Archive for January, 2007
January 15, 2007 | Trades
The New Teen Titans: Terra Incognito
Marv Wolfman, George Perez
DC Comics
$26.99/$19.99 US (Paperback)
*** ½ (out of five)
Thank you Teen Titans cartoon fans.
It really is for you that Terra Incognito is in print, much more so than for die-hard New Teen Titans fans like me (who has every Titans comic printed over the past 28 years).
You see fanboys like me could have told you all along that while The Judas Contract, the storyline which follows this volume, was the pinnacle of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez’s 50+ issue run on the Titans, these set-up chapters are essential reading.
Unfortunately it has taken the popular cartoon series which features so many of the characters introduced in this book to see it collected for the first time in 24 years.
Oh well, better late than never.
This collection — reprinting New Teen Titans Vol. 1, issues 26, 28-34 and Annual 2 — sees the introduction of Terra, the super-powered teen who infatuates Changeling (A.K.A. Beast Boy), and quickly works herself into a position of trust and onto the Titans roster. Of course she turns out to be a villain in the end, but that’s another story.
Also seen in Terra Incognito are the seeds for Wally West’s decision to quit being Kid Flash and Dick Grayson’s change from Batman’s partner Robin to the hero we known him as today: Nightwing.
So thanks again cartoon fans for giving us diehards back a classic.
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January 15, 2007 | Comics
The Spirit #1
Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, Dave Stewart
DC Comics
$4/$2.99 US
**** ½ (out of five)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Will Eisner would be proud.
Hot on the heels of the fantastic Batman/Spirit one-shot issue, award-winning Canadian writer/illustrator Darwyn Cooke opens the next chapter of Eisner’s classic series with a bang — delivering a sensational story and art that’ll take your breath away.
Cooke, whose work on the miniseries DC: The New Frontier earned him both an Eisner Award (the comic book industry’s top honours) and a Joe Shuster Award (Canada’s highest comic prize), returns The Spirit to his rightful place among comics’ most enduring heroes with a near-perfect blend of fast-paced action and dialogue as he rushes to save a TV hostess from the clutches of a nefarious mobster.
This series is so good you’ll need to catch your breath after every issue.
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January 15, 2007 | Comics
Okko: The Cycle Of Water #1 (of 4)
Hub
Archaia Studios Press
$3.95 US
**** (out of five)
Tikku has just given his life away.
To help save his geisha sister, Little Carp, from the clutches of marauding pirates, Tikku gives the only possession he has — himself — to the ronin samurai demon hunter Okko in exchange for 10 days of his services.
But will that be enough to find Little Carp and set her free?
French writer/illustrator Hub delivers a visually stunning debut issue and promises a compelling miniseries to come.
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January 15, 2007 | Comics
Outer Orbit #1 (of 4)
Zach Howard, Sean Murphy, Reed Buccholz
Dark Horse Comics
$2.99 US
*** ½ (out of five)
Babes, explosions and laughs — in space!
Outer Orbit blasts off with hulking alien ex-cop Krunk and shifty ex-pizza delivery boy Quinn weaseling into a card game with the promise of a great story and they quickly deliver with the beginning of the outrageous tale of how Quinn met the beautiful and deadly Neoki.
From the first time they bump into one another — where the interstellar pizza boy gets one heck of a tip, if you know what I mean — to the deadly battle that ensues and their eventual run in with Krunk (in a battle over Galactic Girl Guide cookies) the yarn is first-rate.
Zach Howard, Sean Murphy and Reed Buccholz have a slick, off-the-wall space tale going that is not to be missed.
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January 15, 2007 | Comics
’68
Mark Kidwell, Nat Jones, Jay Fotos
Image Comics
$4.60/$3.99 US
*** ½ (out of five)
It’s The Walking Dead meets The Nam.
In February 1968, a five-man platoon of U.S. troops is sent deep into the jungles of Viet Nam to learn the fate of a listening post that has stopped transmitting.
But when the soldiers discover their countrymen’s remains still moving around and hungry for brains, all hell breaks loose in the jungle.
The result is a horrific and delightful one-shot written by Mark Kidwell, drawn in spectacularly gory detail by Nat Jones and gruesomely coloured by Jay Fotos.
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January 15, 2007 | Comics
Warhammer 40,000: Damnation Crusade #1 (of 6)
Dan Abnett, Ian Edginton, Lui Antonio
Boom! Studios
$2.99 US
*** (out of five)
Honesty time: I’ve never played Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000.
Not once.
Ever.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a well-made comic set in the violent far-flung future world 38,000 years from now.
A kidnapped Raclaw of the Drumkil Clan is forced into battling first his kin and then a vicious giant lion-esque beast called as carnodon to prove his worthiness to join the space marines’ Chapter Of Eternal Crusade.
But will Raclaw choose to join the Chapter’s deadly campaign or be doomed to life as a slave?
Well, duh!
This first glimpse into the world of the popular role-playing game is shocking and visceral and the rest of this miniseries by writers Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton and artists Lui Antonio promises much more of the same.
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