Deathmate Prologue

From the Box of Random Unread Comics.

Title: Deathmate Prologue
Date: June, 1993
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment / Image Comics
Writer: Bob Layton
Penciler: Barry Windsor-Smith, Rob Liefeld
Inker: Jim Lee, Bob Layton, Danny Miki, Dan Panosian
Colorist: Joe Chiodo
Letterer: Mike Heisler
Editor: Mark Moretti

This was the opening scene to the large-scale Valiant/Image crossover event. It opens with a death, and Solar consumed by grief and retreating into the Unreality where he meets up with Void. Fascinated by each other, they kiss and become one. That's the first story.

The second story starts in a dream sequence that is essentially a Rob Liefeld rollcall of Image and Valiant characters. It's the Geomancer who's dreaming, and he wakes up in a panic and runs right into a fight with the Berzerkers, which leads to Prophet getting involved. Turns out Prophet is in on the whole dream thing and we're off and (literally) running.

I don't really know either set of characters, so this felt a little disjointed, but it was sufficient to get the idea across that there is some kind of Crisis-On-Infinite-Earths-level event heading in the heroes' direction. So while a bit more backstory would have been nice to make me feel a bit more invested, this was still a reasonable opening to the coming saga.

Rating: 5.5/10

Mage: The Hero Discovered Collected Edition Book 1

From the books unpacked from storage.

Title: Mage: The Hero Discovered Collected Edition
Issue: Book 1
Date: October, 1998
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Matt Wagner
Artist: Matt Wagner
Colorist: Jeromy Cox, James Rochelle

This collected edition from Image Comics reprints the first two issues of Matt Wagner's take on Arthurian mythology which was the precursor to his classic Grendel and one of the mainstays of the independent comics boom of the 1980s.

Loner Kevin Matchstick sits down and spills his guts to a mysterious stranger on a streetcorner, and things get weird from there. Part urban fantasy with a bit of a superhero vibe (and a little bit of a Captain Marvel tribute), the story develops quickly but stays straightforward through concise use of dialogue and some solid action sequences. The coloring by Jeromy Cox and James Rochelle give the story a perfect 80s neon-noir feel.

This was fun without going in for the excessive grimdark that later 80s urban fantasies would rely on.

Rating: 8.5/10

Saga Compendium 1

From the staff book exchange shelf at my school.

Title: Saga Compendium
Issue: Volume 1
Date: September , 2019
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks, Steven Finch
Cover: Fiona Staples
Editor: Eric Stephenson

This phonebook-sized (a comparison that is becoming less and less meaningful as I get older!) volume collects the first 54 issues of the Brian K. Vaughan/Fiona Staples epic. Narrated by a child of two soldiers on opposite sides of a seemingly endless galactic war between a techological planet and its magical moon, Saga is romance, satire, dark comedy, grim action, and most of all, a story about the nature of family.

I read the first issue of this (review is here), and really liked it, but hadn't had the chance to pick up any of the subsequent issues. Reading them as a compilation was a great experience given the huge scope of the story and the numerous plot threads that it weaves.

As I mentioned with the first issue, this is definitely R-rated material, including graphic sex and brutal violence, but the story always seems to re-center and find its heart, even in the face of a lot of sudden and tragic twists of fate.

The plot twists are a real strong point of Saga. Vaughan's writing delivers shock after shock, and Staples' artwork sets every plot twist up perfectly. The story has great pacing, moving in furious bursts and then taking time for characters to age and grow so that the reader really feels the changing dynamics of the family.

In spite of the size of this compilation, an awful lot is left unresolved at the end, and I look forward to the return of Saga in the coming year.

Rating: 9/10

Bitch Planet: Triple Feature #1

From the stack of comics I bought at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester NH last year.

Title: Bitch Planet: Triple Feature
Issue: 1
Date: June 2017
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Andrew Aydin, Conley Lyons
Artist: Maria Frohlich, Joanna Estep, Craig Yeung
Colorist: Marco D'alfonso
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Editor:  Lauren Sankovitch
Cover: Valentine De Landro

This is an anthology series set in the world of Bitch Planet, a patriarchal future in which "troublesome and offensive" women are imprisoned on an off-world penitentiary.

In the three stories in this collection, the only part that actually takes place in the Bitch Planet prison is a flashback sequence. Instead, the focus here is life under oppressive patriarchy, and acts of resistance and defiance.

All three stories were powerful, but all of them felt like they could have used a bit more breathing room. I haven't read the Bitch Planet main series (Yet! It's on my list!), so I don't know if there is any crossover of characters, but the lead characters in each of these stories had the potential for her own major plotline.

This is clearly a great companion piece for fans of the main series, but not as good a jumping-in point for new readers. That being said, I did jump in here as a new reader, and it did leave me intrigued enough to want to read more.

Rating: 7.5/10

Shanghai Red #1

I believe this is the last of a stack of comics bought at Double Midnight in Manchester NH over Christmas break last December.

Title: Shanghai Red
Issue: 1
Date: June 2018
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Christopher Sebela
Artist: Joshua Hixson
Colorist: Joshua Hixson
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Editor: Andrea Shockling

A ship crewed by "Shanghaied" conscripts suffers a bloody mutiny, carried out by Red, a woman who had been living disguised among the rats in the bilges as she plotted her revenge. Now, she has set sail for the Pacific Northwest, where the trail of retribution will continue.

Red is a great character, and the plot twists and bits of background are intriguing.

I will admit that I bought this solely because of "Shanghai" in the title (and the ship arrives just off the coast of Shanghai and doesn't actually ever arrive there), but it exceeded expectations as a story.

This was a good start and I'd be interested in reading more.

Rating: 8/10

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

The Walking Dead #175

Bought at Double Midnight in Manchester NH over Christmas break.

Title: The Walking Dead
Issue: 175
Date: 2018
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Penciler: Charlie Adlard
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano
Gray Tones: Cliff Rathburn
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover: Charlie Adlard, Dave Stewart
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz

Eugene, Michonne, and their group finally meet up with the community that Eugene has been in contact with by radio. But the welcome is not exactly a warm one.

It's been a long time since I've read any Walking Dead. I never bought very many individual issues, and always meant to follow it through the trade paperback volumes, of which I did read a few of the early ones.

I was impressed by how well the quality of the writing has held up over 175 issues. The tension and distrust as the two groups meet was palpable, and the questioning that Michonne and company had to go through before being allowed close to the Ohio community was logical even as it was infuriating.

This is the beginning of the "New World Order" storyline, showing a different kind of survivor community than the series has explored before, and it caps off the good dialogue and worldbuilding with a major plot twist that should make for some interesting drama.

If you're intimidated by the whole 175 issues thing, this is a reasonable jumping-on point.

Rating: 8.5/10

I Kill Giants

Got this one at New England Comics in Quincy MA.

Title: I Kill Giants
Date: March, 2018
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Joe Kelly
Artist: Ken Niimura

Middle school student Barbara Thorson prepares for the arrival of a giant in her Long Island town, in between dealing with bullies, D&D, and a school psychologist who is trying to understand her. And as horrifying as the signs of the approaching giant are, there are something even scarier that Barbara is not willing to face.

This was beautiful. Heartbreaking in places, and brilliantly uplifting in others. The characters all felt very real, and the fantasy story elements are wonderfully visualized in Ken Niimura's art.

Rating: 9.5/10

Crosswind #1

Another purchase from this past summer. I believe I got this one at New England Comics in Quincy MA.

Title: Crosswind
Issue: 1
Date: June, 2017
Publisher: Image Comics
Creators: Gail Simone, Cat Staggs
Writer:Gail Simone
Artist: Cat Staggs
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Production: Carey Hall

Gail Simone and Cat Staggs present an adult version of "Freaky Friday", with a suburban housewife switching bodies with a high-priced mafia hitman.

Almost all of this first issue was spent introducing the reader to hitman Cason Ray Bennett and housewife Juniper Elanore Blue. There was some good character development here, especially in Juniper's storyline, which went in more unexpected directions than Cason's. The mafia intrigue stuff felt pretty standard-fare, although that is likely to get more interesting when it's Juniper in Cason's body.

The explanation of how the body-switching happened is pretty arbitrary, although a short prose piece at the end of the issue helps it along nicely.

This was a decent start with the potential to go in some interesting directions, or to stick to fairly cliche territory. So far, so good.

Rating: 8/10

Motor Crush #1

One of my purchases over the summer. I got this books from New England Comics in Quincy MA.

Title: Motor Crush
Issue: 1
Date: December, 2016
Publisher: Image Comics
Creators: Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Cover: Cameron Stewart

In a futuristic world, motorbike racer Domino Swift walks a dangerous line between the world of the high stakes big money World Grand Prix circuit and the shady world of anything-goes "Cannonball" street racing. Up for grabs in the illegal races is Crush, the illegal accelerant that fuels the street-race mayhem, and is the rather open secret of success in the WGP races.

When a member of her team turns up dead and her stash of Crush turns up missing, Domino trades in the danger of racing for the danger of dealing with criminal elements willing to kill anyone who interferes in their business.

This was fast-paced fun with a main character who is flawed but sympathetic, and a solid supporting cast. The worldbuilding was straightforward, but detailed, and Crush itself presents an interesting enigma (especially after unexpected the final scene!).

The artwork was good, and handled the challenging racing sequences very well. Great facial expressions on the characters too.

Excellent start.

Rating: 8/10

Leave it to Chance #1

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Leave it to Chance
Issue: 1
Date: September, 1996
Publisher: Image Comics (under their Homage brand)
Writer: James Robinson
Artist: Paul Smith
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Amie Grenier
Editor: Jonathan Peterson

I'm a big fan of Leave it to Chance, but this was actually my first time reading the debut issue. It did not disappoint.

Set in the city of Devil's Echo, where the supernatural exists side-by-side with modern civilization, the story introduces resident demon-slayer Lucan Falconer and his daughter Chance. Chance is eager to begin her training as the next generation of the city's long line of protectors against demonic threats, but an overprotective Lucas has some very different ideas.

This issue does a great job of introducing the main characters, as well as some background and supporting characters, plus a complex setting, and then diving right into the action. Chance is immediately likeable. The Devil's Echo setting is loaded with possibility, and several long-term plotlines are set into motion along with the immediate story of Chance's first real adventure in the city.

Lucas's sexist attitude came off as a cliche, but it was thrown out there and the story moved on quickly, putting the focus on Chance, while building toward an ongoing plot that is set up to break a lot more cliches than it will reinforce.

This was, first and foremost, a really fun start to a series with a very unique vibe.

Rating: 8/10

Savage Dragon #148 (Free Comic Book Day Edition)

In an odd coincidence, I pulled this out of the random stack of unread comics, and it had an odd connection to my previous review.

Title: Savage Dragon
Issue: 148 (Free Comic Book Day Edition)
Date: May, 2009
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Erik Larsen
Artist: Erik Larsen
Colorist: Nikos Koutsis
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski

Savage Dragon's children have been kidnapped, and he teams up with Daredevil (the original golden-age superhero, not the Marvel version) to rescue them. Daredevil, in turn, recruits the Wise Guys, a team of scrappy street kids.

Since this issue was a 2009 Free Comic Book Day offering from Image, there is a four-page "The Story So Far" segment condensing the previous 147 issues down to less than 30 panels. It's a bit helpful, but it has a hard time smoothing out what has clearly been a pretty convoluted journey to the current point in the story.

Once the Daredevil crossover gets going, the story becomes pretty straightforward and easy to follow. Daredevil and the Dragon have a good vibe, working together without needing to fight each other first or have a lot of macho posturing. In fact, it's their easy conversation through the story that really stands out in this issue.

In an interesting coincidence, the Daredevil character presented here, is the same character as the Death-Defying Devil, featured in the comic from Dynamite Entertainment that was my previous review. I don't know how I got these two comics, and had no idea that they shared a character.

Conveniently, this book featured a two-page text feature on the original Daredevil character, who first appeared in Silver Streak Comics from Lev Gleason Publications in 1940. The character may have been the inspiration for Marvel's Daredevil, and is now in the public domain, which explains why he is featured in books by two different companies under slightly different names. This was a nice little bit of comics history.

The story here doesn't resolve all that much. The action is fun, but nothing exceptional. I did really enjoy the dialogue all the way through.

Rating: 6/10

The Astounding Wolf-Man #1 (Free Comic Book Day Edition)

Another books from Free Comic Book Day 2007.

Title: The Astounding Wolf-Man
Date: May, 2005
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Jason Howard
Letterer: Rus Wooton

A man is badly injured while camping with his family. He is transferred to a hospital in New York where he lies in a coma for 30 days only to be miraculously healed. Thirty days after that, things get even stranger.

This is a simple, straightforward werewolf story following pretty traditional werewolf mythology, that turns out to be quite a lot of fun.

Instead of focusing on what makes his werewolf different from everyone else's, writer Robert Kirkman (you might have heard of him from another Image comic: The Walking Dead) is able to rely on the readers knowing the basics of the folklore while the story focuses on character development, and a good plot twist at the end to hook the reader.

This was a clever and enjoyable story with good pacing, sparingly-used gore (enough to keep the horror vibe), and characters that show a lot of potential.

A good start.

This book also contains previews for Brit, Spawn: Godslayer, and the Witchblade tie-in First Born: Conception. Of those Brit looked entertaining, while the Spawn preview went with printing four full pages of art per page of the preview, badly limiting the effectiveness of the art. First Born took the opposite approach with lovely full-page character introduction pinups.

Rating: 7/10

The Stardust Kid #1

From the random unread comics pile, picked out by the Kiddo. I am guessing I originally bought this because you really can't go wrong with Mike Ploog's art.

Title: The Stardust Kid
Date: May, 2005
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Artist: Mike Ploog
Colorist: Nick Bell
Letterer: Dave Lanphear

The Stardust Kid tells the story of Cody, a boy about to turn 13, and his friend Paul, a boy who is, well, not what he appears to be.

This was a really nicely-written urban fantasy with a strong cast of characters and a take on ancient magic that was both familiar (evoking J.M. Barrie and Lewis Carroll) and refreshingly original.

Almost all of this issue was setup and introduction of characters, and it got a bit wordy in places, but it was looking to build a strong foundation, and I felt it succeeded. It will be very interesting to see where things go from here.

Mike Ploog's artwork is always brilliant, and this was just another example of how great he is. He has a flair for both the ordinary details that bring out personality in characters, and the large-scale fantasy images the deliver the sense of woner.

Rating: 7.5/10

Leave it to Chance #8

From the random stack of unread comics. Lately, the Kiddo has decided to choose the comics for me to read and review, and this is the one he picked out for today.

Title: Leave it to Chance
Issue: 8
Date: February, 1998
Publisher: Image Comics (under their Homage brand)
Writer: James Robinson
Penciler: Paul Smith
Inker: George Freeman
Colorist: Jeromy Cox
Letterer: Amie Grenier
Editor: Jonathan Peterson

Leave it to Chance is like an updated (and more scrappy) Nancy Drew set in a magical city.

In this issue, Chance Falconer encounters the Phantom of the Mall, in a not-so-subtle play on the Phantom of the Opera story. Chance knows that her father, police detective Lucan Falconer, is losing his patience when it comes to the dangerous adventures she finds herself in, so she tries her best to leave the Phantom case to the professionals. But when one of her best friends becomes the target of the Phantom, Chance needs to take action.

Chance is always a fun character, and her interactions with her friends were great (bonus points for a Hellboy reference!). The detective story presented here is fairly straightforward, and the inconclusive ending was a bit lacking in satisfaction.

Still, Chance and her friends facing down danger was awesome enough on its own to make this a fun story.

Rating: 6.5/10

Strange Girl: Free Ashcan Edition

From the pile of random unread comics. I'm guessing I got this because it was free.

Title: Strange Girl: Free Ashcan Edition
Date: August, 2006
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Nick Stakal, Eric Nguyen, Jerome Opena, Harper Jaten

Standard comic format here. "Free Ashcan Edition" just indicates a small page count (10 total; five of story and five sketchbook pages), and the fact that it's a giveaway.

The story portion is a first-person recap of the action from issues 1-9 of the Strange Girl series, as told by the title character Bethany Black. Essentially, a Christian-flavored apocalypse has occurred, with much of the population raptured away by God, while Earth is given over to the demons, who get right down to the business of enslaving, torturing, and killing those "left behind".

Bethany, discovering she has a talent for demon magic, survives by making herself useful to one of the demon lords before eventually escaping and striking out on her own.

Unfortunately, all of that is told in a wordy recap that really doesn't do the job of selling the product that it needs to. Show, don't tell, please! Bethany's voice is uninteresting, and she never quite manages to convince me that I should care about her or her world. I guess I need more of a hook than just "Hell on Earth".

The artwork looks good, but the small panels don't help matters. The emergence of the demons from cracks in the earth during the apocalypse really needed to be epic-sized. Space limitations really hurt matters here.

In fact, the best thing in this book was the sketchbook section, in which artist Nick Stakal was allowed a bit of breathing room while showing off concept art for his run, which starts with the 10th issue of the series.

That's not enough to convince me to jump on board with this story, though.

Rating: 4.5/10

Lex Talionis: A Jungle Tale

A recent dollar store find.

Title: Lex Talionis: A Jungle Tale
Date: January, 2004
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Aeurin Wright
Artist: Aeurin Wright
Letterer: Blambot

The first thing I noticed about this book was the odd format, with the spine located at the top of the front cover, rather than on the left.

This is a story of a gorilla attack in an unspecified region of Africa. It's fictional, although it makes mention of the real events surrounding the death of gorilla researcher Dian Fossey in 1985.

The style and pacing of the story give the impression of a hardboiled crime novel, and essentially that is what Lex Talionis is at its heart. It also raises some interesting questions about human and gorilla intelligence and emotion.

The story is simple, but very effective, and Wright's artwork brings the intensity and the violence of the story without excessive gore.

This is a good, tightly constructed short story in graphic form.

Rating: 8/10

Saga #1

Random comic from the backlog,. Turned out to be pretty good.

Title: Saga
Issue: 1
Date: March, 2012
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks, Steven Finch
Cover: Fiona Staples
Editor: Eric Stephenson

Two star-crossed lovers, quite literally since they are on opposite sides in an ongoing interplanetary war, have a child together, and are now on the run from the forces of both sides.

This is definitely R-rated material, just to be clear. That being said, the opening scene was absolutely awesome, capturing the wonder of the birth of the baby without leaving out any of the mess and sprinkling in some spot-on humor.

The story gets the main characters on the run, establishes the background, and gives some insight into the villains from two different factions that will be pursuing them.

Both lead characters are flawed, possibly broken, but both come across as powerful personalities in their own ways. The baby get a bit of caption narration that adds flavor and serves to fill in a few details here and there. The world mixes gritty space opera with fairy-tale and mythological imagery. The two warring races could be described as traditional demons (one with wings, the other with horns, and their baby with both), but the culture they are part of is original and interesting.

The story and images go for shock value in a few places, which is usually a turn-off for me, but I was hooked into the story from the opening page, and I found myself enjoying it all the way through.

Rating: 8.5/10

Brit #9

This was one of those Free Comic Book Day extras. Not an official FCBD edition, just a bargain bin comic that a dealer was giving away for free as part of the Free Comic Book Day fun.

Title: Brit
Issue: 9
Date: 2008
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Bruce Brown
Penciler: Nate Bellegarde
Inker: Nate Bellegarde
Colorist: FCO Plascencia
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover: Ryan Ottley, Kelsey Shannon
Editor: Aubrey Sitterson

I had no familiarity with this title at all going into this, so to start a fairly complex book with a large cast at issue #9 can sometimes be a bit of a stretch.

But I have to say, the first scene was a really solid hook for me. The book opens with a guy named Bob sitting on the Great Wall of China with his date for the evening, teleporter Ms. Popper. Popper is instantly likeable, an older female character who is quietly competent.

The story, as it turns out, plays heavily with parallel universes, and relies a bit heavily on parallel universe cliches once we get going, but there was good flow in the action, screen time for a lot of characters, emotional intensity, and a very clear degree of thought put into characters' various powers and abilities.

There is also a seemingly invincible villain who has that whole invincible-and-also-intolerably-annoying vibe, and it did not help matters when his identity is revealed on the last page to be the most obvious cliche of them all.

But in spite of all that, there was enough here in terms of good dialogue and clever interactions to keep my interest up.

Rating: 6.5/10

The Walking Dead: The Covers

Slight change of plans. Today was going to be another item from one of the recent cons, but someone bought this book from me and so I figured I'd read it and review it before I ship it off.

By the way, if you read and appreciate my comic reviews and are wondering if there was a way to support the effort, I would point you in the direction of my own comic book small press, my books for sale on half.com, my assorted geeky ebay auctions, or my books for trade on paperbackswap.com.

Title: The Walking Dead: The Covers
Date: 2010
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard
Artist: Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard
Colorist: Tony Moore, Cliff Rathburn
Cover: Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
Editor: Sina Grace

This hardcover edition collects the cover illustrations from the first fifty issues of The Walking Dead. Each cover gets a full-page treatment (just the art without the cover lettering), and on the facing page are notes from Robert Kirkman and from the artist along with sketches and alternate versions.

The artwork is great, and the book's format does an excellent job of showcasing it. The notes sometimes tend toward the technical side of the artwork, with some decent insights for artists into the processes involved. Tony Moore writes a lot more than Charlie Adlard does, but I thought there were some good anecdotes from both artists.

Rating: 8/10