Posts

"Will of Iron" - This Comic Understood Warhammer 40,000

Image
Warhammer 40k! Heck, yeah! Writer: George Man Artist: Tazio Bettin Colorist: Enrica Eren Angiolini Letterer: Rob Steen Publisher: Titan Comics Published: June 20, 2017 Length: 112 Pages Publisher's Blurb: After a thousand years of warp storms, the Calaphrax Cluster has re-opened to the universe, and Baltus and his fellow Dark Angel Space Marines join a strike force sent to explore and secure the region, in search of forgotten artefacts and ancient technology! But the forces of Chaos are never far away... and a shameful Dark Angels secret from the Horus Heresy soon leads to a new front in the war! It’s a shame this comic is out of print so hard to find, because it’s such a wonderful read. You’ll need some background knowledge of the 40K universe to really appreciate this comic, but with that in mind, it’s near perfect. Will of Iron has everything a 40K fan could want: Imperial infighting, dastardly chaos space marine schemes, knights, and the best space marine chapter of all: the Da...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aliens vs. Avengers Took Risks

Image
I picked up this comic completely blind. After spending some time with the Dark Horse/DC Alien and Predator crossovers from the 90’s, I was curious to see what Marvel’s swing at a crossover would look like. I was expecting a pretty standard “versus” comic where Captain America, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel encounter the Xenomorph in space and have to duke it out. Boy was I wrong. This comic took risks! Written by Jonathan Hickman Penciled by Esad Ribic Colored by Ive Svorcina Lettered by Cory Petit Covers by Esad Ribic Edited by Sarah Brunstad Published August 2024 - June 2025 152 Pages (TPB) Risk 1 -  The comic is set at least 40-50 years into the Marvel continuity. All our heroes are old (in a strange way, it reminded me of Kingdom Come). Risk 2 -  The Aliens have basically already won. All but one city has fallen. A lot of our heroes are dead. Risk 3 -  No one is safe. This comic has a body count. ______________________________________ None of this is really spoiling a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Miss Fury: Joy Division - Righteous Vengeance Incarnate

Image
History and rage dominate Billy Tucci's Miss Fury: Joy Division. Miss Fury: Joy Division is written by  illy Tucci, illustrated by Maria Laura Sanapo and Edu Menna, colored by Ceci de la Cruz and Sigmund Torre, lettered by Mindy Lopkin, and was bublished by Dynamite Entertainment.  Miss Fury is a Golden Age superhero created by June Tarpé Mills. She was the first female superhero created, written, and illustrated by a woman. Tucci's love for the original Miss Fury comic strips is evident to any who read this volume. He was handed Tarpé Mills' collection of action figures and uses them to full effect, putting them in new and interesting scenarios, expanding backstories, and revealing what our friends and foes were up to in the last days of WWII. The history of WWII, too, looms large in this graphic novel. Miss Fury is sent undercover behind enemy lines to liberate a concentration camp brothel, also known as a "joy division," at the end of the war. It's a dark ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don't Forget Your Briefcase - Apocalyptic Satire

Image
Don't Forget Your Briefcase is a difficult comic to review without spoiling everything. It wasn’t the comic for me, but I’m glad I read it.  Don't Forget your Briefcase  - Author: Eliot Rahal - Illustrated by Phillip Sevy - Colorist: Warnia Sahadewa - Letterer: Frank Cvetkovic - 128 Pages Long - Published on 3/17/2026 by Mad Cave Studios Thank you Mad Case Studios for providing an Advance Review Copy of this ebook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Vanessa Honken, special aide to the President, is tasked with carrying the nuclear football, a briefcase holding the nuclear launch codes of the United States. Following an assassination attempt on the president, ten-year-old Elmo's school briefcase is inadvertently switched with the nuclear football. Shenanigans ensue and Katrina, Vanessa, and Elmo are pulled deeper and deeper into a spiral of violence and intrigue. Throughout its narrative, we meet shady politicians, warlike generals, cynical anarc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Manga Classics: MacBeth - An Excellent Adaptation

Image
Witches. Prophecy. Intrigue. Murder. Macbeth is a classic for a reason.  Shakespeare isn't really meant to be read. His plays are scripts. They are intended to be experienced in performance. If watching MacBeth performed is the best way to experience the play, reading Manga Classics: MacBeth might be the second-best way to experience it.  Manga Classics: MacBeth is adapted by Crystal S. Chan and illustrated by  Julien Choy. It was published on  Oct 11, 2018 by Udon Entertainment. T hank you Undon Entertainment for providing a copy of this ebook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. When Scottish Lord MacBeth is told a prophecy by three witches that he will one day be king of Scotland, he and his wife set in motion a bloody plot to seize the throne. But how will this treachery sit on their consciences and will they have the cunning necessary to defend a usurper’s crown? I'm a Shakespeare nerd. In high school, I memorized Hamlet's famous...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aliens/Vamirella (2016) - A Surprisingly Good Read

Image
This review contains minor spoilers.  I know, I know. Vampirella. She’s most famous for her skimpy outfit (even by comic book standards). She’s a walking male gaze with fangs. So, why did I read this comic? Two reasons: 1 - It was free through ComicBookPlus via my local library and I’m on an Aliens crossover comic kick. 2 - in a review covering this comic, YouTuber Alpha Rookie noted she doesn’t really wear her iconic costume in this crossover and is, instead, dressed in a more practical purple parka. I am deeply indebted to this review and echo two of his insights below.  Aliens/Vampirella is a 6-issue miniseries originally published by Dynamite Entertainment and Dark Horse Comics from September 2015 to February 2016. It is written by Corinna Bechko with pencils and inks by Javier García-Miranda, colors by InLight Studio, and lettering by Simon Bowland. I read the collected trade on ComicBookPlus through my local library.  When a Mars colony dis...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflections on an Ice Age Woman

Image
"The Woman of Cussac" - Aquitaine, France Photo: CNP, Ministère de la Culture. Source They saw mammoths and giant cave bears. At some point, they carved her on a cave wall in what would one day become France. Her people lived and loved and died during the last great ice age. This is a carving of a woman in profile from Grotte de Cussac (or Cussac Cave), discovered in 2000. Its walls are etched with overlapping, interlaced art of bison, mammoths, bovines, horses, and humans dating to around 29,000 BCE during the upper paleolithic period. It is one of the very few Paleolithic caves to contain human remains. Her people were part of what anthropologists call the Gravettian, a nomadic hunter-gatherer group that ranged across much of Europe. This carving shares much stylistically with other examples of Gravettian art such as the Woman of Laussel (pictured below) and the famous figurine Woman of Willendorf . Dozens of these images,  often referred to anachronistically as ...
1 comment
Read more