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American Vampire: The Long Road to Hell #1 – Review

AMERICAN VAMPIRE: THE LONG ROAD TO HELL #1

By: Scott Snyder & Rafael Albuquerque (story), Albuquerque (script & art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: American Vampire returns with an extra-length one-shot about a young couple who run into some vampires.

Review (with SPOILERS): This was a really good issue.  Given that AV has been away for a few months and isn’t quite ready to return as a regular, monthly comic series, it’s really smart to give readers this appetizer to remind us (a) what a special series this is and (b) of some of the general themes of the series.  This issue is also a great sampler if you haven’t been reading AV and want to give it a try.  No previous knowledge of the series is needed.  Read it, and – if you like it – I’m sure when the series restarts in a couple months, it will be pretty new-reader friendly.

The story itself is really sharp.  It follows a young couple in love, who are trying to raise enough money to get married.  Mostly they seem to raise money via minor pickpocketing and through this, they run into a next of nasty vampires.  Along the way, they run into a young, abused boy who has a knack for pointing out wicked people, so they are able to satisfy their blood lust Dexter-style.  But, eventually they realize what monsters they have become and come up with a clever – and heartbreaking – plan to end things.
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The Walking Dead #111 – Review

THE WALKING DEAD #111

By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (art), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Rick’s big plan keeps inching along and the Spencer storyline pays off.

Review (with SPOILERS): Much like last month, this issue is divided in half, with one portion of the comic being much more captivating than the other.

The first part, showing Rick & Allies gathering troops to attack Negan, reminded me of waiting for my health bar to refill while playing a video game.  You know, before you run into the big boss battle, you run off to the side, go prone in the corner and let your AI troops battle the bad guys while your health/armor refill?  Rick has some troops, Andrea trains some snipers, Jesus picks-up some fighters in an old school bus…  I guess we did need to see this or else there would have been complaining: “Where did all these people come from?”
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Batman #21 – Review

BATMAN #21

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors) and Nick Napolitano (letters)

Back-up story: Snyder & James Tynion, IV (writers), Rafael Albuquerque (art), Dave McCaig (colors) and Taylor Esposito (letters)

The Story: A young Batman has to deal with the Red Hood and other Gotham menaces.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): When the last two Bat-epics you’ve written have been the Black Mirror and Court of Owls, expectations are bound to be high when you launch a new 11-issue saga with the ambitious title “Batman: Zero Year”.  Scott Snyder and his able companions are mostly able to live up to expectations and give us a solid first issue that leaves us wanting more.

Probably the strongest part of this issue was the first several pages where we see a trashed Gotham and a little boy spear-fishing in the flooded Gotham subway system.  He gets attacked by some guys wearing horrible masks [What is it with Snyder and creepy masks?  Owl Masks, gas masks, etc....] and he is saved by Road Warrior Batman.  The single panel of Batman with his sleeves ripped off and kitted up with all sorts of post-apocalypse standards like crossbows, dirt bikes and rope was really tantalizing: I’m willing to read just about any story if the payoff is that we learn how Batman ended up in that state.  I think we’ve found Greg Capullo’s Batman: Black and White sculpture!
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Rachel Rising #17 – Review

RACHEL RISING #17

By: Terry Moore (writer/artist/letters)

The Story: The same as it’s been; reincarnated witches menace a small, modern-day town.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): Rachel Rising has been mired in “Act 2″ for what seems like a long time.  It’s still a very high-quality series and I enjoy each issue, but “we” have understood the broad outlines of the threat facing the town for 5-6 issues now and not much new has really happened: Each issue we learn a little more about Zoe or a little more about Jet or something about Malus, but nothing really happens.  These reincarnated witches TALK a big game about vengeance, but we’ve yet to see much really happen beyond the occasional, isolated murder.
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Fashion Beast #10 – Review

FASHION BEAST #10

By: Alan Moore (script), Moore & Malcolm McLaren (story), Antony Johnston (sequential adaptation), Facundo Percio (art)

The Story: Can the fashion house survive the death of its founder?

Review (with SPOILERS): Hmm…  Now that Fashion Beast is over, I’m not really sure what the ending meant.  This has been a very deep and thought-provoking series, so I’m unclear whether there was a deep meaning that kinda went over my head OR perhaps the story simply doesn’t have a powerful ending (explaining why this story sat undeveloped for ~30 years).

The issue basically follows the events as the fashion house created by Celestine tries to continue past Celestine’s death.  There is a difference of opinion in the House.  The two old women want to continue the House using Celestine’s discarded designs; they have LOTS of those and it is enough to keep the House running for years.  It might not have the bolt of inspiration that Celestine’s best work had, but it would pay the bills and keep the lights on.  Celestine’s plan was to leave the House to one of his lowest workers.  This young man has been a supporting character throughout the series, but I honestly cannot remember his name.  Anyway, this young man wants to have the House feature designs of his own creation.  He doesn’t do the same style of classic fashion that Celestine did – his style is more punk/urban – but it his own and it comes from an honest passion for creation.
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Kick Ass 3 #1 – Review

KICK-ASS 3 #1

By: Mark Millar (writer/co-creator), John Romita, Jr. (pencils/co-creator), Tom Palmer (inks & washes), Dean White (colors), Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: With Hit-Girl in jail, what will the other heroes do?

Review: This was a pretty sedate return for Kick-Ass.  If you’ve followed the Kick-Ass miniseries, you know we’re now at a point where Hit-Girl has been incarcerated for her vigilante ways and Kick-Ass has formed a team of costumed adventurers.

Mark Millar really seems to asking the question of what Kick-Ass will do now that his talisman (Hit-Girl) has been removed from the equation.  We all know what would happen in the pages of Batman or Daredevil or Punisher (or some other made-up superhero): Kick-Ass would free Hit-Girl from prison and the “team” would embark of a path of vengeance against the villains and cops who had put them in such a postion.  Mark Millar really isn’t interested in telling that sort of story.  He’s more interested in exploring what would really happen to a kid like Kick-Ass who has lost his leader and is discovering that his “team” is a pack of losers.
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Elephantmen #48 – Review

ELEPHANTMEN #48 - Review

By: Richard Starkings (writer), Alex Medellin (art/colors)

The Story: Ebony, Hip & Trench are killing Tigers on the moon while racial dramas play out on Earth.

Review: Another pretty strong issue of Elephantmen.  It’s a shame that more folks don’t read it because it’s a very strong science fiction story.  Even if piecing together all the back issues would be tedious, the collected editions are supposedly really sweet.

Part of this issue deals with Ebony, Hip and Trench finishing their attack on the Chinese moonbase wherefrom sprang the Tigermen and the plague that caused all this mess in the first place.  Bad, bad Chinese scientists!  As you can imagine, the good guys win and it’s pretty fun to see the elephantmen just kicking ass.  But it isn’t just “fun” to see them smashing and impaling; it’s also important to the story.  One of the bigger themes of the series is whether these hulking creatures that have been bred for war can ever become “decent members of society”.  The series has mostly followed elephantmen like Hip and Ebony who are (mostly) successfully making the transition to “gentle giants”, so it’s easy to forget the power and the rage that bubbles under the surface of these creatures.  They all have a LOT of blood on their hands and are capable of some pretty brutal things.
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Chew #34 – Review

CHEW #34

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

The Story: Tony Chu comes face-to-face (?) with The Collector.

Review: I always say that Chew is the funniest comic on the stands.  Most months offer several belly laughs and a ton of snicker-inducing sight gags.  By Chew‘s lofty standards for humor, this was an off-issue as I only counted ONE belly-laugh and a handful of snickers.  Hard to really know how to grade such an issue.  On one hand, it is still funnier than anything else I’ve read this month.  On the other, it was a bit of a disappointment because when I download an issue of Chew onto my iPad, I anticipate a certain level of humor and when the product is only 80% of the humor I expected, well, it’s hard not to feel a little let down.
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Morning Glories #27 – Review

MORNING GLORIES #27

By: Nick Spencer (writer), Joe Eisma (art), Alex Sollazzo (colors), Johnny Lowe (letters)

The Story: Time traveling hijinks from the students of the Morning Glories Academy.

Review: “This is probably my last review of Morning Glories.”  That’s what I thought as I read through the issue.  Usually when that thought runs through my mind, it’s because I’m not enjoying the comic at all.  With MG, I’m walking away from reviewing it even though I still enjoy the comic quite a bit; the problem is that I don’t understand anything that is going on and cannot offer any useful insight on the plot twists.
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The Massive #12 – Review

THE MASSIVE #12

By: Brian Wood (writer), Danijel Zezelj (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: Callum Israel keeps chasing after The Massive.

Review (with little SPOILERS): I said in last issue’s review that The Massive isn’t really “a series to review on a monthly basis”.  Yet–due to a light week–The Massive is back under the bright lights again.  Let’s see how this deliberately-paced series fares when faced with monthly pressure to create a “discussable moment.” (more…)

GI Joe: Cobra Files #2 – Review

G.I. JOE: COBRA FILES #2

By: Mike Costa (writer), Antonio Fuso (pencils), Emilio Lecce (inks), Arianna Florean (colors) & Neil Uyetake (letters)

The Story: GI Joe interrogates the former Cobra Commander’s son.

Review: Even if this issue was a couple weeks late, it is still showing why Cobra Files is the best of the GI Joe titles.  What really sets Cobra Files apart is that it isn’t trying to thrive on fan-service.  All the other Joe comics have some amount of characters referencing the past or or gadgetry having to look like 1980s toys or overt sexiness of the characters, but not Cobra Files.  If the creators wanted to, they could totally go down that path.  I mean, they have Lady Jaye on the team and we know from past GI Joe comic experiences that Lady Jaye can be drawn with an enormous, heaving bosoms–but not here.  In fact, in Cobra Files you can’t really even tell that Lady Jaye has bosoms; she’s just another soldier with her own particular expertise.
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The Unwritten #49 – Review

THE UNWRITTEN #49

By: Mike Carey and Peter Gross (creators, writers/artists), Chris Chuckry (colors), Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Tommy, Lizzie & Gang have to escape from the real Hell.

Review (with SPOILERS): There were a few surprises in this issue.  Namely, although I guess that it was made clear in the cliffhanger final page of last issue, I totally didn’t catch that it was Pullman in charge of Hell.  Without his magical hand and trademark pea-coat, I just didn’t make the connection.  Perhaps the facial hair isn’t distinctive enough?
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The Fall of the House of Usher #1 – Review

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER #1

By: Richard Corben (story adaptation & art)

The Story: An all-time great adapts Edgar Allan Poe’s classic story for comics.

Review (with little SPOILERS): To share a little secret, this wasn’t even a comic I planned to review this week.  There was another comic that was supposed to fill this “slot” in my schedule, but it was so boring and lousy that I couldn’t even finish it (and it was an extra-long ~50 pages–ugh).  Thankfully, I still had The Fall of the House of Usher #1 lying in my stack of books.

Honestly, I had forgotten that this comic was even coming out.  When the guy at my LCS handed it to me, I kinda looked at it funny because I almost never buy comic adaptations of well-known books.  My thought is, “If I want to read about a work of literature, I’ll just read the book itself….”   I immediately noticed, “Oh–it has a nice Richard Corben cover.”  And then I noticed that Richard Corben had done the entire book – words and all – and it suddenly made sense why I’d put it on my pull list months ago.
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GI Joe: Special Missions #3 – Review

G.I. JOE: SPECIAL MISSIONS #3

By: Chuck Dixon (writer), Paul Gulacy (art), Aburtov & Grafikslava (colors) and Neil Uyetake (letters)

The Story: Scarlet tries to thwart a Cobra salvage operation.

Review: This is a pretty mediocre comic.  If you’re a big-time GI Joe fan and just want to keep connected to the storyline, I guess this will do, but it’s hard to imagine this issue winning anyone over to the cause of GI Joe comics.

The story is pretty mundane and routine: Cobra is trying to salvage a bunch of money from the wreck of one of their ships; Scarlet and a team of Joes is trying to stop them.  Most of the actual fighting happened last issue and this issue treats us to little more than Scarlet watching Cobra escape.  The storytelling choices in this issue leave a lot to be desired.  For example, at one point in the issue Scarlet and Mainframe have a mini-cliffhanger of “We’re not alone in this water filled room…”  Turn the page and they get attacked by a shark–and that’s kinda cool.  Who doesn’t enjoy a shark-attack?
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Dream Merchant #1 – Review

DREAM MERCHANT #1

By: Nathan Edmondson (writer) and Konstantin Novosadov (art)

The Story: A man has strange dreams and is chased by spectres of death.

Review (with minor SPOILERS):  This probably simply isn’t my type of comic.  I’ll go into details about why I didn’t love it, but it obviously works for some people because as I pull-up the issue on my iPad, I see that the Comixology community is rating it 4/5 stars.  Of course, most of the comics on Comixology have 4/5 stars, but still, someone is clicking those buttons and enjoyed the issue.
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Chin Music #1 – Review

CHIN MUSIC #1

By: Steve Niles (writer), Tony Harris (art), Bill Tortolini (letters)

The Story: Something about 1930′s era gangsters and demonic forces and Egypt.  It’s really not very clear….

Review: This comic issue really challenges the idea of buying a comic “just to look at the art” because it looks amazing–but doesn’t have much story.

From an art standpoint, you won’t find many comics that look better than Chin Music #1.  It’s really glorious stuff.  I love all the interesting things that Tony Harris does with his panel borders.  He really turns the panel borders into part of the artwork with all these filigrees and whatnot.  I don’t know whether to wish that more artists drew inspiration from Harris or to cringe at the thought of artists doing non-expert jobs aping Tony Harris panel borders.  Regardless, if you’re interesting in seeing someone playing around with the concept of the entire page in a comic being a work of art, then this is an issue worth checking out.
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Batman #20 – Review

BATMAN #20

By: Scott Snyder (writer), Greg Capullo (pencils), Danny Miki (inks), FCO Plascencia (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Back-up by: James Tynion IV (writer), Alex Maleev (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Dezi Sienty (letters)

The Story: Batman versus Clayface.

Review (with very minor SPOILERS): Last issue suffered from misaligned reader expectations.  Snyder & Capullo had been telling epic Bat-stories for a year and a half, so when they hit us with a mere Batman vs. Clayface 2-issue story, it was hard to know what to make of it: “Really?  Just a superhero fighting a supervillain?  No redefinition of what it means to be Batman?  No deconstruction?”  Now that last issue altered my expectations, it was possible to enjoy the solid execution in this issue.

From a macro-standpoint, it’s probably wise for Snyder to mix up the storytelling.  As mentioned above, he’s been telling hardcore Bat-stories for a long time.  Even before this partnership with Greg Capullo, he did that great run in Detective Comics.  Starting with next issue, he’s doing this Batman: Zero Year story that will run for 11 issues and will surely have epic overtones.  Maybe Snyder just thought we needed a cigarette break before going back into the serious Bat-stories.
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The Walking Dead #110 – Review

WALKING DEAD #110

By: Robert Kirkman (writer), Charlie Adlard (art), Cliff Rathburn (gray tones), Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Will the truth get out about Rick’s little insurrection before Rick can even rally the troops?

The Review (with SPOILERS): This issue has a fair share of good and bad in it.  Let’s talk about the bad first and get it out of the way.  Last issue, we saw Rick and Jesus spreading word of their insurrection to some of the other communities when suddenly it appeared that one of their putative “allies” had jumped over the wall of Hilltop to go warn Negan that trouble was coming.  Cliffhanger!  End of issue!  So, we had a month to worry if the plan had been revealed prematurely or whether Negan actually had an extensive network of spies in the communities.

It was honestly a real downer to see Jesus just chase down this runner and make him change his mind.  It might be a realistic way for the story to play out, as in, “in real life, you might actually have a wishy-washy guy who changes his mind all the time.”  But, this development didn’t make for a very interesting story.  There was a bit of tension when Negan’s men showed up, but even that seemed pretty light.  Imagine how tense it would have been if Jesus had caught this Kal guy winking at the Saviors and then Jesus had to kill the whole crew–and then Rick and Jesus would have to mount their attack before the Savior patrol was reported overdue.  Not saying that Kirkman should do it that way, but I think that would have been more interesting than what we got.  All isn’t over and it’s still highly possible that this group of Saviors will return to Negan and tell him that Kal and Jesus were “acting weird,” but I don’t see much point in making your story boring now just so it’ll seem cooler when you make it exciting later.

Now, the good part of the issue was all the stuff around Ezekiel and the Kingdom.  When we first met Ezekiel a few issues ago, he was interesting, but the whole thing seemed far-fetched. Why does he talk like that?  Why does he have a tiger? And, for crissakes, WHAT does the tiger eat?

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Ten Grand #1 – Review

TEN GRAND #1

By: J. Michael Straczynski (writer), Ben Templesmith (art) and Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: A hard-boiled PI gets involved with a demonic cult.

Review (with very minor SPOILERS): There’s not a whole lot to say about this comic.  The story is derivative and not reason enough to buy the comic, and while Templesmith’s art is pretty strong, you can get Templesmith art from various collected editions because he’s not really breaking new ground (for him) here.

So what makes me call the story derivative?  Well, the main character is a private investigator or hit man or something.  I guess most people would call him “hard boiled” because that’s a shorter word than “unshaven, dirty, rumpled clothes, heavy drinker, no family”.  Of course, this dude works out of the seedy side of town where he gets approached by a young woman who wants him to do a job. And (of course) she is earnest and (of course) she can only barely afford his fee and (of course) the case has some past connection to the PI.  It’s just very cliche and since it happens in the first few pages of the comic, your attention is already beginning to wander.
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Fashion Beast #9 – Review

FASHION BEAST #9

By: Alan Moore (script), Moore & Malcolm McLaren (story), Antony Johnston (sequential adaptation), Facundo Percio (art), Hernan Cabrera (colors) & Jaymes Reed (letters)

The Story: After the death of a key employee, what will become of the famed house of fashion?

Review (with SPOILERS): Well, it was bound to happen.  Fashion Beast has been an interesting series all along, but it veered strongly into “incredibly thought provoking” for issues #7 and #8.  Those issues had so much depth and complexity that I really, REALLY got my hopes up for this issue.  This ninth issue isn’t poor, but it in no way approaches the craft of the last two issues.  This issue actually stands as an testament to how we should enjoy those transcendant comics while we hold them in our hands, because it is hard to predict when a combination of writer/artist/story will come along and really connect with you.  The next issue might not bring the same heat.
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The Massive #11 – Review

THE MASSIVE #11

By: Brian Wood (writer), Declan Shalvey (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) & Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: Ninth Wave continues looking for the Massive off the coast of California.

Review: The Massive is a very odd series.  For one thing, it isn’t much of an ongoing story.  It’s more of a setting and an opportunity to watch some characters roam around and do stuff in this setting.  As such, it’s really not a series to review on a monthly basis.  When you review a series month-after-month, there is more tendency to focus on what happened in that issue rather than examining the series as a whole.  So, having not reviewed the series since the seventh issue, let’s take a look at what is going on….
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The Unwritten #48 – Review

THE UNWRITTEN #48

By: Mike Carey & Peter Gross (creators), Chris Chuckry (colors) and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Tommy continues trying to save his lady love from Hades.

Review (with SPOILERS): This issue is a little hard to react to.  For the past 6 months or so, The Unwritten has really poured on the subtext.  Every issue was almost hard to review because there were so many subtle things going on, that I just knew I wasn’t doing a thorough job of discussing them all.  So, as I braced myself for this issue, I was bemused to discover that it was just…fine.  This month The Unwritten gives us a pretty straight-forward story without any subtext.  It isn’t awesome or mind-bending or lousy or crap; it’s just “fine”.
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East of West #2 – Review

EAST OF WEST #2

By: Jonathan Hickman (writer), Nick Dragotta (art), Frank Martin (colors) & Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: Don’t like the Electoral College?  How about having the Four Horsemen choose the next President?

Review (with SPOILERS): This was another really strong issue for East of West.  Some little mysteries are explained, but more is left vague–and left vague in a good way.  The ultimate effect is to leave me wanting the next issue immediately!  This comic just has “IT”.  It reminds me of that old Simpsons‘ episode where Bart gets hired over Lisa to do local news because Bart has “zazz”.
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The Sixth Gun #30 – Review

THE SIXTH GUN #30

By: Cullen Bunn (writer), Brian Hurtt (art), Bill Crabtree (colors), Douglas E. Sherwood (letters)

The Story: The gang seeks medical/spiritual attention for Becky after she is overcome from using The Sixth Gun too much.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): I came away from this issue feeling disappointed and unfulfilled.  It’s a little difficult to capture “why” this issue comes up short, but I think it has to do with where TSG stands as a series and decompressed storytelling.  Ugh–decompression..  At 30 issues, the series is mature: we know the characters and we know the stakes; now we need to get on with the story.
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Mara #4 – Review

MARA #4

By: Brian Wood (writer), Ming Doyle (art), Jordie Bellaire (colors) and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: Professional volleyball may be no place for a super-being, but the military is happy to have Mara.

Review (with minor SPOILERS): This issue doesn’t have much zap to it.  After three issues chronicling the downfall of Mara Prince from “Super-Star Volleyball Icon” to “Horrible Cheater!”, this was the issue to show how the military really doesn’t care about fighting fair.  It was a predictable place for the comic to go, but the execution is off and it results in a story that doesn’t ask any interesting questions or cause any passions to be aroused.
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