Once again, friends, we’re here with the Comixtreme.com
Done-In-One review thread. Once a week, we scour the comic book universe to review books that didn’t get the full treatment. Before you head out to finish your Christmas shopping, let’s take a look at some of the books that came out recently – after all, there are comic shops waiting for your business too!
Cthulhu Tales #9 (Boom! Studios)
By Raven Gregory, Sergio Carrera, Drew Berry, Sam Costello, Axel Medellin Machain, Digikore Studios, Robert Tinnell, Milton Sobriero, & Felipe Sobriero
The best story here is the opener, “The Zoo”, where a security guard tells others at a bar of his unusual day at work. It's comical for most of the piece, but then becomes serious as you discover that even security guards can take their work home with them. The art by Carrera and Berry has a great atmospheric and gritty look to it. They'd all do pretty well on a horror comic together. But the other two stories? The next is the anticlimactic “It Must Have Been Something You Ate” has some nice looking art in the story of an exotic gourmet who gets a grisly comeuppance, but the ending is easy to guess and the story basically repeats itself. It has a beginning and end but almost no middle. The final story, “Face Of The Competition” comes to such an abrupt end I'm half convinced I'm missing a page. That's it?! Really? It just ends like that? Huh. I don't know what to say about it, so I'll just leave it alone. At least there's one complete story – that's got to count for something.
Rating: 3/5 --Andrea Speed
Fall Of Cthulhu: Godwar #4 (Boom! Studios)
By Michael Alan Nelson, Mark Dos Santos, & Renato Faccini
At the end of this miniseries, I did wonder how they were going to fill their time. This one answers the question, as much of the issue is flashbacks to various atrocities and their secret tie to Cthulhu. There's a bit in the present day, revealing how well and truly screwed Lucifer, Dirk, and pretty much everyone else is as the Old Ones start returning and revealing themselves. It's hard to imagine there's any way out of this one, unless one of the gods decides not to play nice. I'm a little torn on the art. Although very solid, sometimes it seemed a little cartoonish, and this isn't a comic where cartoonish serves the story well. But having said that, I did like the Cthulhu designs, which manage not to be cartoonish. I've actually liked this miniseries a lot, and I can't imagine how humanity isn't doomed. (But, with the economy the way it is, Cthulhu can have the world for a while. Maybe he'll do a better job of it.)
Rating: 3.5/5 --Andrea Speed
Ghostbusters: The Other Side #3 (IDW Publishing)
By Keith Champagne & Tom Nguyen
In Purgatory, Venkman leads Egon and Ray in battle against the spirits of the dead. Venkman has uncovered an operation to sneak ghosts out of the other side and back to the land of the living, and he's rounded up an impressive, untouchable squad of assistants to fight back. Winston, meanwhile, may not want to go back at all -- he's found something on the other side that he's long missed. Back on Earth, the ghost inhabiting Venkman's body is settling in nicely, and has no intention of going back. This miniseries has been really impressive to me. Champagne is doing a great job with the characters, and there's some especially good stuff here with Winston (whom I've always felt doesn't get quite the same respect as the other three members of the team). Nguyen's art compliments a great script, and the package as a whole is a lot of fun. I hope this is enough to lead to more Ghostbusters projects in the future. If they're as high-quality as this, they'll be well worth it.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit
The Greatest American Hero #1 (Arcana Studios/Catastrophic Comics)
By William Katt, Christopher Folino, Derek McCaw, Sean O'Reilly, Clint Hilinski
I've noticed in movies, the more names I see credited on the screenplay, the more dull and by-the-numbers the movie tends to feel. There are four separate writers credited on this comic. This seems to be a ground-floor reboot of the old TV show, starting before Ralph gets his hand on the alien suit, but after a fundamentalist group has started killing people who don't know their Bible verses. The show was campy, and that was a lot of its charm, but this first issue feels way more serious than I remember. Okay, granted, it's been a long time since I actually watched an episode, so maybe time has diluted my memories, but I can't imagine it being quite this dark. The artwork is pretty good -- the characters look like the actors from the show, but don't feel out-of-place or stuck in the 80s either. I'm unsold on this series, honestly. I'll get issue two (and after that, I'll almost certainly get the last one even if I don't feel it at all), but the creators have some ground to make up with me before I get the same feeling from this comic as I remember from the TV series.
Rating: 3/5 --Blake M. Petit
Madman Atomic Comics #12 (Image Comics)
By Michael Allred & Laura Allred
A cryptic message from Dr. Flem leads Madman to believe he's found a way to separate the merged Luna and Joe from one another. As he races to the lab, the rest of his friends find themselves battling a series of increasingly bizarre monsters -- but that's nothing compared to what's waiting for him at the end of his race. Allred has done a great turn this issue, turning up the excitement and the stakes to the max and still managing to work in the character moments that make this such a fantastic, classic property. There's some wonderful stuff here, particularly with Joe seeming to determine the next stage of her life, and a particularly interesting villain. And the artwork has simply never been better. This is the best time to be a Madman fan in years.
Rating: 4.5/5 --Blake M. Petit
The Spirit #24 (DC Comics)
By Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Chad Hardin, Wayne Faucher & Paul Smith
This is a particularly strong issue for The Spirit, beginning with a march through Cambodia and leading up to a really strong mystery. In Central City, someone is murdering Vietnam veterans who all served together. The hunt for the killer leads the Spirit to uncover the secret the men all shared, with his life on the line. The central mystery is very strong here, and the solution is legitimately unexpected. Even some of the sillier aspects of the Spirit work well. (For instance, how does a guy wearing a mask and refusing to use his real name get on a commercial airline?) Hardin and Faucher's artwork is very strong too, with some nice, dynamic action scenes and really good, animated faces. Plus, the book has a Paul Smith cover, which is always great to see. Very strong issue of a strong series.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit
Superfriends #10 (DC Comics/Johnny DC)
By Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela & J. Bone
The Superfriends play host to a party at the Wayne Foundation Community Center, where children of all faiths are gathering together to celebrate... well... everything. Unfortunately, Dr. Light is a little miffed that he didn't get invited to the party, so he decides to crash. The book is really kind of so-so. Fisch does a nice turn connecting Christmas, Chanuka and Kwanzaa with the theme of "light," but the way the different holidays are presented is really by rote. It's like he was given the assignment to come up with a story that includes and educates kids about all three holidays in one tale -- which I've got no problem with, if only it didn't feel quite so forced. The superheroes and kids alike sound like they're reading out of a textbook for a couple of pages there. On the plus side, the art is nice, and the cover by J. Bone is great. It's not my favorite Christmas comic this season, but it's not bad.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Blake M. Petit
Tangent: Superman's Reign #10 (DC Comics)
By Dan Jurgens, Carlos Magno, Brad Walker, Ron Marz & Andie Tong
With the revelation that the Tangent Superman's wife is still alive, and juiced up on Miraclo, the heroes of two worlds finally have a true weapon to turn against him. As they make their way back to New Earth, where the enemy has captured all of the world's leaders, back on Tangent Earth Guy's interrogation takes a startling turn. This is a pretty strong issue -- the action is there and the characterization is strong. The story behind what really happened to Lola Dent adds a nice Shakespearian element of tragedy to the proceedings, and the revelation about Guy takes us by surprise. I still think, though, as I've been saying for a while, this series has been stretched a bit too much. This probably could have been tightened up to issue seven or eight without losing very much. The rapidly-shifting artists have hurt the book as well -- even the good ones are a bit too different from one another. This has been a good series that, with a bit of planning, could have been better.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit
Terra #4 (DC Comics)
By Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner
Terra’s world is crumbling around her. A man with big dreams and freaky powers has just suffered a great loss and he blames Terra’s people for it. Can she defeat this lunatic before she loses everyone she loves? This series just pushes all the right buttons for me. There is the crazed bad guy, who will inevitably become Terra’s arch-nemesis. Terra’s own naïve belief in good and evil is refreshing, but you just know that eventually she’ll have her heart broken in some way. And then there is of course Amanda Conner’s superlative art work, which is the cherry on top. I love how she sticks in dozens of little scenes in each panel other than the main action. Terra was the most fun I’ve had with a mini-series in a long time. I hope to see her again very soon.
Rating: 4/5 —Terry Verticchio
The X-Files #2 (DC Comics/WildStorm)
By Frank Spotnitz & Brian Denham and Kelsey Shannon & Carlos Badilla
As Mulder hovers near death after being exposed to a deadly virus that makes it seem that you killed yourself, Scully looks for clues to find the truth. Well, that’s about as much as I can tell you about the story without spoiling everything. This arc plays very much like an ordinary X-Files episode and that can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you are expecting a blazing shoot-out with some shadowy bad guys, well forget it, as it ain’t here. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad series, you simply need to re-wire your brain and remember the subject matter your reading. It has all the elements that every fan would like, except cool music from the show, which I think would have helped my enjoyment of the story. The art is very cinematic in its execution and very exact in its representation of the characters. The final panel of Scully’s reaction to the whole affair is really quite good. While not the best story I've read of The X-Files, I hope this is just the beginning and we can expect to see more bizarre happenings involving Mulder and Scully.
Rating: 3.5/5 --Terry Verticchio
Zombie Tales #8 (Boom! Studios)
By Michael Alan Nelson, Matt Cossin, Mikey Cossin, Eric Calderon, Ming Doyle, Andrew Dalhouse,Todd Lepre, Drew Rausch, & Drew Berry
This issue has three zombie stories, but probably the best of them is “Lights Out”, which examines what it's like for a Superman like superhero in a world overrun with zombies. Not even eating zombies – ones who want brains – just shambling dead who spread their illness across the entire planet. Save for one man who's immune and could do nothing but watch as everyone else was changed and the world slowly but surely ended. It's a melancholy story with some art by Doyle that's a little messy at times, but works for this story. “Ink Stains” is notable for Rausch's Templesmith style art, and a unique and touching use of a tattoo parlor. If you have zombie needs this week, this should fill it.
Rating: 3/5 --Andrea Speed
Zorro #9 (Dynamite Entertainment)
By Matt Wagner, Cezar Rezik & Francesco Francavilla
This issue, as Zorro recruits a new ally to his cause, the playboy exterior Diego wears gets him in a situation when his father begins to pressure him to get married. It's a lot of fun to see the pieces of the Zorro legend clicking into place in this series. Wagner has done a splendid job of resurrecting the classic hero and making him interesting and exciting al over again. Cezar Rezik's art here is just as goof,with some great facial expressions and "acting" by the characters and really strong scenes with the Fox himself. Between this series and The Lone Ranger, Dynamite has brought back the western superhero in force. It's been a very long time since either of these characters was this entertaining.
Rating: 4/5 --Blake M. Petit
December 20th 2008, 12:24 PM
)
Linear Mode
