By P&P Staff
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Oni Press
The book that inspired the wonderful film. Some may scoff at you for reading the comic, especially with the manga-looking covers, but we know better, don’t we? The book might be slightly scathing in its depiction of our own geek culture, but never manages to lose sight of its attention-deficit goal, being fun and funny. Collected now in this awesome paperback set. (more…)
Title: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh
Producer: Universal, Scott Pilgrim Productions
Rating: 
Review by: Bill Jones
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is 112 minutes of pure fun, plain and simple. In a world where comic book films have either hit the dramatic prominence and cinematic quality of The Dark Knight, fail trying, or lose themselves to bad jokes and shitty dialogue, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the reminder that comic books don’t have to be serious; they can be a hell of a lot of fun, and their movie adaptations can play by the same rules. (more…)
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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Today is Saturday, May 1, the first Saturday in May, which means it’s also Free Comic Book Day. For noobs, this means get your asses to your local comic shop, where you’ll find a wide-ranging selection of comic books and samplers that are totally free. Many shops are also hosting writers and artists, as well as comic characters to hang out with. The selection this year is pretty solid, from the Dark Horse offering of Doctor Solar/Magnus Robot Fighter, to a Del Rey Showcase, to The Sixth Gun from Oni Press, to Kevin Smith’s new Green Hornet, and plenty more. So what are you waiting for? If you haven’t yet, go check out your local shop, and maybe support them by buying a book while you’re there.
For local shops and more info, www.freecomicbookday.com
Title: Whiteout
Publisher: Oni Press
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Steve Lieber
Rating: 
Review by: Tom Braaksma
Whiteout is a stupendous murder mystery that first came to life in a graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber. Its second incarnation was in the form of a film by Dominic Sena, who’s best known for bringing the world Halle Berry’s breasts in Swordfish and throwing Nick Cage and Angelina Jolie in some fast cars in a movie not worth naming. The ultimate question in this transition is how did this story go from a classic comic book to a tragically, funny parody of itself on film? (more…)
Title: You Have Killed Me
Publisher: Oni Press
Writer: Jamie S. Rich
Artist: Joelle Jones
Rating:
Review by: Thomas Braaksma
Noir is usually twisted a bit from the traditional sense to fit the landscape of today’s comic books. There might have been hundreds of the dime store crime readers back in the 1940s, but nowadays we see more modern versions like the trend-setting Sin City series. Examples such as this have drastically changed the way people look at noir comics. You Have Killed Me does not seem to care about these changes. Killed Me takes the simple formula of classic, crime fiction and drags the reader back into a more innocent time when the private dicks were searching the streets for their long lost dame.
You Have Killed Me’s protagonist is Private Detective Mercer, who the reader finds right from the start injured and stumbling around. Mercer’s inner monologue kicks in, talking about the smell of almonds and how “you have killed me.” Before he gets too into the story, he drops a classic line that sets the feel for the entire book, “I’m getting ahead of myself. This story starts just like any other… with a girl.” And with that writer Jamie S. Rich and artist Joelle Jones set out on a classic noir tale. (more…)
Title: Wet Moon: Where All Stars Fail to Burn (Vol. 5)
Publisher: Oni Press
Writer: Ross Campbell
Artist: Ross Campbell
Rating:
Review by: Thomas Braaksma
There are some evident obstacles that make themselves clear to the reader within the first pages of Wet Moon: Where All Stars Fail to Burn. First of all, it is the fifth installment of the series and definitely not a good starting point for new readers. Second, if the potential reader of this book is not a teenage or tween girl, there is a foreseeable chance they will not be impressed or interested, at all, in this book. (more…)
Title: Union Station
Writer: Ande Parks
Artist: Eduardo Barreto
Publisher: Oni Press
Rating:
Review by: Bill Jones
It is June 17, 1933. The scene is an Untouchables-esque train station in Kansas City with three-story-high ceilings and marble floors. It is called Union Station. An FBI agent named Reed Vetterli and his cohorts wait outside the station with local authorities to receive a petty criminal with mob connections named Frank Nash, who is being transferred to the feds there. Except one of those mob connections, Vern Miller, owes Nash a favor, and plans to pay it by springing him, an action that turns into a massacre at Union Station with no one sure who pulled the trigger first.
Union Station, a graphic historical-fiction novel written by Ande Parks (Capote in Kansas) and drawn by Eduardo Barreto (The Long Haul), presents the happenings and aftermath of that bloody June morning, and a few of their own theories and literary whims along the way. (more…)
