I Reads You Review: DANGER GIRL: Mayday #1

DANGER GIRL: MAYDAY #1
IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing

WRITER:  Andy Hartnell
PENCILS: John Royle
INKS: Jose Marzan, Jr.
COLORS: Romulo Fajardo
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
EDITOR: Scott Dunbier
COVER: John Royle and Jose Marzan, Jr. with Romulo Fajardo
VARIANT COVERS: John Royle and Jose Marzan, Jr. with Romulo Fajardo (subscription cover); Jamie Tyndall with Ula Mos (Yesteryear Comics exclusive cover); Jamie Tyndall (Yesteryear Comics exclusive cover); “No art” (Yesteryear Comics exclusive cover)
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2014)

I was not a fan of fan-favorite comic book artist, J. Scott Campbell (who once went by the name Jeffrey Scott), early in his career.  I thought his art was a poor imitation of Art Adams’ style and an even worse impersonation of Jim Lee’s art.  However, I became a fan of Campbell’s work over the course of his run on Image and Wildstorm Production’s Gen13 comic book series.

So when it was first announced all those years ago, I was thrilled by the news of Campbell’s first creator-owned series, Danger Girl, as part of the launch of Cliffhanger, a sort of “young guns” imprint from Wildstorm.  After the release of a preview comic, Danger Girl #1 (March 1998) introduced a group of female secret agents whose adventures were a mixture of Indiana Jones and James Bond.  In fact, Danger Girl’s young female stars were like Bond Girls, except that the girls were the ones getting to be James Bond in action.

I liked Danger Girl.  It was a comic book version of a big-budget, Hollywood action comedy – Lethal Weapon meets Charlie’s Angels.  However, I grew frustrated that Campbell, along with writer Andy Hartnell and inker Alex Garner, only produced seven issues of Danger Girl over a four-year period.  [If you want to give them credit for 10 issues because two of the seven issues were double-sized and because of the preview comic book, you can certainly do that.].

Scott Dunbier, the Wildstorm editor of the original series, has guided Danger Girl back to life in recent years through a series of miniseries.  I was visiting a “local” comic book shop when I spotted the first issue of the latest mini, Danger Girl: Mayday.  I would have ignored it, as I have been ignoring Danger Girl comic books for a decade, but that spectacular first-issue cover by John Royle (pencils), Jose Marzan, Jr. (inks), and Romulo Fajardo (colors) caught my eye.

If there is such a thing as classic Danger Girl art, Danger Girl: Mayday #1 has it.  Royle and Marzan recall the original Danger Girl art team of J. Scott Campbell (pencils) and Alex Garner (inks).  In fact, I think Royle and Marzan are doing better J. Scott Campbell than Campbell himself.  Royle has certainly mastered the Campbell good-girl art thing:  curvy hips, shapely breateses; and booty that recalls Vivica Fox’s stripper pole ass in Independence Day.  Gimme more.  Royle and Marzan, however, are not merely copying; the drawing and storytelling is polished, professional, and some of the year’s best art.

Oh, the story, you ask.  It involves Danger Girl traitor-ho, Natalia Kassle, if I’m correct.  But I’ll figure that out later, maybe by the second issue.  For now, I want to enjoy the art of Danger Girl: Mayday.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

"Halloween Man" Scares comiXology

After thirteen strong years as a cult-favorite webcomic, "Halloween Man" is rolling into comiXology and Monsterverse with a new ongoing series. After a decade of smashing the troupes of Gothic Horror and Weird Science, our half-dead hero is taking on High Fantasy! Sailing through outer space in a Viking warship and arriving on ape-back, the dwarf king has come to burn Solar City to the ground. It's the undead vs. the under-sized as Earth's Weirdest Superhero rushes to save the day.

This offbeat, action-packed story is brought to you by series writer/creator Drew Edward, artist/graphic designer Sergio Calvet (Magic of Myths, The Dark of the Forest), and editor Russell Hillman (Fast & Frightening -- A Comic About Roller Derby).

Featuring back-up comics pulled from Halloween Man's long webcomic run and packing more thrills than a big budget blockbuster, this is your must read digital comic this week.  All for the low-price of $2.99! Brought to you by Monsterverse!

Check MONSTERVERSE: http://monsterverse.com/ and find HALLOWEEN MAN on Comixology https://www.comixology.com/Monsterverse/comics-publisher/388-0

Afterschool Charisma: Doctor History X

I read Afterschool Charisma, Vol. 9

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin, and you can follow me on Twitter and visit my Indiegogo campaign.

I Reads You Review: THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: Deadboy Detectives #1

THE SANDMAN PRESENTS: DEADBOY DETECTIVES #1 (OF 4)
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Ed Brubaker
PENCILS: Bryan Talbot
INKS: Steve Leialoha
COLORS: Daniel Vozzo
LETTERS: Willie Schubert
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Dave McKean
32pp, Color, $2.50 U.S., $4.25 CAN (August 2001)

Suggested for mature readers

“The Secret of Immortality” “Part One”

The Sandman created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Keith, and Mike Dringenberg

Dead Boy Detectives created by Neil Gaiman and artists Matt Wagner and Malcolm Jones III

Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland are “The Dead Boy Detectives.”  They are two DC Comics fictional characters that first appeared in The Sandman #25 (cover dated: April, 1991) and were created by writer Neil Gaiman and artists Matt Wagner and Malcolm Jones III.

Since that debut, the Dead Boy Detectives have appeared in a number of comic books published under DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint.  In fact, the Dead Boy Detectives recently received their own eponymous, ongoing comic book series from Vertigo.  News of that new series re-ignited my desire to read the 2001 four-issue comic book miniseries, The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives.  It was written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Bryan Talbot (pencils) and Steve Leialoha (inks), with colors by Daniel Vozzo.

Paine and Rowland are not your average boy detectives (like the Hardy Boys).  Edwin Paine was murdered at his British boarding school in 1916, and spent 75 years in Hell.  He escaped in 1991 and met Charles Rowland at his old boarding school, during the events of The Sandman story arc, Seasons of Mist.  Rowland died during this time, but refused to accompany Death (one of “The Endless”), preferring the prospect of future adventures with Paine.  The two ghosts spent a decade haunting places, preparing to become “first-rate detectives.”

The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives #1 opens with the boys settling into their new office – a tree house.  Now, the Rowland and Paine Detective Agency needs a client, and they get one.  Marcia, a young runaway, tells our intrepid duo that many of her fellow street urchin friends have been disappearing and then turning up dead.  These are not ordinary deaths, however, as the corpses appear to have been quite aged and withered.  Marcia claims that the police are not willing to put much effort into investigating crimes against runaways and the homeless.

Ultimately, Marcia decides not to hire Paine and Rowland, as she does not take them seriously.  They decide to investigate anyway, but their hunt will force them to meet people who may be dangerous even to ghosts.

If the rest of The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives is junk, then, the series would have to have taken a steep fall, because it really is good.  Ed Brubaker takes the boy detective genre (as best exemplified by the aforementioned Hardy Boys) and made it more imaginative and maybe even a little smarter.  I prefer the bookish Rowland, but Brubaker makes the alpha-male Paine not only the perfect foil for his partner, but also the tough guy that a mystery-solving duo needs.  I like how Brubaker sends his young heroes to interesting places that seem as real as they are imaginative.

Talbot and Leialoha’s art fills the spaces of the pages, which also gives the story a sense of verisimilitude.  Vozzo’s colors permeate the graphical storytelling with a sense of magic.  We have pretty pictures and good fantasy storytelling.  I’m ready for more of The Sandman Presents: The Deadboy Detectives, and I am also prepared to move onto the new series.

A-

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Yaoi Manga Review: CRIMSON SPELL Volume 3

CRIMSON SPELL, VOL. 3
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga

CARTOONIST: Ayano Yamane – @yamaneayano
TRANSLATION: Adrienne Beck
LETTERS: NRP Studios
COVER: Ayano Yamane with Yukiko Whitley
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6423-4; paperback (April 2014) Rated “M” for “Mature”
178pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Tongues a waggin!  That’s for sure, in the latest volume of Crimson Spell.

Crimson Spell, created by Ayano Yamane, is a yaoi manga graphic novel series.  Yaoi manga are romance comics that depict relationships in which the romantic leads are male.  A subset of boys’ love (BL) manga, yaoi can also feature depictions of explicit sex between males.  A fantasy tale, Crimson Spell focuses on a handsome prince beset by a demon’s curse and the sorcerer who helps him fight that curse.

Crimson Spell revolves around 18-year-old Prince Valdrigr Alsvieth a/k/a Prince Vald, the eldest prince of the Alsvieth Kingdom.  An excellent and accomplished swordsman, Vald has been possessed by the sword, Yug Verlind, which has a curse that transforms Vald into a demon at night.  Halvir Hroptr a/k/a “Havi” is a sorcerer living in exile.  Because Havi is adept at breaking curses, Vald approaches him for help.  Havi discovers that intense physical intimacy helps tame the demon Vald becomes at night.

As Crimson Spell, Vol. 3 (Chapters 14 to 19) opens, Gileh, an ally and manipulator of demons, holds Havi captive.  Gileh wants to possess Yug Verlind, and now, he wants Vald to fight Havi to the death.  As incentive, Gileh threatens to kill Vald’s younger brother, Anri, whom he also apparently holds captive.

Forced to fight Havi, who is under an enchantment placed on him by Gileh, Vald transforms into full demon mode.  Halrein, a former friend of Havi’s, and Mars, a traveling swordsman who has pledged loyalty to Vald, want to help, but they are actually helpless to save Vald and Havi from death and destruction.

[This volume contains the bonus story, “The Fairy’s Cocoon.”]

As I wrote in a previous review of the Crimson Spell manga, the series seems serious about being fantasy fiction.  In some ways, it resembles sword and sorcery comic book adaptations of Robert E. Howard Conan the Cimmerian (or Barbarian) and is also visually similar to the various comics and OEL manga based on World of Warcraft.

Crimson Spell Volume 3 is filled with explosive fight scenes and raging displays of magic, and creator Ayano Yamane thrills her readers by placing her characters in peril that reads as being genuine.  Yamane also shows her serious-about-yaoi side with an entire chapter devoted to human sorcerer/human-demon hybrid sexual intercourse.  Apparently, Yamane thinks that boys’ love lovin’ should involve at least one guy being especially and exceedingly orally attentive to the penis.  Fun for all, for sure.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

www.SuBLimeManga.com
www.yamaneayano.com

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Grumble #2 Indiegogo Updates for April 24 2014

Updated information on perks at my Grumble #2 Indiegogo campaign - Leroy:

I Reads You Review: SCOOBY-DOO Team-Up #1

SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP #1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

STORY: Sholly Fisch
ART: Dario Brizuela
COLORS: Heroic Age
LETTERS: Saida Temofonte
EDITOR: Kristy Quinn
COVER: Dario Brizuela
28pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (May 2014)

Rated “E” for “Everyone”

Batman created by Bob Kane (with Bill Finger)

That famous Saturday morning cartoon dog, Scooby-Doo, and his human companions:  Shaggy Rogers, Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, and Fred Jones, first appeared in the Saturday morning animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-1971 from Hanna-Barbera).  This quintet is known as Mystery Inc. (or the “Mystery Inc. gang” or the “Scooby gang”).

The second Scooby-Doo animated series was The New Scooby-Doo Movies, which premiered on September 9, 1972 and ran for two seasons on CBS until 1974.  It was the first Scooby-Doo cartoon series that I ever saw, and it began my life-long love of Scooby-Doo and his pals.  It also began my life-long love affair with Batman and Robin.  The Dynamic Duo’s appearance on The New Scooby-Doo Movies marked the first time I ever saw them, and I was immediately fascinated by the mysterious Batman and his colorful young sidekick.  I can say that once I discovered that Batman was a comic book character, I became attached to DC Comics.

An hour-long series, The New Scooby-Doo Movies featured a rotating series of special guest stars.  Each episode guest-starred a real-life celebrity or well-known fictional character that joined the Mystery, Inc. gang in solving the mystery of the week.  Some celebrities were living at the time of an episode’s first airing (Don Knotts, Tim Conway, and Dick Van Dyke, to name a few).  Some were deceased or retired (The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy).  There were real-life celebrities who would become cartoon characters in other series (Harlem Globetrotters).  Some were stars of other Hanna-Barbera animated series (Josie and the Pussycats, Speedy Buggy).

I watched The New Scooby-Doo Movies every chance I got, even as an adult.  Now, DC Comics is producing Scooby-Doo Team-Up, a follow-up comic book series to The New Scooby-Doo Movies, and I have nothing but fanboy love for them for producing this new comic book.  After the comic book shops within driving distance of me sold out, I turned to Mile High Comics to find the first issue of Scooby-Doo Team-Up.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1 (“Man Bat and Robbin’”) teams Mystery Inc. with Batman and Robin to solve a mystery and to stop a crime.  Mystery Inc. is in an unknown city investigating reports of “a giant bat creature.”  The gang meets their old pals, Batman and Robin, who quickly inform them that the bat-creature is really tragic Batman adversary, Man-Bat.  But the group soon finds that their investigation is complicated by multiple “man-bats” (or “men-bats” as Shaggy calls them).

Over the years of reading articles, essays, reviews, etc. written about comic books, I have come to understand that some believe that in order for comic books to gain more new readers, especially those of elementary and middle school age, is to make comic books and graphic novels that are fun to read and are less engrossed with sometimes decades old plots, concepts, narratives, mythologies, etc.  Sometimes, it does seem as if the same few stories are being told over and over again.

On the other hand, DC Comics, for well over a decade, has been producing a line of children’s comics based on various Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network animated properties, like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and Scooby-Doo Team-Up.  They’re good; they’re fun to read.  I really can’t remember reading one that I did not like.

And I absolutely love Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1.  I figured that a comic book that matched Scooby-Doo and Batman and Robin could not possible please me because I would expect too much.  Please, please me, I asked of Scooby-Doo Team-Up #1.  It did, and it is the fun comic book that some of us believe American comic books need in order to attract more new readers.

In this brief, 21-page story, writer Sholly Fisch manages to give each character his or her own moment to shine, and Fisch makes them seem familiar – the way we’d expect them to be.  Fisch also offers a clever exchange acknowledging one of Batman and Robin’s appearances on The New Scooby-Doo Movies.  There is even a nod to Burt Ward’s Robin, from the old 1960s Batman television series.

In addition to the smooth manner in which he turns Fisch’s story into a snappy Scooby-Doo comic, artist Dario Brizuela recalls the ghosts of Hanna-Barbera past.  Brizuela’s art and graphical storytelling puts truth to DC Comics’ declaration that Scooby-Doo Team-Up is a successor to The New Scooby-Doo Movies.  Brizuela makes this comic book look like its source.

If this review reads like a declaration that (1) I am a big fan of this first issue and (2) I will continue to read Scooby-Doo Team-Up, then, you, dear reader, have impeccable reading skills.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

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