#IReadsYou Review: BATMAN: EARTH ONE Volume Two

BATMAN: EARTH ONE VOLUME TWO

DC COMICS

STORY: Geoff Johns

PENCILS: Gary Frank

INKS: Jonathan Sibal

COLORS: Brad Anderson

LETTERS: Rob Leigh

COVER: Gary Frank with Brad Anderson

ISBN: 978-1-4012-6251-8; paperback (June 21, 2016)

144pp, Color, $14.99 U.S., $17.99 CAN

Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger

Batman: Earth One Volume 2 is 2015 hardcover original graphic novel (OGN) published by DC Comics.  It is written by Geoff Johns; drawn by Gary Frank (pencils) and Jonathan Sibal (inks); colored by Brad Anderson; and lettered by Rob Leigh.  Set in a reality that is different from the flagship Batman titles, Earth One Vol. 2 pits Batman against The Riddler for the first time.

In 2009, DC Comics announced plans to publish new graphic novels that would retell or re-imagine the beginnings of Batman and Superman.  Each character would have his own ongoing series of original graphic novels depicting his earliest moments as a superhero and crime fighter.  Each graphic novel would be a stand-alone story set on a new Earth with an all-new continuity.  Superman: Earth One Volume One arrived in October 2010 and Batman: Earth One Volume One arrived in 2012, both released as hardcover original graphic novels.  To date (2024), there have been three releases each featuring Superman and Batman, and some releases featuring other DC Comics characters. [My review is based on the 2016 paperback edition of this graphic novel.]

Batman: Earth One Volume Two opens in the gritty, contemporary metropolis of Gotham City in the wake of the murder of Mayor Osward Cobblepot (as seen in Vol. 1).  The police and the public believe that Batman murdered the mayor, but the actual killer is Alfred Pennyworth.  The former Royal Marine and friend of Bruce Wayne's late father, Thomas Wayne, Alfred is now Bruce's head of security and partner in Bruce's war on crime and corruption as the costumed-wearing vigilante, The Batman.

Something else, however, is also troubling Gotham City.  It has been plunged into terror by an enigmatic anarchist, terrorist, and killer calling himself “The Riddler.”  He begins with a bang with the murder of five people who plunge to their deaths in an elevator.  Batman is determined to stop him, but he finds himself caught in the conflicting ideologies of Detective Jim Gordon of the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) and of Alfred.  Gordon is also dealing with the troubles of his partner, Harvey Bullock.  Once flashy and overconfident, Bullock is now traumatized by the discovery he made in a serial killer's basement (as seen in Vol. 1).

If that weren't enough melodrama, Gotham Mayor Jessica Dent wants Bruce to help her discover the identities of the five VIP Gotham residents who have taken over the late Mayor Cobblepot's criminal empire.  However, her brother, District Attorney Harvey Dent, has hated Bruce since they were children, and he has his own secret agenda.  Meanwhile, there are reports of a bizarre creature, called “Killer Croc, prowling the sewers of the city, treating human and animal as meat for the beast.

THE LOWDOWN:  I was crazy about Batman: Earth One Volume One.  It is like a “Batman Family” story because Johns writes it as if it were an ensemble crime drama.  Batman is obviously the lead, but Vol. 1 seems to treat Bruce Wayne as one of several supporting characters in the story.  I rather like that.

In Batman: Earth One Volume Two, John makes Bruce Wayne the lead, with the Batman being only one part of a complicate life of purposes.  The story seems to be about Bruce Wayne working out who he is.  Is Bruce just the Batman, or is Bruce a civilian with a mission that is just as important as Batman's mission as a costumed vigilante?  It is an interesting take, one that is more interesting than anything to do with The Riddler angle of the story.

Speaking of the Riddler:  I have not yet read Batman: Earth One Volume Three, but I believe the first two volumes had a big influence on director Matt Reeves' 2022 Batman film, The Batman, especially Vol. 2.  Reading this graphic novel, over two years after first seeing The Batman, I find that Vol. 2 seems quite familiar.  It wasn't long into reading this that I was making connections to the 2022 Batman film, which also has The Riddler as a terrorist-like villain.

British comic book artist, Gary Frank, has displayed his muscular compositions and forceful graphical storytelling to readers for the better part of four decades – three decades in the U.S.  I don't think Geoff John's edgy, retooling of Batman, which owes a lot to Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's Batman: The Killing Joke, would work quite as well without Frank's brawny storytelling and pencils.  Inker Jon Sibal captures that strength with a balance of sinewy precision and consistent and deft grace in his inking.

Colorist Brad Anderson makes the art both bright and dark – bright to reveal the emotional moments and dark to hide the danger.  Another strong contributor is Rob Leigh; his lettering is what gives the story a balance of sound and effect.

I don't know if there is going to be more Batman: Earth One.  Truthfully, Earth One should have been the direction taken by the “Rebirth” launch of the flagship Batman in 2016.  But what do I know?  I'm not a comics publisher selling comic books in a stagnate market for American comic books.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Batman comic books will want to read Batman: Earth One Volume Two.

A

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

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#IReadsYou Review: KONI WAVES

KONI WAVES

HAUNTED PIZZA LLC/ARCANA STUDIOS

STORY: Mark Poulton

SCRIPT: Mandy Summers

ART: Renzo Rodriguez

COLORS: Dexter Weeks

LETTERS: Dexter Weeks

COVER: Renzo Rodriguez with Ink Spots

VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Irene Strychalski; Chris Graves

ISBN: 979-8-987-45314-8; paperback (November 2023)

56pp, Color, $25.00 U.S.

Koni Waves created by Mark Poulton, Stephen Sistilli, and Dexter Weeks

Koni Waves is an independent supernatural horror comic book that was published as a series of miniseries and one-shots from 2006 to 2010 by Arcana Studio.  Created by Mark Poulton, Stephen Sistilli, and Dexter Weeks, Koni Waves focused on Koni Kanawai, a female detective in Honolulu, Hawaii, who specialized in supernatural cases.

Koni Kanawai returns in a new original graphic novel, entitled Koni Waves, that was crowdfunded on Indiegogo last year and was published late last year (2023). The new graphic novel is written by Mark Poulton (story) and Mandy Summers (script); drawn by Renzo Rodriguez; and colored and lettered by Dexter Weeks.  In this new story, Koni becomes involved in a complicated murder case that involves supernatural scheme and conspiracy.

Koni Waves opens with Koni Kanawai rescuing her pal, Pete, from the vampires(!) of Black Bear Cove, but that adventure is easy compared to what is coming.  Koni's father, James Kanawai, a detective with the HPD, wants Koni to try to get back on the force.  Koni, who was suspended apparently after running afoul of Internal Affairs, is willing to give that a try.

Later, at her favorite watering hole, Koni learns that District Attorney Choi believes that he has convicted the wrong man, Danny Snyder, of the murder of Felicity Andrews, an exotic dancer and former associate of Koni's.  Taking on the case, Koni contacts Krystal, another dancer and former associate of Felicity's.  After snooping around, Koni comes to believe that a local power broker, Prince Hopohopo, is connected to the Felicity Andrews case.  However, Koni will discover that this case involves Hawaii's darkest secrets and its edgiest supernatural and spiritual past.

THE LOWDOWN:  A few years ago, I came across the Twitter feed of a Mexican comic book artist named Renzo Rodriguez.  From the first of examples of his art I saw, I thought he was very talented, but because I had never heard of him previously, I assumed Renzo was a new talent.  I would later learn that Renzo was a veteran talent who had been drawing professionally for a long time, including for Zenescope Entertainment.

Last year, I learned that Renzo would be the artist for a crowdfunded project, entitled Koni Waves, so I quickly contributed.  I did not know that Koni Waves was a comics property with a history, so I did not know what to expect.  Now, having read and received this original graphic novel, I am glad that I contributed to the campaign.

Renzo is obviously influenced by legendary comic book artist Art Adams.  Some artists who were influenced by Adams (such as J. Scott Campbell and Rob Liefeld) picked up on Adams' stylish flourishes.  However, what Renzo seems to have taken from Adams is the ability to compose complex, multi-panel pages that allows a story to be told in detail without going into overdrive with decompression.  Most of Renzo's pages have at least seven panels of varying size, and Renzo composes detailed backgrounds and environments in a way that compares to the work of set decorators for film and television.  Renzo makes the world of Koni Waves feel lived-in, like a real place.

All those panels on each page allows scripter Mandy Summers to flesh out Mark Poulton's character-rich story in a way that conveys motivation and personality, plot and mythology, and action and drama.  Summers makes Koni Waves read like an actual graphic novel in a way that so-called graphic novels (trade paperbacks) three times its size do not.

Dexter Weeks' precise, rich colors capture the curves, shapes, and contours of Renzo's figure drawing.  Those colors make every character seem alive and, in the case of some, seem quite sexy, and they also make the art pop on the page.  In addition, Weeks' lettering finds plenty of space for Summers' dialogue, so that nothing is crowded out.

I like Koni Waves, and I'd like to see more of Koni and her closest allies and most dangerous adversaries.  This comic book scratches the surface of Koni Waves' supernatural skin, but the freaks want to come out.  So I say let them out with more Koni Waves.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of supernatural and occult detective comics will want Koni Waves.

A

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

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#IReadsYou Review: ECTYRON VS. DES MOINES

ECTYRON VS. DES MOINES

CANDLE LIGHT PRESS/Warning Comics

STORY/ART: Carter Allen

DIALOGUE: John Ira Thomas

LETTERS: John Ira Thomas

COVER: Tyler Sowles

BACK COVER: Will Grant

MISC ART: Jeremy Smith

ISBN: 2370001579941; paperback (July 2023)

68pp, Color, $10.00 U.S.

Comic book writer-artist and graphic novelist, Carter Allen, has been publishing a series of comic books and graphic novels featuring a “kaiju” character known as “Ectyron! The Radioactive Chicken!”  Candle Light Press and Allen's Warning Comics have previously published several Ectyron comic books:  Ectyron Against Lagaxtu (2017), Ectyron: Rise of Nemehiss (2018), and Ectyron: The Invasion from the Red Star Nebula (2019), as well as the Ectyron Omnibus Vol. 1 (2022).

Ectyron is back on the attack in the recently released original graphic novel, Ectyron vs. Des Moines.  It is written, drawn, colored, and lettered by Allen, with dialogue written by John Ira Thomas.

All three Ectyron comics employ particular elements of various Japanese science fiction sub-genres.  “Kaiju” is a term used to describe a genre of Japanese films that feature giant monsters, and the term is also used to describe the giant monsters themselves.  [Godzilla is an example of a kaiju.]  In this case, Ectyron is a giant-sized chicken.  This series also includes elements of “tokusatsu,” also known as “mecha” or giant robot superheroes.  [“Power Rangers” are an example of “tokusatsu.”]

Ectyron vs. Des Moines opens in Des Moines, Iowa.  The state's most populous city and its state capital is about to experience a most unnatural natural phenomenon.  The other-dimensional conqueror, Angerine, arrives, and his weapon of choice is a box that can multiple into other boxes called “Monks.”  The Monks are connected like a titanic Medusa, and even Ectyron struggles against them.  Can the new musician-superhero, Madam Madamn, help stem the tide of Des Moines' destruction?  Or is it over before it started?

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been receiving review copies of Carter Allen's comic books and graphic novels for almost two decades.  We are also collaborating on an upcoming graphic novel, but I am happy to see that he is still creating new Ectyron comics.

Allen uses watercolors to produce his art and storytelling in Ectyron vs. Des Moines, and that gives the story a tone that is decidedly different from previous entries in the Ectyron series – at least to me.  The story seems more consequential.  The previous stories were playful monster comic books that recalled Japanese kaiju fiction, Marvel Comics' monster comics for the 1950s and 60s, and Marvel's early superhero comics like Fantastic Four.

Ectyron vs. Des Moines is very much in the pulpy, sci-fi, Japanese roots of its predecessors, but I find it more thoughtful about what comes after the thunder and lightning of monster fights.  The battles are more difficult for the heroes, and saving-the-day comes with high costs and damage that cannot be reversed.  The villains are excellent, and the kooky Monks are inventive, imaginative, and quite lovely.  John Ira Thomas, a frequent collaborator of Allen's, offers pitch perfect dialogue, as he always does.

Yes, I want more of the Monks and more Ectyron.  Still, I cannot help but ponder how Ectyron vs. Des Moines ponders the nature of evil, the burdens of heroism, and the devastation of death and destruction.  It is as if Allen rebooted Ectyron with a new nature.

But the fun is not gone, and I think readers will welcome the new character find, Madam Madamn, as I do.  I think all Carter Allen's fans will want to grab a hold of Ectyron vs. Des Moines.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of kaiju and of Carter Allen's kaiju comic books will want Ectyron vs. Des Moines.

A+

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

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#IReadsYou Review: BLACULA: Return of the King

BLACULA: RETURN OF THE KING

ZOMBIE LOVE STUDIOS

STORY: Rodney Barnes

ART: Jason Shawn Alexander with Scott Hampton

COLORS: Jason Shawn Alexander

LETTERS: Marshall Dillon

EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello

COVER: Jason Shawn Alexander

ISBN: 978-1-958509-00-5; paperback (January 31, 2023)

128pp, Colors, 19.99 U.S., $26.50 CAN

Rated “T+ / Teen Plus” or “16 years and up”

Blacula: Return of the King is a full-color, original graphic novel (comic book) that is based on Blacula, a 1972 vampire horror and Black exploitation film.  Published by Zombie Love Studios, Blacula: Return of the King is written by Rodney Barnes; drawn and colored by Jason Shawn Alexander (with some contributions from artist Scott Hampton); and lettered by Marshall Dillon.  Barnes and Alexander are the creators of the dark fantasy and vampire horror comic book, Killadelphia (Image Comics).

Blacula the film starred renowned African-American actor, William Marshall.  He played the film's title role, an 18th-century African prince named Mamuwalde.  In the year 1780, after a dispute, Count Dracula punishes Mamuwalde by turning him into a vampire and cursing him with the name “Blacula.”  Dracula seals Mamuwalde in a coffin that he hides deep in a crypt in his castle in Transylvania.  Blacula reemerges in the United States in 1972 where he pursues a human woman in what turns out to be a doomed romance.

Blacula: Return of the King opens in modern Los Angeles.  Tina Thomas, a young African-American reporter, writes for “Dark Knights,” a blog that “chronicles all things unnatural, uneasy, and undead in the greater Los Angeles area.”  For the past six months, people have been disappearing, and the word on the street and rumors from the shadows insist that the legendary vampire that haunted Los Angeles in the early 1970s has returned to kill.  That's right; Blacula's back.

During her reporting, Tina meets Kross, a young Black man whose family has been plagued by the curse of Blacula since his first appearance.  Kross leads a group of children, a band of “Lost Boys,” if you will, and all have also been hurt by the plague of undead that follows Blacula's blood lust.  Kross and his boys are determined to hunt and to kill Blacula, and before long, Tina finds herself joining them.

Blacula is also on a mission – his own kind of hunt.  He is searching for the one who forever changed his life centuries ago and cursed him with the mocking name, “Blacula.”  His enemy's name is Count Dracula, and that's right.  Dracula's back, too.

THE LOWDOWN:  I want and need to convince you, dear readers, to read Blacula: Return of the King.  It may be the most inventive and artistically ambitious graphic novel about a vampire since Jon J. Muth's Dracula: A Symphony in Moonlight and Nightmares, which was originally published by Marvel Comics in 1986.

The art and coloring by Jason Shawn Alexander is at times regal and elegant, as if hinting at what Prince Mamuwalde once was.  At other times, it is a blustery and frantic, desperate and stormy, and impressionistic and insane.  It is in these moments that the storytelling reminds reader of the backdrop to the horrific melodrama.  The victims of both Blacula and Dracula, as well as their undead acolytes, are the lower classes, the poor, and those living on the edge of an already frayed society.

That is why what writer Rodney Barnes offers is a true sequel to the 1972 film.  Blacula the movie was a very “Black” film, and Blacula: Return of the King is a very Black comic book.  Blacula, Tina Thomas, and Kross and his lost boys are all living the legacy of slavery and bondage, which is suffering and degradation.  In a way, the characters are living the best that they can, but they are cursed by history, both national and personal.  Blacula may be a monster, but he kills for food, a fate forced on him.  It is like fate of the young African-Americans characters here, who live in a gloomy world of abandoned and ignored neighborhoods.

Barnes and Alexander have made in Blacula: Return of the King a vampire story that is an amazing layered work – literal, metaphorical, and allegorical horror.  It is a sequel that honors the original and advances the story forward in way that is faithful in spirit and in potential.  And as a horror comic book, it is a damn fun read.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Blacula, of Dracula, and of great vampire fiction will want to read Blacula: Return of the King.

[This issue contains an introduction, “Blacula and Me” by Rodney Barnes.  It also includes “Prince Mamuwalde Lives!: Resurrecting Blacula,” written by Stephen R. Bissette and edited by John Jennings.]

A+

10 out of 10

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

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#IReadsYou Review: THE DIRE DAYS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR

THE DIRE DAYS OF WILLOWWEEP MANOR
SIMON & SCHUSTER/Margaret K. McElderry Books

STORY: Shaenon K. Garrity
ART: Christopher Baldwin
COVER: Christopher Baldwin
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6086-7; paperback (July 20, 2021)
224pp, Color, $14.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN

Demographic: Ages 12-up; Grades 7 and up

Available in hardcover and eBook editions

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor is a 2021 full-color, original graphic novel written by Shaenon Garrity and drawn by Christopher Baldwin.  It has been released in both hardcover and paperback editions.  [My review is based on the paperback.]  The story focuses on a teenage girl who is swept up in a strange new universe and must save it from an all-consuming evil in order to return to her home.

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor introduces Haley, a high school student with a passion for Gothic romance novels.  Haley's passion has gotten her into trouble with one of her teachers who is tired of reading essays about Gothic romance novels.
 
One dark and stormy night, Haley is walking home with an armful of books.  She is thinking ahead of a glorious night of reading, but while crossing a bridge, she sees a stranger drowning in the river below.  Sensing that her moment to be a heroine has arrived, Haley leaps into the water to rescue the stranger.  Exhausted from the effort to save the man, who seems rather ungrateful, Haley later awakens on the shores of a placed called Willowweep.

The place certainly looks like the setting of one of her favorite Gothic romance books.  There is a stately manor (Willowweep Manor) that happens to employ a sinister housekeeper (Wilhelmina).  There are three brothers: brooding Laurence, the eldest; daffy Cuthbert, the youngest; and middle brother, Montague, the one Haley rescued.  Willowweep even has a ghost, Cecily, who seems to know a lot about the place.

Willowweep, neither the land nor the manor, is not what it seems.  The Gothic romantic exteriors and trappings hide what it really is and the fact that a force of great evil is set on destroying Willowweep.  Could the same fate that brought Haley to this place make her the heroine Willowweep needs?

THE LOWDOWN:  I could call The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor clever, which it certainly is, but that would be shallow.  I like that the heroine is an African-American teenage girl, but that does not play a part in narrative.  Haley's skin color is happily never a point of interest with the other characters.

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor seems like an exercise in creative storytelling.  It is as if writer Shaenon K. Garrity starting imagining this scenario and never stopped being ingenious and inventive.  Every page is a surprise, and the narrative moves in unexpected ways, as does the lead character.  By the end of the story, Haley has changed.  She is still a teen girl, but now she is more open to the possibilities of what she can do, what she can be, and what she can expect from the things that she enjoys.

Artist Christopher Baldwin brings Garrity's delightful tale to life as a sweeping epic.  Baldwin builds this world and invites the readers into its nooks and crannies.  He encourages us to look behind the curtain, to examine the walls, and to push past borders into other places and dimensions.  Without forgetting that Haley is the lead, Baldwin also makes the other characters intriguing and attractive, the better to play off the heroine.

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor exemplifies how two skilled comic book creators can make the union of their different talents and perspectives appear seamless.  The result is that The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor is a winning read for all ages … and, of course, there should be a sequel.  After reading this delightful Gothic comic romp, dear readers, you will want to follow Haley to other universes, again and again.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of juvenile science fiction-fantasy, girl heroes, and middle grade graphic novels will want to read The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

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


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#IReadsYou Review: FANTASTIC FOUR: Full Circle

FANTASTIC FOUR: FULL CIRCLE
ABRAMS COMICARTS

STORY: Alex Ross
ART: Alex Ross
COLORS: Alex Ross and Josh Johnson
LETTERS: Ariana Maher
EDITORS: Charles Kochman and Tom Brevoort
COVER: Alex Ross and Josh Johnson
ISBN: 978-1-4197-6167-6; hardcover with dust jacket (also an eBook); 8 1/2 x 11 (September 6, 2022)
64pp, Color, $24.95 U.S., $31.99 CAN, £17.99 U.K.

Fantastic Four created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee

The Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated: November 1961) is the comic book that basically started what we know of today as Marvel Comics and the “Marvel Universe” of superheroes.  The Fantastic Four was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, with Lee writing the story for the first issue and Jack Kirby drawing that first issue.

Returning to the Lee-Kirby era, Fantastic Four: Full Circle is a new original graphic novel from writer-artist Alex Ross.  Published in an oversize format, 8½ x 11, Full Circle features the Fantastic Four (FF):  Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm Richards), the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm).  In a story that is a sequel of sorts to a classic issue of the Fantastic Four, the members of the team find themselves fighting for survival in the Negative Zone, an alien universe composed entirely of anti-matter.  The rest of Full Circle's creative team is comprised of Josh Johnson, who colors this comic book with Ross, and letterer Ariana Maher.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle opens on a rainy night in the Baxter Building, the Manhattan home of the FF.  Ben is making himself a sandwich when an intruder suddenly appears in the team's living quarters.  Upon investigation, they discover that the intruder is a man who once masqueraded as Ben Grimm.  They soon discover that the man is a human host, used to deliver a swarm of invading parasites – carrion creatures composed of “Negative Energy.”

What is the purpose behind this invasion, and who is behind it?  Now, the Fantastic Four have no choice but to journey into the heart of the Negative Zone, an alien universe that is parallel to Earth's universe and is composed entirely of anti-matter.  They not only risk their own lives, but also the fate of the cosmos?  Is there any hope for this journey, or will they discover hope?

THE LOWDOWN:  I like that Fantastic Four: Full Circle has a direct connection to the Fantastic Four's vintage era (as I call it) when it was produced by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  Full Circle directly connects to and is a resolution of Fantastic Four #51 (cover dated: June 1966).  Entitled “This Man... This Monster!,” the story pit Reed Richards against an unnamed scientist who gives himself the powers and appearance of The Thing.  The scientist's plan is to kill Richards, but those plans ultimately force him to save Reed's life while condemning himself to a sorry fate.

Full Circle returns to “This Man... This Monster!” in a deeply intimate way, or, at least, that is the way it comes across to me.  In terms of graphics, illustrations, and colors, Full Circle is a direct descendant of the Lee-Kirby Fantastic Four.  If Fantastic Four #51 is the parent, then, Full Circle is the child.  Jack Kirby's dynamic, cosmic infused compositions are newly infused with the modern flourishes of the techno-marvels of software graphics and colors.  Alex Ross even gives Stan Lee's chatterbox expositions new life simply by multiplying them in Full Circle, and Ross' take feels authentic.  When one of the Fantastic Four speaks, their dialogue reads as if it were written by Stan the Man himself.

Alex Ross’s art in Full Circle is a combination of impressive line work and layers of brushwork that seems to sway like drapery.  Ross and Josh Johnson color Full Circle in fluorescent shades: blues, greens, oranges, and purples.  Their color choices also recalls the visuals and graphics of the “Pop Art” comic book movement (or moment) of the 1960s, somewhat similar to writer-artist Jim Steranko's work for Marvel, such as Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., in the late 1960s.

For a long time, I have described the comic books published in the 1960s by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, especially Marvel, as having a sense of wonder and mystery, of science/magic and hope, and of discovery and exploration.  The modern comic book series that best exemplifies that is the late Darwyn Cooke's 2004 comic book miniseries, DC: The New Frontier.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle is both an homage and a return to a time when Marvel's comic book titles were about discovering the new.  [Now, they are about IP maintenance and continuity, which is mostly fractured.]  I love Ariana Maher vintage-styled lettering and the throbbing coloring that Josh Johnson commits with Alex Ross.  All of it connects past and present.

I love that Alex Ross has presented Fantastic Four in this larger than usual format.  Here, Ross' big, almost widescreen art both captures and replicates the big spirit and cosmic yearnings of Jack Kirby's best work on the Fantastic Four.  I want to avoid spoilers, but I love Full Circle's ending, with its emphasis on hope, reconciliation, and peace.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle is published as the launch of “MarvelArts,” a new collaborative line of books between Marvel Comics and Abrams ComicArts.  Abrams tells us that in MarvelArts “nothing is impossible and anything can happen.”  I hope that this means that Abrams ComicArts will not just publish anything.  Future publications should be as ambitious and as classically Marvel as this debut.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of the Fantastic Four and of Silver Age Marvel Comics will want Fantastic Four: Full Circle.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

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


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#IReadsYou Review: Jim Butcher's THE DRESDEN FILES: Bigfoot Volume 1

JIM BUTCHER'S THE DRESDEN FILES: BIGFOOT VOLUME 1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

WRITERS: Mark Powers (adaptation) and Jim Butcher (story)
ART: Joseph Cooper
COLORS: Salvatore Aiala Studios
LETTERS: Dave Sharpe
EDITOR: Joe Rybandt
COVER: Christian McGrath
ISBN: 978-1-524-12129-7; hardcover (March 22, 2022)
160pp, Color, $24.99 US (March 9, 2022 – comic book shops)

Rated “M” for “Suggested for mature readers”

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1 is an original graphic novel based on “The Dresden Files” series of contemporary fantasy novels and books.  The Dresden Files series is written by Jim Butcher and comprised of 17 novels (as of this writing).  The series focuses on supernatural private investigator and wizard, Harry Dresden, who was introduced in the 2000 novel, Storm Front.

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1 is the first Dynamite Entertainment Dresden Files original graphic novel since Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Dog Men (2018).  It is an adaptation of three Harry Dresden prose short stories:  “I Was a Teenage Bigfoot,” “Bigfoot on Campus,” and “B is for Bigfoot” originally published in anthology paperbacks.  They have been interwoven with new material to create an original graphic novel.

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1 is written by Mark Powers, adapting the original stories of Jim Butcher.  It is drawn by Joseph Cooper; colored by Salvatore Aiala Studios; and lettered by Dave Sharpe, with a painted cover by Christian McGrath.

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1 opens with Harry Dresden helping Irwin Pounder and girlfriend, Connie, move into their new apartment.  Harry has known Irwin since he was a kid because three times in his young life, Harry has come to Irwin's rescue, at the behest of his parents – his mother, Dr. Helena Pounder, and his father … known as "Bigfoot."  So now, it is time for Harry to be a storyteller and treat Connie to tales of Harry and young Irwin.

It all begins when Harry travels to the woods of northern Wisconsin.  This is where he meets a being known as “Strength of a River in His Shoulder,” whom Harry will come to call “River Shoulders.”  Humans know people like River as “Bigfoot,” but he belongs to the “Three Stars Forest People.”  It seems Bigfoot had a relationship with Dr. Pounder that produced a child, Irwin Pounder, who looks human like his mother.

Bigfoot has heard that his “scion” is having trouble in school, according to his mother.  Bigfoot sends Harry to Dr. Pounder, and she tells him that Irwin, her “angel,” is coming home from his school, the elite Madison Academy, with bruises.  Using her connections, Helena gets Harry into the school, where he immediately discovers something out of sorts.  Irwin is a good kid, but not everyone at the school is good.

When Irwin is a high school student at St. Mark's Academy, Harry returns a second time to investigate Irwin's mysterious illness.  The diagnosis is “mono,” but it is worse than that.  Someone wants something Irwin has, and they may kill him to get it.

Finally, Irwin is a college student and football player at the University of Oklahoma.  He has a girlfriend, Connie.  What neither Irwin nor Connie k now is that Connie's life and lineage are more complicated than either realize.  And it may cost both their lives.

THE LOWDOWN:  From what I understand, The Dresden Files is detective fiction set in a fantasy world of magic and the supernatural, but I don't know for sure because I have yet to read one of the prose novels.  [Yes, I need to fix that.]  The few Dresden Files comic books that I have read suggests that Harry Dresden is a detective of the supernatural and also an investigator and fix-it man.

Dresden is also apparently a wizard for hire and uses a staff, a blasting rod, and also a .38 revolver as implements of his trade – a mix of magic and practicality.  The great thing about Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1 is that it is a mix of the natural and the supernatural.  Harry uses magic, but often, he solves problems just by being a human – talking and listening; it is as if he is part mentor and part spiritual advisor.  Harry is a problem solver and his brains and wits are on display as much as his wiles and his magic and magical knowledge.

Joseph Cooper's straightforward storytelling captures the sense of love, devotion, and friendship in this story, while not neglecting the dark magics and adversarial relationships and diabolical actions of some of the characters.  The coloring by Salvatore Aiala Studios establishes the moods necessary to both connect these three stories and to also allow each to be different from the others.  Dave Sharpe's lettering sets a steady pace and beat that will carry the reader through this entertaining and smooth jaunt into the supernatural.

Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1 has a good creative team led by Mark Powers clever and delightfully readable adaptation.  My previous experiences with Dresden Files comic books tell me that Jim Butcher's world is a fun one to visit, and this graphic novel will encourage readers to visit it often.  Those who read this graphic novel will be surprised by how much the themes of love and devotion play in the story, and I believe you will like that, dear readers.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of The Dresden Files novels and comics will want to read Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Bigfoot Volume 1.

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

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


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#IReadsYou Review: MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL No. 9: The Futurians

MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL NO. 9: THE FUTURIANS
MARVEL COMICS

STORY: Dave Cockrum
ART: Dave Cockrum
COLORS: Paty
LETTERS: Jim Novack
EDITOR: Al Milgrom
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Jim Shooter
80pp, Color, $6.95 U.S., $7.95 CAN (1983)

The Futurians created by Dave Cockrum

“Marvel Graphic Novel” (MGN) was a line of paperback original graphic novels published from 1982 to 1993 by Marvel Comics.  The books were published in an oversize format, 8.5" x 11", similar to French comic book “albums,” which generally had cardboard covers, full-color interiors, and slick pages.  [In response, DC Comics would also establish a competitor line known as “DC Graphic Novel.”]

Dave Cockrum (1943-2006) was an American comic book artist, who made significant contributions to both Marvel and DC Comics.  Cockrum is best known as the artist who helped Marvel Comics and writer, the late Len Wein (1948-2017), relaunch the X-Men comic book series with a new team of X-Men, first in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (cover dated: May 1975) and then, in X-Men #94 (cover dated: August 1975).  Cockrum co-created and designed the new X-Men:  Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler.  Cockrum was also known as one of the best designers of comic book character costumes in the 1970s and 1980s.  He updated the costumes for DC's Legion of Super-Heroes when he began drawing the series in 1972.

Dave Cockrum entered the realm of creator-owned comic books with his unusual superhero team, “The Futurians.”  The team made its debut as the ninth entry in the Marvel Graphic Novel line.  Cockrum wrote and drew the debut story of the Futurians.  His wife, Paty Cockrum, colored the story, and the great Jim Novak lettered the story, with Al Milgrom editing.

Marvel Graphic Novel No. 9: The Futurians opens in the distant future of the planet Earth.  Hundreds of empires have risen and fallen, and at its zenith, human civilization was a melange of human, alien, and robotic cultures.  Mankind conquered and colonized the stars dozens of times before finally returning to Earth and forgetting the stars.

As the story opens, Earth is dominated by two city-states, Terminus and Ghron.  Terminus is a city-state of “scientist-generals,” and Ghron is ruled by the “Inheritors” and their mutant army.  After nearly destroying the entire Earth, the Inheritors travel into Earth's past in a bid to conquer the Earth.

In response, the “Terminus Grand Council” sends “genetic time bombs” into the past.  These “bombs” will increase human potential in select bloodlines.  Scientist-General Callistrax, via “discorporeal transmission,” sends his mind three million years into the past to the year 1940 AD.  Callistrax's mind takes over the body of a homeless man known only as “Vandervecken” or “The Dutchman.”

By 1962, Vandervecken has built an advanced technology corporation called “Future Dynamics,” and its motto is “Tomorrow is Now.”  Vandervecken then begins gathering up those who have been empowered by the genetic time bombs.  They are the seven humans that he begins to prepare for a series of historic battles against the Inheritors and their leader, Lord Temujin.  Vandervecken activates these seven humans' powers with the help of Sunswift.  She is an immortal fire elemental who lives in the sun and travels back in time as an ally of Vandervecken.

The first of the seven is Avatar, an immortal (unbeknownst to Vandervecken) who gains the powers of flight, super strength, and invulnerability.  African-American geologist Harry Robins becomes “Terrayne” a living mud-man who can manipulate rock and earth.  Marine biologist Tracy Winters becomes “Silkie,” a green-skinned amphibian with the ability to breathe underwater at great depths, fire bio-electrical blasts, control and shape water, and transform into a humanoid manta ray-like form, which allows her to fly or swim at great speeds.

Matthew Blackfeather, an Native American of the Dakota tribe, becomes “Werehawk,” a clawed, flying hawk-like humanoid.  Former spy Jonathan Darknyte becomes “Silver Shadow,” a living shadow that can merge with, animate, or teleport through shadows and darkness.  Dana Morgan becomes “Mosquito,” who can fly and generate ultrasonic energy.  Walter Bonner becomes the lion-like “Blackmane,” who has razor-sharp talons and superhuman strength and agility.

The Futurians are immediately sent into action when the Inheritors strike four locations in a bid to obtain the technology that Lord Temujin will use to complete a doomsday device.  However, the Futurians cannot stop the Inheritors if they cannot learn to work together.  Plus, only two of the Futurians realize that Vandervecken has a strange power over them.

THE LOWDOWN:  One thing that Marvel Graphic Novel No. 9: The Futurians certainly confirms is that Dave Cockrum was perhaps the most inventive and imaginative designer of comic book superheroes of his time.  The Futurians are a beautiful collection of superheroes, and it is a shame that these characters have largely been kept dormant in the nearly four decades since their debuted.

Here, as a writer, Cockrum did not have the smooth storytelling chops of the elite writers of superhero comic books of that time, such as Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, and Jim Starlin, to name a few.  Still, in The Futurians, Cockrum created an intriguing universe that was as much science fiction as it was superhero, and what his script lacked in “mature audience” theatrics, it made up for in imagination and pure, old-fashioned superhero fun.  This story is dialogue and exposition heavy, but every bit of it serves the story by establishing the setting, defining the characters, or advancing the plot.  I have to admit that I really enjoyed reading Cockrum's dialogue, which gets even better in The Futurians, the short-lived ongoing comic book series that followed the graphic novel.

The Futurians actually reads like a comic book from the 1960s.  It is filled with a sense of mystery, a touch of magic, and a streak of cosmic wonder and imagination.  The Futurians is like a crazy blend of elements from the X-Men, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and the Fantastic Four.  The Earth of the Futurians has a complex “future-history,” and Cockrum also teased an intriguing deep history that recalls the kind of science fiction to which Cockrum may have been exposed as a teenager and as a young man.

In retrospect, Dave Cockrum made an unfortunate decision in moving The Futurians from Marvel Comics to Lodestone Publishing, Inc., an independent publisher that ultimately could maintain neither its promises nor its business model.  Lodestone published three issues of The Futurians ongoing series from 1985 to 1986.  Cockrum produced a fourth issue that Lodestone could not publish, so it was later included in the collection, The Futurians Volume 2.  Published by Eternity, this trade paperback also collected the Lodestone published, The Futurians #1 to #3.  That unpublished fourth issue was published again, this time as The Futurians #0, which also included a character profile section and a new Futurians story drawn by Cockrum and written by his associate, Clifford Meth.

In 2010, writer-artist David Miller published a three-issue miniseries, Avatar of the Futurians, which Miller wrote and drew, through his company, David Miller Studios.  In 2011, Miller collected the miniseries in the trade paperback, Dave Cockrum's Futurians: Avatar.

What could have been?  How long could Dave Cockrum have produced an ongoing comic book featuring The Futurians?  How long would Marvel have published it?  Would Cockrum and his characters been welcomed into the fold by Image Comics?  It's all speculation, but we have Marvel Graphic Novel No. 9: The Futurians, and it was part of a line that, for a few years, delivered some very interesting and memorable comics.  Here is to hoping that The Futurians indeed have a future.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Dave Cockrum will want to read Marvel Graphic Novel No. 9: The Futurians.

A
8 out of 10

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


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#IReadsYou Review: DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: Finals Crisis

DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: FINALS CRISIS
DC COMICS/DC Zoom – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Shea Fontana
ART: Yancey Labat
COLORS: Monica Kubina
LETTERS: Janice Chiang
EDITOR: Marie Javins
ISBN: 978-1-4012-6247-1; paperback; (June 29, 2016)
128pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $11.99 CAN

Age Range: 8 to 12

DC Super Hero Girls is an action figure franchise and animated web series that began in 2015.  It features high school versions of classic and popular female DC Comics characters, as well as some male characters.  The DC Super Hero Girls line has already been rebooted and re-branded, and now includes an animated television series, various consumer products, and both print and digital comics.

DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis is the debut entry in the DC Super Hero Girls original graphic novel series.  It was first published in June 2016, and, as of this writing, the ninth graphic novel in the series is about to be published.  Finals Crisis is written by Shea Fontana; drawn by Yancey Labat; colored by Monica Kubina; and lettered by Janice Chiang.  Finals Crisis focuses on the core group of friends that includes Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Katana, and Bumblebee.

DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis opens at Super Hero High in the city of Metropolis.  Principal Amanda Waller and vice-principal Gorilla Grodd are generally tough on the students, and especially now because of semester finals, which are just a day away.  Supergirl, Bumblebee, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Harley Quinn, Katana, and Poison Ivy are all studying hard, but they are also breaking rules.  That puts them in danger, making it easier for a mysterious villain to trap them.  Will these super hero girls outsmart their captor in time to make it to school for finals?

I have been putting off reading DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis since I first heard about it a few years ago.  I finally got a copy when I decided to cash in a gift certificate, and the verdict is that I like it.  DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis is the kind of comic book that the seven-year-old me would have loved when I first starting reading books.  I would have loved just looking at the pictures, as my nephew loved looking at the pictures in the Spider-Man comic books that I gave him when he was four or five-years old.

The art by Finals Crisis artist Yancey Labat is just fun to look at.  He draws big, round faces and big, expressive eyes on the characters, which will pull in a young reader.  The art is drawn in a big and open manner, but Labat depicts the backgrounds and environments in nice detail.  Colorist Monica Kubina layers paint-like coloring over Labat's art, which makes it stand out.  Janice Chiang letters the art with a variety of fonts that perfectly capture the moments, moods, and action of the story.

DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis may not be a great comic book for adult readers, but I bet elementary school and middle grade readers will think it's great.  I can certainly see myself reading another volume... or two... or three.  Why not?  DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis captures the fun and sense of wonder that is inherent in DC Comics characters and in the comic books in which they star.

7.5 out of 10

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


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#IReadsYou Review: DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE

DEAR JUSTICE LEAGUE
DC COMICS/DC Zoom – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Michael Northrop
ART: Gustavo Duarte
COLORS: Marcelo Maiolo
LETTERS: Wes Abbott
EDITOR: Sara Miller
ISBN: 978-1-4012-8413-8; paperback; (July 31, 2019 – Diamond / August 6, 2019)
176pp, Color, $9.99 U.S., $13.50 CAN

Age Range: 8 to 12

Dear Justice League is a 2019 original graphic novel staring DC Comics' marquee super-team, the Justice League.  It is written by Michael Northrop; drawn by Gustavo Duarte; colored by Marcelo Mailol; and lettered by Wes Abbot.  Dear Justice League features some of the greatest superheroes of all time answering questions sent to them by young fans via text, email, and letter.

Dear Justice League was originally published under DC Comics' “DC Zoom” imprint, which offered original graphic novels for readers that were 8 to 12-years-old or that were classified as “middle grade” (MG) readers.  DC discontinued many of its imprints in 2019, so Dear Justice League would now fit under a new designation (“DC Graphic Novels for Young Readers”?).

Dear Justice League finds its members going about their usual business, but they occasionally take time to answer questions sent to them by young fans.  In a “Dear Superman” letter, the Man of Steel is asked, “have you ever messed up?”  In “Dear Hawkgirl,” the high-flying hero, who is also known as Kendra Saunders, is asked if she, as Hawkgirl, eats small animals.  In “Dear Aquaman,” Black Manta has high-jacked a nuclear submarine, but Aquaman wonders if he smells like fish, as one fan has asked.

In “Dear Wonder Woman,” a young fan who is about to turn 11-years-old wants to know if Wonder Woman remembers her eleventh birthday.  In “Dear Flash,” two envious boys, “T-Bone” and “J-Dawg,” pose a time-centered challenge to “the fastest man alive” via a dishonest question.  In “Green Lantern,” the newest Lantern, Simon Baz, is asked if he has ever suffered a fashion faux pas.

In “Dear Cyborg,” a young fan asks for Cyborg's screen name so that the fan can challenge the hero in an online video game.  Meanwhile, Cyborg/Victor Stone is monitoring a possible alien invasion.  In “Dear Batman,” the new kid in town asks Batman if he has ever been the new kid in town.  Finally, in “Dear Justice League,” eight of the world's greatest heroes, the Justice League, battle an invasion of “Insectoids” from the planet, “Molt-On.”  So a fourth-grade class sends a letter asking the members of the League, “How do you always manage to show up just in time and save the day?”

Well, how do they do it?  And have they done it this time in order to stop an Insectoid invasions?

I am slowly making my way through DC Comics's first wave of original “DC Zoom” and “DC Ink” titles.  I still have a few to read before the lines were discontinued.  I have to say that I am quite surprised by how much I like Dear Justice League.  It is not a great work, because it has some missteps, but it is exceptional because there is nothing else like it on the superhero comic book market.

In Dear Justice League, Michael Northrop has written a funny comic book, and some of the fan questions are quite good.  Asking Aquaman if he smells like fish falls flat, although asking Hawkgirl if she eats small animals seems just perfect.  Asking Wonder Woman to recount her eleventh birthday strikes the right story notes, and that question carries over into “Dear Flash,” in a clever little bit about two jealous boys.  Batman gets a great question – has he ever been the new kid in town – but Northrop doesn't execute the answer as well as he could have.

Gustavo Duarte's illustrations and graphical storytelling are perfect for a kids-oriented Justice League comic book like Dear Justice League.  His stretchy drawing style, which recalls classic Looney Tunes cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s, captures the funny side of the eight particular heroes of Dear Justice League.

Marcelo Mailol's colors on Duarte's art look as if he used color pencils and also recall classic four-color comic book coloring (but is better than most of it was back in the day).  Letterer Wes Abbot turns on a symphony of lettering fonts that provide a colorful and varied graphical soundtrack for a story that offers a lot of different sounds, from the noise of battle to the rackets of errors and mistakes.

I highly recommend Dear Justice League to readers who want to share Justice League comic books with younger readers.  It would also be nice as a semi-regular series.

B+
7 out of 10

Dear Justice League includes the following extras:

• A six-page preview of the original graphic novel, Dear Super-Villains, by Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte
• A six-page preview of the original graphic novel, Superman of Smallville, by Art Baltazar and Franco
• the two-page, “Hall of Justice Top Secret Files”
• the one-page, “Auxiliary Members” (pets of the Justice League)
• biographies of Michael Northrop and Gustavo Duarte
• “Dear Michael Northrop,” a letter from younger Michael Northrop to older Michael
• a mock-up of a page of lined paper so that the reader can write a letter to the Justice League
• bonus illustrations

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


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#IReadsYou Review: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: The Golden Child #1

DARK KNIGHT RETURNS: THE GOLDEN CHILD No. 1
DC COMICS/Black Label

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Frank Miller
ART: Rafael Grampá
COLORS: Jordie Bellaire
LETTERS: John Workman and Deron Bennett
EDITOR: Mark Doyle
COVER: Rafael Grampa with Pedro Cobiaco
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Andy Kubert with Brad Anderson; Frank Miller with Alex Sinclair; Joelle Jones with Dave McCaig; Rafael Grampa with Pedro Cobiaco; Paul Pope with Jose Villarrubia
32pp, Color, $5.99 U.S. (February 2020)

Ages 17+

Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (also known as DKR) was a four-issue comic book miniseries starring Batman.  Published by DC Comics in 1986, this prestige-format comic book was written by Frank Miller; drawn by Miller (pencils) and Klaus Janson (inks); colored by Lynn Varley; and lettered by John Costanza, with the book covers drawn by Miller and Varley.

DKR told the tale of a 50-year-old Bruce Wayne, long retired as Batman, who dons the cape and cowl again to take on a new crime wave in Gotham City.  When an institutionalized Joker discovers that Batman has returned, he revives himself and begins a new crime wave of craziness.  Batman also battles Superman who is trying to force Batman back into retirement.

DRK was a smash hit, and from the time of its publication, it became a hugely influential comic book, especially on the editorial mindset of DC Comics.  There have been sequels to DKR, as well as other comic books set in its “universe.”  The most recent DKR comic book is Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child.  It written by Frank Miller, drawn by Rafael Grampá; colored by Jordie Bellaire; and lettered by John Workman and Deron Bennett.  The Golden Child finds the heirs to the legacy of the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel taking on adversaries of their predecessors.

Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child #1 opens three years after the events depicted in the nine-issue miniseries, Dark Knight III: The Master Race (2015-2017).  Lara, the daughter of Wonder Woman (Diana) and her consort, Superman, has spent that time learning to be more human.  After spending her life with the Amazons of Paradise Island, however, Lara has a great disdain for humans.  Carrie Kelley, the former Robin, has been growing into her new role as The Batwoman, after Bruce Wayne/Batman finally retired.

The Batwoman has been battling the Joker and his gang of Joker clones, who are in full rage as the day of the U.S. presidential election approaches.  [Although he is not named, President Donald Trump's image and presence are prominent throughout this comic book].  But Joker has found a new partner in a terrifying evil that has come to Gotham – Darkseid.  Now, Lara and Carrie must team-up to stop two evils, but their secret weapon, young Jonathan, “the golden child” (Lara's brother and Diana and Superman's son) is also the object of Darkseid's murderous desire.

I really like Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child, but not because of Frank Miller's story.  It is a hot mess of sound and fury signifying nothing.  It is like someone's incorrect idea that the sound of Jack Kirby is not big (in relation to Darkseid, a character he created), but is histrionics.  Miller does offer a few good ideas, and he is one of the few mainstream comic book creators that could get away with not only casting Donald Trump in a DC Comics title, but also portraying him in an unflattering light.  Teaming-up Joker and Darkseid is not one of Miller's good ideas, and Miller's portrayal of Lara and Jonathan is a mixed bag.  But I can tell that Miller really loves Carrie Kelley, a character he created in DKR.  She is glorious as The Batwoman.

No, I don't love Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child because of Frank Miller.  I love it because of Rafael Grampa, the Brazilian film director and comic book artist.  Grampa's style in Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child is a mixture of Frank Miller's graphic style in both Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and in his Sin City series of miniseries and one-shot comic books and also of Scottish comic book artist Frank Quitely's graphic style.

Grampa's gorgeous illustrations and compositions look even better under Jordie Bellaire's inventive coloring and varietal of hues.  But even all that pretty art can't create superb graphical storytelling from Frank Miller's mish-mash of a story, except in a few places – the Batwoman sections of course.  Carrie Kelley is absolutely spectacular in the double-caped, leathery Bat-suit, which also looks like an actual man-sized bat.

Well, you can't get everything, although John Workman and Deron Bennett also deliver some fine-looking lettering.  So I'll be satisfied with Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child #1 being one of the beautifully drawn and illustrated comic book one-shots that I have ever read.

8 out of 10

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

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#IReadsYou Review: TEEN TITANS: Raven

TEEN TITANS: RAVEN
DC COMICS/DC Ink – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Kami Garcia
ART: Gabriel Picolo with Jon Sommariva and Emma Kubert
COLORS: David Calderon
LETTERS: Tom Napolitano
ISBN:  978-1-4012-8623-1; paperback; (June 26, 2019)
192pp, Color, $16.99 U.S., $22.99 CAN

Rated: “Everyone”; Age Range: 12 and up

Raven created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez

Raven is a female DC Comics superhero.  Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, Raven first appeared in a special insert in the DC Comics digest magazine, DC Comics Presents #26 (cover dated:  October 1980).  She was one of the new members of a revamped version of the DC Comics teen superhero group, Teen Titans, that launched in The New Teen Titans #1 (cover dated:  November 1980).

Raven was the daughter of a human mother and a demon father (named Trigon).  Raven was a powerful empath who could sense the emotions of others.  She could also project her “soul-self,” which took the form of a large shadowy, Raven-like figure.

DC Comics introduces a new version of Raven in the original graphic novel, Teen Titans: Raven, published under the “DC Ink” imprint.  Recently made defunct, “DC Ink” offered original graphic novels for readers 13-years-old and older.  DC Ink titles, according to DC Comics, featured coming-of-age stories that encouraged teens to ask themselves who they are and how they relate to others.  [DC Ink is now known as “DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults.”]

Teen Titans: Raven is written by bestselling author, Kami Garcia.  Garcia is the author of “The Legion” young adult novel series and with Margaret Stohl, is the co-author of the “Caster Chronicles” series (the best known being the 2009 novel, Beautiful Creatures).  Teen Titans: Raven is illustrated by Gabriel Picolo with the assistance of Jon Sommariva and Emma Kubert.  David Calderon colors the art, and Tom Napolitano is the letterer.  Teen Titans: Raven focus on a teen girl who moves to New Orleans to live with her late foster mother's family, as she struggles with memory loss and with the strange visions and voices she experiences.

Teen Titans: Raven opens in Atlanta, Georgia where we meet 17-year-old Rachel “Raven” Roth and her foster mother, Viviane Navarro, just before a tragic accident takes Viviane's life.  Three weeks later, Raven is in New Orleans living with Viviane's sister, Natalia Navarro, and her daughter, Maxine, also called “Max.”

Raven is trying to finish her senior year in high school, but starting over isn't easy – especially when you suffer from memory issues.  Raven remembers how to solve math equations and make pasta, but she can’t remember things like what were her favorite songs, favorite books, or even her favorite candy.  Raven does not know who she was before the accident.  Luckily, Raven grows closer to her foster sister, Max, and Max's circle of friends accepts Raven.  There is even a persistent boy, Tommy Torres, who is crushing on Raven and who accepts her for who she is now.

Still, Raven hears voices in her head, and she can seem to make people do things she thinks about them doing.  Some of her dreams seem to be about things that people actually do in the waking world, and sometimes, a dark figure haunts her dreams.  And everyone around her apparently has secrets:  Natalia, Max, and even Tommy.  And worst of all, what secrets are Raven's lost memories hiding from her?

Including the two previous “DC Ink” graphic novels that I have thus far read. Mera: Tidebreaker and Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale, Teen Titans: Raven is the best written.  That is saying something because the Mera and Catwoman graphic novels were wonderfully engaging stories.  I think what I like about Teen Titans: Raven so much is that writer Kami Garcia focuses on the notion that what is important is what a person is now in the present.  What is less important is who you were, so while it is important that Raven regains her memories, she can be a good person regardless of her past and without her memories of her past.

Garcia also fills Teen Titans: Raven with so many wonderful supporting characters.  Garcia portrays Natalia, Max, and Tommy with such engaging personalities and with so many intriguing secrets that each could be the star of her or his own graphic novel.  Without spoiling anything, I can say that there is a female army (of sorts) that could carry a miniseries or a maxiseries or even an ongoing series.

Gabriel Picolo's art is so evocative, especially in portraying emotions and attitudes.  Picolo's graphical storytelling is at once a high school melodrama and then a tale of mystery and magic.  He balances the natural and the mundane with the supernatural and spectacular with the deftness of a veteran comic book artist.  Picolo's striking cover illustration also makes Teen Titans: Raven hard to ignore on a bookshelf.  Teen Titans: Raven doesn't have DC Ink's best art, but Picolo is good.  [I am still declaring “best art” for Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale.]

David Calderon's mercurial coloring adds to the sense of magic and mystery.  Calderon's use of two-color in some sequences and his juxtaposition of multi-color and two-tones matches the fragmented state of Raven's memories.  Letterer Tom Napolitano captures all the modes and moods of Garcia's story and Picolo's art, conveying the narrative while suggesting the ethereal.  That is a magic trick.

Teen Titans: Raven is the best Teen Titans-related comic book that I have read in several years.  After three DC Ink titles (and one DC Zoom title), I can say that, right now, DC Comics' best publications are its original graphic novels for juvenile readers.

9 out of 10

Teen Titans: Raven contains the following extras and back matter:

• two author biographical pages
• an 11-page,  full-color preview of the graphic novel, Teen Titans: Beast Boy, from Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo and David Calderon

Reviewed by Leory 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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#IReadsYou Review: The Death of Captain Marvel

THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (MARVEL GRAPHIC NOVEL #1)
MARVEL COMICS

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Jim Starlin
ART: Jim Starlin
COLORS: Steve Oliff
LETTERS: James Novack
EDITOR: Al Milgrom
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Jim Shooter
COVER/BACK COVER: Jim Starlin
68pp, Color, $5.95 U.S. (1982)

Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan

Introduction by Al Milgrom

“Marvel Graphic Novel” (MGN) was a line of paperback original graphic novels published from 1982 to 1993 by Marvel Comics.  The books were published in an oversize format, 8.5" x 11", similar to French comic book “albums,” which generally had cardboard covers, full-color, slick pages.  [In response, DC Comics would also establish a competitor line known as “DC Graphic Novel.”]

The first Marvel Graphic Novel was released in 1982.  Entitled The Death of Captain Marvel, it was written and drawn by Jim Starlin, who had been the comic book creator most associated with the character of Captain Marvel up to that time.  The rest of The Death of Captain Marvel's creative team included colorist Steve Oliff and letterer James Novak.  The late Allen Milgrom was the graphic novel's editor and also provided a short introduction to the story.

Captain Marvel is a Marvel Comics superhero and science fiction and fantasy character.  He was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and designed by artist Gene Colan and first appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (cover dated: December 1967).  He is the original bearer of the name “Captain Marvel” within the world of Marvel Comics.

Before he became Captain Marvel, he was named “Mar-Vell,” and he was a member of the alien Kree race.  Captain Mar-Vell came to Earth to spy on humans, but he eventually rejected the Kree, and took the name “Captain Marvel.”  While living among humans, he also used the identity of “Walter Lawson” and was a member of the Avengers.

As The Death of Captain Marvel opens, Marvel has been living a live of semi-retirement on Titan, one of the planet Saturn's moons (satellites).  Marvel is recording a mini-autobiography of his life while on board a spaceship belonging to his allies, the demigod, Mentor, and his son, Eros.  Mentor and Eros are also the father and brother of the recently defeated and killed, Thanos, the mad warlord of Titan.

The trio is heading to the command central ship of Thanos' space fleet.  Inside, Thanos is dead and encased in stone (because of events depicted in Marvel Two-in-One Annual 1977), and they want to make sure he has stayed that way.  A surprise meets these heroes, however, as they discover that followers of Thanos live aboard the ship, awaiting what they believe will be the inevitable resurrection of the mad Titan.

The intense battle to defeat these alien zealots inadvertently reveals the secret that Marvel has been keeping from his closest friends, Mentor and Eros.  Marvel is dying of cancer – what the Titans call the “Inner Decay” and the Kree call “the Blackend.”  [Captain Marvel was exposed to the nerve gas that would lead to this cancer in Captain Marvel #34 (cover dated: September 1974)].  Now, Marvel must also share his diagnosis with his lover Elysius, the woman with whom he had hoped to share his life.  He must also inform, Rick Jones, the young human who once shared an existence with Marvel.  When he shares this news with the current members of the Avengers:  Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Wonder Man, Beast, and Yellowjacket, they immediately spring into action, bringing all their scientific knowledge to bear in a bid to save Marvel from death.

As the greatest heroes of the Marvel Universe gather on a deathwatch, Captain Marvel still has one final battle.  The hero must face his greatest enemy, Thanos, and Thanos' dark mistress.

THE LOWDOWN:  I first discovered the existence of The Death of Captain Marvel via in-house ads published in various Marvel Comics titles that I read at the time.  Those ads made me quite interested in the book, but it was only sold in comic book shops via the “Direct Sales” market.  At the time, I bought all my comic books at the now-defunct K&B drug store chain (headquartered in New Orleans, LA), and a few other places that sold comic books, mostly other drug stores and grocery stores.  They all placed the comic books in those old “spinner racks.”  I didn't know if there were any comic book shops near me, although it turned out that there was one about a 45-minute drive from where I lived at the time.

When I first started visiting comic book shops, I sometimes came across a copy of The Death of Captain Marvel,  By that time, however, I wasn't really as interested in reading it as I was when I first heard about it.  I recently decided to go back and re-read the Marvel Graphic Novels that I had previously read and read the ones that I had not.  On eBay, I found a nice copy of the second printing of The Death of Captain Marvel, which went through several printings just in the first decade of its original publication.  The second printing was apparently published within months of the first printing.

I am glad that I read The Death of Captain Marvel now, as I don't know if I would have appreciated it decades ago the way I do now.  The way comic book stories are told and structured has radically changed in the four decades since the debut of The Death of Captain Marvel.  This had made me appreciate what Starlin did with only 66 pages, which is more than most modern comic book writers do with over 100 pages.

Jim Starlin was certainly a good comic book artist.  His drawing style has similarities to some of the most popular comic book artists that came before him.  Still, Starlin's style is unique, and his illustrations always grab me.  The background elements, the figure drawing, the landscapes, the backdrops, the costumes, the alien and fantastic landscapes:  the way Starlin illustrates a comic book page is like nothing anyone else did or does in superhero comics books.  Starlin has created a unique visual and graphical language, and no other artist's work could be mistaken for his.

Surprisingly, Starlin may be an even better comic book writer than he is a comic book artist.  The stories that he writes and other artists illustrate maintain Starlin's imaginative and inventive storytelling.  Starlin was one of the best mainstream comic book writers of the last quarter of the 20th century.  Yes, he was right up there with Alan Moore, Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Marv Wolfman, Steve Englehart, and Grant Morrison, to name a few.

You can discover this for yourself, dear readers, in The Death of Captain Marvel.  This stand-alone story references the past, but is singularly focused on Captain Marvel's final battle.  It is philosophical, thoughtful, and contemplative.  It is surreal and also matter-of-fact in its realism, all of it leading to the last act, a breathtaking death-dream that gave me pause.

Starlin offers some melodrama, mainly involving the characters to which is he intimately connected – from the bitter and frustrated anger of Rick Jones to the quite acceptance of Elysius.  I am surprised that Marvel Comics published a story in which a superhero must face his imminent death – and one executed with such honesty.  Captain Marvel freely admits that he does not want to die, and that he thought that when death came – a long time in the future – it would be a warrior's death.

Instead, the hero died in bed, ravaged by disease.  Still, The Death of Captain Marvel gives the title character the kind of epic story of his end that would be befitting of elite superheroes.  We know, however, that such superheroes don't stay dead.  Instead, the story of Captain Marvel/Mar-Vell's death is one of Marvel Comics' greatest stories, and he did stay dead.  I'd like to believe that Jim Starlin created a story so powerful that even the most arrogant Marvel editors and superstar creators could not summon the gall to undo it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of the greatest Marvel Comics stories ever told will want to read The Death of Captain Marvel.

10 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/Marvel
https://www.marvel.com/
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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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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).