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Among The Panels: DEATHSTROKE #1, FATHER’S DAY #1, TMNT/GHOSTBUSTERS #1 & More!

A world of four color magic arrives every Wednesday.

Stories and adventures of heroes and villains, good versus evil.

Tales that entertain and excite by talented writers and artists.

Here are my thoughts Among The Panels.

Memetic #1
Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist: Eryk Donovan
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Price: $4.99

Have you ever spent hours online falling down the rabbit hole that is memes?  I know I have on too many occasions to really feel good about.  

Memetic #1 goes out of its way to make you second guess having Reddit be your homepage.

The bulk of this story is about an image of a “happy little sloth” that was posted to Reddit early one morning.

Everyone around the world got a chance to see it since social media has virtually taken over the way we share and receive media. The thing about the picture is that when you look at it a wave of total euphoria washed over you and you can’t help but keep looking at it.

Our main character, Aaron, fortunately is colorblind which makes the magic of the photo not work on him. All he cares about is that his boyfriend won’t text him back. The realistic nature of this character really helps drive this story.

When we transition to our other visually challenged character; an ex-government agent, Marcus, with a deteriorating eye condition, it doesn’t feel weird. Marcus knew about a secret project back in the 90’s that spoke about the power of memetics and how they could be weaponized. After the picture of the happy little sloth goes viral, reaches all the major news outlets, and even gets into the hands of the President; things really start to get out of control.

The whole comic takes place over the course of twelve hours. The image was posted at around 7 A.M and when the clock reaches 7 P.M all hell breaks loose. It turns out that the image infests your brain and after the twelve hour mark it shuts you down. Your eyes start bleeding, you start screaming and then you decide to rip other people’s faces off. It seems pretty bad for everyone.

James Tynion IV has been churning out exceptional work as of late and this will only help solidify him as one of best young comic book writers around. His pacing in this book feels really nice. Even though it’s a 44 page book that costs 4.99, it’s worth it. It’s a story about right now, but it doesn’t feel like he is pandering to a younger generation. His understands how “young” people act and talk and that helps make this story feel extra terrifying. Working closely with Scott Snyder has really elevated his writing to a new level.

There are some pretty grisly images in this book but because of the soft and nice art of Eryk Donovan it’s not too disturbing. The image of the happy little sloth is a certain kind of awesome and I can’t wait to own a shirt with it printed boldly on the front. These two have crafted a really relevant story that will make you think about the way you share pictures via the internet. While I was reading I was thinking about what it would really be like if something like this happened and I don’t think it would be far off. It’s scary thinking about how easy it is to share things these days and James Tynion has planted another fear into my subconscious.

Also as a side-note the back of the issue has a really cool Facebook layout for talking about the comic that felt really cool. All praise the Happy Little Sloth.

Score: 5 out of 5 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #1
Writer: Erik Burnham, Tom Waltz
Artist: Dan Schoening, Cory Smith, Charles Paul Wilson III
Publisher: IDW
Price: $3.99

Two of my favorite childhood franchises smashed together in comic form? Yes, please.

Having the Ghostbusters and TMNT’s find each other in New York City to fight some kind of cosmic ghost who plans on taking over the world is a great start to a story.

TMNT/Ghostbusters #1 is a great first issue for an unlikely mashup.  This story is broken up into three parts drawn by three different artists.

The first part starts with an ancient Japanese god, Kitsune, making a deal with one of the turtles worst enemies; Krang.

Kitsune’s brother, Chi-You, shows up and explains that they can only use mortals as pawns and that making deals with demons is forbidden. As they fight Chi-You gets tossed into the magic portal that Krang appeared through.

The second part shows us what the Turtles are up to back in modern day New York. They are standing around talking about a transporter that Donatello and his buddy scientist, Harold, created in the lab. It’s just supposed to be able to teleport them to destinations in regular time and space but of course a house-fly soars in and causes an accident that sends them to another dimension.

The third part drops us in the middle of a Ghostbusters raid on a purple one-eyed ghost. They make short work of the ghost and make a well placed joke about how they look like giant turtles with their proton-packs on. The story switches back to the turtles and company that just appeared in the middle of a wedding. They expected to land in their church in their New York, but instead landed in the new world that the Ghostbusters call home. They are then pitted against the ghost of Chi-You that they brought with them through the Stargate-like transporter. The issue ends with the turtles and the Ghostbusters finally standing in the same room.

So I was kind of worried about this book being too childish but that was purely based on the cover. The art style on the cover just was too cartoony looking for the kind of things I usually read. When I dove into the book I was surprised by the art. They split the pages up between the three artists and worked really well. Charles Paul Wilson III opened us up with 5 pages of awesomely Asian inspired art that really captured my interest and pulled me in.

The next 3 pages were drawn by Cory Smith and his approach to the Turtles was really different but really good. He gave them brownish colored eyes that made them seem more human and for some reason I really liked it.

The last half of this issue was drawn Dan Schoening and he is by far the least appealing of all three. His art style was the one I was worried about on the cover. It looks good on the page but he is just really bad at rendering people who like normal. The line weights are all over the place and it’s just kind of off-putting. There were also two panels right next to each other where the two different female characters had exactly the same mouth and eyes. Like he just copied them in Photoshop and just matched the skin tones. It was such a letdown because the first two artists were so good. I’m afraid that they will switch to only having Schoening doing the entire issue and if that’s the case I won’t be reading it. I know that each of these titles separately have been drawn by these artists but we need an awesome middle ground now that they are together.

Overall the story was really solid and as a fan of both of these universes it was a solid effort to combine them. I look forward to future issues, hoping the art is a bit less uneven.

Score 3.5 out 5

Deathstroke #1
Writer: Tony S. Daniel
Artist: Tony S. Daniel
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $2.99

Tony S. Daniel has his hands full writing and penciling Deathstroke #1 but he does a really good job. It’s one of those first issues of an already established character that manages to not go back in time and explain everything and waste an entire first issue.

This issue drops us right into the world of Slade Wilson.

Through his inner monologue we get the major info about him being the world’s best assassin. He is then whisked away to Russia to kill some grey-faced looking dude named Possum. He does what assassins do best; he makes love with deadly Russian woman, kills his targets without being seen, and finds himself in the middle of a trap. It’s your basic plot for any assassin story but it works.

This time however we get some kind of mind altering audio tone that caused Deathstroke to unlock something deep within his brain. While he is writhing on the floor Possum sticks Slade’s swords through multiple parts of his body. Seeing as how Deathstroke and Possum apparently share an accelerated healing factor they sure do mess each other up a lot in this book. It’s kind of scary to think about these two cutting off pieces of each other just to see how much they can regenerate. In the end we find Slade at his limit stumbling into the house of an old Chinese man asking for help.

He wakes up in a castle somewhere else covered head to toe in blood. The last page is one to remember.

The last few pages are really awesome and gory. I was a little shocked at how much violence was in this book and I don’t really know why; I have read stories by Tony S. Daniel before. It’s easy for someone to really get what they want across when they write and draw a book. He did a really good job bringing Deathstroke to life. Each page is perfectly laid out to showcase Deathstroke in all his violent glory.

Even though this issue is short, Daniel gives us a ton on every page to make it worth the time and money. I have personally loved Deathstroke since his incarnation in the Cartoon Network Teen Titans show. I know this version of him is very different but he is still one of the most badass characters that DC has to offer. I’m pretty excited to see where this story ends up taking us.

Score 4 out of 5

Arkham Manor #1
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Shawn Crystal
Publisher: DC
Price: $2.99

After the events of Batman: Eternal the infamous Arkham Asylum has been destroyed. Bruce Wayne allowed his home to be taken by the bank and Batman, well is still Batman.

Arkham Manor #1 feels like a classic Batman story, but still has the freshness of the current Batman world. The story kicks off with catching everyone up on what happened to Arkham and its inmates. They have been moved into a stadium in the middle of Gotham. Of course people are not happy having Gotham’s most grizzly murderers and offenders living right next door. The city takes the chance to buy the recently foreclosed Wayne Manor and turn it into the new asylum named of course, Arkham Manor.

The story transitions into how Batman feels about letting his father’s home become a house for the criminally insane, most of which are in there because of him. We get a few short bursts of information and then we see that Alfred is also not happy with the situation. Alfred then informs him that something horrible has happened at the Manor. Batman investigates his own home and finds a horrid murder has taken place with little to no evidence for him to go on. Without that evidence he does what anyone else would do. He takes a dead hobo’s identity and checks himself into the asylum…

The story has a few really good gems, but the overall structure stumbles a bit. We get to see Batman kicking ass while on patrol and we also get to see him feel bad for not thinking about the fact that Wayne Manor was Alfred’s home as well. There are great lines, but overall, isn’t up to Gerry Dugan’s usual standards.  It feels overwritten, and as a result, bloated.

Shawn Crystal’s art is really different for Batman, and I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good thing.  There’s an awkwardness in the execution that I feel distracted from the book.

Arkham Manor has a lot of flaws even though the concept is solid.  I’m curious to see if the creative team just needs time to gel or if simply, this book is what it is.

Score: 2.5 out of 5

Father’s Day #1
Writer: Mike Richardson
Artist: Gabriel Guzman
Publisher: Dark Horse
Price: $3.99

Father’s Day #1 is a Jason Bourne-esque crime thriller but with half the heart of the normal action packed versions we have seen before.

For a first issue this one doesn’t do much too really pull you in.

The opening couple of pages are a young girl yelling at her estranged father who has no idea who she is. Even though we, as the reader, could not think she was anything else seeing as how the title of the comic is Father’s Day. After their weird reunion he ends up accidentally knocking her out.

Our daughter, Denise, is now a young woman who hates her father for leaving.

He, of course, freaks out about her showing his picture to everyone in town for a little over a week. He then peaks out the window, observing your classic Men In Black exiting a black car.

He informs her that if they don’t leave they will be killed. Despite her reluctance, she’s pushed through several trap doors and winds up outside, headed for a nearby beach as the house explodes in the background.  This solidfies that her father is probably telling the truth.

They soon find themselves in a diner where her father explains that he used to be a hired killer. He had a rough childhood that pushed him into the job. After he met her mother and had a child he changed who he was but of course couldn’t escape his past. They eventually caught up to him and he had to go into hiding leaving his wife and daughter behind.

As soon as he is done telling her his story, the Men In Black walk into the diner. The father tells his daughter to run and head to Mexico. She runs into the kitchen and the father tries to talk to the Men In Black. They want to make some kind of example out of him by cutting his hands off with giant knives. The daughter bursts out of the kitchen and dispatches all of the men with cutlery and a frying pan. The last we see is the two of them escaping into the world once again.

Father’s Day #1 doesn’t have a lot going for it. It feels like a story I’ve read many times in the past and the art itself is serviceable, but with so many books on the market, a book like this is a gamble, and even more disappointing when it’s not much of anything.

It’s the same reused story over and over again and they didn’t do anything fresh enough to set it apart. The writing is anything to talk to your friends about and the art is almost instantly forgettable.  I know that when issue two comes out I will have forgotten that I read the first one.

Score: 2 out 5 

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