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Preview: Hulk Annual #1

Posted on May 19, 2023 by Graphic Policy Team Leave a comment

Hulk Annual #1

(W) David Pepose, Phillip Kennedy Johnson (A) Caio Majado, Travel Foreman (CA) Gary Frank
Rated T+
In Shops: May 17, 2023
SRP: $4.99

HULK VS. GIGANTO!
A documentary crew is on the hunt for a monster at the heart of a gamma radiation leak, but they get much more than they bargained for when they end up on Hulk’s angry side – and caught in the middle of a brawl between two unstoppable giants, as Hulk battles an unleashed Giganto! Plus: A special preview, exclusive to this issue, of the shocking new direction Hulk is headed in this summer!

Preview: Hulk Annual #1

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Graphic Policy Team Leave a comment

Hulk Annual #1

(W) David Pepose, Phillip Kennedy Johnson (A) Caio Majado, Travel Foreman (CA) Gary Frank
Rated T+
In Shops: May 17, 2023
SRP: $4.99

Sins of Sinister #1 is an unfolding enigma of a debut issue

Posted on January 28, 2023 by pharoahmiles

When stories have heroes and villains, readers would for each to be formidable. The hero must be imposing but good at heart. The villain must amoral yet relatable. These are the rules that readers have come to see be subverted time and time again.

As what kids cartoons would make one believe that superhero stories are simplistic. In reality, they are probably more diverse and morally complicated than most fiction. This is why when a villain the comic book universe tends to unleash a devious plan, it is vastly intricate and and will have readers , reading it multiple times to catch all the details. In the debut issue of Sins Of Sinister, we get the kickoff of the next big X-Men crossover event, where Mister Sinister, unleashes a web of evil that affects all mutants.

We find Mr. Sinister deep in his lair, as he secretly harvesting versions of himself on Krakoa, as we find out that he forced an uneasy alliance with the other mutants on Krakoa. Meanwhile, the council look to open their doors to humans, one that the council struggles to find common ground, but something Emma Frost is able to change everyone’s minds. Meanwhile Ben Urich, actually uncovers Sinister’s plan and shares it with Jonah Jamison, only to find out it was Sinister posing as, thereby stopping him and imprisoning Ben. As the Orchis Forge begins Sinister’s plan of world domination, unleashing every hero in the universe to defend the innocent, but the worst is yet come. As we find out that every mutant has a piece of Mister Sinister’s DNA, making them under his control. By the issue’s end, Sinister’s plan has created worldwide chaos but also creates a problem he did not foresee, multiple interlopers who think like him, looking to be in power of if it all.

Overall, Sins Of Sinister #1 is an unfolding enigma of a debut issue, one will astound you, even if you had an idea of the result. The story by Gillen is masterful. The art by the creative team is gorgeous. Altogether, one of the best things written by Gillen, and proves why he was the perfect person to write the beginning of this massive event.

Story: Kieron Gillen Art: Lucas Werneck
Special guest artists: Geoffrey Shaw, Marco Checchetto, Juan José Ryp, David Baldeón, Travel Foreman, Carlos Gómez, Federico Vicentini, David Lopez, Joshua Cassara, Stefano Caselli
Color: Bryan Valenza Letterer: Clayton Cowles Design: Jay Bowen
Story: 10 Art: 9.6 Overall: 9.89 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle

Sins of Sinister #1 shows how carefully laid plans can get out of control

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Brett

Sins of Sinister #1 kicks off the latest “X event” as Mr. Sinister’s plans finally begin to play out to shape the world. The island nation of Krakoa has relied on Sinister in its focus on genetics and that reliance has been its downfall as Sinister has used his position to plant the seeds of his rule. This debut issue acts as not just a solid start to the event but carefully lays out what this classic Marvel villain has been up to.

Written by Kieron Gillen, Mr. Sinister has been a character that has seen quite a change in years. Going from a rather stiff and boring villain, his personality has been let loose giving an at times hilarious villain who just so happens to control genetics. Sins of Sinister #1 delivers all of that on full display as Sinister plays puppet master and PT Barnum in our introduction to the world he has crafted.

Using his clones of Moira McTaggert, Sinister has been resetting time, manipulating things so he can ascend. Add in his tampering with the genetics of mutants, he’s created what would seem like a perfect plan and takeover that has relied on intelligence rather than brute force. But, even the best laid plans can spiral out of control and soon Sinister learns he’s not in as much control as he tought.

And that’s where Gillen’s writing triumphs. Sinister pops from the page with a personality that’s larger than life and so over the top it feels like it’s being projected for the people in a theater. As presented, Sinister comes off as a villain you should fear due to how laid out his plan and vision are but at the same time you want to see the chaos he’ll cause as you know there’s no way this is going right. He’s clown like, smashing pies in the face of those that stand in his way. It’s hard to not enjoy the exaggerated… everything.

The art by Lucas Werneck is fantastic delivering every exaggerated moment with a flair that’s fitting for Sinister. With Bryan Valenza on color and Clayton Cowles‘ lettering, the comic has a sinister vibe about it without being doom and gloom. It’s an post apocalyptic story at times without being depressing. The subtle design work from the art is fantastic as well. Slight facial expressions or body language plays so well with who has been corrupted and who hasn’t adding a slight horror aspect as Sinister’s aspect spreads. It’s subtle and goes far beyond simply adding Sinister’s signature diamond on a forehead.

Sins of Sinister #1 is an entertaining start not only catching readers up but laying out when things get out of hand. There’s an almost tragic aspect for our villain as he discovers he’s not in as much control as he thinks. This is where the “smart person” finds out they’re actually not that smart and there’s a lot they haven’t planned for that’s now out of their control. It’s an event that looks like it’s keeping things fairly focused and if this debut is an indication, going to be a fun addition to the high bar that is “X events”.

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle

The Mad Titan Revisits his Brutal Past and Embraces his Darkest Future in Thanos: Death Notes!

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Graphic Policy Team

This November, Marvel will publish a special one-shot starring one of the most iconic comic villains of all time—THANOS! Thanos: Death Notes will be an oversized issue containing riveting stories about the Mad Titan’s life and begin the path towards his next conquest. This issue spins directly out of Donny Cates and Nic Klein’s Thor run where Thor recently beheld a terrifying future involving Thanos and vowed to use all his power to prevent it. Thanos: Death Notes will be brought together by an incredible lineup of creators including J. Michael Straczynski, Torunn Grønbekk, Kyle Starks, Christopher Cantwell, Andrea Di Vito, Travel Foreman, and one of the character’s most definitive artists, cosmic extraordinaire Ron Lim!

Thanos is missing, presumed dead after the chilling events of Kieron Gillen and Esad Ribić’s Eternals. But Thor has seen a vision of his return. And it is enough to make even a God fear. To prepare himself, to prepare the universe, Thor desperately searches for answers in Thanos’ past…and finds a glimpse of the Marvel Universe’s dark future.

See the universe tremble once more when THANOS begins his next era in Thanos: Death Notes #1 on November 30th.

Comics

Preview: Darkhold: Black Bolt #1

Posted on November 28, 2021 by Graphic Policy Team

Darkhold: Black Bolt #1

(W) Mark Russell (A) David Cutler (CA) Travel Foreman
RATED T+
In Shops: Dec 01, 2021
SRP: $3.99

THE KING OF THE INHUMANS BREAKS HIS SILENCE!
Black Bolt’s mighty voice is his greatest gift…and since childhood, it has been his greatest curse. Recruited with four other heroes to read from the Darkhold, a powerful evil text written by the elder god Chthon, Black Bolt thought he was signing up for a battle befitting a king. But the true battlefield…is his own mind. Critically acclaimed writer Marvel Russell brings you a scream-worthy story that will break an empire!

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man #75

Posted on October 6, 2021 by Brett

I’ve never been a Spider-Man superfan. While I’ve enjoyed some stories and arcs, it’s a character (and various series) that I dip in and out of. Beyond Slott’s run, I can’t think of any long run I’ve read. He’s a character I enjoy in doses and generally feel things get redone to a point that it just doesn’t quite interest me (swing with cool image, fight bad guy, smart comment, something goes wrong, repeat). But, when a major start of a run begins, I do like to check them out and see what’s going on. Amazing Spider-Man #75 kicks off a new era for the webcrawler and it’s a start that will have me sticking around for a while.

While Amazing Spider-Man #75 is written by Zeb Wells, Spider-Man is currently being handled by the “Beyond Board” of Kelly Thompson, Cody Ziglar, Saladin Ahmed, Patrick Gleason, and Wells. The group, along with artists, will rotate arcs and issues which is needed as the comic is upping how often it’s coming out. What is “Beyond” though? That gets answered in this issue as Ben Reilly is back in the picture and donning a Spider-Man costume. He now has sponsorship by a corporation called Beyond that feels like it can do the superhero thing a bit better than it’s been done. They also have the “rights” to Spider-Man. It’s all a very intriguing twist to the series and a bit brilliant in some ways.

Amazing Spider-Man #75 dips into Spider-Man history. There’s obviously Reilly himself but the issue takes a lot from Slott’s run when Dock Ock was in Peter’s body. It’s a solid use of that arc and makes a lot of sense when presented. It’s a great way to use continuity and add some more to the history. “Additive” is a direction Marvel has been going for a while and it plays out well here. It dips back into Peter having run a company, there’s some ramifications of that which is great as that entire chapter feels like it was dumped rather quickly. There’s also some questions as to what Peter should do. He has had a lot of heavy hits lately and you can see he’s worn out. Should he let Reilly take over? Should he just go on a vacation for a bit? There’s a lot of options here now and it all feels natural. Amazing Spider-Man #75 deals with Peter’s trauma while also setting up an “out” and we the readers have to guess where it’s going to go… or do we?

The issue ends with a punch that’s been teased but what exactly is that punch? Based on some dialogue, this doesn’t feel like the usual beaten hero story we’ve seen so many times and potentially we’re going to get something very new and interesting, and hopefully relevant (if what I think is going to happen is really going to happen).

The art by Patrick Gleason is top notch. With color by Marcio Menyz and lettering by Joe Caramagna, the comic has style and pops on the page. There’s a modern classic feel to it with body bending swinging but doesn’t take that over the top like others. It’s a bit more grounded in some ways but nails the over the top action as well. What the team really delivers on is the weariness of Peter. You can feel his tiredness. This is a person who’s emotionally beat down and it shows. That sort of small detail really stands out and is impressive.

But there’s more!

Kelly Thompson, Travel Foreman, Jim Campbell, and Joe Caramagna give us a back-up story that adds a twist to everything we just read up to that point. Colleen Wing and Misty Knight!? What are they doing in the comic!? The two are kicking ass is the answer but “Love and Monsters” adds a lot to the direction the series is going as it presents a wrinkle in everything we’ve read.

And there’s more!?

“Kafka” by Wells, Ivan Fiorelli, Edgar Delgado, and Caramagna adds even more to the new direction of the series. We learn a bit more about Beyond delivering an even greater ominous feel about it all. It’s solid work that also examines Electro and some of what his powers mean. Like the main story, it’s the details and hints that are great and will suck you in.

This is a hell of a debut that feels like it’s a natural direction building off of the last two major runs and setting Peter and Spider-Man up for a new direction. It’s good, really good. And it has this on-the-fence Spider-Man reader coming back for more… and excited about it.

Story: Zeb Wells, Kelly Thompson Art: Patrick Gleason, Travel Foreman, Ivan Fiorelli
Color: Marcio Menyz, Jim Campbell, Edgar Delgado Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – TFAW

Preview: Superman and the Authority #3

Posted on September 17, 2021 by Graphic Policy Team

Superman and the Authority #3

Written by: Grant Morrison
Art by: Travel Foreman, Mikel Janin

Superman put the Authority back together, but why? What threat is out there that only this group can contend with? The Ultra-Humanite, of course! This fearsome foe is forming a team of his own, one designed to go fist-to-fist with the Authority. It will be their baptism in battle to prove if Superman is right that regardless of who we are, there is a hero lurking inside even the worst of us. This penultimate issue is an important chapter in the new Superman mythos, helping to set up where Clark Kent goes next…and who he goes there with.

Review: Superman and the Authority #3

Posted on September 15, 2021 by Logan Dalton

The shape of Grant Morrison’s storyline becomes clearer in the penultimate issue of Superman and the Authority #3 with the team going on their first mission and a larger (and very old school) foe rears its ugly head even as the recruitment drive continues. Yes, the final member of The Authority is Lightray aka Lia Nelson from Earth-9 aka the Tangent Comics universe giving the book a continued 1990s/early 2000s feel a la the original team. This extends to Travel Foreman and Alex Sinclair’s visuals in an early sequence where the team must rescue June Moone aka the Enchantress from her old nemesis Dzamor that features edgy, energy-filled art work and a delicate Sandman-esque script from Morrison, whose Superman uses cleverness not punching to win the day. However, this art goes bye bye and is replaced by the sleek, modern stylings of Mikel Janin and Alex Sinclair for the inter-team banter and battles to come.

Superman and the Authority #3 really builds off the previous issue’s character-driven focus to put team members which we already care about in intense situations with Grant Morrison splitting the team up in smaller groups except for their leader, Superman, who gets to go mano a mano in his situation. As mentioned in the last paragraph, Superman’s cleverness, not his waning super strength gets a workout in this issue until the final few pages, and the Authority lineup covers up his weaknesses while also acting like variables in equations. For example, Enchantress has no upper limit to her magical abilities when she merges June Moone and Enchantress as one, Manchester Black’s psychic skills and general bad attitude come in handy rescuing and merging said technologies, and Apollo’s solar powered strength slots in nicely for Superman’s old abilities. Plus he treats Superman with the most respect and deference with the exception of Steel, who has a personal relationship with him through her uncle.

Even if this Authority team doesn’t have a multi-adventure/arc future mapped out for them, the interpersonal dynamic that Morrison and Janin craft for the team through dialogue, facial expressions, and body language make for an entertaining time. Manchester Black plays the role of punching bag, (*groans*) devil’s advocate, and general wise-ass, and his continued being cut down to size is more memorable than the bigger plot. Six months from now, I won’t care what the Big Bad was up to (I do admire Grant Morrison’s nod to history and Mikel Janin’s body horror design choice.), but I will remember that Old Man Superman praised the activist-minded nature of late millennial/Generation Z and showed how shallow the “old is good, new is bad” paradigm of books like Kingdom Come were in a two panel exchange with Black. This Superman doesn’t have a no-killing policy because of the Comics Code Authority or Mark Waid, but because death ultimately prevents restorative justice, which is what he seems to be aiming for with this new team.

Superman and the Authority #3 is titled “Grimdark”, and it fits the active violence of the story as well as the literal darkness enshrouding Lightray at her crash pad where Apollo and Enchantress try to snag her. Lightray gets an abbreviated version of the solo sub-stories that Steel, Midnighter and Apollo, and Enchantress got in the previous, and Jordie Bellaire’s palette does a lot of the heavy lifting as she goes from being the first child born on Mars to an influencer type figure and then hiding in the dark talking to a mysterious figure. Bellaire uses a dark red panel for her birth because she was the child of an affair then uses a bright palette for her superhero identity and then turning to utter darkness until Apollo pops in with his whole solar deal. The brightness doesn’t let up as Apollo ends up in physical combat with Lightray’s “body guard”. Introducing a new cast member this late in the game is a risky, but Morrison, Janin, and Bellaire roll the dice and resurrect a wild card character that brings an element of sadness, vulnerability, and pure potential. I’m excited to see the role Lightray plays in Superman and the Authority‘s endgame.

For the most part, Superman and the Authority #3 avoids the “middle chapter” issue in serialized comics as Grant Morrison, Mikel Janin, and Jordie Bellaire bring out the team’s opponent, show an aging Superman using his mind instead of his powers and playing the role of strategist instead of tank, and give a glimpse of the actual Authority team in action. It hits that sweet spot between light and darkness kind of like June Moone/Enchantress and her fun new look. (Her attempts at flirting with Apollo are pretty pathetic though.)

Story: Grant Morrison Art: Mikel Janin, Travel Foreman
Colors: Jordie Bellaire, Alex Sinclair Letters: Steve Wands
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.7 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW