Artemis & The Assassin #5 - AfterShock Comics

ARTEMIS & THE ASSASSIN No. 5, September 2020

Despite Stephanie Phillips’ heartfelt “Thank You” to this mini-series’ readers at the end of this comic showing just how much thought the American author put into her storyline, it is arguably doubtful many within this book’s audience actually found its conclusion particularly satisfying. For whilst Issue Five of “Artemis And The Assassin” unquestionably contains a few resolutions to the overall narrative, it leaves so many more plot-threads still disappointingly up in the air that doubtless many a bibliophile were probably fully-expecting a sixth instalment.

Indeed, not even the near obliteration of Isak, complete with exploding eyeball, disintegrated arm and severed foot, seems to have permanently resulted in the mass-murdering company executive’s demise – courtesy of Dutch Henderson inexplicably making a well-timed appearance from the past with a working copy of the ‘book of the Dead’. Such a dissatisfying revival obviously sets up the opportunity for a future sequel, but frustratingly doesn’t in any way help explain just why the time traveller’s company from the future was employed to interfere with the success of the Allied invasion during World War Two in the first place..?

Similarly as bamboozling is the actual source and limitations of Maya’s supernatural powers. The deadly assassin has already demonstrated her susceptibility to physical injuries during this five-parter’s previous editions, yet during this particular twenty-page periodical she appears perfectly able to ‘shrug off’ a sword blade straight through the gut without much effort. In fact, this fatal wound only seems to show its bloody impact towards the end of her unsuccessful fisticuffs with Isak, and then it doesn’t seem to stop her literally blowing her overconfident adversary up with the woman’s all-too convenient magical energy; “Look at this power. You don’t even know what you’re capable of. I did this. I gave you this power.”

Sadly, even Virginia Hall appears to develop some 'super-powers' so as to overcome her awkwardly-placed teleportation back into the past. Historically deemed "the most dangerous of all Allied spies" by the Gestapo, "the limping lady" arrives smack in the middle of a well-armed German guard-post, and despite her prosthetic leg, both outruns and then outfights all of her gun-toting opponents before contrivingly completing an identical feat with a disbelieving French Resistance cell.

Writer: Stephanie Phillips, Artist: Francesca Fantini, and Colorist: Lauren Affe

Artemis & The Assassin #4 - AfterShock Comics

ARTEMIS & THE ASSASSIN No. 4, August 2020

Providing its audience with a highly anticipated flashback sequence to 261 B.C.E. and the ruler of Kalinga’s “bloody war against Emperor Ashoka’s forces” in order to provide Maya with a catastrophic origin story, Stephanie Phillips’ script for “We Don’t Ask Why” disconcertingly sees this mini-series’ storyline cross over the line from science fiction into science fantasy. In fact, this entire twenty-page periodical suddenly continually emphasises the supernatural disposition of both this book’s mean-spirited time traveller and her well-dressed, mysterious benefactor – who apparently is unable to die despite the best efforts of some Khopesh-carrying Ancient Egyptians.

Perhaps naturally, these forays into the supernatural provide this comic with some of its more action-orientated moments, most notably Isak’s aforementioned fracas in 2200 B.C.E. where the dapper-looking company executive rather nonchalantly cuts down a pair of Dutch Henderson’s bodyguards during his recovery of the anachronistic cowboy’s stolen bracelet. But considering that up until this point all the advantages the time travellers have ‘enjoyed’ over their historical adversaries have appeared to be technological advancements, this publication’s surprising revelation that they may be so much more is arguably somewhat discombobulating.

Indeed, the notion that Maya was somehow brought back to life using the secret knowledge contained within several antique tomes following her demise as an infant is debatably rather jarring, especially when her restoration by “the new leader of the Nine” apparently also imbues the archer with the swirling blue supernatural energies from which she can fashion her bow and arrows; “For generations, my people existed with the sole purpose of protecting the book… Until the dams broke. The water took everything I knew… It almost took me, too.”

Far less perturbing are Francesca Fantini’s proficient pencils, which definitely help imbue this comic’s more violent sequences with some additional savagery. Isak being almost cut in two by some deadly curved blades is a good example of this, with the action actually being presented via some shadowy silhouettes moving at great speed as opposed to a straightforward panel depicting the mutilation. Such a technique genuinely lets the reader’s imagination ‘fill in the gaps’, and potentially harkens back to the death of Anck-su-namun in Stephen Sommers’ 1999 film “The Mummy”.

Writer & Creator: Stephanie Phillips, and Artist: Francesca Fantini

Artemis & The Assassin #3 - AfterShock Comics

ARTEMIS & THE ASSASSIN No. 3, July 2020

Whilst readers of a comic based upon the exploits of a time-travelling killer would understandably be expected to employ a willing suspension of disbelief during Issue Three of “Artemis And The Assassin”, it’s probably doubtful that many could cope with some of Stephanie Phillips’ more outlandish plot-threads for this particular publication. Indeed, having been almost fatally shot in the shoulder by her World War Two target and resultantly started bleeding out, the suggestion that Maya could subsequently throw punches during a mass fist-fight that are strong enough to fell a man with a single blow is debatably pushing the boat out a little too far. 

Disconcertingly however, that is precisely what occurs within the American author’s narrative for “It’s Just Time Travel”, as the seemingly always angry murderer and the utterly befuddled spy Virginia Hall, somehow manage to successfully escape the clutches of six heavily-armed gunmen in the Wild West. Sure, the pair’s repeated bravado in the face of having numerous pistols, rifles and shotguns rammed up against their heads certainly marks them out as two truly remarkable central protagonists. Yet it’s debatably difficult to imagine that ruthless desperados such as Dynamite Dutch Henderson would ever tolerate such aggressive resistance as the girls give him, especially when it later becomes clear his men mean to kill them anyway. 

Luckily though, this twenty-page periodical doesn’t just dwell upon events occurring in Goldfield, “the best city in Arizona”, in 1875, but also includes plenty of insight into the sheer scope of the Nine’s homicidal operation in the distant future. Isak’s confrontation with a disgruntled customer shows just how serious things can get when one of his cold-blooded agents fails in their job, plus the inclusion of Toby and the fifteen-century ninja, Akechi, demonstrates just how varied the corporation’s agents actually are; “Bring me a jumper, Bryon. I’ll deal with the other situation myself. If you want something done right…”

Equally as enjoyable as this comic’s exploration of Maya’s peers is Francesca Fantini’s artwork, which goes a long way to helping project the sheer violence of the world Phillips’ has created with this mini-series. Toby’s super-fast slaughter of some terrorists shows just how lethal the modern-day military sniper can be when the situation calls for it, whilst the Italian illustrator’s layouts involving Henderson’s violent assault upon his two supposedly helpless prisoners imbues the scene with an added layer of sheer physical brutality.

Writer & Creator: Stephanie Phillips, and Artist: Francesca Fantini

Artemis & The Assassin #2 - AfterShock Comics

ARTEMIS & THE ASSASSIN No. 2, June 2020

Beginning with a genuinely heart-wrenching flashback as to just how as a young girl Virginia Hall came to lose her leg in a childhood accident, Stephanie Phillips’ script for Issue Two of “Artemis And The Assassin” certainly establishes what a gutsy fighter the “infamous spy” from World War Two actually is. But such raw determination to defy the odds doesn’t debatably explain just how the soldier still manages to ‘get the drop’ on Maya when the time-travelling assassin is about to murder her in Nazi-occupied France.

Indeed, if the American author has previously established anything following this mini-series’ opening instalment it is how utterly ruthless and cold-hearted the killer from the future actually is, so simply standing idly by whilst waiting for Virginia to “put my [false] leg on first” before she executes her with an energy arrow through the forehead is arguably somewhat out of character for the no-nonsense exterminator; “It’s my job to kill you… And I always do my job.”

Happily however, such an implausible delay in Maya fulfilling her mysterious mission does allow Meghan Hetrick to pencil a seriously pulse-pounding, action-filled adventure for the rest of this twenty-one page periodical, as the pair repeatedly wrestle with one another whilst simultaneously trying to survive a German assault upon the French resistance movement. This flurry of activity not only provides Hall with an opportunity to demonstrate her humanity by actually saving her assailant from the Fuhrer’s goose-stepping goons, but also allows Maya to once again demonstrate just how deadly she is with her hand-weapon when she instinctively dispatches a pair of the disabled spy’s friends who foolishly pull pistols out in order to stop her.

Intriguingly though, it is this publication’s secondary tale “Zen And The Art Of Assassination” which truly shows just how disturbingly dark Phillip’s blood-splattered world of hired killers actually is, with a smirking Isak demanding that his bow-carrying protégé kill a child in the little girl’s nursery if Maya wishes “to prove that you are ready for your own missions.” Proficiently pencilled by Francesca Fantini, this backstory goes a long way to explain just why the now fully-grown assassin is both so pitiless towards her targets, and hates her employer with such barely-restrained gusto.

Writer & Creator: Stephanie Phillips, and Artists: Meghan Hetrick & Francesca Fantini

Artemis & The Assassin #1 - AfterShock Comics

ARTEMIS & THE ASSASSIN No. 1, March 2020

Overflowing with all manner of sense-shattering shenanigans through time, truly savage historical slayings, and plenty of gun-toting, jack-booted Nazi Germans, Stephanie Phillips’ narrative for Issue One of “Artemis And The Assassin” surely must have pleased its 7,192 readers in March 2020. In fact, it isn’t until this twenty-page periodical’s final quarter that the comic’s breath-taking pace finally comes to a natural, momentary pause as Virginia Hall finds the time for some brief bed rest, before facing this comic’s sensational cliff-hanger of a conclusion; “This… This is huge. It could change… everything. Hamlet..? Hamlet! Who the hell are you!?!”

Perhaps this publication’s principal highlight however, is the mysterious makeup of this mini-series' “top-secret assassination organisation” and the cold-blooded agency’s apparent ability to murder the likes of Grigori Rasputin in 1916, courtesy of a futuristic energy arrow straight through the eye, without adversely affecting the continuity of the planet’s established timeline. Just why people would willingly commission operatives to “interfere with watershed moments” intriguingly hangs over everything which takes place within this book, and arguably becomes even more enthralling once the well-dressed Isak insinuates that previous “cataclysmic” missions have unfortunately gone wrong.

Similarly as enjoyable as this comic’s writing though are Meghan Hetrick’s layouts, which really help both imbue Maya’s highly dislikeable character with all the haughty arrogance a bibliophile might expect from a successful hired killer, as well as add some palpable dynamism to Hall’s highly destructive detonation of a German-held bridge. Indeed, whether it be the illustrator’s depiction of “the agency’s top assassin” brutally dispatching the Russian mystic’s astonished bodyguards in a horrifically gory manner, or “the deadliest spy of World War Two” huffing and puffing her way ahead of a pack of ravenous Nazi guard-dogs, the artwork is top-notch.

Adding some extra bang for this audience’s buck is this book’s succinct secondary story “Zen And The Art Of Assassination”, which fascinatingly reveals Maya’s early days as an apprentice under the watchful eye of Isak. This ‘short’, prodigiously pencilled by Francesca Fantini, shows that even back then the two work colleagues did not apparently get on with one another, and starts to establish just who the then aspiring archer had to kill first so as to “get my own missions.”

Writer & Creator: Stephanie Phillips, and Artists: Meghan Hetrick & Francesca Fantini

Rough Riders #4 - AfterShock Comics

ROUGH RIDERS No. 4, July 2016

Shifting 4,888 copies in July 2016, Issue Four of “Rough Riders” certainly ramps up the science fiction element within its ‘wild west’ narrative by both confirming that Spain’s military leader in Cuba is indeed under the control of “little green men from space”, and having Theodore Roosevelt explain to an increasingly agitated Annie Oakley that “the Battle of Little Big Horn was not Custer’s last stand against the Indians”, but was in actuality a combined effort between the cavalry commander and the Native Americans to thwart an alien invasion. Such a shockingly bemusing plot-twist arguably somewhat jars alongside this series’ preceding ‘realistic’ seriousness and is debatably made all the more incongruous by Adam Glass' rather comical depiction of the United States Army officer literally having a large hole bored through his chest by an extra-terrestrial laser beam, and the aliens’ space-faring vessel being fortuitously destroyed by a few rifle-carrying bare-chested tribesmen; “Luckily, the fierce spirit of the Indians brought that ship down.”

In fact, this rationalisation behind just why the future twenty-sixth President of the United States has brought his ‘expert’ team to the Northern Caribbean may well have caused some of this comic’s audience to have hollered with laughter in a fashion similar to that of "Little Miss Sure Shot", especially after a singularly stern-faced Thomas Edison produces a dead, Triffid-looking alien symbiote from deep within his brown jacket and theatrically declares that it “was dug out of General Custer’s ear after his death.” Sadly however, even this dubious dabbling into the science-fiction fuelled world of Walter “Jack" Finney does not seem to have been enough for the Georgia-born writer, as he later introduces Harry Houdini to an incarcerated living alien in the shape of Patrick Olliffe’s well-pencilled, yet heavily-manacled, semi-naked female with six eyes and insectoid-shaped lips…

Fortunately, for those bibliophiles who like their fiction a little more factually-based, or at least less speculative, “The Bull Moose” does contain a rather enthralling sub-plot involving Jack Johnson and Rasputin bare-knuckle fighting on the San Juan Heights. This highly prejudicial confrontation, where the racially intolerant mad Russian attempts to prove that “white man is superior to the chernyy”, is disappointingly as short as this action sequence’s pulse-pounding punches are dynamically-drawn, yet still manages to ably demonstrate that the Galveston Giant is perfectly capable of out-thinking an opponent as well as out-boxing them…

Creator & Writer: Adam Glass, Artist: Patrick Olliffe, and Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb

Rough Riders #3 - AfterShock Comics

ROUGH RIDERS No. 3, June 2016

Whilst “Aftershock Comics” probably did enjoy “an explosive first year of publications with series featuring compelling new concepts and excellent comics talent”, Issue Three of “Rough Riders” arguably wasn’t one of the company’s finest products during this period due to Adam Glass’ somewhat disappointing decision to reveal the menace behind the U.S.S. Maine’s destruction as having a distinctly extra-terrestrial element to it. Admittedly, there’s little realism to a narrative based upon “a young Theodore Roosevelt” teaming up with Harry Houdini, Annie Oakley, Jack Johnson and Thomas Edison to begin with, and the title had already potentially ‘suggested’ an alien threat is at hand with the top-secret photograph portraying the American naval vessel’s demise uncannily imitating a scene from H.G. Wells’ novel “War Of The Worlds”. But that still doesn’t mean the graphic novelist’s portrayal of “Little Miss Sure Shot” being overpowered by a military delegate inhabited by an oversized multi-tentacled Martian earwig is the most palatable explanation behind Spain’s supposed new weapon…

Indeed, all the good non-fantasy-based ground work the author achieves during this twenty-page periodical’s earlier plot concerning Houdini and Johnson identifying “that something is happening up in those hills” by talking to the local prostitutes, as well as Edison’s evident non-acceptance that the aging scientist is going deaf, is debatably completely undermined by the purple-coloured wriggling monstrosity, which seems far more suited to the 1982 science fiction motion picture “Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan” than a western yarn where “things take a turn for the deadly.” Certainly, it must have been hard for this comic’s 5,440 readers to correlate the outlandish creepy-crawly squirrelling out from inside a Spaniard's ear with the magazine’s surprising cliff-hanger featuring the mad Russian monk Rasputin; “You are mistaken, comrade. I am not your friend… I am Rasputin… And you will bow to me!”

Fortunately, what “Give Them Hell” does contain is the excellent pencilling of Patrick Olliffe, whose opening sequence of the future United States President donning his Brooks Brothers-made Colonel’s uniform is alone worth the cover price of this tome. In fact, the “veteran comic book illustrator with over twenty-five years of experience”, whose dynamically-story-boarded race through a trap-infested jungle trail does a superb job of capturing a headlong flight from danger, is likely to have been the main reason behind why there was such “building interest in the book” in June 2016...

Creator & Writer: Adam Glass, Artist: Patrick Olliffe, and Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb

Rough Riders #2 - AfterShock Comics

ROUGH RIDERS No. 2, May 2016

Focusing upon Theodore Roosevelt’s recruitment of Harry Houdini, Thomas A. Edison, Edward “Monk” Eastman and Annie Oakley, Adam Glass’ narrative for Issue two of “Rough Riders” is a decidedly choppy affair, which doesn’t really seem to settle down until the semi-historical ‘super-team’ have all congregated at the South Street Seaport in New York City and proved themselves in a rather bloody fist-fight with some local ruffians; “You can start by giving us all your money, fancy pants.” Up until this point, some two thirds of the way through the twenty-page periodical, the executive producer’s writing is uninspiringly episodic, and flits from one seemingly surreal conversational piece to another, before culminating in the future president literally waltzing with Buffalo Bill’s female exhibition shooter rather than be shot be her…

Fortunately however, once the “Oni Press” graphic novelist does finally bring his titular characters together, and Teddy has smacked a spike-clubbed thug square in the nose, this comic swiftly starts to ‘pick up’. Indeed, whether it be the fast-paced antics of Houdini’s eye-watering crotch-kicks and ‘Gambit-like’ card-throwing, Miss Oakley’s teeth-shattering beating of “two sweet-talkers” intent of taking advantage of the “taken woman”, or Jack Johnson’s over-confident right-handed pugilism, there’s more than enough sense-shattering action contained with this book’s final sequence to surely have sated the publication’s 5,107 strong audience.

There is even an opportunity for the title’s creator to clearly help the group’s innovative inventor, Edison, carve himself out a niche as the storyline’s cowardly comedic relief, and demonstrate Roosevelt’s zero tolerance for the racial bigotry of one of his recruits, by having the American statesman hurl the brutish Monk overboard after witnessing the gangster standing idly by as a bowler-hat wearing bully was about to club his negro team-mate from behind; “I had to see if everyone would fight for one another. And you all passed. Except you, Monk. You’re out. You won’t be part of the Rough Riders.”

Capturing all the dynamism of this “good work” is “veteran comic book illustrator” Patrick Olliffe, whose style both readily “captures the historical figures” and makes “them feel like the icons they are”, but without making them appear lazy “caricatures.” In fact, the “Untold Tales Of Spider-Man” artist’s technique of utilising hatch-lines to suggest an item’s speed or force, really helps make the punches fall with a resounding thud or bone-breaking crunch.

Creator & Writer: Adam Glass, Artist: Patrick Olliffe, and Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb

Rough Riders #1 - AfterShock Comics

ROUGH RIDERS No. 1, April 2016

“One of the most exciting debuts” from “Aftershock Comics” during their “explosive first year of publications”, Issue One of “Rough Riders” must surely have captivated its 8,711 readers straight from the spinner rack, with its historically-based Nineteenth century roots, intriguing steer “into fictional territory, and wonderfully authentic-looking, Patrick Olliffe-illustrated cover featuring half a dozen straight-backed, bygone characters and some anachronistic steampunk firearms.

Indeed, the publication’s entire premise smacks of the series being alluringly akin to an “American League of Extraordinary Gentleman”, and just like Alan Moore’s Eisner Award-winning mini-series, author Adam Glass doesn’t linger long before hurling his leading protagonist into the fray by pitting Theodore Roosevelt up against a blazing inferno in order to save some seamstresses who, having “traded one tyranny for another”, were “working outrageous hours for pennies on the dollar in unsafe conditions that put their lives in constant danger.” This sense-shattering introduction to the future President, his space-age high-tech weaponry and admirable zest for danger, is incredibly well-penned, and stirringly ends on a poignant, heart-breaking moment as the hero helplessly watches a young girl fall through the unsafe factory roof to her death; “Today, nine women were saved. But for the rest of my life I’ll only remember the one I failed to rescue.”      

Just as engagingly written is the television producer’s piece introducing the eventual first African American world heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson. Initially serious, as Teddy teaches the Hudson River-based pugilist a lesson in fist-fighting and prejudice, this punch-up becomes charmingly reminiscent of Robin Hood’s first encounter with Little John, especially when the fighter pulls his bespectacled antagonizer into the water with him just as soon as the older man grabs his hand in order to pull him ashore.

Described by Glass as having “an old school style” which is “perfect for this kind of book”, Olliffe’s artwork for “The Big Stick” is excellent, and, alongside Gabe Eltaeb’s colours, easily manages to convey both the dramatically dynamic, such as Roosevelt dropping through the skylight of a fiery factory, as well as the more sedentary stretches of this publication. In fact, it’s arguably hard not to disagree with this collaboration’s writer that the penciller is “a great partner for this” comic, and easy to see why Adam has “always been a big fan of Pat’s work.”

Creator & Writer: Adam Glass, Artist: Patrick Olliffe, and Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb