Pads & Panels

Title: Seven Soldiers of Victory Volumes 1 & 2

Publisher: DC Comics

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artist: J.H. Williams III, Simone Bianchi, Cameron Stewart, Ryan Sook, Frazer Irving, Mick Gray, Pasqual Ferry, Yanick Paquette, Serge Lapointe, Doug Mahnke, Billy Dallas Patton, Michael Bair, Freddie Williams II

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

Grant Morrison has a growing penchant for revitalizing (or attempting to revitalize) comics history, by reinventing old characters, incorporating classic story bits and trying to revolutionize storytelling in comics. But as often as he strikes gold (All-Star Superman), he also finds a way to alienate casual fans looking for a good story. And Seven Soldiers of Victory is the latest example of just that.

He takes a cadre of C-list characters – Shining Knight, Guardian, Bulleteer, Klarion, Frankenstein, Zatanna and Mister Miracle – and weaves them together in a metaseries, in which each character gets a four-issue mini-series, and two other issues bookend the collection, which is also available in two hardcover or softcover volumes. (more…)

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Title: Shaun of the Dead

Publisher: Titan Books

Screenplay by: Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright

Adapted by: Chris Ryall

Artist: Zach Howard

Rating:

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

Zombies seem to be eating away at every area of life these days. Television, movies, comics, classic books, video games, “zombie” walks and pub crawls have all infected society. One stand out title was the movie Shaun of the Dead, which took a comical look at an apocalyptic situation.

With The Walking Dead’s extremely successful comic book series and the growing popularity of the zombie genre, it appears the creators of Shaun decided to cash in on some of that zombie money with this 2010 comic book adaptation of the movie. (more…)

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Title: The Sixth Gun Issue #1

Publisher: Oni Press

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Brian Hurtt

Review by: Bill Jones

Upon first hearing the idea for The Sixth Gun at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, I just had to ask its creative team of Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt one question…

“So, it’s kind of like Lord of the Rings then, but with an all-powerful gun instead of one ring to rule them all?”

They couldn’t deny the comparison, but said once people read through the first issue, they would understand that it’s also something entirely different. The Sixth Gun’s description does sound a hell of a lot like an Old Western version of Lord of the Rings, though. The idea is that there was once a series of revolvers created with magical powers. One of those guns, the sixth to be exact, was more powerful than the rest. Now, that gun has resurfaced, and all of the evil forces of the world are uniting in an attempt to acquire it for their devious ends. And the gun itself holds some power over those who wield it. (more…)

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Title: The Surrogates

Writer: Robert Venditti

Artist: Brett Weldele

Publisher: Top Shelf Productions

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

The Surrogates is one part The Matrix, one part Watchmen, one part mediocre sketch-like painted art, and one part hack writing. Its message is different in some ways, but it mostly feels like the same woeful tale of technology taking over our lives that we’ve already seen in The Terminator. It has the same overriding religious tones and people living fake lives vibes of The Matrix, and the [SPOILER] disaster end of Watchmen, where it all turns out to be in the best interest of humanity. That’s not to mention the text portions that fill in the gaps between chapters. Given, this isn’t the worst triumvirate of media from which to cull influences, but the combination of elements brings very little new to the table in its story of people living vicariously through androids from the comfort and safety of their own homes. It’s “life…only better.” It’s too bad this comic isn’t any better. (more…)

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Title: Pixu: The Mark of Evil

Publisher: Dark Horse

Creators Gabriel Bá, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Fábio Moon

[Rating 3/5]

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

The genre of horror can be a difficult task for a writer and artist to tackle. The major obstacle is how the artist presents what the writer is trying to bring to the audience through just panels, pictures and dialogue. In movies, the director has sound and the element of surprise to use in his manipulation of the audience, but the artist has just his pictures and the writer’s words to haunt his audience. This obstacle, which sometimes can be triumphantly overcome (The Walking Dead), seems too great of a task for this Eisner Award-winning team of writers and artists with their new graphic novel Pixu: The Mark of Evil. (more…)

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Title: The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

Writer: Thomas Ott

Artist: Thomas Ott

Rating:

Review by: C.R. Stemple

The modern macabre plot twist was practically invented in the early 1960s by Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. These journeys into the heart and soul of man would regularly bestow upon their travelers prosperous and otherworldly possessions, abilities and choices that would later become vices comparable or worse than a world without them – in other words, serialized irony.

Employing a storytelling dynamic not unlike that of Serling’s science fiction classic, Thomas Ott’s The Number 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 is itself a visit (albeit quite a short one) to a dimension not of sound, but of sight and mind that at once both rewards and confuses. But it is ultimately satisfying enough for one to appreciate Ott’s commentary on the nature of luck and madness, if only at face-value. (more…)

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Title: Superman: Ending Battle

Publisher: DC

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artists: Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Mark Schultz

Rating:

Review by: John Gustafson

Superman: Ending Battle was a mini, self-contained event that took over the existing Superman books from November to December of 2002 and brought to life the one question that always lingers in readers’ thoughts concerning superheroes – what if a villain discovered said hero’s secret identity?

In this case, that villain is Manchester Black, and he sends most of Superman’s enemies after the Man of Steel. For whatever elaborately explained reason, Black deduced the secret and used his mental powers to implant the information into every villain and send them to Metropolis. There the villains, under Black’s suggestive influence, seek out anyone close to Clark Kent and Superman. (more…)

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Title: Planet of Beer: A Smell of Steve Treasury

Publisher: Dark Horse

Writer: Brian Sendelbach

Artist: Brian Sendelbach

Rating:

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

In today’s culture of twitter, moral decline and split-second attention spans, it is evident that a book like Planet of Beer would rear its ugly, unintelligent head. Planet of Beer is a “best of” Brian Sendelbach’s comic strips from different publications like Details, Vice and TV Guide. These strips are intertwined with a story about a drunken space captain and his inebriated crew on their search for the Planet of Beer.  While that scenario might sound like a hilarious adventure, it reads more like the random thoughts that popped into the head of a child with a severe case of ADD. (more…)

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Title: Superman/Batman: Finest Worlds

Publisher: DC

Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson

Artists: Rafael Albuquerque

Rating:

Review by: John Gustafson

Superman/Batman: Finest Worlds collects three separate stories, examining the relationship dynamic between Superman and Batman that manages to walk the fine line of entertaining without falling apart at the seams. The three stories are independent of each other, with two of the stories answering fan service and the remaining delving into some untold history.

The first story concerns a pleasant story of Superman’s and Batman’s fathers and their random-chance encounter. Thomas Wayne witnesses an object plummet to the planet and land near his car as he and Martha are driving on the highway. He investigates only to be transported to Krypton prior to its explosion. Jor-El sent a reconnaissance device out to multiple planets in search of a planet to raise his only son. Readers know the ending, but the emotionally touching dialogue sheds a bit of light on the good of humanity and the two superheroes’ differences, as well as their similarities. It may not be an earth shattering revelation or a story with huge ramifications, but it certainly proves to be a good read. (more…)

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Title: Superman/Batman: Enemies Among Us

Publisher: DC Comics

Writer: Mark Verheiden

Artists: Ethan Van Sciver, Matthew Clark, Ron Randall and Joe Benitez

Rating:

Review by: John Gustafson

Aliens are among the DC superheroes in Superman/Batman: Enemies Among Us. Some are heroes themselves or outright villains. Either way, Enemies Among Us addresses the fear the populous has in regards to the beings from “elsewhere,” including Earthbound supers.

With individual attacks on Gotham and Metropolis, Batman and Superman work together in an attempt to solve why the earthbound aliens are revolting against a world that welcomed them. Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Kilowog, The Martian Manhunter, Firestar, The Multi-Alien and Supergirl are just among some of the characters who fall under the influence of an unseen controlling presence. As the influence grows stronger, eventually Superman is manipulated, leaving Batman to free him before more harm comes to the planet. (more…)

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