Severed #6 “Permanent Teeth” Review

January 14, 2012

Written by: Scott Snyder, Scott Tuft.
Art by: Attila Futaki
Cover by: Attila Futaki
Publisher: Image

“Fish seemed like a nice old man and people believed his lies, But Albert was a child eating shark in disguise. Albert was worse than any fish in the sea. He killed and ate young children and enjoyed it immensely. Albert, a child eating Fish was he Who devoured the flesh of kids because he thought it was tasty.” – Macabre from “Albert Fish Was Worse Than Any Fish In The Sea” off of their Sinister Slaughter LP.

Severed #6 “Permanent Teeth”Chicago-based murder metal merchants, Macabre, hit the nail on the head with this nursery-rhyme thrasher about cannibal Albert Fish. The main villain in Severed happens to be named Alan Fisher and bears a striking resemblance to real-life horror Albert Fish. This is either a homage to Fish, a child rapist and cannibal, or a character composite of him and Peter Kudzinowski, a kid-killing railroad worker from the same 1920’s era. Hamilton Howard “Albert” Fish, also known as the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria, the Brooklyn Vampire, the Moon Maniac and the Boogey Man, bragged that he “had children” in every state, putting the victim count at around 100. Whether that was true or part of his web of lies is unknown, however he was a suspect in at least five murders in his lifetime (1870-1936). He was tried and convicted for the murder of Grace Budd and executed by electric chair.

Now most of the time you get a “horror” comic it’s filled with zombies, vampires, demons, monsters and gore. Those are supposed to be the hallmarks of horror books. There might be a scene or two of something disturbing or weird, but mostly it’s just blood, gore and the supernatural that sells you on the idea that it’s a horror comic. It’s stuff of fantasy and could never happen in real-life. For the most part it never really frightens you or gives the creeps. Severed is one of those rare horror comics that actually scare you. The fact that the main villain is based on a real and terrifying person just lends credibility to the story, making it all the more interesting and frightening. Snyder and Tuft know how to build tension and suspense with foreshadowing and dramatic reveals that take you for a roller coaster ride of emotional thrills and terror. In a very subtle and sophisticated way, Severed taps into your primal fears: the fear of betrayal, the fear of being alone, and ultimately the fear of being eaten alive.

For those that haven’t been following Severed let me give you a quick rundown. The set-up is a one-armed old man telling his story about how he lost his arm. The year is 1916. Jack “Brakeman” Garron, a young fiddle player, runs away from his adopted home in search of his father. He teams up with a fellow young drifter named Sam, whom he quickly befriends while hopping the rails. Jack is a bit green behind the ears, and Sam seems to know the ropes of surviving on the road. It turns out that Sam is a young girl that dresses like a man for her own safety. She’s a street-smart little spitfire that’s as crafty as she is gutsy. It’s a familiar trope, but don’t let that phase you as she’s not an obvious character. Anyway, Sam helps Jake busk for spare change with his fiddle and figures out a way to reach his father’s home in Mississippi. There is a slight romantic B story that springs up from this, but all that comes screeching to a halt when they stumble into salesman Alan Fischer. He sells phonograph machines on the road and seems to be a real character. Jack sees an opportunity with the charming Fisher to get home a lot quicker and perhaps cut a record on the way. But Al Fisher turns out to be a real creep. There’s a huge red herring scare in a dinner scene involving a bad joke. It’s kind of like a trust-fall between Jack and Sam, but with a bear-trap. This is where you think, “Oh shit, this is it. This is where he loses his arm,” and then WHAMMO!!! I’m not giving it away, but Snyder and Tuft really know how to work up the tension and pull your strings because this scene really got me. It’s one of the shining moments of the series.

You get the gist of what Severed is about. Issue #6 is the big reveal. The jig is up. The reader already knows that Alan Fisher is a flesh-hungry maniac with filed-down razor sharp teeth, but Jack is clueless to it. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment. Imagine you are trapped. You are alone with old man on the road that promises to record you playing your violin and deliver you to your estranged father. This man has previously beaten up a pimp to protect you. He’s a capable of savage brutality. Your best friend on the road, Sam, is strangely missing. You slowly piece together that Fisher is not the man he claims to be. What do you do when you discover the ultimate truth while rummaging through his luggage? Will you attack him from behind? Will you escape when he lets down his guard? Do you have what it takes to confront him head-on like a man? That’s what this issue is all about: nervous, violent confrontation, testing your mettle and the naked truth. Jack has to face reality and see the world for what it is as his hopes and dreams are crushed under the foot of a homicidal maniac. A moment of triumph and quick thinking ultimately leads to disappointment and tragedy. Jack is trapped again and the only way out is to fight for his life. I don’t do spoilers, so I will have to leave this on the vague side, but man, this issue is heavy. You find out all the dirt and just tear through it page by page. At one point I was yelling at Jack, “dude, get out of the house,” like it was a horror film in a cheap theater. The last few panels are almost too much to bear; it’s so damn good. Rarely am I so engaged by the writing in a comic.

The artwork is not too shabby either. Attila Futaki’s work is dusty and blurry and everything seems to be coated with some sort of grime. It’s intricate and subtle, but at times a little on the muddy side. Futaki paints the atmosphere of this 1920’s era with combination of soft watercolor and airbrush techniques. His pencils and brushed inks contrast with the coloring in a style similar to Mirko Colak’s work on Red Skull: Incarnate, but with more chiaroscuro. There is a strong push-pull of detail and mystery. I’ve heard comparisons to Norman Rockwell and Bernie Wrightson, however I think that reviewer was being generous. Futaki’s characters are expressive but his line and color work are not as controlled or stylized as either. The anatomy is spot-on, backgrounds and props are well researched, and the panel work is top-notch and tells a very dynamic and tense story…but the coloring is too soft for my tastes. Soft coloring is a turn-off and slightly distracting. If you are intending to give that vintage kind of vibe, coloring with streaky and defined brushwork like the kind you see in old horror movie posters could have worked just as well if not better. Or at least have balance of soft coloring and more defined work. It’s my only complaint and overall I think he nailed the tone and mood of the story.

Fukati’s cover to Severed #6 is like a postcard scene from the past that has been torn through, allowing you to see the evil lurking on the other side. Here’s the thing, you do that for one issue and it can work. However Futaki continues the theme of a rip-through for each issue, exposing more of the monster. He’s flogging a dead horse and it comes off as though he ran out of ideas. Attila could have done something really clever and cool here such as an animated freeze frame ala’ Rob Roskopp’s “Target” decks for Santa Cruz Skateboards by Jim Phillips. See here: Roskopp 1 and here: Roskopp 2 . Unfortunately it’s a missed opportunity. The rips don’t really line-up or look planned in that manner, ditto for the man-shark monster on the other side. I keep thinking about how cool those covers would have looked lined up like that in the Roskopp style. You could have even put them on a spinner rack, in hopes of achieving some sort of zoetrope effect and the monster would really have come alive. But alas, they went for classy conceptualization over the tacky sensationalism. Dammit. These Severed covers have also taken some hard criticism from 100 Bullets cover artist Dave Johnson, especially on issue #4 where he kind of famously trashed it on twitter (and then started a blog about cover design critiques called Johnson Cover Hi-lo).

The covers could have been a lot cooler, but honestly I don’t think they are that bad. Yes, they show a more conservative approach and rely on mood and eerie coloring to convey the subject matter within, but that’s better than the obvious cliché blood and gore of most horror comics. This is part of what makes Severed stand out on the rack, and that’s what cover design is all about.

So what are you waiting for? Get Severed! It’s probably one of the most original takes on a rite-of-passage story mixed with a monster-in-the-house/ boogey-man tale. It’s heart-pounding story filled with suspense and intrigue. It will disturb you. It will scare you. Most importantly, it will entertain you and keep you guessing. There’s a remarkable level of restraint and sophistication that makes this comic a realistic read. It doesn’t go over the top with gore and shock, and when it delivers scares they are genuinely bloodcurdling. I can’t recommend this series enough.
Story: 10/10
Art: 7.5/10

Jerry Nelson

Follow me on twitter and tell me what you think @the_hellhounds

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Interview with Avengers Academy Writer Christos Gage

Matthew Sardo

January 12, 2012

One of the best books consistently has been Christos Gage’s Avengers Academy. He has taken a group of new characters that he created, and has made it one of my can’t miss reads. If you aren’t reading this book get on it, immediately not sooner. I had the chance to sit down and chat with him recently, and here is what transpired. (Note: This interview contains spoilers so if you haven’t read these issues yet, NUFF SAID!)

CV NICK: I love Avengers Academy, it has been one of the most consistently well done books at Marvel for the past year, and I’ve really enjoyed the plots and the growth of the students and teachers at the Academy. With the events of Fear Itself ending, and the new team members and staff joining the team, what can you tell us about what you have planned?

GAGE: Thanks so much! #21 was intended to be a good jumping on point for new readers, as the team moved out to the West Coast and added new members. As you’ve seen in recent issues, we have a lot of intrigue going on with the death of Jocasta, and some hidden threats at the Academy, such as future Reptil possessing his younger body, as well as the monster called Hybrid – an old Rom villain I’ve always loved. Following that, in #27, we see the Runaways show up for a meeting fans have been requesting for a long, long time. And beginning with #29, we jump feet-first into the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover! It’s a great time to jump on board!

CV NICK: With the death of Jocasta at the end of AA21, it is implied with the reveal of Reptil being possessed by his future self? that he maybe has something to do with her death? That maybe in the future some of his team members go “bad”? Intriguing as well that the page is labeled as “Somewhere in Time”.

GAGE: There are indeed a lot of questions being raised by those pages. Some have been answered in #23 – for instance, that is indeed Reptil’s future self inhabiting his younger body. As for his involvement with Jocasta, stay tuned…I promise answers are coming soon! And “bad” is relative depending on your perspective. Our story is, in large part, about how far a man is willing to go to protect those he loves, even at the expense of others.

CV NICK: What can we expect the new students to bring to the team? Who is your favorite of the new students to write?

GAGE: I hope they’ll bring unique personalities that evoke interesting emotions in our existing characters. Another thing they’ll bring is ties to the overall Marvel Universe that have been absent so far since all our characters were rookies: Lightspeed has years of experience as a hero, X-23 has been active for a long time and indeed, in many ways, lived out the fear these kids have of going bad (though it wasn’t really her fault), and White Tiger is carrying on the legacy of her brother Hector, so she is the Academy’s first legacy character. I can’t really say I have a favorite…I like them all. I am developing fondness for Julie Power, since she’s the only one of them I actually read when I was a kid myself.

CV NICK: What about the addition of Hawkeye to the staff? Besides his tumultuous past, what can we expect him to bring and how will it affect Hank and the other instructors?

GAGE: Hawkeye knows what it’s like to have a troubled childhood and be tempted down the wrong path. He also knows what it’s like to be redeemed and become a true hero. He feels like it’s his karmic duty to give these kids the opportunity he had. Of course, Hawkeye’s never been the type of guy to run his plans past others, so Hank and the other teaches might find that problematic!

CV NICK: Recently, online rumors have lead to certain Comic News sites suggesting that Avengers Academy potentially being on the chopping block, and you took to Twitter to vehemently deny and defend the book to the naysayers. What can you tell us about that, and how does having something like social media help or hinder you to get the news out about your book, and other projects?

GAGE: Well, the numbers speak for themselves. AVENGERS ACADEMY is not a huge seller as Marvel titles go, but what’s been positive is that it’s still profitable and our numbers have held very steady for quite a long time now. There are books that have been around for years selling consistently at this level…two that come to mind are X-FACTOR and THUNDERBOLTS. So AVENGERS ACADEMY is making money for Marvel and as long as it holds its numbers it will continue to stick around. The danger is that, when your sales are at this level, losing just a few hundred or a couple thousand orders – in essence, only one less copy at every comic shop in America – can push you into the danger zone. And rumors of a book being canceled can most definitely get readers to drop that book, because they feel it no longer “matters,” or they don’t want to continue to be invested in a storyline that might end prematurely. I’ve spoken to many, many retailers about this phenomenon, and they say they see it all the time – perception becoming reality when rumors of a book being canceled start to spread, readers drop it, and sales go down to the point where it does indeed get canceled. So I wanted to strongly and vocally make it clear that we are fine, as long as sales hold up at their current level. If you like the book, keep buying it. Pre-order if you don’t already. Tell your friends to check it out. I just heard that issue #21 is sold out at Diamond, and #22 might have been as well, I don’t recall…which is great, because it means readers are interested and retailers are re-ordering. We’ve had many wonderful retailers supporting us and recommending the book to their customers. So I just wanted to be proactive about getting the word out and hopefully preventing the rumor from going too far. As for social media, I love being able to communicate directly to readers and retailers. It can be a double-edged sword, in that it allows rumors to spread quickly as well, but that’s the world we live in. I definitely prefer it to not being able to communicate with the buying public at all, or in a delayed fashion.

CV NICK: With AA being in the news lately, it has also leaked that Striker will be revealed as a gay character, how long has this been planned, and how did you decide to make such a culturally significant decision?

GAGE: It’s been planned as far back as issue #5. If you look back at that issue there are hints, such as the flashback scene where Striker is surrounded by female groupies provided by Norman Osborn and he has no interest in them whatsoever. What made me want to go in this direction is that, while we have come a long way in having positive depictions of gay youth in popular culture, we have seen fewer examples of kids who are struggling with their sexual identity, and I wanted to explore that. I think there are still a lot of gay youths, especially in more rural areas where they might not personally know any out gay people, who feel conflicted and isolated, and I wanted to say, hey, you’re not alone in this.

CV NICK: How can we expect to see AA used in this summers big Avengers event, which rumor has it they are to feature prominently?

GAGE: You will definitely see Avengers Academy tie in to Avengers Vs. X-Men. Probably in such a way that the kids will come up against X-Men kids. I think it’ll be interesting to see how the kids on both sides react to this conflict that essentially their elders got them into.

CV NICK: Are there any future plans or projects you can let us know about?

GAGE: I’m taking over X-MEN: LEGACY with issue #260.1, which is out very soon! I also write ANGEL & FAITH monthly for Dark Horse, and I have a secret miniseries in the works from Marvel. My original graphic novel SUNSET comes out in the spring from Top Cow, and my wife Ruth and I are working on an original graphic novel for Oni called THE LION OF RORA, which is the true story of her ancestors, a historical epic in the vein of BRAVEHEART.

Thanks again to Christos Gage for his time. Visit him at his website Christosgage.com and follow him on Twitter @Christosgage

Follow Nick on Twitter @NicoSandila

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Review: Scarlet Spider #1 – “All of the Power, None of the Responsibility” Indeed

Roger Riddell

January 12, 2012

Scarlet Spider #1
Writer: Chris Yost
Art: Ryan Stegman, Marte Gracia [Colors] and Michael Babinski [Inks]

The Scarlet Spider was one of the only aspects of the 1990s Spider-Man “Clone Saga” story arc that any fans remembered with much fondness. Originally a clone of Peter Parker named Ben Reilly, Scarlet Spider was basically Spidey’s sidekick through much of the saga and eventually went on to briefly replace Pete as Spider-Man at the story’s conclusion.

Eventually, he was killed by Norman Osborn.

In recent years, another Spider-Man clone, Kaine, returned to comics. A villain and assassin during the clone saga, Kaine was a more powerful, but horridly scarred, clone of Peter who also had precognitive abilities. He was killed a few years ago by Kraven the Hunter during the “Grim Hunt” storyline in Amazing Spider-Man, but revived by the Jackal and the Spider Queen during last year’s “Spider-Island” event. During that same arc, he was healed and essentially became a more exact clone of Peter Parker — with all spider powers except for spider sense, apparently.

He left New York City shortly after, and this book picks up several weeks later as he’s passing through Houston. Though he plans on making it to Mexico, he feels the Avengers — or someone else — are likely on his trail and he constantly doubles back to cover his tracks.

As the book opens, he’s breaking up a Port of Houston smuggling deal that he overheard talk of at a bar he just happened to be at. Kaine isn’t in this to be a hero, though. He just wants the money.

The scene plays out more like a scene from Batman than anything else, with Kaine (sans costume) taking out a few of the smugglers from the shadows before taking out the entire group. From the get-go, it’s made clear that Kaine isn’t a standard issue, friendly neighborhood type.

Overall, the thrust of this issue (and likely this opening story arc) is to establish that Kaine has a new lease on life and to give him a reason to be a hero instead of just a man on the run from his past. Right now, as the book’s cover says, he’s got all of the power and none of the responsibility.

Writer Chris Yost, who has hit previous home runs on books like X-Force, does a solid job of building Kaine’s new status quo throughout this first issue, as well as making readers wonder when they’ll finally see Kaine in the spider suit he’s carrying in his backpack. The art here doesn’t differ too much from what you might see in Amazing Spider-Man, which really helps further the feeling that this is an addition to that “family” of titles.

A little familiarity can’t hurt on a new title, right? I’m onboard for now.

STORY: 8/10
ART: 8/10

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Review: Deadpool #49, “Evil Deadpool” Concludes

Roger Riddell

January 12, 2012

Deadpool #49
Writer: Daniel Way
Art: Salva Espin with Scott Koblish, Colors by Guru eFX

After several months, Daniel Way’s “Evil Deadpool” storyline concludes, revealing even more about the Merc With a Mouth’s character and setting the stage for Deadpool #50‘s “Dead” story arc.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I’m sure you’ve all been asking yourselves, “How can there be an ‘Evil Deadpool’ if the original Deadpool is an assassin who was originally a villain?” [They totally weren’t asking themselves that at all, dude.]

The explanation, of course, is that the real Deadpool doesn’t like killing people and never really did. He wanted to be a hero. The Evil Deadpool, however, had no remorse when it came to flying a plane into a New York City bridge or blowing up a New Jersey taco shack. [Eh…It’s Jersey. That one’s forgivable.]

SHUT UP, BLOG MANIFESTATION OF INTERNAL MONOLOGUE VOICE!

Anyways, the Evil Deadpool’s intention, it turns out, was to show Wade that no matter what he does or how many people he saves, the public will always see him for his actions as an assassin and fear him. Wade already knows that, though, and informs his evil clone that the only thing he sees when he looks at him are all of the parts of himself that he wanted to kill everytime he’s tried to kill himself (Which, remember, is impossible because Deadpool is cursed with immortality and has a healing factor like Wolverine’s).

The previous paragraph is basically the motive behind this entire story arc. Does it work? Sure. It’s a serious plot point baked into a cake of slapstick and irreverence. That’s how this book works, and it’s how the character works best. It’s also why Daniel Way has successfully done 50 issues of this book.

Let’s hope Deadpool (the book and the character) are still around after “Dead.” This is still one of the most consistently enjoyable books on the market.

STORY: 8/10
ART: 8/10

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Review: Wolverine and the X-Men #4, Two New Students Join the School

Roger Riddell

January 12, 2012

Wolverine and the X-Men #4
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Nick Bradshaw and Justin Ponsor [Colors]

One of the best things to come out of the X-Men’s “Regenesis” is a greater amount of cohesion between books in Wolverine’s corner of the Marvel Universe. Wolverine, Uncanny X-Force and Wolverine and the X-Men all directly impact one another, and nowhere is that better evidenced than in Wolverine and the X-Men #4.

In the aftermath of Rick Remender’s “Dark Angel Saga” in Uncanny X-Force, Warren Worthington (aka Angel) had his mind wiped after he was “cured” of being Archangel/Apocalypse. In that same story, Fantomex’s secret experiment — a clone produced from the DNA of the ultimate mutant villain Apocalypse, but nurtured by a loving-but-artificial family — was revealed. Both Angel and the boy, Evan (aka Genesis), were both sent to the Jean Grey School.

Dealing with how the two fit in (or don’t) at the school — and how its headmaster, Wolverine, can also head an elite mutant covert ops squad by night — is the overall focus here.

The faculty meeting in the opening pages provides some of the wittiest dialogue I’ve ever read outside of a Spider-Man book, and “witty” and “Wolverine” are two things you typically wouldn’t expect to go together. But Aaron makes it work, just like he makes the special guest lecture from Deathlok — the cyborg assassin from the future — work to hilarious effect, especially when paired with the quips from problem student Quentin Quire (aka Kid Omega).

Oh, and we finally learn what Wolverine is a professor of — English Lit. Go ahead and imagine that class for a moment…

All isn’t fun and games, though, as Ice Man learns the truth about what happened to Warren (who now believes he is a real angel), Genesis suspects people at the school aren’t telling him something and Deathlok sees a grim possible future where Genesis still becomes Apocalypse. Even other students notice that he kind of resembles Apocalypse, so that’s bound to be broken to the kid at some point.

New artist Nick Bradshaw handles the transition from Chris Bachalo well. If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you know I’m all about facial expressions and body language, and the art here does a lot with that to not only better sell the dialogue and action, but to tell you more about who the characters are, as well.

If you haven’t given the flagship book for “Team Wolverine” a chance yet, now is the time.

STORY: 9/10
ART: 9/10

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REVIEW: Wolverine #300, or is that Wolverine #3000? Dude’s EVERYWHERE.

Roger Riddell

January 12, 2012

Wolverine #300
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Adam Kubert & Paul Mounts [Chapters 1, 4 & 7], Ron Garney & Jason Keith [Chapters 2 & 5], Steve Sanders & Sotocolors [Chapters 3 & 6]

Wolverine #300 doesn’t just mark the return of the series to its original numbering (assuming that’s how Marvel worked this out), it also marks the beginning of Jason Aaron’s final story arc on the book — Wolverine’s return to Japan.

Last issue (Wolverine #20), the stage was set for a war between the Yakuza and the Hand as a result of the Silver Samurai’s death way back in the “Wolverine Goes to Hell” storyline that began in the first issue of this volume of Wolverine. Wolverine’s well-known for being an X-Man and an Avenger, but his history as a samurai (he’s like 200 years old, you know?) is something that some fans may not be up to speed on. This super-sized issue, and the story arc in general, seem to be a great primer on that so far. It features his Japanese love interest, his adopted Japanese daughter, the aforementioned Japanese mafia and ninjas, and the son of the Silver Samurai.

Oh, and Sabretooth is back from the dead. How this happened has yet to be explained, but if the teasers for next issue (and 2012 in general) are any indication, there will be answers soon.

Overall, this is exactly the kind of story fans of the Ol’ Canucklehead have come to know and love. It strikes the right balance of ultra-violence and pulp fun — see the in-flight fight between Wolverine and a plane full of ninjas in the opening pages, or Sabretooth with a jetpack, for example — rounded out with smart dialogue and solid writing. There are really only two or three spots in the book where the story seems to jump around inexplicably (when the Yakuza approach Sabretooth in the Japanese brothel, and when Wolverine and Sabretooth are suddenly in the Hand temple after being in an underground tunnel), but considering the amount of action condensed into this issue, it’s somewhat forgivable. Although, I did find myself checking to see if my copy was missing pages like a recent issue of Secret Avengers I purchased…

The art remains solid throughout, as well, which is surprising given the three art teams that worked on this issue. I didn’t even realize three teams of artists worked on this issue until I looked at the credits again afterwords. It’s almost that seamless, although the Steve Sanders and Sotocolors chapters are noticeably more polished than the others.

Like the main story, the back-up story — which presumably teases the upcoming “Sabretooth Reborn” story by Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi — also left me wanting to see what happens next.

Overall, a solid 300th issue — if it really is the actual issue 300.

STORY: 8.5/10
ART: 8.5/10

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Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer S.09 #5 “A Really Gross Hickey…”

Matthew Sardo

January 12, 2012

Buffy the Vampire Slayer S.09 #5
Writer: Andrew Chambliss
Art: Karl Malone and Andy Owens
Cover: Steve Morris

Issue five of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a stand alone tale within Season Nine of the series. Artist Karl Malone substitutes as penciler, with regular series penciler, George Jeanty, returning next issue. Writer, Andrew Chambliss, puts a lot of new cogs and devices into play and drastically changes Buffy’s up and coming status quo. All exciting concepts awaiting to be fleshed out within this new series.

Surprisingly, this issue does not pickup issue fours cliffhanger; as “Freefall” arc’s villian, Severin. in defeat gains an unexpected yet familiar ally. Instead, this issue begins with our slayer experiencing strange reoccurring dreams. Remember the first slayer, dressed in tribal rags and face paint… usually has the stance of a Lowland Gorilla?… Well she’s back to once again harass Buffy’s subconscious while bearing cryptic messages about B’s future. She reveals that there may still be power contained in Buffy’s broken scythe (a legendary artifact to be passed down the slayer line), but is Buffy the one capable of accessing it?? You’ll have to pick up this issue to get the rest of the goods, as all this occurs within the first six pages, and you truly cannot pass up the cliffhanger, especially if you call yourself a fan of the Buffyverse.

Stand-in artists, Malone and Owens, craft a grounded and fluent presentation. Not quite the detail Karl Malone’s proven in the past, for example: Joss Whedon’s slayer of the future “Fray” and Frays arc within Season Eight was also pencilled with greater detail by Malone. As the backgrounds suffer most, his facial expressions are expressive as ever and accents Adrew Chambliss’ shocking story beats well. Also worth mentioning art wise, is Steve Morris’ beautiful with a touch whimsy cover art. He has been producing imaginative covers for “Buffy” and “Angel and Faith” since the beginning and I can only hope he’s in it for the long haul!

I’m very much enjoying Chambliss’ interpretations of our slayer as he hits Whedon-esq moments pretty flawlessly. It’s an incredibly important style that any writer must perfect before jumping into any Buffy character. With the events of Season Eight, primarily with the destruction of the life seed and Giles unfortunate end, we have a much smaller cast as must of the Scooby Gang is A) Dead or B) trying to live out the rest of their lives as normally as possible. That means we get a lot of Buffy time and that is a good thing.

Andrew Chambliss puts a lot into play for the series future and I’m finally feeling the excitement and the building momentum of Season Nine. The cliffhanger at the end of this issue opens the door for the series to crash head first into Christopher Gage’s “Angel and Faith” book. If you are by some odd chance reading “Buffy” but not “Angel and Faith”, I’ll have to kindly ask you to head to your local comic book shop and pick them up as they have been consistently enjoyable starting with issue one. And it also picks up heavily from the fallout of Buffy Season Eight. I’m ecstatic at the idea of the inevitable crossover between these two series!

Make Mine Whedon!

Story: 8
Art: 7.5

Also Recommended this Week:

Magneto: Not a Hero #3 – Magneto battles Josephs cloned version of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!
Wolverine and the X-Men #4 – The fallout of “The Dark Angel Saga” has dramatic repercussions on the Jean Grey institute!
Batgirl #5 – To save the life of Bruce Wayne…

Follow me on Twitter @Ddsuperbatnix

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Review: Carnage U.S.A. #2, I’m Slowly Forgetting That ‘Maximum Carnage’ Ever Happened…

Roger Riddell

January 12, 2012

Carnage U.S.A. #2
Writer: Zeb Wells
Art: Clayton Crain

The Carnage symbiote, after devouring all of the cattle in the Midwest town of Doverton’s meat packing plant to increase its mass, has taken a small town hostage via its water supply for its host — the psychotic mass murderer Cletus Kasady. A team of Avengers including Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye and the Thing, in an attempt to put an end to the terror, were compromised and placed under the symbiote’s influence with the exception of Spider-Man, who has found refuge among a group of the town’s survivors.

What’s the government to do, aside from, you know, napalming the town and everyone in it to contain the disaster?

They put together a task force of their own symbiotes, of course. Unfortunately for Uncle Sam, however, heavy hitters like Venom (AWOL — See current issues of Venom), Anti-Venom (Inactive — See recent “Spider-Island” event story in Amazing Spider-Man) and Toxin (Missing — You’re on your own here, kids) are unavailable.

That’s not to say there are no options whatsoever. After all, a new symbiote (Scorn, aka Dr. Tanis Nieves) was “born” in Zeb Wells’ first Carnage mini-series last year. And it turns out that symbiote is a hybrid of symbiote and machine, allowing Nieves to “form sympathetic bonds with technology.” (Yeah, I had a hard time suspending disbelief for the whole ‘hyrbid of organic creature and machine’ bit, too, but this is a comic book, so deal with it.)

Don’t think Scorn is going to the dance alone, though. Back in the swingin’ symbiote heyday that was the 1990s and early 2000s, there was another symbiote called Hybrid (though I can’t recall at the moment which symbiote it was an offspring of…Who do I look like, the Maury of comicdom?). It was an amalgam of 4 different symbiotes, though it was — as conveniently explained in four pages of this issue — “de-amalgamated” to be put to use by a four-member special forces group, a by-product of the success (or lack thereof) of “Project Venom.”

Each member of this special forces group trained its symbiote, rendered catatonic by the aforementioned “de-amalgamation” — to serve a specific purpose in the battlefield. The coolest of the bunch? A symbiote bonded to a military dog called Lasher.

Anyways, that’s enough synopsis babble. You want the details and whether or not this is worth your hard-earned $3.99 (or less, if your local comic shop offers discounts to regulars like mine does).

If you love Carnage, darker Spider-Man stories, Zeb Wells’ writing, Clayton Crain’s art or all of the above, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”

Wells, who I praised briefly in my review of this week’s Amazing Spider-Man #677, really gets how to handle a dark Spider-Man story and manages to make Carnage a deeper, somewhat-more-interesting character while he’s at it. (The guy is creepily longing for a family! It’s…mildly disturbing and minutely sympathy-inducing…) I know I give Wells a ton of praise on his regular Avenging Spider-Man series for being a fun, light-hearted Spidey team-up book, but these dark stories are where he really hits the ball out of the park. Again, I hope Dan Slott stays on the flagship Amazing Spider-Man for as long as possible, but if he ever leaves, I want to see Wells get the job.

Once again, Clayton Crain’s individually painted panels really fit the tone of the story. I know people who complain that he doesn’t have much detail in his backgrounds, and maybe that’s part of why this story was set in a tiny Midwest town, but it’s the characters that really make the story. The facial expressions on the townspeople alone really drive home the despair of the situation.

Two issues into this five-part mini-series and, unlike the majority of Carnage stories from the ’90s, I’m not hoping it ends yet — especially now that a private zoo stocked with lions, gorillas and other wildlife was briefly mentioned this issue. Like that’s totally not going to come into play later on…

Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10

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Review: Amazing Spider-Man #677, What Was That Saying About Cats and Bad Luck Again?

Roger Riddell

January 11, 2012

Amazing Spider-Man #677
Writer: Mark Waid
Art: Emma Rios & Javier Rodriguez [Colors]

Though I enjoyed the vast majority of “Brand New Day,” there were always three writers during that era of Amazing Spider-Man that I hoped would get the permanent gig when the book inevitably became a one-writer publication again. The obvious first choice was Dan Slott. The other two were current Avenging Spider-Man scribe Zeb Wells and acclaimed Daredevil writer Mark Waid.

That said, it’s a pleasure to see Waid handling this two-part Daredevil crossover story, “The Devil and the Details,” while Slott catches up on the scripting for (I assume) his big Doc Ock event story that kicks off in a few months.

At the beginning of Amazing Spider-Man #677, Spidey (who is still lamenting his break-up with forensic investigator uber-babe Carlie Cooper) runs into Black Cat and — awkwardly — goes about trying to score a rebound with his old friend-with-benefits. Unfortunately, smelling of desperation and Axe body spray (which are one and the same) doesn’t get you very far, and Pete is left to sulk alone on New York’s rooftops while Black Cat returns home to…Be arrested?

It turns out that Felicia (or someone imitating her) was caught on video burgling a prototype “H-Phone” from Horizon Labs, and there’s only one thing that can clear her name — a terrific team-up in the mighty Marvel manner!

Sensing that something is amiss, Spidey consults his old pal, legal counsel, and New Avengers teammate Daredevil to help him get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately, for all their investigating, cracking wise and constantly trying to one-up each other, things might not be as they seem with the theft-prone Ms. Hardy.

Overall, Waid delivers a fantastic first part to this story, providing a nice reminder of what made his previous work on the book great and exemplifying why his run on Daredevil appeared on so many “best of” lists for 2011. The dialogue is clever and well-written, and interactions between characters are sold even more by the body language conveyed in Emma Rios’ art. Not to mention that this issue had a cliffhanger ending that I didn’t see coming from a mile away for a change.

I can’t wait to see how this ends next week in Daredevil #8, although I’m worried I’ll end up adding yet another book to my pull list before this is over with.

Story: 9/10
Art: 9/10

[amazon_link id=”B006UG5N7I” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]BUY Amazing Spider-Man #677 on Amazon![/amazon_link]

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Review: Witchblade #151 : A New Era for Sara Begins in Chicago

Matthew Sardo

January 6, 2012

Witch Blade #151

Story by: Tim Seeley

Art By: Diego Bernard

Review Score: 7.5/10

I will start of by saying that I’ve never read Witch Blade before so I decided to check out Top Cow’s Rebirth / Relaunch of the character . This issue manages to be a great starting point for new readers while establishing its history and direction to fans of the book in the past . Seeley chooses to use Eddie Estacado aka The Darkness to catch the readers up to speed and sets up some plot threads that should play out nicely as the book progresses.

Seeley being a local Chicago writer decided to Move Sara from New York to Chicago and it works really well . The reasoning thus far is because the Witchblade has decided this is where she needs to be which is fine for the first issue . What works really well is the city itself . Seeley uses real locations around town (Sara lives above the Green Mill and follows a lead that brings her to Club NEO) which is really fun for someone who also has been to both locations. He also creates a more realistic take on Sara that feels natural and not forced. Seeley writes Sara as a strong character who has more than a few insecurities which makes for a complex character thus far. As I read further into the issue I was interested in seeing how Sara was going to end up getting out of the mess she stumbled into.

Diego Bernard does a good job in his first issue . He uses photo references for his exterior shots . The Green Mill has its trade mark neon sign and the layout inside of NEO as well as the alley way is accurate . He draws Sara / Witch Blade the way most would expect her to look and has a nice sense of direction with the last few pages of action. I will say his strongest work is in the Prologue pages involving The Darkness and the 13 Weapons of Fate.

If you’re a fan of Witch Blade and live in Chicago this is definitely going to be a fun and rewarding book to read. If you’ve been following Witch Blade for a while now the new direction Tim Seeley and Diego Bernard are taking the series in should prove an exciting and fun start for the character.

Mike DeVivo

Follow me on Twitter @pandasandrobots

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