Review: REDNECK #1

REDNECK No. 1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: Donny Cates
ARTIST: Lisandro Estherren
COLORS: Dee Cunniffe
LETTERS: Joe Sabino
COVER: Lisandro Estherren with Dee Cunniffe
28pp, Color, $3.99 print/$1.99 digital U.S. (April 2017)

Rated M / Mature

Redneck is a new comic book series written by Donny Cates (God Country) and drawn by Lisandro Estherren.  The series is set in modern day East Texas and follows a family of vampires who have been living peacefully until it all ends.  Dee Cunniffe provides color and Joe Sabino provides lettering for the first issue.

Redneck #1 opens in Sulphur Springs, East Texas on Christmas Eve.  We are introduced to the Bowman family via Uncle Bartlett Bowman.  They live in peace and in secret, sustained on cow's blood.  On this night, his nephews are heading into downtown Sulphur Springs for some fun.  Bartlett follows them and has to step in when the boys run into trouble that takes a worse turn than expected.  Now, the Bowman family honcho, J.V., prepares to start a war.

I think I first learned of Redneck #1 through a listing by Diamond Comics Distributors, but I paid more attention when a friend of mine who manages a comic book store told me that it had sold out.  He mentioned there was a small race to obtain copies as a result of the sell out.  The week that Redneck #2 came out was also the week that the second printing of Redneck #1 arrived.  Why not...

I like Redneck #1 because it promises to be fun and violent.  It reminds me of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's recent Moonshine (also from Image Comics) and Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher (DC Comics), almost as if elements of the two had intermingled.  What writer Donny Coates offers in this first issue is basically him making the story show its ass and dare anyone not to recognize that it is a sweet, sweet badass.

The art is a little too raggedy for me.  It is as if artist Lisandro Estherren is doing a scratchy impressionistic take on the already-impressionist Ben Templesmith.  In spite of my reservations, I think that Estherren's style might be just right for this comic book.  We'll see...

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: LUKE CAGE #1

LUKE CAGE No. 1 (2017)
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: David Walker
ARTIST: Nelson Blake II
COLORS: Marcio Menyz
LETTERS: VC's Joe Sabino
COVER: Rahzzah
VARIANT COVERS: Mike Deodato, Jr. with Frank Martin; Andre Leroy Davis; Tim Bradstreet; Neal Adams with Dave McCaig
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2017)

Rated T+

Luck Cage created by Archie Goodwin and John Romita, Sr.

Luke Cage, also known as “Power Man,” is a Marvel Comics superhero.  Cage was created by writer Archie Goodwin and artist John Romita, Sr., and first appeared in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (cover dated: June 1972).  Cage was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit, but he eventually gained superpowers in the form of durability, unbreakable skin, and superhuman strength.

As Power Man, Cage has been most associated with another superhero, his partner, Iron Fist (Daniel “Danny” Rand), and the duo was featured in the long-running Power Man & Iron Fist comic book series in the 1980s (with a new version being launched last year).  Cage is now also featured in a new solo comic book, Luke Cage.  It is written by David Walker; drawn by Nelson Blake II; colored by Marcio Menyz; and lettered by Joe Sabino.

Luke Cage #1 opens with our titular hero rescuing a very stupid young woman from a really gullible criminal.  Then, Luke gets some awful news.  Dr. Noah Burnstein, the man responsible for giving Luke his powers, has committed suicide, so he travels to New Orleans for Burnstein's funeral.  There, he meets Burnstein's colleague, the sexy Dr. Lenore Mornay, who tells Luke that there is more to Burnstein's death and to his scientific experiments than he may realize.

After the fun of Genndy Tartakovsky's recent four-issue miniseries, Cage!, the darker Luke Cage is a nice follow-up.  The mood is sinister in this comic book, and the threats of adversaries seem to surround the narrative.  Once again, David Walker shows his chops when it comes to writing dark, moody, but intense comic books featuring African-American characters.

Artist Nelson Blake II and colorist Marcio Menyz produced art that is too clean and brightly colored for what promises to be an edgy series.  This is not low quality storytelling by any means, but it does not work for David Walker's storytelling.  We'll see what the second issue looks like.

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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Book Review: ABRIDGED CLASSICS

ABRIDGED CLASSICS: BRIEF SUMMARIES OF BOOKS YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO READ BUT PROBABLY DIDN'T
HARPERCOLLINS/Harper Design – @HarperCollins @harperdesignbks

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: John Atkinson
ISBN: 978-0-06-274785-3; hardcover – 5.813” x 7.813” (June 5, 2018)
160pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $24.99 CAN

Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read But Probably Didn't is a new book of cartoons from author John Atkinson.  The book presents more than a 150 cartoons that offer humorous commentaries on a little over 100 well-known novels and works of literature.

Abridged Classics: Brief Summaries of Books You Were Supposed to Read but Probably Didn’t is exactly what the title says.  It is a summary of over 100 well-known novels and books, but these are irreverent summations in which author John Atkinson cleverly describes the plot or story of each book in the fewest words possible.  Each summation is accompanied by one or two funny, color illustrations, which you can also describe as cartoons.

In what his publisher describes as “humorous super-condensed summations,” Atkinson takes on and skewers the work and writings of some of the most revered authors from the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and Russia.  Atkinson's laugh attack takes on authors who wrote from several hundred years ago to more than a millennia ago (the Bible, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare).  He pokes fun at authors of the modern literary cannon (Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain) and at world famous and beloved authors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown, Ayn Rand, and J.R.R. Tolkien).

Did you know that Henry David Thoreau's Walden is really about a man who sits outside for two years and nothing happens?  Did you know that William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch is simply a story about heroin and an orgy?  To Kill a Mockingbird is about the fact that neither kids nor adults really understand racism.

Can you sum up Shakespeare's Macbeth in a single sentence? John Atkinson says “Old ladies convince a guy to ruin Scotland.”  For Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, Atkinson gets it in less than six words? “Everyone is sad. It snows.”  This may be what you need, dear readers, – the classics and irreverence.

John Atkinson describes the perennial classic novel, Catcher in the Rye, by author J.D. Salinger as “Moody teen complains a lot. He has a red hat.”  I discovered, many moons ago, that a close friend of mine had tried several times to read Catcher in the Rye and hated it too much to keep reading.  I was surprised that he felt that way because I did also.  After the third attempt at completing the novel, I realized that I just didn't give a f**k about Holden Caulfield and cared even less about what he had to say.

I like Atkinson's Abridged Classics, and not because his commentary says “I don't give a f**k,” but because he takes the starch of being classic and revered out of the novels.  He pokes fun, and mostly in an accurate way.  The Scarlet Letter may not necessarily be a “Puritan tale of adultery, mockery, and embroidery,” but it is fun to think of it that way.  However, when Atkinson says that Gulliver's Travels is a story about a “Hapless sailor is stranded on different lands inhabited by sociopolitical metaphors,” well, he is telling the truth.  When I first read the novel, a long time ago, I found myself thinking of it that way.  Important work of Western literature or not, Gulliver's Travels can accurately and humorously be described in exactly Atkinson's words.

With its mock, leather-bound cover design, Abridged Classics is right on target.  I wish it were a longer book, and hopefully, Atkinson will offer a future volume.  There are so many more books and novels, classics, beloved, bestsellers, etc. that need to be abused or skewered by one of his “humorous super-condensed summations.”

8 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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Review: COSMIC SCOUNDRELS Trade Paperback

COSMIC SCOUNDRELS (TPB)
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman
SCRIPT: Matt Chapman
ART: Andy Suriano
COLORS: Andy Suriano with T Dang
LETTERS: Christa Miesner and Andy Suriano
COVER: George Caltsoudas
SERIES COVERS: Andy Suriano
MISC. ART: Andrew MacLean; Warwick Johnson Cadwell; Dan McDaid; Alexis Ziritt; Aaron Conley; Veronica Fish; Ron Salas; Tanner Johnson; Paul Maybury; Jake Wyatt with Rico Renzi; Paul Harmon; Derek Charm; Chris Schweizer; Rob Schrab; Terry and Rachel Dodson with Rico Renzi; Derek Hunter; Wilfredo Torres; Tony Fleecs; Michel Fiffe; Scott Kowalchuk; Kali Fontecchio; Jeffs Sims; Rico Renzi; Nick Dragotta; Andy Suriano
ISBN: 978-1-68405-024-6; paperback (December 2017)
144pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN (December 19, 2017)

Cosmic Scoundrels created by Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman

Cosmic Scoundrels is a five-issue miniseries published by IDW Publishing in 2017.  In December 2017, IDW collected Cosmic Scoundrels as a full-color trade paperback that reprints all five issues of the miniseries and reprints all of the miniseries' covers and variant covers.  There is also a 20-page dossier of characters, ships, planets, concepts, etc. used in the minseries and miscellany like faux-advertisements and comic strips.  Cosmic Scoundrels is written by Andy Suriano (story) and Matt Chapman (story and script).  It is drawn by Suriano; colored by Suriano and T Dang; and lettered by Christa Miesner and Suriano.

Cosmic Scoundrels was created by two veterans of American television animation, Andy Suriano and Matt Chapman.  Suriano is a character designer, storyboard artist, and concept designer who is known for his work on “Samurai Jack” (2001-2004) and “Star Wars: Clone Wars” (2003-2005), and Suriano is also an Emmy Award winner.  Chapman is an animation writer and voice actor for animated series, having worked on the Disney Channel's “Gravity Falls” (2012 to 2016) as both a writer and performer.

A sci-fi action-comedy, Cosmic Scoundrels focuses on Love Savage and Roshambo, two space-fairing scoundrels and thieves.  Love Savage, with his long blond hair, looks like a rock star and is indeed in a rock band.  Roshambo is the tough-guy, military type and sports a pair of powerful gauntlets on his wrists.  These two bachelor scalawags travel the spaceways aboard their ship, “the S.S. Fistpuncher,” and get a little mothering from the ship's artificial intelligence (A.I.), “Mrs. Billingsley.”

Trouble starts for the two when they rob the Dimetrotron Brothers of some supposedly valuable cargo.  What they find in one of the crates is a toddler with a huge electronic collar around his neck.  Alternately calling him, “Tad Jr.” and “Roshambo Jr.,” our scoundrels fight to keep the baby from the clutches of very powerful forces that insist on obtaining the child.  By the end of this adventure, many secrets will be revealed, and Love Savage and Roshambo will find themselves exposed.

You don't have to read many pages into Cosmic Scoundrels to see that it is a celebration of the spirit of animated television series.  Cosmic Scoundrels is basically the kind of Saturday morning cartoon we wish existed.  The story's vivid colors seems to emanate from a cathode ray tube, blasting electron beams from behind animation cels.

The lettering is like a cat on a hot tin roof which gives the story a wild and crazy vibe.  The narrative is kind of all over the place, but readers can use the protect-the-baby plot line as a kind of yellow brick road that will take you to the back-to-Kansas ending of the story.  Sometimes, the story is a little too wild and wooly, so focus on Cosmic Scoundrels' explosive graphics and graphical storytelling.

Cosmic Scoundrels does have a flavor that recalls films like The Fifth Element and Marvel Studios' Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, as well as the 1981 animated film, Heavy Metal.  Fans of anime and animation will feel the groove of “Cowboy Bebop,” “Futurama,” “Galaxy High,” and “Samurai Jack,” to name a few.  It is as fun to read Cosmic Scoundrels as it is to watch such animated series.  This comic book does have some story padding, and the lead characters, Love Savage and Roshambo, beg for some character development.  Hopefully, the Cosmic Scoundrels have a future that reveals more about them.

7 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 20, 2018

BOOM! STUDIOS

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DARK HORSE COMICS

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