Thursday, September 14, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: THE AMBASSADORS #2

THE AMBASSADORS #2 (OF 6)
IMAGE COMICS/Netflix

STORY: Mark Millar
ART: Karl Kerschl
COLORS: Michele Assaraskorn
LETTERS: Clem Robins
EDITORIAL: Sarah Unwin
COVER: Karl Kerschl
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Frank Quitely; Karl Kerschl
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2023)

Rated M / Mature

The Ambassadors created by Mark Millar at Netflix

The Ambassadors is a new comic book miniseries written and created by Mark Millar.  The series focuses on the six people out of eight billion humans who will received super-powers.  Each will be a member of  the international rescue squad, The Ambassadors.  Each issue of The Ambassadors will be drawn by a different superstar comic book artist.  The second issue is drawn by Karl Kerschl; colored by Michele Assaraskorn and lettered by Clem Robins.

The Ambassadors #2 opens in Delhi, India.  Meet Binnu Bhatia.  He's in love with Gita Ganesh, as he keeps telling his best bud, Jai.  However, Binnu doesn't believe he has much of a chance with Gita; after all, Binnu is just a dude who works at a cell phone store.

Then tragedy strikes, and some time later, Binnu is “Codename India,” the Ambassador for India.  Suddenly, he has access to powers that billions of other people want really bad.  So, of course, it's a bit complicated with family, friends, and also Doctor Choon-He Chung, the amazing woman who is handing out super-powers.  Plus, some will pay anything for those powers...

THE LOWDOWN:  Thanks to a review copy provided by the Mark Millar division of Netflix, I got to read the first two issues The Ambassadors.  This is a treat for which I have been awaiting since the announcement of the series last year.

I think the best thing that writer Mark Millar does with The Ambassadors #2 is depict that even in a scenario of absolute power and seemingly supernatural power, control is an illusion.  What happens to Binnu Bhatia is both a dream and nightmare, to one extent or another.  He can't stop what's coming; he must simply survive it or try to.  This is how Mark is creating dramatic tension and conflict here, and this is what he is going to use to blow this up in our faces.

The artist for The Ambassadors #2 is Karl Kerschl, and his quirky style deftly conveys both the ambivalence and the menacing undertones in this chapter.  I could have read another 28 pages of Kerschl's lovely storytelling.

So, yes, The Ambassadors is fantastic.  It may well be one of the most consequential superhero team comic books well over a decade.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Mark Millar and of big concept superhero comic books will want to read The Ambassadors.

A+

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


https://www.mrmarkmillar.com/
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://twitter.com/mrmarkmillar
https://twitter.com/netflix
http://www.millarworld.tv/
www.imagecomics.com


The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: UNBREAKABLE RED SONJA #1

UNBREAKABLE RED SONJA #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Jim Zub
ARTIST: Giovanni Valletta
COLORS: Francesco Segala with Agnese Pozza
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
EDITOR: Matt Idelson
COVER: Lucio Parrillo
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (October 2022)

Rated Teen+

Red Sonja is female high fantasy and sword and sorcery hero.  She first appeared in Conan the Barbarian #23 (cover dated February 1973) and was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith.  Red Sonja was loosely based on “Red Sonya of Rogatino,” a female character that appeared in the 1934 short story, “The Shadow of the Vulture,” written by Conan the Cimmerian's creator, Robert E. Howard.

In 2005, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing comic books featuring differing versions of the character.  The latest is Unbreakable Red Sonja.  It is written by Jim Zub; drawn by Giovanni Valletta; colored by Francesco Segala; and lettered by Carlos M. Mangual.

Unbreakable Red Sonja #1 opens in a lost time and place and with an obsession.  The story moves to the present, in the Hyrkanian town called “Thyner's Roost,” west of the Talakma Mountains.  Here, Red Sonja is in a tavern – drunk and fighting would-be paramours.  Here, Red Sonja's past and present will collide and come together for a journey into forbidden magic.

THE LOWDOWN:  Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Unbreakable Red Sonja #1, which is one of many, many Dynamite Red Sonja comic books that I have read.

A decade ago, I was reading a lot of comic books written by Jim Zub, but I have not read any of his recent Marvel Comics work.  Some of this work included a stint writing Conan the Barbarian comic books for Marvel, and Unbreakable Red Sonja #1 reminds me of old Marvel Conan comic books.

Artist Giovanni Valletta's illustrations here remind me of old Marvel Conan, as does Francesco Segala's atmospheric colors.  Even letterer Carlos M. Mangual, who has done some Marvel work, gets in on the Marvel vintage Conan vibe.  And that's a good thing.  I like vintage Conan.

I'm intrigued by this first issue, intrigued because all the creative elements work.  We'll see as far as the long term.  I'll wait for the second issue before I drop a grade.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Red Sonja comic books must read Unbreakable Red Sonja.

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


https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/
https://www.facebook.com/DynamiteComics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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


Tuesday, September 12, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: DIE!NAMITE Lives Volumes 2 #3

DIE!NAMITE LIVES VOLUME 2 #3
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Fred Van Lente
ART: Vincenzo Carratù
COLORS: Kike J. Diaz
LETTERS: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
EDITOR: Nate Cosby
COVER: Lucio Parrillo
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Arthur Suydam; Joseph Michael Linsner; Dave Acosta; Kendrick Lim;
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2021)

Rated Teen+

DIE!namite is a series of zombie apocalypse comics from Dynamite Entertainment that utilizes some of the publisher's most popular characters and licensed properties.  The latest is DIE!namite Lives!  It is written by Fred Van Lente; drawn by Vincenzo Carratu; colored by Kike J. Diaz; and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.  In the new series, Vampirella and the remainder of Project Superheroes look for a new savior, and that could be Ash Williams (star of the 1992 film, Army of Darkness).

DIE!namite Lives! Volume 2 #3 opens in Hawaii where flesh-eating superheroes take on evil zombies.  Red Sonja, Peter Cannon, Black Terror, and Scarab battle a squad of Frankenstein lookalikes that Sonja should be able to control, except she can't.  Cannon reasons that they must be controlled from a satellite, but this deduction may be playing into Captain Future's hands.

Meanwhile, Vampirella, Pantha, Miss Fury, and Tabu have arrived at a local “S-Mart” warehouse.  Here, they hope to obtain that copy of Necronomincon Ex Mortis, the book that can stop this zombie plague, a book that Pantha bought online!  Standing in their way, however, is S-Mart's most famous employee, Ash Williams, and he is too loyal to allow looters inside!

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is DIE!namite Lives! Volume 2 #3, which is the first issue of this series that I have read.  In fact, this is the first DIE!namite comic that I have read, although I've known of the series since it first began.

What can I say?  DIE!namite Lives! Volume 2 #3 is fun.  I didn't expect much from it, but I previously suspected that I could like a DIE!namite comic book because I enjoyed DC Comics DCeased #1 when I read it a few years ago.  DIE!namite seems similar to DCeased.  Here, writer Fred Van Lente offers a breezy read with just enough craziness to hold the reader's attention.  I bet this series will really read nicely as a trade paperback.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of DIE!namite will want DIE!namite Lives! Volume 2.

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


https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/
https://www.facebook.com/DynamiteComics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


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

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

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


Monday, September 11, 2023

BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for September 13, 2023

BOOM! STUDIOS

JUL230009 CODA #1 (OF 5) CVR A BERGARA $4.99
JUL230010 CODA #1 (OF 5) CVR B INFANTE $4.99
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JUL238035 MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS #111 2ND PTG MORA (C: 1-0-0) $4.99

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Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for September 13, 2023

DYNAMITE

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Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for September 13, 2023

IMAGE COMICS

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JUN230374 UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY #25 CVR B MOMOKO (MR) $3.99

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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for September 13, 2023

MARVEL COMICS

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