Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for November 8, 2017

DARK HORSE COMICS

JUL170097    ABE SAPIEN DARK & TERRIBLE HC VOL 01    $34.99
JUL170145    BEST WISHES GN    $19.99
JUL170204    BLADE OF IMMORTAL OMNIBUS TP VOL 04 (MR)    $21.99
SEP170039    HARROW COUNTY #27    $3.99
SEP170036    HELLBOY & BPRD 1955 OCCULT INTELLIGENCE #3 (OF 3)    $3.99
AUG178154    LCSD 2017 SHERLOCK FRANKENSTEIN & LEGION OF EVIL #1    $3.99
JUL170107    LEGACY OFF COLOR NOVELLA FOR YOU TO COLOR HC    $19.99
JUL170189    MANARA LIBRARY TP VOL 03 TRIP TO TULUM AND OTHER STORIES (MR    $29.99
JUL170186    WB DUBAYS THE ROOK ARCHIVES HC VOL 03    $19.99

I Reads You Review: THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GestHawk, Volume 1

THE TOWER CHRONICLES: GEISTHAWK, VOLUME 1
LEGENDARY COMICS

CREATORS: Thomas Tull and Matt Wagner
WRITER: Matt Wagner
PENCILS: Simon Bisley
INKS: Rodney Ramos
COLORS: Ryan Brown
LETTERS: Sean Konot
COVER: Jim Lee and Scott Williams with Alex Sinclair
ISBN: 978-1-937278-02-1; paperback (October 2012)
72pp, Color, $7.99 U.S., $9.99 CAN

Legendary Comics is a division of the American film production company, Legendary Pictures, Inc. Legendary Pictures has co-produced such hit films as 300 (based on the Frank Miller graphic novel) and Christopher Nolan’s three Batman films. Having dealt with movies based on comic books, Legendary Pictures founder and CEO, Thomas Tull, has decided to get directly into the creation and publication of comic books.

Tull joined American comic book legend, Matt Wagner (Grendel, Mage), to create a new series of graphic novels, The Tower Chronicles. A proposed trilogy, The Tower Chronicles will see each of its three books serialized in four parts (volumes or issues). The first book/trilogy is The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, written by Wagner and drawn by Simon Bisley, himself a legend for his work on Lobo for DC Comics.

The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 introduces John Tower, a supernatural bounty hunter. Tower will travel the world and go to its darkest recesses to find and destroy some of the most unfathomable monstrosities and creatures. But John doesn’t work for free. Prospective clients must go through Tower’s lawyer, Romulus Barnes, and they must be able to pay Tower’s considerable fees.

One of his newest clients is Agent Alicia Hardwicke of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. With nothing else working, Hardwicke turns to Tower to help her capture a serial killer called the “Piranha Killer.” However, this murderer is not a serial killer, and Agent Hardwicke does not believe in Tower’s world of supernatural creatures. Where do they go from there?

The Tower Chronicles and its lead character, John Tower, are like a blending of Marvel Comics’ character, Blade; the New Line Cinema film series starring Blade; and the character Harry Dresden from author Jim Butcher supernatural detective book series, The Dresden Files. And that’s not a bad thing, because this first volume of The Tower Chronicles is well produced with a well-executed story.

Matt Wagner’s story is expectedly secretive about John Tower’s past, but he tells a fast-paced story full of exciting action-fantasy violence that simply drags the reader along – if he or she likes this kind of genre. The characters are familiar types from various genres and mass entertainments: pulp crime, TV female law enforcement officers, vampire lit, etc., but Wagner punches them up with snappy banter and effective dialogue.

What really makes this stand out is Simon Bisley’s pencil art. As inked by Rodney Ramos and colored by Ryan Brown, Bisley’s compositions are offbeat, which makes the graphical storytelling here different from any other urban fantasy or monster hunter comic books. You can be forgiven for mistaking the Bisley-Ramos union for its resemblance to the work of Paul Gulacy, who would be good for the series should Bisley be unable to continue. For added measure, the team of Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair provide the cover for The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1, and a good cover it is.

I enjoyed The Tower Chronicles: GeistHawk, Volume 1 enough to want to seek out the rest of the series, some of which has already been released. If you’re missing a good Blade comic book, certainly try this more-than-adequate substitute.

A-

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

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I Reads You Review: STAR WARS: CRIMSON EMPIRE III – Empire Lost #2

STAR WARS: CRIMSON EMPIRE III – EMPIRE LOST #2 (OF 6)
DARK HORSE COMICS

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

STORY: Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley
SCRIPT: Mike Richardson
ART: Paul Gulacy
COLORS: Michael Bartolo
LETTERS: Michael Heisler
COVER: Dave Dorman
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S.

In the Star Wars Expanded Universe timeline, there is a period known as “The New Republic Era.” This period takes place between 5 to 25 years after the Battle of Yavin (ABY), the climatic battle in the 1977 film, Star Wars, in which Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star. This era essentially begins a year after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi (1983).

In this period, the Rebel Alliance tries to become a functioning galactic government, a New Republic. However, there are growing pains; imperial loyalists, as well as various insurrectionists and warlords, prove to be obstacles. Luke Skywalker also begins training apprentices in order to rebuild the Jedi Order. Star Wars: Crimson Empire is set in “The New Republic Era.”

Star Wars: Crimson Empire – Empire Lost takes place 13 years ABY (or 8 years into “The New Republic Era”). The New Republic’s power and influence is growing, with Chief of State Leia Organa Solo overseeing the government at Coruscant, the home planet of the New Republic’s government.

In Star Wars: Crimson Empire – Empire Lost #2, a hooded figure ferments hatred of the New Republic by speaking before large crowds, but a raid of a toxic weapons dump only hints at his larger plans. At the same time, Kir Kanos, the last remaining member of Emperor Palpatine’s Royal Guards, meets former high-ranking Imperial military officials, as they plot the birth of a new empire. Meanwhile, Mirith Sinn continues her job as Security Chief. She ensures the safety of Leia and her children, but Sinn reluctantly accepted this position. Now, her skills are about to be tested.

In his back page column to readers, Star Wars: Crimson Empire – Empire Lost co-writer and series editor, Randy Stradley seems proud as he talks about the purpose of Crimson Empire III – to tell stories from the part of the Imperials. Stradley and Dark Horse can indeed take pride in Crimson Empire III. This second issue has the requisite sci-fi action that is Star Wars, but, as will likely be the case with the entire series, it will be able to delve deeper into the political scheming and galactic intrigue that George Lucas only lightly touched upon in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

This looks to be a character driven series, and virtually every lead or major supporting character will be attractive to readers. The most intriguing are Kir Kanos, the former Imperial guard, and Mirith Sinn, the security agent with a dark connection to the Skywalker family.

The art by Paul Gulacy is good, both in terms of style and storytelling. He brings the mood and atmosphere necessary to make the story by Mike Richardson and Stradley work as something more than just science fiction action and violence. Over three decades of drawing comics, and Gulacy is still at the top of his game.


Consume Star Wars: Crimson Empire III - Empire Lost

#IReadsYou Review: TIME BOMB #3

TIME BOMB #3

 

RADICAL PUBLISHING

CREATORS/WRITERS: Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray

ART: Paul Gulacy
COLORS: Rain Beredo
LETTERS: John J. Hill
COVER: Paul Gulacy and Rain Beredo
56pp, Color, $4.99

Time Bomb is a science fiction comic book created and written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray (Jonah Hex, Power Girl) and drawn by still-going-strong industry veteran, Paul Gulacy. The series opens in the year 2012 and finds that the human race has 72 hours to live! Why? The Omega Bomb, a relic of Nazi Germany, was accidentally launched, unleashing a horrible virus.

Jack McCrea, team leader; Ken Weinhauser, tech-ops specialist; Peggy Medina, deadly science expert; and Christian Grainger, strategist are four specialists assigned by the New World Order to save the world. They are sent back in time and their target is the day before the bomb was discovered, in an attempt to prevent the disaster. However, the Time Bomb sends them back seven decades earlier and drops them in the heart of Germany towards the end of World War II.

In Time Bomb #3, the mission to save the world comes to an explosive conclusion. Jack and a lovely double agent are imprisoned in the underground bunker where the Omega Bomb sits. Jack is also about to learn the shocking true identity of the Omega Bomb’s sinister creator. Meanwhile, Ken, Peggy, and Christian make an attempt to rescue Jack, but their own freedom is also in jeopardy. And a legendary player enters the game.

One can praise Time Bomb for being consistently good, but what it was consistent at was being freaking good. If I could describe the speed at which I read this to driving, that comparison would be that I read Time Bomb #3 at breakneck speed. It’s easily one of the very best comic books of the year, and it is certainly way better as an action comic book than many films were as action movies. Also, with his excellent art for this series, Paul Gulacy proves that after four decades drawing comic books, he is still at the top of his game, which is above many other artists’ games.

A+

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