AJ LiebermanCritiques

Graphic Novel Bookclub 2016:

This book really was boring and wordy to me by the 22nd page, and as someone who loves comics as well as books that are 900 pages, that's saying something. It's not well organized, overly wordy and bothersome in that the storyline was very plot hole laden and more reliant on the "triplet shitck" rather than consistent story arcing.

Review will be in for both volumes

Graphic Novel Bookclub 2016:

This book really was boring and wordy to me by the 22nd page, and as someone who loves comics as well as books that are 900 pages, that's saying something. It's not well organized, overly wordy and bothersome in that the storyline was very plot hole laden and more reliant on the "triplet shitck" rather than consistent story arcing.

Review will be in for both volumes

Found it confusing and not fond of the art. Try Matt Ruff for really good MPD books.

Interesting concept, the artwork was okay, but the plot seemed like it was kind of all over the place. Characters were introduced and not fully explained so I was a bit confused.

Duncan suffers from multiple personality disorder. Within his psyche rests four distinct individuals: a cowboy, a ninja, and a viking with Duncan functioning as the ringleader. Lieberman and Rossmo use this high concept as the centerpiece for their fun, conspiracy-laden adventure story. A failed super soldier experiment created an army of Triplets, people with three personalities all with different extraordinary abilities. Rumored destroyed by the government, Triplets re-appear, led by one of their own. The experiment's creator, psychotherapist Sebastian Ghislain, summons the most powerful of the Triplets, Duncan, to confront the progeny. Often confusing, at times grotesque, and always fascinating, Rossmo's monochrome art perfectly propels Lieberman's exciting, parody-riddled script. Sadly, the fascinating tale collapses near the last page when the series reaches an unsatisfying, all-to-quick conclusion. Even with its flaws, Cowboy Ninja Viking delivers an original, enthralling story.

Ok, the art is pretty good, but it wasn't consistent. Scarface and The Penguin looked radically different from section to section, which I can respect going from one artist to another, but when it's all in the same book, The Penguin should have the same amount of fingers.

The story line is, as expected, a little frazzled and fractured, but that reflects the content. Would have liked a little more on the "Spoiler" character, but I guess I'll just have to read more.

Ollie makes this so much better.

Upon reading the title of this graphic novel I knew I would be disappointed, however the idea was just to good to pass up. The art was unique. I have definitly never seen anything like it. That drew my attention more then anything. Beyond that, the story was a little weak. I stumbled along with it for a while and actually ended up putting the book down and coming back to finish a few months later when I didn't have aything left on my shelf to read.

There were moments, granted, that were comical. The idea of having a ton of multipersonality people in one room trying to converse should have been a goldmine. I did laugh, the set up was just to good to miss every chance, but by the end I was mostly let down. The execution was not there.

I hate to reveal plot points in a review the same as how I hate reading the back of a book. I don't want to give anything away or destroy that feeling of exploring a scene you never experienced before by giving you some idea of what might happen. So that being said its hard to say that you should not chance this book. That would be unfare to you, but I will say that given the choice, there are books much better suited of your time.½

Poorly put together. Enormous let down. Hush very good. Hush Returns just isn't. Sorry.

The first book of a long storyline, in which (we later learn who) somebody sends an identical message to all of Gotham City's crimelords to meet. They all do so, bringing their protection, and inevitably bloodshed ensues, leaving Gotham City a battlefield for the surviving crime bosses. This makes for a truly tiring and trying time for Batman, particularly as Robin has retired at his father's insistence, and Spoiler, trying out as the new Robin, has failed to cut the mustard and been cashiered. Other forces are called in, and the first couple of days mainly consists of Batman et alia troubleshooting one crimelord takeover after another. The minor players eventually become confusingly many. What really makes this book is the part at Tim Drake's (Robin, retired) high school, which becomes a battlefield, forcing Tim to reveal some of his abilities to his amazed classmates. Also intriguing is the relationship that Batman has with his various helpers, who seem to multiply with every new storyline. Uneven artwork.

This continues the excellent "Hush" duo of books by Jeph Loeb. Unfortunately, this is a different writing and art team, with a definite dropoff in quality. Hush has apparently returned from the dead (how, we're never quite told). He is still waging a personal vendetta against Batman/Bruce Wayne, his childhood friend. His pursuit of this revenge pits him against the Joker and Talia, amongst others. I'm not too crazy about how the Joker is portrayed here, as a nearly sane villain with a former normal married life which he remembers clearly. He even inexplicably spares Hush after promising to kill him, a move that later comes back to bite him. We do get an extended look at the Joker's origin, which only mildly intrigues (I would have liked something more compelling than what is shown here). All in all, a major disappointment after the excellence of the earlier books, with the same drawbacks of overly convoluted plotting. The Green Arrow appearance is interesting, though, although he should not have been able to lay a glove on Batman.