REVIEW: Aliens: Defiance #1 ashcan

Written by: Brian Wood
Art by: Tristan Jones
Review: Will Dubbeld

Aside from Star Wars, the Alien franchise might be one of my favorite science fiction mythos, due in no small part to HR Giger's hellish conceptual designs. As such I've made a hobby of collecting books, bits of memorabilia, and of course comic books related to the franchise.

Except anything Prometheus related, because screw that piece of crap . . .

Aside from a Marvel adaptation of the first Alien film, Dark Horse Comics has been the sole license-holder for comics set in the Alien universe as far as I know. For over 20 years now DH has been printing Alien books and they are, with few exceptions, phenomenal books. A new series drops soon and the LCS was giving out free promo ashcans, prompting me to sidle up to the bar and check out the wares.

Aliens: Defiance takes place between the first and second Alien films and in true to form franchise setup involves some hapless fools exploring a derelict spaceship. The hapless fools in this case are a Colonial Marine named Zula Hendricks and an accompanying group of Wetland-Yutani security drones.

No mention of them preferring to be called Artificial Persons.

This time around the derelict in question is floating near Earth's Luna Base and is a Seegson hauler called the Europa, and it doesn't take long for Zula and her band of Synthetics to discover they are not alone aboard the Europa.
And by that I mean our familiar xenomorphs pop in and start eviscerating.
Chances are the Weyland-Yutani company is to blame . . .

I'm not sure if this is a standalone prelude for the series or a preview of the first issue, but I'm in either way. It's got the claustrophobic feel of an Alien movie and the art is reminiscent of Ron Cobb's concept work for the first movie.
We also get a fan-service appearance from Ripley's daughter Amanda, which makes me curious if they'll attempt to dovetail (or shoehorn, as you will) the series as connective tissue to the Alien: Isolation video game.

At this point in the history of our pop culture, I'll not attempt to convince anyone to buy this book. You either like the Alien franchise or you don't, and if you're unaware of it, I'm not entirely sure what to say other than "get on it."
Fans of the series are a sure sell if you've explored the Alien comicverse. The preview reminded me of the 1st Alien comic miniseries and a bit of the Aliens: Earth War comic, both high points in my opinion.
Bug hunt or not, I'll stick with this chickenshit outfit for the duration.

REVIEW: Spirit’s Destiny #1

Writer: Dorphise Jean

Pencilers: Zack Dolan, Edwin Galmon, Saint Yak, Richard Perotta

Review: Will Dubbeld

Writer/creator Dorphise Jean contacted me some time ago about a review for her indie book, Spirit’s Destiny, and I readily agreed. Always willing to lend a hand to the small press, I was pleased to recently receive a digital copy in my mailbox, and off we went. I hadn’t done any background research into the book and was therefore able to approach it with a fresh mind.

Was it a superhero book? A horror book? I plunged in and soon discovered it may be neither, or a little bit of both.

Spirit’s Destiny opens with teenage heroine, Destiny, awaking from a nightmare, or perhaps vision, depicting a costumed ne’er do well creeping into his infant daughter’s room.  He gets into a fracas with the child’s mother, but not before injecting the baby with some strange fluid.  I love that the book cold opened with a very well choreographed fight scene/dream sequence before snapping us into Destiny’s regular, everyday routine.

The book’s second act shows us a bit of teenage Destiny’s archetypical school life (best friend, hot guy, bitchy rival girl) and some interaction with her mother, who grounds her for treating Bitchy Girl to a right cross.

I didn’t see that coming, and it pinned down Destiny’s character in one panel. Well done.

REVIEW: Batman Beyond Unlimited #1

Batman Creators: Bob Kane & Bill Finger
Story: Adam Beechen/Derek Fridolfs & Dustin Nguyen
Art and Cover: Dustin Nguyen, Norm Breyfogle
Colors: Andrew Elder, Randy Mayor
Review: Daniel Simpson

When Batman Beyond first came out as a cartoon series it was met with, at least from my point of view, criticism. Here was this new Batman that had a suit that could fly, and all this tech that seemed it fit better on Iron Man than on Batman, but slowly it won me over. As a cartoon series it rewrote the Batman mythos and as a comic series it could do, the exact thing. Terry McGinnis is an awesome Batman and brings a level of snark to the Dark Knight that he has never had before. If you are unfamiliar with the Batman Beyond universe here is the skinny: The story takes place in 2019, Terry McGinnis is Batman, Bruce Wayne has basically taken Alfred’s role staying in the bat cave with Ace the Bathound, Barbara Gordon is the police commissioner. There are several different gangs that call themselves the Jokerz. All caught up? Good.

This comic just jumps right in the storyline starting out with Batman trying to stop one gang of Jokerz from robbing an antique magic shop. They are from Star City and are the second out of town group to try to vandalize Neo Gotham.

REVIEW: Humalien #1 - 3

Created, written and illustrated by J. Adam Farster

Review: Will Dubbeld

Because preordering 20 lbs of comics weekly isn't enough, I'll always browse the newsstand at my LCS (Books, Comics, and Things in Ft. Wayne, IN plug plug plug). A trip or two ago I spied the first 3 issues of a book called Humalien.

"Dafuq is this?” I asked the clerk, intrigued by the Saturday Morning Cartoon cover art.

He'd not read the book, and told me "some guy brought it in and asked if we would put it on the shelf."

I'm paraphrasing here, but that's pretty much how it went down. A bold Indie creator hawking his nerd-wares door-to-door at all comic shops in his path, or that's how I imagined it, anyway.

I initially passed on the comic, wandering around and hoping I'd spy some hidden back issue gem or discounted tpb. As I readied myself for checkout I thought, "Ah, screw it. Imma buy this guy's Indie book."

REVIEW: Batman/ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Creators:  Batman: Bob Kane w/ Bill Finger

                  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird 

Story: James Tynion IV

Art and Cover: Freddie E Williams II

Colors: Jeremy Colwell

Review: Daniel Simpson

I have been a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles since I was eight years old but I have just in the last few years begun to appreciate Batman. I've always enjoyed his rogue gallery and all its complexities but I never enjoyed the character as a whole. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, published by both DC comics and IDW publishing, is the first of a six part story arc that has the Dark Knight meeting the totally awesome foursome from New York.

I opted to give it a shot.

The story starts out with ninjas surrounding scientists. Already you know what that means...the boys in green flash in and take out the ninjas. Little do you realize that this isn't the actual beginning of the story. Oh, no, it’s just the teaser page and everything that has happened up ‘til now is just one of the scientists recounting the event to none other than Batman himself. The story itself is as you would expect for an intro: slow going and doesn't really address why or how the lean green teens ended up in Gotham City. It does, however, introduce Killer Croc as one of what I'm sure will be many Batman villain cameos.

It's a very interesting mix of both comics’ styles, being both light and dark with the colors somewhat muted. The fight scenes (‘cause lets be honest that's what this comic is all about) are in general either very short, as in the scene where Shredder confronts the Bat, or rather anti-climatic, as in the fight between the Turtles and Killer Croc. The artwork as a whole is very good, although I question the Batmobile redesign.

REVIEW: Wraithborn Redux #1

Story & Script:  Marcia Chen

Story & Pencils:  Joe Benitez

Inks:  Joe Weems

Colors:  Studio F., Mike Garcia

Letters:  Comicraft, Michael Heisler

Review:  Art Bee

This week when I went to pick up the comics in my folder at my LCS, I found a strange new title therein. Wraithborn Redux #1 captured my curiosity instantly. The cover and summary on the back were amazingly done and captivating. Even though that was enough, when I opened the cover to the first page one of the best looking pages ever met my eyes. There is a scene drawn with just about the best image of the moon I have EVER seen. I will warn you there are some spoilers in here, but most of this is given away in the summary on the back cover anyway. Trust me; this will not detract from your enjoyment of this remarkable comic.

After I read this, my thoughts immediately went to Spawn, by Todd McFarlane. As complementary as I am intending this statement, it reminds me so much of Spawn, and yet, this story is completely its own. Marcia Chen and Joe Benitez have put a lot of work and thought into the main character, Melanie Moore, as shown in the story structure in the first issue.

REVIEW: Power Man and Iron Fist #1 & Spider-Man #1

Power Man and Iron Fist #1

Writer: David Walker

Artist: Sanford Greene

Color Artist: Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Review: Cody “Madman” Miller

I’m sure most comic book fans have at least read one(probably more) comic involving Luke Cage or Iron Fist, and chances are good that they were defending their comicdom tag-team heavyweight championship belts. As far as team ups go you’d be hard pressed to find a more capable and iconic super-duo. They’re right up there with pb&j . . . lasting. I enjoyed many a Power Man and Iron Fist in my youth, so pulling this book was a no brainer. I’m more of an Iron Fist fan than a passenger on the Luke Cage (he doesn’t like to be called Power Man for some reason, so we’ll respect that) bandwagon. I guess in my mind I’d rather have a super, glowing, kung fu grip then unbreakable skin and no neck. Hadouken!!!

All in all, a great first issue. Throughout the whole book Cage keeps adamantly reassuring everyone who asks if the Heroes for Hire are back in business that they are not. Obviously Cage is full of shit and I’m so happy he is.