hunger - Graphic Policy

I hope everyone’s finally recovered from the intensity of SDCC and all of the incredible announcements that came out of the con. Our very own Brett, your host and founder of Graphic Policy, was in attendance and helped keep us up to date (you can find his posts and updates on SDCC here). This week saw the debut of The Wolverine, origin-story sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and in comics we got a little more light cast on the events of Age of Ultron via Hunger #1, witnessed the start of a new crowd favorite Lobster Johnson mini-series, and took a look at the ever-advancing Trinity War saga, along with plenty of other reviews of one-shots, on-going series, and even a graphic novel!

Graphic Policy Radio

July 23, 2013—Elana and Brett cover the glorious Nerd-vana of SDCC, and they take a look at the convention floor, its announcements, and some of the people Brett had a chance to meet. We had some technical issues, so catch the show this coming week.

Comic Reviews

Batman/Superman #2—the second issue in Greg Pak’s and Jae Lee’s already fantastic series gets relatively high marks from Sean, despite the fact that it’s still a tad confusing…

Batwoman #22—Scott picks apart the latest Batwoman issue, and poses some interesting points about where the series is going and why this issue is hollow compared to the rest of the series.

Blood Brothers #1—a new vampire comedy, with a taste of something different gets high ranks; worth buying and reading.

Dark Horse Presents #26—an awesomely (and somewhat overwhelmingly) large anthology of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy comic shorts, featuring reviews of two of many stories.

Devil Executioner One-Shot—a thrilling and creepy one-shot by UK independent creator Martin Ian Smith, which could easily be the beginning of a serious about a bad-ass exorcist. Buying and reading this is a great way to support a young, up-and-coming comic creator!

Gamma One-Shot—a zany, hilarious comic by Ulises Farinas which Sean reads as a satire of some awesome 1990s children franchises.

Hunger #1—Brett takes us on a tour of Fialkov’s exploration of the long-established Ultimate universe as things get down and dirty with…Galactus!

Justice League Dark #22—Trinity War continues in what Sean found to be the second-best piece in this saga (we’re only five parts in, with the Constantine and Pandora tie-ins, and JLA #6 seems to be the best), seeing all of the Justice Leagues rearranged by their loyalties to the World’s Finest and to the Trinity of Sin.

King Conan: Tee Hour of the Dragon #3—Andrew gives us a look at this acclaimed addition to the Conan franchise, hearkening back to the sword-and-sorcery quality of early Conan comics.

Lazarus #2—Scott provides an in-depth review of Greg Rucka’s hot-and-heavy sci-fi dystopic comic; get on board with this if you haven’t yet!

Lobster Johnson: A Scent of Lotus #1—the much anticipated beginning of a new Lobster Johnson mini-series by Mignola gets high praise from Andrew, as a new plot develops with the Tong assassins in a definitely pulp style.

The Massive #14—hot shot Brian Wood continues his sci-fi series, which Brett calls “one of the best monthly series on the market.”

Mind MGMT #13—a surreal one-shot about The Home Maker sleeper agent, which featuring some of the best art this week (I took a look at this myself, and damn it’s great looking).

Movie Review

The Wolverine—I haven’t seen it myself, but Brett (ever our movie reviewer for all things comics and nerdom) found The Wolverine to be a good addition to the X-Men movies, despite finding it a tad boring and predictable. But see for yourself, folks!

Graphic Novel Review

Hellboy: House of the Living Dead—Sean looks back on a two-year old Mignola and Corben graphic novel that takes a look at Hellboy as a luchador, as well as a nod to the great monster films of the early 20th century.

Well that’ll just about do it for this week. Check out our reviews, updates, news, info, and previews, because there’s always more coming! See you next week, Geeks!

Review: Hunger #1

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Brett

I was pretty down on the Age of Ultron, Marvel‘s event that resulted in time and space being cracked. Part of my issues was, the series felt like its goal was to just get us from point A to point Z with little concern on what happened between. That was very apparent in the last issue which just advertised future storylines and series, for example this new one, Hunger.

Written by the talented Joshua Hale Fialkov with art by Leonard Kirk and coloring by Jesus Aburtov, the series picks up right after the events of Age of Ultron with Galactus moving into the “Ultimate” universe. The first issue is very much focused on laying the groundwork for what comes next and we’ve been hinted it’ll be major (possibly the end of the “Ultimate” universe).

That introduction is tricky as it involves now a long-standing universe with lots of continuity that not many fans might know about. Fialkov has the unenviable task of introducing the comic to new readers as well as making it interesting for long time Ultimate fans. He pretty much pulls that off, setting up major players so it’s easy to understand who they are and what’s going on.

We’re quickly introduced to Rick Jones who is this universe’s protector and he’s thrown into a battle in space while the 616 Universe’s Galactus decides to make his debut and literally tear the universe a new one. This is at the same time when the Ultimate version, Gah Lak Tus, is on the move doing its thing. What happens when the similar forces meet? Well, I’ll leave that for you to see, but lets say the 616 Galactus is sporting a new look by the end of this issue.

Overall, this is the first issue of an “event.” Something big is likely to happen when it’s all over, it’s just a question of what. Fialkov had a few goals for this issue, get the ball rolling as far as the story and make it accessible for new readers while interesting for long time readers. He pulls all that off with a solid beginning. I can’t quite call this a “buy” since it’s just a sliver of the story, but it’s a great “read” and I think when it’s all over, the complete story will be a “buy.”

Story: Joshua Hale Fialkov Art: Leonard Kirk
Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Read