Tag Year of the Villain

Weekly Comic 100s: Shazam!, Killadelphia, MMPR

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

***”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Nothing too in-depth here. Just straight, concise, and to the point.***

***Author’s Note: If I display a variant cover, it’s because I purchased the issue in question with that cover.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Shazam! #8
AUTHOR: Geoff Johns
ARTISTS: Scott Kolins, Michael Atiyeh (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer). Variant cover by Michael Cho.
RELEASED: November 27, 2019

I’ve always admired the firm grasp Geoff Johns has on the less renowned DC characters like Green Lantern, the Teen Titans, and now Shazam. He can do anything…except get these books to come out on time.

This issue misses Dale Eaglesham, whose pencils have provided the sense of fun, adventure, and fantasy elements that define this book’s identity. Still, Scott Kolins is more than serviceable, especially during the scenes in the undead “Darklands” realm. Michael Atiyeh makes them very interesting from a color contrast standpoint. It’s like this bright red superhero has stepped into an old Universal monster movie.

TITLE: Killadelphia #1
AUTHOR: Rodney Barnes
ARTISTS: Jason Shawn Alexander, LuisNCT (Colorist), Marshall Dillon (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 27, 2019

I mean, c’mon. The title alone makes this worth a look.

If you’re into the stuff Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips do, you’ll like Killadelphia. Or at least this first issue. It’s got a great pulp-noir-meets-horror feel. A second generation cop investigates the most bizarre case his famous father ever worked. What he uncovers is, as the book itself puts it, “There are vampires in Philadelphia.”

Best page in the book? When our main character opens a door, sees a bunch of vampires hanging from the ceiling, and runs away in terror when they give chase…

TITLE: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #45
AUTHOR: Ryan Parrott
ARTISTS: Daniele Di Nicuolo, Walter Baiamonte (Colorist), Katia Ranalli & Igor Monti (Color Assistants), Ed Dukeshire (Letterer). Cover by Jamal Campbell.
RELEASED: November 27, 2019

“Necessary Evil” progresses nicely with a great “heel turn” this month. Parrott and Di Nicuolo are usually my guys as far as PR comics go. But one particular moment felt wrong…

There’s a scene where Zordon, talking to the Red Omega Ranger (Does he know it’s Jason?), says that Lord Zedd is formidable, yet “an adversary I was confident that they could handle.” While I’m sure this isn’t how Parrott meant this, that makes it sound like Zordon considers Zedd more of a nuisance than a threat. Didn’t he originally describe Zedd’s arrival as “the thing I have feared most”?

TITLE: Action Comics #1017
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis
ARTISTS: John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson (Inker), Brad Anderson (Colorist), Dave Sharpe (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 27, 2019

On page one, panel one, we get a big dumb Batman robot suit. For me, that’s about the worst way to start an issue of anything.

This issue does a nice job forwarding the “Invisible Mafia” story as it crosses over with the “Year of the Villain” stuff. It looks like we’ve got a big Justice League vs. Legion of Doom fight coming at us next time.

Justice League hasn’t been on my pull list since “YOTV” started. *sigh* I suppose I should probably catch up if I’m going to fully grasp what’s happening with Lex  and the gang.

TITLE: Detective Comics #1016
AUTHOR: Peter Tomasi
ARTISTS: Doug Mahnke, Tyler Kirkham (Co-Penciller and Co-Inker), Christian Alamy (Co-Inker), Keith Champagne (Co-Inker), Mark Irwin (Co-Inker), David Baron, (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 27, 2019

Ugh. There’s another stupid modified Batsuit in this issue. What happened to the Hellbat armor Tomasi used in Batman & Robin and Superman? Wouldn’t a modified version have worked here?

Bad costume notwithstanding, I love the way this Victor/Nora story ends. “A vicious circle,” as Batman calls it. Tomasi also works in an amazing callback to a New 52 event. Continuity, ladies and gentlemen. Use it well, and it’ll do wonders for you.

This story leaves Mr. Freeze’s status quo dramatically altered. Now it’s just a question of how long DC keeps it that way.

Follow Primary Ignition on Twitter, or email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com.

Weekly Comic 100s: Event Leviathan, Family Tree, Power Rangers

Rob Siebert Leave a comment

*”Weekly Comic 100s” keeps it nice and simple. Comic book reviews in 100 words or less. Nothing too in-depth here. Just straight, concise, and to the point.***

By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

TITLE: Event Leviathan #6
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis
ARTISTS: Alex Maleev, Josh Reed (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

So Leviathan turns out to be [name redacted for spoilers’ sake]…

Who the @#$% is that?

I’m always annoyed when big mystery comics do this. They build the bad guy’s identity up for weeks and weeks and weeks…and then it’s somebody we have to go to Wikipedia to learn about. *head on table*

Event Leviathan was a fun, suspenseful read, with some fun ideas. All the secret organizations (A.R.G.U.S., Task Force X, etc) being shut down, detectives from across the DC Universe coming together. But they really needed to stick the landing here. They didn’t.

TITLE: Superman #17
AUTHOR: Brian Michael Bendis
ARTISTS: Kevin Maguire, Paul Mounts (Colorist), Dave Sharpe (Letterer). Cover by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Alex Sinclair.
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

I’m always happy to find a Kevin Maguire book in my weekly stack. Though some of the sillier expressions we get here don’t necessarily mesh with the foreboding tone the issue seems to be going for.

The issue is titled “The Truth: Prologue.” They never specifically learn what said truth is. But I’m hoping it’s not what it looks like. If it is, we may be headed toward a rehash of the New Krypton storyline they did about a decade ago. If that’s the case, then I’m leaving Superman on the stands for awhile.

TITLE: Family Tree #1
AUTHOR: Jeff Lemire
ARTISTS: Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur (Inker), Ryan Cody (Colorist)
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

I imagine the pitch for this must have been simply, “Girl becomes tree.” In the end, that’s all you need, isn’t it? Like “Weekly Comic 100s,” it’s straight and to the point.

But to their credit, Jeff Lemire, Phil Hester, and the Family Tree team got me to care about these characters. I consider that a pretty big achievement, as this premise could have come off comical. I’m not sure if it was enough to hook me for issue #2. But I’m definitely curious…

TITLE: Go Go Power Rangers #25
AUTHORS: Ryan Parrott, Sina Grace
ARTISTS: Francesco Mortarino, Raul Angulo (Colorist), Ed Dukeshire (Letterer). Cover by J Lou.
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

This “Necessary Evil” storyline between Go Go and the main MMPR book is essentially the BOOM! crew’s take on why Jason, Zack, and Trini really left during season two, and what they were doing. It’s obviously a better story than the show could tell us at that time.

I love the respect this book shows for the show. It takes place during the events of “White Light, Part I.” At one point, it briefly depicts a scene from that episode, and makes a point of using the actual dialogue that’s in the show. Those little details mean so much sometimes…

TITLE: Detective Comics #1015
AUTHOR: Peter Tomasi
ARTISTS: Doug Mahnke, Jose Luis, Christian Alamy (Co-Inker), Keith Champagne (Co-Inker), Mark Irwin (Co-Inker), Matt Santorelli (Co-Inker), David Baron (Colorist), Rob Leigh (Letterer). Cover by Paul Pantalena and Arif Prianto
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

I’m a huge Peter Tomasi fan. But he and Doug Mahnke have had far better outings.

This “Nora Fries becomes evil” story has been done before. All in all, this may be a better story when it comes to the Mr. Freeze/Nora dynamic. But Batman spends most of this issue in the cave with Alfred and Lucius Fox standing in front of computers talking comic book science. Not exactly thrilling reading.

Later, we get a Batman trope that I absolutely loathe: The Dark Knight in some kind of armored/robot suit. Better luck next time, gentlemen.

TITLE: Star Wars #74
AUTHOR: Greg Pak
ARTISTS: Phil Noto, Clayton Cowles (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

This issue has Stormtroopers riding dinosaurs. That alone might be worth the cover price.

You’d think a Vader vs. Chewbacca fight wouldn’t actually last that long. (Remember the first level in The Force Unleashed?) But this issue actually does a great job selling it. It’s only two pages, mind you. But the right guy wins, and it’s a great character moment for Chewie.

Someone else who gets a character moment? C-3PO. And you can argue his is actually the better of the two. No joke.

TITLE: Collapser #5
AUTHORS: Mikey Way, Shaun Simon
ARTISTS: Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter (Colorist), Simon Bowland (Letterer)
RELEASED: November 13, 2019

Firstly, love the hat-tip to Superman #1.

I was contemplating dropping Collapser, as it seemed to be getting away from the main character’s ongoing struggle with anxiety. But in this issue, it re-asserts itself in a big way. So once again, Collapser has my full attention.

One element that’s been consistent, however, is Ilias Kyriazis’ art. This stuff is gloriously trippy and bizarre. I’m always anxious to see what he’s going to pull out of the hat next.

Follow Primary Ignition on Twitter, or email Rob at primaryignition@yahoo.com.