Take it or Leave it – January 2, 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.

It’s just me, Chris, this week as JohnScott is down in Maryland at Magfest 11 which you can be sure he’ll write about when he gets back. This week sees a lot of great books like Talon, All-New X-Men and Grimm Universe continue on, while other books like Iron Man keep on struggling, and we can’t forget some new number 1’s with New Avengers and Morbius The Living Vampire. Let lets get started with the reviews already.

Alphabetical by Publisher

Chris
This weeks books were all pretty solid, I’m not sure if they’re something I’m going to want to continue to buy but at least for what they were I enjoyed them.

	Talon #3 The more of Talon I read the more I like, it’s not Batman but it’s set in that world and that’s fun. Calvin isn’t an ally of the Bat he’s got his own problems going on in Gotham, and with this issue New York. So far the issues has been following a sort of monster of the month setup. Each issue while having a lot going on ends with Calvin fighting or at the very least being confronted by another of the Court of Owls Talons. James Tynion IV is doing an awesome job with this book and as much as I love Scott Snyder’s writing, I think it’s about time Tynion got top billing on the cover! This book is still early enough in it’s run that you should be able to pick it up and not have to much confusing, as long as you read the Court of Owls story line over in Batman. Verdict: Take It Score: 8/10
	All-New X-Men #5 I’ve said it before, this book had me nervous. I’m not a huge X-Fan, well 616 anyway I only started reading Uncanny just before it ended around issue 544 so and continued on for the following year. With that ending I figured I may as well pick up it’s sucessor and luckily enough I’m a big fan of the creative team. Bendis and Immonen have been doing everything right in this book. The time travel and reasons for it are being handled well, and the characters are being balanced really well, especially considering that we’ve got two of several characters. The younger and older Scott’s are obviously the same person, but with completely different views on life. If you’re an X-Men fan you should be reading this book. And if you’re not a fan, you should still give it a shot. This issue had a lot of Jean Grey which I’m sure will make many a fan happy. She’s probably having on of the hardest times in the future, for obvious reason, but she’s taking it really well I guess. . . We should be seeing more action and story progression in the next issues as this opening is drawing to a close and we know who our main players are going to be. This is probably the only Marvel book outside of Spider-Man that I’m not aggravated at for shipping more than once a month, and that says something. Verdict: Take It Score: 9/10
	Iron Man #5 I had such high hopes at first for Iron Man, and Gillen is really a good writer, but so far Iron Man just hasn’t caught my interest. The only thing keeping it in my buy pile is hope and the fact that they slowed down the shipping to once a month, at least for now. Issue 5 closes out the first story arc, with Stark retrieving the last of the Extremis kits. I’m a little confused by the ending though, was this whole arc happening between him finishing with the Mandarin and the end of Matt Fractions run? The last issue from Fraction and the end of this issue seem fairly similar and it just makes it more confusing. The teaser you see in other books looks interest as Tony is going to be dealing with the outcome of helping to destroy a cosmic entity. That could be cool I guess, or it could just throw more things that don’t make sense. I’m going to give this series one more Arc to get it’s stuff together, if it hasn’t’ by then, it’s probably beyond saving. For now I’d hold on to your dollars and wait to see how 6 turns out. From the look of it you can start with issue 6 from the end of Fractions run and not miss a beat. Verdict: Leave It Score: 4/10
	Morbius The Living Vampire #1 I had pretty much no interest in this title. I’ve been telling people for months that it’s such a weird a pointless move, Marvel has so many other characters I’d rather see in their own book. More characters that deserve a run like Hawkeye has been getting. Then I read The Amazing Spider-Man 699.1, and while it didn’t totally change my tune, I started to see the draw of Dr. Micheal Morbius. I’ve only ever known him as a villain or awkward ally of Spidey, mostly from the ’90s cartoon. Dan Slott had a pretty interesting take on him during most of the Big Time run, he wasn’t prominent most of it but his presence definitely added to the stories. Now The Living Vampire is out on his own after the events of Amazing Spider-Man 699 and 699.1. I like the story telling, and the elements they’re bringing to the book so far. Morbius isn’t a villain, he’s not a vampire, he’s a sick man, and he’s a genius with some incredible powers which cost him a terrible price. I don’t know if I’m going to keep reading this book, but for a first issue it’s got my attention. And frankly if you’re looking for something a little different, you could do a lot worse. Verdict: Take It Score: 6/10
	New Avengers #1 I enjoyed New Avengers a lot when Bendis was writing it, and when I heard Hickman was taking over the two main Avengerr books I figured we’d get some crazy story telling with long plots. I was happy about that, I thought it was a great direction for the series to take. Then I found out that New Avengers was going to focus on the Illuminati of the Marvel Universe. That group of super heroes who took it upon themselves to get together and decide how the world should work. It’s a great concept when used sparingly, but I’m not to thrilled about it as an entire series. The highlight of this issue was the focus on the Black Panther. I haven’t been a big fan of his very long, but from watching Avengers: Earths Mightest Heroes I’ve gained a lot more interest in the character. It’s nice that Hickman appears to be continuing some of the things he started back in Fantastic Four and FF with T’Challa also. I don’t see myself buying this book on a regular basis, but it was good regardless and I’m sure plenty of people will find it enjoyable. And on last thing, I love that T’Challa refers to a certain someone as “the devil himself”. Verdict: Take It if your a Marvel Illuminati fan Score: 6/10
	Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #19 Once again I’m pleasantly surprised by an issue of Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. I’ve made it no secret that I haven’t been to interested in this book since the Death of Spider-Man story arc. Thankfully last issue wasn’t the beging and end of this book getting better. Issue 19 once again had enough going for it that I’m actually interested to see what’s going to happen next. Miles’ dad is a big factor, and of course Venom is the other. Any Spider-Man fan can’t help but get excited when Venom comes out to play, and there are so many questions about this version of Ultimate Venom that we’ll need to get answered. It was also nice that Miles ran out of webbing and can’t magically make more, he’s gonna have to work at that stuff! Verdict: Take It Score: 7/10
	Venom #29 I wasn’t a big fan of last issue, I thought it was pretty boring. This issue has gotten a lot better, but it did seem to be trying to cram Philly down our throats. I love Philly, but frankly we don’t need all the name dropping, though I did like the Fat Jacks reference as their Jersey store is where most of One-Quest gets their comics. As far as the story goes though Flash got a little real with himself, and did some detective work which was nice. And he was even smart enough to bring in some back up. This definitely isn’t the strongest arc in the series, but it’s getting better and hopefully once Flash is fully stationed in Philly it’ll be a consistent level of great stories again. Verdict: Take It – If you got issue 28 Score: 6/10
	Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Grimm Universe #2 This was a pretty cool story, though the cover is a bit deceiving. If you’re reading expecting a book full of Red Riding Hood, then you’re gonna be disappointed. Though once you’re finished you’ll be more than happy you picked it up. The first half features your average nice guy, and a serial killer. By the second half Red has joined the party and things get real very fast. Patrick Shand has been cranking out some really high quality stories, and this is definitely one of them. This is a hard book to talk about as I don’t want to give anything away, but make sure you read the headline on the paper at the end of the book, it looks like a nice little setup for Red Riding Hood Vs. Robyn Hood. The issue also looks to be setting up Red as a hero, of the street level variety like Luke Cage, Iron Fist, or Daredevil. Only you know, better looking and a sometimes Avenger. I’m looking forward to see what happens next with Red after the battle of the Hoods, and that’s all thanks to this issue. This is definitely worth picking up if you’re a Zenescope fan. And for those who aren’t sure if they like these books, it’s a good place to get your feet wet. Verdict: Take It Score: 9/10
	Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Sleepy Hollow #3 Finally! Sleep Hollow is getting good! This issue finally features the Headless Horsemen we’ve all been waiting to see. And we got a bit more of Craig’s life before getting punched in the face by a train. This still isn’t the hit I was hoping for, but I feel a lot better about it than I did after the second issue. Now with only one more left to go I don’t know what to think. There’s a lot left to explain and do, and I don’t know if that’s something that can be done in one book. But you know what I’m certainly looking forward to find out. For any problems I’ve had with this story so far, every time a new issue hits I’m ready to read it so that definitely says something about it. Verdict: Take It Score: 6/10

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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