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Review: Savage #1

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Alex K Cossa

Fifteen years ago, the world’s most famous soccer star and his former supermodel wife –pregnant with their unborn child – disappeared without a trace. The world believes they are dead… But, in reality, their private jet crash-landed on a mysterious, unknown island ruled by prehistoric creatures from another time…

This is the story of how they lost their humanity.

The above text is literally everything I knew about the story of Valiant‘s newest miniseries up until I opened the review pdf that arrived in my inbox about ten minutes ago. Once I’d gotten about a third of the way through the comic I knew two things; that this comic is going to look absolutely stunning when I get the physical copy Wednesday, and that the story is best described as a modern retelling of the Tarzan stories starring a fictionalized David Beckham and dinosaurs.

Savage #1 is written by B. Clay Moore, but for the first seven pages the silent story is told by Lewis Larosa‘s art. Our first look at Savage is just that as he takes on a dinosaur in a frankly stunning sequence that serves as a better introduction to his character than any text box could ever hope to give. It’s brutal, yet incredibly beautiful thanks to the colours of Brian Reber doing all the right things to highlight the black and white art (you can actually get a glimpse of Larosa’s work sans colour at the back of the book in the bonus section).

Clayton Henry shares art duties in this issue, handling the flashback sequences that sheds a lot of light very quickly on the family that end up on the island.

I had high expectations for the first issue of Savage, and I can honestly say that the first issue smashed them with an opening to the story that will pull you in and beat you over the head with a bone club. Based on the first issue, I’d say Valiant have another hit on their hands; if you’re even remotely interested in the series pick the first up if you have a chance – you’ll not regret it.

Story: B. Clay Moore
Art: Lewis Larosa & Clayton Henry Colours: Brian Reber
Story: 9 Art: 10 Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review. I will also be purchasing the comic.

Support the CBLDF, Reading With Pictures, and the Hero Initiative this #GivingTuesday

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Brett

The holiday season us upon us and the end of the year is coming soon, and that means it’s #GivingTuesday, a day which highlights charities and the need to support them through donations (which often are tax-deductible).

Graphic Policy is asking you to support three worthy causes, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF), Reading With Pictures, and the Hero Initiative.

The CBLDF receives more than a quarter of their annual budget in the year-end gifts from supporters like you. If you are still finalizing your charitable giving plans, we ask you to please consider their worthy efforts. Donations to CBLDF are fully tax-deductible in the year they are given. Please help CBLDF continue their important work by making a donation today, either by giving a holiday gift of a signed graphic novel, becoming a member, or making a tax-deductible cash contribution. You can read their 2016 annual report now and see why they’re important.

All year round, the CBLDF works hard to protect the right to read. Their efforts combat the rising tide of censorship facing students, educators, and libraries, and we continue to provide a valuable safety net for creators and retailers.

cafe_patch_1024x1024 Donors supporting the organization on #GivingTuesday will receive exclusive Comics Are For Everybody merchandise created by Jordie Bellaire (@woahjordie) and Steven Finch (@fonografiks). Comics should be an art form that welcomes and encourages all voices and viewpoints. CBLDF’s efforts to protect the First Amendment are essential in creating a climate ensuring that remains the case. Your #GivingTuesday contribution proudly declares Comics Are For Everybody and helps CBLDF continue to provide legal action and education protecting the comics medium in 2017.

There’s a whole bunch of cool incentives based on your giving level. You can find out more about what the CBLDF has done this past year and make a contribution today.

Reading With Pictures has become a major player in the field of visual literacy. This year they have:

Expanded Comics Uniting Nations, a global initiative that has already reached thousands around the world
Rang the bell for NASDAQ!
Spread the word of comic book literacy to teachers and children around the world
Presented at San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and many more!

You can contribute to Reading With Pictures here.

The Hero Initiative helps comic creators in need. Formed in 2000, the organization is a safety net for comic creators in need. The organization became a not-for-profit in 2001 and has since granted over $700,000 to over 50 comic book veterans who helped build the industry in to what it is today. Their own website sums it up the best.

Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

You can help them out and contribute today, and if you can’t give money, there’s affiliate links on their website which they will receive a portion.

Please donate so these three worthy organizations can continue their good works. If you have more suggestions of comic related non-profits that people can donate to, sound off in the comments below.

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Graphic Policy Team

Wednesdays 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!

We’re bringing back something we haven’t done for a while, what the team thinks. Our contributors are choosing up to five books each week and why they’re choosing the books.

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.

Joe

Top Pick: Seven to Eternity #3 (Image) – The first two issues told a lot of story in such a short time. More comics could learn from this. The first issue set up the legacy of the family name and the big bad, and the second introduced us to him and then a whole new band of characters. Let’s see what Remender has planned for the third issue! So far this series has been awesome.IVX #0 (Marvel) – Death of X did not fully satisfy me, but the surprise ending did. Let’s hope this series is a lot better, as it is leading us into the new Inhuman and X-Men titles coming this spring. I am hopeful that Lemire and Soule come through big here for this event and get people excited for what’s to come.

IVX #0 (Marvel) – Death of X did not fully satisfy me, but the surprise ending did. Let’s hope this series is a lot better, as it is leading us into the new Inhuman and X-Men titles coming this spring. I am hopeful that Lemire and Soule come through big here for this event and get people excited for what’s to come.

Great Lakes Avengers #2 (Marvel) – The first issue was so fun and goofy, and I loved it. The art by Robson is fantastic, and the jokes by Gorman worked well. The entire premise is ridiculous and it just makes it better. This isn’t even a b level team of Marvel heroes, but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable of a premise. I highly recommend this if you’re looking for something light and fun.

Batman Annual #1 (DC Comics) – DC is bringing in all of the bat writers on the annual. I usually don’t get very excited for annuals, but I am for both this and Superman hitting the same day. This book will have Snyder, King, Dini, Orlando, and Scott Wilson writing with Riley Rossmo and Neal Adams on art. I am hyped!

Saga #40 (Image) – If you haven’t read Saga yet, please go start. This is what is arguably the best comic out today. I am eager to see where Vaughn and Staples takes us this issue, as we follow these incredible characters on their wild adventures. This book can make you laugh, cry, and smile all in one issue.

Alex

Top Pick: Savage #1 (Valiant) – I can sum up why this is awesome in three words: Tarzan meets dinosaurs. It also looks savagely brilliant.

Batman Annual #1 (DC Comics) – Paul Dini and Scott Snyder writing Batman all in one book? Sounds ideal.

Conan The Slayer #5 (Dark Horse) – A consistent story that not enough people are talking about. If you’re a fan of sword and sorcery then you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Old Man Logan #14 (Marvel) – It’s been awhile since I enjoyed a solo Wolverine series as much as I have been enjoying this. A new arc starts this issue, and I’m pretty excited to dig in.

Revolution #5 (IDW Publishing) – A left field surprise for me; I can’t wait to see how this epic crossover ends.

Brett

COPRA Round Four (Bergen Street Press) – If you haven’t been reading Michel Fiffe’s series you’re missing out on some of the best comics out there. The indie series is collected here in the fourth trade and it’s worth every penny. The series is best described as an indie Suicide Squad and it’s absolutely awesome. This is the only series I buy single issues and the trades.

Fish Eye #1 (Scout Comics) – The publisher has been putting out some fantastic comics and this new series is well worth checking out. The concept is about a cop who is on a reality show whose ratings are slipping and he has to protect his family from a group of killers. Sounds interesting!

The Skeptics #2 (Black Mask Studios) – The first issue was solid taking place during the Cold War and featuring con-men pretending to be psychics to fool the US government. It’s a crazy concept but the style and characters have me coming back and been looking forward to this one.

Inhumans vs X-Men #0 (Marvel) – I’m a sucker for Marvel’s events and this first issue is pretty solid. It catches up new readers while also setting up some new stuff as well.

The Revisionist #6 (Aftershock Comics) – Time traveling entertainment and I seriously have no idea where it’s all going. With an 80s action film flair, this is one to read from the beginning, it’s so good.

TV Review: Lucifer S2E10 Quid Pro Ho

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Brett

Charlotte is determined to get Lucifer to leave Earth by turning Chloe against him. Meanwhile, Amenadiel has begun working as Charlotte’s soldier, which makes Maze question his loyalty.

Lucifer has finally left me speechless with an episode full of reveals to things that have been teased out since the first season and it’s a twist I didn’t see coming at all.

The episode mainly focuses on the trial of the murder of Chloe’s father. Charlotte is the accused’s lawyer and she uses that opportunity to drive a wedge between Lucifer and Chloe as the trial goes on and on.

But, the episode isn’t so much about the trial as it is the reveals throughout.

Amenadiel through his actions reveals to Maze that he’s working for Charlotte and Maze of course has some issues with that, threatening them both if something were to happen to Chloe. Battle to come? I know I want to see Amenadiel and Maze duke it out.

But there’s a lot more reveals. Detective Douche’s relationship with Charlotte is revealed to Lucifer and with that some great laughs. It’s the lighthearted aspect of the episode along with a fun sequence of Maze getting to kick some ass.

And then there’s a scene at the end involving Detective Douche… well I’ll just leave that one to be seen.

But the biggest aspect of the episode of the final reveal as we get the truth about Chloe. The series up to this point has been hinting there’s something going on with her… something almost divine and we get all the answers. It’s a hell of a twist and flows really nicely. It’s not over the top or feels forced, instead like a lot of the series things just seem like they fit together.

This is an episode that had me entertained from start to finish with a fantastic mix of everything. There’s some solid acting, fun writing, and a lot of reveals throughout that really ups the drama a ton. Easily the best episode of the season and one of the strongest of the entire series.

Overall Rating: 9.45

TV Review: Gotham S3E11 Mad City: Beware the Green-Eyed Monster

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Brett

As the virus begins to spread in Gotham, the laboratory that is developing a cure is compromised. Mario and Gordon face off before the wedding, Selina meets an unexpected face and Barbara comes to Nygma with information about Isabella,

Gotham continues its ups and downs this year with yet another uneven episode that features a lot of good and a lot of bad.

The bad is Gordon’s pursuit of Mario who he’s convinced is infected and will do harm to Leslie and wants to stop the wedding. It’s a bit all over the place with a set-up that’s revealed and so complicated it’s eye rolling. To say more would be to spoil things, and I do my best to avoid that. Lets just say as you go down the rabbit hole things get more and more detached. Keeping it simple would have done this plotline a lot of good.

The other issue is that key scenes shows the acting hole actor Ben McKenzie has dug himself. Unfortunately, he does angry, and that’s about it as he channels Christian Bale’s Batman with growling and teeth clenched. There’s some scenes that’d be fantastic with a different style, but the opportunity to show some dramatic flair and let McKenzie act isn’t taken. How it all ends leads up to a direction that feels predictable and a bit to soap opera.

Then there’s Bruce’s mission to figure out what the key is for and his assault against the Court of Owls. Where to begin with this one other than it feels completely insane and reiterates the character should have been sent off to boarding school a long time ago. A Mission Impossible type undertaking is thrown in there complete with over the top tightrope action. The mysterious person who I think is supposed to be one of the Court of Owls’ assassins but looks like Kato also shows up to make things more complicated. Overall, it’s a stinker of a plot.

Then there’s the sort of good part of the episode which focuses on Edward Nygma and the death of Isabella. Barbara of course has to stir things up so she tells Edward what she’s figured out (seriously, she got it before the guy who’s supposed to be good at this stuff?) and that leads Edward into crazy territory again. How it all plays out is really good and hopefully sets the series back up to where it’s strongest when it focuses on the mob flavored stories.

The episode is the usual mix. There’s some good. There’s lots of bad. And the series as a whole feels like it still doesn’t know what it wants to be. As the season goes on it feels more like the campy nature of Schumacher is winning out though it’s diving more into the visuals and color palette of Burton. Maybe at some point we’ll get the Batman we deserve, but it more feels like someone is looking down and whispering “no” right now.

Overall Rating: 6.70

Talking Valiant’s Savage with B. Clay Moore

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Brett

Fifteen years ago, the world’s most famous soccer star and his former supermodel wife – pregnant with their unborn child – disappeared without a trace. The world believes they are dead… But, in reality, their private jet crash-landed on a mysterious, unknown island ruled by prehistoric creatures from another time…

This is the story of how they lost their humanity. This is SAVAGE!

Out this week from Valiant, Savage is an all-new series (and characters) written by B. Clay Moore. I got a chance to chat with Moore at Baltimore Comic Con about what we can expect when it comes to shelves.

Marvel’s Ike Perlmutter Helps Choose the Next Secretary of State?

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Brett

This Presidential election has been anything but normal so why should choosing the next Secretary of State be? The New York Post has reported that during President-Elect Donald Trump‘s Thanksgiving he was asking attendees who he should pick as his top diplomat. The three names thrown about were Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, or John Bolton.

Why do we care and are reporting on this?

Joining Trump at the Mar-a-Lago festivities was an interesting mix of individuals including Richard Nixon grandson Christopher Nixon Cox, Don King, Fabio, and Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter. If Trump was asking everyone as reported, that means Perlmutter got his say in who he thinks should be the next Secretary of State.

Perlmutter has been a Trump supporter and a Republican supporter in general. During the Presidential primary, Perlmutter’s name was thrown about by Trump as a supporter. Perlmutter himself rarely donates directly to campaigns, the last being $4,600 to Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential campaign in 2007 according to the Federal Election Commission. Perlmutter’s wife Laura also donated to Giuliani, $4,600 total in 2007 with $2,300 returned in 2008. Laura Perlmutter also donated $2,000,000 to Conservative Solutions PAC. The PAC supported Marco Rubio for President. The Perlmutters live in Florida where Rubio is Senator.

With the donations to Giuliani, I’m guessing that’s their pick… but with those dollars, maybe Rubio is the dark horse choice of the two?

Where the Data Ranks 2016’s Comic Book Films

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Brett

The summer movie season is wrapping up and we’ve seen an interesting year when it comes to comic book films. For months debates have raged as to who is more successful, Marvel or DC, which movies were successes, and which were flops. The answers aren’t so simple and black and white, which is why I like to turn to data to give actual rankings as to who were winners and losers.

So far this year, seven films have been released based on comic books (counting Batman: The Killing Joke). This feature will be weekly until the end of the year, as some films are still in the box-office and there’s till more to come.

Of note:

Suicide Squad now stands at $745.6 million. There was no new dollars in over the past two weeks, so looks like that’s the end of it’s run. The film is $2.2 million short of X-Men: Days of Future Past and currently the fifteenth top-grossing comic film of all time.
Doctor Strange currently sits at just under $616 million. The film is about $8 million behind Iron Man 2 when it comes to worldwide totals. It’s also about $1 million behind Thor: The Dark World when it comes to domestic totals. It should pass both this week.
Officer Downe is being added to the mix, sort of. The film based on an Image Comics series opened but it was just 2 theaters… and it earned $470. So, I’m going to treat it like Batman: The Killing Joke. The film is mostly a video on demand release, so it likely won’t see a wide release.
The Chair is currently not included in these stats. While the film is based on a comic, its release was done so through a service where receipts aren’t tracked in traditional ways.
DC’s films average $315.5 million a film domestically compared to Marvel’s $300.5 million. Internationally, Marvel earns $474.7 million and DC earns $446.8 million.

Here’s where this year’s movie crop stands as far as the actual numbers. Numbers are presented with and without The Killing Joke and Officer Downe which did not have an international run or wide release, so was not included in that average to start:

Total Domestic Gross: $1.873 billion ($1.869 billion without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)
Total International Gross: $3.091 billion
Worldwide Gross: $4.964 billion ($4.960 billion without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)
Total Reported Budgets: $1.215 billion ($1.211 billion without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)
Total “Profit”: $3.750 billion ($3.749 billion without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)

Average Domestic Gross: $267.0 million ($208.1 million without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)
Average International Gross: $441.6 million
Average: Worldwide Gross: $708.6 million ($551.6 million without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)
Average Budget: $151.8 million ($173 million without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)
Average Profit: $535.6 million ($468.7 million without Killing Joke and Officer Downe)

Now that we have those numbers down we can get a better idea as to how films have actually done this year. Below are various rankings of where films stand so far and if the films are above average (green) or below average (red):

The Walking Dead S7E6 Swear Review

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Brett

Away from all the tragedy caused by Negan and his Saviors, Tara and Heath run into trouble after crossing paths with a mysterious new group. A brand new society unlike anything seen before.

The Walking Dead‘ really shifts the focus with an episode completely focused on Tara and Heath who have been awol for the season. I honestly had forgotten about both of them until this point, which I’m not sure what that says about their two characters.

We knew that Corey Hawkins (Heath) would be leaving the show in some way as the actor is the lead in the 24 reboot, 24: Legacy which begins soon. It’s just a question of how, not an if, and this episode sort of answers that.

The episode bounces back and forth between the present with Tara stumbling upon a new group of individuals and her and Heath’s journey. It’s an interesting episode as we learn about this new community as Tara does with little bits of information being teased out little by little. We don’t know if they’re friend or foe and honestly I’m not quite sure what the answer is by the end of the episode.

We learn they’ve had their run in with the Saviors. That they’re very distrusting. That they’re pretty well armed. And my guess is they’ll come into play later this season. It’s just a question as to how. And I have some ideas, but I’m not 100% sure.

The biggest thing about the episode is Heath’s good-bye. It’s an interesting sendoff and one… well I don’t want to spoil it at all.

But, the real emotional punch is the end of the episode as Tara makes it back to Alexandria. She’s been away through all of the events so how will she react? The last few minutes are the real punch to the gut and few words are said as Tara and Eugene exchange glances. It plays into something Tara says earlier in the episode and the impact is felt instantly. The show does some of its best work with what’s shown visually instead of verbally and that scene in particular is a perfect example.

The episode is a slow but interesting one that pays off in the last 15 minutes which show the emotional rollercoaster the show excels at and reminds us at its heart it’s all about those still living.

Overall rating: 8.15

Join Our Team!

Posted on November 27, 2016 by Graphic Policy Team

Graphic Policy is always on the hunt for talented contributors. If you’re interested in becoming involved with one of the internet’s most unique, fastest-growing entertainment and pop culture websites, now’s your chance!

Please note that all of the positions offered by Graphic Policy are volunteer positions. Our staff runs this site because we love comics, politics, pop culture, games, movies, television, and geekdom.

We can not guarantee anything but your name in the writing credits (perfect for someone building a portfolio), but we will work with you to help you cover and write about the things you’re interested in.

Graphic Policy will open up its ability to obtain review copies, press passes and more for those who regularly post to the site. Your posts belong to you and you are free to post them here and other sites as well!

All applicants must be over the age of 18 years old and have excellent writing skills.

Please fill out the form below and let us know more about you, and what you’d like to write about and cover.

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