Hola folks! Well Another week going by and more comics released. We’ve recently expanded our weekly reviews over at Comicaddicts.com and so I had a whole lot of books I was reviewing. Here are the titles I blab on about, the other reviews can be found in the original posts over HERE and HERE for those interested.
ARMY OF DARKNESS #1
Story: Elliott R. Serrano
Art: Marat Mychaels & Chris Ivy
This review must be prefaced by me informing you that if you have a love for either the Army Of Darkness and Evil Dead movies, Ash Williams and/or the inimitably awesome Bruce Campbell – then you will already relish and enjoy the comic. Also, you should bear in mind this is in essence a horror-action-comedy before you read it and start taking it seriously as you do so. Just enjoy it for what it is, thats what it does.
Taking a new direction on the mythology of the Army Of Darkness with chosen ones and adding in a whole new “Ash” Williams character, a bit of a surprise this time, what with it being a girl and all that. Torn from her time by magic and possibly fate and thrown into ancient Egypt with new and ungodly powers, Ashley is now on her own (more or less) as she fights an survives what is clearly just the beginning of deadly adventures to come as the malevolent big-bad watches from afar. With the original Ash in just a cameo moment, it was a bit of a let-down given the cover which makes you dive in hoping to geekily enjoy seeing the Boom-stick in action. But in the end Serrano has done a good job and the end result is an amusing and well portrayed story in the horror-comedy genre that sets an interesting opening stage, now I just hope he can build on it nicely hereafter.
As for the artwork – I make no bones about the fact that I’m not the biggest Mychaels fan, given his artistic lineage under the tutelage of the man who makes anyone with any aesthetic sensibility face-palm at will, Mr. Rob Leifeld. However he seems to have made some progress and while not spectacular, he does a basicaly decent job and seems to have surpassed that particular teacher for sure – plus I think some nice inking by Ivy also helps in that department quite a bit.
SCORE : 6.4 / 10
PETER PANZERFAUST #1
Story: Kurtis Wiebe
Art: Tyler Jenkins
(Review by Akshay Dhar)
Another entry into the new Image lineup, this one is both a strong and weak entry for the mass of creator owned awesomeness that Image has been putting out there for the past year.
Set in France during the 2nd World War, it introduces us to the primary protagonist – Peter – and to a group of young boys that he saves who will (clearly) become his gang in the adventures ahead. We get a brief intro to the principal characters behaviour and to the setting, mixed with a splash of war-torn action and some nazi’s to fight along with an older version of one of the boys retelling all these details as your narrative device – all in an attempt to answer some kind of mystery or something surrounding Peter. Well as you can imagine, this is a story that has the potential to be a compelling and interesting saga or maybe a total let-down or pretty much anything in between. The art was far more enticing for me as Jenkins shows a knack for good angles and layout and given the fairly simplistic subject matter here, creates a nice feel and flow for the reader.
Now, given the recent wave of highly entertaining, unique and acclaimed titles that have been making their way out of Image I would say I’m willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt for now and at least a couple of issues to see if they find their feet. As a first issue this is decent but they’ll have to seriously up something in the second issue for me to keep at this series.
SCORE : 6 / 10
THE ACTIVITY #3
Story: Nathan Edmonson
Art: Mitch Gerads
(Review by Akshay Dhar)
Well folks, here we are again – back in the covert-ops world of The Activity.
And yet again Edmonson proves why he is one of the most watched new talents out there. After a stellar and fairly action packed first couple of issues, the pace slows down to a more character based segment of story as we follow the team after an operation gone bad as they make their way home – tempers flare, there is discussion and debate and we get a greater glimpse into the human side of these operatives who work in the shadows and do the things no one else could or would.
Crafting intriguing characters and scenarios, Edmonson and Gerads are a great team that work well in tandem to create a remarkably fitting visual style and feel and the emotion that Gerads brings to the faces and scenes add a dimension that makes this book better still. Not necessarily everyones cup of tea, this remains a highly recommended book from my side and one of the best of the new Image-wave of comics.
SCORE : 8 / 10
WASTELAND #34
Story: Antony Johnston
Art: Justin Greenwood
(Review by Akshay Dhar)
What can I possibly say about this series? Now in its 34th issue and this is still in my top five of best ongoing comic series, definitely in my top five for greatest series ever written and arguably the single best post-apocalyptic series ever written. Don’t agree with me? Not sure about the truth of my words? Well that last claim is something on which even the master himself – Warren Ellis – agrees with me.
Just in case you’ve been living under a rock and have not even heard of this series, it’s a basic post-apocalyptic story set after an unspecified event called “The Big Wet” which presumably destroyed the world as we know it and reshaped the world which then evolved into a new, more brutal one. It follows an eclectic cast of characters including a desert drifter named Michael and several now-homeless towns-people including Abi, Jacob and Golden Voice (him being a Sun-singer i.e., a preacher of sorts of the new religion called Sunners) and the residents of the only large “city” around called Newbegin and the political machinations and intrigues within.
By now the story has split into two distinct story-lines, one following the happenings in Newbegin and the other following Michael and Abi as they travel the wasteland to find the fabled land of A-Ree-Yass-I which was the legendary place where all the madness and the end of the world began. Now with the last issue we’ve taken a break from the focus on Newbegin only and once again follow our intrepid hunters as they find themselves in a new town, a more… religious town. Labeled devils and demons and with Michael injured, their future is in jeopardy as they struggle to find their way and things look more and more grim for our heroes.
Still awesome and beautifully rendered and told, this remains a joy and if you have not been reading it – go do it. Now. Really.
SCORE : 9.9 / 10
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