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| Doc Savage #7 |
Doc Savage #7:
Writer Chris Roberson and artist Bilquis Evely continue to impress with their
tightly plotted chronicle about the Man of Bronze through the decades. Now in
the present day, Doc is doing better than ever. Due to this youth formula, his
aging has slowed down, but not stopped. His foundation and staff is bigger than
he ever dreamed, and his cell phone technology is helping save lives all over the
world. Then tragedy strikes on two fronts; his enemies reveal the existence of
his “crime college” (where criminals are reprogrammed to do good) and his cell
tech is used to cause users to go violently nuts. Immune to the cell tech, Doc
closes what’s left of his staff in his fortress and calculates a strategy to
strike back and stop the violence. But has too much damage been done?
Roberson
treats readers to a grand ride, done as well or better than the original pulps.
Eight issues gives the story room to breathe and grow organically into what Doc
Savage’s 1930s ideas might result in today. The only drawback is there are so
many new and interesting characters we don’t get to know any of them very well.
And I do miss Monk and Ham. But you can’t have everything. An excellent comic,
I look forward to the end of the story next month. Hopefully this won’t be the
end of the series.
Rating:
****½ out of 5 stars
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| Ghosted #11 |
Ghosted #11:
Original artist Goran Sudzuka is back and I didn’t realize how much I missed
him. With writer Joshua Williamson, they tell the backstory of the female assassin
(and total witch) Anderson. Turns out she was never that nice. Raised in a rich
family as a spoiled debutante, she turns to killing for fun and profit. But it looks
like she’s having just as much fun as profit. When one of her hits goes bad,
she is “sold” to Occultist Markus Schrecken, a match made in the seventh circle
of Hell. Presumably she works for Schrecken until she gets involved in the
caper with Jackson Winters that gets her killed earlier in the series. And
today her ghost happily (that’s sarcasm) haunts Ghosted protagonist Winters until his dying day. Don’t despair,
Anderson! That day may not be too far off. Outstanding story and art make Ghosted one of the top reads of the
month.
Rating:
**** out of 5 stars
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| Hack/Slash: Son of Samhain #1 |
Although
previous partner Vlad was the heart and soul of Hack/Slash, new writers Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley do a good
job with Delroy and making us temporarily forget Vlad’s absence. Emilio Laiso
does some of the best art to appear in the book in a while. More like this, please.
Rating:
**** out of 5 stars
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| Legendary Star*Lord #1 |
Legendary Star*Lord #1:
The Guardians of the Galaxy movie is
out August 1st, and Marvel is trying to have plenty of GOTG product
out for the millions of moviegoers that will flock to comic stores looking for
comics featuring those heroes (that’s sarcasm). Really, who can blame them for
capitalizing on the hoped popularity of the movie? Despite being “product,” Legendary Star*Lord is good. Here,
Star*Lord Peter Quill is stretching his wings a bit away from the rest of the
Guardians. We join him in medias res
in a battle with the nasty alien Badoon (with “bad” in your species name, how
could you be anything else? Oh, Marvel writers of the 1970s, how I love thee
... ). Star*Lord steals a valuable artifact from under their noses and sells it
for a lot of moola. Then he delivers the cash to an orphanage on Earth that
could certainly use it. He’s such a nice thief and grifter! Leaving Earth, he
is accosted by the Royal Guard of his father’s home planet Spartax, who apparently
want to take him home for a visit. In chains. Oh, and the leader of the group
is Captain Victoria, apparently the sister Quill never knew he had.
Legendary Star*Lord
is quick moving, fun adventure storytelling whose quality was a pleasant
surprise. I’ll be back next issue to see where this goes.
Rating:
***½ out of 5 stars
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| Weird Love #2 |
BOOK OF THE WEEK: Weird Love #2:
Craig Yoe is a demon who invades my mind to find out exactly the kind of comics
I love to read, even if I don’t know myself. How else do you explain books like
Haunted Horror and Weird Love? Presented here are more
twisted, insane and just plain wrong stories from old Romance comics. From the
sublime cover to the t-shirt ads in the back (have to get me one), issue #2 is
even better than #1, which I totally loved. Let’s look at this newest set of
gems:
-
Yes, I Was An Escort Girl (True Life Secrets #12, 1953): Yup, just
like it sounds. Of course there was no on-camera hanky-panky, but you can
easily read between the panels, if you know what I mean. Vivian is a nice girl
who just wanted to be a model. Unfortunately, she’s just not hot enough. So she
gets involved with an Escort Service as a “companion” to older, horny
uh, business men. She “dates” lots of guys, but rich guy Jerry has a special
place in her heart. I’m sure she loves him for his personality. When Jerry
proposes, her jealous boss Mike convinces him she’s a gold digger (duh) and
queers the deal. Fortunately, Mike’s jealous wife shoots him and Jerry turns
out to be... oh, just read it for yourself. They published this in 1953? In a romance book? This is the story of the
month, if not the year.
- Too Fat for Love (Darling Love #7, 1950): Mona is a fat
pig. Lots of kids in high school make fun of her for being a fat pig. Tony
Cleaver likes pork, but she rebuffs his advances, because ... why exactly? I
guess she thinks no one could really like fat pigs. Mona is so fat that her dad
sets up someone from his office as a partner if he will marry her. When she
finds out, her heart is broken, and she softens the blow with french fries
dipped in chocolate. Okay, I made that up, but it could have happened! She
really uses Snickers bars dipped in ice cream. Kidding again! She really goes
on a broken heart starvation diet and loses just enough weight to believe Tony
is still attracted to her. As they ride off on their honeymoon, the taxi dips a
little to one side. I’m sure they lived happily ever after. Until her stroke.
- Mini Must Go!
(Love and Romance #6, 1972) Mr.
Childers has a stick so far up his rear they couldn’t find it with an electron
microscope. He is so offended by miniskirts that he bans them from the office. Since
all of the office girls are smokin’ hot and wear miniskirts, the men in the
office first just hate him a lot, then start transferring to other offices
where they can get their miniskirt fix. Then the women get angry that some
uptight jerkwad is telling them how to dress. Tell ‘em, ladies! Turns out Mr.
Childers is so attracted to microskirt wearing Miss Tait that he doesn’t want
anyone else to gawk at her. Once she awakens him to this fact, all anti-miniskirt memos are
collected, reversed and shredded. Yay for Women’s Lib! Today Mr. Childers is
married to his high school gym teacher, Mr. Percy.
- Finally, Beautiful One! (Radiant Love #6, 1954): Navy man Lt. Jon Spears is stationed on a South Pacific island where he meets and falls in love with local island girl Lanu. Lanu is afraid it’s just the South Pacific sun making him loopy. She tells him to go home for a year, date other girls, and if he is still interested, come back and they can work out a dowry or something. Jon spends the next year at the Playboy mansion, dating Hugh’s castoffs. Blondes, brunettes, redheads, each one more ready and willing than the last. He rebuffs them all with constant thoughts of Lanu in his head. 365 days later, he’s back on the island, pledging his undying love. I guess he works things out with her dad, because the last panel reveals why Lanu wanted to test his devotion. In this Twilight Zone-worthy twist, her shadowed face is revealed. She looks like a cross between Alfred E. Newman, Ernest Borgnine and a Decepticon. The artist really knocked himself out on this one. Ugh, that panel will give me nightmares!
Hats off to you, Craig Yoe, Clizia Gussoni and the rest of the Yoe Books! crew. Thanks for making my week with Weird Love #2! Bring on #3!
Rating: ***** out of 5 stars
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