NEW STYLE Quick-Fire Reviews: Week of 15th July Part 1

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH I DON'T WANNA! This new format is so much more efficient sure, but after having another sizable break from the site I kinda wanna put my fingers in my ears and ignore everything. But alas it cannot be that way, for I am trying to look remotely credible. As such we have new Quick-Fire Reviews, using a shrunken down version of the FTP text review format.

A lot of titles this week to run down too, so I REALLY wanna get this over with so I can focus on a Top Ten I've been putting my soul into. Oh and this is a PART 1! expect part two on thursday and this week's quick-fire reviews on saturday as normal.

READ IT REALLY FAST LIKE A GUN BANG BANG VROOOOOOOM!

AGENTS OF ATLAS #8 by Jeff Parker and Carlo Pagulayan

Flippin' Moments (most comics have 5): 6-7
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: Ken Hale punishing bad dudes with a high-powered rifle. Badass. Like a hairy Punisher.Art: Amazing as usual for AoA, with only the Leinil Francis Yu cover breaking the overall quality.
Writing: Parker has handled the Agents for some time and this issue just proves that he's the only person who can do such a thing. The Hulk is a cop-out insertion into any comic though, even HULK, so it loses points for that.
Downsides: Yu's cover! Hulk fucks up comics whenever he cameos! Recap page not as funny as usual!
Rating: BUY!

ALL SELECT COMICS 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ONE-SHOT by Marc Guggenheim, Javier Pulido and Michael Kupperman

Flippin' Moments: HARD TO DEFINE IT'S ALL PRETTY AWESOME AS A PACKAGE.
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: MARVEX BEING GIVEN $20 DOLLARS BY THE MAYOR! SILLY MAYOR YOU'RE THE MAYOR. YOU HAVE MORE THAN 20 DOLLARS! IN FACT ALL OF MARVEX IS WORTH SPOTLIGHTING BUT THAT WOULD BE EXCESSIVE! SORRY I'M ON CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOOOOL!Art: Holy shit this is awesome. Feels nostalgic and draws you in. The real winner here though is Marvex, which might just be the best drawn one-shot ever. Just for letting us see some crazy things.
Writing: Guggenheim's writing is stellar in the first portion, proving that typewriter font text boxes are great story-telling devices. Marvex wins the day again by being REALLY goofy. Heck even the real old stories they include in the one-shot are hilarious and brilliantly written.
Downsides: We'll never get more of this again. I think.
Rating: FLIPPIN' BUY!

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #599 by Joe Kelly, Stephen Segovia, Marco Checchetto, Paolo Siqueira and Amilton Santos (FUCK THAT'S A LOT OF ARTISTS)

Flippin' Moments: 7
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: Harry leaving the American Son armour at his defeated father's feet. Beefcake for the ladies AND a great moment of maturity for the character.Art: Schizophrenic at best. Having a lot of artists handle different pages makes for a bag that at a glance is mixed and upon closer detail is FUCKED. Looks good at the end with Harry and his shakes.
Writing: Joe Kelly did good, though the only real aftermath is Menace looking retarded and BEING retarded, with Harry getting some sorta strange shaking after-effect from dropping outta the American Son program. In fact that last part is interesting as hell, so consider that a shining moment of writing.
Downsides: The art, Menace, Norman Osborn reliving his past of sleeping with other people's love interests... A decent amount of things.
Rating: Read It?

BETA RAY BILL: GODHUNTER #2 (of 3) by Kieron Gillen and KANO

Flippin' Moments: 6
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: The pictures in the little alien's speech bubbles accompanied by hand gestures. They're adorable and grab you from the off. I want one of those aliens.Art: Functional and suits the characters. Silver Surfer looks the best he has in forever andd Bill truly cuts an imposing figure across the page, even in his torment on the last pages.
Writing: Gillen is doing this well, delving into the characters swiftly and fleshing them out and Bill's quest is truly emotional and riveting but this all seems like it should be an epic, not a 3 issue mini series!
Downsides: Rushes through plot a bit much, can get confusing and will probably all be pointless in the end.
Rating: Read It?

BLACKEST NIGHT REVIEW REMOVED FOR A LATER DATE. INSTEAD OF GETTING THE REVIEW YOU'LL JUST GET THIS NEEDLESS BLOCKQUOTE OF ME... WAIT WHY IS THIS A BLOCKQUOTE? OH WELL SAME THING APPLIES TO TALES OF THE CORPS!

CAPTAIN AMERICA #601 by Ed Brubaker and Gene "The Dean" Colan

Flippin' Moments: Hard to say. It's kinda weak moments-wise.
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: None, but here's a very pretty piece of art:

See how pretty it is?

Art: "The Dean" is a comics legend and this art demonstrates why. It's all very pretty yet grim and carries a very nostalgic feel. Heck they released this issue in black and white as well to emphasise this. I... Think it's OKAY compared to the art we get nowadays, but it really is just a nostalgia boost.
Writing: Brubaker is usually a very strong writer. This issue is kinda weak, mainly because it's just there to fill time whilst Reborn is going on (though I'm assured that CapAm won't be back till after Reborn concludes).
Downsides: Bland, hard to pay attention to, Nick Fury in full classic SHIELD garb confuses me... It's just full of little things that pull me away and stop caring.
Rating: I Don't Care!

DARK AVENGERS #7 by Matt Fraction and Luke Ross

Flippin' Moments: 6
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: Emma Frost staring at Xavier (who she can't see) and saying that everything will work out for the best. Potent, reassuring, yet ridiculously foreboding.Art: Does the job. I prefer the art the previous two parts of Utopia had but beggars can't be choosers. Emma Frost's diamond form is still fantastic and that's the main thing to take from this.
Writing: Mediocre compared to Fraction's X-Men chapter of this and lacking anything that brilliant outside of the interactions between Xavier, Beast or Emma Frost. On the note of Beast is Fraction de-powering him? If so HOLY CRAP!
Downsides: SUNSPOT. He's off in New Mutants. Can't we not throw him in as a background character to this event. Like really minor one. Kinda makes it awkward to figure out when New Mutants is happening. Also bored of Osborn now, Dark Beast isn't used to his full potential, Hellion is a character I hate so I have no want for him to succeed and the pace of the event has felt slowed this issue.
Rating: I Don't Care! (though if you're in for the event get it)

DARK REIGN: MR NEGATIVE #2 by Fred Van Lente and Gianluca Gugliotta

Flippin' Moments: 11! FUCKING HELL!
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: Hard choice between them all, but let's say Nega-Spidey saying who's next after taking out the Hood's men (and woman).Art: I love the art to this. Much like Power Girl the art seems to reek of fun, sticking to looking entertaining and captivating rather than like some sort of deep and detailed art piece (the sort of art I'm getting sick of). Hammerhead and Mr. Negative look the best of the bunch and what little of the hauntingly captivating White Rabbit we see is still amazing. Hats off to Gugliotta.
Writing: VAN LENTE! VAN LENTE! VAN FUCKING LENTE! Lord of the Dark Reign miniseries!
Rating: Flippin' BUY IT!

DEADPOOL #12 by Daniel Way and Paco Medina

Flippin' Moments: 7
Spotlight Flippin' Moment: Kid Bullseye shooting his imaginary teacher in an 80s movie style flashback saying 'FUCK YOU MRS BOLTON! I hate you.'. Awesome moment.Art: Looks pretty good. Not much to say one way or the other. Sticks to my whole 'look fun not grimy' want at the moment.
Writing: I'm fed up of those fucking boxes. Used to just be a great extension of Deadpool's thoughts. Now they're a seperate entity he converses with. Multiple ones in fact. Fuck them. Other than that good writing.
Downsides: This is the first time Deadpool has really been funny since Way's run began. It won't stick and it's not a very satisfying conclusion to Deadpool's attempts to get his own back at Osborn. Not that any of that has been satisfying.
Rating:



So that's part 1. Part 2 tomorrow. I hate how thick the Avengers week is each month.