There’s a lot to cover on Wednesdays. We should know, as collectively, we read an insane amount of comics. Even with a large review staff, it’s hard to get to everything. With that in mind, we’re back with Wrapping Wednesday, where we look at some of the books we missed in what was another great week of comics.
Let’s get this party started.
Chained to the Grave #1
Written by Andy Eschenbach and Brian Level
Illustrated and colored by Kate Sherron
Lettered by Micah Myers
Reviewed by Quinn Tassin
What do you get when you cross a Western with occult horror? A pretty decent comic. “Chained to the Grave” #1 beings the story of Roy Mason, an outlaw raised from he dead by his wife, who goes off in search of buried gold. The fundamentals of the story are strong: it has a intriguing, easy to latch onto main character, a decent (if underdeveloped) supposing cast, a core conflict that’s easy to get, and it all takes place fascinating world that brings demons and zombies to the Wild West. When the issue is at its worst, though, all of that can be difficult to sort out as the story jumps around. It’s not that it’s hard to follow so much as it is unfocused in some key moments including the introduction of its antagonist.
The phonetic presentation of every single word said with a southern accent (that is to say, at least half of them) is a bit exhausting to be honest. There are only so many visually mangled words a reader can handle! A bunch of ain’ts a few fers and ending a handful of words with n’ is a perfectly fine way to communicate what is simply overkill when it appears about 5 times in every speech bubble.
Kate Sherron’s art is the easy highlight of “Chained to the Grave” #1. Sherron combines psychedelic colors with highly stylized character designs, bringing an interesting tone to the issue; like a Saturday morning cartoon made for grown ups. There are a number of moments where Sherron shines, including the striking opening pair of pages in which Roy rises from the grave. It’s the rail yard confrontation, though, where she really shows off her full potential. Roy and his family leaping onto a moving train while fighting off attackers both mystical and human, punctuated by he revelation that his wife is a traitor, is truly thrilling.
All in all, this is a solid first issue that delivers some great art, even if its writing is just good.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – “Chained to the Grave” #1 is an intriguing, confident start to a series that seems destined for pretty goodness
Fire Power #8
Written by Robert Kirkman
Illustrated by Chris Samnee
Colored by Matt Wilson
Lettered by Rus Wooton
Reviewed by Jim Malakwen
After the previous issue’s revelations, “Fire Power” #8 opens with a spectacular demonstration of Chou Feng’s martial prowess that shows he’ll be a formidable opponent for Owen when they have their inevitable showdown.
In comparison to the Prelude OGN and other installments of this series, “Fire Power” #8 feels like a setup episode. Having familiarized the reader with the cast, writer Robert Kirkman focuses on shifting the story’s setting from the suburban environment of the previous chapters to one more suited to tackling the threat of The Dragon’s Claw Assassins.
As the storytellers guide us into the third story arc of this unfolding saga, one feels confident that a great deal of worldbuilding has been done and that exciting things are in the future.
It goes without saying that the artwork is superb. Chris Samnee has a gift for rendering jaw-dropping action sequences. His panel layouts are dynamic and his camera placement is very effective. In addition, he uses motion lines in a manner more commonly seen in Manga. The result is a kinetic feel to the fight sequences that accurately recreates the exhilaration of watching a Hong Kong martial arts film.
Samnee’s inks further enhance the lighting of his scenes. His use of silhouettes creates a great sense of contrast and variety to the artwork. Furthermore the way he utilizes black gutters intensifies the contrast with Matt Wilson’s colors. The lettering in this comic is quite striking; sound effects are often used to suggest the impact of blows and this works well with the artwork.
Continued belowFinally, the Chat Series at the end presents a wonderful opportunity for Kirkman and Samnee to delve into their creative process and provides much appreciated insight into the making of this excellent comic book.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – a fun entry in what is sure to be one of the most unique and exciting comic books on the stands.
Graphic Fantasy #1
Written by Erik Larsen, Al Harris, and Kevin Keyes
Pencilled by Erik Larsen, Al Harris, and Kevin Keyes
Inked by Erik Larson
Lettered by Erik Larson, Al Harris, and Peggy Nahas
Reviewed by Jeremy Estes
Reading this comic is like looking at someone’s baby pictures. It’s cute, maybe a little embarrassing, but filled with potential. The proud papa is Erik Larsen, Image Comics co-founder and creator of “Savage Dragon.” Larsen drew homemade Dragon comics as a child, co-published Dragon’s first appearance here in 1982’s “Graphic Fantasy” #1, and launched the ongoing Dragon series a decade later. He continues to write and draw the “Savage Dragon” to this day.
Divorced from the rest of Larsen’s later career, this book isn’t remarkable. Larsen’s storytelling is clear, if occasionally clunky, but the wild character designs and Kirby-like bombast of his later work are not. There are hints of it, like the full-page shot of Dragon charging at the villain Mace, but it falls short of the impact it’s trying to achieve. In short, it’s the work of a 19 year-old still searching for his artistic voice.
The other features in this book are mostly standard 80s indie superhero fare, and without an association with the Dragon would likely only be of interest to the most dedicated bargain bin hunters. Al Harris’ “Prism,” who gets his powers from a cave-dwelling wizard, is an interesting looking character, like a diamond-encrusted version of Marvel’s the Thing, but the character’s visual flair does not extend to the rest of the story. Kevin Clarke Keyes’ “Iron Hawk,” a Buck Rogers-like space hero, starts off with a promising splash page featuring a spike-like spaceship but the quality drops off immediately, with some pages looking unfinished. “Domestic Tranquility” created by Peggy Nahas and executed by “K.C. Keyes, et al.” is somehow the least accomplished and most interesting of the bunch. This two-pager features a miniature female hero armed with a broom who seeks revenge against slovenly men while riding…an orange? One of those dish scrubber things? It’s unclear. It would be funny if it wasn’t so strange.
So, why re-release these baby pictures? If you’ve read “Savage Dragon” at any point in the last 30 years, “why not?” would probably best describe Larsen’s approach to comics. He’s destroyed universes, killed major characters, and aged his cast in “real time.” He’s played with page layout, panel grids, and the tools he uses to make comics. He continues to plumb the depths of his imagination to produce the kind of classic superhero beat ‘em up stories he so clearly loves. Reading “Graphic Fantasy” #1 shows just how far he’s come.
Final Verdict: 6.0 -Erik Larsen’s devotion to his childhood creation continues to inspire nearly 30 years after the launch of Image Comics, but this facsimile edition is for completists only.
King in Black: Black Knight #1
Written by Simon Spurrier
Illustrated by Jesús Saiz
Lettered by VC’s Cory Petit
Reviewed by Luke Cornelius
“King in Black: Black Knight” #1 brings another “Avengers-adjacent” hero into the fold: Dane Whitman, The Black Knight, and the wielder of the Ebony Blade. Simon Spurrier’s script does a great job of quickly introducing the character and weaving his history into the current events. Whitman is the latest descendant of Sir Percy of Scandia, the knight chosen by Merlin for his purity of heart; a trait needed to control the sword’s bloodlust. Knull wants the sword and later exposes the sword’s “myth,” revealing that only someone impure of heart can wield it and that is the truth behind Merlin’s choice. It’s a significant change to the character’s lore and one that Spurrier ensures still lands for new readers.
Surrounding the dramatic revision of the Ebony Blade’s wielders is a fun comic. Spurrier juxtaposes the somewhat poetic grandeur of Whitman’s “fake olde world” narration against his modern reality to give Whitman an out of touch feel. Letterer Cory Petit aids the distinctiveness of the narration too by placing it against a torn parchment background. Petit doesn’t use an “olde world” font, though, which emphasises the falsity of Whitman’s narration.
Continued belowThere’s plenty for artist Jesús Saiz to get stuck into in “King in Black: Black Knight” #1. Between clear and energized action sequences are two symbiote mind/dream sequences. Here Saiz glides through Dane’s mind, presenting his ancestors first and then blending together images of Knull tormenting the Black Knight with the truth about his bloodline in the second. There’s a great fluidity in both sequences that makes them truly intangible and dream-like. Saiz’s use of color stands out in these sequences too, with him utilising a drained and cold blue for the majority of the dream sequence, with red highlighting specific aspects in each ‘panel.’
“King in Black: Black Knight” #1 manages to work as an introduction to the character, an event tie-in, and an appetizer for Spurrier’s upcoming Black Knight series. The single annoyance with the one-shot comes with the lack of a location for Garrett Castle, which this reviewer presumed to be in the UK, but Dane is described as American (due to his accent?) and after a seemingly brief fight with a dragon, falls out of the sky into Shanghai. This presumed shift in geography didn’t fit with the length of the fight. It isn’t a book-breaker, but it is momentarily very jarring.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Spurrier, Saiz, and Petit succeed at producing an entertaining ‘King in Black’ tie-in that’s a good appetizer for “Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade.”
Man-Bat #1
Written by Dave Wielgosz
Illustrated by Sumit Kumar
Colored by Romulo Fajardo Jr
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
Reviewed by Gregory Ellner
Dave Wielgosz’s take on Kirk Langstrom is interesting for a protagonist. The sometimes-good doctor is not quite a bad person, but nor is he inherently good. His tale is one of tragedy, of an apparent slide down toward villainy that is destined to be undone around the time of the noted chronologically subsequent arcs in “Justice League Dark.” However, while Langstrom is interesting, he is not sympathetic. Wielgosz makes sure that readers are aware that despite what Langstrom intends to do, good intentions do not mean anything when his actions, and their consequences, are far more in the realm of negative than positive, at once following him with internal narration and showing through both his actions and being called out by others around him that he is at best deluded. The Man-Bat is shown as someone to be watched, but not emulated.
Sumit Kumar’s artwork provides a necessary aspect to Man-Bat’s self-titled miniseries: motion. Kirk Langstrom is very much a man obsessed, and in his flight as the eponymous, scientifically based therianthrope, readers are invited to feel the thrill, the rush, of his intoxicating flight from above, much as they are to be disturbed by his erratic movement in his human form as well as the array of emotions across his face. The way he is drawn, the audience is also able to, on some level, feel for his idea of humans being those he can fight back, as they may seem insignificant, even unimportant, next to a monster like the unhinged Man-Bat.
Romulo Fajardo Jr. has a not-insignificant amount of experience with stories located in Gotham City, from “Batman Eternal” to “Batgirl,” and seems to have settled into a particular color palette. The result is a collection of color choices that is, on the whole, overall very traditional, with the same blues, red, and others that one comes to expect in a nighttime Gotham City. However, there are outliers, such as more varied hues on holographic projections, along with a blurry dimmer light to the skyline. That said, overall there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly impressive about the colors for “Man-Bat” #1.
Final Verdict: 7.0- There is still a fair bit left to go, but with this debut, “Man-Bat” is a miniseries worth taking for a ride.
Maniac of New York #1
Written by Elliot Kalan
Illustrated and colored by Andrea Mutti
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Reviewed by Alexander Manzo
“Maniac of New York” #1 begins with a flashback to 2016 and a bloody massacre on New Year’s Eve. The story continues with the the news coverage following. The way the murders are discussed in the news panels gives a relatable response with talking heads talking about action, but not actually doing anything.
Continued belowThe continued coverage introduces the two protagonist, Gina Greene and Zelda Pettibone, and how they are taking in the new information. Greene listens during her morning routine and seemingly takes in every bit of information, while Pettibone has the news on in the background while almost dreading going out to a boring routine of detective work. With this introduction of the characters, the reader is able to understand the motivation for both and how much the killer’s elusiveness has effected them.
In the pair’s first meeting to exchange information, there is a battle of “who actually cares.” They both have the same goal of catching the maniac, however Pettibone’s resistance after not getting anywhere over the years has definitely dragged her down. The trope of a fresh pair of eyes with a veteran is established, though with the lack of other characters in the opening chapter, there is only hope that others will be introduced to help fill the story.
The art in the story feels a little misguided at times. Especially towards the beginning in Green’s first interactions in her new job, the color of the main character and background are the same and causes some confusion for the reader. As the issue progresses, it does get better but the similarities in colors gave a confusing impression of where to focus. On a positive note, the scenes of the bloody murders more than makes up for it with the sheer detail of blood on the boots and focus in the murderers eyes which, for a slasher comic, is the real meat and potatoes of it.
Final Verdict 6.8 – A good introduction to the hunt for this unstoppable killer but at times feeling misguided.
Specter Inspectors #1
Written by Bowen McCurdy and Kaitlyn Musto
Illustrated and colored by Bowen McCurdy
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Reviewed By Rebis
This series tells the story of Noa and her team of paranormal investigators (KO, Astrid, and her sibling Gus) who bite off a bit more than they can chew when they investigate “one of the most haunted towns in America.” McCurdy & Musto set out to tell a classic horror story with a fresh perspective from a cast of characters that are fun and relatable. The investigators know what they’re dealing with and approach it from a pragmatic, investigatory stance.
Horror relies on tropes and themes to deliver the scares and chills; Musto and McCurdy know these tropes and play with them throughout. The use of classic paranormal lore quickly establishes the weaknesses of the supernatural forces at work, as a sort of run down of the standard stuff: salt, “Holy-ish” water and the cross.
McCrudy uses wide, distant splashes to add a hint of voyeurism to the page. There is a love of tropes in the use of colors, such as using somewhat sickly greens and blues that are reminiscent of the lighting used often in ghost hunting shows, to illustrate when you enter the spook zones. There’s an air of creepiness that comes across from the first page, with the use of dead plants and an empty town which, aside from our main group, we don’t see another person in. This is well juxtaposed by McCurdy’s cartoon-like style, giving the reader the feeling of safety through familiarity and still delivering the chills effectively. “Specter Inspectors,” while using the themes we’ve come to know and love, delivers them in an enjoyable and new way.
Final Verdict 7.8 – A lot of fun and an exciting concept that has lots of potential.
Sea of Sorrows #3
Written by Rich Doueck
Illustrated and Colored by Alex Cormack
Lettered by Justin Birch
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
Doueck & Cormack are very good at capturing the alienation and creeping paranoia of their settings. “Road of Bodies” focused on the isolation of the Siberian wilderness while “Sea of Sorrows” focuses instead on the claustrophobic nature of the ocean, both above and below the water. Panels are kept tight on the page, only pulling out to establish the vast emptiness that surrounds their tiny, cramped quarters. Issue #3 amps up the questions the crew has about the nature of their mission, what with one of the crew members going missing and another having gone homicidal, and this fear spills out onto the page.
Continued belowCormack’s artwork illustrates the ugliness of this fear through the unhinged, wide-eyed, dirty faces of the ship’s crew and Doueck deft maneuvering of the characters keeps the ironic distance high and the trust low. Birch’s lettering supports this, with a slightly fuzzy font, as if the rocking of the ship and the tensioni the air is affecting the words. I particularly like the touch of Pfeiffer’s words pushing out of the word balloon on the third page. It highlights the intensity of his declaration without breaking the established conventions of the book. It’s a winning combination for a story, and for the third chapter of a story, even without the supernatural element driving the spooky going on.
The main complaint I have is that Cormack’s art can sometimes be too busy. This manifests mostly during the underwater scenes, where the bubbles overwhelm the foreground and background alike, making it difficult to make out what’s supposed to be important, or when the coloring on the background blends objects together in the darkness. It keeps the tone of the piece intact but at the expense of some clarity. This may bite the book in the butt in the future but for now, the simplicity of the story allows for some leeway when it comes to perfect clarity.
Final Verdict: 7.2. – “Sea of Sorrows” #3 is a solid middle chapter of this mini-series, even with a few clarity issues.
