Wayfarer Special: Top 10 Indie Comics of 2011 (Part 2 of 2)

And so once more into the breach dear friends, as I bring us to the second half of this happy little countdown of the Indie comics that I loved the most this past year. Yes, I know, it's been a long gap since Part 1 of this little countdown and the New Year is well into it's first quarter, but it is what it is - I felt that coverage of our Comic Con in Delhi and all that came out of it took precedence and this could wait just a bit.

Before I get to the final leg of the countdown, a quick listing of the books that almost made it to this top ten but fell just shy. I wish I could have made this list longer and perhaps I will review them all in the near future, but in the meantime I think they all deserve an Honourable mention:

• The Goon (Writer/Artist: Eric Powell)
• G.I.Joe Cobra (Writer: Christos Gage and Mike Costa, Artist: Antonio Fuso)
• Scarlet (Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Alex Maleev)
• Scalped (Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: R. M. Guéra)
• Artifacts (Writers: Ron Marz, Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins, Artists: Michael Broussard, Stjepan Sejic)
• Super Dinosaur (Writer: Robert Kirkman, Artist: Jason Howard)
• Fallen Angel: Return of the Son (Writer: Peter David, Artist: J.K.Woodward)

So thank you for your patience and now without any further rambling along on my part, lets just get to it shall we?

05. HELLBOY

Click to enlarge

Writer: Mike Mignola w/ John Arcudi

Artist: Various

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

For those of you that have been following Mike Mignola's worlds as they've evolved in the Hellboy, B.P.R.D and related series, I think you know what I mean when I say that for so many years now they have been the most consistent, creative and amazingly put together comics – among the best comics as a medium have to offer in a sense. For those that have not, you are really missing out on something special.

The various story arcs and such together form such an amazing, long-running and vast story-line and world that it's amazing they've managed it for such a long period of time – and the hand of creator Mike Mignola is definitely visible in every single book, even the one's he has not directly scripted himself. Of course credit where it's due to the talents who've worked with him and been able to strike a nice balance between their own work and style but ever retaining the unique look and feel that Mignola brought to the comic-medium. The truly awesome part being that it remains this damn good even after 17 years!

Comic Con Special Review : Daksh 1-4

Courtesy the fine people at Level 10 comics, the Indian comic book geek finally has something to hand the irritating buggers who follow the retarded notion of comic books being for kids. After the success of the first issue in the independent creator-owned edition of the Comic Jump anthology, and the subsequent excellent fan reception of the second issue, we now have our hands on the first four issues, thanks to the launch of the Daksh Graphic Novel at this year’s Comic Con India.

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

Wayfarer Special: Top 10 Indie Comics of 2011 (Part 1 of 2)

Welcome back to another wayfaring edition of my rambling and meanderings through the world of comics folks!

Today I have something special for you however. You see I decided that with 2011 now over for a time, there was a massive surge of independent titles and creativity that really brought something new to the industry. Image Comics in particular had a banner year and produced fantastic series after series that left readers breathless.
With this in mind I decided to create a short-list of some of the best and brightest of what I had read this past year. Now bear in mind this is a subjective list and merely my listing things out off the top of my head, first instinct and all that!

There were some magnificent titles that are worthy of praise and celebration but unfortunately my decision to keep this a “Top Ten” list limits the titles I can talk about here. So I will address the ones that got missed here in a later post, for now lets just start our countdown shall we? Good!

(...and as always, all images can be clicked for larger versions! Enjoy.)

10. AXE COP: BAD GUY EARTH

Writer: Malachai Nicolle and Ethan Nicolle

Artist: Ethan Nicolle

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

What can one say about this series? It is hands down the single most fun and creatively outrageous series possibly ever written. For those that don't know – this mini-series was originally a web-comic written and drawn by 29 year-old Ethan based on stuff that he and Malachai (now about 7?) came up with while playing together. Seriously. Think on that a moment.

Centred on our hero – Axe Cop – who is basically a cop who sleeps only a couple of minutes a day because he works the “always shift” and is the ultimate bad-ass, we see dinosaurs, aliens, Ninja Moon Warriors, a pet T-Rex with gatling gun arms and anything and everything you can imagine. Filled to the brim with entertainment and (I repeat) sheer wall-to-wall fun, you don't need backstory or continuity or anything – this is just simple enjoyable comic reading and in an industry trying very hard to be taken seriously, this book just throws it all out the window with style.

Week-in-Review: Battle Scars #4 + Conan the Barbarian (2012) #1 + Fantastic Four Season One GN + The Ninjettes #1 + Scarlet Spider #2

Another week, another set of comics for you to read! Well as we've endeavored to do every single week (and plan to keep doing) my fellow Addicts, we bring you another round of selective bullet reviews of what's what among this week's releases. So without wasting any more time, lets get to it!

Battle Scars #4 (of 6) – Marvel Comics

Story: Chris Yost (with Cullen Bunn & Matt Fraction on plots)

Art: Scott Eaton

(Review By: Anubhav Sharma)

*SPOILER ALERT*

The “biggest secret in the Marvel Universe” gets revealed in the new issue of Battle Scars, and it’s something that pretty much everyone already knew, courtesy the internet. So yes, Marcus Johnson is actually Nick Fury’s son, and he’s poised to lose an eye in the next issue and fill up the reservation for a one eyed African American director of SHIELD just in time for the Avengers. The issue reads a little too fast, with too little happening in too much time. Here’s a summary : He meets Deadpool, Taskmaster, the Serpent Squad and ultimately his father. Scott Eaton’s art has messed up anatomy in plenty of places and generally fails to add any excitement to the fight sequences.

SCORE : 4.2/10

Conan the Barbarian #1 – Dark Horse Comics

Story: Brian Wood

Art: Becky Cloonan (drawings), and Dave Stewart (colours)

(Review By: Rijul Partha)

It has been so long since I last read a Conan comic (nearly 1½ years) and even longer since I read a Conan novel, that I have nearly forgotten the specifics of the Cimmerian's adventures. This, then, marks the return of a lapsed reader. The quality of the Conan comics has always been high (as with other Robert Howard properties - Kull: The Cat and the Skull being a recent example) and for this title, expectations were high, with Wood 

being known for quality storytelling in Demo, Northlanders and DMZ. I am pleased to report that he does not falter, and delivers a cracking first issue to the series.

This week in comics : What's New

GREEN LANTERN  #5

Writer: Goeff Johns

Artist: Doug Mahnke

I would go ahead and call this the strongest issue of the current volume if this hadn’t involved a cliffhanger

 everyone knew the conclusion to last issue. So yes, rings made by Sinestro can’t attack him, which is why the new GL recruits in the form of the residents of Korugar can’t attack Sinestro. The issue follows the path you would have expected it to follow last issue, with Sinestro inducing moustache-twirling awesomeness to free his home planet with the help of Hal Jordan, only to subsequently have him sent off the planet nevertheless.

 The difference made is in the amazing work on character with both Sinestro and Hal, as well as some kick-ass artwork by the dependable Doug Mahnke (though I would still have preferred Ivan Reis on this title). The issue ends as you would expect any Geoff Johns GL story to end : with the Guardians hatching up a sinister plan.

Score : 8.2/10

M’s Pull List: Weekly Ramblings

Welcome to the first edition of M's Pull list. This column provides some skewed views on the latest comics released in this week! Don't forget to drop us a line in the comment section below to let us know what you thought of them.

Aquaman meets Parallax'ite wannabe

 Aquaman #4 : I am sorry guys, but I seriously do not get all the praise Aquaman is getting. Yes he is a badass., we get it.. so just lay off and focus on the story. And please less compressed storyline. Four issues in and Aquaman has just saved a few people from the villain of the day ! Bah! I liked Peter David’s run, much better.