• Categories

  • Archives

  • Top 10 Most Read

Velvet #4 – Review

Posted on March 7, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: Velvet tracks down a former KGB operative for assistance.

The Review (with SPOILERS): Another strong issue of Velvet.  That’s to be expected at this point.  You really wouldn’t expect this creative team to be tossing stinkers.  But having an issue like this allows you to appreciate some of the little things that make this such a special comic series.  You know how sometimes you see a comic from new(er) creators and it has some crazy-brilliant stuff, but also some things that just don’t work?    Not a problem here.  All of the creators on this series know what will/won’t work in a comic book.

Let’s look at some of the clever stuff that gives this comic a little more…

  • Clever lettering: I can’t even type it here easily, but Chris Eliopoulos does this clever thing of making the Russian assassin say “sorry” by reversing the two Rs in “SORRY”.  It’s just a little trick that makes the guy sound like a James Bond villain in your mind, or Ivan Drago.  It’s important because there is nothing visually distinctive about a “Russian Assassin” – they are just white guys in tuxedos.  It’s just a little thing that makes the comic more effective AND it keeps Steve Epting from being tempted to somehow make the guys look Russian (however you do that) or make them spout some expository dialog during the fight (“Capitalist dogs!!!”).
  • Older, more “mature” hero: I loved the scene of Velvet getting ready for the Carnival of Fools.  She is still undoubtedly attractive, but she’s also in her 40s and things aren’t quite as firm or as lean as they used to be.  She’s not Kate Upton anymore.  In fact, if this were a real life movie, there would be a misogynist article or two about how it was time for Velvet to keep her clothes on.  Here in this comic, it’s just a very effective reminder that she isn’t 22 anymore.  It’s amazing that Epting can capture the little subtleties of a mature woman.
  • Velvet casing the party: When she is in the party and looking for targets, Epting uses this trick of drawing a detailed image of a single person inside a little ~1 inch circle and then having the rest of the party be vague.  It’s just a nifty way of showing, “I am focused on YOU…”  It’s also pretty accurate; if anyone has ever been in a crowded room and scanned it for threats or pretty girls or your spouse, you know the feeling of being hyperfocused and the rest of the room being reduced to white noise.
  • Masks!: It is really hard to draw and color realistic masks.  Do it wrong and the depth gets all wonky and the mask looks like it is floating in space in front of the person’s face.  I’m not talking about a superhero mask either, those are just colored skin.  These are masks like you and I would WEAR that are sitting just off your face.  Super job by Epting and colorist Breitweiser.

Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Saviors #3 – Review

Posted on March 6, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by James Robinson (Writer), J. Bone (Artist)

The Story: It seems to me that James Robinson might take the name ”day of the dead” a bit too literally…

The Review: Having no expectations can be a great thing. When there is no hype or prejudice set against a book, it provides a good chance for the very piece of graphic literature to provide surprises and please the readers with its concepts, its characters and its execution. It’s always a very tough task to let go of expectations, yet it can be achieved through numerous methods.

One of them, it seems, is to not really mind the book’s existence. It might seem a tad harsh, yet I haven’t been wholly impressed yet by James Robinson and his new series The Saviors. While it is decidedly a good idea to base a story around, the world building itself and the various elements haven’t cemented yet to provide for a definitive appreciation on my part. However, it is still a young series and Robinson could very well amplify things in this one. The question is, does he actually achieves this?

What he does well is set up some new ideas as well as presenting new characters. While the focus of the first two issues was decidedly more on Tomas, the writer presents a larger cast here. With each of them being affected by the appearances of lizard men differently and having a different background, Robinson does bring the readers up to speed on their personality and their quirks rather quickly, yet not without efficiency. Some are perhaps a bit stereotypical, yet there is a certain clarity in their motivations and their semi-functionality as a group that does manage to make them interesting enough to make it so there could be development and surprises in the long run.

Still, despite it all, Tomas is still the main protagonist, with a certain focalization on his feelings and reactions brought to the forefront. His personality and his general assessment of the situation driving some of the scenes forward, there is a comprehensible reasoning behind Tomas, yet not one that makes him that interesting or particularly likable in the process. His fears and his desire not to be involved in an underground war against weird lizard people is something that can be easily understood, yet his desire to be protected without him lifting a finger to help in the war effort is something that it more irritating than it is appreciable. While a flawed character makes for a much more interesting lead than a good and utterly perfect one, the character of Tomas Ramirez is perhaps a bit too cowardly to be effectively liked. There’s plenty of room for development and deeper understanding of just who he is, yet so far it’s a bit too soon to properly get attached to a stoner and generally cowardly and detached hero.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Manhattan Projects #18 – Review

Posted on March 4, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: Allegiances shift and new antagonists come to the fore….

Review (with SPOILERS): This issue of The Manhattan Projects was pretty interesting because it closed a chapter while opening a new set of possibilities.  I still think TMP is a little light on overall narrative, but the reshuffling in this issue will allow our oddball characters to be odd in new ways.

  • End of Oppenheimer?: Evil Oppenheimer has been a central character since TMP began and the prime antagonist for the last 6-7 issues.  Is he really dead?  Or did he just just download his brain into the Omni-President’s AI?  I did seem like Oppenheimer was “cured” of his dual personalities before he was shot….
  • Turncoat Einstein: As he says, he is “not a good man”.  All along, Einstein has never really been a team player.  He’s kinda done his own thing and it’s just so happened that his goals align with those of the team.  Now that the team is massively realigning, it’ll be interesting to see how Einstein fits into the new power structure.
  • McNamara is charge: What a great character he has been!  It’s tempting to call him a Rambo-wanna-be, except that he can really dish it out.  He kills the funny blue alien all by himself, takes the alien’s ear and now wants to carpet bomb the galaxy.  He’s kinda like a young version of how left-wing folks see neo-conservatives like Rumsfeld and Cheney.
  • Groves turncoat?: We’ve gotten used to the idea that Groves is somehow the ally of the scientists, but he’s really just been a man on a mission….and now we see that he’s still looking for dragons to slay.  Remember, he was pumped full of truth-serum when he joined McNamara.  He even got a promotion out of it!

The whole thing is a welcome shake-up for the series.  I’m not sure that TMP is ever supposed to really be about anything…..there is no massive storyline.  Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that TMP is a comic series where the plot exists to service the characters.  I enjoy TMP not so much to find out “What will happen next?” but just to see what these whackos are up to.  It’s the comic equivalent of people watching.  That makes it somewhat unique in my pull list and it’s why I try not to get too bothered when I can’t remember plot details like what is/was going on with the FDR A.I.  It doesn’t really matter….the cool thing is that there a FDR A.I. exists at all. Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Chew #40 – Review

Posted on March 4, 2014 by dfstell

By: John Layman (writer) and Rob Guillory (art)

The Story: Tony Chu is tripping…

Review (with SPOILERS): I felt a lot better after reading this issue.  For some time, the over-arching “big story” of Chew has been slipping from my grasp like a greasy rope.  With easy issue, I had less and less of a grasp on what was really going on.  I still laughed at all the jokes and still found Toni to be really a touching character, but I was missing a lot of the bigger picture.

This issue kinda locked things back down.  Now I understand why Toni was involved and why NASA was involved, what the alien sky-writing means, etc.  I wouldn’t say that I could write the entire Wikipedia article about Chew, but I feel a lot more secure.  Things make sense instead of being random – still FUNNY, but random.  Nice job by the creators.  It has to be really hard to manage the big story for these series because what is a nice reminder for one reader is boring and repetitive for another.  I honestly have no idea where I fall on the spectrum of readers in terms of remembering plot details, but *I* enjoyed the reminders and summaries in this issue.

Also, mega-bonus points for the glossary of food powers in the back!
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Black Science #4 – Review

Posted on March 2, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: The protagonists try to escape from an alt-WWI while their leader is wounded.

The Review (with SPOILERS): Honestly, I don’t know what to make of this silly comic series.  The first issue was lights-out great!  The second issue was good, but concerning.  The third issue was kinda mediocre.  And, now we’re back to lights-out great.

If I had to give an opinion on this series it is that it will be somewhat inconsistent, but capable of blowing your socks off.  That alone makes it worthy.  Life is too short to even bother with comics that don’t have the potential for greatness.  That’s why I don’t usually bother with 3rd-tier Avengers books anymore: no potential for greatness.

There are a whole raft of attributes that make this a sharper issue than last:

  • WOW-level art: I took some stick last month for saying the art is issue #3 wasn’t quite as good as the previous issues.  I stand by that assessment.  This issue (like issue #1) is just loaded with images that will melt your eyes.  For me, there are two levels of good art.  One is just having the basic storytelling correct and not succumbing to weak panels.  That is a harder task that you might think with so much frenzied action – but Scalera is up to the task.  The second level is: Are there images that just have that singular quality where you go, “WOW!”?  I started to make a list of the panels that made me double-take, but it would probably be easier to list the panels that didn’t cause that reaction.  There are original pages in this issue that I want and I’m irritated that Matteo Scalera’s art rep doesn’t have them up on the site yet.  I won’t tell you which ones because I can’t take the chance that other people might buy them.  It’s inspirational art.  So, what sets this art apart?  It’s just got that little bit of extra energy to the whole sequence when Ward is fighting his way through the Techno Native Americas.  The art looks incredibly like that of Sean Murphy.  Everything is energetic, well-framed and detailed.  Then, we shift gears totally and see that Scalera can draw an incredibly soft-looking pretty woman AND imagine a world that is straight out of Star Wars.  Who knows why the art wasn’t quite to this standard in the last two issues?  Maybe Sclera had something going on in his personal life that knocked him off schedule, maybe the subject matter didn’t excite him as much…Who knows?  And who cares, because any series that can look like THIS is worth reading.
  • Shift away from Grant McKay: I have a feeling that Grant McKay is going to be the Rick Grimes of this series.  By that I mean, central character who I don’t like as much as the supporting cast. Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Sheltered #7 – Review

Posted on March 2, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: Things are coming apart at the seams as the murderous kids have to deal with outside intervention.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This was another really strong issue for this series.  It starts out kinda slow, but about 2/3 through the issue, it “gets real” when the remaining adult from the last issue is forced to kill one of the murderous little kids as they’re chasing him through the woods.

What I liked about the scene (and the series) is how unflinching it is.  The creators do perform the proper set-up for this fleeing adult: He has seen his friends murdered, he’s running through the snowy woods in the middle of the night (in the middle of nowhere), he’s been shot in the leg, and he STILL has three kids with guns chasing him.  So, the comic does go to great lengths to demonstrate that he really has no choice but to fight back and they demonstrate his remorse afterwards – even though he knew he had no choice.  But, the way they depict the shooting of a kid is pretty blunt.

The whole scene is surreal.  One moment they’re just kids running through the woods after an adult; they are KIDS and don’t really understand life and death and consequences.  They’re chasing the adult just because that’s what the other kids are doing.  The next moment one of these kids is shot through the chest- dying – and the other kids really don’t know what to do.  Their only prior experience with injury has been when friends skin their knees and you call for a parent, except they cannot do that because they killed all the parents.  Now they’re just kids lost in the forest who need help….but can’t get any help.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Deadly Class #2 – Review

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by Rick Remender (Writer), Wes Craig (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist)

The Story: Marcus gets acquainted with life at his new school as he somehow make friends and enemies.

The Review: There is a saying that pretend that all stories have already been told, that everything is a constant reutilization of the same concepts yet with different names and interpretations. While it is a bold statement that can be verified at length in multiple levels of fiction, there is a certainty in saying that many stories and ideas look very similar to each other. With this theory in mind, it comes to the writer to make things fresh and twist things up to make use of an established formula to make it so readers still care about what’s on the page, screen or whichever media is used.

It seems, in many ways, that this is what Rick Remender must had in mind when he created this story. Set in a school that trains assassins, the story focus on Marcus, a young Nicaraguan teen who got a bad start in life. Presenting his story in an overly classical architecture of how school are portrayed in many medias, Remender tries to make it so his concept bring in many comparisons and contrasts for the illusion of normalcy to work in favour of his comic.

It’s a sound approach, yet not one that is really working well in this issue. While there are some neat ideas shown with the classes and their teachers, there isn’t much else working in favour to this storytelling technique. Marcus is still the rebel kid, there is a bully (who is of Russian nationality to boot), there is a fat and nerdy kid and everyone is talking about the new kid in school. There are some tidbits which are interesting, yet for a rather big concepts, Remender does not go far enough to provide enough shock or material for contrast in themes and approach.
Still, despite this, Remender does deserve some credits in the fact that he builds up a whole world, a cast and a setting quite well in the span of a little less than 30 pages. Presenting some clear personalities, cliques and a certain way that the school function, there is a lot of material for development and surprises here that can fuel the series for a while.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Rat Queens #5 – Review

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

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

The Story: The battle for Palisade concludes as the mercenaries then party hard.

The Review: There are a quite a lot of changes in the industry going on these days. With many established and well-liked creators going on to create their own series at companies like Image, Dark Horse, Boom and other such places, we live in an age where creativity in the American market is booming. It is something, however, that require some sacrifices, like titles that are released in waves like Saga and Lazarus, who need time after a bunch of issues to catch up and plan ahead.

Another title that can claim to do so is Rat Queens, with this issue concluding its first arc with the next issue coming up in May. One of the very thing which makes the adventures of the Rat Queens a bit similar to the two aforementioned titles is the quality, which is actually quite high. With but a few honest-to-God pure and atypical fantasy comics out there, it’s a refreshing thing to see a title dedicated to the genre, yet not so stuck in its ways as to forget to bring innovation and quality into the mix. Still, does this conclusion brings a painful realisation that the title won’t be out for a few months, or is it a dull affair that makes the wait a bearable thing?

Unfortunately, it’s the former as this conclusion not only brings many of the title’s strength to the forefront, but also present many of the unique and decidedly charming qualities of the title in a penultimate fashion.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews, Shadowline | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Walking Dead #122 – Review

Posted on February 27, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: After Alexandria is abandoned, both Rick and Negan prepare for the final battle.

The Review (with SPOILERS): This issue is mostly set-up for whatever comes next.  Judging by the letters page, we have four more issues left in the “All Out War” storyline, so the pacing really makes sense: Rick and Gang are bracing for the final battle, Negan is preparing a special type of weapon and Dwight might have some help on the inside.

Starting with Rick & Gang, it’s all pretty standard stuff: Rick knows they need to attack, Andrea is vigilant, Ezekiel is pulling himself back together, Maggie is dealing with her new leadership role, Health deals with only having one leg, Jesus is having a moment of quiet…  The only real call to action is that they don’t have enough food for the entire group.  That fact tells us that everyone hiding inside Hilltop is not an option: The people in there NEED to fan back out into the countryside again, and that isn’t an option until Negan has been dealt with.

It’s all fine build-up inside of Hilltop; nice little character moments.  I’m not sure that I care that much about character-building at this point in the story – I’d rather get onto the climax – but there’s nothing obnoxious and offensive about seeing this stuff.  And hey, Jesus is gay!  Who knew?  Subversion is awesome…

Meanwhile over in Negan-land, things are getting decidedly weird.  Negan has the great plan to smear zombie goop all over the Saviors weapons, and while I do think this foreshadows a sad death or two for Rick’s team (as they waste away from a scratch), it also seems really dangerous for Negan’s men.  I mean, he has thoroughly coated the barbed wire on Lucille with zombie goop, would you want to ride down the road holding onto that thing?  Oop! Hit a pothole and scratch your hand on the barbed wire.  Seems like it would make more sense to just stop on the way to Rick’s compound and get some zombie goop on the way.  And wouldn’t all of their weapons already have zombie goop all over them already?  I mean, it isn’t like we’ve seen the Saviors pouring peroxide all over their weapons before.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Zero, Vol. 1 An Emergency – Review

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by Ales Kot (Writer), Michael Walsh, Tradd Moore, Mateus Santolouco, Morgan Jeske, Will Tempest (Artists), Jordie Bellaire (Colorist)

There are some times in a comic’s enthusiast life when we take chances. Perhaps it’s because of good reviews, because we liked what we saw of the writer prior to reading this, because of a low price points or whichever reason is best, but we just try something new. It might turn out to be a disappointing affair, something that did sound good in terms of concept, yet the execution is somehow lacking. Taking chances doesn’t automatically mean the experience will be good.

However, there are other times when the best happen, when a certain leap of faith gets rewarded in ways that could not be anticipated in the slightest. It becomes something almost transcendental, upon which untold riches can now be seen.

The latter is how my experience with the first trade of Ales Kot’s Zero can be summarized. With but the recommendation of one of the employee where I buy my comics to base myself upon and the 9.99$ price to encourage my purchase, I went blindly and found something spectacular.

Zero is a comic about Edward Zero, a secret agent, a spy if you will, that works for an agency unoriginally called The Agency. His story, which starts in 2018 and then ends in 2038, is told in various moments throughout his carrier, with several moments in the first five issues showing just where he ends up in 2038. With the trade comprising of the first five issues which all tell a complete tale, Kot is able to bring a lot to the character of Edward Zero, about who he is and what he does.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Manifest Destiny #4 – Review

Posted on February 19, 2014 by dfstell

By: Chris Dingess (writer), Matthew Roberts (art), Owen Gieni (colors) and Pat Brosseau (letters)

The Story: Lewis & Clark are trapped by monsters in a frontier fort and can’t find their Native American guide.

Review (with SPOILERS): This first 20 pages of of this issue felt very much like a middle-Act type of story.  You know: The first few issues establish the stakes, then the middle does some plot development and then in an issue or two, we’d get some resolution before moving onto the next tale?

So, most of this issue was occupied with Lewis & Clark devising a strategy for getting past the “minotaurs” surrounding them and wondering where their Native America guide, Sacagewea, is.  There’s humor and fun like when they describe one plan as the “mad dash” to the boat and someone remarks that it would be a better plan if there wasn’t the need to include the term “mad”.  Then Sacagewea and her French husband show up with a pile of minotaur pelts and the problem seems to be solved, or at least ONE problem is solved.

There is clearly something weird going on with Sacagewea and her husband.  Never mind that she killed all those minotaurs (off panel) and is now somehow rendered silent and lets her husband do all the talking.  She’s also supposedly pregnant, which is weird because we saw her doing the super-ninja-warrior thing with the minotaurs.  And the husband just looks weird and acts weird…  Something strange is going to happen with these two….
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Fatale #20 – Review

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Minhquan Nguyen

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

The Story: Jo demonstrates her own brand of vigilante justice by kissing a serial murderer.

The Review: Coming on this title as late as I did, I never got much of a chance to see Jo as she presently stands, which is to say, at her most competent.  Not that being vulnerable has made her any less dangerous; if the fates of Amsterdam are anything to go by, Jo can definitely bring the “fatal” in “fatale.”  But that’s only made me even more interested in seeing how Jo handles herself when she has all her physical and mental faculties in order.

Unsurprisingly, she’s much more calculating.  From the outset, Brubaker reveals that Jo would have been fine with Nick languishing in jail until she was ready to use him: “She wasn’t supposed to be out here yet at all.  But when she heard about Nicholas Lash’s escape from custody, her carefully laid plans went right out the window.”  She rescues Nick not really out of true affection, but simply because she needs him for some other purpose.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Mercenary Sea #1 – Review

Posted on February 15, 2014 by dfstell

By: Kel Symons (writer), Matthew Reynolds (art/colors) and Pat Brosseau (letters)

The Story: A gang of misfits and bootleggers find adventure on the high seas of the pre-WWII Pacific Ocean.

Review: I’m always looking for different things to read.  It isn’t that I don’t like superheroes (and the talent working at the Big 2 – especially at Marvel – is tremendous), but I do feel like I’ve read a lot of the superhero stories before.  I’ve already seen the X-Men time travel and fight all the villains, you know?

But, I haven’t read very many stories that are set in the South Pacific during the 1930′s.

It’s mostly the setting that makes Mercenary Sea so alluring.  The set-up is that we have an old German U-Boat captain (probably from World War I) who somehow stole his submarine and has taken on an oddball cast of characters: bootleggers who can’t return to America, former heavyweight boxers who crossed the mafia, disgraced British doctors who killed patients by mistake when drunk, etc.  It’s a motley and charismatic crew.  From a big picture point of view, they’re looking for treasure, but to finance their operation, they have to take on various ill-advised jobs from shady characters.  They’re basically living out the Libertarian Dream on the high seas.

The combination of era, setting and characters is just very unique.  Nazis are boring, Imperial Japanese are novel…  So, even if the story itself isn’t totally curling my toes, there is something very enticing about a quickly paced, pulpy comic that is set in a unique place.  It’s $2.99.  You could spend more than that on the middle issue of a mediocre 6-story “epic” about a bunch of B-list Avengers that you don’t really care about.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Walking Dead #121 – Review

Posted on February 13, 2014 by dfstell

 

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

The Story: Alexandria is burning!

The Review (with SPOILERS): This is a pretty good issue of The Walking Dead mostly because it has forward momentum from a plotting standpoint.  Even though there is some lurching and creaking, this story is clearly moving through a metamorphosis to “whatever comes next”.

So, let’s go through the events of the issue, because a LOT happens.  Certainly a LOT more than we typically get in an issue of The Walking Dead.

  • Leaving Alexandria: It’s burned and ruined.  While I have some factual problems with the storytelling, I’m glad to see Rick & Co. away from this stronghold.  The Walking Dead is like a shark and it dies if it stops moving forward.  Even with Negan out there, the status quo in Alexandria has been too comfortable.  The story doesn’t need zombies clawing at the walls all the time, but it needs more stress because stress is the fuel for dramatic tension.  It should always be zombies, bandits, cannibals, food rationing, disease, weather, a less than ideal gender ratio, etc.
  • Leaving Alexandria II: I’m very pleased at how quickly the decision to leave Alexandria happened.  Rick just kinda said, “We’re leaving.” and then it happened.  A part of me feels that the pace is inconsistent with some of the other storytelling in the series: This feels like there could have been a caption box saying, “Two days later…”  But, I’ll put that aside because I’d rather see them get on with the story rather than Rick arguing with some housewives about how Alexandria isn’t safe anymore and beating himself up over whether it is all his fault.
  • Leaving Alexandria, fact check: How ruined is Alexandria, really?  I mean, it still has good walls.  Aren’t walls the most important thing in the zombie apocalypse?  Just erect some tents or find the place that sells those $799 aluminum carports or go to Home Depot and get some of those $599 tool sheds.  And can you really put all the belongings of the whole community in a couple of buses?

    • Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Walking Dead S04E09 – Review

Posted on February 10, 2014 by dfstell

Original air date: February 9, 2014

The Story: After the fall of the Prison, the remnants of Rick’s party scatter and try to survive…

The Review (with SPOILERS): Funny how the human mind works.  We are incredibly adept at forgetting bad things like how horrible babies are.  I’ve even heard scientists hypothesize that it is an evolutionary trait that we forget some of the pain, agony, sleepless nights and dirty diapers lest every child be an only child – and the species die out for lack of offspring.

The run-up to The Walking Dead’s 2014 Spring Season was a little like waiting for that second baby to arrive. We’re excited, we hope for the best and we hope that all those bad things don’t happen again, because if we really dwell on the past 3.5 seasons we can still remember the pain.  

It really is time to stop hoping for better.  There was probably some plausible reason for hope.  Perhaps new Season 4 showrunner Scott Gimple would have clear highway now that he’d flushed Glen Mazzara’s Season 3 floater.  But, Gimple & Co. have eschewed that clear highway in favor of the familiar ditch.  As they say in BSG, it has happened before and it will happen again.

This was just more of the same for The Walking Dead.  The zombie scenes with Carl were really well done, especially the prolonged scene in the house.  I loved how the camera lingered on the stack of books as Carl and the zombie struggled from room to room, only for those books to come back into play at a key moment.  The prior zombie scene of Carl luring the walkers away, heavily hinting that he would trip and fall, when he never did…  There is nothing careless or accidental within the seconds of these horror scenes.  The talent on this show are true masters of horror and suspense.  They just know how to dance the dance and make us really uncomfortable.  Even when you KNOW that Michonne is not going to be eaten by zombies, you cringe a little every time one walks past her.  They just know how to dial the tension up to about an 8, and leave it there for 5 seconds longer than one would normally be comfortable with.  It’s all the camera angles, amount of zoom, sound, cuts… Simply Brilliant.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Other | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Lazarus #6 – Review

Posted on February 7, 2014 by dfstell

By: Greg Rucka (writer), Michael Lark (art/letters), Santi Arcas (colors)

The Review (with SPOILERS): This is a little bit of a quiet issue of Lazarus because it is totally a “middle chapter” of a bigger story.  We get a little bit more of Story A, a little more of Story B, a little more of Story C, etc.  But the pieces aren’t fully connecting yet, so it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions.  There are some definite themes emerging and we can speculate about future plot directions, but Greg Rucka is so well-read and aware of stereotypes, that I suspect most of those speculations won’t come true.

We spend some of this issue on two Forever stories.  In the present, we see that she is clearly beginning to see some of the injustice of the current status quo where a few wealthy families control everything.  Remember back to the first issue where she killed that group of “waste” for stealing food from Family Carlyle?  Well, this time, she just kinda watches the thieving waste watches from the shadows.  She clearly could have stopped/killed these “waste”, but she elects to let them go.  And they’re not stealing food, but things like tanks of gas.  They’re making a bomb (probably) and she lets them go.  Hmmm…

Now, she isn’t totally derelict in her security duties for the Family as she does question one of the other “waste” about what the others are doing with the tanks of gas.  So, Forever still has that familial loyalty that was brainwashed into her at a very young age (and maintained by handfulls of pills that she may or may not be taking).  Still, you can see the cracks at the seams.  She is beginning to question her role in this system.  It’ll be ugly when it breaks.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Saga #18 – Review

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Minhquan Nguyen

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

The Story: When confronted by your raging ex-fiancée, resist the urge to push your wife off a building.

The Review: While I usually shy away from conflating what I like to see in a story with what is actually good in a story, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that usually, the more developed characters, the better.  If a series is interested in longevity, it’s got to build up its inventory so that it always has a source of material to turn to.  If you can make even your minor, interstitial characters worth their page-time, you’re pretty much golden.

It’s this quality that makes Saga special among comic books.  I can name a goodly number of titles that are character-driven, that take great care of its stars, but it’s hard to think of any that loves all its characters the way Saga does.  How often do non-talking animals in fiction get developed beyond their cute factor?  It’s got to say something about Vaughan that even Lying Cat gets a backstory and motivations undefined by its various partners.  Cat is no gimmick; he’s a legitimate member of the Saga cast.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Black Science #3 – Review

Posted on February 1, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: More background on the Pilar project.

Review (with SPOILERS): This issue is a perfect example of why I hate to see fans proclaiming a series as “great” after an exciting first issue.  So much can go wrong or change in the space of a few issues, that you really need to see a little more before registering a definite opinion on a series.

Where this issue goes wrong is in how far away from the original premise it has gotten after only a few issues.  That first issue was just electric.  We were dumped into the middle of this bizarre aquatic planet with frogmen and fishmen doing battle and some astronaut dude was running for his life.  Nothing was explained and we mostly had to figure it out ourselves.  Then – JUMP – we ended up on some weird future-tech planet at the end of the issue.  It almost seemed like this series could just be folks hopping around and trying to get home: cool world after cool world.  It felt really fast-paced and – screw the back-story – because those frogmen with the electric tongues were SO COOL.  Oh yeah…..and the art was incredible.

The second issue was a deviation from the first in that we started getting more backstory on the characters and less of the fantastical world they were exploring.  That wasn’t good.  And lots of the characters we really stereotypy.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

East of West #9 – Review

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

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

The Story: Life is harsh when you’re a prince that believes in the message. Meanwhile, Death deals for something he is looking for.

The Review: To say I’m a fan of this series would be superfluous at this point. As part of the recent wave of excellent creator-owned titles from Image, East of West has been a tour-de-force when it comes to world-building as well as setting up mysteries slowly without them becoming too vague or ambiguous. While there have been moments when patience was certainly a requirement, the creative team of Hickman, Dragotta and Martin always delivered on multiple fronts to make the world and story as interesting as possible. However, excellence is never really a standard, as anything that is absolutely great is bound to have a few missteps along the way.

To say this issue is a misstep would certainly be an exaggeration on my part, but it isn’t nearly as well done as previous ones. While the ideas of an alternate America and how some few deviations might have turned this country differently makes for a rather intriguing read, there is something amiss in this issue. The magic, technology and general state, be it political or social, is a bit amiss here, sacrificed for the most part in service of other aspects, some of them which aren’t as dynamic or interesting as other parts.

Make no mistake, though, as the introduction of John Freeman, prince of a division of America in which slaves grew to become rich and prosperous, is actually phenomenally interesting. The way Hickman presents him as being a philosopher, a believer and a bit of a rogue makes for something that ensure he is already interesting as he explains himself through actions and speeches. The way the culture of his kingdom works, how many brothers he has and the way he deals with his father makes for some very potent opening for what is sure to be a powerful player in the ongoing narrative that is East of West.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Saviors #2 – Review

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

James Robinson (Writer), J. Bone (Artist)

The Story: Escaping from certain death, Tomas wants to know what exactly is going on with those weird alien reptiles.

The Review: Trying new things can be hard. While many people generally hold in a positive light any attempts of others to try different genres, writers and artists, it’s not always the easiest of process to just go out and actually get invested in something entirely new. It’s always a matter of quality, of talent behind the creative team, yet there has to be a willingness for the readers to try it out in the first place.

Despite my first reactions and my fears, I rather enjoyed the first issue of James Robinson and J. Bone’s The Saviors, a series that tries to breathe new life into an old story of alien beings in our midst without our knowledge. Presenting us their protagonist and a general sense of danger in ways that felt right for the most part, it made me feel rather good at the prospect of continuing with the series in the first place. However, first issues aren’t everything as there needs to be a good continuation of the story to prove that the concepts has legs of its own. Does the second issue prove that this has the potential to be interesting in the long term?

In some ways, it’s a bit of a tough question to answer straight away. James Robinson, the mind behind this story, does provide enough information and development to make sure readers might be intrigued toward what might happen next and what everything might actually mean in the long term, yet he stumbles a bit along the way as he tells the rather simple story in this issue.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Chew #39 – Review

Posted on January 28, 2014 by dfstell

By: John Layman (writer/letters) & Rob Guillory (art/colors)

The Review: Remember the Gallsaberries from the 2nd (?) arc of Chew?  Those things that looked like a mash-up of a pineapple and an octopus?  Well, it seems like those things are going to be important.

I can’t tell you how fascinated I am by the transition that Chew is making from (A) the funniest comic on the market where plot didn’t seem to really matter to (B) a comic where multiple plot threads are converging.  These creators had a GREAT thing in the early issues of Chew and I give them huge credit for being bold enough to try to massage a wonderful story out of the whole thing.  That’s especially true because it isn’t clear that the overall story of the series is going to be as dramatic as the early issues were funny.  When Chew is funny, it is a perfect 10.  So far, when Chew is merely trying to be dramatic, it is more of a promising 6.

The big thing this issue makes me feel is that I should have paid closer attention to the early story arcs.  I mean, there is obviously something very important going on between the gallsaberries and the alien-language skywriting we’ve seen.  That means the cult that worships that alien skywriting is important.  And, it probably means that Agent Poyo is more than just a joke about how vicious roosters are.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Deadly Class #1 – Review

Posted on January 25, 2014 by Hugo Robberts Larivière

by Rick Remender (Writer), Wes Craig (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Colorist)

The Story: Living on the street kind of sucks, but being put in a rather nebulous situations with killers and cops is somewhat worse.

The Review: It’s been a really bright period of time for Image lately. With a few high-profile creators publishing their work through them, they have gained a reputation for being the place to be for many writers and artists, much to the readers delight. For those who want something new and decidedly different, it’s really a golden age of opportunities as the likes of East of West, Saga, Black Science, Lazarus, Sex Criminals and a multitude of others are still on the shelves for people to enjoy.

It’s with these kind of thoughts that I went on to buy this new series by Fear Agent and Uncanny X-Force writer Rick Remender and one of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s many artist, Wes Craig. With a certain pedigree from both creators, there was definitely something about this that I had to try. However, a nice creative team does not necessarily equate to an interesting book, as there needs to be a message, a direction and certainly a hook for readers to return for the inevitable second issue. How does this first issue manage, though?

As the opening to a series, it’s fairly solid, with a bit of a drag as far as its premise and ideas are concerned. There is a solid amount of action and a general depth to the setting that helps situate the themes and the tone of the story very well, with a certain weird vibe that brings the characters and many of the quirks fairly well on the page. The actual hook is mainly delivered in the final pages, though, so the actual feeling of the series might not actually be representative of what is shown here.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Walking Dead #120 – Review

Posted on January 23, 2014 by dfstell

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

The Story: Negan goes on the offensive.

Review (with SPOILERS including some from much earlier in the series): Honestly, I have kinda mixed feelings about this issue.

On one hand, the All Out War seems to finally be rocking along, supporting characters are dying, bases are being destroyed, old friends come galloping to the rescue…  On the other hand, we’re still not done with the storyline.

I was actually sitting down to write a totally positive review until I remembered the last time that Rick & Co. were rousted from a base (by the Governor in issue #48).  Even though some of the Governor’s raid happened in the previous issue, the action in issue #48 is gloriously tight.  The deaths of supporting characters like Herschel’s son and Alice the Doctor only get a panel or two.  Herschel just gets a BLAM and he’s dead.  Even the death of Lori and baby Judith gets all of two pages (one full-pager of them getting splattered, one of Rick looking back and then urging Carl to run).  The Governor died over the space of a couple pages.  By the end of the issue, Rick and Carl are on a hillside overlooking the carnage of the prison and holding onto each other.  The End.

In this issue, we spent longer on the plight of Heath and Denise than we did on Lori, Herschel and the Governor combined.  That doesn’t necessarily make this a poor issue, but it’s a little window into how The Walking Dead has lost a few mph off its fastball over the years.  People talk about issue #48 years later for a reason.  It is tight, condensed, pulls no punches, etc.  Nobody will ever talk about issue #120 in such glowing terms.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Pretty Deadly #4 – Review

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Minhquan Nguyen

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

The Story: In a bit of a twist, Death reveals that he doesn’t care so much for dying.

The Review: Speculation is a fun pastime when it comes to fiction, but frequently a futile one.  More often than not, your well-intentioned guesses as to what’s going on and what’s going to happen next end up wrong.  That’s why, as tempting as it is for a critic to make predictions for the future of a story and thereby bolster his credibility, he’d be wiser to refrain, lest he risk damaging it instead.

On the other hand, it’s a helluva good feeling when one of your well-crafted deductions proves correct, isn’t it?  A couple issues ago, I described Johnny’s role in the series as that of a trickster, someone compelled to make trouble.  Here, when Sissy comes to after getting hauled out of the flooding river, she briefly sees him in the form of a coyote, a motif he confirms when he gives her his full name: “Johnny Coyote.”  No myth-lover can fail to appreciate this connection to the trickster animal, so for once, I got it right.  Yay me.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Alex + Ada #3 – Review

Posted on January 21, 2014 by dfstell

By: Sarah Vaughn (story/script) and Jonathan Luna (story/art/letters)

The Story: Alex introduces Ada to his friends.

Review (with SPOILERS): A bit of a transitional issue, this one.  But, that is okay and doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment of the series.  Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna already established in the first two issues that they were interested in the sorts of deeper questions that I wanted to read about, so it’s okay for them to do a little of the necessary roadwork to get us from Point A to Point B.

This is the issue where Alex comes to grips with the fact that he owns an android (Ada).  She meets his friends and Alex starts to grapple with all the things that are normal when someone gets a new pet – because Ada is really just a pet at this point.  Much like a new dog owner needs to buy a few bowls and a leash, Alex needs to figure out what Ada will wear and how/when she needs to eat.  The question of whether she poops even came up.

But, the more interesting part is when Alex starts to wonder what to DO with Ada.  She’s remarkably compliant.  If he wants to dance, she’s happy to dance and she’ll happily watch whatever TV program he chooses.  But, by the end of the issue, we see that Alex is pretty disappointed because Ada doesn’t WANT anything on her own.  She’s just programmed to do whatever Alex wants.  In his frustration, he starts to explore getting her software upgraded to allow Ada to be more self-aware.
Continue reading →

Filed under: Image Comics | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Next Page »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 662 other followers