Review: And Then Emily Was Gone #1

 

Full disclosure: John Lees is a member of the Off-Panel Podcast and, obviously, a friend.

And Then Emily Was Gone #1 has only nineteen pages of story in between its covers... but, what a story it is. The Scottish duo of John Lees and Ian Laurie set up a lot of mystery and violence, in the first chapter of their supernatural mystery book. Ex-police detective Greg Hellinger is an expert on finding missing persons and a man literally battling his own inner demons. He is drawn into the case Emily Munro, a young girl from a small Scottish island who has seemingly vanished. 

I feel like the book draws a lot of inspiration from the famous off-kilter murder mystery televisions how Twin Peaks. And just like Twin Peaks, we're introduced to a small and isolated community, bizarre locals, and a boogeyman all at the heart of this mystery involving a young woman. There's a sense of dread in this first issue. You know something bad will happen eventually, but like some of the worse things in the world, you don't want to look away.

Review: Planetary/Batman - Night on Earth

Whenever I originally read this, I didn't have the slightest clue of what Planetary even was. I merely picked up the book for three reasons - firstly, because it had Batman in it, but also because I had recently come off of writer Warren Ellis' limited run on Iron Man with the "Extremis" storyline and because John Cassaday was one of my favorite artists at the time. So the talent was there, and I was itching to see how the duo would lend it to The Dark Knight. I didn't really get lost in following the plot, despite my lack of prior knowledge about the title, but in the event that you need a little more enticement than that, here's the concept of Ellis' Planetary: essentially, Planetary focuses on three superpowered protagonists. Elijah Snow, Jakita Wagner, and a social misfit called The Drummer. Their mission, as dictated by the organization they work for, is to discover the undiscovered truths about the world's history. Some of these missions range from the fantastical to the horrifying, and investigation into inter-dimensional anomalies were a common fixture of the series. Think of it as X-Files crossed into the more bizarre Superman stories from the fifties, and you've got a clear idea in your head of what Planetary is all about.

Review: Batman: Ego

As one of the most recognizable figures on the planet, it's no secret to anyone that Batman has been the subject of many varying interpretations. Created as a forceful avenger of injustice, time eventually tamed his ruthless pursuit of vengeful conquest against what he considered to be a superstitious, cowardly lot. As a result, despite the many temptations that plague his often trauma-ridden existence, he does not kill, he does not give up, and above all, he remains entirely convinced in the singularity of an impossibly structured war on crime and it's eventual impact on a city without hope. Batman's crusade is made in the solemn belief that, as the victim of tragedy, it is within his power to prevent similar circumstances from befalling the innocent that Gotham City constantly threatens to drag down into the abyss. Whatever your personal interpretation of what Batman is, who he is, and what he stands for, these are the very basic foundations that have remained relevant to the character even today, nearly seventy-five years after his creation in 1939.

Review: Punishermax, Volume 2 - Bullseye

More than most, The Punisher is an incredibly divisive figure in comics. For those who prefer the more traditional superhero fiction, he can easily be a character to hate as a murderous vigilante who manages to stand side-by-side with some of Marvel's greats as an iconic character. For those who love anti-heroes like Wolverine, or even the heroes that tend to deal with darker subject material such as Batman or Ghost Rider, The Punisher is a compelling addition to a trove of comic book characters who aren't as morally sound as Superman or Captain America, instead thriving on psychological problems that dictate their sense of right and wrong. Started by Garth Ennis in the early 2000's, the Punisher: MAX stories traditionally bump everything associated with Frank Castle and his one-man war on crime up to eleven. The violence, the psychosis, the disturbing subject matter, language, and even the sheer insanity aren't censored down by traditional comic standards, left to be brought to the forefront. Like the character's inherent nature, it's a bleak ride made bleaker.

Review: The Superior Foes of Spider-Man #1

 

 

Mixing comedy with superheroics, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man is a pretty funny book with its own unique spin. With so many Avengers and Justice League teams running around, it's good to see a villain team, even a dysfunctional one like this. The concept of featuring villains as protagonists isn't a brand new one (see Secret Six and Journey into Mystery), but writer Nick Spencer is able to give Foes a different tone than Six, in that this book is more slapstick and lighter in humor instead of Secret Six's darker comedy.

With a team made up of Spider-Man foes Boomerange, Speed Demon, Beetle, Shocker, and Overdrive; the Sinister Six (more like the Sinister Six Minus One) get in a variety of hijinks from the start. Low-rent evil abounds, from puppy napping to not flushing toilets. The dialogue is on point and just about every character seems like they establish their own voice, even this early on in the book. Likeable characters, great art from Steve Lieber and Rachelle Rosenberg, and a unique concept all means that Superior Foes of Spider-Man is a number one issue that starts off on a great footing.

Rating

4 out of 5

Review by Matt Johnson

Review: Batman '66 #1

When it comes to alternate media, it's actually rather difficult to translate the exact same feeling of watching the show, film, cartoon, or whathaveyou that you're trying to replicate within the pages of a comic book. And while one would think that translating an actual property based on a comic book would be a helluvalot easier to accomplish, it's actually alot rarer than you think to get it right. Everything from the many Batman movies and animated series to the current CW hit, Arrow, has been given a comic book adaptation and it's been brought to panel-by-panel life to many varying results. While you could never really say that all of the Batman comics based off of The Animated Series were bad, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that could claim that they're just as good, or even a respectable replacement for just sitting down and watching the show. And let's face it, that's going to be the problem with anything based off of something inherently designed for an entirely different medium.

Review: Superman - Speeding Bullets

Ah, the Elseworlds brand. Renowned for it's constant misses rather than a slew of hits, DC Comics' banner of off-shoot stories, featuring their most popular characters released of the constraints of regular continuity, gained it's height of popularity throughout the 1990's. The goal of the brand was to challenge contemporary ideas of such classics as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Justice League with alternate takes that varied from the subtle-yet-obvious to the drastically different. On a number of levels, it was an outlet for writers to go nuts with whatever crazy concept they had. What if Batman were a pirate? What if Superman were raised by Darkseid? What if Wonder Woman, an Amazon, was found roaming the Wild West? Those ideas and more were presented to the market, and for a time, fans ate it up. It was an idea filled with a combination of endless potential and plenty of margin for error. And often times, it was error that was presented. So by the time that the early 2000's hit, the idea of DC's Elseworlds was unsurprisingly all but a dead brand, with only a few being books released over a period of year until it was quietly abandoned.

Review: Mega Man #1-4 - "Let the Games Begin"

 
During the Summer of 2011, Archie Comics debuted a new comic-book series that literally made my summer. I cannot think of any other new title I was more excited for than a new Mega Man series. The last time we got a Mega Man comic-book series was several years prior with Dreamwave Productions which was shortlived. Issue 1 opens strong and goes along with the narrative of the first Mega Man game; although scenes such as why Dr. Wily is angry with Dr. Light and reprogramming the Robot Masters are fleshed out more in this comic.

Review: Fury MAX #13

With the last issue of their maxi-series, FURY MAX: My War Gone By, the creative team of Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov stick the landing to a bleak and depressing issue that highlights the cost and futility of war. This series needs to be cherished, it'll probably be a long time before we see something like this ever come from the "Big 2" again.

Review: Return of the Super Pimps #1

If the title alone doesn’t do it for you, then I almost don’t know what else to say. Having been a major fan of the blaxploitation film genre for some time, Return of the Super Pimps was a no brainier for me to pick up and read. The first issue sets up a super team, the aforementioned Super Pimps, that rides in a pimpmobile (with the golden license plate BITCHSLAP) and is made up of characters like Ghetto Blaster, a technical genius whose super suit uses the power of funky 8-tracks to wipe the floor with his opponents, or the Lupine Lady of the Night herself Foxy Mama, and team leader Blackbeard who relies on his sentient Alan Mooreqsue beard to fight the forces of evil.

Review: The Manhattan Projects #12

Warning: the following review contains spoilers

The best comic being put out right now is back for its twelfth installment. After the touching and refreshing character development of the previous issue, The Manhattan Projects latest issue has the same great character work with a tinge of sadness. After witnessing the great friendship between Enrico Fermi and Harry Daghilan in issue eleven, issue twelve takes that apart as the truth about Fermi’s alien origins is revealed.

Review: Star Trek Ongoing (#1-#21)

 

 

The IDW series started in 2011 with little fanfare to my memory, and despite my ‘Trekker’ status, I had no interest in it at all. However with the release of the new movie, a friend telling me to read it and a new arc in the comics starting at issue #21 released last week, the stars aligned and I gave in. What followed was a nice jaunt through a series that would be right at home next to a DVD set of The Next Generation or Deep Space 9. Writers Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrot do a great job keeping the tone of the characters consistent through all the current issues. The various artists must all be given a huge tip of the hat for their unique, but similar representations of the actors and actresses that the characters looks are based off of.

Review: Ten Grand #1

Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Ten Grand is the first issue of the former Thor and Superman writer’s new series published by Image Comics and his own Joe Comics imprint. Joining JMS in the art department is Ben Templesmith of 30 Days of Night fame.

Review: Hellblazer Dangerous Habits (Issues #41-46)

 

Review features spoilers

Written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Will Simpson, the six-issue story arc “Dangerous Habits” kicked off Ennis’ lengthy run on the Hellblazer title after taking over for the title's first writer Jamie Delano. (Full disclosure:  I am an unabashed Garth Ennis fanboy. Everything he’s done that I’ve read I’ve loved. Doesn’t mean I ignore his faults, which he has, or try to blindly defend some of the reasons people don’t care for him.) The arc is seen as one of the major stories associated with John Constantine (pronounced in the comics so that it rhymes with dine) and that’s saying some for a character who was first created nearly thirty years ago by Alan Moore and writers from Moore, Ennis, Azzerello, Morrison, and Ellis have written him at some point since.