'68 Scars #1
(Image Comics)
Story : Mark Kidwell
Art : Nat Jones
(Reviewed by Anubhav DasGupta)
I didn’t know what the hell ’68
Scars was before I read the comic. Turns out it’s about Zombies in
the year 1968, at the height of the Vietnam war.
It starts out horribly with an unfunny,
politically incorrect gag. It somewhat improves afterwards.
There are three stories in this comic.
Two take place in Vietnam during the height of the war, and one
concerning two Chinese immigrants takes place in Chinatown, New York.
All of these aren’t very good, merely passable, and one of them is
absolutely awful.
Each panel is cluttered with a lot of
dialogue, none of which is particularly good, with most of them
falling into the category of “it gets the job done”. The art is
just okay. It surely would have benefited from a better inking and
colouring job. While the inking is somewhat passable, the colouring
is just horrendous. Everything looks dull and bland. It tries to be
gritty by borrowing the colour palette of every Vietnam movie ever,
but fails miserably in that aspect. In my opinion, it would have
fared better if it were a black and white comic.
It also suffers horribly from a messy
layout. Some pages are just all over the place, and painful to look
at. The same could be said about the tone. It’s goofy in parts,
dead serious in others. It just can’t get the balance right.
Sure, there are some good moments in
this comic, some good dialogue, and it ends well, but for the most
part, it is passable. Read it only if you’re a fan of its prequel
(’68: Run From The Jungle).
But if the concept intrigues you, go
fishing for a comic called Graveyard of Empires by Mark
Sable and Paul Azaceta. The premise is similar,
but it is set in modern times and it’s much better.
SCORE : 5.5 / 10
New Avengers #24
(Marvel)
Story : Brian Michael Bendis
Art : Mike Deodata
(Reviewed by Anubhav Sharm)
I don’t care what anyone else says, I
love event tie-ins written by Brian Bendis. Amidst all the action in
the main event, these issues tend to slow down the story a bit to put
more emphasis on character.
Case in point : We get an issue that
opens with the Avengers preparing to attack Utopia, and Bendis
masterfully crafting the conversation to reveal plenty of character
motivations in the first three or four pages, with a little surprise
regarding a certain presumed-dead-actually-the-red-hulk military man
finally somewhat regaining his authority. This is followed by a scene
regarding the ongoing marital problems being faced by Luke Cage and
family which, while a little bit of a drag, manages to hit home with
the emotional impact. However, the ending sort of gives me a bad
feeling for the fact that Luke Cage may not make it out of AvX.
Deodato’s slanted panelling might take some getting used to, but
certainly delivers the widescreen action the script so thoroughly
deserves.
SCORE : 9.2 / 10
Rich Johnston's Iron Muslim #1
(Boom Studios)
Story : Rich Johnston
Art : Bryan Turner
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
I honestly don't know what to say about
this book.
Really.
I mean, I do understand what Johnston's
trying to do here and I get all the references and 'clever' moments
scattered around it. Even the art lends itself really well to the
parody mold with a very MAD Magazine feel to it that is perfect in
fact for this kind of story. I picked this up because the art samples
looked funny and it's by Boom, who have had some really great books
over the past few years. This is not one of them.
It follows a Middle-Eastern/West Asian
(pick whichever you like) guy who like Tony Stark in the first Iron
Man movie is in a desert cave with terrorists, clearly building an
Iron Man-like armour with which he brutally despatches some nearby
foreign troops and then proceeds to make his way to America where he
immediately goes (where else!) to New York and then destroys the
Statue of Liberty. Only to realise too late that he loves too much
about American culture like Starbucks and The Big Bang Theory. So he
needs to redeem his name through media manipulation and that's the
rest of the story which leads into issue #2 and the next level of
parody clearly bringing in this universes parody-Avengers –
something I'm definitely not wasting brain-space reading.
An utter disappointment to quality
comics, to parody and to a good sense of humour and a waste of an
artist and all the money spent by the readers on it. Boom should be
ashamed for putting out a book like this, seriously. Not because I'm
religious and it offends me, I'm pretty aetheistic, but this is just
poor taste, shoddy and cheaply gimmicky humour and weak execution of
something that could have been a passable social humour and
commentary kind of book.
Don't waste your money or your time,
borrow and give it a try if you really can't help it or like me,
sometimes just like to torture yourself.
SCORE : 2 / 10
Saga #2
(Image Comics)
Story : Brian K. Vaughan
Art : Fiona Staples
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
And we're back with the second issue of
one of the most highly anticipated series in years!
The first issue really was an utterly
amazing kick-start to this clearly off-beat but still exceedingly
entertaining story that just draws you in if your tastes run on its
channels. The second issue is a smaller step however.
Our happy couple and their new-born are
still headed toward the Rocket-ship forest (yes, that's a concept
here, see how insane this is?) to get off the worn-torn planet,
running through a deadly forest where even some of the plants want to
kill you! In the meantime, the TV-headed prince is hot on their trail
and so are a pair of bounty hunters – one of whom we saw last issue
with his awesome lie-detecting giant cat. (God I love all this weird
stuff, this is why BKV rules!) But even that badass among badasses
decides to call it a day when he hears about one other
bounty-hunter/mercenary who is also after the same targets. Now
that's a scary thought. But then we actually get to SEE that other
merc attack our heroes and man that is some freaky-a** s***!! Top it
all off with one very strange and disturbing, but still VERY
curiousity inducing finale and you have an overall excellent issue of
a very promising new series that so far has delivered admirably.
While the previous issue was far
faster, much more intense and story-filled, this one clearly has a
more laid-back and easy pace – it makes sense since a first issue
needs to have a lot in it to bring the readers into the fold and want
to read more. This second issue might not be appreciated by some
because of this slowing down, but if you allow it to, you can see
that this issue is more like an informational dump and a wee bit of
story progression. Bear in mind that for a tale as strange and full
of the insane as this one, slowing down doesn't work the same as in
others.
Being a series with as much hype behind
it as this one is not an easy thing to live up to, but two issues in
and Saga is doing it with style.
SCORE : 9.7 / 10
Secret #1
(Image Comics)
Story : Jonathan Hickman
Art : Ryan Bodenheim, Michael
Garland (colors)
(Reviewed by Anubhav DasGupta)
There’s this awesome moment in Secret
#1 that makes you realize that the comic you are reading is one
helluva book. The CEO of a banking/law (the book isn’t clear about
what it is, exactly) firm is tied up to a chair and is being
threatened at gunpoint by a guy. Now, he uses that old “think about
your family” shtick, but the way Hickman writes it is magnificent.
This guy doesn’t go “EVERYONE YOU LOVE WILL DIE IF YOU DON’T DO
THIS!” He says something to the tune of “I promise this is not
about you. It’s about your mother, who’s sleeping peacefully in a
retirement home…” and he goes on talking about his daughter, his
brother, his ex-wife, calmly but surely raising the stakes, which is
just badass on so many levels, because, firstly, you’ve got badass
dialogue, and secondly, you’ve nailed this character in just a few
panels. Magnificent, clever writing. And there are more gems like
these throughout the book. If this were a movie series or a TV show,
you’d have people on the streets quoting dialogue from it as they
do with shows like Mad Men.
And the art is brilliant too. The first
four pages are absolutely marvellous. And I like this colour scheme.
Every panel has one colour only, and Michael Garland uses that
conceit absolutely brilliantly. I’d compare it to Richmond
Lewis levels of brilliance, in fact.
The only problem I have with this comic
is, well, the story. Sure, there’s a lot of good character stuff,
lot of great dialogues and twists, but the story just doesn’t sound
that awesome. One issue in, it’s a bit confusing when you’ve got
a scene happening in New York and then the next scene is a blood bath
in London. I’m sure it’ll make sense later, but it doesn’t now,
and it’s all kinds of confusing. And the motives of our heroes
aren’t clear yet.
All in all, Secret #1 is a great start,
and you should definitely check it out. For the art, and for the
writing. And if you’re a fan of heist films, or crime comics, avoid
this only if you’re a moron or retarded.
SCORE : 7.5 / 10
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