Guest Reviews by The 10,000 Comics Pyramid's Matt Lowder . . . . .
MOONSHINE (Image, 2017, vol 1, #1-6) 4/5
This is a weak 4-star, and one I probably won't continue. Nothing exactly is wrong with it, it's just that the plot didn't really grab me. We also spent much more time out in the Appalachian mountains then I realised we would, and some of the dialogue is a bit wooden. Lettering is really fun and innovative though.
One of the things that is utterly marvellous is the art. Though I don't care for the pencil, the ink and the general style with ample use of black was awesome. Huge chunks of black are used for backgrounds and facial shadow and silhouettes. It's really stunning the way that it is done. The layouts, and the way that space is implied through negative space for backgrounds, or foregrounds, is really interesting. I didn't really care for the color, but the style is great. This would look just as good in black-and-white.
I'd recommend this to everyone who like prohibition era crime, and slow burn stories that are about family power, capitalism, distilling spirits, and werewolves. Realize this isn't really horror in a twisty and splattered kind of way. It takes its time setting up characters to get there. 4/5
######NEW COMICS MICRO REVIEWS
Far Sector (DC, #10 of 12) 4.5/5
Really really wonderful. Unfortunately it has taken a long time for this book to come out. There have been a few delays and 2020 made this 12 issue series take more than a year to complete. 2 more to go.
N.K. Jemisin is a master of her craft of pacing, plotting, and meshing theme with characters in a natural way. This is not your momma's Green Lantern. Race and class equity, technology, the value of emotional freedom and authenticity, coups, power, justice, all executed perfectly for this whole book. 4.5
Future State: The Next Batman (DC, #3 of 4) 3.5/5
These are feeling a bit inconsequential. Fun. Pretty, mostly. They're fine. 3.5
Future State: Wonder Woman (DC, #2 of 2) 2.5/5
Marginally better than Issue #1. I have little to no interest in Yara Flor's future. I don't think this was strong or even an adequate introduction into a character I assume they're continuing with in some fashion. I don't know who she is or what she values. And she cracks ridiculous jokes like pretending to pull her own thumb off to stall for time when talking to Hades. Pass. 2.5
FEAR CASE (Dark Horse, #1 of 4) 3/5
I'm just not a Matt Kindt fan. Tried Mind MGMT, Folklords, and his run on X-O Manowar and I find them okay or good. I'm trying Bang! next. FEAR CASE is overly direct, and tells rather than shows.
I feel like I have an idea of how it's going to go, but won't sub to it. The plot is cool, I give him that, but we've seen it in horror thrillers already.... this first issue didn't wow me. Basically, there's a cursed box thats been going around throughout history. If you get it, you have three days to pass it on to someone you hate most, or else someone you love most gets cursed and dies or kills someone. FBI's longest unsolved case. We follow a Detective. It's a B-movie. And its not attractive looking. 3
MANIAC OF NEW YORK (Aftershock, #1 of 5) 4.5/5
THIS IS MY BOOK OF THE WEEK. What if the typical slasher film killer, like Michael Meyers, was real, couldn't be killed, and ends up being normalized in society like a weather report from steady, constant slayings like thunderstorms? Accepted part of life? And who can stop an unkillable presence permeating a society with violence. Smarter than it should be, too. 4.5
DEEP BEYOND (#1 of 12, Image) 3.5/5
I didn't know this was Mirka Andolfo and immediately felt it when I began reading. Massive exposition word bubbles and patronizing "we killed the earth" doom and gloom that's more scolding toward the reader than reflective analysis.
I was looking for a trippy, sharp sci-fi action book. I don't think this is it. It's well colored, but disjointed in the plot threads it has set up. Too many disparate ideas for a first issue that should try to hook me. I have been given little indication where the writer intends to take me beyond "humans reap what we have sown." I didn't like Unsacred, or Mercy, by Andolfo either. 3.5
REDEMPTION (AWA/Upshot, #1 of 5) 3.5/5
Redemption is yet another post apocalyptic book that looks like a western where it was all "our fault" -- A perfect confluence of ecological, social, economic disasters destroyed civilization as we knew it. Enter bad priest/sheriff-antagonist who put up a wall, runs the town, keeps "outsiders" out, and whips women who help other women get abortions.
One character gets the bright idea to leave and find "The Butcher" -- a Sarah Conner/Linda Hamilton type character, but older and who can lay waste like in "Unforgiven." She's a myth, a legend, etc. There's more to it than that, with some justice to be had I'm sure, but it's pretty heavy-handed in its feminism and anti-patriarchy. Men are vile and shallow personifications.
I think a 4-star is objectively accurate. But my reaction was a bit less than a 4. A 2-page author letter in the back undeniably frames the intention of the book, which is a shame the reader could not arrive there naturally through the narrative. I'm giving it one more issue before I come down hard either way, yay or nay. 3.5/5
Mann's World (AWA/Upshot, #2 of 4) 4/5
Like a bag of your favorite junk food, this delivers an '80s enema of testosterone and foul language and violence that you feel bad for enjoying. Sci-fi survival machismo like Predators meets Jumanji.
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