Title: American Flagg (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Howard Chaykin (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Andrew Wheeler (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Science Fiction has never been quite as successful in comics form as it seemed it should have been. Oh, sure, there have been plenty of vaguely SFnal ideas and premises – from Superman to Kamandi to the X-Men to the Ex-Mutants – but they were rarely anything deeper than an end to the sentence “There’s this guy, see? and he’s….” One of the few counterexamples was Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!, starting in 1983 – that series had many of the usual flaws and unlikelihoods of near-future dystopias, but it also had a depth and texture to its world that was rare in comics SF (and never to be expected in even purely prose works, either).

American Flagg! suffered from Chaykin’s waning attention for a while, and then crashed and burned almost immediately after he finally left the series, with a cringe-making overly “sexy” storyline utterly overwritten by Alan Moore. American Flagg! limped from muddled storyline to confused characterization for a couple of years afterward – but the beginning, when Chaykin was fully energized by his new creation and the stories he was telling, is one of the best SF stories in American comics.

The series has never been collected well, though a few slim album-sized reprints were once available, and may be findable through used-book channels. This Dynamic Forces edition, reprinting the first fourteen issues of the series, is quite pricey. (Especially for a book with no page numbers, and one in which the pages are precisely the size of the original comics – not oversized, as those previous album reprints had been.) This book has a strong, thoughtful introduction by Michael Chabon – which has already appeared in his Maps and Legends collection, presumably due to the delay in the American Flagg! book – a gushing afterword by Jim Lee, and a new short story written and drawn by Chaykin.

The new story is minor, and barely a story – yet another battle between militias has gone bad, and requires Plexus Rangers to break it up – and the last two issues reprinted here are purely epilogues and exercises in wheelspinning. Those two issues also show Chaykin beginning to disengage from the book; he only wrote those two, handing the art over to a motley crew – one issue succeeds in looking like Chaykin, but the other completely fails to fit in at all with Chaykin’s established style. This American Flagg! book does at least manage to collect the essential first twelve issues of the series in permanent form. (And those thirteenth and fourteenth issues do show, by their limpness, what we’ve gained over the past twenty-five years: these days, a work like American Flagg! would be owned by its creator, and could go on hiatus after a big storyline ended. The tyranny of having to get out a monthly issue, no matter what, isn’t really a problem anymore.)

American Flagg! is one of those dystopias that seems reasonable on the surface, but can be picked to pieces with a little thought. (Particularly if that’s afterthought.) In 1996 – thirteen years in the future when the first issue hit the stands – everything in the whole world went to hell just about simultaneously. (The US east coast had at least one nuclear mishap, California fell into the ocean, the USSR collapsed under a Muslim insurgency, Canada fell into anarchy, the black plague decimated Asia, London was nuked by Germany, more nukes flew in the Mid-East, and so on.) Essentially, it sounds like every possible disaster scenario happened at once, and nearly every First World government collapsed. Brazil came through OK, and South America in general seems to be the economic motor of this new world. (Chaykin, from the evidence here, subscribes to a zero-sum school of economics; countries only prosper when other countries fail.) And the US government, along with some corporate elements, fled to Mars.

Yes, Mars. In 1996. This makes the least sense of all of the background elements of American Flagg!, so I’ll advise you all to just shrug and move on. There are many, many SF stories with implausibly strong and early space programs, so just add this one to that pile.



Anyway, the renamed “Plex” (I don’t remember if the name was ever explained, but it isn’t in these issues) ruled strongly on Mars and the Moon, but had a more tenuous grasp on its parts of Earth – controlling mostly through television and a small force of Rangers. The laws are a weird mishmash – basketball and all pro sports are illegal, but prostitution and fighting with automatic firearms in the streets are legal (as long as you’re part of a registered paramilitary poli-club) – and corruption is rampant on Earth. (We don’t see what’s going on off-planet in these issues.) There’s clearly been a major human die-off, though we’re never told what the current population of Earth is, nor who the other powers (besides Brazil and the Plex) are.

All of that is unlikely, yes – some of it far worse than unlikely, actually – but Chaykin sells it easily, by immediately immersing the reader in his complicated, detailed world. American Flagg! begins in 2031, when the “Year of the Domino” is history, and Chaykin backfills bits and pieces of the history as he goes (with one big infodump on 1996 in the first issue) and only as necessary. A lot of the background is just implied to begin with; Brazilians and their companies are important, ergo Brazil is a major power.

So we begin with Reuben Flagg, an actor who’s just been replaced by a holographic version of himself as the lead of the extremely popular show Mark Thrust, Sexus Ranger, arriving in Chicago to be a deputy ranger there. (He apparently was drafted as soon as he was fired, for murky reasons.) He’s young and the Chaykin version of idealistic, so he doesn’t immediately fit in well to the corrupt and decadent Chicago Plexmall. (The geography of Plex-America isn’t completely clear, but there are large “malls,” with shopping and services and apartments – possibly only for people connected with the Plex itself and with major international and –planetary corporations. There also are designated urban firefight zones – honored, in these stories, more in the breach – and some kind of suburbs, in which someone must live.) He does find allies as he goes along, and the supporting cast has mostly reasonable inter-relationships – though there is one soap-opera-level revelation late in this book that strains credulity.

The first twelve issues are divided into four three-part stories, but they also run together into one longer tale, as Flagg deals with problems that keep growing and adding ramifications. Like so many stories of this kind, Flagg keeps taking on more and more responsibility; he’s the one incorruptible man coming to clean up the rotten town. And this “rotten town” is all of North America, if not the entire planet.

Each issue is densely packed with dialogue, characters, story, and bravado layouts – Chaykin’s greatest breakthrough was his assured use of sound effects as art, but he also was unafraid using of big chunks of words as design elements when necessary. His textured, intensely detailed and realistic art and his control of viewpoint send a virtual camera swooping through this world, focusing always on what’s most important.

Chaykin told stories a lot like this over and over again for the next twenty years – big men with easy grins, fast guns, and faster fists, battling corruption and evil in their double-breasted suits and making moves on voluptuous women (always more than one for the hero of any particular story) who wore high heels and sexy lingerie under their various uniforms and odd fashions (which lingerie they always still had on, during those immediately post-coital moments) – but American Flagg! was where it crystallized. This is where Chaykin found his voice, where all of his little tics turned into a style, before it degenerated into self-parody.

If you come to American Flagg! now, you’ll see elements that you were sure were invented by Moore and Gibbons in Watchmen or Miller in The Dark Knight Returns . But remember the dates – both of those stories are from 1986, and American Flagg! began in 1983; much more of the revitalization of genre comics in the late ‘80s came from Chaykin than he gets credit for. This isn’t an ideal book – it would probably be better if it had stopped at that twelfth issue, and certainly it should have page numbers – but it’s a good edition of a great story that’s been criminally out of print for far too long.

More info:

Writer/Artist: Howard Chaykin
Publisher: Dynamic Forces

 

Title: Amulet (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Kazu Kibuishi (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Andy Shuping (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1)

Amulet, a graphic novel by Kazu Kibuishi (Flight, Volume One, Daisy Kutter: The Last Train), is geared towards the 9-12 age group. However, the novel will captivate anyone that begins to read it as they are swept along a moving story with beautiful illustrations.

Our young heroine Emily witnesses the death of her father in the opening pages of this novel. Emily, her mother, and her brother Nevin move into the home of their missing great grandfather. There are secrets lurking within the house, one that soon ensnares Emily's mom. She's dragged from the basement by a tentacle through an open door and Emily and Nevin must go on a rescue mission to another world.

This story captivates the reader from the beginning. The reader is compelled to feel for the characters of the story, from Emily witnessing the death of her father to watching her mom being dragged away by some unknown creature. Although this is only the first part of the series the reader gets a true sense of the characters, their feelings, and their emotions and is left hanging at the end of this book and wanting more.

What really sells the story are the illustrations as they capture and convey the moods of the characters and their surroundings. The drawings have a light airy quality to them, with a simple, but moody, color palette to show off the extensive use of shadows to convey emotions of the character in graphic detail. The reader is never left wanting or wondering what the characters are thinking, the colors clearly display what they feel--the age of the great-grandfather is written into the lines on his face, the fear and courage of Emily as she seeks to save her what's left of her family. As the story progresses a darker palette is used and we are left wanting the lighter colors to return. Something unique about the drawings is that when the story first begins the characters almost look undefined. While we can read their emotions they are merely shapes on a page. However, as the story progresses they gain more depth and emotion.

This novel is a must read. A strong young heroine, with monsters and robots as well, enough to keep any crowd entertained. The moving illustrations and compelling story make this a great read and the book is highly recommended for all ages.

More info:

Story and Art by Kazu Kibuishi
Reading level: Ages 9-12

Publisher:

Title: Funnies (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Sergio Aragones (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Dean Stell (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Adults will chuckle at it, but then you should hand it to a kid, because they’ll love it just as much."
Review:

This was really cute and adds some wonderful diversity to the comics industry. Sergio Aragones needs little introduction to older comic fans who know him from his work in Mad Magazine and his creator-owned series Groo the Wanderer. But, for those who haven’t been exposed to his work, you’re in for a treat because this issue will expose you to the work of a legendary cartoonist.

The format for this book is part of what makes it work so well. It has two “main stories”. One is a cartoony retelling of the story of the Trojan Horse. It is complete with all sorts of tongue-in-cheek, PG-rated humor and has an ending that is funny as hell and not what I expected. The other “main” story is a story of Sergio himself during his college days when he attempted to recruit fellow students to be extras in a film about the Alamo with disastrous results as his buddies are running around in sneakers, looking at the camera and otherwise ruining the filming. Then, woven between these stories are a bunch of one-pagers where Aragones tells us a bunch quick and humorous stories.

Aragones is a cartoonist in the truest sense and he’s been doing this for a LONG time. There isn’t a single panel in this issue where it is unclear what the characters are doing. This is best exemplified by his one-pages that have no word balloons, but it holds true even in the main stories that feature plenty of dialog. And, goodness the detail in these panels! But, even with this detail, it looks effortless… Like he just cranks these pages out. This is just the work of a super-experienced hand.

Conclusion: I really don’t need to go on and on about this issue. It’s really good and this will be on my pull list for as long as Aragones wants to publish it. Adults will chuckle at it, but then you should hand it to a kid, because they’ll love it just as much.

More info:

Sergio Aragones (writer & artist)
Tom Luth (colors)
Karen Bates (letters)
Bill Morrison (editor)

Publisher:

Title: Black Orchid (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Neil Gaiman (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: The Masked Bookwyrm (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Although no one could probably have guessed it at the time, this late-1980s Black Orchid mini-series would prove rather significant. Not as a revival of a 1970s heroine who was so obscure (so the story goes) even some DC Comics editors didn't know who she was. Nor as the kick off to a subsequent short lived series. Rather as the American comics debut of Neil Gaiman, a British writer who would shortly create the Sandman and find himself leap frogging to the top of many critics "great comics writers" lists.

Viewed in that context, you can see in Back Orchid an ambitious writer, eager to work in the medium that feulled his childhood, even as he was desperate to make his mark and push convention. Just as easily, you can see in it the work of a fledgling talent not fully in command of his craft, nor mature enough to always recognize the difference between profound...and just pretentious.

The original Black Orchid was an off-beat series in that its costumed heroine was as much a mystery to the reader as to the villains. The stories were enigmatic affairs as the realist villains (mobsters and thugs) would try to figure out who she was, how she knew what she knew about their dealings, usually identifying a likely suspect or two...only to have the issue resolve with the Black Orchid's true identity still unknown. It was an interesting variation on the super hero theme, though not one that could necessarily sustain itself for long, perhaps explaining why she only lasted three issues of Adventure Comics, plus a few more adventures as a back up series in comics like The Phantom Stranger.

Gaiman's "edgy" revival begins, as so many such efforts do, with an attempt to shock us by having the Black Orchid get killed in the first few pages. This leads to Gaiman revealing that she was not human, but a plant-human hybrid, and no sooner does she die than a replacement is "born" in a distant greenhouse. But her memories are incomplete, leading to a search for identity and purpose.

Does this really seem like a logical extension of the original character? Well, no, not really. Gaiman could have called the book The Purple Pansy for all that it mattered.

The story is an interesting product of its time -- and a forerunner of the times to come. Published just a few years after DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, when it was decided the entirety of the DC Universe must be unified into one streamlined reality under God (or, at least, under Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz), and as DC began experimenting with "mature readers" comics (shortly begetting the Vertigo imprint), The Black Orchid reveals these contradictory influences. Intended as dark and adult (though only mildly) with some profanity, and the Orchid's origin given a gritty spin involving (implied) childhood molestation and an abusive husband, it's also rooted in the comic book universe in a way the original, as I recall, was not. There were a few 1970s comic book characters -- like the Black Orchid, a revival of the Spectre, possibly the Ragman (I'm going by memory here) who seemed to exist outside the regular DCU. When a character saw the Black Orchid fly in her original run, he was amazed, clearly implying this wasn't a world in which Superman and Green Lantern whizzed overhead on a regular basis. But Gaiman's revival is firmly rooted in the DCU -- mature readers or no. One of the main villains is Lex Luthor, and Batman and the Swamp Thing have cameos, and Gaiman connects his newly botanized heroine with the rest of the DCU's plant-based characters (small world, eh?). There's even an extended scene of our heroine visiting Arkham Asylum, meeting various inmates, in a sequence that would anticipate by a year or two the once-ballyhooed Arkham Asylum graphic novel (also illustrated by Dave McKean). It is a rather pointless, indulgent sequence...kind of like Arkham Asylum, come to think of it.

It's ironic that a writer like Gaiman, and many of his contemporaries, would seem so keen to show how edgy they were, desperate to shatter the conventions of the medium...even as they seem to show an almost unhealthy obsession with the minutia of the comic book reality (Gaiman latter penned The Books of Magic mini-series, which also seemed like less of a story, than just a chance to work in cameos by every magic-based character from DC Comics). How does the Orchid meeting Two-Face and the Mad Hatter further this story? Well, it doesn't. And would the Arkham Asylum sequence have any resonance for someone who wasn't already a hardcore Bat-fan?



Anyway...

There seems to be a deliberate dream-like aspect to the story, which can be both intriguing and moody, but also unsatisfying, as it all seems kind of untethered from reality, or even logic (like the Orchid being allowed to wander through the bowels of Arkham with only an inmate as chaperon -- no wonder Arkham has so many escapees). This dreamlike aspect is reflected in Dave McKean's painted art. McKean has a photorealistic style when it comes to faces and, sometimes, (the stiff) bodies. But his backgrounds are often vague or non-existent, and he paints many scenes in monochromes -- often shades of grey, with occasional flashes of purple or other colours, as if the comic is the equivalent of a black and white movie. It makes the visuals rather dreary and oppressive, the composition rather dull, and on more than one occasion, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be looking at. It all adds to a sense of dislocation. This isn't the real world. The result is that often these don't seem like real people, and so it's hard to become emotionally involved.

The plot has the Black Orchid (and a junior version of herself) attempting to find out about their origins, while Lex Luthor sends out men to capture these plant women for dissection, and a recently paroled thug, Carl, is hunting her too...Carl being the ex-husband of the woman the Black Orchid was modelled after.

The story is kind of thin for almost 150 pages, and problematic. We learn Orchid's origins long before she does, meaning her quest isn't particularly intriguing from our point of view, as there is no great "mystery" demanding a solution. Gaiman shifts gears towards the end, as if he'd just read W.H. Hudson's novel Green Mansions, about the jungle girl, Rima (also given a comic in the 1970s), as the two Orchids retreat to the Amazon jungle, with Luthor's mercenaries, and crazy Carl, in pursuit. Then we're treated to an extended sequence of Carl (who somehow becomes a super bad ass) killing off Luthor's men, one by one, as they trek through the jungle -- with the Black Orchid largely removed from the action (meaning it's just an extended sequence of one bad guy killing other bad guys). It builds to a climax that is meant to be surprising in its sedateness, but it hinges on characters behaving in certain ways...but between Gaiman's aloof writing, and McKean's stiff, artsy pictures, I can't say the characters were fleshed out enough to make this work on anything more than an intellectual level. Even then, Gaiman's theme of violence versus non-violence is poorly realized.

The curious thing is that, though I'm being critical, I know the series has its share of fans who praise it and find it challenging and provocative. In fact, reading the effusive introduction to this collection by Rolling Stone writer Mikal Gilmore, I'm thinking that what he describes is a book I'd like to read. I just don't feel Black Orchid is it. I think there are some works that are written in a sufficiently vague, indistinct way, that fans often bring more to it than they realize, that they find themselves appreciating the story they believe it to be, rather than the story it actually is. Ironically, editor Karen Berger herself (in an introduction to the TPB Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes) admitted there was a "distance" to the writing in Black Orchid that kept her from becoming "emotionally involved with the characters".

An intriguing look at the early work of a critically acclaimed talent, but Black Orchid remains a little unfocused, and thinly developed.

More info:

Written by Neil Gaiman
Painted by Dave McKean.
Letters: Todd Klein.
Editor: Karen Berger.
Published by DC Comics
Intro by writer Mikal Gilmore

Title: Love and Capes (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Thom Zahler (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: ChibiNeko (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

When I first saw this series, I have to admit... I was a little dismissive of it. All I saw was the subject of superheroes lives & thought "Oh, this is a ripoff of 'Noble Causes'", which made me suspicious of it. After all, there's a lot of people who have made their own versions of popular comics & characters. After reading only about 10 of the strips, I realized that I owed this strip a HUGE apology for not giving it more credit.

Love & Capes follows the daily life of the superhero Mark (the Crusader) & his girlfriend Abby after she is told Mark's biggest secret. She then finds that she has to deal with the mundane & exotic problems of dating a superhero. The plus side? Getting to jet to any location in the world for their date. The minus? Having to deal with her hair afterwards. (As well as having to put up with Mark's superhero ex-girlfriend.)

I really can't say how much I love this comic, although I will say that I think it's frakking awesome. It really does deserve more attention than what it gets now, since with all of the superhero movies & such that have come out, this is the perfect comic to read. It's especially good to give to that person that may not be into the whole Marvel & DC scene, but still likes the idea of reading about superheroes & their lives. The characters in this strip are much more human & easier to relate to than the heroes in Marvel & DC, so it's easier for the average reader to get into the comic.

Now as far as the art goes, I love it. This is one of my favorite styles out there & I like how the characters all interact with each other. I mean... sometimes when I've read some of the love interests in some of the more mainstream comics, the interactions seem a little forced. But with these comics? I can really see the affection & love between Mark & Abby- I can believe that they're actually a couple & that they work as a couple.

If you haven't picked this first volume up yet, do so. You won't be disappointed. Well... that's not entirely true. You'll be disappointed that the volumes & the webcomics aren't coming out fast enough!

More info:

Written and drawn by Thom Zahler

Title: Air (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): G. Willow Wilson (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: John Hogan (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

G. Willow Wilson is flying through Air with the greatest of ease. Okay, sorry about the cheap pun, but it's true. Wilson, a gifted and intriguing young writer, is turning into a talent to watch when it comes to offbeat, magical realism comics for the next generation.

That is to say, she does a bang-up job of combining Lost-style conspiracy theories with no shortage of cliffhangers (Amelia Earhart makes an appearance here, and she fits right in, delight that she is). Our guide to this otherworldly realm is Blythe, a flight attendant for a fictional airline. Blythe is deathly afraid of heights and falling, but don't worry, this is not some simple trope for a series about flying. The old joke goes that it's not falling that one should be afraid of; it's the sudden stop at the end. In Blythe's case, her fear is that she'll continue to fall, on an on, past the ground and deeper and deeper. She may have good reason for this fear. Absolutely nothing she knows or thinks she knows is exactly true in this book.

Blythe first gets drawn into the madness of the strange world when she meets Zayn aboard a flight. She suspects him of being a terrorist, but he's not. He's quite a bit more. From there, Blythe is drawn into an ever-weirder plot involving hyperpraxis and the Etesian Front, the quest to change human travel lines forever, and the use of deadly force to prevent magical forces from changing the world forever. The title comes from a letter Blythe receives from Narimar, a country that doesn't exist. Yet if it doesn't exist, how is she receiving mail from there?

As with their previous Vertigo book, Cairo, Wilson and the always dependable M.K. Perker have created a nice little pocket of eeriness and strange behaviour. How long they can keep the mystery fresh and entertaining is anybody's guess right now, but for the time being, Air is fresh and compelling, a genuine treat.

More info:

Chris Chuckry colorist
G. Willow Wilson writer
Jared K. Fletcher letterer
M. K. Perker artist, cover
Pornsak Pichetshote, Karen Berger editor
Published by Vertigo, 2008-2010

Title: Evil's Return (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Jong-Kyu Lee (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Lauren Edwards (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Evil's Return Vpl. 1

I'm surprised at the negative comments on this manga. It's not that bad, just different. I have been reading manga for a while now and I think that if you are new to reading manga, "Evil's Return" shouldn't be one of your firsts.

Here's why: There isn't much dialogue compared to others and that because the manga relies on the beautiful art and your imagination. The art is really good and has a lot of feeling and the feeling of the art explains more than words.

Secondly, this is a rather mature book.... the storyline is anyway. There isn't any pure nudity, just scantily clad girls (and rather busty for their age) and one too many panty shots. But this is nothing new, you get the same thing in any shojou/magical girl manga.

The manga also revolves around the concept of "good vs. evil" or heaven and hell and this may upset someone who are very religious. You find the same thing in other anime/manga: the author/artist isn't exactly a Christian but their story is based on Christian themes.... there is bound to be some misunderstandings.

To sum things up in a nutshell, the art is excellent and so good that dialogue is not need to explain a certain scene because the art does so. And finally this is a mature manga with mature scenes and characters (16 and up).

I recommend this manga to anyone who is open-minded and is possibly an anime/manga fan. Any anime fan knows that there is more to just "Reading" manga and I feel that some titles are for the veterans. "Evil's Return" is one of them. So far there are only 3 volumes and I've enjoyed the first one enough to buy the others

More info:

Author: Lee Jong-kyu
Artist: Hwan Shin

Title: Drafted: The Essential Edition (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Mark Powers (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: mike (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Earthquakes in Ottawa and Berlin. Mental attacks in Israel. Jerusalem buried in sand. All of this can only mean one thing: an alien invasion is upon us! Drafted takes a look at what the world would be like if every member of mankind was forced to take up arms to preserve the future of humanity.

Many of us have dreamed what it would be like to be the hero. If vampires really did stalk the night, how would you handle it? When the zombie apocalypse hits, where will you hide and what weapon will you use? Drafted takes us into an Earth where aliens are heading a full blown invasion, and everyone has to pitch in.

Drafted definitely has its own unique take on alien invasions. It feels a bit like an amalgam of Skyline, Starcraft, and District 9, but in the end it takes its own direction and runs with it. From the get-go, strange things start happening. Ottawa and Berlin are hit by massive earthquakes, and nearly every person in Israel is attacked mentally, but all recover. Soon after, a huge sandstorm buries the city of Jerusalem in tons of sand. Another alien force has come to Earth first, and is aiding humanity in preparing to defend itself. The “good” aliens assign particular humans into teams, each with their own special skills. Humans incapable of fighting are left to construction and labor tasks, and only the elderly and children are left alone. The story is given from many viewpoints, which really adds to the human element. From the President of the United States to a paramedic with cancer to a grocery store clerk with daddy issues, Drafted has it all. Even with all of these perspectives, the story never skips a beat. The flow from panel to panel is great, with each view just adding layer after layer without diluting the story or overwhelming the reader.



The art in Drafted really added to the whole experience. There is a hint of manga, which is quite enjoyable. Lie and Isaacs really animated the characters, and even with such a large cast, there was little to no confusion as to who was who. Every time there was a location change it was noticeable, which gives the story a truly worldwide feel. The aliens were particularly drawn well and articulated, especially the invaders. The main characters go through a massive change from start to finish, and the artists actually managed to put detail into that as well. It was easy to tell that at the end of the story, these were battle-hardened warriors and not just regular folk anymore. About 3/4 of the way through the book, the colorist changes from Baker to Caravan Studios, which adds to a spectacular finish.

Mark Powers’s writing throughout Drafted was phenomenal. He crafted a complete story from top to bottom and didn’t miss a beat. Not one single character was bland, or gave you that feeling that they shouldn’t be there. Each one had a purpose and there were no “fillers.” The relationship that Powers was able to create between complete strangers was impressive and showed some true talent. The most amazing part of this story, though, was realizing that not only did Powers manage to create many memorable characters and relationships, but he was also able to capture the emotion of the entire planet. From small scale love stories to widespread panic, Drafted really had a lot to display.

To say this is a top sci-fi read of the year is an understatement. Drafted has so much to offer. The story really envelops a reader into what a war of this scale would be like. From the minor sub-stories to the global panic, nearly every human emotion is touched upon. The cast is large, but you never really lose track of what everyone is doing. It was nice to see minor characters pop up here and there, just so you could get a clearer picture as to how everyone felt. The aliens were really cool, three very different and unique races. The battle sequences were engaging, and the art only made it better. Powers, Lie, and Isaacs really came together to form an awesome trio with plenty of talent. The only real complaint I have is the cliffhanger at the end that has me begging for more!

More info:

Writer: Mark Powers
Artists: Chris Lie and Rebekah Isaacs
Colorists: Joseph Baker and Caravan Studio (Chapters 11 & 12)
Publisher: IDW/Devil’s Due

Title: The Mercenary (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Vincente Segrelles (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Bailywolf (Review 1) and Marshall Lord (Review 2) (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Review 1 - I recently discovered these weird and gorgeous comics/graphic novels. They're very much in the 'heroic fantasy' tradition- lots of boobs and blood and blades and beasts.

They're sequential art, but painted photo realistic in oils. The translations are pretty dubious- really basic pulp- but the visuals are astonishing.

The world is a hodgepodge of semi-recognizable cultures, populated with strange monstrous creatures (the most commonly seen being the dragon mounts ridden by the title character and other fighting men in the setting). There's no magic exactly, but lots of anachronistic super-science taking up that role. Segrelles has an amazing ability to create exotic but dramatic visuals and vistas- his locales are marvelous.

So... pulp adventure, astonishing vistas and locales, super-science as magic, lots of giant beats and beast fighting, episodic/anthology type game structure, gnarly violence mechanics with some tactical depth, but quick resolution, and lots of weird exotica.



Review 2 - The Mercenary: Giants - This book, containing four short graphic novels, is the set in the world created by Vincent Segrelles featuring "The Mercenary."

These are beautifully illustrated adventure novels set about a thousand years ago, which are a mix of "sword and dragon" fantasy and science fiction. The books in the series include

1) "The Cult of the Sacred Fire" and "The formula"
2) "The Trials" and "The sacrifice"
3) "The Fortress"
4) "The Black Globe"
5) "The Voyage"
6) "Year 1000: The end of the world"
7) "Lost Civilisation"
8 ) "Giants"

The first book in the series introduces the character of The Mercenary, and sets the scene for his world in the following words:

"A great valley lost in the upper reaches of the mountains had remained isolated from the evolution of the planet. This rough, steep and arid area had evolved its own fauna. The great reptiles had not disappeared - natural selection had them evolve into great winged creatures. As for man, an unrelenting barrange of clouds had isolated him from the lower regions. A whole different civilisation had thus developed."

The stories in "Giants" are book-ended by the mercenary and his friend Non-Tay sitting round a campfire and telling each other tall stories about giants. The four diverse stories the mercenary tells are the four chapters of the book.

In one of the stories the mercenary meets the genie of Aladdin's lamp: if you've ever wondered what the genie was doing in the lamp, here is your answer. In another, the mercenary travels to Hell and blackmails the devil himself.

On the last page of the book, Nan-Tay good-naturedly accuses the Mercenary of making up the stories to tease her - but the last frame suggests that the people of the final story may have been all too real ...

More info:

Story and art by Vicente Segrelles
Original title: El Mercenario, Spanish

Title: Rascals in Paradise (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Jim Silke (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: The Masked Bookwyrm (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Rascals in Paradise is at once very modern and yet very old fashioned at the same time. It's old fashioned in that it's a deliberate evocation (with tongue-firmly-in-cheek) of pulp-era adventures. Set in the distant future, the location is a planet that has been remodelled as a tourist trap meant to evoke the nostalgic days of 1930s earth...but something went wrong and, instead of evoking the real 1930s, it evokes the pulp fiction world of dank jungles, lost tribes, and jodhpur-wearing adventurers. The logic behind this is vague. (If the world was artificially created, who are these people who inhabit it? Are they real or constructions?) The plot involves kidnapped damsels, jungle cults, and secret maps. Like I said, old fashioned.

On the other hand, there is a modern aspect to Rascals in that it features a "mature readers" story with plenty of nudity and racy material. This isn't so much a re-creation of old time adventure stories, as it's a re-construction of the milieu with modern explicitness.

The result is hit and miss.

Written and illustrated by Jim Silke, this was his first foray into sequential art ("funny books" to you and me). Before that, Silke worked as a jack-of-all-trades in Hollywood for many years, publishing fanzines, writing screenplays (including the 1985 version of King Solomon's Mines), hanging out with Hollywood legends like Sam Peckinpah, and working as an artist and photographer in the glamour field (ie: doing pictures of beautiful women). It's that latter career that is clearly fueling Rascals in Paradise.

Silke's a good artist, but not quite a great one. And his newness to the medium leads to some rather flatly presented scenes, particularly action scenes, and even some confusing ones (where a caption is sometimes used to bridge two panels that otherwise don't flow clearly one from the other). His painted style can certainly capture a beautiful woman or two, and his technique adds to the whole "nostalgia" flavour: soft, blurry colours, and a sometimes unsure handling of figures (with hands and feet sometimes indistinct) actually evoking old pulp magazine cover painters, as if someone like Margaret Brundage (of Weird Tales fame) had taken to illustrating comic books.

The story is a brisk romp, only vaguely coherent, and never takes itself too seriously. This latter aspect presumably explains how Silke could get away with all the blatant sexploitation without raising hardly an eyebrow among critics -- including a ravishment scene (off camera and semi-consensual) and a flagellation scene (somewhat demurely depicted, focusing as much on the people around the scene as the damsel herself). It's a joke homage.

On the plus side, one can certainly appreciate the wanton uninhibitedness of the story (well, at least if you're a guy). Others have tried similar efforts, but usually with a result watered down and self-consciously apologetic. Silke clearly takes the attitude that if he's going to do this story...he might as well do it, and political correctness be damned (resulting not just in underclad women, but natives speaking in pidgin English). And not just the nudity, but the story itself benefits from this attitude, with Silke throwing in everything but the kitchen sink -- from jungle temples and sacrifices, to jet packs and laser guns. As well, the tempo is brisk and sprightly, keeping things moving along at a good clip.



At the same time, if you remove the nudity, and the sexploitation, I'm not sure the rest is strong enough to stand on its own. The characters never really gel into people you care about (you can't even be sure who the main character is, with the nominal heroine being "Spicy" Saunders who arrives to join the local jungle patrol, but there's also her immediate supervisor String, and a roguish mercenary, and a damsel in distress who they're trying to rescue). At first, the story makes a loose kind of sense -- at least enough to get us from one scenne to the next. But by the end, it just seems to get muddier and muddier, with too few explanations. "Spicey"'s suit has strange properties, like turning invisible and rendering her nude at various moments, but it has other abilities which manifest themselves in the climax with little justification. Even, as noted, the "reality" of the story doesn't seem to permit even a casual scrutiny.

At the end of the book is a sketch gallery showing preview images from the next storyline. But either sales for this first storyline weren't what they were hoping for (though this TPB collection was still in print years later) or Silke just lost interest, because to my knowledge, no further adventures of "Spicey" and the gang were published. There's a problem with writing a story in which some threads are meant to be part of something larger...if the creator doesn't have the discipline to follow through. Silke's only other foray into the comicbook field, I believe, was the later, similarly-themed Bettie Page: Queen of the Nile (taking the real life 1950s pin-up queen and featuring her in a racy, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventure).

The bottom line is, if you don't expect much, Rascals in Paradise can be campy fun (more for guys than gals) simply for its unapologetic luridness (lots of nudity, though no full frontal), the brisk pace and the old fashioned idiom it evokes.

More info:

Writer: Jim Silke
Artist: Jim Silke
Letterer: Lois Buhalis
Editor: Bob Schreck
Designer: Cary Grazzini
Cover Artist: Jim Silke
Genre: Action/Adventure

Title: Morning Glories (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Nick Spencer (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Chardonnai Johnson (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" I’m just waiting—impatiently—for the next one. "
Review: ‘Morning Glories’ Issues 1-3

What do you get when you put three girls and three boys (all teenagers) in a prep school without parental supervision? A cheesy hormonal teenage movie? An unforgettable spring break video? Or a kick-ass mystery comic? With Nick Spencer’s Morning Glories, you get option three. He managed to avoid the clichés above and instead took a different road. A totally awesome one.

Spencer kicked off the comic at Morning Glory Academy like a heavy metal concert –loud and chaotic. We meet a set of students that blow up part of the school in an effort to escape, a supernatural creature that puts his hands through heads, and some sadistic teachers that are clearly the villains. Instead of dragging it out, we already know that the school isn’t what it seems. Some dark secret lurks behind the walls of the academy; we just aren’t sure what it is yet.

Ripping us from that scene and introducing us to the main characters, we meet six new students peppered with an array of differing personalities. He makes their differences plainly obvious, all the while deciphering them from the typical character types of movies like the Breakfast Club. They all suggest a familiar type, but his unique touches allow them to stray from familiar territory.

Their differences are played up, but we find out the one thing they have in common—their birthdays—that brought them together. Once again we learn this up front without all the foreshadowing and a big epiphany after five issues; we just don’t know why it is important yet.

I’ve already breezed through the first 3 issues in the awesome series. Now I’m just waiting—impatiently—for the next one. Spencer likes to use cliffhangers for the endings that always happen to be during the near-death experiences that have your heart beating and fingers twitching in anticipation. Next issue is due out this month. Until then I guess I’ll be glaring at the back of the comic and shouting profanities at it. It’s just that good.

More info:

Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Joe Eisma and cover art by Rodin Esquejo

Publisher:

Title: Legends - Time of the Twins (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: David Pruette (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

The Dragonlance novels by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman are loved by huge numbers of fans, and the stories have basically formed a world of their own. The books are well written. The characters are memorable, and the action is nonstop. The books are great fun to read.

I'm sure the graphic novels of Dragonlance are less well known, but they are also extremely well done and great fun to read. As listed below, the saga starts with the three volumes of Chronicles and then moves on to Legends.


Chronicles, Book I: Dragons of Autumn Twilight*
Chronicles, Book II: Dragons of Winter Night*
Chronicles, Book III: Dragons of Spring Dawning (2 books)*
Legends: Time of the Twins

The illustrations in the graphic novels are outstanding and seemed to fit fine with the pictures I had formed in my mind of the various characters. The action sequences stand up to scrutiny by the reader, and dragons are all over the place. However, reading these books cannot possibly be the same as reading the originals. The graphic format has its limitations, so the depth of the original stories is not here but the spirit certainly is. I recommend the books highly to all Dragonlance fans. Please keep in mind that you should read the novels first. Otherwise, keeping track of the action in the stories could be difficult.

One unfortunate note is that Time of the Twins may be the only volume published in graphic format from Legends. My understanding is that the publisher has no plans to put out succeeding books from Legends. That is too bad.

Note from Zacharie: (*) books are part of the Dragonlance Chronicles, released here: viewtopic.php?p=729035#729035



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Written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Pencils by David Cole

Title: Revolution on the Planet of the Apes (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Ty Templeton (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Swinebread (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review: Revolution on the Planet of the Apes #1

For Fans of the original Planet of the Apes movies, NOT the Tim Burton one from 2001 (does that movie have any fans?), it looks like they have something to celebrate in the first issue of “Revolution on the Planet of the Apes” by Mr. Comics. Characters and concepts developed during the original film series of five movies are explored and the Planet of the Apes’ mythology is expanded upon.

“Revolution on the Planet of the Apes” is wish fulfillment for many fans as the events in this comic book miniseries take place between the fourth (Conquest of the Planet of the Apes) and fifth (Battle for the planet of the Apes) films. It seems that human civilization collapsed and a worldwide nuclear war happened between the two films and fans have wanted to know how that played out ever since. Apparently the studio didn’t want to put up the gazllions of dollars it would have taken to shoot it in the 1970’s but with Ty Templeton as the creative force behind the new Planet of the Apes series all will be revealed. The comic will be an anthology of sorts, with the main storyline continued each issue and a couple of backup stories to fill in more details.

Spoilers - Issue #1 starts out with a two page summing up of events of the last 23 years (from the movies), which is good even for someone like me who is a fan. Then we get 16 pages of the main storyline that picks up the day after the apes have revolted and taken over in San Diego. The Apes leader, Caesar shows up, as do several other characters from the films as well as new characters. The next section is a Journal handwritten by Caesar about the events unfolding around him. It’s mostly prose with a few good illustrations. Finally the last story gives some insight into the current president of the U.S. I enjoyed all of them quite a bit. The last story comes off the best in terms of technical storytelling. It reminded me of the Eclipse Comics' anthology, “Alien Encounters” as it could be a stand-alone story.

The art is mostly good especially the cover by Denis Rodier, although I think the coloring process makes the apes look weird in the first story for some reason. Maybe they look less a part of the world of the comic then human characters do. I’m not sure why but its noticeable to me. Each story has a different artist.



Pros - “Revolution on the Planet of the Apes” brings back the goods that made the original films so entertaining. Favorite characters show up and I assume that more will as the series continues. The stories are rife with the political satire, which harkens back to the original movies and reflects current politics. It is well written and I wanted to read the next issue right away rather than wait a month. The comic has few ads, which is nice and it even has a letters page with responses from people who got advanced copies. Mr. Comics’ website http://www.mrcomics.ca/ also provides a free web comic that introduces the whole series. It’s a nice touch, in terms of promotion and wetting the appetite for the series.

Cons - It’s a little expensive at $3.98 but then Mr. Comics is a small company and this series is its international debut. A few continuity issues irked me, like the characters watching video on the Internet, it supposed to take place in 1991 (although they don’t tell you that in the comic) and some people are wearing 2006 fashions rather then what’s reflected in the Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, which immediately precedes this storyline. Like Star Trek, there seems to be a ham-handed attempt to make the timeline from Planet of the Apes films fit our real world timeline. It doesn’t work guys, there was a nuclear war between 1991 and 200l. Just let Planet of the Apes be in its own universe, its still a good story even if its not “our” world. I suppose there could be some other explanation forthcoming in the rest of the series to explain what appears to me to be a few glaring errors.

Conclusion - Over all I think this is a good read. Ty Templeton obviously loves the original films and wants to know what happed to make world of The Planet of the Apes what it is just like any other fan. It’s fun and even exciting at times. If you like the movies get this comic. If you like Sci-Fi get this comic. If you like stories about society on the verge of an apocalypse get this comic. If you think that apes could do a better job than we are at running things get this comic. Better yet download the free “Revolution on the Planet of the Apes” story from Mr. Comics to see if it peeks your interest.

More info:

Publisher: Mr. Comics
Author: Ty Templeton
Category: Comic

Title: Yuggoth Cultures (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Alan Moore (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Matthew T. Carpenter (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Alan Moore is rightfully venerated as first rate author of comics and graphic novels. In my opinion, his effort at a meditation on Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth was less successful, particularly compared to such triumphs as The Watchmen, Swamp Thing or The Dark Knight. My understanding is that while writing a novel, Yuggoth Cultures, he lost more than ¾ of his work, when it was inadvertently left in a taxi one day, and he could not bring himself to start again. Even so, fans of Moore's more outré efforts should like this book. I found the production qualities to be excellent. It is a bit pricey but I think reproducing the art must be expensive, and there is a generous page count, plus lots of notes on the contents.

My highest recommendation, however, comes for the inclusion of the entire contents of the 3 issue series from Avatar Press in 2006, Yuggoth Creatures. The blurb states that it was inspired by Moore. I am not so sure that is the case, but we must rely on the writer's attribution. All the writing for this series was by the well known Antony Johnson, who collaborated with Moore on some of his earlier Lovecraftian efforts. The fact that the whole series was written by a single author gave the work a unity of voice and purpose that contributed to its great success, similar to Fall of Cthulhu with Michael Alan Nelson as sole author. The writing caliber is very good for a comic, which does not carry the same demands as a short story or novel. The single author gives consistency and fortunately Johnson knows both his craft and the mythos. None of the stories venture beyond a typical mythos type plot. Each one has our hero encounter a new creature or location. The whole story is very mythosian (if that's a word...). The idea is quite familiar to us fans, a reclusive professor, Dr. Ericsson, committing his experiences to paper, describing his fantastic and unfortunate experiences to a disbelieving publisher. And of course the professor has a mysterious Egyptian manservant (One wonders why these weird recluses never have a womanservant...). The introductory and ending panels framing the main stories from the first issue are drawn by Dheeraj Verma, and are quite nice. The first story Under the Cliffs finds the professor in a village where the inhabitants engage in unspeakable rites with The Deep Ones. The art by Juan Jose Ryp was just a tad too busy for me, too bad in the smallish panels of this publication. I would like to have seen a larger, clearer picture of his conception of a Deep One. The Thing in the Graveyard was drawn by Mike Wolfer. This short was only a few pages but there was a marvelous picture of a Lovecraftian ghoul. I wish it was longer. The professor is spending a disconcerting evening stargazing near the Arkham graveyard. Sebastien Fiumara drew Through Dreams of R'lyeh. Excellent stylized panels of the sunken city, and of Shantack Birds. I would like to have seen more by this artist also. Our hero dreams himself into non Euclidean places. Unfortunately the art for Wings in the Darkness was my least favorite in the book, Andres Guinaldo. This was one of the more substantial tales and the panels just did nothing for me. Too bad, maybe we'll see more Mi-Go later. The professor investigates a strange disappearance. The Volcano, drawn by Jason Burrows was quite engaging, even if they were not my favorite panels in the book. If I read it right, it showed the corpse of one of the Great Race. The University has sent an (ill fated) (is there ever any other kind in a mythos story?) expedition to explore a newly discovered volcanic island in the Pacific. Blue Water had an absolutely beautiful Dagon depicted by Matt Martin. Our hero and the (currently) surviving members of the expedition are forced by a storm into uncharted regions of the Pacific over a certain city...



In the second issue, again the framing story art was by Dheermaj Verma; it was good and I wish he had more panels in the book. The story is a very comfortable read for us mythos fans. Of course we must wonder who is the mysterious Egyptian manservant? The Final Aspect was drawn by Juan Jose Ryp. In it, the professor is taken through R'lyeh by Deep Ones and finds he is to play a role in the freeing of Cthulhu. I thought the art was beautiful, but rather busy, and I would have preferred larger panels for this piece, like the cover art. Dreams in the Madhouse drawn by Sebastian Fiumara finds the professor committed to the Arkham asylum, where he finds out more unspeakable truths from one of the asylum's inmates. Mr. Fiumara draws lovely, evocative panels. In the next story, The Road into the Woods, the Professor's old friend Harvey frees him and takes him out into the woods, seemingly no worse the wear from his experiences with the MiGo. The art by Andres Giunaldo was adequate but did not knock my socks off. Next, in The Shifting Effigy, Professor Ericsson makes a new friend, Randall, who describes his own encounter with a Great Old One when he was just a boy. Some of the best panels in the book by Mike Wolfer appear in this story. From the Dark Side is somewhat of a sideline to the main plot, and is a bit similar to the Colour Out of Space. Wellington Alves does the story proud. Finally, in The Legacy Ericsson finds he has an uncomfortably close connection to the mythos. Jacen Burrows' panels did not wow me, alas. And the end framing panels set us up for next issue's conclusion. In the final issue of Yuggoth Creatures Dheeraj Verma drew the framing story as usual, Sebastian Fiumara drew The Bifurcation, Mike Wolfer The Mayan Mummy, Jacen Burrows The Speaker, Juan Jose Ryp The Onyx Pillar and Andres Guinaldo A Sign in the Sand. All of these artists have had their work featured in previous issues. By and large I was duly impressed again this issue, although my
favorite work was by Dheeraj Verma in the conclusion. The story arc introduced and expanded upon in issues #1 and 2, reaches its terrifying climax here. I don't want to give it away but it is a grand read for
us mythos fans, and the ending is true to the genre. I certainly want to read more mythos work by Mr. Johnston. The only disadvantage of this graphic novel compilation is the reproduction is in black and white, without the lovely colors of the comics, and we miss the covers by Juan Jose Ryp.

If you are at all fond of Lovecraftian comics, if you liked HPL's Haunt of Horror or Fall of Cthulhu, I can't imagine you would not be happy with this book. Everything by Moore is worth a look, of course, but to me his contribution was secondary here.

More info:

Written by Alan Moore
Various artists contribution

Title: Just a Pilgrim (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Garth Ennis (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Bob Grist (Don't click it, read the review here... )

Review:

Just a Pilgrim is set far in the future and 9 years after The Burn, a two day period of time when the sun expanded quite rapidly, before it settled down to begin it's long and slow decline into death. The burn itself wiped out most life on the Earth and left the survivors to deal with an almost waterless world. The action takes place in the, now dusty bowl of the Atlantic ocean, as we follow the Pilgrim, a dark traveller who spouts the will of the Lord as he deals out death to those he believes are worthy of his own special brand of righteous justice.

Personally I found much to like in this rather sumptuous hardback, which brings us both complete Pilgrim stories. I grew up reading the British comic, 2000 AD, which was never afraid to push stories to a dark and adult level (in a way that the clean-cut US superhero comics I also read never did). Garth Ennis was once a writer for Judge Dredd, and Carlos Esquerra was an artist on that great mag from the very beginning. So, as I tucked into the meaty madness of Just a Pilgrim I felt a warm and cosy feeling that harkened back to my comic-reading youth, a feeling not far removed from putting on some comfy, blood spattered slippers.

There's the usual Ennis twisted genius in here, though it is reigned in somewhat from the likes of Preacher or Punisher MAX, but mainly in the profanity stakes and extreme gore, as there is a lot of Ennis's trademark moments of surprise that make one's eyes pop open and one's jaw drop down. The Pilgrim is a complex character whose history is stomach-turningly affecting, and his current, bible-bashing excessive motivations are so over-the-top that I didn't see him as any kind of hero (anti or otherwise) but, rather, found myself following his actions and slowly turning the pages with a kind of 'Oh, God! What's he going to do now?' feeling of unease.

The first story - where the Pilgrim hooks up with a group of survivors to protect them from some insane Mad Maxian pirates - seems somewhat by-the-numbers at first, and has much of the Judge Dredd Cursed Earth flavour to it, but as it progresses it gets darker, more complex and more compelling. I have to say that I enjoyed the second story more - where the Pilgrim stumbles upon a survivor created tropical garden in the bottom of a deep ocean trench (remembering now, of course, that the oceans are all dried up) - but I think this was mainly because I'd got the measure of who the Pilgrim was and just didn't trust him at all (this allows, therefore, for a completely fresh approach to re-reading the first story).

It's not the greatest thing that Mr Ennis has ever written (that accolade goes to The Preacher and the Punisher MAX comics), but it's certainly enjoyable, especially if you are a fan of decent post-apocalyptic storyline and/or grew up devouring 2000 AD.

As stated, it's a beautifully bound hardcover book that feels weighty in the hands and has glossy pages that present the artwork in a rich and highly detailed manner (the colouring is a joy to behold), and certainly one worthy of a sitting upon the shelves amidst a decent graphic novel collection.

More info:

Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Carlos Ezquerra