BTP – Rogue Reviews 3/10 Comics

The Mystic Hands of Doctor Strange #1: 48 pages, all black and white art, and 4 really good Dr. Strange stories written by 4 different people (Kieron Gillen, Peter Milligan, Ted McKeever, and Mike Carey).  The first, and longest, story takes Strange to a psych institute to tangle with Mephisto.  The second has him treating a man who’s been haunted by a memory for 30 years, while the third has him drunk and stumbling through a back alley where he happens to run into a demon.  The final story has almost no art, but 3 pages of story and is written as a journal entry written by Strange himself.  All are really great, and even if you’re not a fan of the good Doctor you should pick this up anyway because there’s no commitment after this issue.  $3.99.

The Twelve – Spearhead #1: This is, obviously, a story using characters from The Twelve that was released in ’07 and written by J. Michael Straczynski and inked by Chris Weston.  Well, Weston is back, but this time he’s doing both the writing and inking without Straczynski.  The story revolves around the Phantom Reporter again, but this time he’s being introduced to all the other characters when he joins up in WWII.  Captain America and Human Torch also make an appearance in this issue, and it is, as The Twelve was when it was first released, very entertaining.  The best part is that you didn’t have to read the original series to understand what’s going on here!  $3.99.

Secret Six #19: The Six are out in the mountains of Washington State to save the grandson of a rich old bastard from a teenage cult.  Black Alice is used as bait, and when she’s saved by Ragdoll she starts to see him in a whole new light.  A whole new sexy light.  While the shenanigans are ensuing in Washington, a bunch of mercs attack Cheshire in San Diego so they can get a hold of Catman’s son.  Good, good stuff every week for only $2.99.

Justice League – Rise and Fall Special: Well…wow.  Green Arrow is seriously pissed off and out for blood.  After the death of his granddaughter and the loss of his son’s arm, something snapped in his brain and he’s going on a killing spree.  This is really cool, actually, because I recently dropped the Green Arrow/Black Canary series and now I might just pick it back up!  It’s fun to see Arrow so pissed off, too.  There aren’t many heroes who you’d want to see that way, but it works surprisingly well for him because of all the crap that’s gone down in his life.  $3.99.

The A-Team #1: Don’t laugh.  I know you’re laughing because I’m psychic and can hear you, so knock it off.  Seriously though?  This is pretty dang good!  I’ll admit that I was expecting nothing more than a steaming pile of crap, but kudos to Tom Waltz and Joe Carnahan for coming up with a surprisingly good story, and to Stephen Mooney for drawing the characters so well.  IDW is likely releasing this new series to kick start interest in the A-Team movie that will be released in June.  The team are off to catch a notorious gun runner in the far reaches of Alaska before he can cross into Russia, and guess who comes out on top?  The characters are drawn to resemble those cast in the movie (Liam Neeson, Quinton Jackson, Brad Cooper, and Sharlto Copley), but the story and banter remind me of the old show when I was a kid.  If you like action style comics that have lots of guns and awesomeness then you should totally get this.  $3.99.

G.I. Joe Origins #13: This issue we get introduced to the origin of Ripcord!  Woohoo!  Lost in an African jungle and the rest of his unit gone because their plane was shot down, now he’s being hunted by drug runners.  This gets the attention of the Joes and, surprise surprise, Scarlett.  Good times are ahead!  $3.99.