Action-packed comics can be a fun thing. They remind us why superhero stories are told through comics. We are able to read the dialogue between the hero and the villain while watch them fight it out through the panels. The latest issue of The Curse of Brimstone delivers on the action, but it doesn’t quite deliver on the fun.
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Sideways continues to be an interesting experiment from DC Comics. There are definitely chunks of the story that feel missing or changed at the drop of a hat. While it doesn’t bother me as a reader, I can see the fickle superhero reader being far less forgiving. Mostly, because Sideways breaks a lot of the superhero norms at the moment.
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We last saw our “hero” Joe Chamberlain become engulfed in flames as he transformed into the destructive Brimstone. Picking up right after, this issue shows the aftermath of his encounter with the mysterious salesman while giving the reader a slight insight into the bigger picture. As a result, we learn more about this curse that has only just begun.
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I live in this weird comic bubble in which I don’t seek out or read other people’s thoughts on comics for the most part. I never read what anyone is saying about a book I’m reviewing because there’s always a chance that it could slip its way into my review. I don’t know how Sideways is being received, but I can almost guess that it’s a mixed bag.
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The first thing to point out about this issue is that the collaboration is confusing and awesome. Where else in comics can you have Kenneth Rocafort and Dan DiDio be the storytellers and then Justin Jordan and Dan DiDio be in charge of dialogue? In a way, it’s a bit old school in which the artist is in command of the story with some guidance from the writers, but everyone’s getting credit and no one’s making millions off of the dead.
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Another issue of The Family Trade goes by and I feel another crushing wave of disappointment. I genuinely feel like this comic has the potential to truly be something despite issue #2’s lack of support for this claim.
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The Family Trade #1 offers an interesting introduction to a "what if" world in which neutral country was founded in the middle of the ocean, was ruled by a nepotistic governing class which was controlled by a secret society of assassins. It’s all relatively lofty and idealistic, and it succeeds most of the time in setting up a fun, and politically charged story arc told through the perspective of a chipper young assassin, however some story aspects can come across as incredibly heavy handed and the art, while not entirely bad, isn’t as impressive as the story.
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There is a hidden nation. A nation of magic and madness, one that exists in all the forgotten spaces. Your basement, your attic, the haunted house down the street, anyone of those might be a part of the Backways.
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Score: 3/5
I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire point of Savage Things is to introduce Vertigo readers to Justin Jordan and Ibrahim Moustafa because the point of the story is lost on me. Lost on me in the sense that it’s breaking some logic that’s being established between the two timelines.
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There is a lot to enjoy about Savage Things as long as serial killers being used as terrorist agents is your cup of tea. In a lot of ways, Savage Things is either the American answer to James Bond or Jason Bourne with psychopaths. Take your pick on which sounds more appealing to you.
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I’m not one to use simple explanations of what a comic is or isn’t. Sometimes it’s unavoidable as is the case with Savage Things because sidestepping it would likely make for a review that was uninteresting and off-putting for people that were perhaps interested in actually reading the comic afterward.
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This March, Vertigo will unleash SAVAGE THINGS, an action-packed espionage-horror miniseries from writer Justin Jordan (The Legacy of Luther Strode) and artist Ibrahim Moustafa (High Crimes).
Read MoreThe God Eater, has such immense power. It takes not only the heavens, but also hell working together to trap him on earth, in Kansas specifically. Using blood sacrifices, the God Eater is trapped within a “Holy Telegraph” that happens to be weakening as time progresses. Not only is this trap weakening over time, but the God Eater is calling out to humans getting them to sacrifice themselves for him in order to release him. In order to maintain a balance of sorts, the heavens and hell both use surrogates with divine powers in order to maintain a balance and also prevent the God Eater from escaping. The Gods themselves cannot use their powers for it would break the holy telegraph allowing what’s within to break out. With an army of brainwashed humans walking towards the God Eater’s location, Evil Ernie and a divine angel work together to prevent them from reaching the God Eater.
Jordan and Davidsen both have done a great job moving on from the first issue of this mini-series. They maintain a steady pace giving just enough information to not only keep the reader interested but to also leave them wanting and asking more questions. The back and forth dialogue between each of the characters is quite vivid and gives a lot of insight on the kind of character they are and will become. The writers definitely have a great unique story line going on and based on how this issue ended, it will be interesting to see where things go and how Jordan and Davidsen will progress the story. Hopefully the pace is maintained and character development is a bit improved on.
As with the first issue, the art is so unique. Worley and Razek have such an interesting way to depict each scene in the panels. The blurred image style honestly works for this series. It gives the art a really ominous, dark feeling which is perfect for a story that is following a character named Evil Ernie. There should be things within the art that gives off an eerie vibe which both artists nail on the head. There are a few almost seems like rough draft panels here and there within the issue. Primary example of this is the humans themselves are just very bland in comparison to the main characters. Lack of emotions and even facial expressions within the human characters makes it seem like the artists just rushed through getting the humans done and put more emphasis on the main characters which for the most part are beautifully done.
Overall, this is a fantastic series definitely worth reading. The $4.99 price is a bit glutinous, especially for a comic that is only 28 pages cover to cover. If you don’t mind the price tag and are looking for a great series to start, pick up this issue along with the first issue because it seems like there is a lot of great things to come from the creators of this comic series.
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Evil Ernie: God Eater #2 Writer: Justin Jordan and Keith Davidsen Artist: Colton Worley and Cezar Razek Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Price: $4.99 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital
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Let’s start by saying what an interesting cover for a comic. A classic Creation of Adam painting but done in Lucio Parillo’s own twist. Rather than Adam, we have a human with an ominous demon face which happens to be the main character Ernie. Justin Jordan starts his story off with a family terrorized by a father who is abusive and basically pure evil. The daughter, Amberlee, protects her brother from a beating by taking a beating herself, in which she then appears as an angel. Amberlee ascends to the skies saying she now knows what she is meant to do. We then meet what is presumed as the main character of this dark story. He is a man who seems to be possessed by some demonic spirit with one thing on his mind, chaos. Part of this characters apparel is a button with a face that just so happens to talk to him. This button seems to be evil, telling Ernie, our main character, to perform acts of violence. He also seems to be a voice of reason when our character comes into contact with a group of people who have been looking for him. A wild brawl ensues with Ernie summoning the dead to take on the group attacking him. The group attacking him seems to be minions for something else that is powerful.
The character development is a bit… well lacking. First off we were introduced to a family whom the daughter, Amberlee, turned into an angel then we didn’t see her till the end of the issue. Where did she go; how/why is she an angel; what is she meant to do? Although it was rushed and not well explained, I will say I love the concept that there are angels and demons on earth that seem to be 
preparing for something big to happen. Perhaps Ernie is a pivotal character for either side to beat the other.
Ernie himself is a very dark, ominous character. He has a desire to wreak havoc in any way he can, whether it be killing, or running people off the road. With powers ranging from, summoning the dead, talking to a button, to shooting lightning bolts out of his hands. Clearly Ernie has immense power that is sought after since he is being attacked by a group whose goal is to devour him to claim his power for their master. AmberLee seems to be a savior of sorts, someone likely to play a crucial role in the development of Ernie’s character and possibly even powers in future issues.
Dialogue fits the art well. It was gritty and dark with humor. Justin Jordan managed to fit various moments of different emotions within this issue. The button that Ernie wears is almost sarcastic while also having a serious side to him. Ernie himself was just dark, a one mask kind of guy. The majority of the dialogue came from Ernie and his button, without causing the art to be covered. I do wish there was a bit more information given about each character, but character development may come a bit later in the series. The flow of panels wasn’t too confusing, there were a few moments where I had to make sure I was reading the correct speech bubble though. Overall it is a quick read with good flow even from page to page.
The art was a blurry textured style. There were many layers to the art but the blurriness seemed to take away the moment from some panels. There are a few parts where stopping to really look at the art had to happen just to try to grasp what it was that was being drawn. I understand that the story is dark but blurry art took a lot out of the flow of the story for me. Besides those few moments I was overall impressed with the artwork that Colton Worley did for this issue. He captured a demonic like style and each character really shined with detail. I particularly like the art for Ernie, you can see ribs, the coloring of his body, the way he glows, he just screams demon in every way possible. The art flowed very well with the dialogue as well, when it was meant to be evil the characters looked and spoke in an evil manner. You could really sense the emotion in each scene.
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I don’t know what this comic wants to be. Is it a dark gritty crime book? Is it a horror book? Is it an action movie? DEA Agent Danielle Marlowe is on the hunt for a former DEA Agent who has gone rogue and is now in Mexico trying to “out monster” the Cartel. The kicker is that former agent is also HER FATHER!!! Which I guess should be shocking or something, but made me roll my eyes. Of course she was personally related to the guy, why not? Actually, if you follow through on this plot, we can not only pinpoint what the clichés are, if we can name where they are from, we may even figure out the genre of this comic!
So we get the debriefing between two agents where we find out about the rogue agent and his team (including panels of grotesque horror) where we find out he is related to our protagonist. Which is pretty much thriller/crime genre. The nice, if not sarcastic, federal officer who welcomes our protagonist to Mexico and says it is a wonderful place, right before shit gets real. I guess we are in action movie territory? Maybe still crime.
The trouble is a child who offers up cryptic messages and then chews off his fingers in a super "kids are terrifying" horror films trope, which I put quite into the horror genre. Then three scenes of chasing leads with lots of needless dialogue of “I want to know this thing but must dance around with this colorful dialogue the writers took time to carefully craft." Which is probably back to crime, but could be the boring parts of an action film, or just one of the filler episodes of Lost. And it all ends with a team of unnamed military or police showing up with guns. Total action!
The issue has no heart. A lot of stuff is happening but there’s no reason to actually care. We know and learn nothing about these characters. Danielle is a DEA Agent, really good at her job, and is the daughter of the rogue agent. This is all I can tell you about her, and her being good at her job is just a piece of exposition told to the reader by another character, not through any actions of the book. Her father is a complete mystery, all we really get is random horrific images of his handy work. Which is why I can argue this is a horror book.
The only real emotion here is randomly in the art. There are panels the characters, especially Danielle, that just come to life. They are just true authentic moments and not a single one is a big moment panel, they are just characters casually sitting around or moving. I guess the scene with the creepy kid is emotive too, but mostly in sheer creepiness.
This book is pretty skippable. Maybe later chapters it will have something to invest in but right now it is just this hallowed out crime book with glimpses of action and horror. I am not anticipating much, though. This is already one fourth of the story and there is not any connection.
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Dark Horse Comics, Activision Publishing, Inc., and award-winning game development studio, Treyarch have teamed up to deliver Call of Duty: Zombies, a comic book series of undead proportions, written by comics superstar Justin Jordan (Green Lantern: New Guardians), and illustrated by Jonathan Wayshak (Devolution), with story by Zombies Director, Jason Blundell and the studio’s Lead Writer, Craig Houston. With incredible covers by superstar artist Simon Bisley, the waves of undead come straight out of Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies experience and onto the pages of Dark Horse Comics!Since Treyarch first introduced Zombies to the Call of Duty franchise as an Easter Egg in Call of Duty: World at War, it has grown into its own pop-culture phenomenon, becoming an 
indispensable part of what game fans expect from a Call of Duty game. Now, Treyarch’s Blundell and Houston help take fans even deeper down the rabbit hole…
On his quest to secure an ancient artifact known as The Kronorium, Doctor Edward Richtofen enlists the help of The Tranzit Crew, a rag tag group of survivors last seen in the Black Ops II Zombies installment Buried. On a deeply unstable and fractured future Earth, Stuhlinger, Misty, Russman, and Marlton battle for survival against the undead horde, as they slowly uncover the truth behind Richtofen’s mysterious reappearance. TheCall of Duty: Zombies miniseries follows these characters’ perilous journey of discovery, filling in crucial pieces of the larger Zombies story.
Call of Duty: Zombies #1 (of 6) hits comic stands October 19, 2016 - Preorder your copy today at your local comic shop!
If you need your Zombies fix before October, make sure to check in at San Diego Comic Con on Thursday, July 21 when Treyarch’s Blundell joins Dark Horse’s Comics & Video Games panel (5pm/PT), where he’ll shed light onto some of the secrets hidden within the Call of Duty: Zombies saga. Additionally, Blundell and Houston will team up earlier that same day for a special guest signing at Dark Horse Booth #2615 (noon/PT).
Fans of the franchise can also read the Call of Duty®: Black Ops III comic book series by Larry Hama (G.I. Joe) and Marcelo Ferreira (Transformers, TMNT) which follows an elite group of cybernetically enhanced soldiers as they wage a secret war across a futuristic, war-torn world transformed by technology. Available now at your local comic store. (Warning: This comic contains violence and may not be suitable for those under 18 years of age.)