Review: STAR WARS: The Last Jedi - DJ: Most Wanted #1

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI – DJ: MOST WANTED No. 1
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Ben Acker and Ben Blacker
PENCILS: Kevin Walker
INKS: Marc Deering
COLORS: Java Tartaglia
LETTERS: VC's Clayton Cowles
COVER: Jeff Dekal
VARIANT COVERS: Movie Cover
36pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (March 2018)

Rated “T”

“DJ: Most Wanted”

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – DJ: Most Wanted #1 is a one-shot comic book.  It is a comic book tie-in to the film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), the second movie in the Star Wars “sequel trilogy” (which began with 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens).  DJ: Most Wanted is written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker; drawn by Kevin Walker (pencils) and Marc Deering (inks); colored by Java Tartaglia; and lettered by Clayton Cowles.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – DJ: Most Wanted #1 opens in Canto Bight, the infamous casino city.  The wily gambler DJ is using his immense skills as a code breaker, hacker, and slicer to win even when he is losing.  This evening, he has managed to capture the interest of two honest cops, Pol Ipol and Oosha Choi, but it is the attention of the dishonest to which DJ must pay attention.  The worst of them all is someone known as “Denel Strench,” but who or what is he and why is everyone wary of him?

This is the second worst Star Wars comic book that Marvel Comics has published since it reacquired the license to publish Star Wars comic books several years ago.  What is the worst, you ask?  That would be (Star Wars Special) C-3PO #1, which was published back in the spring of 2016.

Why do I dislike DJ: Most Wanted so?  For starters, its title character is “DJ,” a character that I found unlikable and extraneous in the recent film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.  In fact, this entire subplot involving DJ in the film was dumb and unnecessary, and basically, Star Wars: The Last Jedi – DJ: Most Wanted #1 is a dumb and unnecessary comic book.

Even the art by Kevin Walker, who is doing an excellent job on the Star Wars ongoing series, Doctor Aphra, under performs here.  I think writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker did a good job on the previous spin off comic book from The Last Jedi (Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Storms of Crait #1).  They stumble here because they really do not have much with which to work.  This is basically a story that explains why DJ is in jail when we first meet the character in The Last Jedi, but nothing is known about his character other than that he is a two-faced opportunist.

Unless you are someone that has to collect every Star Wars comic book, I recommend that you keep the 4.99 (plus tax) or so that it would cost you to buy this pitiful comic book in your pocket.

3 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: THE SILENCER #1

THE SILENCER No. 1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

SCRIPT: Dan Abnett
PENCILS: John Romita, Jr.
INKS: Sandra Hope
COLORS: Dean White
LETTERS: Tom Napolitano
COVER: John Romita, Jr. and Sandra Hope with Dean White
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (March 2018)

Rated “T+” for Teen Plus

The Silencer created by Dan Abnett and John Romita, Jr.

“Code of Honor” Part 1

DC Comics has launched a new superhero comics initiative, “The New Age of DC Heroes,” coming out of its Dark Nights: Metal event miniseries.  This line of comic books will consist of eight new comic book series:  The Curse of Brimstone, Damage, The Immortal Men, New Challengers, Sideways, The Terrifics, The Unexpected, and the subject of this review, The Silencer.

The Silencer is written by co-creator Dan Abnett; drawn by co-creator John Romita, Jr. (pencils) and Sandra Hope; colored by Dean White; and lettered by Tom Napolitano.  The Silencer focuses on a woman who was once an assassin, but now lives a normal life with a normal family.

The Silencer #1 introduces a woman who is super-strong, highly trained, and armed with devastating, stealthy, meta-human abilities.  Once she was “The Silencer,” a virtually invincible assassin.  Now, The Silencer is Honor Guest, a woman who loves her life as wife to her husband, Blake, and as a mother to their young son, Ben a.k.a. “Jellybean.”  However, the arrival of Killbox signals that the “Underlife” lives on and that Leviathan wants Honor back.

I am a fan of artist John Romita, Jr., and he draws some impressive moments in this comic book.  I am a fan of colorist Dean White, and he delivers some candy-coated hues here.  I am a fan of letter Tom Napolitano, and he usually adds some punch to the dialogue and exposition, which is needed here.

Despite an impressive cover, The Silencer #1 is an OK first issue, but there is not much here, beyond the efforts of the graphics creative team, to entice readers to return for a second issue.  The Silencer #1 reads like one of those muscle-bound, big-gun comic books that were almost half of Image Comics' initial input in the early to mid-1990s; think Youngblood, Wetworks, Codename: Strykeforce, etc.

This new age of heroes is new in names only, and is not particularly interesting.

5 out of 10

[This comic book includes a preview of The Immortal Men by Jim Lee and James Tynion IV.]

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: CROSSWIND #1

CROSSWIND No. 1
IMAGE COMICS – @ImageComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Gail Simone
ART/COLORS: Cat Staggs
LETTERS: Simon Bowland
COVER: Cat Staggs
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (June 2017)

Rated “M/ Mature”

Crosswind is a comic book series created by artist Cat Staggs and writer Gail Simone.  Published by Image Comics, the series debuted in the summer of 2017.  Crosswind focuses on a hit man and a housewife caught in a body-swapping paradox.

Crosswind #1 introduces two disparate souls.  The first is Cason Ray Bennett, a slick and ruthless Chicago-based hit man.  The second is Juniper “June” Elanore Blue, a downtrodden Seattle housewife.  Cason has to pop-a-cap in his friend, Del, to appease his boss, Cruz.  June has to deal with a philandering husband, Jim, and a sullen stepson, Kelly.  Now, at the most inconvenient of inconvenient times, things get crossed for Cason and June.

I have often suspected that if Gail Simone were a man named Gale Simone, she/he would get the kind of comic book writing gigs from Mavel and DC Comics that Nick Spencer, Cullen Bunn, Scott Snyder and Tom King get.  I say that knowing that Simone has generally done quite well with DC Comics.

With Crosswind, I think that Simone will show just how inventive a writer she is or is not.  The fictional conceit of two people switching bodies is so well-worn as a supernatural plot that it is frankly tiresome.  Films have explored the idea of people's souls switching bodies for decades, the most famous probably being the two versions of Walt Disney's Freaky Friday.  So many television series have had at least one episode in which body-swapping played a prominent role; I think the original “Star Trek” TV series used it or something similar several times.  So what's coming here, Ms. Simone?

Cat Staggs, series artist and colorist, delivers some really work with this first issue.  Everything in her graphical storytelling is urgent and edgy, and the story jumps off the page as if it is trying to grab the reader.  Staggs certainly grabs me, and the emotions resonate.  For instance, June is being sexually harassed by a group of young men who are her neighbors.  June's discomfort and the young men's vulgarity feel real; Staggs delivers in a way that could make the readers think that they are witnessing an actual in-progress assault.

I am surprised by Crosswind #1.  I really did not expect much from it, but I want to read more.

8 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: LOVE AND ROCKETS Volume 4 #2

LOVE AND ROCKETS VOL. IV No. 2
FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS – @fantagraphics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

WRITERS: Gilbert Hernandez; Jaime Hernandez – @BetomessGilbert @xaimeh
ARTISTS: Gilbert Hernandez; Jaime Hernandez
EDITOR: Eric Reynolds – @earinc
COVER: Gilbert Hernandez
BACK COVER: Jaime Hernandez
VARIANT COVER: Jaime Hernandez
36pp, B&W, $4.99 U.S. (March 2017)

Love and Rockets, the seminal alternative comic book, produced by brothers Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, has been published since 1982 by Fantagraphics Books.  It started as a magazine-sized comic book that ran for 50 issues (1983 to 1996) and later returned for a 20-issue run as a standard-sized comic book, (Vol II, 2001-2007).  Then, it became an annual graphic novel series which ran for eight volumes, Love and Rockets: New Stories (Vol. III, 2008-2016).  [It is important to note that Gilbert and Jaime do not collaborate, and that each brother has his own characters and stories.]

In late 2016, Love and Rockets Vol. IV returned the series to its comic magazine format that fans of the original series fell in love with and probably still love and prefer.  I prefer the original format, but I understand that for various reasons the creators and publishers felt the need to initiate format changes at different times.

Under a front cover by Gilbert, Love and Rockets Vol. IV #2 offers six stories, three by Gilbert (Beto) and three by Jaime.  The issue opens with “Fritz Haters Will Just Have to Be Patient,” (Gilbert) and focuses on Rosalba “Fritz” Martinez, international cult movie and television star.  She is still working through the divorce from her wife, Pipo.  However, the bigger event is final meeting Rosario, the until-now hidden twin of Fritz's daughter, Baby.

In “More for the Haters,” Rosario frets about meeting her twin sister, Baby, until Rosario's friend, Andres, forces the meeting.  In “Nowhere, USA,” now that Fritz is reunited with her “lost” twin daughter, Rosario, it is time to introduce the girl to Aunt Petra, Fritz's sister.

On the Jaime side of things, a reunited Maggie and Hopey are still at a punk reunion, but as things wind down, Maggie realizes that not many of the old punks remember her.  In “Forest Spirits,”  Tonta Agajanian is accompanied by her half-sister, Vivian “Frogmouth” Solis to a local forest.  When Vivian discovers that the local urban legend of the “forest spirit” might be real, she reacts differently from everyone else.  In the final story, everyone is asking, “Where is Anima?”

As I wrote in my review of the first issue, I knew that I would like the return of Love and Rockets to a magazine-sized publication.  There was and is something magical about Love and Rockets presented in magazine-size.  Although, both Gilbert and Jaime focus on different and/or new characters, Love and Rockets Vol. IV recalls in me the sensations of reading the original run of the series.

Gilbert's Fritz stories are often absurd, over-the-top, and farcical, yet the drama is potent.  The characters are achingly human, at times frivolous and hopeless, and at other times, lovable and loving.  The final two pages of “Fritz Haters Will Just Have to Be Patient” exemplify that, especially when Fritz tells her husband/baby daddy, “I'm not wearing panties.”

Maggie and Hopey are trying not to feel their age, no matter how much they show it, but there is beauty in the fact that they are still living and trying to enjoy life.  The power and freshness of “Locas,” (the first true Jaime Hernandez epic) now resides in the world of Tonta Agajanian, and while Maggie and Hopey might have slowed down, Jaime has not – at least according to these Tonta stories.

Love and Rockets Vol. IV #2 shows that L&R is not back; it never left.  Perhaps, Los Bros. have found vitality in a familiar format.

9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for February 6, 2019

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