Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for April 3, 2024

MARVEL COMICS

JAN240910 ALIEN BLACK WHITE BLOOD #3 $5.99

JAN240911 ALIEN BLACK WHITE BLOOD #3 25 COPY INCV JONAS SCHARF VAR $5.99

JAN240912 ALIEN BLACK WHITE BLOOD #3 PAULO SIQUEIRA VAR $5.99

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JAN240913 AVENGERS #12 $3.99

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JAN240917 CAPTAIN AMERICA #8 $4.99

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JAN240919 CAPTAIN AMERICA #8 HILDEBRANDT CAPTAIN AMERICA MMP III VAR $4.99

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JAN240885 DEADPOOL #1 $4.99

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JAN240894 DEADPOOL #1 25 COPY INCV RYAN STEGMAN VAR $4.99

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JAN240889 DEADPOOL #1 MIGUEL MERCADO DEADPOOL VAR $4.99

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JAN240893 DEADPOOL #1 ROB LIEFELD VAR $4.99

JAN240892 DEADPOOL #1 SEAN GALLOWAY SATURDAY MORNING CONNECT VAR $4.99

DEC230765 DEADPOOL BADDER BLOOD TP $19.99

DEC230777 DEADPOOL THE SAGA OF WADE WILSON TP $44.99

JAN240921 DOCTOR STRANGE #14 $3.99

JAN240923 DOCTOR STRANGE #14 25 COPY INCV DAVID MARQUEZ VAR $3.99

JAN240922 DOCTOR STRANGE #14 MAHMUD ASRAR VAR $3.99

JAN247899 EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #1 2ND PTG 25 COPY INVC ASRAR VAR $4.99

JAN247898 EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #1 2ND PTG CHAD HARDIN VAR $4.99

DEC230032 FCBD 2024 STAR WARS #1 (BUNDLES OF 20) (Net) $PI

SEP230906 GHOST RIDER BY JASON AARON OMNIBUS HC NEW PTG DM VAR $100.00

JAN240928 IMMORTAL THOR #9 $4.99

JAN240932 IMMORTAL THOR #9 50 COPY INCV KAREN DARBOE VIR VAR $4.99

JAN240929 IMMORTAL THOR #9 KAREN DARBOE VAR $4.99

JAN240931 IMMORTAL THOR #9 NICK BRADSHAW CONNECT VAR $4.99

JAN240930 IMMORTAL THOR #9 SERGIO DAVILA VAMPIRE VAR $4.99

DEC230784 MARVEL GRAPHIC COMIC BOX DEADPOOL (BUNDLES OF 5) $60.00

DEC230785 MARVEL GRAPHIC COMIC BOX SPIDER-GWEN (BUNDLES OF 5) $60.00

JAN240933 MSH SECRET WARS #4 FACSIMILE EDITION $4.99

JAN240935 MSH SECRET WARS #4 FACSIMILE EDITION FOIL VAR $PI

JAN240934 MSH SECRET WARS FACSIMILE EDITION #4 25 COPY INCV PHIL NOTO $4.99

JAN240936 POWER PACK INTO THE STORM #4 $3.99

JAN240937 SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK #7 $3.99

JAN240938 SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK #7 25 COPY INCV DAVID NAKAYAMA VAR $3.99

JAN240939 SENSATIONAL SHE-HULK #7 BETSY COLA VAMPIRE VAR $3.99

JAN240881 SPIDER-GWEN GHOST-SPIDER #1 POSTER $8.99

SEP230899 SPIDER-MAN 2099 OMNIBUS HC VOL 02 BIANCHI CVR (O/A) $125.00

SEP230900 SPIDER-MAN 2099 OMNIBUS HC VOL 02 FERRY CVR DM (RES) $125.00

OCT230915 SPIDER-MAN INDIA TP SEVA $15.99

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JAN240947 STAR WARS #45 $4.99

JAN240948 STAR WARS #45 25 COPY INCV ANNIE WU VAR $4.99

JAN240949 STAR WARS #45 CASPAR WIJNGAARD THRAWN REBELS 10TH ANN VAR $4.99

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JAN240959 VENGEANCE OF MOON KNIGHT #4 $4.99

JAN240960 VENGEANCE OF MOON KNIGHT #4 25 COPY INCV LOZANO VAR $4.99

JAN240961 VENGEANCE OF MOON KNIGHT #4 ELIZABETH TORQUE VAMPIRE VAR $4.99

JAN240962 VENGEANCE OF MOON KNIGHT #4 JONAS SCHARF VAR $4.99

JAN240963 VENOM #32 $3.99

JAN240965 VENOM #32 10 COPY INCV CAFU DESIGN VAR $3.99

JAN240968 VENOM #32 100 COPY INCV ROSE BESCH VIR VAR $3.99

JAN240969 VENOM #32 25 COPY INCV RYAN STEGMAN VAR $3.99

JAN240966 VENOM #32 KEN LASHLEY CONNECT VAR $3.99

JAN240964 VENOM #32 NICK BRADSHAW MICRONAUTS VAR $3.99

JAN240967 VENOM #32 ROSE BESCH VAR $3.99

JAN240970 VENOM #32 STEPHEN MOONEY VAMPIRE VAR $3.99

JAN240882 X-MEN #130 FACSIMILE EDITION POSTER $8.99

JAN240971 X-MEN #33 $3.99

JAN240974 X-MEN #33 HILDEBRANDT 50 COPY INCV WHITE QUEEN MMP III VIR V $3.99

JAN240973 X-MEN #33 HILDEBRANDT WHITE QUEEN MMP III VAR $3.99

JAN240975 X-MEN #33 LEE GARBETT VAMPIRE VAR $3.99

JAN240976 X-MEN #33 RUSSELL DAUTERMAN TRADING CARD VAR $3.99

JAN240972 X-MEN #33 TAURIN CLARKE MICRONAUTS VAR $3.99

DEC230774 X-MEN EPIC COLLECT TP VOL O1 CHILDREN OF THE ATOM NEW PTG $49.99

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#IReadsYou Review: THE DARKNESS #1 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition

THE DARKNESS #1 25TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE EDITION
IMAGE COMICS/Top Cow Productions, Inc.

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Garth Ennis
PENCILS: Marc Silvestri
INKS: Batt (inking assistants: Joe Weems, Nathan Cabrera, Victor Llamas and various)
COLORS: Steve Firchow
LETTERS: Dennis Heisler
EDITOR: David Wohl
COVER: Marc Silvestri and Batt with Steve Firchow
36pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (November 2020)

Rated M / Mature

The Darkness created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl

“Coming of Age”

The Darkness is a long-running comic book series created by artist Marc Silvestri, writer Garth Ennis, and editor David Wohl.  The Darkness focuses on Jackie Estacado, a mafia hit man who inherits “the curse of the Darkness.”  The character made his debut in Witchblade #10 (November 1996) before making his solo debut in his own series.

In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Darkness #1 (December 1996), Image Comics and Top Cow Productions, Inc. are publishing The Darkness #1 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition.  This one-shot comic book reprints the story contents from The Darkness #1 and also includes an interview, an essay, a five-page section reprinting select cover illustrations produced during the series first 16 years, and other material.

The Darkness #1 (“Coming of Age”) opens at night on the Lower East Side of New York City.  Tall, dark, and handsome mafia hit man, Jackie Estacado, has just executed his latest target in service of his boss, Don Franchetti.  This latest bloody move by the Franchetti mob starts a bloody skirmish with rival mobster, Don Tommy Marchianni.  Jackie, Don Franchetti's top enforcer, is caught in the middle.

But the young killer has bigger problems.  He is about to turn 21-years-old, and “The Darkness” is about to start calling for him.  And the “Angelus” is coming for him.

THE LOWDOWN:  I read the first 10 or 12 issues of the original run of The Darkness back in 1996-97, but I eventually grew bored with this comic book and stopped reading it.  I have to admit that I had high expectations for it.  After all, the writer was Garth Ennis, red-hot in the mid-1990s because of his DC Comics/Vertigo series, Preacher.  I was a huge fan of post-Marvel Comics Marc Silvestri.  I thought many the comic books that Silvestri drew for Marvel Comics looked awful because of his chicken-scratch drawing style.  But Image Comics-Marc Silvestri seemed like an entirely different artist, especially when Silvestri's pencils were inked by the great Scott Williams.

Yet every time I read The Darkness, I felt like Ennis and Silvestri were not really delivering on this concept's potential.  I understood that the universe of Silvestri's Top Cow Productions, Inc. was obsessed with some kind of angelic vs. demonic rivalry, similar to that of Jim Lee's Wildstorm Productions universe.  However, I didn't think that Ennis and Silvestri really understood where they could take The Darkness in terms of narrative.  In The Darkness, Ennis delivered a stillborn version of the usual outtakes from his ultra-violence wheelhouse.  Silvestri's art was an unimaginative spin on the grim-and-gritty riffs that everyone was stealing from Frank Miller's Batman comics.

I don't know if The Darkness every reached its potential.  Frankly, I didn't give a crap after I stopped reading the series, but on occasion, I would see an issue of The Darkness and wonder about it … I have to admit.

The Darkness #1 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition commemorates an anniversary that is only important to Top Cow because … let's be frank … it does not have much to commemorate.  The original Image Comics creators, Marc Silvestri among them, turned their studios into vanity project factories that produced poorly written comic books that featured the kind of art that only the artists and their sycophantic fans thought was great.  This is something that can be said of many of the artists associated with Image Comics first decade, for instance Rob Liefeld and J. Scott Campbell.

It is only in the last 15 years or so that Image Comics has delivered on the promise that the birth of the publisher offered to both comic book creators and readers.  The Darkness represents a placeholder in the evolution of Image Comics.  After the fanfare for their first wave of comic book series faded, some of Image's founders moved on to offering exciting new concepts.  For Jim Lee, it was Divine Right, and for Silvestri, it was The Darkness.  At least, The Darkness ran much longer than Divine Right.

The Darkness #1 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition, as a package, is nothing special, but – and there is a big but – reading it again did remind me that The Darkness still has great potential.  I enjoyed re-reading this reprint of the first issue, and I might reread a few more of the original issues.  I still think that The Darkness is an outside-the-box comic book concept that could be an exceptional dark fantasy comic book.  But will it ever be that?  Does it matter?

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Top Cow Productions' comic books will want The Darkness #1 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition.

6 out of 10

This issue contains the feature “Say Good Night to the 'Good Guy'” by Henry Barajas and Claire Napier.  This feature includes illustrations; an questions-and-answer session with Marc Silvestri and David Wohl; a bullet-point presentation about the publication, licensing, and merchandising success of The Darkness.

This issue also includes a gallery of cover art produced by the following artists and art teams for The Darkness:  Marc Silvestri, Joe Weems, and Peter Steigerwald; Joe Benitez, Joe Weems, and Dean White; Nathan Cabrera and Victor Llamas; Greg Hildebrandt and Tim Hildebrandt; Michael Turner, Joe Weems, and JD Smith; Joe Benitez, Joe Weems, and Richard Isanove; Clarence Lansang, Victor Llamas, and Matt Nelson; David Finch, Jason Gorder, and Matt Nelson; Brian Ching, Victor Llamas, and Matt Nelson; Mark Pajarillo, Danny Miki, and Matt Nelson; Dale Keown and Matt Milla; Lee Bermejo; Dale Keown; Rafael Albuquerque; Todd McFarlane; Jeremy Haun and John Rauch

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


www.topcow.com
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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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).

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for February 24, 2021

IDW PUBLISHING

FEB200689    FROM HELL MASTER EDITION HC (MR)    $49.99
JUL200551    JIM LEES X-MEN ARTIST ED HC    $150.00
JAN200730    MARVEL ART OF BROTHERS HILDEBRANDT HC    $59.99
NOV200396    SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #37 CVR A EVAN STANLEY    $3.99
NOV200397    SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #37 CVR B JON GRAY    $3.99
JUL200564    TRANSFORMERS HC VOL 03 ALL FALL DOWN    $49.99
DEC200477    USAGI YOJIMBO WANDERERS ROAD #4 (OF 6) PEACH MOMOKO CVR    $3.99

#IReadsYou Review: STAR TREK: Year Five #1

STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE No. 1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
ARTIST: Stephen Thompson
COLORS: Charlie Kirchoff
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
COVER: Greg Hildebrandt
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: J.J. Lendl; Greg Hildebrandt
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2019)

Created by Gene Roddenberry, “Star Trek” was a science fiction television series.  It debuted on the NBC broadcast television network on September 8, 1966,  It followed the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), a “starship,” and its crew as they traveled on a five-year mission through the Milky Way galaxy during the future-decade of the year 2260.

The crew of the Enterprise was 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.

“Star Trek” ran until June 1969, for three seasons for a total of 79 episodes.  Series mythology says those three season cover the first three years of the Enterprises' five-year mission.  An animated “Star Trek” television series was broadcast on NBC on Saturday mornings for two seasons (1973-1974) for 22 episodes.  Fans of the show, now known as “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” consider the TV show to be set during the final two years of the Enterprise's five-year mission.

IDW Publishing has begun publishing a new comic book series, Star Trek: Year Five.  It is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly; drawn by Stephen Thompson; colored by Charlie Kirchoff; and lettered by Neil Uyetake.  According to Lanzing, Star Trek: Year Five will be the first extended story line set definitively during “Year Five,” the conclusion of the Enterprise's original mission, and it will have “a beginning, a game-changing middle, and a definite end.”

Star Trek: Year Five #1 finds the Enterprise engaged in “Operation Ouroboros,” a mission to stop the “Lloyd Zeta Hypergiant” (the single most massive stellar object ever detected by Starfleet), from causing a mass extinction event.  On the planet, “Lloyd Zeta-9,” however, a mystery awaits the crew of the Enterprise.

I am a long-time fan of “Star Trek,” especially of the original, 1960s television series, now known as “Star Trek: The Original Series” (ST: TOS).  I have only read a few comic books set during that time, and they were okay, but were nothing memorable.   Star Trek: Year Five... well, I'm still stunned by how much I really loved this comic book.

First, Star Trek: Year Five #1 has a beautiful painted cover by Greg Hildebrandt, who has produced decades of gorgeous art for comic books, movie posters, children's books, and more, alone and with his late twin brother, Tim.  The interior art by Stephen Thompson captures the characters and visual design of classic Star Wars with an uncanny touch, and Thompson's storytelling is quite good.

Charlie Kirchoff's colors seem right out of the technicolor of 1960s Star Trek – remastered, of course.  Neil Uyetake glides in with his usually impressive lettering; he does some excellent work balancing the sections of the narrative that are quite dialogue-heavy.

Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly write the kind of first issue that will assure that many who read it will return for a second issue... a third issue... a fourth issue... and more.  Lanzing and Kelly offer a story that triggered in my imagination particular classic “Star Trek” episodes.  I am in no way saying this first issue is based on the following episodes:  “The Man Trap,” “A Private Little War,” and “That Which Survives.”

Those are either some of my favorite episodes or are episodes that scared me shitless when I first saw them as a child.  So Star Trek: Year Five, I highly recommend it.

9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.



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Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for October 30, 2019

DYNAMITE

AUG191220    BLACK TERROR #1 FRANCAVILLA LTD VIRGIN CVR    $50.00
AUG191291    JAMES BOND 007 #12 CVR A JOHNSON    $3.99
AUG191292    JAMES BOND 007 #12 CVR B PHAM    $3.99
AUG191293    JAMES BOND 007 #12 CVR C CALDWELL    $3.99
AUG191294    JAMES BOND 007 #12 CVR D CAREY    $3.99
AUG191311    RED SONJA #9 LINSNER VIRGIN CVR    $50.00
AUG191233    VAMPIRELLA LAU COLLECTIBLE COIN    $19.69
AUG191234    VAMPIRELLA PARRILLO COLLECTIBLE COIN    $19.69
AUG191190    VENGEANCE OF VAMPIRELLA #1 MIDDLETON LTD VIRGIN CVR    $50.00
AUG191355    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #5 CVR A HILDEBRANDT    $3.99
AUG191356    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #5 CVR B PIRIZ    $3.99
AUG191357    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #5 CVR C MELNIKOV    $3.99
AUG191358    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #5 CVR D CALDWELL    $3.99

Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for July 24, 2019

DYNAMITE

MAR191075    ALTERED CARBON DOWNLOAD BLUES HC SGN ED    $39.99
FEB191103    CRACKDOWN #3 CVR A JAIME    $3.99
MAR191186    JAMES BOND ORIGIN HC VOL 01    $24.99
APR191124    MARS ATTACKS TP    $19.99
FEB191177    PATHFINDER GOBLINS TP    $19.99
MAY191112    RED SONJA #6 CONNER VIRGIN CVR    $50.00
MAY191113    RED SONJA #6 LINSNER VIRGIN CVR    $50.00
MAY191138    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #2 CVR A HILDEBRANDT    $3.99
MAY191139    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #2 CVR B CASE    $3.99
MAY191140    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #2 CVR C VILLALOBOS    $3.99
MAY191141    WARLORD OF MARS ATTACKS #2 CVR D CALDWELL    $3.99

Review: CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1

CONAN THE BARBARIAN #1 (2019) – Legacy #276
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Jason Aaron
ART: Mahmud Asrar
COLORS: Matthew Wilson
LETTERS: VC's Travis Lanham
EDITOR: Mark Basso
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Akira Yoshida
COVER: Esad Ribić
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Daniel Acuna; Mahmud Asrar with Matthew Wilson; John Cassaday with Laura Martin; John Tyler Christopher; Kirbi Fagan; Adi Granov; Greg Hildebrandt; Esad Ribic; Jesus Saiz; Bill Sienkewicz; Skottie Young; Gerardo Zaffino with Rain Beredo
48pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (March 2019)

Parental Advisory

Conan the Barbarian based on the “Conan” character created by Robert E. Howard

“The Life & Death of Conan” Part One: “The Weird of the Crimson Witch”

Conan the Cimmerian is a fictional “sword and sorcery” hero created by Robert E. Howard (REH).  Conan first appeared in the pulp fiction magazine, Weird Tales (1932).  Conan lived in Howard's fictional “Hyborian Age” and was a mercenary, outlaw, pirate, thief, warrior, and eventually a king, but because of his tribal origins, some characters that encountered him thought of Conan as a barbarian.

In 1970, Marvel Comics brought Conan to the world of comic books with the series, Conan the Barbarian.  It is doing so again, having recently published the first issue of a revival of Conan the Barbarian.  It is written by Jason Aaron; drawn by Mahmud Asrar; colored by Matthew Wilson; and lettered by VC's Travis Lanham.

Conan the Barbarian #1 (“The Weird of the Crimson Witch”) opens sometimes during Conan the Cimmerian's prime as “a thief, a reaver, and a slayer.”  In Zamora, the city of thieves, his brutal prowess in the fights pits of Maul has attracted the attention of a comely young woman.

Conan has always cheated death, continues to cheat death, and perhaps, he always will?  The more he cheats death, the more his blood becomes imbued with the power of “Death Magic.”  It is that magic that the Crimson Witch and her death god, Razazel, needs.  Does King Conan know that?

The new Conan the Barbarian is a comic book that I can keep reading... at least for awhile.  For one, I am a fan of artist Mahmud Asrar and have been since I started seeing his work eight years ago.  His elegant compositions are pleasing to the eye, and his figure drawing creates the illusion of powerful figures in motion.  There is also a sense of dynamism even in characters that are depicted as moving not at all or as moving very little.

Colorist Matthew Wilson, one of best colorists working in comic book today, takes Asrar's beautiful art to an edgier place.  The red, yellow, and orange hues make the bloody sequences even bloodier, and the color turns the Crimson Witch's magic into a thing that rages and pulses.

Jason Aaron's story is good, but it is not as passionate as Asrar-Wilson's art.  However, Aaron has created a menace (the Crimson Witch) that it actually and legitimately dangerous to Conan, throughout his life.  I like that Aaron is willing to depict Conan as a brutal killer (and that Asrar and Wilson draws that cleaving, hacking, slashing, and beheading with glee).  Speaking of glee, the villains are gleefully murderous, and that is a good thing.  I have to give letterer Travis Lanham credit; he makes Aaron's script read like true-blue, bloody mayhem Conan the Barbarian.

Conan the Barbarian #1 (2019) is a good first issue.  It isn't great, but it doesn't have to be.  I was certainly hopeful that I would have a reason to be a regular reader of Conan the Barbarian again (which I have not been since the Reagan era).

7 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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