Category: Comics

Z-View: Shaft #1 by David F. Walker and Bilquis Evely

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Shaft is an on-going series published by Dynamite.  Shaft created by Ernest Tidyman.

Writer: David F. Walker

Artist: Bilquis Evely

Colorist: Daniel Miwa

Cover Shown: Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz & Ivan Nunes

Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine with all the chicks? Shaft! Created by author Ernest Tidyman, and made famous in a series of novels and films, iconic hero Shaft makes his comic book debut in an all-new adventure. He’s gone toe-to-toe with organized crime bosses, stood up to the cops, squared off against kidnappers, and foiled assassination attempts. But who was John Shaft before he became the hardboiled investigator with a reputation as big as New York City itself?

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good

  • Ernest Tidyman’s John Shaft gets his own comic!
  • 10 Cool Variant Covers: Denys Cowan, Bill Sienkiewicz & Ivan Nunes’ cover [shown above] is my favorite followed by covers created by Sanford Greene, Francesco Francavilla, Matt Haley, Michael Avon Oeming and Ulises Farinas.
  • Love the art by Bilquis Evely.
  • Daniel Miwa’s colors compliment Evely nicely.

The Bad:

  • Juius Tate and Knocks Persons.

The Ugly:

  • What happens when you don’t take a dive ordered by Junius Tate and Knocks Persons.

 

Shaft #1 should appeal to fans of the Shaft movies and is for mature audiences due to adult language.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Z-View: Escape from New York #1 by Christopher Sebela and Diego Barreto

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Escape From New York is an on-going series published by Boom Studios.

Writer: Christopher Sebela

Artist: Diego Barreto

Colorist: Marissa Louise

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

The crime rate in the United States has risen 400 percent. After humiliating the President in front of the world and destroying America’s one chance to end World War III, Snake Plissken has become America’s Most Wanted man in a land of criminals and the insane. Everyone wants Snake dead. Luckily, Snake knows the feeling all too well. War hero. Outlaw. Renegade. Snake’s back!

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good

  • John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken get his own comic!
  • 5 Cool Variant Covers: Declan Shalvey’s cover [shown above] is my favorite followed by covers created by Alice X. Zhang, Tim Bradstreet, Riley Rossmo and Jay Shaw.
  • Picks up where the movie Escape From New York left off.

The Bad:

  • Plissken doesn’t look more like Kurt Russell [perhaps a licensing issue?]
  • The art needs a more gritty feel.
  • The twins: Romulus and Remus.

The Ugly:

  • What happens when Plissken tells a soldier to get out of a helicopter.

 

Escape from New York #1 should appeal to fans of the movie, Escape from, oh, you know.  

Rating: 4 out of 5

Z-View: Deep State #1 by Justin Jordan and Ariela Kristantina

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Deep State is an on-going series created by Justin Jordan published by Boom Studios.

Writer: Justin Jordan

Artist: Ariela Kristantina

Colorist: Ben Wilsonham

Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

John Harrow doesn’t exist, and his job is to make sure that other things don’t exist, too. At any given time, the government is running dozens of black book operations, experiments that aren’t on any official record and are never acknowledged to exist. Some of these are innocuous. Some of them are monstrous beyond reason. And most of the time, they go as expected and the public is never the wiser. Most of the time. John Harrow’s job is to handle them when things go wrong, and do anything to make sure the government’s secrets stay just that-secret.

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good

  • Kristantina’s art really grew on me.  I thought Wilsonham’s colors worked well.
  • “I can tell you who killed JFK.  I can tell you what really causes cow mutilations.  I can show you what Tesla’s last project was, before we made him insane.”
  • Jordan provides back-story while at the same time moving the story forward so that we don’t have the feeling of being bogged down with exposition.

The Bad:

  • What happened to the first astronauts [and they weren’t American] to land on the moon.
  • Answering the door late at night to find a “Russian” Cosmonaut wanting in.

The Ugly:

  • What happens when the Cosmonaut reaches out to touch someone.

 

Deep State #1 should appeal to fans of The X-Files and the Twilight Zone.  I’ll be back for more!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Z-View: Men of Wrath #1 by Aaron and Garney

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Men of Wrath is a five issue mini-series created by Jason Aaron & Ron Garney published by Marvel.


Writer: Jason Aaron

Artist: Ron Garney

Colorist: Matt Milla

Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher

Ever since Great Grandfather Isom killed a man over some sheep, a black cloud has hung over the Rath family. Now, over a century later, Ira Rath, the coldest hitman ever to walk on Alabama soil, has taken a job that will decide the fate of his cursed family once and for all. Writer Jason Aaron (Southern Bastards, Scalped) and artist Ron Garney (Weapon X, Thor: God of Thunder) team up once again, to bring you the story of a Southern family, whose only heirloom is violence.

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good

  • Ron Garney’s art.
  • Aaron’s idea of following generations of the Rath family.
  • If you like your crime stories about men who live outside the law and aren’t knights with dull armor, you’re in for a ride.
  • “He’s your father.”

The Bad:

  • Wrath does something so bad… so unexpected on page 7 that I had to go back and reread to make sure I wasn’t misinterpreting the art.  I wasn’t.
  • The size of the mosquitoes at Rath’s house.

The Ugly:

  • The “gift” Rath leaves his doctor as he walks out.

 

Men of Wrath #1 is for mature readers due to mature language and violence.

Rating:

Z-View: Rasputin #1 by Grecian & Rossmo

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Rasputin is an on-going series created by Alex Grecian & Riley Rossmo published by Image.

Writer: Alex Grecian

Artist: Riley Rossmo

Colorist: Ivan Plascencia

Letterer: Thomas Mauer

DRACULA AT DOWNTON ABBEY! In one night Rasputin was poisoned, beaten, stabbed, shot in the head, drowned, then tied up and thrown in a frozen river. It was really bad timing. His beard was just coming in nicely. New York Times bestselling author ALEX GRECIAN and fan favorite artist RILEY ROSSMO reunite for the first time since their critically acclaimed series PROOF!

*** Beware – spoilers may be found below ***

The Good

  • Riley Rossmo’s storytelling and art.
  • The set-up that Rasputin can bring back the dead — and the payoff.
  • The fight between Rasputin’s father and a wild bear.
  • Alex Grecian’s essay about why he wanted to make a comic about Rasputin and the comments Rossmo, Pascencia and Mauer.

The Bad:

  • Rasputin’s father.
  • Rasputin’s future.
  • Siberian winters.

The Ugly:

  • Rasputin’s father’s disposition.

 

I enjoyed Rasputin and look forward to future issues.

Rating: 4 out of 5

2014’s Top 100 Comic Book Writers

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CBR.com recently polled comic book fans to come up with 2014’s Top 100 Comic Book Writers and Artists.  Using just the writers on their list, as difficult as it was, I came up with my top ten..

10.  Mike Mignola
09.  Robert Kirkman
08.  Denny O’Neil
07.  Stan Lee
06.  Brian Azzarello
05.  John Byrne
04.  Chris Claremont
03.  Alan Moore
02.  Ed Brubaker
01.  Frank Miller

It is a shame writers like Doug Moench, Steve Niles, Eric Powell and Dan Bereton didn’t make the list.

2014’s Top 100 Comic Book Artists

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CBR.com recently polled comic book fans to come up with 2014’s Top 100 Comic Book Writers and Artists.  Using just the artists on their list, as difficult as it was, I came up with my top ten..

10.  Tim Sale
09.  Mike Mignola
08.  Neal Adams
07.  Bill Sienkiewicz
06.  Alex Toth|
05.  Barry Windsor-Smith
04.  John Byrne
03.  Frank Miller
02.  Darwyn Cooke|
01.  Jim Steranko

The CBR list was created by fans, but I have to wonder how artists like Paul Gulacy, Mike Zeck, Eduardo Risso, Sean Phillips, Brian Stelfreeze, Marshall Rogers, Mike Golden, and Howard Chaykin didn’t make the cut.

Adventures in Pulp – Four Free Webcomics Worth a Look!

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Adventures in Pulp is a cool site where you can find four free web comics:

Dick Ruby and the Little Green Men:  DETECTIVE NOIR MEETS INVASION SCI-FI in “Dick Ruby and the Case of the Little Green Men. It’s New York in the 1940s and private investigator Dick Ruby is on the trail of a missing person. A trail that leads to little green men from outer space.

Hawk and a Handsaw: ENTER A SUPERHERO INSANE ASYLUM in “Hawk and a Handsaw!” You’d have to be a little crazy to put on a brightly colored costume and fight crime, but how exactly would you know who is the real deal and who has simply latched onto the delusion of being a super powered being?

The Four Horsemen: THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING! A power-hungry Prince kills his father to steal the crown and kingdom. The only thing that can stop him, the Good Witch of the Dead Lands. Hiding in her place of power, she summons four warriors from across time and space.

Jigsaw World Daniel Gideon is not a hero. His marriage is on the rocks and he is failing at his job. He is not a happy-go-lucky hero ready to step up to save a patchwork planet. But he might be the world’s only chance. This bizarre world where dinosaurs evolved into a predatory sentient species. A world infested by alien parasites and an invading ecology. A world on the edge of war. A world on the edge of extinction. A Jigsaw World.

Brett Harris [writer] and Matthew Childers [artist] are the creative team behind all four strips.

  • I’ve read [and enjoyed] Dick Ruby and the Little Green Men.
  • Ditto for  Hawk and a Handsaw.
  • The Four Horsemen wasn’t my cup o’ Diet Coke, but I’m sure many folks will enjoy it.
  • Jigsaw World has the potential to be my favorite comic of the four.

Check ’em out.  My guess is, especially if you’ve read this far, you’ll find something at Adventures in Pulp that you’ll enjoy.

Z-View: Dead Body Road #6

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Dead Body Road is a six issue mini-series published by Image.

Writer: Justin Jordan

Penciler / Inker: Matteo Scalera

Colorist: Moreno Dinisio

There’s a man digging a hole in the desert. Let’s see just how many bodies will fit. Orson Gage’s bloody revenge saga ends here.

 

Dead Body Road #6  Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera continue to create a comic that consistently entertains.

The Good

  • Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera.  And when I say, “good” I mean great.
  • Justin Jordan’s message to the readers at the end of each issue.  Excellent feature!
  • Noir at it’s best.

The Bad:

  • Some people are going to be put off by the violence and profanity.
  • More people are going to be sad because the series ends here.

The Ugly:

  • Realizing “we wanted the wrong things” too late.

Dead Body Road #6  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.  

Rating: 5 out of 5

Dead Body Road is available in a Trade Paperback that collects all six issues.

 

The Journey to “Ciudad” – the Most Dangerous and Corrupt City in the World

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I first heard about Ciudad  back in March of 2012.  At that time Ciudad  was being prepped as a movie for Dwayne The Rock  Johnson and as a graphic novel co-written by Anthony and Joe Russo and Ande Parks.

Ciudad  sounded like something action fans would love…

Johnson will play a “black market mercenary” hired by a drug lord to rescue his kidnapped daughter in one of the most “dangerous and corrupt cities in the world.”

Since then Fernando León González came on to draw Ciudad and The Rock  is no longer attached to the movie.  [What about Thomas Jane or Vin Diesel or… ]

Cuidad the graphic novel is now available.  I’ve ordered my copy.  If you’re interested you can too.  If you’re still on the fence CBR.com has an interview with the Russo Brothers and Andre Parks as well as an extensive preview!

Bleeding Cool offers up Ciudad’s High-Octane Action Blows Readers Away, Just In Time For The Holidays.