Mike Badilla 10/5/16 Mike Badilla 10/5/16

Review: Jackboot and Ironheel #3

By Mike Badilla

In issue 3 of Jackboot and Ironheel, we find our hero, Eddie, has been recaptured by the Nazis and returned to Lungotz prison camp. For those that missed my review of issue 2, Eddie was given a chance to escape from the camp by some of the nuns working there. However, he was unable to make a run for it as he was confronted by something creepy in the surrounding waters. A Nazi soldier is recounting the capture by radio to his commanding officer, including that one of the soldiers was lost to the threat in the water, called "Muggenthaler," by the soldier.

Chris Tresson 10/5/16 Chris Tresson 10/5/16

Review: Grimm Tales of Terror vol. 2 #13

By Chris Tresson

This is the third time I’ve decided to review an issue of Zenescope Entertainment’s Grimm Tales of Terror Volume 2. The last two issues failed to impress somewhat, the stories weren’t that great, the art was average and the overall feel of the books hasn’t managed to do anything for me yet. So without further ado, let’s jump into my review of Grim Tales of Terror Volume 2 #13.

Dustin Cabeal 10/5/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/5/16

Review: Death of Hawkman #1

By Dustin Cabeal

I give the notion of killing Hawkman a 5 out of 5. Unfortunately, I won’t be giving this comic the same score. As far as comics go, this one is generic and lacks any real consequences. If Hawkman actually dies, that will likely be the only thing to happen in the comic. The main reason is the underdeveloped DC space line of books. What’s currently going on in them? Are there any? Nothing and no are the answers to those questions so being thrust into space to watch Hawkman die is almost as anti-climactic as seeing him alive at the beginning of the issue.

Patrick Larose 10/5/16 Patrick Larose 10/5/16

Review: Spell on Wheels #1

By Patrick Larose

There are some things I really like about the comic book industry right now. There’s still plenty of bad to go around. The single-issue market is still broken, the comic book movie boom didn’t save the industry, and nor has their business practices ever successfully adapted to the Internet era and while diversity's up, it's never quite as up as it needs to be. All that said, however, it’s got one thing going for it that I dig a lot. Now more than ever do comics have such wide breadth of tonal and genre variation. There’s not just one perfect comic out there for somebody, there’s four or five.

Patrick Larose 10/5/16 Patrick Larose 10/5/16

Review: Intertwined #1

By Patrick Larose

Intertwined is a comic that sells itself as a mash-up between the crime noir and kung fu genres, however, I think I’d offer up a different description. Rather, I’d argue that Intertwined is a comic that uses the machinations of Hong Kong action cinema to tell a story ultimately driven by the pathos of superhero storytelling.

Dustin Cabeal 10/5/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/5/16

Review: Shade: The Changing Girl #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Madness is a challenging story to tell. It can be everything and anything, but giving it structure and keeping it feeling like madness… is a difficult task. That’s what this series is up against, and after reading the first issue, I can understand why of all the titles announced for DC’s Young Animal, that Shade had people the least optimistic about it.

Mike Badilla 10/5/16 Mike Badilla 10/5/16

Review: Rise of the Black Flame #2

By Mike Badilla

Rise of the Black Flame #2 starts off on some crazy rollercoaster of which I can't even really say as to what is happening. We are in a German museum, and people are looking over all these relics of civilizations long past. We see a young man closely examine a picture, of which the picture talks to him, then they young man becomes an older grizzled man, then the face talks to him more, then he's flying through a void towards the face... then he is awoken by someone kicking him in the back. Our man, Farang, is awoken by the person that owns the house and told he has visitors. A man and a woman approach, and Farang recognize the woman as "Sarah," which appeared in issue 1. She pays the house owner to cover Farangs late rent and tells Farang that he is working for her now, which seems to upset him.

Justin Wood 10/5/16 Justin Wood 10/5/16

Review: Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #1

By Justin Wood

I mean come on. How could I not read this book with a title like that?

A Deadman spinoff with no canonical anchor to any current stories, 'Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love' is kind of exactly what I've been missing from superhero stories, not to mention horror stories, lately. Besides some overtly modern touches, 'Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love' feels like a comic from another time. Expertly paced, moodily atmospheric, and elegantly illustrated, this limited series takes the mic away from nearly everything being done at DC and teaches a class on what actual storytelling looks like.

Chris Tresson 10/5/16 Chris Tresson 10/5/16

Review: TMNT Universe #2

By Chris Tresson

TMNT Universe #2 is out this week from IDW. I reviewed the first issue and it was a pretty good start from the creative team, so I’m heading into the second issue expecting more of the same… Let’s see, shall we?

Justin Wood 10/5/16 Justin Wood 10/5/16

Review: Chimichanga: The Sorrow of the World's Worst Face #1

By Justin Wood

Eric Powell wrote this? Big Man Plans Eric Powell? The Goon Eric Powell? The review copy I received was coverless and lacked a title page, meaning it took some faint Google research to dig up the basic creator info on Dark Horse's new miniseries Chimichanga: The Sorrow of the World's Worst Face. It's a comic with a subtitle; it must have had a preceding story, and I was curious how what I had just read had managed to be some sort of sequel miniseries from Top Ten publisher Dark Horse. And there it was. Written and created by Eric Powell.

Justin Wood 10/4/16 Justin Wood 10/4/16

Review: Semiautomagic

By Justin Wood

In the second chapter of Dark Horse's new collected trade of Alex Di Campi's supernatural series Semiautomagic, the heroine Alice Creed throws some semi-fourth wall shade on Neil Gaiman's classic series Sandman. It's a cheeky throw-away line; a "this ain't your daddy's supernatural horror adventure series" jab. Now, as a comic that clearly draws a lot of obvious influence from Gaiman's critically adored comic series, as well as its brothers and sisters like Hellblazer, the dig comes off more as an affectionate ribbing rather than taking legitimate potshots, but the moment stood out to me. While spiritually indebted to Vertigo's supernatural lines from the early 90's, Semiautomagic never brushes the feet of Gaiman's best remembered work. That said, having read dozens of original monster slaying adventure comics, silly name and all, Semiautomagic is the closest thing I've read that might deserve to take a few swings at Dream's exhaustingly praised legacy.

Justin Wood 10/3/16 Justin Wood 10/3/16

Review: T.I.T.S. #1

By Justin Wood

Sometimes a book comes along to make you appreciate this visual medium. A reminder of the talent and skill goes into books, sometimes completely unappreciated, the kinds of choices being made by artists that are misattributed or unconsciously ignored. T.I.T.S, curiously, did that for me. Despite being a writer and artist myself, it made me reevaluate the real impact the choices of an artist have on how stories are experienced in ways that are separate from the creative choices of the writer. It's not because T.I.T.S was particularly meaningful or imaginative in its choices, but rather because it took me till halfway through the book to finally realize that it had nothing going on in the writing department but was disguised by some pretty decent art.

Tyson Jones 10/3/16 Tyson Jones 10/3/16

So You Missed: Legends of Tomorrow

By Tyson Jones

The world of comics is ever changing. New books get greenlit, series get canceled, and every now and then we see a death…or a death gets retconned. So, it’s more than likely that you, as a reader, will miss something you might really enjoy. There’s no shame in that. It’s a busy industry, but that’s why I’m here: to spotlight a series you might like that maybe slipped under your radar. That’s especially true for the six-issue mini-series, Legends of Tomorrow by DC Comics. Sharing the name of the third DCWverse live-action series, Legends of Tomorrow focuses on four of DC properties that should be familiar to older fans, telling either origins or new tales featuring classic characters. In this particular book, Firestorm, Metamorpho, Sugar & Spike, and The Metal Men get their stories told.

Dustin Cabeal 9/30/16 Dustin Cabeal 9/30/16

Review: Red-Eye Comics: Dead Days in Kowloon

By Dustin Cabeal

I’m a fan of Skuds McKinley. Yeah, that should take me out of the running on this review, but that’s not how Comic Bastards works. McKinley submitted Dead Days in Kowloon and let me know that Red-Eye is a vapor company that asked him to design six characters and make six comics about them, but that was the only correlation. He could do whatever with the characters and so here we come to Dead Days in Kowloon. Neo-Tokyo is dead. Long live Neo-Kowloon. What I mean by that is thank you, Skuds McKinley, for picking a city that wasn’t overplayed and over “Neo’d.” We meet Harvey Gomez, a man with a red hand as he’s on his way to a job. He’s a bounty hunter of sorts but referred to as a freelancer. He’s given a clean-up job, another freelancer fucked up and is now on the run causing the employer to send Harvey to retrieve the goods no matter what.

Dustin Cabeal 9/30/16 Dustin Cabeal 9/30/16

Review: Alexandra Forever: Evolution

By Dustin Cabeal

I judged this book by its cover… or rather it’s cover art… and then it’s art. It’s not typically a style of art that I enjoy, and so I admit that looking at 144 pages of it made me weary. But I ain’t no quitter when it comes to comics, and if I start reading something, I finish it. I’m really glad I did because Alexandra Forever: Evolution turned out to be a great read and introduce me to a rich sci-fi world that I would love to read more of. That said, you do have to hang in there until the second chapter to really unlock the charm of this story. Until then, I was confused and wondered if I would even bother reviewing the book. Why? Because it’s batshit crazy.

Dustin Cabeal 9/29/16 Dustin Cabeal 9/29/16

Review: Delineate

By Dustin Cabeal

This is a weird book for me to review. I feel like I should like it more. It’s strange in and of itself which I usually like, and it’s created and published in my home state of Colorado. Looking back, I didn’t realize it would take me ten years to regret leaving, but that is not something you need to know for this review. The comic is semi-autobiographical. I feel like a question mark could be added at the end of that. Not all of the stories follow the creator/main character of Lonnie, but most of them do. Each page is a comic. It begins and ends there. Sometimes there’s one to three panels, but consistently there’s two. To put it another way, most of the comics have a set up and punchline.

Dustin Cabeal 9/29/16 Dustin Cabeal 9/29/16

Review: Realm of the Dripildofs #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Every read a comic and wonder what the hell you just spent your time reading? I can sum this issue up for you fairly easy, but if I were just to hand this comic to someone that doesn’t read comics they would likely be confused or even want to quit reading it. I hate to say it, but I wanted to quit reading it after about the fifth page. The first problem is the word “Dripildofs.” I feel like an asshole for even making you read that and say it in your head. I knew I was in for it based on the title, but I kept reading.

Dustin Cabeal 9/28/16 Dustin Cabeal 9/28/16

Review: Josie and the Pussycats #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Really the only thing to say about this book is that it’s okay. It occurred to me that I have never read a Josie and the Pussycats comic and so it at least succeeded in getting me to do that. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t like it either. It’s okay, but really shouldn’t we want something more from a comic? The premise is... Did you see the new Jem and the Holograms movie? If you did, wasn’t it like watching the Josie and the Pussycats movie? Which is what kind of happens here. Art imitating art… imitating art or something. Granted there’s only so much you can do with the construct of this brand. It’s an all women band, and their gimmick is “pussycats” which instantly makes it feel out of place in 2016. I don’t think people have called cats “pussycats” since before I was born and I’m no spring chicken.

Kaleb Hebert 9/28/16 Kaleb Hebert 9/28/16

Review: Witchfinder: City of the Dead #2

By Kaleb Herbert

Sir Edward is very similar to the Big Bad Wolf from The Wolf Among Us. They both are misunderstood by those around them, and they both are trying to help people in any way they can. It is quite the resemblance in looks as well in terms of their grittiness and rough exterior. Although both characters have essentially been outcasts within their society, it does not stop them from pressing forward and tackling matters at hand.

Dustin Cabeal 9/28/16 Dustin Cabeal 9/28/16

Review: Star Trek: Waypoint #1

By Dustin Cabeal

I know what you’re thinking. Why is Dustin reviewing another IDW title? WHY? Someone save the book, pull it from his grasp and prevent him from reviewing it. We have to save the score! He’s going to tank the score!! WHY oh cruel gods of comics would you let this man review a Star Trek book from IDW!?! WHY! JACK KIRBY!!! DITKO… THAT OTHER GUY! WHY? Which I can answer for you easily. This Star Trek book is unlike any other IDW Star Trek book they’ve done. I wish that the rest of their Star Trek books were this good, but I’ll just be happy for one and hope it bleeds into the rest.