I Reads You: Corinna Bechko

Showing posts with label Corinna Bechko. Show all posts

Monday, March 12, 2018

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors from March 14, 2018

DC COMICS

JAN180254    ACTION COMICS #999    $2.99
JAN180255    ACTION COMICS #999 VAR ED    $2.99
DEC170374    ALL STAR BATMAN HC VOL 03 FIRST ALLY REBIRTH    $24.99
DEC170373    ALL STAR BATMAN TP VOL 02 ENDS OF THE EARTH REBIRTH    $14.99
JAN180258    BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #20    $3.99
JAN180259    BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #20 VAR ED    $3.99
DEC170383    BATGIRL STEPHANIE BROWN TP VOL 02    $24.99
DEC170393    DC COMICS THE ART OF DARWYN COOKE TP    $29.99
JAN180283    DETECTIVE COMICS #976    $2.99
JAN180284    DETECTIVE COMICS #976 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN180243    ETERNITY GIRL #1 (OF 6) (MR)    $3.99
JAN180244    ETERNITY GIRL #1 (OF 6) VAR ED (MR)    $3.99
JAN180287    FLASH #42    $2.99
JAN180288    FLASH #42 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN180291    GOTHAM CITY GARAGE #11    $2.99
DEC170239    GREEN LANTERN EARTH ONE HC VOL 01    $24.99
JAN180299    HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #40    $2.99
JAN180300    HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #40 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN180317    JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #26    $2.99
JAN180318    JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #26 VAR ED    $2.99
SEP170417    JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA BRONZE AGE OMNIBUS HC VOL 02    $125.00
JAN180321    MISTER MIRACLE #7 (OF 12) (MR)    $3.99
JAN180322    MISTER MIRACLE #7 (OF 12) VAR ED (MR)    $3.99
JAN180324    NEW SUPER MAN & THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF CHINA #21    $3.99
JAN180325    NEW SUPER MAN & THE JUSTICE LEAGUE OF CHINA #21 VAR ED    $3.99
JAN180330    RAGMAN #6 (OF 6)    $2.99
JAN180332    RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #20    $3.99
JAN180333    RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #20 VAR ED    $3.99
DEC170410    SCALPED TP BOOK 02 (MR)    $24.99
JAN180369    SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #23    $3.99
JAN180370    SCOOBY APOCALYPSE #23 VAR ED    $3.99
JAN180373    SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #91    $2.99
DEC170411    SHERIFF OF BABYLON DELUXE ED HC (MR)    $39.99
JAN180240    SIDEWAYS #2    $2.99
JAN180334    SUICIDE SQUAD #37    $2.99
JAN180335    SUICIDE SQUAD #37 VAR ED    $2.99
JAN180338    SUPERGIRL #19    $3.99
JAN180339    SUPERGIRL #19 VAR ED    $3.99
JAN180348    TITANS #21    $3.99
JAN180349    TITANS #21 VAR ED    $3.99
JAN180350    TRINITY #19    $3.99
JAN180351    TRINITY #19 VAR ED    $3.99
JAN180358    WILDSTORM MICHAEL CRAY #6    $3.99
JAN180359    WILDSTORM MICHAEL CRAY #6 VAR ED    $3.99
JAN180354    WONDER WOMAN #42    $2.99
JAN180355    WONDER WOMAN #42 VAR ED    $2.99

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Review: STAR TREK: Waypoint

STAR TREK: WAYPOINT (TPB)
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITERS: Donny Cates; Sandra Lanz; Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore; Sam Maggs; Maighread Scott; Cecil Castellucci; Vivek J. Tiwary; Scott Bryan Wilson; Cavan Scott; Simon Roy; Corinna Bechko; Gabriel Hardman
ARTISTS: Mack Chater; Sandra Lanz; Gordon Purcell; Rachel Stott; Corin Howell; Megan Levens; Hugo Pretus; Caspar Wijngaard; Josh Hood; Simon Roy; Christopher Herndon; Gabriel Hardman
COLORS: Jason Lewis and Dee Cunniffe; Sandra Lanz; Jason Lewis; Mark Roberts; Sarah Stern; Fran Gamboa; Caspar Wijngaard; Simon Roy; Christopher Herndon; Dee Cunniffe
LETTERS: Andworld Designs
PIN-UPS: Marc Laming with Chris O'Halloran; Mark Buckingham with Charlie Kirchoff; Gordon Purcell with Jason Lewis: David Malan; Daniel Warren Johnson; David Messina; Cat Staggs; Zachary Baldus; Tony Shasteen; Simon Roy; Tom Whalen; Gabriel Hardman; Dave Dorman
COVER: Josh Hood with Triona Farrell
ISBN: 978-1-68405-017-8; paperback, 6 5/8” x 10 3/16” (November 2017)
160pp, Color, $19.99 U.S., $25.99 CAN (November 28, 2017)

When it debuted on NBC on September 8, 1966, the science fiction television series, “Star Trek,” was like nothing that came before it. Created by Gene Roddenberry, “Star Trek” followed the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), a “starship,” as it traveled through the Milky Way galaxy during the future-decade of the 2260.

The series depicted the adventures of Enterprise's crew, led by Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk was assisted by six prominent crew members: first officer and science officer, Spock; chief medical officer, Leonard “Bones” McCoy; chief engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott; communications officer, Nyota Uhura; helmsman Hikaru Sulu; and navigator Pavel Chekov.

When NBC broadcast Star Trek's final episode on June 3, 1969, fans of the television show refused to let it go. In a sense, that ending was the beginning of what is a five-decade old, worldwide, multi-platform media franchise. One of those platforms is comics, beginning in 1967 with the publication of Star Trek comic books by Gold Key Comics.

IDW Publishing is the current license-holder (since 2006) with the rights to produce and publish comic books based on the various Star Trek films and television series. Last year, IDW announced Star Trek: Waypoint, an anthology comic book series that would offers stories featuring the crews and characters from the first five Star Trek television series: “Star Trek (The Original Series),” “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Star Trek: Voyager,” and “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

In November 2017, IDW published the trade paperback, Star Trek: Waypoint, which collected the comics short stories published in Star Trek: Waypoint issues #1-6. This collection reprints 12 stories and features the creative efforts of more than 40 writers, artists, colorists, and letterers.

Story highlights include “Puzzles,” which is set in the world of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and finds Captain Geordi La Forge and his crew of Datas taking on a massive cube-shaped starship and its obstinate artificial intelligence. Original Trek character, Lt. Uhura makes a surprising and curious friend in”Daylily.” Science and coffee save the day in the “Star Trek Voyager” in the story, “The Wildman Maneuver.”

The crew of the “Deep Space 9” try to understand Bajoran tradition in “Mother's Walk.” Captain Jonathan Archer (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) discovers “The Fragile Beauty of Loyalty.” The unknown and the new and Spock's replacement vex the crew of the classic “The Original Series” crew in “The Fear” (a “Star Trek: Phase II” story).

I vaguely remember the Star Trek: Waypoint miniseries (2016-2017), but I mostly ignore Star Trek comic books. Over the decades that I have read comic books, I have read a few Star Trek comic books, here and there, but I never really warmed to them. When IDW sent me a copy of the Waypoint trade paperback for review, I kinda looked forward to reading it. I forced myself to start with the first story, which I hoped would build some momentum that would help me read the entire book.

Wow, was I shocked. I didn't know that Star Trek comics could be as good as the stories contained in this book. I consider five of the twelve stories: “Puzzles,” “Daylily,” “Mother's Walk,” “Come Away Child,” and “The Fear” to be great stories that would be worthy of being turned into episodes of their respective Star Trek TV series – if those series were still being produced. Two other stories, “The Fragile Beauty of Loyalty” and “The Rebound Effect” are close to being exceptional. The five other stories are of varying degrees of quality – novel, funny, and offbeat.

“Puzzles” is the first really good story I have read that is written by Donny Cates, who became a hot property off his Image Comics vampire comic book, Redneck. I read the first two issues of Redneck and the first issue of Cates' Babyteeth (AfterShock Comics), and none of them impressed me. So I was was pleasantly surprised by the imagination of “Puzzles.”

I adore “Daylily,” which is written, drawn, and colored by Sandra Lanz and lettered by Andworld Designs. The story reminds me of the short-lived NBC Saturday morning animated series, “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” which I loved as a child. Plus, this story stars my sci-fi fantasy boo, Uhura.

I highly recommend this book to people who read Star Trek comic books. I would also suggest that Trek fans in general give this book at least a cursory glance. I think that will be enough to encourage one to purchase Star Trek: Waypoint.

9 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 for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for March 18, 2015

IMAGE COMICS

JAN150668     ALEX + ADA #13     $2.99
JAN150560     CHRONONAUTS #1 CVR A MURPHY & HOLLINGSWORTH (MR)     $3.50
JAN150561     CHRONONAUTS #1 CVR B SCALERA (MR)     $3.50
JAN150562     CHRONONAUTS #1 CVR C SHALVEY (MR)     $3.50
JAN150563     CHRONONAUTS #1 CVR D PANOSIAN (MR)     $3.50
JAN150564     CHRONONAUTS #1 CVR E STAPLES (MR)     $3.50
JAN150565     CHRONONAUTS #1 CVR F OTTLEY (MR)     $3.50
DEC140723     COWL #9 (MR)     $3.99
DEC140657     DEADLY CLASS TP VOL 02 KIDS OF THE BLACK HOLE (MR)     $14.99
JAN150568     INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #1 (MR)     $2.99
JAN150631     LAZARUS TP VOL 03 CONCLAVE (MR)     $14.99
DEC140674     MADAME FRANKENSTEIN TP     $16.99
JAN150586     MANHATTAN PROJECTS SUN BEYOND THE STARS #1     $3.50
DEC140677     NIGHTWORLD TP VOL 01 MIDNIGHT SONATA     $12.99
JAN150643     NIXONS PALS HC (MR)     $19.99
JAN150696     OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #7 (MR)     $2.99
DEC140684     PROPHET TP VOL 04 JOINING     $17.99
DEC140752     PUNKS THE COMIC #5 (MR)     $3.99
JAN150575     RED ONE #1 (MR)     $2.99
JAN150651     REVENGE TP (MR)     $14.99
JAN150702     REYN #3     $2.99
DEC148638     RUMBLE #2 2ND PTG (MR)     $3.50
JAN150705     SATELLITE SAM #12 (MR)     $3.50
JAN150707     SECRET IDENTITIES #2     $3.50
JAN150621     SEXCASTLE OGN (MR)     $15.99
JAN150717     SPARKS NEVADA MARSHAL ON MARS #2     $3.50
OCT140766     SPREAD #6 (MR)     $3.50
DEC140764     STRAY BULLETS SUNSHINE & ROSES #2 (MR)     $3.50
OCT140777     WITCHBLADE #181 CVR A REARTE     $3.99
OCT140778     WITCHBLADE #181 CVR B SEJIC     $3.99
JAN150725     ZERO #15 CVR A BERTRAM & MULLER (MR)     $2.99
JAN150726     ZERO #15 CVR B LEMIRE & MULLER (MR)     $2.99

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 30, 2014

DARK HORSE COMICS

MAY140027     BALTIMORE WITCH OF HARJU #1     $3.50
MAY140060     CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT #13     $2.99
MAY140080     DEEP GRAVITY #1     $3.99
MAR140096     EC ARCHIVES TWO-FISTED TALES HC VOL 03     $49.99
MAY140056     EMILY & THE STRANGERS BREAKING RECORD #2     $3.99
MAR140095     GASOLINE ALLEY HC VOL 02 COMPLETE SUNDAYS 1923-1925     $75.00
MAY140093     KING CONAN CONQUEROR #6     $3.50
MAY140071     MASSIVE #25     $3.50
MAY140070     MIND MGMT #24     $3.99
MAY140068     PARIAH #6     $3.99
MAY140087     STAR WARS REBEL HEIST #4 HUGHES MAIN CVR     $3.50
APR140023     VEIL #4 (MR)     $3.50

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Review: STAR WARS: LEGACY Volume 2 #5

STAR WARS: LEGACY VOLUME 2 #5
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
ART: Gabriel Hardman
COLORS: Rachelle Rosenberg
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Dave Wilkins
EDITOR: Randy Stradley
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (July 2013)

Prisoner of the Floating World: Part Five

“Prisoner of the Floating World,” the first story arc of the recently launched Star Wars comic book series, Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2, comes to an end. According to publisher, Dark Horse Comics, Legacy Volume 2 takes place “approximately 138 years after the events depicted in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” Legacy Volume 2 focuses on junk dealer Ania Solo, the great-great granddaughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo.

The storyline began when Miss Solo finds a battered Imperial communications droid and a lost lightsaber. Because of these finds, Ania ends up on the run with her friend Sauk, an ice harvester and refugee from Mon Calamari. Later, AG-37, an ancient assassin droid, joins them. Meanwhile, young Imperial Knight, Jao Assam, searches for the master to whom he is apprenticed, Imperial Knight Yalta Val. The quartet becomes involved in a Sith conspiracy centered on the building of a communications array in the Carreras System.

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #5 opens with Ania blaming herself for everything bad that has happened and rejecting any connections that she has to a family legacy. Now, Ania finds herself racing between a planetoid and the space station that holds the Carreras System’s communications array, which are on a collision course. The Sith behind this new conspiracy reveals himself as Darth Wredd, and he stands between Ania and her comrades and escape.

This final issue of Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2’s first story arc has forced me to make this clear. Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is the best new Star Wars comic book series of 2013 – better even than Brian Wood and Carlos D’Anda’s new eponymous Star Wars comic book series that has been getting a lot of attention. Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is the best Star Wars comic book since Marvel Comics’ Star Wars (1977 to 1986).

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2’s creative team of Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman are creating Star Wars Expanded Universe fiction that recalls George Lucas’ original Star Wars films. I don’t know how long Bechko and Hardman will work on Legacy Volume 2, as I’m certain Marvel or DC Comics will hire them away from Dark Horse, if they have not already done so. In the meantime, we have this great comic book series.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Review: STAR WARS: Legacy Volume 2 #4

STAR WARS: LEGACY VOLUME 2 #4
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
ART: Gabriel Hardman
COLORS: Rachelle Rosenberg
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Dave Wilkins
EDITOR: Randy Stradley
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (June 2013)

Prisoner of the Floating World Part Four

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is a new comic book series from the creative team of co-writer Corrina Bechko and co-writer/artist Gabriel Hardman. This Star Wars comic book takes place “approximately 138 years after the events in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” Legacy Volume 2 focuses on junk dealer, Ania Solo, the great-great granddaughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo.

Young Miss Solo finds a battered Imperial communications droid and a lost lightsaber. Soon, Ania is on the run with her friend Sauk, an ice harvester and refugee from Mon Calamari. Later, AG-37, an ancient assassin droid, joins them. Meanwhile, young Imperial Knight, Jao Assam, searches for the master to whom he is apprenticed, Imperial Knight Yalta Val. The quartet becomes involved in a Sith conspiracy involving the building of a communications array in the Carreras System.

As Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #4 opens, Governor Biala of Shifala begins to realize that she cannot trust Imperial Knight Yalta Val, who has taken control of the construction of the Shifalan communications array. Little does she realize that this Val is an imposter and is actually a Sith warrior.

Ania, Sauk, AG-37, and Jao fall into a deadly trap, and Sauk makes a discovery about a disappearing planet. Can they escape with these secrets and their lives?

Brian Wood and Carlos D’Anda’s new eponymous Star Wars comic book series is getting a lot of attention. However, Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman’s Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is the best new Star Wars comic book series of the year. I’m starting to think that Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is the best Star Wars comic book series I’ve read, after my beloved Marvel Comics’ Star Wars, of course.

Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman have created a comic book with such dense character drama, superb character development, intricate politics, and intense plotting that it reads like a Star Wars novel… after only four issues! This is Star Wars as George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan imagined it.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Friday, May 24, 2013

Review: STAR WARS: Legacy Volume 2 #3

STAR WARS: LEGACY VOLUME 2 #3
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
ART: Gabriel Hardman
COLORS: Rachelle Rosenberg
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Dave Wilkins
EDITOR: Randy Stradley
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (May 2013)

Prisoner of the Floating World Part Three

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is a new Star Wars comic book series from Dark Horse Comics and writer Corrina Bechko and writer-artist Gabriel Hardman. The events depicted in this Star Wars comic book take place “approximately 138 years after the events in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.”

Legacy Volume 2 focuses on the character, Ania Solo, the great-great granddaughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo. Young Miss Solo, the owner of a junkyard, is on the run after inadvertently stumbling onto a conspiracy involving the Carreras System. It begins when she finds a lost lightsaber.

As Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #3 opens, young Imperial Knight, Jao Assam, is deep inside the Surd Nebula, as he continues his search for Imperial Knight Yalta Val. Elsewhere, in the Carreras System, Ania and her friend, Sauk (a refugee from Mon Calamari), and the assassin droid, AG-37, are aboard the droid’s ship, trying to escape pursuing snub fighters.

Meanwhile, the Sith continue to manipulate the construction of a communications array in the Surd Nebula. Perhaps, Jao Assam and Solo and company need to find common ground… or space.

Brian Wood and Carlos D’Anda’s new eponymous Star Wars comic book series recalls both the original Star Wars films and Marvel Comics’ Star Wars comic book series (1970s-80s). It is about re-imagining classic Star Wars. The second new Star Wars comic book series, Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin, is fun just because it puts Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine in mortal danger.

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is as “real Star Wars” as a Star Wars comic book can get, as far as I’m concerned. Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 artists, penciller-inker Gabriel Hardman and colorist Rachelle Rosenberg, are doing their best impersonation of Al Williamson, a quintessential Star Wars comic book and comic strip artist, without it being a mere copy or pastiche. So, when I read this well-written series, I look at Hardman and Rosenberg’s art and think that I’m seeing Star Wars personally guided by George Lucas and Al Williamson, even if Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 really isn’t.

Anyone who reads Star Wars comic books must read Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Review: STAR WARS: LEGACY Volume 2 #2

STAR WARS: LEGACY VOLUME 2 #2
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

Friday, April 5, 2013

Review: STAR WARS: Legacy Volume 2 #1

STAR WARS: LEGACY VOLUME 2 #1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

["Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

SCRIPT: Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
ART: Gabriel Hardman
COLORS: Rachelle Rosenberg
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Dave Wilkins
EDITOR: Randy Stradley
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (March 2013)

Prisoner of the Floating World Part One

Dark Horse Comics recently launched a new Star Wars comic book series. Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is written by Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, drawn by Hardman, colored by Rachelle Rosenberg, and lettered by Michael Heisler.

In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Legacy is a time period that begins 40 years after the end of the original Star Wars (or Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) and continues to some indeterminate time. There was a long-running comic book series, Star Wars: Legacy, which Dark Horse Comics launched after the release of the film, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 is a new series set in the Legacy era. The events of Legacy Volume 2 take place “approximately 138 years after the events in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.” [Of note, the previous series began 130 years after A New Hope.] This new series focuses on the character Ania Solo, who is the great-great granddaughter of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo and who also owns a junkyard.

Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #1 opens as Imperial Knight Yatla Val leads a mission to the Carreras System in the Outer Rim. This is part of a larger effort by the Triumvirate, which is a unity government made of the Jedi Council, Imperial Court, and Galactic Alliance, to connect the galaxy. The mission meets an unexpected snag.

On an ice mining platform in the rings of Carreras Minor, Ania Solo shows her latest finds to her friend, Sauk, a refugee from Mon Calamari. The young junkyard owner has recovered a lightsaber and an Imperial communications droid, and both will mean trouble for her.

Sometimes, I review books and don’t give a thought to revealing spoilers; if I spill a secret, it either does not bother me much or I wince a only a little. Other times, I am fastidious about saying too much, to the point that my review ends up being a timid paragraph dedicated to secret-keeping.

In this new review, I’m definitely being the latter. I want to be tentative and persnickety about my review of Star Wars: Legacy Volume 2 #1. Co-writer Corrina Bechko and co-writer/artist Gabriel Hardman give this first issue so many layers, such depth, and rich texture that it seems more like the first chapter of a prose novel than the first issue of a comic book. In Ania Solo, they have the potential to create one of the truly exceptional and great Star Wars Expanded Universe characters.

The art by Gabriel Hardman recalls the art Al Williamson produced for Marvel Comics’ adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back in the publisher’s long-running Star Wars comic book series. I don’t know anything about the quality of Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman’s previous work on Betrayal of the Planet of the Apes, but Dark Horse should chain them in the company dungeon and keep them working on Star Wars comics.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

I Reads You