PREVIEW: Open Tree: Legends and Tall Tales #1 – Freedom Run

Writer: Chris Charlton
Artist: Brian Latimer
Colorist: Vasco Sobral
Review: Art Bee

Everyone loves a great story, and I have the privilege of introducing to you to one of the best I have read. After reading it five times, it is not getting old. Open Tree, Legends and Tall Tales #1 contains a one-shot story called “Freedom Run,” and each future issue will be its own one-shot as well. This supernatural western is full of plot points that will pull your emotions in different directions. Let me give you just a taste of what you find on the first two pages.

“Freedom Run” is a powerful and compelling story set in 1872 Texas. The main character, Jesiah, is a young man who has lost his parents and is having to care for his family farm alone. During a walk he finds what he assumes is a wild horse with its back hoof tangled in a barbed wire fence. After freeing the horse, he is surprised that it does not run off and takes it to his barn to care for it.

REVIEW: Axe Cop: The American Choppers #1 & #2

Story: Malachai Nicolle (age 10)
Pencils, inks, and lettering: Ethan Nicolle (age 33)
Colors: Dirk Eric Schulz (age 31)
Review: Cody "Madman" Miller

Hells yes! The Nicolle duo are back with more Axe Cop insanity. Just take my money.

I still find it amazing that a ten year old could possibly entertain me this much. In truth it’s really the fact that the writer is ten that makes this book so amazing. After reading only the first couple pages it was obvious that a ten year old's imagination is driving the bus, and in this case that’s perfectly fine.

There are parts in these first two issues of this three issue mini-series that seemed really dark to be coming from a ten year old’s brain. There are parts dealing with God, Satan, murder demons etc. Deep stuff for a ten year old.

I know at the end of the day it’s all for laughs but it did make me stop and think about how desensitized humanity is becoming. Like I said, Malachai is on point. By fifteen this guy is gonna have the big two gagged, bound, and bent over the proverbial barrel at least I sure as hell hope so.

In case you’ve never read Axe Cop before, let me fill you in. There is a cop. The cop has an axe. Axe Cop has the world by its balls. Anything goes and it usually does. Case in point . . . Wexter.

Wexter is Axe Cop’s pet bad guy eating T-Rex with machine gun arms who can transform into a dragon with rocket wings. Anything goes.

Demonic lumberjacks are charged by Satan himself to kill Axe Cop. They attempt to do so by creating little evil axe monsters and the like.

Axe Cop, with the help of his super team brothers, Axe Goat (who has diamond teeth and can chew through anything), Axe Dog (super smart, real Reed Richards kinda vibe), Axe Captain, Axe Girl, Super Axe, and don’t forget Wexter, must beat back the legions of hell and whatever else Axe people and animals do.

$3.99 is all you need for a ticket to awesome and back. I really can’t recommend this book enough. It’s cover to cover good times with a side of noodle salad.

Spotlight: Image Comics

Spotlight on:
Image Comics

By: Will Dubbeld

This past week I've been trying to catch up on bagging/boarding 3 or 4 months worth of funnybooks. Were I not a slacker I'd do this weekly instead of quarterly.
I am, however, extremely adept at procrastination and therefore reap the rewards of bagging piles of comics from my pullbox and various Internet purchases.
Because who doesn't want an 11-issue run of Where Monsters Dwell from the '60s? (thanks, eBay...)

Point being, I buy an obscene amount of comics and have noticed an odd trend lately.
Many of these comics are Image books.
I'll impulsively throw books on my pull list based on how well Previews sells them, and the past few years I've been sold on Image.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a Marvel Zombie for life, I don't think I could ever be anything else. It's encoded in my DNA, or subliminal messages contained in Stan's Soapbox brainwashed me, or some other ludicrous theory. The House of Ideas can churn out the weakest of stories bent on retreading old ground, and I'll buy into the mega-event every time.
Because screw you, flatscan, I still love the X-Men.

Despite Fox's hard work to dissuade me . . .

In any case, going through these piles of unbagged books revealed an alarming amount of Image titles.
Leading me to ask a profound question:

When did Image start to not suck?

Everybody knows the story, how a bunch of top names from Marvel's Artist Stable wanted some more of the pie, took their collective ball and went off to form their own company. Granted the formation of Image was a coup in the comic world and opened the door for creator owned properties and opportunities, but Image suffered a pretty major Achilles Heel:

These boys were much better artists than they were writers.

Now, super-heroines with giant bewbs and super-dude-adolescent-wish-fulfillment characters appealed to my 12-year old self, but even at that young age I quickly grew disenchanted with Brigades and Youngbloods and Shadowhawks and the like. Not to say that the other companies were churning out Shakespeare, but my god did Image have some horribly unengaging characters.

I mean, seriously, name a character from Wetworks.

So, after buying the first issue or two of most Image books, 12-year old me culled the herd. The Maxx was a great, surreal book. Spawn was okay, for about 10 issues and I always had a soft spot for Gen13, WildC.A.T.S and Stormwatch, of all things.
All said and done, though, nothing was appealing enough to keep buying for any length of time.

So when did Image start putting out good books?

I'd stopped reading comics altogether for a time due to finances and crap like Knightfall and Spider-clones, and when I'd cautiously started buying again, around the start of Grant Morrison's New X-Men run, I ran across back issues of an Image book called Aria.
The book was full of magic and mystique and wonder and where the hell were the shoulder pads and belt pouches?
Did I read that correctly?
It did say 'Image' on the cover, right?
The characters were illustrated in an anatomically correct manner, to boot, and artist Jay Anacleto had a wonderful ethereal quality to his work.
No heaving, cartoonish bosoms. No spine-cracking postures or muscles slapped on top of muscles in clear defiance of anything in Grey's Anatomy.

The medical text . . .

And there were certainly no characters comically named 'Shaft'.

So perhaps Image deserved a second chance.
In the following years, as I went from newsstand browser to tentative pull list customer to full blown "holy crap did you see how much that guy had in his pullbox?", I've been giving Image more and more slack, and they've been giving me more and more reasons to keep buying.
Spawn not being one of them.

In part 2 of this editorial I'll take a quick look at several Image titles and their creative teams.
Savage Dragon not being one of them.

Stay tuned, boys and girls . . .

PREVIEW: Black of Heart #3

Writer: Chris Charlton
Artist: David Hollenbach
Review: Art Bee

The week of June 20th Assailant Comics will be releasing the highly anticipated chapter three to the Black of Heart series. Black of Heart serves us a fantastic crime thriller with an extra scoop of thrill and a side of creepiness. Writer Chris Charlton has done a great job developing a dynamic protagonist in Detective Drake Harper while setting up a very engaging plot. To complete the picture, David Hollenbach’s dark, smoky style is a perfect fit to the tone of this freakish tale.

As a generalized overview of what has occurred thus far in the series, Det. Harper has been on the trail of a serial killer, called “the Vulture” by the media, who is dumping his mutilated victims all over New York City. On top of the pressure from the police department and the press about the case, he has several other dramatic events going on that are keeping him on edge, such as a bad tooth and bad wife. Fortunately, his drinking helps him cope with all of it, and few would think it wrong for Drake to be drinking in light of everything.

Up until Chapter 3: Ghosts of New York City, we follow the detective and the serial killer through their dance of cat and mouse, but at the end of Chapter 2: Eye of the Beholder, we are left with a major cliff hanger and the supposed identity of “the Vulture”.

It is going to prove very difficult to talk about Black of Heart #3 without providing spoilers, but I am committed to the task.

Chapter three opens with Drake overseeing the autopsy of the latest victim, and the most recent clues are recapped. Directly afterward, the police chief pressures Drake and his partner to work harder to apprehend “the Vulture”, and a new plot element is introduced. This element is centered on someone named Lucky Luciano, who is under investigation. From this point we ascend the story's spiral staircase until we reach the rooftop, where we find a huge cliffhanger. I really want to be a jerk about it and just tell you just to appease my excitement. Instead, I will be one with The Force and be patient.

As I stated at the beginning, David Hollenbach’s artistic style fits this story like a glove. Hollenbach’s artwork is not a pencil, ink, and color style as is found in most comics, instead he uses a unique technique that gives a shadowy, smoky look to the images. This effect truly enhances the story of Black of Heart by casting a gloom over the story. The only drawback to his style is low detail, which can make a few images hard to discern. Overall, the images are fantastic and powerful.

It is hard to find comics out that are void of clichés, pointless dialogue, and bad narration. So many mainstream writers seem to have a good idea for a dialogue or scene and look to squeeze it into their story. This is almost always a mistake. Even a great dialogue or scene needs to fit or it will lose its greatness. Fortunately, Charlton does not fall into these traps and is a true literary craftsman.

Black of Heart #3 has been long awaited by fans, and once read, the wait will resume. It is just as Tom Petty said, “waiting is the hardest part.” With the release of issue three the series is half over, so it is a good time to get on this bandwagon. If you are not reading Black of Heart, you should give it a try, especially since Assailant Comics will provide the first issue for free. I will freely admit I only started reading Black of Heart about a month ago, and it has my full attention.

REVIEW: The Darkness: Close Your Eyes (one-shot)

Writer: Ales Kot
Artist: Marek Oleksicki
Colors: Sloane Leong
Review: Art Bee

***WARNING: I am going against my normal policy of staying spoiler free. This is only to possibly save you the time and tears of even worrying about opening this comic. ***

I have been a huge fan of The Darkness since Marc Silvestri created the series in 1996. Granted, the series has been stopped and started twice since its debut with several one-shots and mini-series, but the concept of the Darkness is still as powerful as ever. That statement is truly difficult to say with many writers and artists trying to mutilate a great concept. It almost seems as if the concept of the Darkness left its neighborhood of good writers and artists and ended up on the wrong side of town where it is laying in the fetal position while its face, kidneys, and arms are getting the shit kicked out of them.

With that said let me get to my mangled opinion of this one-shot comic from Top Cow.

Currently in The Darkness, Jackie Estacado is the bearer of the Darkness which he inherited from his father, who promptly expired at the instant of Jackie’s conception. The Darkness is a power that is handed down through the Estacado family typically from father to son and stays dormant in the new host for 21 years after birth.

“Close Your Eyes” deals with Jackie’s ancestor, Adelmo Estacado, in California, 1912. Adelmo works on an oil field, owned by Martin Cayce, to support his mother and bastard of a step-father. His mother was raped by his birth father, who brutally carved his name into her chest while raping her. To Adelmo’s mother’s justice, the man died right after raping her, having conceived Adelmo.

The story opens three days before Adelmo’s 21st birthday. He is in love with Emma Cayce, the boss’ daughter, and they have regular secret rendezvous to see each other and to plan their marriage. As the story goes, a dumbass smoking around natural gas ends Adelmo’s job. Adelmo beats his step father to death after finding his home ablaze with his mother inside. He and Emma have sex. Adelmo dies, and nine months later, Emma dies while giving birth to their son. The end. Nothing more to be said.

Many comic fans would agree with me when I say that the majority of Ales Kot’s work is fantastic. His writing for Suicide Squad was the key to the success of the series after DC’s New 52 reboot. While his writing for The Darkness: Close Your Eyes is good, there is a major problem with the story as a whole. There is no fucking point to this issue's existence! Now if this was going to be the first issue of a whole new volume about the Estacado family line, then I could understand and go along with it. This comic adds no value to any part of the story line as a one-shot.

At quick glance several of the pages just look messy, at least that was my first impression while flipping through the book. The artwork and colors of this issue are really astounding once you get to looking at them. The detail Marek Oleksicki puts into just the faces of the characters is truly phenominal. Throughout the book, blood is mostly colored black. This effect did not settle well with me until my second read (which I do while writing a review), and then it really seemed to fit. The color scheme is mostly dark, as everything happens at night (though it does not) and the coloration of the blood is just a reflection of this.

To all my fellow The Darkness fans, leave this one on the shelf. If you are an Ales Kot fan, pick it up, read it, and bag it. If you are both, flip a coin if you don’t know what to do. As with the other previous pointless one-shot of The Darkness, I will add it to the long box containing my other The Darkness comics and kick myself for being so devoted. It is just terrible to see good work go into pointless endeavors.

REVIEW: Zero

Writer: Ales Kot
Artist: There are a lot of those guys
Review: William R. Davis Jr.

It has been a minute! I must say, it feels good to be writing for the HCB again. The guys have been doing some nice work in my absence, so make sure you check the archives because we have opinions that need reading by discerning fanboys and fanladies such as yourselves. On our way to becoming the most innovative comic review website in the business, we threw a lot of stuff at the proverbial wall. Some stuck. Some didn’t. This idea has turned into a tradition here among the site owners. If you’ve been reading, you might have noticed that the reviews are a little different lately.

For one month a year, we choose each other’s books. I literally drew names out of a hat in Busan, South Korea at my desk before classes started at my Technical High School. Art Bee and I were fated to cross swords this year (go homo), and he chose Ales Kot’s Zero for me to read. In its genesis, this was a way for Madman to get into some DC and for me to get into some Marvel. If I was going to give the old Mark Cuban speech I would be speaking on my deep seated Marvel prejudices that are inherent in the very fiber of my being. These days I don’t really read any superhero books. When they cancelled all of my favorites or watered them down to the point where they became unpalatable, the decision to cut the cord was really easy. All of that being said, I was glad that Art Bee chose an Image book for my yearly outside the box offering.

Even with the decline of The Walking Dead, Image has made some bold strides when it comes to editorial decision making. Image publishes the right books and will take chances on titles that may not be commercially successful. The best part is that some of them are, and when that happens, it completely changes the landscape of mainstream comics. There are a few odd books out, but it seems like these days everything worth reading is coming out of Image. If the sale of print comics continues to languish blame the Big Two, because at Image you’re at least getting your money’s worth.

Spy thriller books are normally not my bag, but when Art Bee assigned me Zero, I sat down and read all seven issues. By now you have probably noticed “There are a lot of those guys” under the artist’s credit. There is no other reason for this than there is one for every issue, and I read seven. That’s right, every single issue has a new artist making Zero quite a unique read. Issue three read like a one shot and it was a great book. While I appreciate the chutzpah it takes to release an ambitious title such as this one, the continuity in the major arcs was completely lost. Image is really swinging for the fences here, and while I won’t be continuing on through the rest of Zero, I could see why Art Bee has this title in his pull list.

If I were about 7 or 8 deep on monthly titles I would probably read this one too, but at the moment I am only into about five, and Zero missed the list. Not that it’s an uninteresting book by any stretch of the imagination; it was just outside my comfort zone. It’s not my genre, and I couldn’t get into the whole artist an issue gimmick going on in Zero. I almost felt like an old man shooing kids off of my lawn though while I wrote these words, and applaud the idea because Image actually made the decision to publish something so unique.

I’m not going to tell you to pass on Zero. If you want a spy thriller that is taking more chances than any other book out there artistically pick up this series. I can’t get books like Creepy where I live, but I read the shit out of that title and Eerie both whenever I can. Do they even publish those anymore? They were running quarterly last time I was in the States. Compilation books like the above mentioned horror titles and a little Dark Horse Presents aren’t off putting in the slightest to me. But if I’m going to read a title with arcs I’m going to need a little continuity in the art department consarn it! Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go eat peanuts, drink Old Style, and watch the Cubs lose at 2 pm on a Tuesday afternoon at the American Legion. It’s dark, slightly hot, smells like piss and stale cigarettes, and not a single woman has ever walked through the doors, not even for the pull tabs and/or bingo night.

REVIEW: Amazing Spider-Man #1

Writer: Dan Slott
Penciler: Humberto Ramos
Inker: Victor Olazaba
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Review by: Alexander J. Diaz

I went into this book with low expectations, as I do with all #1 issues by the Big Two, but this book was exactly what it needed to be for the return of Peter Parker. It wasn’t too over the top, and it didn’t try to close out any storylines. I hate when a #1 issue tries to smash a lot of story into the first book of the series, especially when they try to close loops from the last volume.

That’s what a last issue in a series is for, not a first issue.

The Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) didn’t do that, it kept any lingering storylines from The Superior Spider-Man (SSM) open for the moment, which helped the transition immensely.

​When I started to read ASM #1 it felt like putting on an old pair of jeans, it just felt right. Not to say I didn't like SSM, but Peter Parker is supposed to be Spider-Man. The story gave the readers the Spider-Man and the Peter Parker they have come to know and love. He was witty and had all his quips back when fighting the baddies. I mean they put every quip they could fit in. Some may say too many, but I love the quips.

We also had Spidey being put in awkward situations. I won’t spoil the book for those who haven’t read it, but let’s just say it could only happen to Peter Parker’s Spider-Man. For me one of the best parts of ASM has always been Peter Parker, and his inability to juggle his duel life effectively. ASM #1 didn’t let us down in this category either, as Peter has no idea what’s going on in his personal life thanks to what happened in SSM #30. I have to say the story was well put together for a first issue.
​
I’m going to give the biggest shout out to the penciler, inker, and colorist. This book’s story would not have worked if it had the same look as SSM. The lines were less harsh, and the panels were much lighter. Even dark rooms seemed brighter than day light in SSM. The artists did a good job of bringing the mood of ASM up, and showing that it was a lighter hearted and happier Spider-Man than was shown in SSM. This would not have come across in the story if not for the artists. I felt like Dorothy walking into Oz after going from SSM #31 to ASM #1, so bravo guys. I hope you can keep up the good work.

Now to get to the additional material Marvel tacked on to this issue to bump up the price tag…

"Recapturing That Old Spark"
Writer: Dan Slott & Christos Cage
Pencile: Javier Rodriguez
Inker: Alvaro Lopez
Colors: Javier Rodriguez

​I’m going to start off by stating the obvious: I don’t like these kind of add-ons to an issue if it doesn’t help the book at all. Saying that, I felt this one did, mainly because this issue was about proving that the old Spider-Man is back, and nothing says that more than a classic villain. This story lets the readers know that Electro is going to be making a comeback to ASM. I know most of this is due to the new movie, but I’m okay with it. I liked the story, and it showed the kind of shit the older B-level villains have to deal with in the Marvel universe.

​The thing I liked the most about this story was the art. It had a retro vibe which fit with Electro. Again, it also showed that ASM is returning to its roots, which is what the fans wanted, so good on you Marvel for this story.

The next story is also one I enjoyed.

"Crossed Paths"
Writer: Dan Slott & Christos Cage
Penciler: Giuseppe Camuncoli
Inker: John Dell & Cam Smith
Colors: Antonio Fabela

​This is a story I wanted to read ever since Black Cat's run in with Spidey in SSM. I wondered what happened and was hoping to find out sooner rather than later. Marvel again helped me out. It filled in something I wanted to know and made me look back at the panels of ASM #1 to notice her appearance in the issue. It fit this issue perfectly and was to the point (which not all the add-ons were, but I’m getting ahead of myself). This was enjoyable and again brought the reader back to old school ASM.

​The art was enjoyable as well. Unlike the art in the previous two stories, “Crossed Paths” art seemed just like SSM, which was good because, to Black Cat, Spidey is still the same S.O.B. that put her in jail. The art let the reader know that not everything in ASM will get back to the way it was, and that some things have changed, maybe even forever.

Now to the add-ons I didn’t like. It was so nice of Marvel to put them all in a row at the end of the book for me.

"How My Stuff Works"
Writer: Joe Caramagna
Artist: Chris Eliopoulos
Color: Jim Charalampidis

​This add on let me know what Marvel truly thinks of it’s readers. I’m sorry to say, readers, that they think we are idiots. In a world where Spidey has been around for almost 52 years, there have been five movies about him in the recent past and numerous cartoons, and Marvel still thinks we need them to tell us what Spider-Man’s powers are. My response is
"Fuck You Marvel". This add-on was completely unnecessary, I know Marvel didn’t think its readers could use multi-syllable words, but this comic was asinine. That’s right, I said it like a writer bitches.

​The art even showed how Marvel sees us; it was drawn and colored to look like it belongs on Nick, Jr. I get it, Marvel, you think we can’t keep up. Next time just do the readers a favor and assume we know what Spidey’s powers are.

We also know that Wolverine has claws, Cyclops shoots beams out of his eyes, and that you guys are asses.

Next up, more crap.

"Homecoming. Sort of"
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Will Sliney
Color: Jim Charalampidis

​This story had no business in this book, or any book for that matter. The story was pointless. We get that Spidey 2099 isn’t in 2099, and we didn’t need this pointless story to show us that. I can see Spidey 2099 coming up in ASM when Spidey and Spidey 2099’s paths will, have, or are going to cross in some important way, but this story does not have that kind of importance.

It’s just filler to up the price of this issue, and again, Marvel, Fuck You. This story was stupid, and you should be paying me for the time it took to read.

​On to the art of this crap story. Surprise, it was crap too.

The lines and inking were shit, and Spidey 2099 looked like crap. The lines showed too much detail about Spidey 2099, completely bringing me back to reality. Unfortunately, I kept reading on, and noticed the colors looked like some sort of retro/futuristic crap. It looked like Charalampidis wasn’t sure if he wanted this book to look futuristic in its color tone or retro, so he said, “fuck it, I’ll do both.” It didn’t work. I wish time travel was real like Spidey 2099 suggests, because then I could go back in time and tell Marvel, “You've got to do something about your kids!”

"Kaine"
Writer: Chris Yost
Penciler: David Baldeon
Inker: Jordi Tarragona
Color: Rachelle Rosenberg

​For “Kaine”, I’m going to start with what I liked, which was the art and color. It was a beautiful looking story and enjoyed the look of each panel immensely. Unfortunately this wasn’t an art book, it was a comic book, and the story here was crap.

Are we as readers supposed to believe that after returning as Spider-Man Peter Parker has time to go to Texas to check up on a friend? This is a guy who can’t make it to dinner on time, has just come back from death, and has to figure out what happened in his absence, but he has time for a fucking trip to Texas to check up on a friend. Again, Marvel, I have to say get your shit together. This story could have made sense down the road, but not in the first issue. Maybe if you weren’t trying to make this issue worth more; you wouldn’t have devalued it with more crap.

​In Closing on "Kaine", I didn’t like it.

Learning to Crawl: “Amazing Reality”
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Ramón Pérez
Color: Ian Herring

​Crap: that is the word I use to describe this story.

One, it didn’t belong in this issue. Two, the art and coloring were horrible. Three, the story was not even good.

​Let’s start with my first complaint. This was obviously another add-on to support the cost of this issue. In my opinion, it again did the opposite. It didn’t belong at all, and at the end it said to pick up ASM #1.1 to finish this crap. I don’t think so.

If you wanted me to read ASM #1.1 then you shouldn’t pull shit like this. I’m going to skip it just to spite you, Marvel.
​My second complaint was the art. It was not good. I could have colored this story better if all I did was eat some rainbow sherbet and puked it over the page. The inking was bad too, but the yellowish tone just got to me. I did not like it.

​Finally, the third problem with the story was that it was crap. It went nowhere and took its time getting there. I get that you want to sell ASM #1.1 Marvel, but do it with good storytelling, not by weighing your titles down with bad storytelling.

The last thing to review on this book is Inhuman #1.

Inhuman #1
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Joe Madureira
Color Artist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles

​This review is two-fold. First off, I’m going to say that Inhuman #1 didn’t belong at the end of ASM #1. I get that Marvel again is trying to add value to this issue by adding more on to it, but Inhuman mythos is too much to tack on to ASM #1. Especially since Marvel already showed us they don’t even trust us to remember Spidey’s abilities. Saying all of this though, I did enjoy Inhuman #1, and I hope it gets people to read more Inhuman titles.

​The story in Inhuman #1 was great. It filled in the gaps if you were behind a bit, and it had some great action and storytelling taking place. It developed the beautifully presented characters and made me care about what happen to the protagonists.

As you can see I’m trying not to ruin it for the reader.
The art and color were also great. It was very rich, but also harsh in tone like the story. It made me enjoy each panel immensely, and definitely made me want to buy the next issue. I liked it, so at least Marvel ended this book on a high note.

In summary, this book was like a sandwich. It had some great stories at the beginning, and one at the end with some crap in between. I still would recommend reading ASM #1, just skip the crap.