Comical Reviews.
I will review this soon, BUT HOLY CRAP WHAT A GOOD ISSUE. Even if you do not read Venom, just pick this issue up, please.
I always hear from people “Hey guys, wouldn’t it be cool if Walking Dead had ZOMBIE ANIMALS?!” WELL if you REALLY want to see this happen you should start reading Image’s latest series Rebel Blood. Rebel Blood immediately starts you off with a great combat scene between the main character and the main conflict in the book, ZOMBIES! Yes, the zombie idea has now been overused so many damn times that I can comfortably say that I have had enough, BUT Rebel Blood does something interesting. See these zombies aren’t human zombies, THEY ARE ZOMBIE ANIMALS!
Writer’s Strong Points
Almost all the time with first issues there is one thing you want to prove to the reader and thats to make the impression that you’re comic is going to be the one that the reader is going to pick up when next Wednesday comes around. Basically the story of this comic is simple, however there are some VERY interesting things to take in that make you want to pick up the next issue. Throughout the comic there is this Human-Deer hybrid that keeps popping up in panels and all I can think of is “Who the hell is this?!” Unfortunately, there is not much attention shown to this character, so now I have to pick up the next issue to figure out who this marvelous creature is (I hope its the Deer from Walking Dead, that would be dope). However you wanna see it, I think the writer of Rebel Blood did a fantastic job of making a simple, overused theme, straight forward story into a VERY interesting and mysterious story. There are the basic mysteries like “How did the virus break out?” and “What will happen to the main character?”, but the one mystery that is just sticking in my head is who is that Animal Human hybrid. I seriously cannot wait till the next issue of this series comes out.
Artist Strong Points.
The art in this book is 50/50 by that I mean you can ether hate it or love it. I honestly LOVE the art direction of this comic. The attention to small detail is terrific as you see every scratch and cut on these zombified animals. Throughout the comic (You can see it around the character holding the shotgun) you’ll see that the lines where used to depict motion in the comic. Whenever I read a comic, I try and see how the artist will make his style be effective in equally working with the story. The style that Riley Rassmo brings to the tables is more than effective, but more or less makes me want to just sit down with him and watch how these panels are drawn. Getting back to a previous topic, the design of this Human-Deer hybrid is a great example of how the comic’s art shines. I look at this creature(shown on the cover) and I’m at first confused, but after awhile it feels like it makes sense if I saw this creature in reality. With breath-taking attention to detail, crazy creature design and great panel layouts, I cannot tell you enough how much I want you to pick this comic without sounding like I’m preaching, but I really hope you give this comic a chance. As for me, I can’t wait to get the next issue of this series.
( I didn’t go over much of what happens in this book and I apologize, but I want you to have the same feeling of going into this comic blind as possible with having my opinion on it.)
I haven’t been having the best of days, but don’t worry. I will be reviewing more comics as soon as I get my act together!
February 14th, 2012
Tomorrow, Issue #6 of Scott Synder’s run on Batman is coming out and a great way to get ready for the new issue is by going over why Issue #5 is one of my favorite comic issues to come out this year. If you aren’t aware of what is going on with Batman right now, let me fill you in without spoiling too much. In Gotham there is a organization called “Court of Owls” that have been appearing throughout the city. When Bruce investigates into this organization, he realizes that the organization has been present in Gotham for quite sometime. Scott Synder does a fantastic job with adding backstory about the Court, while leaving out just the right amount to keep the reader interested with this new force that has appeared in Gotham.
Scott Synder’s highlights.
This issue starts off with a conversation between Lieutenant Bullock and Commissioner Gordon about just what the Bat Signal means to some of the residents of Gotham. During this conversation it is stated that Batman has been missing for eight days, but where did he go? During issue #4, Batman is abducted by a member of the Court and thrown into a Labyrinth made by the Court themselves. During this issue, Scott does a fantastic job at showing the inner conflict that Bruce is going through while spending his time in the labyrinth. In these panels, Bruce is frantically over analyzing small details about the labyrinth, making it obvious that Bruce is not in the right mindset during his time in the labyrinth. Sometimes I was trying to see if there was a deeper meaning to this, but in the end I just realized that Bruce was just going straight up insane in the worst type of way. I’ve read a good amount of Batman comics and the feeling that got during this issue was not present in any of the other books that I have read. I like this narrative for many different reasons mainly because Batman isn’t the one to fear is this issue. In the books i’ve read(Maybe I missed one, don’t crucify me please), Batman has always had been feared by people in Gotham or he has been a greater power in Batman stories. To see him in this lost, confused and questionably insane state is just such a great concept that Scott has brought to the reader. Instead of making Batman equal or more powerful than the opposite force, Scott makes it seem like he is hopeless when it comes to fighting against the Count of the Owls. Scott, whatever you are doing to make these issues steadily paced, please do not stop.
Greg Capullo Highlight’s
Scott Synder does a fantastic job with giving Bruce great dialogue to exchange between Batman and himself internally, but it is Greg Capullo that will make the bigger impression on making Bruce Wayne look like fucking Ted Bundy. Before this issue, I didn’t really think anything special about Greg’s art. I did not think it was was bad, it just didn’t leave an impression on me. Thats the mindset that I had until this issue came around. Throughout the issue, it is present that Batman is slowly transforming to some type of creature while inside the labyrinth. With the help of Greg’s art you are able to get the full feel of what is going on with Batman physically and mentally while siding with Scott’s writing. Greg does a fantastic job with adding a sense of depth and space throughout this comic. His art makes it present that this labyrinth is huge, but there is one thing that is done in this comic that makes this one of my favorite comics of the year. While reading this comic, I flipped a page and realized to read the comic I had to turn the comic on certain angles to read the dialogue. At first I went sarcastically to myself, “Whao, this is artsy fartsy material” and continued to read on. Through-out these pages, I had to vigorously flip and flop the comic itself so I could read it accordingly. When I shut the comic, I realized something odd about the issue itself. I said to myself “Well, whoever printed this fucked up. The ad is upside down.” Thats what I thought until I flipped the comic over. It was reveled to me that the comic was upside down and I flipped the comic around so much while reading it, that I lost the sense of which way was up and which way was down. This left me with a feeling that no other comic has left me with before. This issue is a perfect example of how much fun comics can be to read and can also make a statement; That statement being, “Hey, lets do something new and wacky and lets see how that goes over with people!” This gives people an idea of how expansive comics can be more than what is presented. This why Batman #5 is a perfect issue to pick up, even if you aren’t following the series or reading comics in general.
Basically with the BAD SEED concept, I will pick a comic that I have been following and explain how I did not like the comic itself. I rarely will ever embrace in bringing out negatives about comics, but once in a while I will be annoyed or aggravated with a change in the storytelling or art in a series itself.
This is a blog to give my opinions for comics that I follow. Some of the comics that you will be seeing on this site will be everything from Marvel’s Uncanny X-Force, DC’s Bat Girl and Image’s The Strange Talent Of Luther Strobe. This blog is not made to point out negatives in comics. A lot of people go around saying “Fuck that comic, that dude doesn’t know how to draw comics”, but honestly I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that you or anyone has the right to say a drawing is SHIT. Sure, in some situations the art sometimes doesn’t match the writing, but saying that the art is COMPLETE GARBAGE is a ignorant and immature statement. With this blog, I will try to do one thing and that thing is to point out some of the best things in comics in today’s comic book culture. I hope you enjoy, Mr. Petersouris
