Blood Queen vs Dracula #4
Writer – Troy Brownfield
Artist – Kewber Baal
Colorist – Kirsty Swan
Lettering – Marshall Dillon
Cover – Jay Anacleto and Ivan Nunes (A), Fabiano Neves (B)
4 thumbs up out of 5 – with one bloodied stump
Installment #4 did not disappoint! Blood Queen finds herself momentarily under the mojo of Dracula but pulls herself out of the testosterone haze and earns the brief respect of Dracula before he does the ‘come hither and fight me to the death’ look. This glare brings out the best Kill Bill impression from the Blood Queen and some epic fighting commences. Their tete a tete is disturbed by a common enemy and voila – they are momentary besties! After conquering their mutual villain they come to an agreement… little does the Queen know, there is a spy amongst her loyal subjects. Watch yer six!!!
Mercy Thompson: Hopcross Jilly HC
Writer – Patricia Briggs and Rik Hoskin
Artist – Tom Garcia
Colorist – Mohan
Lettering – Bill Tortolini
Cover – Tom Garcia
3.5 thumbs up out of 5 –and a bestselling author on top of it!!!
Apparently obtaining a New York Times bestselling author title is just enough for Patricia Briggs, she is putting the icing on the cake, the giant meatball on top of old spaghetti, the whipped cream on top of the chocolate brownie fudge chunk shake!!!! I like it!!! Go Girl!!! This new comic book at Dynamite is from the supernatural romance Mercy Thompson… sounding good already… Apparently these Hopcross Jilly shenanigans happen between Mercy Thompson novels Frost Burned and Night Broken. The story is solid and interesting! It kept my interest as well as the art keeping my attention. Even balance between younger readers (high school level) and older readers realting to the parents (even tho they are wolves and searching for answers of recently found bones of young children). Liked it – exceeded all expectations!
Justice, Inc. The Avenger #1
Writer – Mark Waid
Artist – Ronilson Freire
Colorist – Marco Lesko
Lettering – Troy Peteri
3.4 thumbs up out of 5
The man they call ‘The Avenger’ is out and about… this new comic with a definite 1940-50’s feel to it, complete with jazz instruments, has potential! Richard Henry Benson turned into ‘The Avenger’ when the world and criminals greed hit an altitude that became mentally unbearable for him. Chapter one of The Invisible Death (The Transparent Man) is well written, visually interesting and grabs you like a banana hand in a dark alley – (by surprise)! Fighting a ghost that looks like a peeled human, he discovers a hidden flaw in the sinewy adversary and jumps on the opportunity to exploit its weakness! I’d have chosen a different tact, but as he jumps into a broken elevator shaft, it’s definite he’s committed to the chase! TBC!
Legenderry: Red Sonja #4
Writer – Marc Andreyko
Artist – Juanan Ramirez
Colorist – Impacto Studios
Lettering – Dave Lanphear
Cover – Sergio Davila and Ivan Nunes
4 thumbs up out of 5
Steampunk Red Sonja finds herself attacked by a nasty shark, saved by CAPT Nemo and pulled from the depths of a watery pit of darkness! Of course, this was only to begin to search for Victor Frankenstein in order to kill him! This plan is a good one, well, kinda… Except the duo was met with dynamic forces of evil, barely getting away from Frankenstein thugs – ONLY, yes, only to encounter walking, fighting and vicious steampunk clothes wearing animal bandits… SWEET!!!!!!!!!
Masks II #3
Writer – Cullen Bunn
Artist – Eman Casallos
Colorist – Adriano Augusto
Lettering – Rob Steen
Cover – Butch Guice and Alex Guimaraes (A), Jae Lee and Ivan Nunes (B)
Gabriel Hardman and Jordan Boyd ( c) and Colton Worley (D)
3.2 thumbs up out of 5
Masks, masks and more masks! Hmmmm….. Mystery, mayhem and murderous madmen! There is a massive convergence of heroes, including Lady Satan, The Spider, etc… this was a gatling gun of art, flying through the air bodies, fighting and rippling abs, lats, pecs, biceps…. Lots of testosterone in this book! Ladies, you’ll love it! It’s page after page of comicbook axe sprayed everywhere for you to read and enjoy! No, it is not in 50 shades of gray….it is vivid, alive and vibrant!
Red Sonja: Vulture’s Circle #5
Writer – Nancy A. Collins and Luke Lieberman
Artist – Fritz Casas
Colorist – Adriano Augusto
Lettering – Joshua Cozine
Cover – Jay Anacleto and Ivan Nunes (A),
Walter Geovani and Alex Guimaraes( B), Lucio Parrillo (C)
4 armored corsets out of 5
Well… Red Sonja barely wears anything… but in this installment she outdoes herself as she internally struggles with the evil goddess Scathach who is trying o rule her body for evil, clad in flaming, blazing and glowing skin. Beautiful renderings that have lively color and are eye-catching and breathtaking. A short distance away, the lizard/snake god Sutekh consumes non-believers with his snake pets and moves towards possessed Red Sonja’s territory. A wonderfully blazing battle erupts when they encounter each other – truly out of control and epic in it’s color and dynamic illustrations! Fantastic!
Swords of Sorrow #2
Writer – Gail Simone
Artist – Sergio Davila
Colorist – Jorge Sutil
Lettering – Erica Schultz
Cover – Tula Lotay (A) Emanuela Lupacchino and Ivan Nunes (B),
Robert Hack (C)
4 thumbs up out of 5
So many epicly fabulous female warriors battling intense evil monsters – it’s fantabulous!!! Red Sonja is battling a multi-armed alien who then falls back into the Mars community where Dejah tries to fight Red Sonja too! Vampirella finds herself in the throws of battle with a giant lizard, jumping out of it’s vile, fang filled jaws just in time to gracefully leap to safety. Lady Greystoke, Pantha, Lady Zorro, Masquerade, Kato and others are all starting to converge on each other – are portals opening to bring them all together? Is something or someone converging them into group submission? I’d like to find out – but either way, epic outfits and great cosplay ideas!!!
Uncanny Season Two #3
Writer – Andy Diggle
Artist – Aaron Campbell
Colorist – Salvatore Aiala Studios
Lettering – Simon Bowland
Cover – Jock (A), Ben Oliver (B), Aaron Campbell (C)
3 thumbs up out of 5
The crew is feeling restless and is getting tense. Weaver is showing his shaky side and predictable nature – which a concern to the group and the mission. Can they count on him? A few loyal believers are trying to keep him on the straight and narrow, keeping him around because they need him…After getting his butt thoroughly kicked he decides, hmmm, maybe I’ll go with them anyways! Good storyline – graphics are a little dark, so it’s harder for me to see everything without straining. Only suggestion is to maybe lighten it up just a bit (NOT the storyline)!
