April has been a bit of a lean month for me, single issue wise. In fact, besides maybe Star Trek and Zatanna, every comic I've read were all read in the last week.
It's amazing the impact of new kids!!!
That said, just because it's been a short month, (thankfully) doesn't mean it's been a bad month.
The Pull List:
My single pull list comic for the month was Fantastic Four #9, which capped off the Herald of Doom storyline as the FF ended their most recent battle with Doctor Doom, escaping his traps and machinations and managing to defeat his most recent scheme, all the while their extended family reach the end of an adventure all of their own.
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| Fantastic Four #9, still with Ribic goodness on the cover!! |
What's odd to me is that nothing about the issue felt fundamentally different in terms of the story; the FF resolved the arc in the expected way to complete a tale which felt to me like 'Unthinkable-lite'. However, I thought that, in issue 9, the Fantastic Four read more like....well, the Fantastic Four!
Now, as I said, nothing about the writing seems to have changed in any way. However, the series just seems to have clicked with me in a way the past three issues didn't quite. I can only assume with this change in opinion that my viewpoint has changed and that I've finally gotten over the expectation of this matching up to FF runs past.
The art, meanwhile, was solid again, although I was less impressed with it than I was last month. I think the thing about it this time was that Aaron Kuder's work seemed a little rough and (maybe) a little rushed, while also struggling to match one particularly awesome page where Doom blows up all his televisions which looked a lot more like Stefan Casselli and was so much more visually stunning in my eyes. I'm not sure if I said last month how Casselli's work seemed to be well hidden amongst Kuder's pages but, this time around, it seemed that the Kuder's work paled in comparison a little. Of course, that's not to say that I don't enjoy Kuder's style, as it does give off this fun, vibrant tone. That said, I thought this issue was a little off (maybe due to rushing or something, who knows?) but hopefully, it'll be back to the good stuff next issue.
Overall though, I really enjoyed this issue and am glad that I didn't have to wait too long for me to get back into the Fantastic Four. I just hope that I don't come off the rails after this 'soft reboot' and find it less of a thrill to read.
Sadly, that may happen as next month is.... 'sigh', event tie-in month.
The Reviews:
The first review for the month was Megatomic Battle Rabbit #1 and 2 and, like my review implies, I was left in two minds. I really enjoyed the art in this one, but the story felt like kind of let it down for me as I struggled to stay invested. That said, while I couldn't get into the story, though I loved the use of the Narration which was hilarious in how it told the story. Also, I did find myself wondering why was he called Megatomic Battle Rabbit? Was that a name he gave himself as in he was just a regular guy who wanted to be more (a.k.a. D4VE) or was he actually christened that way (in which case, why'd his mum call him 'Bob?) Anyway, I did find MBR a fun enough waste of time, although I'm not sure it was entirely my thing, certainly not enough to bring me back for the rest off my own back (unless the story took a major turning point).
The other review for April was the Pale, which was a crime thriller set in a small American town which made me think a lot of Fargo. Now this series I loved! I loved the art, I loved the characters, the story. I'll admit that I was concerned by the middle of the story (so far) as it was taking its time to get to the meat of the story. However, this was only as I assumed it was a 5 issue series and, upon realising it's a bit longer, have no sugar qualms given I still enjoyed it anyway. This is one of those rare reviews where I found that I can't wait for future instalments by the time I was done.
And so that's April done. A little bit (or more accurately, a LOT) shorter than March.
All in all, I enjoyed the comics this month (albeit some more than others). Overfall, however, it was the Pale which really surprised me and made it to number one out of them all in terms of my enjoyment. Hopefully, Fab Ray comics will ask Pipedream to review the next five.
Or, you know, they'll release them all (most hopefully on Comixology) in very quick succession for me to get myself!!
