Press Release 9/21/17 Press Release 9/21/17

Geek & Sundry Partners with Dark Horse to Bring the World of Critical Role to Comics Critical Role - Vox Machina: Origins

Press Release

The world of Exandria is coming to comics. In a partnership between Dark Horse and Geek & Sundry, Critical Role, the beloved weekly web series, will be featured in a monthly six-issue digital series entitled Critical Role - Vox Machina: Origins. Exploring the enthralling origins of the Vox Machina team, the comics are written by Matthew Colville (Evolve, Priest, Thief) with interior art by Critter community member Olivia Samson, and coloring and lettering by Chris Northrop. Readers can expect a classic, low-magic fantasy with plenty of snappy dialog.

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

Review: Showtime

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.

Jonathan Edwards 9/20/17 Jonathan Edwards 9/20/17

Review: Mighty Mouse #4

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"?

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

Review: PanelxPanel #3

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.

Daniel Vlasaty 9/20/17 Daniel Vlasaty 9/20/17

Review: Misbegotten Runaway Nun #1

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.

Benjamin Snyder 9/20/17 Benjamin Snyder 9/20/17

Review: Descender #24

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.

Daniel Vlasaty 9/20/17 Daniel Vlasaty 9/20/17

Review: Savage Town

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.

Benjamin Snyder 9/20/17 Benjamin Snyder 9/20/17

Review: Glitterbomb: The Fame Game #1

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.

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

Review: Haunted: Up In Smoke

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.

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

Review: Millarworld Annual 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!

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

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

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.

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

Review: UNHNGD #1

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.

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.

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

Review: Wonder Woman/Conan #1

By Dustin Cabeal

Conan has a childhood crush on Wonder Woman… that’s sadly all you need to know about this first issue of what is a decently large crossover. A crossover that I don’t particularly understand other than when you take a deeper look at Dark Horse’s dwindling amount of releases you can’t help but wonder if their crossovers are keeping them from sinking out of premiere status.

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.