Comic Reviews 2/2/12

REVIEWS

The comics reviewed are chosen by David not by That's Entertainment management
or staff. The opinions expressed are his alone. If you have an opposing view you
are welcome to respond to David directly by Email at the address above.


Title: GRIMM FAIRY TALES PRESENTS ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Issue Number: 1
Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment
Creator: Raven Gregory, Joe Brusha & Ralph Tedesco
Writer: Raven Gregory
Artist: Robert Gill
Colors: Jason Embury
Letters: Jim Campbell
Cover Artist: Various
Price (USD): $2.99
Release Date: NOW ON SALE
Genre: Fantasy
MATURE: Comics on the Edge

The fact this comic is a more mature offering clues you in to the fact that
these are not the lovable Disney characters we all remember. This Wonderland is
a realm of madness. Within this realm the Jabberwocky feeds on the sanity of
anyone unfortunate enough to end up in Wonderland. For generations a man named
Charles Dodgson has been sending unsuspecting innocents into Wonderland in
exchange for his own immortality. He is in league with the Jabberwocky. And so
the opening scene shows Dodgson urging the young girl named Alice to enter the
large opening at the base of a tree. But rather than fall through a deep hole
she finds herself entering a large cave with voices all around urging her to go
deeper and deeper. The first thing she meets is a white rabbit, sans the funny
clothes, explaining to her she is now in Wonderland where up is down and forward
is backward. Soon she is chasing the rabbit into a land where your mind can
change the way things appear. The art team does a good job in trying to help us
visualize the experience in a series of surrealistic panel with boats floating
in air, upside down island and various objects floating everywhere. When she
finally lands on solid ground she is confronted by the Jabberwocky. He tells her
she cannot leave, that no one ever leaves. She sees the hunger in his eyes and
surmises he wants out as well from his curiosity about where she came from. She
promises to help him if no one gets hurt and he of course agrees. She then gets
to see the looking glass showing her the real world she left showing her a grown
up Alice - the person she was meant to be. This part of the story is the set up
as we shift the story years later when Alice is more mature. Her outfit has
become more alluring for the fan boys with bare midriff, large breasts and a
barely there mini-skirt with white stockings held up by a garter belt. The bad
girl art is the trademark of the Grimm line from Zenescope. The rest of this
opening chapter has the now comely Alice encountering a not so friendly Cheshire
cat and some other terrifying things leaving us at a cliffhanger as she meets a
walrus. The story is the kind I pretty much expected from the start. The heroine
is pleasant to look at and faces various terrors with more to come. As with most
of these titles the art is well done from fine detail and superb colring. That
part of it is well-executed. If this kind of adventure is your cup of tea (no
pun intended) then this title is better than most. At a reasonable price it is
worth looking into.


Title: DEADPOOL
Issue Number: 49.1
Title Story: Deadpool the Musical
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Daniel Way
Artist: John McCrea
Colors: Veronica Gandini
Letters: Joe Sabino
Cover Artist: Stegman, Babinski & Gracia
Price (USD): $2.99
Release Date: NOW ON SALE
Genre: Super Hero
Parental Advisory


I have read a few Deadpool comics on occasion and found them humorously
entertaining. He is of course Wade Wilson. He is a mercenary with incredible
healing powers and martial art skills. He is very efficient and also crazier
than a sack of ferrets. This point-one issue is the prelude to February's issue
#50 which is promoting his supposed death - we think. What the creators have

done in this issue is to recap his story from Wade's point of view. It is

supposedly Wade doing his own self-analysis. Feeling pretty down lately he has

decided to recap his adventures in the form of a musical. Each segment is pretty

much rhyming and set to popular tunes, though for this old fart most of the

songs mentioned are unfamiliar. Your mileage may differ. The opening scene is in
the present where four gunmen wearing Mardi-Gras masks converge in a warehouse
as Deadpool confronts them. As our hero takes care of the threat he breaks into song with lyrics set to the tune of "O.P.P." by Nature. From then on it is a

slide show of adventures from supposedly being hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. to kill

Wolverine, to a confrontation with Daken, a quick recap of Secret Invasion and

the Dark Avengers and eventually joining the X-Men when he decided to become a

costumed super hero. There is action sequences moving quickly through other

adventures, presumably all from his regular series - and the melody changes in

foot notes telling what other recent song is the basis. It probably makes a lot

of sense to the regular followers of his antics. For the rest of us it is a very
brief synopsis of what has come before. While I got the gist of his story from
this chapter the whole rhyming to popular rap and hip hop songs is lost on me.
The art is fairly decent making it ok visually. I came away not really deciding
if this comic should be recommended for the casual reader. I think it is of the
type that will make an impression based on what you bring to it yourself. So I
would say for $3 you could do worse. Personally I much prefer the regular format
and the crazy humor of the usual stories.

Title: STATIC SHOCK
Issue Number: 5
Title Story: True Natures
Publisher: DC
Creators: McDuffie, Cowan, David & Dingle
Writer/Artist: Scott McDaniel
Inker: Andy Owen
Colors: Guy Major
Letters: Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Khary Randolph with Emilio Lopez
Price (USD): $2.99
Release Date: NOW ON SALE
Genre: Super Hero

Someone saw me with this comic at the store and remarked that he did not know
that they had made a comic based on the STATIC SHOCK cartoons. I proceeded to
explain that they had already had another series based on the cartoon and in
fact the cartoon was based on the original comic book series from Milestone
Comics years ago. As part of the New 52 DC decided to bring back Static who has
electromagnetic powers and is now residing with his family in New York rather
than the original Dakota of the Milestone series. It turns out this particular
issue has a dream sequence that shows new readers how Virgil Hawkins grew up in
a harsher city and at one point considered confronting a bully with a gun. At
the last minute he decided he was not a killer and fate stepped in as he and
others found themselves transformed by an event known as the Big Bang on Paris
Island. This three-page sequence is worth it for those who have not taken a look
at Static yet. But that is an interlude in the main story that has Static at
first at the seeming mercy of some powered bad guys who have been tasked with
his murder. Since this is at the opening of the issue we pretty much know he
will turn the tables. For the time being he manages to fake Static's death and
heads home to plan his next move. The chief bad guy, Piranha, is trying to
secure a security contract for a major underworld syndicate and figures he has
won the right but the employer wants to see the body. There are a lot of
characters involved in the plot both those employed by Piranha and those of his
rivals. Before the issue is out, Static will have to make a move after his
sister is kidnapped as part of the master plan. It may seem a bit hopeless for
our hero but he also has allies familiar to those of us who followed the
Milestone characters. Look for them next issue. Static in his original series
many moons ago (a little Indian lingo there) was written in the image of Spider-
Man - him being a teen with great power given to him and finding a way to be
responsible about it. After all this time he has been more adept and confident

as this series shows. Unfortunately this title is not one of the better sellers
for DC. I found the story fairly easy to follow and the action leads to
consequences and further developments nicely. It is well done and deserves to be
given a chance. As I said this particular issue will help new readers get caught
up so give it a try.

Title: USAGI YOJIMBO
Issue Number: 143
Title Story: Shoyu
Publisher: Dark Horse
Creator: Stan Sakai
Cover Colors: Tom Luth
Price (USD): $3.50
Release Date: NOW ON SALE
Genre: Anthropomorphic Hero
ALL AGES





I have not read a Usagi comic for a long time so I decided to check in on his
latest adventure from Dark Horse Comics. For those of you unfamiliar with the
character he is a samurai living in the end of the sixteenth-century, a time of
civil war in Japan. He lost his lord in battle and now wanders the land in
search of harmony fighting injustice and honing his spiritual and martial
skills. It turns out this particular issue is the beginning of a two-part story
making it a good way to sample his adventures. Usagi happens into a small town
at night seeking lodging when he sees some unsavory characters running off in
the distance. Deciding not to get involved he changes his mind when he notices a
fire in the distance and runs to investigate. He quickly sounds the alarm and
with the aid of others puts out the fire before it can cause major damage. He
tells his story to Wada, the local constabulary, but the law man is indifferent
and warns Usagi to leave his town. His reception is much warmer from the owner
of the establishment, Mitsui, who offers him food and shelter and later a job.
Mitsui fears the fire was set by his chief rival, Hata. Sakai take his time in
developing the story as the next day Mitsui explains that he is a maker of Shoyu
Soy Sauce a brand well known for its flavor and quality. We get a detailed
account of how the product is carefully made in the old tradition. Mitsui
explains that Hata is also in the business but his product is inferior, as Hata
takes shortcuts in his process. It is a set up that infers that Hata wants to
drive Mitsui out of business and perhaps the corrupt sheriff is in league with
him. It seems that Usagi realizes the danger and following his personal code
will stay and help Mitsui. This is a delightful story in that Sakai develops the
characters and their motivations while exposing the readers to a part of
Japanese culture and tradition. Sakai is an accomplished cartoonist as is
evident visually page after page. I am not a fan of anthropomorphic characters
as a rule but the fact that all of these characters are animals with human
characteristics does not detract one bit from the story. This title is fun for
all ages. If you have been at all curious about this long-established character
this issue is a good introduction.



Title: HAUNTED CITY
Issue Number: 1
Title Story: Suffer the Little Children
Publisher: Aspen
Creator: Chap Taylor
Writers: Chap Taylor & Peter Johnson
Artist: Michael Ryan
Colors: Kelsey Shannon
Letters: Josh Reed
Price (USD): $3.50
Release Date: NOW ON SALE
Genre: Supernatural/Crime

It always disturbs me to open up a first issue of a comic series only to see
text on the inside cover telling "The story so far..." This of course means that
there was one of those "zero" issues published earlier. Why comic companies
still continue this practice puzzles me. Do they think readers will more readily
buy an initial issue if it is #0 versus #1? Anyway, the other problem with this
one is that text itself. If you are going to bother to bring new readers up to
speed with a recap of what has come before at least make the effort to make it
legible rather than in some tiny fancy font that is obscured by the background
coloring making it even harder to read with these old eyes. In my view this is a
major editing blunder. I guess they think it is more important to give more
space and larger fonts to the production staff (not the creators) and the
various alternate covers and their credits. If you want me to get interested in
what I am about to read make it easier to read the fricking recap! But I
digress...

Detective Tom Whalen is a bad cop. He is corrupt and a drug user. When he tried
to back out of a drug deal with the Koreans he was forced to fight for his life.
Chasing one of his assailants into an old theater he sees the ghost of a young
girl just before he took a bullet to the head. Waking in the hospital he is
surprised to see a man in a suit standing over him. The mystery man will only
tell him that Internal Affairs are on the way. They know the Koreans were buying
evidence dope from a dirty cop in narcotics, Whalen himself. The man identifies
himself as Peter Hopkins and hands Tom his card identifying him as the
Witchfinder General and advises Tom to call him when things get bad enough. Tom
is no fool. Realizing he is on the verge of getting busted he takes off and
seeks refuge at the den of a friendly drug dealer he knows. There he learns that
the bad guys are after him as well. All this serves to get us more familiar with
Tom as the lead character of the story. The bigger picture involves small
children that have gone missing. One such is followed in the opening sequence.
He is Deshawn Carver and he is an orphan. Other boys pick on him and his foster
father is no comfort. It seems his only comfort is praying to a statue of a
female with wings. We learn through the course of the story that this is
Morrigan, a pre-Christian figure of Celtic Mythology. She preys on the helpless
children who have no one else to turn to and give their fate to her freely.
Whalen will go to Hopkins and his group and they explain that their group has
been protecting the city for hundreds of years from things no one believes are
real. The parallel plots follow the next potential victim of the Morrigan and
Whalen as his predicament gets worse. Since he is no doubt the major character
we feel somehow he will side with the good guys fighting the supernatural, if he
can avoid both the cops and the criminals. It is an interesting plot with no
apparent easy way out for the protagonist. As with most Aspen comics the art is
good quality. Right now it is not too involved with a lot of the supernatural
stuff, just enough to peak our interest. I guess that zero issue was not needed
after all as I followed this story easily and am interested where it will lead.

Title: THE TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE
Issue Number: 1
Title Story: The Autonomy Lesson
Publisher: IDW
Writer: John Barber
Artist: Andrew Griffith
Colors: Josh Perez
Letters: Shawn Lee
Price (USD): $3.99
Release Date: NOW ON SALE
Genre: Science Fiction - based on the toy & cartoon characters of HASBRO


I recently reviewed the TRANSFORMERS one-shot THE DEATH OF OPTIMUS PRIME. This
is one of two new series that follow directly from that comic. The sister title
is TRANSFORMERS: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. In the one-shot we learned that the
Autobots finally won the war against the Decepticons. The long-dead home planet,
Cybertron, has come back to life with the Autobots ruling and the Decepticons
under their control. They have to toe the line or the inhibitor chips in their
heads can be remotely detonated with deadly force. Countless non-combatants have
also come back to Cybertron to repopulate the world. They are known as Non-
Affiliated Indigenous Life-forms dubbed Nails by the others. The Nails are not
enamored of either side in the now finished war and just want to live in peace
on their world. Among the Autobots there has been a rift. Those siding with
Bumblebee stayed on Cybertron to build a new society. Rodimus took the others on
a starship to search for the long-lost guardians of ancient myth as a way to
save their world from further strife. Upon takeoff in MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
the ship apparently exploded. While those on Cybertron believe their departing
comrades have perished readers of that other title know they actually were
teleported to another part of space to face their own adventures in that series.
This series will follow the developments on Cybertron. Even among themselves all
are not in agreement as to how best rule. Some of the Decepticons are being used
as a sort of police force to help quell uprisings among the Nails. Unfortunately
they tend to take too much pleasure in their duties, which will lead to a major
crisis by the end of the chapter. There is a major plot among the Decepticons
led by Ratbat. We probably all assumed that they would not remain docile
prisoners for long. On top of this the planet itself is exhibiting sentient
activity, attacking approaching ships as they land. Bumblebee has his hands full
with disgruntled Autobots, plotting Decepticons and the ever-growing majority of
the population defying his authority. It is an involved plot that is well
scripted and proceeding forward to major confrontations. I liked the art in
every aspect. The coloring is essential to the definition of each character. I
never imagined a Transformer comic would be this detailed but it is an
interesting story that should be fun for all ages.

                                    *****
TRIVIA CONTEST!!!!     WIN REAL PRIZES!!!!!

If you think you know the answer to the trivia question send your guess via
Email to me at ComicBkNet@aol.com and you could win the prize. The first six
correct answers will be assigned a number and a roll of the dice will determine
the winner. You should put your real name in your message so we know who you
are. Prizes must be claimed at our store within 30 days of winning. The prize
will be a $10 credit slip, which will be redeemable for merchandise at regular
retail or in-store ongoing specials only.  Only one prize per person will be
allowed per every 4 weeks. I will be the sole judge of the correct answer even
if more than one answer could be correct. Submit only one answer per Email
please but guess as often as you like.

Last week's trivia question:

What was the back-up feature for the first SUPERGIRL comic book series?

Zatanna was the backup in the first SUPERGIRL series. The winner by the dice is
Gregory Goding.

Here was your no prize question:

Which U.S. President was never elected to the office of President or Vice
President?
Gregory Goding also got the no prize this time. This was easy if you thought
about it. Gerald Ford was of course the answer. He was appointed to Vice
President after Agnew resigned and became President after Nixon resigned.

THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION:

Famous first words of which comic book character?
"A few seconds more and we'll know whether we have succeeded or not!"

Here is your no prize question:

In the TV show THE JETSONS, what was Astro's real name?

Folks, you never know who among the readers is knowledgeable about the question
so don't hesitate to send in an answer - even days after it appears.