Tagged: Image
Robert Kirkman Proves He’s No One Hit Wonder With “Outcast” #1!!!
Just read Outcast #1 last night, the new series by Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman which is something that I’ve been quite curious about now for a while. As my interest in The Walking Dead has been waning steadily over the last couple years I’ve often wondered if Kirkman has just lost his touch or perhaps has just run out of good ideas to make the series as compelling as it once was. So Outcast I figured really could have went either way. It turns out that the first Issue of Outcast is pretty damn awesome! Within reading the first few pages (of the 48 page comic book priced at $2.99) I could tell I was in for a real treat.
First let me say that the artwork by Paul Azaceta is excellent and is perfect for the dark dismal tone of the story, instantly drawing me in before having a clue as to what’s brewing in the pages ahead. Without giving too much away I’d say that this one follows the story of a man who’s life has been affected by “demonic possessions” in nearly every way imaginable. Which has lead to many people, even family members labeling him a dangerous outcast of society. The main character Kyle Barnes lives a depressing life alone in a dark run down house seemingly almost cut off from the world outside. We get glimpses as the story moves as to why this man has become a hermit but we also realize that he’s not alone entirely as he’s asked by a local priest to come help him with a boy he believes is possessed by the devil. This sheds some light into his past as it’s clear that we know it’s no coincidence that Barnes was sought out.
Kirkman does an incredible job at drawing you in to this man’s life and makes you want more answers with every turn of the page. The comic book is also often times very frightening, which can be a tough thing to pull off in this medium these days. I’m certain that this series is going to be the next big thing, issue #1 is jam packed with enough mystery, scares, beautiful artwork and intense drama to have me eagerly awaiting issue #2! I suggest that you run out to your local comic book shop and grab this one, you’ll be kicking yourself in the ass if you don’t. Nice work Kirkman, I wasn’t sure you still had it in you!
This Week’s Comic Book Reviews! ‘Manifest Destiny’ Stomps ‘The Walking Dead’!
Yesterday was Wednesday and as usual I bought a few new funny books! Here’s what I though of ’em!
Manifest Destiny #7, Image/Skybound
What else can I say here about this comic book? It’s could be my fave title at the moment-the first story arc was a great and it’s now in trade paperback form so I suggest checking it out ASAP! This title gives me similar feelings of when I first got hooked on The Walking Dead! Issue #7 continues the adventures of Lewis & Clark as they continue up river on boat with cast of crew members who’re truly creepy in their own right. We’ve got Lewis trying to keep his monstrous discoveries a secret and a new female crew member who’s discovered his private journal entries. It doesn’t take long though for things to get crazy again as their boat become stuck on on something strange which signifies that these guys are in for more monster mayhem in the woods! The book is fresh as hell and the artwork is awesome-this books popularity is rising quickly and the first six issues are going for a pretty penny already on Ebay-now’s the time to jump on board as you can read seven straight issues without having to wait months between!
Abe Sapien #13, Dark Horse
Abe Sapien’s ongoing solo series has been pretty interesting so far. It’s always bizarre and keeps getting darker in tone with every issue. Abe’s recently went through some transformations recently becoming more monster in appearance than man. This issue encourages new readers to jump on board as a good starting point. We see Abe still traveling across an apocalyptic wasteland with an odd woman whom he found chained up inside a weirdly ravaged house. They run into some strangers who’s son has half transformed into frog man monster, seeking the powers of a healer who supposedly lives close by. Abe’s still trying to prove to himself and world that he himself is in no way connected to the most recent events of monster outbreaks that have occurred in major cities. This series continues to intrigue me as does almost everything in the Hellboy universe. I’m still trying to catch up on all the thick rich back stories that all seem to connect in some way. This issue also features some pretty spectacular artwork and an additional Abe Sapien back up story-so you most definitely get your money’s worth! Anyone looking for a good creepy comic book with heavy Lovecraft influence should check this title out!
Walking Dead #128, Image
Ok, first let me clarify that I’m really not a huge fan of this book anymore, it used to be my favorite title. I wasn’t a fan of “All Out War” and this continues the story a couple years after those events. The whole gang has been hanging out with Rick in their picture perfect community but of course we still have the annoying Negan involved as he’s being held captive trying to make friends with Carl secretly. We have a new group of people who enter the community and of course no one truly trusts each other. Carl wants to move out of Rick’s place. It’s really more of the same shit we have been reading for the past couple years or so. Man, this book needs a serious kick in the ass. But it just keeps going and it really doesn’t cover too much new ground. There’s not a lot of adventure to be had in The Walking Dead anymore, they kinda just like staying in the same place, no matter what and pretending that they’re rebuilding the world single handedly. However they still have zero clue what is going on in the rest of the world, nor does anyone seem to care. They have no idea what caused the outbreak, and they don’t seem to care. They really haven’t traveled all that far, they just blindly accept that the whole world is fucked and continue with their repetitive daily operation. Maybe Rick just wants be the leader of the world? Maybe he fears finding others and losing his say in how everything always goes down? I think a lot about how this title could be a top notch adventure still and all the different scenarios they could face, yet it just keeps doing more of the same old shit. I’m really at this point keeping up with the story because I’ve made it this far. I really do miss the old days of this book when the group was on the move and constantly entering into the unknown…..
The Walking Dead #126 – My Final Thoughts on “All Out War”!
Ok first off let me tell you there’s SPOILERS here, so if you aren’t caught up with the series stop reading now! Ok then, yesterday I read the final chapter of the “All Out War” twelve issue story arc of The Walking Dead. First I am going to state that the finale did not go the way I predicted it would which is actually a good thing. However, it seems to me that the series is stuck in the mud at this point. It has been for a while I think. This finale didn’t really offer up any real excitement, what I did predict was that Rick’s slicing of Negan’s throat in in issue #125 was certainly not going to be fatal. I enjoyed the fact that Rick is letting Negan live and trying to push the world in a better direction, trying to fix the mistakes the previous world made with war, revenge and killing. Very admirable Rick. However now that he has Negan as a prisoner that means that we’re going to have to have that character around for even longer!
I’ve heard from many people that Negan is their favorite character, that “he’s like the greatest villain to ever grace the pages of a comic book”. To me he’s unbelievable, annoying and just not that interesting. So I guess now what we’re most likely going to see is the gradual change of Negan from a villain into a part of the crew. I am guessing that he’s going to develop into some sort of anti-hero. That being said, where can Kirkman really take this series? Are we going to meet another Negan/Governor? I’d say that’s likely. To me though that’s also a bit boring.
I’d like to see this book go in some new directions dammit! Let’s face some new threats that aren’t a bunch of asshole humans, add some mystery to the book, search for other people in other parts of the world-I mean isn’t anyone interested in what might be happening elsewhere on another continent? Wouldn’t finding a plane be a priority? Or chartering a boat? I’m just not that interested in seeing Rick become the next President of the USA!! What do you think? Are you all satisfied with the direction the book has been stuck on?
Universal Dork’s Rad New Comic Book Picks!
It’s tough sometimes finding cool new comic books to check out! Sometimes (more often lately it seems) the two big cheezes, Marvel & DC just don’t float my boat! It’s a shame because I’m a superhero guy at heart and not getting that fix can certainly be depressing. So these days with somewhat limited resources I’ve been picking up a few cool new and ongoing titles that thus far seem real promising! So here’s a few that I’ve been diggin’ lately:
Manifest Destiny (Image/Skybound): The third issue of this series just dropped this week and so far it’s a ton of fun! It’s a period piece retelling the expedition of Lewis & Clark with a even more adventure and yeah some creepy run ins with native monsters! They inject some great horror into this historical journey and have created some memorable characters to boot. The artwork too is pretty damn impressive as well and thus far I’m fully on board, I think this could quite possibly fill the void in my life that The Walking Dead has left with it’s recent more & more tired storytelling. Check it out!
Curse (Boom! Studios): Just picked up the first issue of this cool (so far) horror comic! It’s being called a werewolf story, but I’m still guessing it could be based on the Wendigo mythology. We’ll see I guess. Either way it’s got some fantastic gritty artwork and an intriguing story about a down on his luck single father who decides to try to collect reward money by hunting down a killer in the woods to pay for his dying sons doctor bills. What he encounters is even more than he originally bargained for! So far this four issue limited series looks totally promising!
B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth (Dark Horse): This comic book is probably my favorite these days and has really compelled me to go back and collect all the trades to read from start to finish. The recent story line is as always jam packed with monsters and as always incredibly unique art. Issue #115 find the BPRD teaming up with Russian Special Science Services (the Russian version of BPRD) as they travel on foot through a desolated Manhattan landscape looking for survivors of a recent Monster attack on the city and the cause of it all. This current arc is awesome and we’ve now finally got Liz Sherman back ready to kick monster ass with her recently renewed fire power! I only hope that Abe Sapien makes his way back to the team! If you don’t read this series you’re missing out!
Guerrillas (Oni Press): This series isn’t new, but it’s new to me and I love it so far! Written and fantastically drawn by Brahm Revel this kick ass little adventure set in the Vietnam War follows Private John Francis Clayton on his first tour of duty. Unsure of himself and deathly afraid of combat finds himself alone in the jungles after his platoon is slaughtered by the enemy. It’s not long though until he runs into a strange platoon of chain smoking chimps armed for combat dressed in full on army fatigues. Sounds almost like a comedy? Not chance this one is played out serious and the story becomes more intriguing with every turn of the page. Thus far there’s two trades out and they’re a hell of a lot of fun. Right now Mr. Revel is working on Marvel Knights: X-men which so far is great. However he told me himself that we can expect the next chapter of Guerrillas to unfold in 2014! So check it out before the third act hits!
Deadworld: King Zombie Comes to Town!
Years ago we heard that a Deadworld movie was in the works based on the 1980’s comic book series. As I suspected however nothing has come to fruition. Now normally I’d wouldn’t give two shits about another zombie movie as I’ve been pretty over the whole zombie thing for probably the last five years or so. Deadworld however is a favorite of mine and has been since the late 1980’s for one because it’s got more going on with it than most zombie fare, probably the best part of the series is the evolved intelligent flesh eater, King Zombie! He’s a mean Harley riding badass that’d make the Sons of Anarchy cringe in their leather boots!
I recently saw this awesome fan made Deadworld trailer which impressed the hell out of me! It may be the closest thing we get to a real Deadworld movie anytime soon at least, if you’re a fan check this out directed by and starring Scotty Fields-Bravo! Now let’s get us a real movie in the works aleady! If you’ve never heard of Deadworld check out the Trade Paperback-it’s a fun old school Zombie/Monster comic straight from the 1980’s!
Awesome Hero Initiative / Walking Dead #100 Cover by Local Chris Herndon!
Had to take a second to give a shout out to Portland Oregon’s own Chris Herndon today as I just saw for the first time some artwork he did for The Hero Initiative 100 Project for The Walking Dead. The Hero Initiative is a charity dedicated to helping comic creators in medical and financial need, has drawn great acclaim for its “100 Projects” in recent years, in which 100 artists draw an original cover on a special anniversary issue. His artwork was for the shocking but otherwise rather dull milestone issue of The Walking Dead #100. Though I had my gripes about the issue itself it sure did generate some great zombie art!
Herndon is a rad up and coming artist who had his work cut out for him on this piece as he was artist and co-creator on the indie series ‘Living With Zombies’. He currently works on Terra Tempo, a dinosaur themed graphic novel series, so his cover idea for Walking Dead #100 was a perfect blend of both his past & present comic book works. Check it below and like his Facebook page before this guy hits the big time!
Nightwatch: Marvel’s Biggest Unsuccessful “Spawn” Rip-Off! Or is He?
I actually only recently discovered the obscure Marvel character called “Nightwatch”, who’s most comedically undeniably a rip off of Spawn! His first appearance was Web Of Spider-man #99 from 1993 and to be honest back in 1993 I wasn’t all that taken with most Marvel titles except maybe Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-men reboot. So it’s no wonder I missed out on this guy. The stories & artwork during this period of comic book history is less than flattering, I’m no big fan of Erik Larsen, Wilce Portacio and the gang to be honest. Well the artwork in “Web” during that times was done by Alex Saviuk and it’s pretty god damn awful. So let’s move on…who the Hell was Nightwatch? Was he really a rip off? First check out his picture…
Ok so we can agree that perhaps he looks an awful LOT like Spawn! But who came first officially? Well it was indeed Spawn who came first in May of 1992. There has been rumors that Mcfarlane actually created “Nightwatch” before he left Marvel and that Spawn is actually a rip-off of his own character. After searching around the web I honestly couldn’t find the info anywhere on who officially created the character. Could it be true? Could Nightwatch be the legit orginal bad-ass that was created first before the success of Spawn? Well it got me thinking aside from his appearance what other similarities do they share?
Number one they were both African American. Two they both died, Doctor Kevin Trench (Nightwatch) witnessed his own murder, a future version of himself killed by terrorists, where he discovered the living suit which he acquired off of his own dead body. Spawn was also murdered by a mercenary. Three, they both had living shape shifting capes. So yeah pretty much the same thing. The interesting thing is that Trench is supposedly in a time loop unable to stop himself from discovering his older self. So it’s entirely possible we could see Nightwatch return someday. Perhaps then we can ask him who his creator was? Oh Marvel in the early 1990’s how I love to hate you…
Is “Revival” the Next Walking Dead?
I have been reading the new image series “Revival” the past few months and it’s quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite monthly titles. I am making bet that it becomes the next big hit for Image comics. I still am a big Walking Dead fanatic, though for me the story has gotten a little dull over the past year or so. Even with the “shocking” death of Glenn recently I think Kirkman needs to shift gears in the series and bring The Walking Dead story to some new fresh levels. The Walking Dead is feeling a little to “dead” lately, as I have said before “shocking” deaths don’t necessarily equal great story telling.
So I am pleased to report there’s a great new series that does deliver us some fresh new ideas on the “undead” a genre which to be quite honest is boring the shit out of me lately. New zombie movies? I don’t even care to see ’em anymore. I’m so burnt out on the zombie thing it makes me kinda sick to my stomach. However this ain’t the case with Revival. So far they’ve crafted an intriguing little story set in my home state of Wisconsin. Yeah there are undead, but not your typical, these people rose from the dead on day in this small contained area of the country. They aren’t mindless creatures, they return to their former daily lives. The only thing is these undead have quite a temper and on top of that you’ve an eerie thin white creature wandering through the forest and a bizarre religious “Limp Bizkit” listening exorcist taking care of possessed teenagers. Yeah it’s a fun one and it’s all in the hands of a small town detective named Dana. So if you’re looking for a cool, original and refreshing horror “farm noir” adventure then you need to grab Revival ASAP! I’s bound to be big.. Also for a great interview with the series creators Timm Seely & Mike Norton check Comicbookresources.com and get the full scoop!
The Walking Dead #100 : Shocking Yet Oddly Unfulfilling….
So today ends the wait for issue number 100, an issue that writer Robert Kirkman never thought possible for the series when it all started. Issue 100 had a LOT of speculation and mystery surrounding it, people were waiting to be blown away. Well now the question is after all the hubbub did it deliver the goods? I didn’t think so personally…
I will say that it was truly the most brutal issue we’ve yet seen. Some of the panels were undeniably hard to look at. The blood ran cold and here we are once again with the death of one of the books longest lasting characters. Yes it was a sad and depressing issue and one that I have no doubt will have fans talking and mourning the death of Glenn for a long time to come. So what’s wrong with it then you might ask? I am most likely a minority here, but aside from the extreme carnage in this issue it really didn’t have much to offer even with it’s added extra pages. It seems to me that this book is in serious need of new ideas, new scenery and the sheer adventure that should fuel it’s readers. Issue 100 feels a little too “been there done that” to me.
Negan is clearly designed to be the books next “Governor”. However the Governor was done first and done better and really Kirkman after all the “Lucile is coming” hype it turns out that Lucile is a barbed wire baseball bat? Um… pretty disappointing. I feel like sometimes I may have been mistaking “good writing” in this series lately for the sudden shocking deaths of characters. It seems Kirkman can kill major characters every so often amidst a rather monotonous storyline and somehow get away with his book still being praised as the most epic series out there. Now don’t get me wrong, I still like The Walking Dead, I thought this was a good issue and I still will keep on board most likely until the series ends. However I can honestly say that I really don’t love it in the way I used to. I’d like to see something new brought to the table, I have grown seriously tired of the “sitting in one place and trying to start a community” scenario again and again. I think these characters need to get off their asses and get some answers to what is really going on, I’d like to see a little less of how terrible humanity is over and over. Yes we get it Kirkman, zombies bad, humans even worse. Let’s see a little supernatural development above the rather blah zombie infection or let’s send the crew off somewhere completely different, perhaps out to sea or hell as Kirkman continually jokes maybe now is the time for the Alien’s to appear! Heck I think it’d be more exciting than watching another “shocking” character death don’t you?
Comic Book Nostalgia: Rock Star Rob Liefeld and his 501’s!
I have mentioned this commercial here from the early 90’s you know back when Rob Liefeld was a comic book rock star! I am not sure how that happened really to this day, it still amazes me but ol’ Liefer has gotten enough negative press! So let’s not dwell on the fact that comic books like Youngblood is seriously unreadable as in doing so will likely make you less intellegent & damage your brain.
Check this out and relive a little comic book nostalgia!
Well folks that’s not all for today I also found this interview with Dennis Miller from back in the day. I think this was pre-Dennis Miller is the biggest Douche in the world era. Now that I am thinking about when exactly did Miller switch from being super funny to an asinine political tool? It happened overnight it seemed, well anyway check this out too more Rock Star Liefeld!
Universal Dork 