#IReadsYou Review: HOME SICK PILOTS #4

HOME SICK PILOTS #4
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Dan Watters
ART: Caspar Wijngaard
COLORS: Caspar Wijngaard
LETTERS: Aditya Bidikar
DESIGN: Tom Muller
COVER: Caspar Wijngaard
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Jamie McKelvie
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (March 2021)

Rated “M/Mature”

Home Sick Pilots created by Dan Watters and Caspar Wijngaard

Home Sick Pilots is a comic book series created by writer Dan Watters and artist Caspar Wijngaard, the creative team of the comic book, Limbo.  Home Sick Pilots focuses on a group of teens and a haunted house with an evil mind of its own.  Letterer Aditya Bidikar and designer Tom Muller complete the series' creative team.

Home Sick Pilots opens in Santa Manos, California, July 18, 1994.  A haunted house known as “the old James house” walks across California, and inside is Ami, the lead singer of the high school punk band, “Home Sick Pilots.”  Ami has been missing for weeks, so how did she get in the old James house?  It has ghosts, and Ami has to find them.  But can Ami be found … and helped?

As Home Sick Pilots #4 opens, the Home Sick Pilots are reunited – kind of.  The ghosts and entities are watching Ami's actions ever closer, as she continues to capture the ghosts that must be returned to the old James House.  Who else knows about the ghosts and what can that knowledge gain?

Now, Ami finds herself battling haunted video tape from a possessed video cassette, and it can connect to VHS machines.  Elsewhere, the house armors Buzz and sends him to rescue Ami, but when new entities arrive, Ami understands that whatever honeymoon she has with this house is over.

THE LOWDOWN:  At some point in the run up to the debut of Home Sick Pilots, the series was described as being a blend of author Shirley Jackson's novel, The Haunting of Hill House (1959); the comic book series, Paper Girls, and Power Rangers.  I am not familiar with Paper Girls, but I am familiar with the Jackson novel via the 1963 and 1999 film adaptations, and I have watched some episodes of Power Rangers.

I am starting to see those connections, but I don't want to do a disservice to Home Sick Pilots.  It is both a unique creature and creation.  Dan Watters' script moves between mysterious and weird and exciting and scary, and he always offers something new.  Caspar Wijngaard's art and colors present this constant flow of new imagination in electrifying and sometimes breathless storytelling.

So, I will keep heartily recommending Home Sick Pilots.  Hopefully, dear readers, you won't get left too far behind, although it will be fun playing catch-up.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of offbeat and imaginative supernatural comic books will want to fly with the Home Sick Pilots.

9 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/DanPGWatters
https://twitter.com/Casparnova
https://twitter.com/adityab
https://twitter.com/hellomuller
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: DOCTOR APHRA #1

DOCTOR APHRA No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon. Visit the "Star Wars Central" review page is here.]

WRITER: Kieron Gillen
ART: Kev Walker; Salvador Larroca
COLORS: Antonio Fabela; Edgar Delgado
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
COVER: Kamome Shirahama
VARIANT COVERS: Rod Reis; John Tyler Christopher; Salvador Larroca; Elsa Charretier; Jamie McKelvie; Rafael Albuquerque; Ashley Witter; Kamome Shirahama
44pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (February 2017)

Rated “T”

Aphra “Part 1”

Rogue archaeologist, Doctor Aphra, first appeared in Marvel Comics' Darth Vader #3.  She became Darth Vader's lackey and eventually his enemy.  Darth Vader the comic book recently ended, and its replacement is a new comic book, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, Marvel Comics' first ongoing series starring an original Star Wars character created in the Star Wars comic books.  Doctor Aphra is written by Kieron Gillen; drawn by Kev Walker; colored by Antonio Fabela; and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

Doctor Aphra #1 opens in the aftermath of Darth Vader #25.  Aphra barely escaped Darth Vader's clutches with her life, and she knows if he discovers that she is not dead, he will hunt her down.  Aphra returns to what she does best – search the galaxy for rare artifacts.  She is now locating and liberating rare archaeological treasures; her companions are the homicidal droids, 0-0-0 and BT-1 (who also debuted in Darth Vader #3) and the Wookiee warrior, Krrsantan.  Her latest artifact find will bring her nothing but trouble, as she discovers that everyone and no one wants it.

I really like the cover art for Doctor Aphra #1, which is drawn and colored by Kamome Shirahama.  It is not a particularly inventive visual design, but it is striking in its execution.  I also like the interior art by Kev Walker, whose graphic style reminds me of the work of Jamie Hewlett (the co-creator with Alan Martin of Tank Girl).  Walker and colorist Antonio Fabela's work on this first issue would been a good fit for the best days of the science fiction and fantasy anthology magazine, Heavy Metal.

In fact, I think that in some ways,this Doctor Aphra comic book will be as much like Tank Girl, Heavy Metal, and various British and European science fiction comics as it will be a Star Wars comic book.  This title may be something of a risk for Marvel, in terms of Star Wars comic books, but it is good to see that they are willing to be a bit adventurous with their Star Wars titles.  The prior license holder for Star Wars comic books, Dark Horse Comics, was quite adventurous in the kind of Star Wars titles that it produced for two decades.

As a nice extra, there is a back-up story featuring a younger Doctor Aphra, and it is produced by the Darth Vader creative team of Gillen; artist Salvador Larroca, and colorist Edgar Delgado.  This story assures me that Doctor Aphra is more likely than not to be a good Star Wars comic book.

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.

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I Reads You Review: MS. MARVEL #1

MS.MARVEL (2014) #1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

WRITER: G. Willow Wilson
ART: Adrian Alphona
COLORS: Ian Herring
LETTERS: VC's Joe Caramagna
COVER: Sara Pichelli with Justin Ponsor
VARIANT COVERS: Arthur Adams; Peter Steigerwald; Jamie McKelvie
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (January 2015 – Seventh printing)

Rated T+

“Meta-Morphosis” Part One of Five

The original Ms. Marvel, a Marvel Comics female superhero character, was created by writer Gerry Conway and artist John Buscema.  First appearing in Ms. Marvel #1 (cover dated: January 1977), she was meant to be the female counterpart of Marvel's Captain Marvel (who first appeared in 1967), not to be confused with Fawcett and later DC Comics' Shazam-Captain Marvel.

There is a new Ms. Marvel, and she is Kamala Khan.  Created by Sana Amanat, G. Willow Wilson, and Adrian Alphona, Kamala is the fourth character to take the name Ms. Marvel.  Kamala, who first appeared in Captain Marvel #17 (cover dated: November 2013), is a 16 year-old Pakistani-American from Jersey City, New Jersey.  She idolizes Carol Danvers, the original Ms. Marvel who is now the new Captain Marvel.  Kamala was given her own Ms. Marvel series, which premiered in February 2014, and she became Marvel Comics' first Muslim character to star in her own comic book.

I remember the debut of the new Ms. Marvel comic book series, but I ignored it.  Then, I read The Amazing Spider-Man #7 (2014), in which the new Ms. Marvel appeared, and I suddenly became interested in her.  Luckily, my comic book shop had reprints of the first issue of Kamala's Ms. Marvel comic book series, written by G. Willow Wilson, drawn by Adrian Alphona, colored by Ian Herring, and lettered by Joe Caramagna.

Ms. Marvel #1 (“Meta Morphosis”) opens in Jersey City at a Circle Q, where Kamala is holding court with her friend, Nakia, and an employee, Bruno.  This gathering, in a small way, encapsulates the problems that Kamala is having with her parents, her culture, and her religion.  Wouldn't it be cool if she could eat bacon?  If only she could be like her beloved Avengers:  Captain America, Iron Man, and especially Captain Marvel.  Eventually, she will get what she wants, but not the way she wants it.

It was not until after I picked up a copy of Ms. Marvel #1 – Seventh Printing that I discovered that Ms. Marvel was a buzzed-about new comic book.  Some are calling it the best comic book of 2014, as I learned via an email from Diamond Distributors and also from an article at website, Comic Book Resources.  I don't know if I would call it the best comic book of the year, but if I made a list, it would definitely be in my “Top 10.”

I think of Ms. Marvel as a “girl's comic book,” but I do not mean that in a derogatory way.  I am not one of those fans who think that every superhero comic book from either Marvel or DC Comics must be alike.  They don't have to all be rehashes and revamps of the same templates and editorial mindsets that old white guys established beginning in the early 1960s, i.e. the Silver Age.  I don't mind something completely different.

This new Ms. Marvel is something different; it is something else.  It presents a girl's point of view; it is about a young woman struggling to come into her own.  Ms. Marvel is not aimed at me; it is not written to appease my fanboy demands.

And that doesn't matter.  I like Ms. Marvel anyway.  It's so good.  It is so different, yet some of the things with which Kamala Khan struggles are universal, so I recognized the dilemmas she faces.  When I ignored what I expected from the typical superhero comic book, I found myself embracing Ms. Marvel.  I want more of it, and I want to share this with my niece when she is older.

I guess I should not be surprised.  Ms. Marvel writer, G. Willow Wilson's late Vertigo series, Air, was decidedly unusual, but alluring and intriguing.  I had recently stopped giving letter grades to first issues, but I will make an exception for the first issue of Ms. Marvel.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for December 3, 2014

MARVEL COMICS

OCT140798     ALL NEW X-FACTOR #17 AXIS     $3.99
OCT140809     ANGELA ASGARDS ASSASSIN #1     $3.99
OCT140790     AXIS REVOLUTIONS #3     $3.99
OCT140823     CAPTAIN AMERICA PEGGY CARTER AGENT OF SHIELD #1     $7.99
SEP140935     CAPTAIN AMERICA TP VOL 03 LOOSE NUKE     $19.99
JUL140714     CAPTAIN AMERICA TRIAL OF CAPTAIN AMERICA OMNIBUS HC     $99.99
OCT140800     DEADPOOL #38 AXIS     $3.99
SEP148254     DEATH OF WOLVERINE #2 3RD PTG MCNIVEN VAR     $4.99
OCT140844     DEATH OF WOLVERINE WEAPON X PROGRAM #3     $3.99
OCT140854     GUARDIANS 3000 #3     $3.99
OCT140865     HULK #9     $3.99
SEP148262     INHUMAN #7 2ND PTG STEGMAN VAR     $3.99
OCT140803     INHUMAN #9 AXIS     $3.99
SEP140939     INVADERS CLASSIC TP VOL 02 COMPLETE COLLECTION     $39.99
SEP140884     IRON FIST LIVING WEAPON #7     $3.99
SEP148263     LEGENDARY STAR LORD #1 4TH PTG MCNIVEN VAR ANMN     $3.99
OCT140857     LEGENDARY STAR LORD #6     $3.99
OCT140902     MEN OF WRATH BY JASON AARON #3 (MR)     $3.50
SEP140916     THANOS HC GOD UP THERE LISTENING     $24.99
OCT140875     THANOS VS HULK #1     $3.99
JUL140717     X-MEN INFERNO PROLOGUE HC     $125.00
JUL140712     YOUNG AVENGERS BY GILLEN AND MCKELVIE OMNIBUS HC     $49.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 18 2014

MARVEL COMICS

MAR140766 ALL NEW X-FACTOR TP VOL 01 NOT BRAND X $17.99
MAR140762 AMAZING X-MEN TP VOL 01 QUEST FOR NIGHTCRAWLER $17.99
APR140645 AVENGERS #31 SIN $3.99
MAR140781 AVENGERS EPIC COLLECTION TP JUDGMENT DAY $34.99
APR140662 AVENGERS WORLD #8 ANMN $3.99
MAR140767 AVENGERS WORLD TP VOL 01 AIMPIRE $16.99
APR140709 DAREDEVIL #4 $3.99
APR140704 ELEKTRA #3 $3.99
MAR140779 GALACTUS DEVOURER TP $24.99
MAR140685 GEORGE ROMEROS EMPIRE OF DEAD ACT ONE #5 $3.99
APR140685 IRON MAN #28 ANMN $3.99
APR140708 IRON PATRIOT #4 $3.99
APR148147 MILES MORALES ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 2ND PTG MARQUEZ VAR $3.99
APR148152 MOON KNIGHT #1 3RD PTG SHALVEY VAR ANMN $3.99
APR148153 MOON KNIGHT #2 3RD PTG SHALVEY VAR ANMN $3.99
APR148148 MOON KNIGHT #3 2ND PTG SHALVEY VAR ANMN $3.99
APR148154 MS MARVEL #2 3RD PTG MCKELVIE VAR ANMN $2.99
APR140636 NOVA #18 SIN $3.99
APR140630 ORIGINAL SIN #4 $3.99
APR140698 PUNISHER #7 $3.99
APR148155 SHE-HULK #1 3RD PTG WADA VAR ANMN $2.99
APR148149 SILVER SURFER #2 2ND PTG ALLRED VAR ANMN $3.99
MAR140654 SILVER SURFER #3 ANMN $3.99
APR148150 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #31 2ND PTG CAMUNCOLI VAR ANMN $5.99
MAR140765 SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 06 GOBLIN NATION $19.99
APR140691 THOR GOD OF THUNDER #23 $3.99
APR140695 THUNDERBOLTS #27 $2.99
APR140675 ULTIMATE FF #3 $3.99
APR140720 UNCANNY X-MEN #22 $3.99
APR140734 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #5 $3.99
APR140728 X-MEN #15 $3.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 18 2014

IMAGE COMICS

APR140557 ALEX + ADA #7 $2.99
MAR140562 APHRODITE IX #11 $3.99
APR140565 DRUMHELLAR #6 CVR A ROSSMO (MR) $3.50
APR140566 DRUMHELLAR #6 CVR B TEMPLESMITH (MR) $3.50
FEB140600 FATALE #23 (MR) $3.50
FEB140525 GLORY COMPLETE SAGA HC $34.99
APR148250 INVINCIBLE #111 2ND PTG (MR) $2.99
APR140574 MANHATTAN PROJECTS #21 $3.50
MAR148190 MANHATTAN PROJECTS #21 BLANK SKETCH CVR $3.50
APR140577 MICE TEMPLAR IV LEGEND #11 CVR A OEMING $3.99
APR140578 MICE TEMPLAR IV LEGEND #11 CVR B SANTOS & FREE $3.99
APR140579 MINIMUM WAGE #6 (MR) $3.50
APR140580 MPH #2 CVR A FEGREDO $2.99
APR140581 MPH #2 CVR B CANETE $2.99
APR148239 MPH #2 CVR C LEINIL YU $2.99
APR148240 MPH #2 CVR D LEINIL YU $2.99
OCT130620 SAVAGE DRAGON #195 (MR) $3.99
APR140596 SEX CRIMINALS #6 (MR) $3.50
FEB140537 VELVET TP VOL 01 BEFORE THE LIVING END (MR) $9.99
APR140486 WICKED & DIVINE #1 CVR A MCKELVIE & WILSON (MR) $3.50
FEB148313 WICKED & DIVINE #1 CVR B MCKELVIE & WILSON (MR) $3.50
FEB148314 WICKED & DIVINE #1 CVR C OMALLEY (MR) $3.50

Albert Avilla Reviews: Young Avengers #1

Young Avengers #1
Marvel Comics

Reviewed by Albert Avilla

Writer: Kieron Gillen
Art: Jamie McKelvie with Mike Norton

(Spoilers)
“Style>Substance”

The story opens up with Kate Bishop waking up the morning after a hook-up with Noh-Varr. Then, the Skrulls attack. Hulkling is running around New York, posing as Spider-Man to fight crime. Another hook-up, this time it’s Hulking and Wiccan. After a heartfelt conversation about being superheroes, Wiccan does a little magic to help Hulkling.

At the local diner, Loki gets a warning from his food. He tries to stop Wiccan, but is interrupted by Miss America. Loki escapes when Hulkling bursts on to the scene. Miss America exits without as much as a word with Hulkling. Wiccan’s surprise for Hulkling is an alternate reality mother. Just what we need, another Skrull. Didn’t we just rid our planet of those filthy aliens? Hulkling’s mother doesn’t agree with Jeff and Rebecca’s parenting; she thinks that she knows better. She calmly disagrees with them, and then, she liquefies their bodies.

This comic book definitely has style, not so much substance. For a first issue, it didn’t get me interested in finding out how the story was going to end. Is this the first time that a member of a superhero team becomes a member through a one-night stand? There are a lot of things going on. Gillen throws us right into the thick of things. I enjoyed the frenetic pace of the action scenes.

Noh-Varr is an interesting character. Hawkeye apparently is a swashbuckler. Let’s hope that there is some semblance of responsibility in her approach to life. We know what we get with Hulkling and Wiccan. Why is Loki on an Avengers team? He is the evil that the original Avengers banded together to defeat. Miss America is the mystery character. Is she just a powerhouse? Does she have a connection with the original Miss America? Why boots with shorts and a jacket? Does she have a connection to the original Miss America?

The art is good comic book art, nothing to complain about, nothing to go on about. I did like how the artists handled the action scenes.

I rated Young Avengers #1 “Read a Friend’s Copy.” #3 (of 5) on the Al-O-Meter