FOR THE WEEK ENDING SUNDAY, MARCH 23 (2025)
#183 = EDENWOOD story and art by Tony S. Daniel (Image Comics, December 2023) I’d previously reviewed EDENWOOD #1 and passed on it. Depending on favorable reviews, I might be prompted to get the eventual trade paperback. But, when the 50 cent bargain bin presented me with an opportunity to give this another look, I picked this up.
In that first issue, six young teens enter a forbidden wooded area (Edenwood) to have fun with their fantasy role-playing game. They become trapped in a fantasy world. While I was impressed with the art and world-building, Daniel’s method of story-telling created a lot of confusion. Without benefit of the publisher’s synopsis I would have been lost.
There’s an ages-long war between witches (of Edenwood) and demons (of bordering Necronema). Issue #1 introduced young demon hunter Rion, who is assembling an elite team of demon hunters from various time periods, dating all the way back to the 1700’s.
That’s where Issue #2 begins, in 1777 New England with a very young Rion learning how to be a demon hunter. The storyline flits back and forth between various stages in Rion’s career, and not much mention is made of the displaced teens from Issue #1. Daniels adds even more layers of detail to his mythological world.
This is just as confusing as Issue #1, but it’s saved by some incredible artwork. If you love fantasy comics, this may be enough to get you through. For me, that just isn’t enough. FOUR STARS, mainly due to the art.
#184 CAT FIGHT #1 of 5 by Andrew Wheeler and Ilias Kyriazis (IDW Publishing, May 2023) It was the eye-appealing and expressive art that prompted me to fish this one out of the 50 cent bargain bin. This book doesn’t take itself too seriously, and provides a lot of fun.
Main character Felix is an independent cat burglar. No sooner does he meet his grandmother for the first time and learn that he’s part of a larger crime family than he gets a veiled threat from an unknown cell phone caller.
The caller, identified as Schrodinger, threatens Felix in an attempt to recruit him into another and larger crime syndicate and send him out on some impossible burglary missions. Naturally, every character has a thing for cats. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
In contrast to Marvel's more serious depiction of Thor, the Greek God/Immortal (also Incredible) Hercules has been played as a more fun-loving, light-hearted character. In my opinion, no other creative team has done as fine a job of detailing that than Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak. They also manage to mix in their truncated versions of Greek mythology along with the usual superhero shenanigans. Couple this with some neat art from Clayton Henry and Salva Espin and the result is an above-average, entertaining comic.
This time around Princess Artume, the daughter of the Amazon queen Hippolyta brings together a new breed of Amazon warriors and decides to attack Atlantis, just when Hercules is trying to spark a romance with Namora, princess of Atlantis. Hercule's sidekick Amadeus Cho is selected as a potential breeder for Artume, which excites him until he learns what normally happens afterwards. He bonds (but not romantically) with Delphye Gorgon, who tries to get him released from the fatal situation.
Poseidon is a captive of the Amazons and Hercules and friends get involved in the rescue, but not before a fight with Prince Namor.
In between the action, Van Lente and Pak add in a re-telling of how Hercules tricked Atlas as well as Hercule's prior relationship with Queen Hippolyta. Fun stuff. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#190-#191 = THE INCREDIBLE HERCULES #130-#131 by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente with art by Ryan Stegman and Rodney Buchemi (Marvel Comics, August-September 2009) Hercules and Amadeus Cho arrive in Tartarus, Land Of Never-Ending Torment (Greek mythology version of Hell),
to rescue the soul of Herc’s father (Zeus). Zeus was slain by the demon Mikaboshi, and they are greeted by a band of history’s worst dead villains.
Pluto (a.k.a. Hades, a.k.a. Herc’s uncle), Lord of Hell, plans to prosecute Zeus for crimes against the cosmos, and then exchange places with him as ruler of Olympus.
Hercules has to battle a doppelgänger, the mortal half of the ancient hero Heracles, who was condemned to rot in Tarturus upon his death. Hercules wins, and departs with his father Zeus, who has now been turned into an adolescent version of himself with vague memories. He becomes Hercule’s new sidekick, just in time as Cho learned during a side trip to the Elysian Fields where he met his deceased parents that his sister is still alive. He dedicates himself to finding her and separates from Hercules. THREE STARS.
#192 = EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #9 (Oni Press/EC Comics, March 2025)
I almost dismissed this as a substandard effort since none of the three stories here managed to surprise me. I anticipated all the endings. Then, I realized that perhaps I’ve been reading so much in the way of horror comics anthologies that this should be an expected outcome.
However, the art reminds me enough of classic EC fare that it’s hard to be disappointed. Besides, I really dig this stuff (heh heh, borrowed that verb from the Gravedigger - he’s rubbing off on me).
Brian Azzarello and David Lapham tell of a desperate unemployed young man who takes on a new job as “Exterminator” and fails to interpret the fine print on the contract correctly. Talk about diving into your work!
Baseball, the classic version from the 1930’s, plays a role in “Heaven Is A Rounded Diamond” by Christopher Cantwell and Peter Krause. An obsessive love of the game gets a young man in trouble, and leads him to jail before leading him to Hell. As the Grave Digger predicts, “poor Louie’s home run died at the wall!” (My favorite story this issue.)
The narrator in "The Rats Of Ash Street" by Michael W. Conrad and Christopher Mitten has had enough of being neglected by her slovenly, demanding husband and does him in, feeding parts of him to the rats who hang around in the streets. Some bad tastes just keep coming back up. FOUR STARS.
#193 = BOREALIS #1 of 3 by Mark Verheiden & Aaron Douglas with art by Cliff Richards (Dark Horse Comics, December 2023) Dark Horse has a knack for putting out some really good mini-series in various genres. Even if a comics reader is checking online sites for news of upcoming releases it’s still really easy to totally miss something you might like. I totally missed BOREALIS.
It’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s good in that the quality of storytelling and art in current comics has never been better (if you look in the right places). The bad thing is that there’s so much good work out there that many deserving works go unrecognized. Also, we comics readers have limited budgets and can’t pick up everything that attracts us. Also, comic shops have limited budgets and can’t give equal amounts of shelf space to every new title; and sadly have to make hard decisions to not even order them (except for customer pre-orders).
That’s why I’m a big fan and advocate of bargain bins in every comics shop. That’s the place to check out those titles you might have liked, but without emptying your wallet. Lower risk for lower investment. Why not pay 50 cents, one dollar or two dollars to find out if you should be ordering the trade paperback on some of these?
Sorry, I’m rambling/ranting. It took me three paragraphs to tell you that I picked up BOREALIS #1 in a 50 cent bargain bin and I’ll gladly buy a discounted copy of the trade paperback if I ever see it. The cool art and colors from Cliff Richards and Guy Major is worth studying. The story by Verheiden is a smooth crime story with supernatural elements that takes place in a small community in remote Alaska.
State Trooper Silaluk Osha leaves Anchorage and is re-assigned to her home town, where she has bad memories of an alien/supernatural encounter when she was 20 years younger, as well as a neglectful addicted mother (now deceased) and a nasty bossy grandmother who raised her (and still nags her). A drug-running criminal gang she is investigating ends up massacred out in the cold snowy forest, and the crime scene evokes memories of her past. Her eyes go green (like the supernatural presence) when “the green” washes over her with awful visions. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#194-#198 THE SILVER COIN #1-#5 of 5 (Image Comics, April-August 2021)
“A curse needs to feed.”The first time I heard about this title I had the impression that it was a horror story centered around a rock band. Wrong. That’s only the first issue.
This is an anthology of five separate stories centered around a mysterious silver coin and what happens to those who find it. First good luck, good fortune, and then . . . oh oh. Kind of like a new take on the classic Monkey’s Paw with a couple spins on that premise that make it seem original.
Issue #1: “The Ticket” by Chip Zdarsky and Michael Walsh (the rock band story) really didn’t impress me; it seemed to drag and felt padded. I decided to move onto something else. However, when I found the remaining issues in a bargain bin - that changed my mind. Glad I did. This is a good title that just got off to an uneven start.
The other unifying feature is that every issue is illustrated, colored and lettered by Michael Walsh, who does an extremely fine job (and doesn’t spare the blood). There’s also a crow who seems to be observing events in many of these stories.
Issue #2: “Girls of Summer” by Kelly Thompson. Mom gets upset when the night before summer camp begins she catches her daughter Fiona watching camp slasher movies, worrying about the nightmares it might cause. Fiona responds “or maybe it’s the cleverest. Because I’m learning all the tricks of how to stay alive!” in a little bit of foreshadowing that may indicate that Fiona will be a final girl.
Sure enough, a cabin-full of stuck-up girls (who rejected Fiona) get to meet the slasher. The coin doesn’t show up until the final page, when it rolls away from the scene of the crime.
Issue #3: “Death Rattle” by Ed Brisson. A trio of home invaders/thieves cause their elderly victim to die of a heart attack. They attempt to cover things up and it just gets worse and worse from there, including a police chase.
Lisa begins to hear voices in her head, and consults the coin in her possession (which features an opening eye) to learn what the fleeing trio should do next. They wander into the woods where they learn that others beings are aware of the coin and want to possess it.
Issue #4: “2467” by Jeff Lemire. That’s the year this takes place, in a futuristic society with law enforcement officers working at a computer station and letting armed drones do the dirty police work.
Another trio of thieves on the run-down outskirts of the city surround a victim, identity theft intended. The method of transferring data is inventive, and gross. When the trio flee from the drone, their leader falls down a canyon into a very old and abandoned cityscape where she happens upon the silver coin, and uses it to turn the tables. The oddest story in this collection.
Issue #5: Michael Walsh writes “Covenant” in addition to his neat artwork throughout this anthology. Rebekah Goode is a sometimes midwife, sometimes doctor and veterinarian and uses ancient spells to help and heal in a New England Puritanical village. A traveling witch-hunter coerces a local woman to betray Rebekah and rewards her with a silver coin. Upon her hanging, Rebekah curses the Judas coin, and that brings us full circle as bad things start to happen.
“For I must tell you all of a thing once cursed . . . It cannot die . . .It hungers for pain . . . It thirsts for the blood of the innocent and guilty alike. . . And that cursed thing . . . Will live forever . . .Nourished by nightmares.
That ends the first volume of the series. Fifteen issues in total have been published so far. FOUR AND ONE-QUARTER STARS.
#199-#206 = THE LAST BOOK YOU’LL EVER READ #1-#8 of 8 by Cullen Bunn and Leila Leiz (Vault Comics, July 2021-May 2022)
NOTE: I read this in the single monthly issues - - first issue read upon initial release in July 2021 and then stockpiled for a complete reading of all eight issues just recently. Now, I know why I waited so long to get to this.
So disappointing, especially after a well-done debut issue that introduced the clever premise and promised so much more. Here's what I said about Issue #1 in a FIVE-STAR review from 2021:
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Writer Cullen Bunn is a one-man House of Ideas and he’s done it again. Plus, that is one of the cleverest double-edged swords of a title that I can recall. Upon viewing that on the comic shop shelves, not many can resist picking it up and scanning a few pages to see what it’s all about. Artist Leila Leiz has a very appealing style that deserves more recognition, especially for her use of body language and facial expressions.
Best-selling author Olivia Kade has written Satyr, a non-fiction unmasking of human nature that is being “blamed for acts of senseless violence and bloodshed all over the world”. When her book-signing tour puts her in deadly danger, she hires a security guard who must pledge that he will not read her book.
“Predator or Prey? Polite society tells us there is a difference. But - - deep down - - we know better. We’re both. We’re neither. We’re Prey . . right up until the moment we hunt.”
Is Kade the prophet of the coming collapse, or is there something even more sinister going on? An absolutely brilliant debut issue. If this plays out correctly, it could be among the top horror comics of the year. FIVE STARS.
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Unfortunately, it did not play out. This is nothing more than a slightly above-average horror comic. It also did not need eight issues to unfold. Four or five would have been more than sufficient. It's as if Bunn came up with this great idea, and then floundered around figuring out how best to present it.
The art is well done, and showcases the promising talent of Leiz. But, the story is repetitive and quickly degenerates into a monthly display of blood and guts and erotic sex scenes (the point being made earlier, so these just seem like filler as well).
The most disappointing of several disappointments for me is that Bunn left the ending vague and inconclusive, perhaps anticipating a chance to write a sequel. Please, no need.
There was an opportunity to go really bold here, and Bunn flinched. The ending should have been either apocalyptic and dark with primitive instincts prevailing, or uplighting as good triumphs over debasement and decency is restored. We get neither. THREE AND ONE-QUARTER STARS.
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