The Stuff of Legend Book 1: The Dark Review

Author: Mike Raicht & Brian Smith
Illustrations: Charles Paul Wilson III
Colors & Design: Jon Conkling & Michael DeVito

Ahhh, now this book brought back some memories of my early childhood. Back when I used to sleep with a stuff bunny, not stuffed in the sense of someone killing a rabbit and having it stuffed to give to me. But, stuffed with cotton and love. That's probably the girliest thing I have said in a long time, well not said, but typed. Anyway, yes....at one time I thought my stuffed rabbit would come to life when I left for school or stepped out of the room. Now, I'm not 100% sure if my rabbit would have come chasing after me after demons from my closet came and grabbed me and took me to another world. I'm sure with the help of my transformers, Gi-Joes, Thundercats, Mazinger Z, and Spiderman figures they would have come up with something. But anywho...onto the review!

The year is 1944 and a boy is kidnapped by the darkness from his closet. A group of his toys come out of a chest and a small team is assembled to go and rescue the boy from the Dark. Along with Scout, the boy's dog; Max the teddy bear, princess, colonel, Percy the piggy bank, Jester the jack in the box, Quackers and Harmony the ballerina all set out to rescue boy from the Boogeyman. As soon as they step into the world of the Dark these characters take a new life and new forms. They become life versions of themselves. For example the Max becomes a grizzly bear with a scarf. They are faced by other toys like knights, cowboys, and soldiers that are under the command of their master. On this journey we see some characters turn into cowards, traitors, heroes, and even die while trying to get their boy back. There are some nice flashbacks and narrative gaps in between chapters. By the end of the book you are left craving the next book.

I really enjoyed the book and I was sucked right in. Watching these toys come to life and become completely different characters than when their journey started was awesome. The chemistry between them is a great mix and I loved seeing the way they each treat Scout the dog so differently. The scenes in the city of Hop Scotch were interesting and I was blown away with how much of reality this "toy story" captured. Now I have no problem with this story, but the dialogue at times felt a little dry and I even with the flashbacks I really didn't see that deep of a connection with the boy. But, the story will only take you so far and that's where the artwork comes in!

The artwork is top notch. When I first opened the book I didn't see that much detail on the toy figures, but differences between the toys in the real world and the toys as they appear in the Dark are at once stunning and satisfying; From cross hatching to deeper shades of inks used on the characters to make them more real. To be honest the colors are what caught my attention. It feels like the story is printed on old textured paper and it could pass for a family heirloom that was passed down from your grandparents.

This is definitely a kick ass version of Toy Story, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Velveteen Rabbit, and even Winnie the Pooh. As I mention before I really look forward to the next volume of this series and hope to see all the characters make it out of that one, because I have grown attached to all of them. I'd love to see this made into a movie by Tim Burton or Guillermo Del Toro. Oh and I wouldn't based this book on that cute image of Max the teddy bear on the cover, because it is one badass adventure waiting inside. A

Dead Run #1

Writer: Andrew Cosby / Michael Alan Nelson
Artist: Francesco Biagini

Dead Run is basically Mad Max in comic form...Mad Max 2 mind you, none of that Mad Max 1 bullshit. The main character, a Nick Masters, is a driver courier looking to make a buck whilest trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic looking world. Along the way his brother in law gets the shit beat out of him and his sister is kidnapped by a crimelord of sorts asking Nick to make a courier run to San Francisco, and in exchange he'll let Nick's sister live. The road to San Francisco is anything but safe, nicknamed "The Dead Run", Nick goes to see the only man ever known to make the Dead Run and come back alive. The guy (who looks to have lost an arm) pretty much tells Nick he's insane and to fuck off. As Nick leaves the driver's daughter stops Masters' saying she knows the way but will only tell him if she can ride along with him to San Francisco. As they drive past the gates you get the feeling the road ahead is not gonna be an easy one.

OK, so the writing. The writing in this sucker is manageable. Parts of the dialogue flow pretty well but there are eh.. moments... "Son, I've had kidney stones with bigger balls then you". First off...really...kidney stones...the things that are created in your balls, have balls bigger then...*sigh*..in a literal sense or any other sense...ehhh yeah no, not a good piece of dialogue. Maybe "Son, I've had pieces of shit with bigger balls then you" or something else...maybe I can get behind that. ANYWAY, overall the story/writing for this first issue is alright, the thing with the old driver's daughter you can see set up even before he talks to the father and you know its coming but again, first issue so not putting expectations up too high here.

The artwork in this first issue has it's highs and lows. The cover art by Jason Shawn Alexander for Cover B I think was awesome, giving a nice grittiness to Nick Masters reminding one of a cover of Constantine: Hellblazer. As for the inside of the actual issue Francesco Biagini's art style feels a lot like Stuart Immonen's style from Nextwave only with more grit. Some panels come off great some not so great, page 15 where it's a huge panel trying to convey the massiveness of one of the walls around Los Angeles, the panel is penciled pretty well but it's in contrast to stuff that feels off like in page 1, where you have that same massive wall and this barely illustrated city behind it. I don't know how to explain it accurately other then to say I feel like Biagini will be in the middle of penciling and then try a ever so slight change in style and then go "Oh...well...no...I'll go back to what I was doing earlier". I haven't seen any prior work he has done though, so maybe I am being overly harsh.

Overall this first issue is ok. It's not bad but it's not great. I will say however that the story is interesting enough to keep with it for at least another issue, as I get the feeling things will really pick up as they head further out on the road. B+

(Note: If you want a free peak at the issue, comic book resources has a couple pages up for free here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=2491))

Strange #1

Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Emma Rios

So for the first time in over a year, I willingly paid for a single from Marvel Comics. Only two reasons why I did this

1.) Waid (Flash) was writing it
2.) It was a Doctor Strange comic.

So, was this worth the close to 3.99 I paid for it? Almost.

The story starts out with a slight olde school insert from the old Doctor Strange comics whilest at the same time foreshadowing an event that looks to happen much later in the story (Stephen Strange looking as though he's being torturted) CUT TO ...a baseball game.

An angsty teen is twittering via her phone about having to sit thru said game, a fly ball she catches and throws back squarely into none other then Stephen Strange. The coincidence is of course not one as Stephen tries to get the girl to lead him to her Grandfather (the manager of the home team playing). Apparently the team is involved in some kind of deal with a demon and in losing the game all the souls in the arena essentially will get sucked into hell. Stephen is confronted by the dealer demon and you soon realize that Strange has become known as somewhat of a hack now, even in Demonic circles. There is more but, I don't wanna give the whole issue away.

The first issue of Strange is good but not great. Waid's storytelling an characterization is on point, the callback to the old Strange comic, the depiction of Stephen Strange as kinda a down and out master sorcerer, etc, etc, all of it is good...which leaves the artwork. Much of the artwork Rios does in this first issue is good and has a Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane / Miyazawa feel to it, until you get to the baseball game. Essentially at one part in the story Stephen Strange has to play in a baseball game with demons. In what should be some purely awesome panels of Strange rounding the bases I was left utterly confused about what the fuck was going on. Rios's depiction of the demon players was just too much or rather too busy as you had tentacles an the like flying every which way confusing me and likely every other reader on what actually was happening. I get it, their demons, they have tentacles and other weird appendages, you don't need to show ALL of them. You eventually figure out Strange is safe on home base only when the umpire says SAFE...and yeah...that's just not good. I am not trying to bash Rios here, she's a good artist, but those panels woulda benefited from a less is more strategy

Aside from the "too many tentacles" issue this first issue of Strange was interesting. I say wait for the trade to come out though and enjoy it then. With their being only 4 issues in this series and each costing 3.99 you might save more money reading this title that way.

B+

The Talisman #1 & 2

Writers: Stephen King & Peter Straub (Script - Robin Furth)
Artists: Nei Ruffino & Tony Shasteen:
Letterer: Bill Tortolini

So I got the first two issues of the Talisman back a week or so ago and they have been sitting in my pile, mocking me.

Originally I had tried listening to the audiobook version of King & Straub's "The Talisman" a year or so ago and I feel asleep I was soo bored by it. The comics apparently hit a better flow with me.

The initial story is set back around the 80s and centers around a boy and his mother. The two travel to an area of New Hampshire after the death of the father and more recently the boy's Uncle Tommy. Essentially the mother is driving there to escape another "evil uncle" whilest at the same time finding a place to fight the cancer that is slowly consuming her. The boy is all too aware of things going on around him and his inability to do anything about it. Eventually an old fellow named Speedy runs into Jack (the boy) and tells Jack that the daydreams he often has are not daydreams but in fact visions of another real world, wherein sorcerers, queens, etc all exist. Apparently his evil uncle in his reality is an evil wizard in the other reality and slowly taking over everything. Eventually Speedy tells the kid that he must go to this other reality and obtain "The Talisman" should he want to save everyone. The kid says his vague goodbye's to his mother, telling her he has to disappear for awhile and soon enough after Speedy sends the boy on his way to the other reality.

Ok so first and foremost, this is not one of those "symbolic" stories where everything is an analogy for what's happening in the boy's life and everything is simply a figment of the boy's imagination....all of this is actually happening. Now that I got that little tidbit out of the way, I'll say that from what I have read, these first two issues of "The Talisman" have been alright, and I didn't fall asleep completely while turning each page. I do have a problem with Jack's mother being ok with him disappearing for an indeterminate amount of time, not probing him with questions or arguing with her son, I mean ok...fantasy story and all yea but still...the mother is ok with her son just saying he's gonna vanish for awhile...seems to push believability there a bit but, I digress. The story again so far is ok, the inclusion of wizards and alternate realities is interesting and intriguing on it's own, especially when you realize it's not another one of those tired "EVERYTHING IS A METAPHOR FOR SOMETHING" stories. The story looks like it will have a slow burn though as being based off a large book there is still a lot of material left for the comic to cover, so your best off buying or borrowing a trade of this when it comes out if slow burns aren't your idea of fun. (There's a joke there but I'm not taking it). The actual text is pretty close to the original content, with descriptions handled decently by the artists.I am not a huge fan of the style but by the second issue I think it was starting to grow on me a little.

Final thought, if you like Stephen King, or even just fantasy try checking this title out. B+

Beasts of Burden #1

Writer: Evan Dorkin
Artist: Jill Thompson
Letterer: Jason Arthur

Recently Dark Horse released Beasts of Burden a comic series essentially about a bunch of dogs and cats fighting the supernatural.

I wanted to give this series a fair shake people I really really did but, the phrase "talking dogs & cats" is pretty much an automatic trigger for me to go into cynic mood. Memories of those horrible Look Whose Talking movies are brought up and it sours me a lot towards finding anything positive in anything.

Talking dogs and cats don't work. Point period. They don't work because nine times outta ten whoever is writing the characters doesn't understand the concept of decent characterization. Tell me how many times the dog or cat is written as a lovable, trustworthy animal. Yeah...almost always. Dogs/cats characterized with a "Oh golly" personality are boring, they are unrelateable. I am not saying we should sacrifice an entire story for the sake of good characterization but without decent writing giving voice to the characters, the writer is making the reader work harder to get into a story, and I think that's the problem with this title.

Evan Dorkin's writing is good, you can see glimmers of it here and there, but the characterization of the dogs/cats is just felt to be lacking. The artwork for the issue has a very fairy-tale feel to it which I dig. Jill Thompson's work on the huge frog, utterly disgusting but in a good way. Rare are the times a comic's art can gross me out but there is one scene in this issue where the frog explodes, aww man, seriously, it's pretty sick.

So in short, this first issue of Beasts of Burden is off to a ROCKY start. The writing right now is meh but the artwork by Thompson is promising.

C-

Blackest Night #1 Review

Well well well, it's finally here folks. The day the Green Lanterns have been talking about since they learned to rhyme. Blackest Night! It's begun, and with quite a bang if you ask me. It practically screamed to be reviewed, so....here I am, reviewing it.

We start out with Black Hand digging up and immediately puking onto / making out with poor old Batman's skull, which, apparently turned it into a Black Ring Pez Dispenser.

But seriously, before going any further, let's just discuss this. Batman's been in the ground for a hot DC minute and already, some asshole's digging him up and using is noggin as the spitoon from hell. The only reason it's forgiveable is because it prompts Alfred to pull a classic Gob Bluth moment...

Honestly though, the reprecussions of using Bats' skull as the black ring dispenser are yet to be seen, but I just needed an excuse to throw those two images up next to each other. Moving on then...

All the super-people and a lot of the citizens out there are using the day of Superman's 'death' as a day of remembrance for those who have fallen in the line of super hero duty. A clever and fitting device to remind all the readers of those top tier few who've taken the heroic "save the universe" dirt nap, along with all the second, third, fourth, and fourteenth stringers that you may or may not heard of.

Meanwhile under the Hall of Justice, Barry and Hal are having the conversation that seems to have been going on for months now. "ZOMG HAL! I WUZ DED FER SO LONG. I FEEEL LYKE I MIZZED AWOT!!!" In non-retarded aboutheroe-writer words, that's Barry Allen woefully catching up with Hal on all the stuff he missed while he was spending quality time with the Speed Force. This issue, the focus of the conversation is....SURPRISE! PEOPLE WHO DIED!

No sooner has Geoff Johns thoroughly reminded us of all the stiffs laying around in the DCU, he flips the switch and starts the party with some horrific, somewhat hilarious guardian-on-guardian throat-ripping.

And there we have it. Creepy-Scar-Face Guardian forsakes her blue kin to be the official Guardian of the Black Lantern because...well she's bored. At least that's what I was led to believe In the latest issue of Green Lantern. Either way, we officially have a Black-Lantern bonanza on our hands. The black rings arrive to earth and resurrect everyone and all their mothers, it seems.

Before you know it, Black Lantern Ralph and Sue Dibny savagely kill and 'eat' Hawkgirl and Hawkman, and just when she was getting around to saying she loves him! I hate it when that happens. Black Mask comes up with some Black Lantern Pez (read: Rings) for the two new converts, and a-waaaaay we go! Issue #1 concludes with a bang.

So there we have it. DC's clever answer to Marvel Zombies has begun, and it looks like it's going to be an awesome ride. I wish I could grant more validity to this review by actually, y'know, REVIEWING it, but I'm incapable of doing anything but drooling over Geoff John's work. As far as I am concerned the man can do no wrong, and nothing's changed with this issue. Pick it up. Read it. Try not to do anything weird like rub your genitals on it (I just want my readers to be better than myself. I have standards....for you.) This is an awesome comic. It's a disservice to the artists to not at least mention that Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert did a fantastic job on art. I hope they keep it up, and in a timely manner. UNTIL NEXT TIME, CITIZENS!!!!

-Joshiebear

Ultimatum #4 Choose-Your-Own Verdict

So I thought I might write a review for this comic since y'know, that's sort of what we're supposed to do here, but instead I thought I would just tell you my case (it isn't good) and then, as if this were some sort of court case, give you evidence supporting it.

Verdict: Ultimatum is shock-gore horse-$#!% intended to make you THINK it's good because they're doing "CRAZY" things, when really, it's just superbly bad writing with people dying to make it look important.

EXHIBIT A:

Apparently, Ultimate Spider-Man is dead. Way to go, assholes. The only reason 90% of the readers pick up Ultimate titles is now Jeph Loeb-fodder.

EXHIBIT B:

BUNGHOLES?! Damn you, Loeb. Nick fury DOES NOT EQUAL Beavis and Butthead. It's the Ultimates, you wrote Ultimates 3 so "Edgy", why can't he just say assholes, or jerks, or ANYTHING BUT BUNGHOLES!?!?!?!?

EXHIBIT C:

Explaining why this is bad would be like showing you the a video of the victim (Comic Books) being stabbed by the defendant (Jeph Loeb) and then having to actually explain why that is bad.

EXHIBIT D:

He can't even write his own Evil Villain Dialogue. He has to borrow it from the Bible. Lazy and super F'd out.

EXHIBIT E:

Gore for the sake of gore. OMG THEY KILLED TEH DOKTOR STRANJJ!!!1

EXHIBIT F:

More gore for the sake of gore. So retarded. So so retarded. No fights, no characterization, it's like a kid playing with action figures. All that's needed is just the characters hitting each other and everyone's having the time of their life. This is so $#!%.

So there you go faithful readers. Make up your own minds. Is this not awful? Also, I love Finch as an artist, and this is some of the worst work I have ever seen him churn out.

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son

Creators: Dean Koontz & Kevin J. Anderson
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Brett Booth
Colors: Dojo, Andrew Dalhouse, and Mohan
Publisher: Del Rey

This is kind of an interesting idea. A comic based on a book that is a take on a classic piece of literature. Dean Koontz co-wrote a trilogy of books (well the first two books are out) that sets Dr. Frankenstein, now known as Victor Helios in our time and he also happens to be a business man and philanthropist. The comic just brings the first novel to life with the help of Chuck Dixon and Brett Booth. This hardcover collects the entire five issue run and has a new story and a forward by Dean Koontz himself.

As I mentioned earlier the story is set in our time with a serial killer known as the surgeon is running loose in the streets of New Orleans taking body parts from his victims. Ohh yeah, the doctor is at it again trying to assemble parts for his perfect human being or in this case a new race of subordinate genetically engineered creatures. This brings Detectives Carson O'Connor and her partner Michael Maddison to investigate these weird murders. Meanwhile in a Buddhist monastery lives a scarred man named Deucalion, who now feels like something old is still alive in the city of New Orleans and he has to get there. Now the detective must team up with this mysterious scarred man to find the truth behind these murders.

It's very difficult to try to bring classic tales and put a new modern twist on them. It was a real interesting story, something that I probably would have watched on HBO or USA Up All Night. The dialogue and plot really makes this a remarkable and powerful reworking of the classic Frankenstein tale. Chuck Dixon really keeps all the action, mystery, and creepy factors in to make this story stand out. He really makes the city of New Orleans seem like a dark place to visit. What else can we expect from a master of writing?

The only problem I had with the book was the art by Brett Booth; who after years still hasn't improved his style that put him on the map in the 90s at image. Don't get me wrong, at one time I really enjoyed his art in Backlash. Very Jim Lee inspired, but with thinner faces. The problem is this book is supposed to be a dark tale and his characters all look like models and over muscled superheroes. Even his monster looks like a pretty boy with all that hair and perfect body. He is very inconsistent with how tall characters are and hair styles. At times he seems to be limited on how many facial expressions he can give characters. Someone else with a darker tone would have worked better.

It was a fun read that unfortunately set up the next volume and I'm not sure when that will be coming out. Like I mentioned I really dig the story and it keeps me wondering what's going to happen to the cast of characters. But my feelings won't be hurt if they replace the artist. B-

EC Archives: Tales from the Crypt volume 3 Review

Creators: Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, Graham Ingels, Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, and others
Publisher: Gem Stone Publishing

As I have mentioned before I was too young when the original comics were released, but back when I was in middle school, I saw a comic adaptation of Creepshow and it changed the way I saw comics. Around this time HBO started their Tales from the Crypt series and when I found out there were comics I went nuts. I was lucky enough to get some of the hardcover rereleases in the early 90’s that were done in black and white and I was blown away by the stories and artwork. Lucky for me I no longer have to find those other volumes missing from my collection.

This volume reprints the second six complete issues (24 stories) of the comic book "Tales From the Crypt", originally published in issues 13 through 18 (1952 to 1953). Some of the stories featured in this collection are The Thing from Glades, Taint the Meat it’s the Humanity and A Sucker for a Spider. Some of these stories were the inspiration for several feature films and the HBO series of the same name. The stories in Tales from the Crypt rarely deviated from the basic formula in that they almost always ended with a shocking, ironic twist with a character getting what they deserve. Throughout the 200+ pages of this book the creators give us our dosage of morality tales with their own supernatural twist.

This book features some fantastic talents, because to be fair EC had the best artists of the era; Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Marie Severin, Graham Ingels, and Harvey Kurtzman. This restored collection the artwork shines like never before. The pages are vibrant and crisp and look like they were illustrated by today’s top artist. I can’t get over how nice this art looks on high quality paper and the coloring looks vibrant. Sadly that is part of the reason it brought down the rating a bit. Some of the pictures look too vibrant and flashy and the colors don’t mesh well with the art style. I believe it sometimes takes away from the wonderful art. Volume 3 also includes special features such as a forward by Bob Overstreet and original EC ads that run throughout the volume. This book set the standards for drawing and writing sequential horror stories and you can still tell why after all these years. Want a special treat this year for Halloween? Go and buy this book. I can't wait for Gemstone to reprint the rest. B+

Flight vol. 5 Review

Contributors: Look Below
Art Director/Editor: Kazu Kibuishi
Publisher: Villard

I have been anxiously awaiting this volume of Flight since I read volumes one through four back to back last year. There is a certain joy that I get out of Flight that I don’t get out of most of my graphic novels. If you’ve never heard of this series, think of it like a comic anthology featuring over 20 creators all with different art styles and storytelling methods. Each story is a stand-alone tale, with the exception of a couple that keep coming back. Even if many of these creators are not household names, it in no way diminishes their remarkable ability to tell a story, often with limited or no dialogue at all.

Since I can’t talk about every single story, the highlights of this book for me include Michel Cagne’s mandatory contribution of “The Broken Path” as we revisit the tiny little fox that is in a dangerous kingdom and finds friendship in the end. The Dragon by Reagan Lodge tells the story of Wyit, a small fox who is teamed up with the warrior Jin as a Dragon tank attacks a town. Funny enough he finds out that the mightiest weapon against this tank is a sweet yam. I fell in love with this story, mainly for the sketchy artwork and dark shadows, but I would seriously follow a monthly series focusing on Wyit and Sidna’s adventures. Phil Craven’s “N” makes me wish the guy would design a videogame for the DS with that kind of art style. Of course the book wouldn’t be complete without the guy that put it all together not doing a segment. Courier by Kazu Kibuishi is a futuristic take on the delivery services with a sweet little ending.

Many of the creators followed the flight theme in a loose way, taking it as any kind of journey. I guess the Beisbol story by Richard Pose is the one that stands out the most as not being really flight themed. It doesn’t really mean that they are bad stories in any way, because some of the stories that stand out to me are not flight themed. Such was the case with Sonny Liew’s Malinky Robot. Sure there is a scene with robots flying over the city, but the main centralized story is about Mr. Nabisco’s robot, who gets treated more like an appliance and has an identity problem. What I loved most about this story is the wonderful artwork. The colors are dull and the art is squiggly, but damn detailed and the characters really come alive. There are also simple and sweet stories such as Frank and Frank’s Seasons about a young boy, a bear, and the change that seasons have on us.

There aren’t enough words and truly I don’t think I have enough of a grasp of the language to do this series justice. Sure it’s not as thick as some of the previous volumes, but with over 350 full-color pages at $25 Flight volume 5 is still one hell of a deal. Trying to find a book for that someone you are trying to get into comics? Look no further. This book is the perfect example of what comics should be about. This anthology series has told some of the most emotionally moving, visually riveting, smile inducing, and dramatic stories I have had the pleasure of reading. The depth of diversity and insane power of creativity in these 360 pages is impressive even to a long time comic fan like me and I think you will find yourself sharing my views after you put this book down. A+