Category Archives: Comic Reviews

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Volume 19 Review

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The next My Little Pony volume is here now so it’s time for more fun stories. As I suspected last time when Applejack didn’t get a story, she gets one right away here so the balance is really on point. It’s another fun assortment of stories that all flow by very quickly. As always the series succeeds giving you a happy feeling about the whole thing after you finish the story and succeeds in what it has set out to do.

Apple Bloom is one of those ponies who is confident that she isn’t scared of anything but this is put to the test when she is trapped in a web by some kind of jumbo spider. This also happens to Applejack but Bloom is just small enough where she should be able to escape. Unfortunately the only way to do this is to relax and not be so tense so you slide off of the webs. Bloom is too scared and won’t admit that she is scared so Applejack decides to to tell her a story from back in the day. She’ll need to tell the story quickly though.

It’s a good issue and Applejack is good at getting ponies to face their fears. Her honest approach is the right match for this problem. Her story of being scared of the water is also intense and it’s easy to see how that could have happened since her falling into a well was really traumatic. Big Mac got to look good here as he looked out for Applejack just like how she looked out for Apple Bloom. What goes around comes around and it’s just a nice dynamic. Scaring off the spider at the end may have been a bit cheesy but on the whole I was satisfied with how things turned out. The moral was good.

Another story focuses on the next generation as the changeling student really wants to do well on the final exam. Twilight Sparkle wanted to make things easy on her students so she said that they could do whatever they wanted as long as their project showed off what they learned about friendship. Most of the students figured they would do something easy like just talking for a few minutes while showing off a rock or something but she wants to do something more drastic. She’ll use her transformation skills to appear as over 300 characters in the span of 10 minutes to relive the history of Equestria. It’s an ambitious project, too ambitious you might say. It’s just not possible to pull off that many transformations in such a short period of time.

She’s not too nice about this either but fortunately the rest of the students and Twilight Sparkle get her back in line. It’s a fun story but I always prefer for the Mane 6 to be the main characters instead of supporting. It just feels more exciting that way. If you need variety then this is probably the smoothest way to do it though. Of course the occasional story about the villains is definitely another way to do it too.

Then we have a story about Pinkie Pie and her sister Maud. Basically it is time for a huge party and this should be easy since that’s Pinkie Pie’s thing but she is stuck baking a cake for another party. So Maud has to help another pony set up the party in her stead but this is well outside of her comfort zone. Can she really pull this off or is she merely setting herself up for failure? This is a story about doing the right thing even when it’s hard and it’s a solid story.

Maud tries her best right from the start and really does a great job with the preparation. She even has a little sugar to boost up her stats and liveliness which is really going the extra mile here. It’s easy to be proud of her here and what she has accomplished. There aren’t a ton of characters who would have been able to pull this off. At the end of the day Pinkie Pie did her best to help out as well and even out ran the train which was impressive. Maud is good as a change of pace pony as I don’t think she would be able to hold her own stories too often as her humor style may quickly become too one note but stepping in like this it works out pretty well.

Finally we also have the two part adventure with the big race. Rainbow Dash is ready to test her mettle as this is the toughest race in all of Equestria but then some guy shows up who is being really passive aggressive to Big Mac. It turns out that Big Mac used to be an expert racer but he was too good. His old friend got jealous and ran off so Big Mac decided never to race again. As you can probably guess I blame the friend 100% for this. He is the one who wanted Big Mac to race and then got heavily salted once Big Mac was winning? Yeah I should just call him the “Friend” for now since that’s not how a real friend acts.

So the story is divided into the flashback of the original race and the current one as the contestants all get set. There is also a subplot about a group of thieves who are on the run from some dragons and have accidentally put the stolen item in Rainbow Dash’s car. The subplot felt a little random and dare I say unnecessary but I still enjoyed the race. There’s a lot of action to enjoy here and who doesn’t like a good competition right? It’s always great to see Rainbow Dash taking charge and just getting out there. With her speed this should be beyond easy after all but to keep things fair she seems to be holding back. The competition episodes in the show tended to be some of the stronger ones as well so I wasn’t surprised that it was really good in the comic as well.

The art is pretty solid here as you would expect. The colors are nice and vibrant and there is a large cast here but they all stand out. It’s been pretty consistent throughout the series which is always nice to see and it makes reading the comics nice and easy. Mix that in with the good writing and you’ve got a solid foundation for the series. It’s easy to see how it’s lasted 19 volumes.

Overall, This was another good MLP volume. We got a nice assortment of stories here and I wouldn’t say any of them were weak. The racing one was probably the best although I was hoping that Rainbow Dash could pull out the victory. The way I see it she earned it for sticking up for Big Mac and setting the stage. At least she was a good sport about the whole thing though and didn’t let it drag her down. If you’re a fan of the series or just want some wholesome comics then this is a good collection to pick up.

Overall 7/10

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Volume 18 Review

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Do you know what time it is? It’s My Little Pony time! It’s been a while since I read the last volume but this is the kind of series that is easy to just dive into and have fun. The stories here are standalones as we are in between the big arcs so that helps as well. Some stories may be stronger than others but at the end of the day it’s a fairly balanced mix and you will have a good time here. It’s easy to see why the series has so many fans because it’s just enjoyable to read through. So lets dive into the stories.

The best one in the collection has Pinkie Pie decide to test her friends’ teamwork skills. Basically she has constructed a really large tower and the heroes have to cosplay as action heroes and try to climb it. They all try to climb the tower individually at first but it’s not working out so well so they may have to actually team up for once. Can they put their pride aside in order to do this? Well that may make things sound dramatic as they often team up so it’s technically not a big deal. I do think they were hoping they could win without help though, I just got that idea at least from how they tried on their own first.

It’s solid because I always like seeing the Mane 6 have to try and overcome some challenges. This one may have been created by Pinkie Pie but the challenges were very real so it wasn’t like this was a walk in the park. Most impressive of Pinkie Pie I must say even if she was being a little petty at the end. I think the heroes deserved a real prize for their hard fought win. Ah well, they had fun and that’s what counts I suppose.

Then we have a story with Mayor Mare. It’s time to throw her a surprise party but unfortunately it isn’t easy to catch her unaware. So the heroes have Apple Bloom try to pull this off which almost gets tragic as Bloom says that she looks up to Mayor Mare and everything to distract her all day. The Mayor was really happy about this so she’d be absolutely crushed that it was all an act. Fortunately the comic doesn’t go down the tragic angle and things end well with the nice party.

It would have been a little upsetting if things had gone badly for Mayor Mare so I’m glad that it all worked out. The story’s more on the low key side as the subplot is Twilight Sparkle trying to get a good act to go on stage but they all keep getting shot down. Her stage partner was really a harsh critic but fortunately Sunlight Shimmer was here to help. She was always one of the best characters so it was nice to see her even if the appearance was completely random and out of the blue. Sometimes that’s the best way to be a guest star though right?

In what may have been the weakest story of the bunch we follow the Wonderbolts as they’re getting ready for another big sky show. Unfortunately one of their members gets injured and won’t be able to perform. There’s one filly who really wants to be a member but is an Earthpony who can’t fly. That’s a bit of a non starter for an aerial group of ponies but you can admire the heart and passion of this I suppose. We get a story about how their used to be an Earthpony who pulled this off with a flying machine like a super old fashioned airplane. It’s nice and heartwarming so I’m glad the Earthpony got to be in the show a bit but ultimately I just don’t think that’ll work.

It’s one of those sad cases where the dream is just about unachievable. Sure you can include the pony in a show or two to make his day but it sort of take away from the point of the group. Nobody is going there to watch a pony operate a vehicle, they want cool flying stunts and that won’t be possible if you can’t already fly naturally. I’d say that was the real crux of the issue.

Then we have a story where one pony needs a dog sitter but none of the Mane 6 want to help. It’s rare to see them all trying to get out of the way instead of helping out but this dog is a really big Cerberus so he won’t be the easiest to handle. Rarity had no excuse even compared to the others so she gets the job and initially it is quite hard for her. Ultimately she is able to push through though and after some encouragement from her younger sister learns about patience and dealing with bigger animals.

It’s a solid story with a good message at the end. I do think Rarity could have handled the whole situation better right from the jump though. The dog wasn’t even mean or anything. Sometimes in these kinds of stories you’d have the dog being a real handful the whole time but I didn’t really get that vibe from him. He wanted to play a lot sure, but then just play with him. Who doesn’t want to play fetch with a huge dog! At least now Rarity will be ready for the future.

Twilight gets her own story next as it’s time to put on her detective hat. I remember Rarity being the real detective of the group to be honest but Twilight has apparently solved tons of cases of her own so this is right up her alley. See there’s a big turtle competition coming up soon but one of them has vanished. Now the whole town has lost the will to fight and the only one who seems happy about this is the owner who always comes in 2nd place. Hmmm, this is a little suspicious isn’t it?

You can probably tell where this is going from the jump but it’s still a solid story. I do think that the kidnapper gets off extremely easy though. I would have liked some kind of penalty here. Of course you shouldn’t go to jail for something like that in Ponyville but some community service never hurt anybody. If they threw that in there I think it would have helped the ending. Still, I like a good mystery so this was a fun adventure all around.

So those were the stories. They all feel like they could have been real episodes although you’d probably need to merge two stories each time since they go by fairly quick. You could pad them out but that is always tricky. The writing is good enough where they could pull it off though. The artwork here is solid and always looks like the TV show as well. It makes for easy reading as you’ll just barrel through these volumes. The generation may be ending as the new one comes in but at least through the comics there are still tons of adventures that I haven’t read yet.

Overall, If you like the My Little Pony series then you will definitely like this comic. It’s a solid collection of stories about the group and so what more could you ask for right? Each pony gets something to do here although I guess Applejack would be the one with the smallest role as she didn’t star in any of them. I’m sure that’ll change in the next volume since this one had 5 issues and not 6 so she still has a lot of time. I’m getting closer to volume 20 now!

Overall 7/10

My Little Pony: Spirit of the Forest Review

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It’s sure been a while since I read my last My Little Pony adventure so it’s good to be back in the mix. This is a fairly low stakes adventure starring the Cutie Mark Crusaders but it hit all the right beats that made the series big in the first place. It has good writing with likable characters and a satisfying conclusion to the adventure. The issues go by very quickly and you’ll have a good time reading the stories so you really can’t go wrong here. Just like the trio would low key have some of the more enjoyable adventures in the show, that ends up being the case here as well.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders are having a good time as usual when they notice that there has been a big increase in the amount of junk, trash, and litter that has accumulated in the forest. They start cleaning it up but every day it appears again so they have a stake out. Well, it turns out that this is all caused by Filthy Rich’s workers as they are doing a big project in the forest which is cutting down a ton of trees. The trio try talking him out of it but Filthy Rich explains that his hands are tied because he needs money and the Ponies need goods so it all works out. Even the Mane 6 say they are powerless against the world of big business so the Cutie Mark Crusaders have an idea. They will create a ghost Scooby Doo style and scare everyone off of the property. If they can succeed then the forest will be saved. The means may be less than legal but these are desperate times.

If you really think about it, the trio are basically playing the role of your average Scooby Doo villain which is a nice change of pace. I’ll give them props for trying to change things the legal way first but they just couldn’t make a strong enough case to make that work out. It doesn’t help that even popular opinion is against them as people like the forest but they prefer having their furniture and other perks of the trees being cut down. Even the Mane 6 felt a little halfhearted with their assistance.

You can’t say that the CMC don’t try hard here. Ultimately they are able to get pretty far in their tricks and only run into trouble when the Mane 6 get involved. So this was another part I enjoyed a lot because it’s like we got to see an episode from a different POV. Off screen Filthy Rich asked them for help in stopping the monster and of course they said yes. It makes sense that they would help and as good as the CMC are, the Mane 6 are naturally more experienced. Their winning the fight made complete sense and it was a satisfying conclusion.

Another check in the comic’s favor is that the problem was rather nuanced without making Filthy Rich extremely evil as the average cartoon would do it. For example, he is certainly the antagonist but he’s not laughing as he breaks down trees or acts disrespectful to the ponies the whole time. No, he treats them as mature ponies and explains his position. It’s not even an awful position because he explains that he did get permission from the village, signed the right papers, and got to work on giving everyone what they wanted. Yes, the Forest would be removed but he didn’t just start chopping, he had a complete plan first which everyone signed off on. He didn’t cut any corners or break the rules in any way.

In fact when the heroes mentioned the litter to him, he had it solved that very day. He went up to the workers and told them to stop which worked. I enjoyed Filthy Rich here as a result. He just seemed way more reasonable than your average rich villain would be in this circumstance. That only becomes even more true in the climax when more characters including his daughter Diamond Tiara talk to him. Ultimately he sacrifices a little wealth in order to make everyone happy and that was a big move on his part. Definitely a fun character to have around.

Diamond Tiara also looked good here. She has come a long way from being the bully like back in the old seasons where she would just show up to mess with the heroes. Now she is actually helping out and trying to make a difference in her community. Bravo to her I say, that’s definitely not easy. I would even say she ended up outshining the main trio here. It may be a bold take but she was able to make a difference without skulking in the night or using any dirty tricks. Of course she has a connection that the main 3 did not since she is related to Filthy Rich but she merely used all of the tools at her disposal in order to save the day. That’s all you can do at the end of the day righgt?

The main trio were fun as always though. They’re always very lively and have a lot of great plans. The plans may not always work out but they don’t give up and that’s the most important thing. Hopefully they get some more adventures in the future as well and having another battle with the Mane 6 could definitely be fun as well. The Mane 6 may have won this time but who’s to say it would go the same way in the next round?

The art here is really solid and colorful which also makes blasting through the comic easy. It’s easy to see what is happening at all times and the character models are on point. On a technical level there is definitely no issues with the comic and I already mentioned how good the writing is. It’s a story aimed younger but written so that grown ups can enjoy it as well with how rational everyone is and it really works out well.

Overall, I would recommend checking this comic out. It’s a lot of fun and has something for everyone. If you want a fun adventure with good characters then you have come to the right place. It sets a high bar for the rest of the My Little Pony comics that’s for sure. I’ll have a review for another one up fairly soon but I can unfortunately say that it doesn’t quite match up to this one. The bar really was set too high this time and that’s just the risk of being super solid.

Overall 7/10

RWBY/Justice League Review

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It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got to check out the RWBY crossover event. It takes things in a very different direction than I was expecting though and I don’t think it works out as well as it could have. Doing a straight crossover would have definitely been the best bet. Still, it’s nice seeing the RWBY characters in a new adventure, that’s always a positive at least.

The story starts with the gang meeting up with Superman. He’s only recently been in town and his semblance is fairly powerful. As long as the sun is up he can do just about anything. Meanwhile Weiss meets up with Bruce Wayne who is rich and fairly good at cracking puzzles. That’s a good thing because people with powerful semblances are being targeted by someone and the heroes have to get to the bottom of it quick. Will they all be able to team up and put a stop to this?

Right away the main issue here is that instead of meeting the real Batman and Superman the heroes are meeting teenage versions of them who have semblances. Later on in the story we get a bit of a multiversal approach thanks to Jessica Cruz showing up but instead of making this a plot point at the end, it should have just been a classic crossover. Have a portal open and the Justice League fall out of it or something like that. Part of the hype in crossovers is seeing all of the interactions between characters but it doesn’t really count if they aren’t the characters that you were expecting.

Like if it was in the Justice League world and they met with an anti-hero named Ruby Rose who was some kind of huntress. It wouldn’t really be the same because it’s a totally different version. So this crossover completely squanders the crossover aspect of the crossover and has to survive as a stand alone story after that. It does to a decent extent but even then I wouldn’t call it a very good comic. For starters, the series seems more intent on having a lot of shipping and such over the actual plot.

At times the plot feels more like a backdrop than the focus. We have a little investigating as all of the heroes split up and everything but there isn’t really a huge focus on the whole thing either. The heroes eventually stumble onto the main villain and then we get a quick fight. It’s not particularly engaging though. It’s not boring but you’re never all that invested in the story and I feel like it’s because there are 0 stakes. Yes, people are being kidnapped and all but there’s absolutely no sense of danger. It feels more like a filler episode than a big adventure.

The art also isn’t very good. The details are not on point and it doesn’t feel like a whole lot of effort was put into the whole thing. The characters can go off model but mainly the faces are the issue. None of the action scenes are all that good and it feels like once again, RWBY got the short end of the stick here. More often than not the art isn’t great for the series and this is another example of it. I’m not saying it had to look 5 stars but a little better would have been good.

Now while this all sounds pretty bad, I do want to say that this isn’t a bad comic. It’s still got some good moments in there but you see all of the wasted potential and can’t help thinking about it. This could have been a really great comic and instead I would just call it good with almost no replay value. Seeing the RWBY characters is mainly the positive here like Yang being tough and Ruby getting to take charge. I wouldn’t say the DC characters look great though. Superman acts way too timid at times and Batman’s flirting way too much.

I guess that’s part of the problem of being Bruce Wayne 24/7 with no Batman persona to back him up. The decision to make Wonder Woman more of a total robot was definitely an odd one. I wasn’t expecting that but it’s not bad, just felt very random. The main villain at the end is okay but he wouldn’t have been my first pick for a DC villain because he’s basically mindless. Not completely or anything but you’re not going to get any fun dialogue out of him or quality banter. He’s just kind of around as an enemy to defeat. There’s just not a whole lot to do there. The best DC character here would probably be Jessica Cruz. I don’t buy her being stronger than Superman ordinarily but I can accept it in this version where he is totally reliant on his semblance and her powers still appear to be fully normal.

I guess another good thing here at least is that Team RWBY shows up the Justice League. It may be a small consolation since this JL isn’t even really a team or look all that impressive but I’ll take it. Team RWBY should have way better teamwork than the JL because they’ve always been a unit and it shows here. So I’ll take the wins where I can get them.

Overall, If the writing was better and we had a good story then this would have gotten a lot farther. As it stands this feels like a bit of an official fanfic with no real substance and weakened versions of all the characters. It’s a fun enough story for when you need some more RWBY content but I definitely hope the movie has a very different plot here. I need a true crossover with a lot of quality action and hype moments. Check this one out if you want a low key adventure where the characters get to talk with some DC inspired fighters. Otherwise it’s back to waiting for the next TV show volume!

Overall 6/10

Secret Reverse Review

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It’s always fun to see a manga creator make a story with the superheroes. This one’s sorta a manga but sorta a comic so I had to choose carefully what category to put it in. Ultimately I went with a comic since it does read left to right and it’s all in color. It’s a pretty fun story with a good amount of action and the artwork is naturally very high quality. Ultimately there’s a lot to like here and it would be cool if we could get a sequel or more stories in this continuity.

The story starts with Ironman heading to a big video game convention. It’s not really his thing as he prefers tech expos but he was invited and a big deal is that Kaioh has something which will change the industry forever. It’s an invention similar to Duel Monsters which makes solidified holograms with unlimited potential. Ironman is intrigued but unfortunately something has caused Kaioh to go crazy with power. Ironman will have to team up with the spectacular Spiderman in order to stop him. But is there someone pulling the strings behind Kaioh?

It’s fortunate that Spiderman was around to help because this probably would have been difficult for any one hero. Kaioh’s tech has a lot of versatility to it but for the most part he uses it like Doc Ock. He has the tendrils behind him to back him up during the fight and since they’re hologram based they can keep on changing. It makes for some really flashy battles and if this was a long running series instead of a oneshot, I suspect we would have seen a lot more monsters summoned.

Kaioh cracks pretty quickly so I wouldn’t say that I was a fan of the guy at all. He has no great ambitions and is pretty shortsighted with how he’s thinking about things. He has a cool design and is really smart but at the end of the day he lacks strength of will. The name is a nice homage to Kaiba but he lacks that guy’s cool points. If this had been allowed to be a true crossover and Kaiba was around I suppose they would have had to drastically change the plot.

Spiderman looks good here as he’s an experienced pro who gets the job done. The author does a good job of giving both Peter Parker and Spider-Man their due respect here. He’s not quite in the adult phase yet but you can tell that he’s no beginner. He gets his share of good quips and moments as well in there. Then you have Ironman who’s more of the main character here and he looks really good.

As Tony Stark he did well in bearing with the pain to hold onto the card for a full minute. That was impressive and he was able to stay in control so he didn’t attack any innocent civilians with his blast. Then as Ironman he quickly gets the job done with his attacks. This was a solid pair to choose for the two superheroes without a doubt. There are also some original characters here like Kaioh’s daughter but there isn’t really a lot of time for that. She was brave in getting the heroes to arrive and trying to talk him down though.

Then you have the actual alien and I thought the design here was really good. As for the being’s overall plans, it probably could have handled things a bit better. Shouldn’t you keep the tech on the downlow until you have everything in place? Showing it off at an expo just seems like you’re courting disaster here. That was his biggest undoing so I guess overconfidence got him in the end.

This is a oneshot so there’s no big cliffhanger or anything like that but that could have been a fun way to end things. Have different stories with each hero fighting more of these creatures which would eventually tie into some kind of big event. Or maybe you could do the reverse next time and have some Yugioh characters going up against a Marvel villain. That may even be a more interesting turn of events although it’ll be difficult to pick a villain strong enough to give those duelists a run for their money.

The art was really good as I mentioned earlier so the whole adventure really ends in the blink of an eye. It’s why we need more superhero stories like this with a manga touch to them. There are countless heroes and villains to choose from and all kinds of fun adventures to put them in. Hopefully this one ended up doing really well so we can get more of them.

Overall, Secret Reverse is a fun story. It’s a very direct superhero story with two heroes taking down the villain. Feels like a classic Marvel Team Up issue. Whether you’re a fan of the comics or just want to see an alternate reality of Yugioh in a way, then this is the title to check out. I do think Yami Yugi would make for a really solid hero if he was ever transported to Marvel/DC. There are tons of ways he could use his monsters for justice.

Overall 7/10

Megaman the Comic Review

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This is a very short comic with only 4 pages so there isn’t much to say but I’ll quickly run you through what goes on here. It’s a classic origin story for Megaman as we see Dr. Light turn him into a fighting machine. The comic starts with them seeing on the news that many robots have been going crazy. Megaman is determined to put this right and quickly because he’s just a nice guy. Light figures that the only way this will work is to give Megaman a transformation from a peaceful robot into a combat one. The procedure is apparently quite painful and even seems to turn Megaman’s hair white (Although that could just be the electricity). Megaman has now been born and is ready to take down evil!

That’s about it. There’s only so much you can really do in a short amount of time like that. I appreciate seeing a look at Megaman’s origin but I absolutely think this should have been a few pages longer so we could have seen some action. Maybe have Megaman go up against a squad of powerful villains or something like that even if they’re just minions. It would put a nice cap on the adventure and really give you hope that Megaman could save us all. If you do that, then the adventure immediately becomes a lot more memorable and hype.

At least you can quickly get a feel for all of the characters’ personalities. Roll is shown to be very cautious so naturally she gets worried when Megaman decides to embark on this adventure. He may not make it back alive after all. You have Dr. Light who halfheartedly protests but has the equipment on hand so he turns Megaman into the hero right away. It didn’t feel like he was as reluctant as you’d expect. The danger was rapidly taking out the town so he made the hard calls here.

Finally you’ve got Megaman who will be taking all of the actual risks. He did well to volunteer for such a dangerous role right away. You can sense his heroic spirit here and it’s easy to see how he would end up becoming the ultimate champion of Earth. He was willing to take all of the risks and never looked back. Ultimately he would lead the land to an era of peace.

The art is good here. The character proportions are all right and it’s easy to follow along with what’s happening. The colors are vibrant and so I had no issues on that front. The writing/dialogue is also good so the comic really made the most of its 4 pages. It would work well as the pilot to a true ongoing but I think you could also make the origin a lot longer and that would be cool. There’s a lot to explore there.

Overall, This was a very short review but at only 4 pages I would have to really stretch things out to talk about it longer. It’s a fun little comic and I would definitely check it out if you’ve got a minute to spare. I’m always glad to see Megaman content of any kind. It feels like the franchise just hasn’t gotten a whole lot of attention lately outside of X Dive with regards to new content so I’d like to see Capcom step up there. At least the fans are quite dedicated and keep translating so many of the older works though. It all helps to keep the brand alive.

Overall 5/10

The Flash Volume 3 Gorilla Warfare Review

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It’s certainly been quite a while since I’ve checked out a Flash comic, that’s for sure. Or any comic for that matter. Volume 2 ended with Gorilla Grodd and the troops heading to Earth just when the Rogues Gallery had been having a big fight with the Flash. Now they have to break that up in order to fight off the invasion but it may already be too late for Central City. That was a good cliffhanger to end things off with so Volume 3 is really able to start quickly. The arc really takes up almost all of the volume but you would expect no less for Grodd.

So as mentioned, Gorilla Grodd’s army is here and the Flash has a very tenuous partnership with the Rogues for now. By that I mean that the Flash definitely has to watch his back at all times or it could be game over for him. This won’t be as easy as normal though because Gorilla Grodd has obtained super speed of his own. Meanwhile Iris and friends are still stuck inside the speed force and trying to get out but they have to make sure not to mess with the timestream too much. That never tends to end well.

The arc takes up the first 5 issues out of 7 in the volume so quite a lot happens. I always had a hard time taking Grodd seriously as a Flash villain because super speed means this guy should not be able to do anything. Giving him the Speed Force as well helps to change that because now Flash is the one in a tough spot. I won’t say unwinnable, but it would be difficult to cause an upset if they both have the same level of speed only Grodd is massively stronger. You could argue that the Flash’s experience would allow him to win but I’d argue that the experience isn’t enough to even give him the advantage let alone make this an easy win.

It’s honestly a very impressive showing for Gorilla Grodd to the point where the Flash pulls a Dr. Strange and thinks through hundreds if not thousands of scenarios and can’t find any way where he can directly defeat Gorilla Grodd. Ultimately he has to think outside of the box on this one. The plan is certainly an interesting one. Depending on how his plan went I may have been shaking my head but ultimately it was well thought out. It may not guarantee his victory but it does stack as many possible advantages as possible in order to at least make this close.

The volume really shows off Barry’s intelligence which is always good. He is a genius in his own right even if he’s not as smart as Batman or Superman. Barry knows how to come up with a plan and is quite self sufficient. The guy’s been the hero of Central City for a while after all and the volume treats him with a lot of respect. Part of why the Justice League is so fun is because you can make an argument for several members ultimately being the deadliest person in the group. Flash is no exception with how he can bend time to his will and move so quickly. Usually this means you may have some power level hax but the comic solved that issue by giving Grodd his speed. Ultimately the arc was a lot of fun.

There are two main subplots here, one of which is solid and the other which is underwhelming. The good one is with the Rogues fighting off the Gorillas. It’s always fun to have a villains vs villains kind of confrontation and this one lives up to that. The rogues are just lucky that the rest of the Gorillas don’t have super speed. Captain Cold is still bickering about trying to be the leader a lot but the group does ultimately team up to stop the threat. I look forward to seeing them step in as villains again in a future arc.

The plot I was not really feeling was with Turbine, Iris, and the gang. So they were hopping around a lot and ultimately show up in the speed force to help but it was a little hard to care. They didn’t help a whole lot and while I know Turbine needs to get home, you would just be waiting to get back to the Barry plot. It seems like Turbo’s plot will end up being important in a future arc so maybe next volume will be his time to shine. In the meantime though it just wasn’t very big yet. Also, Iris is just so unlikable in the New 52 so far so she tends to be annoying in most of the scenes.

We get a flashback where she went on a date with Barry just to try and use him to get her brother out of prison. Manipulating someone with a fake date’s definitely not good. In the present they’ve patched things up well enough but Barry is currently dating Patty and you can’t help but feel that Patty is ultimately doomed. It’s too bad because Patty seems like a good character throughout. She’s been very understanding of his Flash persona and has just been nothing but supportive throughout the series. I’d like to see Iris and Barry just have a very constructive friendship but we’ll see how that goes.

The final two issues deal with the Trickster being charged with murder. He denies the charges and Barry believes him because he knows the Trickster wouldn’t murder someone. Personally….I’d be a little dubious since the guy is a villain even if he usually seems harmless. Also, some of the guys who went into the Speed Force have started developing super speed. Interestingly, only Iris has not awakened her abilities yet which concerns Flash but he doesn’t have time to tackle every issue at once. He needs to convince these guys to stop using their powers so freely and he needs to find evidence to help out the Trickster. One last problem though…his speed has mysteriously vanished. Can he still prove that the Trickster is innocent?

Albert and Gomez are the two guys who awakened the super speed abilities and they are rather annoying. They get themselves into trouble almost immediately and are extremely aggressive right from the jump. Sure, they’re right that they can’t just get rid of their powers and may as well use them but you’d think they would take babysteps first. Maybe train in abandoned areas, get used to the speed, etc. There are so many ways to prepare yourself with super speed since it’s such an amazing power. Jumping right into big fights is not the way to go. I think what rubs me the wrong way is how upset they are and it really feels like they will turn evil in short order. They’re also quite rude to the Flash for no reason. If they keep their powers I definitely expect things to get dicey.

The Flash losing his powers feels pretty random for now. At the end of the volume we find out that this may tie into a Batman case involving a power syphoning device. Cyborg is looking into it and this is a nice nod to the rest of the League being around. It’s the perfect way to include their presence while still having the Flash doing his own thing. Without this happening the mini arc would be extremely easy so I see why the plot device was included.

After all, the stakes here is that a group of rebels are planning to break the Trickster out and that could cause some political strife as the group is a part of an independent nation. It’s certainly impressive that they started this up since these guys don’t seem all that ready for politics. Still, apparently this could cause huge issues so the Flash has to be careful on how he handles this. We get to see how he would fight with gadgets and such to also try and avoid hurting anyone. It’s a fun adventure which may be a lot more low key than the Grodd fights but works well enough.

Finally, the cliffhanger is about the Reverse Flash showing up. I have no idea which version or iteration this one is but he seems to be taking the title literally as he may have just saved someone he murdered only to destroy the guy again? The whole setup is about doing things in reverse which is fun. I want to see more of this gimmick going forward. He’s already talking big and I expect he’ll try to bring some pseudo moral argument over to Barry which the lead should just disregard. Reverse Flash is historically one of his most dangerous foes though so this should be a tough fight.

As expected, the artwork is really solid here. The New 52 era always looked super impressive visually and this comic is no exception. The fight scenes are on point and it makes the comic very easy to read. You never have to pause and wonder what’s going on or anything like that. The whole story just flows together real easy. The writing is good too with all the characters remaining in character and acting sensible. Even Iris who I wasn’t a big fan of is still written well. I just didn’t like the decisions she would end up making.

Overall, The Flash continues to be a strong run for the character. Each arc is interesting and brings a good amount of action and adventure. With the Reverse Flash coming in, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next arc is the best one yet. The beginning to a long comic run is always super important and I’d say the writer’s been nailing it here. Each story keeps introducing new elements for the future so there’s always quite a few plot threads to juggle. The toughest thing will be keeping the Flash from instantly winning without constantly reverting to taking his powers away or just making the enemies also gain super speed. Of course if you have to choose an option to reuse, I would always go with the latter because high speed battles never get old. Also, it just makes sense for his gallery to have super speed as it’s logically the best way to put up a fight against him.

Overall 7/10

RWBY Review

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RWBY may be the greatest TV show of all time but I hadn’t gotten around to checking out too many of its other media endeavors before now. I played a few of the games which were mostly all solid and have read the manga titles but not the comics yet. Well, it was time to check this one out from the library and it is definitely a fun read. It’s nice to see what the characters were up to around volumes 3-5 with a lot of stories spread in throughout different time frames. It’s a fun way to see more of Team RWBY.

So there are 14 issues in the comic, you’ve got the intro and epilogue, then each character gets 3 stories. The intro is really a quick catchup for people who may not be too familiar with the franchise. We get a recap of what happened in the first few volumes and where the characters are at currently. There’s not much to say about this story but I think it does cover all of the big events well enough where you should be able to follow along well enough.

The first RWBY story splits itself between present and past. It starts the collection off with a bang because it has my single favorite scene in the collection. In the present Ruby and team Jaune manage to defeat a bunch of Hollow wasps and we see how far she has come. It’s a good segment and I always like a good action scene. In the past segment Ruby is still torn up about losing Summer so Yang tries to cheer her up by lying about a lot of great things Summer has done.

It’s all well intentioned but the problem with stories that are fake is that it leads to Ruby being crushed when she finds this out. How does she find this out? Raven decided to fly over and start tearing these lies to shreds while also badmouthing Summer. This just comes out of nowhere to the point where it’s funny. It’s so exaggerated that you think Ruby is dreaming but it was all real. On a more serious note, it does show that Raven was watching over Yang at least to the point of being around the house on a regular basis which was cool. It adds a little development to their relationship and maybe Raven is more of a caring parent than she lets on.

The second Ruby story involves the team heading to a village that won’t let them in because the people believe that all huntsmen are evil after the events of volume 3. As a result they are isolated when fighting the grimm and it isn’t going well. Ruby and co. fend the grimm off and Ruby gives them a stern lecture. I remember her speech made a lot of waves because people said it was too harsh and seemed out of character. I think it seems harsh because of how the art makes Ruby look extremely angry at these people. The actual speech isn’t too bad, admittedly it is hard to picture Ruby lecturing them to this extent though. It’s another solid story though with good action and a realistic look at how some villages would have treated the heroes. It’s nice to see the call backs and references to volume 3 since the tournament was on tv so a lot of people would have seen it.

Ruby’s final story has her take a walk through a garden as she deals with all of the friends she has lost up til now. The bird gives her a pep talk and it all seems to just be an illusion caused by the magical garden. It’s the most low key of her stories. It’s a good way to wrap up her stories here and she had to deal with the feelings of loss at some point. It may not stand up to the other stories but it’s not really supposed to.

The first Yang story has her go help an old lady with her harden and other miscellaneous tasks. At first she resents this because she figures Tai only did this to patronize her. Later on she thinks that maybe there is a prize waiting for her and this was a test. Ultimately it was neither one of those things and Yang realizes that he is just treating her normally which is what she wanted. Yang may not look great here but she is coming off a traumatic incident so it makes sense. It’s low key but a decent story.

The second Yang story actually shows us the aftermath of Yang ditching Ruby in episode 2. It was nice to see Tai confront her about this because while it worked out and was more of a gag than anything else, it was a bit distressing for Ruby. The issue has Yang overcorrect the whole time by being really clingy to everyone until Blake helps to set her straight. It’s a fun issue and really shows how Yang can mean well and still go way too far the whole time. It’s probably the most light hearted comic in the bunch and fits her personality well.

The final Yang story has her thinking about the morals from the first two as she continues to search for Ruby and Raven. She’s confronted by a biker gang member which turns out to be a big mistake on his part. She beats him while also trying to teach him the lessons she learned but of course it’s hard to just get someone to learn that straight off the bat. It doesn’t work but the rest of the bandits know not to mess with her after that. It’s another fun story and while the bandit never stood a chance, it’s always fun to see Yang getting more wins.

The first Blake story deals with how she first met Adam…so you can probably sense some retroactive retcons coming in. Adam is one of those characters that is strongly disliked in universe as well as out of it. While he was a very nuanced character initially that is not the case in the present and this comic makes it seem like he was insane from the beginning. He cries and also revels in how many humans he murders. I’d say he was out of character the entire issue and it also makes Blake look worse because suddenly she knew he was crazy from the start but stayed with him anyway. This would have to be the weakest story in the collection because I have a hard time buying any of this. It’s nice to see more of Blake growing up since we don’t know as many details on her past but Adam just doesn’t seem consistent.

The second Blake story is about her finally confiding in her mother about why she was so nervous to come back home and how she ditched her friends. Her mom consoles her about this and reminds her that she’s always welcome there. It’s effectively an expansion to her coming home moments in the show. It’s a good emotional read but is probably the second weakest story in the bunch. What are the odds that Blake would have the weakest stories right? She’s always been my least favorite RWBY member (Although she started out great in the first two volumes) and her volume 4 plot didn’t help matters. I suppose even the comics couldn’t make this part more interesting.

The final Blake story has her and Sun save a group of travelers from some Grimm. That’s when she realizes that one family she recognizes from her days with Adam when he murdered one of them. She decides to come clean about this much to Sun’s horror and allows the mother a chance for revenge. The traveler decides not too since she doesn’t want to continue the cycle of violence. It’s another decent emotional story and I’d say it beats the first two. I do think Blake put herself in a tricky spot here since if the mom wanted vengeance then what? Blake has a lot of responsibilities at this point so she can’t just let herself die. Hopefully she would have split or volunteered to help out from time to time or something.

The first Weiss story takes place in early volume 1 as we see a bit of rivalry between her and Cardin. Cardin was basically insulting everyone as usual and showing off but this time he went after Weiss and she wasn’t having that. So she humiliates him in the next round and everyone is thrilled about it except for Blake who thinks it went too far. I was not on Blake’s side in this one though. Weiss didn’t cheat and simply beat Cardin. She used her abilities to trick him but it was all technique. I understand you don’t want to always go for revenge but Cardin really makes everyone’s lives miserable. Maybe he would think twice after this. It was super nostalgic seeing everyone back in their volume 1 costumes. I’d say this was one of the stronger stories.

The second Weiss story has her and Willow go on a hunt. It’s one of the rare times Weiss has to bond with her but then she gets stabbed in the back as Willow claims the credit. Willow’s personality here is certainly interesting. She is still drunk as always but instead of being hopeless she seems to have a very fake sense of happiness? Like she’s completely faking it but doing a decent job of it. I was not expecting her to betray Weiss like that either. It’s easy to see why Weiss does not trust her family at all after this. It was a good story as it leaves you just as confused as Weiss at why Willow acts the way that she does. Definitely makes for a toxic relationship.

The final Weiss story is one of the highlights of the collection. She decides to finally have a big act of defiance against the family before leaving and she does so by freeing a bunch of Faunus and animals from the estate. She even has to fight Willow to pull this off and naturally wins that battle. It was a good way to show how Weiss has developed and will defend herself now. She has come a very long way from her old self and the comic captures that. Seeing her summons in action is always cool.

The epilogue story is wholesome as we see each character gear up in the present and a few more moments from when they were kids. I think the scene of Willow finally standing up to Jacques may be a bit early since in the show she never takes a stand like that but the book probably wanted that to cinematically close out Weiss’ part. It’s not really a big deal either way and you close the book feeling good. It was a solid choice to end the collection with.

Really my only issue is that the artwork’s not very good and is even bad in some instances. Personally it just didn’t match the artstyle of the show very well and was going for more of a water paint kind of look that just isn’t as streamlined as it could have been otherwise. A smoother and more colorful artstyle would have been perfect for a RWBY adventure like this. It’s not awful or anything though with characters usually staying on model. The quality writing keeps this up anyway.

Overall, This was a fun collection. The scene with Raven badmouthing Summer has to stand out as the best in the whole thing. That was just a blast. The art may not really be my thing but the writing is solid enough where I can get past that. It’s just great to see the gang again and I look forward to checking out more RWBY comics in the future. There are a whole lot of stories you could tell in this universe that there wouldn’t be time to expand on in the show. Hopefully the franchise continues to expand.

Overall 7/10

Arc the Lad: End of Darkness Review

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End of Darkness continues the story of Arc the Lad which is always fun since it gives you a chance to meet some of the old characters. Surprisingly, none of the Deimos get to appear though and the leader of the heroes from the last game is a no show as well. The decisions there were a bit questionable but the characters we did get to see were pretty cool. The game is ultimately a step down from the first one but still makes for a fun adventure.

This game starts with introducing us to the world’s new status quo. Deimos and Humans seem to still live apart for the most part but there’s no war going on. They still visit each other at least and deliberate even though there are some tensions. The main character here is Edda. He’s grown up in one of the Deimos towns all his life and uses his exorcism skills to help the town. See, there is a new form of monster which keeps on regenerating whenever it is destroyed. The only way to destroy it for good is with exorcism. The island is pretty safe thanks to Edda but the rest of the world isn’t so lucky. Edda decides to embark on a journey with his friend Hemo. He’ll become a hunter and will use his exorcism skills to bring humanity to an era of peace.

Meanwhile, there is a mysterious lady named Kirika who has stolen an ominous book. It’s hard to say what she wants from it but Edda can’t take any chances. He needs to find her. Perhaps she knows why more and more monsters have been appearing lately. The hunter guild is trying to get to the bottom of this as well but they haven’t made a whole lot of progress yet. All of these plots will eventually intersect.

The story is fun although there’s not as much of it as you would expect. A lot of times the chapters won’t have any story development as you just help people out and continue on your day. the game has a set structure of how you progress through chapters as well. Each chapter is tied to your hero rank. You start out as a beginner of course. To advance to the next level you must complete 5 side missions which are fairly basic like defeating a few minions. The side missions keep on rotating so when you find an easy one, just remember the name so you can beat it again. You need to have 10 stars for side missions.

Then there are 2 story missions as well for each chapter. Once you complete those you can take the promotional exam. If you complete that, you enter the next chapter. Rinse and repeat until you get to the end of the game. I would say the final 2-3 chapters are where the story really gets going. The rest is mainly to introduce the characters and set things up. Interestingly there is no EXP system here so you can feel free to avoid all the enemies this time around. Unless you are doing a mission to defeat enemies there is no real benefit to fighting them.

You can’t leave a room if any of them are chasing you though so sometimes it is quickest to take them down. This means equipment is even more important now. You want to make sure you buy the best gear possible. You can actually buy the best gear rather early on in the story. Still, you might notice that the final boss is still very difficult to conquer. It feels like the game massively spiked up the difficulty just for that final boss which was certainly very intense.

So to deal with him you’re going to have to use the magic synthesizer. Make sure you save before doing so. You want to get a triple S rank spell and that will help you complete the game. Without it, you’re in for an extremely long fight at the very least but possibly a futile one. You really want to have those spells on hand.

Meanwhile the graphics look pretty good. It’s fun getting to recognize all of the areas from the first game. A lot of the levels seem to have been directly grabbed from the last one for maximum nostalgia. The soundtrack is also mainly made up of tunes from the first game so all in all, it’s a sequel that feels a lot like the first game except for the gameplay changes.

While I do like real time action, between the lack of an exp system, the dungeons being far away so if you lose then you have to start over, and your items all being confiscated if you lose a side mission, the other game had the stronger gameplay system. You do have a few other playable characters here which you can unlock through cards but I never really tried them out since I had Edda all maxed out anyway.

As for the characters, Edda isn’t bad. He doesn’t have as much personality and charisma as Kharg but he does well enough for himself. As an exorcist he is always trying to do the right thing. His friend Hemo is never particularly entertaining though. He never helps out when Edda is in a pinch so there’s not much reason for him to even be here. He holds the main character back without a doubt. Finally you have the mysterious Kirika. She’s a fun character although even she realizes by the end that her plan was not very good. If she had done things a little differently the game would probably be massively shorter.

As for the length, the game is pretty solid. It’s over 10 hours which is always the important part. I’d say it’s around 15. Additionally there are some more chapters you can play after the final boss which will serve as the post game. Perhaps we will see more guest stars there. So all in all there is a good amount of content to enjoy here without a doubt. It’s got replay value to keep you going.

Overall, End of Darkness is a nice way to see all of the old faces again. It tried a lot of experimental gameplay mechanics which is always ambitious even if it didn’t work out. Make sure you focus on getting some good spells pretty quickly because you will absolutely need them for the final boss. They will probably make the rest of the game a little easier as well. Until the final boss I really had just stuck with Cure since health is super important and a thunder blast of sorts. The spirit moves at the end would have certainly made the bosses quicker.

Overall 7/10

Scooby Doo Team Up Volume 8: It’s Scooby Time! Review

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It’s time to look at the final volume of the Scooby Doo Team Up series. It was definitely a series that had a pretty solid run. 50 issues certainly isn’t anything to sneeze at and it’s always fun to see how the gang handles teaming up with the various DC heroes. This time we even mix it up with some villains as the gang gets on the wrong side twice. Finally we have an excellent issue to close things out. This is certainly a series I’ll miss and hopefully they come up with another title that can capture this one’s energy.

The fist issue has the heroes meet up with Dick Dastardly and his crew. I’m not familiar with these characters but basically they’re always laying out traps for a bird the way that Wile E Coyote tries to catch the Road Runner. They’ve had no luck as usual so they decides to trick the Mystery Gang into helping by pretending that the bird is a ghost. This makes things tricky for the heroes since it means that for once we have to root for them to lose. It was a pretty fun story and seeing such obscure characters is nice because they may not get to appear much otherwise. While this issue can’t keep up with the rest, it was a good opener.

Next up we have the big issue with Mr Miracle. He is performing his daring escapes as usual until Granny Goodness shows up with another plot. The Mystery Gang get roped into this pretty quick and now they have to find a way to get Mr Miracle out of this situation. He can escape out of anything but with hostages involved he can’t act carelessly. This issue isn’t so much a mystery as it’s about the gang having to find a way to outsmart the villains. Fortunately the Mystery Inc are excellent at disguises which really comes in handy here. When you can change your appearance so easily it definitely means that you’re ready to foil these kinds of plans. This was a pretty solid issue for sure.

This third one was definitely the strongest from the opening issues though. The mystery gang head to a school where it turns out that the bullies have really started going overboard. They’ve turned into full fledged gangs who are picking on everyone nonstop. Then they get attacked by a ghost gang who seem to be defending the students but the heroes have to get to the bottom of this. Black Lightning shows up as well to help defend the school. He’s always been able to stop the gangs before, but bullies will make things a little more difficult. I liked the use of the school setting here. It was a pretty fun backdrop and one that you don’t see very often. Definitely a very relaxed feel to this story.

After that is a story about Mr. Peebles and how he has finally found someone to buy Magilla the Gorilla off of him. He’s been wanting to get rid of this animal for a very long time and this is his golden opportunity. The Gorilla seems nice enough here but I can definitely picture him causing a whole lot of trouble. The gang quickly realizes that the buyer is a little suspect though so they get into action. This is another case of guest stars where I didn’t really know the characters so that was pretty fun. It’s a little similar to the first issue although this time the heroes are on the right side from the start. Of course the Gorilla kind of got lucky here because usually once you make the transaction it’s not like you know what happens afterwards. It’s a little hard to sympathize with Peebles as a result since he didn’t do any vetting before accepting the money.

Following that is one of the highlight adventures of the book. The rogues gallery is being haunted by the ghost of a dead teammate. They have tried taking him down on their own but he’s proven to be too skilled. Every attack they launch is promptly countered and crushed. So as a result they are forced to rely on help from the Mystery Inc. After all, the gang is pretty well equipped to deal with ghosts. Usually the heroes wouldn’t help villains like this but they aren’t exactly given a choice and are forced to participate. That’s really what helped sell this adventure to me. I like the idea of the villains taking them hostage because it just makes sense. It’s not like the Mystery Gang could stop them. The villains also have a different dynamic than the average hero as they actually talk tough to the ghost and aren’t running away the whole time. The twist of who the ghost was at the end was definitely really solid.

Then we have the return of Metamorpho. Basically he has come to terms with his new elemental forms even if he and Stone are constantly insulting each other. Well, another monster has appeared and the gang have to find out who this is. Usually they could get to the bottom of this rather quickly but all the bickering among the guest star characters definitely puts them in a pretty tricky spot. This comic is mainly strong because of the dialogue. You don’t really see such intense arguments and sarcasm from the guest stars like this. I can see why Metamorpho resents what has happened although the powers are pretty awesome you have to admit.

Finally we get the big finale of the series. Batmite has returned to spin a little chaos in the heroes’ way. Batman and Robin show up and try to put a stop to this but then a bunch of alternate Scooby Doo personas appear. You’ve got guys from the comics, movies, and a whole lot of other incarnations. This isn’t Batmite’s doing so who could be messing with the heroes like this? Well, with this many detectives on board it should be a fairly easy case to crack right? It’s definitely pretty fun nostalgic to see how many different ways the Scooby gang has been presented over the years. The gritty version of the characters from that recent comic get to show up trying to shoot everyone down. Then you’ve even got the kids from a Pup Named Scooby Doo. There’s a new reference on every page and it really is the perfect way to end the saga. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. This might even be the best issue in the series.

As always the artwork in these stories were all very good. The pages really pop out at you and makes for easy reading. The writing is also on point which is part of what makes the format work so well. The stories all feel like they could be something right out of a crossover episode or something like that. A good deal of effort goes into these comics to be sure. At the end of the day it’s just a very fun read so I have no real issues with it. There has been a lot of variety in these past 50 issues and the Scooby Doo franchise lends itself well to guest stars.

Overall, Scooby Doo Team Up ends on a pretty high note here. This is definitely a volume that I could recommend to anyone. It’s got a good blend of humor, adventure, and mystery solving within. When you’ve got that level of balance you’re definitely in good hands. That final issue was definitely a goldmine of references. I’m not sure how the franchise will follow this series up but I’ll definitely be interested in seeing what adventures await the main characters. I feel like one thing we haven’t seen them do much is compete against other investigators or against themselves. A free for all competition within the group would be a blast. Well, that’s an idea for the future at least.

Overall 7/10