JENNIFER BLOOD Vol. 1

WARNING: Jennifer Blood is a Mature Readers Only series. 

Garth Ennis as far as I am concerned is possibly one of the most underrated graphic novelist. I know he is well known and has written some classic fiction in the past but as the final issue of The Boys reaches the stands I for one am looking forward to what he decides to do next. When The Boys was published under the Wild Storm (DC Comics owns it now) imprint Ennis and his artist, Darick Robertson were told by DC that they didn't want a mature series about superheroes as it would more then likely be against what DC wanted in their stable of titles. This left Ennis with the choice of taking the series, which had at that time only 6 issues. else where. Which as far am I am concerned it was good move. Both artist and writer then took the series to Dynamite Entertainment. Where the series has flourished over the past 7yrs.

By then there were talks about a The Boys feature film. Lots of interviews and discussion about a movie. which at the moment is still in the air. I have written a review on the first volume of The Boys. Which should be out soon. It is with Dynamite Entertainment that Ennis created his Jennifer Blood series.

Jennifer Blood, a pseudonym of the lead character, is a well crafted action thriller about a house wife who at night goes out to dish out her own justice on a family of Mob related criminals. The story is told through her own narration written in her journal. We follow this mother of 2 young children and a loving husband, Andrew, who are none the wiser as Jennifer. Every night Jennifer drugs her kids and Andrew, so that she can go about carrying out her vendetta on the local crime family. And like any other vigilante she leaves her calling card.

No matter what, Ennis writes, there is always a very strong first issue. And so in the first issue we follow Jennifer as she puts her family to bed and goes downstairs to the hidden enclave which houses weapons and spy equipment that might put James Bond to shame. Weapons from a simple glock pistol to a RPG (rocket propelled gun) and semi-automatic machine gun. Here in her hidden cupboard space she changes from a house wife to a black leather clad female Punisher. (NB: Ennis wrote several volumes of The Punisher through Marvel Comics Max imprint. The Punisher film starring Tom Jane was based on some of that series).
With a black wig to cover her blonde hair she takes off into the night in her Black SUV wearing dark sunglasses. And it is here that we start to see the very different character than the one while she was with her family. With her chosen weapon hidden away in the SUV, she drives to her first victims of her vigilante.

At first glance the first issue looks like a rip-off of a Punisher story. Jennifer Blood being the female Punisher. But its nothing like the Punisher. Jennifer Blood in her own right is a complex story about family, and the criminal under ground. Jennifer Blood is a strong female character. Which I like seeing in comics. Often to sell a comic book a first issue that is mature in content ends up having the female protagonist is over sexualised, but not so in Jennifer Blood. There is a good balance of mature content along with some of the crazy humor stuff Ennis is known for. But that does not take away from the story. I, for one really enjoyed the story.

This story like any many others that Ennis has written before or since Jennifer Blood, is worth the cover price. When you read through the first arc, Ennis only wrote the first volume on the on-going series, you will come to realise that Jennifer Blood is another original story that could easily be made into a movie, and I hope they do, because the whole first series can easily be adapted to a film script.
The artwork by Adriano Batista gives life to the series which the colorist, Romulo Frajardo Jr. clearly set out to show us to show the difference between Jennifer's day life and her night life, using light tones and colors for the Jennifer's day life and dark hues for the night activities. I found the art and color tones to be well planned out.
The first issue includes a two and a half pages of interview with Ennis about the series as well as  five pages of sketches showing the character designs. After Garth's 6 issue run the writing and art chores are picked up by Al Ewing and Kewber Baal. I had only bought the first 6 issues, all Tim Bradstreet 'Virgin Art' Retailer Incentive covers through my comic dealer. Having read all the issues this week, I hadn't even read the series until this week, I wish I had continued with collecting the rest of the series in print form.
If you are a fan of good crime action stories, then may I suggest that you read at least read Ennis' run. Al Ewing continues on with the series with the spirit of what Ennis began.

(ARU), Aruneshwar has a Bachelors Degree in Digital Media -Digital Film-making. Aru is writing and illustrating a graphic novel about the 30yrs of Institutionalised Slavery ofIndians in Fiji from 1885 -1915. He is a prolific script writer and writes in all comicbook genres which include several graphic novels for his own company,Rising Sun Comics. Aru also uploads a digital comic series on Facebook called, Zero as well as finishing off the lettering to his crime-noir graphic novel, The Circle. He is also trying to finish off coloring and lettering a superhero comic book mini-series he co-created with Mike Burbeck called, Incredi-Girl.

Crossed: Badlands (Garth Ennis story arc) Mature Readers Only

Warning: Mature Readers Only!

Crossed: Badlands sees Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows return to the franchise-series they started, with a tale about love lost. Set in the highlands and lowlands of the Scotish Isle, the story opens with a group foraging for food and trying to stay ahead of a group of Crossed. Badlands is told through the narration of Ian, a bookshop worker. Ian tells us how tragically he lost his wife, Penny, while in a town.

Badlands group of misfits consists of a pregnant girl and her boyfriend, a paramedic and a young man with a bandaged face who may or may not be Prince Harry. Ian laments about the pregnant girl forshadowing a tragedy to come later in the series.

Week In Review - 6th Feb 2012! Action Comics #6 + Fatale #2 + The Boys #63 + X-Club #3+Dark Horse Presents#8

Hey there all you Comic-addicts out there - young, old, thin, fat and anything and everything in between!
Come, grab a seat, settle back and relax as we bring you another edition of Week-In-Review as we review 4 of our teams picks from the past week.

ACTION COMICS #6

Writer:Grant Morrison

Artist:Andy Kubert
Reviewer: Anupam Sarkar

Take genius and flawless writing, awesome art and an iconic character and mix 'em up.

What you get is Action Comics #6!

Back in Issue 5, readers were introduced to the “Anti-Superman Army” who - for unknown reasons - travel back to the past to steal the power source of the rocket that sent Supes to Earth, a.k.a. Kryptonite, which they intend to use to put an end to Superman!

Issue 6 starts with a meet between the Anti-Superman Army and a scientist who extracted the Kryptonite from the rocket's engine.

He also explains that the Kryptonite can be used to create different colors of Kryptonite , which will have different effects on Superman.

The last issue introduced us to Superman from five years into the future from the Action Comics's time-period as well as the Legion of Super-Heroes' founding members (Cosmic Man, Lightning Man and Saturn Woman).

In this issue, we see the Legion trying to to get the Kryptonite back from the Anti-Superman Army and the scientist who are in a hollow lead pellet inside Superman's brain! (Now that sounds insane)

Readers also get a look at some of Superman's childhood memories which are unlocked when Saturn Woman accesses his memory in order to search for the hollow lead pellet.

The issue introduces some crazy yet awesome sci-fi stuff and all the genius stuff that Morrison is known for, while the art by Andy Kubert is just stunning.

SCORE: 10/10 

A Hell(Blazer) of a week.

I have been reading comics as mentioned the other week for close to 30yrs. And a small portion of that time I have spent a small fortune buying, selling and re-collecting, after my first collection was burnt in a fire. Amongst those were the Uncanny X-men run from #180-295. Some of the greatest X-Men stories told were written during those years. But I am digressing. Anyway, I restarting collecting 10yrs ago and haven't stopped since. As well as you know writing and creating my own. 

Hellblazer Pandemonium Jami Delano is a Must Read.

Stewart's Slate : Review of Chronicles of Wormwood

The Chronicles Of Wormwood graphic novel (Collects Chronicles Of Wormwood #1-6)

Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Jacen Burrows

Garth Ennis roasts the hell out of religion again in a story about cable TV excec', Danny Wormwood: The Antichrist.

As serious a subject as this sounds it doesn't stop this being one of the funniest books Garth has ever written. He may be gifted with supernatural powers and his father is in deed Satan (he took the form of a dog and raped his mother to conceive him) but Danny Wormwood isn't a bad guy at all. Once he learned the dark truth of his origin he renounced his father and all his plans for armageddon, moved from London to New York and set up his own company producing shows for cable TV. He lives with his girlfriend and pet rabbit Jimmy, who he has gifted with human intelligence and the ability to speak, turning him into the greatest comic book side kick the world has ever known, his best friend is the permanently brain damaged, black reincarnation of Jesus Christ and for the unholy adversary to all that's good and Christian in the world, Danny Wormwood is a very likeable protagonist even if he is having an affair with Joan of Arc.

This is a bizarre premise for a story by anyone's standards and the level of sheer, depraved, laugh out loud weirdness in some parts of it surprised even a seasoned Garth Ennis fan like me. Not just what happens but what Jacen Burrows has been allowed to illustrate. As usual I don't want to give anything away but I don't care what comics you normally read, you won't believe what Wormwood does to a barman with his magical powers after he insults his friend!

During the story the status quo of Wormwoods life is interrupted by his father and the Catholic church (headed by a monumentally perverted Australian Pope) trying to kick start armageddon in a last ditch attempt to make the increasingly agnostic world pay attention to them again.

Yes you can draw a lot of comparisons between this and Garth Ennis' Preacher series. Its a sideways look at religion and popular culture where neither God, the Devil or the Church are portrayed as being all they're supposed to be in the eyes of the faithful. I did however enjoy this book a lot more than any one of the Preacher graphic novels alone. Although there is another smaller Chronicles Of Wormwood graphic novel available (The Last Enemy) and another one (Last Battle) set for release in July, Wormwood isn't an ongoing monthly series so this book has a definite beginning middle and end and there seems to be a lot more going on and definitely a lot more to laugh at in this one graphic novel than in any single part to the Preacher storyline. I said it at the beginning of the review and i'll say it again. Funniest story of Garth's that I've ever read. I lost count of the amount of times I burst out laughing in total disbelief of some of the outrageous gags they've thrown in here. I'm almost surprised they were allowed to publish the book with the way it portrays parts of the Catholic church.

Great artwork, engaging storyline, brilliant humour and as with all Garth Ennis' work, outstanding dialogue and characters. Essential reading for fans of Garth Ennis and definitely worth a read for anybody who enjoys a good black comedy. A fabulous example of how good adult comics can be.

SCORE 8/10

 

The Chronicles Of Wormwood: The Last Enemy

Writer: Garth Ennis
Art: Rob Steen

A short follow up story to the original Chronicles of Wormwood 6 part mini series, this is more of the same really. Outrageously funny and probably very offensive Roman Catholics.

Ok then you may have thought the last one sounded pretty shocking but check this out: The Pope sends a massive eunuch monk hit man to kidnap Danny Wormwoood's best friend Jesus and bring him to the Vatican so he can use his God given healing powers to cure his aids which he contracted after having lots of unprotected sex with lots of different people and wackiness ensues. This is made all the more complicated for Danny as he is in the process of rekindling his relationship with Maggie.
Not quite as cerebral as the first one and Rob Steens artwork is a little disappointing compared to Burrows but it carries on with the same great characters as the first book and the off the wall adult humour is still there so if, like me, you loved the first one then you'll definitely like this one too. Jimmy the talking rabbit plays an even bigger part in this one too which can only be a good thing. Seriously, he should get his own mini series!

SCORE 7/10