Dog Man: Fetch-22

The Kiddo bought this at Boocup, Kerry Parkside, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

Title: Dog Man: Fetch-22
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: September, 2019
Writer: Dav Pilkey
Artist: Dav Pilkey
Colorist: Jose Garibaldi

Li'l Petey makes a discovery about the Supa Brain Dots that had turned Flippy the bionic fish evil, and it leads to Flippy's release from Fish Jail, as well as a recall of Supa Brain Dots. Unfortunately, with Dog Man in charge of the recall, things get rapidly out of control, and the city is soon being menaced by 22 psychokinetic tadpoles, a giant tree monster (Barky McTreeface!) and a very angry TV gameshow fairy who is out to make sure that everything is fair. By destroying everything.

There were plenty of good literary and pop culture references, and some good one-liners here. The plot felt a bit like a retread of the previous stories, though. Not much new ground was covered here, although Petey and Li'l Petey had some really good moments together.

Entertaining, but leaned a bit too heavily on previous plot beats.

Rating: 6/10

The Digital Pools #1

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Digital Pools
Issue: 1
Date: 2020
Publisher: DW Comics
Writer: Alex Robnett
Artist: Matt Stevens

Cyberpunk noir set in 2035 with Boston detectives investigating a crime that took place in virtual reality space. The mystery plays out in pieces, with a flashback sequence that starts things off. The opening is a bit hard to follow, but by the end of the issue I had a pretty good grasp on who the characters were, how the cyberpunk tech worked, and where things were going. There was some good foreshadowing of a larger conspiracy that may have the newly established and underbudgeted Boston virtual crimes unit in way over their heads.

An extended fight scene early on seemed unnecessary as there wasn't much reason given for it, and the way it played out didn't make a lot of sense, but it worked well in terms of the visuals of the action, which bodes well for action sequences as the series continues.

Of the characters, the one that really stood out was Rico Teller, a disabled veteran who works as a consultant on virtual crimes. We got a little bit of his backstory, and it will be interesting to see more.

I had to read this a couple of times to get pick up on everything that was going on, as the story doesn't immediately take the time to explain everything, but what it did give was interesting enough to make me to know more.

Good start to a story that has a lot of potential.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Crude Knight #4

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #4
Date: 2020
Publisher: Ryan Little / Plastic Sword Press (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

The zombie-like Avalon warriors of Merlin have control of the oil fields are besieging Jonathan's family home as they prepare for a final assault.

Much of this issue is setup for that upcoming final battle, but there is some good character development and a bit of extra backstory revealed by Jonathan and his father.

There is also a huge plot twist, with some excellent visuals and what is sure to be a gigantic impact on the conclusion of the story.

The story continues to be relatively contained and straightforward, and the pacing never lets up. This definitely had me excited to see how things will go down in the conclusion.

Rating: 8/10

The Crude Knight #3

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #3
Date: 2019
Publisher: Ryan Little / Plastic Sword Press (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

Merlin's rapidly-growing force has taken control of the Avalon Oil Fields while Jonathan, Maria, and their forces try to find a an effective way to attack. A contest of champions sees Maria take on the newly-reborn Sir Kay, but that only leads to further mayhem, and Merlin continues to hold the upper hand.

First of all, the action and fight scenes in this continue to be great, especially in Maria's fight with Sir Kay.

There is a thematic element here of persistence, the need to keep attacking and keep fighting in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and the theme gets pushed hard, especially in dialogue directed at Jonathan, who seem less sure, but may also be a bit more flexible in his thinking.

This does come somewhat at the expense of explanation of what Jonathan's father's actual strategy is here. The contest of champions is never really explained. What does either side gain if they win? It's not clear. It it just a setup to give Jonathan another chance at pulling the sword from the stone?

Likewise Merlin's dialogue shows a lot of righteous rage, but doesn't give much idea of exactly what his end-goal in all of this is.

This is where the very fast pacing of the story becomes, well, a double-edged sword. This was an enjoyable read with lots of fun action, but could have used a step back to make everyone's motivations a bit more clear.

Rating: 7/10

The Crude Knight #1

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #1 (also includes #2)
Date: 2018
Publisher: Ryan Little (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

The Arthurian saga plays out in modern times on the Avalon Oil field, where every thirty years the sword Excalibur appears and must be melted down and thrown back into the oil to prevent the forces of Avalon from being unleashed on the world.

The heir to the Avalon oil empire is Jonathan Moore, capable, but a bit of a slacker. He's been kept in the dark about the family secrets, but things escalate quickly once the sword reappears and the first worker who approaches the weapon becomes possessed by the spirit of Merlin Ambrosius.

The concept here is clever, and the pacing of the story is great. Artist Yusuf Idris does a nice job with the action scenes, which quickly take on a zombie-apocalypse vibe as the Avalon oil turns anyone who touches it into a warrior of Avalon.

Jonathan's family has an army of hired mercenaries, but they are being quickly overrun, and Jonathan's friend Maria seems to be the only person capable of holding things together. Jonathan's oil-baron father provides some backstory but little guidance except for wanting Jonathan to pull the sword from the stone.

I would have liked to see more Arthurian lore incorporated into this, but the story still has time for that. This issue, which is really the first two issues of the story as a result of the Kickstarter stretch goal meeting its mark, does an excellent job of getting the story off to a fast start and never letting up on the action.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans, Keith Malkowski
Colorist: Aaron Daly

The Upstarts reunite as "Ultragirl" Sabrina Mancini returns to Rival Angels after her time in Japan. She returns just a Brooke gets booted out of Hell's Belles and saves the rest of the Upstarts from a beatdown. But even with the possibility of Brooke and Sabrina mending the rift between them, the Upstarts' show of unity with prove to be fleeting.

While the backstage soap opera was still a big part of this volume, the wrestling was the focus, particularly the build to the Bad Blood PPV event. This volume gave the best overview of the Rival Angels federation that we've seen so far, and the continuity and flow of many different subplots and storylines came together very nicely.

The ending was less directly focused on the Upstarts than it could have been, but it still marked a big moment for Rival Angels, and there was plenty of intriguing setup for the continuing story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Batman: White Knight

Bought at Boocup, Kerry Place Mall, Shanghai, China in March of 2020.

Title: Batman: White Knight
Date: October, 2018
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Sean Murphy
Artist: Sean Murphy
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Todd Klein
Editor: Scott Nybakken, Maggie Howell
Cover: Sean Murphy, Matt Hollingsworth

The basic idea here is that the Joker is "cured", and, as Jack Napier, embarks on a political and public opinion campaign to turn Gotham City against the Batman. Lots of complications happen, and Gotham's most deadly enemies end up having to work together to save the city.

I found the opening bit problematic to a certain extent, although some of that was the context in which I'm reading it, as opposed to when it was written. Jack Napier is portrayed as "white knighting" to exploit real problems of police brutality against minorities for his cause, but some of the dialogue, particularly Joker's use of "I can't breathe" felt uncomfortably like appropriation on the part of the story itself.

As the story moves away from those themes with the further development of the plot, it becomes a bit more of a traditional (if still alternate-universe) Batman story. The plot twists are great, involving two Harley Quinns, the disappearance of Jason Todd, the Wayne family's connections to Baron Von Fries, and just about every villain in the Batman's rogues gallery. The story also provides a lot of closure and resolution for this universe's version of Gotham City.

In some sense, the examination of the Batman's relationship with the Joker was the weakest part of this, covering little in the way of new ground, and with some of Joker's dialogue coming off as closer to the version of the Joker from The Lego Batman Movie than the author probably intended.

That being said, the handling of Harley Quinn was awesome, as was the relationship between Bruce, Barbara, Dick, and Alfred. Commissioner Gordon also had a great role, conflicted by the compromises he has made allowing the Batman to operate outside the law, but with unofficial police sanction.

The author's focus on the various Batmobiles was a nice bit of fanservice, and a light touch in a book that did a good job of being serious, but not to the point of excess.

After the shaky start, this won me over in the end with good storytelling.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels Season 2 Volume 1

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 1
Date: 2014
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans
Colorist: Aaron Daly

Rookie wrestler Sabrina "Ultragirl" Mancini travels to Japan to join Tokyo-based Millennium Wrestling Association. She makes new friends, faces new and old rivals, and deals with the sexism of an organization in which womens wrestling is not a priority in spite of the talent of the womens roster.

The parallels to pre-"Womens Evolution" WWE are pretty clear, right down to the Hulk Hogan stand-in who serves as one of the sexist authority figures.

Sabrina's romantic plotline with Lightweight Champion Yoshihiro Yamamoto has some sweet moments, and the backstage intrigue involving various factions was complex enough to keep things interesting.

One thing that worked well here compared to previous volumes was the use of more of a rapid-fire highlights style to tell a bunch of wrestling stories in a small number of panels. I found it really effective in advancing plot, while saving the blow-by-blow action for a few important matches. Sabrina's full match with Black Widow was given the space it needed as a major event.

While I missed Krystin, who was back in Rival Angels and didn't appear in this volume, Sun got in a pretty awesome feel-good moment, along with some good character interaction.

The soap-opera cliffhanger was a classic cliche, but I am interested in seeing where the story goes next.

Rating: 7/10

The Manifested Rise #1

Review copy from the creator.

Title: The Manifested Rise
Issue: 1
Publisher: Alikat Comix (Alikat Comix on Facebook, Alikat Comix on Deviantart)
Date: 2020
Writer: Alison McGlone, Jeremy Harper
Artist: Alison McGlone

This story is written in the style of a superhero team book, but with a traditional fantasy flavor. It opens with the introduction of Rune, a young apprentice wizard on the run from a crew of plague knights, as they encounter the vigilante known as the Tatterdemalion.

From there we meet Shadow, a girl traveling through the countryside who is not as alone as she appears.

And finally, a group of what seem to be former gladiators or something along those lines, also on the run from their past.

All of it is framed through the storytelling of a young bard, who served to tie the story together while the three plotlines remain separate for the moment

Tatterdemalion's scene is great with some awesome action visuals, and a good amount of worldbuilding crammed into what is essentially a fight scene. Rune and Tatterdemalion had enough chemistry in their first scene to leave me wanting more interaction between them.

Shadow's introduction relied a bit unnecessarily on rape threats from some generic villains (disposed of in short order), before getting to Shadow's true inner conflicts, which should be more interesting as her story moves on. The visuals for Shadow's powers were very nice.

The last sequence felt like it could have used a few more pages, especially given that it was really introducing four characters in a very short space. Hopefully they will be given more development in the second issue.

Overall this achieved its objective. I'm eager to see what's going to happen when these people are all together. There is a lot of great story potential here.

Rating: 7.5/10