Comic World News | Pull List

April 22, 2008:
CWN and the Grand Finale! -

February 4, 2008:
In Conclusion - David ends his CWN run with Tezuka's MW from Vertical

February 2, 2008:
Acting Like You Have Nothing to Prove -

February 2, 2008:
The Shoegazer Returns - A New Year Begins, And Our Narrator Makes A Pledge

January 30, 2008:
Tim's Reviews -

September 13, 2007:
Wizard World Chicago Loot, Part One - Stykman, Empty Chamber, the Ztarian Saga, and yes, Little Bunny Foo Foo

February 15, 2007:
I Come Not to Bury Nick Cage... - But to mourn the death of my punchline

November 20, 2006:
The End - Rich's last Chicks & Romance

November 8, 2006:
Joann Sfar's Klezmer - And a Front Racks Hiatus

October 4, 2006:
This Month's Guest: Dave Gibbons - From the pages of Elephantmen!

September 18, 2006:
Back in Berlin - or How I spent my summer

July 29, 2006:
KICKING UP A STORM - An interview with David Lloyd

June 19, 2006:
You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me. - Graeme looks at Spidey's "genies"

December 18, 2005:
Disappointed - Sad news for fans of Busiek's CONAN, Stephen King, and others

December 13, 2004:
JUSTICE UNPLUGGED 2 at last !!! - By Fabrice Sapolsky & Xavier Fournier

December 2, 2004:
THE TWELFTH AND FINAL STEP - Say it ain't so, Dan.

November 23, 2004:
The importance of editing -

September 29, 2004:
Mystery and Conundrum indeed! - Where in the world is Jason Pomerantz?

September 13, 2004:
Hello and Goodbye and Hello Again - Change is in the air at CWN and it smells sweet.

August 12, 2004:
The Rise of the Web Toon - New Business Model or Dumb Luck?

July 30, 2004:
The Name Says it All... - Spin Doctors revamp Boomerang.

July 27, 2004:
Bigger Isn't Always Better -

June 8, 2004:
Pre-emptive Strike: MoCCA Arts Festival - Looking forward to the con, rather than looking back at it

The Layer Method
Our top Secret time-saving technique for creating and merging balloons and tails in Illustrator.

Friday, September 3, 2010

8-10-05

Quick Reviews by Michael May

Malcolm Magic #7
Written by Robin Etherington; Illustrated by Lawrence Etherington
I think Shawn Hoke is going to be writing a longer piece about this, but let me add some brief praise to whatever Shawn has to say. After reading Tusk by the same creative team, I was very curious to see an issue of this ongoing series of theirs. Not disappointed. Even though it's the middle of the series, they have the most entertaining "Previously In�" pages I've ever seen that quickly catches you up on this fun, mysterious, fantastical story about a drunken bunny and his friends trying to save multiple dimensions from an evil rabbit. As soon as I'm done writing this I'm heading over to the Blink Twice site and ordering the collected editions of what I've missed.

Samurai: Heaven and Earth #4
Written by Ron Marz; Illustrated by Luke Ross
Man, it's been a long wait on this one. I'm not sure what the problem was, but it's been ages since #3. Worth waiting for though. I love the samurai in eighteenth century Europe story, pitting him against musketeers and the intrigue of the French court. I don't know that the lateness was the fault of Luke Ross, but if it was, I forgive him. His stuff reminds me of Butch Guice and that's a high compliment. In a story about a man's unrelenting search for his true love, it's important that the reader believe the woman is worth searching for and thanks to Marz and Ross's depiction of her, she certainly is.

Serenity #2
Written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews; Illustrated by Will Conrad
At this point, I'm so excited about the Serenity movie and that the franchise is doing well enough to merit re-runs on the SciFi Channel and a novel series from Pocket Books, that this comic could be about Jayne taking a nap and I'd be thrilled. I've got absolutely no journalistic integrity with this one, so we might as well just move on to�

JLA #117
Written by Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg; Illustrated by Chris Batista
Nice! We've been beaten over the head by the fact that the Justice League made a horrible mistake back in the day. It was getting a bit old seeing Batman upset about it in every comic featuring him and another hero. So, this issue sets up the same scenario that the JLA faced back then and asks, "Will they do it again?" It's about time this story got out of the past and into the present. Looking forward to next issue to see how it plays out.

Rann-Thanagar War #4
Written by Dave Gibbons; Illustrated by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
Lots going on. Too much, probably. Wish this was just an Adam Strange series.
I'm sounding like a broken record.

Villains United #4
Written by Gail Simone; Illustrated by Dale Eaglesham
Now this is how a mini-series prequel to a huge event is done. It was probably just for this issue, but they even fixed my problem with Catman's goofy uniform. The version here is probably too similar to Batman's to use on a regular basis, but it's a vast improvement on the other color scheme. Also, nice moments with Ragdoll creeping through sewer lines like that nasty dude in The X-Files, Parademon explaining his fondness for Ragdoll, Luthor explaining just what the Society is and isn't, character development for the previously dull Scandal, and spooky pillow talk with Cheshire. Who do I have to pay to get a Simone/Eaglesham Villains United ongoing after Infinite Crisis?

Seven Soldiers: Zatanna #3
Written by Grant Morrison; Illustrated by Ryan Sook
My favorite Seven Soldiers book so far (Frankenstein could possibly give it a run for its money) begins to incorporate elements from the others (especially Shining Knight) as well as reflecting mainstream DCU continuity via Identity Crisis. Zatanna's becoming a favorite character of mine lately and Sook draws her to break your heart.

Fables #40
Written by Bill Willingham; Illustrated by Mark Buckingham
The Adversary is revealed and I'm surprised at who it turns out to be. Not shocked, because I actually predicted this identity about a year ago, but surprised that I was right. But this story has never been about a shocking twist-ending; it's about characters keeping readers enthralled every step of the way and it does that easy. This issue is full of major revelations, but instead of going for a final page bombshell, Willingham ends it with a well-told joke. He may not have pulled out an M. Night Shyamalan finale, but Willingham certainly knows how to defy expectations.

Mnemovore #5
Written by Hans Rodionoff and Ray Fawkes; Illustrated by Mike Huddleston
This issue is more action thriller than horror as the main character Kaley begins figuring out what the mnemovore is and makes plans to stop it. Not that that's a bad thing. The best horror stories always have slam-bang finishes.

Silent Dragon #1
Written by Andy Diggle; Illustrated by Leinil Yu
The title and cover make it look like a video game spin-off. I'm not a video game person, what do I know? So anyway, I passed it up as a licensed property of something I wasn't into, but then I started hearing good buzz on it and learned that it's an original story. Diggle gives us a sci-fi samurai tale with lots of intrigue and action and plays a nice trick by showing us the main hero, then flashing back to end the issue with his decapitation. Yu's art is perfect for this kind of story too, combining fancy high-tech designs with Asian settings and sensibilities.

Western Tales of Terror #5
Written by Tom Mandrake, Joseph Gauthier, Jason Rand, Jason Rodriguez, Matty Field, Steve Niles, and Joshua Hale Fialkov; Illustrated by Tom Mandrake, R.H. Aidley, Juan Ferreyra, Marco Magallanes, Tony Moore, Scott Mills, and Mark Dos Santos.
The cool Horror Western anthology closes its doors with a pretty strong issue. It's always cool to read a new Tom Mandrake horror story regardless of setting and putting Scott Mills on a Niles-penned Western zombie yarn was a work of genius. Juan Ferreyra is a great find too. The story he illustrated was too heavy on the cowboy dialect, but set up a genuinely funny punch line and Ferreyra's use of two different styles to depict a ghost story and the campfire setting around which it's told shows him to be diverse and very talented. He also designs the coolest-looking monsters in the book. Every story isn't a winner, but those that are make this a great finish to what's been a great anthology series.

Easy Way #4
Written by Christopher E. Long; Illustrated by Andy Kuhn
Perfect. Long finishes up this crime story in a way that's as believable as it is emotionally satisfying. And as deep as the water was that he put his main character in, that was a challenge. I understand he's got a gig coming up writing one of my favorite superheroes and I couldn't be happier that the little Canadian is in such capable hands.

Ferro City #1
Written and Illustrated by Jason Armstrong
Man, I love all these pulp-inspired comics lately. This one takes equal amounts of The Maltese Falcon and Metropolis and melds them into murder mystery set in a city that's way too reliant on robots. Armstrong's hero looks like Lee Marvin and talks like Humphrey Bogart and his story is as fun to look at as it is to read.

X-Men #174
Written by Peter Milligan; Illustrated by Salvador Larroca
Milligan makes you question whether or not the X-Men are really stupid enough to allow Mystique to join them, gives you an answer that makes sense, then makes the floor beneath you disappear by heading in a completely unexpected direction. All the while working in amazing relationship moments with just about everyone in the cast. Astonishing X-Men has nothing on this book.

Captain America #8
Written by Ed Brubaker; Illustrated by Steve Epting
Okay, guys. You've convinced me. You're really bringing back Bucky. And I completely dig it. Next though, I wanna see Uncle Ben leading AIM.

Shanna the She-Devil #7
Written and Illustrated by Frank Cho
This issue resolves the theme of Shanna's struggle to get in touch with her humanity. It also puts to rest the question about whether the explorers will succumb to a deadly disease before they're rescued. But I still found myself staring at the last panel and thinking, "That's it?" The disease plot was one hurdle that the explorers needed to overcome, but there were others that aren't addressed by story's end. I wish there could be an eighth issue to wrap up the entire plot.

House of M #5
Written by Brian Michael Bendis; Illustrated by Olivier Coipel
Cool "gathering of heroes" issue. That's all that really happens, but there are some great moments as some of the heroes -- especially Spider-Man -- react to what's been done to them. Spidey's conversation with Wolverine about what they were planning to do once they found Magneto got me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of seeing that scene played out.

Rocket Rabbit #1
Written and Illustrated by James Baker
I've been waiting for more Rocket Rabbit since I reviewed Nerve Bomb Comix #0. It was such a fun, fresh take on superheroes. Baker has finally continued what he started and has lost none of what made Nerve Bomb such a joy to read. The banter between Rocket Rabbit and his hot creator The Professor is still playful and Baker still has a knack for creating genuinely funny super-heroes and villains. Even the one-panel throwaway characters are clever and silly; whether because of their names (Escape Goat) or their costumes (Hog Wild has a hog-head shaped mask with eyeholes in the pig's nostrils). And the great thing is that this issue's throwaways may be next issue's focus. A small character in Nerve Bomb called Jack Ass (a donkey who switches personalities whenever anyone invokes one of his other names -- Smart Ass, Dumb Ass, Lame Ass, etc.) coordinates all the evil-doing in this issue. Super-hero parody is always a tricky business, but Rocket Rabbit isn't so much parody as just really enjoyable, really funny, light-hearted, sci-fi super-heroics.