WE CAN NEVER GO HOME #1

Writers: Matthew Rosenberg and Patrick Kindlon
Artist: Josh Hood
Published by: Blackmask
Reviewed by: BottleImp

X-MEN meets THE BREAKFAST CLUB—though the end result is much darker in tone than either—in the new indie comic WE CAN NEVER GO HOME, a book that takes some familiar tropes of superhero stories and grounds them in a sense of reality that hasn’t often been achieved in the medium. There’s no School for Gifted Youngsters here--just your normal high school environment. Madison is one of the elite, a young woman who is smart, pretty, outgoing and dating another member of the upper ranks of the class system—a football player (naturally). The funny thing is, Madison has a secret that no one knows about, until she reveals it in order to save one of the members of the lower classes, Duncan, from getting pummeled by her boyfriend. When Madison gets anxious, she gets strong. Really strong. Plus, her eyes glow…and she doesn’t know why. Now in your standard superhero fare, her next move would be putting on tights and fighting bad guys. But WE CAN NEVER GO HOME chooses not to take the established road, and instead this first issue turns into one of the most intriguing stories that I’ve read in a long while.

Part of the strength of this first issue in establishing this believability is that the superpowered drama is grafted onto a scenario all-too-familiar to the average reader: the horrible class system of the American high school. Let’s face it, who needs the broad strokes of misshapen mutant powers setting one apart from the “normal” ranks of humanity when your average high schooler will ostracize someone for just having the wrong haircut? WE CAN NEVER GO HOME takes this trauma faced by the everyday teenager and gives it just the slightest twist with Madison’s unexplained super strength; in a more real world scenario her abrupt shunting from the elite ranks of the high school echelon into the dregs of the “freak” crowd could have just as easily been caused by matters far more mundane. The causes might be impossible, but the reactions of the characters are, horribly, all too realistic.

This verisimilitude is aided immensely by the excellent artwork provided by Josh Hood. Hood’s work reminds me of Chris Bachalo’s; there is a certain styled realism to his figures and backgrounds that grounds the story in a very familiar world, while still allowing for flexibility in action and expression. The panel layouts and pacing are also well-crafted, whether it’s a humorous page of Duncan grilling Madison about her abilities or an action scene of Madison punching—well, I don’t want to ruin it for you.

WE CAN NEVER GO HOME is a comic to look out for. I don’t know where this story is going, but I definitely want to come along for the ride.

When released from his bottle, the Imp transforms into Stephen Andrade, an artist/illustrator/pirate monkey painter from New England. He's currently balancing making pretty pictures with the sleep-deprivation that comes from having a new baby. You can see some of his artwork here.

INVISIBLE REPUBLIC #1

Writers: Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko
Artist: Gabriel Hardman
Publisher: Image Comics
Reviewer: Humphrey Lee

Slow burn can be a wonderful storytelling tool. It’s great for tension ratcheting, or really allowing your audience to soak in the characters and their motivations or the setting they are developing within. A slow burn approach can also kill your developmental momentum and, especially if executed early, leave some disinterested in the world you are creating by not showing them enough up front to hook them. I don’t want to say that this debut of INVISIBLE REPUBLIC by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko left me more the latter of those two scenarios – i.e. disinterested and finding the quality lacking – but I do feel like something was lost or lacking with the approach to this new science fiction epic from Image Comics. Time to put on the analysis pants…

INVISIBLE REPUBLIC takes place in the year 2843 on a (probably backwater because that’s how these things roll) planet called Avalon that just went through the fall of an apparent dictatorial regime. We get this information, briefly, as the opening of the issue follows a documentarian/novelist by the name of Croger Babb, trying to get some “man on the street” anecdotes after the fall of the Malory Regime. While pounding the pavement for some relevant one-on-ones he instead stumbles onto a different story altogether, which is journal excerpts from a Maia Reveron, cousin to the now-deposed Arthur McBride, who was apparently close to him on his rise to power. This closeness is then covered for the bulk of the remaining pages of this series premiere, as we watch an entry play out as we watch a very hungry Maia and Arthur scavenge for food and fend off some aggressive soldiers before returning to Croger, selling this discovery to his publisher in the closing panels.

And here’s where my own bit of a slow burn of a review of INVISIBLE REPUBLIC comes to a head, because I feel that everything in that summarizing above is interesting on its face; it’s just that we don’t really get past the tip of the nose in this first outing and I’m not really infatuated with what we do see. There are lots of aspects of what we glimpse here that do intrigue me; the design and presentation of Avalon from the very few panels we get of all that futurey material, the implied scope of the tale INVISIBLE REPUBLIC plans to tells since we will apparently be watching the rise of a scourge to the masses from pretty much nothing, and that we will be getting this story from some good, old-fashioned journalistic digging, for which I’m always a sucker. You give me some cool, science fictioned-out ships and technology and add political intrigue to that technology and you’re always going to have a modicum of my attention. But right now, just one issue in, everything is a little flat because we just have no depth on this planet and Arthur McBride’s past.

Again, it’s not that the decision behind slow rolling some information out to the reader is inherently a bad idea; in fact, I feel given the breadth with which this tale is plying in having a trickle out of some facets of McBride’s past and how Avalon worked before, during and after his ascension will make for some great revelation based drama. But right here in this debut I think the burn roasted away some information we’d have been better off getting up front to really sink us into the turnaround of both McBride and Avalon. Like, for example, we’re given every indication that what the Malory Regime meant to Avalon was a harrowing experience, but you would not know it from visual cues outside of some occasional scattered debris and barrel fires and news blasts about shortages and whatnot. And Arthur McBride’s rise to power is implied to be impressive given we find him scraggly and hungry on the road with his cousin running from assumingly a force as oppressive as what he ends up creating, but what does he create it from? Is this a case of the Rebel Alliance from “Star Wars” dethroning the Empire just to itself become the Empire? Is he just some random schmuck who through mad resistance-gathering skills gathers a following, or does he already have some sort of populace juju working for him in a past life? Regardless, it is impressive that he goes from pretty lowly to what he does position himself as in the end, but some more context as to how meteoric his rise really was and what odds he was facing would have done wonders for selling the potential epicness of this tale.

Now, none of this is a deal breaker yet, and could honestly just be labeled as personal nitpickiness, but I legitimately feel we have a case of high potential with some missed opportunity to really drive home what INVISIBLE REPUBLIC is about. What we do know is tantalizing enough, though, to give this some more issues to burn a little brighter and faster. We know that we’re in a post-faster than light travel world that apparently still deals with the same power grabs and pettiness and war horrors of our current society. We know one man rose through it all to become something worse (or better then worse?) and there is a broad yet personal tale to tell within it all, and that the digging looking to uncover this journey may be its own harrowing endeavor with all the political trimmings. And we know that the book walks the walk visually in matching the aesthetics to the tone, as Hardman’s line work is a very detailed yet scratchy body of work that brings a lot of rawness to its highly dynamic and expressive renderings.

From quality and style of artwork down to how storytelling-wise it is maybe starting not as well as it could because of how it decided to reveal itself, INVISIBLE REPUBLIC’s debut kind of reminds me a lot of fellow Image-produced LAZARUS by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark. It’s a good, solid, futuristic yet modern-feeling tale that lacked some initial pop because it did not quickly give an emotional hook beyond “shit has kind of gotten dark for the general populace” and a basic foundation of why things were the way they were. But within just a few issues and some greater revelations as to the politics of its world and giving us more insight to why LAZARUS’ protagonist was the way she was and what emotions she swallowed for her loyalty and actions, that title has become one of the premiere titles on the stands today, and I feel like INVISIBLE REPUBLIC has the ability to get there as well. The next couple issues will be key to developmental momentum, but there are definitely enough indicators in here that Hardman and Bechko will get us saying we want (more of) the Revolution.

Humphrey Lee has been an avid comic book reader going on fifteen years now and a contributor to Ain't It Cool comics for quite a few as well. In fact, reading comics is about all he does in his free time and where all the money from his day job wages goes to - funding his comic book habit so he can talk about them to you, our loyal readers (lucky you). He's a bit of a social networking whore, so you can find him all over the Interwebs on sites like Twitter, Facebookand a blog where he also mostly talks about comics with his free time because he hasn't the slightest semblance of a life. Sad but true, and he gladly encourages you to add, read, and comment as you will.

MOON KNIGHT #13

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Ron Ackins
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: The Kid Marvel

MOON KNIGHT was by far my favorite comic of 2014, and I’m hoping that it continues to do so in 2015. With another new writer and art team taking the reins, at least in this issue it doesn’t seem like I’ll be disappointed in the series anytime soon.

MOON KNIGHT #13 is a standalone book, focusing on Marc Spector’s duties as the Guardian of Nighttime Travelers after he is being haunted (or really annoyed) by various ghosts in the abandoned building he is currently residing in. After some initial reluctance, Spector is reminded of his duties by Khonshu and must help these spirits whether he likes it or not. Moon Knight tracks down the culprits disturbing these resting souls, finding a group of men turning these ghosts’ spiritual energy into some form of weapon, a mechanical power fist-looking thing. This is where my summary ends, simply because the rest of the book is a bunch of gnarly and vicious fight scenes showing Moon Knight kicking ass and destroying the device. The book ends with a very disgruntled and annoyed Moon Knight blowing off the remaining spirits, basically telling them he did his job and, quoting this from the book, “to shove off”.

This was an extremely simple point A to point B story, but tons of fun in the middle. I personally really like Bunn as a writer, which helped going into the book, giving me some confidence the series was in good hands. However, this was not Bunn’s book: MOON KNIGHT #13 shined because of the art team and their superb job on pencils and colors.

Ackins’ amazing designs and actions scenes were insane. You could feel the gritty, bone-breaking and blood-splattering battle between Moon Knight and his enemies. Then Dan Brown’s color work brought those pencils to life with amazing color contrasts of Moon Knight’s black and white colors, speckled and dripping with his enemies’ blood. The fighting in the book was why it was so good. It turned a very basic story into something entertaining and displayed Moon Knight having no restraint against his enemies. Everything from the hand to hand combat to his use of environment and his own tools, Ackins and Brown made this issue feel like it was live action, moving smoothly from panel to panel.

Overall, this book shows simplicity can be an amazing thing and is a great standalone issue. The artwork and overall action is phenomenal, clearly being MOON KNIGHT #13’s highlight. Since it was only a one issue story, I really hope the next arc in the series doesn’t disappoint. I don’t want to be a pessimist, but every creative team that has taken over the series has been great and I really hope that doesn’t change. MOON KNIGHT has been a complete surprise in the consistent quality throughout its current run and I beg and plead that Marvel keeps the series around. I can only hope that a hiccup doesn’t come along eventually.

In stores today!

THE MULTIVERSITY: ULTRA COMICS #1

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Doug Mahnke
Publisher: DC Comics
Reviewer: Optimous Douche

Not a hoax. Not a dream. Not an imaginary story. Not an Elseworlds.

Not my words. These are the expletives of comic hero creation that engulf the page in what is the harshest breaking of the 4th wall since my 3rd birthday when the guy in the Spidey costume showed up drunk and hit on Mom.

MULTIVERSITY has been trying to be a grand illusion, deflecting away from the rest of the rapid rebooting and offer some mea culpa for CRISISes of past. I’ve loved 99.99% of the first seven installments of this series because they were Elseworlds. My favorite heroes veering off course during origins or worlds gone awry at some historical juncture is a sci fi genre I will never grow weary of.

ULTRA COMICS, though, takes my .01% of disdain for this series and makes it 100% of the issue. Throughout each tale of Pax Nazi and Americana, great generations never dying and our own media-obsessed society slathered with capes, Morrison has tried to convey the story is going to come get ya, that by the time we reach the series’ last issue our dreams and collective belief will shatter the wall between fiction and reality. UNWRITTEN come to mind? Yes, that is the double journey Morrison wants us to ride. And it would have been a wondrous and glorious achievement if A) we all got a really good tab on the back cover we could drop, and B) Ultra, the protagonist, ACTUALLY STEPPED OUT OF THE FUCKING BOOK!

Comics are for kids, adults and everyone else. I will never begrudge a little moppet who still believes in magic who wants to clap for Tinkerbelle to stay alive or, in this case, for Ultra to win the fight. I will, however, unmercifully mock anyone over the age of 12 who can’t distinguish between fiction and reality.

At the end of the day, this dream of Earth Prime being our Earth is a fallacy. It’s a fine construct of imagination on Morrison’s part to dream of bullpen writers’ and inkers’ tools-of-trade being tools of fantastic science that literally bring a page to life, but not an engaging comic read. Our earth can never be portrayed in true comic form with any level of serial possibility or continuity. You know why? Because as soon as you do one even remotely or fantastical thing, any resemblance to our Earth is no longer a possibility.

As Ultra was birthed…in the comic bullpen, went to another reality…some shit where entropy ruled, and then fought the paragon of pure evil…disbelief in heroes; I could only mutter over and over again, “what the shit is Earth Prime now?” Texts--hate texts (not very clever ones)--were Ultra’s ultimate weakness, while belief, not even the energy generated by heat from clapping, was what saved him.

What the hell is this?

Not a hoax! Feels like it. I was given a tale promised to change the DC universe. I held to that belief as well, believing wholly this event would not just eat itself, but the whole comic publishing model. When CONVERGENCE was announced the belief grew stronger: could we see a comic publishing model shift of finally abandoning continuity and saying pick your universe?

Solicits show we can pick our universe during the month of April and then we are back to having cake and eating it fifty-too of a sorta continuity between sub-universes.

Not a dream! I was awake the whole time reading this comic. Also, I don’t dream about being told I’m an angry schmuck. That’s why I got married.

Not an imaginary story! I just checked CNN, no Ultra that was born today. It’s a story.

Not an Elseworlds! No, and I vehemently do not approve of this unscheduled interruption in my normal Elseworlds viewing schedule.

I get what Morrison is going after; I always get what he is going for. I simply don’t agree that his ideas are right for serial comics. This idea of the story being alive is really a beautiful experience for little kids. But what child, aside from future serial killers, should have read or would want to read the last seven issues of MULTIVERSITY? Oh, kids love Nazis, I forgot. Also, there are tons of 13 year olds who are all about WATCHMEN and, of course, any pastiche.

We live in a world where magic has died. We live in a world where heroism is no longer portrayed on the page, because we struggle to climb out of our own pride and self-entitlement of being too good to dig a ditch. We are not evil; we are bored as a society. We are not dreaming because arranging deck chairs on the Titanic is the most imagination our world leaders can muster. Comics and the fans are not the problem--it’s the world.

We need to see wonder again before we can believe in it! Please stop using comics to remind me of this fact and just let me fucking escape! MULTIVERSITY is a big win of a series when it remembers its place as fiction. Skip ULTRA and wait for the end, folks.

When Optimous isn't reviewing comics he is making the IT words chortle and groan with marketing for MaaS360, enterprise mobility management www.maas360.com. He also has a comic coming out sometime soon, for updates head to robpatey.com.

RED ONE #1

Writer: Xavier Dorison
Artist: Terry Dodson
Publisher: Image Comics
Reviewer: Masked Man

What if the big American superhero was a spy for the Soviet Union?!? With a smoking hot body who loved sex??? That's pretty much Terry Dodson's latest project in a nutshell. Like Adam Hughes or Kevin Maguire, Terry loves to draw sexy women, and looks for projects that allow him to do that. His fans, of course, appreciate this too.

For some reason Soviet spies living in America is a big thing these days--go fig. Image claims Dorison's concept for RED ONE was in the works before all those TV shows popped up. Now while I enjoy a good Cold War spy story, I don't think the concept of Russian spies hiding in plain sight during the 70s or 80s USA all that ground-breaking. So to paraphrase the movie LEATHERHEADS, whoever original came up with the idea is like the “tallest midget”: who cares?

Now the world Dorison and Dodson have built here, doesn't quite seem to be the real world, taking place in 1977, and porn stars seem to be more accepted as celebrities than they actually were (someone might be shouting DEEP THROAT right now, but that was only a big deal because the actress in it scored a national TV commercial first. Despite being 'real movies' in those days, they sure weren't respected by anyone). Getting more into the fantastic, there's a guy running around killing porn stars calling himself The Carpenter. A church leader, Jacky Core, claims The Carpenter is a hero, and we should all follow his example and clean up America. Enter the Soviet response, Vera Yelnikov, who for reasons yet unexplained, appears to be every bit Captain American's physical equal. The USSR wishes to send Vera to the States, act as a costumed superhero, Red One, take out The Carpenter, and try to curb the anti-Soviet feelings (t)here. As they said in the issue, “(we) want the Americans singing “Peace & Love” instead of “Death to Commies and Gays”...” The fact that the USSR cares about homosexuals seems rather odd, but then Vera herself appears to be quite bi.

Image has been marketing RED ONE as a Quentin Tarantino film, but it's more like a Robert Rodriguez film as the tone and execution is very much like fast food, as opposed to exotic gourmet. Everything is so slick, clichéd, and pandering. Our hero is a smoking hot bisexual who only wants to party, but has a heart of gold. She loves to tease the boys and have sex on her terms, which can be at any moment, except if her job requires it--go fig. She also just wishes to spend more time with her family in Russia than go to The States (get ready for the homesick subplot). Next we got her tough as nails handler, who's too old for this sh!t and is looking for retirement. Then there's the fat nerd tech guy. And crotchety old guy to act as comic relief--I mean her cover. It's all done without a hint of subtlety, as we move from one by the numbers set-up scene to another by the numbers set-up scene until we get to the big funny moment to end the book, where the Red One costume is too small for Vera’s big boobs--what are the odds!

Mind you, Terry Dodson (with his very talented inker wife Rachel) is a great good girl artist, and a fine comic book artist to boot, and he really seems to be into this series, because it's some of his best work I've seen. Many times Terry gets lazy (or rushed) and you can tell; not here. Every page is dynamite. If you are a fan of good girl work, you'd be crazy not to pick this up.

Overall, though, I'm disappointed with this issue. To be fair, it's not bad work, but aside from Terry's art, it's not very good either. All the focus is on the 'what' and very little on the 'how', so instead of being fun and clever, with a good dose of cheesecake, it's just silly, clichéd and pandering. But sometimes that's all you need.

SILK #2

Writer: Robbie Thompson
Art: Stacey Lee
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: DrSumac

Anyone that has paid attention to the reviews I have been doing for this site may have noticed that I've been featuring many female lead comics and for good reason. For the most part they need the support to help the industry see that there is a big market for women in comics. As I've said in the past; statistically it's not that male lead comics sell more, just that there are more of them. I've tried to do my part by catching up on those that are out there, of which Marvel has clearly taken the initiative to lead the industry on said titles. Honestly I had hoped to review the second Ms Marvel trade that came out last week, but my local shop had actually sold out of it within a couple of hours! That alone should tell you that these women aren't going anywhere.

I do feel the need to say that while I have been praising Marvel a lot lately, I've always been a DC fan at heart. Marvel is simply turning me around with the direction they are going in in certain ways. I am however critical of them for other things, largely their crossover events that are seem rather mindless in general.

Based on that, I actually haven't read the Spider-verse story as it seemed like another gimmicky event. Whether it was or wasn't I thought I'd still give Silk a shot to see what it was about. Unfortunately I somehow missed the first issue and just like Ms Marvel it sold out on me. I took a moment to flip through Silk #2 in the store and it seemed like I'd be fine, so here we are. You know what? I was fine. The first page explained her general background and this issue didn't start off halfway through another story. I'm sure that a second printing of the first issue is on the way so I can always get it then.

Based on the cover images I've previously seen of Silk she seemed to be older than many of the Spider-gang or at least go for a generally more mature feeling. However the comic itself wasn't that at all. Cindy Moon has that same sort of playfulness to her that we've come to expect form Peter Parker, which isn't a bad thing. It simply shows how much covers can be misleading for the comic inside. That's why it is so important that they have the same tone, as was the problem with a certain Batgirl comic recently.

The cover aside, using Peter Parker as a formula for new super heroes seems to be a deliberate trend Marvel has been using quite successfully. Spider-Gwen, Ms Marvel, Silk, and even Squirrel Girl all seem to benefit from that blueprint and have done extremely well. This makes sense since Spiderman is their biggest character and ultimately probably the second most popular superhero after Batman at this time. That said none of those newer titles feel like the same character, but instead all tap into that Marvel zeitgeist that works so well. It will be interesting to see if they continue this trend and if it has a breaking point.

So how does Silk hold up to the rest? Very well I'd say. She has those same familiar spider powers, but is definitely her own person. Apparently Silk agreed to be trapped somewhere for ten years so she is still new to being a hero, but is also an adult although that's almost difficult to say that based on how she is drawn within the comic. That aside, it's fun to see her fumble through herodom for the first time. While her background and current status overall came form the Spiderverse series, Robbie Thompson has obviously made wise choices in regards to where she will go from there. Silk is a girl that now finds her very life to be a mystery that we get to discover with her, which makes for a compelling story.

When I compare Silk to Spider-Gwen I actually think I'm more interested in Silk's story. Sure Super-Gwen has a phenomenal costume and an interesting alternate universe to explore, but Silk is a less busy comic. This may be more of a pitfall with AU's than anything else though. It's easy to get caught up showing every little detail of an AU, but sometimes that can actually take away form the story and character building itself. Don't get me wrong, I really like Spider-Gwen, but the story behind Silk is much more mysterious and she seems to have a lot more growth ahead of her than Gwen does. I also had no problems with the art, colors, or lettering in Silk as I have with Spider-Gwen.

So if you get a chance check out Silk #2 even if you haven't read Spiderverse or even the first issue. I can't promise that you'll love it and it's not the best comic I've ever read, but it does have a lot of potential and that has me intrigued, which isn't all that common. Even some of my favorite comics can be very formulaic and predictable, but based on this issue of Silk it's hard to say what will happen to Cindy. That alone is worth the price for another issue.

In stores today!

ALTERED STATES: THE SHADOW One-Shot #1

Writer: David Avallone
Artist: Ivan Rodriguez
Published by: Dynamite Entertainment
Reviewed by: BottleImp

The “Altered States” concept that Dynamite is trotting out could definitely have merits. Taking familiar characters and imagining them in new and different scenarios can lead and has lead to some brilliant stories; just look at some of the innovative takes on Batman, Superman and more in DC’s “Elseworlds” stories. Unfortunately, the imagination displayed in even some of the more mundane “Elseworlds” tales is nowhere to be found here.

Let me sum up this One-Shot featuring the pulp hero The Shadow for you: The Shadow is meditating in his sanctum. He somehow winds up in space fighting monsters and robots and spaceships. He fights more monsters and robots and spaceships. Then, the issue ends with him fighting monsters and robots and spaceships.

I’m so glad that I got a digital copy for review purposes, ‘cause I’d hate the thought of contributing to the waste of ink and paper that is this comic book. There is nothing here for fans of the Shadow to get excited about—the story literally has no affect on the character, and offers no new twists on this classic crimefighter—and, as a One-Shot, there is nothing here for newcomers to enjoy, because the story goes nowhere.

Hey Dynamite, if you’re going to try a new and innovative look at old characters like The Shadow, maybe you should try to come up with some new and innovative stories? Maybe just check out some of those “Elseworlds” books. If you’re going to steal another company’s idea, the least you could do is steal it properly.

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AICN COMICS Reviews: MULTIVERSITY: ULTRA COMICS! MOON KNIGHT! WE CAN NEVER GO HOME! RED ONE! & More!