Project Superpowers: The Death-Defying Devil: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Project Superpowers: The Death-Defying Devil: Free Comic Book Day Special Edition
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2008
Writer: Alex Ross, Jim Krueger
Artist: Andy Smith
Colorist: Debora Carita
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover: Alex Ross

The Project Superpowers team goes over the origins and history of the Claw with some flashbacks to the Devil's battles against the Claw in World War II.

And... That's about it. There is some nice artwork in places, but the Claw's overall look is a bit too goofy for the threat that the Claw is supposed to represent. The whole issue is a big infodump that is not terribly interesting.

The fact that there are 12 pages of story and 18 pages of ads does not exactly help matters. Yes, I realize this is a freebie, but I was still left going "Wait? That's it?" when I got to the end of the actual content with half of the book still to go. Particularly since nothing had actually happened in the story aside from some background getting filled in.

There is obviously a well thought out world behind this story, and a large cast of characters. But the purpose of a promotional book like this is to get me wanting to explore that world and meet those characters. This had the opposite effect on me.

Rating: 2.5/10

Meridian #4

Continuing through the stack of comics I originally brought to Vietnam. Eight to go after this one. Most of these are from convention bargain bins back in the US

Title: Meridian
Issue: #4
Publisher: Crossgen
Date: October, 2000
Writer: Barbara Kesel
Penciler: Joshua Middleton, Bart Sears
Inker: Dexter Vines, Andy Smith
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Dave Lanphear

When her sky-island nation is invaded, Sephie, the new Minister of Meridian, escapes from the captivity of her uncle and races back to help fight for her island home. Meanwhile on Meridian, a small group is organizing to resist the invasion.

The visuals of the floating-island world are gorgeous, and I loved the action sequences involving the flying sailcraft that are the world's main mode of transportation. The story is tightly plotted but still complex, and I was able to get a good sense of all the characters who appeared in this issue, in spite of jumping into the story in issue #4. I also loved the awesome and classic cliffhanger ending.

Backup story is part of a series called The First, and it didn't really do much for me. It involved two characters calling forth some sort of  grave-element-like creature. Some other things went on, but not enough to catch my interest.

Main story totally rocked, however, and I note that I have one other issue of this series in my to-read stack, and it's #19, and I really find myself wishing it was #5. Might have to seek out more of this story when I get back to the US.

Rating: 7.5/10