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Review: Altered States Red Sonja #1

Posted on March 9, 2015 by

The Altered States alternate reality for Dynamite characters took off with an impressive launch last week with the introduction of the Vampirella version of the character, but the application to try something new with familiar characters is a lot more sedate when it comes to Red Sonja. As opposed to Vampirella which chose to alter the character’s background as well as to thrown her into a new setting this issue sticks closer to the same format, even if there are a number of differences to make this a new take on the old character.

Whereas the Vampirella version bypassed the familiar almost completely, this issue does not. Instead it reads as a “What-If?” concept of how to use Sonja in a modern day setting, and even incorporates Sonja into the story, somewhat throughout by way of capturing her essence in her sword. It tells the story of Sonja, a museum researcher who comes upon two separate but related items, one belonging to the she-barbarian, the other to her enemy. When the power of the first is released Sonja and the entirety of New York City is thrown into a version of the past, with fantasy taking the place of technology. By grabbing her sword she is able to channel the powers of her namesake, and she must fight her old enemy to revert New York to the way it ought to be.

The idea behind the Altered States is to try something new, but it does not really work here. While Vampirella was able to use some of the old to mix into something different, the formula doesn’t work here. Instead this reads as just another case of an Egyptologist stumbling upon some untold power, as was common in the golden age of comics with the likes of Hawkman, Doctor Fate and the Blue Beetle (among others.) While not a failure, the end product here is equally not really inspired, using too much of the familiar and not enough of the new.

Story: Brandon Jerwa Art: Juanan Ramirez
Story: 7.3 Art: 7.3 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Pass

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.

Review: Blood Queen Vs. Dracula #1

Posted on March 3, 2015 by

Blood Queen was a lesser seen series from last year, and while it had its merits, it never managed to catch an audience, as the genre was perhaps too saturated with fairy tale stories for another with little different on the surface to succeed. Where it succeeded was by returning fairy tales to their roots. As opposed to the Disneyfied versions, the story was much darker as most fairy tales generally are, and despite the story having no ties to existing fairy tales, it still managed to captured the same feeling in a fantasy setting. The series did not last long, only five issues before abruptly ending, and while it did have its failings, it was still interesting to see at least something a little different being tried with the fairy tale genre.

It was a little unexpected that the series would see any kind of a revival. The characters and conditions of the story were developed well enough over its five issues, but it also looked like so many other comic series that started well but left potentially good stories untold. With the introduction of the new series, it is attempting yet another oddity for fairy tales, mixing legendary historical figures such as Dracula into the fold in a setting which is half historical and half fantasy. There is talk of the Ottomans here to give grounding of the series into the real world, but so too does Dracula exhibit the same supernatural powers of any vampire. The Blood Queen is shown presumably some time after her eventual rise to the power in her own kingdom, after having consolidated her power, and now her expansionary goals put her in the path of the infamous Transylvanian butcher.

The story is not entirely bad, but for those that were expecting more of the Blood Queen will be disappointed. The character is changed enough to fit her into the story that what made her novel, instead now makes her mundane. Without the richer fairy tale setting, the story reads as just another fantasy story with supernatural players. That being said, it is not as though this story is bad, in fact it does read easily enough and it is entertaining, just it is the same as so much as which has come before.

Story: Troy Brownfield Art: Kewber Baal
Story: 7.3 Art: 7.3 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Pass

Dynamite Provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.

Review: Altered States Vampirella #1

Posted on March 3, 2015 by

Some might question the logic of this new direction for Dynamite characters which focus on retelling their stories in an alternate reality setting. It first started with Legenderry in 2013, as a steampunk re-imagining of Dynamite’s most notable characters, and it continued recently with the launch of individual Legenderry titles as well as with the new alternate reality series Altered States. Designed as a sequence of one-shots, Altered States takes the normal Dynamite characters and puts them in a different setting and with different backgrounds.

In this story, Vampirella is reimagined as a space explorer by the name of Ella. On a somewhat routine journey to Venus in the not so distance future, her ship along with its crew is thrown into another corner of the universe, where she is left to fend for herself on an alien planet. The planet is populated with people that look a little like they might belong on Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Barsoom, but so too is it populated with another group of people, somewhat vampiric in appearance that Ella must help to battle. In the progress of the story there are enough ties to her own story to make fans realize that it is in fact Vampirella, but also enough of the new twists to impress.

Although the concept risks being too much of a parody of itself, it still works with the fresh approach to the story. One of the better examples is the use of the name Ella, as she does become Vampirella in a sense, just perhaps not in the way that the readers might have expected. More so, the success of this series is the injection of new inspirations into an old character. Those inspirations themselves might be borrowed from other genres as well, but the formula works well here, and despite being a one-shot, this will likely leave fans wanting more.

Story: Nancy A. Collins Art: Francesco Manna
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review

Review: Legenderry Green Hornet #1

Posted on February 17, 2015 by

Dynamite has a tenuous property on its hands with the Green Hornet. As a superhero he has really had his day, which was in the 1960s when he competed with Batman on television for popularity. Most attempts to revive the character into a comic format have been short lived, even if their quality might have been decent enough. With the recent popularity of steampunk as a sub-genre within science fiction, Dynamite decided on its own League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, albeit with the mostly public domain characters that it was presently publishing or had recently. Even then the Green Hornet seemed like a strange choice. The character is after all one that depends on certain modern inventions, and for whom there is usually not as strong a case in steampunk (for instance with the automobile).

With Legenderry Green Hornet all of these limitations seem to of less importance as the setting is able to fill in the gaps which the characters are lacking. Instead of the signature car, Britt Reid is relegated to horse and buggy, even when such “autocarriages” are available to others that have brought them from the science wonder city. With the hero able to function as a facsimile of other heroes because of his lack of a connection to much else in popular culture, the remainder of the story is left to take up the slack, and it does so. Part of what makes this work is the introduction of four separate villains, each with different intentions, but all of them dangerous in their own way. Some might think that four villains might confuse a story, but here they are presented in a logical way, which allows the story to be told.

There are three miniseries attached to the Legenderry universe, and of this, Red Sonja and Vampirella, this one comes out looking the weakest, though still a readable story. It may not be extremely noteworth, but it still captures the essence of steampunk which so few series attempt and even fewer manage to do effectively. It succeeds by not focusing too much on the main heroes, and this results in a fun and entertaining story which fits well within the shared universe.

Story: Daryl Gregory Art: Brent Peeples
Story: 7.7 Art: 7.7 Overall: 7.7 Recommendation: Read

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.

Review: Legenderry Red Sonja #1

Posted on February 10, 2015 by

Following on the first issue of Legenderry Vampirella, these two series are proving that there are still lots of stories left to tell for the steampunk versions of the Dynamite characters. By comparison to Vampirella Red Sonja didn’t get as much of the steampunk treatment, at least not in her character design. There is one major difference for Sonja as compared to the other characters and that is that while she is in a displaced time period, it is also one which is more advanced than her own. In comparison to the other characters though, the anachronism gives here rather than takes away. The setting for the character is still a foreign one, and that in itself might be the weakest part of this issue, as the somewhat generic role of pirate captain doesn’t fit as well for Sonja even where other new developments do.

As was the case with Vampirella, Sonja is also on the trail of some supernatural terrors, but of course the way that she goes about it is all her own. It is thematically similar to the other Legenderry title, but contextually different enough. The format of the story even fits in with Red Sonja well enough, establishing her as a serious character and strong female, both in charge of her fellow pirates and later handling herself in battle. For anyone not entirely sold on the idea or the concept, the revelation of the identity of the mysterious character at the end should solidify acceptance for the series and for how it belongs into the steampunk genre.

The end result is not a great accomplishment, but it is a fun and easy read with good pacing and engaging action sequences. Dynamite already proved that with Legenderry that they have a surprise sleeper on their hands, and with the quality of this first issue and others, there is no reason to expect that to stop any time soon. Steampunk may be an abnormal setting for characters, but it proves to be one which is easily pliable to being one in which strong female characters can thrive, and if that is the case then Dynamite has a winning formula for its female leads.

Story: Marc Andreyko Art: Aneke
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Read

Review: Frank Thorne’s Red Sonja Art Edition Volume 2

Posted on February 8, 2015 by

One of the most unexpected but also well-deserving trends in recent years is to have anthologies which focus on the works of artists from older comics. Such anthologies have been fairly common for a long time which have focused on writers, but all too often the artists of these bygone years are all but ignored. In all fairness this has been primarily an initiative of the independent’s and this collection of Frank Thorne’s Red Sonja take a look back at this iconic character and the artwork which helped to establish her.

This collection looks at Thorne’s run on the character between 1976 and 1979, a time when even the less stringent fantasy genre that Red Sonja was still seen as a bit risque, being both a barbarian and wearing a chainmail bikini. Of course the stories herein are what one would expect from the silver age, but those that only see the stories are missing the point. This is not an attempt to recycle stories which had their chance, rather this a celebration of the artist and his place in comic history. In truth the stories are not even that bad, they simply read as a little simplistic, if not as painfully outdated as what is often found in the golden age. That having been said, one of the most interesting aspects of this volume (as with many others) is the introduction, which gives a bit of history while also putting the character and creator in context of the medium.

This volume will of course not be for everyone. Instead it for those interested in the history of the medium as opposed to simply reading the modern age as it progresses. It is indeed a nice addition to any library of comic history and a deserving one. When one looks to the strong female characters as they are developing in some cases in the modern day, it is important to remember that their roots go far deeper, to a time when female characters were not possible at all to lead a series, let alone any discussion about an accurate representation.

Story: Roy Thomas and Clara Noto Art: Franke Thorne
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.3 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Read (or Buy)

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review

Review: Lady Demon #2

Posted on February 3, 2015 by

With only one series ahead of it in the Chaos imprint at Dynamite, the precedent was set for Lady Demon to be a bit of a misfire, that is if Purgatori was to be any indication. Instead of falling into a completely formulaic pattern, the first issue of Lady Demon proved that there was a bit more ground to cover in the supernatural bad girl club. Instead of focusing on female characters that are inherently dark, instead it focused on country girl Violet, and unwitting pawn in a supernatural battle which she was drawn into only by circumstance. The first issue dealt with the unexpected condition which she was left in, after being murdered for apparently no reason, she came back to life, only with someone else attached to her, the titular demon, looking for a mortal vessel to use for her own purposes, now a mixture of light and dark.

The second issue doesn’t lose any of the momentum of the first issue and instead expands upon it. While the murderers in the first issue were set up potentially as throwaway characters, here there is shown to be more depth to to the conspiracy which took the lives of Violet, her boyfriend and her father. This ties back into the unseen supernatural aspect of the story, as her foes are shown to be somewhat normal looking people, only that they have a darker connection to the occult. As they come looking for her, they discover that there is a lot more to her than what they bargained for.

The “two into one” concept for a character is one which is not often shown in comics. As opposed to a true Jekyll and Hyde persona where the two are still the same person (like the Hulk) the character here is one of competing influences of temptation versus innocence, and it makes Violet more compelling than the average supernatural hero. The first issue was a novel re-introduction for the character, but the second issue managed to build on that and expand the overall narrative in an interesting way. If Lady Demon is to be the level of quality for the Chaos imprint, then maybe Dynamite made the right decision to pursue these characters after all.

Story: Aaron Gillespie Art: Mirka Andolfo
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.

Review: Legenderry Vampirella #1

Posted on February 3, 2015 by

The popularity of steampunk goes back almost to its inception as a sub-genre of science fiction by the likes of Wells, Burroughs and especially Verne. This fiction rooted in the scientific knowledge of the late nineteenth has mostly stayed true to its roots, and it has only been recently that it has been mixed in with other genres to create a wider appeal. The first of these pop culture attempts was in the pages of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which although it used the main characters from this time period, was also sort of based the makeup of the team on that of the Justice League. Despite the slow creep of steampunk into pop culture and especially in a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, it has still remained somewhat self-contained. One of the first and most evident crossovers of characters into a steampunk universe came in the pages of Legenderry, where the biggest names at Dynamite were put into a steampunk setting and forced to interact.

After the success of this first attempt Dynamite is back with its second steampunk series. This time the remainder of the gang is left behind and Vampirella gets her own solo focus. The action picks up in the aftermath of the first series, as agents of chaos are still looking for a way to further their goals, while Vampirella is looking to tie up loose ends. As the villains develop new plans and get new allies, it is not as easy as Vampirella might have though that it would be as she meets difficult resistance to her attempts to cut off the head of the criminal enterprise.

Although at times the steampunk elements are a little overdone, this is equally a time and place where Vampirella feels at home, maybe even more so than the modern day setting where she is presently based. The feel here is a Bram Stoker style of steampunk, lighter on the pseudo-science and heavier on the occult. It is a good fit, and the story benefits from it as does the main character. The end result is maybe not amazing, but it is a solid read with some fun moments and a solid story and concept to hold it together.

Story: David Avallone Art: David T. Cabrera
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Read

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Vampirella #9

Posted on February 2, 2015 by

Since its relaunch by Dynamite last year this series has been inconsistent in its overall quality, and this issue combined with the last issue are evident of this trend. While the last issue was a lot shakier in its overall flow and pacing, this story is a lot more coherent and self-contained, and adds to the larger story arc in a more profound way. As the heroes are on the trail of those responsible for the virus/plague they discover some more connections to other ancient mysteries which had stayed hidden from the overall conspiracy as the heroes come face to face with none other than the ancient Greek magician Medea.

The previous story had the problem of introducing a backstory for its villain which felt somewhat forced and out of context from the overall story, but although there is an origin story here as well, it feels much more organic to the overall story. It is based on a blood feud which originated in ancient Greece but one which is feeling the repercussions in the modern day. The back story is a bit repetitive as the inspiration for the villain’s violence is very similar to that in the previous issue, but it nonetheless ends up being more relevant overall.

In the end it is not even possible to say that this series is already heading in the right direction, as any time that this happens the series has taken a nose dive in terms of its quality, but at the very least, the creative team managed to put together a fairly entertaining issue this time. It is still an issue built around some fun action scenes based on supernatural violence as opposed to a strong overall story, but if the creative team is able to maintain this level at least the series will be interesting and exciting, if not very deep.

Story: Nancy A. Collins Art: Patrick Berkenkotter
Story: 7.7 Art: 7.7 Overall: 7.7 Recommendation: Read

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.

Review: King: Jungle Jim #1

Posted on February 1, 2015 by

To know of Jungle Jim in the modern age is to be truly a fan of comics, not only of every genre but from every era. With his introduction way back in 1934, the character maintained a following for a number of years. He was first linked with Flash Gordon, appearing as a topper in their original introduction, but the character while popular did not manage to find the same following, even though attempts to publish him continued up until Charlton last tried in the late 1960s. While tied to Flash Gordon in a creative and editorial sense, the characters could not have been further apart in the settings for their stories, Flash Gordon in a futuristic outer space and Jungle Jim as the Allan Quatermain of India.

The reintroduction of the character by Dynamite does something which has never been done before with the character, nor with any other jungle character buried deep in the past. Instead of an homage by way of republishing old issues, the character is instead rebooted, but not in the original setting but rather into space and alongside Flash Gordon himself. The character maintains some ties to the past , namely in his inspiration, but the story is different. The denizens of a jungle planet have long heard the legends of Jungle Jim, a man capable of feats, one that can engage an army and walk away unscathed with the help of the jungle behind him. His help is sought to aid the resistance against the Merciless Ming, and a search party goes to the wilderness to find him, hopefully before Ming’s men find either.

While this is an interesting concept it is the execution that fails. Too much is introduced at once for the reader. Instead of a gradual revelation of who is who, and what their motivations are, the story piles a lot of information about characters that are brand new, except for the titular character, who is retooled beyond recognition, even for those that might recognize him. The end result is a bit of a misfire, though inspired at times. It deserves credit for trying something really new with something really old, but is failed in the end by its basic storytelling.

Story: Paul Tobin Art: Sandy Jarrell
Story: 6.5 Art: 6.5 Overall: 6.5 Recommendation: Pass

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