Reviews

Love and Rockets #19 — Creators: Gilbert, Jaime and Mario Hernandez If you’ve never picked up this title…well, you’re an idiot, frankly. When everyone tells you something is good, you should at least try it, even if it turns out not to be to your taste, right? Anyway, if you’ve never picked this up, this is a good sampler issue: you have the final two chapters of a south-of-the-border story, two chapters of an LA story, and a surreal stand-alone strip. Beautiful, beautiful art, deft characterization, every panel a master class on composition — why, exactly, haven’t you ever tried … Continue reading →

World War III #1 — Writer: Keith Champagne;  Penciller: Pat Olliffe;  Inker: Drew Geraci World War III #2 — Writer: Keith Champagne;  Penciller: Andy Smith;  Inker: Ray Snyder World War III #3 — Writer: John Ostrander;  Penciller: Tom Derenick;  Inker: Norm Rapmund World War III #4 — Writer: John Ostrander;  Penciller: Jack Jadson;  Inker: Rodney Ramos If you bought 52 #50, you really, really don’t need these comics — unless you were hoping for 88 more pages of Black Adam beating up on various super-heroes and punching his fist through people, because that’s all that’s here. That’s all the “World … Continue reading →

Amelia Rules #17 — Writer and Illustrator: Jimmy Gownley Yes, this comic about fifth-graders without superpowers (although a few of them would like to have some) is the best book of the week. That might seem strange if you’ve never read it, but look at the Terry Moore cover, the cranky but affectionate fan mail from Harlan Ellison, the other fan mail from writer/producer David Fury, from the guy who created Akiko, from the team that created Kim Possible, from Luann creator Greg Evans, and from others. What do they know? That Gownley is an extremely talented writer and artist, … Continue reading →

Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #1 (of 4) — Writer: Jeff Parker; Penciler: Mike Wieringo; Inker: Wade von Grawbadger I almost bought this, and if you’re looking for “classic” FF while the main title’s going through one of its periodic let’s-shake-up-the-roster things, you could do worse. Weiringo knows how to draw this book, and the script gives him Spider-Man and the Impossible Man and a Thing-Torch prank to have fun with. There was a little too much going on for me, though; it seemed like the volume was cranked up too high — the villain’s working for an alien race! … Continue reading →

Madman #1 — Words and pictures: Michael Allred Just OK. Wonderful art, but it’s more of a clip show than anything else, and the suggestion at the end that everything up to now’s all been an illusion feels like a cheat. Of course, the cheat might be a cheat, too, so it’s important to reserve judgment; it’s understandable that Allred wants to clear away 20 years of cobwebs surrounding his character, and we’ll have to wait until the end of the storyline to see exactly how he’s going to accomplish that. Allred’s part of an interesting pattern — Matt Wagner’s … Continue reading →