Posts Tagged comicbooks

3 results.

Comic Review: Complex

by on September 13, 2014 at 7:45 pm
Posted In: Homepage, Scott

Montreal Comic Con is going on this weekend here in my home town. We applied for press passes, but they politely declined to have us there. Well, politely in a generic, devoid of personal contact form letter sort of way. But I’ve still got comics on the brain, and as such I sat down to read some stuff that might be a bit under the radar.

Complex 1Out from Alterna Comics is a book called “Complex“, by Michael Malkin and Kay. Currently, it’s a free download on Comixology, so there is no reason for you to not check it out. I was raised on Marvel and DC comics, but since both Disney and Time-Warner are still opponents of net-neutrality, I don’t really buy any of there stuff anymore, and especially nothing first run. Most comics I read regularly are being put out by Image (Saga, Manhattan Projects), IDW (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), or Dark Horse (Conan). So I do have an appetite for both licensed and indie comics, but I admit I have a tendency to stick to more well know creators or properties.

I have no clue who the creators of “Complex” are. I went into this book blind and just hoped it’d be okay. What I got was a dark, foreboding story with sharp art and a mystery that was enticing along with a cast of characters that all seemed to have solid, unique motivations for their actions. A dark neighborhood, wives secretly drugging their husbands, a series of shadowy scientists and an attempted murder. A little bit like turning into the X-Files for the first time in the middle of an episode somewhere in season two. You know it’s good, but you’re not really sure why or exactly what’s going on.

The art, by Kay, is very chiaroscuro and has solid storytelling chops, but there could be some more experimentation with the media going on. The consistent grid of the panels doesn’t always match the weird, trippy confusion that the plot is running. and that’s a bit of a shame. The characters however do look unique from one another, and the facial expressions and body language in the art is above average.

I’m not getting too much into the plot of the first issue for a couple of reasons. One, it’s strange, but it’s also a mystery, and I think a part of it’s appeal for me was reading it going “What the fuck is going on here?” and it gets to be (a little) clearer as you go through the issue. The other is that I’m worried I’m going to make assumptions about the plot that’ll be wildly wrong once I read the next issue, and I don’t want to be caught making stuff up.

Complex #1 gets a rating of 4 poison rings from me.

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Comic Review: The Black Beetle

by on August 29, 2014 at 12:06 am
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Scott

Several years ago, Keith and I went with our girlfriends on a road trip. To kill time and make the trip easier Keith had decided that talking to each other was never gonna cut it, so he had downloaded a bunch of old-timey radio serials to keep us entertained. The Shadow, The Blue Beetle, The Saint. Stuff like that. The other three really dug it, and for me, I never slept so well in a moving vehicle.

The forward to the book is written by Darwyn Cooke, a fellow Canadian and artist of some of my favorite comics (New Frontier, The Spirit 2006-08). If I could draw like one other person, Cooke would be mighty high on my list. He talks about being a non-American creator of American comics, and while usually these essays are pretty cookie-cutter, this one is an interesting read. Cooke is a smart guy, and while he loves comics, he also loves illustration and design. So when he loads on the praise for this book, it made it worth picking up to check it out.

The book itself is both written and illustrated by the Italian Francesco Francavilla. The style of book is fairly pulp hero, and as such, the writing is hard to judge. It’s not very deep, but that is also because it doesn’t need to be. It serves the genre, and it serves the action, so it’s not practical to critique it as such. It is good enough for what it does. The Black Beetle is a masked avenger, fighting crime in a corrupt and dark city sometime in the late 1930’s or early 40’s.

The art, on the other hand, propels this book to such great heights. The design, the layout, the dynamic motion, the ink and colours all make every page worthy of being mounted and framed.

I mean it, this book is a work of art. Everything looks like a fantastic movie poster for something starring Vincent Price in the 1940’s. These panels I pulled are not the best of the best from the book, they all look this good, or better.

If you’re looking for a good, pulpy super hero book, The Black Beetle is just what you need.

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Comics Review – Baltimore: The Plague Ships

by on October 16, 2013 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Scott

BaltimorePlagueShips

Writers: Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden, art by Ben Stenbeck.

“Baltimore: The Plague Ships” is a comic book about vampires set following the First World War is automatically intriguing to me. One that has Mike Mignola involved, in writing and in doing cover art made it an easy sell for me. (20th century history + vampires + a grey/black/red colour palette = Scott doling out some cash, or so the math goes.)

This graphic novel is a sequel to an illustrated novel by Golden and Mignola, “Baltimore: or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and The Vampire”  (which I did not read), but “The Plague Ships” works pretty hard to catch you up to speed on what you may need to know to understand what’s going on. I did find it a little strange that no mention of the novel being made in the solicitation of the comic, but what can you do? That’s what you get when you leave your faith with Previews and Diamond.

Lord Baltimore is a war veteran who witnesses the undead feeding on his dying comrades while trapped in the no man’s land of the trenches. Bleeding from several bullet wounds, he battles a vamper, scars it with a bayonet, but at the cost of his leg. In doing so, he spurrs the vampires into a more active hunt, no longer are they willing to content themselves with the dying, they now begin to actively hunt all humans, and Lord Baltimore, after suffering great personal tragedy vows revenge. Good stuff there.

Ben Stenbeck was a pleasant surprise on the pencils, managing to be both gloomy and dynamic. It walks a line somewhere between Mignola’s Hellboy, and the Animated Hellboy series. I especially like the designof the main antagonist, the vampire Haigus, who looks malevolent with that one glowing red eye. The book could use a little more texture, a little more grime in the art, but as it stands I have no serious complaints and quite liked Stenbeck’s storytelling.

My one complaint is that the books reads very quickly, and could have used a little more “meat” to the story. Pacing is a hard thing to perfect in a graphic novel, and this one keeps up a fast pace, and in this case, I found that to be unfortunate, as I wished there was more for me to sink my teeth into.

baltimore1p2

I recommend this book to horror fans, as it was entertaining and pretty to look at. I’d give it a solid rating of three “Near Dark”s on a kaiser roll.

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