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Monday, December 12, 2022
DC Comics from Lunar Distributors for December 13, 2022
Friday, December 9, 2022
#IReadsYou Review: AMERICAN JESUS, Volume 1: Chosen
AMERICAN JESUS, VOL. 1
IMAGE COMICS
STORY: Mark Millar
ART: Peter Gross
COLORS: Jeanne McGee
LETTERS: Cory Petit
EDITOR: Rachel Fulton
ISBN: 978-1-5343-0871-8; paperback (May 26, 2020)
96pp, Color, $9.99 U.S.
Rated M / Mature
American Jesus created by Mark Millar and Peter Gross
American Jesus is a comic book series created by writer Mark Millar and Peter Gross that is being published as a series of comic book miniseries. American Jesus began life as Chosen, a three-issue miniseries by Millar and Gross and published by Dark Horse Comics in 2004. In 2009, Image Comics collected Chosen in the trade paperback, American Jesus, Vol. 1: Chosen.
Chosen introduces an ordinary twelve-year-old boy. Well, Jodie Christianson isn't really normal. He is the Son of God. After surviving the freak accident of having an 18-wheel vehicle fall on him, Jodie awakens to discover that he is Jesus Christ. Well, that explains his parents, Martha and Jonah Christianson's weird and apparently sexless marriage.
Like the original Jesus, Jodie can turn water into wine, cure the blind (or near-sighted), and resurrect pets. Well, he is not quite like the original. How much is Jodie different from Christ? Well, that's the rub, but the newly faithful of Peoria, Illinois are learning to love their boy Christ. So how will Jodie deal with his destiny, which has been thousands of years in the making?...
THE LOWDOWN: Netflix/Millarworld sent me a PDF review copy of American Jesus, Vol. 1, and this is the first time I have read the story. I vaguely remember when the original Chosen miniseries was released, but I seem to remember having a difficult time finding any copies.
Chosen is a quiet comic book, as artist Peter Gross depicts even the most shocking moments in a measured way. Nothing blows up in your face, but Gross has a way of blowing your mind with disquiet. With this sense of unease, Gross draws you inside this troubling story. Gross may be one of the only (if not only) comic book artists to convey via his illustrations and graphical storytelling that a Christ figure is not only supernatural, but also unnatural. Jeanne McGee's coloring haunts every frame of this story, turning up the sense that something here is wrong.
Mark Millar, being both relentlessly prolific and unrelentingly inventive, is the twenty-first century version of those comic book creators of yesteryear who unwittingly created what would be million-dollar and billion dollar franchises – one after another. Millar, however, is doing this for himself and his collaborators, and in Chosen, he gets one thing perfectly right. Saviors and messiahs don't build a following on faith, but on what they can do for their followers. Nowhere would that be more true than in America. Every time, Jodie Christianson does something miraculous, the size of his flock multiplies. Millar's script is almost matter of fact in this, and letterer Cory Petit paces out the wrongness of this scenario, helping to build the sense of trouble.
Thoughtfully conceived and confidently executed, American Jesus Vol. 1 is another example of how determined Mark Millar is to entertain, enthrall, and thrill his readers. In Peter Gross, he has an equally skilled and determined storyteller.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Mark Millar's comic books will want to read American Jesus.
[This volume includes an introduction by actor and filmmaker Simon Pegg; an “Afterword” by Brother Richard Hendrick; “The Gospel According to Millar and Gross: Occult Symbols and Hidden Meanings,” a conversation between Millar and Gross; and “From Script to Art with Peter Gross.”]
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://twitter.com/mrmarkmillar
https://twitter.com/netflix
https://www.mrmarkmillar.com/
http://www.millarworld.tv/
www.imagecomics.com
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2022
#IReadsYou Review: NOCTERRA Blacktop Bill Special
NOCTERRA BLACKTOP BILL SPECIAL
IMAGE COMICS/Best Jacket Press
STORY: Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel
PENCILS: Denys Cowan
INKS: Kent Williams
COLORS: Chris Sotomayor
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Tony S. Daniel with Marcelo Maiolo
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Denys Cowan
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (January 2022)
Rated “M/ Mature”
“Blacktop Bill Origins” Part One: “Hall of Mirrors”
Nocterra is a horror and science fiction comic book series from writer Scott Snyder and artist Tony S. Daniel. Published by Image Comics, Nocterra is set on an Earth that has been experiencing an everlasting night, the “Big PM,” since the sky went dark and the world was plunged into an everlasting night over a decade ago.
Nocterra's most terrifying creature is “Blacktop Bill,” whose body is bonded with a matrix of carbon nanotubes. His origin story is the subject of a new special one-shot comic book, Nocterra Blacktop Bill Special. It is written by Snyder and Daniel; drawn by Denys Cowan (pencils) and Kent Williams (inks); colored by Chris Sotomayor; and lettered by Andworld Design.
Nocterra Blacktop Bill Special opens somewhere in Florida. That is where we meet “Blacktop Bill,” the so-called “hitman of hitmen,” But when it comes to killing, for Bill, there is work and then, there are “passion kills.” Was Nocterra's most terrifying creature a monster before the “Big PM?”
THE LOWDOWN: In Nocterra #4, on page 13 of the story, Mother Hubbard (at the “Hub Cap”) and Bea Bellweather (in Luxville, Colorado) are having a conversation over a private channel. Bellweather wants to know the history of Blacktop Bill, and Mother starts telling what he has heard...
Nocterra Blacktop Bill Special is that story, the origin of Blacktop Bill. I am a fan of Nocterra, one of the best new comic books of 2021, and I am a longtime fan of Denys Cowan, the artist for this special. Writer Scott Snyder offers what seems like a folk tale side-story to Nocterra, and Cowan's art has a surreal, freestyle quality.
Honestly, I enjoyed it only a little, but I expected more. Maybe, that's the problem. Considering that I like Nocterra and that I am a fan of Cowan, I expected something bigger … or perhaps, better... However, I also see it as the first of something more to come – maybe, something bigger.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Scott Snyder and Tony S. Daniel's Nocterra will want Nocterra Blacktop Bill Special.
[This comic book contains a seven-page preview of the comic book series, “Monkey Meat,” by Juni Ba.]
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://twitter.com/Ssnyder1835
https://tonydaniel.bigcartel.com/
https://twitter.com/andworlddesign
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2022
#IReadsYou Review: THE DIRE DAYS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR
THE DIRE DAYS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR
SIMON & SCHUSTER/Margaret K. McElderry Books
STORY: Shaenon K. Garrity
ART: Christopher Baldwin
COVER: Christopher Baldwin
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6086-7; paperback (July 20, 2021)
224pp, Color, $14.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN
Demographic: Ages 12-up; Grades 7 and up
Available in hardcover and eBook editions
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor is a 2021 full-color, original graphic novel written by Shaenon Garrity and drawn by Christopher Baldwin. It has been released in both hardcover and paperback editions. [My review is based on the paperback.] The story focuses on a teenage girl who is swept up in a strange new universe and must save it from an all-consuming evil in order to return to her home.
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor introduces Haley, a high school student with a passion for Gothic romance novels. Haley's passion has gotten her into trouble with one of her teachers who is tired of reading essays about Gothic romance novels.
One dark and stormy night, Haley is walking home with an armful of books. She is thinking ahead of a glorious night of reading, but while crossing a bridge, she sees a stranger drowning in the river below. Sensing that her moment to be a heroine has arrived, Haley leaps into the water to rescue the stranger. Exhausted from the effort to save the man, who seems rather ungrateful, Haley later awakens on the shores of a placed called Willowweep.
The place certainly looks like the setting of one of her favorite Gothic romance books. There is a stately manor (Willowweep Manor) that happens to employ a sinister housekeeper (Wilhelmina). There are three brothers: brooding Laurence, the eldest; daffy Cuthbert, the youngest; and middle brother, Montague, the one Haley rescued. Willowweep even has a ghost, Cecily, who seems to know a lot about the place.
Willowweep, neither the land nor the manor, is not what it seems. The Gothic romantic exteriors and trappings hide what it really is and the fact that a force of great evil is set on destroying Willowweep. Could the same fate that brought Haley to this place make her the heroine Willowweep needs?
THE LOWDOWN: I could call The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor clever, which it certainly is, but that would be shallow. I like that the heroine is an African-American teenage girl, but that does not play a part in narrative. Haley's skin color is happily never a point of interest with the other characters.
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor seems like an exercise in creative storytelling. It is as if writer Shaenon K. Garrity starting imagining this scenario and never stopped being ingenious and inventive. Every page is a surprise, and the narrative moves in unexpected ways, as does the lead character. By the end of the story, Haley has changed. She is still a teen girl, but now she is more open to the possibilities of what she can do, what she can be, and what she can expect from the things that she enjoys.
Artist Christopher Baldwin brings Garrity's delightful tale to life as a sweeping epic. Baldwin builds this world and invites the readers into its nooks and crannies. He encourages us to look behind the curtain, to examine the walls, and to push past borders into other places and dimensions. Without forgetting that Haley is the lead, Baldwin also makes the other characters intriguing and attractive, the better to play off the heroine.
The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor exemplifies how two skilled comic book creators can make the union of their different talents and perspectives appear seamless. The result is that The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor is a winning read for all ages … and, of course, there should be a sequel. After reading this delightful Gothic comic romp, dear readers, you will want to follow Haley to other universes, again and again.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of juvenile science fiction-fantasy, girl heroes, and middle grade graphic novels will want to read The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor.
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://www.shaenon.com/
https://twitter.com/shaenongarrity
https://www.baldwinpage.com/
https://twitter.com/chris_j_baldwin
https://www.simonandschuster.com/
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Dire-Days-of-Willowweep-Manor/Shaenon-K-Garrity/9781534460867
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.
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Monday, December 5, 2022
BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for December 7, 2022
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