#IReadsYou Review: BANKSHOT #3

BANKSHOT No. 3 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

STORY: Alex de Campi
ART: ChrisCross
COLORS: Snakebite Cortez
LETTERS: Alex de Campi
EDITOR: Aaron Walker and Randy Stradley
COVER: ChrisCross with Snakebite Cortez
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (August 2017)

Bankshot is a five-issue comic book miniseries from writer Alex de Campi and artist ChrisCross.  Snakebite Cortez is the series colorist and de Campi is the letterer.  Published by Dark Horse Comics, the series focuses on an anti-hero Marcus King, part modern-day Robin Hood, part terrorist, part tech-enhanced super-human or both – on a mission of revenge.

Bankshot #3 takes place in two time periods.  First, the story returns to Tunisia, a decade earlier, where King recuperates in an unnamed hospital.  The revolutionary nanonite procedure that will help him walk again is already showing changes in King – in ways that are almost supernatural.  Jump forward to the present, King is in the Ukraine, tearing through the base of operations of The Dutchman, the man who left King for dead in North Africa, but just when King seems to have snatched victory...  Meanwhile, the CIA makes its boldest move yet against King.

I will keep saying it as long as they keep doing it.  Alex de Campi and ChrisCross are killing it with Bankshot... and then killing it again.  This is pure action-adventure like Jason Borne, James Bond, and Mission: Impossible movies with a dash of the novels of James Rollins.

Bankshot is a pop comic from the action, mercenary, noisy side of the pop comic house.  I like that Alex de Campi has focused on Marcus King's past from a decade earlier to establish him as a character,  but I have to admit that I have a blast when de Campi slams us with some fight comics.  She can get down in the dirt with male writers of action comic books; she is better than many male comic book writers who are allegedly top writers of violent action comic books.

ChrisCross' storytelling captures all the moods and the switches in pace and setting.  He visually and graphically creates a balance between the drama and suspense and the action and violence.  Boy, though, he can draw some wild and crazy fight scenes.  Hurry up, space-time; get us to #4

A
9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Review: BANKSHOT #2

BANKSHOT No. 2 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Alex de Campi
ART: ChrisCross
COLORS: Snakebite Cortez
LETTERS: Alex de Campi
EDITOR: Aaron Walker and Randy Stradley
COVER: ChrisCross with Snakebite Cortez
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (July 2017)

Bankshot is a new comic book series from writer Alex de Campi and artist ChrisCross.  Snakebite Cortez is the series colorist and de Campi is the letterer.  Published by Dark Horse Comics, this five-issue miniseries focuses on an anti-hero. Part modern-day Robin Hood, part terrorist, or both, Marcus King is on a mission of revenge.

Bankshot #2 takes place in two time periods.  First, a decade earlier, Marcus King was left for dead after the CIA tried to kill him during a mission in North Africa.  He awakens a paraplegic in a hospital in Tunisia, where a nurse, Leah Soraya, cares for him.  After another attempt on his life, Marcus finds shelter in facility where a Soviet scientist may have the miracle tech to restore Marcus.

In the present, Frank, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), plots to stop Marcus, who has stolen untold millions in cash and property from government agencies and wealthy corporations and individuals connected to the FBI and CIA.  Meanwhile, Marcus' incredible body is a subject of interest to a group of scientists and engineers.

Like a Tim Duncan bank shot, the Bankshot comic book is more hit than miss.  [If you don't know Tim Duncan, try Wikipedia and sometimes ESPN Classic.]  Alex de Campi and ChrisCross are, as they say, killing it... and killing it again.

It seems as if some of the best elements of the Blade, Jason Borne, James Bond, and Mission: Impossible movies are blended with a dash of the Iron Man comic books and movies to create something that looks different – for obvious reasons – and is unique.  This is also a comic book that takes on the troubles in the Middle East and North Africa and Russia and Eastern Europe and connects it to the corrupt American security state.  Then, on the pop comic side, Bankshot gives us a hero who can destroy whatever is rotten in international rottenness.

I like that Alex de Campi has focused on Marcus King's past from a decade earlier to establish him as a character, while only serving up the “super” Marcus in small doses.  De Campi is making us care about the man, who is just as important as the colorful hero man.  ChrisCross' storytelling captures all the moods and the switches in pace and setting, and visually and graphically creates a balance between the the drama and suspense and the wild action and violence.  Even after two issues, it is obvious that Bankshot should continue past this miniseries.

A
9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

------------------------

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).

#IReadsYou Review: BANKSHOT #1

BANKSHOT No. 1 (OF 5)
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Alex de Campi
ART: ChrisCross
COLORS: Snakebite Cortez
LETTERS: Alex de Campi
COVER: ChrisCross with Snakebite Cortez
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2017)

Bankshot is a new comic book series from writer Alex de Campi and artist ChrisCross.  Published by Dark Horse Comics, this five-issue miniseries focuses on an anti-hero who is a modern-day Robin Hood or a terrorist or both.  Snakebite Cortez is the series colorist and de Campi is the letterer.

Bankshot #1 opens at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington D.C., the home of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Some FBI agents have just gotten the worst of Marcus King, who might be a terrorist.  The truth of Marcus King is probably an origin story than began in North Africa.  Now, Marcus will have to deal with an adversary who knows what the truth about Marcus King is and where that truth is buried.

I like the cover for Bankshot #1, which is drawn by ChrisCross and colorist Snakebite Cortez, because it looks like it was drawn by longtime comic book artist Paul Gulacy, who can draw a nice cover for sure.  I also enjoyed reading this first issue, but so much of the plot and narrative remain hidden in the shadows of battle scenes and tense meetings.

In Alex de Campi I trust, however, because of her recent comic books like No Mercy (Image Comics) and her unexpectedly thrilling crossover hit, Archie vs. Predator (Dark Horse Comics).  I think the best is yet to come in Bankshot.  I am enjoying ChrisCross' art, but the art is also cluttered in many panels, which is (say it with me!) static in the line communication between the story and the reader.  I look forward to the next issue.

B+
7.5 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2017 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

-----------------------

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).

I Reads You Review: MILESTONE FOREVER #2

MILESTONE FOREVER #2

DC COMICS

WRITER: Dwayne McDuffie

PENCILS/INKS: John Paul Leon (framing sequence)
PENCILS: Denys Cowan, ChrisCross
INKS: Prentis Rollins, Rob Still
LETTERS: Sal Cipriano
COLORS: Snakebite
COVER: Admira
48pp, Color, $5.99

Milestone was an imprint of DC Comics, active in producing comic books from 1993 through 1997. It was the creation of Milestone Media, a collective of African-American comic book creators. Milestone focused on comic books featuring minority characters, specifically African-American superheroes. Several titles appeared under the imprint, including Hardware, Icon, and Blood Syndicate. One of them, Static, was developed into an Emmy Award winning animated series, Static Shock.

After Milestone Media shuttered the imprint, Milestone’s characters mostly disappeared, although some made appearances in various DC Comics series. In the summer of the 2008, Dwayne McDuffie, a Milestone Media co-founder, announced that the Milestone characters would be merged into the DC Universe. That was a business decision, involving legal matters. Published early last year, Milestone Forever dealt with the fictional matters. It was a two-issue miniseries that provided the fictional depiction of Milestone’s universe, the “Dakotaverse,” merging with the DCU.

Milestone Forever focuses on a character named Dharma, the god-like being who initiated the “Big Bang,” the event that gave characters like Static their superpowers. Dharma believes that one of the Dakotaverse stars is the superhero who can save existence, thus, keeping Dharma from doing something dreadful. But which hero is the savior? In Milestone Forever #2, Dharma looks towards Hardware and Static. One is at a crossroads, however, and the other is having an adventure through his future.

As much as I liked the first issue of Milestone Forever, this second issue is a big improvement over the first. The first issue came across as a nostalgic piece of 1980s superhero fight comics, but #2 just seems nostalgic, a sentiment I share. The Hardware story, drawn by the incomparable Denys Cowan, and the Static story, drawn by the underrated ChrisCross, simultaneously celebrates the two characters in a low key way and pines for what was and will likely never again be.

Cowan’s art, great on its own, takes flight thanks to Snakebite’s fiery colors, and the art once again testifies to the potential that the Hardware comic book not only had but reached. Snakebite’s dazzling array of hues make the ChrisCross drawn story a tale that recalls both Static’s four-color foundation and its gritty take on it.

But Dwayne McDuffie must always get his due. He is a thoroughly underrated writer, and here, his magic is not in merging two universes, but rather in affirming that Milestone superhero comic books weren’t a stunt. They were the real fucking deal.

A-

I Reads You Review: MILESTONE FOREVER #1

MILESTONE FOREVER No. 1

DC COMICS

WRITER: Dwayne McDuffie

PENCILS/INKS: John Paul Leon (framing sequence)
PENCILS: Mark D. Bright
INKS: Romeo Tanghal
LETTERS: Sal Cipriano
COLORS: Snakebite
COVER: Admira
48pp, Color, $5.99

Milestone was a comics imprint published through DC Comics’ from 1993 through 1997. The brainchild of Milestone Media, a collective of African-American comic book creators, the imprint produced comic books featuring minority characters, specifically African-American characters and superheroes. The imprint published several titles including Hardware, Icon, and Blood Syndicate. One of them, Static, gave birth to an Emmy Award winning animated series, Static Shock.

Except for sporadic appearances in DC Comics series, Milestone’s characters mostly disappeared. In the summer of the 2008, Milestone Media co-founder Dwayne McDuffie announced that the Milestone characters would be merged into the DC Universe. Milestone’s universe was known as the “Dakotaverse,” named for the fictional Midwestern city, Dakota, where most of the early stories were set. Published earlier this year, Milestone Forever is the event comic book miniseries that chronicled the events leading to that merger.

Milestone Forever #1 stars the core Milestone characters, but opens with a framing sequence focusing on a character named Dharma. He initiated the “Big Bang,” the event gave characters like Static their superpowers. Now, Dharma needs those same superheroes to save the universe. Meanwhile, the Dakotaverse heroes are having their own issues. They are caught in a struggle begun by Holocaust between the old and new versions of the Blood Syndicate.

Thanks to the pencil art of Mark D. Bright, Milestone Forever #1 has a thoroughly 1980s vibe. Bright’s page design often emphasizes large panels, half-splash pages, and sometimes full splash pages – the better to capture superhero combat. The style recalls John Byrne’s art on his short run on the Hulk in the mid-80s and John Romita, Jr.’s art on Cable and Uncanny X-Men in the early 1990s. This is old school superhero comics (in a good way), but with colorist Snakebite’s fiery hues to give the art a modern touch.

I like Milestone, more now than I did in its original incarnation, but I don’t know if Dwayne McDuffie’s script offers anything new that would attract readers who ignored Milestone a decade-and-half ago. For Milestone fans, this is a nice goodbye that looks like the way it used to be.

B+

[This issue has pin-up pages, including a Hardware illustration by J.H. Williams.]

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