Take It Or Leave It – January 23, 2013

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Welcome to Take It Or Leave It, where each week we pick out some of that week’s newest comics and give you our opinion on whether it was worth the price and you should take it, or if it was better left sitting on the shelf.

This week we’ve got books like Young Avengers, Bedlam, and Green Lantern along with some crazy titles like Mars Attacks The Transformers, so really there’s a little something for everyone!

Alphabetical by Publisher!

Chris
Another week of comics is here, there were a lot of great reads this week and some huge disappointments. I have a feeling my buy pile is going to be shrinking in the coming weeks as I weed out these poor players.

	Green Lantern #16 Simon Baz has been pretty popular with reviewers since his debut last year. Unfortunately I just can’t get myself to really care about him. It’s not that he’s a bad character or anything it’s just they cut to him after such a crazy series of events with Hal and Sinestro that I’d rather see what’s going on with them. I’ve been saying this for a while now, but if the book doesn’t get my interest come next month it’s probably going to be time to drop it. This has probably been one of the better issues since Simon got his ring, he learned a bit about the ring and all, and showed us that him having it really does make some sense. It just wasn’t enough to really pull me in and make me care. If you’re a Green Lantern fan, and have been enjoying Simon so far it’s a good read the art is as good as ever and who doesn’t like Geoff Johns’ writing? Ultimately though I can’t recommend this book since it just doesn’t feel right. Verdict: Leave It Score: 7/10
	Nightwing #16 I like Nightwing, it’s no secret I generally give it a pretty good review. The problem we may face is right now it’s deep in the dreaded crossover territory. So far Death of the Family hasn’t torn any series down, well none that I read anyway. Luckily Nightwing keeps true to this, and other than Batman is probably the best that’s come out. After Batman, Dick would ‘know’ the Joker best and by extension be known the best. While the whole crossover is a bit hard to keep straight since Joker seems to be doing a lot of things all at once it’s still fun. And really if you ever try and keep track of New 52 Batman continuity that doesn’t make any sense anyway. Joker really doesn’t pull any punches going up against Dick, I felt like he went easier on Damien and Barbara but with Dick he made it known that it was far more personal. That and Nightwing’s art team has been one of the few to give Greg Capullo’s Joker the right amount of crazy and scary. Verdict: Take It Score: 8/10
	Bedlam #3 I had some apprehensions with Bedlam, while the first 2 issues were interesting and enjoyable I felt like they were missing something. Issue 3 really fixed that though, the character interaction and story progression were fun, but still creepy. There’s not a whole lot I can say here as I really don’t want to spoil anything but this was a fun read and definitely worth checking out. Verdict: Take It Score: 7/10
	Witchblade #163 So far 2 issues in, Witchblade seems pretty interesting. I’m liking how it’s so tied to The Darkness and Artifacts, two other books from Image. Unlike last issue we got to see Sara use her powers and threaten some people. It also helps to close up the cliffhanger from last issues rather than drawing it out over several more issues. I’m looking forward to reading more of this universe and will probably be grabbing some older issues via trade sometime soon. In the meantime if you didn’t read issue 162 this may be a hard spot to jump on, but next issue looks to be starting a new arc so that’s probably as good a place as any. Otherwise give it a shot you just might be pleasantly surprised. Verdict: Take It Score: 8/10
	Avengers #3 While I haven’t been a huge fan of the Marvel NOW! take on Avengers, the first 2 issues had some promise. With the third we get the closing of the first story and it was pretty disappointing. The only part that was enjoyable was when Cap showed up, everything before and after was slightly confusing and fairly uninteresting. Maybe if it was a longer story and we got to see more about these villains. You know, not just 2 issues of them talking about what they’re going to do while some Avengers are tied up and others are teaming up. Along with that the resolution felt to easy and not really knowing who a lot of the Avengers are just by looking at them hurts it too. Hickman’s idea for this series is great but the execution just feels flawed. This series has a lot of potential and I really hope I find more interest in it soon. I’m going to give this one more arc and see how it goes for now though I’d have to say leave this one on the shelves there’s plenty of other team books out there to check out. Hell some of them are further down this list! Verdict: Leave It Score: 4/10
	Deadpool #4 Deadpool isn’t the best book out, it’s really not even in the top 10 books you could be buying. There are books with way better writing, plot, art, etc. But I can’t think of many that are nearly as fun as this book. The Merc With A Mouth is re-killing zombie/ghost presidents. There’s really nothing bad about this concept. Sure the execution isn’t always the best, but it fits Deadpool because he’s such a ridiculous character. This issue as plenty of him breaking the fourth wall and being goofy. At times it does feel like the plot, or what you’d call the plot is being forced in to fit around jokes but it still works. Hopefully the coming issues continue this trend but also bring Deadpool into contact with more mainstream characters that he’s already got established relationships with like Wolverine and the Jean Grey School or the Avengers. Verdict: Take It Score: 8/10
	Gambit #8 I feel like I keep repeating myself every time I review Gambit, I want to like it, there’s just something about it that doesn’t feel right. Gambit is a fun character, and like a lot of X-Men he doesn’t get much spot light because there’s so many of them. His current solo books don’t really do him much justice and frankly you could probably sub him out for just about any character and it wouldn’t really feel any different. Hopefully with the coming arc we see more of the Remy we know and love and less of this generic thief with a heroic streak. On the bright side if you’re looking for something light and fairly entertaining this book fits well, just don’t expect to much depth. Verdict: Take It Score: 7/10
	Ultimate Comics The Ultimates #20 There was a time where the top of my pile was always whatever Ultimate book came out that week. That’s not the case anymore, those books are slowly trickling further back on the list. As for The Ultimates I had to convince myself to read it this week, I just wasn’t feeling it at all. It’s not that this was a bad book, it just doesn’t have the “I need to read this” thing going for it. Everything just feels out of focus and random. On top of that it’s really not new reader friendly at all, the Ultimate Universe was suppose to not be as complicated as the 50-70+ year history of the main Marvel U, but now I feel like it’s even harder to follow. Verdict: Leave It Score: 5/10
	Uncanny Avengers #3 The first 2 issues of Uncanny Avengers were fun and a good way to start a series. This issue fell short a bit though, it was way to wordy and kind of hard to follow. Plus the art just didn’t convey the action that was going on, it was rushed. There were only a few panels that you could look at and go “Yea that’s badass”. This series still has a lot of promise though and one bad issue isn’t going to break it. Still I can’t say this one was worth reading, so if you’re new to the series just skip it, hell skip it if you read the first two just to save yourself the disappointment. Verdict: Leave It Score: 6/10
	Winter Soldier #14 Winter Solider is a great book, even when the issue isn’t all that appealing the overall story is still a great read. A lot of that has to do with the main who brought Bucky back as Winter Soldier, Ed Brubaker. Issue 14 was his final issue, he’s done with the Captain America related books, and I’m fairly sure he’s not doing any other Marvel books and that’s a shame. He brought a different kind of perspective to these hero books and made them more than just guys and girls jumping around in footy pajama’s. So issue 14, while being Brubaker’s last issue also wraps up the story arc trying to find Black Widow. It’s been going on for a while, and it’s had it’s ups and downs but in the end I think it was pretty good. Definitely finishes on a huge downer though, but that’s going to add to the next issue, well hopefully we’ll have to see how the next creative team goes. Verdict: Take It Score: 8/10
	Wolverine And The X-Men #24 The Murder Circus story that wrapped up last issue was kinda lame and pulled away from the problems and character development going on at the school. Issue 24 brings that back around, we get 3 different perspectives. Wolverine is on babysitting duty as the rest of the staff takes a night off, lucky for him Storm is still around to keep him company. Meanwhile Bobby and Kitty are out on their first date and Idie is at Broo’s bedside trying to help her friend get better. Oh and a special appearance by Sabertooth. There wasn’t really any action or villains in the issue, just a lot of good compelling character interaction. If you haven’t read any of this series yet issue 24 is a great place to start and it’s definitely worth checking out. It renewed my interest in the series after the last several issues had been fairly boring. Verdict: Take It Score: 8/10
	Young Avengers #1 I’ve never really read any of the Young Avengers stuff before so I was going into this fresh. The only character I’m really familiar with is Kate Bishop due to her co-starring in the Hawkeye ongoing by Matt Fraction. Anyway while not the greatest first issue I’ve ever read, Young Avengers 1 does a good job of setting the stage and letting you know who the characters are. That said, I thought some of it felt a little forced, but over all it was enjoyable and it should be an interesting series. Verdict: Take It Score: 7/10
	Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Wonderland #7 Wonderland is a strange book, it jumps around a lot and can be a little hard to follow if you aren’t familiar with the characters. But it’s compelling even the rather dull stuff with Violet where it’s really just teenage girls being teenage girls is interesting because you know at some point it’s going to come crashing down around them. If you’re new to the series it’s definitely worth at least picking up the trade of the first few issues so you can catch up. Verdict: Take It Score: 7/10

Chris talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time. You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook

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