Kick Drum Comix #1 — Writer/Artist: Jim Mahfood For $6, you get 48 pages of Mahfood, beautifully colored on glossy paper; the first story, “Death of the Popmaster,” is an over-the-top B-movie tale involving monsters, rock stars and lots of shooting and blood, while the second, “Coltrane’s Reed,” is just the kind of coming-of-age story that its title suggests, skillfully done. Mahfood’s art is more accomplished and confident here than it’s ever been (the coloring and larger size of the pages really makes it pop), and he delivers a couple of perfect, poster-ready splash pages, plus an attractive cover.  If … Continue reading →

Deadpool #1 — Writer: Daniel Way;  Pencils: Paco Medina;  Inks: Juan Vlasco Secret Invasion tie-in (although, oddly, it’s not given the normal crossover logo on the cover), as Wade plays Bugs Bunny and the Skrulls are just so many green, super-powered Elmer Fudds. Way’s solid on the character, as he demonstrated during his recent Wolverine: Origins guest-shot, so Deadpool fanatics should be pleased; somehow, I’ve never been able to warm up to Deadpool (his breaking of the fourth wall, and invulnerability, make him seem like a Marvelized, more-deadly-but-less-amusing version of Ambush Bug), so, while this was amusing, it wasn’t quite … Continue reading →

The Boys #22 — Writer: Garth Ennis;  Art: Darick Robertson A quiet issue (if they were all plane crashes and heads exploding, it wouldn’t be as much fun), and while most of it’s on the history of Vought-American and The Boys, and their first encounter, the real focus is on Hughie and Annie’s slow-but-steady romance. How Ennis handles these two is going to make or break the whole book — they’re the emotional center, and the viewpoint characters, and their story can be either tragic-but-dramatic or predictable-but-satisfying. The latter is what happened in Preacher (Ennis has a reputation for being … Continue reading →

Marvel Apes #1 (of 4) — Writer: Karl Kesel;  Artist: Ramon Bachs In case you really care, this isn’t about the Marvel heroes turning into monkeys; it’s about Marty Blank — The Gibbon — and a female scientist being accidentally transported to an alternate dimension where everybody was an ape to begin with. Thus, we have Iron Mandrill and Spider-Monkey fighting the likes of Doc Ook and Kong the Conqueror. If those names just made you laugh, congratulations — you’re the target audience for this book. For me, while Kesel’s script and Bachs’s art are cute enough (and good at … Continue reading →