Review: SURFACING: Depth Perceptions #3

SURFACING: DEPTH PERCEPTIONS No. 3 (OF 4)
APPROBATION COMICS

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: B. Alex Thompson – @ApproBAT
ART: Nenad Cviticanin
COLORS: Santtos
LETTERS: Krugos
EDITOR: John Ward and Denise Thompson
COVER: Cesar Grego and Alivon Ortiz
24pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (2017; digital release date – January 10, 2018)

Rated: “M” for Mature / 17+ Only (comiXology)

Published by Approbation Comics, Surfacing: Depth Perceptions is a four-issue comic book miniseries.  It tells the story of Marcus Wright, a young man who visits an oceanic research facility directed by his childhood friend, Anton Parker, who has a business deal to offer Marcus.  The facility has captured a mermaid-like creature, and Marcus finds himself caught in the mystery of this creature and of its captivity.  Surfacing: Depth Perceptions is written by B. Alex Thompson; drawn by Nenad Cviticanin; colored by Santtos; and lettered by Krugos.

Surfacing: Depth Perceptions #3 opens with Marcus returning to the research room to engage in another extensive conversation with the mermaid, whom he has named “Becca.”  Anton has warned Marcus that “it,” as he calls Becca, has the ability to “mess” with his mind and to manipulate people.

Believing that he is on to Becca's game, Marcus is prepared to interrogate her, but she won't give anything for free.  She reveals information about herself and some about her people, but does Marcus believe her sometimes shocking tale?  Does he even have a reason to believe Anton?

The first two issues of Surfacing: Depth Perceptions are some of the prettiest comic books Approbation Comics has published to date.  The cover art for this series features gorgeous illustrations and shimmering colors by Cesar Grego and Alivon Ortiz; the covers are like eye candy.  The interior art by Nenad Cviticanin continues to get better with each chapter, as does the coloring by Santtos.  Nenad's graphical storytelling also continues to get stronger, thanks to B. Alex Thompson's excellent scripts.  Let's even give a shout-out to Krugos' lettering.

As I have said before, B. Alex Thompson is one of the best writers of naturalistic dialogue in American comic books.  I look forward to reading the conversations between the characters in every issue of Surfacing: Depth Perceptions, but this third issue has some hot talk that suggests a (literally) killer ending.

Thompson usually delivers high-quality genre storytelling, and he certainly delivers in again in Surfacing: Depth Perceptions #3.  This is an excellent comic book, and, dear readers, head over to comiXology to read it.  I hope the final issue does not disappoint, as I have high hopes.

9 out of 10

Buy Surfacing: Depth Perceptions #3 at comiXology.

www.ApprobationComics.com
www.AlexThompsonWriter.com

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 reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: BART SIMPSON Breaks Out

BART SIMPSON BREAKS OUT
HARPERCOLLINS/Harper Design – @HarperCollins @harperdesignbks @TheSimpsons

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Pat McGreal; Shane Houghton; Dean Rankine; Ian Boothby; John Zakour and Max Davison; Eric Rogers; Tony DiGerolamo; Carol Lay; Arie Kaplan; Mike W. Barr; Ian Brill
PENCILS: Rex Lindsey; Nina Matsumoto; Dean Rankine; John Delaney; Phil Ortiz; Mike Kazaleh; Carol Lay; Tone Rodriguez
INKS: Dan Davis; Andrew Pepoy; Dean Rankine; Mike DeCarlo; Mike Rote; Mike Kazaleh; Carol Lay
COLORS: Art Villanueva; Nathan Hamill
LETTERS: Karen Bates
EDITOR: Nathan Kane
COVER: Matt Groening
ISBN: 978-0-06-287873-1; paperback (April 2, 2019)
128pp, Color, $16.99 U.S., $21.00 CAN

Bart Simpson Breaks Out is a new trade paperback comic book collection from Harper Design.  Bart Simpson Breaks Out collects comic book short stories and short gags that were originally published in the comic book series, Bart Simpson, specifically issues #78, #79, #80, #81, #82, and #83. (cover dated:  January 2013 to May 2013).

Bart Simpson is one of the lead characters in the long-running animated television sitcom, “The Simpsons” (Fox).  “The Simpsons” presents a satirical depiction of a working class family which consists of Homer Simpson (the father), Marge Simpson (the mother), Bart (the oldest child and only son), Lisa (the precocious and brilliant elder daughter), and Maggie (a baby girl).  “The Simpsons” also parodies American culture, pop culture, society, politics, media, etc. via the denizens of The Simpsons home town, Springfield.

In 1993, Bongo Comics Group (or simply Bongo Comics) began publishing numerous comic book series and single-issue publications based on “The Simpsons.”  Beginning in 2000, Bongo gave Bart his on title, Simpsons Comics Presents Bart Simpson (or simply Bart Simpson).  The comics presented in Bart Simpson Breaks Out collects stories published in the final quarter of the series.  Bart Simpson ended with issue #100 in 2016 (and Bongo ceased publishing in 2018).

I really enjoyed the previous Bart Simpson trade paperback, 2018's Bart Simpson Bust-Up, and I happy to tell you, dear readers, that Bart Simpson Breaks Out is just as good.

The opening story, “The Booty” (written by Pat McGreal and drawn by Rex Lindsey and Dan Davis), is a cute story with a funny pie-eating contest in the middle.  However, Breaks Out really... breaks out with the second story, “I'd Rather Bleed Than Read” (by Shane Houghton, Nina Matsumoto, and Andrew Pepoy), which finds Principal Seymour Skinner trapping Bart in the Springfield Elementary school library in order to force the lad to read at least one book.  The resolution to the story is rather novel, if not a stroke of genius.

“Bartman vs. Doctor Octuplets” (by Ian Boothby, John Delaney, and Pepoy) is one of two stories featuring Bart's superhero alter-ego, “Bartman.”  It has a neat take on Spider-Man villain, Doctor Octopus, via Kwik-E-Mart manager, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, and his brood of children.  The second Bartman story, “Who the Bartman?” (by Arne Kaplan, Tone Rodriguez, and Pepoy), offers a novel take on how Bart's classmates view Bartman.

Breaks Out has two Maggie Simpson stories written and drawn by the great alternative comic book creator, Carol Lay.  The first one, “Maggie and the Moon,” is quite poignant and beautiful.  That heartwarming vibe also makes an appearance in the story, “The Todd & the Rodyssey” (by Mike W. Barr, Delaney, and Pepoy).  Ned Flanders is a featured character here, but his sons, Rod and Todd, are the stars of this story of escape and survival.  The last two panels of this fast-moving and delightful comic presses all my buttons of sentimentality.

The other stories are also pretty good, especially the Springfield Elementary “Junior Mafia” tale.  I got a kick out of “The Demon” (by Max Davison, Delaney, and Pepoy), because I generally like ghost story-themed tales told in a kids' comic books published by everyone from Archie Comics to whatever company is publishing comic books featuring Disney characters.

In some of my reviews of Simpsons Comics paperback collections, I have said that one does not have to be a fan of “The Simpsons” to like them.  This is the case with Bart Simpson Breaks Out, because this book is full of top-notch humor comics.  Bart Simpson Breaks Out is too funny to pass up.

9 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 reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: SMASHED: Junji Ito Story Collection

SMASHED: JUNJI ITO STORY COLLECTION
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTONIST: Junji Ito
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Jocelyn Allen
LETTERS: Eric Erbes
EDITOR: Masumi Washington
ISBN: 978-1-4215-9846-8; hardcover (April 2019); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
416pp, B&W, $22.99 U.S., $32.00 CAN, £15.99 UK

Junji Ito is a Japanese horror mangaka (comic book writer-artist) who has created both long-form horror manga (comics) series and manga short stories.  Ito's best known long-form manga include Tomie, Uzumaki, and Gyo.  Tomie was adapted into a live-action film series (beginning in 1998), and Uzumaki was adapted into a live-action film (2000).  Gyo was adapted as the anime film, Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack (2012).

VIZ Media has been publishing hardcover books that collect many of Junji Ito's manga short stories for the last four years.  The first was Fragments of Horror (June 2015), and then, came Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories (December 2017).  Last year saw the release of Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection (October 2018), which collects six Ito stories and Ito's manga adaptation of Mary Shelley's legendary novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).

The latest Ito short story collection is Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection, which was released last month (April 2019).  This hardcover comics collection gathers 13 chilling, nightmarish stories from one of world's masters of horror manga and comics.   Be warned.  Do not be noticed when you eat the secret nectar, otherwise you’ll get smashed!  What has caused so many people to be “earthbound?”  Why are they tied to a certain place for the rest of their short lives?  What is it about that strange haunted house that has come to town?  This is Junji Ito’s world, where there is no escape from endless nightmares.

A long time ago, I was reading a review of Annie Lenox's second solo album, Diva (an album of cover song), in which the reviewer/ music critic said that every album should have at least one great song.  [He thought Diva had two.]  I sometimes use that standard for collections of comic book short stories, except having one great story per collection is not enough for me.  I want at least two stories that so overwhelm me that I declare them to be great.

Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection contains 13 comics/manga short stories, and I think five of them are great, and a sixth is bat-shit-crazy enough to be great.  The opening story, “Bloodsucking Darkness,” begins as a tale about a young woman who, after being spurned by her boyfriend, decides to starve herself in order to get skinny so she become a model.  It wraps up as a chilling story dealing with themes of obsession and self-destructive behavior with the symbolism of vampirism and human blood as vehicles by which Ito moves the story forward.

“Roar,” an imaginative ghost story about two hikers who encounter a strange flash flood, is a mystery tale that uses an unusual and recurring haunting to explore family and local histories.  Its tragic reunion is one of the most poignant and heart-breaking moments I have ever read in a ghost story.  I think that “Roar” would have made for a wonderful episode of the original version of “The Twilight Zone” television series.

“Earthbound” and “Death Row Doorbell” both explore themes of guilt, revenge, and grief.  In different way, each considers how a sense of guilt can be so strong that it overwhelms the existence of people who have committed violent crimes.  Each story also examines the power that grief and the desire for revenge hold over both the perpetrators of crimes and the victims/survivors.  I don't want to say too much about the plot of each story because it would give away each story's fantastic resolution.  “Earthbound”  is about an epidemic of people frozen to a particular spot on earth.  “Death Row Doorbell” tells the story of a young woman, Noriko Kowa, and her brother (unnamed in this tale) who suffer a visitor whose ringing of their front doorbell causes them great pain and fear.

“I Don't Want to Be a Ghost” is an unsettling tale about a young husband who first finds a strange young woman on a lonely mountain road.  He begins an affair with her only to fall prey to her blood-chilling appetites.  The title story, “Smashed,” centers on a strange nectar that a Japanese explorer finds in an isolated jungle in South America.  The warning is that when you drink the nectar, you must not be “noticed.”  The ending of “Smashed” is of the kind that readers would only find in a comic book, and it reminds me of the ending of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Watchmen – an excellent science fiction, mystery, and conspiracy comic book miniseries with an ending that is crazy, but is not as enthralling as the story that leads up to it.  “Smashed” is the sixth “bat-shit-crazy enough to be great” tale I mentioned earlier in this review.

The other seven stories in Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection are also quiet good.  Most of them have elements that I would use the word “disquiet” to describe.  Once upon a time, elements in these seven stories might have gotten a cartoonist or comic book creator fired, maybe even made him or her unemployable, or even gotten a cartoonist jailed.  I'm thinking of the three-story suite involving a haunted house and a character named “Soichi.”

The only other comics short story collections that have impressed me as much as Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection does are those books collecting stories originally published in various EC Comics publications.  Smashed proves once again that Junji Ito is the current king of horror comics.

10 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: MARVEL ACTION: SPIDER-MAN #1

MARVEL ACTION: SPIDER-MAN No. 1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing @ Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Delilah S. Dawson
ART: Fico Ossio
COLORS: Ronda Pattison
LETTERS: Shawn Lee
EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
COVER: Fico Ossio
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Nicoletta Baldari; Kevin Eastman with Tomi Varga; Gabriel Rodriguez with Nelson Daniel; June Brigman and Roy Richardson with Nolan Woodard; Corey Lewis; Tim Lim; Alex Milne with Paris Alleyne
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (November 2018)

Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee; Miles Morales created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli

Marvel Action is a new line of comic books produced by IDW Publishing under license from Marvel Comics.  The titles in this line will feature Marvel Comics characters in comic books aimed at “middle grade readers” and “younger readers.”

The first release in this new line features Marvel Comics' most famous character, Spider-Man, and is entitled Marvel Action: Spider-Man.  It written by Delilah S. Dawson; drawn by Fico Ossio; colored by Ronda Pattison; and lettered by Shawn Lee.  The series focuses on a 16-year-old Peter Parker and his astonishing new friends – Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy.

Marvel Action: Spider-Man #1 finds Spider-Man on night patrol when he encounters a citizen being threatened by what seems to be a really large mutated rat.  The next day, in a Queens, New York City apartment, Peter Parker faces an equally daunting challenge.  Today, he begins his internship at the newspaper, “The Daily Bugle.”  The legendary Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man is sponsoring the internship, and the intern who does the best job gets to conduct a rare interview of Stark.

However, Peter Parker's Spider-Man troubles are not over.  More monster-mutant rat-dog creatures are popping up throughout the city.  Peter springs into action as Spider-Man, but he is shocked to discover that his fellow interns, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy, aren't afraid of no mutants.  One of them even shows some surprising physical gifts.

Writer Delilah S. Dawson composes an “Amazing” script that captures the spirit of Spider-Man and is filled with something no longer found in most comic books aimed at older readers – a sense of mystery and wonder.  Artist Fico Ossio delivers some “Spectacular” art and graphical storytelling that recalls Mark Bagley's delightful work in the early issues of Ultimate Spider-Man.

Ronda Pattison's “Friendly Neighborhood” colors bring the world of Peter Parker/Spider Man to life and makes Ossio's art pop off the page.  Shawn Lee's “Web of” lettering completes this exciting graphics package to make this comic book a kind of storytelling eye candy.

Marvel Action: Spider-Man #1 is the start of something good.  It is for new and young readers, but longtime Spider-Man fans can find a lot to like here... if they are open to it.  I can't wait for the second issue.

9 out of 10

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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BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

BOOM! STUDIOS

APR191247    ADVENTURE TIME MARCY & SIMON #6 (OF 6) MAIN    $3.99
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APR198184    FIREFLY #7 FOC SLINEY VAR    $3.99
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Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

DARK HORSE COMICS

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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

DC COMICS

APR190439    AMERICAN CARNAGE #8 (MR)    $3.99
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