Somehow I missed this book’s debut last year, and it’s a shame. While not any kind of classic piece of literature, Soon I Will Be Invincible is definitely a capable piece of fiction that delves deep in to the psyches of megalomaniacal villain Dr. Impossible and confused cyborg heroine Fatale. Grossman does this ably with a chapter by chapter revolving first person narrative between the two characters. Both delve in to their past accomplishments and failures while Impossible secures his latest plans and Fatale teams with her companions in the New Champions in an effort to stop him. The two narrators are original and engaging, and the other characters in the book twist around the usual Justice League stand-ins.
All in all though, Soon I Will Be Invincible becomes little more than a well told superhero tale without anything to make it a deeper piece of fiction. But what a super-tale it tells! Recommended.
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Superhero Fiction Review: Inside Straight - A Wild Cards Novel
In the happy, happy Nick-event of 2008, I present to you my review of Inside Straight: A Wild Cards Novel. Now in case you don’t know what the Wild Cards series is, you are looking at one of the grand-daddies of superhero fiction right here. This new book obviously hopes to capitalize off the success of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series as evidenced by his massive name on the cover. It’s all good if it means we can now see regular updates to a great franchise.
Inside Straight does a lovely job of reintroducing the world to all the people who haven’t been around for the last seventeen books in the series. I personally have only read about ten of those books, so I appreciate the little backtracks that give any pertinent knowledge myself. Inside Straight revolves around two pertinent subjects: an upheaval of the Egyptian government that leaves the joker (freaks that the Wild Card virus left horribly disfigured) population in dire straits. Meanwhile in America, a new television show called American Hero debuts. Basically a reality show with twenty-eight aces (super-powers) competing to determine who will be the next big superhero. Much of this saga is told in stories of several new or rarely used characters: Jonathan Hive (whose narrative ties the entire book together), the Amazing Bubbles, Earth Witch, Rustbelt, etc.) Their plot suddenly ties in with the Egypt plot midway through the book and everything pretty much goes crazy from there.
A lot of Ultimate Marvel-style concepts seem to pop-up as the stories intertwine, but all in all Inside Straight is an excellent new edition to the Wild Cards franchise. Do yourself a favor, go pick this book up, and then hunt down as many of the previous books in this series as you are able. You’ll be glad you did.
Oh, and it looks like you will soon be able to enjoy both a new Wild Cards comic (hopefully better than the previous weak attempt from Epic in the late 80’s) and role-playing game (using the excellent Mutants and Masterminds system instead of the clunky GURPS system of yesteryear). Looks like it may be a renaissance year for Wild Cards, something every superhero fiction fan out there should cheer!
Inside Straight does a lovely job of reintroducing the world to all the people who haven’t been around for the last seventeen books in the series. I personally have only read about ten of those books, so I appreciate the little backtracks that give any pertinent knowledge myself. Inside Straight revolves around two pertinent subjects: an upheaval of the Egyptian government that leaves the joker (freaks that the Wild Card virus left horribly disfigured) population in dire straits. Meanwhile in America, a new television show called American Hero debuts. Basically a reality show with twenty-eight aces (super-powers) competing to determine who will be the next big superhero. Much of this saga is told in stories of several new or rarely used characters: Jonathan Hive (whose narrative ties the entire book together), the Amazing Bubbles, Earth Witch, Rustbelt, etc.) Their plot suddenly ties in with the Egypt plot midway through the book and everything pretty much goes crazy from there.
A lot of Ultimate Marvel-style concepts seem to pop-up as the stories intertwine, but all in all Inside Straight is an excellent new edition to the Wild Cards franchise. Do yourself a favor, go pick this book up, and then hunt down as many of the previous books in this series as you are able. You’ll be glad you did.
Oh, and it looks like you will soon be able to enjoy both a new Wild Cards comic (hopefully better than the previous weak attempt from Epic in the late 80’s) and role-playing game (using the excellent Mutants and Masterminds system instead of the clunky GURPS system of yesteryear). Looks like it may be a renaissance year for Wild Cards, something every superhero fiction fan out there should cheer!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Comics Review Part Two!
Re: Circle #5
Sadly, with the end of “The Goliath Trap” also comes the end of Brian Reed and Ian Hosfeld’s The Circle. It makes me quite sad as I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hosfeld’s art was beautiful while still quite original. Reed’s story started slow but built up to be a compelling saga with a great climax. The characters were solid, the villains were well written, and the story hit all the notes of a great piece of espionage fiction.
Apparently, it just couldn’t get a foothold in the marketplace of today. That saddens me a bit, and it also makes me wonder if Reed and Hosfeld would have been better off taking this series to someone like Dark Horse or Oni Press that have a few more resources to put behind endorsing the series. Two men can only do so much, especially with the great amounts of expansion Image has been going through over the last couple of years. And I don’t think Brian Reed’s growing status as a comic writer is enough to guarantee his Marvel fans will find their way over to buying an Image title.
Anyway, I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried this series to go out and ask their retailer to order the current issues. Or pick up the trade when it releases. But go out and try this series. And if you like it, make your voices be heard to the powers that be at your favorite publishes. Maybe somehow, somewhere, The Circle will be able to find its way back in to the market.
Re: Comics NOW! #2
If you haven’t heard of this one it is because it’s a comic magazine rather than a comic itself. Comics NOW! is an amalgam of Wizard and Twomorrows Publishing’s always excellent Back Issue. While rising above the current schlock that Wizard peddles, it falls short of being as good a magazine as it could be.
First, I’ll say this issue corrects a lot of the production mistakes issue one fell through. A lot less dead space on the pages, columns fall in the angles they are supposed to, and such. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many people will see that, as the cover art for this one is honestly pretty atrocious. The Nova cover on issue one looked professional quality, but the DC villains cover this month seems somewhat amateurish.
While stronger overall than issue one, the articles themselves still feel rather weak. They seem to be trying for serious study of current trends and stories in comics, but instead each article feels like a so-so summation of those trends and concepts. A little more critical analysis might help these articles as would a few more creator interviews in said articles. The article on pulp heroes in comics succeeded at this (although it apparently has some kind of fantasy that a Shadow comic is on the market). Good interviews, good summations, and overall a good outlook on the genre. That being said, the oversight of the new Lone Ranger series seems a big strange to me.
The article on crime comics is so-so, and it suffers a bit from its focus on pointing out old rules to the comic code that no one on the indy market has followed for thirty years now. It makes little sense in the current market, where only Archie still uses the comics code (and I’m not even sure about them). And again the article suffers as, while its interviews are good, it fails to deliver the writer of the big boy in today’s advent of crime fiction, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal.
The article on villains as comic stars is weak at best and honestly more long winded and boring than it is anyway informative. The retrospective on Luke Cage is nothing new, the columns on podcasting and the market read like filler, and the article on silver age silliness (this month, Batman’s time traveling pal) is just what it sounds like: silly fluff. The columns that round out the book do little to change my opinion about over-written fluff, and the story synopses, while handy, are written in the dullest tone imaginable. Their focus on only Spider-Man and X-Men from Marvel seems strange as well when the publisher’s top selling books are the Avengers titles.
The major saving grace of this issue: a new fourteen page Black Coat story. Black Coat is an excellent title that needs to get back in to the market sooner rather than later, and I’m hoping this story can help that happen.
All in all, Comics NOW! has potential. Some strengthening of the features in every issue and dropping the excessive columns for another feature would definitely strengthen the book, and continued endeavors to feature more indy books as good as Black Coat won’t hurt either.
Re: Dark Ivory #1
I would have bought this series just for the beautiful Linsner painted art; I’m not going to lie. And honestly, I am not seeing a lot past that as of yet. Ivory looks good but doesn’t seem to have a lot of depth, and issue one only serves to introduce us to an awful lot of characters for what is only a four issue limited series. Nonetheless, the gorgeous art keeps the series together quite well. And as I said, the Linsner art is worth the $2.99 all by itself.
Danger’s Dozen #3
I picked up this book mostly to see the return of the great Norm Breyfogle to the printed page. His art has been solid, although the inking on the book (by Breyfogle himself at least this issue) seems a little weak. I’m not going to try and give a plot synopsis because honestly, the story is all over the place. Suffice it to say the book revolves around a guy named Boss Aman who is a sort of Doc Savage type, but a Doc Savage with a giant floating mystical eye that follows him around. He seems to be encountering a regular horde of weirdoes and superhumans, all while not coming close to having formed a team of twelve.
The $6.95 cover price for this double sized issue was a little steep as well, but it does contain two issues worth of story to make up for it. I am not sure how long this series can continue without forming a little more solid narrative however. Right now it comes off as a bit of amateur hour from someone with enough money to hire an out of work but solid artist.
The back of the book contains a preview of a new series called Contract and it looks to be an even bigger mess than Danger’s Dozen, and without the added help of Breyfogle on art. All in all, A First Salvo seems to have potential as a publisher, but they are going to have to kick their work in to high gear if they think they’re going to survive in today’s marketplace.
Death of the New Gods #7
One of the few DC books I’m still buying reaches its penultimate chapter with this issue, which reveals the killer of the Fourth World characters. Everyone left pretty much dies this issue, while Starlin finally ties the series more closely to his previous Fourth World epic, the amazing Cosmic Odyssey. His art is solid, the story is great, and although it saddens me to say it, I think this series has been a fitting end to Jack Kirby’s characters.
One more issue and one last New God remains. Looks like issue eight will be quite the epic struggle. If you haven’t been buying this one, I suggest you rush out and pick up the trade in a few months. If you enjoy cosmic heroes at all, you will definitely enjoy this one.
Re: Witchblade #116
This is the first issue of Witchblade that I’ve picked up since sometime in the mid-60’s of the series. I did so mostly off the strength of Phil Hester’s new Darkness series and the copy of First Born #1 I got for half price a couple months back.
I liked a lot of what I saw. Dani Baptiste is a far more compelling character than Sara Pezzini, although she does lack the convenient job as a police officer to build new storylines around. That’s exactly what this issue does as we are introduced to a serial killer apparently obsessed with the twelve Apostles and their deaths. This harkens back to Paul Jenkins’ issues on the series (when I gave up regularly buying the book), but unlike those Marz’s so-so story is lifted by the art. Stjepan Sejic is a virtuoso and his computer-painted style is unlike anything else on the market. And unlike other computer painters out there (Adi Granov comes to mind), Sejic seems able to produce work at a mind-boggling speed. His witchblade effects are just plain gorgeous, as are all the women he draws. His men are still a little weak in my opinion, but with at least thirty-something more issues of Witchblade ahead of him he can do nothing but improve.
All in all an able handed production and a good sign of things to come. I will definitely be sticking around at least a few months to see how this series pans out.
Sadly, with the end of “The Goliath Trap” also comes the end of Brian Reed and Ian Hosfeld’s The Circle. It makes me quite sad as I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hosfeld’s art was beautiful while still quite original. Reed’s story started slow but built up to be a compelling saga with a great climax. The characters were solid, the villains were well written, and the story hit all the notes of a great piece of espionage fiction.
Apparently, it just couldn’t get a foothold in the marketplace of today. That saddens me a bit, and it also makes me wonder if Reed and Hosfeld would have been better off taking this series to someone like Dark Horse or Oni Press that have a few more resources to put behind endorsing the series. Two men can only do so much, especially with the great amounts of expansion Image has been going through over the last couple of years. And I don’t think Brian Reed’s growing status as a comic writer is enough to guarantee his Marvel fans will find their way over to buying an Image title.
Anyway, I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried this series to go out and ask their retailer to order the current issues. Or pick up the trade when it releases. But go out and try this series. And if you like it, make your voices be heard to the powers that be at your favorite publishes. Maybe somehow, somewhere, The Circle will be able to find its way back in to the market.
Re: Comics NOW! #2
If you haven’t heard of this one it is because it’s a comic magazine rather than a comic itself. Comics NOW! is an amalgam of Wizard and Twomorrows Publishing’s always excellent Back Issue. While rising above the current schlock that Wizard peddles, it falls short of being as good a magazine as it could be.
First, I’ll say this issue corrects a lot of the production mistakes issue one fell through. A lot less dead space on the pages, columns fall in the angles they are supposed to, and such. Unfortunately, I don’t know how many people will see that, as the cover art for this one is honestly pretty atrocious. The Nova cover on issue one looked professional quality, but the DC villains cover this month seems somewhat amateurish.
While stronger overall than issue one, the articles themselves still feel rather weak. They seem to be trying for serious study of current trends and stories in comics, but instead each article feels like a so-so summation of those trends and concepts. A little more critical analysis might help these articles as would a few more creator interviews in said articles. The article on pulp heroes in comics succeeded at this (although it apparently has some kind of fantasy that a Shadow comic is on the market). Good interviews, good summations, and overall a good outlook on the genre. That being said, the oversight of the new Lone Ranger series seems a big strange to me.
The article on crime comics is so-so, and it suffers a bit from its focus on pointing out old rules to the comic code that no one on the indy market has followed for thirty years now. It makes little sense in the current market, where only Archie still uses the comics code (and I’m not even sure about them). And again the article suffers as, while its interviews are good, it fails to deliver the writer of the big boy in today’s advent of crime fiction, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Criminal.
The article on villains as comic stars is weak at best and honestly more long winded and boring than it is anyway informative. The retrospective on Luke Cage is nothing new, the columns on podcasting and the market read like filler, and the article on silver age silliness (this month, Batman’s time traveling pal) is just what it sounds like: silly fluff. The columns that round out the book do little to change my opinion about over-written fluff, and the story synopses, while handy, are written in the dullest tone imaginable. Their focus on only Spider-Man and X-Men from Marvel seems strange as well when the publisher’s top selling books are the Avengers titles.
The major saving grace of this issue: a new fourteen page Black Coat story. Black Coat is an excellent title that needs to get back in to the market sooner rather than later, and I’m hoping this story can help that happen.
All in all, Comics NOW! has potential. Some strengthening of the features in every issue and dropping the excessive columns for another feature would definitely strengthen the book, and continued endeavors to feature more indy books as good as Black Coat won’t hurt either.
Re: Dark Ivory #1
I would have bought this series just for the beautiful Linsner painted art; I’m not going to lie. And honestly, I am not seeing a lot past that as of yet. Ivory looks good but doesn’t seem to have a lot of depth, and issue one only serves to introduce us to an awful lot of characters for what is only a four issue limited series. Nonetheless, the gorgeous art keeps the series together quite well. And as I said, the Linsner art is worth the $2.99 all by itself.
Danger’s Dozen #3
I picked up this book mostly to see the return of the great Norm Breyfogle to the printed page. His art has been solid, although the inking on the book (by Breyfogle himself at least this issue) seems a little weak. I’m not going to try and give a plot synopsis because honestly, the story is all over the place. Suffice it to say the book revolves around a guy named Boss Aman who is a sort of Doc Savage type, but a Doc Savage with a giant floating mystical eye that follows him around. He seems to be encountering a regular horde of weirdoes and superhumans, all while not coming close to having formed a team of twelve.
The $6.95 cover price for this double sized issue was a little steep as well, but it does contain two issues worth of story to make up for it. I am not sure how long this series can continue without forming a little more solid narrative however. Right now it comes off as a bit of amateur hour from someone with enough money to hire an out of work but solid artist.
The back of the book contains a preview of a new series called Contract and it looks to be an even bigger mess than Danger’s Dozen, and without the added help of Breyfogle on art. All in all, A First Salvo seems to have potential as a publisher, but they are going to have to kick their work in to high gear if they think they’re going to survive in today’s marketplace.
Death of the New Gods #7
One of the few DC books I’m still buying reaches its penultimate chapter with this issue, which reveals the killer of the Fourth World characters. Everyone left pretty much dies this issue, while Starlin finally ties the series more closely to his previous Fourth World epic, the amazing Cosmic Odyssey. His art is solid, the story is great, and although it saddens me to say it, I think this series has been a fitting end to Jack Kirby’s characters.
One more issue and one last New God remains. Looks like issue eight will be quite the epic struggle. If you haven’t been buying this one, I suggest you rush out and pick up the trade in a few months. If you enjoy cosmic heroes at all, you will definitely enjoy this one.
Re: Witchblade #116
This is the first issue of Witchblade that I’ve picked up since sometime in the mid-60’s of the series. I did so mostly off the strength of Phil Hester’s new Darkness series and the copy of First Born #1 I got for half price a couple months back.
I liked a lot of what I saw. Dani Baptiste is a far more compelling character than Sara Pezzini, although she does lack the convenient job as a police officer to build new storylines around. That’s exactly what this issue does as we are introduced to a serial killer apparently obsessed with the twelve Apostles and their deaths. This harkens back to Paul Jenkins’ issues on the series (when I gave up regularly buying the book), but unlike those Marz’s so-so story is lifted by the art. Stjepan Sejic is a virtuoso and his computer-painted style is unlike anything else on the market. And unlike other computer painters out there (Adi Granov comes to mind), Sejic seems able to produce work at a mind-boggling speed. His witchblade effects are just plain gorgeous, as are all the women he draws. His men are still a little weak in my opinion, but with at least thirty-something more issues of Witchblade ahead of him he can do nothing but improve.
All in all an able handed production and a good sign of things to come. I will definitely be sticking around at least a few months to see how this series pans out.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Comic Reviews Catch-up part 1
Re: Astounding Wolf-Man #5
All right, now things are finally heating up in this book. I’ve been a big proponent of stuffing a lot in to every issue of this book as long as it continues its bimonthly status, and this issue gives a lot of bang for the dollar. Loved the Capes cameo, and the character development points between Wolf-Man and his more and more estranged family is some great comics writing. The lovely Erin at my local shop, Alter Ego (331 7th Ave. in Marion, IA for anyone in the Eastern part of our lovely corn-filled, first to vote state), was nice enough to hook me up with an issue featuring the beautiful variant cover by David Williams and Art Adams. I remember Williams from pin-ups and a few single issues years back at Marvel. Where’s he been all this time?
Re: Grendel Behold the Devil #5
Zombies! Sweet!
I was wondering when this series would finally kick in to gear, and issue five seems to be it. We are finally tying together some of the pieces of the story, building towards the answers to Grendel’s problems and all together making some damn good stuff.
Great stuff and here’s hoping for a whole lot more from Matt after this book is finished.
Re: Hack/Slash #10
Mostly a filler issue, but we do finally get a look at Cassie Hack’s father and his work. Another brutal fight with some yucky feral children, more great art by Emily Stone, and a rather good read even if it doesn’t seem as deep as previous issues. (I can’t believe I just used the term deep for this series…) Anyhow, well worth the $3.50 admission price and the preview cover image alone has me itching for issue #11.
Re: Invincible #49
More good stuff as we wrap up the mini-Image crossover fight with Dr. Seismic. We finally get the build to issue 50 (really quick there, Kirkman) and the return of both Darkwing and the Reanimen served the story well. This issue has me salivating for issue 50, so I have to say good job with that, Robert. And the pinup by Rob Hough is just plain amazing in the back. Someone needs to get this guy on an extended project and stat.
Re: Madman Atomic Comics #7
A quick read this one, what without any words and the like, but as always another beautiful issue of Madman. I enjoyed this issue quite a bit though, as it’s an obvious bridge from the extended arc of issue one and six and what I hope is more traditional one or two issue arcs a la the older Madman issues. Madman’s such a great character and such a great book that is so versatile in any number of comic book genres that the extended space story has sort of worn thin on me. But I ain’t going anywhere. For his art alone, Allred books are well worth every penny, and this comic has nowhere to go but up in a big way.
Re: Omega One #2
Big City Comics has surprised me right out of the bat with some impressive series. I have enjoyed Mario Gully’s new Ant Unleashed book quite a bit, Tempest is a fun twist on the vampire book that harkens back to Marvel’s take on the vampire, and Omega One is one of the best concepts for a team book in ages. Take the un-team concept of the Defenders than throw in a subcutaneous explosive device that forces the characters to work together and you pretty much have the concept behind this book.
The characters in the first arc all first appeared in Image’s Ant in the final issues of that series, but you really don’t need to have read that book or even issue one of this series to get that. No, writer Jeff Kaufman does an excellent job of making sure we know who everyone is in the series and why they are here. Painter Elvin Cintron brings them gloriously to life with some of the best painted art I’ve seen in comics since Alex Ross.
Oh, and did I mention Shi? William Tucci’s classic and always cool sohei warrior guest stars in this story arc, following up her appearances in Fallen Angel last year. Now we just need to convince Mr. Tucci to finish up his Sgt. Rock commitments and get moving on a new Shi project to follow up these stories. Other creators’ guest stars seem to be a recurring theme for this book as next issue Heroic Publishing’s Liberty Girl appears on the cover. It’s a great concept to help out the books, and let’s hope it can help Omega One and the rest of the Big City Comics line last for some time to come.
Re: Snakewoman: Curse of the 68 #1
When I picked up the original run of this book it was for the interesting concept mixed with the talents of up-and-coming writer Zeb Wells and the art of the always excellent Michael Gaydos. Gaydos only lasted about 6 issues though, and the series continued on halfway decently until issue 12. The lackluster Tales of the Snake Charmer limited followed that, and I considered giving up Snakewoman then and there. But the concept of Curse of the 68 seemed interesting, so I decided to give this one an order.
Well, it’s definitely the best arc since the early parts of the first series. Instead of focusing on the current incarnation of the Snakewoman, we are now flashing back to previous reincarnations, starting with a story in the old west. Behind a just plain awesome painted cover by Gaydos, new artist/colorist Pradip Ingale provides far superior art than anything that appeared in Tales of the Snake Charmer. Curse of the 68 looks to be an excellent series of done in ones that help explore the Snakewoman concept, but after it’s done I wonder if there is really anything left to say for the character. Even so, I’ll be back for the rest of this curse.
Re: The Sword #6
I’ve flip-flopped a bit on my opinion on The Sword. All in all it is better paced and better written than their previous Girls, but six issues in it already has its weak points. This issue gave us a solid look at the history of the title weapon and its original holder Demetrios, and how that saga relates to the three villains of the story. All in all, it’s a nice bit of mythology and works well to tie the series first five issues together.
Now that it’s out of the way though, I’m not sure how much left can really be said about current holder Dara and her quest to destroy the three siblings. Honestly, I don’t really see a need to run this series for more than a few more issues (four or five max) to finish up the saga. But hey, the Luna brothers are nothing if not surprising in their writing style so I’ll have to wait and see where this one is going to go.
Re: Tangent: Superman’s Reign #1
I’m going to be a 100% honest here: I’m an unrepentant Tangent fanboy. I loved both of the Tangent fifth week events from the late 90’s, and if anything made me mad from that era it was the fact that we didn’t get either a third event or an ongoing series spun out of those issues. Well, nearly a decade later and DC finally answers my wish.
Superman’s Reign #1 isn’t the greatest Tangent story ever, but original Tangent creator Dan Jurgens gives us a decent start to a new extended Tangent story that will apparently feature New Earth’s Flash and Green Lantern (John Stewart) as cast members as well. Characters are well written, but the story plods along quite a bit, spending more time reintroducing the Tangent Joker than anything else.
The backup by Ron Marz does a little bit better even though it serves only to introduce two mystery characters. But it does give a quick review of the history of the Tangent Universe which will be handy for all newcomers to the book.
All in all, this is a good start, especially with 11 more issues to go before the series finishes. It makes me happy to see DC give original Tangent architects Jurgens and Marz the reigns with this, and I just hope that Tangent: Superman’s Reign can prove as excellent as the initial two runs of Tangent were years ago.
All right, now things are finally heating up in this book. I’ve been a big proponent of stuffing a lot in to every issue of this book as long as it continues its bimonthly status, and this issue gives a lot of bang for the dollar. Loved the Capes cameo, and the character development points between Wolf-Man and his more and more estranged family is some great comics writing. The lovely Erin at my local shop, Alter Ego (331 7th Ave. in Marion, IA for anyone in the Eastern part of our lovely corn-filled, first to vote state), was nice enough to hook me up with an issue featuring the beautiful variant cover by David Williams and Art Adams. I remember Williams from pin-ups and a few single issues years back at Marvel. Where’s he been all this time?
Re: Grendel Behold the Devil #5
Zombies! Sweet!
I was wondering when this series would finally kick in to gear, and issue five seems to be it. We are finally tying together some of the pieces of the story, building towards the answers to Grendel’s problems and all together making some damn good stuff.
Great stuff and here’s hoping for a whole lot more from Matt after this book is finished.
Re: Hack/Slash #10
Mostly a filler issue, but we do finally get a look at Cassie Hack’s father and his work. Another brutal fight with some yucky feral children, more great art by Emily Stone, and a rather good read even if it doesn’t seem as deep as previous issues. (I can’t believe I just used the term deep for this series…) Anyhow, well worth the $3.50 admission price and the preview cover image alone has me itching for issue #11.
Re: Invincible #49
More good stuff as we wrap up the mini-Image crossover fight with Dr. Seismic. We finally get the build to issue 50 (really quick there, Kirkman) and the return of both Darkwing and the Reanimen served the story well. This issue has me salivating for issue 50, so I have to say good job with that, Robert. And the pinup by Rob Hough is just plain amazing in the back. Someone needs to get this guy on an extended project and stat.
Re: Madman Atomic Comics #7
A quick read this one, what without any words and the like, but as always another beautiful issue of Madman. I enjoyed this issue quite a bit though, as it’s an obvious bridge from the extended arc of issue one and six and what I hope is more traditional one or two issue arcs a la the older Madman issues. Madman’s such a great character and such a great book that is so versatile in any number of comic book genres that the extended space story has sort of worn thin on me. But I ain’t going anywhere. For his art alone, Allred books are well worth every penny, and this comic has nowhere to go but up in a big way.
Re: Omega One #2
Big City Comics has surprised me right out of the bat with some impressive series. I have enjoyed Mario Gully’s new Ant Unleashed book quite a bit, Tempest is a fun twist on the vampire book that harkens back to Marvel’s take on the vampire, and Omega One is one of the best concepts for a team book in ages. Take the un-team concept of the Defenders than throw in a subcutaneous explosive device that forces the characters to work together and you pretty much have the concept behind this book.
The characters in the first arc all first appeared in Image’s Ant in the final issues of that series, but you really don’t need to have read that book or even issue one of this series to get that. No, writer Jeff Kaufman does an excellent job of making sure we know who everyone is in the series and why they are here. Painter Elvin Cintron brings them gloriously to life with some of the best painted art I’ve seen in comics since Alex Ross.
Oh, and did I mention Shi? William Tucci’s classic and always cool sohei warrior guest stars in this story arc, following up her appearances in Fallen Angel last year. Now we just need to convince Mr. Tucci to finish up his Sgt. Rock commitments and get moving on a new Shi project to follow up these stories. Other creators’ guest stars seem to be a recurring theme for this book as next issue Heroic Publishing’s Liberty Girl appears on the cover. It’s a great concept to help out the books, and let’s hope it can help Omega One and the rest of the Big City Comics line last for some time to come.
Re: Snakewoman: Curse of the 68 #1
When I picked up the original run of this book it was for the interesting concept mixed with the talents of up-and-coming writer Zeb Wells and the art of the always excellent Michael Gaydos. Gaydos only lasted about 6 issues though, and the series continued on halfway decently until issue 12. The lackluster Tales of the Snake Charmer limited followed that, and I considered giving up Snakewoman then and there. But the concept of Curse of the 68 seemed interesting, so I decided to give this one an order.
Well, it’s definitely the best arc since the early parts of the first series. Instead of focusing on the current incarnation of the Snakewoman, we are now flashing back to previous reincarnations, starting with a story in the old west. Behind a just plain awesome painted cover by Gaydos, new artist/colorist Pradip Ingale provides far superior art than anything that appeared in Tales of the Snake Charmer. Curse of the 68 looks to be an excellent series of done in ones that help explore the Snakewoman concept, but after it’s done I wonder if there is really anything left to say for the character. Even so, I’ll be back for the rest of this curse.
Re: The Sword #6
I’ve flip-flopped a bit on my opinion on The Sword. All in all it is better paced and better written than their previous Girls, but six issues in it already has its weak points. This issue gave us a solid look at the history of the title weapon and its original holder Demetrios, and how that saga relates to the three villains of the story. All in all, it’s a nice bit of mythology and works well to tie the series first five issues together.
Now that it’s out of the way though, I’m not sure how much left can really be said about current holder Dara and her quest to destroy the three siblings. Honestly, I don’t really see a need to run this series for more than a few more issues (four or five max) to finish up the saga. But hey, the Luna brothers are nothing if not surprising in their writing style so I’ll have to wait and see where this one is going to go.
Re: Tangent: Superman’s Reign #1
I’m going to be a 100% honest here: I’m an unrepentant Tangent fanboy. I loved both of the Tangent fifth week events from the late 90’s, and if anything made me mad from that era it was the fact that we didn’t get either a third event or an ongoing series spun out of those issues. Well, nearly a decade later and DC finally answers my wish.
Superman’s Reign #1 isn’t the greatest Tangent story ever, but original Tangent creator Dan Jurgens gives us a decent start to a new extended Tangent story that will apparently feature New Earth’s Flash and Green Lantern (John Stewart) as cast members as well. Characters are well written, but the story plods along quite a bit, spending more time reintroducing the Tangent Joker than anything else.
The backup by Ron Marz does a little bit better even though it serves only to introduce two mystery characters. But it does give a quick review of the history of the Tangent Universe which will be handy for all newcomers to the book.
All in all, this is a good start, especially with 11 more issues to go before the series finishes. It makes me happy to see DC give original Tangent architects Jurgens and Marz the reigns with this, and I just hope that Tangent: Superman’s Reign can prove as excellent as the initial two runs of Tangent were years ago.
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