Aaron Clutter of Comicbooked alerted by that they used to have a Zenescope Monday on this website, so I thought it would be fun to do one, and possibly continue. I always wanted to read Zenescope, since they like to play with reinterpretations of free domain material, which I’m a fan of doing myself as a writer. They also hire great colorists for projects (like Omi Remalante), so their covers are bright and inviting. I specifically wanted to read the Wonderland issue, since I had only read one of the first issues a few weeks ago, so I started there.
The current issue for Wonderland is #49, and it looks like #50 will be the last one. This comic was entertaining, and it revolved around the Queen of Hearts, a feisty red head with seduction powers. The protagonists of the story, the Liddles (obvious relations to the Alice who inspired Alice in Wonderland) go against her, hoping to stop her tyrannical, insane reign. There were cool fight scenes, and as I expected from previous Zenescope images I’ve seen, I loved the bright colors. This comic had the mixture of violence and sex appeal that Zenescope seems to play with often, along with an interesting storyline, so overall, I enjoyed this issue. It’s also cool to see how Zenescope took Wonderland and made their own mythos with queens to represent the four suits of playing cards, cheshire cats, etc. Wonderland #49 was written by Erica J. Heflin, with artwork by Joel Ojeda, and colors by Leonardo Paciarotti.
Deathforce #3 was the next Zenescope comic I read, written by Joe Brusha, with art by Marc Rosete, and colors by Walter Pereyra. First off, the art was incredible, dark, and gory. Marc Rosete is a clean and skillful artist, and Walter’s colors make it pop. The story is filled with wild underworld magic, which I love. A deceased police officer comes back to life as a living corpse with powers, and seeks revenge against the people who killed him and his wife. In this particular issue, he meets an ally who wants to help him in his cause due to her own personal reasons. Good dialogue and story, engaging balance between action and story. Highly recommended.
Robyn Hood’s cover for I Love NY: Part 2 of 12 is beautiful. The story revolves around a heroine who reminds me of a female Arrow (the archer hero from DC Comics). She takes a missing kids case under her wing and locates a powerful villain behind the disappearances. Robyn Hood is likable as a character, strong and fierce, bold. The story is written pretty well, sticks to the superhero tradition with a bit of the modern grit. Joe Brusha and Lou Iovino collaborate as writers, Sergio Arino and David Lorenzo Riveiro do the art. Grostieta and Zaldivar do the colors.
Hellchild #5 is also entertaining. More underworld fun, this time with vampires. Pat Shand writes the comic, Vincento Riccardi does the great artwork, and Eleonora Bruni does the colors. Great dialogue and story. Pat is really good with character interaction, and Vincento is great with facial expressions and action. Cool kind of subcultural element to this book with leather, mohawks, and blood. Cool powers. Enjoyed this immensely.
Escape From Monster Island was good as well, with a mix of military fiction and, well, monsters. Joe Tyler is the writer, Carlos Grandas the artist, and Jorge Cortes the colorist. Pretty creative project, makes me think of a magical, crazy Dr. Moreau on drugs. Love their main antagonist of the comic, the Elf Queen.
So this was a good, full intro to ZenEscope for me. I saw not only the expected free domain borrowing, but original series as well. The magical, modern fantasy element that ran through these books was very enjoyable to me, so I’m looking forward to reading more Zenescope in the future.
