BALANCING ACT BOOKS

Do I actually like the IDW Optimus Prime?      This is a question my friend Brian and I have asked ourselves, many times in the past decade or so we have read IDW's Transformer books. Brian is such a huge Transformer fan, that he makes me look like a poser. He has multiple Optimus (is it Optimuses? Optimi?) on a shelf in his bedroom, all ranging in price for how much he was willing to spend on the Half robot/ Half truck that sounds like Peter Cullen doing his best John Wayne impersonation.     Brian loves Optimus as a character, but he doesn't like the IDW Optimus.     I think I would have to say the same. Sure, this Optimus is leaps and bounds better than the savage murderer from the Michael Bay movies but he is nowhere near as great as the Optimus of the 1986 cartoon movie.      He is constantly second guessing himself. He never thinks he is worthy of the title of Prime. This is quite a noble trait in someone who is considered a religious figure by many of his people, bu

    This book is a sort of catch all for all things great in the Batmen books that were misused or neglected, during the New 52, with the exception of Batwoman. Cassandra Cain's Batgirl and Spoiler? Whoa, what a treat! Tim Drake's Red Robin (ok, he still has that stupid Red adjective thrown in there, but how else are you supposed to tell him apart from Damian?) done right? Count me in. Clayface as a good guy? Sure, can you even make a danger room, using his powers and call it the Mudroom? I know it is a weird request, but you know, I will give it a good review on Goodreads.     James Tynion IV, I have to say that the envious part of me would say that he is an example of the "It's who you know" aspect of the comic book industry. I sort of enjoyed his Talon book. I really enjoyed his back ups in the Batman book that involved the court of owls or took place during "Endgame". This book, however, is his true chance to shine. I think this is the first time

    Patrick Gleason. I thought you needed Peter J. Tomasi to make magic. Boy wonder, was I wrong. I did a list of my top ten favorite Marvel superheroes in my very first review. I am going to show you my top ten DC superheroes list, now: 1) Batman 2)Dick Grayson (doesn't have to be Nightwing) 3) Hal Jordan 4) Zatanna 5) Black Canary 6) Huntress 7) Robin: Damian Wayne 8) Guy Gardiner 9) Star Girl 10) Swamp Thing    Notice a pattern there? Yeah, I have a thing for people from Gotham. Patrick Gleason takes Damian far out of Gotham for this book, as he goes through his "Year of Blood", a self imposed year of penance, making up for his past crimes. It is pretty fantastic stuff, quite adult and deep for a character that is probably about twelve years old, at this point. The characters I listed above have gone through some major changes, during the New 52. In the case of Zatanna, Huntress, and Black Canary, these changes were not for the better, and luckily talen

   1) Cyclops    2) The Winter Soldier    3) Cable    4) Captain America    5) X-23    6)Daredevil    7) Hawkeye: Kate Bishop    8) Moon Knight    9) Psylocke    10) Spider-Man      Let's just get that out of the way. That is my current list of top ten favorite Marvel superheroes, and it is not based on their Netflix shows or Marvel films.       I have loved Kate Bishop since her debut in Young Avengers. I loved her even more when Keiron Gillen brought the title back, years later. She was great, switching back and forth as a supporting character and then main character, in Matt Fraction's outstanding Hawkeye series.     This book tries to capture the magic of the Fraction book, but often feels more like an imitation. The art style is very similar to David Aja's book, and borrows visual cues from that book as well. There are little arrows connected to caption boxes. There are caption boxes that show off what Kate is thinking as she surveys a scene.    I wish