Week-In-Review: Army Of Darkness #1 + B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1 + The Darkness #99 + Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1

ARMY OF DARKNESS #1

Story: Elliott R. Serrano

Art: Marat Mychaels & Chris Ivy

(Review By: Akshay Dhar)

This review must be prefaced by me informing you that if you have a love for either the Army Of Darkness and Evil Dead movies, Ash Williams and/or the inimitably awesome Bruce Campbell – then you will already relish and enjoy the comic. Also, you should bear in mind this is in essence a horror-action-comedy before you read it and start taking it seriously as you do so. Just enjoy it for what it is, thats what it does.

Taking a new direction on the mythology of the Army Of Darkness with chosen ones and adding in a whole new “Ash” Williams character, a bit of a surprise this time, what with it being a girl and all that. Torn from her time by magic and possibly fate and thrown into ancient Egypt with new and ungodly powers, Ashley is now on her own (more or less) as she fights an survives what is clearly just the beginning of deadly adventures to come as the malevolent big-bad watches from afar. With the original Ash in just a cameo moment, it was a bit of a let-down given the cover which makes you dive in hoping to geekily enjoy seeing the Boom-stick in action. But in the end Serrano has done a good job and the end result is an amusing and well portrayed story in the horror-comedy genre that sets an interesting opening stage, now I just hope he can build on it nicely hereafter.

As for the artwork – I make no bones about the fact that I'm not the biggest Mychaels fan, given his artistic lineage under the tutelage of the man who makes anyone with any aesthetic sensibility face-palm at will, Mr. Rob Leifeld. However he seems to have made some progress and while not spectacular, he does a basicaly decent job and seems to have surpassed that particular teacher for sure – plus I think some nice inking by Ivy also helps in that department quite a bit.

SCORE : 6.4 / 10

B.P.R.D - HELL ON EARTH : THE LONG DEATH #1 (of 3)

Story: John Arcudi and Mike Mignola

Art: James Harren & Dave Stewart

(Review By: Anubhav DasGupta)

This is the most perfect B.P.R.D issue I’ve ever read.

But there’s one problem: If you haven’t been following B.P.R.D : Hell on Earth regularly, you will be as lost as a Chinaman in Austria. That said; let’s get on to what makes this comic awesome.

This issue focuses on Johann Krauss of the B.P.R.D. I love how Johann has evolved as a character. He’s more cheerful now, more confident, after having faced the horrors in Russia. He takes on a new mission but it does not end well. And there’s a new character, Agent Giarocco, who kicks all kinds of a**. This time around, the writing focuses more on character than spectacle, and it reads brilliantly.

When the s**t hits the fan, it’s totally Harren’s comic. His art is AMAZING. His handling of motion, the way he uses every line is just so brilliant. I don’t have words for how brilliant this guy is. Just check out the preview pages online.

And there’s Dave Stewart. He’s the best at what he does. And what he does is extremely nice.

All in all, this is the best BPRD issue I’ve ever read. If you have invested your time (and probably money) on BPRD so far, I don’t think you should give this a miss.

SCORE : 9.5 / 10

THE DARKNESS #99

Story: Phil Hester

Art: Romano Molenaar, Joe Weems and Ryan Winn

(Review By: Anupam Sarkar)

From good to bad, from bad to worse, The Darkness fans have gone through everything.

A few years back, The Darkness used to be the talk of the town - whether it was the art or the story, this comic had it all. Now back to the present, this issue has neither the art nor that much of a story.

I seriously doubt that something might've happened to the Top Cow guys for choosing Romano Molenaar for the art duties. It's not like I have got anything against the chap, but when you look at his art, you seriously curse yourself for buying a comic (which should originally be worth $1) for US$2.99. This issue's art duties are also co-handled by guest penciller & inker Joe Weems and Ryan Winn.

In the previous issue, readers were introduced to Jackie's Dad - Danny Estacado. In the beginning of this issue, we see some Pops-son love (if you really wanna know, buy the comic) and in the end, before you know it, Danny is cut in half (“yikes!” is the expression) !

In my opinion, the comic seems more like a buildup for it's 100^th anniversary issue (where Jackie will come to meet the source of his power and all the trouble it caused him.)

SCORE : 4.5 / 10

STAR WARS - DAWN OF THE JEDI : FORCE STORM #1 (of 5)

Story: John Ostrander

Art: Jan Duursema, Dan Parsons & Wez Dzioba

(Review By: Anubhav DasGupta)

This comic is set about 20 to 36 centuries before A New Hope and it’s supposed to be about the Dawn of the Jedi (obviously). In the first fourteen pages, we are given a discourse of Je’Daii* history 101, and it’s brilliant and absolutely Nerdgasm-inducing. The rest of it? Not so much.

The Jedi history is well-written and brilliantly drawn. Duursema draws one epic panel after another, as the story jumps from Kashyyk to the planet of Twi’leks. They tell us of a battle between the Je’Daii and their children, which sounds epic as hell. Sadly, the comic is not about that. Then it fast forwards twelve years and veers into potential Phantom Menace territory.

Once we’re on Tantooine, where some aliens accompanied by a Dark Je’Daii are slaving the locals, it’s a story about power, “politics”, and a half-assed Jedi fight (yet again like the Prequel trilogy).

Duursema’s art is pretty good, and holds up pretty well. It’s just that the writing loses steam midway through the book. And the fact that this comic is really NOT about the Dawn of the Jedi and the war of the Je’Daii is a real bummer and a missed opportunity.

For the first fourteen pages, Dawn of the Jedi is a brilliant comic, but after that, not so much. But I have a feeling it’s going to get much better.

SCORE : 7 / 10

*The Jedi are called “Je’Daii” here, not “Jedi”. Not yet. So it isn’t a typo on my part. 

Well folks, here are the first set of review for this week - but hang around, there's MUCH more to come as we not only have more zero-day reviews tomorrow, we will be trying to bring you reviews for some of the new comics launched at this past weekends Indian Comic Con at New Delhi!! 

Excited? We sure are!