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Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
Toriko: Festival Kickoff!!
I read Toriko, Vol. 24: The Cooking Festival Begins
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations. Follow me on Twitter.
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations. Follow me on Twitter.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Review: PUNKS: The Comic #1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics
CREATORS: Joshua Hale Fialkov and Kody Chamberlain – @JoshFialkov @KodyChamberlain
COVER: Kody Chamberlain
VARIANT COVER: Rob Guillory
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (October 2014)
Rated T+ / Teen Plus
Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov (The Ultimates) and artist Kody Chamberlain (Sweets, Tag) revive their comic book project, Punks, with the new ongoing series, Punks: The Comic, which is being published by Image Comics. Fialkov and Chamberlain published at least two issues of Punks via Digital Webbing in 2007. Punks stood out because of its surreal and absurd humor and because Chamberlain produced the art by cutting up photographic images and pasting them together to create the characters and settings.
Punks: The Comic #1 features the return of Dog, Skull, Fist, and Abe Lincoln. Dog is a human figure with a bulldog head pasted onto it. Skull has a skeleton's skull. Fist is a clenched fist on a human body, and Abe Lincoln features an iconic image of the President Abraham Lincoln head on various bodies and figures.
The story opens at the quartet's home (a dormitory?). The misadventures begin with Dog and his “Wunderpants” and includes a visit from a girl he is trying to romance. Her arrival coincides with an invasion of gnomes. Will it be happily ever after or just insane as it ever was?
[Punks: The Comic #1 includes some story pages from Punks: The Summer Comic Special, which was published in 2007.]
The cut-and-paste, do-it-yourself aesthetic of Punks: The Comics goes farther than one would think. It is not a one-note joke, but I am curious to see where the creators go with this. This comic book concept also reminds me of those animations that Terry Gilliam created for “Monty Python's Flying Circus.” I think Fialkov has previously mentioned that the late British television series, “The Young Ones,” as an inspiration for Punks.
Punks: The Comic is so “out there,” yet it works. I have to admit that I am genuinely surprised by how successful the humor is, rather than merely being arty, pretentious and vague. Also, I can't help but admire the work Kody puts into creating the art. Readers looking for something truly different in comic books will want Punks: The Comic.
A-
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Kamisama Kiss: Nanami in Disguise
I read Kamisama Kiss, Vol. 16
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations. Follow me on Twitter.
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations. Follow me on Twitter.
Friday, October 24, 2014
I Reads You Review: DETECTIVE COMICS Volume One: Faces of Death
DC COMICS – @DCComics
STORY/PENCILS: Tony S. Daniel
INKS: Ryan Winn, Sandu Florea, and Rob Hunter
COLORS: Tomeu Morey
LETTERS: Jared K. Fletcher
COVER: Tony S. Daniel and Ryan Winn with Tomeu Morey
ADDITIONAL ART: Szymon Kudranski
ISBN: 978-1-4012-3466-9; hardcover
176pp, Color, $22.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN (2012)
Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
When The New 52 brought forth “new” Batman comic book series, I found myself crazy-in-love with Detective Comics #1, produced by writer-artist, Tony S. Daniel. In fact, I preferred Detective Comics to Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. I only read the first two issues of Daniel's Detective Comics, but I thought that the first issue reminded me of the first “book” of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns more than any comic book I had read in a long time.
I bought the first hardcover collection of The New 52 Detective Comics. Sadly, it took me two-and-half-years to get around to reading it. In that time, Snyder and Capullo's Batman became one of the bestselling comic book series in North America, and a favorite of mine. On the other hand, Daniel departed Detective Comics after issue #12.
Batman – Detective Comics Volume One: Faces of Death collects Detective Comics #1 to 7, which comprises two story arcs. Detective Comics begins with Batman in the midst of a dangerous mission. He has to find The Joker and also discover what is behind the grisly murders of several of the Joker's acquaintances. Eventually, Batman battles The Dollmaker, a killer who removes the faces of his victims and even some of their organs. He uses them as macabre building materials to create new people. The Dollmaker is also seeking revenge against Commissioner Jim Gordon.
The second story arc centers on The Penguin's off-shore gambling palace, The Iceberg Casino. The casino is also a front for Penguin's money-laundering operation. The story also involves Gotham City Mayor Hady's re-election campaign; the mayor's election-year war on Batman; reporter and Bruce Wayne love-interest, Charlotte Rivers; Rivers' sister, Jill; and a cheap hood named Jack Houston, whose ability to change his face has earned him the name “Snakeskin.”
Having finally finished the Faces of Death collection, I have to say that, three years later, “The Dollmaker” arc still thrills me. I think it is a definite heir to Frank Miller's seminal Batman work from the mid-1980s. Daniel's Batman is a combination penny dreadful and Saturday matinee thriller; each chapter ends in either a cliffhanger or with a shocking reveal. Batman fighting in the darkest corners of Gotham, with the threat of death hanging over several people, but especially over him. Several times, I actually believed that Batman was going to be killed. I knew better, of course. Batman isn't going to die-as-in-stay-dead, but still, those stories...
“The Iceberg Casino” arc is entertaining, but is an average to above-average Batman story arc. It is sort of a Batman as action movie/crime thriller. Of course, there are some cliffhanger-styled thrills int this story, but this is nothing particularly special.
I think Tony Daniel was unable to maintain the promise of his opening Detective Comics story arc. In Batman, Snyder's story and Capullo's art create a gripping narrative with striking graphics, one issue after another. Daniel with inker Ryan Winn also created a graphic narrative full of high-drama and edgy visuals. Visually, Daniel and Winn offered a Batman that was a bird of prey, and the art had a sense of movement so that Batman always seemed to be racing across a dark, but alluring landscape.
As the second story arc advanced, Daniel's art took on a Neal Adams-quality that moves, but lacks something... perhaps, the edginess it had in “The Dollmaker” arc. I first discovered Tony Daniel's work back in the mid to late 1990s, on his Image Comics series, The Tenth. The early issues of that series had the characteristics of a raw, but promising talent. With Marlo Alquiza inking his pencil art, Daniel delivered art that grabbed the reader with its horror-themed creatures and characters. After Alquiza stopped inking The Tenth, what was raw, but promising became unfocused and undisciplined.
I'll remember Tony Daniel's New 52 launch of Detective Comics for the promise the early issues offered, with joy, but also with some disappointment. That promise plus 11 pages of preliminary art, thumbnails, sketches, and pencils have encouraged me to give Batman – Detective Comics Volume One: Faces of Death a high grade. By the way, Daniel is now working on another relaunch of the DC Comics' character, Deathstroke.
A-
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
Thursday, October 23, 2014
World Trigger: Befriend Thy Neighbor!
I read World Trigger, Vol. 2
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations. Follow me on Twitter.
I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, which is seeking donations. Follow me on Twitter.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Review: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Legends of Baldur's Gate #1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing @Wizards_DnD
WRITER: Jim Zub – @JimZub
ART: Max Dunbar – @Max_Dunbar
COLORS: John-Paul Bove
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
COVER: Sarah Stone
VARIANT COVERS: Max Dunbar with John-Paul Bove; Max Dunbar with Jim Zub; Raymond Swanland; Michael Komark
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S.
Tyranny of Dragons
Writer Jim Zub sent out PDF copies for review of his latest comic book series, Dungeons & Dragons Legends of Baldur's Gate. It is a new licensed Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) comic book series from IDW Publishing. This series is written by Zub and drawn by Max Dunbar with colors by John-Paul Bove and letters by Neil Uyetake.
Apparently, Baldur's Gate is a fictional city in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the D&D fantasy role-playing game (RPG). I say “apparently” because it has been decades since I have read a D&D comic book or even played the game.
Baldur's Gate is located in the Faerûn region and is a coastal city on the north bank of the river Chiontar. It is “a place of history and a home to legends.” Dungeons & Dragons Legends of Baldur's Gate #1 (“Part One”) opens in the Upper City where a young female moon elf, Delina the Wild Mage, is on the run from two flying, stone gargoyles.
Her magic is not enough to stop them, but Minsc, a tall, imposing figure of a man, comes to her rescue. He has a pet, Boo the hamster, and insists on calling Delina by the name, “Neera.” She will accept the hamster and the new name, if Minsc can help her find her missing brother.
Simply put, Dungeons & Dragons Legends of Baldur's Gate #1 is the kickoff of a comic book adventure series. Specifically, it is a comic book narrative structured as if it were a D&D campaign. Writer Jim Zub grew up on D&D, as he writes in a “Welcome” essay at the end of this first issue, so the series may reflect what Zub loves about D&D.
Legends of Baldur's Gate #1 is not a great comic book, but it does have an intriguing premise. And I have to be honest; I think I will always be interested in the idea of a D&D campaign. In this first issue, the story is straightforward, so artist Max Dunbar is not required to convey any complex storytelling. It is good enough and acceptable for Dunbar to draw big panels and splash pages because this story is three things: vague introductions of characters, fights, and chase scenes, which are big panel-ready story elements.
I want to try the next one or two issues in order to see where this goes. Right now, I'll give it a grade of “B.” I do think that readers of D&D comic books will want to try Dungeons & Dragons Legends of Baldur's Gate.
B
www.IDWPublishing.com
DungeonsandDragons.com
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux
The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.
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