Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for September 3, 2014

DARK HORSE COMICS
JUL140081     1 FOR $1 GHOST     $1.00
MAY140100     ALLEY OOP COMPLETE SUNDAYS HC VOL 02 1936 - 1938     $75.00
JUL140116     ANGEL AND FAITH SEASON 10 #6 MAIN CVR     $3.50
MAY140053     AW YEAH COMICS TP VOL 01     $12.99
MAR140106     CLASSIC MARVEL UNCANNY X-MEN 94 #3 CYCLOPS     $49.95
JUL140108     CONCRETE PARK RESPECT #1     $3.99
MAY140090     FEAR AGENT TP VOL 06 2ND ED OUT OF STEP     $16.99
MAY140074     FINDER THIRD WORLD TP     $19.99
MAY140073     FURIOUS TP VOL 01 FALLEN STAR     $17.99
JUN140084     GAME OF THRONES DAENERYS TARGARYEN COASTER SET     $9.99
MAY140113     GAME OF THRONES MAGNET SET DAENERYS TARGARYEN     $8.99
JUL140106     GRENDEL VS SHADOW #1     $5.99
MAY140096     JAYBIRD HC     $19.99
MAY140059     LEGEND KORRA ART ANIMATED SERIES HC BOOK 02 SPIRITS     $34.99
JAN140217     LEGEND OF KORRA COASTER SET     $9.99
MAR140103     LEGEND OF KORRA MAGNET SET     $8.99
DEC130151     MASS EFFECT ALLIANCE CRUISER SILVER LTD SHIP REPLICA     $59.99
JUL140097     MICHAEL AVON OEMINGS VICTORIES #15 (MR)     $3.99
MAY140111     NEW LONE WOLF AND CUB TP VOL 02 (MR)     $13.99
MAY140069     PARIAH TP VOL 02     $14.99
JUN140087     SIN CITY COASTER SET #2     $10.00
JUN140088     SIN CITY MAGNET SET #2     $9.00
APR140063     TERMINATOR ENEMY OF MY ENEMY #5     $3.99
JUL140110     USAGI YOJIMBO SENSO #2     $3.99

I Reads You Review: JONNY QUEST #1

JONNY QUEST #1
COMICO The Comic Company

WRITER: Doug Wildey; William Messner-Loebs
PENCILS: Doug Wildey; Steve Rude
INKS: Doug Wildey; Mike Royer
COLORS: Doug Wildey; Matt Wagner
LETTERS: Doug Wildey; Bob Pinaha
PIN-UPS: Steve Rude; Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley; Bill Willingham and Terry Austin
32pp, Color, $1.50 U.S., $2.25 CAN (June 1986)

“Jonny Quest” was a science fiction and action-adventure animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for Screen Gems.  The series was created and designed by comic book artist, Doug Wildey.  “Jonny Quest” was broadcast on ABC in prime time for one season in 1964–1965 for a total of 26 episodes.

“Jonny Quest” focused on Jonathan “Jonny” Quest, an 11-year-old boy who accompanies Dr. Benton C. Quest, his genius scientist father, on extraordinary adventures.  Roger T. “Race” Bannon was a special agent from the governmental agency, Intelligence One.  A pilot, Race was also Jonny’s tutor, as well as his bodyguard, as the (presumably) U.S. government feared that the boy could be kidnapped.  Jonny’s best friend was Hadji Singh, a streetwise, 11-year-old orphan from Calcutta whom Dr. Benton Quest adopted as his son.  Jonny has a pet, Bandit, a small white dog.

There have been comic book adaptations of “Jonny Quest.”  In 1964, Gold Key Comics published Jonny Quest #1 (cover dated: December 1964?), which retold the first TV episode, “Mystery of the Lizard Men.”  The Grand Comics Database lists a single-issue Jonny Quest comic book published in Australia in 1976.

Beginning in 1986, Pennsylvania-based comic book publisher, Comico The Comic Company (or just Comico), began publishing a Jonny Quest comic book with all-new stories, using the original TV series as a template.  Jonny Quest ran for 31 issues, with two issues of the Jonny Quest Special, and three issues of Jonny Quest Classic.  Drawn by Doug Wildey, the “Classic” series retold three “Jonny Quest” TV episodes:  “Shadow of the Condor,” “Calcutta Adventure,” and “Werewolf of the Timberland.”  There was also Jezebel Jade, a three-issue miniseries starring Jade, a female combination soldier-of-fortune, mercenary, spy, etc. who appeared in the 1965-65 series and had (has) some kind of romantic relationship with Race.

Some months ago, on eBay, I bought a bundle of 1980s comic books that were published by independent publishers.  What I really wanted were the issues of Wally Wood’s T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents included in this auction lot, but I was surprised to find the first issue of Comico’s ongoing Jonny Quest series.

Jonny Quest #1 contains two interconnected short stories.  The first is “The Sands of Khasa Tahid,” written and drawn by “Jonny Quest” designer/creator, Doug Wildey.  Jonny, Hadji, and Race are traveling across the desert of an unnamed North African country.  Their destination is the Chandarkin Oasis, which is the location of an ancient city buried beneath its sands… or so goes Dr. Quest’s theory.  The machinations of longtime Quest adversary, Dr. Zin, is about to put this trio in an explosive situation.

The second story is “City of Lost Time,” which is written by William Messner-Loebs and drawn by Steve Rude and Mike Royer.  Dr. Quest, Race, and the boys head towards the uncovered city of Khasa Tahid, with Jezebel Jade along for the ride.  They aren’t the only ones looking to discover the lost city’s secrets, which are about to reveal themselves to two curious boys.

I read this comic book around the time it was first released.  I liked it, but not enough to keep reading the series.  I’m not sure how many issues after the first issue I read, if I read any at all.  Looking back, Jonny Quest #1 is good, but not great.  I was a huge fan of the old TV series, and Doug Wildey’s opening story captures the graphic and visual sensibilities of the show, obviously, as Wildey created the show.  The second story has some nice ideas, especially about the unseen denizens of the Khasa Tahid, but it is truncated.  It needed to be a full-issue story, at least.

This time around, however, I do plan to try to read more of the series, especially the “specials” and Jonny Quest Classics.  Jonny Quest #1 turned out to be a nice “bonus” in that eBay lot I bought.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

I Reads You Review: THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: Deadboy Detectives #1

THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: DEADBOY DETECTIVES #1 (OF 4)
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Ed Brubaker
PENCILS: Bryan Talbot
INKS: Steve Leialoha
COLORS: Daniel Vozzo
LETTERS: Willie Schubert
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Dave McKean
32pp, Color, $2.50 U.S., $4.25 CAN (August 2001)

Suggested for mature readers

“The Secret of Immortality” “Part One”

The Sandman created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, and Mike Dringenberg

Dead Boy Detectives created by Neil Gaiman and artists Matt Wagner and Malcolm Jones III

Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland are “The Dead Boy Detectives.”  They are two DC Comics fictional characters that first appeared in The Sandman #25 (cover dated: April, 1991) and were created by writer Neil Gaiman and artists Matt Wagner and Malcolm Jones III.

Since that debut, the Dead Boy Detectives have appeared in a number of comic books published under DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint.  In fact, the Dead Boy Detectives recently received their own eponymous, ongoing comic book series from Vertigo.  News of that new series re-ignited my desire to read the 2001 four-issue comic book miniseries, The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives.  It was written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Bryan Talbot (pencils) and Steve Leialoha (inks), with colors by Daniel Vozzo.

Paine and Rowland are not your average boy detectives (like the Hardy Boys).  Edwin Paine was murdered at his British boarding school in 1916, and spent 75 years in Hell.  He escaped in 1991 and met Charles Rowland at his old boarding school, during the events of The Sandman story arc, Seasons of Mist.  Rowland died during this time, but refused to accompany Death (one of “The Endless”), preferring the prospect of future adventures with Paine.  The two ghosts spent a decade haunting places, preparing to become “first-rate detectives.”

The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives #1 opens with the boys settling into their new office – a tree house.  Now, the Rowland and Paine Detective Agency needs a client, and they get one.  Marcia, a young runaway, tells our intrepid duo that many of her fellow street urchin friends have been disappearing and then turning up dead.  These are not ordinary deaths, however, as the corpses appear to have been quite aged and withered.  Marcia claims that the police are not willing to put much effort into investigating crimes against runaways and the homeless.

Ultimately, Marcia decides not to hire Paine and Rowland, as she does not take them seriously.  They decide to investigate anyway, but their hunt will force them to meet people who may be dangerous even to ghosts.

If the rest of The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives is junk, then, the series would have to have taken a steep fall, because it really is good.  Ed Brubaker takes the boy detective genre (as best exemplified by the aforementioned Hardy Boys) and made it more imaginative and maybe even a little smarter.  I prefer the bookish Rowland, but Brubaker makes the alpha-male Paine not only the perfect foil for his partner, but also the tough guy that a mystery-solving duo needs.  I like how Brubaker sends his young heroes to interesting places that seem as real as they are imaginative.

Talbot and Leialoha’s art fills the spaces of the pages, which also gives the story a sense of verisimilitude.  Vozzo’s colors permeate the graphical storytelling with a sense of magic.  We have pretty pictures and good fantasy storytelling.  I’m ready for more of The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives, and I am also prepared to move onto the new series.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Review: THE SHADOW: Year One #4

THE SHADOW: YEAR ONE #4
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

WRITER: Matt Wagner
ARTIST: Wilfredo Torres
COLORS: Brennan Wagner
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
COVER: Matt Wagner (A), Alex Ross (B), Chris Samnee (C), Howard Chaykin (D)
The Shadow created by Walter B. Gibson
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Rated T+

After some years, I’m finally reading a comic book starring seminal old-time radio and pulp magazine vigilante and crime fighter, The Shadow, and I’ve had some mixed feelings about it.  Now, I truly satisfied… at least, for now.

Dynamite Entertainment has brought The Shadow back to comic books.  Dynamite’s latest release featuring the dark avenger who knows what fear lurks in hearts of men is The Shadow: Year One.

Depicting the beginnings of The Shadow’s campaign against crime, The Shadow: Year One is written by Matt Wagner and drawn by Wilfredo Torres.  The adventure begins in Cambodia, 1929 and moves to New York City on October 30, 1929.  That’s when wealthy, world traveler and adventurer, Lamont Cranston, becomes The Shadow and begins a war on evil in America.

As The Shadow: Year One #4 opens, Guiseppe “Joe” Massaretti, top crime boss in New York City, forms some kind of union with the mysterious Dr. Zorn.  Meanwhile, a young newspaper reporter finds that the closer he gets to Lamont Cranston, the farther away the hard-to-find millionaire seems to be.

After being saved from Carlo Luppino by The Shadow, insurance salesman, Claude Fellowes, learns the price he owes the dark avenger.  At the same time, Lupino is the one who needs saving, as he goes on the run.  Plus, in case she misunderstood, The Shadow informs Margo Lane what her relationship with Lamont Cranston will be.

I saw The Shadow: Year One #3 as an improvement over the first two issues of the miniseries because it emphasized confrontation and violence, rather than only talk and character development.  I understand that, early on, writer Matt Wagner was trying to establish the plot, setting, and characters for the series.  However, the series just did not seem like a story that deserved to run under the banner of The Shadow.  It seemed as if the story were waiting for something to really happen.

Now, with this fourth issue, The Shadow: Year One offers the kind of explosive episode that deserves to be called The Shadow.  The gamesmanship, the intrigue, the mystery and suspense; it’s on now, baby!  Oh, I mean… this is most excellent writing indeed.

I have had mixed feelings, to put it mildly, about the art by Wilfredo Torres, but he’s hitting his stride at the midway point in the series.  Now, Torres’ art has a graphic sensibility that recalls Golden Age comic book art.  It’s a visual aesthetic similar to Paul Smith’s art for The Golden Age, a 1990s DC Comics miniseries.  Smith adapted his style in way that would recall Golden Age comic book art.  Torres, in a similar fashion, is doing that with his art for this series, with increasingly good results.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: THE SHADOW: Year One #3

THE SHADOW: YEAR ONE #3
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

WRITER: Matt Wagner
ARTIST: Wilfredo Torres
COLORS: Brennan Wagner
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
COVERS: Matt Wagner (A), Alex Ross (B), Chris Samnee (C), Howard Chaykin (D)
The Shadow created by Walter B. Gibson
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

Rated T+

Dynamite Entertainment returned The Shadow to comic books. The Shadow: Year One is Dynamite’s latest comic book series featuring the dark avenger who knows what fear lurks in the hearts of men.

This new miniseries imagines the beginnings of The Shadow’s campaign against crime and is written by Matt Wagner and drawn by Wilfredo Torres. The adventure begins in Cambodia, 1929 and moves to New York City on October 30, 1929. That’s when wealthy, world traveler and adventurer, Lamont Cranston, becomes The Shadow and begins a war on evil in America.

As The Shadow: Year One #3 opens, an insurance broker named Fellowes is summoned before crime boss, Carlo Luppino, AKA “the Dandy Don.” Luppino wants a new agent for his criminal enterprise, but The Shadow is also seeking agents. Meanwhile, after inviting herself into his home, Margo Lane confronts Lamont Cranston.

Because it emphasizes confrontation and violence (of course), The Shadow: Year One #3 is the best issue of the series since the first issue. In fact, this third issue is a big improvement over issue #2, which writer Matt Wagner used to establish what are likely to be the dominate plot lines of this miniseries. That was a dialogue-heavy issue, with an emphasis on establishing the personalities, conflicts, motivations, etc. of the cast – besides The Shadow. There is not a thing wrong with that; it simply came across as flat in its execution.

Issue #3, however, is about bad guys, the kind of fictional violent, remorseless killers that deserve to have the sword of justice brought down on them. Thank goodness that Matt Wagner finally, really unleashes The Shadow’s pistols. Honestly, I didn’t know that I was that crazy about cap-popping in comic books; after all, I haven’t read The Punisher in years. Wagner also has some fun with the Lamont Cranston/Margo Lane dynamic; it’s good to see them go at each other.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: THE SHADOW: Year One #2

THE SHADOW: YEAR ONE #2
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

WRITER: Matt Wagner
ARTIST: Wilfredo Torres
COLORS: Brennan Wagner
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
COVERS: Matt Wagner (A), Alex Ross (B), Chris Samnee (C), Howard Chaykin (D)
The Shadow created by Walter B. Gibson
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

The Shadow began as the mysterious narrator of the radio series, Detective Story Hour. Then, pulp writer Walter B. Gibson, under the pen name Maxwell Grant, fully developed the character into the one we know, the mysterious crime-fighting vigilante with psychic powers. The Shadow became a pop culture icon. The character is no stranger to comics, having debuted in a daily newspaper comic strip in 1940 and also starring in a comic book series that ran during the 1940s, entitled Shadow Comics.

In 2012, The Shadow returned to comic books via Dynamite Entertainment. Dynamite’s latest release featuring the dark avenger who knows about fear lurking in hearts is The Shadow: Year One, a new miniseries from writer Matt Wagner and artist Wilfredo Torres. The adventure begins in Cambodia, 1929 and moves to New York City on October 30, 1929. That’s when wealthy, world traveler and adventurer, Lamont Cranston, becomes The Shadow and begins a war on crime in America.

As The Shadow: Year One #2 opens, The Shadow rescues Margo Lane, a mobster’s sex toy (a.k.a. “piece of ass”) from that mobster’s goons, Vinnie and Sal. You see, Ms. Lane is or was Guiseppe “Joe” Massaretti’s lover, but he didn’t need her services anymore and wanted to get rid of her permanently. Surprisingly, Ms. Lane recognizes her rescuer. Meanwhile, a young reporter continues to track Cranston, as a mob war begins.

Writer Matt Wagner uses The Shadow: Year One #2 to establish what are likely to be the dominate plot lines of this miniseries. This is a dialogue-heavy issue, so the emphasis is on establishing the personalities, conflicts, motivations, etc. of the cast – besides The Shadow. Surprisingly, Wagner’s exposition (which appears in the caption boxes) is stiff and kinda dull. This is surprising because Wagner, a veteran writer/artist and comic book scribe, is usually in top form. So far, The Shadow: Year One has not been anywhere near his best work.

This issue, the art by Wilfredo Torres looks like a broken-down version of David Mazzuchelli’s art for Batman: Year One. The compositions are arthritic, and the figure drawing is awkward. Both Wagner and Torres are capable of better, and I’m sure or I hope they will deliver better in future issues.

B-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: THE SHADOW Year One #1

THE SHADOW: YEAR ONE #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT – @dynamitecomics

WRITER: Matt Wagner
ARTIST: Wilfredo Torres
COLORS: Brennan Wagner
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
COVER: Matt Wagner (A), Alex Ross (B), Chris Samnee (C), Howard Chaykin (D)
The Shadow created by Walter B. Gibson
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”

He has influenced such characters as Batman, Green Arrow, the Green Hornet, and Alan Moore’s V from V for Vendetta, but The Shadow began as a sinister voice on the radio, the mysterious narrator of a radio series.

Then, pulp writer Walter B. Gibson fully developed the character into the one we know. The Shadow became the mysterious crime-fighting vigilante with psychic powers that appeared in novel-length stories published in pulp magazines. The Shadow became a pop culture icon. The character is no stranger to comics, having debuted in a daily newspaper comic strip in 1940 and having also starred in a comic book series entitled Shadow Comics that ran during the 1940s.

In 2012, Dynamite Entertainment returned The Shadow to comic books with a new regular series. Dynamite’s latest release is The Shadow: Year One, a new miniseries from writer Matt Wagner and artist Wilfredo Torres.

The Shadow: Year One #1 opens in Cambodia, 1929. Chanda, a young gang member, runs to his cousin for aid. It seems his boss, the fearsome warlord, Kai-Pang, has been killed by “a dark spirit… thirsting for vengeance.” Now, that spirit wants Chanda.

Later, on October 30, 1929, the wealthy, world traveler and adventurer, Lamont Cranston, arrives by ship in New York City. A young reporter’s interest is piqued by Cranston’s return to America. Meanwhile, Margo Lane, a kept woman, is having a disagreement with her keeper, New York-based criminal and hood, Guiseppe “Joe” Massaretti. Margo and Joe’s relationship is about to bring The Shadow out of the shadows.

For a time, I was a huge fan of The Shadow. I read Howard Chaykin’s four-issue miniseries, The Shadow (DC Comics), several times. Chaykin, who provides one of four covers for the first issue of The Shadow: Year One, created a very popular re-imagining (before that word was used) of The Shadow. Eventually collected as The Shadow: Blood and Judgment, Chaykin’s miniseries was also controversial.

Whereas Chaykin’s The Shadow was flashy, crazy, sexy, cool and maybe just a tad bit aggressive and in-your-face, The Shadow, as drawn by Wilfredo Torres, is quiet and smooth. Torres’ art is straight from the David Mazzuchelli school of comics-as-Film-Noir, but this is a low-budget Film-Noir, with straight-ahead camera work. It’s no frills, just meat-and-potatoes, as if the camera just stands still and shoots what is in front of it.

Matt Wagner’s script offers intriguing tidbits throughout, but he writes a first issue that is frustratingly and mostly set-up. This is barely a prologue. The way this story is presented seems to suggest that the actual story hasn’t really started. Will this series turn out to be good? I’ll put my money on Wagner to deliver quality, if not excellent, work. But for now, this first issue is so much cock-tease.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for February 20 2013

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

DEC120942 ADVENTURE TIME #13 [DIG] $3.99

DEC121243 BENJAMIN BEAR IN FUZZY THINKING TP $4.99

DEC121244 BENNY AND PENNY TOY BREAKER TP $4.99

DEC120818 BETTY & VERONICA #264 REG CVR [DIG/P+] $2.99

SEP121037 BIONIC WOMAN #8 $3.99

DEC121245 CHICK AND CHICKIE IN PLAY ALL DAY TP $4.99

OCT121109 CREEPY KOFY MOVIE TIME COMIC $3.99

DEC120854 CROSSED ANNUAL 2013 #1 (MR) $5.99

DEC120856 CROSSED ANNUAL 2013 #1 TORTURE CVR (MR) $5.99

DEC120855 CROSSED ANNUAL 2013 #1 WRAP CVR (MR) $5.99

NOV121293 DANCE I/T VAMPIRE BUND OMNIBUS VOL 02 $19.99

DEC121013 DEJAH THORIS & GREEN MEN OF MARS #1 (MR) $3.99

DEC121014 DEJAH THORIS & GREEN MEN OF MARS #1 EXC SUBSCRIPTION $3.99

SEP121072 DF JUDGE DREDD SWIERCZYNSKI SGN ED PI

SEP121065 DF UNCANNY AVENGERS #1 CGC 9.8 $89.99

NOV121164 DF VAMPIRELLA #26 RISQUE RED CVR (MR) $19.99

DEC120925 DIE HARD YEAR ONE TP VOL 01 (NOTE PRICE) $9.99

DEC120931 FANBOYS VS ZOMBIES #11 MAIN CVRS [DIG] $3.99

DEC121263 HARBINGER (ONGOING) #9 REG SUAYAN CVR $3.99

DEC120913 HELLRAISER DARK WATCH #1 (MR) [DIG] $3.99

DEC121246 JEFF SMITH LITTLE MOUSE GETS READY TP $4.99

DEC121143 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #195 $5.99

DEC120822 LIFE WITH ARCHIE #27 RUIZ CVR [DIG/P+] $3.99

NOV121295 LIZZIE NEWTON VICTORIAN MYSTERIES GN VOL 02 $11.99

OCT121040 LORD OF THE JUNGLE #13 (MR) $3.99

OCT121154 MERMIN HC VOL 01 $19.99

DEC121065 MOOMIN BUILDS A HOUSE GN $9.95

DEC121066 MOOMIN FALLS IN LOVE GN $9.95

DEC121062 PLUME #2 $3.99

OCT120973 SCAM #3 (MR) $3.99

DEC120984 SHADOW YEAR ONE #1 CVR A WAGNER $3.99

DEC120985 SHADOW YEAR ONE #1 CVR B ROSS $3.99

DEC120986 SHADOW YEAR ONE #1 CVR C SAMNEE $3.99

DEC120987 SHADOW YEAR ONE #1 CVR D CHAYKIN $3.99

NOV121106 SHERLOCK HOLMES LIVERPOOL DEMON #2 $3.99

DEC120897 SIMPSONS COMICS #199 $2.99

DEC121187 SIXTH GUN #29 $3.99

DEC121183 SIXTH GUN SONS O/T GUN #1 $3.99

DEC121176 SMURFS GN VOL 14 BABY SMURF $5.99

DEC121177 SMURFS HC VOL 14 BABY SMURF $10.99

DEC120830 SONIC SUPER DIGEST #2 [P+] $3.99

DEC120827 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES TP VOL 20 $7.99

DEC120828 SONIC UNIVERSE #49 [P+] $2.99

NOV121020 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #78 DLX ED (MR) $19.99

DEC121279 TEZUKA AYAKO TP (MR) $24.95

DEC121049 THE SPIDER #9 $3.99

DEC121165 WALLFLOWER GN VOL 30 (MR) $10.99

DEC121315 WONDERLAND #8 A CVR REYES (MR) $2.99

DEC121316 WONDERLAND #8 B CVR CAFARO (MR) $2.99

DEC120831 WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #26 [DIG/P+] $3.99

DEC121266 X-O MANOWAR (ONGOING) #10 REG HAIRSINE CVR $3.99

MAGAZINES

NOV121432 ALTER EGO #115 SPECIAL 3D ISSUE $8.95

NOV120740 CARS MAGAZINE #12 $4.99

DEC121352 COMIC SHOP NEWS #1340 PI

DEC121355 COMICS REVUE PRESENTS FEB 2013 $19.95

NOV121429 DC BATMAN AUTOMOBILIA FIG COLL MAG #2 1966 BATMAN TV SERIES $20.00

NOV121472 FANGORIA #321 $9.99

DEC121392 GEEK MAGAZINE #5 $6.99

DEC121394 LOCUS #625 $7.50

NOV122051 WHITE DWARF #397 FEB 2013 $10.00

BOOKS

DEC120967 ETERNAL ZACHARYS STORY GN $19.99

NOV121469 UNDER THE MOONS OF MARS NEW ADV ON BARSOOM SC $9.99

NOV122030 WARHAMMER GOTREK & FELIX FIRST OMNIBUS SC $17.50

NOV122031 WARHAMMER GOTREK & FELIX SECOND OMNIBUS SC $17.50

I Reads You Review: THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GestHawk, Volume 1

THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GEISTHAWK, VOLUME 1
LEGENDARY COMICS

CREATORS: Thomas Tull and Matt Wagner
WRITER: Matt Wagner
PENCILS: Simon Bisley
INKS: Rodney Ramos
COLORS: Ryan Brown
LETTERS: Sean Konot
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams with Alex Sinclair
ISBN: 978-1-937278-02-1; paperback (October 2012)
72pp, Color, $7.99 U.S., $9.99 CAN

Legendary Comics is a division of the American film production company, Legendary Pictures, Inc. Legendary Pictures has co-produced such hit films as 300 (based on the Frank Miller graphic novel) and Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films. Having dealt with movies based on comic books, Legendary Pictures founder and CEO, Thomas Tull, has decided to get directly into the creation and publication of comic books.

Tull joined American comic book legend, Matt Wagner (Grendel, Mage), to create a new series of graphic novels, The Tower Chronicles. A proposed trilogy, The Tower Chronicles will see each of its three books serialized in four parts (volumes or issues). The first book/trilogy is The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, written by Wagner and drawn by Simon Bisley, himself a legend for his work on Lobo for DC Comics.

The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 introduces John Tower, a supernatural bounty hunter. Tower will travel the world and go to its darkest recesses to find and destroy some of the most unfathomable monstrosities and creatures. But John doesn’t work for free. Prospective clients must go through Tower’s lawyer, Romulus Barnes, and they must be able to pay Tower’s considerable fees.

One of his newest clients is Agent Alicia Hardwicke of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. With nothing else working, Hardwicke turns to Tower to help her capture a serial killer called the “Piranha Killer.” However, this murderer is not a serial killer, and Agent Hardwicke does not believe in Tower’s world of supernatural creatures. Where do they go from there?

The Tower Chronicles and its lead character, John Tower, are like a blending of Marvel Comics’ character, Blade; the New Line Cinema film series starring Blade; and the character Harry Dresden from author Jim Butcher supernatural detective book series, The Dresden Files. And that’s not a bad thing, because this first volume of The Tower Chronicles is well produced with a well-executed story.

Matt Wagner’s story is expectedly secretive about John Tower’s past, but he tells a fast-paced story full of exciting action-fantasy violence that simply drags the reader along – if he or she likes this kind of genre. The characters are familiar types from various genres and mass entertainments: pulp crime, TV female law enforcement officers, vampire lit, etc., but Wagner punches them up with snappy banter and effective dialogue.

What really makes this stand out is Simon Bisley’s pencil art. As inked by Rodney Ramos and colored by Ryan Brown, Bisley’s compositions are offbeat, which makes the graphical storytelling here different from any other urban fantasy or monster hunter comic books. You can be forgiven for mistaking the Bisley-Ramos union for its resemblance to the work of Paul Gulacy, who would be good for the series should Bisley be unable to continue. For added measure, the team of Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair provide the cover for The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1, and a good cover it is.

I enjoyed The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 enough to want to seek out the rest of the series, some of which has already been released. If you’re missing a good Blade comic book, certainly try this more-than-adequate substitute.

A-

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

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

I Reads You Review: ROCKETEER ADVENTURES VOL. 2 #3

ROCKETEER ADVENTURES VOL. 2 #3
IDW PUBLISHING

WRITERS: David Lapham, Kyle Baker, Matt Wagner
ARTISTS: Chris Sprouse, Kyle Baker, Eric Canete
INKS: Karl Story
COLORS: Jordie Bellaire, Eric Canete and Cassandra Poulson
LETTERS: Shawn Lee, Kyle Baker
PIN-UP: Eric Powell with Dave Stewart
EDITOR: Scott Dunbier
COVERS: Darwyn Cooke (A, C), Dave Stevens (B)
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S.

The Rocketeer is a comic book character created by artist and illustrator, Dave Stevens, who died in March of 2008. The Rocketeer is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jet pack that allows him to fly, and his adventures are set mainly in Los Angeles in and after the year 1938.

The Rocketeer returned to comic books in 2011 in Rocketeer Adventures. Edited by Scott Dunbier and published by IDW Publishing, this four-issue, anthology comic book was a tribute to Stevens and featured Rocketeer short stories (about 8 pages in length) from some of the premiere creators in American comic books. The tributes continue in Rocketeer Adventures Vol. 2.

Rocketeer Adventures Vol. 2 #3 opens with “Coulda Been…,” a story by David Lapham with art by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story, that finds Cliff Second and his girlfriend, Betty Page, imagining what their lives could be like. In “Butch Saves Betty,” the brilliant cartoonist Kyle Baker introduces Cliff and company to a shadowy client. Then, writer Matt Wagner and artist Eric Canete take readers to the future for a “History Lesson.”

David Lapham is a popular comic book creator, but I wonder if people really appreciate what a good writer he is. I see him as a comic book scribe who can always put an imaginative twist on the character/ensemble drama. Read 30 Days of Night: 30 Days ‘Til Death; it could have been just another vampire comic book, but isn’t. His “Coulda Been…” shows why making comic book characters “grow up,” especially those grounded in fantasy, is a mistake. The reason is that when you make characters act like real-world adults that fundamentally changes those characters, sometimes to the point in which they become different from what they were originally. Another good thing about this story is that the artist is the talented and under-utilized Chris Sprouse.

There is nothing special about the other two stories, other than that Kyle Baker draws one of them. What is special is the pin-up by Eric Powell (with colors by Dave Stewart). I could stare at a Powell drawing for an hour and not consider that a waste of time.

B