Usagi Yojimbo #118 — Writer/Artist: Stan Sakai I usually just stick this on the bottom, in the “stuff I don’t have much to say about” list, because it’s so dependably good, but let’s give Sakai a little love this week: this is a good jump-in issue, even though it’s the middle of a three-part story. Watch how smoothly the new reader is given enough information to know what’s happening, how artfully the panels are composed, how inevitably the action moves forward, and how perfectly Sakai renders the characters and the backgrounds, with exactly the right number of strokes of the … Continue reading →

The  Incredible Hercules #126 — Story: Fred Van Lente and Greg Pak;  Pencils: Rodney Buchemi;  Inks: Greg Adams;  (Second story): Story: Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente;  Art: Takeshi Miyazawa A double-size issue for $3.99 (get ’em before Marvel starts charging that much for a regular-sized issue in a month or two), with the first story an origin of sorts (taking place in 1291 B.C.) and the bonus story a bittersweet tale involving Amadeus Cho, Bruce Banner, and that coyote pup. Buchemi shows some talent drawing Greeks, especially the women (some of his panels are reminiscent of Adam Hughes; he … Continue reading →

The Zombies That Ate The World #1 ( of 8 ) — Writer: Jerry Frissen;  Art: Guy Davis This is another one of those aborted Humanoids projects from a couple of years ago, first picked up by DC, abandoned, and now being published  by DDP. The story’s pedestrian, although leavened by some satire: the returning dead are exploited as just another commodity, since they’re fairly benign and suggestible — although by the end of this first issue, that begins to change (not much of a spoiler, given the book’s title). The big attraction here is the Davis art: it’s lighter … Continue reading →

Four Eyes #2 — Writer: Joe Kelly;  Artist: Max Fiumara This tale of a young immigrant in a Depression-era America where dragons exist (and fight in arenas, and killed his father), is a gritty and brainy fantasy, the kind of thing that Jack Vance might have made a series out of in the 1950s. I don’t like this as much as Kelly’s Bad Dog, because it’s too grim to allow in that title’s anarchic humor, but it certainly knows what it’s doing, and Fiumara’s brawling dragons provide it with a dark grandeur that’s balanced nicely by its slightly-exaggerated little-kid protagonist. … Continue reading →