Review: James Bond Black Box
By Justin McCarty
Dynamite continues its revival of the James Bond mythos in comic form in this six-issue arc called Black Box. This series has had a lot of praise for its ability to tell some pretty terrific stories so far. Unfortunately, I think this was one of the weaker runs in the series. All the components are there. The Aston Martin, obligatory girl, exotic locations, an ugly megalomaniac, the gadget that saves the day, and of course there's Q -- except he is called Boothroyd in this story, as in Major Boothroyd from the first movie and the sixth novel. None of it really comes together, however.
Review: Transdimensional #2
By Justin McCarty
Recently, I have read several great Kickstarter funded comics. The great thing about Kickstarter is it gets not just original comics made, but unique and inventive comics. Transdimensional is a sci-fi horror comic with some great elements. This issue builds successfully on those elements, and the premise of the first issue, as it takes us deeper into the mystery of the sunken Russian submarine.
Review: Alex Automatic 1 & 2
By Justin McCarty
Inspired by the TV shows the creators grew up watching in the UK, Alex Automatic is an Inspector Gadget-ish spy. He’s more machine than a man. Alex Automatic is really Alex Anderson, a man that has been experimented on to turn him into the perfect weapon. Stay with me, the initial premise isn’t new, but the execution is pretty unique and fun. So Alex’s brain has been so screwed with that he can’t tell what’s real and he slips in and out of the delusion of being the star hero in a TV show called Alex Automatic. As you might tell this back and forth between reality and delusion allows for some pretty creative storytelling.
Review: Mister Miracle #3
By Justin McCarty
Mister Miracle continues to be a fascinating read unlike pretty much any other book out right now. This issue takes us further into the psyche of Scott Free as he tries to understand his true purpose. Barda is still just trying to get through the war. The larger issues at stake here come into focus with the increasingly tyrannical Highfather Orion doing all he can to keep his people under his thumb. Scott and Barda may be headed into a trap. Watch out for Dr. Bedlam and his paranoid-pill!
Review: Fighting American #1
By Justin McCarty
UK publisher Titan Comics reintroduces Fighting American to the modern audience. First introduced in the mid-1950s, Fighting American was Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s version of Captain America after they sold him to Timely Comics (Marvel). There have been a couple attempts to bring back the character before, but this is a direct continuation of the stories the character was built on sixty years ago. What we end up with seems to be a comic that is as true to the creator's original vision as it possibly can be. Granted, I have not read the original series.
Review: The Shadow/Batman #1
By Justin McCarty
Here is the newest Shadow Batman team up. It promises to give us the best of Batman and The Shadow as they have to deal with a decades-old conspiracy. There has been a steady run of Batman Shadow books lately, and that's for a good reason, they feed into each other. The Shadow inspired Batman, and it’s clear as Batman became popular, the mythos fed back into The Shadow stories. As long as we keep making great Batman Shadow comics, the loop will continue.
Review: Eugenic #1
By Justin McCarty
Tynion and Donovan are together again on Eugenic. This will conclude his apocalyptic trilogy that started with Memetic. Eugenic imagines a future where prejudice is bred out, and a new kind of human race comes to exist. It’s a high-concept sci-fi horror. Tynion has come up with a very eerie version of the future that almost feels like it could happen. There’s also going to be crazy science and monsters. Eugenic will explore why do people need to feel that they are normal, that their children are normal. Eugenic, like the other stories in the apocalyptic trilogy, will be a three issue mini-series with each issue being about 40 pages long.
Review: The Archies #1
By Justin McCarty
America’s favorite teen garage-band is back in a new ongoing series. The Archies are a hit at their first gig; only Archie has no idea where the band will go from here. The first issue kicks off the story of the band and their aspirations for making it big. If you are an Archie fan, you might not find many complaints with this series. There’s also not much going on here to really get you hooked if you are not. Its plot lacks depth and focuses solely on Archie and his problem. Great artwork makes up for the plot though.
Review: Batman - The Dawnbreaker #1
By Justin McCarty
Batman The Dawnbreaker has landed today, the next issue for the Dark Knight tie-ins as we continue the multi-issue Metal event. Next up for The Dark Knights is The Drowned. Then the next Dark Nights Metal is out this month. Barbatos’ Dark Knights are coming together, and we aren’t yet sure what is in store for the Justice League and Earth-0. We’ll find out in the Metal Lost Knight crossovers. Of all the tie-ins so far, this might be my favorite.
Review: The Flash #31
By Justin McCarty
This issue wraps up the negative speed force storyline and sets up a new series. Issues 30 and 31 were a short arc to segue into the next arc starting in issue 32. Bloodwork was a two-issue arc that stood pretty well on its own. Even if the villain was pretty two-dimensional.
Review: Isolation
By Justin McCarty
Isolation is Cog Life Comic’s first full-length comic, launching at this years Thought Bubble Sequential Arts Festival. It has three short, somewhat experimental, stories centering around the theme of isolation. Cog Life launched last year according to their website, and their mission seems to be to break the comics mold.
Review: Royal City vol. 1 - Next of Kin
By Justin McCarty
Jeff Lemire has made a name for himself telling personal stories about real people or at least relatable characters. His breakout hit was Essex County for Top Shelf, an Eisner award-winning graphic novel series. In Royal City, he has managed to circle back around to relatable archetypes that highlight the dysfunction in relationships. Lemire has written a haunting book that imagines what failed and lonely lives look like on a granular level. Next, of Kin collects the first five chapters chronicling the lives of the Pike family as they are forced to come to terms with the baggage weighing them down. Rendered in Lemire's trademark ink and watercolors, Royal City is full of atmosphere.
Review: Batman: The Murder Machine #1
By Justin McCarty
The latest Dark Knights Metal tie-in is out! Barbatos’ next evil Batman to come through the door is The Murder Machine, the Batman/Cyborg mashup. As the Metal event continues to play out, we get a few more details about the evil Batmen and Barbatos’ plans. This issue, the evil Batman must go through Cyborg to get what he wants. Which isn’t totally made clear to us. It involves Dr. Stone and STAR Labs, maybe Cyborg himself has something the evil Batmen want.
Review: PanelxPanel #3
By Justin McCarty
PanelxPanel is a magazine by comic creators for comic creators. Its tag, “An in-depth look at the medium we love: comics,” says everything. It is a celebration of the comics medium. What Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou has created in magazine form is Inside The Actors Studio for sequential storytelling. In only three issues Hass has gotten creators to delve very deep into their collaborations and philosophies of creating comics. Sometimes the discussion is personal and frank as they discuss where their heads were at during certain points in the process.
Review: Millarworld Annual 2017
By Justin McCarty
This year's Millarworld Annual is out! Another new batch of writers and artists to look out for next year. Mark Millar has given a few up-and-coming artists their big break working on a few of Millarworld’s biggest titles. I was excited to see this out; I now have some artists to watch for over the next few months!
Review: UNHNGD #1
By Justin McCarty
UNHNGD from Elijah Thomas, Jacob Newell, Josh Southall, and published by Advent comics is a solid start to a sort of reverse dystopian story. We follow Willow, a very busy girl in her neighborhood of Detroit. She is a bookstore clerk, a well-known friend to the underdogs in the area, and a volunteer at the New Beginnings Foundation. The story hints at social commentary concerning many of the headlines coming from Detroit and Michigan in the last few years.
Review: The Shattered
By Justin McCarty
MD Penman’s second story in his Eimurian Tales is a story of a young boy, Malwynn. He lives in the shadow of his abusive father, a storied soldier. In an effort to escape his wrath he stumbles upon a fissure that could bring back war to the area. Out of that fissure, Malwynn befriends an elf - shadir in the setting of the story. It is very much a hero’s journey. He must overcome his guilt, his father has made him believe it was his fault his mother died. He must stand up to his father.
Review: Superb #3
By Justin McCarty
Superb is very familiar. There are teenage mutants. Laws are put in place to control said mutants. And prejudice towards them from the public forces them into hiding. Also, the obligatory government agency, whose responsibility it is to track down errant mutants and inter them. The twists here are that it was meteors that have fallen that possibly caused the mutations, and the main hero has Down Syndrome. A lot of stories have been popping up that include non-traditional supertypes, they have Aspergers, (not the Sherlock kind; the normal kind) or they have autism; in this case, Down Syndrome. Some do better than others in conveying the message that being different doesn’t mean you’re less capable. Superb is definitely about perceptions: people can be more than they appear.
Review: Kid Sherlock #4
By Justin McCarty
If you love Sherlock Holmes and his doctor/writer co-detective John Watson, here’s a book to get your kids introduced to these classic characters. It’s an all-ages book but it skews more very young reader than the older reader. We’ve made it four mysterious in and this one deals with the tripper. Sherlock and his dog Watson have to solve a new mystery and may just learn a little something along the way.
Review: Head Lopper #7
By Justin McCarty
If you’re not on Head Lopper then you just don’t want to be part of the cool crowd. At this point, we’ve settled comfortably into what Mclean is doing here. Its light plot is driven with a lot of heart and humor. We know these characters. We want to see them grow and struggle. It’s such a clearly realized vision that this series has plenty of room to grow and go on for years. Once done, it will be a great example of how to do a fantasy comic.
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