Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16

Zenescope Reveals New Grimm Fairy Tales Series

By Dustin Cabeal

I was curious what Zenescope would do after ending their longest running titles and truly one of the longest running small press monthly titles as well. The answer it seems is, give Sela a daughter and go back to their roots. Which isn't bad. I'm kind of for it actually because I think shared universes in comics have become a pain. Everyone wants one, but even the big two are struggling to make people care about all aspects of the universe. I'm glad to see at least one publisher return to making stories that are self-contained rather than a part of a whole. We'll see how that story actually turns out though because Joe Brusha is writing it and while he's been better lately, he still has plenty of room for improvement.

Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16

Preview: Grave Lillies from Z2 Comics

By Dustin Cabeal

Hey, Grave Lillies is a comic written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by George Kambadais. The final order for retailers is today so if you're going to pre-order it with your local shop (which is how this industry works and stays alive) then you should do that today. Here's a preview to entice you. Personally, I want to read the crap out of this book and hope I'll get an early look at it.

Press Release 10/27/16 Press Release 10/27/16

Seven Seas Entertainment Casts A Spell With Generation Witch Manga

Press Release

Seven Seas Entertainment is excited to announce the acquisition of Isaki Uta’s bewitching slice of life manga series, Gendai Majo Zukan—to be released in English as Generation Witch.

Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16

HERETICS - An Exhibition of Folk-Horror Art

By Dustin Cabeal

Next week if you're in the Leeds area of the U.K. (Did that sound like I knew where that was? I don't, but God I wish I did), then you should check out P M Buchan's HERETICS art exhibition. As the headline already told you, it's folk-horror art, and just the fact that something like that exists is worth celebrating. Seriously, though, I wish I could go, but considering I can even use the cliche of "across the pond" to describe the distance from me to Leeds (please sound convincing), I won't be able to attend. I will say that P M Buchan is bad ass and I dig anything he's put together so show some support and check it out if you can. If you can't, you better have the exact distance in meters, of why you can't attend... or work I guess.

Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16

Review: Platinum End vol. 1

By Dustin Cabeal

The creators of Death Note are back with a new series… Platinum End. Honestly, you’re better off not knowing that, but since it’s on the back cover and all over the internet/marketing, you won’t escape it, least of all now.

Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/27/16

Review: Occultic;Nine E.02

By Dustin Cabeal

Convoluted doesn’t begin to describe this show. Maybe if convoluted had a baby with a film student that just watched everything by David Lynch, then maybe we’d have an accurate description of just how terrible this show and episode are.

Press Release 10/26/16 Press Release 10/26/16

Seven Seas Sprouts Animal Ears with License of Supernatural Shoujo Manga Beasts of Abigaile

Press Release

Seven Seas Entertainment is proud to announce the license acquisition of Aoki Spica’s shoujo fantasy adventure, Beasts of Abigaile!

Patrick Larose 10/26/16 Patrick Larose 10/26/16

Review: Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes #2

By Patrick Larose

Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes has no right to be as good as it is.

Robert Larson 10/26/16 Robert Larson 10/26/16

Review: Venus TPB

By Robert Larson

It’s funny to be writing a review of Venus, given that Comic Bastards gives its endorsement on the back page of this book. But our reviews only went through the first half of the series, and now I’ve got a chance to say something about the series as a whole. Do I like it? Yes, I do think this is a worthwhile series. While I’m generally a sucker for anything science-fiction, what I liked about this book is that the real focus was on exploration: even as it looks at humanity’s place in the cosmos, it’s also looking at the challenges we faced in the past and what we’re looking at today.

Laramie Martinez 10/26/16 Laramie Martinez 10/26/16

Reivew: Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse

By Laramie Martinez

I don’t know if I’ll ever get sick of Firefly. Every time I see them appear in comic form it gives me that warm fuzzy nostalgia feeling that every media company seems to be trying to tap into these days. Although the previous comic series have been hit or miss, I have enjoyed them enough to look forward to any new series Darkhorse puts out. This issue leans heavy on the nostalgia, spending a lot of the time checking in on the rag-tag crew, but this issue does plant a few seeds for conflicts that could have a dramatic impact on the franchise.

Dustin Cabeal 10/26/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/26/16

Review: The Skeptics #1

By Dustin Cabeal

I was going to open with a Cold War Kids song, but I don’t know any of their songs. Probably something melodramatic about how hard it is to be rich and famous and making music, but then the trade off to that is constant touring, so you’re not forgotten by the audience. Something like that.

Laramie Martinez 10/26/16 Laramie Martinez 10/26/16

Review: Conan the Slayer

By Laramie Martinez

This issue of Conan felt like a deep breath after a sprint. We’ve seen non-stop action for the past few issues and this one takes an opportunity to slow things down and reset. We’ve reached a plateau here, even so, the comic still delivers a decent amount of action. That being said, I think this issue is a little too Conan-centric. How is that possible in a series titled “Conan”? You can find out how below.

Mike Badilla 10/26/16 Mike Badilla 10/26/16

Review: Skyborne #2

By Mike Badilla

Did you hear the one about the Catholic priest and the immortal guy? Me either. Could have gone without ever hearing about them. Issue 2 of Skyborne begins with a Catholic priest climbing the steps to what looks like some kind of Tibetan temple. Some monks answer the door, and the priest asks if they received the case of Merlot he sent. This sounds like the setup to a lame joke. The monks let him in, and he asks where 'he' is, and they point to a man carrying a huge boulder. The priest approaches him and they exchange harsh words, all the while the young man is breaking this boulder apart by punching it, which is pretty cool. Just when it seems the two will start fighting, they burst into laughter. They are old friends from long ago. The young man (Thomas) explains that they are repairing the wall as it was damaged in a storm not long ago. The priest then tells Thomas why he's there.

Chris Tresson 10/26/16 Chris Tresson 10/26/16

Review: Bloodshot U.S.A #1

By Chris Tresson

I’m never going to claim to be the biggest Valiant guy out there, but since Valiant came back, I have been keeping my eye on one character in particular… and that character is Bloodshot. I missed the launch Bloodshot title, I had to hunt down issues of Bloodshot Reborn and I’m pretty much a Valiant noob still. I’m eager to read some more Valiant books but I honestly wouldn’t know where to start… and I already have a pull list that’s ridiculously long. But I guess a little more Bloodshot won’t hurt, right? Let’s see.

Dustin Cabeal 10/26/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/26/16

Review: Vigilante: Southland #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Everyone pause for a second to soak this in. Someone made a comic book about a vigilante superhero in L.A., and it works. It doesn’t suck, people. It doesn’t suck. Perhaps it's because it doesn’t star a top ten hero/character or maybe it's the fact that it’s a character that likely wouldn’t rank in the top 100 of DC characters. Whatever the case, I enjoyed Vigilante: Southland.

Robert Larson 10/26/16 Robert Larson 10/26/16

Review: Descender #16

By Robert Larson

I’ve done nothing but complain about Descender’s current story arc. It’s been nothing but a cheap stalling tactic; half of the stories we’ve seen have been things we’ve already known, making this nothing more than repetition. So it was with not inconsiderable dread that I picked up this latest issue, only to be pleasantly surprised by the story that I got. If it didn’t resolve the broader issue that this has just been a six-month way to put off telling what happened to Tim, at least this given issue managed to tell a good story that is actually relevant to the broader plot. Warning: I will be discussing spoilers in this review.

Chris Tresson 10/26/16 Chris Tresson 10/26/16

Review: Frostbite #2

By Chris Tresson

So I reviewed the first issue of this series when it came out and overall, I wasn’t impressed by it. I’m a firm believer that if you don’t like the first issue of something, you should at least pick up the second issue to see if your opinion can be swayed… This is my review of Vertigo’s Frostbite #2 by Joshua Williamson and Jason Shawn Alexander.

Mike Badilla 10/26/16 Mike Badilla 10/26/16

Review: Seven to Eternity #2

By Mike Badilla

Recap: In the first issue of Seven to Eternity, we see a family living far apart from any civilization. They hunt, they farm, they take care of each other. This family was once royalty until the God of Whispers spread enough lies to convince all the people that this family had betrayed the people in the war against the God of Whispers (known as the Mud God by this family) and the people cast out this family. At their farm, the father of the family is approached by one of the Mud God's warriors and is given an offer he has received many times before: come before the God and hear his offer. The father refuses, as he always has, and is struck down and murdered by the warrior. The mans son, Adam Osidis, decides that the only way to keep his family safe is to go and hear this offer, although his father had one rule: never hear the offer of the God of Mud.

Dustin Cabeal 10/26/16 Dustin Cabeal 10/26/16

Review: Wolf Cop vol. 1 Hog Wild #1

By Dustin Cabeal

I liked the trailer for Wolf Cop, but I couldn’t finish the film. Why bother trying the comic right? Well, because maybe it’s an idea that works better as a comic? Part of that is true as the special effects have been replaced by the art from Arcana Studios. It’s just the writing that kills this story.