[Zacharie]

Title: The Alcoholic (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Jonathan Ames (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Bryan Young (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This is a graphic novel of a literary caliber"
Review:

Set for release on September 30th from the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics, The Alcoholic chronicles Jonathan Ames' semi-autobiographical descent into writing and alcoholism with a backdrop of his family life, relationships and various misadventures.

Illustrated by Dean Haspiel (who illustrated Michael Chabon's Escapist), The Alcoholic is alternately poignant and hilarious, walking the reader through the life of the fictional version of Ames (aptly named "Jonathan A."). Reminiscent of Craig Thompson's Blankets in quality, tone, look and color (except the hero is struggling through sex, drugs and alcoholism instead of the coming of age conflicts of reality versus religion), this graphic novel is a must read for any fan of the growing literary wing of comic books.

The Alcoholic starts his drunken stupor to "feel cool" and lose the "nerd part" of himself, but continues his plunge into drugs and alcohol because it seems that that's simply what writers do. Jonathan A. goes through a Hemingway stage where he gets into brawls, travels the road during his Kerouac phase, all the while descending further and further into despair. But as we watch this decline, we sympathize because Ames and Haspiel make it seem so reasonable and natural that we simply can't help it.


The book grabbed me on a personal level from it's disorienting opening (which is previewed here on the MTV blog) and involved me so much into the life of Jonathan A., that I almost felt that I was there, even when I didn't want to be.

The graphic novel boils to a point after the events of September 11, 2001 and Jonathan A., looking for answers on the streets of New York, runs into Bill Clinton who offers him sage-like advice in the wake of the tragedy. After picking up the pieces of the lives of himself and those around him affected by the attacks, he runs into Monica Lewinsky at a book reading. It's fine at first, but quickly turns awkward and hilarious, but the great thing about this book is that it can switch emotional gears on a dime. Right before these pages you're almost ready to cry and then Ames hits you with this scene that DC Comics and Vertigo have graciously given us an exclusive look at:

When I saw that, I knew I had to share it with the readers of Huffington Post. It was funny and more than a little sad all at the same time.

Long story short, this is a graphic novel of a literary caliber and tells a very sad, sweet story of a writer finding himself. Whether any of this stuff actually happened or not, it's an engaging ride and represents the future of a significant portion of the medium.

More info:

Dean Haspiel artist, cover
Jonathan Ames writer
Lee Loughridge colorist
Pat Brosseau letterer
published by Vertigo, 2008.

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Iron Man: The End (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): David Michelinie (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: brandon (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Iron Man: The End just plain gets it right."
Review:

This one-shot written by 70s/80s Iron Man vets David Michelinie and Bob Layton is part of MARVEL's "The End" series but you wouldn't know it just from reading the comic because it's got nothing to do with the doom and gloom cynicism of the rest of the series.

Iron Man: The End envisions an uncomfortable and a little bad sad end to Tony Stark's Iron Man career that purposefully lacks the extremes of the rest of the series. No body dies and Iron Man as hero and icon still exists. It's a comic that actually has less to do with "The End" and more to do with the comic book subgenre of superheroes past their prime (Dark Knight Returns, Spider-Man: Reign, Kingdom Come, etc.) but without the simplistic "getting old is sad" sense all of those series contain however interesting they might be otherwise. This probably has a lot to do with Michelinie and Layton being over fifty and therefore, write aging as it really is and not from the perspective of someone in their twenties or thirties.

At the same time of course, the comic book isn't some silly "getting old is great" comic or something. It's all about adjustment and confronting changes and fundamental realities that sort of suck but will be way worse if you pretend they're not there. Much of the issue is an aged, hands-now-trembling Tony Stark refusing to see that he can't keep flying around fighting villains. An early scene has his slowed reaction time nearly causing the death of two Stark Enterprises employees and in a scene that's particularly astute to the psychology of men getting older, this isn't enough to make him really stop and think.


The event that puts him over the edge is being nearly killed by a super villain with better technology and less wrinkles. It's an interesting detail that points towards Stark and well, everybody's vanity; he only changes when his own life and pride are completely at stake. And even once he's decide to hang up the Iron Man suit, there's still plenty of angry outbursts and confrontations, especially with a young scientist that reminds Stark of himself. Of course, the problem soon becomes the young scientist's disinterest in filling any and every role Stark once occupied. A particularly ugly but real scene has the young scientist--who's just been promoted by Stark--denying one of Tony's request to which Stark spits back: "Listen up, Travis! Your position could disappear in a heartbeat! Strings can be pulled! You'll be lucky to get a job washing test tubes in a prep school lab!" Stark later apologizes.

This comic reads like silly stuff like "Civil War" never happened and instead gets back to the character-driven stories Michelinie was writing--most famously, the never-can-be-praised-enough "Demon In a Bottle"--back in the 70s. There's even a fun part of this new story where they kind of reference "Civil War" as Stark scans a database of noted heroes and mutants not for their registration but to replace him as Iron Man! It's not aggressive and doesn't veer into angry old comics writer junk, it's just a tossed-off and subtle reminder of how different (and less cynical) this take on Iron Man is than most of what's been going on (except for the movie which is really inspired by those old Iron Mans.

We all have a grandfather or maybe father who injured their back because they didn't want you to help or pretended they weren't paying attention when in reality they're developing a hearing problem, well this comic's a sober and sympathetic look into events like that. Neither seeing it all as tragic or stumbling into the idealization of old-age, Iron Man: The End just plain gets it right.

More info:

Artist: Bernard Chang
Author: David Michelinie
Cover Artist: Bob Layton

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Desolation Jones (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Warren Ellis (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Michael Arner (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" This mature readers title is as much fun as it sounds."
Review: Desolation Jones #1-5

With the popularity many comic book properties these days, it’s important to make sure that people understand that heroes with super strength aren’t the only fodder in the comic shop. Writers such as Warren Ellis play on both sides of the superhero fence, creating subversive stories about corrupt societies as in Desolation Jones while enjoying the fun of working with classic comic characters like the Fantastic Four.

From the first page of the first issue of Desolation Jones and its first storyline “Made in England”, readers are given shadowy glimpses of a man whose life is falling apart. When that man, Michael Jones, rises from unwelcome sleep, we see his body is also joining the falling apart parade. Jones is a native of England and now lives in Los Angeles. His purple-haired punkette friend, Robina, heeds Jones’ call for a ride and we cruise into the initial plot.

This book seems to flow along a path similar to Preacher, Transmetropolitan, and classic Hellblazer with its flawed but deeply intriguing characters. If you are a fan of any of those comics, I think you’d best start haunting your local comic shop for these issues of Desolation Jones. The bi-monthly schedule is going to be a slow slog, but the amazing J.H. Williams III art is going to be worth the wait. His previous artwork on the underrated Promethea is a treasure waiting for many to discover. Williams’ design and structure of the artwork is pure craftsmanship. Double-page “widescreen” panoramas, mixtures of painted and line art, and stark black and white panels are mixed with framing elements that intensify the importance and emotional impact of the artwork.


I’ve enjoyed previous Warren Ellis works such as Hellstorm and Transmetropolitan, although I haven’t followed Ellis’ career as much as I should. Themes of evil government agencies who lie, cheat and steal along with drug-addled lead characters (like Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan) are, so far, being revisited. Did the government trick Jones while his luck was down and recruit him into being a medical guinea pig or did he screw up while drunk or drugged up? I don’t know yet as I haven’t read the final issue of this storyline. I’ve purposefully avoided reviewing a complete story to whet your appetite. I want you to join the The rock star combo of Ellis and Williams, along with the initial plot of looking for pornographic films that Adolf Hitler directed and sometimes even starred in. That twisted little plot kernel pops into a detective story of not looking for, but finding, the daughter of the man who hired Jones to begin with.

Within that story structure, clues are given to what has happened to Jones in the “desolation tests” and how this world they inhabit is different from our world today. All of the participants of the desolation tests that Jones was a part of are kept in Los Angeles. Whether they are dangerous to the general population more than dangerous to those who commissioned the desolation experiments has yet to be revealed. One of those participants, Jeronimus Corneliszoon, was created as a C.I.A. agent who only needs to eat four times a year. (Although, I wouldn’t think that is a necessary benefit to a spy gig.) Another of the broken toy soldiers, Emily Crowe, was engineered with super-heightened pheromones to be an irresistible sex object. But, the scientists colored over the lines and instead of Crowe attracting people, she disturbs and creeps out everyone who enters her radius. Jones is the only one who can interact with her because his body is so decimated that he lacks pain receptors.

While searching for the Hitler films, Jones leads us through a world of porn peddlers and the weird inhabitants of that world. Ellis’ humor is embedded throughout with lines from Jones like, “English Gentlemen always get their dates drunk and stoned. It’s the only way we can get people to sleep with us.” Characters such as Filthy Sanchez (whose soft drink sex riff of “everything goes better…” had me laughing out loud), and a past-prime porn participant, Nicole, who becomes surrogate mother to an itchy future porn star, also add welcome humor to the sometimes-horrifying graphic violence.

This mature readers title is as much fun as it sounds. If my meager summary of the plot so far seems beyond your comfort zone, stay away. I’ve left the funniest and filthiest parts still waiting to be discovered by those who like their stories twisted, protagonists unclean (literally and figuratively), and humor black. This is the perfect combo of story and artwork to show your friends that all comics aren’t for kids.

More info:

J.H. Williams III artist, penciler, inker
Jose Villarrubia colorer
Warren Ellis writer, artist
Published in 2005

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Ultimate Marvel Annuals (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Various writers (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: James Hunt (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" I prefer the tie-ins to the throwaways..."
Review:

Marvel annuals - are they worth it?

Did the changes in Marvel's annuals strategy achieve what Joe Quesada intended?

Shortly after Joe Quesada was appointed as editor-in-chief of Marvel, he decreed that Marvel would no longer be publishing annuals – the yearly, bumper-sized issue of a series – in favour of adding another regular issue of the main series. The given reasoning was that annuals routinely felt like a pointless, expensive throwaway issue.

The solution, when Marvel decided to bring back annuals, was to use them sparingly, and make them count in a wider context. They dipped their toes into the water with annuals for the “Ultimate” line, with an “Ultimates” annual by regular series writer Mark Millar and an “Ultimate Spider-Man” annual that radically altered the main series by getting Peter together with a new girlfriend. A “New Avengers” annual brought the concept back to the regular Marvel universe, marrying off Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. The idea – putting out an annual only when there was an important story to tell - seemed to be working.


Skip forward briefly to 2008, and things aren’t looking quite so rosy. Let’s take a look at the current annual situation, shall we? If they turned out to fulfil the criteria of a good annual, we’ll call them a “hit” and if not, we’ll use the desperately original “miss”.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 – The story of new super-heroine “Jackpot” comes to its conclusion. A poor story, but regardless of quality, it was both important and written by a member of the core writing team. Hit.

Black Panther Annual #1 – Designed to tie in with “Black History Month” this annual was called “Black to the Future” and set in 2057. Written by Reggie Hudlin, writer of the regular series, but still little more than a fanciful “What If?” Miss.

Ghost Rider Annual #2 – Si Spurrier puts in an enjoyable Ghost Rider story, but again, it’s another example of the kind of fun-but-forgettable annuals Marvel were supposed to be avoiding. Miss.

Ms. Marvel Annual #1 – Ms. Marvel writer Brian Reed writes a barely in-continuity Spider-Man team-up apparently designed more as an audition for Reed to write Spidey than a Ms. Marvel story. A definite miss.

New Avengers Annual #2 – Released at the very start of 2008, this was an unofficial sequel to a recently-completed Avengers arc which features the villainous Hood getting his act together, with far-reaching consequences all through the year. Hit.

Nova Annual #1 – The regular writing team writes a story that ties in with what was then Marvel’s big “cosmic” crossover, Annihilation: Conquest. Hit.

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual #3 – Bendis tackles a key issue in Peter and MJ’s ongoing relationship. As with the previous Ultimate Spider-Man annuals, a definite hit.

Ultimate Captain America Annual #1 – Written by Jeph Loeb, the writer of both “Ultimates 3” and the forthcoming “Ultimatum”, and contains the origin of Ultimate Black Panther. It also explains how (but not really why) Cap pretended to be the Black Panther in “Ultimates 3”. Begrudgingly a hit, but it shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

Ultimate X-Men/Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual &Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual/Ultimate X-Men - Together, they form a 2-part mini-series tied, ridiculously loosely, to “Ultimatum” but the stories themselves barely touch upon the core series and involve no-one from the main creative teams. It’s a definite double-miss, if only for the revelation that in the terrible future ahead, Cyclops becomes the new Captain America. Er, what?

Wolverine Annual #2 – Wolverine currently has no regular creative team, and the ongoing series is punctuated by multiple one-shots very similar to this annual. It’s not a bad story, but it utterly fails to be special or important in the wider scheme. Miss.

Now, once again, I should emphasise that the quality of the stories is not what makes an annual a hit or miss – it’s the reasons for the annual’s existence that we’re judging. Quesada’s plan was to make annuals matter, or not do them at all. That, in itself, seems to makes sense. Pointless annuals flood the market with poor-quality, expensive product, and as I believe Quesada himself observed, sell less than regular issues anyway. As you can see from this list, there have been 11 annuals released this year, and charitably speaking, only 5 have made themselves matter in the way they should.

So, that leaves the question – is a good story enough to justify an annual, or was Quesada’s attempt to rein them in the best way to do it? Personally, I prefer the tie-ins to the throwaways, but I’m willing to admit that there could be more to the matter than that – so, what’s your opinion?

More info:

Written by various writers.
Illustrated by various artists.

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Angelus (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Ron Marz (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: The Insomniac (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" It’s a solid start to what will hopefully be a successful and long-running franchise."
Review: Angelus #1

First of all, I’d like to know why it’s always the same people who get all the super powers. The same girl gets to be TWO superheroes, and I get squat. It’s completely unfair.

Spinning out of Top Cow’s Witchblade, Angelus follows the continuing story of Danielle Baptiste, former police officer and superhero Witchblade, as she relocates from New York to New Orleans. The relocation has more to do with just a change in scenery: she has now become Angelus, warrior of the Eternal Light, and with her new lesbian lover Finch, she is trying to navigate her new path in life. But she may be caught up in something she doesn’t understand. Her angel second in command Sabine plots behind her back and dispatches a team of warriors into the depths of Hell to retrieve a mysterious object.


Angelus #1 is an interesting comic, but I’m somewhat biased. I usually enjoy any story in any medium that plays with Christian mythologies, so I found Angelus very compelling. In particular, the art by Stjepan Sejic is incredible. The lines are faint, but the amount of detail and color content in incredible. Each individual costume design for the Angelus and the other angel warriors are unique, but the imagery of Hell that opens the book is graphic, and the concept of Hell as a series of circles a la Dante’s Inferno is a nice reference for more literary readers. Ron Marz’s script is solid as well. The character’s dialogue feels somewhat stilted at times, but the story moves along at a good pace, and Marz’s interpretation of Judeo-Christian mythology is unique enough to differentiate it from other Bible-based comics, such as Spawn and Lucifer.

In addition, Angelus #1 offers enough exposition on the Witchblade back story that you can get into the comic without being familiar with the characters’ history. It’s a solid start to what will hopefully be a successful and long-running franchise.

More info:

Written by Ron Marz
Art by Stjepan Sejic
Letters by Troy Peteri
Logo and Book Design by Phil Smith

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Dead Rising: Road To Fortune (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Tom Waltz (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: kitty (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Fans of the games will enjoy this and non-fans won’t feel lost and will find a good little zombie tale."
Review: Dead Rising: Road To Fortune #1

I have to admit that I’ve never played the Dead Rising video games and that I’m not a big fan of zombie stories. A quick read of Wikipedia provided me enough backstory to understand where this fits into the grand schem. Dead Rising: Road To Fortune occurs just prior to the events of Dead Rising 2. The events depicted in the mini-series are essentially the prologue to Dead Rising 2. This is the Las Vegas incident where Katie gets bitten.

It also seems to be setting up story points for the downloadable content “Code West” and the upcoming Dead Rising 2: Off The Record. Besides just Chuck from Dead Rising 2, this issue also shows us Frank from Dead Rising as well as setting up the creation of the reality show used in DR2.

The issue starts just after Frank defeated Brock on the tank. It shows the escape of Frank and Isabela but in a twist (and this is where my lack of game knowledge comes in) Frank ends up being bitten by Isabela and needs to take Zombrex to prevent being turned into a zombie.

I’m not a zombie fan. I think it’s being overdone and nowadays the only zombie tales that stand out to me are the ones that are different from anything else out there. Dead Rising the game is, at it’s core, basically just a “cut up zombies anyway you can” type of game. It seems to have a pretty decent and deep story but the mechanics are “kill zombies”. I do like the origin of the zombie plague, with the mutated wasps.

What makes this different is the way the zombies are kind of a fact of life in this world. They speak of zombie outbreaks as horrifying and well they’re not commonplace, it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary to the people. They even come up with a game show involving zombies. There’s even a chemical to prevent people that have been infected from going all zombie. It’s an interesting way to deal with them and somewhat unique and different.


Waltz does a good job setting up the various subplots in this story. Alot of characters from the games are mentioned and it’ll be interesting to see where he takes this. We know that it’ll basically end up being the prologue to Dead Rising 2 but how Frank West gets integrated into that is the question.

For fans of the video games, this will add more depth to the overall story, filling in some of the blanks and gaps. For non-fans of the game it’s a nice little zombie tale. You don’t have to know anything about the game to understand what is going on. The text piece inside the cover, as well as the opening scene, work very well at setting up the world for new readers. Waltz does a good job with the jump five years, using conversations to fill us in on what has happened to Frank since then.

Good use of the radio to bring other characters into the story and link the different subplots.

Loh’s artwork is nice. It’s got a rough and scratchy style that fits the tone nicely. He draws some good zombies but also does background detail nicely. Frank’s place is well drawn. I liked the set-up, where it seems like he’s down and out and then as he moves through the house and talks to his agent, we find out that he’s done alright for himself in the five years.

Dead Rising: Road To Fortune #1 receives
4 out of 5

Fans of the games will enjoy this and non-fans won’t feel lost and will find a good little zombie tale.

More info:

Written by: Tom Waltz
Art by: Kenneth Loh
Colored by: Esther Sanz
Lettered by: Shawn Lee
Cover Art: Kenneth Loh w/ Esther Sanz
Editor: Chris Ryall

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Star Wars: Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Jon Ostrander (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Poet Mase (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" I was very impressed by Agent of the Empire."
Review: Star Wars: Agent of the Empire – Iron Eclipse #1

Some of my favorite stories in the Star Wars universe tell of Han Solo's trips into the Corporate Sector. There's something a little more relatable about a regular guy chasing down adventure in a place where you live or die by your skills and wit. I was excited to hear that Agent of the Empire would focus on an Imperial agent named Jahan Cross investigating mysteries just a few years before Episode IV, but when he headed to the Corporate Sector about halfway through the book, I was hooked.

Writer Jon Ostrander possesses a huge wealth of knowledge about the Star Wars universe, and he skillfully weaves nuggets from elsewhere in that universe into this book. Beyond an encounter with Han Solo and Chewbacca, Ostrander plants his story within familiar Star Wars events with a plot involving Armand Isard, the Stark Hyperspace War, Soontir Fel, and places like Wayland and Coruscant, instantly substantiating the title in the greater context of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I don't know if there's any intent to do so, but I see a very exciting opportunity to re-introduce the Emperor's secret order from TIE Fighter (later retconned to be part of the Prophets of the Dark Side).


Stephane Roux takes care of the pencilling duties for this book, and Julien Hugonnard-Bert is his inker. The two have a nice rapport in this premiere issue, with the inks (and Wes Dzioba's colors) intensifying at the appropriate times in the book and easing up when necessary. In addition to offering a good range of emotional intensity, this story is swept through with motion, giving the book a satisfying, kinetic feel. I would quibble that some of the visual comedy comes off as a little goofy, but Roux's somewhat cartoony style justifies some silliness.

The writing is fairly slick, and some of the plot points betray a healthy depth to the story. The story begins and concludes with fight sequences to spackle over the necessary exposition in the center, but the action sequences feel justified and well-paced. Ostrander doesn't choose to plumb Cross' personality just yet, but both he and his droid companion seem to be strong characters. My only complaint is that, even though Cross is being advertised as a James Bond-like character, it seems like the similarities are more limiting than liberating. It's a little too easy to extrapolate the characters' personalities toward, in my opinion, the less attractive archetypes found in James Bond movies (with exhibit A and B being Royd Pew and Alessi Quon, the equivalents of Bond's quartermaster, Q).

Overall I was very impressed by Agent of the Empire. This series kind of snuck up on me, and I would imagine that it did the same to other Star Wars fans as well. If it did, make sure you pick up this book because, besides being a fun and exciting tale on its own, Iron Eclipse #1 signals the beginning of the next great Star Wars title.

More info:

Writer: Jon Ostrander
Art by Stephane Roux

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Scene of the Crime: A Little Piece of Goodnight (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Ed Brubaker (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Mel Odom (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Private eye fiction lovers who have never discovered the intricate joy of a graphic novel couldn't find a better place to start exploring the genre."
Review:

Jack Herriman is a young private eye in San Francisco. He lives above Scene Of The Crime, an art gallery specializing in photos of crime scenes that were taken by his uncle Knut. Paul Raymonds, a SFPD detective sergeant and old partner of Jack's father, tells Jack he's sending a special client over in the morning. The relationship between Jack and Raymonds is strained, partly because Raymonds is cheating on Jack's aunt. The next morning, Jack meets Alex Jordan, a woman he figures out is Raymonds' lates girlfriend. Alex says her sister Maggie has vanished, and that she might be at a hippie commune called Lunarhouse. Once inside Lunarhouse, Jack finds himself up to his eyeballs in trouble. Maggie was there but is gone now, and some of the commune's big bouncers chase Jack from the scene. In no time at all, Jack's quest takes him through the dark alleys of the city, the bleak fall-out from emotional pain and suffering of a family, and force his own black rage and weakness to the surface so he has to finally deal with those things. Secrets are everywhere--even Jack has them.

Ed Brubaker currently scripts he BATMAN monthly comic, the CATWOMAN comic in which he revamped the character, POINT BLANK, SLEEPER, a SLAM BRADLEY back-up and THE COMPLETE LOWLIFE. Also a cartoonist, Brubaker's work has been nominated for many Eisner Awards. Michael Lark is a favorite artist on noirish-type comics. His graphic novel, THE LITTLE SISTER, written and drawn by him, based on Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novel of the same title. Other work includes TERMINAL CITY, short stories for Vertigo's WINTER'S EDGE, SUPERMAN: WAR OF THE WORLDS, and BATMAN: NINE LIVES.


Brubaker's natural feel for crime writing lends Jack Herriman's world the luster of a dark and gritty reality. San Francisco is accurately portrayed without ever stepping too close to becoming a travelogue or a stereotype. The mystery and murders at the heart of the story, the years of loss and betrayal that come to culmination and spark to unleash the homicidal blaze that rocks Jack's world and leave him both more and less than what he had been are all played out honestly. Brubaker's got a gift for dialogue and allows the characters to come on stage and introduce themselves in ways even the excellent first-person narration can't quite do. Jack's world is full: he has his uncle and his uncle's girlfriend, Paul Raymonds--his dead father's partner, Steve Ellington--a friend and private eye for a big investigations firm, and an ex-girlfriend of his own that he can't quite get over. Besides getting entranced in the rich mystery that Brubaker presents, readers also get to wander through the impressive tapestry of pain, misery, loss, guilt, and half-truths that are Jack's life. The story offers quiet jokes, deep characters drawn in a few knowing lines, and the intensity of a steadily depressed spring. As Jack narrows the scope of his investigation, readers know that all hell is about to break loose: especially when additional bodies drop out of the woodwork and the violence escalates. Michael Lark's artwork is awesome: dark and moody, readers can smell the smoke in the seedy bars and will check the seats before sitting.

SCENE OF THE CRIME: A LITTLE PIECE OF GOODNIGHT is a wonderful graphic novel in the vein of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe detective novels. Brubaker says that Ross MacDonald was his favorite crime novelist, and a lot of the movement and rhythm of this tale shows that interest. Private eye fiction lovers who have never discovered the intricate joy of a graphic novel couldn't find a better place to start exploring the genre. Fans who already are familiar with Brubaker's work on BATMAN or CATWOMAN will want to add this one to their collections if it's not already there.

More info:

Ed Brubaker Writer
Michael Lark Penciller
Michael Lark, Sean Phillips Inker
James Sinclair Colorist
John Costanza Letterer
Michael Lark Cover Artist
Addie Blaustein Cover Colorist

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Magician - Apprentice (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Bryan J. L. Glass and Michael Avon Oeming (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Steve (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" If you’re a fan of Feist, and of epic fantasy, I’m sure you’ll want to check this out!"
Review: Magician: Apprentice #1

I’m probably the last person who should be reviewing the Dabel Brothers’ adaptation of Raymond E. Feist’s Magician. I’m not at all an aficionado of the comic book art (especially the antics of leotarded superheroes). Fortunately, Dabel Brothers Productions don’t do superheroes, and the fact that they have acquired the rights to some major fantasy works piqued my interest.

Magician, the novel, is the ‘gateway drug’ to fantasy for many people. It’s not stylistically or thematically cutting edge, but it’s an enormously popular and beloved work in the tradition of Tolkien. So, a big challenge for the Dabel Brothers.

This first issue of the comic really just introduces us to the story, setting up the characters’ personalities and relationships (and to be frank, my interest level was wavering until the final, tantalising introduction of some elements of mystery, heh, and a wizard and some elves).

Nevertheless, it is a promising start to an epic undertaking. The artist (Brett Booth, I believe) has created a gorgeously detailed rendition of Feist’s feudal world. You can tell that he loves his work.

Pug is a hapless young kitchen hand (and orphan) who is more than he appears to be. His friend, Tomas is his protector from bullies. Tomas’ father, the castle cook, sends Pug to gather seafood from the beach, where he imprudently falls asleep and wakes hours later …

The threats faced by Pug in this issue are all fairly common: bullies, the elements, animals. When he meets the wizard Kulgan, and his firedrake Fantus (the issue’s best scenes, IMHO), we get the insight that the action is going to get a lot more interesting …

As I said, it’s a promising beginning, and the only real problem I found was that I wanted to read more right away. If you’re a fan of Feist, and of epic fantasy, I’m sure you’ll want to check this out!

More info:

Brett Booth artist, cover
Bryan J. L. Glass writer
Don Maitz cover
Michael Avon Oeming writer
Sean J. Jordan editor
Simon Bowland letterer
Vinicius Andrade colorer

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Zorro (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Matt Wagner (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: H. Bala (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Matt Wagner's ZORRO is recommended"
Review: Zorro #1-#8

...still so cunning and free, still makes the sign of the "Z"...

Before Batman and even before the Shadow ran around in dark spooky clothes, the Curse of Capistrano roamed Old California on his fiery black steed Toronado, upholding justice and tweaking the noses of the corrupt Alcalde and his brutal soldados. Having endured for nearly a century now, El Zorro has been brought to life in various mediums, my favorite reiteration being the 1940 film The Mark of Zorro (Special Edition) (Colorized / Black and White) with Tyrone Power. And I just have to throw in this interesting (I think) trivia: THE MARK OF ZORRO happens to be the picture young Bruce Wayne went to see with his parents on the night of their murders. Just a further illustration of Zorro's impact on the Dark Knight. But moving on...

I don't know how long they can keep it up, but I'm very glad that Dynamite Entertainment is publishing a comic book series each about the Lone Ranger and Zorro, two childhood icons of mine. Folks my age will recall that these two (and Tarzan) were featured in a Saturday cartoon series on CBS back in the '80s, although each starred in his own respective set of episodes. And, with the Eisner Award-nominated The Lone Ranger trade paperback garnering critical success, it makes sense that Zorro next gets a shot at his own comic book. And with Matt Wagner coming on board as writer and art director, things are promising.

ZORRO Vol. 1: YEAR ONE: TRAIL OF THE FOX collects the first eight issues and serves as the origin arc of Zorro. Matt Wagner doesn't reinvent the character as much as adapt elements not only from creator Johnston McCulley's THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO (The Mark of Zorro (Townsend Library Edition)) but also from Isabel Allende's 2005 Zorro: A Novel (P.S.) (which is intended as a prequel to McCulley's 1919 novella). It's important to note that, in giving a nod to Allende's source material, Wagner presents us with a more fleshed-out Don Diego de la Vega.


Although raised as a noble gentleman, a "caballero," Diego is half-Spaniard and half-Native American. Even as his father steeped him into the hidalgo heritage, his mother taught him the ways of her people, the Tongva tribe. And, even as a child, Diego had observed the rampant cruelty taking place around him. So, unlike in the films, it doesn't take Diego's coming home from his studies abroad for him to take note of the injustices being inflicted on his people. For Diego de la Vega, in this reality, the resentment's been building for some time. Of the dual impersonations he takes on, the guise of the lethargic fop is actually the one deemed the more challenging.

Matt Wagner's main story arc revolves around Diego's youth and the things he learns and his sometimes harrowing experiences at home and then abroad. All this will mold him into the legendary figure he'll later become. And, along the way, we learn nifty things like why Diego chooses the sobriquet of El Zorro, the logic behind the cloak (not a cape) in his alter ego's costume, and who Diego patterned his dandy act after. With Diego is his constant companion and milk brother Bernardo, rendered mute by a tragic event. This story arc is narrated by Bernardo, and this works because his perspective is removed enough from the central character that it allows an aura of legend and myth to be fostered. And yet Bernardo, as Diego's best friend, is close enough that he lends insights into the underpinnings of the Zorro mythos.

These eight issues make up what is basically a flashback story. Interspersed occasionally are scenes which take place in the present, as Zorro begins to bedevil the oppressors. When you hear the increasingly frustratred Alcalde burst out with "Madre de Dios y todos los Santos! That bastard!" - that means that the fiendish El Zorro's been up to his tricks again. Although, on the action sequence meter, he doesn't really do that much. He just pops up here and there, being a smirky thorn in the side, slowly building up his rep and his legend. But, under Wagner's expert storytelling, it makes for an engrossing read.


In his essence, this version of Zorro stays true. Zorro still demonstrates a panache, an exuberance. He still relishes mocking the soldados and, especially, Sergeant Gonzales, his constant foil . Still a master swordsman, still carves that "Z" with his sword, still flourishes that bullwhip. But certain other things have been tweaked, in addition to Diego's origin. I think we've been conditioned by cinema to seeing Sergeant Gonzales (or Garcia) as this obese, dimwitted bumbler. But Wagner reverts the sergeant to his brutal nature, the way he was originally depicted in THE CURSE OF CAPISTRANO. And, like Alain Delon's take, there's no mustache on this El Zorro, Wagner intending our hero to exude a more youthful vibe. Also, Wagner has Zorro operating strictly during nighttime, else the black get-up wouldn't make sense and it'd be really stifling under the scorching Alta California sun.

Italian artist Francesco Francavilla's style won't make your eyes pop out, but it's serviceable enough and evokes the time and atmosphere of Old California. Matt Wagner provides cover artwork for the original issues, and these covers whetted my appetite enough that I wonder how he would've fared if he'd handled the interior pencils and inks, as well.

Okay, I'm about to get nitpicky. Living in Southern Cali, I've picked up a smattering of Spanish, so I couldn't help but notice that there was a fair amount of cussing in Spanish. To me, that's actually pretty cool and it lends a certain edgy realism to the story. But where Wagner loses a few points is in his incorrect usage of the Spanish language (ie: he drops in "Buenos noches" instead of "Buenas noches"; "La Águila" instead of "El Águila"). These little snafus are few and far between, and I'm not that familiar with Spanish, but I'm familiar enough that these gringo-isms did jar my immersion into the story. Of course, if you don't know Spanish, then it's not an issue.

Either way, Matt Wagner's ZORRO is recommended, for those who dig old-fashioned heroism, swashbuckling adventure, and a playful masked rogue putting it over the Man. Check this out, too, if you're curious about the parallels between Batman and Zorro. And, with Bruce Wayne having drawn so much inspiration from Don Diego, then I guess it's only proper that Zorro encroach into Batman's original comic book medium. But lest I give too much credit to Zorro's "been there, done that first" pedigree, Diego de la Vega's own foppish act was first done by the Scarlet Pimpernel. That, of course, doesn't change the fact that you should give Zorro a chance. And, while you're at it, THE LONE RANGER , as well.

More info:

Matt Wagner (W)
Francesco Francavilla (A)

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: The Lone Ranger (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Brett Matthews (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Mel Odom (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" One of the best stories that came out in novel form this summer."
Review:

When I was a child back in the early 1960s, I wanted to grow up to be a hero. I tied a towel around my neck and was sometimes Superman or Batman. I ululated in the back yard like Tarzan and shamed the cats in the neighborhood. I ran as fast as Jonny Quest in my PF Flyers.

But the hero I loved most of all at that time was the Lone Ranger. His adventures came on every afternoon, and I’d get home from school in time to watch him shoot the guns out of the bad men’s hands, give lectures on the evils of, well…evil, and leave that cool silver bullet behind so people could ask, “Who was that masked man?”

The Lone Ranger was the brainchild of George W. Trendle, a radio producer, but he was given life by Fran Striker in radio script and novel form, and brought to iconic life on television by Clayton Moore.

But in the beginning, he was a young Texas Ranger named John Reid who was with his father and brother the day they were gunned down by Butch Cavendish’s men. Reid clawed his way out of the grave, donned his signature mask, and started cleaning up the West.

The last couple of years, Dynamite Entertainment Comics brought the Lone Ranger back to comics, which had to have been one of the coolest and riskiest things ever done. I mean, in an age of FaceBook and MySpace, who’d buy a cowboy hero?

More people should, because the graphic story rendered by Brent Matthews (a Hollywood scriptwriter) and Sergio Cariello (an award-winning graphic artist) is one of the best stories that came out in novel form this summer. The story is familiar to everyone, but Matthews’s way of telling it in cinematic presentation, and Cariello’s beautiful drawings, give the tale a life that hasn’t been seen before.

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Writer: Brett Matthews
Artist: Sergio Cariello
Covers: John Cassaday

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Deadworld (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Stuart Kerr (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: WIN WIACEK (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" Merry mordant fun and well worth stalking…"
Review:

Zombies are taking over the world. Or so it seems with all the restless dead rambling about on television, in cinemas and even in children’s books (check out the intriguing Charley Higson kid’s novels The Enemy and The Dead), but this is only a relatively recent resurrection. Arguably the unliving onslaught really kicked back into high gear during the mid-1980s explosion of self-published titles that came – and mostly went – in the wake of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic phenomenon.

Ambitious newcomer Arrow Comics launched with a number of impressive fantasy, adventure and horror titles in 1985, including Tales From the Aniverse, System 7, Nightstreets, Oz, The Realm and Deadworld, but the subsequent glut and implosion of the marketplace caught the good with the very, very bad and the newborn company foundered. Head honchos Ralph Griffith and Stuart Kerr closed down in 1989, with the latter three titles transferring to Gary Reed’s Caliber Comics, which had successfully weathered the storm.

Kerr and Griffith were not just entrepreneurs. They created Deadworld, easily the most popular – and controversial – of their stable, bringing in eager and talented Vince Locke to illustrate over Kerr’s scripts. When the series moved they sold Locke the rights.

This edition was released in 1989 and collected the first seven episodes, with a gallery that included both the “graphic” (for which read gory) and “tame” covers created for each issue.

So, what’s it all about?

In all honesty if you’re not a big fan of the genre, you’ve seen it all before: a mysterious event kills and resurrects the greater part of humanity as zombies and a disparate, dwindling band of human survivors struggle to survive and escape the toxically infectious, ravenous hordes…

However if you count yourself a devotee of the walking dead you’ve seen it all before too: a plucky band of heroes battle increasingly intense odds and their own human natures whilst trying to escape from appalling, overwhelming horror…

The story begins with the impressive ‘Eye of the Zombie’ as a school-bus full of weary youngsters – horny teenagers and a frankly terrifying ten-year old called Spud – make plans to escape the Louisiana bayou where they’ve been hiding from a horde of terrifying monsters – mindless, shambling ravenous. At least the things are slow and stupid and can be stopped by destroying their brains…


Nobody knows how the world ended or why they have been spared so far, but as the kids ready for a dash to California dead eyes are watching. Unfortunately, these are something new: King Zombie might be Dead but he’s still Quick – also vengeful, calculating and super-smart…

After a spectacular battle the kids are off, trailed by the Thinking Dead in ‘Born to Be Wild’, having gut-wrenching, splattery narrow escapes as they head west. Hints begin as to how humanity was lost and in ‘Mississippi Queen’ the survivors trade the bus for a riverboat, thinking this will provide greater security.

The supernatural horror responsible or killing the world is revealed, as is the one mortal he cannot afford to kill. King Zombie and his shambling hordes invade the riverboat and ‘Funeral For A Friend’ sees the first winnowing of the cast…

Reduced to four now the haunted survivors encounter demons as well as the ever-present zombies in ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’, meeting the sorcerer’s apprentice who caused the zombie plague to invade our dimension and discovering another enclave of survivors hours before their undead pursuers do…

‘One of These Days’ sees King Zombie and the hell-spawn decimate the refuge, slowly torturing his captured prey until a mysterious stranger comes to their rescue – an unsuspected and dangerously traumatised survivor of the riverboat massacre. An all-out final battle breaks out before ‘Bad Moon Rising’ ends events on a cliffhanging high as the resurgent US military streak in to rescue the embattled humans.

What happens next hasn’t been collected yet but with a re-issued edition of this superbly exuberant horror classic released in 2009 and an unholy appetite for the walking dead zipping up the zeitgeist charts that must surely be only a matter of time…

Charmingly character-driven, gloriously gory, superbly enthusiastic and wickedly comedic this is a series by fans for fans, and what polish might be lacking is more than compensated for by sheer pace and raw talent. Kerr handles the ensemble cast well and Locke’s nasty, scratchy, atmospheric illustration blends Wrightson with Windsor-Smith to great effect. Moreover he wasn’t afraid to experiment and wasn’t shy about filling a page with terror, slapstick or both.

Merry mordant fun and well worth stalking…

CONTRIBUTORS to the DEADWORLD comic series

Deadworld was originally created by Stuart Kerr and Ralph Griffith and illustrated by Vince Locke. The series ran from Arrow Comics from issues 1-9. Caliber began publishing it with issue #10, the first issue in which Vince Locke became owner and sole creator of Deadworld.

Jack Herman came in to help assist in writing it for Vince before Gary Reed took over the writing chores with issue 12. Mark Bloodworth came in at #15 and continue with Reed through issue 23 before Reed closed out the final three issues. During this time, Caliber purchased the comic from Vince Locke and took over ownership.

Reed continued the writing of the Killer and the King storyline as well as all of the second volume of the series.

More info:

Art by Vincent Locke
Written by Stuart Kerr

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: The Complete Classic Adventures of Zorro (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Alex Toth (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Derik A Badman (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" I’m eager to see more of his work (if I can find more)..."
Review:

It is a sad coincidence that I learned of Alex Toth’s death late last week, only a couple days after I finished reading my first book of work by him. I’ve heard him praised a good bit, but I was reluctant to read, particularly since his name is most often linked to the name of Zorro. I can’t say Zorro has ever interested me, but, after a look at some of the work at the Alex Toth fan site, I ordered this book.

One testament to Toth’s skill at comics is the fact that I read 250 pages of Zorro comics. The scripts/plots are atrociously banal, apparently written by the same men who wrote the tv show with the caveat that the narration and dialogue remain unchanged in the comic. Toth, given these poorly written, overly narrated scripts, does amazing work transforming them into comics of great visual richness. The stories still suck, but it’s worth the time just to look.

One can praise so many elements of Toth’s work: dynamic compositions (for my money, better than Kirby), a sinuous line of which I have much envy, beautiful realistic yet minimal rendering, the balanced use of spot blacks, clear and dynamic narrative breakdowns, and the visual punch of the sound effects. Paging through the book I was tempted to start rampant scanning of samples as a way to illustrate all these praiseworthy elements, but instead I have limited myself to 5 samples (4 panels and one 4 panel sequence).

Panel 1:

Toth’s textured brush work is the highlight of this panel, as is the composition, which is extremely crowded but perfectly fitting with the content. I love how the characters just disappear into the brush.

Panel 2:

The composition here is so thematically rich I had to sample it. The “bad guy” comandante in the front, haloed by his black hat, visually and narratively looms over/dominates the hapless priest, pushed into the corner and lightly rendered, mostly white to the comandante’s black. The cigar adds to the flow of the panel, along with the curve of the hat and the matching curve of the word balloon tails. Simple but oh so effective.

Panel 3:

Another simple but beautiful composition. The black area at the top and the edge of the roof nicely subdivide the panel into three sections of differing texture. The figures are a great example of Toth’s minimal almost impressionistic rendering. One can clearly tell what is being pictured, but if you look too close the shapes and lines that make up them are quite abstract. Once again the tails of the word balloons are visually congruent with the composition (something one doesn’t see much). The angle of view here is also quite unusual.

Panel 4:

What a great panel this is, particularly with the worm’s eye angle. The leg, foot, and hem of a dress in the foreground are not only exquisitely rendered but provide all the information we need to know that it is a running woman. The angle of view makes it seem like she is passing by us. The road, the semi-circle of the passageway, and the roof-to-building lines all lead us to the two small figures in the distant (which lead us into the next panel where they are the focus). The narration (dictated by the unalterable script, no doubt) is not even necessary.

Sequence:

A great example of Toth’s skill with breaking down the narrative. The narration can be skipped over and one can easily follow the events. In the first panel we see an example of Toth’s sound effects, which have a punchy attractiveness that I can’t quite figure out–so simple, yet very effective. The composition moves us through this panel by way of the whip into the next panel which answers our questions about what is going on (similarly to the way the soldier sees the whip first and then Zorro). The third and fourth panels have more examples of Toth’s rendering of small characters in the distant with minimal ink or detail and maximal recognizability. The fourth panel also shows Toth’s skillful use of very expressive silhouettes. From panel three to four we see the visual constancy of the riders from the foreground of panel three to the background of panel four. It allows us to clearly understand the switch from one angle of view to its opposite because the distant riders are the first thing we see moving into panel four.

Just a small taste of Toth’s clear skill with the workings of comics. I’m eager to see more of his work (if I can find more), though I can only wish that he had had the opportunity to do more stories of his own creation (or worked with better writers) as it seems much of what he drew came from inferior scripts. That said, this book, one of the few available of Toth’s work (and the only that seems widely available) is worth the price. The reproductions are crisp and Toth himself put in the half tones in lieu of the comics’ being in their original color.

More info:

Art and writing by Alex Toth

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Term Life (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): A.J. Lieberman (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: dfstell (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" An entertaining and well-written crime OGN..."
Review:

The Story: A criminal on the run from the Russian mob and dirty cops is forced to take his estranged daughter with him on the lam.

What’s Good: This is a very solid 144 page softcover OGN from Image. If you enjoy crime stories, this is something you might want to check out.

The trick with any crime story is to give us a main character we can root for. That isn’t always an easy thing when the main character is a criminal, but Lieberman has a pretty good concept to make Nick Barrow seem not quite so bad: Nick just plans the crimes and then sells the plans to other dudes to do the actual robbing, shooting and killing. So, Nick’s hands are relatively clean and we can want good things for him.

As with many crime stories, the action revolves around a heist-gone-bad. When the dust settles, the big Russian gangster’s son is dead and he thinks that Nick is responsible, and here is where the story deviates from the norm (which would be to show Nick somehow take down the mob) by showing Nick resigned to the fact that they’re going to kill him eventually, so he buys a huge life insurance policy with his estranged 13 year old daughter as the beneficiary. The only trick is that it’ll take 21 days for the paperwork to be processed, so he has to stay one step ahead of the bad guys for 21 days and his daughter will be provided for.


But, the real highlight is the father – daughter story between Nick and a daughter that he barely knows. This isn’t even really part of the “crime story” as the set-up is typical: divorced parents, teenage girl, mother hates father, father has barely seen daughter. But the execution is quite good as the kid realizes that her dad isn’t quite the villain that mom made him out to be. Even if you are a good parent, there is a lot to identify with in terms of staying close to your kids and not wanting a gulf like this to ever develop.

In terms of narrative structure, the action is mostly linear, but there are places where it bounces around in time a little bit, especially in the early phases of the story. The end is much more linear. And the scenes are very quick and choppy with most being only a page or two. This gives the story a faster feel than it would ordinarily have.

Thornborrow’s art is quite good. He uses a loser style than we sometimes see in a crime book and I think it allows his characters to appear more lifelike as he does a great job with facial expression and body language where less-is-more. His layouts are pretty dense as each page has ~5-7 panels and they always tell the story very effectively and you can always tell the characters apart.

What’s Not So Good: The only troubling things were a little bit of confusion about the story in the early phases when there is a LOT of jumping between scenes. That could be due to the fact that there is a LOT of story set-up to absorb or it could be that I wasn’t fully used to the storytelling structure, but I felt like I missed some things in the early portion of the book.

There is also a dirty cop angle in this story that never felt quite essential. It becomes important towards the climax, but it was always the less interesting and more confusing part of book.

Conclusion: Lieberman & Thornborrow has crafted an entertaining and well-written crime OGN that is well worth your time if you enjoy the heist-gone-bad genre especially when the central story is a father-daughter relationship that transcends genres.

More info:

A.J. Lieberman story, writes
Nick Thornborrow arts
Published by Image Comics. 2011.

Publisher:

[Zacharie]

Title: Tokyo Storm Warning (Click to go to the release post)
Writer(s): Warren Ellis (Click to see other books from this writer released on this site)
Review source: Russ Crandall (Don't click it, read the review here... )

" An entertaining, flashy, but well-paced adventure. "
Review:

Several months ago, I started reading comic books. Being a newcomer to the medium, I asked a friend to give me a list of quality graphic novels, and he basically told me to start with anything written by Warren Ellis. So for the past six months I've been reading Warren Ellis sporadically, soaking in the good and the bad, and now I'm here to spread the word.

A good introductory read is the three-issue Tokyo Storm Warning, written in 2003. It is set in a modern-day alternate reality where we classy Americans dropped our first A-bomb on Tokyo during World War II because we found out they were developing their own nuclear weapon program. Ever since then, gigantic monsters have been appearing to tear what's left of Tokyo to pieces. Even more mysteriously, these giant robots/mechs also appear that people can control to defend Tokyo against these monsters.

What makes Tokyo Storm Warning work as a quick read is the brevity and intensity of the story. The plot follows an American who comes to Tokyo to pilot one of these mechs, and seeing this strange, new Tokyo through her eyes really sets the pace for the rest of the story. The story isn't wholly fleshed out, which leaves the rest up to the reader's imagination; but this isn't done in a way that makes me feel like it's a copout. In the end, it's a 30-minute read that delivers exactly what it should - an entertaining, flashy, but well-paced adventure.

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written by Warren Ellis
Art by James Raiz and Andrew Currie.

Publisher: