The weekend is almost here! While you wait for the weekday to end and the weekend to begin, here’s some comic news and reviews from around the web in our morning roundup.
The Beat – A Year of Free Comics: Robot love and virtual pineapple cats in CIRCUITS AND VEINS – Free comics!
Reviews
Talking Comics – Batman #94
Talking Comics – DCeased: Dead Planet #1
When it comes to the DCeased storyline, DC Comics has been nailing the concept. They’ve done well to add to the story as opposed to giving us follow-ups that feel like they’re just an attempt to cash in on the idea. We’ve gotten the excellent DCeased: Hope at World’s End digital series and the latest, DCeased: Dead Planet #1, which kicks off the latest volume.
Five years have passed since the events of DCeased. The survivors of Earth have found a new home on a new planet, Earth-2 and have begun to build a new society. A Justice League has formed to protect what remains not just from the threat they escaped but others they face. Cyborg, decapitated but alive, sends out a distress call which the remaining heroes hear and decide to investigate.
Lets get the bad of DCeased: Dead Planet #1 out of the way. The comic is predictable and foreshadows things WAY too much. In that way it plays with tropes, cliches, and genres but doesn’t offer anything really new there. While some of it might be surprising as to when it happens, none of it is surprising at all.
What’s good is, Tom Taylor delivers a solid comic that while it’s familiar in plot, does it really well. While the original DCeased felt like Taylor’s play on the zombie genre, DCeased: Dead Planet #1 feels more like it riffs of science fiction. The issue seems to take its inspiration from films like Alien and Aliens more so than Romero. It’s an interesting direction for the first issue that’s unexpected and quite welcome in many ways. We see that we’re going to get something different instead of “another zombie story.” That alone raises the entertainment of the issue which otherwise wears a bit too much on its sleeve.
The art by Trevor Hairsine delivers. With ink by Gigi Baldassini and Stefano Gaudiano, color by Rain Beredo, and lettering by Saida Temofonte, the look of the comic captures that shift from horror/zombie to sci-fi/tense. What the team captures really well is the time that has passed. Characters look older and more worn down. The two worlds feel like they’re struggling in multiple ways. It’s small choices that are solid and some really interesting scenes that deliver some emotional punch over the cliches.
And that’s the issue with the comic. It’s really entertaining and an excellent follow up to everything that has come before. The problem is too much of what happens is choreographed. The latter parts of the comic are predictable and aren’t surprising at all as they’re all foreshadowed at some point. But, it’s still a fun read and is a shift from the expected take on the zombie genre. If only it kept a bit more of its secrets and delivered real surprises.
Story: Tom Taylor Art: Trevor Hairsine
Ink: Gigi Baldassini, Stefano Gaudiano Color: Rain Beredo Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Story: 7.75 Art: 8.15 Overall: 7.8 Recommendation: Read
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics
Wednesdays (and now 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.
Ash & Thorn #2 (AHOY Comics) – The first issue introduced us to an unlikely champion of Earth. The series seems to be having fun with expectations and tropes from that genre with a nice mix of humor to it.
DCeased: Dead Planet #1 (DC Comics) – DC has been doing some top-notch work when it comes to this pocket of stories and this return to the world is full of dread and heartbreak… and that’s just the first issue!
Eat and Love Yourself (BOOM! Studios) – Magic chocolate allows a young woman to revisit her past. The concept sounds really intriguing and creative.
Eight-Lane Runaways (Fantagraphics) – A new graphic novel about the world of running with a magical twist. We’re still not quite sure what this one’s about but the cover and description text has us wanting to find out more.
Empyre: Fantastic Four #0 (Marvel) – The first zero issue to come out of this anticipated event was solid and we’re excited to see what else is to come. What went from a shrug is now very intriguing.
Ginseng Roots #5 (Uncivilized Books) – One of the best comics out right now, Craig Thompson explores growing up in the world of ginseng.
Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics (Ten Speed Press) – Tom Scioli’s biography of the great Jack Kirby.
Join the Future #3 (AfterShock) – This future western explores the idea of modernization and the exploitation that comes with it.
Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew #2 (Dynamite Entertainment) – The twist of the first issue was predictable but we really want to see where this noir/mystery goes.
Quantum & Woody #4 (Valiant) – The first three issues have been a whole lot of fun and we’re expecting the same from this finale.
Strange Academy #2 (Marvel) – The first issue was a lot of fun and we’ve been looking forward to seeing more of the series. Think young magic users at a school set in the Marvel universe.
DCeased: Dead Planet #1
Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Trevor Hairsine
After a corrupted Anti-Life Equation turned billions into monsters-including Earth’s Greatest Heroes-our planet was as good as dead. Years later, a distress call brings Damian Wayne, Jon Kent, and Cassie Sandsmark-the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman of Earth 2-back to a dead planet…but what will this new Justice League find waiting for them? If life still exists on Earth, who-or what-is lying in wait for these heroes? The original creative team of Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine reunite for the sequel to the 2019 blockbuster series DCeased!
After a corrupted Anti-Life Equation turned billions into monsters—including Earth’s Greatest Heroes—our planet was as good as dead.
Years later, a distress call brings Damian Wayne, Jon Kent, and Cassie Sandsmark—the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman of Earth 2—back to a dead planet…but what will this new Justice League find waiting for them? If life still exists on Earth, who—or what—is lying in wait for these heroes? The original creative team of Tom Taylor and Trevor Hairsine reunite for the sequel to the 2019 blockbuster series DCeased!
DCeased: Dead Planet #1, written by Tom Taylor with art by Trevor Hairsine, Stefano Gaudiano, and Gigi Baldissini, hits shelves June 30!
