Review: Dark Knight III: The Master Race #9
By Jonathan Edwards
Holy god, this shitheap of mediocrity is finally over. You really have to wonder what the creative team was doing during those extra months between issues. Because, they sure as hell didn't use that time to create a superior book. Seriously, a year and a half to get out nine issues averages about one every two months (remember, this was supposed to be a monthly title), and they've all been bland at best. It's even worse when you juxtapose it with what DC is doing with a fair amount of their Rebirth titles. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Nightwing, and The Flash, to name a few, have been shipping semimonthly since June of last year, and they've all been a far cry better than DK3. Whereas here we've been subjected the awfulness that is contemporary Frank Miller filtered through Brian Azzarello, who only succeeds in stripping away the lion's share of poor taste that would likely be there otherwise. Other than the, y'know, barely masked Islamophobia and support for police brutality in the name of "justice," that is. So, I welcome this end. And funnily enough, this might be the best, or at least close to it, this series has been. But, again, that's not saying a lot.
Review: Heretics!
By Patrick Wolf
I want to begin by making it clear that Heretics isn’t a traditional graphic novel: it has neither action, nor adventure, nor superheroes. Heretics is a brief history of modern philosophy in story form. I’m only emphasizing this because I need the reader to understand that since Heretics isn’t a traditional comic, I won’t be judging it as one. Instead I’ll evaluate it as an historical exposition in narrative form.
Review: The Unsound #1
By Daniel Vlasaty
For a few months last year, I worked as a counselor on an inpatient psych ward. We dealt with patients with a combination of mental health and substance abuse issues. It was a new unit. We started it in place of one that closed a few years prior due to funding issues. Our facility made it about four or five months before we closed due to what I’ll call political reasons. When we first opened, I didn’t know what to expect. I had gone through all the trainings and taken classes on non-violent de-escalation and also how to safely and quickly restrain a violent or unruly patient. I think I was expecting something along the lines of this book. I think I was expected to be scared and creeped out and always on edge. But it wasn’t like that at all. It was just people who needed help that they couldn’t get out in the real world. It was mostly just hanging out and watching movies on the shitty TV in the day room and playing board games and occasionally having break up fights or restrain a patient, mostly for their own safety. And once because one of the patients attacked a nurse. I worked with the violent male population, and it was mostly a baby-sitting gig. Anyway, that’s my long-winded introduction to my review of The Unsound, a new book written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Jack T. Cole that takes place in a psychiatric hospital.
Review: Dollface #5
By Levi Remington
My first foray into Action Lab Comics began with Dollface, a book that I only started reading very recently. Catching up with the series has been a particularly shallow type of fun. It's an astoundingly easy read (it's almost more tiring to not read the book) and the art is wonderfully stylish, but its nonstop adherence to stereotypical cheesecake and predictably juvenile humor kept the story from reaching any noteworthy heights.
Review: Wonder Woman - Annual #1
By Ashley Gibbs
I like Wonder Woman, I like who she is and what she stands for and find her to be a good role model. She stands side by side with Superman and Batman forming a trinity of super hero awesomeness. Wonder Woman Annual #1 comes out at a perfect time as the Amazonian princess is also coming to the big screen in her own movie and I feel this book is an excellent collection of short stories that anyone can can enjoy. You do not need to read any prior comic to understand what’s going on, this is great for anyone who is maybe only discovering the character for the first time thanks to the movie or who is like me, a casual fan who still enjoys the character. While it does help to have at least some knowledge of the DC world, the writing no way depends on you having this which is a strong point.
Review: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 2017 Annual
By Jonathan Edwards
I believe it was after I reviewed the 2nd, or maybe 3rd, issue of Justice League/Power Rangers that I started to wonder what BOOM!'s actual Power Rangers books were like. They couldn't possibly be as simplistic and shit as the crossover book is, I thought (granted, everything I've read from Bryan Hitch's current run on Justice League has been straight garbage). My curiosity would be piqued every time I saw a Power Rangers title pop up on the spreadsheet, but I was never motivated enough to actually check any of them out. Until I saw this annual, that is. I figured it'd be the perfect microcosmic jumping on point to determine the general quality of BOOM!'s actual Power Rangers material. And I'm happy to report, not only was I right about that, it's also pretty good too.
Review: Paklis # 1
Patrick Wolf
Comprised of three short stories, Paklis uses a blend of science fiction and existentialist themes to create some pretty interesting reads. The first is a Kafkaesque narrative called “Mushroom Bodies,” while the latter two are a pair of space adventures: “Sagittarius A” and “Amnia Cycle.” From the three, “Amnia Cycle” is definitely the most promising, but whatever merits it possesses, they’re barely enough to compensate for the weirdness and brevity of its companion pieces.
Review: The Last Contract
By Daniel Vlasaty
If you’re at all familiar with my reviews then you know my usual reading leans more toward the crime fiction side of comics. So, when I saw The Last Contract come up on the review list, you know I had to jump on that thing. I remember seeing this book on the shelves when it was originally coming out, but for some reason I never started reading it. And because of this, I guess, I didn’t know anything about the book at all. I went in blind, essentially, only going off the title and the cover. There’s a car parked near a lake or a river, a body visible in the trunk. The city skyline off in the distance. There are two people standing in front of the car, at the water’s edge. One on his knees, one standing behind him. You can’t see it but you just know he’s holding a gun to the guy on the ground. It’s all dark, colored in blacks and blues. This is all I had going into the book. And I had to know more.
Review: Trinity - Annual #1
By Jonathan Edwards
I remember having some particular interest in Trinity when I was first looking over DC's new releases that would be launching with Rebirth. I couldn't tell you exactly why, though the promise of a book focusing specifically on the dynamics between Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman intrigued me. I now know there had previously been an ongoing weekly book with the same name and conceit, but at the time, I was easily hooked by a novelty I somehow hadn't really ever considered. I read the first six issues before stopping, mainly because I'd managed to fall behind in my reading after around Trinity #3. I didn't really want to play that much catch-up, so I opted to just finish up the first story arc and leave it at that. I enjoyed the book enough (I even briefly considered reversing my earlier decision and checking my LCS for back issues), but ultimately I decided that treating those first six issues like something of a limited series was enough for me. And then, this annual cropped up. After some slight deliberation, I decided I might as well let it be the final say in whether or not I picked up the main book again.
Review: Liberty Deception vol. 1
Patrick Wolf
Liberty: Deception is an Orwellian sci-fi adventure that’s both fun and smart. Vengroff does an excellent job of balancing radical freedom with debilitating oppression, while at the same time keeping the reader in suspense. Anyone who’s into political drama, science fiction, and Hitchcockian twists should definitely pick up a copy. Indie comics don’t get much better than this.
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