Category Archives: Comics

Cyberarchy #3 is interesting in concept but a step back from the first two issues

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Cyberarchy #3

Welcome to Defa 9 – the safest you will ever be. An advanced society under the complete control of a loyal automated military. Warbots on every street and cameras on every corner. Our huge orbital satellites are even able to protect you from the weather – and should events ever get out of hand, you’ll be happy to hear we can remotely lock you all safely in your homes! A secure and unassailable world, all under the watchful eye of our mechanical AI advisers. So should skydiving assault teams from another world attack Defa-9 – we have everything under control with absolutely zero surprises…what could possibly go wrong? Cyberarchy #3 is an interesting concept and has some intriguing ideas but overall doesn’t hold up to the quality of the first two issues.

Written by Matthew Hardy, Cyberarchy is a series that explores humanity, AI, and robots in a series of one-shot comics that have been entertaining and intriguing. The first two issues were fantastic catapulting the series to being one of the best on the shelves right now. But, Cyberarchy #3 feels a bit like a step back in quality.

Like the first two issues, Cyberarchy #3 is an intriguing tale which is intended to get readers to think about its concept and themes as well as entertains. This issue focuses more on AI and the dangers of succeeding too much to artificial overlords. It can resort in some negative consequences. With AI being such a hot topic, it’s an issue that I was looking forward to, but it doesn’t really tread any new topics and those that it does, feel rather worn and basic in their approach. The issue isn’t bad but when the first two are so good, in comparison, this one isn’t close.

The art by Clark Bint is solid. The characters, robots, and world all have an interesting look, giving a futuristic and alien feel but at the same time it’s familiar and easy to dive in to. There’s some good action and a nice flow but the art is also a bit muddied compared to the first two issues where it’s hard to make out exactly what is going on. This could be due to the fact it was read digitally, but it too feels a little like a step back. Rob Jones‘ lettering helps set the world with it all featuring a bit of character to match the various alien races.

Cyberarchy #3 has it’s moments and underneath there’s some of the quality we’ve seen, but overall this third issue just doesn’t come close to the first two in excellence. Here’s hoping it’s just a temporary bump and the next gets right back to matching the high expectations.

Story: Matthew Hardy Art: Clark Bint Letterer: Rob Jones
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.85 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Mad Cave Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

D’Orc #1 delivers a fun start to an off the rails fantasy adventure

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D'Orc #1

Armed with nothing but a magical yet ambitiously violent shield, a lonely orphan stumbles headfirst into Sunderaine’s never-ending war between the Light and Dark. Elves vs. Orcs. Wizards vs. Common Sense. Dragons vs. Literally Everyone. And caught dead-center? D’Orc.

With a wholly inconvenient doomsday prophecy, the half dwarf, half orc—all D’Orc—is fated to end the world. Soon, every human, elf, goblin, dwarf, Snargletooth, Necroid, Ice Giant, Trauma Llama, and at least three other unpronounceable magical creatures, will know his name and want him dead. There will also be a chicken.

Written by Brett Bean, D’Orc #1 is a new fantasy adventure that has more in common with Skullkickers and Barbaric than it does Conan. D’Orc just wants to do his thing but the world is divided and at war between the light and the dark. D’Orc doesn’t want to choose sides, let alone get involved, but his talking shield with an appetite for killing has other plans.

It’s hard to not read D’Orc #1 and immediately think of Barbaric, with its talking axe with a bloodlust. Both feature off the rails fantasy and some biting humor, but it’s the art and the world where things differ. D’Orc features Bean’s style with a cartoonish look that delivers cuteness along with lots of ultra violence. With color by Jean-Francois Beaulieu and lettering by Nate Piekos, the comic looks great where the art and style match the humorous tone it’s going for.

D’Orc #1 is interesting to read with its “both sides suck” view of the world, echoing so many in our real world, but it thankfully has a bit more going for it than an apathetic character who oozes Gen X neutrality. The debut teases a story about how when even staying neutral you can be negatively caught up in the actions of others. That neutrality doesn’t work and action needs to be taken to right things or at least counter the negativity that abounds. Take those lessons and mix them with a cute facade and an increasing body count and you have a series we’re excited for.

Story: Brett Bean Art: Brett Bean
Color: Jean-Francois Beaulieu Letterer: Nate Piekos
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 Teases Potential But Feels like it Holds Back

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DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1

Unexpected fighters from beyond the DC Comics enter the arena! Wait… What? WHO?! As the remaining champions in the K.O. tournament prepare for the final rounds, they discover that there isn’t enough Omega energy left to crown the winner a King Omega. To have any hope of stopping Darkseid, they’ll need to engage in combat with the champions of other worlds beyond our own including Annabelle, Homelander, Sub-Zero, and more! This shocking, star-studded crossover sets the stage for the final chapters of the epic DC K.O. event and features matchups you never imagined possible. The ultimate battle is only beginning! DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 delivers some unexpected battles but overall feels like it doesn’t go far enough.

DC K.O. has been going on for the past couple of months and has DC’s heroes and villains going through a gauntlet to see who will eventually challenge Darkseid. As part of that, the contest has felt like video game match ups mixed with a March Madness bracket as the contestants get winnowed with each release. DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1 takes place after the third issue of the series and has the remaining four heroes battling characters from outside of the DC universe to gain power to then use against Darkseid. It’s a side quest to level up.

Written by Jeremy Adams, the comic brings together some very unlikely characters and match-ups and has a few that we’d like to see more of. Contestants are sent to various worlds to battle having heroes and villains face Annabelle, Homelander, Sub-Zero, Sabrina, Vampirella, and Samantha Strong. Some of the battles work and work really well while others barely happen.

There’s some battles like Batwoman vs. Vampirella that seem like they’d be great but barely register in the comic. Sabrina’s addition feels rather odd in its execution. But, Wonder Woman vs. Red Sonja and Superman vs. Homelander are both battles we need to get an entire comic of. And that pretty much sums up the issue. There’s some aspects that are barely a blip while others don’t get enough of a focus. Lex Luthor taking on Samantha from Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees has so much potential and seeing Lex freak out with what he’s facing has some great humor to it. But, that gets far too few pages. The Joker arguing with Annabelle has some laugh out loud moments. Again, it too is given little beyond a few pages but they’re a highlight. Superman fighting Homelander could be great to really juxtapose those characters but it doesn’t go far enough to do so. It’s a comic that’s full of hits and misses. It teases something really great but isn’t given enough pages to do it and with what little each moment has, plays it rather conservative.

The art is handled by Ronan Cliquet, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Kieran McKeown, and Pablo M. Collar with color by Hi-Fi and lettering by Tom Napolitano. It looks pretty solid and there’s some sequences that look absolutely solid. The art has a rather quick and frenetic aspect to it that matches the rather short time given to each aspect of the comic. There’s some matches that really stand out and there’s moments where a lot is packed into the issue.

And that’s the thing with DC K.O.: Boss Battle #1, it packs a lot in. It expands the story beyond the remaining for contestants. If it focused on just that four, it’d have been a far tighter and better issue with each getting a bit more time to enjoy. But, it’s an issue that attempts to put too much into it which makes everything feel a bit short. It’s not bad and there’s some things that are really great. It overall shows off some potential we’ll hopefully see more of in the future.

Story: Jeremy Adams Art: Ronan Cliquet, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Kieran McKeown, Pablo M. Collar
Color: Hi-Fi Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Story: 7.25 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.3 Recommendation: Read

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

DC x AEW #1 focuses on the Build up to the Main Event

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DC x AEW #1

The Intergalactic Title is far more than a championship belt! This Big Galactic Belt is made of pure Element X—the most powerful metal in the universe! Ruptured in a post-match beatdown, the belt scatters across the DC Universe—but every single shard is a weapon that can rewrite reality itself. With the world at stake, the Justice League teams with AEW’s roster to crisscross the globe and recover the shards of the belt before DC’s worst villains use them to turn our world into their deadly playground. It’s the Justice League Elite as you’ve never seen them before—with Excalibur and Booster Gold calling the action! DC x AEW #1 delivers a team-up event that has fun with the concept.

Growing up in the 80s, I watched wrestling in its boom as larger than life characters took to the ring to tell stories and entertain. I stopped watching and then picked it up a bit again in college during the days of the NWO and DeGeneration X. I haven’t regularly watched any wrestling in quite some time but occasionally catch an episode of AEW or clips online. So, I have some familiarity with that world going into DC x AEW #1 a team up series that has its ups and its downs.

Written by Steve Orlando, DC x AEW #1 is an interesting debut issue as it rushes through its initial concept getting to the juicier part of the story which kicks off in the second issue. A belt is made of a powerful substance and the heroes of DC team up with the wrestlers of AEW to get that substance back. Orlando doesn’t drag that part out instead giving each team-up a few pages as the shards of the belt of gathered for the meat of the story that begins in the next issue. The debut issue is very much the set up of where it’s all going.

And, the comic is… ok. It feels like something you might get for attending an event with a ticket purchase, really playing to the fans of AEW more than anything else. The characters feel like themselves for the most part but that also means there’s some leaning on some of the verbal ticks they’re known for (how many times can Ospery say “bruv”) or teasing some of the AEW’s wrestler’s characters. You get a sense of each but overall, the initial team-ups are a bit odd in that it’s wrestlers fighting DC villains with the Justice League helping. Orlando doesn’t make the wrestlers super powerful but let’s face it, beyond using their acrobatics/athleticism to get the shard pieces, they’d likely get their asses kicked dealing with all of these villains. The short page count for each team also doesn’t give much time to really spotlight the characters, instead feeling like quick vignettes to get things rolling.

The art is ok. Travis Mercer has the Justice League and villains looking great and some of the AEW wrestlers look recognizable, there’s others I needed the comic to tell me who they where. With color by Andrew Dalhouse and lettering by Josh Reed, there’s a lot of action and overall some good interaction between the characters but overall the comic isn’t anything spectacular visually. And it’d be difficult to. AEW’s wrestling style is very dynamic in its moves and motion, something not easily done on the comic page. Watching the wrestlers “dance” with their moves in impressive gymnastic like moves in quick succession looks great on television. The comic here needed a few more recognizable moves to get the visual pops it is going for.

DC x AEW #1 is fun and entertaining, a nice distraction from the seriousness of the world. But, the comic is very much geared towards the AEW fans and feels a little like all of the product placement/crossovers from the WCW days. It can be fun and deliver something a little different.

Story: Steve Orlando Art: Travis Mercer
Color: Andrew Dalhouse Letterer: Josh Reed
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.0 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Preview: The Smurfs Archives Vol. 4

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The Smurfs Archives Vol. 4

(C) Peyo

Smurfs Archives Volume 4 continues to collect all of the original Smurfs material in chronological order for the first time, featuring classic stories with material that has never been printed in English. And for the first time ever, collecting the Smurfs stories originally published by Marvel Comics as single floppy issues that have been out of print for over 30 years!

The Smurfs Archives Vol. 4

Preview: Three Thieves Vol. 4

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Three Thieves Vol. 4

(A) Scott Chantler

Believing he has Dessa, Topper and Fisk cornered in a remote monastery, Captain Drake recalls his early days as a knight in the service of King Roderick. The idealistic young Drake quickly learns that the rest of the King’s Dragons do not share his sense of duty, preferring to take orders from the mysterious palace chamberlain, Maarten Greyfalcon.

In tracking down a stolen letter for the king, the young Drake is drawn into a web of intrigue that includes a plot against the throne and cryptic clues involving Greyfalcon and Dessa. Does the key to capturing the three thieves lie in Drake’s own dark past? Could this spell the end of Dessa’s quest to find her long-lost twin brother?

Three Thieves Vol. 4

Preview: Damsel From D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S.

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Damsel From D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S.

(W) Andrew Clemson (A) Mau Mora (L) Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Abandoned as a child by her adventurer father and having fought her way up through the ranks of the kingdom’s premier espionage agency, Bec has become their top operative. But when a Dwarven princess is kidnapped, Bec must leap into action. Written by ANDREW CLEMSON (STAR BASTARD, BETE NOIR) and illustrated by MAURICIO MORA (HAUNTING, MAJOR THOMÁS) as you embark on an elves & espionage young adult adventure!

Damsel From D.I.S.T.R.E.S.S.

Preview: Flash Gordon #15

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Flash Gordon #15

(W) Jeremy Adams (A) Eder Messias

THE SECRETS OF MONGO REVEALED — FLASH GORDON VS. FLASH GORDON — MING VS. MING — WORLD VS. WORLD. IT ALL COMES TO THIS! What Flash Gordon discovers in the tunnels beneath Mingo City will change everything in the battle to come! But his evil counterpart is determined to beat him there — and with the help of two Dr. Zarkovs, Dark Flash has an edge. Will the two men — and two worlds — destroy each other? Jeremy Adams and Eder Messias fulfill a flash-tastic destiny in the final issue of this pulse-pounding arc!

Flash Gordon #15

Preview: Eat Your Young #6

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Eat Your Young #6

(W) Brian Buccellato (A) Mattia Monaco

Father and son turned enemies. A kidnapped heir. The immortal throne on the line. Everything comes to a head in the explosive climax of EAT YOUR YOUNG, as Edmund and Kerr face off against Foreman’s army. With the clock ticking, it’s their one shot to save Elsa… and decide the future of the Immortal Irons.

Eat Your Young #6

Preview: War Wolf #4

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War Wolf #4

(W) Steve Orlando (A) Marco Perugini

What if Pandora’s Box opened and no one cared? Thomas Bruin is celebrated as Earth’s greatest hero after stopping an alien invasion—but Norton Matthews isn’t buying it. For years, he’s claimed Bruin is a fraud, only to be ignored and dismissed. Now, with Bruin unveiling an orbital security service and a museum to his “victory,” Matthews decides it’s time to act. If the truth he’s uncovered won’t sway the world, he’ll create a new one that does. The battle for Earth’s greatest legacy isn’t about aliens—it’s about who controls the story of its salvation.

War Wolf #4
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