Wednesday, January 5, 2022

#IReadsYou Review: GEIGER #2

GEIGER #2
IMAGE COMICS/Mad Ghost

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Gary Frank
COLORS: Brad Anderson
LETTERS: Rob Leigh
EDITOR: Pat McCallum
COVER: Gary Frank with Brad Anderson
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Bryan Hitch; Mahmud Asrar; Gary Frank with Brad Anderson
32pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (May 2021)

Rated “T+/Teen Plus”

Geiger created by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank


Geiger is a new comic book series from writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank.  Published by Image Comics, Geiger is set on a dying Earth in the years after a nuclear war ravaged the planet.  Colorist Brad Anderson and letterer Rob Leigh complete the series' creative team.

Geiger is set 20 years after the nuclear conflict known as the “Unknown War” ravaged the planet, turning Earth into a dying world.  In the state of Nevada, desperate outlaws battle for survival in a world of rapidly disappearing resources and supplies.  In Boulder City, Nevada, there resides the fearsome man known by many names:  Joe Glow, The Meltdown Man, and the Walking Bomb, to name a few.  But before the war, he was simply a man named Tariq Geiger.  So who or what is Geiger, now?

Geiger #2 opens with a flashback into Tariq's past life.  Then, the story moves fully into Las Vegas.  There, a waitress in the fiefdom of Camelot has a plan to save her children – her older child, daughter Hailee, and younger child, son Henry – from the perverted desires of the thugs that rule Camelot.

Carolina's plan involves a powerful relic from before the war.  Will this relic bring hope or finish what the war started?  It depends on who gets Carolina's prize – the “Casino Warlords of Las Vegas” or the monster called Geiger.

THE LOWDOWN:  As first issues go, Geiger #1 was mostly an introduction, kind of like a prologue.  It introduced the title character, Geiger, giving readers a look at who he was in the past and a glance at who he is now.  Honestly, Geiger #1 was not Geoff Johns or Gary Frank's best work.

Still, I was intrigued by the concept, and Geiger #2 starts to deliver on the series' potential.  I thought that once writer Geoff Johns took readers into Las Vegas the intensity would rise, and it does.  If Geiger is the hero of Geiger the comic book, Las Vegas, in the form of “Casino Warlords,” will be the source of the villains and adversaries.  From what we see of Vegas, I think Johns is promising lots of conflict and action-driven drama.

In Geiger, Frank's pencil art is rougher and less refined than his usual work, which, as I wrote before, is a good thing here.  Geiger is dark, and perhaps, it will be apocalyptic, so with colorist Brad Anderson, Frank is preparing us for action, but not the shiny, superhero kind.  I think I should keep following Geiger … for the time being.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank will want to check out Geiger.

A-
7.5 out of 10

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



https://twitter.com/geoffjohns
http://www.madghost.com/
https://twitter.com/1moreGaryFrank
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, January 4, 2022

#IReadsYou Review: RED ROOM: The Antisocial Network #2

RED ROOM: THE ANTISOCIAL NETWORK #2
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS

CARTOONIST: Ed Piskor
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Ed Piskor
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Ed Piskor; Troy Nixey; Jim Rugg
22pp, B&W with some color, $6.99 U.S. (June 2021)

Red Room: The Antisocial Network is a 12-issue new comic book series from cartoonist Ed Piskor.  Piskor is best known for Hip Hop Family Tree, a comic book that chronicles the early history of Hip-hop culture and that has been published in both graphic novel and serial comic book form.  Piskor also produced a highly unusual history of Marvel Comics' X-Men via a series of comic book miniseries entitled X-Men Grand Design.

Publisher Fantagraphics Books describes Red Room: The Antisocial Network as “a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk masterpiece.”  Red Room focuses on a murderous, dark web subculture in which a secretive audience pays to view webcam murders with crypto-currency.  A “Red Room” is a place on the Internet with an encrypted I.P. address.  Each Red Room is a webcam stream where viewers can watch a “torture star” murder another human being in the most brutal, savage, vile, and stomach-turning ways.  With the help of untraceable crypto-currency, a subculture of criminals has emerged in which one side patronizes the webcam murders for entertainment and in which the other side gleefully kills to entertain in what seems like the evolution of the snuff films of folklore.

As Red Room: The Antisocial Network #2 opens, Pentagram Pictures streams the latest act of butchery from torture star, “Decimator.”  Elsewhere, former multiple Super Bowl champion, Mike Wilkins, is using a flood rescue as a “recruiting mission” to help the people behind torture star, “Poker Face,” find their next Red Room victim.  So how do you turn a guy named Damian into a victim no one will recognize?  You force Doctor Daniels, plastic surgeon, to work on him … because Poker Face needs fresh meat!

THE LOWDOWN:  Red Room is a science fiction comic book series, albeit a dark one.  It has elements of dystopian sci-fi, speculative fiction, and contemporary drama.  It would be easy to call this new series depraved, which it is not.  In a real world in which rich people want what they want and have the super-wealth to get it, the darkest corners of the web will one day offer murder and mayhem like that seen Red Room.  Or maybe it already is.  Each ISIS beheading was Internet ready.

Red Room #2 is a stand alone issue, as was the first issue.  In fact, the entire series will be comprised of stand alone, single-issue tales that are part of a larger narrative world.  This issue, Piskor, with this story of Damian as a man who needs to be saved (several times), tugs at the heart as much as Poker Face will tug on his intestines.  What keeps Red Room from being a joke or torture porn is that Piskor can depict humanity in the the most embarrassing and most horrifying scenes.

Here is something that I noticed before, but to which I never really paid attention.  For a cartoonist, Piskor is an exceptionally skilled illustrator.  From perspective to figure drawing, Piskor's compositions are full of exaggeration and surrealism, but everything and everyone looks correctly drawn (for instance, the floodwaters sequence).  It is a kind of cartoon realism that not everyone could pull off … realistically.  So I highly recommend, Red Room: The Antisocial Network to you, dear readers.  Don't be antisocial and not read Red Room.  Reviews and quotes don't really capture the complex and multi-layered nature of this title.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Ed Piskor's work and of alternative comics as science fiction will want to read Red Room.

A
9 out of 10

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



Buy and/or subscribe to Red Room here: https://www.fantagraphics.com/collections/red-room

https://twitter.com/EdPiskor
https://twitter.com/cartoonkayfabe
https://www.youtube.com/c/cartoonistkayfabe
https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor/
https://linktr.ee/edpiskor

https://www.fantagraphics.com/
https://twitter.com/fantagraphics
https://www.instagram.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.facebook.com/fantagraphics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLxEaspctVar287DtdsMww


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint or syndication rights and fees.

----------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).


Monday, January 3, 2022

BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for January 5, 2022

BOOM! STUDIOS

NOV210755 BASILISK #6 CVR A SCHARF $3.99
NOV210756 BASILISK #6 CVR B REBELKA $3.99
NOV210773 BUCKHEAD #2 (OF 5) CVR A KAMBADAIS $3.99
NOV210775 BUCKHEAD #2 (OF 5) CVR C FOC REVEAL VAR COKER $3.99
NOV210704 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #33 CVR A FRANY $3.99
NOV210705 BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #33 CVR B GEORGIEV $3.99
NOV210714 MAGIC THE GATHERING (MTG) #10 CVR A KHALIDAH $4.99
NOV210715 MAGIC THE GATHERING (MTG) #10 CVR B OUM $4.99
NOV210716 MAGIC THE GATHERING (MTG) #10 CVR C HIDDEN SPARK VAR $4.99

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Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 5, 2022

DARK HORSE COMICS

JUN210381 ART OF OVERWATCH HC LTD ED VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) $99.99
SEP210304 EC ARCHIVES WEIRD SCIENCE TP VOL 01 (C: 0-1-2) $19.99

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Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for January 5, 2022

DYNAMITE

AUG210840 DEJAH THORIS VS JOHN CARTER OF MARS #4 CVR K LINSNER LTD VIR $50.00
OCT210536 DEJAH THORIS VS JOHN CARTER OF MARS #6 CVR A PARRILLO $3.99
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OCT210444 VAMPIRELLA DRACULA UNHOLY #1 CVR R HUGHES LTD VIRGIN (C: 0-1 $50.00

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IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for January 5, 2022

IDW PUBLISHING

MAR210451 LOEG VOL IV TEMPEST TP (C: 0-1-2) $19.99
NOV210450 STAR TREK MIRROR WAR #3 (OF 8) CVR A WOODWARD $3.99
NOV210451 STAR TREK MIRROR WAR #3 (OF 8) CVR B MADRIAGA $3.99
NOV210461 TRANSFORMERS BEST OF OPTIMUS PRIME $6.99

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Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 5, 2022

IMAGE COMICS

NOV210255 A THING CALLED TRUTH #3 (OF 5) CVR A ROMBOLI $3.99
NOV210256 A THING CALLED TRUTH #3 (OF 5) CVR B ZANFARDINO $3.99
NOV210257 A THING CALLED TRUTH #3 (OF 5) CVR C ZANFARDINO & ROMBOLI $3.99
NOV210148 BEAUTY TP VOL 06 (MR) $16.99
OCT210136 FRONTIERSMAN #4 (MR) $3.99
OCT210139 GRRL SCOUTS STONE GHOST #2 (OF 6) CVR A MAHFOOD (MR) $3.99
OCT210143 HELLCOP #3 CVR A HABERLIN & VAN DYKE (MR) $3.99
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NOV210056 MONKEY MEAT #1 (OF 5) $3.99
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NOV210262 WALKING DEAD DLX #30 CVR A FINCH & MCCAIG (MR) $3.99
NOV210263 WALKING DEAD DLX #30 CVR B ADLARD & MCCAIG (MR) $3.99
NOV210264 WALKING DEAD DLX #30 CVR C BRESSAN & LUCAS (MR) $3.99

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