IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for January 23, 2019

IDW PUBLISHING

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Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 23, 2019

IMAGE COMICS

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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 23, 2019

MARVEL COMICS

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Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for January 23, 2019

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

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BOOKS
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NOV181857    FAST ENOUGH BESSIE STRINGFIELDS FIRST RIDE HC STORY BOOK    $17.99
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I Reads You Review: SCOOBY-DOO, Where Are You #96

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? No. 96
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Ivan Cohen; Brett Lewis
PENCILS: Walter Carzon; Anthony Williams
INKS: Horacio Ottolini; Dan Davis
COLORS: Silvana Brys; Paul Becton
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte; Ryan Cline
EDITOR: Harvey Richards; Joan Hilty
COVER: Walter Carzon and Horacio Ottolini with Sylvana Brys
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (February 2019)

Rated “E” for “Everyone”

“Boardwalk Vampire”

I am continuing my journey through the renewal of my subscription to the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? comic book series.  Join me, will you?  I recently received the eleventh issue of that renewed subscription.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #96 opens with “Boardwalk Vampire” (written by Ivan Cohen and drawn by Walter Carzon and Horacio Ottolini).  Mystery Inc.:  Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma are visiting the popular theme park, “The Boardwalk,” via invitation.  The gang is attending the “75th Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest,” when the “Boardwalk Vampire” strikes.  Now, Amy Judd, head of “The Boardwalk Preservation Society” and the person who invited our heroes, reveals that this vampire is the reason she invited them.  There is a new mystery afoot, but Mystery Inc. is running out of time to solve it.

The second story is “Good Ghost Haunting” (written by Brett Lewis and drawn by Anthony Williams and Dan Davis).  It was originally published in Scooby-Doo #42 (January 2001), and it was recently reprinted in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #89 (cover dated: March 2018).  This is what I wrote about it in my review of that issue:

The story finds Mystery Inc. at Plymouth Institute of Technology for its annual technology fair, where students compete for scholarships and research grants.  Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo are attending the fair, hoping to find new technologies to help them in their crime fighting.  The problem is that the ghostly “Salem Witch Hunter” is stealing at the fair, and so it is another ghostly mystery for the gang to solve.

“Good Ghost Hunting” also deals with the “rightful owners” theme.  The crooks' method of operation is clever, although many readers will solve the mystery of that ghost pretty quickly.

“Boardwalk Vampire” is a nice story because, even at only 10 pages in length, it offers multiple sub-plots and elements; it even has backstory concerning two of the guest characters.  One of the ways I judge the quality of these Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? tales, which are really short stories, is if they would make a good plot for one of those direct-to-DVD Scooby-Doo movies.  “Boardwalk Vampire” does.  I really enjoyed this story, and I also liked the cover illustration that went along with it.

See you next issue!

B
6 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II #1

BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II No. 1 (OF 6)
DC COMICS/IDW Publishing – @DCComics @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: James Tynion IV
ART: Freddie E. Williams II
COLORS: Jeremy Colwell
LETTERS: Tom Napolitano
COVER: Freddie E. Williams II with Jeremy Colwell
VARIANT COVER: Kevin Eastman with Tomi Varga
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (February 2018)

Rated “T”

“A Knight in New York”

Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (also known as TMNT and Ninja Turtles) are a media empire, including animated and live-action films and television.  The Ninja Turtles began as four fictional characters that first appeared in a comic book created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (cover dated: May 1984), which was published by Eastman and Laird's Mirage Studios, gave birth to a comic book series that led to the TMNT media empire

The Ninja Turtles are teenage anthropomorphic turtles, meaning they walk and talk like humans.  Each turtle is named for an Italian Renaissance artist: Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael.  The Turtles were adopted by an anthropomorphic rat, Master Splinter, who was their sensei and who trained them in the art of ninjutsu.  The Turtles live in the sewers of New York City and battle every kind of bad guy, from petty criminals and overlord-mastermind types to alien invaders and mutated creatures.

Since late 2015, DC Comics and IDW Publishing have united to publish the two crossover comic book miniseries teaming Batman with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  DC comics began with the six-issue miniseries, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  DC recently began publishing a sequel six-issue miniseries, Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II.  It is written by James Tynion IV; drawn by Freddie E. Williams II; colored by Jeremy Colwell; and lettered by Tom Napolitano, the creative team behind the first series.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #1 (“A Knight in New York”) explodes in the subway tunnels of New York City.  The Ninja Turtles are pursuing the “Ninja Elite,” a... splinter faction of the Foot Clan.  In the wake of the death of the Foot Clan's founder and master, Shredder, the Ninja Elite want control of the Clan, even if it means killing Shredder's daughter, Karai.

Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Batman and Robin (Damien) are tracking ninja belonging to Ra's al-Ghul's The League of Assassins.  What they find instead is Bane, but inter-dimensional technology is about to gather heroes from two different worlds to stop a criminal conspiracy on two different worlds.

When I first heard about DC Comics and IDW Publishing's first Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book back in 2015, I wanted to read it, although I was (and still am) cynical about crossover comic books.  Ultimately, I was pleasantly surprised by Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 all the way to the sixth issue finale; I wanted a sequel.  [I only read the first issue of the IDW-published Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.]

With good reason, I am cynical about sequels, but I am, once again, pleasantly surprised.  Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #1 promises more fun.  Writer James Tynion IV delivers a story that hits Batman and Ninja Turtle wheelhouse favorites with wild abandon, and there are some interesting subplots.  In fact, it is all so enjoyable that I am already, in typical fanboy fashion, hoping that there is a second sequel.

As I wrote in my previous reviews of the first miniseries, I like that artist Freddie Williams II's illustrations recall the visual and graphic presentation of the early TMNT comic books from Mirage Publishing in the 1980s.  Williams' take on Batman is edgy and different; it is as if Williams were drawing Batman for those old science fiction comic book magazines like Heavy Metal and Epic Illustrated.  This art is pulpy and futuristic at the same time.

Of course, I am ready for the second issue of Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, and I recommend it to fans of the first series.  I think all Batman and TMNT comic books should try at least one issue of this new series.

8 out of 10

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: FARMHAND #1

FARMHAND No. 1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Rob Guillory
ART: Rob Guillory
COLORS: Taylor Wells
LETTERS: Kody Chamberlain
MISC. ART: Burt Durand (“Farmhand Calendar” design)
32pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S.(July 2018)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Farmhand created by Rob Guillory

Farmhand is a new comic book series from cartoonist and comic book artist, Rob Guillory.  Guillory is the artist and co-creator with writer John Layman of the hit Image Comics title, Chew.  Guillory is a Eisner Award and Harvey Award recipient for his work on Chew.

Guillory previewed Farmhand #1 two months ago in the Farmhand #1 Ashcan a small, full-color mini-comic book.  Farmhand is written and illustrated by Guillory; colored by Taylor Wells; and lettered by Kody Chamberlain (who also designed the Farmhand logo).

Farmhand #1 introduces Ezekiel “Zeke” Jenkins.  He grew up on his father, Jedidiah “Jed” Elias Jenkins' farm.  Zeke, his wife (Mae), and their children (Abigail and Riley) are embarking on a tour of Jed's farm, which has a new cash crop.

The “Jenkins Family Farm” is now the “Jenkins Family Farmaceutical Institute.”  On the farm, scientist use radical new stem cell research to grow human organs, limbs, and tissue through a combination of plant DNA.  For all that is new in this scientific wonderland, however, something has taken root, and the dark secrets will bloom again.

In my review of Farmhand #1 Ashcan, I wrote that the story bore a resemblance to the macabre side of Americana captured by writer Ray Bradbury and television writer-producer, Rod Serling (“The Twilight Zone”).  I believe that Farmhand is an “American Gothic,” and Guillory is like Stephen King, peeling back the folksy charm of agrarian America and revealing its anthropological roots buried in a rich black soil of dark myths and elder things.

Guillory recently told me that the work of Alfred Hitchcock also influenced the creation of Farmhand.  There is a suspenseful, disquieting quality to the narrative that recalls some of Hitchcock's most (in)famous films, such as Rebecca (1940), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963).  Unlike the “escape-from-dystopia” films of the 1960s and 1970s (think Logan's Run), Farmhand is “let's-go-visit-dystopia,” and in some of Hitchcock's films, the lead character blithely enters a bucolic, pastoral trap (The Birds).  And Farmhand #1 ends on a decidedly menacing note.

The full Farmhand #1 allows the reader to see the full range of Taylor Wells' gorgeous colors, which so perfectly capture the atmosphere that it is appropriate to call her a “co-storyteller.”  Kody Chamberlain's lettering conveys the shifts in the story from domestic semi-tranquility to strange science to conspiracy and horror.

I hope Farmhand #1 is not a fluke.  There is tremendous potential upon which Rob Guillory must deliver in future issues.

9 out of 10

http://RobGuillory.com

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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