Review: FUTURE QUEST #5

FUTURE QUEST No. 5
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Jeff Parker – @JeffParker
ARTIST: Evan “Doc” Shaner; Craig Rousseau
COLORS: Hi-Fi; Jeremy Lawson
LETTERS: ALW Studios' Dave Lanphear
COVER: Evan “Doc”Shaner
VARIANT COVER: Steve Rude with John Kalisz
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2016)

Rated “T” for “Teen”

“The Wheel of History” Part 5

Future Quest is a comic book series that re-imagines and re-interprets the classic sci-fi and superhero television series created by American animation studio, Hanna-Barbera.  Published by DC Comics, Future Quest brings together the stars of the TV programs “Jonny Quest,” “Space Ghost,” “The Herculoids,” “Birdman,” “Frankenstein Jr.,” “The Galaxy Trio,” “The Impossibles,” and “Mightor.”

Future Quest is written by Jeff Parker; colored by Hi-Fi; and lettered by Dave Lanphear.  Evan “Doc” Shaner is the series' lead artist, with other artists stepping in for particular chapters and side stories, such as artist Craig Rousseau for this issue.  Future Quest centers on the cast of “Jonny Quest” (referred to as “Team Quest”), as they lead a struggle against the universal and time-line threat, Omnikron, and a plot by Quest adversary, Dr. Zin, to use the entity.

In Future Quest #5 (“The Wheel of History”), Team Quest and company try to figure out the meaning of a set of ancient cliff paintings.  They encounter agents of F.E.A.R. and also an old Quest adversary.  Plus, dinosaurs stampede and a hero is reborn.  Also, meet “The Impossibles” in the story “Code Name: Cobalt.”  Learn about their origin and meet someone who wants to be their newest member.

Future Quest #5 starts with what may be the best 12-issue set of pages that I have read all year.  “The Wheel of History” highlights why writer Jeff Parker and artist Evan Shaner are the heart and soul of Future Quest.  Other artists have shone well, but when Parker and Shaner are together, it's magic, man – at least for me.  It is not even close; Parker-Shaner is DC Comics' best creative team.

Parker and Craig Rousseau are also good on The Impossibles story, which is a nice read.  But when I recommend Future Quest, I'm pimping Parker-Shaner, the dynamic duo of DC's best comic book.

A

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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Book Review: SONG OF THE LION

SONG OF THE LION
HARPERCOLLINS – @HarperCollins

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Anne Hillerman
ISBN: 978-0-06-239190-2; hardcover (April 11, 2017)
302pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S., $34.99 CAN

Song of the Lion is the new novel from author Anne Hillerman.  It is the third novel in the “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Series,” which began with Spider Woman's Daughter (2013).  This series is a continuation of the “Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Series” written by Hillerman's late father, bestselling author, Tony Hillerman (1925-2008).  In the new novel, Navajo Tribal cops, Jim Chee and Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito, try to unveil the perpetrators and reasons for a car bombing, and call on the assistance of the now-retired Joe Leaphorn.

Song of the Lion opens in Shiprock (Navajo Nation) at the Shiprock High School gymnasium a.k.a. “the Chieftain Pit of Pain.”  Navajo Tribal police officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito is attending the game as a fan when a car bomb goes off in the parking lot outside the gym.  Staying calm and professional, Bernie manages the problematic crime/act of terror scene, and she discovers a victim of the bombing.  The young man, Richard Horseman, however, was not the intended victim.

The target turns out to be the car's owner, Aza Palmer, a well-known lawyer.  Palmer is also the mediator for a controversial, multi-million-dollar development project that could be built at the Grand Canyon.  The planned location is considered either sacred by local tribes or environmentally sensitive by environmental and eco activists.  Could this bombing be an act of eco-terrorism or an attack by interests against the Grand Canyon project?

Now, Bernie's husband, fellow Navajo Tribal cop Jim Chee, has been assigned as the bodyguard to Palmer for the mediation in Tuba City.  There, a multitude of interests will gather for the mediation to express themselves regarding the planned Grand Canyon resort.  As the mediation begins, Bernie and Jim begin to discover that the bombing and the threats against Palmer may be connected to a larger conspiracy.  With the help of retired Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, the couple attempt to solve a mystery that goes all the way to a past case of Leaphorn's.

I have been waiting two years for Anne Hillerman's third “Manuelito, Chee & Leaphorn” novel, since the second one, 2015's Rock with Wings, was released.  I requested a galley copy of Song of the Lion from HarperCollins after they offered one, but I never received it.  When I realized a few weeks ago that the novel had been released, I immediately bought a copy from Amazon, and Song of the Lion is worthy is every penny.

In my review of Rock With Wings, I wrote that Hillerman gave equal time to both Bernie and Chee, putting their law enforcement skills and talents on display by putting before each character a different kind of case.  In Song of the Lion, Hillerman brings Joe Leaphorn into this book in a way that she did not the previous two novels.  She does not give Leaphorn (who was the original star of her father Tony's series) equal time with Manuelito and Chee, but still makes him a major player and not a supporting player.  It is as if Hillerman is finally really grappling with the character – who he was and what he can be under her guidance.

As she has done with Manuelito and Chee, Hillerman gives out the little details and secrets of an interior life that not only brings the character to life, but that also makes Leaphorn seem human, frail, and oh-so-real.  There have been times when I have been reading this series and Hillerman's descriptions and depictions made me think that I was reading a work of journalism about real people.  That's why I hate to come to the end of one of these books; it's like I'm leaving family.

The whodunit and what-was-it of Song of the Lion are complicated and messy because the truth involves deep personal feelings and deeply held beliefs and ideologies.  Blood is spilled, a life is taken, and people are threatened because it ain't business; it's personal.  Anne Hillerman makes the reader believe that she is getting beneath the skin of her characters.  Her mystery and crime fiction stands out as something special and something more than simply “case closed.”

A

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: SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #1

SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL No. 1
DC COMICS/Young Animal – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Cecil Castellucci
ART: Marley Zarcone
COLORS: Kelly Fitzpatrick
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte
COVER: Becky Cloonan
VARIANT COVERS: Duncan Fegredo; Tula Lotay
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2016)

Mature Readers

Shade created by Steve Ditko

“Earth Girl Made Easy” Chapter 1: “Running Off to the Great Blue”

Shade is a weird DC Comics character created by Steve Ditko that first appeared in the comic book, Shade the Changing Man #1 (cover dated:  June 1977).  The series focused on Rac Shade, a secret agent from a world in another dimension who comes to clear his name of a treason charge which carries a death sentence.  Over the decades since the character first appeared, Shade has been reworked and re-imagined by other comics creators.

Now, Shade the Changing Man gets the “Young Animal” treatment and becomes Shade the Changing Girl in a new comic book series from DC Comic's Young Animal imprint.  The comic book is written by novelist Cecil Castellucci; drawn by Marley Zarcone; colored by Kelly Fitzpatrick; and colored by Saida Temofonte.

Shade the Changing Girl #1 (“Running Off to the Great Blue”) opens in the hospital room of Megan Boyer, a brain-dead teenage girl.  However, an alien teen girl, an avian named Loma Shade, decides to take possession of Megan's body.  Not everyone, however, is happy to see the 16-year-old Megan back on her feet.  Meanwhile, on Loma's home world of Meta, someone wants the “Madness Vest” found.

Like Doom Patrol, the first Young Animal title to hit comic book stories, Shade the Changing Girl's inaugural first issue is about introduction, teasing, and some vagueness.  However, writer Cecil Castellucci grounds Shade the Changing Girl #1 with some edgy, background supporting character drama.  Castellucci writes “Young Adult” novels, but she is known in comic books for her superb, two-volume graphic novel series, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes, so she knows her way around the dark side of teen politics and high school society.

Shade the Changing Girl artist Marley Zarcone offers some of the most imaginative comic book art that I have seen in quite awhile in mainstream superhero comic books.  Vivid and trippy, Zarcone's graphical storytelling goes afar, but not so far that the story turns into a shallow mess of surrealism right out of high school poet's notebook.  I look forward to future issues.

---------------
This comic book contains the comics short story, “Cryll's Big Surprise” by Natalia Hernandez and Gilbert Hernandez with Saida Temofonte and Laura Allred.]

Meanwhile, Gilbert and Natalia Hernandez offer a cute and clever back-up story.  I hope this is not a one-off for this team.

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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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 5, 2017

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