In 2021 I set a goal to post reviews here for 1,000 comics, and finished the year at 1,008 reviews. It was a stretch - - not to read that many comics, because I actually read quite a bit more. The challenge is to find and take the time to write a fair review of what I read - - but I made it. I’m up for a new year, and a new challenge. My goal for 2022 is to read and document 1,200 comics. That’s an average of 100 books per month, easy enough to check and update. Wish me luck!
# GOAL FOR FEBRUARY 28, 2022 . . . 200 comics documented
CURRENT COUNT . . . . . 203 comics documented
A tight, compact, atmospheric read that can be enjoyed in a single sitting.
At it's heart, this is a tale of survival with a father, a young daughter, and companion dog living alone in an isolated wood following some major catastrophe. They have to hunt for food, which is hard to come by as any kill has to checked with a geiger counter for acceptable amounts of radiation.
What complicates the story is an unexpected meeting with a wounded extra-terrestrial humanoid, and the consequences of what happens following the father's decision on how to cope with this new encounter.
The art is the best part about TRESPASSER. Simple, yet evocative and moving. Good use of shading and shadows. The story is lean, perhaps all for the better as some of the dialogue is a bit too typical in spots.
THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
You don’t have to be familiar with the two role-playing games that this is based on (Vampire: The Masquerade and Werewolf:The Apocalypse) or the VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE mini-series that preceded this, but it would certainly help. The characters are very interesting. It’s just that there is a bunch of them.
This three-issue mini-series takes place in the horror haven of the Twin Cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis) and revolves around a power struggle within the vampire clan, a new leader with voices in her head, and a clash between vampires and werewolves over a piece of hallowed ground (for the werewolves) currently occupied as a club for vampires.
A bloody battle for leadership ensues on both sides in addition to the conventional clash between the two sides. “The distinction between ally and enemy has become unclear, and the machinations of unseen evil lurk everywhere within the World of Darkness.”
A stellar cast of writer collaboration here (Jim Zub, Danny Lore, Tim Seeley, Tini & Blake Howard) with stellar art from Julius Ohta and Nathan Gooden. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
A good one for younger readers, with big panel animation style art and enough smiling faces to make them forget these are creatures of nightmare.
Jack Skellington of Halloween Town has a dream involving mirrors that gives him an inventive idea of how to prolong Halloween. He makes a public pronouncement, dedicates himself to his task, and assigns his usual Halloween preparation duties to Sally.
She is immediately overwhelmed with the large menu of to-do items. Suffering a lapse of self-confidence she retreats to the woods for reflection, and comes across a frozen pond that resembles a mirror. She takes this as an omen that something terrible is going to happen.
Nice set-up issue with engaging art. I believe I would enjoy this more if I was reading it aloud to my grandkids.
THREE STARS.
Yeah, it’s yet another vampire comic - - but this was very entertaining and street smart. Vampires versus punk rock culture. The art grabbed me from the get-go; and the story doesn’t let up.
“Tossed out by her foster family after one-too-many rides home in the back of a cop car, Hunter packs up and sets out on a mission to find out who she is. A mysterious book - her only link to her parents - leads her to discover a covert world of magic and danger running parallel to our own. One punk rock show, two whiskeys, and three vicious vampire assassins later, Hunter's on the run from the ancient, deadly Cult of Ikarus. Hunter came looking for answers. What will become of her once she gets them?”
FOUR STARS.
London, 1883. Wicked looking characters. Wicked situations. Several different practitioners of the arcane arts. Demons and possessions, a mystical talisman, secrets of the underground. There sure is a lot going on in this set-up introductory issue.
“For Vida Gedmintas and the Order of the Golden Lance, what begins as another magically fuelled murder investigation soon turns into a race against time to prevent a dark wizard from summoning Abaddon, the Angel of Death, to our realm.”
THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#193 - #197 STRAY DOGS VOLUME ONE trade paperback (Image, September 2021)
A full review of this was posted to the blog for Saturday, February 26. FOUR STARS.
Even though the same creative team is here with the same wonderful Disney-like animation style art and creative and endearing animal characters, this one didn’t grab me like the original. DOG DAYS is a series of episodic never-told-before short stories from STRAY DOGS that serve as prequel, expanded storyline, and conclusion/aftermath. So far, nothing really leads to a new storyline to consider this a sequel.
Promising to deliver more characterization of the dogs featured in STRAY DOGS (and maybe a few new ones) and answer some questions and mysteries from the first series, this is quite episodic. Each dog is featured in short scenes, like little slices-of-life without any clear conflict/resolution. For me, this suffered from a lack of narrative flow. Very choppy. I did enjoy several of the spotlights.
If this doesn’t really add some significant elements to the original story, I believe some fans will be disappointed. These puppies will set you back $4.99 an issue, just so you know. THREE STARS.
This is not your standard superhero team book. I followed up my exploration of Issue #1 and decided to keep going until this stopped entertaining me. This is a superhero team book that I actually like!
The storyline is clever and full of mystery/surprises. Just when I think I know where this is going, Rosenberg reveals another layer of the onion. I’m not going to get into specifics, as part of the joy of this book is those quirky little twists. The humor is tempered down rather than silly, and that helps it work. The art team (pencils/inks/colors) is really good, and this book is exciting to look over.
Jason Todd/Red Hood can’t take a decontamination shower without eyes on him. Bloom is more an observer than a team participant, and doesn’t appear to be undead like the others.
A new team member is added, and I’m not spoiling it by mentioning Deadshot (featured on the cover of Issue #3). Sundowner is the most interesting character, although I suspect there is still more to be revealed.
Jason finally gets a face-to-face with the mysterious boss Crispin, a familiar character whose word can’t be trusted because he flip-flops on a regular basis. Turns out he’s not the only person/group utilizing the Lazarus Resin and trying to track down the diminishing supplies. There are more teams and more leaders before Issue #5 ends. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
No comments:
Post a Comment