Red Dog #1 Review

"Red Dog" #1 from 451 Media Group -

    

        Far, far into the future, the planet, Kirawan, is the worst place. Ever. At least, that's what Kyle thinks. Kyle is a young human boy, the only child in a lonely human colony set on wasteland planet with an atmosphere extremely hostile to human habitation. Kyle, his loving mother, his gruff, hardworking father, and 193 other men and women are part of a charter colony mining for the most sought after element in the universe, Imperium, an element with properties that promise the realization of time travel. A lonely colony is even lonelier for a child with no friends his age; luckily, Kyle has Q, his beloved mechanical dog crafted for him by his doting uncle there in the colony. Kyle passes his days doing chores and schoolwork and playing with Q. But everything is about to change. Kirawan is an inhabited planet, and the denizens don't take kindly to uninvited guests. When the outgoing shipment of Imperium is attacked, the men of the colony take up arms to defend their export and their new home...And it looks like a curious Kyle is about to get trapped in the crossfire. Growing up on Earth is tough enough, but growing up on Kirawan just might be deadly. 

     From Rob Cohen, the director of "The Fast and the Furious," and "XXX," comes this pretty wonderful sci-fi coming-of-age tale, "Red Dog." Cohen does a perfect job of worldbuilding here, giving us a succinct, but satisfying, description of Kirawan, the human colony settled there, and the element, Imperium, that is the driving force behind the Earth-based economy. Told in caption boxes in the words of the protagonist, Kyle, Cohen effortlessly introduces us to his universe, and his protagonist. In only three pages, we feel very familiar with Kyle. Even better, we begin to care about him as we watch him trying to leave his childhood behind, struggling to be everything his father wants him to be, an effort that leaves him feeling as barren as the wasteland planet he inhabits. Cohen has created and an immensely interesting world and a young protagonist that elicited emotions from me that made me need to continue my journey with him. And I will do just that. Rob Atkins was on the pencils for "Red Dog" #1. His artwork was a bit stiff at times, but it was cinematic, fun and especially emphasized the tech elements of the story. "Red Dog is the classic "a-boy-and-his-dog" tale with some hostile bug-like aliens on an equally hostile planet - all metaphors for the various and sundry dangers a kid must successfully navigate on his / her way to adulthood. I'm a sucker for a sci-fi bildungsroman. 

RATING: 9 out of 10. This might be a sleeper hit, and I'm betting it will eventually make its way to the big or little screen. 

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A.D. After Death Book One Review

"A.D. After Death" Book One from Image Comics -

      Death is no more. Humanity has found a cure for the ultimate ailment and is now free to live forever...If "free" is the word for it. One man, Jonah Cooke, is meandering through the first millennia of his immortality, tending to his assignments, and pondering the loss of his loved ones, and the trajectory that his own life has taken. And he steals things. All sorts of things. Things that remind him of important moments in life, moments that can never be recovered, moments that mark brighter spots in the endless stream of time, a stream in which he is doomed to swim forever and ever. Jonah also looking for signs of life in the world below, the world once inhabited by man, now gone except for the survivors, the ones who were able to ingest the cure. Jonah is tormented by his past, trapped in his present, and burdened by the part he played in gifting man with eternal life. Eternity and madness collide in "A.D. After Death." 

   "A.D. After Death" Book One comes from the brilliant minds of Scott Snyder and Jeff Lemire - it is not really a comic book, neither is it a prose work - rather, it is a magnificent hybrid that ensnares the reader from the very first page. This is a melancholy, pensive, work that at times threatens to suffocate the reader beneath the weight of its sadness and longing. In fact, those are indeed the best words to describe the protagonist, Jonah Cooke, and the book itself, "full of sadness and longing." The story is mostly told in the first person by Jonah, describing his struggle with death, as he is forever trapped in the moments of the loss of his beloved mother and his unborn sibling, crushed beneath the weight of knowing life would end. He was once obsessed with capturing those ephemeral, ebullient moments for when the inevitable dark days descended - it is the reason he stole his first tape recorder; now, Jonah steals things to remember bright moments in a life that will never come to an end. Quite a sharp contrast. There has always been a gaping hole in Jonah's life, first caused by the fear of death, now caused by the eternal ache of an endless life. I cannot wait to find out what part he played in freeing man from death, and what he hopes to find in the world below. Snyder's mournful tale is communicated perfectly by Lemire's equally mournful artwork, all done in Lemire's signature watercolors. "A.D. After Death" Book One is not a comic 

for everyone - no capes and tights - just a haunting, character-driven science fiction tale that stays with you after the back cover closes and the journey is done. This book asks us to think about what is actually more horrifying, death or a life without end? Brilliant.

RATING: 9 out of 10. Are there tears in Heaven? Snyder and Lemire whisper the answer: "yes."

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TEX'S BACK-ISSUE QUEST EPISODE #42 (Mr. Terrific II)

Hey there comics fans!!

     It's me, TEX, back again to light up your life with all that comics knowledge that you can't get in any college!

     So who is the star of our show today? It's someone wonderful, marvelous, someone...TERRIFIC!!

    No, no, no, my friends. We're not talking about the Spectre, we're talking about Mr. Terrific II, Michael Holt! That's right, Mr. Terrific II first appeared in in 1997 in the pages of the above book, Spectre vol 3, #54. He was created by John Ostrander (the genius who revived and revamped The Suicide Squad in the 1980s) and Tom Mandrake. I am stoked...I've got two copies of this book. Why? Because Mr. Terrific II is one of my favorite superheroes in the DCU.

    The original Mr. Terrific was Terry Sloane, a genius,  businessman, athlete and vigilante who found his purpose in life in the early 1940s fighting crime and defending "fair play." He was a valiant member of the Justice Society of America, the predecessor of the Justice League of America. Sloane met his death in comics in the late 1970s in issue #171 of The Justice League of America vol 1 at the hands of the murderous villain, Spirit King.

EXTRA: Terry Sloane returned as a major player in the DC series, "Earth 2" and "Earth 2: Society." These series were overlooked, but extremely well-written.

   Michael Holt was a self-made multi-millionaire, a renowned inventor, C.E.O. of his own successful tech firm, Olympic gold medalist, and a polymath of staggering intellect and aptitude. By the time Holt was an adult, he'd completed 14 Ph.D.s in several fields of study, including Psychology, Engineering, Physics, Law, Mathematics, Chemistry and Political Science. However, even all of his accomplishments and success couldn't save Holt from the harsh blows that life often brings. The deaths of his mentally handicapped older brother, Jeffrey, and the deaths of his wife, Paula, and his daughter fell upon him in rapid succession like a ton of bricks. Michael Holt was considering suicide - but a chance encounter with The Spectre changed Holt's life forever. The Spectre told him about Terry Sloane, the first Mr. Terrific, and Michael Holt was inspired to continue Sloane's heroic work as  the new Mr. Terrific. On to the fun facts!!

FUN FACT 1: Despite his awesomeness, Mr. Terrific has only had one attempt at an ongoing series:

Here is my copy of Mr. Terrific vol 1, #1, published as a part of the New 52 reboot in 2011. It was excellently written, and beautifully drawn, but it only lasted eight glorious issues. 

FUN FACT 2: Mr. Terrific is one of the top three intellects on the planet. He has been said to "have an aptitude for having aptitudes." Holt's talent for learning is unparalleled in the DCU (non-powered humans), he can absorb knowledge at an astonishing rate, and pick up and retain complex skills that it takes others a lifetime to master. 

FUN FACT 3: Mr. Terrific is multilinguistic, has mastered six martial arts disciplines making him one of the most formidable human fighters on the planet, and he is an Olympic Gold Medalist in the decathlon. Traditionally, Olympic decathlon gold medalists are considered The World's Greatest Athlete.

FUN FACT 4: Eventually, Mr. Terrific became the Chairman of the Justice Society of America (he was elected by his teammates even though he wasn't seeking the position), and he served as the White King's Bishop in the United Nations Security Council's intelligence agency, Checkmate. In time, he led the agency as the White King. 

FUN FACT 5: Mr. Terrific invents his own crime-fighting tech. His T-Mask renders him invisible to all electronic detection, helps him control his T-Spheres, and gives him the power to instantaneously convert back and forth between his two personas, Michael Holt and Mr. Terrific. His T-Spheres bear his weight as devices of flight, and they can project holograms, link with any network, generate deadly electrical charges or just act as projectile-type weapons. 

FUN FACT 6: Mr. Terrific's origin was changed with the NEW 52 reboot. In the New 52, Holt's wife's death was caused by the villain, Brainstorm, and it was not The Spectre who inspired Holt to not to end his life, rather it was Holt's own unborn son appearing to him in a message from the future. 

FUN FACT 7: If you think the Batcave is awesome, you should get a load of Mr. Terrific's T-Sanctuary, an impenetrable, high-tech fortress hidden away in the Ninth Dimension:

FUN FACT 8: I am a huge fan of Mr. Terrific. I've even got the action figure:

FUN FACT 9: In the hit TV show, "Justice League Unlimited," Mr. Terrific was shown to be a member; however, in comics, Mr. Terrific has never been a member of the JL.

FUN FACT 10: Michael Holt is an atheist. 

FUN FACT 11: Mr. Terrific is portrayed on the TV series, "Arrow" by comedian, Echo Kellum, serving largely as a lovable goofball, a tech guy and a helping hand with IT issues...Oh, and as Felicity's bestie. 

Several changes were made to the character. Mr. Terrific's name was changed from Michael to Curtis, his sexuality was changed from straight to gay (not problematic for me), his prodigious intellect is hardly apparent and his Ph.D.s are not mentioned, he does not own his own tech firm, his Olympic medal was downgraded from gold to bronze (why?), and his serious demeanor was tossed in favor of a more emotional, bumbling, good-hearted personality. Mr. Terrific is essentially a rival to Batman, but on Arrow, he's not even competent enough to be a good sidekick. I don't like it. Not one bit. But, I'll hang around in the hopes that change will come. 

     That's it for today cowpokes! Do yourselves a favor: if you only know Mr. Terrific from "Arrow," grab a few comics starring our hero, and find out what he can REALLY do. I promise, you'll be a fan in no time. 

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Vigilante Southland #1 Review

"Vigilante: Southland" #1 from DC Comics


     Donny Fairchild, ex-basketball star of the European Pro-Leagues, is now an aimless, weed-puffing janitor at Del Pueblo University in South Los Angeles. Even though it seems Donny's lost all desire to make something out of his life, he's managed to snag one of the brightest stars on campus, Dorice Smallwood. Dorice is a real go-getter - she's a beautiful, highly intelligent, athletic, and tenacious young woman who speaks out against injustice wherever she finds it. But there is much more to her than that. What no one knows is that by night, Dorice is a vigilante fighting corruption in South L.A.. When Dorice is horribly murdered, Donny discovers her secret and sets out to may her killers pay...By any means necessary. Donny is awake, he is angry and he is out for justice, honoring his beloved Dorice by learning to use his brains, and her weapons - and by donning her midnight-blue vigilante costume. War is coming to South L.A..

     Cary Phillips pens this new take on The Vigilante. It looks as if this new iteration has nothing to do with any of the former characters who have been called by the same name. This series seems to be in a totally new direction with totally new characters. It is a gritty mystery disguised as a superhero story, and that is kind of exciting. Donny Fairchild is a very relatable character - he is lethargic, oblivious, unattentive, allowing his abilities to be wasted and the world to pass him by. That all changes when he loses the one good person in his life, the only one who hadn't given up on him. It is awesome to watch the fire ignite in him and to watch him change so drastically. I wish we knew a bit more about the antagonist(s) - all we know is that Dorice found out something that got her killed, and we know that someone had discovered her identity since she was killed in broad daylight on the street. Donny has his work cut out for him, and he is working with some unsavory people to avenge Dorice, which means this story is bound to become very complex and deal with some hard questions in coming issues. Elena Casagrande is on the pencils and uses light and shadow excellently to give the story a gritty, hefty feel. And the story is both gritty and hefty - it is about an urban, street-level superhero trying to solve a mystery that will lead him into a vertical struggle against extreme corporate corruption. It's seemingly a battle he can't win. But I've always been a sucker for the underdog. I'll stick around for a few issues and see where this goes; I have a feeling it's going very dark places. Cool.

RATING: 8 out of 10.

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Die Kitty, Die! #1 Review

"Die Kitty, Die!" #1 from Chapter House Comics -

     Kitty is a buxom, beautiful, red-headed bombshell of a woman with a heart as big as Texas. How could you get any better than that? Easy - at last in Kitty's case. She's an honest to goodness, magic-slinging, shape-shifting witch whose real-life hijinks and adventures have been documented for many years in the pages of wildly popular comic books which also spawned equally popular live-action TV shows, cartoons and toy lines. Unfortunately, those days are gone. The comic book industry isn't what it used to be, and people have moved on from the days of feel-good fun, and so have publishers. Events, cross-overs, zombies, and gimmicks are what move comics now, and Kitty's publishers have tried all these things to put Kitty back on the map once more. Kitty is sad and worried; she has no clue about what to do. But her publishers do. They hatch a plot so exciting, so wicked, so utterly evil and ingenious, it's sure to put Kitty's comics back on top...While making sure Kitty ends up six feet under.  Some publishers would kill for a hit comic. Literally.

     Fernando Ruiz, and comics legend, Dan Parent, pull double duty writing and illustrating this not-so-subtle critique of the state of the comic book industry, "Die Kitty, Die!" #1. In this book, Parent unleashes his disappointment with, and displeasure towards, how the comic book industry has changed. Parent laments a bygone age and disappearing characters that once created fun little worlds for comics fans to inhabit for just a small escape from the heaviness of the workaday world. As one of Archie Comics' premier artists for many years, it is no surprise that Parent used clones of our favorite Archie characters to get his points across - Kitty is similar to Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (but way hotter) - but he also pulls some Harvey Comics faves out of mothballs too -Dippy The Dead Kid is similar to Casper The Friendly Ghost, and Li'L Satan (seen in a photo) recalls one of my most beloved Harvey characters, Hot Stuff. Parent and Ruiz take deadly aim at Archie Comics and offer up a scathing criticism on their use of gimmicks in recent years; even artists aren't safe as Parent roasts superstar artists who cannot seem to do work which is both fast and good, which leads to delays in comic production. WOW! They really let it all hang out here, all while crafting a fun, entertaining story, even if it does get a bit preachy at times. Love it or hate it, you have to give Parent credit for using his art form to bravely express himself (which is what art is for) - I mean, he is just saying what many of us older fans have thought for years anyway (in some cases). All in all, "Die Kitty, Die" #1 is a very interesting, quite entertaining book with classic Dan Parent artwork and humor with a little added raunch that places this book in the T+ category. I will stick around for this one. Dan definitely has more to say.

RATING: 8 out of 10 for fun, and the "Oh, no he didn't!" factor in Parent's biting analysis of some parts of the comics industry. If you are an over-forty comics fan, you probably don't want to miss this one. If you're much younger, you might enjoy this comic too - it can give you a bit of insight into what us, erhm.."mature" dudes are often complaining about when it comes to the modern state comics.

FUN FACT: Dan Parent is the creator of Kevin Keller, Archie Comics' first openly homosexual character.

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He-Man / ThunderCats #1 Review

"He-Man / ThunderCats" #1 from DC Comics -


      Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living is one of the most powerful beings in all Creation; however, he has faced defeat after crushing defeat on Third Earth at the hands of Lion-O and his relentless ThunderCats. It seems like their battle will be eternal, but the Ancient Spirits of Evil, the mighty beings that give Mumm-Ra the immense power he possesses, have tired of his constant failures. They have decided to craft an endgame - they have hatched a plan to help Mumm-Ra obliterate the threat of the ThunderCats once and for all. They have learned of a magnificent weapon of unparalleled might in another dimension called The Sword of Power, and they plan to help Mumm-Ra crack open the dimensional veil to get it. But this will be no easy task; the Sword of Power is on a very special planet called Eternia, the first of all Creation, a paradise planet shielded with ancient mystical might, and a mighty guardian called He-Man, the most powerful man in that universe. But that is only part of the plan, the Ancient Spirits of Evil have made a side deal with someone on Eternia, someone remarkably evil, full of very old hatred and very old dark powers. Is this the beginning of the end for He-Man, Eternia, and the ThunderCats?

    Rob David and Lloyd Goldfine write this rousing dream team-up between two of the greatest American-produced cartoon series heroes of all time: He-Man and the ThunderCats! This first issue of "He-Man / ThunderCats" #1 cranks it up to eleven, with a well-thought out plot, great character development, and a huge, heaping helping of fantasy action that will make your teeth chatter! The Ancient Spirits of Evil show Mumm-Ra what evil really is, we experience the strain of Prince Adam's relationship with his father, and we feel Lion-O's doubts and Panthro's loyalty...And Mumm-Ra does something so horrible to Prince Adam that the reader realizes without a shadow of a doubt that things have just gotten REAL on Eternia. Your favorite characters come together in this blazing fantasy adventure, illustrated by Freddie E. Williams' insanely gorgeous pencils and Jeremy Colwell's deep, rich, highly saturated colors. I have no idea who Williams is, but it is clear that the man is an immense talent, and that he takes this book VERY seriously. His panels are bursting with action, magic, expression, and they are full of to the brim with coolness for the eyes to feast on. This is the He-Man / ThunderCats crossover that we deserve. Welcome back to real fantasy - welcome back to your childhood.

RATING: 10 out of 10 for total fantastical fun, and a trip back to those halcyon days of childhood when we could wrap ourselves in fantasy like warm blanket in the winter.

CAVEAT: If you weren't a fan of the shows and comics as a child, you may not enjoy this comic as much as I did. However, if you did love the shows and comics, prepare to go bonkers!

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Wolf Cop #1 Review

"Wolf Cop" #1 from Dynamite - 

       Ex-cop, and alcoholic, Lou Garou (get it? Loup-garou?), and his buddy, Willie, are on the run. Lou is wanted for two counts of murder due to his...Condition. You see, Lou becomes a nearly indestructible werewolf when the moon is high - half man, half wolf, all cop - and Lou enforces the law with a bloodthirsty, booze-driven vengeance. Out on the backroads of the Canadian wilderness, Lou and Willie are seeking to find a place to call home, but when they run afoul of some savage, homicidal bikers, Lou and Willie end up beat up, tied up and on their way to becoming meals for the cannibal king of the biker gang. These bikers are used to being the apex predators of these parts, but they are about to find out just what an apex predator REALLY looks like. But Wolf Cop won't have an easy fight...There's more to the cannibal king than meets the eye. This time is the wolf the predator...or the prey?! 

    Writer, Max Marks, brings us this rip-roaring, action-packed gore-fest of a horror B-movie in comic book form. There is nothing really deep to analyze about this comic - it is just what it presents itself to be - a wild, bloody, gore-filled horror comedy. Despite all the f-bombs dropped in this book, I found myself laughing at the foul-mouthed, bumbling, loyal Willie, as he does his best to watch the back of his best friend who just happens to be a brooding, drunken, jaded werewolf ex-cop. I couldn't wait to see the bikers get theirs, and I was also pleasantly pleased that this story had an antagonist that actually gave Wolf Cop a run for his money. This comic won't change the world, but it will provide you with 10 to 12 minutes of nutty, gory fun and adventure. Please understand that this comic is NOT for everyone - it is definitely not for those with tender sensibilities. This is a throwback low-budget, grindhouse, supernatural horror films - I was pleased to find that this was actually a sequel to a horror film of the same name from 2014:

Looks like fun, don't it?

RATING: 8 out of 10 - simply for the amount of mindless fun I had reading this comic.

CAVEAT: If you like your comics deep, layered and profound, this book is NOT for you. This book is NOT for children, not for those with weak constitutions.

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