the story telling device “the plot thickens”. This is only the 3rd issue of this mini-series and she has packed so much story into this series so far. She is also doing a great job of balancing all the characters which is no easy task with an ensemble cast.

The story behind the villain of this story could have easily been written off as a cliché. But Simone takes us down some dark places as we see the true nature of this villain. We also find out pretty quick how he got this way. This new character she’s introduced is really powerful and it leads to some disturbing uses of his powers. This issue is really about him as the other characters can do little else but be reactive to the events unfolding before them.

The Authority #26

“Genociety” (No Spoilers)

The Authority continues their space odyssey which turns into a space nightmare in this issue. Tom Taylor has taken us through some great science fiction during his run and he throws in a little science horror now.

I can tell artist Al Barrionuevo had a lot of fun designing some of the alien creatures we see in this issue. I especially like the fact that none of them are humanoid. The team has traveled so far out in space now these things should not even know what a human is (or should they?). That’s another great thing about the story that’s unfolding here is Taylor keeps piling on the mysteries (including a very interesting one with Swift) even as we get some answers.

Garrison #5

(No Spoilers)

Alright, we got a little more with this issue than last. There wasn’t a single explosion in this issue but there was a great hand-to-hand fight at the beginning. But thankfully fighting is not all we get in this issue as we finally get some revelation here.

When I started reading the issue and the fight began to run long I was afraid we wouldn’t have room for much else. Don’t get me wrong, it was an awesome fight but this series has been leaning more towards action than story since the beginning so while I was expecting it, I was also hoping for a little more substance too. Francavilla continues to deliver some awesome fights and is still finding new and interesting ways for Garrison to finish people off. Then afterwards we get a pretty funny scene of Garrison and Agent Bracewell in a plane that I thought was amusing but again I thought we were running out of comic too quick to fit in more story.