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.
My Date With Monsters #1
Written by Paul Tobin
Illustrated by Andy MacDonald
Colored by DJ Chavis
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Reviewed by Quinn Tassin
A premise as genuinely creative and fun as the one that “My Date with Monsters” is based on doesn’t come by all that often. A rift in reality that brings nightmare monsters to life is being held open by one 12 year old girl’s trauma and the only way to close it is for her to see her mother fall in love again and finally feel happy so the government is bankrolling that mission? Incredible. Give me 100 issues right now. The idea is a mouthful and maybe a little niche, sure, but it has such clear potential for comedy, heart, and horror that it feels impossible not to be endeared the this series right away. Paul Tobin and Andy MacDonald throw us into a world with characters who we can connect with easily, personal troubles that are universal, and a large scale plot device that provides endless potential for scares and action alike.
The big snag that Tobin hits here is that there’s so much exposition he crams in here that the issue runs into stumbling blocks more often than it needs to. With some of it, like the plan to weaponize dreams turning into the rift in reality, the explanation doesn’t feel strictly necessary. The thing about fake science is you can’t spend too much time explaining it before it starts to feel fake. If you tell an audience something like nightmares being alive is true or give a brief explanation, they’ll accept it. When you try too hard to make it sound like something they should accept, it starts to feel flimsy. With other moments, like the reveal that the government is setting up dates for Risa, Tobin could have elected to show not tell. That’s something he does exceptionally well throughout the first third of the issue, particularly the introduction of Croak. It makes this a messer first issue than it had to be.
MacDonald does generally strong work on the pencils and DJ Chavis’s colors are solid. The ‘mares are the clear highlight of the issue. Their designs are disgusting and just humanoid enough that they feel genuinely creepy- like things that would actually show up in a nightmare. The last few pages are jarringly scary. There’s a shift in atmosphere and suddenly a deeply creepy ghost-like woman has killed multiple middle school kids. MacDonald and Chavis do excellent work controlling the tone in that moment and bringing in a sense of horror without losing the fact that this is part of a day in normal people’s lives.
This is a good comic and it seems like it could be a great one. The characters are great (I’m getting in at the ground floor of Croak stan-dom) and the dating element is sure to be a delight. The ‘mares are scary and we’ve got a good emotional core. Hopefully getting past some of these expository growing pains will confirm prove me right.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – “My Date with Monsters” #1 marks a strong, if shaky, start for one of the most original comics hitting the stands
Phenomx #1
Written by John Leguizamo, Aram Rappaport, Joe Miciak, & Damian Slattery
Illustrated by Chris Batista
Inked by Sabrina Cintron
Colored by Christopher Sotomayor
Lettered by Andworld Design
Reviewed by Alexander Manzo
Another comic written by a Hollywood actor trying to bring a Latinx superhero to the forefront for “Phenomx.” The story is supposed to be a tale of redemption and fight against stereotypes for people of color. The main component needed for the governmental drug to take effect is for a person to have Native American, European, and Black DNA, which leads to Latinx being the primary target for the trials. Even the protagonist, Max Gomez, notices that it feels like a chance for Latinx people to get an opportunity for power but also profiled.
Continued belowWhile John Leguizamo, Aram, Rappaport, Joe Miciak, and Damian Slattery may have been focusing a little too much on fitting these characters in rather than the story itself. The reader knows that Max’s goal is to get out of jail and be a father to his son. He mentions it every chance he gets. There’s never a strong emotional component to grasp onto. Any chance for an emotional beat is followed by a one-liner that takes the reader immediately out of the seriousness. The issue itself is rather long, so the reader would be led to believe there would be a chance to find something to root for with Max, but it becomes more about waiting for when his powers manifest.
Christ Batista does his best to redeem the story with his art and keep the readers’ attention. The main character’s features seem to resemble a young Leguizamo due to similar features when it comes to the big toothy smile, furrowed brow, and thin lips. The confusing part of Max’s character design is at various times in the issue. He goes from looking young to older, and it’s never said his exact age, so it can take the reader aback while following along.
Often though, the expressions on the characters don’t seem to match the mood of the script. For example, when Max is visited in prison by his Tia and interrupts the conversation, annoyed, she has a huge smile on her face. Christopher Sotomayor brings a bright palette of colors to keep the reader engaged, but it feels a bit of a misstep. It still feels bright and vibrant for a story with a good chunk in prison and an interrogation room scene.
Final Verdict 4.2 While the story feels like it was meant to break stereotypes, it feels like it plays more into them. It reads less like a comic and more of a script for a television or straight-to-DVD movie.
The Thing #1
Written by Walter Mosley
Illustrated by Tom Reilly
Colored by Jordie Bellaire
Lettered by Joe Sabino
Reviewed by Gregory Ellner
“The Thing” #1 is in many ways a calming story. Yes, Walter Mosley does provide some distress in his script, but the troubles of Ben Grimm are, on the whole, relatively similar to an average time for the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing. There is manipulation, time alone, and relationship trouble, but given the events of other “Fantastic Four” comics over the past few years, it all feels like it is destined to not really be a big issue, or at least to be resolved by the time the series is over. Even with the Thing’s depressive attitude, the overall tone feels more lightheaded than many other concurrently running series, or at least a bit more relaxing, with the silent pages early on giving an added sense of calm and perhaps some decompression.
Tom Reilly’s artwork on “The Thing” #1 adds to its air of being both quasi-relaxing and of another time. The lines are thick and have a preciseness to them, the thinner line work only really showing up at angles that would be far off. In all, the artwork mostly just serves to further emphasize the comic seeming to be of an earlier time.
Jordie Bellaire, as with many of her works, is good at focusing on accentuating whatever story her colors grace. Cooler tones help to showcase Ben Grimm’s depression, while flashes of warmer ones give a sense of drama and fear to his conflict with a mystical power. Even the use of softer coloring helps, bringing the use of electronic screens into focus.
Final Verdict: 7.0– So, here’s the Thing: fun but not all that eye-opening, and rather relaxing on the whole despite its at times depressing atmosphere.
What’s the Furthest Place From Here? #1
Written by Matthew Rosenberg
Illustrated and Colored by Tyler Boss
Lettered by Hassan Otsmane
Reviewed by Henry Finn
“What’s the furthest place from here?” #1 is a coming-of-age story set at the end of the world. The team behind 4 Kids walk into a Bank tell a story about friendship, vinyl records, one of the few survivors of the apocalypse. That’s just the context, but in reality the contents in this book are much more poetic and nuanced look into not just youth, but the human condition.
Continued belowWriter Matthew Rosenberg does an incredible job using minimalist dialogue to create mystery and wonder. He fills the pages with familiarity between characters and little explanation of the rules of the world. When The Strangers appear, there is nobody who stops to explain why they are all black and creepy looking. We don’t even know if they’re humans or witches. And when a rival gang shows up, they speak to each other in ways that show they have years of experience battling each other with both weapons and words. This is a wonderful way to build tension and curiosity in the reader’s mind.
Illustrator Tyler Boss does the rest of the storytelling duties, fully handling the layouts, illustrations, and coloring by himself. He bathes the pages in solid reds with contrasting grey shadows to add a noirish aspect to the apocalyptic scenario. He beautifully uses colors to turn up the emotions as well. This is shown during a scene when our heroes first face off against their rival gang. The first time we see a double page spread with them all facing off it is colored in grey and blue tones; but when we return to another double page spread as the violence begins in earnest Boss covers the scene in red and orange hues. It adds an element of interpretive poetry that further pulls you into the world they are building.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – A wholly original and special debut issue for a series that ends with a mystery and a powerful urge to keep reading.
