Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 31, 2019

IMAGE COMICS

MAY190055    BEAUTY #28 CVR A HAUN & FILARDI (MR)    $3.99
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MAY190073    ICE CREAM MAN #13 CVR A MORAZZO & OHALLORAN (MR)    $3.99
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MAY198901    WALKING DEAD #193 2ND PTG (MR)    $3.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for July 31, 2019

MARVEL COMICS

MAY190746    AVENGERS #22    $3.99
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MAY190969    X-23 TP VOL 02 X-ASSASSIN    $17.99
MAY190980    X-MEN MILESTONES TP MUTANT MASSACRE    $34.99

Comics, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for July 31, 2019

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS

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MAY191865    MONICA ADVENTURES HC VOL 03 WHOS SAYING NASTY THINGS    $13.99
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MAY191587    TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #117 LAST DAYS SALEM (MR)    $2.95
MAY192044    TEST #2 (MR)    $3.99
MAY198772    THESE SAVAGE SHORES #4 (2ND PTG VAR) (MR)    $3.99
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JUN191363    VOLITION TP VOL 01    $17.99
MAY191876    WE ARE HERE FOREVER GN    $14.99

MAGAZINES
JUN191879    CARTOONS MAGAZINE #22    $6.99
MAY191610    COMIC SHOP NEWS [90CT BUNDLE] #1676    $PI
JUN191729    FAMOUS MONSTERS ACK-IVES #2 HOUSE OF HAMMER    $16.99
MAR191796    HEAVY METAL #294 CVR A GIANCOLA (RES) (MR)    $8.95
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BOOKS
MAY192047    CARTOON GUIDE TO BIOLOGY GN    $19.99
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MAY198077    MARVEL ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW SC    $9.99
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MAY192174    SAGA OF TANYA EVIL LIGHT NOVEL SC VOL 06 NIL ADMIRARI    $14.00
MAY192269    VOICES OF A DISTANT STAR LIGHT NOVEL SC    $14.95

Review: SURFACING: Depth Perceptions #4

SURFACING: DEPTH PERCEPTIONS No. 4 (OF 4)
APPROBATION COMICS

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: B. Alex Thompson – @ApproBAT
ART: Nenad Cviticanin
COLORS: Santtos
LETTERS: Krugos
EDITORS: John Ward and Denise Thompson
COVER: Cesar Grego and Alivon Ortiz
32pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. / $1.99 digital-comic (2018; digital release date – October 31, 2018)

Rated: “M” for Mature / 17+ Only (comiXology)

Surfacing: Depth Perceptions is a four-issue comic book miniseries published by Approbation Comics.  It tells the story of Marcus Wright, a young man who visits an oceanic research facility directed by his childhood friend, Anton Parker, who has a business deal to offer Marcus.  The facility has captured a mermaid-like creature, and Marcus finds himself caught in the mystery of this creature and of its captivity.  Surfacing: Depth Perceptions is written by B. Alex Thompson; drawn by Nenad Cviticanin; colored by Santtos; and lettered by Krugos.

As Surfacing: Depth Perceptions #4 opens, Marcus tells Anton that he is going scuba diving in order to visit “The Gardens.”  These are underwater pods that contain hydroponic gardens.  Anton is against this, as he is increasingly paranoid about “Becca,” the name Marcus has given the mermaid.  Marcus is playing a dangerous game, as Anton and Becca each see a different side of him.  As his friend and the mermaid make their final plays, Marcus himself has to survive his own dangerous game.

The first three issues of Surfacing: Depth Perceptions are some of the prettiest comic books Approbation Comics has published to date, and four does not turn out to be the ugly duckling of the bunch.  Artists Cesar Grego and Alivon Ortiz have produced some pretty cover art for this series, using gorgeous illustrations and shimmering colors.  Their cover for Surfacing: Depth Perceptions takes a dark turn, as beauty gives way to a striking image that encapsulates the violent resolution to this series.

The interior art by Nenad Cviticanin has been consistently good with solid storytelling that keeps the shifting moods of this narrative blending.  Colorist Santtos delivers stellar work the second half of this issue, creating an atmosphere that moves from apocalypse to paradise.  The lettering by Krugos conveys this double-size issue's sudden resolution and its expectations for a hopeful future.

Writer B. Alex Thompson presents an ending that readers of this series would expect, with a twist or two and some back story.  One of the best writers of naturalistic dialogue in American comic books, Thompson lets the characters play out this drama in their own words.  Yes, we do get a killer ending, and it was quite exciting, but this finale is also thoughtful.

Surfacing: Depth Perceptions #4 gives us an excellent ending to an excellent comic book series.  So, dear readers, head over to comiXology to read the entire thing.

9 out of 10

Buy Surfacing: Depth Perceptions #4 at comiXology.
www.ApprobationComics.com
www.AlexThompsonWriter.com

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

Review: THE UNEXPECTED #1

THE UNEXPECTED No. 1
DC COMICS – @DCComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Steve Orlando and Ryan Sook
PENCILS: Cary Nord
INKS: Mick Gray and Wade von Grawbadger
COLORS: FCO Plascencia
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual
EDITOR: Katie Kubert
COVER: Ryan Sook
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S. (August 2018)

Rated “T” for Teen

The Unexpected created by Steve Orlando and Ryan Sook

Call of the Unknown: Part One – “Punch First”

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

The Unexpected is the eighth and final release in “The New Age of DC Heroes.”  The series is written by Steve Orlando and Ryan Sook; drawn by Cary Nord and Ryan Sook (pencils) and Mick Gray and Wade von Grawbadger (inks); colored by FCO Plascencia; and lettered by Carlos M. Mangual.  The Unexpected focuses on a group of unlikely heroes who are called to action across the Multiverse in the wake of the events depicted in Dark Nights: Metal.

The Unexpected #1 (“Punch First”) introduces Janet Fals.  She was a paramedic killed in the line of duty.  Civil Solutions, “ a futurist arms developer,” revives Janet giving her a new heart – something called “the Conflict Engine.”  Every 24 hours, she has to feed the Conflict Engine a fight or violence... or she dies.  Janet Fals is now known as the super-powered entity, “Firebrand.”

In her new life, Firebrand uses the name “Ronan,” and works at a VA hospital.  When a new and strange patient starts causing trouble, Ronan has to become Firebrand to deal with the Bad Samaritan, Neon the Unknown, Ascendant, and Viking Judge.

I don't know how much of this book is drawn by Ryan Sook and how much is drawn by Cary Nord.  I do know that Mick Gray and Wade von Grawbadger are two of the best inkers working in American superhero comic books today.  The result is that The Unexpected has the most beautiful art of any of “New Age” titles, which is quite a feat.  Many of the initial art teams on the “New Age” books turned out some pretty art, and some of the secondary teams have also delivered attractive illustrating.  Colorist FCO Plascencia and letterer Carlos M. Mangual complete what is a top-notch graphics and graphical storytelling team on The Unexpected.

Unfortunately, The Unexpected offers a terrible story and only a serviceable script.  It offers the kind of pointless bombastic action that plagues event comic books that Marvel and DC Comics publish every time they and comic book retailers need a sales bump.  Bombastic action over anemic character writing:  hope that works for you if you want to like The Unexpected.  I would be surprised if The Unexpected lasts 12 issues, which is a pity.  This is one good-looking comic book.

3.5 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 or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

Review: SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN #1

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN No. 1 (2019) – Legacy #236
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: Gerry Duggan
ART: Ron Garney
COLORS: Richard Isanove
LETTERS: VC's Travis Lanham
EDITOR: Mark Basso
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Akira Yoshida a.k.a. C.B. Cebulski
COVER: Alex Ross
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Kevin Eastman with Tomi Varga; Ron Garney with Richard Isanove; George Perez with Jason Keith; Rahzzah
44pp, Color, $4.99 U.S. (April 2019)

Parental Advisory

Conan the Barbarian based on the “Conan” character created by Robert E. Howard

“The Cult of Koga Thun” Part One: “Shipwrecked”

Conan the Cimmerian is a fictional “sword and sorcery” hero created by Robert E. Howard (REH).  Conan first appeared in the pulp fiction magazine, Weird Tales (1932).  Conan lived in Howard's fictional “Hyborian Age” and was a mercenary, outlaw, pirate, thief, warrior, and eventually a king, but because of his tribal origins, some characters that encountered him thought of Conan as a barbarian.

Beginning in 1970 and for three decades, Marvel Comics brought Conan to the world of American comic books with the series, Conan the Barbarian.  Marvel is publishing Conan comic books again and recently began a revival of its black and white Savage Sword of Conan comic magazine as a full-color standard-sized comic book.  Savage Sword of Conan (2019) is written by Gerry Duggan; drawn by Ron Garney; colored by Richard Isanove; and lettered by VC's Travis Lanham.

Savage Sword of Conan #1 (“Shipwrecked”) finds Conan cast adrift on the seas of fate.  Starving, half-drowned, half-dead, and hallucinating, Conan (who is about 20 or so years of age) is picked out of the ocean by the slave ship, “Ouroboros.”  He finds an ally (that he doesn't really need or want) in a fellow slave, Suty.  Together, they will discover that there is more to the captain of the Ouroboros and more to the treasure chest in his cabin than they suspect.

I enjoyed the return of Conan the Barbarian to Marvel Comics, and while that comic book has been good, even very good at times, it has not been great.  Savage Sword of Conan's return to Marvel Comics suggests that Savage Sword of Conan could be THE great Marvel Conan comic book (Era #2).  When I first read the original old, black and white magazine Savage Sword of Conan when I was a teenager, I found it to be superior to the Conan the Barbarian title of that time.

In fact, “Shipwrecked,” the opening chapter of this first story arc, reminds me of the stories I read in the original Savage Sword of Conan.  “Shipwrecked” is probably the best Gerry Duggan story I have read to date.  Duggan offers a violent tale that is as bat-shit crazy as Conan creator, Robert E. Howard's original Conan prose fiction, or it is at least as crazy as Roy Thomas' adaptations of Howard's stories for Conan comic books back in 1970s.  Dear readers, obviously you can tell that I had a blast reading this.

The power and aggression in this story is most evident in artist Ron Garney's illustrations and graphical storytelling.  The storytelling is brawny, and Garney deftly captures the sudden switches in Conan's temper and temperament.  Richard Isanove's shimmering colors emphasize, even heighten the intensity rather that merely color over the art.  Travis Lanham's matter-of-fact lettering seems to pound out the story to the reader, a relentless rhythm, page after page.

Savage Sword of Conan #1 is a success.  I will come back for more because this first issue reminds me of the stories that made me a fan of Conan comic books back in the way back.  I highly recommend this to Conan fans.

9 out of 10

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


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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

Review: William Gibson's ALIEN 3 #1

WILLIAM GIBSON'S ALIEN 3 No. 1
DARK HORSE COMICS – @DarkHorseComics

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

STORY: William Gibson
SCRIPT: Johnnie Christmas (adaptation)
ART: Johnnie Christmas
COLORS: Tamra Bonvillain
LETTERS: Nate Piekos of Blambot
EDITOR: Daniel Chabon
COVER: Johnnie Christmas with Tamra Bonvillain
VARIANT COVER: Paolo and Joe Rivera
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (November 2018)

The 1979 film, Alien (directed by Ridley Scott), won an Academy Award and was a critical and commercial success.  It's 1986 sequel, Aliens (directed by James Cameron), won two Academy Awards and was a critical and commercial success.  The third film, Alien 3 (1992), was less successful, critically and commercially.

According to contemporary and historical accounts, Alien 3, had a contentious and troubled production.  That started from the beginning and continued into late 1987, when two of Alien 3's producers approached acclaimed science fiction author, William Gibson (Neuromancer), to write the film's screenplay.  Gibson accept the offer and completed a script, but ultimately left the project.  Apparently not much of Gibson's work made the eventually completed Alien 3.

Now, Dark Horse Comics is publishing a comic book adaptation of Gibson's unused screenplay for Alien 3.  The comic book series is entitled William Gibson's Alien 3, and writer-artist Johnnie Christmas (Angel Catbird) is adapting Gibson's script to comics and is drawing the series.  Tamra Bonvillain is the series colorist, and Nate Piekos is series letterer.

William Gibson's Alien 3 #1 opens sometime after the events depicted in the film, Aliens.  The U.S.S. Sulaco enters the territorial space of the Union of Progressive Peoples (U.P.P.).  Aboard this spaceship are Ellen Ripley, Corporal Dwayne Hicks, Rebecca “Newt” Jorden, and Bishop, the damaged android – all four in are in cryonic stasis.

There is also something else aboard the Sulaco, as three U.P.P. military personnel are about to discover.  The U.P.P. forces cannot know that this fifth passenger is quite deadly and is about to unleash chaos between two governmental titans intent on developing the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

Back in the 1990s, I read a synopsis of William Gibson's Alien 3 screenplay that was published in a British science fiction magazine (possibly Interzone).  At the time, I thought that the synopsis would have made a much better film than the Alien 3 we did get in 1992.

William Gibson's Alien 3 #1 only introduces the milieu of the story, providing what amounts to a first-look at the characters and the settings.  Readers familiar with 20th Century Fox's Alien film franchise understand the threat and menace of the franchise's signature villains, the “Aliens” (a.k.a. “xenomorphs”).  They also understand the conflicts and conspiracies that exist among various human factions in the series.  They know who the heroes are, and, in William Gibson's Alien 3, they have a good idea who will likely be the villains.

Since I have seen most of the films in this franchise numerous times, I know how to read an Alien comic book adaptation, and I have an idea what to expect.  That said, I thoroughly enjoyed all the teasing that William Gibson's Alien 3 #1 does.  I like the relaxed pacing of Christmas' script adaptation, and his clean and minimalist drawing style makes for clear graphical storytelling.

Tamra Bonvillain's colors convey the characters' emotions and suggest conspiracy and secrets with surprising potency.  Bonvillain also makes the action and attack scenes explode off the page.  Nate Piekos' lettering is quiet and quietly effective in hitting story beats.  This first issue is one of those examples of when it is hard not to recognize how effective coloring and lettering is.

I did not know what to expect of William Gibson's Alien 3 #1, but after reading it, I want to read more of this series.  This could turn out to be a really good Alien comic book.

7.5 out of 10

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


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