#IReadsYou Review: ECTYRON DOUBLE FEATURE

ECTYRON DOUBLE FEATURE: SHOWDOWN IN SOUTH DAKOTA and ATOM.I.K.E. AND THE STRUCTURE VS. THE Z-HEMOTHS OF OMAHA

CANDLE LIGHT PRESS/Warning Comics

STORY: Carter Allen

SCRIPT: John Ira Thomas (on “Showdown in South Dakota”)

ART: Carter Allen

COLORS: Carter Allen

LETTERS: John Ira Thomas

MISC. ART: Will Grant; Jeremy Smith

COVER: Carter Allen

32pp, Color, $10.00 U.S. at conventions (2026)

Comic book writer-artist and graphic novelist, Carter Allen, has been publishing a series of comic books and graphic novels featuring a “kaiju” character known as “Ectyron! The Radioactive Chicken!”  Candle Light Press and Allen's Warning Comics have previously published several Ectyron comic books, including 2025's Ectyron v Rojo Gallo.

Ectyron is back on the attack in the recently released comic book, Ectyron Double Feature: Showdown in South Dakota and Atom.I.K.E. and the Structure vs. the Z-Hemoths of Omaha.  It is written by Allen (story) and John Ira Thomas (script on “Showdown in South Dakota”); drawn and colored by Allen; and lettered by Thomas.  Ectyron comics employ particular elements of various Japanese science fiction sub-genres, in particular “Kaiju.”  This is a term used to describe the giant monsters and the fiction in which they appear.  Godzilla is an example of a kaiju, and Ectyron, a giant-sized chicken, is also a kaiju.

Ectyron Double Feature opens with Showdown in South Dakota.  The story is set in the “Badlands” of South Dakota some time in the past.  In this sprawling countryside roams a mysterious monster known as “Creature 3.”  When people start disappearing in the wake of this monster, it's up to two special agents from “Sustenatione Stabilitas” to find out what is happening.

Aleksandria “Lek” Stal and her partner, Shotaro “Sam” Mifune, arrive in the “Athena 5 Rover.”  However, this heavily fortified vehicle cannot protect Lek and Sam from the horrific psychic attack powers of Creature 3.  They'll need help from Ectyron, but is the “Marvelous Monster of the Midwest” really a match for Creature 3?  Guest-starring Madam Madamn of Sustenatione Stabilitas.

The second feature is Atom.I.K.E. and the Structure vs. the Z-Hemoths of Omaha.  It opens with the arrival of aliens from the “Yohahte Empire,” which are bent on plundering the Earth's resources. To that end, they mutate three ordinary animals, creating the “Z-Hemoths”  Soon, the monsters descend on Omaha, Nebraska.

Can Atom.I.K.E. (Herb Mantlo), Atom.A.X. (Jake Johnston), and  Atom.A.Y (Iowa Harris), also known as “The Structure,” stop them?  Or will it take something... super?

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been receiving review copies of Carter Allen's comic books and graphic novels for almost two decades.  Carter and I are also collaborators, and that includes collaborating on the 2024 original graphic novel, The Wrath of Karapace: A Big Spirits Epic.

I have previously reviewed the following Ectyron comics:  Ectyron Against Lagaxtu (2017), Ectyron: Rise of Nemehiss (2018), and Ectyron: The Invasion from the Red Star Nebula (2019), and Ectyron vs. Des Moines (2023).  I also reviewed the Ectyron Omnibus Vol. 1 (2022), which includes a preview story that I co-wrote with Allen.

Ectyron Double Feature: Showdown in South Dakota and Atom.I.K.E. and the Structure vs. the Z-Hemoths of Omaha is not only an old-fashioned double feature comic book, but is also a two-times-the-fun comic book.  It is inventive and imaginative and a carnival of Where-the-Monsters-Dwell unusual strangeness.  It is a fun, uncanny comic book in the tradition of oddities like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Hellboy, which are fun because they offer the weird, the wild, and the wonderful.

I don't know how the heck writer-artist, Carter Allen, has managed to create a hugely entertaining comic book about a giant chicken, but he has done it several times.  If this were a standalone Ectyron comic book, it would still be a winner.  The addition of “the Structure” and “the Z-Hemoths” is a cascade of cherries on top of the Ectyron's heavenly dish of comics ice cream.

For as long as I've been reading Allen's comic books, I have seen a lot of unprecedented and foreignness in characters that yield enjoyable comics.  Still,  Atom.I.K.E. and the Structure vs. the Z-Hemoths of Omaha seems like a brand new day, in which monsters, aliens, and tokusatsu move and act like old-fashioned superhero comics.  I look at this and think Avengers vs Kree or Skrulls, and I'm a happy reader.

Ectyron Double Feature: Showdown in South Dakota and Atom.I.K.E. and the Structure vs. the Z-Hemoths of Omaha is a treasury comic book of endless delights.  Dear readers, I think you will want to read it again and again.  Find the Candle Light Press gang at a comics or pop culture convention and snag a copy.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of double feature/flip comics, of kaiju, and of Carter Allen's kaiju comic books will want Ectyron Double Feature: Showdown in South Dakota and Atom.I.K.E. and the Structure vs. the Z-Hemoths of Omaha.

A+

10 out of 10

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

Ectyron Double Feature YouTube trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8IVYsmQXMo&t=6s.

From YouTube comes “A brief history of Ectyron”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zevMoxXmHc

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The text is copyright © 2026 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: SAVAGE TALES #1

(GIANT-SIZED) SAVAGE TALES #1 (2026)

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: David Avallone

ART: Mariano Benitez Chapo; Pasqual Qualano; Sebastian Piriz

COLORS: Ome Remalante, Jr.

LETTERS: Jeff Eckleberry

COVER: Bjorn Barends

VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Bjorn Barends

40pp, Color, $5.99 U.S. (April 2026)

Rated Teen+

Savage Tales is the title of an anthology comic book series that has been used by both Dynamite Entertainment and Marvel Comics (twice).  Dynamite recently brought its version back as a series of occasionally-published one-shots.

The 2026 edition of Savage Tales #1 has four short stories, all written by David Avallone, a master of the comics short story.  These stories feature Gullivar of Mars (“His War Chapter Four” drawn by Mariano Benitez Chapo); Red Sonja (“The Code” drawn by Pasqual Qualano); Allan Quatermain (“Allan Quatermain and the Invaders” drawn by Sebastian Piriz); and Vampirella (“The Old Country Trigger” drawn by Mariano Benitez Chapo).  All four stories are colored by Ome Remalante, Jr., and lettered by Jeff Eckleberry.

I will summarize and review each story individually.

THE LOWDOWN:  Since July 2021, the marketing department at Dynamite Entertainment has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is the 2026 edition of Savage Tales #1, which is one of several Savage Tales titles that I have reviewed.

Captain Gullivar of Mars: “His War: Chapter Four” by Avallone and Benitez-Chapo:

Captain Gullivar Jones is based on the character, Lt. Gulllivar Jones, that first appeared in the novel, Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation, which was written by Edwin Lester Arnold and was published in 1905.  Writer David Avallone has been reworking the character over the past few years.

“His War” finds Jones returned to Mars – 20 years after he left it to its fate – via his magic carpet, “Ditan Yunshu.  What he finds is a disaster, and his once “luminous princess” is now the embittered one-eyed Princess Heru.  Determined to fix all that went wrong because he left, Capt. Gullivar Jones must make a most amazing journey – one that may well become his final journey.

Avallone has a deft touch with vintage and classic characters, and because of author Edwin Lester Arnold's influence on the science fiction sub-genre, “planetary romance,” Gullivar Jones is both vintage and classic.  I thought “His War: Chapter Three” was Avallone's best work at that point in the serial, but for Chapter Four, I must use the phrase “blown away.”  I am honestly blown away by Chapter Four, which finds Avallone unleashing 16 pages of thrill, chills, and savage surprises.

Artist Benitez Chapo's storytelling is a two-fisted celebration of old-timey science fiction.  Chapo offers aggression, passion, and determination, and it all explodes off the pages thanks to Omi Remalante, Jr's raw coloring.  The experience of reading this reminds me of why I like comics because Avallone and Chapo left me feeling dazed.  I felt cross-eyes after reading this true adventure gem.

Red Sonja: “The Code” by Avallone and Qualano:

“The Code” opens in the city of “Bukhrosha” on the evening of the second day of the “Bukhroshan Revolution.”  A man referring to himself as a merchant hires Red Sonja to get him out of the city, which is in the throes of a murderous rampages against the nobility.  But there is more to this merchant's story, and it will test the She-Devil with a Sword's fidelity to “the code.”

David Avallone is good at Red Sonja – really damn good.  When I read his Sonja stories, I feel the experience of reading about a genuine female character with as much depth of character and emotion as she has skill with a blade.  Pasqual Qualano's beautiful art and storytelling is clever, brutal, and lethal without slathering on violence.  I enjoyed the hell out of reading “The Code.”

"Allan Quatermain and the Invaders” by Avallone and Piriz:

The story opens in June 1932 aboard the cargo vessel, the “SS Cyclops.”  There, Marlowe, a passenger, tells the ship's captain a tale of the legendary English big game hunter whose adventures occur in southern Africa.  Marlowe's tale is one told to him by a World War I German soldier whose military unit finds itself in conflict with that great hunter, Allan Quatermain, after they seek refuge in his South African estate.

“Allan Quatermain and the Invaders” is one of the best stories featuring the character that I have ever read.  Once again, Avallone proves that he is as deft with Victorian characters as he is with vintage American pulp characters.  Sebastian Piriz's art creates a ghost story so potent that I thought I was being dragged into the Germans' tragic fate.  What a powerful tale, y'all.  I'm horny for it.

Vampirella: “The Old Country Trigger” by Avallone and Benitez-Chapo:

“The Old Country Trigger” opens in New York City where NYPD Officer Ana Reyes seeks help from Vampirella.  The target is John Trigger a.k.a. “The Old Country Trigger,” and he's a vampire.  Officer Reyes wants Vampirella's help in destroying Trigger, but, of course, it is going to be just a tad bit more complicated than even Vampirella expects.

Avallone and Mariano Benitez-Chapo do the buddy-cop thing with “The Old Country Trigger,” and honestly, I'd like to see Vampirella and Ana Reyes team-up again.  Here, writer and artist are macabre dance partners in producing this delightful performance of dark fantasy storytelling.  In fact, I could see it in a longer form as a graphic novel.  They give this narrative, the characters, and the settings room to breath and to move and groove.  This is a gem of a short story.

If I had to reluctantly pick my favorite story in Savage Tales #1 (2026), it would indeed be a reluctant process.  As I don't have to, let's have fun with it, dear readers.  I'm going with “Allan Quatermain and the Invaders” as my favorite in this box of dazzling tales.  Still, I think you, dear readers, should buy a copy of this comic book and decide for yourself.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of anthology comic books who are looking for a collection full of great stories will want to read Savage Tales #1 (2026).

A+

10 out of 10

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

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#IReadsYou Review: JOSIE ANNUAL SPECTACULAR #1

JOSIE ANNUAL SPECTACULAR, NO. 1

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS, INC.

STORY: Dan Parent; Dick Malmgren

PENCILS: Dan Parent; Dan DeCarlo; Frank Doyle

INKS: Bob Smith; Rudy Lapick

COLORS: Glenn Whitmore; Barry Grossman

LETTERS: Jack Morelli; Bill Yoshida

EDITORS: Jamie Lee Rotante; Vincent Lovallo; Stephen Oswald

EiC: Mike Pellerito

COVER: Dan Parent with Rosario “Tito” Peña

VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Dan DeCarlo

32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (January 2026); on-sale November 19, 2025

Rating: All-Ages

“Scare Tactics”

In December 1962, Archie Comics introduced the character, Josie Jones, in Archie's Pals 'n' Gals #23 (cover dated: Winter 1962-1963).  Created by Dan DeCarlo, Josie Jones would become “Josie McCoy,” and she would join her friends, Melody and Valerie, in the band, “Josie and the Pussycats.”

Josie Annual Spectacular, No. 1 is an annual one-shot comic book featuring Josie and the Pussycats.  The 2025 release includes one new story and three reprint stories.  The new story features “The Southside Serpents” and is entitled “Scare Tactics”  It is written by Dan Parent; drawn by Parent (pencils) and Bob Smith (inks); colored by Glenn Whitmore; and lettered by the great Jack Morelli.

The South Side Serpents in “Scare Tactics”:

Josie and the Pussycats were supposed to play a gig at the haunted “Eyegore Estates.”  Well, they were supposed to do so, but they have discovered that another band has stolen their gig.  But the thieves – the South Side Serpents – are not a real band.  And why is Alexandra Cabot singing with this fake band? Can Josie, Valerie, and Melody get their gig back?  Also, are there already forces ready to put an end to the entire thing?

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been a fan of the Josie and the Pussycats franchise since I was a small child.  I am crazy about classic Josie comic books that were published from the 1960s to the early 1980s, some of which you, dear readers, can find in the 2021 trade paperback collection, Shes Josie.  I'm also still in love with the two 1970s animated television series based on the Josie comics.

“Scare Tactics” is one of the better five-page “Josie and the Pussycats” stories that I have read in a long time.  Of course, it is written and drawn by the great Archie Comics creator, Dan Parent, who he has mastered the short-short story just as he has mastered longer stories.  Parent manages to squeeze in a nice subplot and a few neat twists in “Scare Tactics,” which made me wish this story was longer.

The rest of this comic book features reprint stories.  One of those is the cute single-page tale, “Hair with Flair.”  Another is the three-part “The Ghost of Dark Valley Manor,” which features art from the team of Dan DeCarlo (pencils) and Rudy Lapick (inks.)

In my reviews of Archie Comics that feature reprinted stories, I always warn readers of my prejudice or preference.  It is this:  I will always recommend classic-style Archie Comics titles.  Josie Annual Spectacular No. 1 (2025) is a cool comic book – from new to old.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of classic-style Archie Comics and of Josie and the Pussycats will definitely want to get a copy of Josie Annual Spectacular No. 1 (2025).

A

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

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The text is copyright © 2025 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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