Geekquality.com

We’re No. 1! is a weekly feature looking at first issues in new comic series, as well as one-offs and special releases. In his reviews, Jeff highlights stories with diverse characters and plot lines Geekquality readers can care about, as well as points out comics that miss the mark.

Great stuff happening this week, beginning with the grand endeavor that is Legends of Red Sonja #1! Writer Gail Simone’s recent work on Red Sonja’s ongoing series from Dynamite Comics has been pretty fantastic, and she’s helping create a second series for the She Devil with a Sword. This book brings together some of the great female writers in science fiction & fantasy literature and comics to tell short tales of Red Sonja’s adventures, set in a frame narrative by Simone and artist Jack Jadson. In the first issue Nancy A. Collins (author of the Sonja Blue vampire novels) and artist Noah Salonga create a thriller about Sonja versus a werewolf cult, followed by beloved Batman writer Devin Kalile Grayson’s swashbuckling tale of high seas adventure with artist Carla Speed McNeil. The ongoing series will feature other contributors, including YA fantasy legend Tamora Pierce and dark romance novelist Maljean Brooks. To see women collaborating on such an iconic female hero is all kinds of exciting, and the book itself holds up to that promise. Red Sonja rarely holds back, of course, and these tales of adventure feature all the violence and stubborn charm that Sonja has embodied over the years. The frame tale of twelve killers hunting Sonja for revenge seems a little simplistic at first, but each character here clearly has their motives for wanting the barbarian warrior’s head on a plate, and hopefully the rest will be as fully explored as those from the first issue. This is a book to watch and collect, for fans of both comics and the featured authors as well. Continue reading →

We’re No. 1! is a weekly feature looking at first issues in new comic series, as well as one-offs and special releases. In his reviews, Jeff highlights stories with diverse characters and plot lines Geekquality readers can care about, as well as points out comics that miss the mark.

To call this week’s crop of #1s a mixed bag would be a disservice to mixed bags, whatever they are. Reading this week’s books was like digging through the bottom of Halloween candy about ten days after the big event. All the good stuff is gone and you’re left with the “meh” candy, perfectly fine but not outstanding in any way. For example, the much anticipated return of Neil Gaiman to his master creation had the Twitterverse buzzing. However, The Sandman Overture #1 from Vertigo proved to be just acceptable. While the art from the genius J.H. Williams III is beautiful and complex, the tale leaves something to be desired, especially if you aren’t a regular reader of the series. (I admit I am not.) The book is quite convoluted for new readers, and the dreamy aesthetic, while pretty to look at, made it hard to follow or to keep my attention. Continue reading →

We’re No. 1! is a weekly feature looking at first issues in new comic series, as well as one-offs and special releases. In his reviews, Jeff highlights stories with diverse characters and plot lines Geekquality readers can care about, as well as points out comics that miss the mark.

The internet has been abuzz about two of the big releases out this week from Image, and neither title disappointed. Pretty Deadly #1, from writer Kelly Sue Deconnick (Captain Marvel, Ghost) and artist Emma Rios (Osbourne, Hexed), has generated a lot of early interest and the book delivers on several levels. It’s a Western, at least in setting, but the narrative has a dreamy, fantastical quality that moves it beyond being just a good shoot-em up. Pretty Deadly is the story of Deathface Ginny, a vengeful spirit and the daughter of Death himself, who rides the plains bringing vengeance to those who deserve it. Ginny might be the focus, but she’s part of a bigger tapestry. Her tale is told by two traveling performers: an old blind man named Fox and a little girl called Sissy, dressed in a robe made of vulture feathers. They enact Ginny’s story as they travel from town to town, collecting a little cash at each performance, but there is more to these wandering minstrels than meets the eye. Bone Bunny (an actual dead rabbit), in turn, is telling Fox and Sissy’s harrowing tale of gunfights and adventure to a butterfly, and both layers of engaging, dreamlike narration hold the heart of the story in their hands. There is gritty Western action and great dialogue, and the beautifully mystical artwork by Rios helps the poetic narrative ascend beyond mere action-adventure. While Pretty Deadly isn’t the powerhouse of feminist ass-kickery that DeConnick’s Captain Marvel has been, it’s a fantastic book about women by women, which we can’t get enough of, ever. But beyond that, after two readings of the first issue I was struck by what ELSE Pretty Deadly is: it’s damned scary. Continue reading →

We’re No. 1! is a weekly feature looking at first issues in new comic series, as well as one-offs and special releases. In his reviews, Jeff highlights stories with diverse characters and plot lines Geekquality readers can care about, as well as points out comics that miss the mark.

“Indie” publishers hit the ground hard this week with new #1’s, beginning with Letter 44 from Oni Press. Stephen Blades is the President-Elect of the United States, succeeding two-term President Francis T. Carroll. Blades was elected to get the country out of Carroll’s overseas wars and he is ready to get the country on the right track. All that changes on his first day in office when her gets a secret letter from his predecessor. It turns out that NASA has discovered unknown alien technology in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and the agency has been preparing for a possible invasion by rushing soldiers into combat and moving technology into R&D. What’s more, a mission to observe the alien construction was secretly launched three years prior and is days away from arrival at the site. The book is a farcical look at the possible interplay of real world politics and interplanetary discovery and/or catastrophe, and while sometimes humorous, I’m not sure that was the writer’s intent. Written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque, the book has obvious parallels to the U.S. President Obama inherited 8 years ago. Soule has fun poking about in the possibilities and conspiracies loved by government watchdogs, fanboys and theorists. What if the continued policies of the government (like the programs conducted by the NSA under both Pres. Bush and Pres. Obama’s watch) are part of a grander undertaking, something beyond the perceived understanding of the public? The tale says a lot about who we are and who we might be, a nation unprepared to deal with such a monumental discovery. The characters in the book are all dealing with it in unusual ways themselves, from Pres. Blades’ disbelief one moment and unwavering patriotism the next, to the fatalist ideals of the astronauts after a three year voyage and discovery of the alien site. Even with all that grandiose posturing and layered political commentary, Letter 44 doesn’t forget to be a comic book. The final page pay-off is one of the better comic book moments in the last few months. Continue reading →