Another week, another set of reviews (and a Bamf session)

I guested on Radio Bamf again on Sunday. I feel a lot more positive about this episode, although I have come to realise that I suck at verbally summarising and reviewing books. I’m much better responding to other people’s thoughts and ideas. Anyways I had fun, I think it was a good show, so go have listen to episode 15 either at the website or  on Youtube (with automatic captions) and iTunes.  Links are on the we Are Arcade page.

Thanks again to the Bamf team for having me on. Catch them on twitter and facebook.

Now read ahead for comic reviews and spoilers of Supergirl/Prysm Double shot, Signs and Voices, Professor Elemental, Adventures of Superman 1, JLA 4, X-Men 1, Fearless Defenders 4 and Princeless # 3 (second volume).

Supergirl/Prysm double shot – I got this ages ago but only just got round to reading it. Then realised I already had it. Oh well. Nice family centred story though.

Signs and Voices – I really really want to like this but there’s so much that can be improved. This is an identity comic – it’s based around Deaf culture and is about oppression from the hearing world. It’s a tremendously important topic with obvious, real world ramifications and parallels. Unfortunately the art, plotting and dialogue just isn’t that good. I know exactly why it’s appealing to a Deaf audience, but for an avid comics reader, it falls a little short.

Professor Elemental 1 and 2 - I’d seen this about and decided to give it a shot. I was under the impression that it was a small indie thing, but the twitter account has 10,000+ followers, so I guess not! It’s a steampunk series about a toff professor and his orang-utan assistant (George Geoffrey) and the scrapes they get into. I’d really recommend it. It’s lighthearted and fun. It feels affectionately written. Issue 2 is the stronger and has a variety of artists involved. One story in particular uses the different artists to good effect as the Professor and George Geoffrey travel between worlds. As a relative newbie to steampunk I really enjoyed seeing this new (to me) take on the genre.

Adventures of Superman 1 – I loved this. It’s got an old fashioned feeling to it and the stories are optimistic. The artwork is nice and varied. I feel like this is what the recent Superman comics have been missing.

JLA 4 – I bought this because I’d heard that Catwoman got killed. She does. She gets shot in the head. There’s not really much to recommend this comic, it’s pretty average. I am left wondering if Selina has been in another Justice League team.

X-Men 1 – Great fun :D Nice characterisation and a good cast. Storm has her Mohawk back, which pleases me no end. I’m not convinced about the deadly bacteria plot but I’m very happy to keep reading this series. It kind of makes up for Ame-Comi Girls being cancelled.  Kinda.

Fearless Defenders 4 – This seemed to be an Age of Ultron tie-in as it’s an alternate universe and I have no idea what’s going on. Hippolyta has good hair though.

Princeless 3 of 4 – Awesome stuff, as usual. Adrienne is trying to free Angelica, but Angelica doesn’t want to be saved. She’s quite happy being the muse to town of artists. She does seem a bit stupid though, as she didn’t recognise her own sister when Adrienne was wearing her helmet. After this there was some nice sibling snarking andwe discovered Angelica’s guardian. There’s a second plot about the King investigating his wife’s disappearance, where he visits the local werewolf clan. My bet is that his wife is secretly the Black Knight and the head of the werewolf clan knows this.

There are 3 comics I would recommend to new comcis readers, and Princeless is one of them.  The other two are Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade and anything by Jennie Gyllblad. All these books/works are fabulous.

As for my to-read pile, I have Breakaway, Are You My Mother and about 100 X-Men comics, mostly 1990s Uncanny X-Men. I expect this to be confusing but enjoyable – I love diving into long runs of comics!