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The Walking Dead #118 – Review

Posted on December 11, 2013 by dfstell

By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (pencils), Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones) and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Rick & Co. press the attack against Negan’s men.

Review (with SPOILERS): Right from the first page, this was a strange, disjointed and sub-standard issue.

We start with a dust-up at the Hilltop settlement between Mayor Gregory and Maggie.  It was just so odd to start an issue with this story.  Usually TWD flows directly from issue to issue.  When you read the trades, you usually cannot tell where the breaks between issues happen.  This scene has nothing to do with Negan’s speech about rape that ended last issue.  So, it was very weird to start with a character we don’t care about (Gregory) and a character that has been totally absent (Maggie) for the whole of the war with Negan.  I’m just not sure what the point of the confrontation was?  Gregory is just a weasel and when Negan pushed him aside a few issues ago, I honestly thought that the zombies had probably eaten him off-panel.  Gregory is such a non-character that I was totally fine with that resolution.  So, it is weird to see Kirkman devoting pages to his survival and return to Hilltop with a few of his henchmen?  I didn’t realize he had Kal and those other guys with him.

Then Maggie starts yelling at him and for the first time I became aware of how much speechifying is going on in TWD.  I mean, there are a LOT of people standing on soap boxes in front of slack-jawed civilians, telling them how we’re going to fight and how we’re going to live.  Rick has done this a LOT; Negan does it too.  But for some reason, when Maggie and Gregory are bickering about whether Gregory is a dick or not, I thought, “So, do all the people just stand there and watch like it’s Shakespeare in the Park?”  It really is weird when you think about it.  I’m not saying this was the worst speech in TWD history, but it is the one that made me think the speeches were weird and that they were happening too frequently.
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Velvet #2 – Review

Posted on December 6, 2013 by dfstell

By: Ed Brubaker (writer), Steve Epting (art), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colors) and Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: Velvet is on the run and needs to find allies.

Review (with SPOILERS): There is a wonderful sense of competence and confidence about Velvet (the comic).  Most new independent comic series spend a lot of time and effort trying to make sure you notice and pay attention.  It’s an important consideration if the creators are two unknowns because they have to do something to make the reader come back for the next issue.  But….when your creators are Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, they don’t need all that noise because they’re professionals.  They’ve been around the block and they know they have a great story and they have confidence in their ability to tell that great story.  That isn’t to say they’re just coasting on their names and reputations, it’s just that they know what is necessary and unnecessary to the story and aren’t going to waste pages on bombast and splash pages just to get attention.

In some ways, it reminds me a lot of Lazarus from Greg Rucka and Michael Lark.  Lazarus is also very good and also comes from experienced creators who just tell a story rather than trying to wow us with plot twists and spectacular moments.  If a comic series is trying to court new readers the same way that a superspy might try to pick up women in the bar, Velvet is very much that self-assured confidence of Sean Connery’s James Bond.
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Pretty Deadly #2 – Review

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (story), Emma Rios (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: Give two women some swords and it turns into a bloodbath.

The Review: Every writer has the prerogative to let a story develop at her chosen pace.  That means some information will be purposely kept from us until the time is right, which in turn means a waiting period between payoffs.  Until then, if a writer expects us to invest in something we don’t quite understand, she’s got to use the rest of the story to convince us that there’s something worth waiting for.  Stories like these can ill afford any low points.

This is why DeConnick’s bunny-and-butterfly framing device has me kind of concerned.  While it may serve as a visual treat for Rios, it doesn’t really do anything but distract your attention from the narrative at hand.  Every time they pop up, you can’t help having a slightly jarring What the…? moment, and not in a pleasantly surprising sort of way, but sort of mildly irritating sort of way.  DeConnick surely has a plan in mind for the two creatures, but frankly, it’s hard to imagine any kind of use that will sell a whole series’ with them as narrators.
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Saga #16 – Review

Posted on December 2, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Fiona Staples (art)

The Story: What’s worse than being a war criminal?  How about a war criminal who acts?

The Review: If there’s one thing I’ve learned from both creative writing and improv comedy, it’s the magic of details.  It really doesn’t take all that much to flesh out a story; even just one salient detail or factoid can suggest a wealth of information about a character, place, or thing.  The power of human experience to flesh out a story with only a little prompting is unparalleled—which is why any story that feels lifeless or flat is truly a stain on a writer’s craftsmanship.

Conversely, a mark of excellence in a writer is the ability to leverage a single detail to his advantage, something which Vaughan does constantly.  Alana notes in passing that, “I used to check [the Open Circuit—a semi-illegal entertainment channel] out after my mom passed out.”  In that one statement, you have a big chunk of Alana’s formative years in miniature: a neglectful, substance-abusing mother who simultaneously afforded Alana the freedom to explore the seedier side of life early on, partly as a form of escape from an unhappier circumstances.  In turn, this informs us on the person Alana has become; she nurtures Hazel in a way her mother didn’t; she’s freethinking and daring because she’s been brought up that way; and she’s always ready to run from the harsh realities of life.
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Rat Queens #3 – Review

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by Kurtis J. Wiebe (Writer), Roc Upchurch (Artist)

The Story: The Rat Queens investigates a lead about the merchant guild as the readers learn a bit more about them.

The Review: Indie creators have it tough. Of course, any creators do have it tough as they need to sell readers their pitch and stories in order to make them buy their books, but there’s something rather endearing about those going all the way with an ambitious ongoing with a whole lot of unknown factors. It’s much easier to sell a book with Spider-Man or Batman in them, to say the least, as they are known quantities, with decades of previous works in various medias helping those that write them. Not to say that their jobs are easy, but the longevity of the title is never actually a part of the question when it comes to success.

It’s why it’s rather impressive to see that Rat Queens, in the span of three issues, did quite a lot in order to provide a lot of personality to its characters and setting. While the first two issues did help give readers a conflict and mystery to latch onto, Wiebe is able to juggle with a bit more character definition and development to set up a bit more likability to his cast, a job he actually does rather efficiently.
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Black Science #1 – Review

Posted on November 29, 2013 by dfstell

By: Rick Remender (writer), Matteo Scalera (art), Dean White (colors) and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: A scientist trapped on an alien world in a parallel dimension tries to escape hostile aliens and save his family.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This is the most electric #1 issue I’ve read in a while.  I won’t say it is “the best ever” because there’s too much hyperbole in comic reviewing and I don’t have comprehensive notes in front of me allowing me to compare it to Saga #1 or East of West #1 or American Vampire #1 (or many of the other exciting #1s of recent memory).  Still… I’m tempted to say that I liked Black Science more than any of those just because it is so darn electric.  I you didn’t have this on your pull list, do yourself a favor and check it out.

The thing that really puts this issue over the top is the art from Matteo Scalera and Dean White.  I guess Scalera has been around the Marvel Universe for awhile, doing issues of Deadpool and Secret Avengers (the old series).  More recently he’s been doing some work on Indestructible Hulk.  If you look at the original pages from those series, you see some nice art, but nothing that prepares you for THIS.  I mean, the art in Black Science is off the chain.  It’s nuts.  There is a lot about Scalera’s art that reminds me of Sean Murphy.  It isn’t just that some of his characters and layouts looks very like something Murphy would do (I bet they’ve hung out and compared notes), it’s the way that Sclera is able to mix cartooning and realism in a panel and not have it look weird.  The characters are cartoony…..so they can overact, emote and really demonstrate action.  But the environment they find themselves in is largely rooted in realism.  It’s a very difficult balance to pull off and most artists can’t do it.  Do you remember that old Simpsons episode there Bart and Lisa both work for the local TV news?  Lisa is technically correct compared to Bart, but Bart is more popular because they say he has “zazz”.  It’s kinda like that: Sclera has zazz!  It’s almost like some artists have a charisma to their art that takes it to another level.  Scalera has “it”.

The colors are also really something else.  Dean White has been around for awhile, so we know that he can color a comic book, but this is still very arresting.  I’m a dunce when it comes to color theory, so I won’t even try to talk about complimentary colors and all that stuff.  Let’s just say that there are a LOT of colors in Black Science #1 that you won’t typically see in a comic, much less see them all on the same page.  Electric pink, electric blue, electric green…  Wow!

Even the lettering is next-level stuff…
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Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 9 Comments »

The Walking Dead #117 – Review

Posted on November 28, 2013 by dfstell

By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (pencils), Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones) and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Having trapped Negan in his compound, Rick begins the next phase of his plan.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This is an issue that is just “doing work.”  The big event was last issue when Rick feigned an attack on Negan just so the gunshots from the skirmish would draw the zombies down on Negan’s compound and trap him.  That was kinda cool and very unexpected, using Zombies as a weapon.  Here we just see Rick moving on to wipe out Negan’s outposts before they learn that Negan is in trouble.  That’s all fine and I’m sure there will be some interesting bloodshed, but seeing Rick & Co. attack nameless thugs isn’t all that exciting.

The more intriguing thing is that Rick sends Michonne back to their home-base to give Andrea and Carl assistance “in case Negan counterattacks.”  Hmm…  Let’s just say that there is a lot of ominous foreshadowing about Andrea and the Alexandria Safe Zone.  We have all this talk about Negan making a counterattack.  We have Negan’s own little speech about how the key to crushing Rick lies in attacking Andrea.  We have this thing about how Michonne and Ezekiel are all lovely dovey/flirty before being split up.  It seems like Ezekiel is going to do the dangerous thing (attacking the outpost) while Michonne is doing the safer task of guarding the home base.  I can’t say this is going to end well.  I’m not sure what will happen in Alexandria, but all signs point to it being bad.

Negan also gets a nice turn in this issue.  The Governor was never this interesting.  Seeing his little speech where he thinks he has Andrea in his grasp, only to realize that it is really someone else with short hair was really cool.  That single panel where he realizes his mistake, turns his head to the side, squints his eyes shut and squeezes the bridge of his nose…  Awesome job, Charlie Adlard!  That is just what people look like when they’re frustrated and realize that a strand of hope has been ripped away.  I also loved that Negan has a very keen tactical sense.  He knows that it was hopeless to fight through the zombies.  His bravado wants him to kick ass, but he is too smart to do something hopeless.  But then he also realizes that they are dead meat if they sit trapped in the compound for very long.  I can’t wait to learn more about Negan.  Who was this guy before?  He’s too smart to just be some common thug.  I wondered for awhile if he was some ex-high school jock who had a loser job before the apocalypse and he is now getting to relive his big man on campus days. But Negan is way too bright, aggressive and tactical to imagine him with a loser job.  I love that he’s such a rich character that I’m actually starting to wonder about his past and ascribe personality traits to him that haven’t been exhibited on the page.
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Sex Criminals #3 – Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by nightwing17

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Chip Zdarsky (art)

The Story: GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!

The Review: After two issues investigating our protagonists’ sexual awakenings, Sex Criminals is finally approaching the present moment. This is great news for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s almost time for the last half of that title to actually come into play. And secondly, it means that this is that moment where ‘nothing could possibly go wrong.’

This issue is pure wish-fulfillment. Where issue #1 was a dark comedy spotlight on the struggles of an adolescent girl, this issue is about the nervous glow of a new relationship, with the pain of its titular “sexual errors and misfortunes” lessened by hindsight.

Fraction continues to write a wonderfully real and honest relationship between Suzie and Jon. He captures not only the nervousness of not knowing where you stand but also the intoxicating disconnection from what others might think of you. A visit to Cumworld – the store not the dimensional anomaly – provides the perfect setting to highlight the fun that this series can provide and you can feel the joy from all parties; Suzie, Jon, Fraction, and Zdarsky.
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Sheltered #5 – Review

Posted on November 26, 2013 by dfstell

By: Ed Brisson (creator/writer/letters), Johnnie Christmas (creator/illustrator) and Shari Chankhamma (colors)

The Story: Lucas continues to tighten his grip on the children, but the outside world may show up and cause problems.

Review (with SPOILERS): This is a really strong series. I can’t believe that it isn’t getting a little more chatter because it’s almost everything that I want a “pre-apocalypse” story to be.  Seriously, check the series out.  It’s even a $2.99 book and the trade is coming out in the next month or so.

One great thing about Sheltered is how rapidly it rips through the story.  We’re only on the fifth issue and so much has already happened.  We saw the kids kill their parents.  We saw the two girls suspect that something fishy was going on and end up getting locked in the underground bunker.  We’ve seen Lucas (the leader) start to exhibit all sorts of creepy “cult leader” vibes.  We’ve seen Lucas start to murder other kids who dissent.  All in the first four issues!

Thematically, Sheltered shares some DNA with a series like The Walking Dead.  Sure….there are no zombies in Sheltered, but the basic stories are similar.  TWD has (unfortunately) settled into a really slow storytelling tempo where storylines drag along for a year or more.  Even though TWD can still bring the noise once or twice per year, I honestly prefer the faster paced tempo of a story like Sheltered.  I guess there is a concern about “running out of story”, but these sorts of post-apocalyptic tales can really run forever if the writers are clever.  Just keep changing the setting and giving the characters new events to react to.
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The Manhattan Projects #16 – Review

Posted on November 17, 2013 by dfstell

By: Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Pitarra (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Having been imprisoned by one of their own, the scientists of The Manhattan Projects must come up with a plan.

Review (with SPOILERS): This doesn’t have to be a long review: It’s a very good issue (again), but nothing spell-binding or exceptionally weird happens that merits two paragraphs of discussion.  If you’ve enjoyed the series, you’ll enjoy this issue.  If you are new to the series, this is probably not the place to start.

What continues to strike me about this “Finite Oppenheimers” storyline is how TMP actually feels like it has a coherent plot for the first time.  The first ~12 issues did have a nominal plot, but the plot felt like it was there to service the zany things that Hickman and Pitarra were doing with the characters.  Now, it feels like we have a story with a true antagonist in Oppenheimer who has a real motivation: He is arrogant, ambitious, prideful and covetous of recognition; he wants to be recognized as the BEST scientist.  It also feels like we’re starting to see his opposite number arise in Einstein.  This issue made me feel as if the other TMP scientists are supporting actors to Einstein’s leading man.  I could be wrong about that, but we’ll see how it plays out.  Certainly, Einstein v. Oppenheimer sounds like fun.

There are weird little events in this issue too, but nothing that compares to things that have happened in the past.  I don’t think the series has shot its wad, it’s more like it just isn’t quite as funny this month.  Even then, there are still things that would be remarkable in another comic, but TMP readers have gotten immune to such things.
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Rocket Girl #2 – Review

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Brandon Montclare (story), Amy Reeder (art)

The Story: Dayoung starts her mission to save the future from utter perfection.

The Review: As much as I enjoy the melodrama and ridiculousness of time-travel stories, I have to admit that whether the characters are going to the future or the past, the plot always boils down to one thing: changing history.  Sometimes it’s about correcting events that should’ve never happened; other times it’s about avoiding a later outcome too hideous to stand; in pretty much every case, success is guaranteed, since failure would be anticlimactic in the extreme.

If Rocket Girl distinguishes itself from the typical time-traveler’s tale in any way, it’s in how Dayoung’s mission to change the past isn’t premised on righting any noticeable wrongs in her time.  Yes, Quintum Mechanics has obviously been profiting from a contained, self-looping time paradox, but there’s no signs of any corrupted, dystopian society beneath the pristine world Dayoung comes from—quite the opposite actually.
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The Walking Dead #116 – Review

Posted on November 14, 2013 by dfstell

By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (pencils), Stefano Gaudiano (inks), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones) and Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Rick and Gang have besieged Negan’s compound.  Now what?

Review (with SPOILERS): Well, what do you know? Rick learns lessons from past experiences!

The big plot twist in this issue is that we were expecting a gun fight and instead Rick twisted the script by causing just enough of a ruckas to draw all the zombies down on Negan’s position.  Remember how Rick and Gang were mobbed by zombies inside Alexandria back around issue #83?  Well, that zombie mob was caused by Rick and Gang having a quick gunfight with some roving thugs at the gate.  If I remember correctly, over a series of 5-10 issues before the zombie mob, TWD showed us little snippets of shooting noise in Alexandria catching the attention of various zombies in the DC-area… And that led to a major zombie herd mobbing Rick’s people.

So, it is a neat plan.  It isn’t what I expected and I’m glad that the comic has the ability to still surprise.  Surprises are fun and that’s my main take from the issue (despite some of the criticisms I’m going to level below).  It’s also fun to see the zombies actually be a threat again after being pushed to the background for nearly 30 issues now.

Maybe part of the reason that it wasn’t expected is that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  I mean, we’ve never had any indication that Rick was aware of how the zombie herd descended upon Alexandria?  It isn’t like he’s been going around hushing people or saying, “Stop all that shooting!  You’ll draw the zombies down on us!”  Heck, just a few issues ago, Rick staged an impromptu attack on Negan’s men that lead to a few shots being fired.  Why didn’t that draw the zombies in?  Not enough noise?
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Fatale #18 – Review

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Ed Brubaker (story), Sean Phillips (art), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colors)

The Story: They don’t have skeletons in the closet, but do they have bodies in the basement.

The Review: I may be speaking from a position of ignorance here, but up to this point, I still don’t know if I find Jo particularly compelling as a protagonist or not.  Of course, this may just be bad timing on my part, having jumped aboard the title just when most of Jo’s personality was wiped by amnesia, but my ambivalence remains.  Not that it matters all that much.  The things that happen around her are thoroughly interesting, even if she herself remains an enigma.

For example, I still don’t know if I genuinely empathize with her or not.  All the time that she’s shedding tears, sending rivulets of mascara down her face like she had her makeup done by Alice Cooper, my instinct is to shrug.  She’s a tragic character, obviously, but looking at what happens to the people around her, I say she has very little complain about.  Of them all, she alone retains the ability to control her actions, and with that free will, she chooses to relinquish control and hide from the responsibility that entails.
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East of West #7 – Review

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Nick Dragotta (Artist), Frank Martin (Colorist)

The Story: As Death tries to make a deal with a certain lady, the other horsemen see that the keeper of the message has some kind of mess on his hand…

The Review: While universe-building is certainly something that is fun to see develop, there are always difficulties that permeates both the readers and the writer. A world, per se, is a specific setting in which a good deal of characters, be they important or not, in which they live and interact in. A good story does need a lead, a point-of-focus that can create change and opportunities, but it also need various other point-of-views to allow the scope of its event to be perceived in stimulating ways, thus other characters.

With the first five issues of East of West focusing mostly on Death, it was a nice touch that the latest issue pushed him away for a spell in order to focus on other characters. This issue, however, does thing a little bit differently as it mix the focus between Death and other characters, with the former getting a lesser amount of pages. Does this issue manage to be as satisfying as the last one, however?

For the most part, this is the same poetic, yet harsh world presented by Hickman as this issue deals a lot more with the other horsemen, characters that do need a bit more fleshing out. While there is one scene that shows what Death is up to, the rest is given to the horsemen, who becomes a bit more complex and interesting as a result. Showing their personality throughout scenes in the present and in the past, Hickman allows us to see something a bit more complex with these characters, with Conquest being a particular treat. Making a comparison to how they see worship, how they used to banter a bit with Death and their relation to the keeper of the message makes for some characterization that gives much more opportunities for these characters in the long run.
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Drumheller #1 – Review

Posted on November 10, 2013 by dfstell

By: Alex Link (Story, script), Riley Rossmo (story, art, colors), Kelly Tindall (letters)

The Story: A guy who takes lots of hallucinogens teams up with an ex-girlfriend to do paranormal stuff.

Review: This comic is really trippy.  It’s about a guy who is slightly insane and takes a LOT of drugs.  There also seems to be a splash of the paranormal flitting about.  So, when the main character hears a voice coming from his bag of golf clubs or the mummified body he pulls out of a swamp starts to move, you can’t quite tell: Is this really happening or is it just a drug-induced hallucination.

And that’s really the hook of the first issue.  It’s all about that weird cross-over between hallucination and and reality.  There probably is a central “call to action” that is driving the plotline forward.  But – honestly – I read the comic two days ago and I don’t even remember what the story is all about.  The central story is really secondary to the weirdness.

That may make the comic sound shallow, but that kinda misses the point because the weirdness is so well done.  The opening scene shows the main character on a golf course, in a bathrobe getting struck by lightning.  Then he gets up and watches a peacock emerge from a rain puddle on the ground and fly away…..then he notices that the peacock (not a penHEN) has laid an egg in the puddle, so he picks it up and then sticks his face in the puddle and his face emerges from the puddle in the sky of another world where the sun is out.  It’s really trippy and weird.  It’s also the sort of thing that makes me appreciate comics as a medium.  You could write prose about this sort of scene, but it wouldn’t be graphic enough.  You could try to put such a scene in a movie or TV show, but it would almost certainly look like crappy CGI unless you spent a FORTUNE on the effects.  Comics are cool.

Of course, the thing selling all of this is Riley Rossmo’s art.  He just has a really good eye for atmosphere and the surreal.  He’s kinda done this sort of “edge of reality” story a bunch of times in Cowboy Ninja Viking, Green Wake and a few others.  He’s an exemplary artist and anything he does is worth checking out.  I still wish we’d get to see him do that raw, monochrome style from CNV and Proof again, but he seems to be going in a different direction.  I think his art loses something the more it is cleaned up and colored.
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Alex + Ada #1 – Review

Posted on November 7, 2013 by dfstell

By: Jonathan Luna (story, script, illustration, letters) and Sarah Vaughn (story, script)

The Story: In a technological near-future, a young man named Alex is given an android named Ada.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): I’m very glad I bought this comic.  Even though I’ve never loved previous comics from the Luna Brothers, I decided to give this a try and see what happens.

It turns out that what Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn have created is a wonderful and classically-themed science-fiction story.  The sci-fi genre can get a bad rap sometimes, but it is almost without peer in its ability to make readers consider real-life social problems from a different point of view.  Sometimes just hitting us the in face with a story about slavery or exploitation would be blunt and direct, but when you use sci-fi to give us a glancing blow we actually think about what it all means.

The story set-up is pretty basic.  It is set in the near-future where day-to-day life is still mostly recognizable.  There are no spaceships; there is no traveling to terraformed Mars.  It’s just the same stuff we do every day, but with slightly better technology.  We meet Alex (the protagonist) and see him using this technology.  Basically, he has the uber smart house.  Everything is wired to react to his thoughts.  Nowadays, we can wire our homes to do most of these things, but we have to get out our smartphones to control the lights or coffee pot.  Alex just thinks “Lights” and the lights turn off/on.  We also meet some of Alex’s co-workers and learn that not everyone has this technology implanted in their brains.  In fact, lots of people are still managing household appliances the old-fashioned way and expressing mild concern for their friends who are too sucked in by technology.  We also learn that technology is starting to become sentient.  The AI isn’t at Terminator-levels, but it is becoming aware and isn’t always happy with the humans.  And we meet Alex’s grandmother who doesn’t have the thought-reading technology in her head, but has bought an android sex toy/household servant (Daniel).  Finally, along the way, we follow Alex’s sad love life: He’s been broken up with the girl of his dreams for a few months and just cannot get it into gear with the ladies.
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Saga #15 – Review

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Fiona Staples (art)

The Story: Alana and Marko are defeated—by the greatest board game ever made.

The Review: Vaughan made an interesting choice at the top of this arc when he opened on Prince Robot catching up to Alana and Co. on Quietus.  He seemed to be setting things up for an imminent confrontation, but the succeeding issues don’t seem to be in any hurry to have one.  Even so, the knowledge that our favorite space family will soon encounter new troubles casts all their doings in a different light than if you just took them on their own.

Basically, we have a ticking time bomb of about a week before Robot arrives.  In this issue, Hazel tells us that we’re on day five.  Her family only has two more days before their “blissful” time with Heist is over—but they don’t know it yet.  That’s the tragic part, as it is with all situations of dramatic irony.  As sweet and fun as it is to see the gang play Nun Tuj Nun, a Wreath board game that crosses Pictionary, arm-wrestling, and psychological warfare all at once, their activities have a certain amount of poignancy, too, because you know it can’t last.
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Pretty Deadly #1 – Review

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (story), Emma Rios (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors)

The Story: Float like a butterfly, explode like a bunny.

The Review: I would like to make it clear that even though I’m a professed supporter of female creators in the comics biz, I didn’t pick up Pretty Deadly on that basis alone, or even primarily on that basis.  Truth be told, I’ve had a hankering for a western series ever since I dropped All-Star Western, and this title fits the bill, especially since it had a very reputable creative team attached.  The fact that they were all women was merely a pleasant bonus.

Right off the bat, DeConnick evokes a distinctive and appealing tone for the series, dry and dusty, but simultaneously overcast and chilling.  This is the frontier at its coldest.  DeConnick de-emphasizes the frantic, cowboys ‘n’ injuns side of the western genre and instead brings out its earthy starkness, its complacency about life and death.  The characters move and interact under a near constant state of wariness, their emotions always ready to transition to fight or flight.
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Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Velvet #1 – Review

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by Ed Brubaker (Writer), Steve Epting (Artist), Elizabeth Breitweiser (Colorist)

The Story: One of the top agents of Arc-7 gets killed during a mission. Thankfully, Velvet Templeton is on the case…

The Review: There are a lot of reasons to love Image comics right now. With so many high-profile creators making the jump to non-superhero work with their own characters and concepts, it’s a pretty great thing to behold. With Brian K. Vaughan on Saga, Matt Fraction on Sex Criminals and Satellite Sam, Greg Rucka on Lazarus and so on, it’s like a golden age of creator-owned comics.

Ed Brubaker, while already on track with his own Fatale, is getting even further along as he releases another one this week with Velvet. With his first Image series playing a bit with noir along with horror, this one deals with another type of stories that Brubaker is at ease with: espionage. With Steve Epting, his Captain America collaborator who brought Bucky back to life with Brubaker working with him, this seems like a dream come true for those who grew to appreciate the writers through the Winter Soldier storyline. However, do these two bring out the same amount of quality in this issue as they did in past comics?

Thankfully, they do, as this first issue show a great amount of confidence in both the style and world-building brought forth by Brubaker and the art of Epting. Already setting a conflict right in the very beginning of the issue as well as the tone, Brubaker does not lose a single moment in his script to get most of the series rolling. Doing this, he provides a basis for the characters and a world for them to develop in. It may not be the most original of settings, yet there are a lot of ways in which this first issue does its job really well.
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Rat Queens #2 – Review

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by Kurtis J Wiebe (Writer), Roc Upchurch (Artist/Colorist)

The Story: The Rat Queens fight the giant, then learn that the other groups charged with small tasks have been targeted by assassins as well.

The Review: I have a certain fondness for fantasy. Having played many role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder through several years, I find myself liking the concept of a group of adventurers doing quests or mercenary work in a world filled with monsters and magic. The downside of such an affection for the genre is that I am very familiar with its many tropes and cliché, which means it takes a bit more effort from the creative team behind any book to actually satisfy my craving for swashbuckling adventures and orc-smashing quests. The regular ”saving a princess”, ”fight a dragon” or ”kill an evil god and destroy its evil artifact” might not exactly do the job.

Thankfully, it seems that Kurtis J. Wiebe understand this very well, as Rat Queens is anything but regular fantasy fare. Putting forward a group of female adventurers that are anything but perfect, the writer already try in his second issue to set up a mystery and to develop his setting and his characters a bit further in the process.

Wiebe immediately starts his story here as a direct continuation to the conclusion of the first one, with the group battling against a giant. It is an abrupt way to start an issue, especially without any recap page whatsoever, yet the way everything start make up for it as the action begins rather quickly. In the first scene against the giant, the group dynamic, at least in terms of capabilities, is firmly set as each of the characters participate in some way. Akin to a D&D game, each of them fits an archetype, just like a lot of functional groups does in this sort of game, with most of them being represented well. The fighter, the rogue, the cleric and the mage are all present, yet what they are capable of is shown in a more expansive way than the usual and basic representation that a lot of games fit them in. The action is quick, rather inventive, brutal and shows just how the world is going to be in this series. For that, it’s pretty fun.
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Sex Criminals #2 – Review

Posted on October 25, 2013 by nightwing17

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Chip Zdarsky (art)

The Story: This guy. This fucking guy.

The Review: The first issue of Matt Fraction’s Sex Criminals was a strange little book that focused around Suzie, a girl who discovered that time literally stopped whenever she had an orgasm.  At the end of last issue, Suzie discovered Jon, a man with the same ability. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the previous issue’s careful dissection of Suzie’s relationship with herself, her mother, and her powers, this issue gives us a look at Jon.

This issue is a definite improvement from the last in terms of the writing, something I largely attribute to the clever use of perspective. You see, we don’t get this issue from Jon’s perspective, but from Suzie’s. That’s not quite accurate either, as we get to see things that Jon won’t fully disclose yet, but instead of the time-warped Suzie guiding us through her own life, we get a glimpse of Jon’s sexual awakening as narrated by his answers to Suzie’s questions.

Why does that matter? Because it not only gives us a fixed point of reference, but plants Jon’s story firmly within his own remembrances. As it was last issue, Fraction’s dialogue is weakest when it comes from the mouths of teenagers and best when it comes from ‘adults’ looking back on times gone by.  Jon’s difficulty in discussing things openly is not only a great addition to the character, but also provides some wonderful moments where the dissonance between what we see and what we hear really enriches the story.
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The Walking Dead S04E02 – Review

Posted on October 21, 2013 by dfstell

Original air date: October 20, 2013

Review (with SPOILERS): Don’t look now, but The Walking Dead has strung together two decent episodes to start Season 4.  Of course, Season 3 also started with two solid episodes (here and here) before descending into a pile of mess.  Even Season 2 had its moments…  So, let’s not get too excited.  After all, the Governor hasn’t shown up yet.  Going through my notes, there are a lot of discussable parts of the episode.  That’s a good thing…

  • Great horror instincts: That initial scene with Karen going to the showers where we knew lurked a zombie was so nicely done from a horror standpoint.  This is probably more detail than anyone wants, but I honestly think this show has A-list horror talent (and C-list dramatic talent), so I often wish they’d just play to their strengths.  (1) It started with Karen telling Tyrese that she wasn’t ready to have sex with him just yet and that they should sleep apart.  You immediately started thinking, “Oh no… You can’t tell your lover that you’ll do ____ with them later” in a horror movie.  (2) Then she wanders off alone into the dark and we get nervous.  (3) Then the director shows us a framing shot of the sinks and white tile telling us that she is in the showers… And we KNOW that the Nerd Zombie is in there with her.  (4) Of course, it’s dark and she hears sounds coming from behind all those shower curtains.  Shower curtains and dripping water.  Horror movies staples for decades.  And then the director does the most clever thing…  There are two big beats where you expect the zombie to appear.  (5) The first is when the camera is behind Karen’s shoulder and she yanks the shower curtain away.  You’re primed for a ZOMBIE.  But, no– no zombie.  (6) Then the camera shifts in front of Karen and shows her do that classic horror movie turn where the character starts walking off camera without looking where they’re going.  (7) There’s always that moment when the camera rapidly pans to get behind the character again. And that’s when you’re expecting a ZOMBIE again.  But, no; it was another fake-out.  I loved it.  Great use of that classic horror movie technique to build tension.

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Sheltered #4 – Review

Posted on October 20, 2013 by dfstell

By: Ed Brisson (writer/letters), Johnnie Christmas (art) and Shari Chankhamma (colors)

The Story: Lukas starts to deal with dissenters in his group.

Review (with SPOILERS): This is a pretty good series.  If you haven’t been following it, the basic set-up is that we’re introduced to a group of families preparing for the Shit hits the fan moment.  You know…Preppers…  These families have bought land in the middle of nowhere in rural Montana/Idaho and are preparing for the worst: building shelters, stockpiling food, guns, etc.  The first issue shows the children of the preppers turn on their parents and murder them.  Since then we’ve watched as the kids consolidate under the leadership of a teenager named Lukas.

I originally thought this might be a comic series about the dangers of prepping.  I mean, if your children grow up hearing you talking about the apocalypse and see you stockpiling weapons and survival supplies, that might warp them a bit; maybe as the adults are seeing the federal government as a threat to their liberty, the children start to see their parents in the same light.  But, Sheltered really hasn’t turned out that way at all.
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Rocket Girl #1 – Review

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Minhquan Nguyen

By: Brandon Montclare (story), Amy Reeder (art)

The Story: She’s still preoccupied with 1985—I mean, ‘86.

The Review: As much as I like to stress the value of realism in a comic book, there’s a part of me that equally appreciates some good, old-fashioned escapism, too.  Heck, the fact that I read comics at all should be evidence enough of that.  So it’s sometimes disheartening to see how few genuinely fun, melodrama-free titles there are out there.  I mean, I can’t rely solely on Batman ’66 for my monthly dose of good times, can I?

That’s why I tend to think Rocket Girl is tailor-made for people thirsting for pure entertainment like me.  A story about a teenaged time-traveling cop going back to the eighties to stop an evil corporation from retroactively guaranteeing its worldwide dominance?  Montclare-Reeder might as well reach into my wallet and help themselves to some cash, because with that kind of premise, that’s how easy it is for me to sign up.
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The Walking Dead S04E01 – Review

Posted on October 14, 2013 by dfstell

Original Air Date: October 13, 2013

Review (with SPOILERS): You know what, this was a pretty good episode.  It wasn’t excellent and I really don’t think this indicates that the series has turned the corner creatively; not with a 30+ episode track record of mediocrity… But we’ll take it when we can get it.

A lot of the success of this episode is due to what DIDN’T happen.  There was no Governor yahooing around with his thugs and eyepatch.  There was no Andrea being Andrea.  There was no Michonne glowering at people.  There was no Dale moaning about everyone’s humanity.  There was no Maggie wringing her hands about having to take her top down in front of the bad guys.  There was no Rick acting like a dick.  And best of all, there was no Beth campfire singalong.

Honestly, if the creators of this TV show can just focus on removing the annoying elements of the show, the path to success is pretty easy: A few zombie set-pieces and forward-momentum on the plotlines.

Let’s rattle off a few of the noteworthy events from this episode:
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Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , | 5 Comments »

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