Comic Reviews

Artifacts #8 – Review

The
positive reviews coming from everyone about this comic baffle me. The
dialogue from everyone at secret-headquarters is terrible and the
characters mostly act way out of character. The only redeeming
qualities are the art and the interactions between Sara and Jackie –
both still having their own flaws. And warning, there will be spoilers.

With
the Hunter-Killer headquarters under attack by several hundred
Aphrodite VI’s with the combined effort of Cyber Force, the Artifacts’
bearers and Hunter-Killer are put to the test of battling against them.
During this massive fight Sara and Jackie go off on their own, with
the help of Jackie’s shadows, to find their kidnapped daughter Hope.

ICE #1 – Review

ICE #1 is worth the dollar it costs, despite its many flaws. Most characters either are shallow or lack dimension in their characterization, and the small doses of comedy attempting to weave themselves into the plot fail to make me chuckle in any way. Instead, it leads to me shamefully facepalming for them. The art also does nothing to enhance the appeal of the comic. The decent element of this issue that makes it surprisingly enjoyable is the story.

The issue’s first story revolves around a special group of officers – the Immigration & Enforcement agency (ICE for short), on a mission to protect people and led by Cole Matai.. A murderous rampage leads to the death of an undercover cop, which forces the team into action against a Mexican drug cartel to stop the killer.

The Li’l Depressed Boy #5 – Review

The “Depressed” part of The Li’l Depressed Boy
really comes out in this issue as LDB laments about his supposed
relationship with Jazz. The series has never been very uplifting but
humor usually works itself in seamlessly. Unfortunately this issue has a
problem doing that, with few jokes and almost none of them being very
funny.

After
discovering Jazz already has a boyfriend and discovering he never truly
had a romantic relationship with her, LDB is majorly depressed and
avoiding Jazz’s calls. His friend returns from his band’s tour and
tries to cheer him up with a road trip that turns ugly.

Moriarty: The Dark Chamber #3 – Review

Moriarty
has quickly gone in a bad direction. The art, while definitely
standing out on the shelf, does so mostly in a bad way and not in the
innovative way the first and even second issue managed to create. The
story is also slightly confusing and strays from the noir feel to a more
scientific approach that feels misplaced in this tale. Moriarty’s development has nearly come to a stand-still, but his character and interactions with Jade make up for it. Still
being chased by the police and Watson, Moriarty continues to seek out
Tartarus and finds Richard Thomason near death from madness. He finds
the ship Pontus and, with Jade’s help, gets inside only to begin a fight
for his life.

Samurai’s Blood #2 – Review

Samurai’s Blood #2
is not going to surprise anyone and it does not break the mold. If
you’ve read or seen a samurai story before, then you already have a
pretty good idea of what is on offer. There’s honor, there are swords,
there’s revenge and geishas. Having said that, the whole reason we’re
familiar with these stories is because they work, and in Samurai’s Blood it works very well. Issue
#2 continues the story of young clan head Junishi Sanjo, newly
appointed after everyone else was slaughtered by the villainous Gakushi,
leaving only himself, his sister Mayuko, and his friend and fellow
samurai Katashi as survivors. These three young adults are on the run
from those who would attempt to kill them, until they can strike back
and regain their lives. Also, Mayuko and Katashi are a couple. Like I
said, it is not anything most of us haven’t seen before. Even so, the
presentation is carried out so well that it is hard to care.

The Red Wing #1 – Review

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from Jonathan Hickman’s return to Image and his first creator owned book since A Red Mass for Mars. I intentionally kept myself in the dark about the series so that I could go into The Red Wing the same way I did The Nightly News, Pax Romana, Transhuman and the afore mentioned A Red Mass for Mars. Each of these I went in not knowing what I would get and each one was more than surprisingly good. Now Hickman has become part of the Marvel system and while he’s done some great and amazing things in the corporate playground his creator owned stuff always sits high on my must read list as true examples of what can be achieved in comics.

Guarding The Globe #5 – Review

Confused. That is the word that comes to mind when I consider the thing I just read; that which bears the moniker Guarding the Globe #5. One problem with any book featuring a superhero team is that each hero demands some of the spotlight and things can tend to get a bit mixed up between different characters and story lines. This is pretty much the case with Guarding the Globe #5, and by “pretty much,” I mean, goodness gracious this thing is cluttered.

Mysterious Ways #1 – Review

This horror title from Top Cow will feel oddly familiar to Image fans: the art, plot and dialogue are all reminiscent of one of the many series from Image which came out in the 90’s. These titles ranged from downright stupid to sub-par, and sub-par is where Mysterious Ways #1 is. The art is mediocre and the characters somewhat stereotypical, but some interesting elements are introduced that do make the next issue something to look forward to, if only slightly.

In Mysterious Ways an alcoholic cop is struggling to put his life back together after being released from prison for saving a guard’s life. His life takes another backward spiral when he wakes up with a silver piece and to the news that he is the prime suspect in a murder investigation with an abnormal agent hot on his trail.

Spontaneous #2 – Review

The premise behind this book is that spontaneous combustion can really happen to people, but that there is a dark force that is behind it. The stories main character Melvin has been affected by this all his life and has dedicated himself to finding out more while hiding a secret of his own. The second issue opens with a flashback of Melvin’s childhood in which a bully is calling him Kelvin Melvin. It’s mostly harmless until the bully throws matches at him and a sinister voice only Melvin can hear tells him to “Show them all.”

Farscape #21 – Review

I never watched a lot of  Farscape, but I always liked what I saw. It was a show about an astronaut from present day Earth getting shot into a galaxy of aliens and spaceships designed by Jim Henson Company. What’s not to like? Yet, somehow, here we are with what I found to be the worst combination of aliens and the Henson name since Muppets From Space.