Tag Archives: jaymes reed

Pique your curiosity with Chad Lambert’s short stories in Kill Me and Other Curiosities

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Chad Lambert, the 2015 Harvey Award-winning author of Best Short Story Breaking Out and Promising New Talent for Kill Me, is reteaming with Dark Horse Comics to present an anthology of his works from Dark Horse Presents in one thought-provoking volume, Kill Me and Other Curiosities. Including art from Kevin Czapiewski, Apri Kusbriantoro, Christine Larsen, and Tom Williams, as well as lettering by Jaymes Reed, Tom Williams, and Kevin Czapiewski, the collection features new cover art and section breaks by Kelly Williams.

In Kill Me, a science fiction thriller, a man lost in a time loop tries to fix the biggest mistake of his life. But before he can, he faces off against multiple versions of himself on the loose, trying to right the wrongs of his past. With everyone in each other’s way, Jack has to kill his other selves to keep himself alive!

Including six additional short stories to satisfy readers’ curiosity, Kill Me and Other Curiosities arrives in bookstores on July 2, 2024, and comic shops on July 3, 2024. Pre-order at your local comic shop, bookstore, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble for $17.99.

Kill Me and Other Curiosities

Almighty #1 is a frustrating start

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Almighty #1

The year is 2098 in a Third World America ravaged by economic collapse, anarcho-warfare, and a mysterious environmental disaster contained behind a massive wall. A girl has been abducted, and a killer has been hired to find her and bring her home. That setup for Almighty #1 sounds like an intriguing read but unfortunately the debut falls a bit short of being truly exciting and interesting.

Written by Edward Laroche, Almighty #1 delivers a pretty typical post-apocalyptic story. It hints at the world and the history which is far more interesting than the simple rescue and chase presented. A girl is being held by horrible people and a mysterious individual rescues her and takes her on the run from more horrible people who want her back. It’s not complicated and it’s something we’ve seen many times over with little to make it stand out. It doesn’t make it bad at all, it’s just very bland and typical missing out on chances to stand out from the pack.

Where Almighty #1 does stand out is its mysteries. We don’t know much about this abducted girl and why she’s wanted back nor her rescuer. There might lie the more interesting aspects of the comic, but as presented, it’s a tease and a dance than the clear focus of the series to come.

Laroche’s art though stands out. With Brad Simpson on color and lettering by Jaymes Reed, Almighty #1 features interesting characters and design choices that each tell a bit of the story. They’re hints at a world that’s far more interesting than the story presented. The rescuer Fale’s eyes and tattoos hint at a much deeper story and background than simple bounty hunter hired to bring an abducted person home. Small details like a car traveling down a highway tell so much about the world. There’s clearly a lot of thought put into all of that and it does stand out. It’s a world with a story that I want to learn more about.

Almighty #1 isn’t a bad debut, it’s just a teaser of what’s to come and it’s pretty standard. People are on the run and people are pursuing them. Beyond that, it’s a thin for plot but there’s potential here. Laroche has teased an intriguing world and hopefully that exploration delivers an interesting read. As is though, it’s a story we’ve seen far too many times.

Story: Edward Laroche Art: Edward Laroche
Color: Brad Simpson Letterer: Jaymes Reed
Story: 7.0 Art: 8.1 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Read

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle

Review: Headless: Season Two #1

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Cursed to live forever as the Headless Horseman, a suicidal young man named Chris, must join up with dark forces to rescue his brother Rick from the pits of Hell.

Created by: Alexander Banchitta, Robert Ahmad
Story: Alexander Banchitta
Art: Robert Ahmad
Letterer: Jaymes Reed

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Scout Comics
Zeus Comics

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Lunar Ladies Launches This July From Scout Comics!

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The Lunar Ladies opens with a heated ray gun battle between Queen Velouria and a lunatic scientist named Venus Verga. Velouria flees to prehistoric Earth with her lover, Star, and her young daughter, Clare. Velouria bestows the moon’s greatest treasure to Clare – a powerful talisman that must stay in the possession of the royal bloodline.

Mad with bloodlust, Venus gives chase with an army of bio-engineered male clones that land on prehistoric Earth. This sets the stage for an epic conflict between Venus’ army and a rag-tag coalition of lunar ladies, prehistoric humans and native Earth animals. In the time of greatest need, Clare harnesses the power of the moonstone talisman to deliver a crushing blow to Venus’ forces.

A million years ago, in outer space, a highly-advanced society of women lives under the surface of the moon. Their peaceful way of living is quietly fracturing from the inside, as political ideologies pit the queen of the moon against a geneticist hell bent on usurping the queen’s power. The Lunar Ladies is an homage to the public domain character, Moon Girl, complete with Golden Age ray guns and laser rays. Pew-pew!

The Lunar Ladies is from writer Omar Morales, artist Joel Cotejar, colors by Paula Goulart, and lettering by Jaymes Reed. It’s edited by Andrea Lorenzo Molinari and copy editor Joel Edelman. It’s out July from Scout Comics.

The Lunar Ladies

Review: The Edge #1

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The Edge #1

Infected by the super steroid The Edge, Revenant is on a rampage to eliminate Richard Tartabull. Can the strike team placed between them stop Revenant? Or will they all spread the infection of The Edge further?

You’re going to know whether The Edge #1 for you almost entirely by the front cover; there’s an almost eye-catching image of a hero standing at the door with a team behind him. The cover is largely pink, purple, and red, with the title being lost amidst the art, and the characters along the side blending in almost indistinctly with each other.

If you like the image, you’ll probably enjoy the comic, whereas if the cover doesn’t really interest or excite you, then you’re not going to find anything inside to change your mind.

The Edge #1 isn’t a bad comic in any way, but rather it’s a book that just falls flat. The story is okay, though nothing particularly brilliant nor original. That’s never a requirement for me to enjoy a book, but if the story and plot are familiar then the characters within need to stand out. These don’t. While the story is familiar, the dialogue is serviceable – at times stilted, were it not for the speech bubbles pointing to the character speaking, I’d be unable to distinguish who was supposed to be saying what.

Likewise, the art doesn’t really stand out, either. It’s better than anything I could do, and I am well aware of this, but there seems to be a lack of a certain spark or magic to the proceedings. It’s perfectly serviceable, and does nothing to make the comic any poorer, but nor does it elevate anything either.

This may sound like I didn’t enjoy The Edge #1, that I’m ragging on it just to rag, but the book isn’t actually bad – it’s just that for me it is not a particularly exciting comic, but it is one that’s worth a read if you’re interested in a superhero team book from an indie publisher. Hopefully, things click a little more for me in the second issue.

Story: Mark Wynn Art: Mark V
Colors: Luis Antonio Delgado Letters: Jaymes Reed
Story: 6.8 Art: 6.5 Overall: 6.7 Recommendation: Read

Second Sight Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: The Warning #1

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An enormous machine slowly materializes in a major West Coast city. Who sent it-and why-is a mystery, understood only by the malevolent beings gliding silently toward Earth through the inky vastness of space. In response, a multinational combat brigade called Gladiator Two-Six is deployed. Outfitted with next-generation military science and weapons, they’re tasked with stopping any extraterrestrial threat that emerges.

You know the 15 minutes before the opening credits of a film that sets up the action that’s about to rock for 2 hours? That’s the first issue of The Warning, Edward Laroche‘s new series which feels like a mix of every alien invasion film and Call of Duty.

That combination isn’t bad at all but we’ve seen in the last five years the alien invasion storyline can be so much more than aliens, crack squad of military, and presumably shooting. That doesn’t mean this has to be that but from this first issue, this is more Michael Bay than anything else… so far.

Laroche delivers the set up but there’s a chance of what’s presented isn’t all the facts and we may get a story that’s a bit more nuanced than aliens bad, shoot.

Laroche also delivers the art with Brad Simpson on color and Jaymes Reed handling the lettering. The art style is interesting a feels a bit like a cell-shaded video game. It’s a style you don’t see a lot in comics and stands out for that. The characters, though unique, are generally forgettable. The combination of art and story doesn’t make anyone stand out so far and five minutes after reading the first issue the looks and names are generally forgotten.

The Warning #1 isn’t bad. There’s something kind of fun about it in the popcorn movie sort of way. But, it’s generally generic at this point with elements we’ve seen over and over. Might that change? Sure, but as a first issue, it’s an entertaining paint by numbers experience.

Story: Edward Laroche Art: Edward Laroche
Color: Brad Simpson Letterer: Jaymes Reed Editor: Donald Hodges
Story: 7.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.25 Recommendation: Read

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Denver Moon #3

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The brilliance of Philip K. Dick’s writing is one that has transported readers who have the luck of coming across his stories. His primary audience was science fiction but the more one looks into his writing, the audience he truly spoke to was simply human. The way he wrote human condition is what usually pulls readers into his books. His landmark work, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, spoke of how we treat others who are different through the allegory of using androids.

This vision was originally realized in the much lauded but classic Blade Runner, which was about a detective investigating the killing of androids. In the sequel, Blade Runner 2049 everything comes full circle and serves to be even more faithful to the spirit of the original work. As with most works about a robot apocalypse, it is not truly about robots but about how humans react to “others” integrating into society. In the third and final issue of Denver Moon, our hero gets closer to the murderer and to the truth, one of them which will change everything.

We catch up with Denver as she escapes certain doom at the hands of Rafe, instead finding a submerged escape route and begins putting together the clues. The trail leads Denver to an uncomfortable truth, that leads back to her client and a truth was comfortable with her knowing. As the truth about the Bot is played through a series of flashbacks, which reveals how fluid identity is, even for androids. By story’s end, a tragedy could not be averted, and Denver’s outlook becomes changed forever.

Overall, it’s an excellent story that ends with a twist that speaks where we are in the world and how even the most progressive minds can be wrong. The story by Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola subverts tropes and shows the human condition in all its naked glory. The art by the creative team is compelling and vivid. Altogether, it’s beautiful and action-packed, blends genres, a tells a smart story. It does it all behind some gorgeous vistas.

Story: Warren Hammond and Joshua Viola
Art: Matt Hubel, Aaron Lovett, Matt Van Scoyk and Jaymes Reed
Story: 10 Art: 9.6 Overall: 9.8 Recommendation: Buy

Preview: Executive Assistant: Iris Vol. 5 #3

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EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT: IRIS Vol. 5 #3

Blake Northcott – Story / Donny Tran – Art / Omi Remalante, Jr. – Colors / Jaymes Reed – Letters

Aspen Comics’ hit action-adventure assassin series marks its 10-Year Anniversary with a brand new pulse-pounding volume!

Iris’ journey to Rome ends in murder and mayhem, and a game-changing discovery that reveals Magni Global Security’s true intentions. When Iris confronts Alexander with her findings, she’s given an ultimatum…and an assignment that she never saw coming!

Brought to you by acclaimed author Blake Northcott (Michael Turner’s Fathom) with art by newcomer Donny Tran, this newest pulse-pounding 10 year anniversary chapter of Executive Assistant: Iris is sure to be the greatest volume yet!

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT: IRIS vol 5 #3 is in stores July 25th, 2018!

FC 32 pages $3.99

The spirit of Shaka Zulu possess Chicago teen in new webcomic Zulu from Afropunk.com

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Afropunk set to publish a new webcomic called Zulu. Created and written by Alverne Ball, Zulu follows the life of Lazarus Jones, a 16-year-old boy who becomes possessed by the spirit of warrior king Shaka Zulu while visiting South Africa with his father. Back home in Chicago, Lazarus finds himself navigating through the turbulent streets of Chicago with friends when he discovers that a big corporation is behind the endless gang violence and disintegration of his neighborhood.

The webcomic features art by Michael Watson of Legacy Publishing, lettered by Jaymes Reed, and edited by Chakira Lane.

Ball said in a release:

“Zulu’ is a story that blends a mixture of hip-hop culture, break dancing martial arts (Capoiera), history, and snippets of social commentary into a heralding coming-of-age story that portrays the “Hero’s journey” in a modern day tale of friendship, family, love, loss, and redemption.

Afropunk will publish a new chapter of Zulu every Tuesday starting on Feb. 7th.