Lumberjanes Volume 4: Out of Time

My 1000th entry on this blog!!!!

Bought this last summer at Newbury Comics, Hyannis MA USA.

Title: Lumberjanes Volume 4: Out of Time
Date: July, 2016
Publisher: Boom! Studios (Boom Box)
Writer: Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters
Artist: Brooke Allen, Joy Ang, Kassandra Heller, Ricardo Bessa, Hope Larson, Kat Philbin, Carolyn Nowak, Jen Wang
Colorist: Maarta Laiho
Letterer: Aubrey Aiese
Cover:  Noelle Stevenson
Editor: Dafna Pleban, Whitney Leopard

When a sudden blizzard separates Jen from her campers, she is rescued by a mysterious hunter and taken to a house in the woods full of taxidermied monster trophies.

As the girls try to organize a search for Jen, they learn some of the past history of the Lumberjanes Scouts, and of the conflicts that divided the past generation of campers.

Now, those past conflicts boil up as a lifelong obsession with an ancient and powerful being jeopardizes the camp, the woods, and possible everything else.

The backstory that this collection added to the Lumberjanes mythology brought a whole new direction to the ongoing story, and served to shift the perspective of the reader as a whole trove of long-simmering secrets were hinted at.

The flashback sequences involving Rosie, Nellie, and Abigail are great and add a lot to those characters.

This four-issue arc also put Jo squarely in the spotlight, as she gets into a conflict with Barney of the Scouting Lads, which serves to bring out some of Jo's internal conflict, while at the same time providing a space for examining issues around transgender identity.

There was also plenty of excellent action, an interesting "Big Bad" threat, and all the weirdness and wit that has been great throughout this series.

Rating: 9/10

Giant-Size Fantasy #0

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics by way of Free Comic Book Day 2014.

Title: Giant-Size Fantasy
Issue: 0
Publisher: Red Giant Entertainment
Date: May, 2014
Writer: Elaine Lee, David Lawrence, David Campiti
Artist: Francis Nuguit, Jinky Coronado, Larry Tuazon
Colorist: Marlon Ilagan, Katrina Maehao
Letterer: Zach Metheny
Editor: Brian Augustyn, David Lawrence

Flip book.

The companion volumes, Giant-Size Action #0 and Giant-Size Adventure #0 are reviewed here and here.

Pandora's Blogs was an odd story, part medical thriller, part teenage soap opera, and packed with references to Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The title character, Pandora is the daughter of a doctor specializing in very unusual cases, and when her mom performs a seeming miraculous cure on her latest case, Pandora and the patient end up having a magical night at a popular dance club. But things soon go terribly wrong. All of the teenaged characters are gorgeous, and the school drama felt a bit mundane. The medical science in this is fantastical nonsense in spite of a liberal sprinkling of jargon, but the creepy, Twilight-Zone ending was fun and unexpected, and it was enough to get me interested in reading more stories of this world.

Flip over the book, and you get Duel Identity, the story of a woman whose extraordinary abilities make her a popular superhero by day, but she has another occupation as a deadly assassin by night. This was a fun take on the secret-identity trope. The main character makes an important decision here, to set up major plotlines, and it felt like it was a little bit rushed and lacking the full necessary motivation, but I still enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game as the assassin dealt with a two friends who happened to show up while she tried to stalk her quarry at a crowded business event. In spite of her powers, there is a lot of bad luck and bad timing that can interfere with the job, and I felt like the creative team did a good job of showing that. This story felt like it had a lot of potential, and felt fresh even employing relatively familiar tropes of superheroes and assassins.

Rating: 7.5/10

Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora's Galactic Showdown

The Kiddo bought this at our school's recent book fair.

Title: Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora's Galactic Showdown
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2017
Writer: Brandon T. Snider
Artist: Pascale Qualano, Chris Sotomayor

Not a comic. This is a novel for young readers, part of the Mighty Marvel Chapter Books series. While it's a prose story, it is full of color illustrations from the team of Qualano and Sotomayor.

The story involves a mysterious box that belonged to Thanos, but which appears to be keyed so that only Gamora can open it. Gamora wants to find the box in the hopes of furthering her quest to make peace with her past. But her sister, Nebula, is also interested in the box, lured by the possibility of it containing an item of power, and possibly also just out of spite to keep it from her sister.

Gamora's quest brings her into contact with a whole array of Marvel's cosmic characters, from her friends in the Guardians of the Galaxy, to Pip the Troll, the Collector, Captain Marvel, and Adam Warlock. Unfortunately, the effort to cram the book full of cameos detracts a bit from the story. It would have worked perfectly well with just Gamora, Nebula, Warlock (who does have an important role here) and maybe one or two others thrown in as sidekicks.

The bloated cast takes the focus off of Gamora too much, which is unfortunate, because Gamora's inner struggle is actually really interesting. Her search to resolve the conflicting loyalties of her abusive family situation with Thanos and Nebula and her loving (if dysfunctional at times) chosen families of the Guardians and the Infinity Watch is the true conflict in the story. And when it is the focus, the story works really well.

The violence is kept to a toned-down PG level, and some of the emotional issues are a bit overexplained, but the central quest is handled well, and Gamora shines in the parts of the story where she's in the spotlight.

Rating: 7/10

Sea Ghost #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics, probably by way of the Maine Comic Arts Festival, although I don't recall which year.

Title: Sea Ghost
Issue: 1
Date: 2010
Publisher: Nemo Publishing Group (Capt'n Eli's Soda and Comics)
Writer: Jay Piscopo
Artist: Jay Piscopo, Ramona Fradon, Danny Kelly, Robert Caine Jeffcoat

Maine publisher Nemo, which is affiliated with Capt'n Eli's Soda, presents this homage to classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Sea Ghost, who lives in an undersea fortress/lab in the ruins of Atlantis with his two children, investigates a strange machine, which ends up transporting him to a distant world. He soon finds himself in the midst of a seemingly endless war between two civilizations there, one land-based and the other sea-based. But there is a more dangerous and sinister force lurking behind the conflict.

This was a good, complete story that showed Sea Ghost both as warrior and peacemaker. There was enough conflict to keep things moving along, as well as some good worldbuilding and the potential for further adventures.

The story was definitely successful in capturing the Hanna-Barbera vibe, while still being reasonably original, considering that the lead character is pretty much a mix of Space Ghost and Aquaman.

All in all, this was a fun story that worked well in the flavor it was aiming for.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Origin of Gorilla the Chinchilla

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: The Origin of Gorilla the Chinchilla
Publisher: Michael Harris
Writer: Michael Harris
Artist: Michael Harris

No date on this approximately ashcan-format minicomic. Color cardstock cover and b/w interior.

Gorilla the Chinchilla, inspired by watching episodes of "Lena: Warrior Princess" from the living room windowsill, engages in an epic battle against a bear before finding himself in semi-retirement as a battle-scarred pet.

Much of the story is wordless, and the minimalistic art style took me a second or third look to catch everything that was going on, but I found it to be effective once I got a sense of it.

There are some amusing lines in the human dialogue at the end of the story, and plenty of potential for further adventures.

Rating: 6.5/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #4

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

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 4
Date: 2018
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

Ravenwood continues his preparations to enter the labyrinth while Ellision's demon creature begins its campaign against the guerilla forces of Seem.

This issue did a nice job mixing action with intrigue while advancing multiple plotlines. Some good backstory was provided along with a bit more insight about just how dangerous the labyrinth is.

Solid issue that kept me interested in the story.

Rating: 7/10

Astonishing X-Men #2

From the Random Stack of Unread (actually previously read, but not reviewed) Comics.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 2
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: August, 2004
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts, Stephanie Moore, Cory Sedlmeier

My review of the previous issue is here.

The second issue of this series sends the team into action. A villain has taken hostages in a high rise tower, and the X-Men, looking to get back into being superheroes, show up to do battle.

Unfortunately, neither the initial jobber-squash with the X-Man taking out the terrorist minions, nor the main event, with alien villain Ord trouncing the X-Men, is all that interesting. Ord is one of those generic overpowered villains that show up all the time in X-Men books, with no rhyme or reason as to why he's able to pretty much have his way with the team (only to be taken out by *removed for spoilers* in the book's one really fun moment).

As an aside, Emma Frost's ability to change into diamond is ridiculous. I don't read a ton of X-Men, so I'm sure this is all part of the established canon, but apparently someone decided that one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful telepaths needed more powers? So that she could punch people?

The second plotline, fortunately, is a lot more intriguing, as a top scientist announces that she has developed a "cure" for mutation, and the ending sequence is genuinely cool, setting some really interesting clashes of personality down the road.

Something of a mixed bag, but it ended on a high note.

Rating: 6.5/10

Daredevil Saga

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Daredevil Saga
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: 2008
Writer: Ed Brubaker, Anthony Flamini
Artist: Michael Lark, David Aja, Gene Colan, Marko Djurdjevic, Paul Azaceta, Clay Mann
Editor: Ed Brubaker

This is a promotional freebie from Marvel Comics that recaps a series of Daredevil issues written by Ed Brubaker, centered around Matt Murdoch's Daredevil identity being exposed and Murdoch ending up in prison alongside the Kingpin and a whole rogues gallery of past foes. This recap book is, of course, loaded with spoilers for the actual comics.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well this book functioned. In spite of the nature of being a summary, there were enough details left to be filled in that it did do its job of getting me interested in reading the stories that it recapped. I was particularly impressed with Brubaker's ability to smoothly incorporate some of the more ridiculous classic villains into a modern noir story. It was fun to see serious takes on guys like Hammerhead, the Owl, Tombstone, and the Enforcers

The final few pages are devoted to a nice wordless showcase of Clay Mann's artwork and the introduction of Lady Bullseye.

This was an effective promotional item if you don't mind the spoilers.

Rating: 6/10

Star Wars: Jedi Academy: The Phantom Bully

The Kiddo borrowed this from the school library.

Title: Star Wars: Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan
Publisher: Scholastic
Date: 2015
Writer: Jeffrey Brown
Artist: Jeffrey Brown

The third installment in the series covers Roan Novachez's third and final year at Jedi Academy middle school. Roan is nervous about his third year, with an independent study with the stern Mr. Garfield, plus a series of high-stakes challenges coming up. He's also the victim of a series of pranks and mishaps. He figures that his old nemesis Cronah is behind the bullying, but Cronah always seems to have an alibi. It's getting to the point that Roan is starting to believe there's a conspiracy against him.

This ended up being a nice conclusion to the series. Roan showed that he has grown and learned over the course of three books, and his bonds with his friends grew stronger. There were a few fun new developments at the end, and there was plenty of potential for further adventures as Roan heads for his Jedi high school years.

Rating: 8/10

The Realm #2

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: The Realm
Issue: 2
Date: 1993
Publisher: Caliber Comics
Writer: Brent Truax
Artist: Donald Marquez, Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Zircher
Letterer: Donald Marquez, Brian Michael Bendis, Patrick Zircher
Cover: Lurene Haines

This comic has some historical interest as it features some early work by Brian Michael Bendis, who did art and lettering on 15 pages of this issue.

This issue features an extensive recap of events that have taken place earlier in the story (including a previous Realms series), so it's a good jumping-in point in spite of being the second issue.

We are introduced to a world in chaos in the aftermath of an event called the Daemonstorm, which has not only released widespread destruction, but has also caused time to flow at different rates in different areas of the Realm, resulting in some lands who are years recovered from the Daemonstorm, and others where it is remembered as yesterday.

The world itself is mostly a Tolkien-inspired fantasy setting, but there is some really good and original worldbuilding in places that breaks it out of the standard fantasy mold. The society of the Latigo Elves is particularly interesting, and should make for an interesting backdrop as the story unfolds.

There was a lot going on in terms of plot being established and characters from the previous series being reintroduced, but none of it ever felt too overwhelming in spite of a somewhat wordy writing style. The multiple layers of plotting and intrigue kept the story interesting, and there were enough small interactions to get to know some of the key characters.

This is another title that I missed out on when it was published, in spite of me generally seeking out fantasy comics. It has an 80s b/w boom vibe, and was published about 5 years too late to really be part of that era, but the complexity of the story makes it stand out from a lot of 80s fantasy comics I've read.

I'd like to check out more of this sometime.

Rating: 8.5/10

Astonishing X-Men #1

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics... Well, actually, I had previously read this issue, but this it my first time reviewing it.

Title: Astonishing X-Men
Issue: 1
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Date: July, 2004
Writer: Joss Whedon
Artist: John Cassaday
Colorist: Laura Martin
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Mike Marts

This is a reboot for the X-Men, with film/TV writer/director Joss Whedon writing. We are introduced to a new semester at the Xavier School, and a new X-Men team: Kitty Pryde, Beast, Cyclops, Wolverine, and Emma Frost. It's a good lineup, that provides plenty of fodder for conflicts within the team.

In fact, most of this first issue is the team working out their role as teachers, teammates, and as superheroes, something that the X-Men have not always been seen as.

Whedon is a master of one-liners, and this issue included several really great ones (Kitty: "Did I miss the Sorting Hat?"; also Kitty to Emma, "I'm sorry, I was busy remembering to put on all my clothes.").

The interplay between the characters is fun, and the hints that are dropped about the larger scale plot are just enough to leave the readers intrigued.

X-Men has so much history behind it that it can get overly complicated too fast in many cases. This story managed to keep things moving along, giving the space to get to know the core team members before too much mayhem is allowed to happen, and the result is an excellent jumping-in point for new readers.

Rating: 8/10