REVIEW: Ghosted #1

Writer: Joshua Williams
Artist: Goran Sudzuka
Review: William R. Davis Jr.


"Ghosted" in the comic world means doing most of the work, getting a little of the money, and none of the credit. Living in Asia, I don't get those awesome preview newspapers that always seem be plastered with pictures of Popeye from the comic shop anymore. But Image has all the street cred in the world right now, and I found myself hoping that the quality book parade over at Image would continue unabated. When I read that they picked up God Hates Astronauts at Image Expo, I knew that they were still honed in on promoting quality work. Now I find myself counting down the days until October, and I cannot wait for issue four to hit comic store shelves so I can see some new God Hates Astronauts. For those who haven't read GHA, remember that you heard it here first at The Hammond Comics Blog almost a year ago. Check out the archives for previous reviews and interviews with creator Ryan Browne.

My main motivation for picking up Ghosted was the aforementioned street cred over at Image, and a distasteful loathing of all the reboots and mega events going on over at the Big Two. The opening pages of this book were dark and brilliant, a nice little insight into prison life. I always thought that sitting around reading books all day would be the best part about prison, but it never entered my mind that people would tear out pages to roll joints or write notes leaving all of the stories incomplete. My distaste for prison life has grown immeasurably after reading the first few pages of Ghosted.

Unfortunately this book started spiraling out of control quick. Ghosted is a highly entertaining read, but quickly marched out every overused storytelling trope in the book. The main character is straight out of Oceans Eleven, a master thief whose last attempt at robbing a casino was botched resulting in the death of his crew. Then he is busted out of prison during a staged prison riot by a cookie cutter femme fatale character who promptly takes him to meet a collector of the occult. This billionaire collector of all things macabre wears a red silk smoking jacket and has a study filled with skulls, hands, and 'insert cliche here'. The only thing that is missing is the snifter of brandy. To complete his collection he needs an actual ghost, and Oceans Eleven has to procure one from a haunted house or get sent back to prison. But Oceans Eleven plays by his own rules, and insists on using "his guys" to catch this ghost. A team building montage introducing a rag tag group of rogues ensues, and then they head to the house to do some serious ghost busting.

The art for this book was pretty pedestrian throughout. The best adjective I can come up with is: Serviceable. It's not Dark Horse Star Wars comic book bad, but lacks originality and makes an already worn out theme even more cliche (see previous paragraph). All is not lost with Ghosted. The dialogue is snappy at points, and it needs to continue to be in order for this book to be successful. The first few pages and the last page were the best part. The middle was necessary from a story building standpoint, but left me wanting in almost every way. Purely as a base form of entertainment, issue one is pretty solid. If you're going into this book wanting Fantagraphics you are going to be extremely disappointed, but if you're willing to settle for a supernatural/grand heist romp, Ghosted could hit the sweet spot. Goran Sudzuka draws a very detailed and enticing last page, and although Ghosted did not blow me away I will continue reading. Issue one managed to do its job in that regard. This comic could be good, but there's an equal chance that you're going to see a film poster for Ghosted starring Jason Statham that goes straight to DVD in one to two years. Only time will tell.

REVIEW: The Walking Dead #111

Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Review: William R. Davis Jr.



Almost ten years of The Walking Dead and we find ourselves on issue #111. As a fan that has been with this book since the very beginning I can say...this book is now garbage. Line your cat boxes with it's pages, The Walking Dead is now one of the worst comics money can buy. One of the most realistic zombie/human dramadies of our time now has tigers that obey commands, a George Clinton doppelganger who speaks olde English, and the Governor 2.

If you read TWD today, great arcs like Fear the Hunters are long gone. The worst part is that everyone I know is still reading, including myself. We buy this book now out of habit because it used to blow our hair back like nothing else. Now it is another example of a successful television show ruining the source material, an uber successful writer resting on his laurels, and a plot spun out of control that has jumped the shark about thirty times since the one hundredth issue hit comic store shelves.

The worst part about this book is how insanely slow the plot moves. Nothing will happen for six months, followed by one action packed issue. Kirkman defends this in Letter Hacks by saying that his predictable formula of 6 parts boredom/1 part action is a staple of the book, when every fan I know just wants to see something interesting. Developing characters doesn't necessary mean boredom. BKV and Fiona Staples do a great job of this with Saga.

Neegan is a cheap imitation of the Governor. The only discernible difference between the two characters at this point is that he is openly sadistic, while the Governor used a bit of subterfuge in order to appear to be a benevolent leader. The way they exercise control over their societies differs greatly.Neegan's twisted sense of morality is put on full display in #111. It is one of the better single issues to come out in sometime admittedly, but that's not saying a lot. Even #111 is well below average, and it's clear at this point that we're dealing with a creative team that's trying to squeeze every nickel out of every arc through boring, flaccid storytelling. Kirkman says that the tiger and the master of funk are an example of "how far the world is gone". It's more of an example of how far detached Kirkman is from his hardcore fan base than anything else.

And while the hardcore fans hope and pray that this book could once again become great, our hopes dwindle more and more each month. TWD is filled with insanely predictable storytelling tropes including the pace of the book, one issue out of six being action packed, and the inevitable death of a long time character being a major event. What made this book great in the past was that it would continually surprise the reader. It was a gritty, raw, and realistic tale of humanity surviving in one of the most terrible landscapes imaginable. Characters like Jesus, George Clinton, Neegan, and the tiger do not come close to replacing characters like Glenn and Abraham. The release of this book used to be the highlight of my week, now it is the last thing that I read on my pull list. TWD is two bad arcs away from getting removed completely. This is something that I would have thought unthinkable a year ago. Smarten up guys, you're almost out of compelling source material for your television show.

REVIEW: The Accelerators #1

Creator/Writer: R.F.I. Porto
Pencils/Inks: Gavin P. Smith
Colors: Tim Yates
Letters: CRANK!
Cover: Walt Flanagan
Review: Cody "Madman" Miller


Comics Cubed, my dealer of choice in all things funny book, promoted this book pretty heavily. Gavin Smith, the man behind the fancy drawings, is a local cat. On May 4th (that’s free comic book day for those not in the know) Gavin had a table set up with his own comic, Human City, and a preview of this here book. I ordered up a copy and promptly forgot about it. It was a nice surprise when it suddenly appeared in my stack of books.

The book opens up by throwing us in the midst of a battle to the death between a Redcoat and a conquistador, an old school Tommy Gun wielding gangster, a medieval knight, a German storm trooper and a caveman, a Roman centurion, cowboy, and the last and the lamest: A Mayan warrior and a professor. The year is 2040 something, for the moment. In Porto’s future everyone has personal time traveling devices and these people from the future seem to pass the time kidnapping combatants from various times throughout history and forcing them to participate in gruesome gladiator style battles to the death.
I know what you are thinking...meh....time travel. But hey, it’s not like that, at least not yet. Just as the Mayan buries his spear in the professor...
Krakooom !!!!

We’re in 1970 and we meet Alexa just as she arrives there from the 1960s. Alexa was working on a research project in the field of…wait for it…wait for it…time travel. Seconds after Alexa beams in a uniformed soldier named Bertram beams in to the scene.
Bertram is an ass. Bertram sees time travel as some ultimate evil and he intends to destroy the time machines (which look like blue donuts) and “take care” of anyone involved in the experiments. Alexa is the last of her research team left alive.
Alexa does the time warp again and lands in 1978, Bertram follows. She runs again and lands in 1991, Bertram follows. As Alexa continues to run she runs into a teen, Spatz, and he is time jumped with Alexa to 2012. The evil Bertram, we learn is actually Alexa’s husband. Bertram and Alexa engage their own battle to the death and in the process both Alexa and her blue time donut are destroyed. Spatz and Berty, in an attempt to escape the police officers now chasing them, time jump together once more.

KaPow!!!!


2040’s again. The last page reveals the two being tazered and snatched up, presumably being taken to the arena.
The story is actually really entertaining. The heavy time travel comes off really well and wasn’t that lame actually.
The art was awesome. As he did with his work with Human City, Gavin is a master of human expression. The backgrounds are stunning. The scenery changed when the characters are time warping and it was extremely well done.

It wasn’t until I started writing this review that I noticed Walt Flanagan from the television program Comic Book Men did the cover work. I have to say, it’s a pretty bad ass cover. High five Walt.

It was the same kind of deal when I was flipping through the issue one last time that I noticed the cameos in the crowd scenes. I won’t say who it is in case you are inclined to solve this mystery all by yourself. All in all, a good read with a fresh new look into the time travel genre, throw in some killer art work and...

KRAKoOoM!

You’ve got my 3.99 for the second issue.

REVIEW: Green Lantern #20

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Doug Mahnke (and a smattering of guests)
Review: Will Dubbeld


Well, here it is, kiddies. After writing Green Lantern for nigh on a decade, Geoff Johns is finally passing the torch on.

I purposefully did not say, "passing the lantern on"...

Johns run started back in 2004, I believe, with Green Lantern: Rebirth, a miniseries touting the return of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern.

I. Was. Excited.

For whatever reason, Green Lantern was a favorite of mine, probably due to the power set mixed with Hal Jordan's ability to be a giant-sized man jerk. I'd only amassed a small collection of GL comics, but amongst them was part of the arc detailing Hal Jordan's descent into super-villainy and transformation into Parallax. I know a lot of fellow nerds despised this storyline, but I thought it was great.

In no small part due to a cover detailing Hal wearing like ten power rings and sneering with a batshit crazy look on his face.

After DCs flirtations with Evil Hal, they killed him off for a spell and eventually recast him as The Specter, which was another win for me. The Specter was always another favorite of mine, and now he got to run around wearing Green Lantern's domino mask! Superb!

As with all things, however, DC decided to bring back the dead, and the next thing you know, Green Lantern: Rebirth.

I was excited to see Hal back, but right away had some gripes about Geoff Johns' storytelling; the retcon explaining away Hal's villainy being the major one. Apparently being possessed by a yellow space-weevil was a better storytelling device than a hero snapping, turning evil, languishing in purgatory, being turned into God's Spirit of Vengeance, and finally returning to the fold.

Nope, get that Campbellian Hero Journey crap outta here!

Yellow space-weevil possessed him and made him do bad stuff!

But, such is comics. At least I was getting Hal Jordan back. And Killowog, and Sinestro, and some other long gone but oft-remembered characters.

Then the mega-events came.

We had some self contained 6-parters, but all too quickly Geoff Johns (or possibly editorial mandate) flooded the hallowed halls of Distinguished Competitors' comics with 19-part crossovers that spilled out across four different books.

This always displeases me.

It's not that I mind spending ludicrous amounts of money on books, I just hate when a storyline tries to force me to buy books I normally wouldn't.
Which is why I have every third or fourth part of Johns' Green Lantern stories.

So after weathering Sinestro Corps Wars and Wrath of the Red Lanterns and Blackest Nights and Brightest Days and Lanterns of every color of the spectrum (no shit, ROYGBIV Lanterns), Geoff Johns brings his Green Lantern epic to a close with Wrath of the First Lantern.

I was more than ready.

What was at first an exiting new direction for the Green Lantern book rapidly degraded into sprawling, bloated storytelling that had diminishing returns in the entertainment department.
Now I know there's many amongst fandom that swear by the Church of Johns and would burn me at the nerd-stake for my heresy, but I have been less than impressed. Either fine ideas went out of control (Yellow Lanterns and Red Lanterns? Sweet! But I still don't really know what the deal with the Indigo Tribe is, and I've been reading this book for ten years!), or the storylines lasted waaaayyyy too long (did Brightest Day really need THAT many issues to tell the story? Signs point to no).

Unfortunately Wrath of the First Lantern was no exception. I had all but clocked out when a giant Green Lantern hand at the beginning of the universe opened the arc.

Issue 20, however, was pretty damn good. Granted it was rife with cliches and played out storytelling tropes from the "tell me the story of when..." to encountering your dad's ghost and him telling you he's proud of you, to that old chestnut "the enemy will be vanquished when we all join forces and defeat him in an Orgy of Teamwork!"

I'm pretty sure they even borrowed a page from Uncle Al's Watchmen playbook towards the end.

Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I mentally cheered for the Good Guys and reveled in every (and there were quite a few) two-page spread. All my favorites were there (Kilowog! Mogo! G'nort! That Red Lantern cat!) and at the end of the day, Hal Jordan was the hero.

I'll avoid being to spoiler-y, but Sinestro absolutely stole the damn show here. In sheer four-color nerd moments and actual points of fine storytelling, he absolutely stole the show.

The art is tight and well detailed, which is something I can say for all the Green Lantern books under Geoff Johns' purview, as was the inking and coloring. Similarly styled artists have been used throughout the series, which is much appreciated as comics tend to switch creative teams every three issues it seems.

The book itself is an oversized, squarebound affair that is steeply priced ($7.99), but I felt like I got my money's worth out of it. Most giant-sized issues from the House of Ideas are letdowns and leave me feeling ripped off (80 page extravaganza! 30 pages of content followed by crappy reprints of old comics!).

Not so here. Cover-to-cover story with the exception of a few pages of recommended reading at the end and every few pages is testimonial bj's from Johns' peers about how supercrazyawesome he is.
But what the hell, it's his swan-song, let 'em stroke the 'ol ego a bit.
As an aside, the book features a wraparound cover that you can't actually enjoy to the fullest due to the squarebound format. It didn't bother me in the least, but I did notice it as a bit of an engineering foible.

At the end of the day, you're not going to pick this book up if you hadn't previously been following Green Lantern, but it's totally worth it if you have been. I'm curious to see what Geoff Johns' successor comes up with, but he or she needn't feel like they have to jump off with an epic 12-part follow up.

Maybe Hal can just fight a space pirate, call it good, and be home by suppertime.

That would be a welcome change of pace.

REVIEW: Superior Spider-Man #10

Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Ryan Stegman
Colorist: Edgar Delgado
Review: William R. Davis Jr.


"I hate you. I hate you. I don't even know you and I hate your guts. I hope all of the bad things in life happen to you and nobody else but you." -Silky Johnson

This used to be my opinion of Spider-Man. Madman and I have had many back and forths regarding the web crawler in our time together on this website. He told me to read Scarlet Spider #1 and it made me want to cut myself. On Wednesdays I used to have this ritual where I would pick up my comics and head to the bar straight away for some microbrews. After reading my copy of Scarlet Spider #1 I immediately gave it to resident barfly and comic fan Cool Uncle Stu Balls. A week later he tried to give it back. I'm pretty sure it ended up going into the trash.

Peter Parker Spidey was almost as bad. I found the endless one liners and puns cliche' and exhausting. While Spider-Man does boast one of the best rogues galleries in comics, this book had nothing else to offer me. I put it down when I was eleven years old. These days I don't get into supe books much. As a young fanboy I was always surrounded by stacks of DC comics, but now read a couple of books from every new title that comes out just to keep current and have a valid, informed opinion. The worst comic is still better than the best episode of Ashton Kutcher Two and a Half Men anyway, right?

I was as surprised as anyone to discover that at the moment, three of the books that I really look forward to each month are supe books. Two of those books are Marvel Now titles. FF is incredible. There is not enough room here to polish that gem, so it's going to have to wait until next month for a proper review. The other book that I absolutely love from Marvel is Superior Spider-Man.

This was a book that I really wanted to hate. Dan Slott wins the "All-Time Biggest Douche on Twitter Ever" award. This guy is a huge dick, bashing Kickstarter and just being an all around arrogant taint on the interwebs. But I must give credit where credit is due. He took everything that I hated about Spider-Man, tore it out, and placed the mind of Doctor Octopus in Peter Parker's body. The results are brilliant. My only lingering issue with the title was Peter Parker's ghost inhabiting his own subconscious. As of issue nine Jiminy Cricket is now gone for good and an already great book is even better. Everything about this new Spidey title is superior. And while Spider-Man purists bash this book in comic forums on the daily, it is top shelf all of the way.

Ryan Stegman has done an incredible job with the art in every issue, and the clarity that his work brings to Superior Spider-Man is truly impressive. Some of the panels are mind blowingly dense, and his art elevates this title into the upper echelon. SpOck is my favorite superhero out right now (stands and claps) and this is a a great read even for people who prefer indie comics. Keep it up gentlemen.

This issue is a perfect place to start if you're not current with Superior Spider-Man. A new arc has begun in #10, and Spidey villains everywhere are trying to find new ways to adapt to a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man that will punch you in the throat or shoot you in the head at point blank range. We all know Peter Parker will back back at some point, but SpOck needs to stay around as long as possible. To quote Silky Johnson a final time, Peter Parker Spider-Man is a woman who wears underwear "with dick holes in 'em".

REVIEW Death to Dinksville: Chapter Four

Created, Written, and Illustrated by: J. Tungol
Colored by: Z. Tungol
Lettered by: Jaime Tungol
Review: Cody "Madman" Miller


In case you haven’t read the first three chapters: Lamar, Ellen, and the Cheney Corporation. Let’s recap to bring you up to speed:

Lamar is a tough little bastard, that’s basically all you need to know, but I guess I’ll elaborate a wee bit more. Lamar has been dealt a pretty shitty hand. His mama is a whore, who apparently is attracted to the worst kind of guys. The current jackass kicks Lamar’s ass and he bails for the safety of his best friend Shogo’s house. Lamar spends the night there and his life is good…until breakfast. A zombie comes through the front door and bites Shogo’s mother. Shogo does not freak out at the sight of the walking undead tearing his mother’s throat out.

Not Shogo…not today.

Shogo goes all Chucky and destroys the zombie with a few dozen well-placed pokes with a rather large butcher knife. But, as it may be, the joke is on poor Shogo. His newly reanimated zombie mom takes a large nibble out of his neck. As if a zombie uprising wasn’t enough for Dinksville, we learn that Dylan Haddenfield, a murdering psychopath, has escaped prison.
In chapter two, Tungol gives us Ellen. Ellen is another grade school bad ass. Ellen’s bike may still have training wheels, but she is a beast with her Glock 9mm. Pow ! Right between the dead, lifeless eyes every time. Ellen meets up with Lamar and Shogo. Haddenfield’s unholy crusade continues and the zombies do what zombies do. Enter the evil Cheney Corporation.

Chapter three introduces us to a second cloaked psychopath looking for the secret of Virus Z (the zombie maker virus), and in a great few pages Lamar is forced to put his freshly turned mother down.

In the newly released chapter four, we get a flashback that explains Haddenfield’s not so humble beginnings as a serial killer.

It’s also revealed that Shogo’s DNA may be humanities only hope.

Each of these books entertained me from cover to cover. I know! More zombies. But even though it has the current trend of the “zombie virus” within its folds, Death to Dinksville is so much more than just another biter tale.

I read all four chapters back to back in no time. The books are a quick read with a maximum fun rating.

The art is really fun as well. Imagine Charlie Brown crossed with the Walking Dead and a hint of one of those Scream movies thrown in with a Chucky kind of feel to it (for no other reason than the little kids with butcher knives and axes).

One thing I don’t get is the fact that everyone in the comic only has four fingers and it really freaks me the hell out.

After each chapter, I couldn’t stop reading and just had to read the next issue. Take my word on this and head over to Jtungol.com and order all four issues as soon as possible.He has my wallet for all 13 issues...fact.

PS Thank You to Mr. Tungol for shipping the first four issues directly to my door. You truly have a comic worth supporting.

REVIEW: The Colonized #1

Writer: Chris Ryall
Artist: Drew Moss
Review: Will Dubbeld


Aliens and Zombies?

I haven't decided if I'm a fan of genre cross breeding or not, and I'm not exactly waiting with bated breath for the next zombie pop-culture phenomenon, buuuuuut...

Little green men versus zombies kinda piqued the ol' curiosity. Also curious was the fact that this book was published by IDW and wasn't a licensed property, but I digress...

Colonized: A Tale of Zombies vs. Aliens is a fairly fun read, kids. In the wide open Montana country we find a flying saucer on a mission to snatch up indigenous Earth-life, probably with the intent of probing it. After zooming over a cemetery, the saucer tractor-beams up a zombie and we're off to the races.

Taking a page from the Alien vs. Predator playbook we have a crop of hapless humans caught in the middle, which is good, because you need relatable fodder in any genre piece like this. This particular fodder comes from a commune/militia headquarters in the Montana wilds that seems to be torn betwixt those who want to go green and live off the grid and those paranoiacs who want to stockpile arms in case The Man comes to take away their rights.

There's some disputes amongst the human fodder about leadership policies and an attempt to develop some endearing characters, but let's not church this up too much, folks.

Aliens vs. Zombies.

If I want a comic about endearing human drama and the triumph of will over insurmountable odds, I'll read Strangers In Paradise.

In any case, a loose zombie aboard a flying saucer soon leads to a crashing saucer and alien, zombie and human meet at last.

A hint of detente between aliens and humans against a common foe in later issues is given, probably with the gun-nut faction opposing a team up with aliens.
Which may or may not be an immigration metaphor.
I'm guessing the redneck in charge of the militant faction does something foolish and gets some folks killed...

Speculation aside, Colonized was a decent book. Some familiar tropes bound through the book, and plot points seem to be telegraphed if you're any sort of well-read man or woman, but what the hell. I feel like I got my money's worth and will stick it out at least long enough to see if my predictions are correct.

The writing had some pretty good substance to it, giving some character to the aliens but relegating the human protagonists to fairly 2-dimensional archetypes.
But, if they're going to get eaten by zombies anyway, who cares?
They don't all have to be as in-depth as The Walking Dead, guys...

Ryall is treading familiar water with this book, having scribed Zombies vs. Robots... Vs Amazons, so zombies vs. aliens vs. hippies vs. rednecks should flow easily from his pen.
As long as I get alien zombies in this book I'll be happy.
And maybe a death ray or 2...

Drew Moss' art may be the shining point in the book. The designs are great, and he's not afraid to embrace the familiar. The alien saucer is just that, an archetypical flying saucer, and the aliens are little green men with jumpsuits and big lumpy heads. They even have bubble helmets.

The humans, undead or not, are well drawn and he has a good eye for background and environment.

The Colonized doesn't come out of the gate swinging hard, but I trust Chris Ryall is taking his time to build the story and gather some steam for an alien/zombie/militiaman throwdown. I don't know if The Colonized will have the staying power of some other contemporary zombie comics, but I'll stick it out for the duration.
It does dawn on me that Robert Kirkman once said that if Walking Dead ever made it to issue 75 (if memory serves) the book would be in color and he'd throw aliens into the comic...

The Colonized is a full color zombie/alien book available from IDW for the price of $3.99 with a cover by Dave Sim of Cerebus fame.