Welcome fellow ComicAddicts, to another new week of releases - and do we have a load of amazing titles for you guys this week! In fact we had so many great releases that we have more than the usual number today AS WELL AS TOMORROW! So dive in and enjoy!
B.P.R.D. – Hell On Earth : The
Pickens County Horror #1 (of 2)
(Dark Horse)
Story : Scott
Allie
Art : Jason Latour
(Reviewed by Anubhav DasGupta)
None of our usual BPRD players turn up
in Pickens County Horror. There’s no Liz Sherman, Abe Sapien or
Johann Krauss. Instead, we are treated to two field agents who land
up in South Carolina to investigate something about a fog that, well,
“moans”. There are Vampires in this issue.
Firstly, this comic is not
groundbreaking or mindblowing, but it gets the work done. What really
stands out in this issue is the art. I love this Latour guy. This is
the only comicbook of his that I’ve read, but he’s impressed me,
and I’m totally going to fish around for more of this guy’s work.
The amount of character he brings out in each and every panel is
amazing. And the nighttime scenes are just brilliant. It also helps
that Dave Stewart is handling the colors. I bet his colors would make
a page drawn by even Rob-goddamn-Liefeld look good, and with Latour’s
art, it not only looks amazing, but also adds to the story.
The pace is just right. This comic
takes its time, letting us know the characters before heaping the
good stuff on us and ending with our heroes in a questionable
situation. This is textbook horror storytelling.
You can check this one out even if you
aren’t following the main title or arc. While the events of the
ongoing title are omnipresent throughout the issue, this story isn’t
concerned with it. It can be enjoyed as a Horror comic, too, is what
I’m saying.
All in all, Pickens County Horror is a
very, very good horror comic, boasting of some really incredible art.
And you should check it out, even if you aren’t a BPRD fan. And if
you are a BPRD fan, here’s another issue that will make you happy.
And pssst… Hellboy turns up in a
flashback for about three-four panels. That’s a plus, innit?!
SCORE : 7 / 10
Story : Tim Seeley
Art : Francesco Caston
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
Dead hard-case
enhanced soldiers (think the Secret Avengers after kicking the
bucket) repaired and brought back to life as a super-secret
assassination and wet-works squad. Again. And again. And again. You
get the idea. Got your interest?
And the awesomeness of the Image new
titles juggernaut keeps on rolling – firing out yet another
relaunch from the horrific “Extreme-era” of Liefelds comics that
has been masterfully reinvented.
I should tell you as I start that as a
concept (as stated above) this was one of my guilty pleasures and I
actually still have most of the original run of this series stored
away somewhere – it came to an end not long after the original
Bloodstrike team was killed by Supreme (the Superman archetype on
who's series Alan Moore had a now-legendary run!), all except Cabbot.
Donning a new load of weapons and mask, he was presumed finally dead
but carried on as the bloody black-ops weapon no matter how many
times he was killed or mortally wounded in action.
When I heard Tim Seeley was taking it
on – and after the sheer brilliance that have been Prophet and
Glory – I had to give this old hidden, shameful pleasure a try and
I was not disappointed!
Picking up where the older series left
off – like Glory but not with such a huge gap – this series jumps
right into exploring character, ethics, morality and humanity. Not to
worry, it does not have long dialogues of exposition and explanation,
just enough to show that this series plans to mix the deadly action
with solid doses of character building and bring a more intelligent,
story-driven feeling to the series, something that I used to wish for
back when I originally read it. And action there is aplenty,
including a battle with an army of techno-zombies, mysterious
evil-organisations and hidden secrets plus a whole new team of
recently “reactivated” team-mates for Cabbot to lead – and
that's just where this issue ends.
I was not familiar with series artist
Caston, but his work here puts his name on my 'to watch out for' list
because he does a lovely job with the characters, action layouts and
even facial expression and emotion – consider that he does an
equally good job of showing an emotional breakdown and pages earlier
of Cabbot fighting while his guts LITERALLY are hanging out in his
hands. Yeah. Compared to the original writer and artist on this
series... man I'm so happy to see this concept get a second chance at
being all it could have been.
So if you like intense action and a
unique plot and definitely if you remember and even slightly liked
the original series, somewhere deep down inside in the blackness of
your psyches secret chambers, you should give this a shot!
SCORE : 8.4 / 10
Daredevil #10
(Marvel)
Story : Mark Waid
Art : Paolo Rivera
(Reviewed by Anupam Sarkar)
Quite frankly, I
consider the ongoing “Daredevil” series by Waid and Rivera to be
one of the best produced by Marvel Comics in recent times and
Daredevil #10 proves my statement true.
In #09, large
scale grave robberies were being committed by Mole Man's soldiers -
“Moloids” a.k.a creepy looking dwarf creatures. One of these
graves belonged to Matt's dad and it's not advisable to get Daredevil
angry. That issue ends with Daredevil falling inside the mouth of
some sorta monstrous creature.
Issue 10 continues
where the previous issue left. Even though everyone knew that
Daredevil would eventually escape from becoming that some sorta
monster's dinner, no one had expected Mole Man turning out to be an
emotionally complex character (aka the always bullied li'l guy who is
too afraid to express his feelings to a woman he liked). Along with
action, this issue also explores both Daredevil and Mole Man's
emotional depth.
A big standing
ovation to Paolo Rivera for his art. Without his art, the comic
wouldn't be as awesome as it is now.
From the story
(Mark Waid), art (Paolo Rivera) to Colors (Javier Rodriguez)
and Letters (Joe Caramagna), everything seems to be in a
perfect symmetry.
So, do yourself a
favor and buy this issue, for one cannot consider oneself a comic
book fan if he/she has not yet read this series.
SCORE : 10 / 10 (would've
given it more if it was possible)
Justice League Dark #7
(DC)
Story : Peter Milligan
Art : Daniel Sampere and Admiri
Wijaya
(Reviewed by Anubhav DasGupta)
I’m still in two minds about this
title. I love the characters in this title, and love that they are
working together, but it just feels off. For starters, Constantine is
in a book where he can’t say “f*ck” and Zatanna is not wearing
a hat and now in this issue, Shade the changing man, who has faced
countless supernatural foes, is surprised when he finds out Vampires
exist.
Issue #7 marks the beginning of the JL
: DARK/I, VAMPIRE crossover and there’s Vampires all over the city
and our team here is trying to stop them.
Firstly, the good things.
The first time I read it, it felt as if
it was drawn by this one artist whose art kept on diminishing as we
reached the end. I found out that two artists worked on it. Pages 1
through 8 have been completely done by Admira Wijaya, and they are
amazing. The first time I opened the comic, I was totally taken aback
by his art which feels like a healthy mixture of Sana Takeda
and Clayton Crain. It’s f***ing gorgeous, is what it is! The
rest of the comic is done by the relatively less talented Daniel
Sampere, but Wijaya stays on as the colorist, so there’s this
really good consistency throughout the comic, and Sampere is not that
bad an artist.
Now, the bad things.
Peter Milligan’s writing is mediocre.
Shade mentions “Dracula” and “Twilight” in the same panel, in
the same context. DC’s trying really hard to reach out to a female
fanbase, it seems. And Zatanna doesn’t feel like Zatanna, and
Constantine just feels off. The dialogue feels very obligatory, and
useless. In fact, I enjoyed this comic more when I ignored the
dialogue.
I’m just glad Milligan’s going off
the series soon as his mediocrity is what brings the comic-book down.
The art has been pretty good so far, and this issue’s art has been
amazing. It’s just that his writing can’t match up to it.
Well, if you’re thinking of chucking
this issue, don’t. The art is magnificent. Seriously, someone give
this Admira Wijaya guy more jobs and sh*t. He’s f***ing brilliant!
SCORE : 6.5 / 10
The New Deadwardians #1
(Vertigo)
Story : Dan Abnett
Art : I.N.J. Culbard
(Reviewed by Anupam Sarkar)
"The New Deadwardians" is
practically a “Vampires versus Zombies” comic during
post-Victorian England. My first reaction - "Oh god, not another
vampire/zombie comic!". I mean considering the comic's genre,
there are tons of vampires and zombies stories out there.
But after reading the full issue, one
can say that it is a series to look out for.
This issue intoduces the main
protagonist, Chief Inspector Suttle along with other key characters.
Abnett and Culbard create a totally new
world and breathe life into the old and rotten concept of zombies and
vampires. The zombies are called the Restless while the vampires, The
Young.
The issue also brings up questions like
what happened in "The War"? How did the Restless and the
Young came into existence?etc.
The New Deadwardians on the outside is
a vampire/zombie comic while in the inside it is a detective story.
Inspector Suttle investigates a strange case - A naked dead body of
one of the Young has been dumped insight of Parliament and The Albert
Memorial Tower.
The question that lies is that how
could one manage to murder something that is not even alive?
The story by Abnett is just brilliant
and subtle while Culbard provides a simplistic and detailed artwork
which suits the comic perfectly.
In my opinion, this is one of the best
first issues I have read in a while.
SCORE : 9 / 10
Voodoo #7
(DC)
Story : Joshua Williamson
Art : Sami Basri
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
Easily one of the most underestimated
and most surprising of the DC relaunches, this series has shown
itself to be more than assumed at first glance. In the first issues,
writer Ron Marz introduced a familiar yet unique character in Voodoo
and he and artist Basri really put her sexiness to good use –
despite complaints to the contrary, if you read the first three
issues you see how it was less exploitation and actually had purpose
and fit well with the story being told. Unlike certain other DC
titles that come off cheap and exploitative even now.
Joshua Williamson seems to have settled
into his role as new scribe as he kicked the story into an even
higher gear, clearly building a lot in this series here and down the
road as it connects to the “alien invasion” angle that is being
developed quietly among several DC titles right now. My doubts about
his writing have been eased a lot over the last few issues since,
other weak points aside, he seems to have a great grasp on the
characters – though his big reveal at the end of this issue is not
my favourite choice. It serves it's purpose but I wish they could
have stayed away from that a bit longer.
In the last couple of issues we've seen
that Voodoo is actually part of a cloning project and another like
her – the original Priscilla Kitaen is appears, is also running
around looking for her. The overall tone of the book and its
characters has always stayed away from being either black or white,
but this issue ends that by taking at least some of the characters
out of the grey and that is unfortunate because the lack of a clear
“bad guy” and everyone a potential protagonist was highly
entertaining.
The issue does have a load of fun in it
though, Daemonite and Voodoo go head to head and there is violence
aplenty for Basri to keep applying his artistic magic to throughout
the issue, right up until the last shocking page. He really does have
a great handle on this series and I hope he stays with it for a while
at least.
Not as great as it was under Marz who I
thought was the perfect writer for this series and should have stayed
on a little longer, but still one of the better DC titles out there
right now.
SCORE : 7.5 / 10
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