REVIEW: The Boys - 20

You know you have a good book in your hands, when you're left completely speechless.

If you haven't read Garth Ennis' The Boys before - you're in for a pretty huge surprise. On the offchance that you don't know the premise - in a nutshell The Boys are a CIA backed 'hit squad', there to clean up the problems when super powered humans go astray. And as you might expect - that happens a little more often than you'd think. More often than the superhero community would like to admit.

***SPOILER ALERT***

This issue is part two of the 'I tell you no lie, G.I.' storyline, which usually means a book completely wrapped up in its own storyline and self worth, focusing purely on its core readers. But with issue 20 of The Boys - the fact that this is midway through a multiple part story makes no difference whatsover, as Ennis writes a brilliant book that could easily be a standalone story of its own, or the perfect introduction to the series.

I'm pretty hesitant to go into too much detail about why Garth Ennis and Derick Robertson have such a winner on their hands - not because I can't do it justice - but rather that something this good just shouldn't be spoiled.

Pete's Score: 5 out of 5
(truly - this is a shining example of a full marks comic - great from start to finish, leaving you wanting more)

REVIEW: Avengers / Invaders - 1 of 12

I'm always interested in new Alex Ross books. Although this is a new Alex Ross book, this isn't quite the kind of book I mean when I say that. I'm talking, of course, about the artwork. Alex Ross' art is nothing short of jaw droppingly beautiful.

This book, isn't draw by Alex Ross - it's co-plotted by him (with Jim Krueger). So is it still worth picking up, and more importantly, does it have the same seal of quality as his other work?

***SPOILER ALERT***

The book opens during World War 2, with the Invaders on a mission to steal the 'Ordmung Zeitgeist from Monte Cassino' (to keep it from Hitler's hands). During their mission, Captain America, The Sub-Mariner, The (original) Human Torch, Toro and Bucky enter strange green mists, while the others around them are pinned down by German gunfire...

Flash forwards to today, and we see Spider-Man on the run from The Thunderbolts, who are taking delight in their attempts to capture him (as an 'outlaw') in the most painful ways possible.

Green mists appear, and so do our five Invaders...

Initially, I was a little skeptical of this book - but being an interesting concept, I decided to pick it up anyway. So glad I did.

Steve Sadowski's pencils are top notch, managing to be somehow strangely fitting for capturing the essence of the out-of-time WW2 heroes drawn within the book. Jim Krueger has done a fantastic job of fleshing out the story within the book, and of creating enough interest from the outset for me to 'tentatively' commit to buying the next 11 issues.

So to answer my earlier seal of quality question, "yes - yes it does".

Pete's Score: 4 out of 5
(very worthwhile read - something that will no doubt approach some very hard issues throughout its course)