Tag Archives: oliver borges

Early Review: Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly: 2020 Halloween Special

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Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly: 2020 Halloween Special

Sorry warm woolen mittens, but short stories, horror fiction, and comic books are a few of my favorite things. Lucky for me, Zenescope has combined all my favorites into a single comic book. As an added bonus, this special one-shot is coming out just in time for Halloween. The Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly: 2020 Halloween Special, due to hit comic shops on October 21st, collects three original tales of terror. Each story is introduced by Keres the goddess of death.

Keres may be the goddess of death, but in this Halloween Special, she’s moonlighting as a fortune teller. Each of the three tales in this comic revolve around people who walk into her shop hoping to learn what fate holds in store for them. This connecting story sets up the high point of the comic, Tarot card inspired page breaks, drawn by Sheldon Goh and colored by Ivan Nunes. These page breaks are so gorgeous, I found myself wishing I could hang them up on my wall. Different teams of artists illustrate and color each of the three stories. Unfortunately, not all of their work is of the same quality as the page breaks.

The first story has a lot of flashbacks, but artist Dario Tallarico and colorist Maxflan Araujo don’t do much to distinguish these scenes from those set in the present. The reader eventually catches on, but some sort of deviation of color would have helped make the change of setting much clearer. The second story looks much better than its predecessor. Oliver Borges uses perspective to great effect. He draws panels from varying angles, giving the story a cinematic look. Plus, the monster he gets to draw looks fearsome and badass.

Artist Novo Malgapo puts fine detail into some aspects of the third story, but seems to slack off in other aspects. Most notably, the proportions of the main character are sometimes drawn very poorly, making him look misshapen. As for the connecting story, Babisu Kourtis draws New Orleans in a very recognizable way. Even if the narration didn’t explain that New Orleans was the setting for the connecting story, the reader would be able to tell the location just by taking in the illustrations.

Unlike some of the artwork, the stories contained in this comic are all high quality. The first story has a lot of different horror elements, but the writers are able to connect everything into a creepy story. In the second story, the writers put a cool twist on a classic monster myth. The final story takes a familiar premise and brings it into the modern world. The obsessive nature and depravity of the main character in this story made my skin crawl. Plus, it’s got a surprising ending that’s tinged with a touch of dark humor.

Before I wrap up this advance review, there’s one more thing I want to mention. I find it really cool that Zenescope’s President and Chief Creative Officer Joe Brusha is not only one of the writers on this special, but he also created the Grimm Tales of Terror series. It’s not like it is unheard of for a publisher’s executive to contribute to a comic, but I feel like these days they only come off the bench for big events or anniversary issues. It’s refreshing to see a CCO take the time to write an entire holiday special. Grimm Tales of Terror Quarterly: 2020 Halloween Special is due to be released on October 21st, just in time for Halloween.

Writer: Joe Brusha Story: Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Dave Franchini
Art: Novo Malgapo, Sheldon Goh, Babisu Kourtis, Maxflan Araujo, Oliver Borges
Color: Ceci de la Cruz, Ivan Nunes, Fran Gamboa, J.C. Ruiz, Maxflan Araujo, Grostieta
Letters: Taylor Esposito Art & Colors: Various Art Teams
Story: 10 Art: 6.0 Overall: 8.0 Reccommendation: Buy

Zenescope provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Pre-Order: Kindle/comiXology

Review: Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3

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Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3

At last, the ruthless minds of Project Rising Spirit believe they’ve found a way to secure the Bloodshot asset…or have they? In this world of fabricated memories, there’s no way to tell who can be trusted…and who even exists at all!

Aside from unfavourable comparisons to Jeff Lemire’s run, and the Bloodshot series before that, which I have mentioned in every review of this series thus far (and am probably beating the dead horse at this point), there really wasn’t anything in this comic that garnered any sort of emotional response from me. It was honestly just a boring issue.

Personal feelings on the prologue nature of the comic aside (because even though I know how this ends up, new readers may not – and this isn’t a series designed only for those with extensive familiarity with Bloodshot), this just wasn’t a very engaging story. Bloodshot deals with another flashback, then gets thrown into a mission. There’s a few character building moments with the supporting cast in between these moments, but they feel both forced and flat. There’s about as much character here as an old Jean Claude Van Dam film; whether we’re supposed to care about these characters or not, I don’t know, but the page is open next to me and I can’t remember their names (and have no desire to go look them up).

Artistically, the books seems… less than polished. Whether it’s the artistic team not working in a cohesive state (which isn’t unexpected given the number of folks involved), or that the art team are trying to over compensate for the characterless script, the end result is that we get pages that are serviceable. Nothing special, but serviceable, which is a touch disappointing given the talent within the creative team.

Bloodshot Rising Spirit #3 gives us yet another variation of Bloodshot’s origin and his memory implants which does lead to a somewhat amusing Man-Out-Of-Time scenario, but that’s not nearly enough to elevate the comic into being a must buy. At the end of the day, there’s just not enough here to earn my recommendation, which has been consistent for the last two issues. There’s a reason that this series has fallen off my pull list.

Story: Kevin Grevious
Breakdowns: Ken Lashley Finishes: Oliver Borges and Ryan Winn
Colourist: Andrew Dalhouse Letterer: Simon Bowland
Story: 5.5 Art: 7.0 Overall: 6.4 Recommendation: Pass

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review.

Preview: Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #3

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BLOODSHOT RISING SPIRIT #3

Written by KEVIN GREVIOUX
Art by KEN LASHLEY, OLIVER BORGES, RYAN WINN
Cover A by FELIPE MASSAFERA
Cover B by HARVEY TOLIBAO
Variant Cover by RYAN BODENHEIM
Pre-Order Edition Cover by KEN LASHLEY

At last, the ruthless minds of Project Rising Spirit believe they’ve found a way to secure the Bloodshot asset…or have they? In this world of fabricated memories, there’s no way to tell who can be trusted…and who even exists at all!

BLOODSHOT RISING SPIRIT #3

Review: Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #2

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Bloodshot Rising Spirit #2

Bloodshot’s definitive origin story races forward! 

Bloodshot’s handlers have a problem: Their valuable asset isn’t quite the blank slate they’d hoped for and keeps rejecting the false memories they attempt to implant into his mind. Can Project Rising Spirit recoup their losses and produce the perfect supersoldier at last – or is their new prototype at risk of being shelved permanently?

I’ll lay my cards right down on the table – I am not fond of the concept of Bloodshot: Rising Spirit. This series is an origin story for Bloodshot that isn’t really needed if you’ve read any of the previous Bloodshot series published in the last few years (Bloodshot, Bloodshot: Reborn, Bloodshot USA and Bloodshot Salvation) because you already know how the story will end.

I understand why Valiant feel the need to revisit the character’s origin with a movie scheduled to hit theaters sometime in 2020, just as I understand that I may not be the target audience for this story as I already have some familiarity with the character.

The story aims to delve deeper into Bloodshot’s past, his creation and his training, but unlike another character with a mysterious past, we’ve already seen glimpses of what led to Bloodshot’s creation. We hadn’t seen any of the build up to what happened to Logan during his time at Weapon X, so the Barry Windsor Smith story was exciting, fresh and gave readers a new level of understanding for the character. Conversely, after two issues, Bloodshot: Rising Spirit is none of those things.

Kevin Grevioux seems to lose himself in the false memory implants that the story is shoving on Bloodshot, which has the effect  of leaving the reader doubting just what is, and what is not, real. Although this could be, and quite likely is, an intentional choice to further immerse the reader in Bloodshot’s journey, it left me waiting for the end of the comic.

Artistically, the comic is solid. Which is something that I was somewhat pleasantly surprised about after realising the art was handled by three different artists (all of whom are very talented); one was a touch worried that there may have been too many cooks in the kitchen, but in this case there seems to be just the right amount to produce a really good meal.

There are better Bloodshot stories out there. If you’re looking for an idea of where the character was before he breaks free from his masters, start with the 2012 Bloodshot. If you want to read a fantastic character breakdown and exploration of what it means to be human, superhuman and the bonds of responsibility that comes with that then start at Bloodshot: Reborn. Jeff Lemire’s run through to the end of Bloodshot: Salvation is a modern classic, and is arguably some of the writer’s best work. But if you do want to check this series out, rest assured that it isn’t a bad comic; it’s just not as good as what came before. At this point there’s very little here for existing fans, whereas new readers will have a wealth of things to discover with the character – and if Bloodshot: Rising Spirit is their gateway to Bloodshot and Valiant in general, then that’s no bad thing.

Story: Kevin Grevioux
Art – Breakdowns: Ken Lashley Finishes: Ryan Winn and Oliver Borges
Colours: Diego Rodriguez Letters: Simon Bowland
Story: 6.8 Art: 8.4 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Valiant provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review