Review: COSMIC SCOUNDRELS Trade Paperback

COSMIC SCOUNDRELS (TPB)
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman
SCRIPT: Matt Chapman
ART: Andy Suriano
COLORS: Andy Suriano with T Dang
LETTERS: Christa Miesner and Andy Suriano
COVER: George Caltsoudas
SERIES COVERS: Andy Suriano
MISC. ART: Andrew MacLean; Warwick Johnson Cadwell; Dan McDaid; Alexis Ziritt; Aaron Conley; Veronica Fish; Ron Salas; Tanner Johnson; Paul Maybury; Jake Wyatt with Rico Renzi; Paul Harmon; Derek Charm; Chris Schweizer; Rob Schrab; Terry and Rachel Dodson with Rico Renzi; Derek Hunter; Wilfredo Torres; Tony Fleecs; Michel Fiffe; Scott Kowalchuk; Kali Fontecchio; Jeffs Sims; Rico Renzi; Nick Dragotta; Andy Suriano
ISBN: 978-1-68405-024-6; paperback (December 2017)
144pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN (December 19, 2017)

Cosmic Scoundrels created by Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman

Cosmic Scoundrels is a five-issue miniseries published by IDW Publishing in 2017.  In December 2017, IDW collected Cosmic Scoundrels as a full-color trade paperback that reprints all five issues of the miniseries and reprints all of the miniseries' covers and variant covers.  There is also a 20-page dossier of characters, ships, planets, concepts, etc. used in the minseries and miscellany like faux-advertisements and comic strips.  Cosmic Scoundrels is written by Andy Suriano (story) and Matt Chapman (story and script).  It is drawn by Suriano; colored by Suriano and T Dang; and lettered by Christa Miesner and Suriano.

Cosmic Scoundrels was created by two veterans of American television animation, Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman.  Suriano is a character designer, storyboard artist, and concept designer who is known for his work on “Samurai Jack” (2001-2004) and “Star Wars: Clone Wars” (2003-2005), and Suriano is also an Emmy Award winner.  Chapman is an animation writer and voice actor for animated series, having worked on the Disney Channel's “Gravity Falls” (2012 to 2016) as both a writer and performer.

A sci-fi action-comedy, Cosmic Scoundrels focuses on Love Savage and Roshambo, two space-fairing scoundrels and thieves.  Love Savage, with his long blond hair, looks like a rock star and is indeed in a rock band.  Roshambo is the tough-guy, military type and sports a pair of powerful gauntlets on his wrists.  These two bachelor scalawags travel the spaceways aboard their ship, “the S.S. Fistpuncher,” and get a little mothering from the ship's artificial intelligence (A.I.), “Mrs. Billingsley.”

Trouble starts for the two when they rob the Dimetrotron Brothers of some supposedly valuable cargo.  What they find in one of the crates is a toddler with a huge electronic collar around his neck.  Alternately calling him, “Tad Jr.” and “Roshambo Jr.,” our scoundrels fight to keep the baby from the clutches of very powerful forces that insist on obtaining the child.  By the end of this adventure, many secrets will be revealed, and Love Savage and Roshambo will find themselves exposed.

You don't have to read many pages into Cosmic Scoundrels to see that it is a celebration of the spirit of animated television series.  Cosmic Scoundrels is basically the kind of Saturday morning cartoon we wish existed.  The story's vivid colors seems to emanate from a cathode ray tube, blasting electron beams from behind animation cels.

The lettering is like a cat on a hot tin roof which gives the story a wild and crazy vibe.  The narrative is kind of all over the place, but readers can use the protect-the-baby plot line as a kind of yellow brick road that will take you to the back-to-Kansas ending of the story.  Sometimes, the story is a little too wild and wooly, so focus on Cosmic Scoundrels' explosive graphics and graphical storytelling.

Cosmic Scoundrels does have a flavor that recalls films like The Fifth Element and Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, as well as the 1981 animated film, Heavy Metal.  Fans of anime and animation will feel the groove of “Cowboy Bebop,” “Futurama,” “Galaxy High,” and “Samurai Jack,” to name a few.  It is as fun to read Cosmic Scoundrels as it is to watch such animated series.  This comic book does have some story padding, and the lead characters, Love Savage and Roshambo, beg for some character development.  Hopefully, the Cosmic Scoundrels have a future that reveals more about them.

7 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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Review: DREAMING EAGLES #6

DREAMING EAGLES No. 6 (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
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2016)

For mature readers

Dreaming Eagles created by Garth Ennis

Chapter 6: “A Stone of Hope”

Dreaming Eagles was a comic book miniseries created and written by Garth Ennis.  Published from late 2015 and into 2016, the series was drawn by Simon Coleby; colored by John Kalisz; lettered by Rob Steen, with Francesco Francavilla as the main cover artist.

Published in six issues, Dreaming Eagles tells the story of the first African-American fighter pilots to join the United States Army Air Force during World War II.  The narrative connects the pilots' stories with the 1960s Civil Rights movement through two characters, WWII veteran and USAAF pilot, Lt. Reggie Atkinson, and his son, Lee, a Civil Rights activist.  Lt. Atkinson recounts his experiences as a Black pilot in WWII, including his stint as a member of the “Red Tails,” to Lee.

As Dreaming Eagles #6 (“A Stone of Hope”) opens, Reggie moves the story to his last mission as a member of the Three Thirty-Second Fight Group (the Red Tails), as he and his fellow Black pilots escort U.S. Bombers on a raid into Berlin, Germany.  However, Lt. Atkinson and his friend and fellow pilot, “Fats,” return to the United States and find out that some people still don't consider Black people, even those who have defended the country, to be “Americans.”

Personal issues and sell-outs at the “local” comic book shops delayed me finishing Dreaming Eagles.  I ended up buying issues #3 and #6 on eBay.  Honestly, I did not want Dreaming Eagles to end, but the truth is that the story of the Black pilots and the Red Tails in WWII is a finite one.  As history, however, the story lives on simply because people dedicated to giving Black servicemen and servicewomen who served in WWII their due have been reviving such stories for the past few decades via various media, including books, TV and film documentaries, journalism, research, and fictional movies (such as George Lucas' Red Tails film).

I am not the only one who thinks that people who were born and who lived outside of the United States often see the truth about America's troubled race relations and race issues in a way that is clearer.  Sometimes, non-American see race in America in broader ways than citizens born and raised in the good old U.S. of A.

If Dreaming Eagles has an over-arching theme, it is that the struggle for Black people in America is an ongoing one and that progress isn't a process that ends.  One can't go just so far and then stop when the adversaries of equality and justice seem to make the struggle too hard to continue.  “Just so far” is not enough; the struggle means moving forward.  How far?  Will we know when we get there?  The answer to those questions is to fight as long as there is inequality and injustice.

The progress of the Black pilots in Dreaming Eagles epitomizes that.  Keep soaring, past the boundaries set by those who attempt to hold you back.  Thank you, Mr. Ennis and Mr. Coleby, for reminding us, not just of the WWII Black pilots' stories, but also that “just so far” isn't really far at all.

A+

[This comic book includes a four-page preview of the comic book , “Captain Kid,” by Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, and Wilfredo Torres.  There is also a two-page Q&A between Mike Marts and Ray Fawkes.]

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: CAPTAIN KID #1

CAPTAIN KID No. 1
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITERS: Mark Waid and Tom Peyer
ARTIST: Wilfredo Torres
COLORS: Kelly Fitzpatrick
LETTERS: A Larger World
COVER: Wilfredo Torres with Kelly Fitzpatrick
VARIANT COVER: Juan Doe
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2016)

Captain Kid is a new comic book created and written by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer.  It is drawn by Wilfredo Torres; colored by Kelly Fitzpatrick; and lettered by A Larger World.  The series focuses on a middle-aged man who can turn into a teenage superhero.

Captain Kid #1 (“Make it Beautiful”) opens in Red Nose, a small bar where a small group of friends have gathered for a birthday party.  Chris Vargas, a music editor at the local newspaper, is having birthday number 45.  A young woman dressed as if she were still trapped in the 1980s forces Chris to pay attention to her.  She insists that Chris has power, power they will need to stop evil.

Honestly, I am only vaguely interested in what happens in future issues of Captain Kid, a title that, at this point, does not work for this comic book.  Over the years, I have been hot and cold about Mark Waid.  When he is good, he is truly good.  When his writing is mediocre, it can be painful to read.  I guess I have previously read something written by Tom Peyer.  His name is familiar to me, but when I first saw his name on this book, I though he was the artist.

I have mixed feelings about artist Wilfredo Torres because of his work on The Shadow: Year One.  In that series, Torres' storytelling was good, but in terms of composition and design, he was... not so good and inconsistent.  I don't know what to make of Torres' art here.  I guess I feel blah about this first issue, mainly because I think a series launch needs to be stronger than Captain Kid #1 is.

I can almost feel myself identifying with Chris Vargas.  These are precarious times, especially for people in professions that are starting to look like passenger pigeons.  Hell, I know I just want to get paid, and I am no longer interested in working for the exposure.  So a strong character in Chris will make for a stronger Captain Kid.

You know, infinitely more exciting than the main story is the five-page preview of the new comic book from writer Marguerite Bennet, entitled Animosity.  I'd kill for a copy of the first issue...

[This comic book contains a five-page preview of Animosity by Marguerite Bennett and Rafael De Latorre.]

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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Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for April 8, 2015

IMAGE COMICS

FEB150590     BIG MAN PLANS #2 CVR A POWELL (MR)     $3.50
FEB150591     BIG MAN PLANS #2 CVR B JOHNSON (MR)     $3.50
FEB150509     BIRTHRIGHT #6     $2.99
DEC148492     BIRTHRIGHT #6 CVR B HARREN     $2.99
FEB150599     COPPERHEAD #6     $3.50
JAN150604     DANGER CLUB #8     $2.99
JAN158375     DANGER CLUB #8 CVR B ALTERNATIVE ENDING     $2.99
FEB150601     DESCENDER #2 (MR)     $2.99
JAN150682     ELEPHANTMEN #63 (MR)     $3.99
NOV140652     FIVE GHOSTS #16     $3.50
FEB150525     IMPERIAL TP     $14.99
FEB150494     IXTH GENERATION HIDDEN FILES #1 CVR A SEJIC     $3.99
FEB150495     IXTH GENERATION HIDDEN FILES #1 CVR B SEJIC     $3.99
FEB150472     JUPITERS CIRCLE #1 CVR A QUITELY (MR)     $3.50
FEB150473     JUPITERS CIRCLE #1 CVR B QUITELY (MR)     $3.50
FEB150474     JUPITERS CIRCLE #1 CVR C SIENKIEWICZ (MR)     $3.50
FEB150475     JUPITERS CIRCLE #1 CVR D PARLOV (MR)     $3.50
FEB150526     JUPITERS LEGACY TP VOL 01 (MR)     $9.99
FEB150498     LEGACY OF LUTHER STRODE #1 (MR)     $3.99
JAN158374     NAMELESS #2 2ND PTG (MR)     $2.99
FEB150619     NAMELESS #3 (MR)     $2.99
DEC140748     ODYC #4 (MR)     $3.99
APR140583     ONE HIT WONDER #5 (MR)     $3.50
AUG140669     RAT QUEENS #10 (MR)     $3.50
FEB150628     SAGA #27 (MR)     $2.99
FEB150477     SAVIOR #1     $2.99
JAN150658     SHELTERED TP VOL 03     $14.99
FEB150537     SINERGY TP     $14.99
FEB150634     SOUTHERN CROSS #2     $2.99
JAN150713     SURFACE #2 (MR)     $3.50
JAN158373     THEYRE NOT LIKE US #2 2ND PTG (MR)     $2.99
FEB150645     WALKING DEAD #140 (MR)     $2.99

IMAGE COMICS/MCFARLANE TOYS

JAN158185     WWE ICON SERIES TRIPLE H RESIN STATUE     PI

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