Tag Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

A Poison Ivy #10 Micro-Review – Gwendolyn Caltrope?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Poison Ivy 10, cover, March 2023, Jessica FongTITLE: Poison Ivy #10
AUTHOR: G. Willow Wilson
ARTISTS: Marcio Takara, Arif Prianto (Colorist), Hassan-Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer). Cover by Jessica Fong. 
RELEASED: March 7, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

There’s a character in this issue named Gwendolyn Caltrope who’s sort of a health business magnate, that runs a company called “Glop.” I’m fairly certain that’s the only time Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop have been parodied in a superhero comic. I kind of love it.

By this point we’ve met a companion character for Ivy in Janet. She’s too new at this point to be much more than a sort of perky stock character, almost like domesticated Harley Quinn. But the interplay between she and Ivy is fun.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Poison Ivy #9 Micro-Review – A Visit From Harley

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

**This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Poison Ivy 9, cover, February 2023, Jessica FongTITLE: Poison Ivy #9
AUTHOR: G. Willow Wilson
ARTISTS: Marcio Takara, Arif Prianto (Colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer). Cover by Jessica Fong.
RELEASED: February 7, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This is my least favorite issue of Poison Ivy yet. While it may be blasphemous to some, I simply don’t buy into the idea of Ivy and Harley Quinn as a couple. Oddball best friends? Sure. But a couple? The loves of one another’s lives? No. Just not my flavor of ice cream. And yet, this series leans into it. So I suppose it’s a matter of taking the good with the bad.

I will say that the inherent sensuality in Takara and Prianto’s work here makes all the romance stuff more effective. Theoretically, at least.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Poison Ivy #8 Micro-Review – Making a Villain into a Hero

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Poison Ivy 8, cover, January 2023, Jessica FongTITLE: Poison Ivy #8
AUTHOR: G. Willow Wilson
ARTISTS: Atagun Ilhan, Arif Prianto & Ivan Plascencia (Colorists), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer). Cover by Jessica Fong.
RELEASED: January 3, 2023

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

One thing G. Willow Wilson has proven on this series is that she knows how to cast Poison Ivy, who is traditionally a villain, as a hero. Wilson casts her as a feminist force of nature (literally) who faces abusers and heartless corporations. She does the latter in this issue, which contains some pretty poignant dialogue about what employers expect from people, and what we give to them.

Ivy starts this issue in a deformed and monstrous state that’s wonderfully drawn and colored. It was hard not to shudder just looking at it.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Poison Ivy #7 Micro-Review – Plant-Based Justice

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Poison Ivy 7, cover, December 2022, Jessica FongTITLE: Poison Ivy #7
AUTHOR: G. Willow Wilson
ARTISTS: Atagun Ilhan, Arif Prianto (Colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer). Cover by Jessica Fong.

RELEASED: December 6, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

This is the kind of issue one might picture when thinking about a Poison Ivy series. Our antiheroine taking on a big fracking cooperation with her own brand of plant-based justice. A predictable route to take? Perhaps. But it’s no less satisfying because of it.

Seven issues in, Ivy has settled into her own series quite nicely. I’m very curious to see how much longevity it has compared to, say, the recent Joker series, which lasted 15 issues.

Awesome cover by Jessica Fong. Probably my personal favorite she’s done for this series.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Poison Ivy #6 Micro-Review – Billions Selling Band-Aids

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Poison Ivy 6, cover, 2022, Jessica FongTITLE: Poison Ivy #6
AUTHOR: G. Willow Wilson
ARTISTS: Marcio Takara, Brian Level, Jay Leisten (Co-Inker), Arif Prianto (Colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Cover by Jessica Fong.

RELEASED: November 1, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

“This planet is too far gone to save, Pamela. It needs a revolution, but all it wants is a Band-Aid. So we might as well make billions selling Band-Aids.”

That’s a little dialogue from Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man. Somehow it’s both insightful and villainous.

Actually, there are few great quotes like that in this issue. It’s one of Wilson’s strongest. She’s mindset she’s giving Ivy is very right for the character: That if heroes can’t bring Earth back from the brink of ecological doom, then perhaps a villain can…

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

An Above Snakes #4 Micro-Review – Diving into the Core

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Above Snakes 4, cover, 2022, Hayden ShermanTITLE: Above Snakes #4 (of 5)
AUTHOR: Sean Lewis
ARTISTS: Hayden Sherman, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer)

RELEASED: October 19, 2022

Above Snakes continues to display its rugged and bloody charm, along with its delightfully vulgar sense of humor. But things take more of an emotional turn this issue, as we dive into the core of the story.

Above Snakes is, as much as anything else, a story of a man seeking justice and vengeance…though not necessarily in that order. This issue sees our main character, Dirt, look his goal straight in the face. But of course, it’s never as simple as just pulling the trigger, is it?

I’ll be sad to see this one end next month.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Poison Ivy #5 Micro-Review – Evil Groot?

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Poison Ivy 5, cover, 2022, Jessica FongTITLE: Poison Ivy #5
AUTHOR: G. Willow Wilson
ARTISTS: Marcio Takara, Brian Level, Stefano Gaudiano (Co-Inker), Arif Priano (Colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer). Cover by Jessica Fong.

RELEASED: October 4, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

I promise, the villain in this issue isn’t evil Groot. Even though from the cover it kind of looks like an evil version of Groot. (It’s actually Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man.)

In all seriousness, this issue largely feels like an abuse victim (Ivy) going back and confronting her abuser (Woodrue) after many years. It’s empowering for Ivy in that sense, albeit also very…floral?

Takara’s and Prianto’s art still has that sensual quality too it, even in a story without any sensuality in it. It’s as good a fit for Poison Ivy as any art I’ve ever seen.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Sword of Azrael #3 Micro-Review – A Hero’s Mental Anguish

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Sword of Azrael 3, cover, 2022, Nikola Cizmesija, Romulo Fajardo Jr.TITLE: Sword of Azrael #3
AUTHOR: Dan Watters
ARTISTS: Nikola Cizmesija, Marissa Louise (Colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer). Cover by Cizmesija & Romulo Fajardo Jr.

RELEASED: October 4, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

There’s a great page in this issue that depicts Jean-Paul Valley’s inner struggle with Azrael. The line work is great. But what really makes it pop are Marissa Louise’s colors. She gives  us a blaze of clashing hues that wonderfully depict our hero’s mental anguish.

Speaking of anguish, we see some dead bodies in this issue that have been hacked up by Azrael’s flaming sword. Call me a sick man, but I kind of like that. It shows us there are consequences when he lights up that sword and starts going to town.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

Above Snakes #3 Micro-Review – “Ugly Sticks”

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Above Snakes 3, cover, 2022, Hayden ShermanTITLE: Above Snakes #3 (of 5)
AUTHOR: Sean Lewis
ARTISTS: Hayden Sherman, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou (Letterer)

RELEASED: September 14, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

Sean Lewis has a way with words that suits this book very well. For instance, we open this issue with our main character Dirt trying to “wash the ugly off me.” But it doesn’t work…

“Ugly sticks,” he says.

I like that. Poetic and true.

What is it about talking animal sidekicks? Dirt and his imaginary talking bird friend Speck have some funny interplay in this book. The bird is trying to get laid. Go figure.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.

A Sword of Azrael #2 Micro-Review – Azrael vs. Vengeance, Round One

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***This is where we keep it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Straight, concise, and to the point.***

Sword of Azrael 2, cover, 2022, Nikola Cizmesija, Romulo Fajardo JrTITLE: Sword of Azrael #2 (of 6)
AUTHOR: Dan Watters
ARTISTS: Nikola Cizmesija, Marissa Louise (Colorist), Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Cover by Cizmesija & Romulo Fajardo Jr.
RELEASED: September 6, 2022

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

The theme in this book of religion and spirituality being used as a tool of manipulation is poignant. I can appreciate a book where a religious hero is willing to acknowledge its uses for more sinister purposes.

Azrael and Vengeance, Bane’s daughter, mix it up in the early part of this issue. The fight is short, but pretty sweet. I’ve got high hopes we’ll see them go at it again in the near future.

Email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com, or check us out on Twitter.