Albert Avilla Reviews: Green Lantern: New Guardians #0

Green Lantern New Guardians #0
DC Comics

Reviewed by Albert Avilla

Writer: Tony Bedard
Art: Aaron Kuder, Andrei Bressan
Inks: Greg Adams

(Spoiler Alert)
Are we about to jump off into something or what? Hal Jordan has gone off with Sinestro. Carol Ferris finds a ring in Hal's locker – not that ring, an engagement ring. A Lantern shows up; it's Kyle Rayner. He's looking for Hal, too. Kyle and Carole go off to fight some Black Lanterns. Kyle finds a place where a yellow power battery blew up. Then, Kyle throws down on the Black Lanterns with the green and blue spectrum.

Kyle explains that different colors are working through his ring. The ring says that Hal is dead, but Star Sapphire's love says he is not. It also shows that Kyle will combine all seven powers in the future. The Zamarons and the Guardians are united to destroy the seven corps. This is how you kick off a major crossover event. You give the reader a good savory taste of action. Give them a fist full of questions that need to be answered. Have the enemy marshaling their forces. Don't forget the good old foreshadowing that leaves them wanting more. This is what The New 52 should be about, a quantum change from the old DC.

Let’s talk about the art. Kyle and Star Sapphire are awesomely cool. You get landscapes, the night skies, unique energies, the zombie apocalypse, and splash page masterpieces. The color palette is exploited to its aesthetic maximum. The cover was the cherry that tops the sundae.

I rate Green Lantern New Guardians #0 Buy Your Own Copy.  Al-O-Meter #2 (of 5) ranking.

Bakuman: Support and Feeling

I read Bakuman., Vol. 15

I posted a review at ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).

Review - BLOOD CRIME: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel

BLOOD CRIME: AN ORIGINAL HOLLOWS GRAPHIC NOVEL
DEL REY/RANDOM HOUSE – @randomhouse

WRITER: Kim Harrison
ART: Gemma Magno
LETTERS/COLORS: Mae Hao
COVER: Juliana Kolesova
ISBN: 978-0-345-52102-6; hardcover (October 2012)
176pp, Color, $25.00 U.S., $29.95 CAN

Kim Harrison is a penname used by American author Dawn Cook. Harrison is known as the author of the Hollows series, which is also called the Rachel Morgan series. This series of mystery/urban fantasy novels and short stories focuses on Rachel Mariana Morgan, a witch detective, and her partner, Ivy Alisha Tamwood, a living vampire.

The Hollows series has already spawned one graphic novel, Blood Work (July 2011), written by Harrison and drawn by Pedro Maia. This week sees the release of the second one, which is also written by Harrison; it is entitled Blood Crime: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel. Drawn by Gemma Magno with colors by Mae Hao, Blood Crime finds Ivy and Rachel delving into a conspiracy that seems to target several people, including themselves.

Without going too deeply into the mythology (as I understand it), the Hollow series takes place in an alternate history version of Earth. In the 1960s, a plague killed off a significant portion of the human population, an event called “The Turn.” The Inderlanders: vampires, werewolves, witches, and some other supernatural species made themselves known during the plague. The Hollows series is set about 40 years after the Turn. Rachel and Ivy work for Inderland Security (I.S.).

As Blood Crime begins, someone makes an attempt on Rachel’s life, or so Ivy thinks. Suspecting vampire involvement, Ivy confronts her vampire master, Piscary, who is apparently jealous of Ivy’s growing feelings and bloodlust (or just plain lust) for Rachel. Meanwhile, the vampire Celeste offers George, a human, immortality if he helps her in her scheme against the two I.S. agents. Another vampire, Art, is also looking to do some killing, and Ivy and Rachel are even suspicious of their I.S. supervisor, Denon. Who wants to kill whom and will anyone find out in time to save their own lives?

Like some of the other graphic novels of the urban fantasy genre that I’ve read, Blood Crimes starts off slowly, but it finishes strongly. This graphic novel has seven chapters, and I read Chapters Four through Six with gusto.

I find the characters to be a little flat. I was interested in Ivy (the narrator here) and Rachel, but I didn’t particularly care about the rest. Maybe, they read better in the prose novels, but in this graphic novel, they frustrated me because their motivations and desires were shallow or mostly missing. I think Harrison’s relative inexperience in writing comics shows not only in the characters, but in the way the plot seems awkward in the early chapters.

Artist Gemma Magno has a peculiar drawing style, but it fits this odd concept. Close-ups and medium shots are her strength when it comes to figure drawing, but panels that take in the backgrounds and environments suggest that she is not as skilled in set creation as she is at figure drawing. Mae Hao’s funky colors, however, have a way of… coloring over any of Magno’s glitches. Together, they give the book a distinctive and catchy graphic and visual style.

My complaints aside, I enjoyed reading Blood Crime: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel. I think readers who want urban fantasy comic books and fans of Kim Harrison will want this full-color graphic novel.

Blood Crime: An Original Hollows Graphic Novel includes a sketchbook section, which shows off Magno’s skill at figure drawing and at character design. There are also a few pages of story/script to art comparison.

B

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Afterschool Charisma: A Kia for All Seasons

I read Afterschool Charisma, Vol. 6

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

Bakuman: Mind Games and Catchphrases

I read Bakuman., Vol. 14

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

Diego Chi Reviews: THE SIXTH GUN #26

THE SIXTH GUN #26
ONI PRESS

Reviewed by DIEGO CHI

WRITER: Cullen Bunn
ARTIST: Brian Hurtt
COLORS: Bill Crabtree
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.

REVIEW– SPOILERS

The Sixth Gun continues to be an exciting pull every month, marrying the thrills of western gun-slinging with the horrors of the occult. I'm happy to see that 26 issues in, Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt still manage to satisfy my thirst for action and simultaneously put a pit in my belly.

If you haven't yet checked out these books, the story centers around the pursuit of six mystical guns that are fabled to both create and destroy the world. The heroes, Drake Sinclaire and Becky Montcrief, have been stranded in a super-natural blizzard and hunted by a spirit creature called a Wendigo. In order to find Becky and Drake, an unlikely alliance has formed between Gord Cantrell (an ally), Kirby Hale (a thief), and Asher Cobb (a nine-foot-tall mummy. Yes, I said "mummy").

Issue #26 opens with Drake recalling a past encounter with a Wendigo, a creature of many forms. This flashback sequence introduces a woman named Abigail, a former employer of Drake. Drake had been hired by Abigail to track a group of thugs but when they came upon the camp of their bounty, they found only decapitated bodies. A stag-like Wendigo then suddenly appeared, wearing the heads of the thugs on its antlers– quite the chilling visual.

The story then shifts to Gord, Kirby, and Asher's quest to find Becky and Drake. The three are ambushed by an extremist group called the Knights of Solomon, who seek the six guns for their own purposes. This leads to a thrilling horse and wagon chase– the fast paced action makes for a nice break from the drawn out suspense of the first sequence.

Returning to the flashback, the climax hits when Drake figures out how to defeat the Wendigo: by killing the remaining thug who had become possessed by the creature, yet was still alive. As Drake and Becky search for the new Wendigo host, the issue closes with a gut-wrenching reveal– this time the creature had possessed a group of women and children. Will Drake kill the innocent to save himself and Becky? Good grief, what a cliffhanger!

Cullen Bunn's writing packs a lot into this single issue, perhaps a hair too much. Abigail's characterization was too varied between "confident" and "paralyzed with fear" to get a clear grasp on her, but Bunn usually reveals deep wells of intrigue in his characters so I look forward to her development. Brian Hurtt's visuals are fully capable of both gruesome mutilations and expressive head-shots. The tone and voice of the dialogue is heavily carried by the way Hurtt draws the eyes– sometimes cold and steely, other times full of terror or surprise. Bill Crabtree's colors add emotion to the elegance of Hurtt's style. He gracefully shifts the bleak mood during the flashbacks and winter sequences to the energized feel of the wagon chase. Overall, issue #26 proves Bunn and Hurtt have long since figured out that well-crafted plot and well-paced visuals make for a great comic.

Rating: 9/10

An I Reads You November 2012 to Remember

Welcome to I Reads You, a ComicBookBin blog (www.comicbookbin.com). We blog about the things we read: mostly comic books, comics, and related books. Sometimes, we’ll write about or link to other topics: typically books, politics, and entertainment.

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