Pathfinder: Wake the Dead #1

This was a bargain-bin purchase from Most Excellent Comics and Games in Enfield CT USA on Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Pathfinder: Wake the Dead
Issue: 1 
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2023
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Eman Casallos
Colorist: Jorge Sutil
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Editor: Joe Rybandt
Cover: Steve Ellis

This is an adaptation of the Pathfinder tabletop roleplaying system. The story here is essentially meant to assemble the team of heroes as a bunch of characters on converging missions meet in a horrific city district of living flesh known as the Awful. There's a lot of posturing the eventually becomes fighting, and everyone gets to show off their moveset before some badder enemies arrive and we go to cliffhanger.

This was fine, but it had a lot of characters involved and none of their powers or skills was anything we haven't seen before. After the comic action is finished, there's a section detailing the game stats of some of the spells, items, and characters in the book, including the most memorable thing in this issue: the tragic backstory of the champion character Seelah. That would make a good comic adaptation, and I think I would have preferred Seelah in a solo book, or at least to start with her and build the team a bit more slowly.

Rating: 4.5/10

Battlestar Galactica #6

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Battlestar Galactica
Issue: 6
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2007
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Nigel Raynor
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: Simon Bowland

Photo cover edition. Set during the second season of the SciFi TV series, this issue has the Galactica and it's "rag-tag fleet" hiding among space debris as they deal with a virus that has incapacitated many of their crew, as well as multiple ships with FTL drives damaged by attacks from Earth Protectorate terrorists.

To make matters worse, the (temporary, apparently) death of one of the Cylon agents may have alerted the cylons to the location of the fleet, and an attack could come at any moment.

I have only seen a few episodes of the show, and the only other issue of the comic series I have read so far was #0 (reviewed here), but I was impressed with the comic's ability to capture the emotional tension of the show. This issue had a ton of subplots, and breakneck pacing, but in spite of my relative unfamiliarity with the ongoing story, I never felt put off by the complexity. Instead, it added to my interest.

Coupled with some terrific art, the pacing and intensity of the story made for a very engaging read.

Rating: 7.5/10

Red Sonja #15

Got this one as part of a batch of comics I bought at Double Midnight in Manchester NH over Christmas break.

Title: Red Sonja
Issue: 15
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2015
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Walter Geovani
Colorist: Adriano Lucas, Alex Guimaraes, Marco Lesko
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor: Joseph Rybrandt
Cover: Jenny Frison

Sonja has killed the wizard that she was hired to defeat, but the wizard's curse has made her a danger to the villagers who had hired her. Now with the wizard's equally deadly brother on his way to town, Sonja's hands are mutilated and useless, her body wracked with fever, and her mind crippled with doubt.

With death looming, Sonja must rediscover the ability to forgive and then use her wits to save the village.

This had a really satisfying final conclusion with the arrogant wizard getting everything he deserves in a confrontation full of tension and surprises.

The lead-up was good too, with Sonja having to see the fear that she instills in innocent people.

The action was gory in places, but there were some really spectacular big action panels, and some nice character work in the art as well.

Rating: 8/10

Red Sonja / Tarzan #2 (Cover A)

Another summer purchase at New England Comics in Quincy MA USA.

Title: Red Sonja / Tarzan
Issue: Volume 1, #2 (Cover A)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2018
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Walter Geovani
Colorist: Adriano Augusto
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor: Joseph Rybrandt, Luke Lieberman, Kevin Ketner
Cover: Aaron Lopresti

The second issue of Gail Simone and Walter Geovani's crossover between Tarzan and Red Sonja goes straight to the time travel and time paradoxes, not to mention a bit of Victorian-era namedropping.

This also features a straight-up fight between Sonja and Tarzan, which seems to exist here mostly because you can't really do the crossover without having them fight, and the second issue was as good a place as any to get it out of the way.

Notably absent from this issue is Eson Duul, the villain, who got a ton of screen time in the the first issue (reviewed here, btw).

This issue is primarily focused on getting the two title characters acquainted with each other (twice, because time travel), and as such, it fell a bit short in the plot development department. It did end with a setup that should get things moving forward (backward!) next issue.

Rating: 6/10

Red Sonja / Tarzan #1 (Cover A)

I got this along with the second issue of the series this past July at New England Comics in Quincy MA USA.

Title: Red Sonja / Tarzan
Issue: Volume 1, #1 (Cover A)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2018
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Walter Geovani
Colorist: Adiano Augusto
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Editor: Joseph Rybrandt, Luke Lieberman, Kevin Ketner
Cover: Adam Hughes

This classic pulp hero teamup spends most of its first issue establishing the villain, Eson Duul, who is basically an over-the-top interdimensional version of Kraven the Hunter, with a couple of reasonably dangerous henchpersons in tow.

He starts out in a business dispute with Lord Greystoke, but that very rapidly turns personal. Meanwhile in Sonja's corner of the multiverse, Duul has gotten the better of Sonja in an encounter and she is brooding on revenge and seeking out a bit of dimensional travel to get her back on Duul's trail.

I'm a huge Burroughs fan, and I thought the portrayal of Tarzan as Lord Greystoke in England, the competent aristocrat putting a thin veneer of civilization over his true nature, was spot-on.

Sonja also had some great moments character revelation.

I'm a bit less sold on Duul, whose motivations feel generic, and who is so over-the-top nasty that he comes off as a bit too much of a villainous cliche. That being said, he is nicely established as a genuine threat even against a combination like Tarzan and Sonja.

Rating: 6.5/10

Avengers/Invaders Sketchbook

From the random stack of unread comics. This was not a designated Free Comic Book Day promotional book, but it was a promotional freebie, and I believe I did get it as part of that 2008 Free Comic Book Day haul.

Title: Avengers/Invaders Sketchbook
Publisher: Marvel Comics / Dynamite
Date: 2008
Writer: Arune Singh
Artist: Alex Ross, Steve Sandowski
Editor: Jeff Youngquist, John Denning, Cory Levine

This is a promotional book hyping the Avengers/Invaders crossover event, which feature's Marvel's World War II super-team, the Invaders, traveling to the present post-Civil War Marvel Universe. It contains a set of character and concept sketches by Alex Ross, and some sample penciled pages by Steve Sandowski, along with commentary about the making of the crossover event.

The Ross artwork is gorgeous. Sandowski's work here is very busy, and I'd probably appreciate the full-color finished work more, but I can tell that he has put a ton of detail work into these panels. The battle scenes look creatively chaotic.

The text does a nice job of selling the story, and as someone who has not read the original Civil War, it gave enough to bring me up to speed on who is who without getting bogged down in Marvel continuity.

In short, this book does the job of selling the series that it was intended to do, and it's a nice collectible in and of itself, especially for the Alex Ross sketches of classic Marvel characters.

Rating: 7/10

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

Swords of Sorrow #2 (Cover Variant C)

Another comic shop purchase from last summer. My review of the first issue of this series is here.

Title: Swords of Sorrow
Issue: 2 (Cover Variant C)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2015
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Sergio Davila
Colorist: Jorge Sutil
Letterer: Erica Schultz
Editor: Hannah Elder
Cover: Robert Hack

I love the Frazetta-paperback-throwback look for this cover, including the "price tag".

With the swords distributed through the dimensions to the chosen warrior women, the question becomes how they will find common ground as the dimensional rifts keep throwing the characters together along with various elements of their respective worlds. You know, like hungry dinosaurs for example.

At least the language barrier won't be a problem. Apparently these Swords of Sorrow also function as babelswords.

The main focus here is on Red Sonja and Deja Thoris, who are rapidly emerging as the stars of this show. Their interaction is actually loads of fun, with good action mixed with dialogue. Gail Simone has an excellent grasp of the characters an great attention to detail for things like the varying gravity between Barsoom and Jasoom.

The plot is the biggest weakness so far. The villain is generic, and he does generic villain things like sending generic minions to attack the heroines, with mostly predictable results. Hopefully the story will dispense with these preliminaries in the next issue.

Rating: 5.5/10



 

Swords of Sorrow #1 (Cover Variant B)

Second review of the night! I bought this last summer (along with the second issue) at one of the comic shops I visited. This issue has a ton of cover variants. I bought the "Version B" cover, with beautiful art by Jenny Frison.

Title: Swords of Sorrow
Issue: 1 (Cover Variant B)
Publisher: Dynamite
Date: 2015
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Sergio Davila
Colorist: Jorge Sutil
Letterer: Erica Schultz
Editor: Hannah Elder
Cover: Jenny Frison

This is Dynamite's female-character crossover, written by Gail Simone. Red Sonja is really the central character, and it is her style and flavor that largely shapes this interdimensional fantasy story.

This issue is broken into a bunch of segments that introduce the various characters to the readers, who might not be reading their individual comics. Opening with Jana the Jungle Girl, the vignettes give us glimpses of Kato, Red Sonja, Dejah Thoris, Vampirella, Lady Zorro, and others.

I enjoyed getting reacquainted with characters I knew from the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, plus pulp and comics characters from the thirties through the seventies. The cast is fun, and Gail Simone's writing nails their personalities impressively, given the space limitations.

There is also some progress made on the overall plot, as the swords of the title are distributed, and we're introduced to the interdimensional power-players who are manipulating events that will eventually bring the diverse group of women together.

Considering how much is going on here, this reads pretty smoothly, although it does employ a lot of familiar tropes found in other multi-world crossover comics. There were some nice bits of subtle feminism (especially in the opening sequence with Jana), and a number of fun cliffhangers to get the various plotlines off and running.

The artwork is beautiful, and captures the styles of the different characters very well.

While it definitely had a similar feel to other crossover stories, Swords of Sorrow #1 did a good job with the small details, which will hopefully continue to distinguish it as the story progresses.

Rating: 6.5/10

Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #1

Here's one from the unread comics backlog. Picked these up a few years ago at a bulk sale when a local comic shop closed.

Title: Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apcocalypse
Issue: #1
Date: 2007
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Art: Carlos Rafael
Colorist: Carlos Lopez
Letterer: Bill Tortolini
Cover: Jim Starlin, Carlos Rafael

This issue has six different variant covers. I ended up with two of them (pictured here; by Carlos Rafael and Jim Starlin respectively).

This is original-series BSG. Starbuck is a guy and Cylons look like dudes in clunky armor who go around repeating "By your command." I got all nostalgic when the captions on the opening page of this issue ran through the original Battlestar Galactica opening voiceover ("There are those who believe that life here began out there...").

This suffers from the same problem that most movie/TV comics do, which is that no matter how good the art, the characters just don't look "right" because the mental image of the actor is so strong in the mind of any reader who is familiar with the show.

That being said, the book does an admirable job of capturing the overall flavor of the original show.

The plot involves Starbuck and Apollo witnessing Cylon forces attacking and destroying one of their own base stars. Investigation of the wreckage reveals something so dangerous that even the Cylons are determined to destroy it.

This was a good beginning to what could be a pretty interesting story.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Lone Ranger #0

With Free Comic Book Day upon us, here's a Free Comic Book edition from 2007's offerings.

Title: The Lone Ranger / Battlestar Galactica Season Zero
Issue: #0
Date: 2007
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Brett Matthews, Brandon Jerwa
Artist: Sergio Cariello, Stephen Segovia
Colorist: Dean White, Inlight Studios
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover Art: John Cassaday, Stephen Segovia

Flip book.

Cue up the William Tell Overture! I'll start with The Lone Ranger.

The Lone Ranger opening action sequence with a caption narration recounting of the Lone Ranger's creed was surprisingly awesome. The exchange between Ranger and Tonto that followed was worth a decent chuckle without the humor seeming out of place or disrespectful to the original material. Tonto is a character who gets put under a microscope a lot, and I have to say that I was impressed with the glimpse we got here. Gutsy move to include the word "God" in the Ranger's creed too. I think that an upfront display of faith works for some characters, and this seems like a good choice. Sergio Cariello did a great job of telling a fast-paced action story with the artwork while the captions established the character. This was a really good start!

Flip over and... There are those who believe that life here began out there... Oh, wait. That's the old version of the show.

Anyway, this takes place two years before the Cylon Holocaust. How do we know? The second caption says so.

Adama and Tigh take command of the (a bit the worse for wear) Galactica for a search and rescue mission in the Romulan Neutral Zone. No, wait. I mean, um... just plain "Neutral Space". I think that's located somewhere between the Positive and Negative Material Planes.

Anyway, just as I yanked myself back out of Star Trek (and D&D) paradigms, here's Commander Adama leading the away team in classic Kirk fashion. At least he's not taking the first officer, chief medical officer, navigator, and chief engineer.

They then exchange a bunch of tough-sounding military jargon. "We've taken a hit and we're going down hard." "Brace for impact!" "Weapons hot and eyes open." "We've got trouble. I'm getting multiple readings all around us." While this is happening, they are getting shot down, finding the marooned crew they came to rescue and then getting into a even more trouble as the "to be continued" looms ahead. This was full of sound and fury, and as far as I could tell, it signified nothing.

One good one and one bad one makes for...

Rating: 6/10

Battlestar Galactica #0

Title: Battlestar Galactica
Issue: #0
Date: 2006
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writer: Greg Pak
Penciler: Nigel Raynor
Inker: Nigel Raynor
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Cover Art: Steve McNiven

Convenient note for the hardcore fans: "The events of this comic book take place in the middle of Season Two of the television show, after the return from Kobol in Episode 207 (Home, Part 2) and before the arrival of Pegasus in Episode 211 (Resurrection Ship, Part 1)". For those who are not hardcore fans, this is an adaptation of the Battlestar Galactica remake, not the original series. No Dirk Bennedict. Starbuck is a woman. The comic itself centers on a hospital ship that is under attack by Cylon centurians. When Kara "Starbuck" Thrace boards the ship, she discovers that all of the survivors are people officially listed as dead in the records. Are they Cylons in human form? Are they who they claim to be? Or are they something else? Not much is answered here, but it serves as a nice teaser for the comic series. The art is good, although as with most adaptations of movies or TV shows, the character designs feel just a little bit "off". The characterizations seemed pretty good, especially Commander Adama.

Backup story is a two-page preview of Red Sonja #11 that's all fight scene with no dialogue. The chainmail bikini is still just as ridiculous as it ever was, although artist Mel Rubi does a nice job with all of the jumping around, kicking, and sword-swinging. Writer on this segment is Michael Avon Oeming.

Rating: 6.5/10