Review: Low #3

Hope lives on at the bottom of the ocean refusing to be crushed by the enormous pressures of a society sunk so low. 

This third installment of Low ventures into the streams of political apathy, an unflinching spirit, complete and utter human despair, and the joys of discovery. Is it good?

Rick Remender ventures into the profligate halls of the Capitol of Salus, where Stel encounters what has become of the Senate and the political class of the surviving humans. Greg Tocchini conjures images straight out of the paintings of Pompeii. Senator Greeme is having a full-on orgy with dozens of women many of them most likely illusions conjured by the cream.

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Review: C.O.W.L. #5

The Chicago Organized Workers League is at its breaking point. Geoffrey Warner is attempting to pull out all the stops to salvage the union, but will his efforts be enough or will the members of C.O.W.L. go their separate ways? More importantly, is it good?

After the chaos of the strike in the previous issue, the political landscape for Geoffrey Warner and C.O.W.L. is looking grim. His allies within the organization and outside are shrinking and shrinking fast. Even a once dependable ally in the media backs out claiming, “…eventually everything ends.

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Review: Purgatori #1

Creators Aaron Gillespie and Javier Garcia Miranda introduce Purgatori just “hanging” around Hell. Lucifer and Hel are having a little fun with her using all sorts of toys: a power drill, a morningstar, and even a butcher’s cleaver to name a few. However, their fun quickly turns into a fight over which one will be able to keep Sakkara of Alexandria, the Vampire Goddess. Take a walk through Hell and find out if it is good.

The disagreement between Lucifer and Hel gives Sakkara the perfect opportunity to goad Hel into a violent rage. Writer Aaron Gillespie and artist Javier Garcia Miranda introduce one of the most important aspects of Sakkara’s character – she derives pleasure from increasing amounts of pain and punishment. She enjoys the beatings and revels in Hel’s vicious attacks. 

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Review: The Life After #3

Joshua Hale Fialkov and Gabo’s journey into Purgatory continues to get weirder by the page, even venturing into the beginning of time. It is strange, that’s for sure, but is it good?

Fialkov and Gabo begin by reintroducing the traditional Biblical story of Jesus Christ. Fialkov adds some light humor when God interacts with Mary telling her straight-up to avoid conversation about her betrothed because after all God does not want to be the other man. Unfortunately his plan fails. Jesus is crucified and the world continues to wage war.

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Review: Black Market #3

Ray and Denny’s past catches up with them in a number of ways in Black Market #3, but is it good?

Frank Barbiere and Victor Santos have finally hit their stride in Black Market, where Ray and his brother Denny track down Supers to drain their blood for a company called Biochem. The story starts out on November 8, 2012. Ray has agreed to help Denny patch up one of his injured crew members, and the tone of the story is ominous. Barbiere uses Ray to narrate the opening scene and sucks the reader in with an excellent bit of writing: “But all the good intentions in the world can’t fix what I’ve done.” The reader immediately desires to find out what exactly can be worse than what Ray has already done in the previous two issues.

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Review: The Shadow Year One #10

The Shadow Year One is the conclusion of The Shadow’s fledgling journey into crime fighting and the beginning of his crusade for justice. After being introduced to The Shadow in Grendel vs. The Shadow #1, being able to review this final conclusion was too hard to resist. So let’s get down to it, is it good?

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Review: Deadpool vs. X-Force #4

The laughs continue as creative team Duane Swierczynski and Pepe Larraz finish up their four-book miniseries. Deadpool has rescued Adolf Hitler, enemy #1 of time travelers extraordinaire, and is protecting him with an all-new super-gun. The panel describing the gun is hilarious! It is a spoof on television commercials telling you to “Call Now!” Letterer VC’s Joe Sabino uses a bunch of different fonts to conjure up the voice of Billy Mays. And he guarantees “It KILLS them forever!!”

While Deadpool is off erasing wannabe saviors of World War II, Cable and the X-Force are busy cleaning up the mess Deadpool left behind during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. It all seems too easy for the X-force. Cable uses his telekinetic powers to give the British back the tactical advantage. All seems as if they have triumphed, but Deadpool and Talbot have other ideas!

Pepe Larraz creates a warped world where the Nazi’s have won with the use of powerful Panzer-Sentinels decked out in a new flag combining the Nazi swastika with blue and red stripes, a warped version of the American flag. The Panzer-Sentinels are fearsome to behold with skulls for faces and large eyes; a true terror that has even Cable scared. Colorist Nolan Woodard adds to the fear by giving the Sentinels’ skull faces a pinkish color with green glowing eyes. Larraz and Woodard not only create fear with their Panzer-Sentinels, but they also add amusement on the very next page with a young Adolf Hitler throwing a temper tantrum. Adolf’s hair covering his right eye with his feet flailing in the air is downright comical. One of the most villainous human beings to walk the earth has been reduced to a mere child crying out for attention.

The action sequences are also wonderful to look at. Deadpool begins unleashing his Time Gun MachineTM vaporizing a woman and her parents. Her parents are blasted into skeletal form as their skin and bones begin disintegrating into the wind. Warpath rips an eye out of one of the Panzer-Sentinels and the mechanical and electrical parts come spilling forth. Woodard highlights the electrical wire giving it a bright white color, contrasting it against the looming shadow of the Sentinel. The panel highlights the combination of Larraz’s artwork with Woodard’s colors. However, there are some minor hiccups. For example, in the following panel Warpath appears to have five flailing appendages as he is thrown to the side.

Swierczynski ends the story beautifully keeping the humor alive and paying tribute to Deadpool’s first ever appearance in New Mutants #98. However, Swierczynski relies a little too much on Cable’s telekinetic abilities to bring the story to a close.

7.8	Larraz’s artwork and Woodard’s colors were fun and action packed. Swierczynski kept the humor flowing and wrapped up the story nicely despite an over-reliance on Cable’s telekinetic powers.

Review: The Squidder #3

A gut-wrenching, tear-jerking look back into the Squidder’s past opens up Templesmith’s best book yet in The Squidder series. The scene evokes a twist on one of the most classic scenes in movies: Princess Leia telling Han Solo she loves him right before he is frozen in carbonite. Solo’s response: “I know.” However, Templesmith turns this idea on its head when the Squidder is forced to put a bullet through his wife’s head before she turns into a mindless Squid drone. Upon putting his wife out of her misery the Squidder realizes, “At the end, she never said she loved me.” The scene arguably has more emotional gravitas than Han and Leia and draws you into the character.

Templesmith does not stop with a twist on powerful movie themes. He gives us a glimpse into the politics of the Squid as well as explaining the Dark Father’s true purpose and the Squid’s overarching goals for humanity and the universe. The politics of the Squid look a whole lot like Agent Smith and the Matrix. Queen Unit 59B yearns to be free of the central sentience and believes the Squidder holds the key to this freedom.

The strangest and most bizarre twist Templesmith incorporates is the myth of King Arthur and his sword, Excalibur. There are tales the Lady of the Lake gave Excalibur to Arthur; however, Templesmith takes this to a whole new level. The Squidder receives a sword from a lady, notably Seph the Squid priestess, but only after completing a very sensual ritual and birthing process. The scene is shocking, creepy, and awesome all at the same time.

While Templesmith’s writing and story-telling take the forefront in this book, his artwork is still fantastic. He takes us from a gray drab landscape to snow-covered tundra to the mind of the Squid. The way he creates clouds as circular shaped smudges highlights the desolate, dying world the Squidder occupies. At some point, the smudges are no longer representing clouds but take the form of snow or are smaller and darker resembling ash. Templesmith really does an excellent job with his use of colors from using reds and oranges in a passionate love-making scene to greens and blues when depicting Queen Unit 59B.

However, some of the battle scenes are a little hard to follow with Templesmith’s pencil sketch art style. Is that the Squidder’s entrails flowing out of his stomach or is that his boot stomping on someone’s head? At one point Seph seems to take a massive blow from the Squid, with blood spraying from her left shoulder, but in the next panel the Squidder is complimenting her combat technique. Apparently, it was the Squid’s blood spraying across the panel and not hers.

Lastly, Templesmith’s lettering is excellent. The reader knows full well who is talking based on both the color of the text as well as the color of the speech bubbles. The Squidder and Seph have normal white/cream colored bubbles with black text, Queen Unit 59B has black bubbles with green text, and the Squid mother has red bubbles with black text.

8.0	Templesmith weaves a wonderful, gruesome tale combining a number of twists on popular fantasy and mythological themes. His artwork and coloring is once again solid despite some confusion in combat sequences.

Review: Robocop #3

The powder keg that is Detroit gets even bigger when Murphy and Lewis discover Mister Hutch and his split-open head. Both decide to take matters into their own hands, forgoing the chain of command and beginning their own detective work. Where will their investigations lead? Is it good?

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Review: Grendel vs. The Shadow #1

Two classic characters, one a brilliant criminal mastermind and the other a vigilante on an unstoppable quest for justice, collide in Matt Wagner’s Grendel vs. The Shadow #1. Is it good?

Matt Wagner and his colorist son Brennan Wagner weave an excellent introduction connecting the two main protagonists in just the first two pages of the issue; although it may take new readers (such as myself) a second read through to realize this. After creating the connection between the two characters, Matt Wagner focuses on introducing them, letting the reader know who Grendel and The Shadow actually are.

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