Review: BLUBBER #3

BLUBBER No. 3
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS – @fantagraphics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

CARTOONIST: Gilbert Hernandez
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds
COVER: Gilbert Hernandez with Paul Baresh
24pp, B&W, $3.99 U.S. (July 2016)

He is the cartoonist, comic book creator, and graphic novelist best known for being one-half of the duo known as “Los Bros.” Gilbert Hernandez and his brother, Jaime Hernandez, form the Eisner Award (Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards) winning team that has produced the seminal, alternative comic book series, Love and Rockets (Fantagraphics Books), for 35 years.

As a “solo act,” Gilbert (a.k.a. “Beto”) has also produced numerous original graphic novels and several comic book miniseries for publishers like Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, and Drawn & Quarterly, as well as for his original publisher Fantagraphics.  In 2015, Fantagraphics launched Beto's latest solo offering, entitled Blubber.

This black and white comic book series offers short stories and vignettes featuring a cast of misfits, monsters, and anthropomorphic types.  Beto also presents his usual mix of bizarre characters, strange stories, and outlandish sex and sexual acts, all hallmarks of his comix going back to the beginning of his public work.

Blubber #3 (which debuted in the summer of 2016) opens with Mr. Elvis on the inside front cover.  Other incarnations of the masturbating satyr appear throughout this issue.  Last issue's inside front cover star, “XXX Superstar Pupusi,” also returns.    The “Janx” take center stage in all their cock-sucking and orifice-penetrating glory.  Meanwhile, Max and his long dong try to show the defecating Snowman the spiritual side.

I gave a rave reviews to Blubber issues #1 and #2.  Unfortunately, Blubber #3 does not live up to its predecessors.  It does have its moments, such as the “Blubberoo” story and the strange goings-on at the “Blubber Club.”  However, the Janx story, “Circle of Life,” meanders rather than flow freely.  It has a dream like quality, but parts of it don't seem to belong, as if Beto took sections from four other stories and sewed them together for “Circle of Life.”

The “Root 66” strip is a gag, cute in its juvenile nature.  The Pupusi one-pager is like a nice after-dinner chocolate.  I may be a little down on Blubber #3, but there is enough good raunch and depravity to get me ready for #4

7.5 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 syndication rights and fees.

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Review: THE KAMANDI CHALLENGE #3

THE KAMANDI CHALLENGE No. 3 (OF 12)
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Jimmy Palmiotti
ART: Amanda Conner
COLORS: Paul Mounts
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Ben Caldwell
VARIANT COVER: Amanda Conner with Paul Mounts
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (May 2017)

Rated “T” for Teen

Kamandi created by Jack Kirby

“Bug in Your Ear”

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth was a comic book series created by Jack Kirby and published by DC Comics.  Running from 1972 to 1978, the series starred Kamandi, a teenaged boy in a post-apocalyptic future.  In this time, humans have been reduced back to savagery in a world ruled by intelligent, highly evolved animals.

Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth #1 (cover dated: October 1972) opens some time after a huge event called “The Great Disaster,” which wiped out human civilization.  In “Earth A.D.” (After Disaster), many animals have become humanoid, bipedal, and sentient, and also possess the power of speech. These newly intelligent animal species have equipped themselves with weapons and technology salvaged from the ruins of human civilization and are constantly at war in a struggle for territory.

The world of Kamandi returns in the DC Comics miniseries, The Kamandi Challenge, bringing together 14 teams of writers and artists.  Each issue will end with an cliffhanger.  The next creative team will resolve that cliffhanger left behind by the previous creative team, before creating their own story and cliffhanger, which the next creative team after them will have to resolve... and so on.  The third issue of The Kamandi Challenge is written by Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Amanda Conner; colored by Paul Mounts; and lettered by Clem Robins.

The Kamandi Challenge #3 (“Bug in Your Ear”) opens after Kamandi escaped from Tiger City, but now, he is plunging to his death.  He is rescued by two “Savage Bats” and taken to the “God Watchers.”  Kamandi may start to regret being rescued because the God Watchers think that he is a messenger from their god.

“Bug in Your Ear” follows the cliffhanger that ended issue #2's “Nuclear War.”  The Kamandi Challenge #2 was a fun read, but I thought that it lacked the punch of either of the two stories published in The Kamandi Challenge #1.  The Kamandi Challenge #3 is different; it is both fun to read and it has punch.  It has the elements of a morality tale and is surprisingly thoughtful, and it acts like a series of cliffhangers, big and small.  Some cliffhangers are based on action and threats, but some of the cliffhangers are based on choices that Kamandi will make from a moral or philosophical point of view.

I have been a fan of many of the stories that Jimmy Palmiotti has written, so I am saying good things about his work here with some favoritism.  Artist Amanda Conner and colorist Paul Mounts are a dream team.  Her drawings are always filled with nice background and environmental details that offer something new upon second and third viewings.  Mounts rich colors are simply eye candy, as they shimmer and even pop off the page.

Jack Kirby had a seemingly boundless imagination, and it will be hard for the creative teams in this series to come close to Kirby's vision.  At least, The Kamandi Challenge #3 shows some inventiveness, and it is the kind of issue that will keep me reading this series.

A-

[Afterword by Neal Adams]

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: BABYTEETH #1

BABYTEETH No. 1
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Donny Cates
ARTIST: Garry Brown
COLORS: Mark Englert
LETTERS: Taylor Esposito
COVER: Garry Brown
VARIANT COVERS: Garry Brown; Dylan Burnett; Elias Chatzoudis; Juan Doe; Francesco Francavilla; Phil Hester; Nat Jones; Tobias Morrow; Brent Peeples; Shelby Robertson; Mike Rooth; Elizabeth Torque; Arturo Torres with Larry Watts
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2017)

Mature Readers

Babyteeth created by Donny Cates and Garry Brown

“Mother of God”

Babyteeth is a new comic book series from writer Donny Cates and artist Garry Brown.  Their collaborators are Mark Englert on colors and Taylor Esposito on letters.  Published by AfterShock Comics, this series will focus on the young woman who gives birth to the Anti-Christ, a child that will eventually break down the barriers between the earthly and demonic planes.

Babyteeth #1 (“Mother of God”) opens in a darkened exterior.  Using a smart phone, young Sadie Ritter records a story to tell her baby, which takes us back one year prior.  In Salt Lake City, Utah, 16-year-old Sadie is trying to hide her pregnancy from her classmates.  Her sister, the bad-ass Heather, knows about the bundle of joy and has to make some people back up off her little sister.  When Sadie's contractions start, some weird crap starts happening, too, including Sadie's belief that she may be dead!

All I can say is that I am intrigued by Babyteeth.  Writer/co-creator Donny Cates is hot as he comes off two Image Comics, God Country and Redneck.  I get the feeling that Babyteeth will be somewhat funny, maybe a black comedy or a satire or both.  It is hard to tell how dark or violent it will be, but there is something in Garry Brown's angular compositions and matter-of-fact storytelling that makes Babyteeth seem promising.  It is almost as if Brown's art and graphical storytelling is saying to us, “Oh, you are going to want to see the rest of this!”

And for now, I do want to see more of this.

[This comic book includes the following extras and back-matter:

There are four-pages of the behind-the-scenes process of producing Babyteeth #1, from script to art to coloring and lettering.

This is a six-page preview of upcoming AfterShock Comics title, Unholy Grail E1 by Cullen Bunn and Mirko Colak.]

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA #1

THE DIVIDED STATES OF HYSTERIA #1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER/ARTIST: Howard Chaykin
COLORS: Jesus Aburtov
LETTERS: Ken Bruzenak
COVER: Howard Chaykin with Wil Quintana
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2017)

Rated “M / Mature”

The Divided States of Hysteria is a new comic book series from renowned comic book creator, Howard Chaykin (American Flagg!, Midnight of the Soul).  Chaykin's collaborators include colorist Jesus Aburtov and Chaykin's longtime letterer, Ken Bruzenak.  Published by Image Comics, The Divided States of Hysteria is set in an America that is being destabilized by catastrophic terrorists attacks.

The Divided States of Hysteria #1 opens one month after the elected President of the United States and most of the cabinet were assassinated in an aborted coup d'etat.  The narrative focuses in on Washington D.C. where we meet an ambitious, ladder-climbing, CIA field officer, Frank Villa.  Frank is trying to warn his superiors, including the new President, that a worst-case terrorist attack on D.C. is imminent, but the decision makers would like to analyze the data on Frank's claims before they make big decisions.  Meanwhile, four mass killers: Henry John Noone, Christopher Michael Silver, Paul Evan Berg, and Cesare John Nacamulli, are arrested.

In his afterword to the first issue, Howard Chaykin says (basically) that he thought his new comic book, The Divided States of Hysteria, was dark, but that, in the year since he first announced it, real-world America had turned darker.  Chaykin is obviously referencing a number of events, in particularly that celebrity/public figure/businessman Donald Trump is now President of the United States.  He blames both sides of the left/right political divide.  I tend to blame the fact that the levers of power in this country are mostly attainable through a rigged election system, but let's not talk about that now.

I cannot give The Divided States of Hysteria a grade rating at this time, but I am interested in it.  It is the philosophical, if not spiritual, heir to Chaykin's seminal mid-1980s comic book series, American Flagg!  The Divided States of Hysteria #1 suggests that this series will be an epic narrative told through multiple characters in multiple settings and involving multiple plot lines – like American Flagg!

Chaykin divides the space on each page into three or four rectangles, and those rectangles are sometimes divided by borders or by objects, and sometimes inset panels are added.  Even the word balloons and caption boxes are rectangle-shaped.  Those rectangles are crowed with information (via balloons and boxes) and illustrations and graphics.

To me, graphic and page design create not so much a sense of hysteria as a sense of things being out of control and careening down hill, without breaks.  That is why I'm intrigued at the possibilities of The Divided States of Hysteria, which could be an excellent comic book full of socio-political commentary, satire, and/or criticism, like the great American Flagg!  Or it can end up ambitious but obtuse like Chester Brown's Underwater.

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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