#IReadsYou Review: SECOND SIGHT #1

SECOND SIGHT No. 1
AFTERSHOCK COMICS – @AfterShockComix

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITER: David Hine
ARTIST: Alberto Ponticelli
COLORS: John Kalisz
LETTERS: Jimmy Betancourt
COVER: Alberto Ponticelli with John Kalisz
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (February 2016)

For mature readers

Second Sight created by David Hine

Chapter 1: “Vision in Red”

Second Sight is a new comic book series created and written by David Hine and drawn by Alberto Ponticelli.  The series focuses on a man who once became a celebrity because of his ability to see through the eyes of psychotic killers... before he was eventually accused of being a killer.

Second Sight #1 (“Vision in Red”) introduces Ray Palmer, owner of “The Bibliomaniac,” a bookstore that focuses on antiquarian and rare second-hand books.  Of late, he is plagued by bad dreams, and now two journalists, interested in his past, have added to Palmer's woes.

Once upon a time, Palmer was renowned psychic, Ray Pilgrim.  Now, that past has returned because of Ray's daughter, Toni.  She is using her blog to dig into a sex scandal involving The Wednesday Club, a rumored, secret club for the powerful.  Something else has also returned, threatening to reopen the darkest period in Ray's life.

I have read very little of David Hine's work, but what I have read I have found to be highly-imaginative and also inventive in a way most mainstream comic books are not.  In 2008, I read his original English language (OEL) manga, Poison Candy (TOKYOPOP), and was quite impressed.  Because of that American manga, I thought that Hine had the potential to be the next “great” British comic book writer in America.

After reading this first issue of Second Sight, I still believe that Hine's potential is largely untapped.  I think Hine's imagination will show itself in this series with stomach-turning aplomb.  Secret societies, child murders, pedophilia, sadism, masochism, serial killers, and some family dysfunction to cleanse the palette – it's almost more than I can digest... almost.

Alberto Ponticelli's twisty drawing style, edgy compositions, and darkly sweet storytelling is perfect for Hine's sweetly dark story.  I don't think that I can wait an entire month for #2...

A-

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


The text is copyright © 2016 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

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

The New 52 Review: FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #1

FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #1
DC COMICS

WRITER: Jeff Lemire
ARTIST: Alberto Ponticelli
COLORS: Jose Villarrubia
LETTERS: Pat Brosseau
COVER: J.G. Jones with Hi-Fi
32pp, Color, $2.99

War of the Monsters Pt. 1: Monster Town, USA

DC Comics has a version of Frankenstein’s monster that is similar to the Boris Karloff monster in Universal Picture’s 1931 film, Frankenstein (directed by James Whale). The character first appeared in Detective Comics #135 (cover date May 1948) and was created by Edmond Hamilton and Bob Kane, based upon the character in Frankenstein, the novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

DC’s Frankenstein has been revamped a few times, the most recent being a version writer Grant Morrison made a member of the Seven Soldiers of Victory. As part of DC’s re-launch of its superhero comics line, “The New 52,” the Seven Soldiers version of Frankenstein is the star of a new comic book series, Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E.

As Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #1 opens, the demonic invasion of Bone Lake, Washington (population 4,500) begins. At S.H.A.D.E. (Super Human Advanced Defense Executive), Agent Frankenstein gets his marching orders… and a field team, although he insists he works alone. Not anymore, big fella! Meet the Creature Commandos: the amphibian/human hybrid, Dr. Nina Mazursky; the werewolf, Warren Griffith; the vampire Vincent Velcoro; and the mummy and medic, Khalis. But can even this uber-motley crew stop an invasion that doesn’t die, it multiplies?

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. can come across as DC Comics’ version of the B.P.R.D. (Dark Horse Comics), Mike Mignola’s troubleshooters from his Hellboy franchise. Even if S.H.A.D.E. is a riff on B.P.R.D., Jeff Lemire, so far, can’t touch the inventive madness of Mignola and the writers that collaborate with him. If anyone on this S.H.A.D.E. creative team is close to Mignola and company’s lovely madness, it’s artist Alberto Ponticelli. He gives Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. a decidedly Eurocomics vibe, and the scenes in which he draws sci-fi tech, his art recalls legendary artist, Moebius, and that legendary manga, Akira.

Considering what Lemire did with Animal Man, I want to give Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. a chance because this could be a really inventive title. Ponticelli’s art will certainly be a joy to scrutinize.

B+