#IReadsYou Review: INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #5

THE INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #5
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
ARTIST: Moritat
COLORS: Matt Carter
LETTERS: Dave Sharpe
EDITOR: Matt Idleson
COVER: Amanda Conner with Paul Mounts
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Joseph Michael Linsner; Celina; Frank Cho; Elias Chatzoudis; cosplay
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (October 2021)

Rated Teen+

Red Sonja is female high fantasy and sword and sorcery hero.  She first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 (cover dated February 1973) and was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith.  Red Sonja was loosely based on “Red Sonya of Rogatino,” a female character that appeared in the 1934 short story, “The Shadow of the Vulture,” written by Conan the Cimmerian's creator, Robert E. Howard.

In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing comic books featuring differing versions of the character.  One of those is The Invincible Red Sonja.  It is written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Moritat; colored by Matt Carter; and lettered by Dave Sharpe.  In this recently launched series, Red Sonja finds herself on a spectacular journey filled with pirates, mermaids, princesses, and political intrigue as the fate of two kingdoms hangs in the balance.

The Invincible Red Sonja #5 finds the She-Devil with a Sword is in the thrall of Lord Brelaq.  Now, she has embarked on a blood-soaked adventure, killing the armies of two kingdoms – at his command.  And no matter how many times she is wounded, Sonja can't die!  And she can't refuse her new master!

Meanwhile, as the kingdom mourns King Madacon (killed by Brelaq), his son, Prince Ederik, and his bride-to-be, Princess Zaria, seek help from an ersatz member of the royal family, Bahira Yakootah, the Lord of Thieves.  However, the request butts up against Bahira's complicated past, but it offers him a chance at revenge.  Meanwhile, Brelaq might be having a change of heart...

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is The Invincible Red Sonja #5, which is the second issue of the series that I have read.

Once again, an issue of this series opens under a gorgeous cover drawn by Amanda Conner and colored by Paul Mounts.  Also, once again, Conner and Palmiotti deliver a rousing story.  Or I can be honest and say that it is as thoroughly kick-ass as the best Conan the Barbarian comic books.  Conner and Palmiotti deliver a sterling series of twists and turns that will have readers zipping through this issue.  The Invincible Red Sonja #5 is truly epic because there are enough story elements here for at least two issues, if not three.

Here, artist Moritat's illustrations still remind me of the art of the late Vaughn Bode.  He blends over-the-top action with emotionally charged storytelling, which creates the kind of two-fisted mode that defines sword and sorcery comic books.  Matt Carter's colors give the story some extra edge, and Dave Sharpe's lettering pounds out a murderous pace.  This is the kind of creative team a She-Wolf with a Sword truly deserves.

I did not expect much from The Invincible Red Sonja #4, but after I read it, I suddenly had high expectations for the series.  The Invincible Red Sonja #5 lives up to those expectations, and as the penultimate chapter of this opening story arc, it sets the ground for a hellified ending.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Red Sonja comic books will want to read The Invincible Red Sonja.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

The trade collection of this series, "INVINCIBLE RED SONJA COLLECTION," is available in a Kindle edition at Amazon.

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#IReadsYou Review: JAMES BOND: Himeros #3

JAMES BOND: HIMEROS #3
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Pierluigi Minotti
COLORS: Adriano Augusto
LETTERS: Social Myth Studios
EDITOR: Joe Rybandt
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Butch Guice; Francesco Francavilla
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2021)

Rated T+

Based on the characters and stories created by Ian Fleming

“James Bond” is a fictional British Secret Service agent created by Ian Fleming, a British writer and novelist.  Fleming introduced James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale, and featured the character in 12 novels and two short-story collections.  Of course, most people know Bond because of Eon Productions' long-running James Bond-007 film series, which began with the 1962 film, Dr. No.

Over the past 50+ years, Bond has made sporadic appearances in comic books, but Dynamite Entertainment has been steadily publishing James Bond comic books since early 2016.  Their latest James Bond comic book is James Bond: Himeros.  It is written by Rodney Barnes; drawn by Pierluigi Minotti; colored by Adriano Augusto; and lettered by Social Myth Studios.  In Himeros, 007 finds himself caught in a web of powerful people who will kill to keep their child sex trafficking secrets from coming to light.

James Bond: Himeros #3 opens in James Bond's memory – Thailand, three years ago.  He has dealt with sex traffickers in the past.  Now, he must uncover new horrors via billionaire financier and notorious sex trafficker, Richard Wilhelm, who was killed in Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh, London.  But Wilhelm's secrets did not die with him.  

Now, Wilhelm's right hand man, Sarah Richmond, is the target of arms dealer, Anton Bates, who enjoyed the sex services Wilhelm provided and wants Richmond dead.  Bond is very good at what he does, including protection, but Bates' assassin Kino is proving hard to shake and more than capable of killing Richmond … and Bond.

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is James Bond: Himeros #3, which is one of several Dynamite James Bond comic books I've read.

Writer Rodney Barnes has been slowly building this series.  In Himeros #3, he moves the story off simmer and throws some gasoline on the fire of that story.  From the rumbling volcano of a back story to the the race to escape Miami, Barnes deals in hot, hot, hot.

Last issue, artist Antonio Ruso's art and storytelling came at the readers like lightning-quick punches, capturing all the surprising kinetic action.  Now, the new artist, Pierluigi Minotti, comes with a can of gas to add to Barnes' fuel.  I like this change; it does not disrupt the story and Minotti's art has a style similar to the great Eduardo Risso's (100 Bullets).  Adriano Augusto's colors fit right in with the new artist, capturing both the moods of traditional James Bond fiction and the story's new heat.  “Himeros” is the Greek god of sexual desire, and after reading James Bond: Himeros #3,  dear readers, I desire that you desire it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of James Bond comic books will want to try James Bond: Himeros.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-------------

The trade collection for JAMES BOND: HIMEROS can be purchased at Amazon.

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#IReadsYou Review: RED SONJA Black White Red #5

RED SONJA BLACK WHITE RED #5
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Jacob Edgar; Oliver Gerlach; Frank Tieri
ART: Jacob Edgar; Alex Moore; Lee Ferguson
COLORS: Giorgio Spalletta; Alex Moore; Kike J. Diaz
LETTERS: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: Lucio Parrillo
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Joshua Sway Swaby; Jae Lee; Lucio Parrillo; Rachel Hollon (cosplay)
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2021)

Rated Teen+

Based on the characters and stories created by Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Robert E. Howard

Conan the Barbarian #23 (cover dated: February 1973) saw the debut of a high fantasy, sword and sorcery heroine, Red Sonja.  Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith, Red Sonja was loosely based on “Red Sonya of Rogatino,” a female character that appeared in the 1934 short story, “The Shadow of the Vulture,” written by Robert E. Howard (1906-1936), the creator of the character, Conan the Cimmerian.

In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing comic books featuring differing versions of the character.  One of those is Red Sonja Black White and Red, an anthology comic book featuring stories from well known comic book writers and artists, with the art presented in black, white, and red.

Red Sonja Black White and Red #5 is comprised of three stories.  The first is “The Hunted,” which is written and drawn by Jacob Edgar; colored by Giorgio Spalletta; and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elahou.  The second is “The Chill Touch of Sorcery!,” which is written by Oliver Gerlach; drawn and colored by Alex Moore; and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elahou.  The third is “Erik the Black, He-Demon with an Axe,” which is written by Frank Tieri; drawn by Lee Ferguson; colored by Kike J. Diaz; and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elahou.

THE LOWDOWN:   Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Red Sonja Black White and Red #5, which is the fourth issue of the title that I have read.

“The Hunted” by Jacob Edgar, Giorgio Spalletta, and Hassan Otsmane-Elahou:
Baron Raaf wants someone to bring him the head of Red Sonja.  Is that “Yul, the Eternal,” called an immortal because no man has ever drawn his blood?  Are Wenyl and Fenyl, speedy and skilled with a dagger, the men who can kill the She-Devil?  Can an archer take her down?  Who is the hunted?

“The Hunted is a thoroughly enjoyable story.  Like many of the short stories in this series, “The Hunted” is for Red Sonja fans because they don't need the narrative to unveil Sonja's character as they know her.  Readers only need a clever plot, and this one is.

“The Chill Touch of Sorcery!” by Oliver Gerlach, Alex Moore, and Hassan Otsmane-Elahou:
Red Sonja is pursuing a sorceress across a treacherous, icy landscape.  It is a good story, but not a great story.  I do like the artist's use of page design here.

“Erik the Black, He-Demon with an Axe” by Frank Tieri, Lee Ferguson, Kike J. Diaz, Hassan Otsmane-Elahou:
In a bar full of assassins, pirates, thieves, barbarians, she-bitches, etc., everyone gives Red Sonja, the She-Devil with a Sword a wide birth … except Erik the Black, He-Demon with an Axe.  He says that he is here to kick “the fine, metal bikined ass” of Red Sonja...

Writer Frank Tieri offers his usual meaty, violent storytelling, which I enjoy, but with a neat twist.  Lee Ferguson's art fits this story's “tale of” back-story aspects.  It all works.

It is not hard for me to pick a favorite story of the three offered in Red Sonja Black White and Red #5.  It is “The Hunted” by Jacob Edgar, Giorgio Spalletta, and Hassan Otsmane-Elahou.  However, “Erik the Black, He-Demon with an Axe” is a nice runner-up and would be my favorite otherwise.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Red Sonja will want to try Red Sonja Black White and Red.

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can find these stories and more in the hardcover trade collection, RED SONJA: BLACK, WHITE, RED VOL. 2, which is available at Amazon.

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#IReadsYou Review: ELVIRA Meets Vincent Price #3

ELVIRA MEETS VINCENT PRICE #3
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: David Avallone
ART: Juan Samu
COLORS: Walter Pereya
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland
EDITOR: Joseph Rybandt
COVER: Dave Acosta
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Dave Acosta; Juan Samu; Anthony Marques and J. Bone
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (November 2021)

Rated Teen+

Chapter Three: “Raiders of the Lost Schlock”

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the “horror hostess character,” known as “Elvira.”  Elvira gradually grew in popularity and eventually became a brand name.  As Elvira, Peterson endorsed many products and became a pitch-woman, appearing in numerous television commercials throughout the 1980s.

Elvira also appeared in comic books, beginning in 1986 with the short-lived series from DC Comics, Elvira's House of Mystery, which ran for eleven issues and one special issue (1987).  Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark from 1993 to 2007.  In 2018, Elvira returned to comic books via Dynamite Entertainment in the four-issue comic book miniseries, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, that actually ran for 12 issues.

Vincent Price (1911–1993) was an American actor and a legendary movie star.  Price was and still is best known for his performances in horror films, although his career spanned other genres.  Price appeared in more than 100 films, but he also performed on television, the stage, and on radio.  Thus, he has two stars on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame,” one for motion pictures and one for television.

Elvira and Vincent Price team up for the first time in the comic book miniseries, Elvira Meets Vincent Price.  The series is written by David Avallone; drawn by Juan Samu; colored by Walter Pereyra; and lettered by Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland.  The series finds Elvira and Price searching for a long-lost cult movie, “Rise of the Ram,” because it contains an incantation that can save the world from destruction at the hands of the ancient Egyptian god, Amun-Ra.

As Elvira Meets Vincent Price #3 (“Raiders of the Lost Schlock”) opens, Elvira and Vincent travel to Cairo, Egypt in hopes of finding the one person who could still have a copy of “Rise of the Ram,” the film's screenwriter, Ahmed Alhazred.  Our ghoulish duo finds him at “The Pyramid Fields of Abu Sir,” conducting tours and doing archaeological work.  Elvira and Vincent get lucky, as Ahmed has even more good news for them about The Books of the End of All Things, a scroll that has suddenly become an important part of Elvira and Vincent's quest.

However, they are unaware that they are being stalked by the “Sons of the Desert.”  Even if they avoid that trouble, their main adversary is about to make her big appearance.

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Elvira Meets Vincent Price #3, which is the third issue of the series that I have read and one of many Dynamite Elvira comic books that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

I have been a fan of writer David Avallone's Elvira comic books for a few years now.  Once again, an issue of Elvira Meets Vincent Price reminds me, if I need a reminder (which I don't), why I love these comic books so much.  In this third issue, Avallone gifts his readers a game of cat-and-mouse among the pyramids.  His script is filled with sparkling comedy, witty asides, and enough cultural references to make Quentin Tarantino jealous.  I should not forget the funny bit players and supporting characters like the “Sons of the Desert” who may be a riff on a kind of silent movie stock villain.

Talented Spanish artist, Juan Samu's graphical storytelling and art creates a comic book that recalls screwball comedies and Bob Hope and Bing Crosby with Dorothy Lamour.  Walter Pereya's painterly colors light up the story in living color.  The lettering, by Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland, creates a delightful pitter-patter of breezy comedy and endless charm.

I could read another 100 pages of Elvira Meets Vincent Price #3; I'm addicted.  Dear readers, don't deny yourself this cure for the pandemic-time blues.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Elvira and of Vincent Price and of David Avallone's Elvira comic books will want to read Elvira Meets Vincent Price.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

------------------

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#IReadsYou Review: ELVIRA Meets Vincent Price #2

ELVIRA MEETS VINCENT PRICE #2
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: David Avallone
ART: Juan Samu
COLORS: Walter Pereya
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland
EDITOR: Joseph Rybandt
COVER: Dave Acosta
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Dave Acosta; Juan Samu; Anthony Marques and J. Bone
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (September 2021)

Rated Teen+

Chapter Two: “Ankhs for the Mammaries”

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the “horror hostess character,” known as “Elvira.”  Elvira gradually grew in popularity and eventually became a brand name.  As Elvira, Peterson endorsed many products and became a pitch-woman, appearing in numerous television commercials throughout the 1980s.

Elvira also appeared in comic books, beginning in 1986 with the short-lived series from DC Comics, Elvira's House of Mystery, which ran for eleven issues and one special issue (1987).  Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark from 1993 to 2007.  In 2018, Elvira returned to comic books via Dynamite Entertainment in the four-issue comic book miniseries, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, that actually ran for 12 issues.

Vincent Price (1911–1993) was an American actor and a legendary movie star.  Price was and still is best known for his performances in horror films, although his career spanned other genres.  Price appeared in more than 100 films, but he also performed on television, the stage, and on radio.  Thus, he has two stars on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame,” one for motion pictures and one for television.

Elvira and Vincent Price team up for the first time in the comic book miniseries, Elvira Meets Vincent Price.  The series is written by David Avallone; drawn by Juan Samu; colored by Walter Pereyra; and lettered by Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland.  The series finds Elvira and Price searching for a long-lost cult movie in order to save the world from the wrath of an awakened Egyptian god.

As Elvira Meets Vincent Price #2 opens, Vincent uses his ghostly wiles to save Elvira from a violent servant of Amun-Ra.  That's right.  That is just a taste of the Armageddon to come if Elvira and Vincent don't find the only surviving copy of the lost cult film, “Rise of the Ram.”  Price starred in the doomed, never-seen film, and now, it is time to start finding the rest of his collaborators on the film, who may know something about the whereabouts of Rise of the Ram.

So our heroic duo flies to England to find Richard “Rick” Rogue, the director of “Rise of the Ram,” and his wife, Claudia Antonelli, the Italian starlet who was Vincent's costar in the film.  But Rick and Claudia have their own problems, and Elvira is about to be the unwilling solution.

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been a fan of writer David Avallone's Elvira comic books for a few years now.  Elvira Meets Vincent Price reminds me, if I need a reminder (which I don't), why I love these comic books so much.

After a cool first issue, Avallone delivers a script for the second issue that is so witty and sparkling that I wish I had a 100 pages more of it.  It's like “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” blended with the team of Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in The Ghost Breakers (1940).

Talented Spanish artist, Juan Samu, who has drawn Marvel Action Black Panther and Transformers comics for IDW Publishing, creates storytelling that practically bleeds charm and coolness.  Samu may be creating the first graphical presentation of supernatural comedy and screwball antics every presented in comic book form.

Walter Pereya's colors capture the sparkle and ghostly chemistry in Avallone's script, while the lettering by Taylor Esposito and Elizabeth Sharland conveys the breezy pace of the story.  I'm having a blast reading Elvira Meets Vincent Price.  It is almost too good to be true how well this crossover works.  And yes, I already want a sequel.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Elvira and of Vincent Price and of David Avallone's Elvira comic books will want to read Elvira Meets Vincent Price.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/DAvallone
https://twitter.com/Juansamuart
https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/
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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

------------------

Amazon wants me to inform/remind you that any affiliate links found on this page are PAID ADS, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on affiliate links like these, BOOKS PAGE, GRAPHIC NOVELS, or MANGA PAGE and BUY something(s).

#IReadsYou Review: ELVIRA Meets Vincent Price #1

ELVIRA MEETS VINCENT PRICE #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: David Avallone
ART: Juan Samu
COLORS: Walter Pereya
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland
EDITOR: Joseph Rybandt
COVER: Dave Acosta
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Dave Acosta; Juan Samu; John Royle
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2021)

Rated Teen+

Chapter One: “The Price is Right!”

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the “horror hostess character,” known as “Elvira.”  Elvira gradually grew in popularity and eventually became a brand name.  As Elvira, Peterson endorsed many products and became a pitch-woman, appearing in numerous television commercials throughout the 1980s.

Elvira also appeared in comic books, beginning in 1986 with the short-lived series from DC Comics, Elvira's House of Mystery, which ran for eleven issues and one special issue (1987).  Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark from 1993 to 2007.  In 2018, Elvira returned to comic books via Dynamite Entertainment in the four-issue comic book miniseries, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, that actually ran for 12 issues.

Vincent Price (1911–1993) was an American actor and a legendary movie star.  Price was and still is best known for his performances in horror films, although his career spanned other genres.  Price appeared in more than 100 films, but he also performed on television, the stage, and on radio.  Thus, he has two stars on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame,” one for motion pictures and one for television.

Elvira and Vincent Price team up for the first time in the comic book miniseries, Elvira Meets Vincent Price.  The series is written by David Avallone; drawn by Juan Samu; colored by Walter Pereyra; and lettered by Taylor Esposito with Elizabeth Sharland.  The series finds Elvira and Vincent searching for a long-lost movie in order to save the world.

Elvira Meets Vincent Price #1 opens after the events depicted in Elvira: The Omega Ma'am.  [This is a Kickstarter comic book that shipped to campaign supporters the first quarter of this year.]  Elvira and her writing partner, Eddie Mezzogiorno, are in the offices of a powerful streaming service.  The duo is (desperately) pitching ideas for new “Elvira” television series with no luck.  In fact, things have been a bit dark of late for the “Mistress of the Dark,” with the possibility of darker still to come.

After a night of drinking, Elvira experiences an intense dream-vision in which her “favorite all-time movie star” – living or dead – appears.  It's the late, but still great Vincent Price!  He needs Elvira's help to find a lost movie of his, but this match made in cinematic-Hades seems to have the forces of darkness aligned against them.

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been a fan of writer David Avallone's Elvira comic books for a few years now.  When Avallone is teamed with artist Dave Acosta, they deliver hugely-entertaining Elvira comic books; they are the “Misters of the Dark.”

For Elvira Meets Vincent Price, Avallone teams up with talented Spanish artist, Juan Samu, who has drawn Marvel Action Black Panther and Transformers comics for IDW Publishing.  Here, Samu's layouts and page designs deftly capture the wild mood swings of this first issue – from the banality of office spaces to the mirthful macabre of Elvira's dwellings and from the fever dreamscapes of Elvira to the crusty outback of the California film making industry.  Samu is also a man of a thousand facial expressions, as he is always conveying different character tempers and humors, panel per panel.  Walter Pereya's colors add a quality to the storytelling that is both lurid and dreamlike.

David Avallone's script is filled with sparkling and witty dialogue, the kind of which DC Comics' Harley Quinn comic books so desperately need.  Reading Avallone's dialogue for Vincent Price certainly made my imagination believe that Price was actually speaking.  The interplay of bold and plain text in the lettering by Taylor Esposito and Elizabeth Sharland balances the need for the script to be funny, and it also advances a plot.

So I encourage everyone looking for (really) funny macabre comedy to purchase and read Elvira Meets Vincent Price #1.  I want a sequel to this series, already.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Elvira and of Vincent Price and of David Avallone's Elvira comic books will want to read Elvira Meets Vincent Price.

A

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/DAvallone
https://twitter.com/Juansamuart
https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

Buy the Elvira Meets Vincent Price trade paperback collection here.

#IReadsYou Review: INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #4

[Note on the cover art: As far as I could find out, the numbering is wrong and this is cover of "The Invincible Red Sonja #4.]

THE INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #4
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti
ARTIST: Moritat
COLORS: Matt Carter
LETTERS: Dave Sharpe
EDITOR: Matt Idleson
COVER: Amanda Conner with Paul Mounts
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Joseph Michael Linsner; Amanda Conner with Paul Mounts; Celina;
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2021)

Rated Teen+

Red Sonja is female high fantasy and sword and sorcery hero.  She first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 (cover dated February 1973) and was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith.  Red Sonja was loosely based on “Red Sonya of Rogatino,” a female character that appeared in the 1934 short story, “The Shadow of the Vulture,” written by Conan the Cimmerian's creator, Robert E. Howard.

In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing comic books featuring differing versions of the character.  One of those is The Invincible Red Sonja.  It is written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Moritat; colored by Matt Carter; and lettered by Dave Sharpe.  In this recently launched series, Red Sonja finds herself on a spectacular journey filled with pirates, mermaids, princesses, and political intrigue as the fate of two kingdoms hangs in the balance.

As The Invincible Red Sonja #4 opens, the She-Devil with a Sword watches as Bahira Yakootah, the Lord of Thieves, summons demons from molten lava in his mission to kill the King of Erkhara.  In her bid to stop him, however, Red Sonja, commits a fatal act that determine her fate.  Now, death descends on Erkhara, Erkhara destabilizes, and Sonja may find herself even worse off.

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is The Invincible Red Sonja #4, which is the first issue of the series that I have read, but this is not my first experience with the character.  I have actually read various Red Sonja titles over my time as a comic book fan, including a few recently published by Dynamite.

Under a gorgeous cover drawn by Amanda Conner and colored by Paul Mounts, Conner and Palmiotti deliver a surprisingly rousing story.  Although it is but one part of a story arc, this fourth chapter is quite entertaining by itself.  This is one of the best Red Sonja comic books that I have ever read, and I am certainly enjoying this more than I do Conner and Palmiotti's Harley Quinn comic books.

Moritat's illustrations remind me of the art of the late Vaughn Bode.  Moritat's graphical storytelling is over the top in a way a Red Sonja or Conan the Barbarian comic book should be, and the characters' emotions also leap off the page.  Matt Carter's colors give the story some edge and also seem to quicken the pace of the story, along with Dave Sharpe's letters.

Honestly, I did not expect much from The Invincible Red Sonja #4, but now, I gotta have more.  It's like my sword and sorcery crack.  I'd do anything … for another issue.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Red Sonja comic books will want to read The Invincible Red Sonja.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


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----------------------------

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#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: Trigger Warnings #1

RED ROOM: TRIGGER WARNINGS #1
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jim Rugg; Peach Momoko; John Gallagher; Nick Alcorn; Trey Antley
MISC. ART: Diego Rodriguez; Felipe Gasparino Goncalves; Emalie Scipione; Ignacio Di Meglio; Alex Mercado; Barry Tan; Christian Meesey; Barrett Williamson; Isaac W. Stone; Gabriela Sepulveda; Christopher Roy; Vampire Frog; Kauz Hunter; Chris Mori; Ryan Brown; Kevin Alvir; Christopher Couse; Len Danovich; Ryan Bredahl
32pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2021)

Red Room: Trigger Warnings is a new four-issue comic book miniseries from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  It is part of an overall series, entitled Red Room, that Fantagraphics Books is publishing as three miniseries for a total of twelve issues.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-Hop culture.  It has been published in webcomic, graphic novel, and serial comic book form.

Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.

Red Room: Trigger Warnings #1 opens in the family melodrama of Davis Fairfield and his daughter, Brianna, a budding journalist.  Davis lost his wife, Delores, and his other daughter, Hayley, in an automobile accident (as seen in Red Room #1: The Antisocial Network).

Davis is also a Red Room star.  He is “The Decimator,” and Pentagram Picture's “The Decimator Presents: The Rat Queens!” is a gruesome hit.  The bitcoins roll in for Davis and his boss, Mistress Pentagram, but there is trouble on that proverbial horizon.  Brianna is digging into her father's secrets.  What's with the heart attacks, and where does all the cash-on-hand he has come from?  The answers may doom them both.

THE LOWDOWN:  Red Room returns in a new miniseries, but things are as gruesome as ever.  I think that the element that makes Red Room work in all of its horrifying and horrible glory is Piskor's deft touch with his characters.

This is the balance of the series, how ordinary people are caught in the trap of the Dark Web and the Red Rooms.  One can make an argument that the owners and torture stars are inhuman, but the torture victims and the Red Room fans are human.  Their faults and foibles are amplified by their obsessions and lusts, and that makes them fascinating.  Piskor makes his reader want to hone in on the fools as well as the fouls.  Following Davis and Brianna (inadvertently) to their doom is like chasing a prize, but this would not work if Piskor did not create characters that we can engage.

Trigger Warnings does not miss a beat following The Antisocial Network.  There is a sense of verisimilitude even if the Red Rooms seem unbelievable because they are not unbelievable.  Torture, you say?!  Even the “Father of our Nation” owned humans as property and used them as he saw fit – even violently.  Oops, I should have offered a trigger warning.  Instead, I offer praise and encouragement that you, dear readers, at least once, try this truly amazing comic book.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room: Trigger Warnings.

A+

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-------------------

#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Anti-Social Network #4

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #4
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Kayfabe; Jim Rugg; John Gallagher; Geof Darrow
MISC. ART: Preston Asevedo; Small Man Big Mouth; Andrew Gutierrez; Mike Manzi; David Lawless; Adam Lemnah; Anthony Negron; Charlie Franz; Ralph Bednarski; Vinny Olmstead; Tony Fero; Jay Daken; @Gigacrab; Jeff Brown; Slowhed; Dr. Ben Anthony; Yaakov Agrat; George Vega; Steve Meesey; Michael Murphy
32pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a four-issue comic book miniseries from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  It is part of an overall series, entitled Red Room, that will be published by Fantagraphics Books as three miniseries for a total of twelve issues.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-Hop culture.  It has been published in webcomic, graphic novel, and serial comic book form.

Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.

Red Room: The Antisocial Network #4 opens with the notorious host of this comic book, “the Crypto-Currency Keeper.”  He informs his viewers that Red Rooms existed before the World Wide Web did and takes them back to the days of VHS and Betamax with a story entitled “Cyclical Terror!”

This is the story of Raina Dukes.  Her father, Edward, was the victim of Red Room star, Donna Butcher.  The torture and murder of Edward was titled “Donna Butcher Gets Her Man!,” and was one of the most notorious snuff videos of the 1980s.  However, the tape was digitized for the Internet, gaining it an ever growing audience.  The death of her husband dragged on Raina's mother until the day she died.  Raina has been plotting her revenge for decades...

“Pure Evil!” is the story of Evie.  Once she was Donna Butcher, and her Red Room exploits made her famous.  However, hubris and tax evasion led her to federal prison.  “Snuff Said!” is the story of the eventual meeting of a torture celebrity (Donna Butcher) and revenge seeking victim (Raina), so how will it all work out in the end, for both Evie/Donna and Raina?

THE LOWDOWN:  In “Morgue Files,” Ed Piskor's afterword for each issue of Red Room, he discusses how the spirit of EC Comics' publications shaped Red Room #4.  EC Comics was probably the first great comic book publisher that actually produced excellent comic books crafted by the best writers, artists, and editors.

Science fiction, fantasy, horror, war stories, crime stories, and tales of comeuppance:  EC Comics did it all with style and superb craftsmanship – and a little fine art.  EC's horror comic books also had a horror host/mascot.  The most famous may be “the Crypt-Keeper” from the classic EC title, Tales from the Crypt, which was the inspiration and source material for the HBO television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 and for two spin-off films.

EC Comics which had its heyday from 1949- to 1954 could not have published something like Red Room, as notorious as it comic books were.  However, Piskor's art and story are true to the spirit of EC, especially Red Room #4.  Piskor's compositions and page design are … I'm not sure if I have the words.  If he uses an assistant to help draw Red Room's pages, I would still call him incredible.  If he draws all this by himself, I'll call him “Muad'Dib.”  The craziness, the violence, the anger, the suffering, etc.:  it all comes through the powerful graphical storytelling of Red Room: The Antisocial Network #4.

This fourth issues proves that Red Room: The Antisocial Network is both one of the best debuts of 2021 and one of the best comic books of 2021.  Through the allegories, metaphors, and symbolism, this series has the gift of having a ring of truth and of being prophetic.  If the antics in Red Room seem silly and exaggerated to you, dear readers, your favorite news source can introduce you to the Ukraine.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room: The Antisocial Network.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------

#IReadsYou Review: "ELVIRA: The Wrath of Con"

ELVIRA: THE WRATH OF CON
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

[There is a new Elvira comic book, Death of Elvira, at Indiegogo.]

STORY: Elvira & David Avallone
SCRIPT: David Avallone
PENCILS: Dave Acosta
INKS: Dave Acosta and Jason Moore (pp. 12-40)
COLORS: Walter Pereyra
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
EDITOR: Joseph Rybandt
COVER: Dave Acosta and Jason Moore with Ryan Lee
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Dave Acosta and Jason Moore; Dave Acosta and Jason Moore with Ryan Lee; Elvira photo cover
56pp., Color, (2021)

Rated Teen+

“The Wrath of Con”

In the early 1980s, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the “horror hostess character,” known as “Elvira.”  Elvira gradually grew in popularity and eventually became a brand name.  As Elvira, Peterson endorsed many products and became a pitch-woman, appearing in numerous television commercials throughout the 1980s.

Elvira also appeared in comic books, beginning in 1986 with the short-lived series from DC Comics, Elvira's House of Mystery, which ran for eleven issues and one special issue (1987).  Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark from 1993 to 2007.  In 2018, Elvira returned to comic books via Dynamite Entertainment in the four-issue comic book miniseries, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, that actually ran for 12 issues.

Since 2021, Dynamite Entertainment has been running crowdfunding campaigns that go towards producing and publishing special issues of its Elvira comic book series.  Elvira: The Wrath of Con is the second crowdfunded Elvira comic book (after Elvira: The Omega Ma'am) and was successfully funded via a “Kickstarter” campaign.  It is written by Elvira (story) and David Avallone (story-script); drawn by Dave Acosta (pencil and inks) and Jason Moore (inks); colored by Walter Pereyra; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.  The Wrath of Con finds Elvira the honored guest at a major pop culture convention, but not everyone attending is happy to see her.

As Elvira: The Wrath of Con opens, the busty title heroine is watching footage from her latest film, "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark: The Omega Ma'am."  Directed by Hanover Utz, the film is an exaggerated and inaccurate retelling of Elvira's struggle against a cult leader, Rick Circe, and his orange zombies (as seen in The Omega Ma'am).  Known as the “Sudsies,” these zombies were people transformed when they ingested the cleaning product, “Doctor Sudsy.”

Although Elvira and her script doctor, Eddie Mezzogiorno, object to Utz's cut of the film, the director is sticking to his vision.  In fact, he has produced a teaser trailer for the film, and he wants Elvira to screen the trailer at the “San Diego Pop Culturama.”  Elvira is the “Guest of Honor” at the convention, where she will be feted during the “Queen of the Cure” event, which will celebrate her curing the “Sudsies” zombie affliction.

Not everyone is in the celebratory mood, and despite foreshadowing and a warning in the form of an homage to the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).  Will Elvira avoid doom, and will she find the super … hero (“The Soul Survivor”) that she needs?

THE LOWDOWN:  Writer David Avallone and artist Dave Acosta were the original creative dream team of Dynamite's Elvira comic book launch.  The crowdfunded Elvira comic books are a chance for readers to have them together again.

Honestly, Avallone's Elvira scripts would still be comedy gold no matter who drew them.  By “who,” I mean a professional comic book, comics, or graphic novel artist, of course.  The plots don't matter, although Avallone fashions intriguing plots.  These plots allow him to skewer American culture and pop culture.  He is one of the few modern comic book writers that would be worthy of finding a place on the original staff of EC Comics' Mad comic book.

Here, Avallone attacks anti-vaxx, anti-intellectual, Tea Party, conspiracy-obsessed reactionaries with the same razor-sharp humor and disdain Mel Brooks used on Hollywood Western films, corrupt politicians, and racists in his 1974 film, Blazing Saddles.  However, Avallone never forgets to deliver Elvira's trademark charming wit and delightfully droll humor in servings that are as bountiful as the Mistress of the Dark's breasts.

Dave Acosta is the kind of comic book artist who seems to get everything right.  He is a master at cartooning the human face in an impressive array of emotions and expressions.  The most amazing thing about Acosta's work on this series is that every single time he draws Elvira, both her charm and sexiness comes through.  Jokes about her cleavage aside, Acosta conveys Elvira physical attractiveness in her poses and in the way he … exposes her lovely legs when depicting that treasured split in her flowing black dress.

And, dear readers, in order to enjoy such a special, special edition of the Elvira comic book series, you have to support a crowdfunding campaign.  Only the good people who fund it get to enjoy the goodness that is Elvira: The Wrath of Con.  If you missed out, there is a new campaign.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Elvira and of David Avallone's Elvira comic books will want to read Elvira: The Wrath of Con.

[This comic book includes a seven-page “Thank You” section that thanks campaign contributors (of which I am one).]

A+

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


There is a new crowdfunding campaign for a new Elvira comic book, Death of Elvira.  You can visit the campaign here or at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/death-of-elvira-comic-book-does-the-unthinkable#/.


https://twitter.com/DAvallone
https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
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https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

------------

#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Antisocial Network #3

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #3
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ed Piskor; Jim Rugg; Takashi Okazaki; Johnny Desjardins; John Gallagher
MISC. ART: The Baumanator; Sam Majkrzak; Jeff Manley; Birds of Sadness; Jorge Paz; Ben Perkins; Bill McEvoy; John Ashton Golden; Adam Lemnah; Sean Hollenhors; Tyrone Meijer; Barry Tan; Colin Sims; Matt Conover; Chris Anderson
24pp, B&W with some color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a 12-issue new comic book series from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-hop culture and that has been published in both graphic novel and serial comic book form.

Publisher Fantagraphics Books describes Red Room: The Antisocial Network as “a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk masterpiece.”  Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays with cryptocurrency so that it can view “murder for entertainment” in real time via webcam.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.

Red Room: The Antisocial Network #3 introduces Levee Turks.  Once upon a time, he was an encryption software prodigy.  Now, he's serving a life sentence for creating an online drug empire, and he has been in prison for six and a half years.  In that time, however, the dark web has made use of  what Levee created:  the suite of encryption software he made for the black market; the “Chat” client; the bitcoin trading app; and the “Anonymous” video streaming.  Hell, all his creations are in service of the Red Rooms' multi-billion dollar snuff industry.

Enter the FBI, led by Agent McNamara, proposing a deal.  McNamara wants Levee Turks to infiltrate the Red Rooms and help the FBI crack Red Room software, so that it can crack down on the deepest corners of the dark web. Reunited with his girlfriend, Rita, Levee discovers how much as changed.  Does he really know what he is getting into?

THE LOWDOWN:  I don't have much to say about Red Room #3.  Of course, it is a damn good comic book, and I've already made this clear in reviews of previous issues.  The Red Room isn't dystopian science fiction; I believe that it is actually prescient – if not now, sooner than we would like to believe.

Ed Piskor does also offer a nice change of pace with Red Room #3.  Thus far, he has proven quite skilled and deft in creating interesting characters that are cogs in the Red Room gore-covered wheels, such as issue #1's David Fairfield and issue #2's Doctor Daniels.  It would be great to see Levee Turks and Rita again … before they're chopped up.  It is funny that they are both clueless and in deeper than they could ever imagine.

Red Room #3 proves that Red Room was both one of the best debuts of 2021 and one of the best comic books of the year.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room.

A

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
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The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

-------------------------

#IReadsYou Review: MAO: Volume 2

MAO, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA

MANGAKA: Rumiko Takahashi
TRANSLATION: Junko Goda
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Shaenon Garrity
LETTERS: Susan Daigle-Leach
EDITOR: Annette Roman
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2058-3; paperback (November 2021); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £7.99 UK

Mao is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi.  It has been serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, since May 2019.  In September 2021, VIZ Media began publishing an English-language edition of Mao as a series of paperback graphic novels under its “Shonen Sunday” imprint.

Mao focuses on 15-year-old Nanoka Kiba.  Eight years ago, she was in a mysterious car accident in which she and her parents died, but Nanoka continues to live on.  One day, while visiting the shopping alley on Fifth Street, Nanoka inadvertently enters a portal that transports her back to Japan's Taisho era.  There, Nanoka meets a young-looking exorcist named Mao and his helper, Otoya, a shikigami that resembles a small boy.  As they try to discover what thread of fate connects them, they'll kick demon butt along the way.

As Mao, Vol. 2 (Chapters 1 to 10) opens, Nanoka, Mao, and Otoya investigate the strange cult of Priestess Shoko in hopes of bringing her to justice.  However, diabolical forces surround her, and they will kill anyone who stand in their way.  Meanwhile, Shoko reveals a shocking doomsday prophecy.  Later, Nanoka and her friend, the boy who wants to date her, Shiraha, do some historical research and discover a cataclysmic event that is yet to occur in Mao's timeline.

THE LOWDOWN:  The Mao manga is the latest multi-genre manga from Rumiko
Takahashi.  As usual, this title pairs a young female touched by the supernatural with a youngish male whose trade is in the supernatural.

Mao Graphic Novel Volume 2 finds Nanoka hopping back and forth between timelines.  She and Mao investigate all manner of demons.  Meanwhile, a historical disaster connects the two different worlds in which they live, but history may not be entirely correct about the details of event.  The Princess Shoko story arc reveals that while both their personalities and their methods sometimes clash, Nanoka and Mao are actually a rather nice match.

As she did in the first volume, Shaenon Garrity once again offers an English-language adaptation that is a delightful read, capturing the magic that infuses this volume and also the curious and inquisitive nature of Nanoka.  I couldn't stop reading Mao Vol. 1, and by the time I finished Vol. 2, I really wanted to read more.  I heartily recommend this series to any fans of supernatural fantasy comics and graphic novels even if they have never previously read Rumiko Takahashi.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers who love Rumiko Takahashi’s manga will want the Shonen Sunday title, Mao.

A

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://www.viz.com/
https://twitter.com/VIZMedia
https://www.instagram.com/vizmedia/
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVIZMedia
https://www.snapchat.com/add/vizmedia


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

--------------------

#IReadsYou Review: KAIJU No. 8: Volume 1

KAIJU NO. 8, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA

MANGAKA: Naoya Matsumoto
TRANSLATION: David Evelyn
LETTERS: Brandon Bovia
EDITOR: Karla Clark
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2598-4; paperback (December 2021); Rated “T” for “Teen”
212pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £7.99 U.K.

Kaiju No. 8 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoya Matsumoto.  It has been serialized for free on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ application and website since July 2020.  VIZ Media began publishing an English-language edition of the manga as series of paperback graphic novels under its “Shonen Jump” imprint in December 2021

Kaiju No. 8, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 7) opens up in a world where Japan is plagued by the giant monsters known as “kaiju.”  Thirty-two-year-old Kafka Hibino is a kaiju corpse cleanup man.  Kafka works for Monster Sweeper, Inc., a professional kaiju cleaning company, but he wishes that he was a member of the Japanese Defense Force, which is tasked with neutralizing kaiju.

Kafka and childhood friend, Mina Ashiro, both wanted to be members of the Defense Force.  Mina is now captain of the JDF's “Third Division” and has neutralized hundreds of kaiju.  Kafka is training a new part time worker, 18-year-old Reno Ichikawa, who is determined to take the JDF's exam to join the force as a kaiju fighter.  That inspires Kafka to revive his dream to join Mina in the Defense Force, but there is one serious complication.  Kafka has recently made the Defense Force's neutralization list as the kaiju code named Kaiju No. 8!

THE LOWDOWN:  The Kaiju No. 8 manga made its North American debut this month (Dec. 2021).  With its striking cover art, the first volume may tempt fans of kaiju comics to try it.

Kaiju No. 8 Graphic Novel Volume 1 offers a familiar scenario.  A hero is forced into becoming the very kind of monster that he fights, or, in the case of Kafka Hibino, the very monsters which he cleans-up after.  Rather than treating his lead character as tragic, creator Naoya Matsumoto creates a comedy in which the hero makes the best of the situation.  That will probably lead to enough imaginative comic scenarios to keep Kaiju No. 8 running for several volumes, at least.

The translation by David Evelyn captures the moods, styles, and elements in which the manga plies its narrative trade.  Right now, the story focuses on the nastiness of Kafka's job, his growing friendship with Reno, the rigors of training, and how he faces becoming a kaiju.  So far, I like that Kafka is making the best of it.  Maybe, this manga will ultimately be about a hero who overcomes obstacles.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of kaiju manga will want to read the Shonen Jump title, Kaiju No. 8.

A

8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://www.viz.com/
https://twitter.com/VIZMedia
https://www.instagram.com/vizmedia/
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialVIZMedia
https://www.snapchat.com/add/vizmedia


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

----------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).

#IReadsYou Review: HEY KIDS! COMICS! Volume 2: Prophets & Loss #1

HEY KIDS! COMICS! VOL. 2: PROPHETS & LOSS #1 (OF 6)
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

WRITER/ARTIST: Howard Chaykin
COLORS: Gustavo Yen
LETTERS: Ken Bruzenak
EDITOR: Thomas K
COVER: Howard Chaykin with Gustavo Yen
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (May 2021)

Rated “M / Mature”

Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss is a new six-issue comic book miniseries from writer-artist, Howard Chaykin.  Published by Image Comics, it is a sequel to Chaykin's 2018 five-issue miniseries, Hey Kids! Comics!, which was described as depicting “nearly a century of turbulence and and drama in the American comic book industry” and also telling “the stories of the men and women that created it (with names changed, of course).”  Chaykin returns to his history of comics, and the creative team on this new series includes colorist Gustavo Yen and letterer Ken Bruzenak, a longtime Chaykin collaborator.

Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss #1 opens in 1970.  Here, Tommy has a fateful encounter with the comic book collection of his pal Ronnie's older brother, Ira, who is currently stationed in Vietnam (along with his father).  The story moves back to 1951, an important year in American comic books.  Comic book sales have dipped because the enlisted men market of World War II has faded, and the children of these formerly enlisted men are more interested in television than in comic books.

Meanwhile, in the offices of Graham Woods Publications (GW Publications), owner Paul Gertz is about to risk everything on a new line of comics books, if he can keep his two editors, Arnold Grossberg and Dick Altman, from each other's throat.  However, copycats and a self-serving trio could take GW and comics down for the count.

THE LOWDOWN:  Hey Kids! Comics! #1 is told in scenes that take place in five different years (1945, 1955, 1965, 1967, and 2001).  Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss #1 opens in 1971, but focuses on the events of 1951 and on events connected to that year.

Like the first issue of original, Prophets and & Loss #1 offers a story that involves several characters, multiple employers, and lots of job changes.  In the first series, the shifts in time are jarring, as Chaykin introduces characters, plots, and settings without really focusing in on developing characters.  Thus, the first issue of the original series seems to be more about introductions than it is about examining the nitty gritty details of character, storytelling, and drama.

The shifts in Prophets and & Loss #1 are not about time, but do take the readers to different comic book publishing offices and studios.  These shifts are not as jarring as the ones in the original series, especially if you, dear readers, are somewhat familiar with American comic book history.  The places in Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss #1 are obvious stand-ins for EC Comics and National Periodicals (DC Comics).  This time, Chaykin is all about examining the nitty gritty details of character, storytelling, and drama

Several EC Comics creators, from Harvey Kurtzman and Al Feldstein to Wally Wood and William Gaines, make appearances under the guise of new characters.  Even Joe Simon and Jack Kirby make a cameo.  And my beloved trio of Ray Clarke, Benita Heindel, and Ted Whitman from the first series are also in Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss #1.

Hey Kids! Comics! #1 starts slow, although it tells an engrossing story.  Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss #1 is also engrossing, but does not have a slow start; it seems a lot more intense.  To me, after reading Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss #1, it feels like Chaykin has planted an improvised explosive device somewhere inside this series.  It makes me eager to read more.

I heartily recommend that readers get the trade paperback collection of the first issue, and then, enjoy Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and & Loss.  I already am, and I can't wait for more.  The Hey Kids! Comics! series is among Howard Chaykin's best work, and, though I revere American Flagg!, this sly and shameless history of American comic books might be his best work.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Howard Chyakin will want to read Hey Kids! Comics! Vol. 2: Prophets and Loss.

A
8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/hey-kids-comics
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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Antisocial Network #2

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #2
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ed Piskor; Troy Nixey; Jim Rugg
22pp, B&W with some color, $6.99 U.S. (June 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a 12-issue new comic book series from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-hop culture and that has been published in both graphic novel and serial comic book form.  Piskor also produced a highly unusual history of Marvel Comics' X-Men via a series of comic book miniseries entitled X-Men Grand Design.

Publisher Fantagraphics Books describes Red Room: The Antisocial Network as “a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk masterpiece.”  Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays to view webcam murders with crypto-currency.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.  With the help of untraceable crypto-currency, a subculture of criminals has emerged in which one side patronizes the webcam murders for entertainment and in which the other side gleefully kills to entertain in what seems like the evolution of the snuff films of folklore.

As Red Room: The Antisocial Network #2 opens, Pentagram Pictures streams the latest act of butchery from torture star, “Decimator.”  Elsewhere, former multiple Super Bowl champion, Mike Wilkins, is using a flood rescue as a “recruiting mission” to help the people behind torture star, “Poker Face,” find their next Red Room victim.  So how do you turn a guy named Damian into a victim no one will recognize?  You force Doctor Daniels, plastic surgeon, to work on him … because Poker Face needs fresh meat!

THE LOWDOWN:  Red Room is a science fiction comic book series, albeit a dark one.  It has elements of dystopian sci-fi, speculative fiction, and contemporary drama.  It would be easy to call this new series depraved, which it is not.  In a real world in which rich people want what they want and have the super-wealth to get it, the darkest corners of the web will one day offer murder and mayhem like that seen Red Room.  Or maybe it already is.  Each ISIS beheading was Internet ready.

Red Room #2 is a stand alone issue, as was the first issue.  In fact, the entire series will be comprised of stand alone, single-issue tales that are part of a larger narrative world.  This issue, Piskor, with this story of Damian as a man who needs to be saved (several times), tugs at the heart as much as Poker Face will tug on his intestines.  What keeps Red Room from being a joke or torture porn is that Piskor can depict humanity in the the most embarrassing and most horrifying scenes.

Here is something that I noticed before, but to which I never really paid attention.  For a cartoonist, Piskor is an exceptionally skilled illustrator.  From perspective to figure drawing, Piskor's compositions are full of exaggeration and surrealism, but everything and everyone looks correctly drawn (for instance, the floodwaters sequence).  It is a kind of cartoon realism that not everyone could pull off … realistically.  So I highly recommend, Red Room: The Antisocial Network to you, dear readers.  Don't be antisocial and not read Red Room.  Reviews and quotes don't really capture the complex and multi-layered nature of this title.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room.

A
9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: SHE'S JOSIE

SHE'S JOSIE
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS, INC.

STORY: Frank Doyle
PENCILS: Dan DeCarlo
INKS: Rudy Lapick
LETTERS: Vincent DeCarlo; Bill Yoshida; Victor Gorelick
EDITOR: Jamie Lee Rotante
COVER: Audrey Mok
ISBN: 978-1-64576-993-4; paperback; 5.25 x 7.96 (May 18, 2021)
224pp, Color, $10.99 U.S., $13.99 CAN

Josie and the Pussycats began as a 1963 teen-humor comic book entitled She's Josie (She's Josie #1, cover date: February 1963).  Published by Archie Comics, it was created by Dan DeCarlo and focused on the fanciful life and times of a teenager, the sweet and level-headed redhead, Josie Jones, later Josie James and Josie McCoy.  The title was renamed Josie with issue #17 (cover dated: December 1965).

The series became Josie and the Pussycats with issue #45 (cover date: December 1969), in which Josie and her friend, Melody, formed a band called the Pussycats.  The two friends added bassist Valerie Smith, the new girl in school and one of the first major African-American comic book characters.  The trio donned leopard print band uniforms that came with long tails and cat-ear headbands.  Hanna-Barbera adapted this new-look Josie into the Saturday morning animated television series, “Josie and the Pussycats," which ran for two seasons.  Josie's comic book series ended with Josie and the Pussycats #106 (cover date: October 1982)

Earlier this year, Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (a.k.a. “Archie Comics”) published a trade paperback, entitled She's Josie.  The book returns to the time before Josie became Josie and the Pussycats.  She's Josie reprints the story contents of the original She's Josie series, issues #1 to #9, which were published in 1963 and 1964.  This paperback is apparently the first chronological collection the early She's Josie issues.

She's Josie reveals a world-famous rock star when she was an average high school teen.  With her best friends, the witty Pepper and the ditzy Melody, Josie gets caught up in all sorts of misadventures.  Joining this trio is Josie's boyfriend, Albert; Pepper's boy friend, Sock, and the rich and rotten Cabot twins, Alex and Alexandra, plus others in this chronological collection of She's Josie

THE LOWDOWN:  I am a huge fan of Josie and the Pussycats and have been since I was five or six-years-old.  It was the Hanna-Barbera animated television series, “Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space” (1972-73), that helped to launch my love of science fiction and eventually of comic books.  [I saw the original series, “Josie and the Pussycats” (1971-72), a few years after I saw the outer space revamp.]

Over the last 20 years or so, I have been collected early Josie and also Josie and the Pussycats comic books, but She's Josie provides me with my first opportunity to read the very early comic book stories featuring the characters.  Reading these comic books was a little odd because the Josie characters with which I am familiar, Josie's boyfriend, Alan M, and band mate, Valerie, are not present in these early stories.  However, future Pussycat, Melody, is present – ditzy as ever.  Alexander and Alexandra Cabot are present, although Alex plays a much bigger role in these first nine issues than his sister does.

Each issue features a story divided into four chapters, and with the exception of She's Josie #4, those four chapters combine for one story.  Some of the stories are quite dated, but their plots and subject matter deal with obstacles and dilemmas that teenagers still face and likely will for some time.  She's Josie #2 focuses on a visiting instructor's bid to bring Josie's male and female high school classmates together in order to participate in a theatrical production he is mounting.  The behind-the-scenes melodrama of this high school musical theater will illicit some chuckles or perhaps, remind some readers of episodes of the late Fox TV series, “Glee” (2009-15)

My favorite issue is She's Josie #6 with its “Tower of Trouble” story about a reputedly haunted house and the crooks hiding inside it.  This could be the plot of an episode of a Scooby-Doo cartoon, and Scooby-Doo taught me to love haunted house-set comedy.  I find “Tower of Trouble” to be good from start to finish.  I also like She's Josie #3, which has to do with a jewelry heist and stolen sweaters.

Many issues are inconsistent – some good chapters, others are either misfires or dull.  Some of the stories are instantly forgettable, and sometimes, the stories make the characters seem like nothing more than second rate clones of Archie Andrews and his friends.  In the moment of reading them, however, there a few stories that are just delightful.  Overall, Josie and the Pussycat fans, like myself, will be pleased.  Honestly, She's Josie is an indispensable volume if you are a fan of all things Josie.  I highly recommend it … and I hope there is a second volume...

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Josie and the Pussycats will want to have this low-priced collection, She's Josie.

B+
7 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

"SHE'S JOSIE" is available in a Kindle and paperback edition at Amazon.

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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: MAO: Volume 1

MAO, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA

MANGAKA: Rumiko Takahashi
TRANSLATION: Junko Goda
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Shaenon Garrity
LETTERS: Susan Daigle-Leach
EDITOR: Annette Roman
ISBN: 978-1-9747-2052-1; paperback (September 2021); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £7.99 UK

Mao is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi.  It has been serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Sunday, since May 2019.  In September 2021, VIZ Media began publishing an English-language edition of Mao as a series of paperback graphic novels under its “Shonen Sunday” imprint.

Mao, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 8) introduces 15-year-old Nanoka Kiba, a third-year middle school student.  Eight years ago, she was in a mysterious car accident in which she and her parents died, but Nanoka continues to live on.  One day, while visiting the shopping alley on Fifth Street, Nanoka inadvertently enters a portal that transports her back to Japan's Taisho era, around the year 1923.

There, Nanoka meets a young-looking exorcist named Mao and his helper, Otoya, a shikigami that resembles a small boy.  When Nanoka gets back to the present, she discovers that she has some new, incredible abilities.  She returns to the past looking for answers, but only finds herself caught up in Mao’s investigation of a series of gruesome murders and of their mutual connection to a powerful cat demon named Byoki.

THE LOWDOWN:  The Mao manga is the latest multi-genre title from Rumiko
Takahashi.  As usual, this title pairs a young female touched by the supernatural with a youngish male whose trade is in the supernatural.

Moa Graphic Novel Volume 1 is the first Takahashi manga that I have read since I read Rin-ne Volume 32 twenty-one months ago.  I don't think that I had forgotten the pure joy I often feel while reading one of her titles, but I must have been in need of her work.  It has been a long time since I enjoyed reading a volume of manga this much.

The English-language adaptation by Shaenon Garrity is a delightful read, capturing the magic that infuses this volume and also the curious and inquisitive nature of Nanoka.  I couldn't stop reading Mao Vol. 1, and I like that the characters are only revealed enough to make us come back for more.  Susan Daigle-Leach's lettering looks like a perfect fit for Rumiko's work, particularly for Mao.

This is a perfect opening volume – the kind that makes me want more.  And I already have Vol. 2.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers who love Rumiko Takahashi’s manga will want the Shonen Sunday title, Mao.

A+
10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://www.viz.com/
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The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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