Review: THE SHADOW/BATMAN #1

THE SHADOW/BATMAN, VOL. 1, No. 1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT/DC Comics – @dynamitecomics @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Steve Orlando
ART: Giovanni Timpano
COLORS: Flavio Dispenza
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
COVER: David Finch with June Chung
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ethan Van Sciver with Jason Wright (B); Alex Ross (C); Dustin Nguyen (D); Brandon Peterson (E); Bill Sienkiewicz (F); Howard Porter with Hi-Fi (G); Giovanni Timpano with Flavio Dispenza; Howard Porter; Ethan Van Sciver; David Finch with June Chung; Alex Ross; David Finch; Giovanni Timpano; Robert Hack; Anthony Marques and J. Bone with Chris O'Halloran; Cory Smith with Tim Shinn; Cory Smith; Tyler Kirkham with Arif Prianto; Tyler Kirkham
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Rated “Teen+”

The Shadow created by Walter Gibson; Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger

Shadow/Batman: Part One

The Shadow is a fictional character that began life as a mysterious radio narrator, debuting on July 31, 1930 as the host of the radio program, “Detective Story Hour.”  Street and Smith Publications, publishers of Detective Story Magazine, hired writer Walter B. Gibson to create a character concept that fit The Shadow's name and voice and to also write a story featuring him.  The first issue of The Shadow Magazine went on sale on April 1, 1931.

DC Comics superhero Batman is a worldwide icon.  He first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (cover dated: May 1939).  Batman and his civilian identity, Bruce Wayne, are among the first characters to be inspired by The Shadow and his civilian guise, Lamont Cranston.  The Shadow and Batman would meet for the first time in Batman #273 (cover dated: November 1973).  This year, DC Comics and Dynamite Entertainment, the current publisher with the license to produce comics based on The Shadow, brought the two characters together, first in the six-issue crossover comic book miniseries, Batman The Shadow, from DC Comics.

Now, it is Dynamite's turn and it is offering a second six-issue miniseries, The Shadow/Batman.  It is written by Steve Orlando; drawn by Giovanni Timpano; colored by Flavio Dispenz; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.

The Shadow/Batman: Volume 1 #1 opens with Professor Pyg in New York City causing chaos.  Batman has followed him to NYC to shut him down, but that upsets The Shadow, who believes that Batman should remain in Gotham City and leave the Big Apple to him.

However, these two dark avengers are about to discover that they are facing the “World's Greatest Evil,” and they may be no match for it.  Can the “World's Greatest Mystery” and the “World's Greatest Detective” (and the “world's most independent sidekick”) must put aside their differences and unravel the centuries' old conspiracy of the “Silent Seven.”

I did not read DC Comics' Batman The Shadow, so I wanted to make sure that I did not miss The Shadow/Batman.  I really like how writer Steve Orlando emphasizes dark moods, atmospheres, feelings, and emotions.  There is a deep sense of foreboding, and Orlando makes a convincing case that both The Shadow and Batman are not only vulnerable, but are also in danger of being destroyed.

Artist Giovanni Timpano's moody compositions and colorist Flavio Dispenz's gloomy colors recall the classic shadowy cool and noir sensibilities of The Shadow in his radio glory days.  The Shadow and Batman are in good artistic hands.

8.5 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: THE KAMANDI CHALLENGE #1

THE KAMANDI CHALLENGE No. 1 (OF 12)
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Dan Didio; Dan Abnett
PENCILS: Keith Giffen; Dale Eaglesham
INKS: Scott Koblish; Dale Eaglesham
COLORS: Hi-Fi
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Bruce Timm
VARIANT COVER: Keith Giffen with Hi-Fi; Dale Eaglesham with Jason Wright
40pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (March 2017)

Rated “T” for Teen

Kamandi created by Jack Kirby

“The Rules” and “K -- is for 'Kill'!”

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth was a comic book created by writer-artist Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics. The series, which ran from 1972 to 1978, starred Kamandi, a teenaged boy in a post-apocalyptic future, in which humans have been reduced back to savagery in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals.

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #1 (cover dated: October 1972) opens some time after a huge event called “The Great Disaster,” which wiped out human civilization.  In “Earth A.D.” (After Disaster), many animals have become humanoid, bipedal, and sentient, and also possess the power of speech. These newly intelligent animal species have equipped themselves with weapons and technology salvaged from the ruins of human civilization and are constantly at war in a struggle for territory.

The world of Kamandi returns in the new DC Comics miniseries, The Kamandi Challenge, bringing together 14 teams of writers and artists.  Each issue will end with an cliffhanger.  The next creative team will resolve that cliffhanger before creating their own, which the next creative team after them will have to resolve... and so on.

The Kamandi Challenge #1 opens with “The Rules” by the team of writer Dan DiDio and artists Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish.  In a pastoral borough, a teenage boy awakens, late for the school bus.  Rushing to school, everything seems normal until the sky cracks opens and giant talking rats attack, revealing that nothing is what he thought it was.

“K -- is for 'Kill'!” is by the second creative team of writer Dan Abnett and artist Dale Eaglesham.  The story places the boy, Kamandi, in a world full of animals that walk and talk like humans.  Specifically in “Tiger City,” our young hero is thrown into the arena of blood sport and he must survive the giant man-ape, “Tiny”

I don't follow the part of the comic book Internet that breaks news about new comic book projects, not like I used to do.  I think I need to start again because I only recently heard about The Kamandi Challenge, and after reading The Kamandi Challenge #1, I know it would have been sad to have missed this fantastic first issue.

Telling a complete story in a single comic book might seem like a lost art in these last three decades of multi-issue story arcs produced in order to be collected into trade paperbacks – sometimes called graphic novels – for the bookstore market.  However, the two creative teams in The Kamandi Challenge #1 prove that they can tell a story that seems complete – even with a cliffhanger ending – in a single issue.

DiDio-Giffen-Koblish's 12-page introduction works as a standalone story and is a nice homage to Jack Kirby's visual and graphical art style.  I also wonder if the borough, burg, town depicted in the opening chapter is an homage to the early 20th century New York City in which Jack Kirby grew up.

The Abnett-Eaglesham team ably picks up the DiDio-Giffen-Koblish cliffhanger from “The Rules” and delivers a gem in “K -- is for 'Kill'!”  Dan Abnett turns his story into a flight of fancy set in world that is part old-school, EBR-style, pulp science fiction and part Planet of the Apes.  Using powerful, muscular compositions, Dale Eaglesham delivers art and storytelling that conveys both the bizarre nature of a world ruled by humaoid animals and the threat of weapons of mass destruction in a post-apocalyptic world that does not understand these lethal relics of war from the distant past.

It's obvious, isn't it?  I really enjoyed reading The Kamandi Challenge #1.  I can't wait for the second issue and I recommend this one.  It is the fun-to-read comic book for “all-ages” that many comic book readers keep saying they want.

A

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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The New 52 Review: DEATHSTROKE #1

"The best at what he does... alone!"

DEATHSTROKE #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Kyle Higgins
PENCILS: Joe Bennett
INKS: Art Thibert
COLORS: Jason Wright
LETTERS: Travis Lanham
COVER: Simon Bisley
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S.

The DC Comics character known as Deathstroke first appeared in New Teen Titans #2 (cover date December 1980) and was originally introduced as “The Terminator.” Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, he was Slade Wilson, a mercenary who was completing the terms of a contract undertaken by his son, Ravager, to kill or capture the Teen Titans. The Terminator became Deathstroke the Terminator and eventually just Deathstroke, an assassin, mercenary, and anti-hero.

With the re-launch of DC Comics’ superhero line, “The New 52,” Deathstroke gets another title series. Deathstroke #1 (“Back to Basics”) opens with Deathstroke in Moscow on an assignment to kill. However, offers for employment tend to come from people who want him to be a bodyguard, rather than a mercenary.

Suddenly, his “agent,” Christoph, finds him an assignment that promises to be difficult and dangerous. Deathstroke has been hired to kill German scientist and engineer turned arms dealer, Jeffrey Bode, but in order to take the job, Deathstroke has to accept assistance in the form of three young mercenaries. Does this sound like bad news? It’s worse than that.

A ruthless badass, Deathstroke has always been a cool character. One could even consider him the DCU’s Wolverine or Punisher. What Deathstroke hasn’t had that Wolverine and The Punisher have had is a bunch of hit comic book series, miniseries, graphic novels, etc. Well, Deathstroke has a killer of a first issue. If you’ve forgotten what a great anti-hero/villain Deathstroke can be and was (see the classic New Teen Titans and Tales of the Teen Titans) or if you never knew, then, be prepared to be thrilled.

Kyle Higgins has written an edgy superhero, crime comic in which the violence comes in sudden spurts and unexpected twists. It’s explosive and sometimes harshly matter-of-fact. The art by Joe Bennett (pencils) and Art Thibert (inks) features meaty compositions and sturdy and smooth inking. However, the storytelling is big like an action movie, but also brutally intimate, which lets the reader in close to Slade Wilson. That’s scary. Deathstroke is a man to avoid, unless you’re a reader looking for a good read about a dangerous man.

A-

September 14th
BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
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BATWOMAN #1 2.99
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DEMON KNIGHTS #1
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FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF SHADE #1
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GREEN LANTERN #1
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GRIFTER #1
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LEGION LOST #1
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MISTER TERRIFIC #1
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RED LANTERNS #1
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RESURRECTION MAN #1
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SUICIDE SQUAD #1
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SUPERBOY #1
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