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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.

Our first book this week is the highly offensive Bo: Plushy Gangsta #1 from Action Lab. Bo is a hard core gang banger, with all the horrible trappings and stereotypes that come with it. He’s foul mouthed and incredibly violent, constantly refers to women as “bitches” and “hoes” and treats them like property, and conforms to just about every negative stereotype of street gang culture. And, for whatever reason, he’s a teddy bear. At some point he was apparently cursed by a voodoo priestess and the soul of Bo the gangster was trapped in a cuddly bear, which from time to time unleashes the spirit of an actual huge monstrous bear. The art suffers as much as the writing, with caricatures so blatant its hard to believe anyone would agree to publish them. Writer Pavel Balabanov and artist Vasily Terentiev completely missed the opportunity to use a child’s toy as a symbol of innocence that could shine a light on all the negative aspects of street life for so many young men. Instead, Bo is simply a cruel person and ultimately a horribly failed, childish joke, set in a misogynistic and racist story. 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.

Weekly Recap
In recent weeks, it’s been clear that diversity in new comic book series has been headed in a very specific direction. While publishers from the Big Two to the smallest indies have been cranking out comics starring the “Strong Female Character” (a term that can be infinitely defined and debated), people of color have been consistently absent from major starring roles. That course took a big correction this week with three new titles featuring Black men center stage, some subtly tackling issues in the Black community, others smashing into them head on.

Diving into things head first is Blaxploitation parody hero of Black Dynamite #1, written by Brian Ash with pencils by Ron Wimberly. Based on the character from the film by Michael Jai White, Black Dynamite is a former CIA agent turned street vigilante, determined to clean up his 70’s era neighborhood of drugs and gangs. But when he faces off against the villain Too Swole, Black Dynamite is forced to face a harsh reality by none other than Roots author Alex Halley. Black Dynamite himself is harming the community by using violence to solve its problems. The glorification of violence perpetrated by young men in their own community is a harsh pill for Black Dynamite to swallow, and he decides to leave his ‘hood behind when Halley makes him realize that the Black community “simply can’t endure being your personal battlefield.” Though a touch misogynistic (Black Dyamite doesn’t leave until her gets assurances from his girlfriend that she loves him and will wait for him to return, but it’s okay for him to sleep with other women while he’s away), the story is a fairly humorous take on the general concept that super heroes solve problems by physically destroying neighborhoods in their pitched battles. (One can only image the citizens of Metropolis, especially the architects among them, felt the same way at the end of Zach Snyder’s Man of Steel.) Ultimately, the book shines the same level of parody and humor on the Blaxploitation genre that the well-received film did before it.  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.

It’s unusual for one company to dominate new releases in any given week, but that’s just what happened, as Marvel kicked its Marvel NOW! campaign into high gear with no fewer than four new series, a handful of new story arcs branded as #1’s and two preview issues of things to come. It was one of these preview books, All New Marvel NOW! Point One #1 ( seriously confusing title) that sparked the most interest, as it includes an 8-page mini-story featuring Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel. Her much anticipated full series debut is due in April, but this preview already shows a sixteen year old girl struggling with overbearing parents and the difficulties of a secret identity. Kamala has serious family obligations and a domineering mother making sure she doesn’t forget them, but she’s also New Jersey’s self appointed protector and she’s having a tough time wrangling both. This initial view humanizes the young woman a great deal, and it’s a style that’s become Marvel’s calling card of late, looking at their heroes as complex people with everyday problems, as well as cosmic ones. Hopefully her book will follow in the same vein. 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.

Hopefully everyone had a nice holiday period, eating and drinking a little too much and spending time with family and friends. With the comics release schedule thrown off by the holidays, there were fewer new releases than normal last week on Christmas Eve. Thus, we’ll cram all the best and worst #1’s of the holidays together in one jumbo sized holiday special package, just for you.

Last week, there was a handful to choose from, despite the overall low number of offerings. Marvel went back to their biggest star with the second chapter of Wolverine’s secret past, Origin II, #1. With new writer Kieron Gillen joining artist Adam Kubert, the book has a similar look and feel to the first mega-blockbuster series. However, Gillen’s story finds James Howlett living wild in the frozen Canadian wilderness, hunting with a pack of wolves. When the incursion upon their territory by a polar bear leads to the death of his “family”, the man who will be Wolverine is forced to return to the world of men. Polar bears don’t normally roam so far south, and recent global climate events have shown us how dangerous the results can be when they do. In poetic storytelling, Gillen uses these unfortunate climate changes not only as a plot device but a metaphor for the world of men driving the wild things – like Logan himself -into areas that are dangerous to all. 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.

Diversity in comics is always nice to see, as long as characters of color aren’t plugged into racial sterotypes. IDW’s The Illegitimates #1 so far neatly sidesteps falling into those traps. Co-written by SNL’s Taran Killam and Eisner nominated writer Marc Andreyko, The Illegitimates are the children produced by the dalliance’s of the world’s “greatest” superspy Jack Steele, an obvious James Bond analogue. Steele, like Bond, showed a great deal of diversity in his promiscuity, and thus several of his children share mixed heritage, including a European African woman named Saalinge M’Chumba, a half-Spanish MMA fighter and martial artist Leandros Caliestas, and master mechanic Kiken Kaze of Japan. However, the #1 issue is mostly background setup, with each character introduced by the narrator (this book’s version of M, I suppose), and none of them see any real action so far. It remains to be seen how the various cultural backgrounds and their heritage will be treated in the future. The book has a lighthearted feel, with touches of dry comedy that suggest an adventurous romp more than a serious statement about diversity. Whether the story pans out is yet to be seen, and the first issue isn’t doing much more than selling the premise. Continue reading →