Welcome back to another edition of our comic book reviews round-up! For this edition of the comic book reviews round-up we are taking a look at Green Arrow #16, The Manchurian #1, Phoenix #3, Titans #15, and Wolverine: Revenge #2. Find out how these turned out with our latest comic book reviews round-up for the last week of September.
GREEN ARROW #16
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Amancay Nahuelpan and Sean Izaakse
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Oliver Queen choosing to side with Amanda Waller has been a real test of who Green Arrow is. As we see in Green Arrow #15, Oliver is in full belief that he because he is making the right decision on which side he chose that its others that are in the wrong. This made moment where Oliver let Amanda Waller’s Task Force to arrest the Arrow Family really highlight how hypocritical he is being. That lead to an even more impactful meeting with Black Canaray. It all calls into question how the end result of Absolute Power will end up impacting his future direction. That all creates a comic book that you feel fully invested in.
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
THE HORIZON EXPERIMENT: THE MANCHURIAN #1
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Pornsak Pichetshote
Artist: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson
Letterer: Jeff Powell
The Manchurian one-shot lives up to its promise of being a James Bond-esque story. Right away Terry and Rachel Dodson pull you in with imagery that is reminiscent to the Casino Royal movie. Setting that tone right away proved important to getting over how character driven of a story Pornsak Pichetshote as we learn the complexities of the lead character dealing with the weight of being a spy. If this is an example of what we will be getting from The Horizon Experiment one-shot anthology series, then these will be comic books that comic book fans shouldn’t miss out on.
Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS/USAGI YOJIMBO
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Shawn Daley
Colorist: James Fenner
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Usagi Yojimbo is pure fun. Ryan Parrott, Shawn Daley, and James Fenner hit a home run blending these two franchises together for a story that will have you smiling from beginning to end. With how fully realized this story is you can’t help but want to read even more stories with the Power Rangers and Usagi Yojimbo having even more crossover stories in the future. Click here to read full review.
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
PHOENIX #3
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Alessandro Miracolo
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: Cory Petit
Phoenix #3 by far does the best job of showing the range Jean Grey has from powers to personality. It really pushes forward the idea of how Jean is someone that won’t simply rely on her overwhelming power to overcome whatever situation she finds herself in. That makes Jean’s show of force even more impressive with how she ultimate defeats The Black Order. The added dynamic with Corsair also added the layer of personality that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise if this was simply Phoenix vs Black Order. It builds a foundation for a greater story with a major teaser that builds hype for what comes next. Now as long as we can do away with the narrator bit this series would be able to reach that next level it has the potential to achieve.
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
TITANS #15
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Lucas Meyer
Colorist: Adriano Lucas
Letterer: Wes Abbott
Titans #15 marks the end of not only the Dark-Winged Queen story arc but also Tom Taylor’s run that lasted just over a year. The ending does a satisfying job at wrapping up the latest saga of Raven overcoming her father, Trigon’s, influence over her. Lucas Meyer certainly elevated this ending with making how Raven ultimately defeated Trigon to appear epic. Though the predictability of this end, not just because we’ve had this Raven/Trigon story many times already, but also due to this taking place before Absolute Power. The latter fact does make the ending less impactful than if this story would’ve wrapped before the DC Universe latest big event kicked off. Overall, as an ending to a story itself Taylor has left the Titans in spot where they can continue to be presented as one of DC Comics premiere superhero teams.
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #9
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Letterer: Cory Petit
Ultimate Spider-Man #9 continued to do more set-up for what Peter Parker and Harry Osborn’s approach to being superheroes are. That led to a big fight against Walter Hardy’s Black Cat that could have big ramifications to the end results of this Sinister Six story. In the middle of all that we get some solid character development for the supporting cast as well. All of that comes together for another strong issue of Ultimate Spider-Man. Click here to read full review.
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10
WOLVERINE: REVENGE #2
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Greg Capullo
Inker: Tim Townsend
Colorist: FCO Plascencia
Letterer: Cory Petit
There is no revenge like that coming from Wolverine. Given the name of the title it would’ve been easy for Jonathan Hickman and Greg Capullo to have this just be a showcase of Wolverine unbridled rage filled revenge. That is not what we get. Instead what we see is a Wolverine who uses his experience to go after the enemies that killed Captain America and others. The results of that is an even cooler revenge story that just emphasizes why Wolverine is the one character you should never end up on their list of shit list.
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
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