Showing posts with label Francesco Francavilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Francesco Francavilla. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: JAMES BOND: Himeros #2

JAMES BOND: HIMEROS #2
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Antonio Ruso
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. (November 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 Antonio Ruso; 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 #2 opens on Wilhelm's Island in the South Pacific Ocean.  After billionaire financier and notorious sex trafficker, Richard Wilhelm, was killed in Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh, London, it didn't mean that all his secrets died with him.  There is Wilhelm's right hand man, Sarah Richmond, and arms dealer, Anton Bates, who enjoyed the sex services Wilhelm provided, wants Richmond dead.  Enter MI6 agent, James Bond, ordered by his boss, M, to protect Richmond.

Wilhelm's Island proves to be a place of traps, and back in Florida Bond is wondering if he knows who activated those traps.  Meanwhile, someone comes calling for Richmond.

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 #2, which is one of several Dynamite James Bond comic books I've read.

As I have written many times previously, I am a huge fan of Himeros' writer, Rodney Barnes, because of his supreme vampire comic book, Killadelphia; his tragically canceled Marvel Comics series, Falcon; and his young Lando Calrissian comic book, Star Wars: Lando.  He recently dropped Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog, from Image Comics, which has huge upside, judging by the first issue.  Barnes keeps me in his harem of readers with some lovely action in Himeros #2, especially because he includes a classic 007 element of thrills.

Antonio Ruso's art and storytelling come at the readers like lightning-quick punches, capturing all the surprising kinetic action.  Adriano Augusto's colors capture the exotic settings and moods of traditional James Bond fiction, but this time, he also offers the hues of fast and furious.  “Himeros” is the Greek god of sexual desire, and after reading James Bond: Himeros #2,  dear readers, I think you will desire this series also.

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.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #3

NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #3 (OF 6)
comiXology/Best Jacket Press

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Francesco Francavilla
COLORS: Francesco Francavilla
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
24pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (December 2021)

Age Rating: 15+

Night of the Ghoul co-created by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla

Episode 03


Night of the Ghoul is a digital comic book miniseries created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Francesco Francavilla.  It is published by comiXology as part of its “comiXology Originals” line of digital comics.  This six-issue series will later be collected in trade paperback form by Dark Horse Comics.  Night of the Ghoul focuses on the dark conspiracy behind a lost horror film from 1936.

Night of the Ghoul finds film fanatic, Forest Innman, and his son, Orson, at an old folks home deep in the desert.  There, Forest meets one of the home's residents, Charles Patrick, who is really T.F. Merritt, a screenwriter and film director from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  In 1936, Merritt shot a a cursed horror film, “Night of the Ghoul,” that never made it to the silver screen.  A mysterious studio fire destroyed the footage and killed the cast and crew at the wrap-party.  The film became a legend, but no footage was ever recovered … until Forest finds some footage.  And the trouble begins.

As Night of the Ghoul #3 opens, Dr. Skeen, head of the facility, interrupts Forest's interview with Merritt.  Skeen also rebuffs Orson's story about the corpses of children being in the facility.  Father and son depart the facility and during an argument, Orson reveals some surprising news about his mother, Forest's wife.  It all leads to Forest witnessing something shocking.

Meanwhile, inside the film, “Night of the Ghoul,” Alex and Johnny Polaris continue their investigation into the Ghoul.  Alex is the son of Sgt. Kurt Powell of Eagle Company, and Polaris, Powell's friend and fellow veteran of World War I, was also in the Eagle Company.  They believe that Kurt became infected with the Ghoul during a secret mission in Italy during the war.

Alex and Polaris meet Dale Holloway, a professor of Anthropological Studies.  She once researched “Gul” legends, and she actually tried to find the Ghoul.  The result is that she has terrible story to tell.

THE LOWDOWN:  In Night of the Ghoul, Francavilla and Snyder have created a masterpiece of atmospheric horror.  I can never get enough of this visually splendid comic book.

In Episode 3, Snyder ups the ante by revealing more about the precarious state of Forest Innman's marriage and his frayed relationship.  Inside the Night of the Ghoul film, Francavilla presents beautiful graphic design, especially in the “Gul” artifacts.  The artist also creates an appropriately chilly atmosphere for Prof. Holloway's tale.

I will continue to recommend Night of the Ghoul because it is the kind of horror comic book that makes me remember my earliest horror comics experiences.  As I said in my review of issues #1 and #2, this is the kind of comic book that gives me a reason to keep reading comic books.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Scott Snyder and of Francesco Francavilla will want to try Night of the Ghoul.

A+

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


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

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

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Tuesday, August 29, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: JAMES BOND: Himeros #1

JAMES BOND: HIMEROS #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Antonio Ruso
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. (October 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 Antonio Ruso; 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 #1 opens in Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh, LondonRichard Wilhelm is imprisoned there.  He is the billionaire financier infamous for trafficking underage children from various parts of the world to his secret island in the South Pacific.  Before long, he is dead, and while he was murdered, the public is told that he died by suicide.

At MI6, M has called Agent James Bond to find Wilhelm's right hand man, Sarah Richmond, and bring her to London before the people that killed her boss kill her.  However, Anton Bates, the man who ordered Wilhelm killed, is well-connected to very powerful people, and he hires the best killers...

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 #1, which is one of several Dynamite James Bond comic books I've read.

I am a huge fan of Himeros' writer, Rodney Barnes, because of his supreme vampire comic book, Killadelphia; his tragically canceled Marvel Comics series, Falcon; and his young Lando Calrissian comic book, Star Wars: Lando.  Barnes is very good at creating comic book stories in which the characters face tremendous consequences and have a lot to lose.  Barnes' narratives are also fueled a sense of dread and of menace.

Antonio Ruso's art and storytelling comes at the readers like lightning-quick punches, and Adriano Augusto colors capture the exotic settings and moods of traditional James Bond fiction.  “Himeros” is the Greek god of sexual desire, and after reading James Bond: Himeros #1, you will desire it, dear readers, and desire more.

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

A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

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.

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

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).


Thursday, August 10, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #2

NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #2 (OF 6)
comiXology/Best Jacket Press

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Francesco Francavilla
COLORS: Francesco Francavilla
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
24pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (November 2021)

Age Rating: 15+

Night of the Ghoul co-created by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla

Episode 02


Night of the Ghoul is a digital comic book miniseries created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Francesco Francavilla.  It is published by comiXology as part of its “comiXology Originals” line of digital comics.  This six-issue series will later be collected in trade paperback form by Dark Horse Comics.  Night of the Ghoul focuses on the dark conspiracy behind a lost horror film from 1936.

Night of the Ghoul finds film fanatic, Forest Innman, and his son, Orson, at an old folks home deep in the desert.  There, Forest meets one of the home's residents, Charles Patrick, who is really T.F. Merritt, a screenwriter and film director from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  In 1936, Merritt shot a a cursed horror film, “Night of the Ghoul,” that never made it to the silver screen.  A mysterious studio fire destroyed the footage and killed the cast and crew at the wrap-party.  The film became a legend, but no footage was ever recovered … until Forest finds some footage.  And the trouble begins.

Night of the Ghoul #2 opens inside the film, “Night of the Ghoul,” in the scene explaining what “the Ghoul” is.  Later, World War I ends and Sgt. Kurt Powell of Eagle Company returns to America with his fellow soldier, Johnny.  However, something is wrong with Kurt, and when he is reunited with Alex, his young son, the boy recognizes it immediately.  Johnny and Alex also overhear two officers from the ship that brought them home discussing something quite unsettling.

Leaving the film, the story returns to the nursing home.  There, Merritt explains his fate since the destruction of his film.  He also forces Forest to admit that he knows more than he has let on to the old man.  What is “The Order of the Fly?”  Meanwhile, Orson is trying to escape from his father by leaving the old folks' home, but he is discovering a series of disturbing things about the place.

THE LOWDOWN:  Francavilla and Snyder continue to work as a single creative unit; at least, that is the sense I get when I read this hugely entertaining comic.  However, the star here is artist Francesco Francavilla, whose seamlessly transforms Synder's script into the kind of spooky, atmospheric comics that is his signature work – such as Afterlife with Archie and The Black Beetle.

On Page 14, Francavilla draws Orson descending a staircase at the old folks' home.  Shadows that look like bony fingers reach out towards him, and for me, that image recalls the late Edward Gorey's animations for the opening of the television series, “PBS Mystery!”  It is both beautiful and delightfully scary.

I am recommending Night of the Ghoul because it is the kind of horror comic book that makes me remember my earliest horror comics experiences – Charlton Comics and Warren Publishing.  As I said in my review of issue #1, this is the kind of comic book that gives me a reason to keep reading comic books.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Scott Snyder and of Francesco Francavilla will want to try Night of the Ghoul.

A+

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


https://twitter.com/comiXology
https://twitter.com/DarkHorseComics
https://twitter.com/Ssnyder1835
https://www.instagram.com/ssnyder1835/
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https://twitter.com/andworlddesign


The text is copyright © 2022 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 link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).


Tuesday, July 4, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #1

NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #1 (OF 6)
comiXology/Best Jacket Press

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Francesco Francavilla
COLORS: Francesco Francavilla
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
32pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (October 2021)

Age Rating: 15+

Episode 01


Night of the Ghoul is a digital comic book miniseries created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Francesco Francavilla.  It is published by comiXology as part of its “comiXology Originals” line of digital comics.  This six-issue series will later be collected in trade paperback form by Dark Horse Comics.  Night of the Ghoul focuses on the dark conspiracy behind a lost horror film from 1936.


Night of the Ghoul #1 opens at night in the California desert – fifty miles west of Calexico.  Forest Innman and his son, Orson, race to an old folks home, where Forest will pretend to be an agent of “Northgood Health Insurance.”  Under that guise, Forest hopes to meet one of the home's residents, Charles Patrick.

Charles Patrick, however, isn't his real name.  He is really T.F. Merritt, a screenwriter and film director from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  In 1936, Merritt shot a film, “Night of the Ghoul,” that was meant to stand side by side with James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) as seminal Hollywood horror films and as instant classics.  “Night of the Ghoul,” however, never made it to the silver screen.  A mysterious studio fire destroyed the footage and killed the cast and crew at the wrap-party.  The film became a legend, but no footage was ever recovered … until now.

Inman, obsessed with horror films, found a forgotten canister of footage from “Night of the Ghoul,” and this discovery has sent him on his odyssey to meet T.F. Merritt.  But Merritt asks one important and ominous questions: has Inman watched the film?

THE LOWDOWN:  Twenty-nine of the 32 pages of Night of the Ghoul #1 are story pages.  My synopsis is really only a broad overview of what happens in this first episode.  There is an entire co-plot that is actually the depiction of the film, “Night of the Ghoul,” which artist Francesco Francavilla draws in beautiful black and white.

Francavilla and Snyder work as a single creative unit.  Snyder's story, which recalls the classic horror films of yesteryear, and Francavilla's art, which is inherently spooky, come together in one alluring package.  There is an extra creepy scene that takes place in a hall in the home that does not come across to me as ever being a script and then a series of illustrations.  It seems to have come into existence whole, so convincing is the evil that it conveys.  Night of the Ghoul is a world of shadow and fog, not creative process, one that will invite you inside … in time to kill you.

This first episode is not so much an intellectual experience as it is a reading experience that calls on the reader's memories and the emotions attached to specific memories.  The authors seem to bid you to get inside this story and feel, perhaps, feel the way you did when you first read comic books.  In that way, Night of the Ghoul is a pure pop comic book, like Francavilla's The Black Beetle comic books.

I am recommending Night of the Ghoul because it is the kind of horror comic book that makes me remember my earliest horror comics experiences – Charlton Comics and Warren Publishing.  And it is the kind of comic book that gives me a reason to keep reading comic books.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Scott Snyder and of Francesco Francavilla will want to try Night of the Ghoul.

A+

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


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

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

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Friday, July 22, 2022

#IReadsYou Review: NOCTERRA #5

NOCTERRA #5
IMAGE COMICS/Best Jacket Press

STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Tony S. Daniel
COLORS: Tomeu Morey
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Tony S. Daniels with Tomeu Morey
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Cary Nord; Francesco Francavilla; Tony S. Daniel and Marcelo Maiolo
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (July 2021)

Rated “M/ Mature”

“Full Throttle Dark” Part Five


Nocterra is a horror and science fiction comic book series from writer Scott Snyder and artist Tony S. Daniel.  Published by Image Comics, Nocterra is set on an Earth that has been experiencing an everlasting night, the “Big PM,” since the sky went dark and the world was plunged into an everlasting night over a decade ago.  Colorist Tomeu Morey and letterer Andworld Design complete the series' creative team.

In Nocterra, any living organisms left unlit in the dark for more than 10 hours start undergoing a biological transformation.  Soon, the living turn into monstrous versions of themselves, becoming something called a “Shade.”

Valentina “Val” Riggs – call sign “Sundog,” – was in the fifth grade the day the “Big PM” occurred.  Thirteen years later (“13 PM”), Val drives a big rig hauler, a heavily-illuminated 18-wheeler known as the “Sundog Convoy.”  A skilled “ferryman” Val transports people and goods along deadly unlit roads between the few remaining human outposts, and now she has her most dangerous haul – Bailey, a girl with a dangerous secret and her brother, Emory “Em” Riggs, who is becoming a Shade.

As Nocterra #5 opens, Val remembers those early days of sanctuary, when there was hope to reverse her parents' transformations into “Smudges,” the name for a human Shade.  Now, Val has found safety in the mysterious Sanctuary, having brought Bailey to the her grandfather's brother, Tiberius McCray, the leader of Sanctuary.

Sanctuary is also the place where Val found that mysterious light, “the Lux,” that can reverse Em's transformation into a Smudge.  Now, Val has two choices:  keep herself and Em safe or take Sanctuary for granted and leave.  Val is leaning towards that latter, but is there truth and darkness even in this great light?

THE LOWDOWN:  As I have written in some of my earlier reviews of Nocterra, I enjoy writer Scott Snyder's creator-owned series.  I have also told you, dear readers, that I am usually happy to read a comic book drawn by Tony S. Daniel, going back to his early days writing and drawing creator-owned titles at Image, such as The Tenth.  Nocterra has justified my devotion, and this penultimate issue, #5, of the series' first story arc has made me determined to follow Nocterra's dark highways and byways wherever they might lead.

As a theme in Nocterra #5, Snyder presents the idea that nothing, even sanctuary, is enough for humans.  They will take the bad that is the best for which they can hope and do worse trying to get better instead – even if that will obviously lead to disaster.  Andworld Design's lettering pounds the reads with this issue's ominous mood and dark misgivings about humanity.

Daniels eschews kinetic action for two-fisted conspiratorial drama that carries readers to this issue's shocking cliffhanger.  Tomeu Morey's beautiful colors advances an array of moods and emotions, conveying darkness even in the blinding light of Lux.  So, dear readers, there is time to catch up before this debut story arc ends.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel will want to sample Nocterra.

A

[This comic book includes a preview of Ordinary Gods #1 by Kyle Higgins and Felipe Watanabe.]

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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Thursday, September 2, 2021

#IReadsYou Review: DREAMING EAGLES #2

DREAMING EAGLES #2 (OF 6)
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Garth Ennis
ARTIST: Simon Coleby
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Rob Steen
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVER: Declan Shalvey
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (January 2016)

For mature readers

Dreaming Eagles created by Garth Ennis

Chapter 2: “Sunward I've Climbed”


Dreaming Eagles is a comic book created and written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Simon Coleby.  A six-issue miniseries, Dreaming Eagles tells the story of the first African-American fighter pilots to join the United States Army Air Force in World War II.  The narrative connects the pilots' stories with the 1960s Civil Rights movement through two character, WWII veteran, Lt. Reggie Atkinson, and his son Lee, a Civil Rights activist.

As Dreaming Eagles #2 (“Sunward I've Climbed”) opens, Reggie tries to explain to Lee the experience and feelings of flying an airplane.  He then recounts the early struggle of Black pilots to gain acceptance and the difficulties facing other Black men who wanted to become pilots.  Connected to the U.S. Army Air Corps Thirty-Third fighter group, the Black servicemen travel overseas to find that some things are the same as at home in the United States, as they prepare for their first combat.

As much as the first issue of Dreaming Eagles intrigued me, I was equally curious about where this series would go.  I am surprised that the second issue focuses so much on the bureaucratic obstacles that the Black pilots confront as much as it depicts the resistance these men face from their superior officers.  This is all driven by racism, bigotry, ignorance, and everything bad that is rooted in the Jim Crow America which emerged late in the 19th century.

Garth Ennis offers a story that reads like an oral history, covering both the larger details of the wider national and military history, but also depicting the more intimate details of a personal story.  Yet Ennis also depicts the thrill of flight, both in training and in combat.  This sense of drama is as exciting as the best moments of a good action movie.

Artist Simon Coleby brings Ennis' script to life and captures every nuance and all the high-drama.  I can't find the words to describe how wonderful is the manner in which Coleby depicts airplanes in flight and in fight.  Yet Coleby also brings the same power and intensity, but quietly, when depicting the indignities the Black servicemen face.  Even when these men take it with a “stiff upper lift,” Coleby shows the anger that simmers beneath these proud men.

Dreaming Eagles #2 makes me even more curious.  What's next with issue #3?

A

[This comic book includes a six-page preview of the comic book , “Second Sight,” by David Hine and Alberto Ponticelli.]

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


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, August 10, 2021

#IReadsYou Review: ELVIRA: The Shape of Elvira

ELVIRA: THE SHAPE OF ELVIRA
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

STORY: David Avallone
ART: Fran Strukan (#1-3); Pasquale Qualano (#4)
COLORS: Maxim Šimic (#1-3); Walter Pereya (#4)
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
EDITOR: Kevin Ketner
COVER: Franceso Francavilla
MISC. ART: Francesco Francavilla; J. Bone; Kyle Strahm; Dave Acosta and Jay Leisten with Mark Dale; Dave Acosta with Mark Dale; Dave Acosta with Brian Level; Dave Acosta with Mohan
ISBN: 978-1-5241-1197-7; paperback (August 24, 2021)
120pp, Color, $17.99 U.S. (Direct Market: August 11, 2021)

Rated Teen+

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the “horror hostess character, “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).  In 1993, Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.

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.  The second Elvira miniseries, Elvira: The Shape of Elvira arrived in 2019.  It was written by David Avallone; drawn by Fran Strukan and Pasquale Qualano; colored by Maxim Simic and Walter Pereya; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.

Elvira: The Shape of Elvira finds the Mistress of the Dark landing a role in a prestige film, but she discovers that her co-star is not who she thought he was.  This four-issue miniseries is now collected in the new trade paperback, Elvira: The Shape of Elvira.

As The Shape of Elvira opens, Elvira has received an urgent call from  her talent manager, Jill Van Nuys.  Jill informs Elvira that someone has finally offered her the kind of plum role for which she has been hoping.  It's a hush-hush film project, entitled “The Heart is the Black Lagoon,” but the film's director is the wunderkind, Billy Bullworth.  Elvira knows the director has a reputation for being strange, but she wants this role.

Elvira arrives at Bullworth's complex, and the strangeness begins when she meets Bullworth's assistant, Don Sandman, who previously started in a Bullworth film.  Next, it's off to sign an insane non-disclosure agreement, and then, a misadventure behind the bookcase.  Elvira later meets Bullworth's screenwriter-of-choice, Eddie Mezzogiorno, who is also secretive.

Finally, Elvira meets Bullworth, who is as melodramatic as he wants to be, but when he reveals what he keeping secret, Elvira can't believe her eyes.  “The Heart is the Black Lagoon” is a horror-romance, and her co-star is … Gill-Man?!  Bullworth insists that “Gill-Man” is really an actor in a supremely-designed fish-man monster suit, and Elvira is willing to play along.

However, after an encounter with two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department agents, Elvira knows something … fishy is going on.  It seems that Mr. Bullworth wants his film to spawn more than just box office dollars and Academy Award nominations.

THE LOWDOWN:  With the Shape of Elvira, writer David Avallone does a send-up of director Guillermo del Toro's 2017 film, The Shape of Water.  The highly-acclaimed movie won four Academy Awards, including “Best Picture” and “Best Director.”  Avallone also takes aim at del Toro and his earnest filmography, in general, with its artsy sci-fi and fantasy offerings.  Avallone also makes a pass at The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), the most obvious cinematic influence on The Shape of Water.  In addition, Avallone gives gentle ribbing to the 1950 Film-Noir classic, Sunset Boulevard, with some elements from the film making its way into the comedy seafood gumbo that is The Shape of Elvira.

Truthfully, The Shape of Elvira would probably work as a forty-eight page graphic novel, but Avallone's smooth comedy, sarcasm and snark, and witty asides makes the story move fast.  Before I knew it, dear readers, I'd reached the end.  Suddenly, I wanted this comic book, which could have been half its size, to be so much longer.  Some comic book fans can never be satisfied, eh?

The art by Fran Strukan and Pasquale Qualano is straightforward, but always with a wink and nod.  However, Avallone's skewering of precious pop culture comes through with a bluntness that will give some pause … before they are laughing again.  Each artist takes his storytelling seriously, while conveying that hilarity that will ensue.  I have a few quibbles about the drawing techniques, but that does not stop me from enjoying this comic book.

Maxim Šimic and Walter Pereya both present a tapestry of muted colors that occasionally have a dreamlike quality.  Sometimes shadowy and sometimes moody, the colors also give this story a film-noir atmosphere.  As usual, Taylor Esposito's lettering is solid and perfectly captures the interplay of comedy and mystery and also, Elvira's snark, sarcasm, and wit.

Elvira: The Shape of Elvira is another fun time with Elvira, and the Mistress of the Dark is a good time, live-action or comic books.  I wouldn't mind seeing Elvira and Avallone skewer the filmmography of other “visionary” directors – David Cronenberg, Tim Burton, Mario Bava, etc.

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

A-
7.5 out of 10

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


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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Monday, November 2, 2020

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for November 4, 2020

IDW PUBLISHING

DEC180778    BATMAN THE MAXX ARKHAM DREAMS #5 (OF 5) CVR A KIETH    $4.99
DEC180779    BATMAN THE MAXX ARKHAM DREAMS #5 (OF 5) CVR B KIETH    $4.99
MAR200791    MICHAEL GOLDEN MICRONAUTS ARTIST ED HC (NET) (C: 0-1-2)    $150.00
MAR200695    MY LITTLE PONY TRANSFORMERS #4 (OF 4) CVR A FLEECS    $3.99
AUG200558    SONIC THE HEDGEHOG BAD GUYS #2 (OF 4) CVR A HAMMERSTROM (C:    $3.99
AUG200559    SONIC THE HEDGEHOG BAD GUYS #2 (OF 4) CVR B SKELLY (C: 1-0-0    $3.99
AUG200552    STAR WARS ADV SHADOW OF VADERS CASTLE CVR A FRANCAVILLA (C:    $7.99
AUG200553    STAR WARS ADV SHADOW OF VADERS CASTLE CVR B CHARM (C: 1-0-0)    $7.99
SEP200443    TMNT JENNIKA II #1 (OF 6) CVR A REVEL (C: 1-0-0)    $4.99
SEP200444    TMNT JENNIKA II #1 (OF 6) CVR B EASTMAN (C: 1-0-0)    $4.99


Friday, June 5, 2020

#IReadsYou Review: DREAMING EAGLES #1

DREAMING EAGLES No. 1 (OF 6)
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Garth Ennis
ARTIST: Simon Coleby
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Rob Steen
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVERS: Brian Stelfreeze; Phil Hester
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2015)

For mature readers

Dreaming Eagles created by Garth Ennis

“We Cannot Consecrate”


Okay.  So back on September 11, 2015, Comic Book Resources posted an interview that assistant editor, Brett White, conducted with comic book luminary, Garth Ennis, concerning his then-upcoming miniseries, Dreaming Eagles.  Drawn by Simon Coleby, Dreaming Eagles tells the story of the first African-American fighter pilots to join the United States Army Air Force in World War II.  The series also deals with the 1960s Civil Right movement.

The first question that White asked Ennis was related to Mark Waid and J.G. Jones' current miniseries, Strange Fruit.  That comic book blends superhero comics to tell a story of racism during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.  Prior to the release of the first issue, there was some criticism by African-Americans leveled at Wade and Jones for telling their story in this manner, especially as privileged White American comic book creators.

So White asked Ennis, “Do you have any concern that you'll face similar scrutiny in writing about the Tuskegee airmen and their experiences?”

Ennis' response is so typically American White male privilege that it is hard to believe that he is originally from Northern Ireland:  “My attitude to that is that it's going to be what it's going to be; it's so far beyond my control that there's no point worrying about it. I'll write the best and most honest story I can, with appropriate attention to detail in terms of historical research. If you think I have no right to tell the story because I'm white, don't read it. If you don't think that and you're interested, give it a try.”

It is not that Black people do not want White people telling stories about Black people and African-American subject matter or featuring Black characters.  The complaint or grievance is that the same opportunity to produce such comic is, in large measure, not afforded to Black comic book creators.  Unless the story would be tailored to one of their characters, neither Marvel nor DC Comics would publish something like Dreaming Eagles produced by an African-American creative team.  In fact, it is unlikely that any of the major independents that publish creator-owned comic books would publish something like Dreaming Eagles by a team of Black creators.

How do I know that?  Well, they haven't...  A few times a year, Image Comics makes a big deal out of announcing its slate of upcoming creator-owned titles, and none are by African-American creative teams.  I think once, out of embarrassment, Image tossed in a token Negro title, which I have yet to see.  So AfterShock Comics is doing the same as the other publishers, and Garth Ennis is officially an American White male, willfully blind to his unearned White privilege.

So, onto the review...

Dreaming Eagles #1 (“We Cannot Consecrate”) opens in 1966, at night, outside “The Silver Pony” (a restaurant in New York City?).  The place is owned by a Black man, WWII veteran, Reggie Atkinson.  Tonight, he is thinking about his son, Lee, who is a budding activist in the 1960s Civil Rights movement.  Father and son don't agree on the movement, but tonight, Atkinson will finally tell Lee about his time as Lt. Reggie Atkinson, one of the first African-American fighter pilots in the United States Army Air Force in WWII.  And those first Black men had to prove a lot of White men wrong about a lot of things.

My diatribe to open this review aside, I like this first issue of Dreaming Eagles, which will be a six-issue miniseries.  The conflict between father and son is nothing new.  The old Black man versus the young brotha' conflict has popped up in much of the fiction and storytelling about the Black struggle for equality and dignity in the United States (most recently in the film, Lee Daniels' The Butler).  What I like is that Garth Ennis is depicting the father-son struggle as not being toxic, but instead, as a matter of perspective and worldview brought on by different life experiences.

Ennis is also blunt and to-the-point in stating the obstacles facing Black men in the U.S. military before and during WWII.  Ennis' storytelling has always been blunt and to-the-point which gives the drama and action in his stories the force of a series of jabs that keeps the readers always on his feet and engaged with the story.

If this comic book were published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, which published practically all of Ennis' work for about a decade, Simon Coleby would be the artist and this story would not look different.  He is not a fall-back choice for a name writer looking for as an artist.  Coleby gives each panel just the right amount of drama that is needed, from subdued to momentous.  He does not force a mood to pander to reader expectations, simply because he understands the build up to moments – immediately and for later chapters.

I think that this first issue is rather languid compared to what I expect to come in later issues, but I could be wrong.  My sense of expectation suggests that readers of Garth Ennis' war comics will want to read beyond the first issue.  However, I don't know that people who have enjoyed Ennis' work on comic books like Preacher and The Punisher will care for this.

A-

[This comic book includes a five-page preview of the comic book , Replica #2, by Paul Jenkins and Andy Clarke.]

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


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.


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Monday, December 2, 2019

Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for December 4, 2019

DYNAMITE

FEB191095    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #4 CVR A FRANCAVILLA    $3.99
FEB191096    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #4 CVR B J BONE    $3.99
FEB191097    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #4 CVR C ACOSTA    $3.99
FEB191098    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #4 CVR D PHOTO    $3.99
OCT191221    JAMES BOND #1    $3.99
JUN191131    JAMES BOND 007 HC VOL 01    $24.99
SEP191228    JAMES BOND FELIX LEITER TP    $19.99
SEP191247    PATHFINDER TP VOL 04 ORIGINS    $19.99
SEP199001    RED SONJA #11 CASTRO FOC BONUS VAR    $3.99
OCT191277    RED SONJA #11 CVR A CONNER & MOUNTS    $3.99
OCT191278    RED SONJA #11 CVR B LINSNER    $3.99
OCT191279    RED SONJA #11 CVR C PHAM    $3.99
OCT191280    RED SONJA #11 CVR D COLAK    $3.99
OCT191281    RED SONJA #11 CVR E COSPLAY    $3.99
OCT191329    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #3 CVR A PARILLO    $3.99
OCT191330    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #3 CVR B OLIVER    $3.99
OCT191331    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #3 CVR C BUZZ    $3.99
OCT191332    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #3 CVR D COSPLAY    $3.99
SEP198995    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #3 STA MARIA FOC BONUS VAR    $3.99

Monday, September 30, 2019

Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for October 2, 2019

DYNAMITE

AUG191255    BETTIE PAGE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL ONE SHOT CVR A ROYLE    $4.99
AUG191256    BETTIE PAGE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL ONE SHOT CVR B BROWN    $4.99
AUG191198    BLACK TERROR #1 CVR A FRANCAVILLA    $3.99
AUG191199    BLACK TERROR #1 CVR B FORNES    $3.99
AUG191200    BLACK TERROR #1 CVR C NAKAYAMA    $3.99
AUG191201    BLACK TERROR #1 CVR D HENDERSON    $3.99
AUG191202    BLACK TERROR #1 CVR E GORHAM    $3.99
AUG191269    CHARLIES ANGELS VS BIONIC WOMAN #4 CVR A STAGGS    $3.99
AUG191270    CHARLIES ANGELS VS BIONIC WOMAN #4 CVR B MAHFOOD    $3.99
MAR191106    CRACKDOWN #4 CVR A JAIME    $3.99
JAN191267    JENNIFER BLOOD OMNIBUS TP VOL 01 (MR)    $39.99
JUN191221    PATHFINDER TP VOL 03 CITY OF SECRETS    $19.99
AUG191300    RED SONJA #9 CVR A CONNER    $3.99
AUG191301    RED SONJA #9 CVR B LINSNER    $3.99
AUG191302    RED SONJA #9 CVR C PHAM    $3.99
AUG191303    RED SONJA #9 CVR D WALSH    $3.99
AUG191304    RED SONJA #9 CVR E COSPLAY    $3.99
AUG191236    VAMPIRELLA #1 LINSNER EXC B&W CVR    $50.00
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AUG191237    VAMPIRELLA #1 LINSNER EXC VIRGIN CVR    $75.00
AUG191197    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #1 BLANK AUTHENTIX ED    $3.99
AUG191177    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #1 CVR A MIDDLETON    $3.99
AUG191178    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #1 CVR B CHO    $3.99
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AUG191181    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #1 CVR E COSPLAY    $3.99
AUG191227    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA 1994 #1 LTD REPLICA ED    $6.99

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Review: ELVIRA Mistress of the Dark #1

ELVIRA MISTRESS OF THE DARK No. 1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: David Avallone
ART: Dave Acosta
COLORS: Andrew Covalt
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
EDITOR: Kevin Ketner
COVER: Joseph Michael Linsner
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: J. Bone; Kyle Strahm with Greg Smallwood; Craig Cermak with Brittany Pezzillo; Robert Hack with Francesco Francavilla; Craig Cermak; Joseph Michael Linsner; Kyle Strahm
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2018)

Rated Teen+

Elvira: Timescream – Chapter One: “Frankenstein is the Name of the Doctor”

“Horror hosts” present low-budget, low-grade, and cult films to television and radio audiences, with an emphasis on horror, science fiction, and/or B-movies.  Some horror hosts adopt an alternate identity, creating a character they play, such as when actress, Maila Nurmi, became the horror host character, “Vampira” in 1954 for KABC-TV in Los Angeles, California.

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the hostess character, “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).  In 1993, Eclipse Comics and Claypool Comics began the long-running Elvira: Mistress of the Dark.  Eventually, Claypool would be sole publisher, and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark ran for 166 issues until 2007.

Elvira returns to comic books in Dynamite Entertainment's new four-issue, comic book miniseries, also entitled Elvira Mistress of the Dark.  It is written by David Avallone; drawn by Dave Acosta; colored by Andrew Covalt; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.

Elvira Mistress of the Dark #1 (“Frankenstein is the Name of the Doctor”) find Elvira on the set of her latest B-movie.  During a break in filming, she returns to her trailer to find a coffin in the middle of the floor, but it isn't just any old coffin.  It emits a time vortex, and Elvira soon finds herself pushed in and tumbling through time.  First stop, the summer of 1816 and a certain villa near Lake Geneva.

Writer David Avallone and artist Dave Acosta are the creative team behind Dynamite Entertainment's most excellent crossover comic book, the four-issue miniseries, Twilight Zone: The Shadow (2017).  A moody, stylish, atmospheric piece, the narrative focused on reckoning for The Shadow.

Avallone and Acosta deliver something quite different with Elvira Mistress of the Dark.  Avallone's story is campy, kind of like a rollicking romp of a horror movie that plays loose with the history of horror fiction.  Acosta's illustrations recall classic Warren Publications horror comics with humor that is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and the storytelling is perfect for the mood.

Andrew Covalt's coloring of Acosta's  illustrations is visually and graphically striking.  It is a deft mixture of sparkling color effects and and something like the colorful and sometimes garish cinematography of Hammer Film Productions (the legendary British film studio that produced numerous horror films).  As usual, Taylor Esposito's lettering is solid and perfectly captures this first chapter's mood and also Elvira's snark, sarcasm, and wit.  Esposito even delivers comedy gold on the characters' screeching and yelling.  “Edgar Allan Freaking Poe!, indeed.

Elvira Mistress of the Dark is blessedly cursed with an excellent creative team.  I can't wait for the second issue.  Maybe, these guys could produce a readable Harley Quinn comic book.

9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, August 12, 2019

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for August 14, 2019

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

JUN192223    10 DANCE GN VOL 04 (MR)    $12.99
JUN192219    AGAIN GN VOL 10 (MR)    $12.99
JUN191466    ARCHIE AND ME JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #20    $6.99
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MAY192193    BARAKAMON GN VOL 18    $15.00
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JUN191465    WORLD OF ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #91    $6.99
MAR191408    ZORRO LEGENDARY ADVENTURES BOOK 2 #4 LTD ED CVR    $9.99
MAR191407    ZORRO LEGENDARY ADVENTURES BOOK 2 #4 MAIN CVR    $3.99

MAGAZINES
APR191908    2000 AD PACK JUNE 2019    $22.40
JUN191660    COMIC SHOP NEWS [90CT BUNDLE] #1678    $PI
MAY198657    DOCTOR WHO COMPANION 12TH DOCTOR VOL 01    $16.99
APR191880    DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE #540    $11.99
MAY191879    JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #410    $13.00
JUN191827    LOCUS #703    $8.99
APR191932    SCREAM MAGAZINE #55 (MR)    $8.99

BOOKS
MAY191414    ARCHIE ART OF FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA HC    $24.99
APR192186    BUNGO STRAY DOGS NOVEL SC VOL 01 OSAMU DAZAIS EXAM    $14.00
JUN191761    CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF ILLUST NOVEL    $18.00
JUN191880    MARVEL SPIDER-MAN STEALS THE SHOW YR HC    $10.99
APR191921    SHADOW DOUBLE NOVEL VOL 143 SHADOW MEETS MASK  TOLL OF DEATH    $14.95
MAY192175    SO IM SPIDER SO WHAT LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 06    $14.00
JUN191672    STAR WARS GALAXYS EDGE HC NOVEL CRASH OF FATE    $17.99
JUN191673    STAR WARS MYTHS AND FABLES HC    $17.99
JUN191651    STAR WARS REY AND PALS HC    $14.95
JUN191779    SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN HC W COLLECTIBLES    $49.95
JUN192167    THAT TIME I REINCARNATED SLIME SC LIGHT NOVEL VOL 06    $14.00
JUN191656    THEY DREW AS THEY PLEASED HC VOL 05 HIDDEN ART 70S & 80S    $50.00
JUN191315    YOU ARE MY FRIEND STORY MR ROGERS & NEIGHBORHOOD PICTUREBOOK    $17.99

Monday, June 3, 2019

Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for June 5, 2019

DYNAMITE

MAR191085    ARMY OF DARKNESS BUBBA HOTEP #4 CVR A GALINDO    $3.99
MAR191086    ARMY OF DARKNESS BUBBA HOTEP #4 CVR B MANDRAKE    $3.99
MAR191087    ARMY OF DARKNESS BUBBA HOTEP #4 CVR C HACK    $3.99
FEB191052    BETTIE PAGE UNBOUND #1 BLACK BAG PHOTO CVR (MR)    $10.00
FEB191048    BETTIE PAGE UNBOUND #1 BLANK AUTHENTIX ED (MR)    $10.00
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JAN191199    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #3 CVR B J BONE    $3.99
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APR191072    OBEY ME #3 CVR A HERRERA (MR)    $3.99
APR191075    RED SONJA #5 CVR A CONNER    $3.99
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APR191098    SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN #4 CVR A WALSH    $3.99
APR191099    SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN #4 CVR B PIRIZ    $3.99
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JUL181313    VAMPIRELLA ROSES FOR DEAD #4 (OF 4) CVR A LINSNER (MR)    $3.99
JUL181314    VAMPIRELLA ROSES FOR DEAD #4 (OF 4) CVR B TUCCI (MR)    $3.99
FEB191027    XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS #1 ATLAS SGN ED    $49.99

Monday, May 20, 2019

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for May 22, 2019

DC COMICS

AUG180594    ABSOLUTE BATMAN THE BLACK MIRROR HC    $99.99
MAR190479    ACTION COMICS #1011    $3.99
MAR190480    ACTION COMICS #1011 VAR ED    $3.99
MAR190485    BATGIRL #35    $3.99
MAR190486    BATGIRL #35 VAR ED    $3.99
MAR190491    BATMAN BEYOND #32    $3.99
MAR190492    BATMAN BEYOND #32 VAR ED    $3.99
OCT180632    BATMAN FAMILY BATGIRL MULTI PART STATUE    $80.00
MAR190497    BOOKS OF MAGIC #8 (MR)    $3.99
FEB190568    COVER TP VOL 01 (MR)    $16.99
OCT180634    DC BOMBSHELLS POISON IVY SEPIA TONE VARIANT STATUE    $125.00
MAR190503    DETECTIVE COMICS #1004    $3.99
MAR190504    DETECTIVE COMICS #1004 VAR ED    $3.99
MAR190506    DIAL H FOR HERO #3 (OF 6)    $3.99
MAR190512    FLASH #71    $3.99
MAR190513    FLASH #71 VAR ED    $3.99
MAR190515    FREEDOM FIGHTERS #6 (OF 12)    $3.99
MAR190529    JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #11    $3.99
MAR190530    JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #11 VAR ED    $3.99
MAR190533    LOONEY TUNES #249    $2.99
MAR190536    MARTIAN MANHUNTER #5 (OF 12)    $3.99
MAR190537    MARTIAN MANHUNTER #5 (OF 12) VAR ED    $3.99
FEB190598    OUTSIDERS BY JUDD WINICK TP BOOK 01    $24.99
FEB190603    SANDMAN TP VOL 08 WORLDS END 30TH ANNIV ED (MR)    $19.99
FEB190601    SCOOBY APOCALYPSE TP VOL 05    $16.99
MAR190545    SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #48    $2.99
MAR190548    SILENCER #17    $3.99
MAR190554    TERRIFICS #16    $3.99
MAR190558    WONDER WOMAN #71    $3.99
MAR190559    WONDER WOMAN #71 VAR ED    $3.99

Monday, May 6, 2019

Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for May 1, 2019

DYNAMITE

FEB191083    BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TWILIGHT COMMAND #3 CVR A SCHOONOVER    $3.99
FEB191084    BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TWILIGHT COMMAND #3 CVR B TEMURA    $3.99
DEC181138    BETTIE PAGE #4 CVR A ROYLE    $3.99
DEC181139    BETTIE PAGE #4 CVR B CHANTLER    $3.99
DEC181140    BETTIE PAGE #4 CVR C WILLIAMS    $3.99
DEC181141    BETTIE PAGE #4 CVR D OHTA    $3.99
DEC181142    BETTIE PAGE #4 CVR E PHOTO    $3.99
FEB191105    HACK SLASH VS CHAOS #5 CVR A SEELEY (MR)    $3.99
FEB191106    HACK SLASH VS CHAOS #5 CVR B CERMAK (MR)    $3.99
FEB191107    HACK SLASH VS CHAOS #5 CVR C CELOR (MR)    $3.99
MAR191123    JAMES BOND ORIGIN #9 CVR A PANOSIAN    $3.99
MAR191124    JAMES BOND ORIGIN #9 CVR B GEDEON    $3.99
MAR191125    JAMES BOND ORIGIN #9 CVR C GAPSTUR    $3.99
MAR191126    JAMES BOND ORIGIN #9 CVR D MOUSTAFA    $3.99
MAR191127    JAMES BOND ORIGIN #9 CVR E BOB Q    $3.99
DEC181245    RED SONJA TARZAN TP    $19.99
MAR191053    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 AUTHENTIX ED    $10.00
MAR191040    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR A DALTON    $3.99
MAR191041    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR B FRANCAVILLA    $3.99
MAR191042    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR C HACK    $3.99
MAR191043    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR D GANUCHEAU    $3.99
MAR191044    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR E BRAGA    $3.99
MAR191045    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR F PARENT    $3.99
MAR191046    RED SONJA VAMPIRELLA BETTY VERONICA #1 CVR G CAT STAGGS    $3.99
FEB191026    XENA WARRIOR PRINCESS #1 LUPACCHINO VIRGIN VAR    $50.00

Monday, April 22, 2019

Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for April 24, 2019

DYNAMITE

JAN191196    CRACKDOWN #2 CVR A JAIME    $3.99
DEC181148    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #2 CVR A FRANCAVILLA    $3.99
DEC181149    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #2 CVR B J BONE    $3.99
DEC181150    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #2 CVR C ACOSTA    $3.99
DEC181151    ELVIRA SHAPE OF ELVIRA #2 CVR D PHOTO    $3.99
FEB191176    JOHN WICK HC VOL 01    $24.99
FEB191065    KISS END #1 VIRGIN PHOTO CVR    $50.00
SEP181094    RED SONJA BALLAD RED GODDESS HC THOMAS SGN ED    $49.99
JAN191246    TUROK #3 10 COPY MORALES B&W INCV    $PI
JAN191244    TUROK #3 CVR A MORALES    $3.99
JAN191245    TUROK #3 CVR B GUICE    $3.99

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Review: STAR WARS ADVENTURES: Tales from Vader's Castle #1

STAR WARS ADVENTURES: TALES FROM VADER'S CASTLE No. 1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Cavan Scott
ART: Derek Charm; Chris Fenoglio
COLORS: Derek Charm; Chris Fenoglio
LETTERS: Robbie Robbins
EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Chris Fenoglio; Francesco Francavilla; Derek Charm
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

“The Haunting of the Ghost”

Star Wars Adventures is an all-ages Star Wars comic book series from IDW Publishing.  The series is geared toward readers ages 7 to 10 and features one and two part stories that are not steeped in Star Wars continuity.  Star Wars Adventures features a rotating cast of characters, and the stories range from settings that take place before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace all the way up to Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Episode VIII) and beyond.

There has already been one spin-off miniseries, Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny, a five-issue miniseries published weekly in January 2018.  The second spin-off miniseries is entitled, Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle.  This five-part comic book event will see a new issue in comic book stories every Wednesday in October 2018, of which there are five.  Fan-favorite Star Wars Adventures creators, writer Cavan Scott and artist Derek Charm, team up with a roster of guest artists for this special miniseries, which will explore the creepiest corners of the Star Wars universe just in time for Halloween.

Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle #1 (“The Haunting of the Ghost”) opens with an adventure of Lina Graf that is recounted in her journal.  Graf, an ace pilot and engineer, is a commander in the Rebel Alliance and is captain of the freighter star ship, “The Auric.”  She and her crew:  Skritt the technician; Lieutenant Hudd; XM-G3, the former bodyguard droid; and CR-BR, a droid that has been Graf's life-long companion and is an intelligence specialist, are on the run from Imperial TIE fighters.

Graf is forced to land “The Auric” on the planet, Mustafar.  To lift everyone's spirits, CR-BR recounts a tale involving Kanan Jarrus, Captain Hera Syndulla, and the astromech droid, Chopper, aboard their star ship, “Ghost.”  Both Graf and company and Captain Syndulla and company may not escape from situations that are not only difficult, but are also both scary.

Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle #1 has a framing sequence, which focuses on Lina Graf and her crew and that is written by Cavan Scott and drawn by Derek Charm.  This will apparently run through all five issues of Tales from Vader's Castle.  I am interested to see where this story goes, but it is only seven pages long – five to start the issue and two to finish.  So I cannot really grade it, but I can say that it has potential.

The main story stars characters from Disney XD's popular “Star Wars Rebels” series and is written by Scott and drawn and colored by Chris Fenoglio and lettered by Robbie Robbins.  It is a nice little story that stays true and consistent with the characters' television iterations.  This is certainly the kind of Star Wars comic book tale that I would have loved as a kid, and it is one of the better Star Wars Adventures stories that IDW has published over this first year or so of publishing all-ages Star Wars comic books.  I am surprised, but delighted, by how much drama and tension Scott and Fenoglio pack into 13 pages.

Chris Fenoglio holds his own as a Star Wars Adventures artist against the formidable Derek Charm, who seems to be the marquee Star Wars Adventures artist.  Robbie Robbins' lettering simply looks like perfect comic book lettering to me.  I hope Cavan Scott writes more stories set in the world of “Star Wars Rebels,” preferably with Chris Fenoglio as artist.

Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle is a publishing mini-event that I can get behind.  I recommend it for young Star Wars comic book readers, and those young at heart... like me.

7.5 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, April 8, 2019

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for April 10, 2019

IDW PUBLISHING

NOV180735    CLYDE GN    $9.99
FEB190662    DUCKTALES #20 CVR A DISNEY    $3.99
FEB190663    DUCKTALES #20 CVR B DISNEY    $3.99
FEB190640    GHOSTBUSTERS 35TH ANNIV REAL GHOSTBUSTERS FERREIRA    $3.99
JUL180949    NICKELODEON SPLAT ATTACK    $59.99
SEP180785    NICKELODEONS SPLAT ATTACK REPTAR RAMPAGE    $19.99
DEC180726    STAR WARS ADVENTURES TALES FROM VADERS CASTLE BOX SET    $29.99