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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 best of this week’s new series, Dynamite Comics The Blood Queen #1, was a big surprise based on the cover. The image evokes some of the horrors of Zenescope’s most reviled work, but the story itself turned out to be something very different indeed. Written by Troy Brownfield with art by Fritz Casas, the book is a fantasy epic loosely based on the notorious Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Here, Elizabeth is a magical healer brought to the court of the king to cure his sick child. She is seemingly ignorant of the ways of Court life, but it’s soon revealed to be quite the ruse. Elizabeth is able to break the blood magic cast upon the baby and find the villain who cursed the child, ingratiating herself to the King and his servants, in particular the “handsome” knight Sir Ferenc and the King’s adviser Jon Hunter. She is at times flirtatious and beguiling, often brave in battle, and sometimes feigns innocence of the ways of the world. It’s this depth of character that makes Elizabeth so interesting. I finished the first issue unsure if she is the protagonist or the antagonist, and that mystery is one of the reasons to return to the book’s next issue. Elizabeth is a great character: strong and capable to be sure, but with her own agency, especially when it comes to her sexuality and her body. She’s often depicted as the buxom maiden, as is common in fantasy literature, but her allure is one of the many weapons in her arsenal, and she wields it with aplomb. 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.

Though misses and near misses could categorize this week, we’ll start off with one pretty big hit: Princess Ugg #1 from Oni Press, written and delightfully drawn by Ted Naifeh. Princess Ülga, her full name, is the young daughter of the King of the mountain land Grimmeria. A child of no more than 12, she’s being sent “to school” by her mother for the first time, “to school” meaning into battle with barbarians. Her warrior mother raised Ülga as a warrior herself, but as she grows up, her mother seems to have left her. She heads down the mountain to the nearby valley kingdom to learn all she can, for herself and the betterment of her people. The valley kingdom itself is practically a Disney movie, complete with self-absorbed princesses worried about soiling their “third best dress.” Ugg doesn’t have a dress to her name, merely swords, axes, and a faithful shaggy mammoth named Snorri. It’s fair to say she’s out of place is no misstep, but the local palace guards are outmatched by Ülga. Her rambunctious ways lead her to a rousing battle, good-natured though it may be, and land her at the feet of the local queen and eventually in what amounts to Princess School. How she’ll get on with her classmates is for future issues, but hopefully it won’t all lead to an “ugly duckling” scenario. Ülga proves on every page of the first issue that she’s exactly who she needs to be: a tough, confident, intelligent, and practical young woman. She also has a vulnerable side, as her mother’s disappearance is an understated but clearly motivating factor in her journey. Princess Ugg is a comic aimed at younger readers, and ultimately a fantastic reminder to all young girls that they can be whatever type of Princess they choose, or not be one at all. That strong core of self-determination will hopefully remain Ülga’s – and Naifeh’s – guiding star. 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 famed British anthology 2000AD debuted a new limited series, collecting one of their finest stories with Ian Edgington and I.N.J. Culbard’s Brass Sun #1. Wren is a young woman who lives in The Orrery, a clockwork solar system where whole planets spin on vast metal arms and the Sun is built of millions of cogs. But these cogs are slowly winding down, and the outer planets are freezing and dying, one by one. Wren’s grandfather was once the bishop of the church of her world and denounced this ending as heresy, even burning his own daughter and her husband at the stake. Now he has come to see the error of his ways and discovered a great many secrets about this clockwork universe. He’s passed on these hidden secrets to Wren, who must journey among the tubes and pipes of her steampunk solar system to its core and restart her star. This is charming fantasy with none too little violence, yet it still reads like the very best of young adult fiction. There are no dreaded love triangles or overwrought teen angst, simply a young hero on a grand adventure. Wren is a bright girl, ready to take on the task her grandfather set before her, despite her sadness at his loss. Her Grandfather’s story is really the heart of this book, but it’s just the tip of this story’s iceberg. 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.

We start this week with the one-shot Jack Kraken from Dark Horse and writer Tim Seeley. It’s a collection of stories, some of which were originally published online as part of Chicago-based Four Star Studios Double Feature series. Jack Kraken is an amalgamation of a hero, with abilities (his arms are basically super stretching octopi tentacles) and some gadgets as well, like jet packs and a knock-out gun. Jack works for an agency called the Humanoid Interaction Agency (H.I.M.), dealing with threats from things like vampires, banshees and Sasquatch. Yet throughout his adventures, Jack is aware (sometimes he’s reminded by his operator Charlie) that these beings have their own longstanding cultural identities, and that our names for them are offensive. One should respect that vampires prefer the term Nocturnes, and that referring to a Titan as “bigfoot” is insensitive. The metaphor is obviously more than a little on the nose, but rightfully so. Not only do these stories shine a light on the cultural differences between us, by highlighting the glory of our legends, but they also remind us that “monsters” are almost never what they seem, and that getting to know them is more important than fighting them simply because they are different. 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.

This week there have been some disappointments, but also some interesting releases, beginning with The Woods #1,from writer James Tynion IV (a Game of Thrones name if ever there was one) and artist Michael Dialynas. This unique book tells the tale of the entire student body and staff of Bay Point Preparatory School who, right in the midst of typical school day, suddenly disappear. The whole school, building and all, is suddenly transported to an alien landscape on a strange moon orbiting an unknown gas giant. The wooded area holds only one clue, a strange pyramid that seems to point into the hart of the woods themselves. That’s exactly where the school’s brightest student, Adrian Roth, and determined field hockey player Karen Jacobs decide to lead a group of kids, looking for the answers that might solve the mystery and get everyone home. The two are not the only characters in the book, with the supporting cast including students Sanami Ota, a natural leader and Karen’s best friend; Isaac Andrews, who can’t quite seem to break into a role in the school drama; Benjamin Stone, an imposing kid who refuses to play football; and Calder Macready who… well OK, Calder streaks in the halls and is generally a hotheaded jerk. The point is, these kids are well represented as just that: kids. In too many stories we see high-schoolers who are woefully grown up, struggling with love affairs and tragedy as if being in a Shakespearean drama. The kids of Bay Point aren’t at all interested in dating each other (Isaac is the only kid who even mentions a crush, and it’s on a character who’s not depicted in the book) and there is little of the traditional teen drama that could easily have weighed down an already hefty concept. These kids are forced to fight for their survival on the edge of space and they approach it the way real teens would: awkwardly at first, but fiercely bound together by their friendships. Lovers of the unusual situation mystery (a la Stephen King) will see more here to like than lovers of Vampire Diaries, and it’s a refreshing take on young people in genre fiction. 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 indie titles are once again where it’s at, and this week the best is the already-optioned-for-television Haunted #1 from Scott Chitwood and Danny Luckert for Red 5 Comics. It’s the story of a young woman named Sarah McAllister who lives in a unique post-apocalyptic world. 13 years ago, the very fabric of reality ripped open, spilling ghosts and demons from the supernatural plane onto ours, making the whole world haunted. Now humans fight for food and try to stay hidden after dark, when the banshees, wraiths, and other evil spirits of the netherworld roam the planet, killing at will. Sarah has stumbled upon a scientist who was there at the Hadron Collider, where the end of the world began, and a priest who believes it’s their calling to help this man fix it. The frightening and violent blending of science and occult horror has a feel of Ghostbusters meets The Road Warrior (at one point Sarah whaps a ghost with an electrically charged cricket bat!) and the heroine is a tough as nails survivor. Her memories of her mother are strong, and it’s possible that one of the harmless sad ghosts who follow her about is her mother. Sarah isn’t afraid to slug an old lady for a box of food (don’t worry, the old lady slugs back) or fight a handful of demons to save her friend Steve from possession. It’s a nice twist to see a female protagonist saving the lives of not just some but all of the men around her. If you don’t get a chance to pick the book up this week, look for it Saturday as part of Red 5’s offerings for Free Comic Book Day. Continue reading →