Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
I won’t debate whether Justified is the best show on tv. There’s just too much competition [Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, The Black List, etc.] to quibble over first place. I will say if Justified isn’t the best show, it isn’t number 3.
I would argue that Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant] is the coolest character on tv.
Posted below is the opening to Crime Story, a short-lived crime drama from the 80’s. Man, I liked that show. It has so much potential.
Anyone else remember it?
Thanks to David Cranmer for reminding me.
I’m a long-time fan [as in before he went pro] of Jason Latour’s talent.
LaTour is a writer and an artist. LaTour drew the page above and all the art in his DA Gallery.
Now LaTour has teamed up with writer, Jason Aaron to create a new crime comic called Southern Bastards. USAToday recently previewed Southern Bastards, and Aaron summarized the series saying it is a…
“…love letter/hate rant to the South” mixed with the 1970s “redneck cinema” that gave pop cultureWalking Tall… It’s more a dark version of The Dukes of Hazzard if it was done by the Coen brothers…”
LaTour posted the Southern Bastards preview at his site. I’m getting my pre-order in to my local comics shop. If this looks like something you’d enjoy, you should too.
If you’re a fan of film noir then you’re going to love The Endless Night: A Valentine to Film Noir that’s embedded below. Amazing job of matching music and film to create a hypnotic video. Bravo!
Americans are The world is obsessed with serial killers. We liked to read about them. Movies and television shows about serial killers are always popular. I wonder how our feelings about them would change if a serial killer was plying his trade near us?
TopTenz recently posted Ten Active Serial Killers Who Might Be Near You Right Now.
Source: Bill Crider.
Gravedigger: The Scavengers #1 of 1
Original comic published by Rorschach Entertainment
Free Web Comic published by Christopher Mills at GravediggerComic.com
Script, Tones, Letters: Christopher Mills
Pencils and Inks: Rick Burchett
Cover A (shown): Rick Burchett
In his world, there are only two kinds of men: the Dead and the Deadly.
Gravedigger: The Scavengers is available in two forms: a one shot comic published by Rorschach Entertainment and as an ongoing free web-comic. The paper comic is worth tracking down, but if you can’t get your mitts on a copy, the web-comic contains the original one shot and more. The comic is printed as you see it online in a widescreen format.
Gravedigger McCrae (Digger to his friends) just got out of prison after serving three years of a five-year bit. Digger’s feeling old and looking for that one final score that he can use to coast into retirement. He may have found his golden ticket when a crime associate that he’d worked with one time before brings him in on a $800 thousand caper. All they have to do is hijack a gunrunner’s deal. Digger and the crew can keep all the guns and the cash… of course they’ll have to kill everyone not in their crew to get away clean.
Digger is not sure who he can trust. Bunny was brought in by Digger, so he should be okay, but how good is okay with 800 large on the line? B.T. is good with a gun, but looks more like a punk than a shooter. Goodis is the pilot that’ll fly them out of there, but will he stick around if things go sideways? Red is the one who set things up. He seems a bit jumpy… perhaps because he’s brought Angel, his hot looking wife, in on the deal. That doesn’t sit well with Digger. He knows a sure way to queer a deal is to bring in a dame.
Digger’s worries about Red’s wife screwing things up take a turn when she comes on to Digger. Three years in prison, a hot young babe and opportunity make Digger’s decision easy. Angel offers Digger a plan that will leave the two of them with the cash and a smooth getaway together. Sure, Digger will have to kill Red and maybe a few members of the crew, but isn’t she and $800 k worth it? Digger is in deep. He needs the deal and the money it will bring. He’s enjoying Angel, but knows she can’t be trusted… no one can be trusted. The cards are dealt, so he might as well play out the hand and see who wins.
Chris Mills and Rick Burchett have created a crime comic that is a treat to read. Gravedigger: The Scavengers is like a love letter to fans of Lee Marvin, Richard Stark Parker novels, crime movies, crime novels and crime comics. This is one of the best one-shot comics of any genre that I’ve ever read.
Chris Mills has created a unique character in Gravedigger. Digger’s not a good guy. He knows and accepts this. Mills has a feel for all the characters, a love of the crime genre and a way with words. I hope someday to read a Gravedigger novel or book of short stories by Mills.
Rick Burchett is the perfect artist for this comic. His art compliments Mill’s prose. Burchett is truly amazing in that he knows where to focus the readers eyes for the most impact. Should anyone ever do a Gravedigger: The Scavengers movie, the storyboards are done thanks to Burchett.
I am glad that Mills and Burchett are deep into their second Gravedigger story – Gravedigger: The Predators. My hope is that the two Gravedigger stories will lead to a Kickstarter so that we’ll get a hardcover worthy of showcasing these stories.
Gravedigger: The Scavengers is a comic for mature audiences due to adult language and situations.
Rating: 5 out of 5
All Crime Comics #1 published by Art of Fiction.
Writer: The Art of Fiction
Penciler / Inker (Chapters 1 & 3): Ed Laroche
Penciler / Inker (Chapter 2): Marc Sandroni
Colorist: Tony Fleecs (Chapters 1 & 3)
Colorist: Andrew Siegel (Chapter 2)
Cover: Bruce Timm
Cars, murder, revenge. Not recommended for children of any age.
All Crime Comics #1 leads with a beautiful Bruce Timm cover that is sexy, provocative with an undercurrent of bad things to come. The design of the cover makes All Crime Comics #1 look like a beat-up pulp from the 50’s. It definitely sets the tone for things to come.
Chapter One starts: Marko, a big Russian enforcer, beating a group of men to death in an effort to obtain information for his partner, Dodger. Marko and Dodger stop to torture a dopehead before going on to meet up with a Dodger’s associates. Dodger lays out his plan to kill his old partner Louie despite the fact that Louie has become a big time mafia boss and is currently doing time in a federal prison.
In Chapter Two we flashback 23 years. Louie and Dodger are in high school. We learn how they became friends and drifted into a life of crime. They both fell for the high school hotie, Carla Blackman. Carla was out of their league until Louie became a big man in the crime syndicate. Carla then falls for Louie which of course drives a wedge into Louie and Dodger’s friendship.
Chapter Three brings us back to Dodger and his crew as they execute their plan to get into the prison and kill Louie. Unfortunately for them Louie knows they’re coming. A lot of people are going to die and not according to either Dodger or Louie’s plans.
All Crime Comics #1 is a comic for mature audiences due to extreme violence. The story covers a lot of ground and spends about a third of the book with Louie and Dodger in high school. That’s not the crime story that interests me. It was hard to get Dodger’s fascination with Carla. Sure, Carla was the school fox, but she had time for everyone but Dodger. Twentythree years is a long time to carry an obsession and deciding to break in to a federal pen to kill a crime boss is a bit outlandish. With that said, there are a couple of cool twists of plot at that point.
The packaging is great, the cover is awesome. I liked the idea of the story. The art was well done.
With all that said, if you think I didn’t like All Crime Comics #1, you’d be wrong. I did. I just didn’t like All Crime Comics #1 as much as I wanted to.
Rating:
The Pitch: ”Hey, let’s do a movie adaptation of one of Lee Child’s best selling Jack Reacher novels and get Tom Cruise to star.”
“But Jack Reacher is described in the novels as being 6′ 5″ — a modern day giant. Tom Cruise is pretty short and fans of the novels will hate the casting.”
“Tom Cruise is in so who cares about the miscasting. What do you say?”
“Let’s do it!”
The Tagline: “The law has limits. He does not.”
The Overview: James Barr, a former military sniper, kills five random people. He’s quickly caught in what appears to be an open-and-shut case. The evidence is overwhelming. Barr claims he didn’t do it and tells his defense attorney to get Jack Reacher.
Reacher shows up on his own. Reacher is a former Army Criminal Investigator who is now living off the grid. Reacher is there to prove that Barr committed the crime since Reacher knows Barr got away with a similar killing when deployed overseas.
Reacher looks at the evidence and fairly quickly determines that Barr was used as a patsy and didn’t kill those murdered. As he digs into the case, Reacher becomes the target of those behind the killings and a bigger conspiracy.
*** Beware – minor spoilers are found below ***
The Good
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That’s a preview page for White Suits a new mini-series coming from Frank Barbiere [writer] and Toby Cypress [artist]. Barbiere summarizes the series saying…
The White Suits is an action/crime story about a mysterious group of killers known as, you guessed it, The White Suits. The group has history dating back to the Cold War… they have resurfaced in NYC and are systematically eliminating the city’s gangs. The crime lords of the city have banded together to deal with the problem, while a rogue FBI agent who has a history with the Suits is plotting her own battle. She’s been on the tail of a man she suspects was once a member and finally corners him, only to discover he has amnesia — so the two of them are on a quest for truth (and revenge) against the Suits. The story is fueled by the mystery of exactly who the White Suits are — which will come to light by the end of the mini-series.
You can learn more about White Suits here. If it sounds like something you’d like, you can pre-order through your local comic shop. I did.
Source: CBR.com.
Dead Body Road is a six issue mini-series published by Image.
Writer: Justin Jordan
Penciler / Inker: Matteo Scalera
Colorist: Moreno Dinisio
The men involved in his wife’s death must die. All of them.
Dead Body Road #1 sets the bar high. Great writing, great art and a crime/revenge story that hits all the right marks without being cliché.
Gage is an ex-cop. His wife Anna (also a cop) was killed in what looks like a robbery gone bad. Everybody in the building was murdered and the bad guys got away… just not together. When the robbery turned into the OK Corral, one of the thieves (the one with the item being stolen) high-tailed it.
Now he has Gage, and the other crooks hot on his trail. It won’t be good for him no matter who catches him first. And how bad would it be if the crooks and Gage get to him at the same time?
Justin Jordan has created a crime story that starts with a bang and doesn’t let up. There’s a lot going on and each scene propels us deeper into something that is much more than your typical ex-cop seeks revenge against those who killed his family tale. This could have been a simple story of revenge, but Jordan has layered in much more.
Matteo Scalera creates visuals that have the maximum impact for each scene. Car chases are usually boring — especially in comics. Scalera pulls off a four page sequence that not only advances the story, but makes you feel the speed and danger of the chase. His characters have character.
Dead Body Road #1 is a comic for mature audiences due to violence and language. If you’re a fan of crime/revenge stories then this is for you. Dead Body Road #1 gets my highest recommendation.
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We have some news, some big news, for fans of Frank Miller’s Sin City.
On July 8, 2014, Dark Horse will release Frank Miller’s Big Damn Sin City. This baby will come as a hardcover edition and clock in with over 1300 pages — and contain every one of Miller’s seven Sin City yarns!
On July 8, 2014, fans will also be able to pick up Frank Miller: The Art of Sin City which will appear for the first time in a trade paperback edition. I have a copy of the hardback edition, and give Frank Miller: The Art of Sin City my highest recommendation.
To round out the trifecta, on July 8, 2014, Dark Horse will re-release in hardcover, Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.
These books will be a great lead-in for the movie adaptation of A Dame to Kill For which will be released on August 22, 2014.
The Pitch: ”Hey, We could make a new kind of movie. It’ll be about an honest cop who refuses to back off his investigation of a homicide. He’ll go up against crooked cops, mobsters and refuse to quit no matter the cost. This movie will influence everything from ‘Dirty Harry’ to Frank Miller’s Sin City. What do you say?”
“Let’s do it!”
The Tagline: “A hard cop and a soft dame!.”
The Overview: Glenn Ford is Detective Sgt. Dave Bannion, a rare honest cop in a town run by a mobster named Mike Lagana. Bannion is sent in to investigate the suicide of a fellow cop. It should be an open-and-shut-case, but when a prostitute provides evidence that there’s more to the case, Bannion begins to dig deeper.
Then the prostitute turns up dead — the result of a torture murder — and Bannion is ordered to stand down. He refuses. How can one honest cop bring down a powerful mobster and a police force full of cops on the take? Dave Bannion is going to find out… or die trying,
*** Beware – minor spoilers can be found below ***
The Good:
The Bad:
The Ugly:
Rating: 5 out of 5
Francesco Francavilla says, “Merry Christmas” with his “Blood on Christmas” tale of a little girl, a serial killer Santa and The Shadow!
Chambers is a graphic novel published by Arcana
Writer/Creator: Wes Locher
Artist: Kristian Rossi
Narcotics Officer Denis Chambers comes from a family of law enforcers. Now, someone is picking them off one by one, and she’ll have to figure out who’s taking an axe to her family tree before it’s too late.
Denis Chambers is a cop marked for execution by the same powerful men who killed her father [who was also a cop]. Normally killing a cop brings the entire police force into play to find the killer(s)… but what happens when the killers are cops?
Denis Chambers finds herself in a race against time to discover who is trying to kill her and her brother. Who can she trust? How deep does the corruption run? Is her partner in danger or part of the conspiracy to kill her?
Wes Locher hits all the right marks as he moves us through Denis Chambers’ story. She’s tough, and despite being outmanned and outgunned she keeps plowing forward. This is classic noir with a great ending.
Kristian Rossi’s art does a serviceable job of telling the story. I’d have liked to have seen Rossi’s art without the color. At times Rossi’s art has a glimmer of an Eduardo Risso [and we all know what a Risso fan I am], influence.
Chambers is a comic for mature audiences and not kids. If you’re a fan of crime comics, pulp fiction, and noir, then Chambers is worth a look.
Rating: 3 out of 5
