Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters #1 Comic Review

Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters from IDW publishing is a classic take on the character Godzilla. One day the God lizard emerges from the water and lays waste to Japan, and no matter how hard they try to stop the monster all attempts are meek.

Godzilla is written by Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh, and illustrated by Phil Hester. The writing is just spectacular it is simple yet defined. Short quips of fear from the onlookers, coupled with the fast pace thinking of the Japanese government work astonishingly well with the art, building off each other, a concept that is rarely seen in comics these days.

HBO's True Blood: Tainted Love #1 Comic Review

This is the second series from publisher IDW based on HBO’s hit TV show, True Blood. The story mainly follows the vampire Jessica as she leads her life as the newest Vampire in Bon Temps. Although the issue mainly follows Jessica that does not mean that the story lacks the appearances of any of the other True Blood favorites. In the issue, Jessica’s boyfriend Hoyt is trying to alleviate the initial difficultly of Jessica being a vampire by throwing her a prom at the local restaurant Merlots, but this isn’t the true story of the issue, there is an underlying problem that is sweeping across the south concerning vampires.

20th Century Ghosts

I am currently reading a collection of short stories from acclaimed artist, Joe Hill, entitled 20th Century Ghosts. I am about half way through and I felt as though I could accurately explain how great this collection is and how any book lover should check it out.

First off, if you don't know who Joe Hill is, then you have been living under a rock. Not only is he the author of one of the best comic series (Locke and Key), but he is also the son of one of the greatest authors to ever live, Mr. Steven King.

For any comic fans out there who may have recently read "The Cape" from IDW comics, which was recently reviewed by none other than yours truly, the original story is featured in this book and is just as great as the comic, if not better.

The Cape

The Cape is the second book that has been released by veteran writer Joe Hill, and up and coming writer Jason Ciaramella. The story of the Cape is originally a short story by Hill that is featured in his collection of short stories “20^th Century Ghosts”. The last story that these two writers worked on was a one-shot entitled “Kodiak. If you have not check it out, do yourself a favor and do so, it is nothing less amazing, and The Cape is no different.

The Cape follows the story of a man named Eric, who like any little kid spent most of his days outside playing games with his brother, pretending to be heroes, but in Eric’s case he also sported a cape. Eric learns that his cape is not just an ordinary piece of clothes, but it has magical properties that would be stripped away from him before he got a change to get acquainted.

I have been a fan of Hill since the first time I read “Locke and Key”, and the work of Ciaramella was great in “Kodiak” so I was not worried about the writing going into this book, so all I was left with to critique was the art. When I first started reading the issue, I thought that the work looked familiar and at first I thought it was the work of artist Sean Murphy, but after looking at the inside cover of I saw that it was the art of Zach Howard. Howard has a style that has a rough feel to it, but also has a sense of perfection as well.

The issue ends with an event that I did not expect, I won’t ruin the ending like some other reviews have, but the ending is out of this world and will make any reader wish that more issues would be released following this storyline and character. Lucky for you, there will be three more issues that follows Eric and continues off of the spectacular ending of the first issue.

If you are looking for a new mini-series to read, or if you are just looking for something new to check out, check out The Cape, you will not be disappointed at all.

10 out of 10

Spike #1

Since I am not a fan of Buffy, and I’ve never read an issue of any Buffy related comic, I was kind of worried when I decided to review this issue, feeling like I would be lost, not knowing what is going on. However, I was wrong.

This issue did a great job of catching up a new reader to the character, doing a quick 2-page re-introduction of Spikes character, including a short history of his existence in the Buffy universe.

Machete #0

When I was given the task of reviewing the zero issue of the comic adaptation of Machete, three things went through my head. Number one, why are they making a comic adaptation of Machete? Two, why is there a zero issue? And three, how bad is it going to be? Well after finishing the issue, only one of my questions was answered. How bad was it? It was pretty bad.

As I opened the cover of the book and read the first few pages, the main thing I noticed was how horrible the dialogue was. It was hard to follow, it was poorly written, and it did not let the reader develop an understanding of the story at all, and because of this, I really did not have any idea what was going on until the middle of the issue where I finally gained a loose understanding.

I tried not to let the writing ruin the issue for me though, so I decided to focus more on the art. The art style of the book has this dark mysteriousness to it, leaving a dreary feel to kind of emphasize the shady events that are occurring in the story. At first I thought this was cool, but as I continued to read I discovered that it so I could hardly follow the story based on the art and that it inhibited the story more than it added to it.

Finally, about half way through the book the main character of the story showed up, Lopez, who is portrayed by Danny Trejo in the movie version. When this occurred, I kind of got a better understanding of the story, but by this time the book was almost over, not much more was added to the overall story.

Overall, this book was pretty disappointing. The story seems like it was half complete, and I feel as though the only way a reader could have any idea what is going on in the issue would be to see the movie, and since I haven’t seen the movie for all I know the movie is a whole different story just featuring the same main character. The writing is horrible, and the art is nothing special. If you were a fan of the movie I say check it out, if not, I’d steer clear

1 out of 10

Kodiak One-Shot

When I first purchased Kodiak, I was overwhelmingly excited for two reasons. First off, it was by author Joe Hill and his work on Locke and Key is some of the best work I have ever laid my eyes on. Secondly, the story is about a bear, and bears are awesome.

Going into the book I knew that story was about man vs. beast and how man survives against one of the deadliest creatures on earth. But after reading the first page I knew that the book was about more than that.

True Blood #1

Adaptations of TV shows and movies are often hit or miss, but with the True Blood comic from IDW, it is very mixed. The writing is very close to the TV show, which is because the creator of True Blood, Alan Ball writes the book. Even though it is similar, it just feels foreign in the comic and it shows that some things aren’t meant to be in other forms of media.

As for the art, Messina does an alright job, making some characters look really good, almost identical to the show, while other characters look awful. The major flaw with the art is that it is not consistent at all. Many of the characters look completely different from panel to panel.

The story line that Ball is pursuing is sub-par compared to the ones that are used in the show, which makes me think that maybe these were the stories that were rejected from the network or something. Although the story isn’t great, it weirdly worked for this issue.

The story takes place after season two, which means that if someone who is foreign to the show tried to read the comic they would be horribly lost, which in my opinion can be negative to people who are interested in the series enough to try out the comic, but not to commit to buying HBO. It would also make it more appealing to fans if they gave a specific time period in which the story takes place, giving it more of a place in the timeline of the series.

Overall, the book wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The art wasn’t great, and the story line was mediocre, but it still had that True Blood feeling to it. It will be interesting as to how Ball will tie the comic into the main series, and to how the next few issues will be compared to this one. If you aren’t a hardcore fan, this book can be passed on, but for those people who are literally obsessed, this is a must read.

6 out of 10

*Originally Posted on the Chris' Comics Official Website

Embrace the mystery

I wasn't looking to start a new comic series. Leave it to an ambiguous title and an awesome promotional poster (utilizing the image to the right) to pique my interest in IDW's recent offering, now two issues in, Mystery Society.

The story follows Nick and Anastasia Mystery as they form the investigative group to which the series owes its title. Their purpose is, essentially, to uncover conspiracies (often involving the weird and unexplained) in the search for truth.

Penned by Steve Niles (who co-created the series with Ashley Wood), Mystery Society's dialogue practically sprints, leading the reader from page to page at a breathtaking pace. The characters are well-developed, funny, and - most importantly - absolutely believable.

Bringing Niles' brilliant dialogue to life is the fantastic art of Fiona Staples. Her unique style is immediately eye-catching and perfectly suited to Niles' sharp wit. She, along with Niles and Wood, have created a a sci-fi fantasy world at its finest that still manages to remain relatable thanks to a steady base of genuine human emotion and good old fashioned fun.

I can't wait to see what's in store for the Mystery Society in issues to come.

The Sixth Gun #1

The Sixth gun is a new series put out by Indy comic company Oni Press. To be honest, I have not really read many Indy comics, except for a few IDW or Image series here and there. But when you read a book from Oni press, you know it’s as Indy as it can be and you are going to be seeing some of the freshest new talent. Writer Cullen Bunn is relatively knew to the comic world, creating his first work in 2006, while artist Brian Hurt is a little better known having done some work with DC a few years back.

With that said, I can firmly say that the amount of time that these guys have been involved with comics clearly shows in this book. It is safe to say that the highlight of this book was not the writing, it was the art. Hurt’s style really compliments this book well, giving it the dark feeling that it needs in order to shoulder the story being told by Bunn. The story is really confusing at first, Bunn sets up multiple story lines but there is no clear break as to where each one stops and starts, which is something, I really didn’t like. It wasn’t until about mid-way through the issue is when everything finally seems to come together. A major set back-story wise is that there is no back-story really, and many of the story lines that were started were left unfinished/were not tied into the main story. I mean it could be like this because issues one and two were released on the same day and Oni Press figured that people would buy the first two issues together? Or maybe it’s a ploy to get the reader to buy the second issue too? All I can say is that it works, because the last few pages are filled with interesting dialogue and events, so I do have a need to know what happens next.

This book definitely has an interesting premise, some very vague characters who have tons of potential to develop, and lots of violence; even though it is slightly less awesome because of the lack of blood during fight scenes. This is a must read for any Indy reader, and if you’re not really into Indy books, you might just want to check it out.

7 out of 10

*Originally Posted on the Chris' Comics Official Website

Jurassic Park #1 Review

The much-awaited return of the Jurassic Park franchise to comics is finally here! This new ongoing series from IDW from Bob Schreck and Nate Van Dyke takes place 13 years after the first Jurassic Park movie. Right off the bat I am happy that the series is just ignoring the second and third Jurassic Park movies since the only quality Jurassic Park film was the first one.

The issue has a really slow and confusing start. The story is following three major story lines, as well as a few smaller stories that are only just touched upon. This many stories are a lot to cover in a first issue and I feel as though it detracts from the quality of each. There is a story revolving around each of the children from the first JP movie, as well as a story revolving around Dr. Wu, who had a minor role in the first movie, but a much larger role in the Jurassic Park novel. One thing in common about each story is that they are all pretty hard to follow. The issue tends to be wordy, but explains next to nothing about what is going on. After finishing the issue, the only major point you know about any of the stories is that they all revolve around either opening Jurassic Park all over again, or closing it forever.

The art of the book is mediocre at best, nothing special about it, but it is not that bad. In my opinion, it just seems rushed. The best part of the art is the colors done by Jamie Grant. The writing is pretty good, but it has the tendency to be wordy and confusing, but for the comic it works because most of the time the characters are talking about the scientific aspect of JP.

All in all the issue was not bad. Towards the end of the book the story picks up, and reverts to true Jurassic Park action when the T-Rex is shown for the first time. This book is a must read for hardcore Jurassic Park fans, but if you haven’t seen the first movie I suggest seeing it before you attempt to read this issue.

6 out of 10

*Originally posted on the Chris's Comics Website