REVIEW: Farmhand #5, a Fitting End to a Great First Arc

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Farmhand #5 is out 11/7.

By Bo Stewart — I miss Chew…a lot. With that book (which, by the way, ended in November 2016 after having won two Eisner and two Harvey Awards) writer John Layman and artist Rob Guillory created a world that, quite frankly, scratched an itch that I didn’t even know I had. Put simply, Chew was a ridiculous comic—in all the right ways. It was zany yet self-aware, set in a fictional world that had a strict set of rules its narrative followed. It was great, and, as I said, I miss it...a lot.

So, when Rob Guillory’s Farmhand was announced (this time with Guillory writing and drawing), I started to eagerly anticipate that old Chew feeling coming back, or scratching that itch, so to speak. This week’s Farmhand #5 marks the conclusion of the Guillory’s new book’s first act, and I can confidently say he has re-captured the intangible qualities that made Chew really click for me. At the same time, with Farmhand Guillory is telling a bold story in its own right.

To me, the last issue of any first arc is an extremely important one, essentially answering the pivotal question of whether it has legs to go for dozens of issues, or whether it’s just a fun idea with maybe not as much narrative meat on its bones. Five issues into Farmhand, I feel like we’re just starting to scratch the surface of what this story and world have to offer. Really, I can see this narrative going in several different directions, and I’m eager to see which path Guillory decides to take.

Thematically, Farmhand is interested in weighty subject matter such as familial legacy and reaping what you sow. The plot follows the Jenkins Family Farm, which has created a seed that can be used to grow new human body parts. This makes for a funny visual, but moreover this premise is used to ask tough questions about mankind’s scientific progress. Questions such as: were we meant to cross these boundaries? If so, what is the personal cost? It’s poignant stuff, seeing as we now live in a world where 3-D printing vital organs is a reality. Farmhand’s themes are becoming increasingly relevant as our real world scientific progress continues to accelerate, and exploring them through an agricultural lens here is a brilliant stroke of storytelling.

Meanwhile, the book is also interested in how the seeds we sow to get ahead later come to affect our personal relationships just as much as they do our professional lives. In this story, the Jenkins family patriarch, Jed, is so focused on his business that he misses the ill will he’s harvesting (yes, that’s a farm joke) with his own family. His farm comes under threat by shady Russian agents and rival companies, and it only serves to distract Jed further from the growing fractures between himself and his children.

On a visual level, the artistic details that go into Guillory’s pages are impressive. Each one is packed with little jokes and asides that readers could very well miss if they don’t take a second to focus. Something as simple as writing Bro on a jock’s hat is a fun way to give readers information about the characters and world. In this issue alone, we get gems such as Hospitals: a great place to meet your demise, or Newspaper: Yeah, we’re still in print. It’s self-deprecatory, but always in good fun. These details are also more than just quick laughs, contributing much to both the world and the story.

Overall: Farmhand #5 is, like the rest of this first arc, a wildly fun comic. It covers deep thematic ground while never taking itself too seriously. Striking that balance requires skillful storytelling, and I can’t wait to see where Guillory takes us in arc two. 8.5/10

Farmhand #5
Writer: Rob Guillory
Artist: Rob Guillory
Colorist: Taylor Wells
Letterer: Kody Chamberlain
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Bo grinds for the man by day so he can create comics by night. He is the lesser half of the Stewart Brothers writing team and can be found on Twitter and Instagram @stewart_bros

REVIEW: Outer Darkness #1 is a Solid and Charming Debut

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Outer Darkness #1 is out 11/7.

By Zack Quaintance — Space, but if it was haunted. This was clearly the pitch for writer John Layman’s new Image book with artist Afu Chan, Outer Darkness. I don’t want to call this a well-trodden concept, but it’s definitely one we’ve seen, in a number of mediums. It is not, of course, the elevator pitch that determines the ultimate success of a story. No, it’s how the story, characters, pacing, and other elements are carried out. With all this in mind, Outer Darkness is exceedingly well-done.

Let’s talk about the setup and plot: our story opens with our protagonist captaining a cargo vessel through an unmapped necro-storm, as members of his crew succumb to all manner of paranormal possession, despite having five on-board holy men and exorcists (which we are left to infer is common in this world). The hero makes a difficult decision to jettison the ship’s cargo—a move later has him facing jail time—to save the lives of those on his ship, and soon we flash forward weeks to find him at an intergalactic bar.

The real hero’s journey then kicks off in earnest when an old and powerful friend shows up with a call to action: avoid the aforementioned jail time and get his pension/insurance back by agreeing to one last nine-month mission to the farthest reaches of the Sagittarius Quadrant, and beyond. This all adds up to a tight construction for the first issue of a new sci-fi book, giving us readers a clear and orienting idea of this series’ elements, from its world to its characters to its humor and tone.

Simply put, Outer Darkness is solidly-built and charaming from its start, doing the tip-toe first issue necessities of getting across exposition without sacrificing pacing or intrigue. In fact, with the one-two punch this year of Leviathan and Outer Darkness, I think it’s safe to say John Layman has established himself as one of the most adept writers as it pertains to launching fully-formed creator-owned books. With Outer Darkness, Layman and collaborators get first issue basics done so fast and effectively they have time left to flesh out the world, hinting at a deeper personal motivation for the main character while also showing the dark cost of space travel, neither of which are points I’ll reveal here, since I absolutely recommend checking out this comic.

The artwork is also exceedingly strong. Afu Chan borrows from a number of different aesthetics—afro futurism, United States Navy, religious customs—to forge a look for the clothes in this comic that feels novel and new. Chan’s design of space vessels is also strong, keeping things like cargo ships and transports utilitarian, while making the central ship stylish and unique, akin to if Star Trek’s Enterprise had a baby with Sonic the Hedgehog. Chan is quite talented and if this first issue is any indication, he and Layman are a great creative fit.

Overall: A solid and charming debut. In the back matter of the comic, writer John Layman describes Outer Darkness as the distillation of what I love the most. Science fiction, horror and weird shit. Well, I like those things too, so sign me up to journey into space with this one. 9.0/10

Outer Darkness #1
Writer: John Layman
Artist: Afu Chan
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase. He also writes comics and is currently working hard to complete one.

REVIEW: Fearscape #2 Brims with Imposter Syndrome…in a Good Way

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Fearscape #2 is out 11/7.

By Zack Quaintance — Fearscape #1 debuted last month(ish) as a bonafide hit, selling out, necessitating a second printing, and earning copious praise from comic book creators and reviewers (many—if not all—of whom are aspiring creators too) alike. This was, perhaps, unsurprising. Fearscape’s first issue spoke directly to the feeling of yearning to be an inspired creative genius, and, well, falling short. Simply put, us readers had been there. It was painfully relatable emotional territory for the book’s target audience: monthly indie comics folks. That familiar state of mind was then expertly accompanied by a high stakes fantasy quest in another realm (which most indie comics folk also enjoy), and—BOOM!—narrative dynamite.

A first issue as good as Fearscape’s is a blessing and curse, though, reeling in the audience while setting the bar almost impossibly high for a follow up. In other words, some regression is to be expected. The same tricks that felt so surprising in the debut are less effective. There’s a bit of that in Fearscape #2, but the smart initial construction of this book’s tone, plus an equally smart twist at this issue’s end, make for another thoroughly engaging read. And really, I haven’t stopped being impressed yet with the pitch-perfect narrative voice writer Ryan O’Sullivan has created, nor the way he uses it.

To recap: protagonist Henry Henry (perfect name for a writer, the Guy in Your MFA Twitter couldn’t have done better) went to the home of his bed-bound mentor and stole a manuscript to pass off as his own. Before he successfully absconded with the work, he found himself confronted by a ghostly extra-dimensional muse recruiting Earth’s best storyteller to represent mankind in a fantasy realm called the Fearscape, where storytelling ability is needed to stave catastrophe off from afflicting the real world.

The plot is enough to make for compelling comics. Fearscape, however, adds a deeper character layer with the way it portrays its protagonist’s roiling imposter syndrome. Henry Henry constantly overcompensates with his pretentious narrative voice while outwardly acting like a total jackass. You can see why he does and says things, and it makes sense, even if you can’t help but resent him for it. Here’s a great example: an early sequence has Henry Henry brusquely telling his guide, Try to keep up, muse...followed in the next panel by this narration [The asthma attack which immediately followed the prior scene has been omitted for the sake of narrative cohesion.] It’s creative, meta, narratively-effective, and riddled with self-resentment. It’s perfect.

Fearscape continues to read as if O’Sullivan is taking a deep inventory of the worst and ugliest parts of his own motivation to create...then cranking them to 11 and putting them in a comic. You can practically feel the self-loathing (in a good way), especially as Fearscape #2 comes to its conclusion. And it’s this sincerity that separates this story from the hacky work it worries it may become. This book is rich with words and ways of thinking seemingly culled from ghosts of painful undergraduate creative writing workshops. These moments emotions are honest, staggeringly so.

Andre Mutti is also just such a versatile artist, given a chance to really shine in the fantasy landscapes and characters found in this issue. Mutti’s character designs are impressive, but it’s the level of clarity the artist’s storytelling techniques lend to the ending sequence (which has real potential to confuse) that really stand out.  

This second issue has me curious about the future of the book, too. This is certainly not a Fountainhead-esque experiment about the value of individualism and uncompromising work, but there’s definitely a point of view about artistry coming into focus. To me, the real mystery seems to be not how the world will be saved from the Fearscape or who will be the storyteller to save it, but rather what the real life creators have learned about craft and aspirations along the way. And, really, isn’t that what most stories are all about? Anyway, I’m so far lost in self-reflective theories here, I may need a long walk...

Overall: Fearscape #2 builds on one of the year’s best debuts to deliver another adventure in metafiction, one perfectly tailored for an indie comic audience. The protagonist’s imposter syndrome is so ugly and sincere that writerly types can’t help but relate, regardless of how painful it becomes, and there’s real honest beauty in that. 9.0/10

Fearscape #2
Writer: Ryan O’Sullivan
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Colorist: Vladimir Popov
Lettering: Andworld Design
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase. He also writes comics and is currently working hard to complete one.

REVIEW: Ice Cream Man #8 Hints at the Point: Happy Lives Aren’t Easy

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Ice Cream Man #8 is out 10/31.

By Zack Quaintance — I was a late-comer to Ice Cream Man. I had a few reasons for hesitating, among them: there are tons of comics these days, the word-of-mouth for the first issue was mixed, and I was unfamiliar with the creators. I, however, absolutely loved the first volume, and Ice Cream Man #6 is now one of my favorite single issues this year.

Even so, I wouldn’t say I’ve figured out what this comic is about. Not entirely. It’s essentially a horror anthology, one in which we haven’t seen the same character twice, other than the titular creepy ice cream man, whose role in stories varies, both in terms of why he’s there and how much we see him. Ice Cream Man #6, which I loved so well, strongly hinted this was a book about nihilism, but, even then, that felt a bit reductive to me. I don’t find nihilism interesting, at least not as the driving force of a story, and yet this book had captured and kept my interest. More than that, it had me recommending it regularly to friends, the highest endorsement.

In Ice Cream Man #8, we finally have some strong clues as to what this book aspires to be about. This is a comic that strives to convey the power of perspective, operating as it does from a starting point that presumes a bleak world before arguing that the central conflict of human life is to overcome bleakness to obtain joy and beauty, regardless of how difficult doing so may be. Just look at this issue.

Like the other installments in this series, the art is fantastic, drawn by Martin Morazzo in a style evocative of greats like Frank Quitely, Geof Darrow, other masters of wavy detail. Morazzo’s work on Ice Cream Man has real range and this issue is no exception. He expertly renders the story’s central characters—paramedics abusing medication and undergoing a hallucinatory crisis—as they careen through a sleepy suburban town erupting in barely-noticed chaos, with homes on fire, people covered in worms, and a clown with a gunshot to his temple. As this story progresses, so does the chaos, culminating in anthropomorphic insect designs in a well-lit diner. It’s stunning stuff.

W. Maxwell Prince, meanwhile, compliments these visuals well with dialogue and narration. Talk between the paramedics is conversational, funny and authentic, yet steeped in existential panic and questions about what it’s all about (both life and this comic), as well as about human nature. The narration, however, is the real star, well-written, powerful, concise, featuring prickly lines like: We’ll all connected—through death, through suffering. Through our fleeting, ephemeral moments of joy; as well as a guiding motif about dark voices (which I read as thoughts, be they fear, anger, or mundanity). The key bit of writing, the one I believe speaks to Prince and Morazzo’s goals for this book, comes at the end, when the gruesome facade relents for a moment and the narrator tells us: The real song’s hard to hear—because good things take work.

“Ice Cream Man #8
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99”

This would, perhaps, be an obvious point to make in a first issue, but after eight chapters of violence, body horror, despair, and dark Twilight Zone-esque concepts, it rings true and cathartic. This isn’t a book that believes we’re doomed. No. This comic is built on the idea that a well-lived life requires effort, hard work, and deliberate hope. I’m still learning like anyone, but these are ideas I find inspiring.

Overall: Another excellent chapter in this anthology horror story, one that goes deeper into the abstruse philosophies hinted at by prior issues. Simply put, few books on the stands today match the craftsmanship and dogma in a single issue of Ice Cream Man. 9.5/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase. He also writes comics and is currently working hard to complete one.

REVIEW: Man-Eaters #2 Finds Compelling Character Traits in Quiet Moments

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Man-Eaters #2 is out 10/31.

By Zack Quaintance — The inside cover of this comic sports an actual magazine ad, the sort you might see in a magazine like, uh, whatever magazine people still read these days (I really couldn’t think of one...is Time still a thing?). Look closer, though, and you’ll notice the ad is a public service announcement that’s actually set in the world of Man-Eaters, wherein a mutation in humans is causing women to turn into were-cats when they menstrate.

She’s your little princess today, but will she be a monster tomorrow? The add asks, adding: 98% of adolescent females are infected with Toxoplasmosis X. Is your daughter one of them? Get her tested. It’s the law. And below is an actual photo of a young girl playing with a cat, followed by a fine print info box describing the symptoms of the comic’s central disease. It’s a clever way for a book to open, especially one that follows up on the provocative satirical premise laid out by Man-Eaters #1 as well as this comic does.

I, obviously, think this sort of narrative device is effective, or I wouldn’t have gone into such detail describing it, and that’s a good thing, because Man-Eaters #2 uses devices similar to this one often, ranging from intricate tampon instruction pages to lists to quick (and very funny) jump-cut panels that show the gushing blood elevator from The Shining. Writer Chelsea Cain and artist Kate Niemczyk fearlessly interweave these illustrative visuals in with the usual graphic sequential storytelling found comics, using them to both impart info and to continue to set a tone for this book.

“Man-Eaters #2
Writer: Chelsea Cain
Penciler & Inker: Kate Niemczyk
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: Joe Caramagna”

This clever use of visuals was everywhere in the first issue, and, indeed, it’s nice to see its use carry over to the second installment. Man-Eaters #2 also remedies an issue I had with the debut of this series. With its premise firmly established, it gets about the business of crafting and interesting and compelling narrative in a way that vests us in our central characters, accomplishing that latter bit mainly by showing us glimpsed of the relatable dynamic between our hero Maude’s divorced parents. There’s a scene with the three of them watching television on the couch. It’s maybe the most understated scene in this entire comic, but, for my money, it also happens to do the most storytelling work. Add on an intriguing (if slightly predictable) cliffhanger twist, and it all adds up to a second issue that has me excited for the future of this comic.

Overall: Man-Eaters #2 continues the clever use of visuals found in its predecessor, while also going into the standard trappings of a good story, mainly character development and a progressing narrative. Cain and Niemczyk are both super-talented storytellers, and they seem in full control of their powers here. 9.0/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase. He also writes comics and is currently working hard to complete one.

REVIEW: Mood and Tension Still Reign in the WYTCHES: BAD EGG HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

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Wytches: Bad Egg Halloween Special is out 10/31.

Bo Stewart — Horror comics are tough to create. Film and television in the genre can use sound to build tension and establish mood, but comics have to rely on purely visual tools to earn their scares. The best graphic sequential horror stories are those that excel at creating an eerie atmosphere and a prevailing sense of unease this way. Few establish the desired sort of ominous mood better than Scott Snyder and Jock’s critically-acclaimed Wytches franchise.

While reading this week’s Wytches: Bad Egg Halloween Special one shot, I kept having this thought: Man…I’ve really missed Wytches. The first volume of this book was an incredibly strong story, so much so that the sporadic teases of a second volume have only deepened the void this comic leaves in my reading pile when it’s not on the shelves. The Bad Egg: Halloween Special, however, goes a long way toward satiating my impatience, and at a whopping 80 pages, I suspect the special will be enough to tide me over until the eventual release of volume 2. I wouldn’t consider the special required reading for Wytches fans, not exactly, but it does flesh out the world while also laying some groundwork for the second volume in a really interesting way.

The Special exists primarily to introduce us to Sebastian Clay. Snyder promises that Seb will be a key player in the events to come, and I enjoyed spending time with him here, finding him to be a really interesting protagonist in his own right. Seb just wants a normal standard issue life, as he puts it. Everything changes, though, when a friend’s dad tries to abduct Seb and feed him to a Wytch.

After this defining event, Seb has to focus on a larger mission that prevents him from enjoying the pleasures of childhood. He is forbidden from making real friendships, including one with his neighbor Jackson. The stakes are immediately upped when it’s revealed that Seb is going to kill Jackson and his whole family. The story kicks into high gear thereafter and begged to be finished in a single sitting.

Essentially, I think this special is a reminder that Snyder can still excel in storytelling made rich by smaller human moments. According to Snyder himself, Wytches was his most personal work to date, and that intimacy carries over into this special. It really makes me wish we would see more of this intimacy in his DC work, too.

“Wytches: Bad Egg Halloween Special
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Jock
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Clem Robins
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $7.99”

Back to my thought about mood in horror comics…yeah, Wytches has possibly the most distinct mood of any comic out there. Jock brings his A game, particularly when it comes to body language. Everything looks right on the surface, but a closer examination finds most pages have something a little off. It’s a killer way to build mood and atmosphere. Matt Hollingsworth’s coloring is also spectacular. There’s simply nothing like it. The random splotches feel out of place, letting us know something isn’t quite right in cool, subtle ways.

Overall: Wytches: Bad Egg Halloween Special is the perfect Halloween treat. It’s also the perfect antidote for the long-term absence of one of the most spectacular horror stories in all of comics. 9.5/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Bo grinds for the man by day so he can create comics by night. He is the lesser half of the Stewart Brothers writing team and can be found on Twitter and Instagram@stewart_bros

REVIEW: Brubaker and Phillips’ My HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES is a Psychedelic Bonnie & Clyde

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By Taylor Pechter —  When it comes to crime comics, two names are basically synonymous with modern works in the genre: Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Throughout the last decade of their fruitful collaboration, the duo has made some of the most acclaimed series in all of comics, from the down and dirty family drama of Criminal, to the Lovecraftian horror history lesson that is Fatale, to their most recent monthly series Kill or Be Killed, a nuanced dive into mental illness.

Brubaker and Phillips’  latest creation is the original graphic novel My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, wherein they create a story that involves romance, the meaning of life, and a thorough shattering of the status quo. This is the first time the pair has produced a complete work in the original graphic novel format, and so I think it’s helpful to break it down into individual qualities, starting with the writing and the plot.

Warning Spoilers: The story in My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies follows a woman named Ellie who is sent to a rehab facility by her uncle...or so she believes. In the early pages, readers get Ellie’s view of the world, as well as her thoughts on being a titular junkie. During a therapy session Ellie exclaims, Why do we automatically think getting clean is a great thing? What if drugs help you find the thing that makes you special?

Here in lies Ellie’s arc, during which she recalls past experiences with her mother, who was herself a junkie. Not only that, but Ellie’s story also touches thematically on some of the most famous singers—Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Janis Joplin—all of whom were junkies and eventually succumbed to their addictions. However, in Ellie’s mind they are the heroes of her story. Through them she learned that junkie carries a negative connotation, even though she believes it should really carry a positive one. Her logic goes: these famous musicians made memorable music while also high on something, be it heroin, cocaine, or speed. Essentially, Ellie sees being a junkie as breaking the status quo of normal life. Doctor Patti, however, obviously thinks the opposite. She thinks that her patient Ellie has convinced herself of this in order to feel special, making her just like any other person in the facility.

Eventually, readers are also introduced to Skip, another patient at the hospital. As time goes on, he grows closer to Ellie and they form a sort of partnership. It starts with sneaking out to take a puff at night and evolves into eventually planning escape. It is during this escape that Skip and Ellie grow closer. They move from house to house, forging a bond, and so romance blossoms. With romance, their dependence on drugs also grows. It is then Ellie monologues, I mean, what young lovers don’t secretly want this? To be bandits on some lost highway… Running until it all burns down?

It is not just through her dependence on drugs, but also her love of Skip, that the memories of her mother and the thrill of the chase bring Ellie’s life full circle. As the story draws to a close, Ellie is walking on a beach, much like we saw her at the beginning of the story. There, she reminisces about the events that have transpired. It is through her ending monologue that she exclaims that life is supposed to be like a clouded memory, and that the things you really remember are the things that are most important. It is in fact the love that others give you that makes life worth living.

In terms of the artwork, along with Brubaker’s detailed script comes, as always, Sean Phillips artwork. Phillips is a master of emotion, an artist who is able to capture the happiness, sadness, excitement, and boredom of each of the characters he renders into life. Not only that, Phillips use of body language also adds an extra layer of realism. This, however, has basically become standard within Brubaker/Phillips works. So much so, that we’re probably all taking how great these comics look for granted. Phillips work really has been that good for that long.

What is new with this most recent Brubaker/Phillips work is the colorist. Joining Phillips on coloring duties is his own son, Jacob. Jacob replaces Elizabeth Breitweiser, whose colors have often paired with Brubakers drawing of late. Jacob Phillips splotchy color palette of bright oranges, pinks, and blues really fits this particular story well, adding a psychedelic feel to the proceedings. The story also features many flashbacks throughout, detailing Ellie’s childhood, and Jacob Phillips lends them all a beautiful monochromatic style evocative of times gone by. Breitweiser is a great colorist, as is another past Phillips collaborator Val Staples, but Jacob Phillips work compliments his father’s in a way that has me hopeful they’ll continue to collaborate in the future.

Overall: With My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips craft a beautiful story of a woman trying to find her place in the world. This original graphic novel format adds extra weight to their story, too. With a detailed script and luscious artwork, this work is likely to rank up there with some of the duo’s best stories. It’s a solid offering from today’s masters of the crime comic, one to tide their fans over until the return of Criminal in January. 8.5/10

My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies
Writer: Ed Brubaker
Artist: Sean Phillips
Colorist: Jacob Phillips
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $16.99

Taylor Pechter is a passionate comic book fan and nerd. Find him on Twitter @TheInspecter.

REVIEW: The Lodger #1 Sees the Laphams Do Small-Town American Darkness Via Travel Blogging and Crime Noir

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The Lodger #1 is out 10/24.

By Zack Quaintance — Comics can seem infinite. The personal tastes and reading histories that belong to fans of this medium are as varied as any I’ve yet encountered. Both film and literature have canons, bodies of work widely considered to be the most important or influential. These are, essentially, lists of works that all serious fans of those mediums should aspire to experience. Comics, however, doesn’t have that.

Now to get to my point: if it did, my sense is that David and Maria Lapham’s long-running crime noir book Stray Bullets would without question be part of any comic book canon. Furthermore, this is all a long-winded way to establish that I, in fact, have not yet read it (although, now that I’ve officially finished Sandman, maybe Stray Bullets should be next). So, I can’t talk or write intelligently about how their newest comic, The Lodger, fits into their body of work. Consider this intro a disclaimer.

What I can say/writer, however, is that I found this book immensely intriguing, a mysterious and well-crafted introductory issue that works in equal parts to establish a set of thematic interest (small-town American darkness, crime noir, travel blogging, drifting) and a number of questions (what the holy hell is going on and who exactly are our two main characters?). What is perhaps most consequential and worthy of discussion in this comic is its framing device.

This is my first experience actually reading the Laphams’ work, after hearing it discussed often in laudatory tones, and I found it to be as literary as most of the works folks tend to casually canonize. The framing device sees them writing a travel blog. It’s heavy on prose, which is always a dicey proposition for writers in the graphic medium. I find that often times prose-heavy comics are bloated, like the writer is so thrilled to have a little extra space that they lose their capacity for self-editing; that they forget how to be concise. Not so in The Lodger.  

This framing advice reads like a first-person short story, the sort that fills readers in on details and also makes ample use of unreliable narration through the lens of whoever is talking. The Laphams go on to make expert use of the comic book medium, tying the visuals abstractly into said narration in a way that enhances the puzzling nature of this entire story. Simply put, this is the sort of comic made exclusively for comics, the work of veteran creators bent on exploring some of the graphic sequential mediums untapped potential. It’s an ambitious book, one that deftly completes a high-wire act that requires withholding crucial information without disorienting its readers. It’s complex stuff, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Overall: Along with Euthanauts and House Amok, The Lodger is part of the Black Crown imprint’s second wave of titles, and boy is it something to behold. These are complex comic books for smart readers, and I can’t recommend them all enough. 9.0/10

The Lodger #1
Writer: David and Maria Lapham
Artist: David Lapham
Publisher: IDW’s Black Crown Imprint
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: Dead Kings #1 Turns Its Anger Toward Failed States

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Dead Kings #1 is due out Oct. 24. Variant cover by Michael Gaydos.

By Zack Quaintance — Dead Kings #1 sees writer Steve Orlando telling another angry retribution tale, one heavy with grit and swagger in which we get interactions like this one: Bartender: I don’t know that name… Anti-Hero: I’ve punched a lot of faces to get here. I think you do. That’s all very telling about the type of world Dead Kings #1 inhabits.

Plot-wise, this story takes place 30 years after a techno-magic war in a place that must have once been Russia but is now called Thrice-Nine, which the book’s preview text describes as a dirty folklore world that limps along, degenerating into a place filled with paranoid and poison. Indeed, we definitely get all of that. Hell, most (if not every) interaction here is brimming with both of them.

Really though, Orlando writing an angry revenge story that promises violence to come is nothing new. Not after his most recent creator-owned book, Crude, or his breakout DC hit, Midnighter. What I find interesting here is the cause of the anger. In Midnighter, the anger was inherent to the titular character, an effect of his status as an embodied weapon. In Crude, the anger came from repression of self, both from one’s family and from one’s society. It’s only one issue so far for Dead Kings, but my early sense is that the anger and violence in this story will be driven by the failure of nation states, by the peasants who have been abused and marginalized by the namesake Dead Kings.

There are, to be sure, also some familiar themes from Orlando’s past work in play too, themes very much evocative of the recently-concluded Crude, specifically that one of the main characters is out to save a lost twin brother persecuted for loving another man. There aren’t really diminishing returns though. Dead Kings is pretty heavily steeped in both the gritty and the fantastical. I mean, this is a story that on one of its first pages has a kaiju-sized steam-powered bear mech.

Matthew Dow Smith and Lauren Affe are a well-suited art team for this story, too, with their work lending the proceedings a punk aesthetic through every frustrated or pained face (and there are a lot of them). The visuals here are equally as capable of action, and based on some of the outsized splash pages at the start, my sense is that the best is definitely yet to come from all involved.

Overall: A gritty first chapter that seems to promise outsized adventure and fantastical warfare to come. There’s a lot to be said about the way states fail their peoples from generation to generation, and this might be the book we need right now to say it. 8.0/10

Dead Kings #1
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Matthew Dow Smith
Colorist: Lauren Affe
Letterer: Thomas Mauer
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: Skyward #7 Continues Upward Trend (Heh), Doing Everything Right

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Skyward #7 is out 10/17.

By Zack Quaintance — I keep waiting for Skyward to feel tedious or repetitive, even a little bit, and it just never does. Simply put, this book has been rock solid from its start, juggling a number of feats I’ve often seen trip up experienced writers and artists, especially those who move from established corporate properties to creator-owned work. These feats include world-building, orienting readers, and establishing a compelling rate of revelation (all of which I’ve discussed in previous Skyward reviews as being strengths of this title). Skyward just seems to blow past every challenge with expert use of structure and craft, remaining ever-charming as it goes.

I’m happy to report that Skyward #7 does not break this momentum. I don’t want to go too far into plot specifics, but this is yet another installment that throws massive obstacles at our protagonist (massive giant bugs this time, to be exact), and then shows the audience what she’s made of as she overcomes them. In the course of her battling adversity, the story also continues to seamlessly world-build, revealing more details about how the environment has changed in the wake of gravity lessening to the point that human beings float into space if they aren’t tied down.

This issue even takes a double turn into horror, first with the giant bugs that come out after nightfall and second with the secret it reveals about our hero’s rescuers. One thing I greatly admire about Skyward is how compressed each issue feels. It’s maybe telling that writer Joe Henderson has a television background (he’s one of the producers of Lucifer), because the speed of the plotting here reminds me of one my favorite network sitcoms, The Good Place. Both that show and this series speed from one plot development to the next, almost recklessly, checking off developments that plodding stories would have lingered on for whole seasons (or story arcs). The end result is a narrative that feels urgent, and, by extension, all the more important.

That’s what I think has really powered Skyward to such effective heights (sorry): this is a story that feels like it has something vital to tell us, some deep secret about society to reveal, and it’s hell-bent on using an intense narrative momentum to get us to that place. If I have one complaint about this title it’s that the side character feel a bit amorphous and I often forget who they are or what their relationships are to the lead protagonist, but, admittedly, this could easily be solved with a brief re-read on my part. It also hasn’t impugned my enjoyment of the main story one bit.

Overall: Another great issue in what has been one of the most solid and surprising new titles in years. Skyward #7, like the six issues that came before it, is impeccably structured and paced, accomplishing some of the best world-building in comics without sacrificing any tone or suspense. 8.5/10

Skyward #7
Writer: Joe Henderson
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: Black Badge #3 Is a Great Comic—Scout’s Honor

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By Bo Stewart — Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins’ Black Badge has been somewhat of a surprise hit for BOOM! Studios, in my opinion. As a fan of the creators’ previous collaboration, Grass Kings, I was initially thrown off by Black Badge’s premise, which is essentially super spies but with boy scouts. It just didn’t seem to fit into their existing body of work. Three issues into this series, however, I am now confident that there is much more to Black Badge than the premise lets on.

That’s not to say that Black Badge has a weak premise. The notion that scouts would make the perfect spies is hysterical, and the creators play off the natural comedy of that scenario without beating the reader over the head with it. Scouts pretending to get lost in the woods truly is a perfect cover for espionage. Kindt sometimes winks at how silly the situation is, but the world is so well developed that he can rest assured that his readers will go with it. The gadgets the scouts use, the casual attitude the team has toward missions (including a trip to North Korea in #1), and the character dynamics of the team all add up to one of the most charming spy tales I’ve read in quite some time.

Like most of Kindt’s work, though, Black Badge’s real charm comes from its central cast of characters. In this issue the scouts are still recovering from the loss of their teammate, Jimmy, desperately trying to figure out how the team will continue, knowing that their friend is no longer with them. They clearly haven’t figured it out yet here, but their superiors don’t seem to care. Instead they hit the scouts with the old I’m tough on you because I care about you argument, and send them out on their next mission. All throughout, this book does a great job of covering up normal teenage struggles with spy thriller trappings.

The highlight of this issue comes from the reveal of how Jimmy died. A mysterious figure called Hook Hand has been sneaking into camps, kidnapping a scout, and leaving only a little red flag behind. The team’s leader, Kenny, fell asleep while on watch the night Jimmy disappeared and has been trying to prove Jimmy is actually still alive ever since. Kenny blames himself for Jimmy’s disappearance, and, over the course of the issue, he makes some rash decisions in an effort to fix things. When little red flags start to literally appear around the scout’s camp, we can’t help but wonder if Kenny is leading the team further down a dangerous path.

Overall: Black Badge mixes spy thriller and coming-of-age conventions to great effect. The mystery of Hook Hand plus The chilling cliff hanger has me eager to continue on with this story. I think you’ll enjoy this book too—scouts honor. 8.0/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Bo grinds for the man by day so he can create comics by night. He is the lesser half of the Stewart Brothers writing team and can be found on Twitter and Instagram @stewart_bros

REVIEW: Submerged #3 Ups the Personal Stakes Amid a Descent Into the Underworld

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Submerged #3 is out 10/17, with this stunning cover by Jen Bartel.

By Zack Quaintance — In Submerged #3, the hints of underworld mythology that have been doled out by writer Vita Ayala and artist Lisa Sterle in past issues become central to the plot. Not to go too far into details, but as the New York City subway system faces threat of a flood caused by a raging storm above, it morphs into a supernatural plane of existence, one our protagonist must maneuver, glimpsing along the way haunting ethereal flashbacks to pivotal moments from past days of life.

It’s a compelling way for the story to blur reality while also strengthening our emotional attachment to our central character. What I find most interesting about the way that Submerged #3 is constructed—especially as it relates to previous issues—is that this is simultaneously the chapter with the most fantasy and the most truth, the one that ups the impossibility of the story while also grounding us in emotions so real they sting. There’s an impressive dichotomy at work that really serves this story well.

Indeed, throughout the penultimate chapter of this four-part story, reality is increasingly loose, with underground doors that open onto the street level, a childlike (spectre?) that oscillates from insecure to aggressive, and a train graveyard that seems to extend forever. There is no overt threat to the lead of Submerged aside from nature and concern for a wayward brother, but the creators have done a wonderful job of fostering an unsafe and eerie feeling throughout, of making it apparent how much this all matters. I once had a writing teacher who said short stories (like this one) should not feel like a slice of life but rather like the slice of life. It’s one word, but it makes all the difference.

Submerged very much feels like the slice of life story our hero will contemplate for years to come, and this sense of hefty narrative weight works in tandem with the aforementioned ghostly tone to really push the book forward. As the plot moves toward a climax, the story also does an impressive job of painting a coherent picture of the lifetime relationship between the siblings at its core—Elle and Angel—the disparate expectations from their parents that shaped their youthful conflicts (often due to gender), the ways they were regarded differently by their traditionalist father, and how it has now manifested for them as adults. It’s a credit to Ayala’s script that this all unfolds so cleanly, that it all feels achingly compelling.

And it’s also a credit to Sterle’s artwork, which has a way of seamlessly intermingling the real and extraordinary without ever tipping into jumbled. The dark underground setting is a potentially difficult one visually, but this book handles it well. Most prominently, however, Submerged #3 delivers a stunning last page reveal, one likely to linger until we get the fourth and final issue of this excellent story.

Overall: Submerged #3 is simultaneously the most fantastical and personal issue of this book to date. The action of the overall story rises along with the water levels in the tunnels, ultimately delivering us to a last page that pays off so much of what this excellent comic has been about. 9.0/10

Submerged #3
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: Lisa Sterle
Colorist: Stelladia
Letterer: Rachel Deering
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: Cemetery Beach #2 Sees Warren Ellis at His Most Accessible

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Cemetery Beach #2 is out 10/17.

By Zack Quaintance — In the first issue of this series, we got an adequate amount of backstory, enough to ground us in this world: in 1920, a group of industrialists and scientists invented space travel and sent colonizers to another planet...and we’ve had no communication with that planet in the years that followed. Civilization took hold and has since modernized, but, indeed, still looks anachronistic. Now, a scout has arrived to check things out, and what he’s found is chaos and barbarity, with no enthusiasm about reconnecting with home.

It’s an interesting premise, one writer Warren Ellis and artist Jason Howard established briefly before launching their central character (the visitor from Earth) into a prison escape chase scene that set their plot in motion. This second issue gives us a bit more info, opening as it does with a scene that stars a powerful man from the new world, who notes in no uncertain terms that he will do whatever it takes to prevent the visitor from “old home” (as they call it) from escaping, lest he eventually return with an invading force.

The philosophical argument being made by the presumed leader of the colonized planet is, essentially, that it’s best to be defensive. It’s a paranoid knee-jerk move in which he casts himself as victim to justify whatever he will do next (sound familiar?). In the course of this leader elaborating, we see him portrayed as glutinous, uncaring, and obsessively concerned with upholding power structures that serve him. He orders the capture of our hero and the death of his companion (whom he aggressively brands a dissident), and then smiles as he notes that if capture becomes too difficult, death is also fine.

What Ellis’ script for Cemetery Beach #2 seems most interested in is showing the absurdity of assigning all conflicts a pair of equal sides, noting that we all see ourselves as the heroes of our stories but that alone doesn’t make it so. It’s a timely and interesting concept, and it’s also one that doesn’t really stand out as heavy handed. No, just as with the first issue, Cemetery Beach #2 is first and foremost an action story in which two people flee the state, blowing up flying motor bikes and running through underground tunnels in the middle of the night.

In terms of the artwork, Jason Howard continues to make the most of the idea that a space colony was built with the mechanical capabilities and design sensibilities of 1920. The machines, clothing, and weaponry here are all futuristic, yet clearly extrapolated from what was possible in that era rather than in our own. It adds an extra layer of immersiveness to an already entertaining story.

Indeed, this comic continues to be Warren Ellis at his most accessible, even if the ideas its built upon are, as per usual, heady and complex. This approach blew me away in the first issue, as I wrote in my Cemetery Beach #1 review, and I’m still enjoying it a great deal here. If I have a complaint about this second chapter, however, it’s that it didn’t move the narrative forward in any truly unexpected way. We got confirmation that the colony’s leader was the big bad and we learn from the hero’s new friend that there are layers of inequity a plenty at work here, but we could have mostly surmised that from the subtext in the first issue. I’m still very much in on this book, but here’s hoping the next issue will find some less predictable ground.

Overall: In Cemetery Beach #2, Ellis and Howard continue the high-minded adventure started in the debut issue, pulling the curtain back a bit on the political dynamics at work on this forgotten colony established a century ago on some far-flung planet. This continues to be Ellis at his most accessible, expertly crafted in a way that doesn’t sacrifice complexity. 8.0/10

Cemetary Beach #2
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jason Howard
Letterer: Fonografiks
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.


REVIEW: Gideon Falls #7 Feels Like a Fantastic Season Premiere

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Gideon Falls #7 is out 10/17.

By Bo Stewart — Gideon Falls ended its first story arc earlier this year with a bang. Our trip into the sinister and supernatural Black Barn was a high point not only for the series, but for horror comics at large. Coming into Gideon Falls #7, I suspected we would likely face a dip in excitement, but thankfully that isn’t the case. Creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino very wisely treat issue seven like a season premiere of television. It’s maybe not as fast-paced as previous issues, but this comic effectively resets the board while also laying the groundwork for what’s to come in the arc ahead.

Gideon Falls is a strange-people-in-a-strange-town story done right. Ever since Twin Peaks became a cult classic, storytellers have tried and (more often than not) failed to replicate this sort of formula. It’s a delicate balance of finding the absurd in mundane moments, and precious few stories have the patience to let narratives like this build to crescendos. Once the town secret is revealed, the story quickly becomes stale. Gideon Falls #7’s greatest triumph is proving that the story of the Black Barn has legs.

The Barn’s origins, nature, and intent are the central mystery of this story. We got a small peek behind the curtain in #6 (in one of the best sequences of the year), but the full mysteries of the Barn won’t be revealed until the main character, Norton, achieves his goal of rebuilding the Barn…using the original materials that he’s collecting and keeping in jars. The undertaking of finding chips of wood, nails, screws, etc. spread all over town, and subsequently using them to rebuild the original Barn is overwhelming, especially as others continue to question Norton’s mental health. It gives the reader a keen insight into Norton’s mind and the suffocating presence the Barn has had and continues to have on his life.

Indeed, the second arc of this story is appropriately titled Sum of its Parts. Andrea Sorrentino’s art plays off this and engages the reader in ways no other book is currently doing. The panel variety is astounding, with each issue featuring at least one type of layout that I’ve personally never seen before. These innovative layouts give us a far better sense of who Norton is than any dialogue or narration ever could. For example, for the final page of Gideon Falls #7, the art is literally flipped vertically on its side. In most books, this would be a distraction, but here, the disorienting effect actively aids the storytelling. Like the title of this arc, each page adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

Gideon Falls is comics storytelling at its finest. It prioritizes mood and sense of place over fascination with a mysterious barn. Each page is littered with tension and oozes atmosphere. I think it’s this focus that makes Gideon Falls such a success where similar stories have been failures.  It’s a comic that knows exactly what it is and after#7, I can confidently say I’m in for the long run.

Overall: Creators Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino treat Gideon Falls #7 like a season debut of television. This issue isn’t as fast-paced as some chapters from the first arc, but it thrives in character-driven moments. I’m eagerly awaiting the twists to come. Oh, and that cliffhanger… wow! 9.0/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Bo grinds for the man by day so he can create comics by night. He is the lesser half of the Stewart Brothers writing team and can be found on Twitter and Instagram @stewart_bros

REVIEW: Infinite Dark #1 by Ryan Caddy, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, & Troy Peteri

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Infinite Dark #1 is out 10/10.

By Zack Quaintance — Infinite Dark #1 is a space survival story, albeit one that functions differently than most stories that fit that description. Space survivalism often sees a protagonist or group of protagonists fighting desperately to return to Earth (or whatever other habitable planet) as oxygen or power or food depletes. What sets Infinite Dark #1 apart is that there is no return waiting for the humans in this comic. There’s nowhere to go at all.

Ryan Cady and Andrea Mutti’s Infinite Dark is set after the heat death of the universe, on a single space arc that has escaped annihilation. There is no pressing concern to be outrun, with the characters here chased only by the knowledge that the vast majority of life has been snuffed out around them. In this story, it’s survivor’s guilt, nihilism, malaise, bleak routine, and lack of a vibrant future that people must confront. It’s powerful stuff, a complex and nuanced dive into human psychology, one that feels forlorn and relatable in ways most dystopian sci-fi stories don’t.

Andre Mutti’s first page from Infinite Dark #1…space has rarely felt so claustrophobic.

Cady builds Infinite Dark atop painfully universal feelings: these characters are safe, at least in terms of having basic needs met, yet that alone is not enough to make them content. The titular infinite dark comes to serve as an effective metaphor for depression so severe, so palpable as to be almost smothering. The plot grows from an inciting incident that threatens to make life even worse. It’s a compelling murder mystery with a great horror tinge, but mood is really what’s for sale here.

Cady’s narration really bolsters the mood throughout, with a number of excellent lines, including That’s what the Orpheus feels like—humanity’s perfect tomb, outwitting the end of all things, the ultimate habitat...and Mutti’s artwork shines especially well in exterior shots of the ship, making it as small as it must feel to those inside. Space has rarely seemed so claustrophobic. This book also builds toward an intriguing crescendo of rapidfire plot points that culminate in a fantastic cliffhanger (as debut comics must). So yes, while it certainly looks like no fun to be aboard the Orpheus, as a reader I’m signing up for the long haul.

Infinite Dark #1 is also an interesting companion to another major creator-owned book launched this week, Daniel Warren Johnson’s Murder Falcon. At their cores, both books are about unthinkable loss. Whereas Murder Falcon takes a fantastical approach to grieving, Infinite Dark’s perspective is rooted in reality, which is a credit to how real the characters are, given Murder Falcon is set in our world and this one takes place in limitless space.

Overall: Infinite Dark tells an intriguing story steeped in depression with a deep and nuanced understanding of human psychology, plus forlorn visuals to match. This complex comic makes readers feel as if they too have boarded a space arc following the heat death of the universe. A must-read for fans of meaningful science-fiction, with extra points for so adeptly incorporating horror and mystery tinges. 9.0/10

Read our recent interview with Infinite Dark writer Ryan Cady.

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: Murder Falcon #1 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, & Rus Wooton

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Murder Falcon #1 is out 10/10.

By Zack Quaintance — In the opening of this comic, a kaiju attacks a city, a conversion van speeds to the scene, and a long-haired guitar-slinging protagonist steps out from behind the wheel to save the day, laconic and determined. His early dialogue includes lines like There’ll be no baby eating on my watch; and I don’t need weapons, officer...I brought METAL. The hero (whose name is Jake) commences to rock, creating blue lightning with his guitar riff, from which a muscled and shirtless chicken man emerges and subsequently uses a bionic arm to kungfu fight the kaiju into submission.

This is all in the first five pages of Daniel Warren Johnson’s new comic Murder Falcon, which reads like a Tenacious D song in graphic sequential format. Like The D, Johnson’s new book gleefully embraces heavy metal culture, loving it so hard and so seriously it tips into a delightful self-aware parody of its source material. The opening of this book is, simply put, exactly what its perfect name and kinetic cover imply: a love letter to metal articulated through an action comic, a delightful burst of pop art informed by a hirsute and black t-shirted corner of our culture. It succeeds wildly, powered by an unpretentious good time plus also Johnson’s massive talent as a comic book artist/storyteller.

Daniel Warren Johnson’s immense talent as an artist is on full display in Murder Falcon #1.

And if this were the sum total of Murder Falcon #1’s aspirations, it would be just fine, a light and hilarious exercise in craftsmanship. At page six, however, this story becomes something much deeper. It flashes back to our rocker on a bench in calmer times. He’s subdued and despondent, and soon we get a clear sense that he’s in mourning, that’s he severely depressed, that...something tragic has occurred. We don’t know exactly what (more hints in time), but we know nearly everyone in his life is driven to stop and ask how he’s doing, to be kind in a way often reserved for those who’ve weathered a massive loss.

I don’t want to go too far into the metaphors and juxtapositions in this book, but I’ll just note that there is a dichotomy here—heavy metal cornball rocking vs. heart-rending drama—that elevates Murder Falcon #1 into rarefied air of debuts, placing it among the best new #1 comics of 2018. Essentially, this book is more than a corny rocking homage to metal. It’s a deep meditation on how we cope with tragedy and loss, how severe depression can both push us toward and away from the hobbies we’ve come to love in our lives.

Overall: A powerful debut with much to say about love and loss, Murder Falcon #1 succeeds on a number of levels. Johnson is a massive talent, and he nails this story, letting his kinetic artwork shine during moments of high action while knowing when to backoff and frame emotional moments with simpler visuals. This is a MUST BUY comic. 10/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by  night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: The Weatherman #5 by Jody LeHeup, Nathan Fox, Dave Stewart, & Steve Wands

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The Weatherman #5 is out 10/10.

By Bo Stewart — There’s not much I like more than a comic that gets better with each new issue. The Weatherman, for example, is a comic that knows exactly what it is, featuring a unique blend of dark comedy and sci-fi action that sets it apart from everything else on the shelf. In The Weatherman #5, the creators brought their A game once again, telling this story with a sheer confidence that’s evident on every page.

Over the course of these first five issues, writer Jody LeHeup and artist Nathan Fox have built a fully fleshed out world. The amount of thought that went into every character, vehicle, weapon and architectural design is almost mind-blowing. Let me lay it out like this: every single panel in this comic is a feast for the eyes. This is essentially a book that pushes current products and trends to their logical (and sometimes terrifying) extremes, without anything in it seeming out of place. Weatherman plays within the clear rules that it sets for itself. It’s a perfect example of how a world with real depth can seem more engaging than a world with more breadth. The creators have an intimate familiarity with this world, and they are clearly having a blast playing in it.

While the creators may be having fun making Weatherman, most of the characters in their story are definitely not enjoying themselves. This is a world that’s in deep deep pain. In this story, the Earth was destroyed and the humans now living on Mars are desperate for justice. If justice isn’t available, vengeance will have to suffice…even if it’s gratuitous or misplaced. Our main protagonist, Nathan Bright, is paying the steep price for all of mankind’s pain. I don’t want to spoil exactly what his punishment is here, but, trust me, it’s nightmare fuel. In short, the thematic territory LeHeup explores is challenging, and I admire how the book refuses to take a clear side. Like many of my favorite stories, Weatherman lets you make up your own mind.  

This is a dark and cynical take on the future, to be sure, but the creators leave plenty of room for fun. Riffing off the ridiculousness that is life-in-2018 (and the destructive path we seem so intent on staying on) seems to be the only way to cope with said ridiculousness. And no comic is doing this better than Weatherman.    

Overall: The Weatherman gets better with every issue. Its unique blend of dark comedy and sci-fi action make this a comic you simply cannot afford to miss. 9.5/10

Bo grinds for the man by day so he can create comics by night. He is the lesser half of the Stewart Brothers writing team and can be found on Twitter and Instagram @stewart_bros

REVIEW: The Unexpected #5 by Steve Orlando, Ronan Cliquet, Jeromy Cox, & Carlos M. Mangual

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The Unexpected #5 is out 10/3.

By Zack Quaintance — The first line of this comic is Hawkman saying, You two are trespassing on my past. Which is objectively awesome and also fitting, because if The Unexpected #5 were an episode of Friends (bear with me here), it would be the one where Hawkman joins the team. This joining is a great move for a couple of reasons. One, it gives Steve Orlando—an absolute ace with DC continuity—an opportunity to write a long-time character he hasn’t written before, and two, adding a familiar hero to our compelling newbies gives this story a new layer as it pushes forward into (sorry) unexpected territory.

That unexpected territory is actually something we’ve seen recently—Hawkman’s involvement in Dark Nights Metal and the dark multiverse, where he was enslaved by Barbatos with the help of Mandrakk (I think). One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about The Unexpected is how it seems almost deliberately tasked with expounding upon the ideas from the event it grew out of, more directly than any of its brethren from the New Age of DC Heroes line (which seems to be fading...fast), and we definitely get more of that here, as Hawkman explores his resultant trauma. It’s a compelling hook, and The Unexpected #5 drops it right at its start.

The story then does a great job of giving us motivations for Hawkman to join our team, be it solving the mysteries behind his own life (see the excellent ongoing Hawkman solo comic for more of that) or behind Nth metal—the material that literally makes up one of our main character’s heart—or behind the battle with Onimar Synn, who Hawkman explains is one of Thanagar’s seven devils. Simply put, The Unexpected continues to have one of the most complex and engrossing storylines in all of the DCU.

This is also an outrageously comic book-y story in the best possible way, featuring scenes in the Castle Frankenstein, a villain who absorbs an underling’s soul and then conjures a dragon, and a scene in which gravity gets upended. From its start, The Unexpected has been a journey book, bouncing between twists rather than building toward any sort of repeatable status quo, and this issue again keeps a constant state of flux, introducing new characters and variables.

Artist Cary Nord, who’s been aboard from the start and is off now to draw G. Willow Wilson’s forthcoming run on Wonder Woman, is missed, to be sure, but Ronan Cliquet is a more than capable replacement, an artist whose linework is clean and kinetic. Fortunately, Cliquet will also be on this book for the foreseeable future, assuaging the one concern I have about this issue: that the shelf life for The Unexpected (and indeed, all of the New Age of Heroes books) is limited.

Overall: The Unexpected #5 is a book set in a series of rapid moments, which inherently makes it one best not fretted about long-term. Basically, this story is a wild ride and I’m content to sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Of the New Age of DC Heroes books, The Unexpected continues to be my favorite. 9.0/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by  night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.

REVIEW: Dead Rabbit #1 by Gerry Duggan, John McCrea, Mike Spicer, & Joe Sabino

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Dead Rabbit #1 is out 10/3.

By Bo Stewart —  2018 has been the best year of Gerry Duggan’s comic writing career. He wrapped up a long (and excellent) run on Deadpool, he’s currently writing Infinity Wars—the biggest Marvel event of the year—and his Image title Analog was optioned as a feature film. Quite the list of accomplishments. Duggan keeps his win streak going with the debut of his crime thriller Dead Rabbit.

Reminiscent of films like The Town and The Departed, Dead Rabbit is a blue collar, Boston-centered crime story. The issue opens with a newsreel telling us Dead Rabbit was an “equal opportunity offender”. Didn’t matter if you were a bank, a drug dealer, or Fenway Park. If you had a large supply of cash on hand, chances were that Dead Rabbit was coming to pay you a visit. But that was years ago and the thief has since retired. The opening pages show us several different venues (a police station, a dive bar, a prison, etc.) tuning into the newsreel, thereby establishing that although he was a criminal, Dead Rabbit was well respected. Somewhat like a poor man’s Robin Hood.

Really, all of Boston seems to miss Dead Rabbit, but this is especially true of the former thief himself. Dead Rabbit’s real name is Martin, and he’s finding that he might not be cut out for retirement. Money is an issue for him, and he’s secretly holding a greeting job at Wal-Mart, which isn’t solving the problem fast enough. Martin is slowly but surely finding himself sucked back into a life of crime. When a customer is carting around all the items necessary to dispose of a body, Martin just can’t sit on the sidelines anymore.

Artist John McCrea does an excellent job of communicating Martin’s discontent. The pages where Martin is the Dead Rabbit are far more dynamic and visually engaging than the scenes where he is at home or at work. Martin is his best self when he is the Rabbit and the visual storytelling emphasizes this point in some really creative ways.   

In general, Dead Rabbit #1 doesn’t attempt to pave a bold new path in the crime genre. It leans heavily on tropes like the retired criminal forced back into the game and a criminal does bad things but is loving to his family. There’s nothing necessarily new here, but this is still a first issue that is undeniably well executed.

Overall: The debut issue of Dead Rabbit does an excellent job of introducing the characters, if not the conflict. Martin is crawling back to his life as Dead Rabbit, which is an interesting start, but Duggan hasn’t taken us too far down the rabbit hole just yet. 7.0/10

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Bo grinds for the man by day so he can create comics by night. He is the lesser half of the Stewart Brothers writing team and can be found on Twitter and Instagram @stewart_bros

REVIEW: Wonder Woman #55 by Steve Orlando, Raul Allen, Patricia Martin, Borja Pindado, & Saida Temofonte

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Wonder Woman #55 is out 9/26.

By Zack Quaintance — Let’s just get this out of the way: Steve Orlando’s brief run on Wonder Woman, which concludes with this issue, has been an absolute delight, right up there with the work that Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott, and Liam Sharp did with the character at the start of Rebirth. He’s had an outstanding lineup of collaborators—from Laura Braga on Wonder Woman #51 to ACO to Raul Allen/Patricia Martin—and his scripts have delivered concepts that have given them all a chance to shine.

This issue, bittersweet as it is, is a fitting end, so much so that it makes me look forward both to the future of this book as well as to the work Orlando has coming with other DC characters (including Martian Manhunter, and a new concept set in a Kirby-molded corner of the DC space-time called Electric Warriors). Orlando is a writer who really excels in two primary areas: drawing sensical plot points from continuity, and swagger. You can see the latter is his villain dialogue here, when Rustam yells at our heroes, “Life? These soft-brained idiots are drunk on blind faith. I weep for them, but they must be put out of their misery...So there’s all of that.

Wonder Woman #55 as an individual comic book is itself quite good. It’s largely an issue consumed by a large-scale battle, a fitting end for a two-part story arc with a scope that has seen Diana negotiating nation boundaries for the formerly nomadic Bana-Mighdall. In this story, Diana must be equal parts forceful and diplomatic. She must show that she’s not afraid to throw down while also pushing peaceful alternatives. It is, simply put, yet another way that Orlando has found to derive a compelling narrative from this character’s core values, and I loved it. (A line that stands out as particularly superb is Diana telling Artemis: People are fighting for no honest reason. I expect help.)

Patricia Martin and Raul Allen’s artwork once again shines in Wonder Woman #55.

I also loved the artwork here from the team of Raul Allen and Patricia Martin. As I said in my Wonder Woman #54 review, they’re one of my favorites in all of comics, and it’s a real treat to see them teaming with a writer as thoughtful as Orlando. What I find most striking about their work in this issue is the sheer variety of it. The way they can make a pair of disembodied slowly-closing eyes in the darkness as compelling as kinetic combat sequences. There’s a confidence of vision and a clarity of execution here that I just find remarkable. The scenes where we go inside Diana’s prefect are crucial to the plot, and the team gives them the visual weight they demand.

Overall: A fitting end to a stellar 5-issue Wonder Woman run from writer Steve Orlando, one that has reminded me of the vast and unique potential of this character, while putting her in an excellent place for the next creators. 9.5/10

For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by  night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.