Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I write this as I begin my flight from Texas to San Diego. I figured why not get caught up on some comic book stuff while I travel to the biggest comic book convention in the world?
I’ve read the first three issues of a series called BAD PLANET, written by Thomas Jane and Steve Niles. My understanding is they released the first issue sometime last year, then ran into some artistic troubles.
Now the series is back and they’re doing a big push. Raw Studios is working with Image to put out this book. James Daly III and the man, the myth, the legend Mr. Tim Bradstreet are illustrating these issues.
It’s essentially CRITTERS meets THE THING meets ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK meets INVADERS FROM MARS. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, filled with ultra-violence, lots of sex and loads of humor.
A transport of thousands of species of dangerous aliens goes wrong. They end up crash-landing on Earth. In a seemingly unrelated storyline a fugitive alien of an almost indestructible race escapes prison and makes a bee-line to Earth.
The crashed prison isn’t much of a prison anymore. All sorts of creatures escape… reptilian, arachnid, etc. The atmosphere and sun radiation kills most of them instantly but the spiders survive. They have these vagina-shaped toothy mouths, sharp legs and paralyzing spines.
There are some incredibly beautiful panels of alien spiders running amuck; eviscerating people, ripping them apart or cutting them into thirds or fourths.
Then this mean old bastard comes to Earth. Is he our savoir or does he have his own agenda? We know he’s a badass, but we don’t know his motives.
The comic has a MARS ATTACKS feel to it. Heavy sci-fi violence, cheese-ball government officials, big boobed scientist hotties and black humor.
I love the art from Bradstreet and Daly. There’s a trend that comics are just now phasing out, this anime influenced trend I hate. Short, stubby fingers, giant eyes… they did that to Wolverine and Spider-Man last year… that seemed to change around the time Civil War picked up, but the art means a whole lot to me in a comic book.
BAD PLANET’s creators obviously agree. On top of the great artwork inside, the covers have been awesome. Check out this one from Berni Wrightson.
The last issue I read, #3, was the most action packed with the big bastard finally arriving to Earth, battle-ax in hand. It’s also in 3-D. I forgot to pack my red and blue glasses, so the PDF segments in 3-D are a bit difficult to judge from an artwork perspective, however I can follow the story and still see what was going on.
I’m enjoying this series so far and will look forward to future issues.
I think Tom Jane and Steve Niles will be pimping the books at Comic-Con, so if you’re going be sure to stop by their booth (5439) and give them some love. I hear Jane will be there pretty constantly from preview night to closing.
Also, hit up Bradstreet at artists’ alley. I don’t know about Jane and Niles, but I can guarantee you a sloppy kiss from Bradstreet if you buy one of his prints and say “Quint sent me.” Remember you have to do both, or you don’t get a little beard tickle.
See some of you fellow geeks at the Con!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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