For the week ending Sunday, June 07 . . . . .
#196 = RED ROOTS #1 by Lorenzo De Felici, Writer & Artist (Image Comics, April 2026) Have you ever viewed an action movie where you had no idea what the point was and where it was heading - - but you kept watching because it entertained you? I experienced that feeling after reading RED ROOTS.
Also, you get double that experience here as there are two separate and unrelated (for now) storylines. In the creator’s afterword he reveals that he intends to introduce a third, more interesting story when he brings them together.
Not only does De Felici display a knack for cinematic pacing but his art is visually engaging, and the fight/battle scenes are equal to John Wick and/or Punisher ferocity. The lone armed vigilante breaking into a criminal compound is a former Delta agent code-named Sand; and he’s on a mission of revenge to get in front of the gang boss who he feels is responsible for the death of his Delta team-mate Agent Hourglass. Only problem is that in order to achieve those ends he may use up all his weaponry, while his foes still have plenty of ammo left.
The other story follows Kate, a lonely un-married school-teacher who seemingly lives for her two cats. When she discovers a decapitated head in her closet, she begins to unravel - - first during interrogation by police (who consider her a suspect) and then when she returns home only to find a new head back inside her house.
Just when I was beginning to get comfortable with these storylines, De Felici inserts a supernatural element into the Agent Sand story and a character straight out of fantasy enters into Kate’s world.
I still have no idea where De Felici is taking this, but I’m intrigued. FOUR STARS.
#197 = RED ROOTS #2 by Lorenzo De Felici, Writer & Artist (Image Comics, May 2026) Where De Felici is taking this in the third storyline occurs immediately upon opening to the front pages = a fantasy land. Where the vigilante and the schoolteacher find themselves is captives of the ogre who crashed Kate’s home to recover the disembodied heads that he apparently owned.
The vigilante code-named Sand is nearly dead; and Kate is on the brink of a mental breakdown, thinking that she is still dreaming/hallucinating. Sand manages a temporary escape for both of them until they are quickly re-captured and get a hint as to why the ogre brought them to this strange land.
I’m not convinced that I know where this title is heading and I’m kind of expecting more twists in the storyline as it progresses.
This book has its’ hooks into me now, as I want to know what is the significance of Red Roots in the title. There was a brief glimpse at the end of Issue #1, and the ogre (Grit by name) makes a statement in Issue #2 saying “the roots provide.”
THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#198 = OF THE EARTH #1 by Chris Condon and Andrew Ehrich with art by Charlie Adlard (Image Comics, May 2026)
This issue is an introduction/set-up for the main event, which will be as Chris Condon describes it “a unique combination of the Noir stories that I love with a desert-bound horror tale that will chill readers to the bone.”
The only way readers of this first issue would have an inkling of that would be if they read the text prologue detailing an urban myth of the “wildcatter” monster as well as the author’s columns in the back of the book. But, it’s already engaging and very cinematic in its visuals as Charlie Adlard can make it.
A young woman apparently on the run, as the picnic basket of money on the seat beside her hints at, drives across a desert highway. She hits the brakes to avoid hitting a mangy, scrawny dog crossing the road - only to witness it become roadkill as a police car passes her and crushes the dog. She kneels down to try and comfort the dog in its waning minutes of life, only to be harassed by an impatient truck driver. It’s an omen of sorts of trouble ahead as she makes her way to Grandma’s house and finds a disturbing scene.
Great set-up, emotional and heart-felt as only Condon, Ehrich and Adlard can tell it. If you’ve never read any of Condon’s various crime comics then you really should pick this up and give it a trial.
In that afterword, Condon promised to channel films like The Thing and Tremors. Could be a good sleeper of a monster comic. FOUR STARS.
#199 - ##203 = CRIMINAL, VOLUME ONE: COWARD by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Image Comics, February 2025 - 6th printing) Paperback, 144 pages.
For creators, reading any of the Brubaker/Phillips CRIMINAl graphic novels is akin to a master class on how to write and illustrate crime comics.
Brubaker takes a cinematic approach and lets it all out: his crime stories are so realistic and believable. Phillips takes the script and enhances it with carefully chosen illustrations, especially the use of body language.
Gritty stories. Human. Heartfelt. Incredible characters. Not always a happy or satisfying ending, but not in dispute. Captivating.
So good that I'm coming back for a second read this year, and sooner rather than later. FIVE STARS.
SYNOPSIS ON THE GOODREADS WEBSITE . . . .
From Harvey Award-Winning Best Writer Ed Brubaker, and Scream Award-Winning Best Artist Sean Phillips comes the first collection of Criminal, one of the best reviewed comics of 2006.
Coward is the story of Leo, a professional pickpocket who is also a legendary heist-planner and thief. But there's a catch with Leo, he won't work any job that he doesn't call all the shots on, he won't allow guns, and the minute things turn south, he's looking for any exit that won't land him in prison.
But when he's lured into a risky heist, all his rules go out the window, and he ends up on the run from the cops and the bad men who double-crossed him. Now Leo must come face-to-face with the violence he's kept bottled up inside for 20 years, and nothing will ever be the same for him again. Collects Criminal #1-5.
