Comics and Magazines from Diamond Distributors for July 13 2011

COMICS

MAR111227 2000 AD PACK MAY 2011 $20.00

DEC101004 ANGELTOWN HC $19.95

APR110787 ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #220 $3.99

MAY111273 BLACK GOD TP VOL 13 $11.99

MAR111162 BODYSNATCHERS #2 (OF 6) $2.99

APR111232 CASE CLOSED GN VOL 39 $9.99

MAR110831 CAVEWOMAN SNOW #2 $3.75

FEB110769 CHARISMAGIC #2 CVR A RANDOLPH $2.99

FEB110770 CHARISMAGIC #2 CVR B OUM $2.99

FEB110805 CODE GEASS ALTERNATE SHOGUNATE GN $10.99

APR111221 CROSS GAME TP VOL 04 $14.99

APR111015 DF WARLORD OF MARS DEJAH THORIS #4 ADAMS EXC CVR $14.99

APR111117 DISNEY FAIRIES GN VOL 06 A PRESENT FOR TINKER BELL $7.99

MAY110848 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ORCHID #1 (OF 3) CVR A GUNNELL $2.99

MAY110849 EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT ORCHID #1 (OF 3) CVR B FRANCISCO $2.99

APR110845 FAME TIGER WOODS $3.99

MAY110922 FARSCAPE #21 $3.99

MAR110821 FEMFORCE #156 $9.95

APR110760 GOLD DIGGER #130 $3.99

MAR111163 GORE #3 (OF 12) (MR) $2.99

MAY111021 GREEN HORNET AFTERMATH #4 (OF 4) $3.99

MAR110968 HELLRAISER #3 (MR) $3.99

MAY111275 HIGH SCHOOL OF DEAD GN VOL 03 (MR) $13.99

APR111108 HONEY WEST #1 COLOR PHOTO CVR C (O/A) $5.99

FEB110719 HOW TO DRAW SUPERPOWERED HEROES PKT MANGA TP $12.99

APR111234 HYDE & CLOSER TP VOL 05 $9.99

MAY111276 ICHIROH GN VOL 05 $11.99

APR110793 JUGHEAD #208 $2.99

APR111235 KUROZAKURO GN VOL 05 $9.99

MAY110954 LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #7 (MR) $3.99

MAY110955 LADY DEATH (ONGOING) #7 WRAP CVR (MR) $3.99

NOV100743 LADY MECHANIKA #2 CVR A BENITEZ $2.99

NOV100744 LADY MECHANIKA #2 CVR B GARZA $2.99

FEB110772 LADY MECHANIKA COLLECTED EDITION #1 $3.99

MAR110845 LAST ZOMBIE INFERNO #2 (OF 5) $3.99

MAY111222 LOOSE ENDS #1 (OF 4) (MR) $3.99

MAY110871 NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD TP VOL 02 (MR) $19.99

MAY110872 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD HC VOL 02 (MR) $27.99

APR110809 NINJAS VS ZOMBIES #2 $3.99

MAR110810 QUARANTINED (MR) $19.99

APR110929 RASL #11 (MR) $3.50

APR111218 RIN-NE GN VOL 06 $9.99

MAR111083 SHERLOCK HOLMES YEAR ONE #5 $3.99

APR111226 SHONEN JUMP AUGUST 2011 $4.99

MAR110811 SLAUGHTERMANS CREED (MR) $17.99

MAY110949 SPACE WARPED #2 (OF 2) $3.99

MAR110992 STAN LEE ECCC VAR SET $39.99

MAY110935 STAN LEE STARBORN #8 $3.99

MAR111011 TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #68 DLX ED (MR) $19.99

MAY111034 TOTAL RECALL #3 $3.99

APR110939 VAMPIRELLA #8 $3.99

MAY111012 VAMPIRELLA TP VOL 01 CROWN OF WORMS $19.99

MAY110903 VINCENT PRICE PRESENTS #32 (MR) $3.99

APR110927 WAR OF THE WORLDS CAMPFIRE GN $9.99

FEB111098 ZEROIDS #1 SHORT CVR A (O/A) $3.99

MAGAZINES
MAR111389 CLASSIC MARVEL FIG COLL MAG #149 CANNONBALL $14.00
MAR111390 CLASSIC MARVEL FIG COLL MAG #150 TRITON $14.00
MAR111397 DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG #84 REVERSE FLASH $14.00
APR111292 DC SUPERHERO FIG COLL MAG #85 BLACK MANTA $14.00
APR111322 HORRORHOUND #30 PX CVR $6.99
MAR111228 JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE #311 $11.99
MAY111372 SUPERNATURAL MAGAZINE #26 NEWSSTAND ED $6.99
MAY111373 SUPERNATURAL MAGAZINE #26 PX ED $6.99
MAR110813 TERRY MOORE HOW TO DRAW #1 WOMEN $4.99
APR111347 VIDEO WATCHDOG #163 (MR) $8.95
APR112042 WHITE DWARF #378 PI

Leroy Douresseaux on B.P.R.D. HELL ON EARTH: MONSTERS #1

B.P.R.D. HELL ON EARTH: MONSTERS #1 OF 2 (Series #80)
DARK HORSE COMICS

STORY: Mike Mignola and John Arcudi
ART: Tyler Crook
COLORS: Dave Stewart
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Ryan Sook with Dave Stewart (Variant cover by Francesco Francavilla)
32pp, Color, $3.50

Welcome, Tyler Crook!

Crook is the artist on B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Monsters, a new two-issue B.P.R.D. miniseries. The Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense is the organization charged with protecting America and the rest of the world from the occult, paranormal and supernatural in the world of Hellboy, the long-running comic book universe created by Mike Mignola.

B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Monsters #1 finds Liz Sherman (Hellboy’s #1 female) ensconced in a trailer park and living in a trailer with Jeb and Todd (apparently while the Bureau’s off fighting giant bat-eared beasts in Texas). Liz is kicking hillbilly ass in that trailer park, but the darkness from which she’s trying to hide has also taking a liking to the white trash life.

I have never read a B.P.R.D. comic book, not a single one, although I’ve been putting off doing so for years. I started off with a good one in Hell on Earth: Monsters, although it didn’t start off that way. After the first few pages, I was bored and thinking, “This is not real B.P.R.D. or Hellboy.”

The art by newcomer Tyler Crook captures the sense of impending boom and doom weaved by writers Mike Mignola and John Arcudi. Crook’s drawing style, which has similarities to the styles of Kevin Huizenga and David Mazzuchelli, establishes Hell on Earth: Monsters as a story that takes place in a world like our own – earthy and even down and dirty, in which the supernatural is invading. I like the fact that this seems more like Hellblazer dark fantasy than there’s-magic-around-every-corner fantasy. This first issue also has a killer last act.

A-

Cross Game: Mizuki Asami

I read Cross Game, Vol. 4

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Yusei Fudo, Turbo Duelist!!

I read Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Vol. 1 (Yu-Gi-Oh! (Graphic Novels))

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).

I Reads You Review: WOLVERINE and BLACK CAT: CLAWS 2 #1

WOLVERINE & BLACK CAT: CLAWS 2 #1 (OF 3)
MARVEL COMICS

WRITER: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray
ART: Joseph Michael Linsner
COLORS: Dan Brown and Nick Filardi with Ian Hannin
LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry
COVER: Joseph Michael Linsner
32pp, Color, $3.99

Chapter 1: “Back and Forth”

I have to be honest. I only bought the first issue of Wolverine & Black Cat: Claws 2 for the art by Joseph Michael Linsner. I’m not a big fan of Lisner’s work, but I like it enough to look at it when I get a chance. Apparently, there was a first Wolverine & Black Cat: Claws miniseries (3 issues, 2006) that I ignored.

Wolverine (A.K.A. Logan) is practically everyone’s favorite member of the X-Men (though mine is Storm). Black Cat (A.K.A. Felicia Hardy) is a cat burglar extraordinaire and Spider-Man femme fatale. Wolverine & Black Cat: Claws 2 #1 takes place after the events of the first series and finds Wolverine and Black Cat back in New York City. They’re enjoying an evening of food and romance at a swanky eatery. Meanwhile, their adversaries from the first miniseries, Arcade and his partner White Rabbit, have also found their way back to NYC to give Logan and Felicia a dose of revenge.

The prolific writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray can deliver on an action premise (see Radical Publishing’s Time Bomb). Claws 2 is a simple superhero fight comic book with no pretensions to be a character drama or landmark miniseries. There’s violence, humor, and the threat of Wolverine engaging in sexual intercourse. Claws 2 proves that even the team that delivered on the nail-biting Time Bomb can deliver a tepid, mildly humorous, X-Men product.

The art and graphical storytelling by Joseph Michael Linsner look as if they belong in a Marvel comic book from the 1970s or 1980s. Linsner’s drawing style is like a new version of Dave Cockrum’s drawing style with touches of Wally Wood and Eric Stanton. Marvel’s EiC-turned-CCO once referred to a comic book artist friend of mine’s drawing style as passé. Considering that statement, I’m surprised that Linsner’s “old school” graphical approach has anyplace at Marvel, especially in the industrial part of this publisher/trademark maintenance firm that cranks out Wolverine comic books every hour on the hour.

Still, there is an innate charm to Linsner’s work, and his compositions and page designs yield results that really do look like genuine comic book graphics and visuals instead of looking like paintings trying to be comics. His storytelling has a sense of humor and imagination.

I would say that readers looking for something different in Wolverine should give Wolverine & Black Cat: Claws 2 a try. That difference is Linsner.

B

[This comic book features a five-page preview of The Punisher #1, a new series from writer Greg Rucka, artist Marco Checchetto, and colorist Matt Hollingsworth with covers by Bryan Hitch.]

Leroy Douresseaux on ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2

ROCKETEER ADVENTURES #2
IDW PUBLISHING

WRITERS: Mark Waid, Darwyn Cooke, Lowell Francis
ARTISTS: Chris Weston, Darwyn Cooke, Gene Ha
COLORS: Dave Stewart
LETTERS: Chris Mowry, Darwyn Cooke
PIN-UP: Geof Darrow with Dave Stewart
COVER: Alex Ross (alternate cover by Dave Stevens with Laura Martin)
32pp, Color, $3.99

Long live The Rocketeer!

The Rocketeer is a superhero created by the late writer/illustrator Dave Stevens that first appeared in 1982. The character’s style and the mode of his adventures are also an homage to the Saturday matinee heroes of the 1930s and 1940s and to adventure movie serials like Republic Picture’s King of the Rocket Men. The Rocketeer’s exploits are mainly set in Los Angeles in and after the year 1938. The Rocketeer made it onto the big screen in a 1991 film from Walt Disney Pictures.

The Rocketeer is Cliff Secord, a stunt pilot who discovers a mysterious jet pack that allows him to fly. Secord’s girlfriend, Bettie Page, is based upon real life, 1950s pin-up and fetish model, Bettie Page.

The Rocketeer has made infrequent comic book appearances in several publications from several publishers. The Rocketeer’s first comic book appearances were in 1982, as backup features in Starslayer, a comic book series by Mike Grell from the now-defunct Pacific Comics. Two more installments of The Rocketeer appeared in Pacific's anthology comic book, Pacific Presents.

The character appeared at Eclipse Comics in Rocketeer Special Edition and in a single-volume graphic novel entitled, The Rocketeer, which concluded the story begun in Starslayer. The character appeared in Rocketeer Adventure Magazine from the now-defunct Comico Comics and also finally at Dark Horse Comics

The Rocketeer returns in Rocketeer Adventures, a new anthology series from IDW Publishing. Edited by Scott Dunbier, Rocketeer Adventures features Rocketeer short stories (about 7 or 8 pages in length) from some of the premiere creators in comic books. Rocketeer Adventures #2 has stories by the teams of Mark Waid and Chris Weston and also Lowell Francis and Gene Ha, with a short story by Darwyn Cooke and a centerfold pin-up from artist Geof Darrow and colorist supreme, Dave Stewart.

I must say that, at a cover price of $3.99, Rocketeer Adventures is a bargain. The art is exceptional, even if most of the stories are, for the most part, mere trifles, though entertaining. Anytime we get to see Dave Stewart’s magnificent comic book coloring, we are in for a treat.

Mark Waid and Chris Weston’s “It Ain’t the Fall that Kills Ya…” features some gorgeous Dave Stevens-inspired art from the talented Weston, a master of composition and a superb draftsman. For Waid’s part, the story is either ironic or is simply unintentionally hypocritical. Lowell Francis and Gene Ha’s “TKO” is clever-lite, a play of mixing an aerial battle with a boxing match. Ha’s execution in the graphical storytelling of “TKO” is skillful. As for the Geof Darrow pin-up – YAWN – been there, seen that.

Leave it to genius Darwyn Cooke to offer this issue’s best story, a slam-bang piece, entitled “Betty Saves the Day.” It is only seven-pages long, but it reads like a great stand-alone, 22-page comic book. An Eisner Award nomination (at least) for best short story is a must.

A-

Kurozakuro: Secret Pity

I read Kurozakuro, Vol. 5

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE smart phone apps).