Six-Gun Gorilla #1

Welcome to “the Blister” — a bizarre other-world colonized by humans sometime in the 22nd century, which quickly became a hotly-contested source of fertile land and natural resources long ago exhausted on Earth. In this new frontier, a rogue gunslinger and his companion wander across a wilderness in the grips of a civil war, encountering lawlessness, natives, and perversions of civilization in a world at the crossroads between the past and the future. The fact that said gunslinger is a bio-surgically modified silverback gorilla toting a pair of enormous revolvers is neither here nor there.

Six-Gun Gorilla is a pulpy mash-up of Western weirdness and lo-fi science fiction unlike anything else on the stands. I read the comic and thought about it for quite a while as it really is unlike anything else I’m currently reading. The comic shares more with the British comics of the 80s than today’s stories. And that’s not a bad thing.

It starts off strong with great humor and an interesting world. There’s something that drew me in, just on the weirdness factor alone. Due to that weirdness factor, it does take a bit to get used to the comic, a feeling like I get at times with the British comics of the 80s. So, not shocking for me with this.

For the originality and difference alone the comic is a buy. It definitely isn’t for everyone and for it’s title, there really is little gorilla in this first issue. It’s all set-up in what might be the strangest comic of the year.

Story: Simon Spurrier Art: Jeff Stokely
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Buy

Supurbia #8

The Galactic Protection Systems Expo finally comes to its explosive finish… and you won’t believe who’s making the deadly keynote address! Will the Meta Legion be able to save a convention center under villainous assault? And will the housewives in attendance make it back to the neighborhood alive?

On it’s own, this is a hard comic to recommend. It brings together a lot of the plot threads that have been building up for a while now. Because of that, a new reader will have no idea as to what’s going on.

With that being said…..

This comic does exactly what a good soap opera does. After months of set-up it begins to bring together numerous story lines, the big pay off.

And that’s what this comic is, a soap opera in comic form. The plot lines are over the top, the characters are caricatures in a way. And this is all good stuff. I love this series, it’s my version of the daily soaps (and boy do I wish I could get a daily fix).

There’s some action instead of love triangles, but there’s those. There’s shocking twists and turns. Characters you love and love to hate. The series continues to move ahead with it’s fun universe that I want more of.

This issue is perfect for long time readers with some payoff but horrible for new readers. For them, I absolutely going back and starting from the beginning, it’s totally worth it.

Story: Grace Randolph Art: Russell Dauterman
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Hypernaturals #12

With the entire Quantinuum’s fate hanging in the balance, the Hypernaturals must make the ultimate sacrifice — but who will step up to the plate? And who will try to stop them?

Find out here, in the final issue of The Hypernaturals!

I love the sci-fi that comes out of the minds of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. With the world of the Hypernaturals, they crafted a world from scratch, one that was entertaining and had so much potential. Unfortunately it looks like with this issue, it’s final, that world is coming to an end.

While the twelve issues are far from perfect, they were original and solid sci-fiction material mixed with superheroes. The characters, their powers, the world they functioned in is entertaining and over the twelve issues seemed to grow more and more. It was as much the small details that were fun as the story overall.

And this twelfth issue has a lot to wrap up. It needs to explain what’s going on, fix the issue with the Quantinuum, take care of the bad guys. A tall order for one issue. And the comic pulls it off, but does come off as rushed. There’s a lot to cram in there, so some plot lines get the short end of the stick. But, things are wrapped up and done so nicely.

I’m hoping that, while this is the end to this particular story, it isn’t the end for this world and we get a second volume. There’s just too much solid material here to not explore. While this final issue wrapped up a lot, it also opened up so much more that is too good to be left on the shelf to gather dust.

Story: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Art: Francesco Biagni
Story: 7 Art: 7 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read

Suicide Risk #2

After barely surviving a super-powered bank heist gone horribly wrong, beat cop Leo Winters vowed to try and find a way to stop them. Following a lead, he discovered two lowlifes who seemed to be able to grant a person powers… for the right price. Thing is: you don’t get to choose which power. It’s seemingly random, a crap-shoot, a risk. And now Leo will find out just how big of a risk he took…

Suicide Risk is a high octane, mind-bending exploration of what it means to be a hero. So far it’s taken a lot of the themes and issues we might see in the various cop driven television shows and mixes it with the superhero genre. That’s a cool mix as I’m a fan of both (shocker I know).

What’s really nice is the series so far in it’s two issues has focuses on Leo and his family. It really takes a look at how his decision(s) and his job affects not just him, but also his family life. You can see the stress on him, but he’s not in a bubble and that stress flows over onto his family as well. Something that’s often overlooked in comics.

There’s also some small details that are fantastic. Leo now has some powers after his decision of the first issue and he has to learn to use them. And for a bit there it has you going as to how it’ll all impact his life. Could his powers also kill him? It had me going for quite a while and the issues he must deal with while “learning” about his new life is entertaining.

I’m hoping as the series moves on we get more of the impact of decisions on Leo and his family life and it doesn’t turn in to just another superhero comic.

I’m looking for Southland with a superpower spin, and this might just pull that off if the first two issues are any indication.

Story: Mike Carey Art: Elena Casagrande
Story: 8 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Buy

BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with FREE copes for review