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

10 Facts You May Not Know About Elvis Presley

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Eddie Deezen recently presented 10 Facts You May Not Know About Elvis Presley.  Here are my three favs from the list…

5. He wanted to make guest appearances on Laugh-In and Hee Haw.
Elvis was an inveterate TV watcher.He enjoyed watching many popular television shows in the ’60s and ’70s.

He actually thought about making cameo appearances on both Laugh-In and Hee Haw. He thought he could do a brief cameo on Laugh-In when he rode a tricycle, incognito. It never happened.

6. He didn’t know the Beatles by name.
In 1965, the celebrated formal meeting of Elvis and the Beatles took place at Elvis’ house in Bel Air. Since Elvis had no idea which Beatle was which, during the meeting, he addressed each one as “Beatle,” instead of using their first names.

1. He was pals with Clint Eastwood.
Elvis and Clint Eastwood used to see each other around the studio they both worked at in the mid-60’s. According to Clint: “I was always wearing a gun. (Elvis) loved to do fast draws and stuff, so we always did fast draws together.”

“I liked him. He seemed like a good guy. Had a lot of guys hanging around, big entourage.”

 Source: Neatorama.

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

Z-View: The Big Ugly

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The Big Ugly  by Jake Hinkson.

 

Ellie Bennett is an ex-corrections officer who has just served a year inside Eastgate Penitentiary for assaulting a prisoner. She’s only been out for a day when she accepts a strange job offer from the head of a Christian political advocacy group. He wants her to track down a missing ex-con named Alexis. Although no one knows where Alexis has gone, it seems like everyone in Arkansas is looking for her—from a rich televangelist running for Congress to the governor’s dirty tricks man. When Bennett finds the troubled young woman, she has to decide whether to hand her over to the highest bidder or help her escape from the most powerful men in the state.

Jake Hinkson writes noir… but always with a twist from expected conventions.  In  The Big Ugly our protagonist is a wrongly-convicted, tough ex-con who becomes a private-eye of sorts.  No twist there, right?  Oh, did I mention that our “hero” is a woman?

Ellie Bennett is a tough-talking, rough broad who is all woman.  Ellie finds herself dealing with two-competing factions who want to “silence” Alexis – the woman Ellie has been paid to find.  If Ellie refuses to cooperate she’ll end up back in prison at best and at worst in an unmarked grave with Alexis.

Ellie is in way over her head.  Either Ellie cooperates and still ends up with one of the competing factions after her or she refuses and has both groups after her.  Perhaps there is a third option…

The Big Ugly is for mature audiences due to mature language, sex and violence.

Rating: 4 out of 5 

Z-View: “A Simple Plan”

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The Tagline:  “Sometimes good people do evil things..“

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

Hank [Bill Paxton] and Sarah [Bridget Fonda] are living the American Dream.  Married and expecting a child, Hank works at the local feed store and Sarah is a librarian.  Known and respected by folks in their small town, things seem wonderful for the young couple.

When Hank, his dim-witted brother, Jacob [Billy Bob Thorton] and Jacob’s alcoholic friend, Lou [Brent Briscoe] accidentally stumble across a downed plane buried in the snow, they find their morality tested.  The plane contains a dead pilot and over four million dollars cash.

Hank wants to report their find to the police with hope there will be a reward. Lou wants to keep the money and say nothing.  Jacob sides with Lou. Ultimately, they decide that Hank will keep the money for the three. If no one comes calling after the plane is found in the spring, they will split the money equally and leave town going their separate ways.

It is a simple plan.  What could go wrong?

*** Even More Spoilers Below ***

The Good

  • Hank’s simple plan.
  • How when the plan begins to almost immediately unravel, the steps taken to correct things leads to worse events.
  • The twists along the way.
  • Director Sam Raimi creates so many suspenseful scenes.
  • Screenwriter Scott B. Smith skillfully adapts his novel of the same name.
  • How logical choices lead to unreasonable actions.
  • Paxton, Fonda, Thorton and Briscoe are excellent in their roles.
  •  “That man’s got a gun, Hank.  When he sees the plane, he’s gonna shoot you both.”

The Bad:

  • The evil that good people will do for money.
  • Making a pact with a dimwit and mean drunk.
  • When two of the three break their promise not to tell anyone what they found.
  • When Lou comes calling for his share of the money.
  • When the sheriff comes around asking questions.
  • When the FBI agent comes asking about the plane… and is he really FBI?

The Ugly:

  • When one bad decision forces worse choices.
  • When people don’t die straight away.
  • Learning how people talk about you when you’re not there.
  • The pain of betrayal.

 

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.