ADVANCED REVIEW: Spencer and Locke, Vol. 2 #1, the return of a book that just keeps getting better

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Spencer & Locke, Vol. 2 #1 is out 4/24/2019.

Spencer & Locke, Vol. 2 #1 is out 4/24/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — I’ve been going on about this via Twitter as of late, but the Calvin and Hobbes meets Sin City homage/mash-up Spencer and Locke is, quite simply, a must-read comic, especially for someone like me who bought the Watterson collections at book fairs in fourth grade and spent class time sneak-reading them under my desk. What Spencer and Locke does is imagine Calvin as an adult, still seeing his stuffed tiger (panther here) now as a hard-boiled police detective. That panther, it turns out, has been used all along to cope with trauma.

In Spencer and Locke, Vol. 1 writer David Pepose with artists Jorge Santiago, Jr. and Jasen Smith crafts a compelling and gritty noir mystery while simultaneously deconstructing pretty much every character from the classic Calvin and Hobbes strips. It’s an audacious idea, one that could have come off as ill-advised if the creative team had not executed pretty much everything so perfectly, enfusing the whole ordeal with a massive amount of heart by giving the Calvin character a young daughter of this own (I basically crumbled everytime she interacted with the imaginary panther).

With all this in mind, it would have been easy for the creative team—which has returned here entirely intact—to go back to the Calvin and Hobbes homage well. The book likely has an audience that can’t get enough of it, and so the choice could have been made to go through it all again, this time with just a new case. Pepose, Santiago, and Smith, however, start Spencer and Locke, Vol. 2 #1 by pointing the story in a faithful-yet-new direction: homaging another classic strip, Beetle Bailey.

I’ll talk more about the individual merits of this issue in a moment. First, I’d like to just praise this decision, not only for how it functions in smoothly transitioning to a new story and a new arc, but also for how it opens an entire expanded universe for use in future Spencer and Locke stories, basically enabling the book to draw from nearly 100 years of famed newspaper comic strip characters. Previews for the next issue already seem to indicate a coming send up of Scott Adams and Dilbert, and basically all I’m saying is now we might get a rabid Snoopy cast as a pitbull in the service of a criminal Charlie Brown—just imagine.

So, yes, major points to this comic for that decision. It should be noted too though that Spencer and Locke Vol. 2 #1 is on its own merits an excellent comic, much as the previous installments of this story have all been. Santiago Jr. and Smith continue to impress with their shifting aesthetics. Whereas in the first book the duo bounced seamlessly between Watterson and Frank Miller homages, this new issue requires them to also mimic Beetle Bailey, and with an assist from letterer Colin Bell, it fits right in with the rest of the story.   

Pepose’s script tries some new things as well. What I found perhaps most interesting was the way Spencer (who is the Hobbes analog here) started to become more aggressive, more feral in the way Locke pictured him. Pepose seems to be using that depiction of the imaginary panther to clue readers in on Locke’s fraying mental state. Like the expanded use of comic strip characters, an increased emotional range for the panther seems to expand the plethora of storytelling techniques available to this comic in a vast and welcomed way.

Sometimes a book like Spencer and Locke strikes fire and struggles moving forward to replicate that same energy. That’s not the case here. Fans of the first series—a group I count myself firmly among—can rest easy, this comic has gotten even better.  

Overall: Spencer & Locke, Vol. 2 #1 is the best kind of sequel, one that stays faithful to the core concept while expanding the world in new and exciting ways. The emotional core, the fond homages to classic newspaper strips, the noir mystery—it’s all back and even better here. 9.2/10

Spencer & Locke, Vol. 2 #1
Writer: David Pepose
Artist: Jorge Santiago, Jr.
Colorist: Jasen Smith
Letterer: Colin Bell
Publisher: Action Lab
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

Check out Harry Kassen’s recent interview with the creators!

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: Vault Comics’ Wasted Space #7 makes smooth transition into ongoing monthly comic

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Wasted Space #7 is out 2/27/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — I’ve been reviewing Wasted Space since the series started in April of last year, and I’ve loved this book from the start. As I wrote in our Top Comics to Buy for February 27, 2019 feature this week, this is the best original space opera in all of comics today. You can read more detailed and nuanced thoughts over on our Reviews Page, but to sum it up, I think this is a versatile and smart comic, one as capable of making jokes about sex robots as it is asking profound questions about religion and power structures.

This is all a means of establishing why I was so excited when late last year publisher Vault Comics announced that the book would be its first proper ongoing series, extending past the always-difficult 20 issue mark. Now, I’m not always one to clamor for more, more, more from creatives, believing as I do that inspiration is a flighty and special commodity, and that writers, artists, etc. shouldn’t mine topical areas that have long gone dry. Wasted Space, however, has brimmed from its inception with almost too many ideas, too many hilarious exchanges, exciting conflicts, and just straight up space operetic adventures.

In Wasted Space #7, the value of transitioning from a finite story to a longer ongoing series for a book like this becomes clear: writer Michael Moreci is able to dedicate more space to the excellent characters he’s been building for half a dozen issues, giving us a chance to get to know them a little bit better. This is—make no mistake—an exciting issue, in which several major plot developments (especially for Dust and Molly) come to a head and push our characters into new directions. But there are also several scenes I think are only possible in the context of a longer-form story

And they’re some of my favorite scenes in this issue. I’m thinking specifically here of the opening, in which Billy and Molly have one of the series trademark philosophical conversations in a cosmic convenience store (rendered with great detail and better colors by the art duo of Hayden Sherman and Jason Wordie). Billy leans back and pours blue space slurpee directly into his mouth as Molly essentially satirizes social media, landing the Wasted Space culture commentary line of the issue with: I have been to the social stacks though. You have terrible people saying terrible things, then you have so-called good people assuming everyone who doesn’t share their exact principles is a total monster. And all it leads to is everyone screaming and no one listening. As usual, this is great stuff.

So yes, while not every comic is best-served by long-form serial narrative, Wasted Space certainly is, quickly making the most of the format and giving us more than enough value for the price of admission. One last note...the editorial team is already buzzing about how good Wasted Space #8 is, so I for one am circling my (non-existent and entirely theoretical) calendar for its due date, March 27.

Overall: Wasted Space #7 is another great example of this books strengths: operatic space adventure blended with philosophical discourse about modern society, all filtered through Hayden Sherman and Jason Wordie’s fantastic artwork. This remains one of the best comics today. 9.5/10

Wasted Space #7
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Jim Campbell
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.


REVIEW: Ice Cream Man #10, one step back and two steps toward that other dimension

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Ice Cream Man #10 is out 2/27/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — There was bound to be a bit of a slowing down after the revelations of Ice Cream Man #9, a comic that (cliche alert!) took everything you thought you knew about this series and flipped it on its head. Ice Cream Man #10 had the difficult task ahead of it of returning the audience back ever so slightly to the core concept of this series, while still building on the mind-bending preceding chapter.

For those who may have missed it, Ice Cream Man #9 put the titular white-clad ice cream man in the foreground along with the black clad hero figure who’s been chasing him (and who he murdered in Ice Cream Man #8, but that’s a whole other thing…), and it put them front and center in what is presumably a different planet...or a different dimension...or our same planet during a mythological time of gods when fate was still undecided...or all three? As you can see, the whole thing was very Stephen King’s Dark Tower.

The effect it had on the audience was all very impressive, reorienting our understanding of the connective tissue between the preceding eight issues. Ice Cream Man #10 doles out, hmm, let’s say a half scoop of more context around that, while instead returning to the horror-tinged vignettes that have run throughout this series. This was a great choice, reminding us that while, yes there is some sort of potentially cosmic epic of gods and spirits raging behind the mundane everyday facade of the world, possibly spilling over at times to inflict great pain and suffering upon the normals (normals like us), the real important stuff here has been that everyday facade all along.

Now, I won’t front like I have any idea whatsoever what may or may not happen in the final three issues of this series. C’mon—I know my limits, but I think making it just as much about the individuals we’ve seen brutalized, tormented, and in rare instances left to grow old and happy as it is about whoever these elemental forces are? Well, I think that’s a very good flavor, indeed (jesus, sorry about that, it’s late and I clearly should have written this earlier…).

In more practical matters, it should perhaps be noted that the vast majority of this issue was written in Spanish. I can read Spanish myself at maybe a third grade level, somewhere in that vicinity, and I didn’t struggle with comprehension at any point, not even for a moment. If you have even a cursory handle on the language, you’ll glide seamlessly through it. Even if you don’t, though, you’ll be just fine. If you really need to know every last word, Google Translate has gotten amazingly proficient lately (seriously, it’s one of the best inventions of our modern era and like nobody talks about it...we can instantly translate like anything!). This entire issue is set on the border, and writer W. Maxwell Prince approaches it with the attention to immersive detail that has powered this entire series.

The venue shift really works well for this story and this comic, given that to date everything took place in an idyllic (on the surface, anyway) suburb. Essentially, it fits with the expanded scope of the story as established by last issue. If this is going to be a tale of deep and massive forces, it needs to effect all of space and time, and that’s what we start to get in Ice Cream Man #10. Meanwhile, Martin Morazzo’s artwork continues to impress with colors by Chris O’Halloran, and as usual, the letterer, in this case Good Old Neon (yes, you read that right), is the unsung hero of the creative team.

Overall: One step back and two steps in some potentially cosmic direction nobody saw coming, Ice Cream Man #10 nudges the series back toward its core concept—horror vignettes—while still pushing forward the overarching narrative. This is one of the best comics today, and we should all be grateful for it. 9.4/10

Ice Cream Man #10
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
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: Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1 adds mystery to an already great concept

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Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1 is out 2/27/2019.

Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1 is out 2/27/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — The IDW - Black Crown title Punks Not Dead launched early last year from writer David Barnett and artist Martin Simmonds (with flatting by Dee Cunniffee). It was on the tail end of the first wave from the imprint, trailing behind Kid Lobotomy and Assassinistas, which both came with more experienced creators attached, specifically writer Peter Milligan for the former and artist Gilbert Hernandez for the latter. Punks Not Dead, however, emerged as arguably the most audacious and idiosyncratic of the bunch, which as Black Crown readers well know, is really saying something.

See, Punks Not Deads’ first arc (which ran for five issues) told the story of an angsty teen in England who via some supernatural imbroglio got attached to the ghost of Sid Vicious, bassist/vocalist for the seminal punk band, the Sex Pistols. Punks Not Dead—simply put—was a $@&ing blast. I especially enjoyed it, because growing up in the late ‘90s, I used comics and punk for my own escapism (think Marvel Knights, Vertigo, Geoff Johns and Greg Rucka runs at DC...while listening to bands like Pennywise and Bad Religion). As such, a comic about a teenager whose life is charged by the ghost of a punk rocker felt like it was made for me. I loved the characters, the tone, the voice, the concept, all of it.

This is all a long-winded way of saying I’m happy the book is back, and not only is it back but (cliche alert!), it’s back and better than ever. During the comic’s first arc, the creators spent much time establishing the book’s premise, working hard on the pages to introduce us to our protagonist, show us the home life he’s stuck with, and, perhaps most importantly, make it seem if not entirely believable, at least feasible that he’d become entangled with the ghost of Sid Vicious, and they pulled it all off wonderfully. Now, they’re back in the second arc with a solid foundation already built. Barnett and Simmonds use that foundation to launch readers into a suspenseful plot with the first issue of this new series.

Basically, the first arc setup the concept—balancing perfectly between punk and paranormal—and now the second arc is here with a firm call to action. In Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1, we get the same great concept from the earlier issues, just now with a new quest to give our action shape. Writer Barnett’s scripting also feels more confident, a bit more tongue-and-cheek, and Simmonds artwork is, as always, absolutely fantastic sequential storytelling. Add in a tinge of mystery (that I won’t spoil here), and what you get is a truly promising start to the second arc of a great comic.  

Overall: Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1 is this book’s best issue to date, taking the fantastic punk-paranormal premise and building a new suspenseful mystery on top of it. Few books on the market today are as confident and clever as this one, and we should all be excited for its return. Highly recommended. 9.3/10

Punks Not Dead: London Calling #1
Writer: David Barnett
Artist: Martin Simmonds w/flatting be Dee Cunniffe
Publisher: IDW - Black Crown
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.

ADVANCED REVIEW: G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward’s Invisible Kingdom #1

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Invisible Kingdom #1 is due out 3/20/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Invisible Kingdom #1, the new comic coming next month from writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Christian Ward, is perhaps the next evolution of the ongoing creator-owned sci-fi comic boom. A complex and weighty piece of work, the book uses Ward’s unique (and absolutely stunning) brand of psychedelic space art in tandem with Wilson’s ideas about societal foundations ranging from religion to commerce to forge ahead into new thematic territories. It’s not alone in doing this—Wasted Space and Relay both come to mind as close cousins to this comic—but in its debut issue, Invisible Kingdom seems to offer a new and perhaps more realistic sort of take on this genre.

Realistic is maybe not the right word, given the aliens and intergalactic travel and all of that, but there’s a level of intellectual seriousness here that makes this book stand out from other space epics. To be sure, there are plenty of serious sci-fi comics on the racks today, so that’s maybe also not the best word. There’s actually a panel on the second page that can maybe get this point across much better than I can struggling here with prose. In it, a crew on a space ship are attempting a trick maneuver in the service of some sort of cargo delivery and in weighing the merits of a tricky move, one character notes, But your company-sponsored liability insurance won’t cover—

There’s always that character on distressed sci-fi vessels, the C-3PO who’s fretting is designed to remind the audience exactly how implausible the heroics of braver protagonists are. That character, however, is usually exclaiming some sort of bonkers world-specific jargon or a quick throwaway joke. In Invisible Kingdom, that character reminds us of the ever-looming presence of economics. The book doesn’t apply this plausible lens to just economics, either.

Within its intriguing and aesthetically-powerful world, it gives us similar glimpses into religion, governance, and the way different species react to/treat one another. The end result is a relentlessly thoughtful comic, as well as a sense of narrative confidence that makes it easy to trust these uber talented creators from the book’s earliest pages.

Also, I’ve peppered compliments to Christian Ward’s artwork throughout this piece, but, and excuse me for this, I don’t think I’ve come anywhere close to doing Ward’s contributions justice. The best comics are such an alchemy of creative collaboration it can be tough to evaluate individual elements. This is certainly one of those books. Everything comes together seamlessly, and the end result is greater than the sum of its pieces. Ward’s artwork, however, is—to borrow an Internet phrase—next level good. There isn’t a bad-looking segment, page, or even panel in this entire comic. On the contrary, there are actually several that left me absolutely stunned (that word again!) when I passed over them.

The colors, the character designs, the facial expressions, the panel sizes and composition...it’s all so mind-bendingly luscious and just plain good. Ward has long been a talented psychedelic artist, lending massive talents most recently to Marvel’s Black Bolt. This book, though, has the trappings of a sequential art masterpiece. And for every smaller, detailed panel with a green-skinned character gritting their way through a challenge, there’s a subsequent splash that could be framed and hung on a wall somewhere in a hip loft apartment.

Story-wise, this is an advanced review so we have to tread carefully here, but I think it’s okay to divulge that there are a pair of plot concerns: one related to joining a religious order and another to embezzlement. This is a dense first issue that has to work hard at world-building, so the characters are a bit lightly-defined at the start. That’s OK. Comics like this need to progress further to, to set up world rules and concerns before they can really show us who are central figures are, what they most care about, and why. We do get some great philosophy here and there, enough to draw us into the story further. My only real regret is I’ve read this book so far in advance, it’s going to be a painful long wait for Invisible Kingdom #2.

Overall: Invisible Kingdom is a heady comic you’ll want to read twice to get a better grip on its ambitions and ideas. Fortunately, the artwork in this book is so vibrant and imaginative, immediately re-reading will feel less like a redundancy and more like a second helping of an impossibly-spectacular visual treat. 9.5/10

Invisible Kingdom #1
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Christian Ward
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics - Berger Books
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 20, 2019

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: Guardians of the Galaxy #2 slows things down but still contains a MAJOR development

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Guardians of the Galaxy #2 is out 2/20/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — As I wrote last month, Guardians of the Galaxy #1 was a natural extension of its creative team’s past work, first of the creator-owned God Country and then more directly of the subsequent Thanos Wins story for Marvel. That debut issue was fast-paced, grandiose, and packed with big moments, while at the same time managing to set up a new concept for this run—Thanos is, indeed, dead, and now he will be reincarnated after his consciousness enters someone new. A team of good guys coalesce around mitigating the threat to the universe that so clearly stems from that.

Guardians of the Galaxy #2 is a much slower affair, especially in its first half. The book seems to collectively take a breath, get itself together, and center itself for a long journey to come, rather than the relatively contained story arcs that marked the aforementioned God Country and Thanos Wins. It’s not boring by any means. Cates is such a good writer that he turns the team’s leader, Peter Quill, drunkenly bemoaning his plight into a really funny interaction with Kitty Pryde, whom Quill has recently had a romantic relationship with (Quill says he has trauma from having been dead and come back to life, and Kitty retorts, You’d hate the X-Men...very funny stuff).

These type of character moments and slower bits of development are key facets of long-form team-based superhero comics, and I almost always welcome them. This one caught me a bit off guard with how soon in the run it came, but, also, this wasn’t entirely a stepback and breath issue. No, the second half of the book sees a major development that will have major ramifications throughout the rest of the run. If the first issue brought our good guy team together, well, this second issue gives them a foil, and in a pretty brilliant bit of narrative plotting, Cates makes it so their goals might even overlap.

Indeed, both the good guys and the bad in this new Guardians book are invested in stopping Thanos from again terrorizing the universe. Without going into too much detail, I’ll just note that the tension between them is likely to arise from their very different ideas on the best way to accomplish this. All the setup then culminates in a grandiose (that word again!) last page cliffhanger, the sort of textbook ending for an entertaining superhero comic that Cates and artist Geoff Shaw all but perfected during their run on Thanos. SPOILER: a team of Dark Guardians comes together and sets out to find Richard Rider in order to murder Gamora…thus giving us the characters and the goals that will be at odds with our heroes.

All in all, while I didn’t white knuckle my way through this comic with a huge grin on my face the way I did the debut issue, I still came away from Guardians of the Galaxy #2 basically certain that this will be a major run with these characters. There’s clearly a huge scale and a big plan at work here, and I’ll be happy to follow it through to completion, enjoying Shaw’s outsized artistry and Cates’ clever dialogue throughout.

Overall: A quieter step-back issue that invests in character moments and funny exchanges while still pushing the grandiose plot from Guardians of the Galaxy #1 forward. There’s clearly a huge scale and big plan at work here, and I’m excited to follow it through to its ending. 8.5/10

Guardians of the Galaxy #2
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99

Check out some of other thoughts about this comic from both this week and the past in our reviews archive.

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

REVIEW: Stronghold #1, an ambitious and singular cosmic romance begins

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Stronghold #1 is out 2/20/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — I didn’t know what to make of Stronghold #1 when AfterShock Comics first announced it. The book is built around a high concept: a man who may be an omnipotent god-like being (but who doesn’t know it) believes himself to be a fairly dull insurance salesman in the Midwest. Meanwhile, a global secret society has essentially imprisoned him and is keeping watch to ensure he never realizes the truth of his reality. Enter our protagonist, a young woman born into the secret society who falls in love with the powerful being.

Now, in addition to writing for this site, I also do a bit of news writing for Comics Beat (my absolute favorite comic book news site), and one of my own beats over there is AfterShock Comics. It feel to me to essentially find a pithy way to write headlines, snippets, and summaries about this comic...and it was a struggle. There’s no quick pitch, but you know what? An inability to summarize this comic’s plot with something like a Tomb Raider meets Bill Murray’s Groundhog’s Day kind of equation just speaks to how smart and ambitious this comic is. There are, however, no shortage of smart and ambitious ideas in comics these days, especially not from the booming creator-owned comic book segment.

What sets Stronghold apart from similarly lofty concepts is the intellectually commiserate quality of the storytelling craft. Both the writing and art here bring the story a level of complexity and focus that is rare for a monthly comic. The creators seem to be well aware that they’re asking readers to meet them halfway on a concept that’s difficult to quickly grasp, and so they leave it all out there with the art and scripting. Stronghold #1 is immersive and relatable from its first page, be it through Ryan Kelly and Dee Cunniffe’s intrictate artwork or the relatable ennui and listlessness writer Phil Hester’s script proscribes to its main character. The plot in Stronghold is far-fetched and unlikely, but the execution of the story feels searingly authentic and real.

For every scene in which we see the powerful god being plunge invulnerable into a body water, there is a corresponding beat in which the characters feel shy on a first date, wondering if they’re dressed right for the occasion or heading off to a friend’s concert (supposedly). There is somewhat of a sci-fi comic boom happening right now, with ideas and levels of reading for nearly all tastes. Romance comics, however, remained mostly unexplored, even in a modern marketplace that is perhaps oversaturated with new series.

What Stronghold seems to do is use its science fiction trappings to reel in an audience for an emotional story rooted entirely in a romance between a young woman raised in a questionable cult (my interpretation) and a lonely man dissatisfied with normal working life. And it all adds up to as strong of a debut comic as we’ve gotten so far this year. Basically, I had no idea I liked “dark cosmic romance” comics this much until this book came along.

Overall: A combination high-concept science fiction story and quiet romance, there really is nothing quite like Stronghold #1 happening in comics today. It’s an interesting concept, to be sure, but the real strength here is the top tier storytelling done by the team of Hester, Kelly, Cunniffe, and Bowland. I highly recommend this comic. 9.5/10

Stronghold #1
Writer: Phil Hester
Artist: Ryan Kelly
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Simon Bowland
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: Hot Lunch Special #5, a conclusion promises more

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Hot Lunch Special #5 is out 2/20/2019.

Hot Lunch Special #5 is out 2/20/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Hot Lunch Special, which launched from AfterShock Comics in August, is a unique series, a crime story that feels like Fargo steeped in intense family drama as well as the dry intricacies of the food distribution business. It’s done what (in my opinion) many of the most interesting crime dramas do, which is kill off characters one presumes to be safe or integral to its plot, doing so at a pace closer to Game of Thrones than to a nice Midwestern comic book like this one. This week’s Hot Lunch Special #5, the series finale (at least for now…), is no exception.

And I don’t think it’s a spoiler to note that in this issue death has come to the folks at Khoury Foods, as well as to their Chicago-based, mildly Irish mob-connected Moran family rivals. The entire series (which has been bloody throughout) has clearly been building to this climax, which is essentially a full-issue standoff in which revenge, prosperity, and the continued safety of certain family members (who have all been through a lot) is at stake. An action-heavy and consequential ending has been promised, maybe going as far back as issue #1 or #2, and an action-heavy and consequential ending is what Hot Lunch Special #5 delivers.

Eliot Rahal continues to write the hell out of this comic with reckless abandon, incorporating plot twists that I presume are difficult for him as a creator. Rahal is literally killing his darlings left and right throughout this book, doing so in ways that feel organic rather than contrived for long-term or poignant plotting purposes. He also revels in the esoteric nature of the food business he’s set out to portray here. It isn’t played for laughs, and it really hasn’t been at any point through this series. It’s depicted as what it is: a day’s work, a way for generations of a family (and for those they service) to literally eat. There’s so much respect in that, even if he surrounds it all with madcap bloody violence (because, hey, this is still comics…).

Jorge Fornes, meanwhile, is a superstar in the making. In fact, the Hot Lunch Special co-creator and artist has already been tabbed by DC Comics as what looks to be its next big Batman artist, and I haven’t seen one of the Big 2 act this fast to find a perfect fit for a major new talent since Donny Cates got to wreck the future of the universe over at Marvel (and before that Tom King was drafted to write Batman and Mister Miracle). Fornes was made to draw the type of moody noir and action sequences as at home in Hot Lunch Special as they seem likely to be in forthcoming issues of Batman.

So yes, this issue was a satisfying climax that absolved some jams, made its characters pay high prices, and delivered on much of the foreshadowing and tension incorporated into earlier issues. If you’ve read all four of the proceeding chapters, you’ll read this one, and if you’ve been intrigued by what you’ve heard of Hot Lunch Special, you’ll be happy to know it has an end that won’t diminish anything that came before it once you read it all in trade. The last item of note here is that that ending also all but guarantees future issues. The stories in the first volume are essentially wrapped up in a way that creates urgent issues to be absolved moving forward. Exciting stuff.

Overall: Hot Lunch Special #5 is an action-packed and tragic conclusion that all but promises more story. If you’ve enjoyed the other issues of this book, you’re likely to love it’s ending, and if you’ve been intrigued by what you’ve heard, you’ll be happy to know it will all read quite well in trade. 8.5/10

Hot Lunch Special #5
Writer: Eliot Rahal
Artist: Jorge Fornes
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
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: Relay #4, an unsurprisingly mind-bending return with a new artist

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Relay #4 is out 2/20/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Relay has been on a break, presumably due to the departure of Andy Clarke, who drew the first three issues of the series. In fact, the last issue—Relay #3—came out on Sept. 5, just over four months ago. In just three issues, this comic has amassed a steady set of rabid fans, folks who were respectful-yet-forceful with me on Twitter in recent weeks, asking when they should expect a new issue (I’m not any sort of official representative friends, just an appreciator of this comic).

Anyway, the point is that all seems to be behind us now, with Clarke leaving the book in favor of another uber-talented imaginative artist, Dalibor Talajic, who is fresh off drawing Relay publisher AfterShock Comics’ first-ever original graphic novel, Witch Hammer (a book we liked quite a bit). Before we delve into the individuality of this specific issue, let me just say this about the art shift: 1. Clarke was doing singular and nigh-visionary work on this comic, and it is regretful that he has now seemingly departed; 2. Talajic is a more-than capable replacement and will also do strong work. These two thoughts can and do exist. They’re not bad or good as they apply to Relay (more discussion of that in a moment), they just are.

I suppose the chief question is whether this is still the book we remember from last fall. And yes, it absolutely is. Pretty much everything that made Relay such a mind-bending and intriguing sci-fi trip is back, as are the deep thematic interests and the always-earned and never-obvious plot twists. This is still a very, very good comic that I can endorse resolutely without any sort of hesitation.

The one visual change I noticed most was that Talajic’s work lends the proceedings a grittier feel than we had under Clarke. The way Clarke drew the sci-fi worlds in Relay, they felt like a false utopia, a world that’s surface was gleaming and enlightened but its deeper reaches were a maze of psychological misgivings. Much of that remains with Talajic, yet the danger seems a bit more present, just a bit more looming. This is also perhaps by design, as the danger has become more blatant as our story has gone on. I don’t prefer either rendering—they both work and work well. Although I will note that this issue feels like a bit of a come down from the absurdly trippy heights we hit in #3.

Now comes the hard part for me as a reviewer: parsing through one of the most complex stories in comics to tell you all what to expect in terms of quality and also maybe help you to understand what might be going on. Our main characters perceptions feel as muddled as they have from the start, his ideas about what might be true and false, and who might be pushing forward misleading information and why. There is mystery around all that, but—and this is massively to writer Zac Thompson’s credit—there is never disorientation. We have a close perspective with our protagonist that allows us to experience a clear story with him, knowing what he does while wondering all his same questions. It’s a great way to take an audience through such an intellectually-ambitious science fiction story, and Thompson nails it (yet again).

The way the Relay is depicted is a perfect example of this. We as an audience don’t really know what it’s for or why...but neither does our hero. He knows it’s always been apart of the world he’s lived on (Earth), and he knows that he’s always been told it is crucial to civilization, a benefit to any and all systems. He continues to doubt whether any (or all) of that is true, while searching for the answers. I don’t know what he’s going to find, but I continue to love being part of this journey.  

Overall: With artist Dalibor Talajic now on board for at least the next two issues, Relay returns and loses very little. This issue features all the deeply-smart sci-fi themes and perfectly-executed plot twists that made the first three chapters so exciting. 9.2/10

Relay #4
Story: Zac Thompson, Eric Bromberg, & Donny Cates
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Dalibor Talajic
Colorist: Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Charles Pritchett
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.

ADVANCED REVIEW: Black Hammer ‘45 #1 expands this growing universe into a new genre

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Black Hammer ‘45 #1 is out 3/6/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Black Hammer ‘45 is something wholly new for the burgeoning Black Hammer Universe at Dark Horse Comics, created slowly over the course of the last few years by writer/artist Jeff Lemire and a host of talented collaborators. Indeed, this is the first comic in a stable that now numbers roughly half a dozen, including the ongoing main story, a host of minis, a one-shot, and Quantum Age, which I don’t even know the scope of—ask me, it can and should run two dozen issues.

Black Hammer ‘45, however, marks the first of these comics that (at least in its first issue) has very little to do with superheroes. It is also the first of these books in which Jeff Lemire is not named as the lone writer, having only a story by credit instead. The actual writing of the comic falls to Lemire’s good friend Ray Fawkes. The art, meanwhile, is provided by another of his friends, Matt Kindt, who like Lemire is a writer slash artist of considerable talent and renown. This comic, in other words, has a mightily talented—if a bit insular—pedigree to its creative team, and that much is evident in its pages. Readers will find no shortage of craft nor ideas in this book. It looks and reads as wonderfully as one has come to expect.

The genre, meanwhile, is a step outside the superhero fare that has largely marked the Black Hammer Universe to date. See, Black Hammer is an extended homage as filtered through Lemire and his collaborators’ sensibilities. We get characters that are at once recognizable and novel, reminding of us old favorites while simultaneously pushing into new (and often more somber) territories, be it an approximation of James Robinson’s Starman or a facsimile for the Legion of Superheroes.

Black Hammer ‘45 is that same sort of homage, yet it pushes outward from the superhero genre, instead drawing its inspiration from Golden Age World War II comics, perhaps most specifically from The Blackhawks. Although, like all of the Black Hammer books, other influences find a way of creeping in. Those range from the real-life story of the Tuskegee Air Men to stories about steampunk mechs. There’s a lot, and it’s all good, and like the rest of these books, it all coalesces into something fresh and unique.

This debut issue itself is also well-crafted, everything from Matt and Sharlene Kindt’s artwork to the way flashback pages looked yellowed and old (even in the advance review PDF...I imagine in the physical copy the effect will be even more noticeable). Fawkes rights it well, too, doing a nice balancing act between action in the past and present, and also finding interesting ways (ways that I won’t spoil) to connect to other parts of the ongoing Black Hammer narrative.

Overall: Fans of the main Black Hammer series will be thrilled the book is branching off into new and interesting territory. Jeff Lemire has said he loves his Black Hammer books because they allow him to do pretty much any kind of comic he wants. This book is proof positive of that. 8.8/10

Black Hammer ‘45 #1
Story By: Jeff Lemire & Ray Fawkes
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Matt Kindt
Colorist: Sharlene Kindt
Letterer: Marie Enger
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 6, 2019

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: Livewire #3, Amanda McKee faces a far greater danger than anything physical

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Livewire #3 is out 2/13/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Three issues into its run, Livewire is now among my favorite superhero comics (right up there with Bendis’ Superman and Immortal Hulk). This book just has such a great combination of honest characterization from writer Vita Ayala, kinetic and clear artwork from Raul Allen and Patricia Martin, and distinct yet connected chapters. Indeed, all three issues in this series so far have had different conceits, with clear thematic throughlines fostering a sense of unity.

Livewire is, in other words, a fantastic monthly comic. Livewire #3 sees our heroine still depowered, on the run, and known pretty much the world over as a war criminal. See, in this past summer’s Harbinger Wars 2 event, Livewire essentially turned off all the electronics in the United States to save her team from slaughter and oppression at the hands of malicious actors within government. This action, which seemed justified on its surface, had the end result of killing a horrific number of innocent people, from folks with pacemakers to hundreds on commercial planes.

In this issue, Livewire escapes to a safehouse before being hunted down by Pan, whom she has known since childhood under Toyo Harada within the Harbinger Foundation (readers needn’t know this bit of continuity to enjoy the series). The majority of this book is consumed by de-powered Livewire and Pan in combat, but the fisticuffs take a backseat, so intense is the discourse between the characters. Allen and Martin’s artwork is among the best in comics right now, and it makes for engaging activity as the argument between the two characters steadily raises the emotional stakes.

Pan and Livewire have a sibling relationship, and they spend the issue arguing as siblings do. This sort of complex discord between siblings is familiar territory for Ayala, who has told similarly-compelling stories about brothers and sisters in some of their best comics, particularly in their series with Vault Comics, Submerged. It’s all in here—the resentment, the rehashing of the past, the accusations of favoritism, the struggle to reframe history—all the well-worn maneuvers from real life sibling rivalry appear, compelling as can be.

What really makes Livewire #3 a white knuckle read, however, is the emotional threat poised to the lead character. In issue one, we saw Amanda McKee run through her status quo on the run, in issue two we saw her suffer physically at the hand of oppressive captors. In this issue, we see her honestly face down the severity of what she’s done in full, forced to do so by Pan’s accelerated empath abilities, which can essentially transfer memories from one person to another. Livewire, as we know, is a hero who believes in her fight and good intentions. That core component of her identity faces down a major threat here.

What Ayala does that’s so impressive is use this setup—the hunt, the character history, the transferred memory, the fistfighting—to illustrate the price for aggressive actions, asking whether regardless of how righteous or justified one feels, if aggression is ever the answer. In other words, can you be as right to fight back as Livewire was, and still find yourself suffering culpability for damage beyond your perception? Fighting a winning fight, even when you’re 100 percent correct, is still fighting, and maybe the nature of aggression is such that we can never truly anticipate how it afflicts the world.

That’s what I took from Livewire #3, and it’s an especially poignant point these days, when the difference between being right and productive has been so thoroughly muddied.

Overall: Livewire is a grounded book with high stakes, grand ideas, and terrifying threats, and in its pages, Ayala, Allen, and Martin are fearlessly addressing everything from Amanda’s intentions to her results to the impact of the wars she’s waged. This comic is, simply put, compelling stuff. 9.6/10

Livewire #3
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artists: Raul Allen with Patricia Martin and Scott Koblish
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Price: $3.99

Check out our reviews of Livewire #1 and Livewire #2!

Check out more comic book thoughts in our reviews archive.

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

REVIEW: Mark Millar's The Magic Order #6 pulls a fantastic trick on the audience

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The Magic Order #6 is out 2/13/2019.

By Bo Stewart — It’s somewhat of a rare treat to see a writer as established as Mark Millar manage to surprise his audience. I have to admit, before reading The Magic Order, I thought I’d seen every trick Millar was capable of pulling. In fact, I even thought I’d figured out the ending to The Magic Order itself, and my prediction was that this book’s ending would be abrupt. The double-sized finale The Magic Order #6, however, subverted my expectations at every turn. This is, simply put, an exciting and emotional story, and like all good magic tricks, it has plenty of surprises for its audiences as the creators saved the best for last.

Really, every issue of this series has been packed with twists, making this book a page turner in every sense. This is a story about family and what people are willing to sacrifice for love. It’s a little difficult to discuss this issue in detail without veering into spoiler territory, but trust me, you won’t see this ending coming either. It wraps a neat bow on everything we’ve seen before while also leaving the door cracked just enough for a potential sequel (the end says End of Book One...so there could be more coming).

So then, let’s talk a little about the format of The Magic Order. Up until I reviewed The Magic Order #5 in December, I was under the assumption that this was an ongoing book. How could it not be? The premise is brimming with amazing characters, wondrous feats of magic, and endless possibilities to explore. Once I learned it would end with #6, I felt as if we were being denied a closer look at a world I wanted to spend more time in. It is worth noting that the forthcoming Netflix series will help assuage some of this, but even the adaptation the streaming giant will provide aren’t enough to replace the simple desire that I want more comics. Not just a little, a lot more.

In many ways, though, the restraint keeping the series to just these first six issues should be commended. All too often in comics, similar limitations aren’t utilized and the narrative suffers as a result. This is a tight, briskly-paced adventure where every issue justifies itself by being essential to the story.  It’s just a gorgeous book that weaves a tale among the very best of Mark Millar’s many comics.

Overall: The Magic Order far exceeded my expectations left me wanting many more adventures with these characters in this fantastic world. It belongs among the very best of Mark Millar’s prolific career. This comic isn’t merely good—it’s great. 9.0/10

The Magic Order #6
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: Olivier Coipel
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Peter Doherty
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: Electric Warriors #4, a surprising character dies

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Electric Warriors #4 is out 2/13/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Since its start, Electric Warriors has had one of the most interesting concept of any DC comic in recent memory. A six-issue miniseries, this book is set in a future timeline called the Cosmic Dark Age, which takes place after Jack Kirby’s Great Disaster, which eradicated civilized society on Earth and gave rise to characters like O.M.A.C and Kamandi. This time period is, essentially, a bridge between that age and the far more utopian future belonging to the Legion of Superheroes. In Electric Warriors, planets no longer war with each other...instead they send representatives—the titular Electric Warriors—to battle in tournaments organized by the Gil’dishpan aliens that settle militaristic conflicts by proxy. As an extra (and poignant wrinkle) Earth is the only planet with two champions—human and anamorphic—because its population, as usual, can’t get along.

On the surface, the entire system seems like a better one than actually going to war. In Electric Warriors #4, however, the plot picks up on a cliffhanger leftover from Electric Warriors #3, and we start to see what that story implied—that the logistical workings of this battle system are far more sinister than the surface representations of them imply. Essentially, the organizers of the peaceful system are taking the fallen and butchering their bodies for amusement at drunken parties for the galaxy’s elite.

This plot concept was hinted at in #3 and is fleshed out further here in Electric Warriors #4, and I absolutely love it as a smart bit of misdirection. On its surface, this miniseries looked to be another mediation on Earth not being able to find unified peace, with a question about whether violence for some negates the luxury of peace for the vast majority...and now it pivots every so slightly to become a treatise on class warfare, implying as it does that forever war is waged for benefit to and amusement of the .1 percent. It is, in other words, never the hands of the truly privileged that end up with a society’s blood on them, no matter the system.

It all makes for a compelling comic, one that reads exceedingly well in monthly issues. In addition to these larger overarching themes, writer Steve Orlando is spinning a rich narrative here, complete with characters keeping secrets from each other, characters having affairs, and a gentle union between characters to solve a mystery, a mystery we as an audience know the answer to (Firestorm is the Lord Preceptor). This is Orlando telling his best superhero story (with the possible exception of his fill-in run on Wonder Woman) since his breakout work on Midnighter a few years back, and he’s armed with the absolutely stunning creative team of imaginative artist Travel Foreman and colorist Hi-Fi.

The last bit I’ll say—without tipping into spoiler territory—is that this issue features a surprising death, a true rarity during an era of superhero comics where market forces and corporate interests make so many plot twists impermanent and telegraphed months before they occur. This book being set in a relatively unexplored era with all-new characters gives it liberties that feel utterly refreshing. It’s not to be missed.

Overall: With its fourth issue, Electric Warriors remains one of DC’s best comics. This issue packs a surprising death, more insight into what’s really happening with the story, and a deepening of the already rich dynamics between characters. In an era where superhero comics can feel staid and predictable, Electric Warriors is anything but. 9.6/10

Electric Warriors #4
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Travel Foreman
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Travis Lanham
Publisher: DC 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: Fearscape #4, venture deeper into the mind of a failed writer

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Fearscape #4 is out 2/13/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — I don’t entirely know what’s up in Fearscape. So, before reading Fearscape #4, I went back and re-read this series from its start, seeing if I’d missed any clues. I came back with a few things, but on the whole, I didn’t develop great theories about what’s happening or why. Certainly not any I’m confident enough to lay out here, dear readers (sorry, I really did read a whole lot of Fearscape today).

Before unpacking my re-read, let me say this is a strong ambitious comic. Artist Andrea Mutti and colorist Vladimir Popov’s designs are top-notch, as is their delineation of the Fearscape from reality. There is (likely intentional) confusion over meaning, but it is always clear when a character is fantastical or real, unless it serves the story to blur lines. Writer Ryan O’Sullivan does impressive work maintaining the insecure pretentious voice of faux-literary luminary, Henry Henery. I’ve tried complex voices like his myself—maintaining a consistent tone for four issues is truly impressive.

Now, on to my re-read. Two ideas stand out in this idea-dense comic. The first is the tearing down of usual story structure. The second is the culpability of readers in stories, ie if I’m not turning pages, nothing happens to characters, like Schrodinger’s fiction. The many references to these thoughts make me suspect disorientation is by design, and the real villain of this comic is stories in the first place, especially those of literary figures who thrive on validation for cleverness.

Interior artwork from Fearscape #2.

Conversely, there are ample references here to the learned reader versus the casual reader. The learned reader is, presumably, someone with a handle on what’s happening and how various meta-fictional touches are being deployed. This person maybe even knows why. The casual reader, meanwhile, is someone yearning for the predictable comfort of a Campbell hero’s journey, a story about a person—good or bad—who wants something, struggles, and emerges changed...often for the better. In Fearscape, the casual reader is derided by Henry Henry, perhaps more than anything (which is saying a lot because this guy derides all damned day).

The book is without question succeeding on disregarding conventions and discomforting casual readers. What remains to be seen, however, is if it uses that to tell an engaging story that raises questions about the art life and—in a broader sense—the human condition. To me, Fearscape #4 feels like a deepening psychological nightmare, a trip into the mind of a writer riddled with anxiety and imposter syndrome and desperation, having spent his career compartmentalizing personal ambitions while translating other work.

There are, however, elements that suggest a further skewing of reality...Henry not having parents but being Arthur’s ward, Arthur and his alzheimer's, Henry Henry telling us he’s dead. These suggest a deeper story, one I have not yet figured out but remain absolutely determined to experience.

Overall: Fearscape #4 is another strong issue of a meta-fictional comic about how it feels to have unfulfilled literary aspirations. This comic remains a must-read for English majors and literary dabblers, anyone who has taken a creative writing workshop or read canonical novel in a coffee shop and daydreamed about their name on its cover. 8.8/10

Fearscape #4
Writer: Ryan O’Sullivan
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Colorist: Vladimir Popov
Letterer: 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.

REVIEW: Friendo #4 keeps searching for the absurdity ceiling of extreme capitalism

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Friendo #4 is out 2/13/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Around halfway through Friendo #4, our heroes (maybe that’s not the right word) are listening to local news radio describe their exploits as they drive a shiny red convertible through the desert. The radio essentially sums up the status quo, which has shifted seismically since Friendo’s first issue. It’s a nice storytelling device, one that does a good job taking stock of both where we are and how crazy Friendo has gotten. At one point, the voice on the radio says: Whole saga’s turned into this Looney-Tunes three-ring circus if you ask me.

That’s a pretty accurate summation, really, for writer Alex Paknadel’s plotting of Friendo, but I think there’s also subtext about the book’s central theme: that late-model capitalism has gone so off the rails, that we maybe don’t realize how bananas life has gotten in this country. The voice continues: The guardrails are gone, man. It’s all just a big joke now. There’s nothing between us and the jagged rocks below. I had to just hang my head for a moment, because got-damn.

This thematic ground has been well covered throughout Friendo. So much so I think the central thrust of the book is showing its audience we’re maybe not even at rock bottom of all this, that with a society so thoroughly dominated by sales, marketing, corporations, etc., things can and will always get crazier, get more manipulative and exploitative. That there is, in effect, no end, no upper ceiling to the limits of greed inherent to unbridled capitalism. This story, in essence, is slowly upping the malarkey on its pages to match the point it’s making about our lives. If it’s all a big joke, the radio voice posits, then how are we supposed to know when to stop laughing?

Whether I’ve phrased it that way or not (I haven’t), this is a crisis that has shaped my life for a decade, first while coming of age during the recession, again while clawing toward some sort of financial balance, and now while working multiple day jobs and passion pursuits with big questions looming, like: will it ever be enough? Will I ever be able to afford a house? Would it be nuts to have a child? This all adds up to Friendo—as I’ve written in pretty much all my reviews—being a different, more realistic sort of horror story.

As this is the fourth straight issue that has posited such questions (albeit previously with less intensity), this begs the question of whether this comic is at risk of feeling repetitive. I certainly don’t think so. Part of why has to do with the nature of the plot being about limitless absurdity, about extrapolating extreme ideas to new places. It’s not repetitive because the same ideas are being push juuuuust a bit further every week, stretching into new ground. The second reason Friendo #4 succeeds is it’s so well told by its creators.

Jerry, pictured here in Friendo #3, has seen better days, but Simmonds art is looking mighty fine.

Paknadel’s scripting is hilarious (Not kinky, just sad), and Martin Simmonds art has accelerated, packing more into panels as the plot calls for it, augmented fantastically by Dee Cunniffe’s vibrant colors. Another thing Simmonds has done well is the evolving design of the humanized marketing hologram Jerry, who has become more unhinged, more gory and grindhouse and sinister just as his user, Leo, has become sloppier and rundown and frazzled. There’s a two page spread in this issue, filled with art conveying the changes afflicting them both, with Leo chomping a donut as Jerry (with a hole blown in him and guts visible) climbing the wall like a feral demon. The spread is interspersed with detailed shots and Taylor Esposito’s clean lettering, all coming together in a visual—and a comic—that really lingers.

Overall: Friendo #4 continues searching for the absurd upper limits of unrestrained capitalism and still doesn’t find it. Whenever this book seems to reach a new extreme of exploitation, greed, or dehumanization, it pushes it just a bit further, finding new and scarier ground. Simply put, do not miss this comic. 9.2/10

Friendo #4
Writer: Alex Paknadel
Artist: Martin Simmonds
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
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.

REVIEW: Gideon Falls #11 stirs horror with more unpredictable developments

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Gideon Falls #11 is out 2/13/2019.

By Jarred A. Luján — I’m not going to pretend like I’ve read everything Jeff Lemire has ever written. I’ve read some of his Big 2 work, but only a little of his independent stuff, including his recent Hit-Girl run. Andrea Sorrentino is a similar case, in that before Gideon Falls I’d seen some of his stuff for Marvel and DC, but otherwise, I couldn’t say I devoutly followed his releases. So when Gideon Falls launched, I only picked it up because of a recommendation on Twitter from Marvel writer Matthew Rosenberg.

Just shy of a year later, I haven’t missed a single issue of this book. There are few better examples of why than this month’s issue, Gideon Falls #11.

So many of Gideon Falls’ horror aspects come from Sorrentino’s willingness to take chances with the way he lays his artwork out. The art in this issue, for example, ranges from traditional panel layouts, to pages with a cyclical panel system, to a page that’s entirely upside down, to make-shift panels scrawled throughout splash pages, to back-to-back-to-back double spread pages. When things really begin to come undone here, Sorrentino’s artwork lets the page come undone as well. Allowing it to feel as disjointed and unnerved as our characters do has consistently set Gideon Falls apart from other horror comics.

One of my favorite parts of Gideon Falls has also been the pacing. Lemire has only given us bits and pieces of this intricate plot, and every big influx of information is countered with new ground that makes readers aware of how little they actually know. Lemire is giving the audience pieces to the puzzle, sure, but he’s still withholding how those pieces connect. At 11 issues in, I still have no clue where this story is going, and, just like Sorrentino’s art, that is part of what makes this book so horrifying to me: there is no safety in the prediction of the narrative. As a reader, you are immersed in the protagonists’ stories by knowing only as much as they do. This issue, following what was likely the biggest issue of the run so far, pulled back the curtain on the workings of the Black Barn only to reveal that there are many more curtains. Lemire giveth, Lemire taketh away.

The next chapter of Gideon Falls releases in April, giving us all a month to try and figure out what the hell is going on…but if the past is any indication, I have a feeling we’ll fail at that.

Overall: This issue is as frightening as it is dizzying. There is so much going on in this series, and readers don’t yet know how deep into the mysteries and the story they’ve gone. This is a horror book in a class of its own, and I highly recommend doing yourself a favor and getting caught up with it. 9.0/10

Gideon Falls #11
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99

Jarred A. Luján makes comics, studies existential philosophy, and listens to hip-hop too loudly. For bad jokes and dog pictures, you can follow him on Twitter.

ADVANCED REVIEW: Little Bird #1 is an imaginative, and powerful debut...think Saga or God Country

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Little Bird #1 is out 3/13/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Little Bird #1 is one hell of a debut comic, a likely contender best #1 comic of the year. I know we’re only halfway through the second month, but is so good that I’m confident in saying that. Little Bird #1 is the type of immersive story you pick up, blink, and realize you’ve read the whole thing without stopping, without even considering putting it down. So yes, it’s very good, and I highly recommend comics fans read it.

I could stop there, but (obviously) the lot of the comics reviewer is such that I’m here to also explain why. With Little Bird, it’s fitting to start with a discussion of the art. Ian Bertram’s phenomenal linework and sequential storytelling is the first thing that grabs reader attention, as well as the biggest factor in why the story feels so immersive. A big question I had by the end of it was who the hell is Ian Bertram and why have I not yet heard of him?

Well, mostly because Bertram has done a handful of superhero stories, some webcomics, and, perhaps most recently, a six-issue 2016 miniseries for Dark Horse Comics called House of Penance written by Peter Tomasi about the Winchester House in Northern California (which I obviously missed). He’s not a total unknown, but he’s far from a major name comics. I predict that will change once Little Bird finds the audience it deserves. Bertram’s work here is incredible, as singular as it is gorgeous.

His linework is the wavy, detailed style I associate with Frank Quitely (and others who came after him, like Jon Davis-Hunt or Ramon Villalobos), and his designs for everything from characters to clothing to genetically-enhanced bodies to the fiery floating nun woman (you read that right) to buildings—I could continue but I’ll stop and note everything is rendered with an ideal balance of intricacy and imagination. There are touches here of Moebius and Jodorowsky, of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Fiona Staple’s designs in Saga, the overblown carnage of that one big fight scene in Kill Bill, and the list goes on. Bertram’s keen visuals coalesce to create something all its own, augmented and made possible by the vital rhythm section of Matt Hollingsworth’s colors and Aditya Bidikar’s lettering. All three deserve much credit.

Darcy Van Poelgeest—a first-time comic book writer with a background in film—gives the top-tier art much to work with via his scripting. I was particularly impressed with how compressed and dense Van Poelgeest’s story felt. Often times for creators from other mediums—especially film—there is a tendency to decompress comics, as one might a storyboard. Van Poelgeest, however, packs more into his first three pages than some new creators would an entire opening arc, immediately justifying why comics are being use to tell this story. The first line is poetic, the first pages rich with expository details that don’t feel forced. The child character (the titular Little Bird) is an automatic means of engendering sympathy, while a militaristic speech clues us in to the world’s high stakes.

This is an advanced review, though, so I’m hesitant to get more specific. I’ll just say that the level of world-building and imagination on display is strong, conveying grandiose vision while using the main character as an anchor to keep readers from drifting into disorientation. There are ample twists and many unpredictable reveals.   

If I have a small qualm, it’s that I think the full story needs to justify the gruesome violence that occurs here (there are hints it will but we still need to wait to see if the story delivers). Also, I know this is silly, but I’m salty about it only spanning five issues. I know I know, and I appreciate creators who have a specific vision...but hey, maybe Little Bird will be such a success that it will get expanded, rendering its first lineprophetic, This doesn’t end here. Not like this.

Overall: A nigh-perfect debut, by the end of Little Bird #1 I found myself already melancholic that the series is only five issues. Simply put, if Little Bird continues this high a level of storytelling, we’ll all have to mention it in conversations about Image’s creator-owned resurgence, right alongside Saga, Wicked + Divine, God Country, etc.. This is one fine comic. 9.8/10

Little Bird #1 (of 5)
Writer: Darcy Van Poelgeest
Artist: Ian Bertram
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 13, 2019

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: Vindication #1 is a realistic comic steeped in shades of gray

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Vindication #1 is out 2/6/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Mining ideas for comic book stories from current events is nothing new. In fact, I’d wager a guess that a vast majority of creator-owned comics these days (as well as much of the corporate superhero fare) excavate their thematic interests from the news. This is one of the qualities I appreciate most about weekly comics—their production times/release schedules make them the storytelling medium best-suited for processing the real world via narrative. It’s a wonderful thing.

The most common route for comics to go is to take the news and steep it in genre, in horror and fantasy and science fiction. But what if the actual news is sufficiently complex and terrifying? What if an injustice has become so severe, so brutal and hard to accept, that adding vampires or aliens or a realm filled with elves would actually waterdown the impact? This is essentially what Vindication #1 posits through its embrace of total realism. Simply put, everything in this comic feels real, from the world to the plot (culled straight from the headlines) to the understated character moments. And I’m not talking real in the sense of something like The Authority or 100 Bullets or Lazarus, all of which—let’s face it—involve plot conceits that are still incredibly unlikely, even if they’re given grounded, logical treatments.

Vindication reads like a snapshot from the real world. Created by Matt Hawkins (who has made similarly-realistic comics in the past with his series Think Tank) and writer M.D. Marie, this is the first of a four-part series about a police detective who “maneuvers the blurred blue line between racism and due diligence in order to do his job.” Police discrimination against young black men is a major problem in society (and has been for some time), brought to a fever pitch in recent years via the acceleration of video technology, specifically the increased ability of citizens to take/share quick videos with mobile phones. An entrenched and polarized debate has risen around the subject (as it has around so many subjects in America 2019), with part of the country demanding accountability for blatant injustices while others denounce the denunciations, essentially telling activists and protestors to lay off the police.

Perhaps most realistically, there is no clear hero in Vindication. The central character actually appears to be a villain, though the audience doesn’t have all the info it needs yet to make a final judgement. Not quite. This hint of ambiguity makes the story feel realistic, allowing the comic to inhabit a space of cold, logical gray, like a well-made documentary. The lead character is Detective Chip Christopher, who at first blush seems prejudiced and maybe even corrupt. He pushes down a newly-exonerated young black man named Turn in the opening scene, going on to claim he was helping Turn up, which we as an audience know to be a falsehood. The detective is just convinced Turn was guilty. What we don’t know—because the comic shrewdly doesn’t show us—is whether the detective is right. We as readers are given only what the detective himself knows, really, a great choice for the narrative. Things get complicated when one of the jurors who convicted Turn is murdered in an incident that mirrors the crime of which he was originally convicted.

It’s a timely story, and writer M.D. Marie and artists Carlos Miko, Dema Jr., and Thiago Goncalves execute it well. The detailed art mirrors the realistic plotting, and the characters are well-defined yet subtle, with a script that works hard to give even bit players depth. I thought the main character’s new partner, Detective Maggie Cruz, was especially intriguing and strong, the way she approached Detective Christopher collegially but with healthy skepticism. Christopher himself is also given touches perhaps aimed at making him more sympathetic—a partner who was killed, friendly relationships with co-workers of different backgrounds, etc. I’m personally viewing Christopher as a villain at this point, but my sense is that the real threat in this story will end up being human fallibility, which is terrifying when applied to something as complex and consequential as the country’s law enforcement system.   

Overall: A realistic comic that lives in ambiguity and shades of gray, Vindication #1 is a scary look at how individuals influence something as consequential as the justice system. 8.6/10

Vindication #1
Created By: Matt Hawkins / M.D. Marie
Writer: M.D. Marie
Penciler: Carlos Miko
Inker: Dema Jr.
Colorist: Thiago Goncalves
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Publisher: Image Comics/Top Cow
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: Daredevil #1 is a subdued, intriguing start for Zdarsky and Checchetto

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Daredevil #1 is out 2/6/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Of all the major corporate superhero writers in comics, Chip Zdarsky—for my money—is the least predictable. Sure, all good stories have twists, and I’m not saying that I know every move that a Tom King or a Brian Michael Bendis or a Jason Aaron is going to make. Far from it. I do think, however, that I know the overall type of story that those and the other major Big 2 writers are generally interested in telling. I can’t really say the same for Zdarsky.

Zdarsky’s interests as a storyteller are varied and surprising, quite frankly. He’s the guy who took what was essentially a throwaway run on Howard the Duck (2015), one he was probably hired to write more than anything for his sense of humor, and turned out as poignant and heartrending of a story about parenthood as I’ve ever read (in the over-sized and in my opinion seminal, Howard the Duck #2). And sometimes just when you think you know what his books might be about—Oh hey, apparently this Marvel 2-in-One run is a buddy road trip through the multiverse—he swerves and throws you an annual that tells the best story in a decade (include everything Hickman did) about Doctor Doom.

This level of unpredictability is what made Zdarsky such an inspired choice for Daredevil, a franchise that has a long history of teasing out career-best work from some of the most celebrated and idiosyncratic writers and artists in all of comics. Everytime a celebrated Daredevil run ends—be it Bendis/Maleev, Waid/Samnee, Charles Soule and his many recent artistic collaborators—I find myself irrationally thinking, There’s no way the next team can do it this well.   

So, this new run brings two major and intriguing questions: how will this team put its on stamp on this character, and where will Zdarsky’s thematic interests take us as he scripts it? This intrigue was on full display in the first issue of the new run, a debut that didn’t feature standard launch trappings like the introduction of a new villain, a massive status quo change, or some other CBR headline-grabbing snap-flash element, the sort that has come to mark blow-out, new creative team, $5 first issues. Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, and Sunny Gho’s Daredevil #1 is instead a slow-burning affair built on a relatively simple premise: for a hero like Daredevil, is fatigue and an off-day more dangerous than things like assassins or undead ninjas, and are his own motivations his greatest enemy? This is all perhaps well-travelled ground, but so is most everything in superhero comics, and this creative team has earned full trust that they will bring something new to the ideas and character via their execution.

I should also note that this is the type of debut issue in which the creative team is not yet ready to tip its hand. It wasn’t massively decompressed (at least not relative to other comics these days), but it also didn’t seek to overfill its pages, instead dedicating ample space to flashbacks that telegraphed the role Daredevil’s ubiquitous Catholicism stands to play in whatever crisis is coming (a glimpse of which comes at the tail end of the issue), or his much ballyhooed (at least by the Netflix television show) willingness to thrash enemies severely but not kill them. It was an incredibly well-crafted comic, in everything from the art to the dialogue to the scenes it choose to feature, and with the promise of unpredictably looming so large, it’s one that has me excited.

Really, what is most impressive about this issue to me is the sheer variety of thematic spaces the story manages to traverse, any one of which will make for a rich focus in storylines, issues, or other tales to come.

Overall: A top-notch debut that does everything well while paving many thematic roads moving forward. Writer Chip Zdarsky is often unpredictable, and I’m excited to see the scope of his take. The one thing I can predict, however, is that damn fine comic book-making will be on display throughout. 9.0/10

Daredevil #1
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99

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: Wasted Space #6 picks up with all the humor and high ideas from its first arc

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Wasted Space #6 is out 2/6/2019.

By Zack Quaintance — Wasted Space #6 is the start of this madcap sci-fi comic’s second arc. It’s been five months since the previous issue, and so I’d like to start a recap. Last we saw the Wasted Space crew—self-loathing former voice of God Billy Bane, future-seeing eyes of God Molly, Billy’s best friend the Fuq/Qil Bot Dusty, and Dusty’s rekindled lover The Fury Qil—Billy had just assassinated a galactic dictator, setting into motion the launch of nukes that might start a war that might end existence...and then a massively-powerful balance-bringing force called Legion showed up to tell him that to save the world he had to kill God.

Phew.

That’s where we left off, that’s the status quo, and it’s a status quo that speaks to the many reasons I love this book (see my Top 10 Comics of 2018). As I’ve written, this is a story that has gotten better with each issue, forging a unique thematic aesthetic (something like Star Wars by way of David Foster Wallace) that enables it to make a point about God, political terrorism, and sex robots...all on a single page. I, for one, am ecstatic it’s back.

One of many moments in this issue that cracked me up.

So then, let’s get to the big question: how does this issue compare to all that came before? Well, I can all but guarantee fans of the series will love its return. This issue, of course, pushes the book in a new direction. It basically had to. There was really no other way to do it, seeing as the first arc’s MacGuffin, Devolous Yam, was killed at the end of the fifth issue. The story needs a new object of pursuit, and, without tipping into spoiler territory here, it definitely gets it.

What’s familiar, however, are the book’s two greatest strengths: it’s humor and its ability to synthesize intense feelings stemming from today’s headlines into space opera adventure. The humor is there right from the start, when Legion (the aforementioned all-powerful balance-bringing force) accidentally Of Mice and Mens an innocent dog and realizes that it is indeed possible to love something so much you start to hurt it. The laughs keep coming as the plot progresses too, especially when the reunited Fuq/Qil bots give into their passions.

The commentary is back as well, and it’s as relatable as ever, feeling like writer Michael Moreci took it right from conversations I’ve had personally about America in 2019. Billy Bane (who is by no means a role model, so take his opinions for what they’re worth) has previously bemoaned his complacency in the order that is tearing the galaxy apart, poignantly saying things like, “With enough drugs I could live with the idea that I only kinda sorta played a role in the galaxy’s downturn….because I was scared, because it was easier to downplay my role in the galaxy’s oppression rather than try to make it better and fail.” Or, “If I believed things could change, well, that would put me on the hook to actually do something.”

In Wasted Space #6, Bane criticizes a devious member of the elite class for virtue signaling in order to craft a progressive image that obscures the true nature of what he does to maintain wealth and power, a list that includes supporting violent radicals in order to create chaos that inspires the masses to fall back in line. “But as long as the plebs keep bickering amongst themselves, the tyranny of wealth pretty much goes unnoticed,” this character says. I gave a solemn nod of heavy agreement after reading this line, and it’s really just one example of poignant writing. As has been the case throughout its run, Wasted Space is dense with complex sentiment, yet never at the cost of its story.

Overall: The best space opera in comics is back, bringing the same high level of humor and commentary with it as its cast of characters embark on a new quest. This is one of my favorite series in all of comics, and I’m happy to say it’s as great as ever. 9.5/10

Wasted Space #6
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Jim Campbell
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.