American Vampire #29
(Vertigo)
Story : Scott Snyder
Art : Rafael Albuquerque
(Reviewed by Anirudh Singh)
Skinner Sweet is back. The monster from
the old wild west returns to doing what he does best. Hunting down
the old breed of vampires. And this time he is doing it for Uncle
Sam. Partnering up with his old crush/protege Pearl Jones. The two of
them are set loose in Hollywood to undertake their own witchhunt.
While the government tries to sniff out the communists, the two of
them are here to bring to light any incidents of Vampires being
hidden among the rich, affluent movie magnates.
Skinner Sweet and Pearl Jones always
have such wonderful chemistry together that its a wonder most issues
in the series arent centred about them. Skinner's character is pretty
much what drew a lot of people to this series, including me. He acts
as a perfect foil to the good hearted Pearl. Add to this the fact
that we know the European breed of Bloodsuckers indeed have something
up their sleeve (thanks to Lord of Nightmares) and this story becomes
doubly interesting.
Cause our Skinner Sweet is being held
down on a very short leash. The government has its hooks into him
deep. All thanks to the slash Pearl gave him in the pacific with her
gold dagger. The last panels of the comic linger on Sweet and there
is a familiar fell light in his eyes. We have all seen this look
before of course. The government might not know this, but Skinner
Sweet always pays his debts. Even if it takes him a while to do so.
In the coming issues we can expect a lot of blood and carnage. But
for now, the two American Vampires have been tamed and are toeing the
line.
But for how long?
SCORE : 7 / 10
Justice League Dark #11
(DC)
Story : Jeff Lemire
Art : Mikel Janin
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
Along with Swamp Thing,
Animal Man, I, Vampire and Lemire's other
book, Frankenstein: Agent of SHADE, this has been one
of the most consistently awesome books from the start of the new DCU
for me personally.
Peter Milligan took a very strange mix
of characters with some very stoic fans like Deadman, Constantine,
Madame Xanadu and Zatanna and created a dark and very intense story
that not just explored, but dove head-first into the magical side of
the DCU. Now, with a fantastic new artist and some changes to the
team, the adventure continues with Constantine's latest con-job and
twist-within-a-twist planning and improv putting him on a quest to
find the all-powerful Books of Magic (more of the Vertigo world being
adapted for the DCU) that are the four pillars of all magic,
everywhere. In the middle of all this we also have the governments
magic division known as A.R.G.U.S and the evil Felix Faust and his
demons-three, throw in John getting some shiny new toys and utterly
madcap good vs. evil action at a killer pace and you have the core of
this issue. It carries on the “Black Room” storyline and
only breaks the momentum a bit when Lemire has to add in the sub-plot
with Xanadu and her mission to stop Constantine, because future him
told her to, yeah it's complicated – but awesome! AND Black Orchid
is back to comics now in this arc!
In addition, this is one of the few
books where the artist is the same as at the start of the series and
the artwork is not only consistent but consistently beautiful – the
other like it being I, Vampire (which I also heavily
recommend people read!) - and though I never really knew Mikel Janin
before this, I have come to really appreciate his work and almost
love his style and his layouts.
If you have love for the supernatural
and excellent stories revolving around it, read this book – and if
you're worried that DC will shoe-horn heroes into it and kill it,
well have no fear because that's not been a problem.
SCORE : 9.2 / 10
The Goon #40
(Dark Horse)
Story and Art : Eric Powell
(Reviewed by Akshay Dhar)
Ever read The Goon before? If you have,
skip this paragraph – if not, then you have no idea what you're in
for here. In fact, I'd say that if you have a sense of humour and
love a bit of tongue-in-cheek, slap to the face and shameless humour
and parody done right, all with a twist of the insane and slightly
over-the-top – then you should be reading this comic Seriously. It
is one of the most creative and fun comics on the market today and
has been for over 40 issues (this is it's third volume) with creator
Eric Powell showing no signs of slowing down his indie juggernaut.
“They may take your fine, oak-aged
sippin' whiskeys, but they'll never take the #### I made in my
bathtub!”
This line shouted heartily by Franky,
the highly questionably sane side-kick/partner of our hero is pretty
much a good benchmark for this issue. We get taken on a bit of an
Americana-nostalgia-booze-fuelled bender in this issue with a
flashback storyline to the dark days of prohibition – when alcohol
was demonised and illegal liquor ran freely. Of course, Goon and
Franky are right in the thick of it, making their own moonshine,
getting into fights, building souped up cars to outrace the law and
getting into demonic drag-races – there's also a hooch-monkey,
wonkey boobs, more drunken-ness and more to be enjoyed here.
Not the greatest issue of the series,
but a good, solid and very entertaining read.
SCORE : 7 / 10
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