Doctor Who - The 8th Doctor

Publisher: Titan

Writer: George Mann

Artist: Emma Vieceli

Titan Comics is quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers, putting out not only good Doctor Who titles, but good titles period (Sally of the Wasteland, Death Sentence).

When I read about the Eighth Doctor series, I was happy I would get to see more tales of the Paul McGann Doctor.

The series is written by George Mann, with art by Emma Vieceli.

I found this series to be average at best, unfortunately. The best part of this five issue series is that each issue was a self-contained tale that was a piece of a larger whole. Even missing an issue, may not affect the overall enjoyment or understanding of the series.

However, while the script was solid, characters good and no major issues, I just didn’t feel the stories were that strong. They just seemed to fall flat. 

The series also followed one point of the ‘modern’ Doctor Who series that I don’t like. It makes the companion seem like the main character and the Doctor seem secondary.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the art for this series. It just seemed a little soft to me and too reliant on the inks. That said, the best thing about the art was that I felt it improved from issue 1 to issue 5.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Overall, an average title I felt didn’t quite deliver.

RATING: 5.5

Alabaster The Good, The Bad, The Bird

Issues 1 – 4 of 5
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Written by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Art: Daniel Warren Johnson

Yes, I know I am writing this review with one issue left to go in this five-issue series. So what?

I first came across our heroine, Dancy, in Alabaster Wolves. I liked it, but was unaware before reading it that Dancy had a history before that. I haven’t read any of the previous works yet, but one day I will.

I liked Wolves enough, and Dancy herself, that I decided to read The Good, The Bad, The Bird

The Good of course is Dancy and her girlfriend Maise.

The Bad are the twins sisters Carson and Hunter.

The Bird is, of course, Dancy blackbird companion. I can’t figure out if he is supposed to be a sage character, or just a smart mouth who acts like he is a sage character.

The first four issues are somewhat of a mixed bag, and that is neither good nor bad.

Issue one introduces the Twins and shows Dancy in her own Hell, since she is DEAD. It is really more of a metaphysical experiment than an actual story.

Issue Two is more of a character piece revolving around Maise, Dancy’s girlfriend, who is the one who killed Dancy, albeit by accident. Maise and Blackbird, spend this time dealing with Dancy’s death, from over a year ago, and trying to live.

Issue three is where an actual plot of the series comes into play, and issue four ramps it up. The Twins, using Dancy’s knife they acquired in issue one, cast a spell to bring Dancy back to life. It works.

Naked and wandering with her resurrected life, Dancy comes across the Bailiff, a mysterious figure from her past. He takes her where she needs to be, to Maise.

After a brief reconciliation with Maise, Dancy finds her life turn upside down as always. Maise has been kidnapped by the Twins. They resurrected Dancy because they need her to be what she is: A Monster Hunter.

As I found with Wolves, the characters and the ambiance are the true strong point, with story and plot being second. However that is misleading. Yes, the first two issue are not really strong on story or plot, but they don’t have to be, they draw you in, and slowly let you know what is going on. Issues three and four reveal the story and drive home the plot leading to what promises to be a rousing final issue.

The problem with a structure like this is that everything hinges on the final act. If issue five delivers, then this is borderline brilliant. If issue five doesn’t, then you have something that misses the mark.

Final Thoughts:

The structure, and characters are strong enough to draw you in and keep you there for the journey, but the final issue with determine just how good the journey is.

RATING: 6

ACTION LAB: DOG OF WONDER

ISSUE #1

PUBLISHER: ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT

WRITERS: VITO DELSANTE, SCOTT FOGG

ART: ROSY HIGGINS, TED BRANDT

Over the last few years I have found that some of my favorite indie Titles (Dry Spell, The Final Plague, Southern Dog, Strays, Ghost Town) have been put out by Action Lab. In fact they also publish Charles Band’s Puppet Master and Trancers (Yeah!). Action Lab has produced such quality work, that I usually pick up the first issue of each title they release, just to check it out.

So, when I found out about Action Lab: Dog of Wonder, I had it put on my pull list.

The title is written by Vito Delsante and Scott Fogg with art by Rosy Higgins and Ted Brandt.
Simply put, this is a Wonderful title. Pitch Perfect in fact. I can help but stating this here:

ACTION LAB: DOG OF WONDER IS REQUIRED READING!
REQUIRED!!

Action Lab: Dog of Wonder is about a Labrador who comes to the help of others dogs in need. In this issue, he rescues a former bait dog from a country Animal Control Shelter who is scheduled to be put down because he is considered unadoptable.

The story is great, the right blend of action, humor and drama. Even though the artwork is not my favorite style and a little soft, it suits the story.

While it may appear this is a children’ comics, I would call it more all ages. At least this 41 year-old Ace Masters loved it.

The best part about the book is it touches on a few tough issues and still remains kid friendly.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you love comics, read. If you love and/or have dogs, read. If you have kids, read with them.

REQUIRED READING! REQUIRED!!

RATING: 8.5

Why we don’t need a Black Superman

This piece may upset some people. Before you get upset or start to bash, read it first to understand why I say the world doesn’t need a Black Superman.

And by Black Superman, I don’t mean a Black Version of Superman. I mean making Clark Kent/Superman Black/African-American. There has been a movement/many people over the last decade or so that claim Clark Kent needs to be Black. That it is about time.

I say screw that. I have argued this point with ‘fake’ comic book fans, the people who only see the movies or TV Shows and claim comic book fandom. Also, with wanna be comic fans who don’t know anything beyond Batman, Superman and Spider-man.

Why do I say the world doesn’t need Clark Kent to be Black, because we already have something better then turning a white character into an African-American one.

We already have an Urban, Gritty, Street Wise, Man of the People African-American super-hero Icon.

One bad mother . . . and no I don’t mean Shaft.

I’m talking about a character better than Superman. Arguably the first true successful African-American super-hero, and the most successful African-American super-hero.

Why do we need to make Clark Kent Black when we already have . . .

While not as well-known in the main stream world (hopefully Netflix will change this) Luke Cage is a comic book Icon. A different kind of super-hero.

When he debuted in the 70’s Luke Cage was (and still is) different for a number of reasons.

1. He was Black/African-American
2. His Super-hero names wasn’t Black Something like other characters, just Power Man
3. He wasn’t/isn’t a goody two shoes boy scout character (Like Superman)
4. He wasn’t a Millionaire with a Silver Spoon (like Batman, or his Partner Iron Fist).
5. He wasn’t a super-smart scientist

Luke Cage was and is a jive-talking, street wise everyman out to make a living and help people when he can. Yes, Cage originally worked as HERO-FOR-HIRE but he always helped the small guy. Only occasionally getting involved in World-Wide storylines.

Even as an Avenger, Cage was always an everyman, never forgot his roots and more so than many other characters felt Raw and Real.

In my mind Luke Cage is awesome. He isn’t just the greatest Black/African-American Super-hero of all time, he is one of the greatest Super-heroes and comic book characters of all time, period. Hell one of the great characters of any medium of all time. Period.

Why does the world need Clark Kent/Superman to be Black? It doesn’t.

We have LUKE ‘FREAKING’ CAGE. ‘Nuff said.

LUKE CAGE > Any Superman.

ACE MASTERS

Second Sight Review

Publisher: Aftershock
Writer: David Hine
Artist: Alberto Ponticelli

Second Sight is a trip. Definitely a very interesting title, and this first issue is engaging and captivating.
The first line of Dialog in the book is: “DO YOU SEE?” on a black background. That can have many meanings, intentional or not.

On the second page, a splash page of a leather clad serial killer, the only line of Dialog is: “I KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LIKE TO WATCH.”

This is meant for the main character, Ray Pilgrim, but could just as easily mean us readers.

Ray is a very troubled man who once discovered he had the power to “Remote View” people commit heinous crimes. He has apparently left that life behind, or tried. Now his daughter runs a blog and is threatening to release names of The Wednesday Club, a group of powerful pedophiles.

It also seems that Ray is Remote Viewing again.

Anyone who is a fan of crime comics (or stories in general) needs to give Second Sight a first look. This is a very good issue with strong art and script. It does what it needs to do to set up all the action and events and start things moving forward.

It gives us enough background on Ray to be interested in who he is. It also keeps one guessing to what is going on, with a wicked cliffhanger ending.

FINAL THOUGHT:

Grab your copy of #1 now.

RATING: 6.5

REPLICA ISSUES # 1 – 3

REPLICA

ISSUES # 1 – 3

Writer: Paul Jenkins

Artist: Andy Clarke

Publisher: After-Shock Comics

I love Replica. This is the best book on the market right now. PERIOD. 

Trevor Churchill is a human detective on an intergalactic hub called The Transfer. Here many different alien races co-exist, each controlling their own section.

Trevor is a good detective, but is hindered by his well-meaning but inept Shadarr partner Vargas. So, Trevor does the ‘logical’ thing, he clones himself. Nothing can go wrong with that, right?

One clone, fine. Fifty plus, might be a problem.

Not for Trevor, he turns them into a police forced that answers to him. Sweet. Just one problem, they fail to prevent the assassination of a diplomat during peace accords. (End Issue One).

The first issue sets everything up, the second and third issue delve deep into Trevor doing his foot work, while relying on his Clones to do many aspects of the investigating. Especially #2 (or Roger) who does all the paperwork, but is very capable himself. He believes the assassination was an inside job.

As issue two and three go on, the world and motivations for the assassination begin to revel themselves. It also seems like Trevor is ignoring Roger’s inside job theory, but is he?

This book is awesome, and beautiful.

Andy Clarke’s artwork is stunning. His layout tell the story excellently. The best part is each alien character looks distinct and alien and can be told apart. The inks and colors make things pop even more. 

Then there is Paul Jenkins. This book truly shines with his writing. Flawless story, plot and dialog. The dialog is great, smooth, gives us a sense of who each character is, with the right about of banter and witty comments.

Yes, there are some hilarious comments by characters in this book, but this isn’t a comedy. The fact that Trevor often means what he says and does it straight, makes it even more humorous.

The gem of this book is the characterization, from both the art and writing stand point. A book about clones . . . boring right? Nope. Even though each clone is based on Trevor, and his calls them by number, every clone we come into contact with is unique, with their own personality, yet still Trevor. He has a hard time with this at moments.

There are at least a dozen clone versions of Trevor in the first three issues who get dialog, showing each one as unique is a major feet.

Great Art: Check.

Great Writing: Check

Great Book: Double Check

Replica is the first title in a long time I have read in which the term ‘near-perfect’ comes to mind.

The only thing I don’t like about Replica is that I have to wait another f#$%^&*g month for issue four!

FINAL THOUGHT:

If you are not reading Replica, do so under extreme punishment. THIS IS REQUIRED READING.

RATING: 9

I is for IMAGE and . . .

As a comic book fan, I was there when IMAGE launched to great fanfare and even greater sales. Well, in truth I was there long before that. I was reading Marvel titles when the Image seven still worked for Marvel and DC and followed them as they did their exodus and formed IMAGE.

The Savage Dragon, Spawn, WILDC.A.T.S. and Youngblood (whenever is was actually published) were my titles. I dropped the Savage Dragon after issue 25. I dropped Youngblood after the Team Youngblood title. I followed WILDC.A.T.S. thru all their changes and even briefly into the New 52. I still read Spawn to this day.

Except for Spawn, I gave up Image around 1997 or so. I just wasn’t a fan of what they were putting out. This was after the Fire From Heaven storyline.

To be honest, I read Spawn more for Sam and Twitch and out of habit than anything else. There were long periods where it wasn’t very good and I considered, but never did, dropping the title. It wasn’t until the Man of Miracles storyline that I became interested again, and the subsequent Jim Downing story.

For a good long time IMAGE was focused on the art itself, and lacked any depth of story or characters. They were art first. Image over all.

They also spent years trying to build a coherent super-hero universe that could rival Marvel and DC, but that never worked. There were times they even seemed to try and force that universe down the industry’s throat.

Then came Robert Kirkman and The Walking Dead. I have never read that title, but can it can be argued that Kirkman and The Walking Dead started a mini-revolution within IMAGE. It was after the launch and success of The Walking Dead that IMAGE became what it always was meant to be: a place for creator owned titles, creative freedom and actual excellence of the comic book form.

Even then I never jumped on board because it was IMAGE, and my apathy was too great.

Then came NEAR DEATH, MIND THE GAP, HOAX HUNTERS and ALEX + ADA . . .

But first came INFINATE VACATION.

This was the first IMAGE title in a long time to get my attention. It was the first one I thought was imaginative, well-written and any good. It was the title that started my Journey back to IMAGE, and opened my mind up to give the line a chance.

Beyond the above mentioned titles, I also read FUSE, INVISIBLE REPUBLIC, SAGA, RAT QUEENS and others. Almost rivaling my Marvel list.

In my mind the turnaround for IMAGE is Imazing . . . I honestly never imagined me reading IMAGE titles on a regular basis.

It is amazing that it took IMAGE almost twenty years to become what it was originally sold as . . . a place for creators to have control and focus on quality titles that would push the envelope of the comic book art form.

Yes, the creators were always in the control of the company, but the quality and pushing of the envelope was rare.

Since I didn’t read for a long time, I have to be honest that there are probably good titles that I have missed.

IMAGE has done what any company should do naturally, what happens to organisms in nature, evolve beyond what it was to what it should be.

IMAGE use to be just about the Image, but it now has true substance to its titles.

I now does stand for IMAGE, IMAGINATIVE, INNOVATIVE and INDEPENDENT.

Who would have thought?

Ace.