Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17

Review: Food Wars! vol. 16

By Dustin Cabeal

Holy. Shit.

I can honestly say that I did not see this story direction happening. Volume Sixteen completes Soma’s challenge of the food festival, and if you were feeling burnt out on all the festival challenges, well don’t worry, apparently, the creator was too so he kind of brushes this one under the rug in favor of what he reveals. Hint, look at the cover.

Jonathan Edwards 1/25/17 Jonathan Edwards 1/25/17

Justice League of America: Killer Frost Rebirth #1

By Jonathan Edwards

Last week, I took a more big picture and thematic look at these JLA one-shots with Justice League of America: The Ray Rebirth #1. I talked a lot about how the very design of each one seemed to reflect the respective character that they were reintroducing. And then, after all of that, this one had to go and be written differently. Damn it, Jody Houser and Steve Orlando. Joking aside, Justice League of America: Killer Frost Rebirth #1 really does change things up. The origin story we get for her is little more than the Cliff notes version, probably because this is the same version of the character that was introduced during the New 52 a couple years back. Additionally, I stated that the previous one-shots felt more like they were a part of a miniseries rather than multiple standalone titles. I feel similarly about this one, but I'd be inclined to think of it as part of Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad more than any other limited series.

Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17

Review: Lady Castle #1 (of 4)

By Dustin Cabeal

After about three pages of this issue, I wondered if the creator of Action Lab’s Princeless knew about it. That is to say that the similarities between Lady Castle and Princeless are plenty. It's where they differ that makes Lady Castle an okay read.

Daniel Vlasaty 1/25/17 Daniel Vlasaty 1/25/17

Review: Loose Ends #1

By Daniel Vlasaty

I know Jason Latour mainly from his art in Southern Bastards. I’ve been aware that he also writes comics for a while now, most recently Marvel’s Spider-Gwen. I’ve just never read any of his stuff and I feel like starting off with Loose Ends is kind of like running a marathon when I’ve only just learned to walk. This book had the sleazy/grimy feel to it that is everything I love about crime fiction. Everyone’s up to something and no one can be trusted.

Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17

Review: Skybourne #3 (of 5)

By Dustin Cabeal

I’m sure there are people out there not even giving this book a chance because it’s Frank Cho and blah, blah, comic drama, blah, blah variant covers, blah, blah spider butt. If I completely disagreed with his stance I probably wouldn’t review this series at all, but I have a lengthy opinion on the state of comic fandom, and it’s not going to fit in this review. My point for bringing all this up is that if you thought Frank Cho was just going to be illustrating boobs and butts in this comic, you are most definitely wrong.

Jonathan Edwards 1/25/17 Jonathan Edwards 1/25/17

Review: She Wolf #5

By Jonathan Edwards

I picked up the first issue of She Wolf after seeing Rich Tommaso's art in a preview for the series. The style was a unique, somewhat surreal one, and the promise of a similarly-themed story to match, I was intrigued. The book followed Gabby, a teenager who believed she was turning into a werewolf in the wake of her boyfriend's death, which some people also blamed her for. And over the first four issues, Tommaso proved he wasn't kidding about it being surreal, with multiple a tendency for the story and its characters to jump around in time in space, a Man-Bat-esque vampire that appears to be capable of reattaching severed limbs, and the summoning of a demon that displayed some prominent genitalia (read: he had a dick). While reading, I personally had some difficulty determining what all the disparate elements had to do with one another and what it all meant. On the one hand, I think this was a good thing, keeping me reading issue to issue and waiting for the revelation that would tie it all together. However, it was also a bad thing, in that not every did actually get tied together. There's nothing inherently wrong with leaving some stuff up in the air, but in the case of She Wolf, I feel like Tommaso's execution ended up making the story a difficult one to follow, as it wasn't clear which elements actually pertained to the direction the story was moving in. To be honest, I had no intentions of continuing She Wolf after finishing issue #4. And then, I became a reviewer for Comic Bastards.

Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17 Dustin Cabeal 1/25/17

Review: G.I. Joe #2

By Dustin Cabeal

Never let it be said that I don’t give things more than one chance. More than two… probably not. I don’t particularly know what’s supposed to be enjoyable about this series or issue in particular. All the moments catered to the fans have all been done before, and there’s something about the pacing of the story that’s off. The whole story is just off.

Daniel Vlasaty 1/25/17 Daniel Vlasaty 1/25/17

Review: The Dregs #1

By Daniel Vlasaty

The Dregs, from Black Mask Studios, opens on three butchers preparing a specimen for slaughter. Shaving it and sectioning off the cuts and shooting it up full of drugs. The fact that the specimen is human only make the next two pages even more disturbing.

Chris Tresson 1/25/17 Chris Tresson 1/25/17

Review: Dead Inside #2

By Chris Tresson

Today I’m looking at the second issue of Dead Inside, the crime comic by John Arcudi and Toni Fejzula from Dark Horse Comics. I liked the first issue and going into this, I was expecting more of the same from this creative team. Here’s what I thought of issue two.