Quick Hits - Comics for week of 4/23

In this new Critical Critiques feature I will post a one or two sentence review of each comic I pick up every week. I do not want to clutter this site with reviews of each and every issue of any given comic series. I will however still post full reviews for comics if I feel that the issue justifies a full review. This could happen at the beginning or end of a big arc, if a big event has happened, or if it is otherwise noteworthy. Also, because I'm always there for any who dares read Critical Critiques if someone comments that they'd like a full review of a comic in which I've posted a Quick Hit review I'll try to get one up as soon as I can. I may venture out into weekly Quick Hit reviews for the various television shows I watch, though after the fact full reviews may be more difficult since I don't record and save everything I watch.

On to the Comic Quick Hits for the week of April 23rd (Wednesdays are used because that is when comics are released).

Justice League of America #20: Fantastic art by Ethan Van Sciver. If he were on this series monthly it would immediately become one of my most anticipated books. McDuffie also puts together a good one-shot story when he doesn't have to mess with crossovers and story back-ups. Verdict: 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Thor #8: Marko Djurdjevic really has knack for the Norse flavor of Thor. While this will not be agreed with by many fans I do not enjoy Copiel's art in this series. Thor looks far too square and neanderthal-esque usually in this series. On the story side this issue once again is a bit slow and I found the reveal at the end to be a bit obvious. Still has potential to build to something memorable though. Verdict: 3 stars out of 5.

Death of the New Gods #8: In the final issue of this miniseries it is apparent that Jim Starlin could have done so much more if not for the problems of plotting that Countdown presented. Too much of the plot is resolved elsewhere and it makes this issue and series flounder in the end. The art is, once again, quite strong and has a very good old-school feel. There are several strong pages including a great final page. Still, this series could have been so much more. Verdict: 3 stars out of 5.