Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #3

Third of a set of issues bought from the creators' Kickstarter.


Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 3
Date: 2018
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

Ravenwood continues to plan his expedition into the labyrinth while the Kalizarian forces prepare for their assault on Garrison Hadge with a new plan in place to deal with Seen and his troops, who have so far prevented every attempt at landing. And Cromwell finds Silvermain, who is deathly ill with the plague.

After what I felt was an issue that became a bit hard to follow in places, this one did a lot to improve the focus, even while continuing to juggle a large number of plotlines. This issue had some strong moments, and it built tension toward some major confrontations and revelations to come.

Rating: 7/10

Sonic the Hedgehog: Free Comic Book Day Edition 2007

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics by way of Free Comic Book Day 2007.

Title: Sonic the Hedgehog: Free Comic Book Day Edition
Date: 2007
Publisher: Archie Comics / Sega
Writer: Ian Flynn
Penciler: Tracey Yardley
Inker: Jim Amash
Letterer: John Workman
Colorist: Jacob Jensen
Editor: Mike Pellerito
Cover: Pat "Spaz" Spaziante

Eggman captures Sonic and uses a device to take control of him and turn him against his friends. Knuckles realizes that it's going to take a big punch to the head to get Sonic back in control of himself, and the fight is on.

This was fairly simple in terms of plot, and it could have worked just as well with fewer of the supporting cast, who didn't do much besides try to get in Sonic's way and get knocked down.

I did like the tease of a bit of intrigue between Eggman and Snively.

All in all, this was a decent look at what the series has to offer, and  should work well for a younger audience who knows the video games, but may not have read any of the comics.

Rating: 6/10

Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2008

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics via Free Comic Book Day 2008.

Title: Bongo Comics Free-For-All
Date: 2008
Publisher: Bongo Comics
Writer: Ian Boothby, John Bates, Chuck Dixon
Penciler: John Delaney, James Lloyd, Nina Matsumoto
Inker: Andrew Pepoy, Mike Rote
Colorist: Chris Ungar, Art Villanueva
Letterer: Karen Bates
Editor: Bill Morrison
Cover: Matt Groening, Bill Morrison, Mike Rote

Ashcan-format full-color freeby for FCBD 2008, containing three stories.

The first one features Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson in their superhero identities as Stretch Dude, Clobber Girl, and Bouncing Battle Baby. It's a good quick-paced story that is pretty standard superhero fare, but it's loaded with good jokes and excellent comedic timing, so that the not-that-original plot never overstays its welcome.

The second story features Bart going on a "stink strike" by refusing to take a bath. Not surprisingly, he ends up discovering that there is someone in the household who is more than capable at beating him at his own game.

The third story is the strangest of the bunch. It's a manga interpretation of The Simpsons, really a parody of manga tropes, and much like the baseball game that it features, it's hit-or-miss. Some of the jokes are brilliant, while others felt mean-spirited or crossed the line into playing to stereotypes.

I did love Nina Matsumoto's manga interpretations of the Simpsons characters.

A mixed bag overall. It didn't have me ready to go out and buy more Simpsons comics, but it did provide some decent humor.

Rating: 5.5/10

Farlight Saga Ethos #2

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Farlight Saga Ethos
Issue: 2
Publisher: Nemonet Studios / Tears Under Starlight
Date: July, 2006
Writer: Jared Koon
Artist: Sarah Hebblethwaite
Colorist: Sarah Hebblethwaite
Letterer: Jared Koon
Cover: Sarah Hebblethwaite, Jean-Francois Beaulieu

I read the third issue of this series almost two years ago (review here), and only just managed to dig this issue out of the Random Stack of Unread Comics. Not sure if I have any more around.

The story in this issue mainly focuses on the human messenger Quinn and his soranae (a mysterious species of reptilian humanoids) companion Nemesio. They have encountered the remains of a series of battles fought on the edge of the forest home of the ra'th (a mammalian humanoid species with tails). There are human and ra'th casualties at several sights, but an investigation deeper into the woods finally turns up a ra'th survivor.

When the survivor panics and tries to run, even more destruction is revealed.

This issue did a nice job of focusing (aside from one scene) on the relationship between Quinn and Nemesio as they investigate the deepening mystery only to uncover further signs of carnage and destruction. There is a bit of background given that provides some necessary worldbuilding without detracting from the progress of the story.

Overall, this had excellent pacing, good character design, and provided some needed setup for the continuing story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman

The Kiddo picked this one out when we visited Barnes & Noble in Middletown RI during our visit to the USA on Christmas break.

Title: Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2017
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey

This is the full-color edition.

When George and Harold's pranks against a mean-spirited retiring teacher escalate to the point where they are both about to flunk the fourth grade, the boys turn to their hypnosis ring. Because that worked so well the first time. Unfortunately, a succession of mishaps results in Miss Ribble turning into exactly the supervillain George and Harold has imagined her as.

Earth's only hope is for Captain Underpants to overcome his one weakness: Spray starch.

This had some funny bits, but was somewhat uneven. I'm also not that big a fan of the hypnosis gimmick, even when totally played for laughs. The plot was about what one would expect, although the new Captain Underpants origin story in comic form that George and Harold create stood out as a pretty amusing bit.

This was entertaining, and my son (age 10) enjoyed it, but neither of us found as laugh-out-loud funny as the Dog Man books (or the earlier Captain Underpants books) have been, and I didn't think it had the heart of the Dog Man stories either.

Entertaining enough, but I have read better by Pilkey.

Rating: 6/10

Space: 1999 #7

I bought two issues of this in 2013 at the South Attleboro Comic, Card, & Toy Show.

Title: Space: 1999
Issue: #7
Publisher: Charlton Comics
Date: November, 1976
Writer: Mike Pellowski
Artist: Pat Boyette

Cover: Pat Boyette
Editor: George Wildman

I reviewed the previous issue here.

This issue has two comic stories and a prose story, all focused on the character of Maya, the shapeshifter who was introduced in the second season of the TV show.

The first story adapts the episode "The Metamorph", the first TV appearance of Maya, as Commander Koenig and members of his crew are captured by Mentor, an alien with designs of feeding their mental energy to an ancient computer to restore his lost civilization. Maya, his daughter, ends up helping the Alphans escape and becomes a regular character on the show.

Even though it serves as Maya's origin story, it's Koenig who shines here as the commander forced to make the difficult decisions.

Maya is definitely the star of the second story in this issue, though. With Koenig and some other crew held hostage by a greedy tribe of reptilian aliens, Maya pretty much handles their rescue singlehandedly. The comics medium lets her show off a much wider range of shapshifting powers than she ever did on TV and this story makes it very clear that she is extremely capable and not someone you want to mess with.

The prose story read like a brief random encounter in a roleplaying campaign. Koenig and Maya land on a frozen planet, quickly discovering that the local life forms are not exactly friendly, and decide that discretion is the better part of valor. There really was not much in the way of plot, but it did serve as a nice "day in the life" segment, giving the reader a taste of the possibilities of what might be waiting out in space for the Alphans.

As a whole the book feels a bit choppy with no real continuity between the stories. The supporting cast doesn't get much attention, with almost all the focus on Koenig and Maya. I did like the character work on both of those characters. As far as how well it adapted the series, I think it got the flavor right, but it has been way too long and I watched way too few episodes to say for sure how faithful to the source material this comic was.

Rating: 6/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #2

Second of a set of issues bought from the creators' Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

I have to be honest, this one was challenging to follow everything that was going on. The creative team's use of uncaptioned scene shifts in the middle of pages did not help matters. This is already a complex tale with a big cast, and I felt like the "Our tale thus far..." bit at the beginning could have done a better job of recapping some of the immediate setup for this issue's action.

That being said, the fact that there is a lot going on in this issue enhanced the epic feel of the story, and left me interested in seeing how the various threads would come together. There were a lot of great individual scenes as well, and a good mix between action and dialogue.

This issue could have used a bit more room to breathe, but there was no lack of advancement of plotlines, and I look forward to reading more.

Rating: 6/10

Bored Angel

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Bored Angel
Date: 2008
Publisher: Aya Rothwell
Writer: Aya Rothwell
Art: Aya Rothwell

Cardstock minicomic with a hand-stitched binding.

Standing guard alone can be a pretty dull assignment for the angel in this nearly-wordless story, which is really just a clever setup for a visual punchline. The whole thing is done so adorably, and the spacing and expressiveness of the artwork is so good that it really works way better than it could be expected to.

Brought a smile to my face.

Rating 8.5/10.

Static Shock #6

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Static Shock
Issue: 6
Date: April 2012
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Scott McDaniel
Penciler: Scott McDaniel
Inker: Andy Owens
Colorist: Guy Major
Letterer: Dezi Sienty
Editor: Harvey Richards
Cover: Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, Le Beau Underwood

Apparently, I bought six issues of this when it was released as part of the New 52 in 2012 and only got around to reviewing the first five. Looking back at that fifth review, I can see why I wasn't so enthusiastic about reading more.

Unfortunately, a lot of the phrases I used for the previous issue, phrases like "too many plot elements", "not enough character development", and "convoluted mess" apply to this issue, but even more so.

I like Static Shock a lot, but this climactic episode of the ongoing storyline featured about 85 villains, guest appearances by Hardware and Technique, various alien species, an interdimensional portal, alternate timeline versions of characters, and a climactic battle where it was impossible to tell what the heck was going on. Okay, probably not actually impossible. More like not worth the effort, which is worse.

The opening bit with static hunting for the bad guys who have abducted his sister was pretty cool, and the ending epilogue bit did a reasonable job of setting up for more stories moving forward. Unfortunately, the series only went two more issues after this. It could have used some more time to move in some different directions after this opening storyline.

Rating: 4/10

The Amazing Cynicalman #23

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: The Amazing Cynicalman
Issue: #20
Date: April, 2009
Publisher: Not Available Comics
Writer: Matt Feazell
Artist: Matt Feazell

Quarter-sized b/w stickfigure minicomic.

Cynicalman applies for a job with the Justice League. Unfortunately, getting them to believe he has superpowers proves to be a bit challenging.

There's some more discussion of employment, lack of employment, and the economy, along with a two-page "snail goes into a bar joke".

Artist Matt Feazell does a nice job of making his stickfigures expressive, and the jokes are goofy fun.

Rating: 6.5/10

Swamp Thing #68

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Swamp Thing
Issue: 68
Date: January 1988
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Rick Veitch
Penciller: Rick Veitch
Inker: Alfredo Alcala
Colorist: Tatjana Wood
Letterer: John Costanza
Editor: Karen Berger

A fun bit of nostalgia in the "Meanwhile" editorial by Dick Giordano expressing his excitement for the soon-to-debut Star Trek: The Next Generation (and hyping DC's comic adaptation).

The story in this issue has four threads. By far the most disturbing is an attempted truck-bomb attack on the Galaxy Communications skyscraper in Metropolis, which becomes more unsettling reading with the benefit of hindsight.

While the attack plays out in Metropolis, the Swamp Thing shares experiences with his previous incarnations among the Parliament of Trees in a sequence that does a nice job of expanding the pantheon and mythology of the Swamp Thing.

The other two storylines occur in Houma. Chester faces temptation by a reality TV star looking to cash in on Chester's association with the Swamp Thing.

And in a heartfelt segment, Abigail helps Liz in her struggle with PTSD as they try to get through a simple run into town for errands, only to find Abigail's past rearing its ugly head. Swamp Thing during this time period was great at slow-build character development, where the events of the stories had lasting effects on the characters, and this issue did a very nice job with Abigail, Liz, and Chester as we get insights into them through quiet moments, small actions, and bits of dialogue.

Rating: 8/10

Spectra #6

This spent a fair amount of time in the Random Stack of Unread Comics, but this is the sixth issue in this educational series that I picked up at the National Conference on Science Education.

Title: Spectra
Issue: 6
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2014
Writer: Rebecca Thompson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson

This issue begins with a nice bit of continuity, as laser-powered hero Lucinda Hene finds herself attending a new school, with her group of friends scattered as her previous school is repaired following the damage from the previous issue's mayhem (review is here) at the state swim meet.

Lucinda has a busy morning that involves going to the garage with her mom to drop off the family minivan for service. Enter the Quantum Mechanic. She's not really so much a villain. More like a person confused by their own superpowers. However, a quantum mishap results in a minivan that is appearing in random locations by way of quantum teleportation, and it's up to Spectra and her friends to trap the minivan in a "potential well". At this point, Spectra pretty much admits that we've gotten to the point where it is less about the science and more about the science puns.

The storyline here didn't have that much going on, but this was a good issue for character development, as we got to see more of Lucinda's home life and the consequences of the previous issue's events. The Quantum Mechanic was a fun character, and the suggestion that there could be a future team-up in the works had, well, potential.

Rating: 7/10

Alethia Chapter 1

I bought this from the artist at the Shanghai Comic Con in 2017.

Title: Alethia
Issue: Chapter 1
Date: 2016
Publisher: Kristina Stipetic
Writer: Kristina Stipetic
Artist: Kristina Stipetic

Full-color squarebound minicomic. On a world of robots who live in a society modeled after the social insects, the populace awaits the laying of a new queen egg, as the aging and exhausted Queen produces only more workers.|

When a strange robot falls from the sky, some of the workers see her as a possible replacement for the Queen. But the stranger's arrival has inspired the Queen to an act of rebellion of her own.

The design and worldbuilding were excellent here, and the story, while just getting started, was intriguing. This is a great beginning, and I hope to check out more of this series.

Rating: 8.5/10

Batman #700

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Batman
Issue: 700
Date: August 2010
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Tony Daniel, Frank Quitely, Scott Kolins, Andy Kubert, David Finch, Richard Friend
Colorist: Ian Hannin, Alex Sinclair, Tony Avina, Brad Anderson, Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Mike Marts, Janelle Siegel

I reviewed Batman #699 way back in 2011, in the early days of this blog (it was the first time I missed a day, something that I learned to get a lot less uptight about since then, as this blog has not usually been even close to daily since then).

I'm always a fan of "big round number" milestone issues. This one had two special features. The frist was a Batman pinup gallery by Shane Davis, Juan Doe, Guillem March, Dustin Nguyen, Tim Sale, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Phillip Tan. The other bonus item was a detailed map of the Batcave by Freddie Williams II.

The main story was something of a hot mess, a time-travel piece involving multiple version of the Batman, bunches of classic villains, and too much Damian Wayne. It did feature a lot of great visuals by its rotating cast of artists, some great action, and a ton of nods to past stories (I particularly liked the use of the Mutants gang from The Dark Knight Returns, and a rare appearance by Chief O'Hara). It was not very accessible to the casual fan, which is too bad, as these milestone issues often attract some casual fan interest, and the convoluted plot of this story would probably leave a lot of them wondering what the heck they just read.

I was a bit unsure myself. Very pretty issue, but not enough reward for the effort of parsing all of the time travel threads to try to get it to make sense.

Rating: 5/10

Sleepless #7

Bought at Double Midnight in Manchester NH over Christmas break.

Title: Sleepless
Issue: 7
Date: September 2018
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Sarah Vaughn
Artist: Leila Del Duca
Colorist: Alissa Sallah, Gabe Fischer
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Editor: Alissa Sallah

I loved the beautiful cover on this issue, and bought it knowing nothing about the series. Good choice.Lady Pyppenia, illegitimate daughter of the dead King must keep a delicate balance of obligations and intrigues in a court where many would have preferred to see her ascend to the throne, and just as many would see her dead.

This had a lot going on, and there were some really interesting character interactions. The story has a big cast, and jumping is at the seventh issue doesn't give a full grasp of the story, but the pieces in play here were all excellent. There was really great attention to detail in the political intrigue.

The artwork is lovely, and there is plenty of space given to tell the story visually in between the scenes that are more heavy on dialogue.

This is definitely a story I am eager to read more of.

Rating: 8/10

We Won't Be Erased

Ordered from the artist's Etsy site and picked up over the Holidays when we visited the USA.

Title: We Won't Be Erased
Date: 2018
Publisher: Assigned Male Comics
Writer: Sophie LaBelle
Artist: Sophie LaBelle

This collection of the Assigned Male webcomic has three segments. The first is a conversation between Stephie and Frank during an evening, as they discuss a whole range of issues faced by LGBT kids. In addition to some really thought-provoking dialogue, the segment does a great job with using the backgrounds to show the passage of time as the conversation goes on.

The second segment is another conversation, this time between Stephie and her mom. Again, really great dialogue that hits a bunch of the kinds of issues faced by transgender youth while deepening the personalities of the characters.

Finally, a two page scene with Stephie and Ciel as they weave a spell of protection for trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse folks. Uplifting and heartbreaking all at once, with all of the artist's usual wit and charm.

Rating: 9/10

Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet #1

A Christmas gift to the Kiddo, bought at Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack NH.

Title: Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: January  2019
Writer: Robbie Thompson
Artist: Leonard Kirk
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover: David Nakayama
Editor: Mark Paniccia, Tom Groneman

This series fills in the gap in Solo: A Star Wars Story where Han is in the Imperial military. Actually, the first nine pages just adapt early scenes from the film, which I found a bit frustrating, since Marvel already has a separate series adapting the film.

From there, Han gets the bootcamp experience, complete with a lot of silliness in which everyone insists on calling recruits by their number, rather than their name, and then no one seems to be able to stick to it.

We get glimpses of a few character that seem like they have some potential, but the interactions are hurried in order to fit in an action scene where Han tries to steal a TIE fighter.

I get that young Han is supposed to be foolish, desperate, and impulsive, but the whole scene makes very little sense, and the punchline it sets up is not a particularly satisfying one.

This was a glimpse into a chapter in Han Solo's life that I really didn't need.

Rating: 4/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #1

Another comic that I bought via Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 1
Date: 2016
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

I've previously reviewed the first five issues of the Tall Tales: Thieves' Quest series (my review of the fifth issue, with links to the reviews of the other four is here).

The anthropomorphic fantasy epic picks up with Ravenwood and his band of adventurers in the city of Azbeth, where a monster-infested labyrinth hides the enchanted healing water known as the Tears of Talis, the only hope to save a plague-stricken and besieged city.

Unfortunately, so far the labyrinth and its denizens have proven too much for Ravenwood's band. They convince him to try to find a guide, and he ends up with competing options.

That's the main plot, but this is loaded with subplots. This is not a great jumping-in point for those new to the series, and even I had a bit of trouble figuring out who is who, having only read five issues of the previous series. Still, the pacing is really good, and the intrigues and interactions definitely held my interest. By the end, I felt comfortable with the story, even if all of my questions had not been answered.

The artwork in this issue is especially fun when the giant monsters from the labyrinth show up.

Rating: 7/10