What happens when we the people give our governments too much control? What if every piece of information we received was watched, edited and tailored towards an agenda put forth by the controlling powers of our countries? Chanel Zero examines this issue and takes a look at life of a world through a government filter. This series is the perfect mix of graphic design, social commentary and engaging story telling. Even though this was Brian Wood’s first venture into indie comics it is completely compelling and enjoyable.
What happens to Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles and the rest of the scoobies after the events that unfolded in the finale of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” television series?
The show was important to a lot of people, and made a pretty influential change and impact on the way television is made and stories told so ater the Hellmouth caves in and Sunnydale is gone where does that put our quippy slayer and her crew?
The Foot Soldiers is a story of what happens when all the worlds heroes are gone, who takes their place. How does the world operate without protection. In the world of comics one thing reigns true, the world needs heroes. This book is a retelling of a common trope where we see the birth of a new generation of heroes through the worlds need.
The story is solid and may have been the best take on the dystopian super hero future I’ve read yet.
There are very few comics I get as excited about as I got when I read my copy of “Friends with Boys,” this comic has everything that I love in a comic. A story that is engaging and full of mystery and intrigue, relatable characters and Hicks’ charming art style.
This is the third release from Faith Erin Hicks, a writer illustrator from my home town, but it’s the first that I had read! Her other two books are “Zombies Calling” and “The War at Ellsmere.”
Severed is the story of a boy who runs away from home in search of his biological father. The things he encounters and the harsh world he must navigate often dramatic with a horror twist in the form of a shark toothed traveling salesman who has a taste for the flesh of the innocent.
The presentation of Scott Snyder’s shadowy suspense wrought words paired with Scott Tuft’s beautiful art bring together this creepy story each adding a layer to the suspense and horror.
Severed is the story of a boy who runs away from home in search of his biological father. The things he encounters and the harsh world he must navigate often dramatic with a horror twist in the form of a shark toothed traveling salesman who has a taste for the flesh of the innocent.
The presentation of Scott Snyder’s shadowy suspense wrought words paired with Scott Tuft’s beautiful art bring together this creepy story each adding a layer to the suspense and horror.
Described as a ‘speculative memoir’, cartoonist Bob Fingerman’s From the Ashes predicts the future and makes the end of the world a hilarious satire. Set in the smouldering ruins of Manhattan after an unknown but not unexpected disaster, the story follows Bob and his wife Michelle. They journey through a post apocalyptic New York, encountering cannibal foodies, friendly neighborhood mutants and reproduction camps run by ‘Rile O’Biley’. Apocalyptic literature often takes itself way too seriously (read: The Road by Cormac McCarthy) but Fingerman’s cheeky satire is bang on the money.
Kurtis Wiebe and Riley Rossmo’s Green Wake was one of the creepiest, visually interesting and engaging comics on the stands. With it’s premature cancellation due to low sales, now is the perfect time to support creator-owned material and check out Volume 1. The first trade follows the original five-issue miniseries before it was promoted to an ongoing. The story centers around a kind of strange purgatory known as Green Wake. Its mysterious inhabitants have little desire to escape the nowhere place; instead, they have resigned to their existence in a world that’s neither here nor there.
Welcome to the Morning Glory Academy, We Hope You Survive the Experience...
This deluxe hardcover of the first twelve issues of Morning Glories is the best comic release of 2011. The hardcover itself is gorgeously bound, the writing and plot by Spencer is intelligent and engaging, the covers by Esquejo are absolutely beautiful, and the interior art by Joe Eisma is expressive and wonderful to look at. All that said, I was extremely hesitant to buy anything related to this series. Morning Glories at first glance looks like a Gossip Girl style drama set at a prep school.
Spider Island
Dan Slott knows Spider-Man. The Spidey mythos has never been stronger. Since Brand New Day, when the entire Spider-Man history was wiped clean, Slott has written some interesting stories and revamped the series to much acclaim. Spider-Island reads like a blockbuster film. There's a good story and pacing, a fun catch, and plenty of action. This event shows that Slott can take unpopular villains and an “epic” idea and make them work.
Terry Moore is a rare talent. While it’s not unusual for comic creators to both write and draw their comics on a regular schedule (Erik Larson, for example) few do it better than Terry Moore. Echo is a complete 30 issue story, his second after the 90-issue Strangers in Paradise. Echo is a very different story to Strangers though. Moore uses elements of science fiction, action and espionage, mixing them together in a gripping and beautiful gumbo of awesome.
Do you want to read about a depression era thug who fights zombies, hobos, sea monsters, monsters made out of wicker, monsters made out of babies and insane burlesque performers? Then why the hell aren’t you reading The Goon? Eric Powell has created something somewhat unique and altogether special with The Goon. A delightfully fun period comic, this series manages to blend ridiculous lowbrow humour with surprising dramatic weight. Oh, and there’s also a heck of a lot of punching.
Every teenager thinks their parents are villains, but what if you found out they were really super villains? thus goes the premise of Runaways, created by Brian K Vaughan and Adrian Alphona for Marvel. Back in 2003, Marvel released a bunch of new series under the label ‘tsunami’ designed to attract new readers, especially from the manga scene. They all fizzled, except for Runaways, which had started to garner critical success. 8 years and 62 issues later, Runaways is widely considered one of the freshest ideas in mainstream comics.
This week on Talking Trades Tim was lazy and didn't write a review. That's ok, though, because in stepped trusty Renaldo, with TWO reviews and some love for both Batman and Lee Burmejo. He reviews Batman Noel by Lee Burmejo and Joker by Brian Azzarello and Bermejo. enjoy both reviews after the bump, and stay tuned next week for Tim's review of The Runaways!
Sin City is not intelligent. It’s not a deep, allegorical story. It’s not one of those books that keeps you guessing the whole way through. What it is, is a high-octane noir full of guns, girls, car chases, violence and bad-ass characters. Sin City consists of 7 separate but interconnected volumes, each standing alone, but all part of the wider story of Basin City.
There’s no two ways about it- Girls by Joshua and Jonathan Luna is a very strange book. It’s not a book everyone is going to like, but stories that leave me scratching my head wondering what on earth I just read really appeal to me. Girls is the second offering from the always excellent Luna Brothers. If you’ve read their first book Ultra or their latest offering, The Sword, you’ll know what you’re in for- a clever, multilayered epic full of jaw dropping final pages and moments that will hit you like a sledgehammer wrapped inside a cement truck.
Locke and Key is a difficult beast to describe. It’s fantasy, with elements like magic and creepy mansions, but set in the modern world, with 'real' people. It’s horror, with murderous students and sinister villains, but it’s not like a Hack/Slash or 30 Days of Night-type horror. In fact, it's a perfect blend of both genres. It’s The Chronicles of Narnia meets H.P. Lovecraft. It’s Dark Fantasy done right. OK, so that wasn’t so difficult after all…
I’ve found that as my taste in comics has matured, I’ve stopped following titles and characters and began following creators. This opened up a whole new world of amazing comics for me, and the guy at the top of the list is Brian Wood.
It began with Demo, and progressed onto everything he’s ever written. I’ll admit it. I’m a Brian Wood fanboy. But of all the amazing stories he’s done - Demo, Northlanders, DMZ, the Couriers – It’s Local that sits at the top as my favourite. Mostly because of the amazing story it tells, but partly because of Ryan Kelly’s beautiful art and partly because of the gorgeous oversized, cloth bound hardcover it comes collected in.
For the next 13 weeks, I’ll be counting down my 13 favourite comic series or graphic novels of all time. This week, & coming in at number 13, is Phonogram by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie.
For music lovers, songs have always held a certain amount of power. They have the ability to move us– physically, emotionally and spiritually. Some songs take us away into fantasy, some have the ability to ground us in reality. What if we could take that raw power that music holds and channel it into magic? This is exactly what Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie manage to accomplish in Phonogram.
Having never read Hitler’s Mein Kampf, Frank Miller’s Holy Terror is probably the most ridiculous, shallow, offensive piece of propaganda I think I’ve ever read. Pretty? Sure. Any good? Absolutely not. So why did I enjoyed the hell out of it?
