|
|
Home Comic Books Books
Magazines Games Video Games Misc
Models Trading Cards Toys
Movies/DVDs Sports Anime/Manga Diecast Computers |
||
|
|
What drew me to this book was the beautiful cover and interior illustrations by Mike Mayhew. More than just pencil and paper, Mayhew literally painted the entire booking in what appears to be water colors. The book’s art is both vibrant and subdued, depending on the scene shown. The story, by Sean McKeever, looks at the early life of Jean Grey. We first encounter her at home as a young girl who has withdrawn into herself because of the violent traffic death of her close friend. A death she blames herself for. Jean’s parents, desperate to help her, contact Charles Xavier who after a few minutes convinces Jean, through telepathy, that he can help her. After a few weeks she progresses to the point that Xavier believes she is ready to go out into public. She’s not, and Xavier is left no choice but to block her burgeoning powers. After a few years he convinces her parents to let her join his school for gifted youngsters (mutants). They agree and soon Jean finds herself and X-Man. After a disastrous Danger Room session, Jean leaves the campus and heads downtown while her teammates tackle Magneto. While there she saves dozens of people’s live when a truck driver looses control and his rig starts to slide into a crowd. Returning to school and a reprimand from Xavier, she comes to realize, as does Xavier, that she has taken another step to her recovery. I really enjoyed this story. It
really went into depth as to how Jean became the cowman she is today. Mayhew’s art complements the story
perfectly.
There are good reasons why Jill Thompson is considered one of the top female cartoonists working today. Her talent is not just drawing but the way she is able to draw in many different styles and genres. Far from just a penciller, Jill is also a first-rate writer, inker and colorist. In her new book, Magic Trixie, from Harper Trophy, she introduces the feisty, little, red head witch Magic Trixie who has the talent of getting in to and staying in trouble. Fortunately for her most of her mishaps turn out for the best. She lives with her parents and two sisters along with grandpa and grandma and cat. She attends Monstersorri School along with her friends Stitch the monster, Loupie the werewolf, the vampire twins and the mummy Nefi. They are taught by Ms. Spectre. When their teacher announces show and tell week, Trixie is anxious to show off her magical skills. The only problem is that she’s fresh out of new tricks so she decides to come up with something new. Excited about show and tell she rushes home only to be put off by her parents and relatives because they are too busy fussing over her new baby sister. Infuriated that she is no longer in the spotlight, Trixie decides to do a little ‘magic’ of her own. What she winds up doing is impressing her class and coming to the realization that being a big sister is not all that bad. What a delightful story. I love the art with its over-the-top facial expressions and character design. This is a wonderful book for children (young and old) and makes for a fun read.
It's time to take a trip in time. Join me as we travel back to when Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie and the rest of the Archie gang are preparing themselves to enter high school as Freshmen. In The Summer Before: Freshman Year Part 1 of 5, Archie and the others are winding down their summer anticipating high school. Each one reminisces about life their before high school and the many good times they have had together as friends. They also dream about what it will be like to be in high school and where their futures are taking them. Everyone has their own dream but all of them still need to get supplies, clothes, etc. for school. Later in the summer the gang gathers together for one last Labor Day Weekend as pre-high schoolers while their parents and other adults recall what was like watching them grow up. Over at Riverdale High, principal Weatherbee anxiously awaits his new students, confident that his troubles are behind him-whatever! Archie #587 brings back so memories of when I was a young man ready for high school. I didn't hang out with Archie but I did have me own group of friends and somehow we managed to get in trouble almost as much as Archie and his friends. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Skrulls! One-Shot I usually don't buy timelines of character descriptive compilations about comic book characters. But, I made the exception with Marvel Comics' Secret Invasion: Skrulls! One-Shot at the urging of my friend Joe who own Alter Egos in Orange Park. I'm glad I took his advice. As a self-described comic book cudmudgeon, I thought I knew all there was to know about the Skrulls and their ongoing war/conflict/invasion of Earth. Boy, was I wrong! Not only does the One-Shot give a full description and breakdown of the current Secret Invasion conflict it also traces the conflict all the way back to its earliest roots in the Marvel Universe. Many of the character bios shown include characters I didn't realize were Skrulls or offshoots of the Skrull civilization. It just goes to show that you can always learn something new. 'Change' is good.
Tomasi, Gleason and Geraci draw to the conclusion the Green Lanterns Corps battle with Mongul and his bloody, diabolical and sadistic campaign to strip the Green Lanterns of their power rings and leech their power for himself using his new status as a member of the Sinestro Corps. Using the kidnapped and brain-washed spawn of the Mercy plant mother, Mongul lays waste to whoever gets in his way and allows the Mercy spawn to feed off his victims. It is left up to the remaining Green Lanterns and mother Mercy herself to stop Mongul. The battle culminates in a fierce blood-letting that leaves many more Green Lanterns slain or injured. In the end Mongul is defeated on the 'fly' and Mercy and her remaining children 'feed' off of his defeat. Mercy is made the latest Green lantern and Mongul is left alone to 'digest' his defeat. Mercy!
The Tomb Of The Gods #1 Now this is the Indiana Jones comic book series adaptation I've been waiting for! Oh sure, there have been other series by various publishers and the occasional mini-series and they were good. But, Indiana Jones And The Tomb Of The Gods looks to be the best, if issue #1 is any indication. Things start off with a bang as an archeological team exploring Siberia in 1931 make a startling discovery. Switch to 1936 New York City. Indiana Jones is being held face first into a cobra cage by some SS agents in Henrik Mellberg's apartment. Henrik asked Indiana to meet him there about some serious business-a little too serious. Indy manages to escape the SS goons by being punched through a false wall into a hidden room. Behind the wall he meets Henrik Mellberg. Henrik gives Indy a part of a strange artifact just as the SS come after them. They flee through a hidden passageway to the roof of the apartment high rise. Cornered, Henrik is shot and he passes some important information and a warning to Indy just as he falls off the building to his death. Managing to make it to an escalator, Indy escapes his captors only to be clobbered by a fellow archeologist posing as a maid. Indy returns to his college and he and Marcus Brody decide to travel to Tibet where another piece of the artifact is reported to be. They arrive only to be dynamited in a cave where clues to the artifact are scribbled on the cave's walls. Whew! talk about a scene jumping story! Rob Williams provides the break-neck script and Steve Scott the pencils to the latest (and dare I say the greatest?) Indiana Jones comic book series ever created and we all have Dark Horse Comics to thank for it.
Larry Hama, longtime scribe for a certain military team in comics, has a new hit on his hands with his Spooks Omega Team. Issue #0 introduces the special paranormal elite force team that takes out certain supernatural nasties deemed too dangerous by the government. In issue #0, Omega Team, headed by Kane, travel to the jungles around the Amazon in search of someone, or something, that has been killing natives by the score. What they run up against is a witch doctor and his machine gun totting zombies. The witch doctor soon discovers that zombies can't fire guns when they have no arms and hands and no heads with eyes to direct their fire. The Omega Team captures the witch doctor and he leads them to an ancient pyramid that contains an inverse pyramid inside and a very dangerous sacrificial pool. Before anyone can react something comes out of the pool, grabs the witch doctor and Kane in succession. Kane is dragged underwater to a air-filled hidden room where a whole horde of lizard people wait for their next meal-him! Just in time the team shows up (good thing they had Seal training) and they proceed to take out the cache of creatures. They believe their mission is done until big, bad momma shows up and telepathically lets them know that her kind will bridge the dimensional rift that separates their worlds-eventually. But that's another story. Adam Archer provides the killer pencils and Jonny Rench the lush colors in
this awesome kick-off to what looks to be a hot series from Devils Due
Publishing.
After a bumpy ride with a few publishers, author Michael San Giacomo brings his Tales Of The Starlight Drive-In story compilation to print, courtesy of Image Comics. In the book readers follow the slow decline of a drive-in from its glory days until it closure in the present. Fortunately the story ends on a happy note, ironically the past rewards the future. Here in Jacksonville, Florida, there is a drive-in that recently closed. I've lived in Jacksonville since 1981, and the drive-in, like the Starlight has gone through various stages of change; from a family-friendly drive-in to an adult only drive-in and back to a family centered drive-in. It's doubled as a flea market just to make ends meet, but finally succumbed to failing revenue just a short time ago. When I read Tales Of the Starlight Drive-In I was instantly transported in my mind back to my home state of Michigan and to a local drive-in which, like the Starlight, was born in the 1940's, had its heyday in the 1950s, loss sales to the burgeoning TV phenomenon in the 1960s and tried to be socially relevant in the 1970s. In Tales Of The Starlight Drive-in readers follow the slow decline of the
drive-in as seen through the eyes of its employees, customers and society in
general. It's more a study of the
times than that of a drive-in. The
drive-in is simply a mirror for the changing American landscape. Consisting of 31 stories, by various
artists and depicting a span of decades, the book is a must-read. Read it, think about it and pass it on to
a friend. |
|
|
