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.
Punk Mambo #0
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Robert Gill
Publisher: Valiant
Entertainment
Price: $3.99
Punk Mambo #0 is the newest addition in a long line of titles from veteran comic book writer; Peter Milligan, and frankly it rocks! Pun intended.
Punk Mambo is a thrilling ride through a punk rock imagined world full of voodoo.
The story is about how Victoria, our main character, became the mythical Punk Mambo that lives in the swamps of Louisiana. After she tricks a couple of reporters into venturing deep within her swamp and driving them crazy, she sends herself into a magic inspired high.
While tripping, she sees a vision of punk rock icon Sid Vicious who inspires her to go back home to London.
While she is in London she returns to her roots while telling us the story of how she became a voodoo priestess. After running away from home she ended up on the harsh streets of London. She soon fell in with a bad crowd that ultimately ends up sacrificing her to a voodoo priest named Joe Mayhem. It’s kind of unexplained how his powers were transferred into Victoria but soon enough she knew how to do voodoo as well and ran away to America. One of her new powers is the gift of agelessness, which also kind of unexplained.
While on her pilgrimage she finds the two old “friends” that served her to Joe in the first place. She terrorized them and made sure they never forgot her. The she starts tracking down Joe himself. When she finally finds him their interaction is brief but supremely fulfilling. The comic ends with her back in Louisiana wreaking havoc on the locals.
Peter Milligan has spun a really awesome punk rock tale in this book and the art of Robert Gill was perfect. His art style felt matched evenly with the high talent of Milligan. Gill’s vision of punk rock is spot on.
The way he created the look and feel of Victoria and Joe is reminiscent of the great of Punk rock stars from the 80’s. I really wish Milligan had included a punk rock playlist that I could have listened to while tearing through page after page. This book felt like they put a ton of time into it. Each page of this one shot story begs you to continue and when it’s over you’re kind of left feeling let down that there won’t be a follow up soon enough.
I have to admit that Valiant Entertainment isn’t really one of my favorite comic book publishers but if they continue to put out books like this, they might just find a loyal fan in me. I hope to see more of this book and character as soon as possible.
Score: 4.5 out of 5
Intersect #1
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Ray Fawkes
Publisher: Image
Comics
Price: $3.50
Ray Fawkes has created something sincerely frightening with Intersect #1. After reading this book it’s hard to think where the horror comic genre will go from here.
Intersect #1 is hard to review for one single reason; it’s hard to understand what is even going on. Even after reading it a couple of times I am still a little hazy on what I read. With that being said, I really freaking enjoyed it.
It’s like reading a terrifying puzzle that changes and moves each time you turn that page. What I gleaned from these pages is that some kind of event happened that merged multiple people into one being, that then are able to change from person to person with consensus from the entire group.
It seems like our main being shares its body with about half a dozen other souls. As they are wandering through what seems like a post-apocalyptic world each person has something to say. Even though each person can talk and move around inside the being we have one main person whose inner thoughts carry us through the bulk of what’s going on.
They are running away from some kind of house pet that has been merged with something that murders without cause. They enter an old diner and we found out that people also have been merged with other objects as well. They find a man stuck firmly to a stove and is in a crazy amount of pain. Half the souls want to leave him while the others want to help ease his pain.
It all ends with on a cliffhanger that leaves more questions that it could possibly answer.
Ray Fawkes has to be commended for his work on this book. Even though it’s hard to read his art is incredible. The watercolor styling is off putting just enough to add a sense of uneasiness to the entire book. It’s like looking through a pool of colored water and only seeing madness staring back at you.
It really is refreshing to see unconventional art and paneling. I understand that he was trying to play mind games with this book but I do feel like could have been a tiny bit clearer on just about every level. I think maybe if they had started with a short prologue that introduced us to what is happening I would have been much happier reading it. It’s just hard to assume that it’s going to get clearer as it goes. I have a feeling it’s just going to get even weirder.
With all the craziness this book has instilled in my mind I really enjoyed it. I imagine this book with be the talk of the internet town for long time to come.
Score: 4 out of 5
Spider-Woman #1
Writer: Dennis Hopeless
Artist: Greg Land
Publisher: Marvel
Comics
Price: $3.99
Spider-Woman #1 has been in the news for a while now based solely on a variant cover that depicted Spider-Woman, in my opinion, in a semi-provocative pose.
The cover artist in question is Milo Manara who has been drawing these types of images for many years before ever being hired for this cover. He’s pretty well known in the industry for drawing racy imagery so it seems strange to me that all of a sudden people are mad about it. I do understand the idea of the controversy but I think it hurt the comic before it ever hit the store shelves.
Spider-Woman #1 is a solid opening book for this character.
The story flows really well and each character, of which there are many Spider-People, is placed well within the confines of the Edge of Spider-Verse story.
The issue is a really quick read and with Dennis Hopeless behind the writing it feels fresh and on point.
Each character has their own personality that feels real and suited for each of the world’s they come from. Our lead, Jessica Drew, is actually the least interesting of the entire cast of this book but that’s mainly because she is the only one with a clear head. The rest are just gung-ho superheroes that just want to kick ass. She is in charge of protecting a Spider-Girl named Silk who is like catnip to the beings who are traveling through the Spider-Verse with the mission to seek out and devour all the Spider-People.
The issue ends with our main universe’s Spider-Man showing up and relieving Jessica of her duties and taking her on a new mission. Silk feels like she is just too much of hassle. She ditches her new entourage and runs off into another world on her own.
I have been following a lot of the Spider-Verse titles and this one fits in just as much as the rest.
I do feel that the story maybe branching out too much, but I think it’s all good stuff. Spider-Woman is not a character I know much about but I really did enjoy her here. Greg Land’s art was what I like to call “Marvel Style”. It’s flashy and no one can fault it and it looks like all the other titles that don’t get a lot of play. It’s what Marvel does best and it worked once again.
I can’t wait to see more of her new mission and how she is going to react to Silk running away. All I ask from a comic these days is to entertain me and this book fit the bill nicely. I really hope people give this book a try instead of just avoiding it because of an issue as unimportant as cover art. Didn’t anyone tell you growing up not to judge a book by their cover. This is a prime example of why.
Score: 4 out of 5
Lumberjanes #8
Writer: Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis
Artist: Brooke A. Allen
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Price: $3.99
Going into Lumberjanes #8, the final installment of the first arc of the comic, I was excited to the max but I left feeling let down.
Through the first seven issues we were taken on a thrill ride of mystery and perfectly crafted humor that hit at all the right times. So I was assuming that when we reached the end of the first story from these lovely ladies that it would end with some kind of major punchline.
I was kind of left out in the cold where that was concerned.
We finally get to see the sibling rivalry between Apollo and Artemis end. After the girls are tricked into solving the last riddle for Artemis, Apollo shows up just in time to listen in and start the fight with his sister.
They use their magic to transport to the location that the girls found for them leaving their horde of boy camp zombies to attack the Lumberjanes. They figure out how to break Jo out of her stone encasing with the power of friendship. With Jo free and the knowledge of where the power of Zeus was going to be given, they rush back to camp to set a trap for the twin gods.
Just as the power was coming down from the heavens Ripley jumps in front of it and steals the ultimate power for herself. With her new power she fixes everything and the story just kind of ends after she wishes her new powers away.
I just don’t understand why they chose to wrap up such a great story with one page of explanation.
This is where I was kind of let down. There are few really good one liners sprinkled throughout the story but not as much as there used to be. The only joke I felt that was really funny was when Zeus shows up to collect his kids from camp. I won’t spoil it here but it’s really clever.
As an end to a really epic and groundbreaking series it’s a little bit lackluster. The use of the Deus ex machina is just so sad. With the talent on this book I feel like they could have given us something better to end on.
They created something really sweet and wonderful with the first six issues and I really hope that after this they go back to that because I think the serious nature of the last two issues mixed with this kind of ending is going to end up hurting them. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that next month’s filler issue brings back some of the humor I fell in love with in the beginning.
Score: 2.5 out of 5
Axis Carnage #2
Writer: Rick Spears
Artist: German Peralta
Publisher: Marvel
Comics
Price: $3.99
Last month Axis Carnage series and I really loved it. Now with issue number two logged away neatly in my mind I’m even more excited for this series.
Last month I reviewed the first installment of the Axis Carnage series and I really loved it.
Now with issue number two logged away neatly in my mind I’m even more excited for this series.
This month Carnage is still trying to figure out what it means to be a hero but this time he is being helped by his kidnapped hostage and news reporter, Alice Gleason.
She explains to him that holding her hostage is a bad thing but she is willing to help him as long as he releases her. He, for a moment, thinks about killing her but instead wanes to the side of good and cuts her free.
They end up swinging around the city together as kind of a duo.
She informs him that if he confesses all of his sins it would somehow free him from his past. She asks him how many people he has murdered and he aptly replies “More numbers than I know”. This line is just one of hundreds that make Carnage such a loveable psychopath. The issue ends with Alice being captured by Sin Eater while Carnage is left standing in the street with two giant rockets bearing down on him.
The one thing I found not so great about the first issue was the rendering on Carnage by German Peralta.
However in this issue they seem to have fixed what I didn’t like. There were a bunch of close ups of Carnage it really showed how creepy he looks. Even when they had pulled out shots of him it seemed that they captured the craziness of his body better. He was much drippier looking and it helped me feel better about my criticism about the previous issue. I really enjoy watching artists get better from issue to issue. I look forward to Peralta coming into his own with the character in issues to come.
Rick Spears once again writes dialogue like a champion. Everything out of Carnage’s mouth is pure gold and it will keep me attached to this book as long as he is writing it. The first few pages in this book are kind of an introduction of how Cletus became Carnage and it was creepy and interesting.
The humor was toned down just a bit and the reality of his murderous nature pulled me deeper into the world that Carnage is fighting to be part of. Spears has made me care about a character that kills and destroys just for the fun of it.
Axis Carnage is becoming one of those books that I am looking forward to every month. I sincerely hope that they keep Carnage a “good” guy for a while after the event has ended just so we can get more hilarity out of him.
Score: 5 out of 5
