Tag Archives: tyler smith

Scott Snyder returns to horror with Dan Panosian and Canary

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Blending modern horror, historical fact, and western lore, Dark Horse Comics, Scott Snyder, and Dan Panosian bring Canary to print in stunning oversized issues, featuring 56 pages! Written by Snyder, illustrated by Panosian, and lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Tyler Smith, Canary #1 will also feature variant covers by Panosian, Emma Rios (1:10 incentive variant), and Jill Thompson (1:25 incentive variant).

During the final days of the Gold Rush, one mining company in Colorado pulled up radioactive uranium–and then the mine collapsed in on itself. Legends sprang up about the mine being cursed or even haunted. Now, the Frontier is closed, the gold and silver mines have dried up, the country is becoming “civilized,” and yet, in one stretch of the Rocky Mountains, a terrifying, new kind of violence is suddenly emerging: random killings as people go mad and murder neighbors or classmates without real cause. When a schoolboy kills his teacher with a hatchet, a famous federal marshal named Azrael William Holt is called in to investigate the killings. What he and a brilliant young geologist uncover is stranger and more horrifying than anything they could have ever imagined.

Dig deeper into Canary #1 (of 3) November 1, 2023. It is now available to pre-order for $4.99 at your local comic shop.

Canary TPB (152 pages, $19.99) will also be available for pre-order starting September 12, 2023 at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and your local comic shop and bookstore. Canary TPB will be available in bookstores June 11, 2024 and in comic shops June 12, 2024.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 is guilt the comic book

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Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1

Lex Luthor is dying, and he wants the Man of Steel to help him find the cure for whatever is causing his rapid decline. While the world would rather see Lex die, Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 highlight’s Superman’s greatest strength, his compassion.

Written by Mark Waid, Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 is an interesting debut with a nice setup and taking us through the first steps to trying to find someone who’s sick a treatment. There’s something methodical about it all. But, that aspect is driven by humanity and compassion as Waid also flashes back to the childhood of Clark and Lex and their experiences together. What we find is a guilt from Clark that has stayed with him all of these years.

It’s an interesting comic that is a tour of Clark/Superman and Lex’s relationship through the years. It hints at what drives some of how Superman treats the villain, a feeling of guilt. Juxtaposed to the world’s reaction of Lex’s condition, it’s an overall interesting concept and start to things and is far more than it’s tour for a cure that it feels like at times. Add in a reoccurring messianic concept, the comic delivers a lot to chew on.

The art by Bryan Hitch is good. Overall Hitch’s art for me is hit and miss but here there’s some really nice spreads and panels and there’s a subtle emotional aspect to it all that captures what Waid is going for. Hitch is joined by Kevin Nowlan on ink and David Baron on color. Richard Starkings and Tyler Smith handle the lettering. The visuals are interesting overall, with a muted, almost dialed back aspect to it that matches the borderline dirge of a story. Grand visuals would belie the basic concept of the comic.

Superman: The Last Days of Lex Luthor #1 is an intriguing start to a comic. It’s more about Clark and Lex’s relationship over the years than finding a cure. It’s a comic about how our past can impact us decades later and shapes who we are and what we do. Mixed with a nice look overall, it’s an interesting take on a relationship we’ve seen explored many times before.

Story: Mark Waid Art: Bryan Hitch
Ink: Kevin Nowlan Color: David Baron Letterer: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.15 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle

Battle Chasers #10 isn’t worth the wait

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Battle Chasers #10

“Martial Law” tells the bloody tale of retired swordsman Garrison and the fugitive Red Monika as they face off against Maestro’s gang of supernatural killers-the Martial Paladins! Battle Chasers #10 is a the long awaited return of the series and the end result is an issue that feels like the wait isn’t quite worth it.

The return of Battle Chasers was announced in 2015 as part of a Kickstarter for a video game. In 2019, it was announced that series creator and artist Joe Madureira would no longer be drawing it with Ludo Lullabi stepping in, then general silence. So, it’s a general pleasant surprise that Battle Chasers #10 has actually been released after such a delay. Unfortunately, with too much time passed, the last issue was published in September 2001, the return feels more like a story readers may struggle to remember.

The comic attempts to catch readers up with a page dedicated to recapping where the story is at, but, while helpful, it doesn’t really replace reading the story itself. Instead, the comic is a movie that has already started and you attempt to dive into even though it’s already been playing for a 60% of it. It’s also not helped the writing is generally stilted with a sparse amount of dialogue and cuts in the scenes that jump around a bit too much at times. The result isn’t an entertaining read and rather frustrating as the underling coolness of it all is still there.

Ludo Lullabi‘s art doesn’t quite have the style of Madureira, but the look of the comic delivers a style that stands on its own. If Lullabi did this comic without the history, it’d get tons of buzz but as is, it’s compared to what was and what was initially promised. While good, it doesn’t quite match up to that. But still, there’s a flair to it that has me wanting to check out more of Lullabi’s work.

Battle Chasers #10 is frustrating. It isn’t the welcome return one would hope and instead feels like a series and project whose time has passed. Like many “classic” series revived, it doesn’t stand up so well and the nostalgia isn’t quite enough to really hook you. Overall, a bummer.

Story: Joe Madureira Art: Ludo Lullabi Letterer: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
Story: 7.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Pass

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle

Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures and Avatar: The Last Airbender are Dark Horse’s Free Comic Book Day Silver release

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Dark Horse Comics released more details about their Free Comic Book Day Silver offering: Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures/Avatar: The Last Airbender, arriving May 6, 2023 at participating comic shops. 

Get set for adventure with a new tale from the farthest reaches of a galaxy far, far away; and a new story from the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender!

In Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, the galaxy-wide conflict between the Jedi Order and the dangerous marauders known as the  Nihil intensifies, and a shuttle full of younglings gets caught in the crossfire. This lost tale set during the fall of Starlight is written by New York Times bestselling author Daniel José Older and is illustrated by Harvey Tolibao, who also provided the cover art for this issue. Colors are by Michelle Madsen and letters provided by Comicraft’s Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt. 

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang and his friends come across a village decimated by the Fire Nation. One survivor—a young child named Luumi—refuses to open up to anyone except fellow Earth Kingdom native, Toph. This comic is written by Amy Chu, with art by Kelly and Nichole Matthews, and is lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt.

Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures/Avatar: The Last Airbender

Join the fight against climage change in Climate Keepers

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Climate Keepers: Agents of Project Zero

In partnership with Portland General Electric, Dark Horse Comics presents Climate Keepers: Agents of Project Zero, a new collaborative comic project designed to educate the community about fighting greenhouse gasses and protecting the environment. The comic is written by Nadia Shaik, illustrated and colored by Caitlin Like, and lettered by Comicraft’s Tyler Smith.

Meet the Climate Keepers, a crew of young climate heroes who learn about environmental threats to their community and fight pollution together. This educational comic book is designed to help young people better understand the effects of climate change and explore ways to make a positive impact.  

Developed by Portland General Electric, an energy company based in Portland, Oregon, in partnership with local publisher Dark Horse Comics, this educational resource aims to empower the next generation of climate scientists, innovators and clean energy leaders. This comic is intended for all readers ages 8 and up.

Climate Keepers is free to read online now in English or Spanish at the PGE Climate Keepers website, as well as all available digital comic platforms, including Dark Horse Digital, Comixology, Google Books, and more. Free downloadable Teacher’s Guides for various grade levels is also available online, filled with a wide range of standards-based lessons and engaging student activities. 

Digital comics platforms: 

Dark Horse Digital: English, Spanish
Google Play: English, Spanish 
Comixology/Amazon: English, Spanish
Barnes & Noble Nook: English, Spanish
Apple Books: English, Spanish

Preview: Rob

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Rob

Story: Richard Dinnick
Art: Magda Price and Miguel Sepulveda
Color: Enrica Eren Angiolini
Letterer: Tyler Smith
Webtoons

Legendary Comics and WEBTOON, the world’s largest digital comic platform, launched today the original comic series ROB. The re-interpretation of the Robin Hood mythos created for a new generation comes from acclaimed British screenwriter and novelist Richard Dinnick, best known for his work in the revered Doctor Who franchise. Rob is a new and original adventure taking our hero and his band of friends away from the familiar territory of Sherwood and out into a brand new, old world. This thrilling tale is brought to life with art by Magda Price and Miguel Sepulveda, colorist Enrica Eren Angiolini, letterer and designer Tyler Smith, and is accompanied by an original score from composer Andrew M. Edwards. The first three chapters are now available, with additional chapters debuting every Wednesday. Readers can download the official WEBTOON app by visiting the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Rob is set in a “ren-punk” world far in the future where the Earth’s resources have been plundered. Bows and arrows collide with scavenged modern technology. In a desperate bid to protect his home country of Albion from the devious French Gauls and their invasion plans, Rob, his mentor Sir Dido and her niece, the trainee druid Blondel, embark on a perilous sabotage mission across the English Channel. When this goes horribly wrong and Sir Dido is injured, Rob is forced to take matters into his own hands and risk everything on a quest across his broken and bizarre world to seek a fabled weapon that may not even exist. Rob is joined by friends that those familiar with Robin Hood’s origins in medieval “gestes” will recognize and has deadly and mysterious enemies at his heels. Rob is an exciting roller-coaster adventure into a world strange yet familiar, visually stunning and creatively astonishing.

Rob