Review: ARCHIE VS. PREDATOR #4

  ARCHIE VS. PREDATOR #4 (OF 4)

DARK HORSE COMICS in association with Archie Comics – @DarkHorseComics and @ArchieComics

[This review first appeared on Patreon.]

WRITER: Alex de Campi
PENCILS: Fernando Ruiz
INKS: Rich Koslowski
COLORS: Jason Millet
LETTERS: John Workman
COVER:  Andrew Pepoy with Jason Millet
VARIANT COVERS: Faith Erin Hicks with Chris Peter; Joe Quinones
MISC. ART: Fernando Ruiz with Anwar Hanano
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2015)

“Guess Who's Coming to Dinner”

Eternal comic book teenager, Archie Andrews, was created in 1941 by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana and first appeared in Pep Comics #22 (cover date: December 1941).  That was almost a half-century before sci-fi movie monster, “The Predator,” (created by the sibling screenwriting team of Jim and John Thomas) first appeared in the still-popular, 1987 science fiction film, Predator.

Dark Horse Comics, in conjunction with Archie Comics, has set the Predator against Archie and his pals and gals in the four-issue comic book miniseries, Archie vs. Predator.  The series is written by Alex de Campi, penciled by Fernando Ruiz, inked by Rich Koslowski, colored by Jason Millet, and lettered by John Workman.

Archie vs. Predator #4 (“Guess Who's Coming to Dinner”) opens at Lodge Manor.  It's and the final chapter!  Archie is down for the count, and now only Betty and Veronica are left to face the killer alien monster (The Predator) that followed them from Costa Rica.   Veronica has set the mansion to explode, and she thinks she can save Archie's life.  Meanwhile, Betty learns that she has an admirer...

I read Archie vs. Predator #1 because I received a PDF review copy of it.  I enjoyed that first issue so much that I decided to follow the series.  And guess what, dear readers; I am not disappointed, and I am sorry the series has come to an end.  Writer Alex de Campi proved that two wildly different media franchises can be brought together for great affect.  She was clever in the way that she stayed true to the classic Archie milieu of rivalries and friendships, while keeping the Predator a killer.

The art team of Fernando Ruiz, Rich Koslowski (an Archie Comics writer-artist), and Jason Millet proved that the classic Archie graphic and art style can work with and be welcoming to foreign visitors, meaning the Predator.  John Workman's killer lettering gives the story such energy.  Encore!  If you haven't yet read Archie vs, Predator, the hardcover collection is due in November.

Wait!  There's more.  This issue includes a two-page bonus story, “Josie and the Pussycats Meets Finder,” by Alex de Campi, Carla Speed McNeil, and Jenn Manley Lee.  This trio is the art team behind one of the most exciting miniseries of the year, No Mercy (Image Comics).  Finder is the long running comic book series, webcomic, and comics serial written and drawn by Carla Speed McNeil, which won an Eisner Award.   Josie and the Pussycats is a classic, mini-media franchise from Archie Comics.

I am a fan of Josie and the Pussycats going back to my childhood.  I love this two-pager.  Jon Goldwater (publisher of Archie Comics), in regards to your “new direction” comics;  de Campi, McNeil, and Lee are your dream team for a Josie and the Pussycats revamp slash relaunch.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


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

I Reads You Review: NO MERCY #1

NO MERCY #1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

WRITER: Alex de Campi – @alexdecampi
ARTIST: Carla Speed McNeil – @CSpeedMcNeil
COLORS: Jenn Manley Lee – @jemale
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (April 2015)

Rated T+ / Teen Plus

No Mercy is a new comic book series from writer Alex de Campi and artist Carla Speed McNeil (Finder).  The series focuses on a group of stranded American teenagers who must navigate the hostile landscape of a foreign country if they are to survive.

In No Mercy #1, it all begins with an arrival at an airport in the Latin American country of Mataguey.  A group of incoming freshmen at Princeton have traveled to the country to build schools in a Central American village.  Princeton Summer Service is a trip before college that allows some of the students to get to know other freshmen, while doing something good.  Then tragedy strikes, and because help is unlikely to come, these privileged students will have to help themselves.

The one thing that immediately stands out about No Mercy is Carla Speed McNeil's art.  When I first met her in college – ages ago, I thought she had a bright future in front of her.  That has come to pass, as she has even won an Eisner for her work on Finder, a long-running comic book and sometimes webcomic that I heartily recommend.  She always seems to find a way to draw each character as a unique individual creation – not just in appearance, but also in visible personality.  This gives her work an earthy and inviting quality.

In No Mercy, McNeil's art is combined with the gorgeous coloring of Jenn Manley Lee, with whom I am unfamiliar.  Lee's striking hues and McNeil's compositions remind me of the color comics of the late and legendary Moebius.  Since I loved me some Moebius, I want more of this McNeil-Lee joint.

It is obvious from the beginning that Alex de Campi is composing a merciless story in which merciless people and a pitiless environment will torment a band of clueless kids.  The biggest difficulty that many of this young adults have faced is probably typical family drama and conflict.  Now, they are in a country where the obligation to observe their privilege does not exist.  Personally, I'd like to see this story work through the eyes of one particular character.  While I do have my favorite, there are some others that have the potential to carry the readers through this land of No Mercy.

Granted that I am partial to McNeil, I think this is a comic book worth following.

[This comic book contains a preview of “Mythic #1 by Phil Hester and John McCrea.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux on Patreon.


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