Image Comic of the Week Oct 22/14 - Five Ghosts Returns, Starlight Ends

[Dorktron]

Ratings! From best to worst.

No Lazarus this week, Groo? Or do you trade-wait it?

For me, Sheltered would have won had it not been for Lazarus. Both books are just phenomenal and plain fun. I'm sure Five Ghosts would be up there for me, too, but I am gonna wait for the 3rd trade on that one. I also read Revival this week and it was very solid, but not in the same league as Lazarus or Sheltered.

[Groo Odyssey]

No Lazarus this week, Groo? Or do you trade-wait it?

For me, Sheltered would have won had it not been for Lazarus. Both books are just phenomenal and plain fun. I'm sure Five Ghosts would be up there for me, too, but I am gonna wait for the 3rd trade on that one. I also read Revival this week and it was very solid, but not in the same league as Lazarus or Sheltered.

I wasn't buying comics when Lazarus first came out so I missed it. Didn't have it on my radar until it consistently got great reviews. In the next month there's a new deluxe hardcover that's coming out collecting the first 9 issues. So for series as great as this I prefer to wait for the deluxe format if I don't already have the complete run of the single issues (I'm kind of a completist )

[cc008]

I wasn't buying comics when Lazarus first came out so I missed it. Didn't have it on my radar until it consistently got great reviews. In the next month there's a new deluxe hardcover that's coming out collecting the first 9 issues. So for series as great as this I prefer to wait for the deluxe format if I don't already have the complete run of the single issues (I'm kind of a completist )

I'm the same way! If I can't start collecting individual issues with #1, I tend to wait for trades or hardcovers to be released.

[rac shade]

Five Ghosts, Starlight & Zero were all excellent but Sheltered got my vote this week. Drumhellar was disappointing, the books strong point has been the art which failed to deliver in this issue. Being a big fan of Rossmo's work I'll be moving onto Rasputin now this series has finished ?. The only other Image book I read this week was Lazarus & although it's a quality book I do find it rather bland as a monthly, I might start reading this particular book in chunks.

[TotalSnorefest]

I really enjoyed it. It was one of the things that attracted me to the book from previews I'd seen. But it is very stylized (I guess a little Mignola-esque, not super familiar with his work), so it might not be for everyone. I felt it set the right and very specific tone for the story, though.

Awesome, thanks! Gonna pre-order Feathers then!

[Dorktron]

I wasn't buying comics when Lazarus first came out so I missed it. Didn't have it on my radar until it consistently got great reviews. In the next month there's a new deluxe hardcover that's coming out collecting the first 9 issues. So for series as great as this I prefer to wait for the deluxe format if I don't already have the complete run of the single issues (I'm kind of a completist )

You're in for a treat then! Lazarus is amazing. I may upgrade my trades to that deluxe hardcover myself.

[Groo Odyssey]

You're in for a treat then! Lazarus is amazing. I may upgrade my trades to that deluxe hardcover myself.

Yeah, I can't wait for it to be honest. It'll be like me discovering a brand new Image series that I'm sure to be loving

[matt levin]

lazarus
starlight
stray bullets

what a hard choice!!
Lazarus. Just, just because.

[King's_Gambit]

Interesting week for me and Image Comics and other Indie comics. Have a nice wide range of quality to crap this time around. From best to worse:

Sheltered #12
Revival #24
Lazarus #12 (didn't review this time, but my score would have been same as the one on the website)
Oddly Normal #2
Goners #1
The Wicked + The Divine #5
POP #3 (The actual writer commented on the review. That was awkward given the score)
Drumhellar #10 (Last issue of the series as well I believe. Just kind petered out in the end)

So yeah, Sheltered was fantastic this week. I did really enjoy Revival and Lazarus, but I wish there was more going on in them.

I reviewed comics for another site for a couple of years and if I was largely saying the same thing about a comic two months in a row, I'd take a break from being the reviewer for that book for a couple of months. I occasionally would make an exception if the reason for the repetition was the book's sheer awesomeness - in which case, why not promote it? On the other hand, banging on with extremely similar negative reviews for month after month just winds up being pointless. So I sort of see where Pires is coming from - I had the same issue with your reviews of Sex Criminals. The book's sense of humour doesn't gel for you. I get it. Everyone gets it. Move on.

It's sort of like another site out there where, for a solid year, they gave negative reviews to the new Nova and Guardians books for month after month with largely the same criticism - where is Richard Rider, screw Bendis, and this isn't as good as DnA.

[Will]

I reviewed comics for another site for a couple of years and if I was largely saying the same thing about a comic two months in a row, I'd take a break from being the reviewer for that book for a couple of months. I occasionally would make an exception if the reason for the repetition was the book's sheer awesomeness - in which case, why not promote it? On the other hand, banging on with extremely similar negative reviews for month after month just winds up being pointless. So I sort of see where Pires is coming from - I had the same issue with your reviews of Sex Criminals. The book's sense of humour doesn't gel for you. I get it. Everyone gets it. Move on.

It's sort of like another site out there where, for a solid year, they gave negative reviews to the new Nova and Guardians books for month after month with largely the same criticism - where is Richard Rider, screw Bendis, and this isn't as good as DnA.

Not a promoter or anything but I'd say stick with Multiversity Comics for reviews. I feel with them, even if I don't agree with them most of their writers have enough knowledge to deconstruct their ideas and analyse the medium without retorting to "characters suck" without any real reasoning. To each their own though.

[InformationGeek]

I reviewed comics for another site for a couple of years and if I was largely saying the same thing about a comic two months in a row, I'd take a break from being the reviewer for that book for a couple of months. I occasionally would make an exception if the reason for the repetition was the book's sheer awesomeness - in which case, why not promote it? On the other hand, banging on with extremely similar negative reviews for month after month just winds up being pointless. So I sort of see where Pires is coming from - I had the same issue with your reviews of Sex Criminals. The book's sense of humour doesn't gel for you. I get it. Everyone gets it. Move on.

It's sort of like another site out there where, for a solid year, they gave negative reviews to the new Nova and Guardians books for month after month with largely the same criticism - where is Richard Rider, screw Bendis, and this isn't as good as DnA.

I do understand (with POP, since it was a mini-series, I just wanted to see it to the end), though the reason I continue to read and review what I consider to be bad books is because:
1. It's good to inform the public about bad books to help them avoid something they may not like
2. Sometimes a book can turn around. Maybe it starts being bad or is bad for a bit, but then it can turn around. Iron Patriot, Hinterkind, and Futures End has done to this to me before. It got bad... but then it got good. Some people could miss out on something if they walk away from a book with the quality dips but then gets better later on.
3. It's more personal but... I feel that reading and or reviewing something bad helps me improve as a writer. Reading and writing reviews on great books is all fine and good, but reading and reviewing bad books is also important with helping to expand my knowledge on what makes a book bad, what causes it, what could the writer be trying for, what good can be found in something that is bad, or is it bad because its bad or it's just not my thing.

[ysemaj]

You're in for a treat then! Lazarus is amazing. I may upgrade my trades to that deluxe hardcover myself.

I'd really recommend that you do upgrade! The HC has LOADS of world building content. If you go on the Tumblr page you'll see a preview of some of the maps that have been drawn up, very excited!

[Dorktron]

I'd really recommend that you do upgrade! The HC has LOADS of world building content. If you go on the Tumblr page you'll see a preview of some of the maps that have been drawn up, very excited!

Maps? Holy crap, I'm in. Those bastards sure know how to take my money, lol. Thanks for the heads up on this, ysemaj.