Review: Royal City vol. 1 - Next of Kin

September 27, 2017

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: Godshaper #6

September 27, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

Right up until the end Simon Spurrier has little nuggets of truth and wisdom for you. This story had many layers, but the one it leaves you on with this issue is that the Gods in this story were never just religious Gods, but instead the things that people worship, celebrities, comics, movies, phones, hell relationships. It’s Spurrier holding up the mirror and saying, “This is how we act, but maybe we can do better.”

Review: Batman: The Murder Machine #1

September 27, 2017

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: Park Bench

September 27, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

Park Bench is one of the most brilliant silent comics I’ve read. For those that are unfamiliar with the term “silent comics,” it’s the term the industry came up for a comic with no dialogue or narration. The artwork tells the story without any support, and you might think that it’s easy to do. It is not; it is one of the things a lot of creators fail at because it’s all about the panels and the pacing.

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Review: Unfamiliar Skies #1 & 2

September 27, 2017

By Patrick Wolf

Some of the best stories ever told were marketed towards children and adults. Examples that come to mind are Disney’s Lion King, Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, and DreamWorks’ Shriek. In many ways, Sam Webster’s Unfamiliar Skies attempts to take a similar route. Unfamiliar Skies wants to be a story that's both for children and adults, and it makes a fairly admirable attempt. Unfortunately, while this tale is suitable for children, it wanes in the grown-up department.

Review: Daughter

September 22, 2017

Single Issue Winner – Ghost City Comics Competition

By Dustin Cabeal

Daughter is so good that I wish I had already known about it. Sam Beck’s story is brilliantly narrated as it takes you into a world of swords and magic. Just the presentation of the first page was enough to hook me. The striking image of a woman sitting on a throne alone, a scar over her eye and the statement, “I am the eleventh daughter.” From that point on, I was hooked. The rest of the issue could have sold me ketchup in a sandwich baggy, and I would have bought it. Thankfully, I didn’t do that instead crafted a wonderfully circular story to enjoy.

Review: Time is of the Essence

September 22, 2017

Short Story Winner – Ghost City Comics Competition

By Dustin Cabeal

Time travel stories can all be boiled down to certain elements depending on the rules at play. The most common rule set that is widely known comes from Back to the Future. The rules govern the story and often make for predictable twists. That said, you’re not so much reading to see the time travel elements, but the journey of the characters.

Review: Pound for Pound

September 22, 2017

One Page Winner – Ghost City Comics Competition

By Dustin Cabeal

Single page comics are incredibly difficult. They’re extremely challenging in that the goal is to put everything out there on a single page. It is not impossible by any means, but really what it comes down to is was it effective with the page space.

Review: Go Go Power Rangers #3

September 21, 2017

By Jonathan Edwards

With Go Go Power Rangers, Ryan Parrott and Dan Mora have given us a damn entertaining read full of grounded, human, and very likable characters. This third installment continues that trend with the best issue so far, as well as finally convincing me that the existing canon will not inhibit the quality and development of this book. Really, one of the best things about the story is its structure. Rather than go the familiar route of focusing on one or two characters for an A plot, a different one or two for a B plot, and then jumping back and forth with more time dedicated to the former, Parrott utilizes vignettes to focus on pretty much all of the characters in equal measure. Everyone has their own story and character arc going on, each of which we only experience glimpses of at a time. However, what really makes it work is that when a given character isn't being focused on, they'll still more than likely show up as a secondary or support character in someone else's vignette. It goes a long way in making the whole world and story feel that much more cohesive and engaging.

Review: Showtime

September 20, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

I was left with slightly mixed feelings about this book, but only because it made me feel dumb at the end. I didn’t get the ending; it didn’t quite click with me which was a shame because the rest of the book was delightful.

Review: Mighty Mouse #4

September 20, 2017

By Jonathan Edwards

Okay, maybe I need to stop letting morbid curiosity get the better of me after already deciding I don't like a book. Because, I may have hated last issue for its boring, surface level nonsense, but this one pissed me off almost immediately. The crux of the story is meant to be the juxtaposition between the cartoon world and the "real" world, but here the latter relies at least as much on clichés and plot convenience as the former does, so the only real distinction between the two is the difference in art style. And really, given the current political climate, how tone deaf do you have to be to have a character describe an cartoon alien cat invasion as "the worst terrorist incident in years"?

Review: PanelxPanel #3

September 20, 2017

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: Misbegotten Runaway Nun #1

September 20, 2017

By Daniel Vlasaty

I am going to be completely honest and say that I have no idea why I chose to review this book. Maybe it was because of the "sexy" nun on the cover. I don't know. Nuns have never really been a fetish of mine. And I think that has to do with the fact that I used to go to a Catholic school and the only nun we had there was like five hundred years old and probably the meanest person I have ever met in my life. She's actually the reason I was kicked out of that school some years later; although that is a story for another time. What I'm saying is Misbegotten Runaway Nun is a book that uses religion and religious undertones throughout, and I have a pretty big problem with religion as a whole. Especially when being hit over the head repeatedly with it. (As in this book...and also the Catholic religion). And in general, this is a book that I would have no fucking interest in.

Review: Descender #24

September 20, 2017

By Ben Snyder

In Descender #24, we catch up with a seemingly forgotten friend in Driller. It’s a true shame that issues like this don’t come more often, because in these quieter, smaller character driven issues Jeff Lemire’s skills as a writer prevail, shedding light and humanity on what could be a simplistic robotic character.

Review: Savage Town

September 20, 2017

By Daniel Vlasaty

Savage Town is the book that I have been anticipating most this year. Which is kind of funny when you think about it, mainly because I had no fucking idea what the thing was about before I started reading it. I was mainly excited about it because Declan Shalvey's name was attached to it and as a writer no less. But also it was the name – Savage Town's a great title – and the cover. I mean look at that cover. It's a beautiful fucking thing. It’s a cover that doesn't give one single thing about the book away, but it's also a cover that – for me, at least – leads me to want to know what the book's about. I've said this before in a past review: we're told not to judge books by their cover, but the truth is that we do. I know I definitely judge books by their covers (and I know that the saying is more about people than it is about book, but just run with me here). And this one got me all kinds of excited.

Review: Glitterbomb: The Fame Game #1

September 20, 2017

By Ben Snyder

Glitterbomb: The Fame Game #1 picks up directly after the horrifyingly gruesome and subversive finale to the original Glitterbomb and offers a lot of promise for Fame Game with some tradeoffs.

Review: Haunted: Up In Smoke

September 20, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

I take no pleasure in writing bad reviews. It is the worst part of being a reviewer. Sure I could be like most sites and just either not review it or pretend that everything was great, but that’s never been our style. If you send a review to Comic Bastards, we’re going to give you an honest review, but you should prepare yourself for that before hitting send.

Review: Millarworld Annual 2017

September 20, 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!

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Review: Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack #1

September 20, 2017

By Dustin Cabeal

Recently I treated myself to the Blu-Ray of Big Trouble in Little China. What a great fucking movie. I almost want to end the review here and just put a score for this book, but I’ll continue.

Review: UNHNGD #1

September 20, 2017

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.