Everyone loves a Cinderella story in Hollywood: when a bunch of audacious amateurs make a movie on a shoestring budget and it catches on with the movie-watching public. George Romero, Sam Raimi, and Kevin Smith were able to tap into the zeitgeist and used their glorified home movies to propel them to great success in the world of cinema.
Ninjas vs. Zombies doesn’t quite have that same je ne sais quoi that Night of the Living Dead, Clerks, and Evil Dead had, but it comes oh so close.
Haunt is what would happen if Casper decided to stop putzing around in his mansion, took a bunch of steroids, then went out and fought crime.
Haunt is the brainchild of the combined creative juices of Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane. Kirkman has taken over the writing of Haunt while McFarlane does the inks (which is a pretty big deal). Waaaaay back in the day, McFarlane did art of Spider-Man but went on hiatus to create Image comics and write the amazing Spawn (also, opening his own toy company or film and animation studio. You know, day to day things, really.) Originally both Greg Capullo and Ryan Ottley were on board for the art, with Capullo as page layout artist and Ottley as interior penciler. Although after issue five, Ottley decided to stop working on Haunt so he would have more time to focus on his other projects (like Invincible). Since issue six, Capullo has taken over as Haunt’s full time artist.
The basic premise of Haunt is that Daniel Kilgore, a washed-up Catholic priest, is being haunted (go figure) by the spirit of his recently deceased brother, Kurt Kilgore, who was a secret agent/assassin/professional bad ass. Daniel is the only person who can see or hear Kurt’s spirit which leads to a lot of hilariously awkward moments throughout the comic.
The sole reason that Daniel doesn’t assume he’s gone off the deep end is because when he and Kurt combine (much like Voltron), he is covered in a suit of strange gooey material that acts as a second skin and can stop bullets. Daniel quickly finds that he is going to need every advantage this suit can offer as life shifts in the fast lane of the “shit gets crazy” highway.
Admit it. This would look awesome on the side of someone's van.
Like many comic-book geeks, I have a touch of gamer in me. Unlike many tabletop gamers, I never had much interest in D&D, or fantasy in general. If I was going to pretend to be something I wasn’t, I would much rather be a superhero, a Jedi, or a samurai than an elf or a wizard. So why would I pick up a copy of Dungeons and Dragons #0?
First off, IDW puts a lot of care into their licensed properties. The first Doctor Who miniseries was written by one of the writers of the relaunched TV show. The G.I. Joe titles are guided by the creator of the Joe mythology, Larry Hama, and attract top flight talent like Max Brooks. With the exception of the excellent Kill Shakespeare (expect a review once the first collected edition comes out), IDW’s best comics are based on popular brands.
Second, the core D&D title is going to be written by JohnRogers. If the name sounds familiar to comics fans, it’s because he co-wrote the most recent Blue Beetle series (and co created the character of Jaime Reyes). TV viewers may know him as the co-creator and show-runner of Leverage, one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now. Even old-school Dungeon Masters might recognize him as a contributor to The Manual of the Planes. Oh, and he co-wrote the first Transformers movie, but nobody’s perfect.
Finally, it was only a dollar. I’m always willing to gamble a dollar on something.
Was there a point to this one? Oh, the ending. Okay. 6/10
So, I was kind of in a downer mood when I jumped into volume 6 because I wasn’t the biggest fan of volume 5. Nonetheless, Brian Lee O’Malley managed to keep me reading to the point where I couldn’t stop reading from cover to cover.
Arcade Fire is back after a three year gap with their third album. Their full length debut, ‘Funeral’, won critical acclaim as a breakout indie album. The 2007 follow-up, ‘Neon Bible’, furthered the band’s reputation and won them even more fans. The new album has been eagerly awaited upon by many. Did the band live up to the hype or was this album their first misstep?
Oh boy… here we go again. To say that One More Day was a controversial Spider-Man story is like saying that Sarah Palin is just somewhat misguided about her political views. OMD brought the comic book world crashing to its knees and crushed the hopes and dreams of an entire generation of nerds. I mean, if Spidey’s marriage can’t survive a little meddling from the devil, what chance do any of us have? However, you are almost able to forgive Joe Quesada for the bastardization of Spidey canon (I don’t acknowledge that JMS had anything to do with that story) because Brand New Day has been, for the most part, an enjoyable ride. ASM has, since OMD, been a pretty damn good comic book. And to find that kind of consistency from a large group of writers working on one book, pushing it out 3 times a month, is rather astonishing.
And then Quesada decided to pick at that slowly healing scab. Enter One Moment In Time. Even the title brings up horrific, sleepless nights caused by OMD. But enough introduction. Let’s see how the first issue of this thing holds up.
Show of hands: Next year, do you think Wonder Woman will be dressed like this...?
Let’s get the elephant out of the room right now: I loathe the new costume. Call me a rigid traditionalist if you must, but if DC is going to update an admittedly impractical and anachronistic costume, they should replace it with something less bland and more modern. I can just imagine Tim Gunn seeing it for the first time: “Biker jackets and black tights? Is it 1994 again already?”
Now that we’re past the publicity stunt, let’s talk about the issue itself. Like Superman #700 from a few weeks ago, this comic consists of short stories and pin-ups, begins with a story by the outgoing writer, and ends with a prologue of J. Michael Stracyznski’s upcoming story arc. Expect a few spoilers, and maybe some more whining about the costume after the break…
What Has Come Before: A hideously scarred bounty hunter roams the Wild West and kills outlaws in a manner that is usually ironic, always gruesome, and often awesome.
I am a recent convert to Jonah Hex. I absolutely love what Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti are doing with this title. Nearly every issue is a self-contained story (with an occasional two or three parter). The rotation of artists forces the writers to tell stories that play to the strengths of that month’s artist, which helps to keep the title from feeling stale. And each issue is full of action, violence, and some wonderfully twisted humor.
Since DC is expecting an influx of new readers due to the upcoming movie (and this review, of course), they commissioned Palmiotti and Gray to write an original graphic novel that touches on the past of this mysterious gunslinger. To draw this book, they hired Tony DeZuniga, who co-created Hex back in the 70s. The result is something truly special.
What has come before: Six years worth of comics that had the name Avengers on the cover, but bore no resemblance to the 40 years of Avengers comics that came before those.
Deserved or not, I’ve given Brian Bendis a fair amount of grief for his Marvel output in the last few years. Sure, Siege may have been underwhelming, but at least it tied off some of Marvel’s more annoying plot points (Goodbye Lex Luthor-lite, aka Norman Osborn), and freed us all from any more comics starring the Sentry (for now). I say the end justifies the means, especially if that end is Avengers #1.
This is the Avengers comic I have been waiting six years for. It features a team of A-list heroes fighting epic battles against the biggest threats to the Marvel Universe (Welcome back, Kang; how I’ve missed you). It is new reader friendly, with plenty of bits for longtime fans to chew on (the spread on pages 4-5 are a shout out to both Avengers fans AND Bendis fans). And the art. Oh my God, the art.
John Romita Jr. & Klaus Janson are arguably the highest profile art team at Marvel. By placing them on this title, Marvel appears to have committed to making Avengers their flagship title. And they definitely brought their “A” game. Romita draws as if he was possessed by the ghost of Jack Kirby himself, creating highly stylized work that still tells a clear story. And Janson (Romita’s longtime inker) makes it all “pop”. Throw in Dean White’s bold primary color palette (eye-catching without being garish) and the end result is a comic that feels like the comics I remember falling in love with.
So the slate is clean, Bendis. I’m back in. Don’t abuse my trust.
Film Review: Ninjas vs. Zombies
