As the Mega Centurions, Cassidy, Reggie, and Thad saved the world from an alien invasion led by Prince Venkor. Unfortunately, things went downhill after that. They lost their powers and were unable to prove they were the Mega Centurions. Now, they work stressful jobs in the big city and struggle to pay the rent. Things change once they meet the Grey Knight, an interstellar mercenary and former henchman for the prince. Grey warns of a second invasion and asks for their help in protecting the Earth. Can she be trusted and can they be heroes without powers?
Coming from Scout Comics, Mega Centurions is by writer Jon Parrish, art by Dexter Wee, color by Kote Carvajal, lettering by Cristian Docolomansky, and edited by Steven Forbes.
Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
Batman: Beyond the White Knight #1 (DC Comics) – We’re intrigued where Sean Gordon Murphy takes his sandbox of the DC world in this latest series and volume.
Call Me Nathan (SelfMadeHero) – Based on the true story of one person’s transition.
Cities of Magick #1 (Scout Comics) – It’s a decade-old war between to powerful magick clans!
DC vs. Vampires #6 (DC Comics) – Who’s the Vampire King? We find out!
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Saturday Morning Adventures #2 (IDW Publishing) – The first issue perfectly capture the feel of the cartoon series in every aspect.
Immortal X-Men #1 (Marvel) – The next phase of the world of the X-Men really kicks off here courtesy of Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck. We’re intrigued what this duo can bring and how things shift.
The Killer: Affairs of State #2 (BOOM! Studios/Archaia) – The first issue gave us a new status-quo for The Killer. Now working for French Intelligence, the series seems like it’s focused on corrupt government officials and delivers the same complex stories we’ve come to enjoy.
My Date with Monsters #5 (AfterShock) – The series has been a great mix of horror, comedy, and rom com and we’re intrigued and excited to see how it all wraps up.
Ranger Stranger #2 (Scout Comics) – The first issue was short comics that hand us laughing out loud and crying from laughing so hard. Here’s hoping the second delivers a similar amount of insanity.
Season of the Bruja #1 (Oni Press) – A story of magic that looks to have a solid amount of real world culture and history mixed in based on the writer’s own family’s traditions.
Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
A King’s Vengeance #2 (Scout Comics) – A ruler defeated and left for dead in a weird fantasy world. We enjoyed the first issue with it’s intriguing mix of genre and we’re excited to check out more.
Armorclads #1 (Valiant) – Valiant is slowly building back it’s universe and we’re really intrigued to see how this fitst into the puzzle. If it does at all!
Beyond the Beyond #1 (Scout Comics) – When an argument between the siblings goes too far, Nova enacts her long awaited plan to escape the mining colony and explore the alien world from where her parents never returned.
Ghost Cage #1 (Image Comics) – When his megacorp power plant falls under attack by terrorists, the super-scientist who revolutionized and controls all energy on Earth sends his ultimate creation (and an adequate employee) in to destroy his most monstrous secrets.
Maniac of New York: The Bronx is Burning #4 (AfterShock) – We’re in love with the series and its take on the slasher genre.
Rogues #1 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – The fact the Rogues are called “blue collar” in the description has us intrigued about this take.
Saga #57 (Image Comics) – Saga is back and it feels like it never left us.
Speed Republic #2 (Mad Cave Studios) – Racing against and Autocrat. Yeah, we’re in.
Task Force Z #6 (DC Comics) – The silly concept of a zombie Suicide Squad has been a lot of fun so far.
Until My Knuckles Bleed #2/Until My Knuckles Bleed #3 (Behemoth) – Two issues out this week? The story of a retired superhero turned bouncer at a strip club had us intrigued to find out more.
Scout Comics is becoming a legitimate voice in the field of horror comics, and Playthings #1 is shaping up to be another great example of what the publisher is capable of. The new series, written by Jon Clark and illustrated by Travis Williamson (the team behind the amazing Black Friday), finds its scares in the realities of a broken family with shared custody problems. The mother figure ends up being the target of this story’s haunting, but the first issue is bizarre enough that it keeps things unpredictable. This is a good thing.
Playthings opens with bright, poppy colors juxtaposed with inky blacks and dark shades. Clown faces huddle around a woman tied to a chair, her hands (or something resembling hands) bound in licorice. As the woman surveys the room she’s in, a kind of anti-funhouse explodes around her. The woman realizes she’s somewhere that’s not entirely within the realm of reason, a place with a child-like sensibility and a whole lot of violence hanging over it.
The woman is revealed to be the mother of a small girl and it is made apparent quite quickly that she has a very strained relationship with her ex-husband. The girl’s birthday is coming up and a strange box has appeared out of thin air with a creepy clown doll inside it. As can be expected with anything clown-related, chaos unfolds in relentless fashion.
Clark and Williamson let the readers know that whatever’s coming after the clown is out of the box is going to be intricately disturbing. The setting and the characters all feel as if ripped straight out of a dark fairy tale, of the kind early Vertigo comics were known for. The story has a kind of 1990’s weird fiction vibe to it, especially in how it displays familial dysfunction early in the story to then transition into more terrifying things. It works well and it signals a very focused set of ideas that the creators are eager to get to as quickly as possible.
Williamson’s art style is perfect for the type of story Clark scripted out. It often reminds of Sam Keith’s own takes on the dark fairy tale aesthetic while also offering enough variation to make it its own. Clark also colors the comic and he adds a notable layer of story through his chosen color palette. Both creators showcase an appreciation for loud and discomforting imagery in Playthings and it makes the horrors they conjure up leave an impression.
The decision to go for a dark fairy tale-style of storytelling allows Clark and Williamson to keep their metaphors and messages at the fore. For Playthings, the focus is on divorce and the hells it can create when there’s a child involved. The mother, for instance, is presented as a tightly wound and angry person that lets her emotions spill unto her innocent kid. The trials of being a single parent are on full display and the haunting the toy clown is intent on making the mother sit through looks to be aimed at turning the scenario into a cautionary tale, the kind fairy tales are well-known for.
Playthings #1 should please fans of classic horror, fairy tales, and 1990s fantasy comics. It establishes a dark event with terrifying potential, full of painful promises that readers can engage with in more ways than one. Issue #2 should satisfy both readers with dark sensibilities and readers who quite simply enjoy a good story. Keep this one on your radar.
Story: Jon Clark Art: Travis Williamson Lettering: April Brown Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall 9.0 Recommendation: Read and look out for clown dolls that weren’t in the room with you before.
This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: a handful of indie comics on the racks right now.
I was trying to think of a subject for this week’s Underrated, and realized that as I haven’t been reading as many trades lately, I didn’t have a huge sampling to choose from (the one book I do have picked out for the column, I haven’t had a chance to actually read yet). But there have been a lot of indie comics I’ve been reading lately that I’ve been really enjoying – only in most cases the series isn’t over yet. So, I decided why not just look at those books as they are right now? Maybe you’ll find something in there that you’ll quite enjoy. Or maybe not.
By The Horns (Scout) Okay, so technically the first volume is complete, but the trade is hitting soon, and that’s all the excuse I need to include this here. Markisan Naso, Jason Muhr and Andrei Tabacaru aren’t one of the more well known creative teams in comics, but they’re certainly one of the best. By The Horns is a story set in a lusciously vibrant fantasy world with technology not unlike what you’d see in the Star Wars franchise. It’s a beautifully illustrated and written series that should be on every person’s pull list. Volume two picks up in April, which is within a month (possibly).
Wrong Earth: Trapped In Teen Town (Ahoy) The best way to describe the premise of Wrong Earth is that the Batman from the 1960’s TV show (Dragonfly Man) switched places with Ben Affleck’s version of Batman (the Dragonfly); one, an idealistic man with gadgets not unlike the Bat-Shark Repellant, and the other, a vigilante who’s far more violent (and deadly) in his approach. In the main story, the two men have exchanged places, but this standalone story sees the Dragonfly and his sidekicks being dragged into what essentially amounts to an Archie comic. It’s fantastic, and the first in a series of similar concepts written by guest writers (Trapped In Teen Town was penned by Gail Simone). Highly worth reading if you’re at all a fan of the Wrong Earth universe.
Shadowman (Valiant) Valiant have had some ups and downs this year, but the unequalled high point for the publisher was this book from Cullen Bunn and Jon Davis Hunt. In what is probably my favourite take on the character, we’ve had four issues that are essentially stand alone comics with an overarching theme, all of which have been building to The Deadside War which kicked off in the fifth issue. It remains one of the highest points that the publisher has reached in nearly two years.
Good Boy (Source Point Press) Think about the first John Wick movie. What if the wannabe gangsters at the beginning killed John Wick and not his dog? What if, in this world, there are anthromorphic animals, and what if John’s dog was just as deadly as him? Welcome to Good Boy, and it is every bit as amazing as you’re thinking.
Knighted (AWA Studios) I can’t really describe this any better than the official blurb… “Bob Ryder is a hapless bureaucrat whose bad luck streak comes to a crescendo when he accidentally kills the city’s masked vigilante, The Knight. Oops. Now, Bob is forced to take on the mantle of the legendary hero before the city descends into chaos. Good thing he’s got The Knight’s former butler/assistant to show him the ropes.” This is a comic set within the world of The Resistance, but you don’t need to have read that series to enjoy this (in fact, four issues in, it only clicked for me when I went to check out the blurb, so there you go).
Once And Future (Boom) It’s almost cheating to include this given the buzz that surrounds the comic on a consistent basis, but here we are. Once And Future brings fairytales, myths and legends from Europe into a more modern setting. The series has been consistently brilliant with the stakes escalating in an organic and believable way – there’s no out of the blue or unexpected twist when it comes to villains, but rather a genuine progression from where the series has progressed from the first issue to the current. Keiran Gillen, Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain have never produced any less than a good comic book month after month.
Join us next week where there will doubtless be another movie, series, comic or comic related thing discussed that is, for whatever reason, Underrated.
This is the story of Harper and her superhero mother. Both are wanted by the government who has banned superheroes.
Story: Chris Williams Art: Chris Williams Letterer: Marcus Guillory
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
Broken Eye #1 (Scout Comics) – A young man can see the past and gets pulled into a conspiracy when he finds a hand floating in the river.
Captain Carter #1 (Marvel) – Captain Carter has always had fans but now so many more after a star making turn in Marvel Studios’ What If…? It’ll be interesting to see what this series delivers and how much of the center stage Marvel plans on putting her.
Devil’s Reign #5 (Marvel) – Was this issue spoiled in Daredevil: Women Without Fear #3? You’ll have to read it and find out! It’s been a solid event so far and here’s hoping it nails it in the landing.
Little Monsters #1 (Image Comics) – Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen telling the story of a group of child vampires? Yeah, we’re in for this one.
Naomi Season Two #1 (DC Comics) – Naomi has blown up with her on show on The CW. The first volume of this series was fantastic and we’re beyond excited to see where this one goes now she’s a member of the Justice League.
Perhapanauts: Triangle #1 (Scout Comics) – It’s a brand-new time traveling adventure!
Punisher #1 (Marvel) – The Punisher has been a bit mixed in direction over the years and the latest has him as a major player in the Hand. Will this one work for the character?
Radiant Red #1 (Image Comics) – The world of Radiant Black expands further with a five-issue miniseries.
Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse #1 (Marvel) – We’ve gotten to see Spider-Man around the multiverse. It’s Spider-Gwen’s turn!
We Live: Age of Palladions Black #1/We Live: Age of Palladions White #1 (AfterShock) – We Live’s first volume was fantastic. It’s six years later and we’re beyond excited to return to this world. It has a high bar to reach but we’re confident both of these issues will be solid entertainment.
An interesting slow grind of a horror series that feels like it’s building to something interesting.
Story: J.M. Brandt, Theo Prasidis Art: Kewber Baal Color: Ruth Redmond Letterer: Steve Wands
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
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Second printing! Tossed out by her foster family after one-too-many rides home in the back of a cop car, Hunter packs up and sets out on a mission to find out who she is. A mysterious book – her only link to her parents – leads her to discover a covert world of magic and danger running parallel to our own. One punk rock show, two whiskeys, and three vicious vampire assassins later, Hunter’s on the run from the ancient, deadly Cult of Ikarus. Hunter came looking for answers. What will become of her once she gets them?
Scout Comics has announced that Cult of Ikarus #1 from writer Jenna Lyn Wright and artist Karl Slominski.
