Best of the Week
Title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 #9
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Christos Gage
Artist: Rebekah Isaacs
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Letterer: Richard Starkings
Cover Artist: Matt Wagner
Review: ★★★★★
Buffy always knows how to tug our heart strings in every single way as we feel compassion for an ancient evil demon, feel sympathy for Andrew, and feel warmth from Buffy and Spike reconnecting. Gage and Isaacs consistently are putting out one of the best books out right now and you can look no further than this weeks issue to understand why.
Title: Punk Mambo #0
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Robert Gill
Colorist: Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Cover Artist: Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson; Kalman Andrasofszky; Rian Hughes
Review: ★★★★★
Punk Mambo spins out of Shadowman for a one shot and comes up with a story almost better than the original source material. Victoria is a strong character who doesn’t take crap and we get to come along for her glorious voodoo ride as she extracts revenge on those who turned who into what she is today.
The Weekly Rundown
Title: America Legends #3
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Bill Schwartz and Zachary Schwartz
Artist: Studio Hive
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Cover Artist: Studio Hive
Review: ★★★☆☆
The action continues to ratchet up as our three “American Legends” finally catch up with the Lafitte brothers, even though everything doesn’t goes as smoothly as they had hoped. The series has settled into its groove and is continuing to be entertaining with its unique premise.
Title: Criminal Macabre: The Third Child #3
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Christopher Mitten
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Cover Artist: Justin Erickson
Review: ★★★★★
With the end of the world seemingly looming and Cal unable to control his rage, he has a conversation with his deceased father that sets him back on his path of righteousness. The issue is heavy on exposition, but giving us more personal moments with Cal keeps it interesting while we wait to find out what he will do next.
Title: Dead @ 17: The Blasphemy Throne #4
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Josh Howard
Artist: Josh Howard
Cover Artist: Josh Howard
Review: ★★★☆☆
Coming back from the dead typically does not come without consequences in the supernatural world, and not only is Nara having an adverse reaction to being back in the world of the living but she loses someone close. There are a lot of threads playing out that make it a little unfocused at time, but Howard still manages to keep everything together to keep us wanting more.
Title: Deadly Class #9
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Wes Craig and Lee Loughridge
Cover Artist: Wes Craig and Lee Loughridge
Review: ★★★★☆
Beyond an emotional opening scene where we learn quite a bit more about Maria’s origin, the issue forgoes most action. What it does feature is a more personal experience for Marcus as he works with Saya to take down Fuckface, and finds he might not have been as happy with how things are as he thought.
Title: Goners #2
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Jacob Semahn
Artist: Jorge Corona
Inker: Steve Wands
Colorer: Gabriel Cassata
Cover Artist: Jorge Corona
Review: ★★★☆☆
Things began bad for the Latimer family in the opening, having the patriarchs die right away, but now things for the surviving children are n0t looking to great either. Things are moving so fast it does not give us much time to get to know the characters, but it still is a lot of fun to follow along with.
Title: Intersect #1
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Ray Fawkes
Cover Artist: Ray Fawkes; Jeff Lemire
Review: ★☆☆☆☆
Intersect is a complete mix bag; on one hand the book is absolutely beautiful with Fawkes painting. On the other hand, after carefully reading the book through twice, I still honestly have no idea what was going on with the characters or the story
Title: Morning Glories #42
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Nick Spencer
Artist: Joe Eisma
Colorist: Paul Little
Cover Artist: Rodin Esquejo
Review: ★★★☆☆
Morning Glories is such a great series, but issues such as this make it clear that reading this is much better in trade form. Things are heating up all over the place with several of the characters, but as good and engaging as it all is, it’s to much for one issue to fully satisfy without getting more at once or scaling back in the focus
Title: Predator: Fire and Stone #2
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Christopher Mooneyham
Colorist: Dan Brown
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Cover Artist: Lucas Graciano
Review: ★★★★☆
Now that we are finally seeing the bigger picture of the Fire and Stone event, every story is feeling better and better, the Predator series included. Galgos and the Predator may not be able to communicate traditional, but watching the two natural hunters use body language and instinct to get by is a ton of fun.
Title: Protectors Inc. #10
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Gordon Purcell
Inker: Gordon Purcell and Andrew Pepoy
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Cover Artist: Gordon Purcell and Michael Atiyeh; Ben Templesmith
Review: ★★★★☆
Protectors Inc. did not always come off as one of Strazynski’s strongest series, but for the grand finale it easily goes out on top. The end brings us a tremendous sacrifice, showing what it means to be a hero, but it also shows us that even when things are at their worst, there still can be hope.
Title: Revival #25
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Mike Norton
Colorist: Mark Englert
Letterer: Crank!
Cover Artist: Jenny Frison; Francesco Francavilla
Review: ★★★☆☆
Secrets stand revealed as a fanatical religious group, seeing the Revivals as an act from God, set upon the hidden militay instilation and perform a big, showy act. Otherwise it was a slow issue, but still enough to make us want to see what comes next.
Title: Sinergy #1
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma
Artist: Michael Avon Oeming
Colorist: Taki Soma
Letterer: David Walker
Cover Artist: Michael Avon Oeming and Taki Soma
Review: ★★★★☆
Oeming and Soma do not give us a whole lot to go on from this brand new world they are crafting, but what they do show us is off to a fantastic start. Based on the first issue, it looks as though the series will start off as a slow burn, but with intriguing concepts and beautiful art, we are hooked.
Title: The Strain: The Night Eternal
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: David Lapham
Artist: Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Dan Jackson
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Cover Artist: E.M. Gist
Review: ★★★★☆
In somewhat of a suprise, the best issue out of this latest mini-series of The Strain does nothing to further the story, but instead gives us an origin story of Quinlan and the Master. There history is quite a shock, but shows us the perfect reason why the two have so much hate for each other and it is perfectly Shakesperian.
Title: Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle #11
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artist: Pete Woods
Colorist: Matt Wilson
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Cover Artist: Pete Woods and Matthew Wilson
Review: ★★☆☆☆
As fantastic as this series has been, it has come to one of its biggest moments and it simply fell flat. There were some big emotional moments that should have hit hard, but instead it was rushed and sloppy for such a defining moment of the franchise.
Title: X-O Manowar #30
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Diego Bernard
Inker: Alisson Rodrigues
Colorist: Wil Quintana
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover Artist: Clayton Henry; Rafa Sandoval; Raul Allen
Review: ★★★★☆
Aric takes a bit of a step back from the forefront as we are introduced to a group that has not been seen for quite some time, the Armorines. Their leader Zahn is introduced as a complete and total jerk, but in a way that we cannot wait to see more of him.
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