The Walking Dead #126 - Image Comics

THE WALKING DEAD No. 126, April 2014

Having ‘sucker-knifed’ the psychopathic tyrant Negan at the conclusion of the previous edition, many of the 67,853 buyers who purchased Issue One Hundred and Twenty Six of “The Walking Dead” in April 2014 may well have figured that the one-time Police Deputy’s ‘six-month’ long battle with the murderous Saviours was already over. Indeed creator Robert Kirkman appears to initially reinforce such a sentiment within the opening few panels of this comic by depicting Sanctuary’s astonished despot submissively sinking to his knees before a victorious Rick Grimes; "It's done! The war is over! Surrender and allow us to take him, and we will not attack." 

Fortunately however, any reader thinking that this would mean an easy ride for the Hilltop settlement’s survivors and little more than a dialogue-heavy character-driven final instalment to “All Out War”, were in for a pleasant surprise at just the turn of a page. For having dropped his wicked-looking baseball bat Lucille, the former cars salesman turned “maniac” somehow manages to dig deep and promptly starts giving the one-handed “de facto” encampment leader a considerable beating.

Such a one-on-one, man-to-man confrontation between the title’s two main adversaries has been something fans of this series have been spoiling for since the two characters first met… And the subsequent brutal fist-fight, which results with at least one broken limb, does not disappoint. Especially as the Kentucky-born writer intersperses its blow by blow account with the chaotic close combat of Michonne and Paul “Jesus” Monroe battling Negan’s remaining men.

Sadly such a cataclysmic finale is over all-too soon, leaving two thirds of the book to once again be populated with little more than Grimes delivering another of his sanctimoniously nauseating sermons on how “we can remake the world we remember… and we can make it better.” Admittedly there is a slightly unsettling scene towards the mega-event’s very end, as Carl, believing his father to be wrong in sparing his hated foe’s life, decides to shoot the helpless bedridden butcher. But even this proves an anti-climax as Rick ‘instantly’ talks his young son down from committing such a cold-blooded murder, and thus ‘smacks’ of simply being yet another of Kirkman’s ‘fillers’ for so horribly overextended a narrative.

Arguably penciller Charlie Adlard also demonstrates he was as equally tired of this storyline by this stage as some of the mega-event's followers were, by producing some quite inconsistent artwork for large parts of the magazine. The Shrewsbury-born illustrator’s depiction of Negan and Grimes pounding away at one another amidst the carnage of a pitched battle is wonderfully drawn and readily captures the frenzied nature of the vicious hand-to-hand fighting. But as soon as the action stops and thus all attention is then turned to the bedroom of a recuperating Rick, the Englishman starts ‘padding out’ his panels with little more than the same reoccurring and regurgitated poses.

Writer: Robert Kirkman, Penciller: Charlie Adlard, and Inker: Stefano Gaudiano

Uber #9 - Avatar Press

UBER No. 9, January 2014

As a magazine partially dedicated to the fictitious Second Battle of Kursk, this edition of Kieron Gillen’s Anglo-American comic book series is arguably a rather apathetic read which, except perhaps for the unsurprising reveal that Katyusha Maria is a Russian superhuman and its extremely gory depiction of the partial mutilation of the “First Battleship Class Uber”, appears to contain little by way of meaningful plot development.

Admittedly the former British music journalist’s graphically bloody disablement of Werner Frei may well have come as something of a shock to the title’s meagre 8,448 followers, and undoubtedly demonstrates that even the “relatively low-intensity halo” of a Red Army Penal Battalion can cause significant harm to one of the Fuhrer’s most formidable living weapons. But such a vicious entrapment of Battlegroup Siegmund by the first Soviet enhanced V2 humans appears a desperately rushed and deplorably short-lived affair; one which regrettably pales in comparison to the seven-week long genuine engagement of 1943 that Gillen was presumably trying to emulate.

Indeed if not for artist Caanan White’s somewhat shameful portrayal of the conflict within a run of three successive double-splash illustrations and two subsequent full panel pages, the enormity of such an extraordinary ‘military’ event could easily have been confined to nothing more than a single five-framed sheet of paper. Although considering the rather lack-lustre quality of the African-American’s pencilling of the super-powered encounter that may not have been all that bad an idea. Especially as the sketcher’s rather grotesque pictures of Russian ‘Panzermensch’ being dismembered by the German Uber’s “enormous circular shuriken of un-doing” is even commented upon by Gillen within the English writer’s internet-based “workblog” and highlighted as something “Caanan wanted basically to do” having only “talked a little about how this attack would work” with the author.

Instead much of the comic's narrative appears to be unnecessarily bogged down simply depicting the dull day-to-day drilling of Stalin’s “one hundred and one” ‘Tank-Men’. This brutal training regime, despite being far less bloody than the events portrayed on the Eastern Front battlefield, proves a particularly tough time for the long-suffering “tank-lady hero of the Great Patriotic War”, Maria. Who for the vast majority of the book appears unable to manifest even the simplest of Uber-related superpowers, despite having been exposed “to raw catalyst as a shortcut.”

Sadly, despite this woman’s pitiful plight at the hands of her unsympathetic comrades, Gillen’s insistence in making the former sharpshooter an exceptionally foul-mouthed individual throughout makes even these ‘character driven’ scenes a tediously tiring read. Something which simply adds to this book’s overall aura of being little more than a weakly written ‘filler’ issue, whose script was badly bereft of sufficient plot developments for a twenty-two page periodical.

The variant cover art of "UBER" No. 9 by Caanan White

Batman #23.1 [The New 52] - DC Comics

BATMAN No. 23.1, November 2013

Sporting a “supervillains of the DCU” commemorative cover this particular edition of “The New 52” “Batman” is an honest to goodness thrill-a-minute read, whose script is as engagingly enthralling and dynamic as the comic’s Jason Fabok 3-D Motion Cover. For whilst this book is disappointingly devoid of the actual Dark Knight himself, Andy Kubert’s narrative instead provides the reader with a disturbingly endearing tale of the Caped Crusader’s greatest nemesis trying to start a family of his very own.

Disconcertingly however, any of this magazine’s 107,680 buyers foolish enough to think that “Time To Monkey Shine” would therefore be little more than a whimsical tale of the Clown Prince of Crime’s domestic bliss were in for something of a surprise, as the American author not only shows a chillingly caring side to the Joker that is rarely seen. But also offers plenty of harrowing flashbacks to a time when the white-skinned psychopath was naught but an abused infant, desperate to escape the bleach and scrubbing brush of his deranged Aunt Eunice; “I’m surprised I still have all my fingers and toes.”

Indeed Jerry Robinson’s co-creation is stunningly sentimental towards the start of this story, momentarily even appearing “a wee bit shaken”, or at the very least distracted, by the sight of a zoo-keeper being rather gratuitously eaten alive by a giant snake. Unsurprisingly though the supervillain quickly regains his maniacal momentum and having suddenly acquired the urge to become a parent, decides to embark upon the fraught journey into fatherhood as only the homicidal mastermind can… by abducting a baby gorilla whom he laughing names Jackanapes.

What follows is nothing short of a hilarious, though increasingly ghoulish, montage as the Joker ensures his “young pup” experiences “the childhood I wish I had” by teaching him how to bully children at school, rob girl scouts of their sweets and spend ‘quality time together’ watching graphically violent horror movies. Rather impressively the tone of the orphaned gorilla’s upbringing becomes increasingly dark the older the primate gets and this gradual shift from zany antics to callous cold-blooded murder, such as pulling a hapless man’s arms off or trapping people within a burning building, must have caught many an unsuspecting bibliophile off-guard.

Just as interesting is the Quill Award-winner’s transformation of Jackanapes from a naughty, possibly playful, young ape to a seemingly regretful adult primate who clearly no longer wishes to be his father’s colourfully costumed killer. Teary-eyed the animal knowingly chooses a grim-death as a result of a fall from a high-flying aeroplane rather than remain at the Joker’s side and in doing so creates a genuinely sad ending to an otherwise wonderfully humorous comic.

Equally as impressive as The Kubert School graduate’s script is the sensationally detailed artwork by Andy Clarke. Mesmerizingly energetic and vibrantly coloured by digital professional Blond, the British penciller’s illustrations of both the Clown Prince of Crime and his ‘ward’ are incredibly well drawn and really help bring out the character’s differing emotions as they increasingly ‘dish out pain and suffering'.

Writer: Andy Kubert, Art: Andy Clarke, and Colors: Blond

Powers #3 - Icon Comics (Marvel Comics)

POWERS No. 3, May 2015

When the co-creator of “the original comic book series” somewhat detrimentally refers to it as “Powers TV’s lesser known sister”, it is arguably clear which of the two mediums is of paramount importance in their minds… And is presumably the reason why Brian Michael Bendis’ profanity-laden soulless narrative to Issue Three of “Powers” is so lamentable. Certainly it is hard to fathom out why else a five-time Eisner Award-winning writer would produce such staid almost child-like dialogue, overly-long stagnating scenes and arguably illogical plot points.

In fact it is hard to find anything within this periodical’s twenty-five pages worthy of praise. Except perhaps the Cleveland-born author’s handling of ‘good girl turned bad’ Rainbow'. Whose panic attack at the prospect of incarceration leads her to seriously ‘fly off the handle’ and amply demonstrate why Deena Pilgrim is such a ‘cult figure’ within creator-owned comics. However even this colourful four-page scene depicting the homicide detective eventually bringing down her prisoner with a bullet, appears overly-long and disappointingly contains some of the worst language imaginable.

Admittedly Bendis’ storyline is not devoid of action. In fact once the reader has endured a tediously long conversational piece between Pilgrim and her Chief, as he drags the cop ‘back to the Police station specifically to rip her one’, there isn’t a moment’s pause to be had. But all each ‘set-piece’ seems to do is provide the Wizard Award-winner with even more opportunities for having his characters prolifically swear or curse, whilst giving artist Michael Avon Oeming the chance to once again demonstrate his all-too inconsistent and amateurish-looking ‘animation-style’ line art.

Indeed the American penciller’s illustrations are decidedly substandard throughout this comic and badly undermine what little interest his collaborator’s script generates to the point where it even has a negative impact upon the long-awaited much-anticipated return of Christian Walker as the 'superhero' Diamond. Such a notable decline in the artwork is especially evident when it can be so readily compared to some of Oeming’s earlier work on the title courtesy of a back-page advertisement to buy the 2010 comic book series digitally. It’s therefore little wonder that the sales for so lack-lustre a magazine saw this issue’s circulation figure drop to just 10,485 copies in May 2015.

The variant cover art of "POWERS" No. 3 by David Mack

Age Of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians #1 - Dark Horse Comics

AGE OF REPTILES: ANCIENT EGYPTIANS No. 1, JUNE 2015

“Basically a western that stars a samurai… who happens to be a forty-foot long predatory dinosaur” this publication by “Dark Horse Comics” is innovative not only for featuring the heavily stylised storyboard artwork of creator Ricardo Delgado. But for the fact that it doesn’t contain either a single word or sound effect throughout its twenty-four page journey across Cretaceous Africa.

Fortunately what it does encompass are some truly exquisitely detailed drawings of the flora and fauna of a “bustling, thriving and treacherous world” of giant reptiles and an action-packed captivating excursion alongside a “tough, lone Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus”. Indeed the sheer amount of things happening within the tiniest of the Costa Rican artist’s panels is unbelievable, and can actually prove so overwhelming that new elements to the textless story can be found even after the third or fourth reading.

Admittedly bibliophiles wanting a bit more to their narratives than just a succession of pictures may well be able to argue that at its most basic level this magazine is simply about a huge ‘spined lizard’ spending a day of its life eating fish and fending off threats. However there is so very much more to Delgado’s storytelling, even down to the “Disney” production designer’s ability to imbue the creatures he illustrates with characters all of their own… even down to a pair of claw-snapping crustaceans trying to catch a small insect whilst precariously balancing upon a branch floating down the river.

Indeed considering the sheer number of different dinosaurs, fish and birds which the writer incorporates into Issue One of “Age Of Reptiles: Ancient Egyptians”, the attention to behavioural detail is incredible. Not only does the scarred main protagonist act with a persuasively believable animal intellect, picking his prey carefully amidst waters teeming with fat-bodied giant groupers and panic-stricken snapping-turtles. But so too do the creatures which the sharp-toothed behemoth encounters. Whether they be a pair of velociraptors inadvertently running into the Spinosaurus whilst tussling between themselves over a leg shank, or a reckless meat-eating carnosaur wildly fleeing a herd of sauropods it had unwisely attacked earlier.

Dishearteningly not everything works as well as Delgado presumably hoped however. The California-based penciller’s ‘thunder lizards’ appear far too reminiscent of something from the live action computer animated adventure film “Dinosaur” by “Walt Disney Pictures” to be taken seriously. Especially when the group’s leader appears a little too ‘human-like’ with its ‘double-take’ at the semi-aquatic "anti-hero" swimming past it.

Story, Art and Dinosaur Color Concepts: Ricardo Delgado, and Colors: Ryan Hill

Star Wars #6 - Marvel Comics

STAR WARS No. 6, August 2015

One of the biggest disappointments of the 1983 motion picture “Return Of The Jedi” is arguably the lamentably brief battle upon one of Jabba the Hutt’s desert skiffs between notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett and the Galactic Empire’s greatest threat, Luke Skywalker. Some thirty years later and writer Jason Aaron has attempted to partially correct George Lucas’ fifty second oversight by dedicating the vast majority of his final instalment of the “Skywalker Strikes” story-arc to just such a colossal contest.

Admittedly in many ways depicting an early encounter between the young inexperienced rebel pilot and the ruthless son of Jango was always going to fall short of the excitement their cinematic clash should have generated. After all the former moisture farmer has yet to become “a true Jedi” and as the murderous mercenary himself states during their comic book confrontation Luke is so overmatched that he ‘shouldn’t be able to fight him’.

Surprisingly though the Alabama-born author does a very good job of infusing this ten-page long battle scene with plenty of excitement, urgency and action. Indeed the frantic pace of the two combatants as they exchange blows within the claustrophobic confines of Obi Wan Kenobi’s home on Tatooine is genuinely worthy of being official canon. Especially as it provides an increasingly frustrated Fett with some great moments as his supposedly easy prey continuously outwits and outfights him despite being temporarily blinded by a flash grenade before the contest even started.

Far less successful are the scenes involving Han Solo’s awkward attempt to seduce Leia Organa on an “oasis” planet hidden “underneath an atmosphere… of the most violent electrical storms.” The stilted dialogue is as clumsy as the Corellian smuggler’s unromantic advances towards the Princess, and the fact this sequence intermittently interrupts Skywalker’s ferocious battle with Boba makes the entire scene all the more intrusively unwelcome. To make matters worse however Aaron also decides to use this disagreeable interlude in order to introduce the scoundrel’s wife, Sana Solo into the ‘Star Wars Universe.

Sadly Issue Six of “Star Wars” is also the last edition to be drawn by Eisner Award-winner John Cassaday. The American artist’s departure is particularly disheartening as his illustration work throughout this book is simply stunning, especially when it comes to his pencilling of the Mandalorian-armoured bounty hunter’s tense dual with the light-sabre wielding Luke.

The regular cover art of "STAR WARS" No. 6 by John Cassaday and Laura Martin

Wytches #3 - Image Comics

WYTCHES No. 3, December 2014

It is not surprising that Scott Snyder begins his editorial for this title by stating “how overwhelmed (and stunned)” both he and the magazine’s creative team were that this book had ‘to go back to the press”. For its doubtful that any of the 43,240 purchasers of Issue Three of “Wytches” realised just how increasingly disappointing and unbelievably ‘choppy’ this “Image Comics” publication was going to become when this series first saw print.

Indeed without having an exhaustive recollection of the story’s previous two instalments, there is little doubt that any reader of such unfollowable meanderings will quickly get lost within the plot’s unrecognisable timeline. Especially as rather than resolve the double cliff-hanger from his prior periodical, the New Yorker instead takes any perusing bibliophile back to a time when the Rooks Family were playing ‘hide and seek’ within the claustrophobic confines of ‘The World’s Largest’ tube maze.

Flash forwards three years and Snyder abruptly jumps to a time when Charlie and Lucy are looking for their daughter in the woods having found the school bus she earlier stole crashed nearby. Anxious, fearful, angry and agitated the missing girl’s father is understandably upset when the Authorities question the veracity of his story about the “decrepit”, legless old woman who was terrorising him just hours earlier.

Followers of this book will almost certainly have been experiencing similar emotions for it is only now, a third of the way through the issue, that the American author finally starts to provide some pieces as to what has previously taken place to the frustrated parent… and even then the matter is dissatisfyingly resolved within the space of a handful of panels as Charlie admits to passing out when the 'crone' started torturing him “and when I woke up… there were no marks on me, and she was gone”.

Fortunately this terrifying trip into the writer’s childhood memories finally starts to gather momentum as the disillusioned protagonist decides to “go look for Sailor” on his own, and encounters an all too familiar hole within a tree from which a mutilated Reginald despairing calls for help. Desperate to aid the man, Charlie starts to bash the tree with a large rock only to discover that the “hollow wouldn’t fit a dog.” Disturbing, captivating stuff which is sadly ruined by Snyder once again inexplicably hurling events back in time without warning and midway through a page…

Equally as annoying as the New Yorker’s inability to keep the sequence of key events simple, is Matt Hollingsworth’s overly heavy application of “hero spatter” across the artwork of Mark Simpson. Admittedly at times the colorist’s initial manual sprinklings are rather atmospheric and impactive. But for the vast majority of this issue the watercolour and acrylic splodges actually make it rather hard to see Jock’s inks and more importantly, what is actually taking place within the panels.

The variant cover art of "WYTCHES" No. 3 by Declan Shalvey