THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS #2
Script: Ian Flynn
Art: Kelsey Shannon, Matt Herms, Jack Morelli
Cover: Kelsey Shannon, Matt Herms
Variant Covers: Wilfredo Torres with Kelly Fitzpatrick, Jim Towe
On Sale Date: 1/10
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
“New Blood” – While new member The Web familiarizes himself with the rest of the Mighty Crusaders team, the villainous Dr. Iddh holds a ritual that threatens to awake an evil unlike the world has ever seen!
Visit your local comic shop on May 5, 2018 for Free Comic Book Day 2018! Dark Horse Comics is thrilled to announce our FCBD Gold Comic featuring Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch and Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston’s Black Hammer, with a cover by Kate Niemczyk.
The Overwatch story boasts art from Niemczyk with Andrew Robinson and Joelle Sellner uniting to write the adventures of Zarya. In Overwatch: Searching, Sergeant Aleksandra Zaryanova is sent to eliminate the elusive hacker, Sombra. To do so, she reluctantly teams up—and butts heads—with an omnic hacker. As they hone in on their target, Zarya realizes that she will have to reassess her worldview about omnics.
In the world of Black Hammer—a thousand years in the future—a collection of teenage superheroes, inspired by the legendary heroes of Black Hammer Farm, are determined to solve the riddle of what happened to the last great heroes of the twentieth century. Black Hammer creators Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston return to their opus as writer and artist respectively with Wilfredo Torres joining Ormston in illustrating and Dave Stewart providing his colorist skills to the project.
Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book specialty shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their shops. Learn more at FreeComicBookDay.com.
Look out next week for Dark Horse’s Silver Free Comic Book Day announcement and 2018 offerings!
Suicide Squad #30 starts off with Karin Grace in space lamenting the loss of her great love, Rick Flag, with Argent as her only companion. With the Red Wave released and Harley Quinn acting as the last line of defense, this start of this issue seems to set us up for an end game story highlighting bad ass ladies on a mission to save the world. Boomerang, Croc and Katana show up to fight off this arcs big baddie and since Katana is the only one lacking a brain bomb, she is also in charge of saving her team and the world.
The colors in this issue are newfuturistic at its best, the lines are clean and the art plays like some of the prettiest story boards you’ll ever see. There is a sense of darkness, eminent doom and realism in the character portrayals that add an extra layer of understanding and go well with the story being told. The writing is top notch, the story is believable, highlights humanity and friendship and taps into real emotions and fears.
The writers make the “villains” into proper heroes by making their reasoning and motivations relatable. The female characters, even when guided by traditionally “female” motivations, like love and care taking ( of their team and the earth as a whole) , come off as bad ass and, the usual “female” guidelines are made to be seen as strengths instead of weaknesses. There are a lot of false starts and panels where our heroes come close to the goal only to meet setbacks but, the way the writers handle it ramps up the tension and emotional investment, needed to take a reader to the next level.
Rob Williams is a genius at making the unlovable , lovable and highlighting the brilliance and dichotomy needed to make an anti-hero a full blown hero. When combined with Phillips Briones stellar artwork, Suicide Squad #30 is a tour de force powerhouse that brings this story arc up a notch and makes it one of the best issues in the latest incarnation of the Suicide Squad story so far.
Story: Rob Williams Art: Phillips Briones, Wilfredo Torres, Adriano Lucas
Story: 9.3 Art: 9.1 Overall: 9.2 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review
Suicide Squad #28
(W) Rob Williams (A) Eleonora Carlini, Wilfredo Torres (CA) Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki
RATED T+
In Shops: Oct 25, 2017
SRP: $2.99
“THE SECRET HISTORY OF TASK FORCE X” part two! Strapped to a rocket, sent into orbit and dumped unceremoniously into a decrepit old satellite floating hundreds of miles above the earth, things have never seemed worse for the Suicide Squad-at least until they’re set upon by an incredibly deadly alien monster. Yeah, that’s worse. But at the heart of the mysterious space station hides a pair of long-lost DC characters ready to shake Task Force X to its very foundation.
Marvel has announced two new “X” series coming in 2018. Legion will be written by Peter Milligan with art by Wilfredo Torres and see the character pitted against.. himself!? The series debuts in January.
Rogue & Gambit will be written by Kelly Thompson, with art by Pere Perez and covers the Kris Anka. The comic will be a five issue miniseries.
Black Panther #15
(W) Ta-Nehisi Coates (A) Wilfredo Torres, Adam Gorham (CA) Brian Stelfreeze
Rated T
In Shops: Jun 28, 2017
SRP: $3.99
“AVENGERS OF THE NEW WORLD” CONTINUES!
• The gods of Wakanda have forsaken T’Challa and his nation.
• As monsters of might and myth flood our world, the Midnight Angels must act…
• But whose interests do they serve? The crown’s or their own?
This issue of Riverdale is great in that it dives more into Josie and the Pussycats, their team dynamics, and gives more representation to the underdogs (or cats if you will). The creative team explores the small period of time where Veronica joins the band. The premise for this section is to “haze” Veronica into the Pussycats. I put haze in quotes because it’s not as severe as the negative connotations that comes with the term. They do however, end up hanging out at the Whyte Worm bar and getting tattoos, which I found entirely unbelievable. This felt a off-kilter for the brand. I know I shouldn’t take everything literal, but I am still holding Archie Comics to its word, in that they said this is to help explain what happens in between the actual television show’s episodes. So if they are they showing this in the comics, are we expected to believe Veronica and the girls have tattoos now in the series? This is highly unlikely given the fact Veronica has been known to sport around cute sleeveless dresses. I don’t think the character herself would do this at all.
The second half focuses on the blossoming relationship and dynamics between Betty and Jughead. In the show, there relationship came out of nowhere, was incredibly rushed, and forced on viewers without a lot of build. Here we have at least on actual hint to a potential relationship between the two with minor flirting on the page.
Cheryl storms into The Blue and Gold and says she needs #Bughead’s help. It feels a bit much but feeds into their larger Twitter market. Cheryl suspects her father is cheating on her mother because he has been acting funny and requests their help to find answers. This story lined ventured off into a territory unexplored in the show. It wasn’t terribly surprising given Clifford Blossom’s shady character but was somewhat interesting. Although, I must say, I’m still hung up on the show tie-ins and logistics. I don’t think that’s something I can ever get past and will constantly try to see how the two go hand in hand.
As far as art goes, I wasn’t quite loving this issue. Cheryl’s face is quite terrifying when she is seeing Betty and Jughead off after delivering the news of her father. Cheryl is supposed to be gorgeous and glam, but here she just looks questionable at best.
Kevin is nowhere to be seen, but it’s implied he will have his own section in the next issue, if the photo at the end of the comic is any indication. They’ve drawn him to look like he’s in his late 20s or 30s, which is unfortunate. I’m still very intrigued and excited to see a full on exploration of Kevin’s relationship with Joaquin. If I don’t get to see a first date and other cute shenanigans I may just give up on this one. Here’s to hoping!
Script: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, James DeWille, Will Ewing
Art: Joe Eisma, Thomas Pitilli, Andre Szymanowicz, Janice Chiang, John Workman
Cover: Francesco Francavilla
Variant Covers: Marguerite Sauvage, Wilfredo Torres
RIVERDALE #3
Script: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, James DeWille, Will Ewing
Art: Joe Eisma, Thomas Pitilli, Andre Szymanowicz, Janice Chiang, John Workman
Cover: Francesco Francavilla
Variant Covers: Marguerite Sauvage, Wilfredo Torres
On Sale Date: 6/7
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
From Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and the writers of the new CW series Riverdale comes the MUST-READ, brand new, ongoing comic set in the universe of the SMASH HIT TV series. Heads will roll when Josie and the Pussycats introduce Riverdale High to their newly-appointed Pussycat. PLUS, a noir tale starring #Bughead, as the two try to unearth an uncomfortable truth about an adult they know.
RIVERDALE #3
Script: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, James DeWille, Will Ewing
Art: Joe Eisma, Thomas Pitilli, Andre Szymanowicz, Janice Chiang, John Workman
Cover: Francesco Francavilla
Variant Covers: Marguerite Sauvage, Wilfredo Torres
On Sale Date: 6/7
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
From Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and the writers of the new CW series Riverdale comes the MUST-READ, brand new, ongoing comic set in the universe of the SMASH HIT TV series. Heads will roll when Josie and the Pussycats introduce Riverdale High to their newly-appointed Pussycat. PLUS, a noir tale starring #Bughead, as the two try to unearth an uncomfortable truth about an adult they know.
Big Moose one-shot introduces three new short stories about the one and only Moose, each created by separate teams, giving various takes on the character.
“Moose vs. The Vending Machine” gives into the stereotypical airheaded Moose, who willingly trades Jughead a week of his lunches for a single dollar, just to get something from the vending machine. While Sean Ryan’s story felt predictable, it still had the familiar humor of Archie Comics past, and that’s okay with me.
“Have It All” follows a week in the life as Moose, his thought process narrates the story, and we are able to get a glimpse into the interiority that makes the man. It touches on the stereotypes about the character from previous Archie Comics variations, such as Moose’s temper and lack of intelligence. It’s essentially the “there’s more than meets the eye” story. Ryan Cady’s take on Moose is interesting because he’s given more depth than what most fans are used to. It’s well done given how much information we get in just a few pages.
In “The Big Difference” Moose is placed back into the jock stereotype immediately. While I love meeting new Archie Comics characters, I do not love an overly blatant moral message. This piece had the same classic comic feeling as the first, but for whatever reason, it didn’t quite do it for me. I hope to see more of this “Freshie” character though.
As charming as Big Moose as a series has potential to be, I don’t see it surviving as anything more than a one-shot, unless the writers decided to explore his sexuality more (which seems to be in question from the hit show Riverdale) or give him more depth in general. The jock-stereotype story is played out and I found myself wanting to read the Midge one-shot instead. #TeamMidge
Script: Sean Ryan, Ryan Cady, Gorf
Art: Thomas Pitilli, Cory Smith, Ryan Jampole, Matt Herms, Glenn Whitmore, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Jack Morelli
Cover: Thomas Pitilli
Variant Covers: Cory Smith, Wilfredo Torres
