Gravedigger by Mills and Burchett Going to Action Lab Entertainment!

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Chris Mills announced this week that Gravedigger, the brilliant crime comic that he does with Rick Burchett will begin appearing from Action Lab Entertainment‘s Danger Zone later this year.

Regular readers know that I am a huge fan of both Mills and Burchett [separately] and Gravedigger is one of my all-time favorite comic characters.  Hopefully Action Lab will get enough sales of  two existing Gravedigger sagas – The Scavengers and The Predators to call for a nice hardcover and more Gravedigger yarns.

You can believe that I will keep you posted.

Z-View: Quatermain – Ghosts of the Nzadi #1 by Davis and Silva

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Quatermain: Ghosts of the Nzodi #1 was published by Blue Water Comics.

Writter: Scott Davis

Artist: Hoyt Silva

Letterer: David Hopkins

 

While travelling on a somber mission to bury his recently deceased son, legendary hero Allan Quatermain is forced to confront both inner demons…and bestial undead ones too. When the body of his son disappears, he jumps headlong on a quest to reclaim the body and unburies several secrets some believe best left hidden. Woven into historical landscape of the brutal Belgian rule of the Congo, this new Quatermain adventure travels into the heart of darkness and remains true to the exploratory spirit of the original HR Haggard novels.

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

The Good

  • Hoyt Silva was the selling point for me.  Hoyt did the pencils, inks and colors.
  • Nice cover!
  • “Oi Frenchy! The lady has an opinion.”
  • Mixing fictional characters with historical characters.
  • “Reality is a lot less flattering.”

The Bad:

  • Henry Morton Stanley.
  • Finding your son’s casket is empty and there is a lot of zombie talk going around.

The Ugly:

  • “He’s lost a considerable amount of blood.”

 

Quatermain: Ghosts of the Nzodi #1  is for readers  twelve and up due to some violence.

Rating: 3 out of 5

“The Expanse” Trailer — Starring Thomas Jane

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I just heard about The Expanse — a ten episode series starring Thomas Jane.  Here’s how the Syfy Channel describes it…

A thriller set two hundred years in the future, The Expansefollows the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system to expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

This hour-long, ten episode series is based on the popular New York Times bestselling book series collectively known as The Expanse, written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (under the pen name James S. A. Corey). Abraham and Franck will be show producers.

Count me in.

Z-View: Men of Wrath #3 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

Ira Wrath is ready to pull the trigger on the last remaining member of his family, and bring the story of his bloodline to a violent end.

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

The Good

  • Ron Garney’s art.
  • Love the cover!
  • “I still never seen no ocean.”
  • “Now tell me little lady… was I lyin’ then?”
  • “Wasn’t always a preacher. Not in Phu Bau in ’68.”

The Bad:

  • Ira Rath is so bad he is willing to kill his own son for money.
  • It’s a long time since ’68.

The Ugly:

  • The history of the Rath family.

 

Men of Wrath #3 is for mature readers due to mature language and violence.

Rating:

Z-View: Rasputin #3 by Grecian and 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

Young Rasputin has the power to heal people, to give them energy, and to make them feel better than they ever have before. The ladies do not complain.

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

The Good

  • Riley Rossmo’s art continues to impress.
  • “You do not only give life, you exchange it.”

The Bad:

  • Not knowing what the giant monk did to your friends and agreeing to take him with you on your journey.
  • This issue was a little too supernatural/metaphysical for my tastes.

The Ugly:

  • “I have always known what my friends would do to me… and how this would end.”

 

I enjoyed Rasputin 3 and look forward to future issues.

Rating: 4 out of 5 

Z-View: Men of Wrath #2 by Aaron & 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

Dig deeper into the bloodstained history of the Raths, an Alabama family caught in a generational cycle of violence. Are all members of this clan of killers cursed to live and die by the sword, or can one of them break the chain?

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

The Good

  • Ron Garney’s art.
  • Milla does an especially nice job of coloring the night scenes.
  • “I’d much rather bury one body than two.”
  • “Kid… I’m sorry.”

The Bad:

  • Catching rabies.
  • How Reuben Rath can earn some extra money.
  • The cover shown above is boring.

The Ugly:

  • Being put down like a dog… a “bad dog.”

 

Men of Wrath #2 is for mature readers due to mature language and violence.

Rating:

Z-View: Deep State #2 by Jordan and 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

Harrow and Branch’s investigation of the long-lost Soviet lander’s crash site leads them to a small town in rural Pennsylvania. Before the mysterious force is able to take control of the townspeople and enact its full plan, the Agents of Control must isolate the town from the world and eliminate the menace.

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

The Good

  • Opening line: “It’s already too late.”
  • The storytelling used to show Harrow and Branch clearing a house.
  • The rapidly spreading virus/plague/alien infestation makes for a fun story.

The Bad:

  • The rapidly spreading virus/plague/alien infestation makes for a bad situation for the characters in the story.
  • How Harrow helps when he is “entire and effective.”
  • The art/coloring doesn’t gel as well as in the first issue.

The Ugly:

  • What happens when you meet someone who has met the alien.

 

Deep State #2 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: “The Quiet Ones”

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The Tagline:  Something unspeakable is happening to Jane Harper.

The Overview:   *** Beware –  spoilers are found below ***

The Quiet Ones is based on real events (yeah, right) which took place in 1974 when a college professor along with three of his students studied a young girl named Jane in an effort to explain away her supposed supernatural powers.

Jane has no memory of her past, no family and believes she is possessed by a spirit named Evey.  Evey sometimes lives in a doll.  Perhaps Jane has telekinetic powers.  Maybe it is the thing that possess her.  Either way one of them is a firestarter.  The professor plans to explain things scientifically and also to get Jane to push the evil possessing her into a doll which they can then destroy.  How does he plan to do this?  By depriving Jane of sleep.

At this point it doesn’t matter because most of the audience is already snoring.

*** Even More Spoilers Below ***

The Good

  • Olivia Cooke who plays Jane.

The Bad:

  • The story is a jumbled mess.
  • No real scares.
  • No real characters to root for… not even Jane.

The Ugly:

  • The feeling you have after watching The Quiet Ones.

 

Rating: 1 out of 5

 

 

Darwyn Cooke’s Revengeance

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Darwyn Cooke was an amazing artist. He was always kind and humble in my interactions with him.  But that was the way he was with his fans.  Cooke was one of the few artsits that I’d seek out anything he worked on.  Sadly he left us far too soon.

Before Darwyne Cooke died, a new mini-series by him was in the works…

Darwyn Cooke’s Revengeance has been announced and I can’t wait…

REVENGEANCE is a psychological thriller with darkly humorous overtones. When Joe Malarky is faced with a criminal tragedy, he sets out to make things right on his own. What follows is Joe’s odyssey through the underside of the city and the madness that seems to drive his crazy world. REVENGEANCE takes place in Toronto in the mid-eighties and is part crime story, part psychotronic melodrama, and a wholly fond look back at the author’s hometown.

Man, that sounded so cool.  Of course everything Cooke created fit that category.

Source: Almost Darwyn Cooke.