#IReadsYou Review: Nita Hawes' NIGHTMARE Blog #6

NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #6
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Szymon Kudranski
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Jason Shawn Alexander
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (April 2022)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“The Fire Next Time” Part VI: “Revelations”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander.  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes.  It has been drawn by the artists Jason Shawn Alexander, well-BEE, and Patrick Reynolds, with Szymon Kudranski being the current artist.  Colorist Luis Nct and letterer by Marshall Dillon complete the creative team.  The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.

In Baltimore, Maryland, which some call “Bodymore, Murderland,” there is a woman named Dawnita “Nita” Hawes.  She is the owner of “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita when they have a problem of a supernatural or paranormal nature.  Nita has just begun her quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of her dead brother, Jason.

As Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #6 (“Revelations”) opens, Jason chats with Anansi the Spider-God, about his life and about Nita.  Her first case is a hot mess, and Hell is threatening to spill over into the land of the living.  Now, Jason and Anansi must travel to Hell to free Nita from the one of the four demon kings, Corson, who snatched her soul from her body.  Now, he won't let go, but maybe it isn't necessarily Corson's power that is keeping her in Perdition.

Meanwhile, an elderly, wheel-chair bound Steve Carpenter waits in his mansion for a visit from the man he and his late business partner, Harry Boartfield, screwed over.  That would be one “Howlin'” Henry Hawkins, legendary blues singer and currently possessed by Corson.  Can Nita free her ass in time to save Carpenter's old white ass?

THE LOWDOWN:  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a spin-off of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's hit vampire comic book, Killadelphia.  Nita's connections to the series play a substantial part in this opening story arc, “The Fire Next Time,” which has now come to an end.

As dark as this series has been, writer Rodney Barnes has found time for humor, and this sixth issue shows that the supernatural are willing to talk shit to one another even with all Hell on the line.  In a strange way, it makes the threat of danger more dangerous or more threatening.  This is another reason why Nita reminds me of John Constantine and his dark fantasy and multitude of moods series, Hellblazer.  However, thus far, Barnes does not make Nita all-powerful, and it seems that he will grow the character before our very eyes.  What is she really and who or what will she be?

Artist Szymon Kudranski offers a mix of graphical storytelling styles – from clean line work and a smooth brushstroke to jarring and pitch-black compositions for the panels in Hell and from Hell.  Kudranski captures the series' signature – hope and damnation – and he conveys the right moods for a story arc that has an ending and also lingering elements and plot lines.

So, wow!  What a ride.  The series takes a quick break, which gives you, dear readers, a chance to read this first case in Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Killadelphia and of the original Hellblazer will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.

A+

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


https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

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#IReadsYou Review: Nita Hawes' NIGHTMARE Blog #5

NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #5
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Szymon Kudranski
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jason Shawn Alexander
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (March 2022)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“The Fire Next Time” Part V: “Soul Searching”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander.  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes.  It has been drawn by the artists Jason Shawn Alexander, well-BEE, and Patrick Reynolds, with Szymon Kudranski being the current artist.  Colorist Luis Nct and letterer by Marshall Dillon complete the creative team.  The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.

In Baltimore, Maryland, which some call “Bodymore, Murderland,” there is a woman named Dawnita “Nita” Hawes.  She is the owner of “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita when they have a problem of a supernatural or paranormal nature.  Nita has just begun her quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of her dead brother, Jason.

As Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #5 (“Soul Searching”) opens, an elderly, wheel-chair bound Steve Carpenter attends the graveside funeral of his son, daughter-in-law, and two grandsons.  Once upon a time, Carpenter and his late business partner, Harry Boartfield, owned the recording contract of the legendary blues singer, “Howlin'” Henry Hawkins.  Old Henry gave his body over to one of the four demon kings, Corson, to pay back Carpenter and Boartfield for screwing him over.  Carpenter's kin just happened to be on the worst end of the payback.

Somewhere down below, our new favorite paranormal investigator, Nita Hawes, is philosophizing with a big boss demon.  And if that weren't bad enough, Nita will end up in a still worse place and have to deal with an ex – someone familiar to us.

THE LOWDOWN:  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a spin-off of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's hit vampire comic book, Killadelphia.  Nita's connections to the series play a big part in this opening story arc, “The Fire Next Time,” which has reached it penultimate issue.

Writer Rodney Barnes approaches Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog with the same force of imagination with which he brings to Killadelphia.  However, Nita Hawes is the eye of the storm in her own series in a way that no single character in Killadelphia is.  In that way, Nita has power in a manner that the character John Constantine had in his series, Hellblazer.  Since DC Comics ruined Hellblazer, Barnes' has created the perfect series to take its place.

Artist Szymon Kudranski current run as the series' artist is straight hellfire.  Kudranski brings Barnes' occult infusions to life with madness and magic, and he makes the “Nightmare” in the title stay nightmarish.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Killadelphia and of the original Hellblazer will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.

A+

10 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

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#IReadsYou Review: Nita Hawes' NIGHTMARE Blog #4

NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #4
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Szymon Kudranski
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jason Shawn Alexander
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (February 2022)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“The Fire Next Time” Part IV: “When the Music Stops”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a new comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander.  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes.  It has been drawn by the artists Jason Shawn Alexander, well-BEE, and Patrick Reynolds, with Szymon Kudranski being the artist on the current issue.  Colorist Luis Nct and letterer by Marshall Dillon complete the creative team.  The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.

In Baltimore, Maryland, which some call “Bodymore, Murderland,” there is a woman named Dawnita “Nita” Hawes.  She is the owner of “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita when they have a problem of a supernatural or paranormal nature.  Nita has just begun her quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of her dead brother, Jason.

As Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #4 (“When the Music Stops”) opens, we learn what drove legendary blues singer, “Howlin'” Henry Hawkins, to give his body over to one of the four demon kings, Corson.  In the present, Nita and Anansi the Spider-God take on Henry and discover the legion of monstrosities that Corson has placed in his body.

Nita, however, doesn't take Jason's warning as seriously as she should.  The paranormal investigator is going from hunter to prey.  Who is Corson's ultimate prize?  Plus, some Killadelphia references slide into the story.

THE LOWDOWN:  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a spin-off of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's hit vampire comic book, Killadelphia.  In fact, Dawnita “Nita” Hawes is the ex-lover of one of Killadelphia's lead characters, Jimmy Sangster, Jr.

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog has established that it is a comic book that can stand on its own.  Well, writer Rodney Barnes offers so much good storytelling in this fourth issue that if it were a cake, it would put the people who tasted it into a diabetic coma.  It is so good that I think it broke my vocabulary.  I can say that Barnes presents Henry Hawkin's back story in a way that definitely made me sympathetic in the context of the “deal with the Devil” that Henry made.

Szymon Kudranski, the artist for Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #4, does a wonderful job creating this graphical story from Barnes' magical script.  Topped by Luis Nct's splatterfest of nightmarish neon colors, and this fourth issue is a masterpiece.  The devilish cherry on top is Marshall Dillon's lettering that shouts the dialogue like curses.

We have a winner in Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.  I curse you to read it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Killadelphia and of the original Hellblazer will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.

A+

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


https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

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#IReadsYou Review: NITA HAWES NIGHTMARE BLOG #3

NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #3
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: well-BEE
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Jason Shawn Alexander
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (January 2022)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“The Fire Next Time” Part III: “Along Came a Spider”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a new comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander.  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes and drawn by well-BEE; colored by Luis Nct; and lettered by Marshall Dillon.  The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.

In Baltimore, Maryland, which some call “Bodymore, Murderland,” there is a woman named Dawnita “Nita” Hawes.  She is the owner of “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita when they have a problem of a supernatural or paranormal nature.  Nita has just begun her quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of her dead brother, Jason.

As Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #3 (“Along Came a Spider”) opens, Anansi, the God of Stories and Knowledge, arrives.  Detective Harden slowly comes around to seeing things Nita Hawes' way … slowly.  Nita also has a conversation with Jason.

Meanwhile, our heroine travels back to Annapolis, Maryland, in a bid to uncover the lost history of legendary blues singer, “Howlin'” Henry Hawkins.  He is now a resident of “Happy Acres Rest Home,” and his body is a vessel for the demon, Corson, who continues his plot against humanity.  As Nita gets deeper into Hawkins' history, Corson moves closer to her.  And what does Anansi want?

THE LOWDOWN:  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a spin off of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's hit vampire comic book, Killadelphia.  In fact, Dawnita “Nita” Hawes is the ex-lover of one of Killadelphia's lead characters, Jimmy Sangster, Jr.

The first three issues of Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog have established that this comic book can stand on its own.  Still, writer Rodney Barnes helps the readers find delight in the threads that connect the two series.  In Nightmare Blog, Barnes is offering a blend of dark fantasy and horror that is intense its violence, but also intimate in its telling.  This narrative is personal because it is so much about Nita Hawes, and it is vulnerable because she is vulnerable.  That is best exemplified in her conversations with her brother, Jason's spirit.  For all its lovely demonic violence, this series feels like a character study that spreads out from Nita to other characters.

[Also, both Nita and Jason have paid high costs to live in the United States, and I wonder if their unhealed wounds represent all our wounds.  When I say “our,” I mean Black and Brown people only, boo.]

The beautiful art by well-BEE, with its illustrative qualities, brings Barnes' potent imaginings to life.  There would be no comic book without the comic book artist, and well-BEE is making Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog an incredible comic book.

With Luis Nct and company's dream slash nightmarish colors and Marshall Dillon sounds of Hades lettering, the pentagram is complete.  We have a winner in Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog, the comic book I insist you read – from Hell with kisses, Leroy.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Killadelphia and of the original Hellblazer will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.

A+

10 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

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#IReadsYou Review: NITA HAWES NIGHTMARE BLOG #2

NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #2
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: well-BEE
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jason Shawn Alexander; Patric Reynolds with Luis Nct
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (December 2021)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“The Fire Next Time” Part II: “The Last Song”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a new comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander.  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes and drawn by well-BEE; colored by Luis Nct; and lettered by Marshall Dillon.  The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.

In Baltimore, Maryland, which some call “Bodymore, Murderland,” there is a woman named Dawnita “Nita” Hawes.  She is the owner of “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita when they have a problem of a supernatural or paranormal nature.  Nita has just begun her quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of her dead brother, Jason.

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #2 (“The Last Song”) travels back to Annapolis, Maryland, September 19, 1963.  That's when blues singer, “Howlin'” Henry Hawkins, met the two young white men who would manage his musical recording career to greatness and to acclaim.  In the present day, Henry's room at the “Happy Acres Rest Home” is the scene of a gruesome murder.

Nita Hawes' paranormal-hunting “Nightmare Blog” has gotten its first cry for help, but the person calling for help is William “Bill” Crowdy,” the man whose body was found dismembered in Howlin' Henry's room.  With the case seemingly at a dead end, Nita offers her services to Detective Harden, who is investigating the murder.  Meanwhile, the demon Corson continues his plot against humanity.

THE LOWDOWN:  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a spin off of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's hit vampire comic book, Killadelphia.  In fact, Dawnita “Nita” Hawes is the ex-lover of one of Killadelphia's lead characters, Jimmy Sangster, Jr.

The first issue of Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog established that this comic book could stand on its own, and Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #2 seconds that emotion.  Writer Rodney Barnes carries over the sharp historical, political, and religious commentary from an African-American perspective that defines much of Killadelphia.  However, Nita Hawes' life experience makes this comic book more personal and intimate.

Barnes uses Nita's life and dilemmas to drive this narrative, so Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is more like DC Comics' late, great Hellblazer, with its intimate focus on the series' lead, John Costantine.  Since DC screwed up Hellblazer, it is good to have Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog stalking the occult side of American comic books.

The beautiful art by well-BEE, with its illustrative qualities, is not only good storytelling, but it is also wonderfully moody, haunting, and imbued with evil.  As usual, Luis Nct's powerful colors come into to scare readers' asses even more.  And there is letterer Marshall Dillon, creeping around and delivering the sinister exposition of this story.  What a great creative team!

Of course, I will always recommend both Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog and Killadelphia, but you don't need to read the latter to cry for Nita's help.  This comic book can do good all by itself.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Killadelphia and of the original Hellblazer will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.

A+

10 out of 10

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


https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/


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

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

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

#IReadsYou Review: NITA HAWES' Nightmare Blog #1

NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #1
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
LAYOUTS: Jason Shawn Alexander
ART: Jason Shawn Alexander and Patric Reynolds
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Jason Shawn Alexander; Francesco Mattina; Patric Reynolds with Luis Nct
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (October 2021)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“The Fire Next Time” Part I: “Walking Into Shadows”

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a new comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander.  It is a spin-off of their hit dark fantasy and vampire comic book series, Killadelphia (Image Comics).  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes and drawn by Alexander and Patric Reynolds; colored by Luis Nct; and lettered by Marshall Dillon.  The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.

Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #1 (“Walking Into Shadows”) opens in Baltimore, Maryland.  Some call it “Bodymore, Murderland,” and it still is the home of Edgar Allan Poe and Freddie Gray.  We meet Dawnita “Nita” Hawes, the ex-lover of Jimmy Sangster, Jr., who has moved on from Baltimore to the vampire killing fields of Philadelphia a.k.a. “Killadelphia.”

But one does not need to leave Baltimore to find evil, which lurks the streets, adding more bodies to the name “Bodymore.”  For instance, Corson, a demon, has surfaced from the underworld and has possessed a once-wronged man.  Now, Corson's vengeance will come at the cost of humanity's despair.  Luckily for Baltimore, there is “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita, who has begun a quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of dead brother, Jason.

THE LOWDOWN:  Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog may be Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's spin-off of their hit horror comic book, Killadelphia, but they quickly establish the new comic book as its own thing.  Sister is doing it for herself, indeed.

Although Killadelphia is steeped in vampires, the series' river of blood begins in the poison waters of a highly-dysfunctional father-son relationship.  The narrative and plot elements are edgy and hard.  For Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog, writer Rodney Barnes offers Dawnita Hawes' wellspring of guilt and grief.  The narrative, at least this first chapter, is intimate – painfully so – and interior.  I think that by bringing in Nita's dead brother, Jason, a child killed by the “collateral damage” of American gun violence, as the voice in her head, Barnes forces readers to deal with Nita's existential crisis.  Next to that, we also get to enjoy some horror violence via Baltimore existential crisis – demons slicin', dicin', and choppin' up some human meat.

The art and graphical storytelling by Jason Shawn Alexander and Patric Reynolds bring that interplay of the intimate and the horror to life in the muted shades of Nita and in the hard-boiled gore of demonic homicide.  Alexander and Reynolds' art recalls the gloomy and imaginative art of the comic books that would give birth to DC Comics' Vertigo imprint:  Swamp Thing, Hellblazer, and The Sandman.

Luis Nct and his color team heighten the surreal and melodramatic moods of Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #1.  Also, I think that Marshall Dillon's lettering gives this first issue what it needs, the sense of a soundtrack full of spooky sounds.  And I love it.  I hadn't even realized that this was Barnes and Alexander's new Killadelphia-related title until a few days ago.  Now, I am happy to recommend it to you, dear readers.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Killadelphia will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.

A+

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


https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/


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

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

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).

#IReadsYou Review: KILLADELPHIA #15

KILLADELPHIA #15
IMAGE COMICS

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Jason Shawn Alexander with Well-Bee (pp 9-10)
COLORS: Luis Nct
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: Jason Shawn Alexander
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Paul Pope
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S.(July 2021)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Killadelphia and Elysium Gardens created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander

“Home is Where the Hatred Is” Part III: “Manifest Destiny”

Killadelphia is an apocalyptic vampire and dark fantasy comic book series from writer Rodney Barnes and artist Jason Shawn Alexander and is published by Image Comics.  At the center of this series is a police officer caught in a lurid conspiracy in which vampires attempt to rule Philadelphia, “the City of Brotherly Love.”  Colorist Luis Nct and letterer Marshall Dillon complete Killadelphia's creative team.

Killadelphia focuses on James “Jim” Sangster, Jr. and his father, revered Philadelphia homicide detective, James Sangster, Sr., thought to be dead.  He is actually a vampire.  Now father and son lead a ragtag team comprised of a medical examiner, a dead president, and a rebellious, but special young vampire (Tevin Thompkins a.k.a. “See Saw”) in a bid to save Philly from an ambitious and murderous former First Lady.

As Killadelphia #15 (“Manifest Destiny”) opens, there is a new vampire player in town, and it's another “Founding Father” and former president.  Meet Tom Jefferson.  He has a tale to tell, philosophically, of course, and he is making a claim on the throne.

Elsewhere, Toppy and the rest of Abigail Adams' inner circle invade the Sangsters' sanctum.  Oh, they also want to know where See Saw has gone, but isn't that his body, all curled up on the floor?  Meanwhile, See Saw is meeting important religious figures like Jesus (who is Black), but he may have to go back to an original god to get the help and the answers he seeks.

THE LOWDOWN:  Killadelphia hits the midway point of its third story arc, “Home is Where the Hatred Is.”  After the pyrotechnics of the previous story arc, “Burn Baby Burn,” this new story line started with a focus on family – damned and otherwise, but now, its pyrotechnics begin.

I find myself endlessly fascinated by writer Rodney Barnes' plots, but sometimes, I really get a chance to admire how he drops history, religion, culture, politics, and philosophy, scattered like drops of enlightening blood throughout his scripts.  That he has brought Thomas Jefferson into play shows that Killadelphia is not growing cold, but will keep surprising and scaring us.

Artist Jason Shawn Alexander and colorist Luis Nct dance through Barnes' script bringing each scene or sequence into life with its own unique look.  From lurid to luminescent, Killadelphia is a comic book of different worlds and different textures and moods and not a place where things are from a melting pot...

Killadelphia #15 is a another great chapter, and you should be reading it, dear readers.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of vampire comic books and of exceptional dark fantasy will want Killadelphia.

[Killadelphia #15 has a backup feature: “Elysium Gardens” Part 8 “The Power of One” by Rodney Barnes, Chris Mitten, Sherard Jackson, and Marshall Dillon]

A+

10 out of 10

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


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