Dustin Cabeal 9/20/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/20/17

Review: Half Past Danger 2: Dead to Reichs #1

By Dustin Cabeal

The first Half Past Danger was a decent series. It wasn’t particularly fresh of an idea, but at the time there wasn’t anything else hitting the shelves, so it was a welcomed change. That and creator Stephen Mooney’s artwork is pleasing to the eyeballs.

Justin McCarty 9/20/17 Justin McCarty 9/20/17

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.

Dustin Cabeal 9/20/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/20/17

Review: Samurai Jack: Quantum Jack #1

By Dustin Cabeal

I never got into Samurai Jack. It wasn’t a lack of interesting, but just a bad time slot for my schedule at the time. Now, I don’t have cable, and while I think it’s interesting that it’s come back with a new series, I’m just not particularly excited. But I figured hey, Fabian Rangel, Jr. is writing the comic and I enjoy the hell out of his stories so let’s give it a shot.

Justin McCarty 9/20/17 Justin McCarty 9/20/17

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.

Justin McCarty 9/20/17 Justin McCarty 9/20/17

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.

Dustin Cabeal 9/20/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/20/17

Review: Sex Fantasy

By Dustin Cabeal

Here is something you don’t particularly want to say with a title like Sex Fantasy, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. Now, that makes me sound like a pervert, and I guess I’ll just wear that for a moment as I explain that I didn’t think this would be about sex at all. It sometimes wasn’t, but other times it was.

Justin McCarty 9/20/17 Justin McCarty 9/20/17

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.

Patrick Wolf 9/20/17 Patrick Wolf 9/20/17

Review: Morning Star #1

By Patrick Wolf

Massimo Rosi’s Morning Star is a creepy paranormal thriller about the shaky divide between Hell and Earth. While there’s nothing cutting-edge here, this series is scary, well-drawn, and exciting enough to keep you coming back for more. I’d recommend Morning Star to any fan of the horror genre.

Justin McCarty 9/20/17 Justin McCarty 9/20/17

Review: Batman: The Red Death #1

By Justin McCarty

The premise for this comic is pretty simple: Earth-52 Batman (Dark Knight Returns Batman) is fed up with his lack of progress with his war on crime. He has lost everyone he’s loved, and he’s had no success. He literally believes if he had the speed force he’d be able to do better. Batman spends the first half of the book fighting Flash for it. He rigs the cosmic treadmill to the Batmobile; his plan is to drive so fast he catches up to the speed force? It’s a superhero comic; I’ll let it go. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying he sort of gets what he wants. He and Flash merge, and Batman Red Death is born. This is an exceptionally dark take on Batman. He kills all the bad guys in his universe, then, after getting a little motivation from the Batman Who Laughs, he decides to take on Earth-0, where he goes full on evil.

Oliver Gerlach 9/18/17 Oliver Gerlach 9/18/17

Review: Language Barrier

By Oliver Gerlach

Hannah K. Lee’s Language Barrier is a collection that self-identifies as “zines, comics, and other fragments” on the cover. That’s an important piece of categorisation, as is the Koyama Press website’s description of it as “[an] art book”. This isn’t really a comic, and shouldn’t be treated like one. It’s a giant zine or a surreal art project or something like that. Yes, there are comics in it, but I wouldn’t call it a comic in itself. Whatever it is, though, it’s profoundly weird and unsettling, and doesn’t sit comfortably in any major category.

Robert Larson 9/18/17 Robert Larson 9/18/17

Review: Long Lost #1

By Zeb Larson

I’ll definitely say this for Long Lost: I finished the first issue and still wasn’t sure exactly how to pin down this particular book. It was initially pitched to me as a take on True Detective, but I’m not sure that particular piece of branding works in this case. If anything, it was more of an iGeneration take on Gothic Horror, as we (the reader) struggle to understand whether the malevolent entity in this story is something supernatural or the main character’s damaged psyche haunting them. To preserve the surprises, I'll be keeping this review spoiler-free.

Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17

Review: Sisco vol. 1 – Shoot When You’re Told

By Dustin Cabeal

When I was instantly drawn to the covers for Sisco while looking through izneo’s catalog of titles; something about the covers just kept me coming back to them. I didn’t read what Sisco was about because I don’t ever do that. I blindly read anything and everything as a reviewer because it allows me to see if the story’s plot comes through on its own rather than through a synopsis supplied by a publisher.

Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17

Review: Atar Gull

By Dustin Cabeal

Well, I was way wrong about the title of this comic on my latest podcast. The full title is Atar Gull or The Tale of the Model Slave. Which is more fitting than what I thought it was. Listen, reading stories about slaves shouldn’t be easy. This book doesn’t glorify slavery, but it does strangely attempt to humanize all of the people involved in slavery and not in a sympathetic way either.

Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17

Review: Saltlick #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Saltlick won’t be for everyone. It’s weird first and foremost, and it’s not attempting traditional storytelling. It’s just three strange stories with sometimes abrupt endings. The resolution you’ll get will come from your own enjoyment of the stories and not because the story ended. It’s damn weird, but I loved it.

Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17

Review: Space Copz – Cereal Zombies

By Dustin Cabeal

I can see what Space Copz is attempting. It's reminiscent of a 90s afternoon cartoon, the second golden age of animation in which material was being made for children, but enjoyed by all. The story is wholesome and full of inoffensive jokes that are mostly about children.

Patrick Wolf 9/15/17 Patrick Wolf 9/15/17

Review: Graveland #1

By Patrick Wolf

So, you watched Attack on Titan and loved the storyline, but felt the dialogue was a little too annoying? Maybe you wished for an American giant-monster-story that takes place in contemporary society, but also is grounded in realism? Well, look no further because Graveland has everything you loved about Attack on Titan and more: it’s violent, it’s gory, it’s action-packed, and it’s way too bloodthirsty for your own good. So, if you’re into realistic portraits of doom and giants slaughtering helpless soldiers, this is definitely your poison.

Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17 Dustin Cabeal 9/15/17

Review: Zakudoh #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Writing a low scoring review that only brings up the negative aspects of a comic book is not fun. It’s not something any reviewer wants to do. It’s so much easier to write good reviews, but when a comic is bad, it’s bad. That’s all there is to it. I don’t have anything against Zakudoh personally, but it was a bad comic. I'm telling you all this beforehand because I’m going to make jokes, I’m going to try and at least have fun with my review, so it softens the blow or at the very least makes this review easier to read. I am here for the readers after all. But it’s important to remember that the name of the site doesn’t dictate our approach or skew our opinion of a comic, I would much rather have liked Zakudoh than to dislike it.

Oliver Gerlach 9/14/17 Oliver Gerlach 9/14/17

Review: Bumstorm: A Snake Amongst The Wind Farm

By Oliver Gerlach

The vast majority of the indie comics I end up reviewing seem to be serious high concept low sci-fi adventures about serious white men. That honestly gets a bit dull after a while, so sometimes a palate cleanser is in order. Bumstorm #3: A Snake Amongst the Wind Farm certainly cleanses the palate. It’s not grim, it’s not serious, it’s not clever or even slightly pretentious; it’s just stupid as hell and out to have a good time.

Ashley Gibbs 9/14/17 Ashley Gibbs 9/14/17

Review: Clue #4

By Ashley Gibbs

We’ve reached issue four of the series and with only two remaining, things should be picking up to get readers pumped, except Clue #4 had the opposite effect on me. This issue didn’t move things along very much, and anything exciting that did happen was quickly brushed over. Two major characters seemingly die and it’s wrapped up in maybe two panels, though given how incompetent everyone in the story is, I’m not even sure if they killed each other properly. I went into this series with rose-colored nostalgia glasses, but the memory is fading, into gray disappointment.

Daniel Vlasaty 9/13/17 Daniel Vlasaty 9/13/17

Review: Mech Cadet Yu #2

By Daniel Vlasaty

I really enjoyed the first issue of Mech Cadet Yu when it came out last month. I thought it was a solid opening issue. And I was excited to jump back into this “boy and his giant robot” story. I wanted to see how Greg Pak and Takeshi Miyazawa continued to grow this story that is not entirely unique or original but is still being presented interestingly and engagingly.