The Bionic Woman #5

It seemed a bit soon to me to launch a spin off of Dynamite’s Bionic Man series, but The Bionic Woman over five issues has created a voice of it’s own, diving into the action right away and setting itself up as more of an adventure/action series than it’s brother comic.

The issue has the Bionic Woman keeping up her fight against body part traffickers who are gathering bionic parts for rich clients. The focus throughout the issue is the remind us the readers as to what Jamie has given up in her new form. Not only is her memory gone but also emotions, her humanity has been erased to a point.

The series so far as a whole has been entertaining slowly dragging out the introduction to our heroine and letting us discover her as she discovers who’s behind attacks on her. Overall solid and entertaining fun.

Story: Paul Tobin Art: Daniel Leister

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Buy

The Lone Ranger Vol. 2 #10

The third part of the story giving us some of an origin of Tonto. The issue continues the fantastic western comic, flashing back and forth between present times and the past. Writer Ande Parks has fleshed out a character who I didn’t know a lot and in doing so created a tragic story full of loss.

Juxtapose that tragedy with the modern part of the story of the Lone Ranger attempting to save Tonto by tracking down his tribe. This story arc really examines the relationship between Native Americans and white settlers and while it doesn’t get into lots of the horror that happened at the time, it’s setting fleshes out the story and adds layers to the popular characters.

The Lone Ranger is a western comic perfect for any fan of the genre and this story arc when it’s over is a must read even if you’re not.

Story: Ande Parks Art: Esteve Polls

Story: 8.25 Art: 8 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

Pathfinder #2

Jim Zub is a master at fantasy story telling, skewering it with one title of his and celebrating it and it’s spin-off, roleplaying games, with this series based on the popular game of the same name. There’s brilliance in this writing that’ll be lost on those who aren’t familiar with chucking dice and maxing out character stats.

What Zub does is layer the story so that it celebrates and skewers roleplaying games and the material it’s based on. The characters are caricatures of their classes and their dialogue and actions are what you’d expect. One likes strategy, one likes stealth, another is a fan of planning. Then the characters themselves spout out comments that make fun of each other’s classes. For those who have played Pathfinder or D&D (or really any roleplaying game), this types of arguments are classic.

But, even through that, there’s a great action filled fantasy story. It’s a ride getting you right into what’s going on. The comic is fresh and open enough for those who might not be familiar with the universe it’s based on. If you’re a fan of fantasy or roleplaying games, this is a comic you should give a chance.

Story: Jim Zub Art: Andrew Huerta

Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Voltron #8

How much can I praise this series?! I vaguely remember the cartoon from the 1980s, but what I don’t remember was the backstory which to me seems to have been flipped and fleshed out. The war with Planet Doom might be over, as peace has been offered between that planet and the Galactic Alliance. The Voltron team just don’t believe it.

But, they’re busy in this issue getting their asses handed to them by another robot who looks a bit familiar, another Voltron unit. The battle has been cool and that has only acted to give us more incite into how Voltron works. Add in the mystery of who the other Voltron unit is, the political machinations and you can see why I dig the series.

The series has really fleshed out a cartoon series I only vaguely remember. But what it’s amazingly done is made it cool for adults, mixing a tragic story, science fiction and well giant robots and monsters. This isn’t the kiddie show I remember from back in the day, it’s formed up and been made better.

Story: Brandon Thomas Art: N. Steven Harris

Story: 7.75 Art: 7.75 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Buy

Dynamite provided Graphic Policy with FREE copies for review