Patrick Halpin Comic Reviews

I do hope that Image decides to continue this beyond its planned four-issue run because the spandex clad medium of the comic book has been screaming for a book like this, one that can do for the war genre what Walking Dead and 30 Days of Night did for horror.

This book is equally about the heroes and the villains and both are being developed and written incredibly. Caring about the outcomes of what are essentially two stories in one is a melodramatic home run as we know the outcome can only be good for one party. Should you be lucky enough to stumble into this book you keep reading it.

The violence that spills over into the human world seems more poignant than before as we've had a chance to become invested in the human characters that are trying to make sense of this violence, and in turn are finding out more than they should. 30 Days of Night has honestly never been as good as it is now.

The action is good, violent and is full of logical complications but it still feels like I'm just an observer to events as opposed to being apart of them. Perhaps there's a slow burning subtly to the characters in all this that I'm missing as I read this month to month.

The art is heavy on the digitally painted look but it's one of the better examples out there. Stjepan Sejic draws as if he's channeling Norman Rockwell by way of Clayton Crain and it works wonders for this returning to my roots by way of haunter hospital tale. I'm excited as I thought I'd run out of worthwhile books to read. A bit of Amazon exploring as shown me that the Top Cow Universe has quite the richly layered back catalogue that'll now be taking up a good amount of my paycheck.

This issue is the last in a small arc that been setting up to current goings on with Rachel Harrison, bearer of the Heart Stone, which has been giving us some great slow burning character development that is often absent from team books. A small subplot involving Tom Judge also comes to an end and segued nicely into what I can imagine is the plot focus of the next arc, a supernatural serial killer, which I imagine Tom will be hunting down. I really appreciate the confidence that they're showing in these lesser-known characters, as this book could've easily become Witchblade and Friends.

I can't wait to read more of this; it's well written, incredibly drawn, appropriately gory, and at this point feels like a better-written version of Universal Soldier (one of the most underrated films in genre history).

The bottom line is that I'm happy they're continuing Liefeld's characters, as I don't think that man gets near enough credit for his contributions to the medium, but his characters seem to only work because of Liefeld in and of himself. Like it or not, he is a writer and an artist whose work is very difficult to emulate and without him at the helm, Bloodstrike is a team better left as a 90's memory.

The original premise was cute but I don't think they ever did enough with the concept that had so many interesting avenues it could have gone in and now it's all over the place without any real identity. With all sorts of out of control characters and concepts so the book lacks any real focus and feels a lot like I'm reading a Ren & Stimpy comic instead of the comic that began as a book about a quirky Detective with a unique ability

Cobra is a book whose main objective is plot complexity at a time when a lot of books are too focused playing it safe to bring in new readers and I'm all the happier for it. Writer Mike Costa realizes that he's playing with familiar characters and an easily understandable plot motivation so there's no need to pander, he writes a well layered G.I. Joe book for adult readers and leaves the fanboy trappings behind.

The art by Antonio Fuso & Werther Dell'Edera maintains that norish flair even in the daylight sequences which limit their shadow usage and continues to help prove this book should be held up alongside books like the Sean Phillips drawn Criminal.

Maybe I'm wrong but darkly and realistically revitalizing the old elements seems to be what this series has been about and with the hierarchy and motivations of Cobra now out of the bag it's due time for another wildcard to shake this story up a bit and bring back the mystery to this espionage tale.

This time around we're treated on an incredibly fun James Bondish tale called Killswitch, and a Western called Black Sparrow. Killswitch was great to the point that I hope it gets its own series soon. It's really just James Bond if he moved to the private sector as opposed to killing for MI6. If you like Bond you'll like this. Black Sparrow seem like it could be good but it was too slow of an opening chapter to really catch my attention. Add to this that the cliffhanger leads me to believe that a genre twist is about to happen and you've go something I'm only half interested in as with the switch from western to horror next chapter we'll have to have a re-establishing chapter. Based on the lack of thrills from the first establishing chapter I'm not holding my breath.

The familiar aspects you've seen done better and the new aspects you've seen fail more than once so there's just nothing interesting here. Top it off with the murky, overly dark, I can't tell one character from the next mess that passes for art in horror comics and we've got something that could've been B grade zombie material being moved to my unreadable pile.

This is poor graphic storytelling. I gave two stars to this book solely on that fact that the bulk of the dialogue is well written even if the story isn't.

I wouldn't even consider this a comic as it reads more like someone's zombie script being printing on a horror fans graphic design portfolio. Should you want to get into this story be prepared to have to study the pages for awhile and to have to frequently go back and re-read what was previously said to be able to make sense of the little things, like whose doing what and why?

It's becoming disappointing, as it would seem that more and more creators are dropping successful storytelling in favor of an imagery/proof of concept combination that might have a chance of scoring them a film deal. All I see here is a marketing package.

All you really need to know is that problems just compounded the further along this book went thereby stripping any excitement or deeper understanding of the story or characters in this final chapter, which had I they succeeded in making me interested in the story, still would have had one of the most blas and anti-climactic endings I've read in a while. Ultimately not a single character issue is resolved and the who, what, and where of what's going on is still kind of unclear.

This is my first issue of Fatale as I'd been waiting for the trade, which I suppose would be out now and I should get around to ordering, and it's everything I expected; a tightly crafted noir thriller involving lots of parties who host a myriad of complicated motivations and back-stories. What I didn't expect was the stories hinging on a Mansonesque cult or that there would be supernatural underpinnings. I find myself quite happy about it as it helps this book distinguish itself from Criminal.

G.I. JOE is a book that somehow manages to be complicated and clear as day at the same time. It usually juggles about four intertwining plot threads while still dropping the occasional scene that foreshadows threats that have yet to come. This issue sees the current arc come to an end as all four of these plot threads skillfully come together in a combat heavy conclusion while giving us not one but two separate tidbits about threats to come as well as setting up the next major arc, which looks like it may be the Joes being forced underground as Cobra's grip on the U.S. government grows stronger.

Read it if you want, it's not bad but if it's between this something else in your comic book budget you can probably get off skipping this one and begin able to get the gist of the set up in the next issue, where hopefully the action will start.

I can't lie, I did like this issue in and of itself, it's fun and the action is intense but I just wanted more out of this series. Perhaps I've just been spoiled by the modern takes on the Joe's such as IDW's exceptionally dark Cobra series.

Is it just me who thinks that military comics should have a shred ofdignity or for that matter, that G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero should still bewritten as such? I'm surprised thiscontinuation has lasted as long as it has being written as it's been, but I'msure the cancellation notice will be coming soon after the hype of the upcomingmovie dies down.

This is everything I want this book to be and for the first time in a while I can honestly say I'm looking forward to the reading next issue.

While I usually champion this book, I feel that this should not be someone's first exposure to it as it was pretty lackluster.

There's nothing wrong with this book. I liked the art and coloring, it had style, successful facial emoting, great framing, and fit the book. The writing works well, characters and situations are easily fleshed out without unnecessary exposition. The only problem I see with it is that there's nothing really different about it except for it's a competently written fantasy book and though competently written it's still just fantasy book that re-uses the same story model over and over again; multiple mythic races, a fragile peace between them, their reluctant warrior savior, and all for the fate of the unremarkable weak world of Earth where our weak race stands along side our unlikely savior

I don't quite get why this isn't one of the most popular books out there. Maybe the issues between #1 and #25 weren't that good and I just got the lucky two? Even so, I'm probably going to be catching up on whatever trades they've got out and I'm most definitely reading #26.

While I love the series as a whole, this issue definitely was one of the weaker ones. The final chapter of the current story arc, it doesnt go out with the bang it felt like they were building towards. Mostly were treated to a repeat of the same brawl between the Green Hornet and his imposter that we saw last issue, though seemingly less plausible this time around as theyd nearly beaten each other to death last time. There was just no energy to the fight sequence, as you knew the villain was already beaten, it just turns into a slugfest until he escapes. It felt as if they needed to squeeze in an action scene so that the whole issue wouldnt be epilogue, which after the lackluster fight its just that, an epilogue. Lots of loose ends are tied up and addressed and the Green Hornet champions his renewed vigor and purpose. All is right with the world, now lets continue the war on crime. Overall it felt like what it was, a closing chapter.

All and all this is a good time to get into Grimm Fairy Tales as prison arcs by nature tend to be very self contained brutally awesome. It's fun to watch character with their back to a wall but when their back is to four walls there isn't much left for the writer to do, as possible antagonists in this sort of story are kind of limited, so the end result is usually a great exploration of character. It's a little early to tell where they're going with this but I'd like to find out.

I'll going to stick around a bit longer with this one in the hopes that once this first arc is over they'll have the "we can do anything in the comic medium" fever out of their system and they'll start telling good Hellraiser stories.

Ultimately there isn't anything but talented people on this book but when put together they are trying to produce something so overly ambitious for the medium that it's falling flat and I find myself not only confused by what's going on but bored to tears.

I really liked this. Concept wise it's not terribly new, there is some sort of dimensional bleed between realities and various technologies and people are passing between the parallel Earths and that's fine with me, this is the kind of concept that has a lot to explore. It reminds me a little of the show Fringe if you were to take out the investigation of weird science and just fast-forward to the black ops between dimensions. However my liking of this kind of concept is now what floor me about this book it was the ending.

Honestly, if collected addition were already available I would have just bought it already just based on the strength of writing in this issue alone.

It's well written, well drawn and has on of the most unique color palates in all of comics but it took me a while to get onboard because I was afraid I'd be lost without catching up on a good $100 worth of trades. For those out there who are in the same position I was I can tell you now that you're used to the Marvel or DC pantheons you could pick up this series at this issue and figure it out just fine. As I said, the concepts aren't anything you haven't read before; you just haven't read them done right until now.

Maybe it's just me but when you start telling me the story with narration and them concurrently show me the same story in pictures you better be doing more with those boxes than just reiterating what I'm looking at. It's redundant and a device that a writer with as much experience as Robert Krikman should have either avoided or made damn sure was done right, with the narration and pictures telling two separate but different stories that give significant insight into one another. Color me disappointed.

It's hard to root for Tarzan when one minute he's scolding his captor for hunting and the next he's ruthlessly tearing the throat out of a man whose fighting to save his family. That being said, the violence was pretty exciting and the art serviced the gore well although there is a heavy-handed use of computer modeling that lends a slight cartoonish feel to the whole thing. Should you long for the days of the classic jungle serials then this is right up your ally.

Unfortunately this doesn't rewrite MacGyver so much as is reads like and in cannon episode of the show, and if you're looking for that it is spot on. Mac's wit, subtle aloofness and pension of building complex sort of weapons are all intact along with the traditional silly reasons for him ending up involving the first place. I think as this continues on I'll really enjoy it as the disappointment of what could have been is replaced by my waiting for each issue's "Ah, that was clever" moment.

Should they keep this book going for any length of time it'll become the book I can grab it off the shelf when I'm in the mood for a good sadistic laugh, but until they are willing to piss off the hardcore nostalgic fans and try something new, (like a story) I'll only ever be half interested in this franchise.

Should you plan on waiting for the trade I'm sure this book could be a really rewarding read but until then it just comes off as oddly paced eye candy.

It's an outline of a story explaining an outline of a story, but without those pesky little things like character development or motive we're really just treated to an author telling us his idea for a movie about the origin of Werewolves. It's too bad too, because the Pencils and Colors are once again fantastic. I'd love to see Chris Mowry move onto a series such a 30 days of night where his knack for gore and slightly surreal imagery can be put to better use.

This is a great book and I look forward to more.

The art was good, it reminded me of Tyler Krikham's work on one of his good days. All in all I found this to be one of the better offerings that I've read from Zenescope.

The universe that IDW has been developing for the Joes is worth getting into. IDW has taken the foundation laid by Larry Hama and polished it up for the modern comic audience with a broader world and overlapping story as continuity tight as the Claremont X-Men. Go Joe!

Perhaps it's an editorial mandate but it'd sure help build some pathos if we could see his face as a child in these flashbacks, or see him now with his horrible burns. Hell, just a drawing of his eyes could go a long way in emoting something. The book is good, but this is one of the things that are keeping it from being great.

This was my least favorite of the JOE books but this issue changed that. Should this continue to be the tone of the book it might start to eclipse the COBRA for how dark things can get for the modern Joe's.

With this story it seems that we are really starting to see something that about the character we've never really gotten to before, a firm look at the foundations of a religious madman. I don't know about you I'm getting really excited about the eventuality of the classic Serpentor vs. Cobra Commander dynamic.

This issue continues Jim's quest for his past now with the help of classic Spawn villain Tremor as they find that they may have common origins connected to the mysterious military program " The Project" and it's awesome! It's kind of like I'm reliving the Weapon X storyline through the eyes of the Spawn Universe. Keep it up guys.

Nostalgia for the 90's seated inside of Nostalgia for the 60's, may not be palatable to everyone but I'm a fan.

Not the best book I've ever read but this surely has to be one of the more unique additions to the superhero deconstruction sub-genre that I was sure had run out of ideas.

Ultimately this a well-written, well-drawn book for fans of blockbuster action films, of which I am and I intend to keep reading.

Should you read it, yeah it's good little sentimental story about Steve's relationship with his family that show that this series could have some legs, maybe even as replacement for Superman in this current climate of uninteresting Superman books. It's just that the previous arc gave me higher hopes for this series that relegating it to the status of a Superman knock off.

While still a bit of a let down in terms of art and writing when compared to first arc I still have high hopes that this book could be a long lasting one and look forward to reading what's in store for Steve Austin.

I really enjoyed this book. To be honest, I forgot it was a spin-off of another book until a second glance at the cover. It functions really well on it's own. Lets hope this stays around a while.

The Bionic Woman is a fast paced intelligently written action thriller that far outshines its parent book The Bionic Man as nearly every comic bubble in this book simultaneously moves along the plot, gives character insight and provides the necessary back-story.

The re-launch of Crow is really the Crow by way of a Japanese ghost story. If this comment keeps you from wanting to read this don't let it.

If you are reading this because you've never read the Darkness and are wondering if this longstanding character is something you've been missing then I urge you to wikipedia his powers and jump right in as it's one of the most addicting books out there

I can't speak for the quality of issues pervious but should it keep up like this then they'll have my readership for a very long time.

At this point I'm going to have to rank this book up there with The Walking Dead, both in terms of horrific tension and character drama. I'm just waiting to see if once everything comes to a head David Hine is going to be able to deliver in the brutal shock category as well, and dethrone my favorite title.

This is what happens when youlet talented writers run with a stale concept, them make it interesting without the aid ofgimmicks. I honestly hope they don't attempt some sort of post-modern genre twist; thisbook is good as it is and I'd like to see it play out.

I'm getting the feeling that this book could become something better than itself and find myself hoping they steal more from the Watchmen playbook and write this as a maxi series instead of an ongoing as this story isn't solely about the characters themselves and I'd love to know that their thematic content will get wrapped up with some sort of satisfactory conclusion.

I feel that many publishers are placing too much stock in originality and not enough on quality, which this book has in spades. If you're like me and have an aching void in you heart that's been created by what editorial decisions have done to your favorite mutants and desperately want something new to read then this book is for you. If you could care less about the X-Men you should also check this out, as it's one of the better sci-fi/superhero comics out there.

I now realize that this is just a hollow attempt by Zenescope to cash in on another children's classic instead of taking it seriously as a comic story and it's really a shame, as the creators seemed to be taking it seriously and it's a book I would've followed for some time should they have been left to explore the directions they were taking it in.

While this didn't bring much in the way of closure to any of the story threads (apart from Mowgli's need for revenge) it succeeded in the most important way a final issue can, it left me wanting more.

The story is cross cut with that of the ghosts so while this investigation is going on we're mostly just waiting for the Shadow to catch up to the information that we've already figured out. If it doesn't sound exciting it's because it isn't and you'll be much better served just jumping on board with the ongoing series, which is a lot more interesting.

This is definitely a book that I'll be checking out again.

This issue we get the finally to the first arc which involves the Spider taking down a fairly creepy villain who has been using various gas mixtures turn the city populous into zombies. The action was dark, violent and carried a tone that remained incredibly serious through out. This not only played to the strength of the action scenes but also helped sell a lot of the drama involved.

I'm getting a little fanboyish just describing it and am having trouble writing down anything that isn't "THIS IS SO COOL", so I'll leave it at that and hopefully I'll have calmed down enough to give the next issue the thoughtful review I'm sure it will deserve.

Nihilistic and funny are a great combo, this is the book I look forward to reading each month and was ecstatic to find out they'll keeping this book going beyond the initial arc.

The political games the possessed Dejah begins to play at the very end of the issue are really the only thing that made me remotely interested in what had been happening. Perhaps I just caught an off issue.

Now is a good time to jump onto this book as I'm foreseeing an arc whose self-contained originality becomes sneaks up on us and becomes a fan favorite much like Greg Pak's Planet Hulk. When it ends too soon you'll wish you'd started reading it earlier.

Some of these powers seem so useful that it calls into question why they wouldn't be used every issue. These things I complain about don't take away from the story though, which is drawn very well and flows logically, it's just that Top Cow has been setting such a high bar with the creativity of their titles as of late and this one just reads a little too by the numbers.