Comics

The Rocketeer & The Spirit: Pulp Friction #2

/ / Comics

The Rocketeer & The Spirit: Pulp Friction #2The unusual team-up between The Spirit and The Rocketeer continues as the pair of heroes investigate the odd murder of a Central City man whose body was impossibly found in Los Angeles without enough time for it to be transported there under any conventional means. The autopsy reveals that isn’t the only thing shocking about their victims whose innards seem scrambled beyond comprehension and the man’s spirit seems to have somehow gotten trapped inside a television.

While dealing with these facts The Spirit and his new friend also have to take on an air assault on The Rocketeer’s home base which puts Central City’s hero high above the ground in action without the luxury of jet-pack or parachute.

Writer Mark Waid and and new artist Loston Wallace showcase each of the heroes’ girls as Ellen shares a tender moment with Cliff and one of the mini-series’ villains finally shows his face to offer Betty a starring role on this newfangled television contraption. Worth a look.

[IDW, $3.99]

The Rocketeer & The Spirit: Pulp Friction #2 Read More »

Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #4

/ / Comics

Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #4Tom Strong, Val Var Gram, and a small group of the world’s remaining heroes show up just in the nick of time to save a transport of increasingly scare humanitarian supplies from a biker gang. After helping turn the tide, Strong is able to negotiate a settlement between the two groups and continue on his way.

Most of the second-half of the issue deals with a conversation between Tom Strong and the wounded Cavalier (a rapier-wielding small-time hero who shares his own history with the science-adventurer from a parallel Earth). Along with filling in the hero’s origins, their conversation also touches on the subject of science vs. magic, and the ridiculousness of a man dressed like one of the Three Musketeers defending the Earth against attacks from giant robots and unstoppable plagues.

Although Strong gets no closer to answers, or even finding the man who could offer them, the early action and the conversation between the two heroes delivers another strong issue fans of the character should enjoy. Worth a look.

[Vertigo, $3.99]

Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril #4 Read More »

Batman ’66 #2

/ / Comics

Batman '66 #2The second issue of Batman ’66 sends Batman and Robin up against the formidable team of the Penguin and Mr. Freeze who have constructed a enormous iceberg in the middle of Gotham Harbor that somehow the Penguin has been able to get legally recognized as its own sovereign country.

Trespassing on Penguinia, Batman is thrown in the icy dungeon leaving Robin to find a way out of the pickle as Emperor Penguin and Ambassador Freeze blackmail ships needing passage in or out of the harbor. With the help of the Bat-Sub, the Boy Wonder comes up with a plan to free the Caped Crusader and save the day.

…

Batman ’66 #2Read More »

Batman ’66 #2 Read More »

Velvet #1

/ / Comics

Velvet #1The old adages of hiding in plain sight and not judging a book by its cover immediately come to mind while reading the latest collaboration between writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting. When we first meet her, Velvet Templeton is shown to be the highly intelligent secretary of the Director of Arc-7 (a secret government spy program whose agents and funding do not exist in any official records). The murder of an agent who Velvet was once close to has the middle-aged executive assistant thinking back on the past and doing some investigating of her own when she doesn’t trust the official story.

It’s while investigating Arc-7’s leading suspect, a retired spy who Velvet also spent some time with in and out of the bedroom, that the woman realizes she’s been played as the audience realizes Velvet is much more than your average secretary.

The twist of having Velvet be a highly-trained field operative in semi-retirement, without revealing much of her past, as she’s underestimated by those who choose to frame her for the murders, creates an intriguing set-up which I will happily stick around to read more of.

…

Velvet #1Read More »

Velvet #1 Read More »

Ame-Comi Girls #8

/ / Comics

Ame-Comi Girls #8The final issue collecting the digital comics reimagining the DCU filled with all super-powered heroines and villains comes to a close with more of a whimper than a bang with three separate tales introducing three new characters rather than offering up a final big adventure.

Of the three stories the middle one concerning White Canary is the most interesting as the other two don’t offer much in the way of diffrentiating the Ame-Comi version of the characters from their regular DCU counterparts. The Big Barda space pirate story is fun but incomplete and Mera vs. a female Black Manta didn’t do much for me at all.

The White Canary story gives us a character whose sonic scream is far more pronounced, making it impossible for the heroine to communicate at anything above a whisper (unless she wants to destroy all surrounding structures). I’ve enjoyed this series, and even if the final issue is one of the weakest, I’ll still miss it’s optimism and gleeful spirit. Once again, this is something the New 52 could use far more of… as well as more strong (preferably not insane) female characters. For fans.

[DC, $3.99]

Ame-Comi Girls #8 Read More »