Patrick Larose Comic Reviews

The comic anthology willing to push the boundaries of what types of stories are being told still feels like a necessary and exciting prospect. Unfortunately, however, that anthology will more likely come from the legacy left behind by 2000 AD comics rather than 2000 AD itself.

Until this, I never knew just how badly I wanted to read a comic about Batgirl fighting her way through MMA matches.

For the time being, Kai's a little too passive for the larger comic arc going on here, and while that doesn't sink the ship, it definitely rocks it. The creative team behind this book has brought about some exciting elements and now that they have them all laid out and running, I hope to see them find some steadier footing.

I still like this Batgirl. I still like this premise but if superhero stories have taught us anything over their long convoluted history it's that a larger scale is an invitation for narrative incoherence. And that's putting it lightly.

Now, however, what I want more than ever is a comic about a group of kids who flunk out of school only to be recruited and trained to be an international crime syndicate. Maybe a story about a bunch of kids donning masks for a life of international danger in the hope of a second chance and maybe a young girl still hopeful even in spite of the overwhelming cynicism of her coworkers. That sounds like it could be pretty good.

When taken on its own terms, Batgirl is a good book but while I've been a dedicated reader, there's an inescapable sense that we're two different travelers on opposite roads. The comic wants to do something that I'm not interested in and I want something the comic isn't delivering. Even though there are narrative aspects that catch my eye and draws my gaze to their side of the road"we could never really connect.

There's something under the surface here, something strange and dark underneath the dirt.

The premise of Curse Words looks to almost be like Breaking Bad played in reverse. This is a story about a bad guy, made unique by his skills, who now wants to do good for his own personal gain. The comic is smart, it's funny and charming but ultimately it shows how you don't become a bad person without doing bad things and that sometimes walking away from who you were isn't always an easy thing to do.

Glitterbomb is not a bad comic. The art is good; the writing is smart, and there's some great color work happening here. Glitterbomb is a comic with an interesting premise. Glitterbomb is not yet, however, a comic with an interest

This end is ultimately where the story begins. The rest? A prelude.

What I want from Green Valley #1 isn't necessarily what Green Valley wants to do and what it wants to do doesn't even necessarily align with its marketing and while there's a mystery to be unraveled here but I couldn't even tell you where it might begin. So hurry up, Green Valley #2, and show me what you're really trying to do here.

You don't need a wizard or a dragon to tell a narrative but you always need the promise that maybe everything that falls down eventually rises.

Hadrian's Wall #1 has already managed to create a murder mystery that's both personal and weighty and with art that while sometimes stiff is more often beautiful. For anyone interested in a tight science fiction noir thriller, this eight issue series is a must to keep an eye on.

The greatest mystery Hadrian's Wall isn't "how" or even "who" committed a murder, but instead figure out "why" we come to solve them in the first place.

If you're already engaged"stay engaged. The industry needs you stay engaged and it needs you keep buying these single issues even if they're middle chapters in a greater story. It may be a broken game but, still, it's the only one in town.

Only their mouths aren't capable of that--either because of personal pride or that somewhere inside, they both knew this relationship was broken long before this moment.Hadrian's Wall as a comic has managed to tell a story that's not just a compelling murder mystery but demonstrate the power of perspective and the way they shield us from the reality of our situations. In the first issue, you could see the happiness of their relationship--the fluttering hearts that filled the empty space between them. How appropriate then that in those final moments of a couple, at the point when all the scum and resentment finally rose to the surface, that same space between turned to a deep, deep blood red splatter.

The comic is a fine example of the balancing act the medium can accomplish. There's an ancient prophecy but that's offset by the local gangs. The story strives for an international, maybe even interdimensional weight, but is still centered on the character of a grounded kid with real problems. Intertwined wraps together its genre with its mediums"the grit and living texture of Hong Kong cinema within the expanding and impossible worlds of comics and creating something that feels entirely new.

This is a compelling comic with a compelling world and mythology centered on a character that's rebellious but never obnoxious, driven but warm. This is a book that, much like its characters within, is something well worth rooting for--it's humanistic message that's balanced by its influences and utilizes them in a way that only this comic can.

But if you're a long-time fan, Dynamite's James Bond run has easily been the best James Bond movie I've seen in years.

There have yet to be any standout characters that represent an answer to this reality and despite flirting with it; this series has yet to transform James Bond into that character. Instead, this is a fusion where James Bond can exist in the present while still married to his Cold War roots, letting him be a savage instrument in a more sophisticated era.

Issue #2 of the Justice League could be a really interesting, exciting, and fun story. Issue #1 makes me want to see what might happen in Issue #2. It's unfortunate that Justice League #1 doesn't do a great job justifying me having to actually read Justice League #1.

Those characters are here but for now they're stopping disasters like it's their job. And not even a job they like but a really boring office job they're just trudging through until five o'clock. This is a Justice League that's all sternness and gloom without any emotional heart.

This might be harsh, but this story isn't unsalvageable. It only needs to remember why readers come to see tent pole superheroes in the first place. It's not because we're interested in seeing an action sequence or their super power or the villain of the week"we've come for the characters we remember and love.

The villains and details are still vague and the stakes still cartoonishly high with a team that are each separated and so far flung that the fact they're even in a team together barely matters. But the comic is getting better. Not great, maybe even barely good but it's brought me back to where I was saying in the review for issue #1: that the next issue could build on these elements and make a good story.

While I'm sure the last shot of this shot of the comic is going to make people grown in the wake of Batman v. Superman but I don't hate it. In many ways, this arc feels like a desperate plea to me, that you're finally willing to give me what I wanted. That this story is not about the explosive stakes of a world in danger but one that puts the relationships of these characters at risk.

I can't blame a comic, however, for not doing something it isn't trying to do. Marie Antoinette Phantom Queen invites you a fantastical, lazy afternoon story"one you might read on a porch overlooking a field or read over a cup of tea on a quiet rainy morning. This is a story you breathe in slowly rather consume, a story that's beautiful and funny and moves at a pace you discover rather than one tied to a formula. Most importantly, however, a story that takes a tragic history and forces us to remember and engage with it so that we can create a better future.

Rom was never a series built over a single issue. The series took its time finding the weirdest and most interesting places to take its characters. IDW's new series builds promise with some serious art and some interesting twists on its classic premise. I can only hope the series gets weirder from here.

Mantlo's original Rom Spaceknight was far from a series built on a few issues, and it's easy to see the ways this new series can come into its own and tell a story as weird and engaging as Rom ever was.

Once we dive into Rom #3, there's a distinct lack of something at its narrative center"a human heart to balance out its strange and elaborate exterior.

This is comic is at least in part about a bad break-up but even more so can it be about the people who get you through them.

A fulfilling narrative is tough to make and made even harder when limited to the page limits of a traditionally published comic. In Spells on Wheels #2 more than ever I wished this comic could have slowed down, take a few more extra pages and draw us close to these characters, have us understand their relationship while still maneuvering their crises.

The plot points almost feel like an obligation"a lip service to the bombastic pulp nature of Tarzan to set up something that'd make for a good action movie. But this comic made me not want an action movie. Tarzan's destined to be a human hero and Caesar an ape revolutionary and seeing this origin of a relationship, this united history, made me want to see where their natural paths would end and which side of a war they'd stand on. I want that story, and if this miniseries is willing to offer it, I'm ready to follow it to the end.

My fingers are crossed that the narrative is cracked a little wider open and we get a more honest and accurate depiction of what colonialism did to these countries. The emotional pathos is here and it is fantastic but the thematic grounding risks straying away from an honest discussion. Then again, honesty might hurt the brand.

This a good comic created by good writers and artists. The characters are compelling, the underlying setting and themes well-handled and honestly written. The artworks beautiful but there's this giant dinosaur in the room and I have to wonder how we're planning on addressing it.

And how were all of Algebri's calculations and plans meant to accommodate two kids 400 years in the future?

They are forced to live in the shadow of that property"of Rod Sterling"and feeling trapped they attempt to imitate the form and shape of that shadow. Yet when they turn to a mirror, only then will they discover the shape of a shadow is not the shape of the man. Those then will find that their now blunt and crude reflection can only exist in the Twilight Zone.

Love, for all its romanticized invincibility, is often an equally destructive force. Love ties us up and tortures us with a thousand knives, convinces us to do stupid and hurtful things and often traps us in places we should never be. So what happens when we push that live a little harder? How long will a fire last until it burns itself out and at the center of those intense flames, what transcendence will we see?