AdmiralWhiskers's Profile

The notion of Joker's biggest nightmare being that he's stuck in a call center is brilliant.

If only they had stuck with that, it could have been fantastic. But alas, the character reverted to form.

Art was fine.

I don't give 10s lightly, for a perfect score means nothing can be better.

Barry Windsor-Smith, with his words and artwork, has made such a book. It is brilliantly crafted. I don't want to say much more than to urge you to get your hands on the book and aavor every page.

NOW we're cooking! Miriam's strange powers explained. Mole agents exposed, and the FBI agents orginally on the case are sidelined. Even a nice little action sequence.

The art isn't my favorite, but it's good enough to tell the story.

At this point, I'd suggest trade waiting on this "kinda sorta rooted in reality" spy thriller if such things interest you.

Wow. WOW. So much to process. Okay, basic premise is what if, in the American world of Mad Max, a society of "Ranger Scouts" organized as a quasi-religious cult based around the 7 Laws of their founder? As insane as this sounds, it works really well. (But all is not what it seems...)

Art and coloring are excellent complements to the script, too.

That said, and I apprec iate it as fiction, this book presents probably the worst extreme of how one conveys Scouting. I am VERY familiar with this subculture, being an active Scout leader, and this is the logical extension of the hyper-conservative Scouting movement. Pepose knows what he's doing, and he capitalizes on the nuttiness to make a very compelling opening chapter. I'm reading it through gritted (Is that a word?) teeth, and it's on point.

Highly recommended.more

Extinction Day....the kids rush to the train that will take them to the evacuation ship, but (of course) there's interference. Chaos ensues. The train scene has the same overtones as the beginning of Snowpiercer. Well told, very well drawn. And I enjoy the coloring...very bright and almost cheerful, which is odd for an end of the world book.

One thing I did not indulge on past issue s is the QR codes inserted in each issue offering a musical soundtrack to key scenes in the books. I scanned a code for this book, and the combination of scene (art and story) and audio was really neat. The codes link to YouTube videos, so they should be out there for a while if you get in late. Fun to check out.more

The creature is in the house and spends the issue getting acclimated. He reads some robot comic and figures that to be the template, so he cannibalizes the electronics and machinery in the house. Fun reveal at the end!

Cute piece, but we're halfway through this miniseries without much happening.

Art has a cartoony flair.

The "10 minutes of powers per day" leaves a lot of tine to fill. It's a lot of young high school stuff, and that's not appealing to this reader. Think an old school Peter Parker book with only sporadic Spider-Man.

Art is manga-inspired.

In this sci-fi book, four buddies take an adventure vacation to a resort on a wild planet. They run afoul of the locals and lost control of their craft a few hundred miles away from home base. They're left to their own skills to get back but have to contend with po'd locals, wild creatures and unforgiving terrain/climate.

Story is ok, art is never better than "could be better" and o ccasionally drifts into distractingly bad.
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What appears to be an oversized book (but still 3.99) with 5 vignettes featuring origin stories of characters who survived the pandemic that killed millions and left a very few with extraordinary powers.

Straczynski writes with a detached style, and that made the initial miniseries a bit of a slog. Promising concept, just muddled execution. Well this is different as JMS has maybe 8 p ages per character to establish the origin and the environment going forward. It's still written at a higher level than your run of the mill Big 2 book, but that makes the book that much more engaging of a read.

The story alone was satisfying enough, but the art was unique and REALLY good. Truthfully, it looks like heavily processed photography. Realistic lines, amazing color usage, fascinating duotone effects. Not sure I've seen a book like it. Maybe Bendis' Pearl from his JinxWorld line. Panels are big and few per page, making me wonder if this is a print reproduction of their web comics that they post on their site.

Regardless, the art and story together makes this a must-get book for the AWA/Upshot-verse curious. Just when I was getting ready to bail over the lightweight E-Ratic, they pull me back in... more

The colors muted a bit with this issue, but the story blossomed.

The Big Reveal happened, and it was done with a calm that would make this issue a talker if it wasn't so interesting and, dare I say, fun. The stakes are laid out, and the last 3 issues look to be exciting. That said, there's a question of "Why push forward?" that this issue suggests. I'm interested in seeing if the c reators decide to address it.

The art is still good, perhaps not as eye-opening as the first issues but so much more visually appealing than the stock crap of so many other titles. Experimentation is good!more

The assault on the Secrets is in full swing, with plenty of action and craziness. Two of the Secrets' cases are opened, which is good to see as I was well on my way to thinking that Taylor was screwing with everyone ("There's nothing in the cases!"). The character moments were traditionally Taylor strong. The supernatural elements...well, we'll have to see how this plays out.

Art i s the manga-inspired stuff that the kids love, very dynamic.

This is the strangest title. I kinda like it, kinda love elements (It was on my honorable mention list for 2020's best books), kinda want to drop it. But I keep coming back.more

Book One of the second story arc. Ewing's writing on a couple of levels, and I'm afraid that he's entirely lost me on the deeper one. The "gotta repair the ship and GTF outta there" theme is pretty easy, but the crew is trying to work out some backstory that suggests Georges, the ship's captain and protagonist, has a very cloudy history.

Then we cut to a different ship, different cr ew...and what appears to be an angry, >>very alive<< God.

Art by Simone Di Mio continues to be stunning. The combination of layouts and lens flares all over the place on coloring make for a wild visual ride. I won't lie and say that I'm not buying this book for the art. It's that good.more

Donny Cates opens with a discussion of the ending of Watchmen and how it was a catalyst for peace and cooperation. He then says when we had our real catalyst (9/11), all we did was "[build] bigger bombs." Damn, that's fine writing.

While I could sit and ponder the opening pages for an hour, I'll try to write the rest. Cates again proves an insightful and easy read. No obtuse Al Ewin g. No novellas de Tynion. Just a straightforward book with wry asides and observations.

The book revolves around Ellie and Ava trying to return to the dome to reunite with their respective parents. The subplot of the evil peacher's son merges (literally) on the road. But a Godzilla/Shogun Warrior battle breaks out of the dome, panic ensues and Cates' The Paybacks swoop in to save the day.

Geoff Shaw's art largely is basic Big 2 house style, but it fits the title like a glove.more

Apparently the start of the third arc. Let no grass grow, eh?

Anyway, the lesson I took from this issue is that nobody is dead for long in FP-verse. But there are lots of good moments - Owen and...his wife...getting right with each other, then with the kids. The grandparents are supportive and add levity. And it looks like the bad guys are revving up again once they realize that t heir attack didn't yield the desired result.

As for art, Chris Samnee is great. One of my favorites right now.more

As we venture far astray from the top tier of indie books, we have Post Americana. I bought in because I loved Steve Skroce's art from We Stand On Guard by Brian K Vaughan. Lesson learned? As a writer, Skroce is...a great artist for Brian K Vaughan.

The story this issue involves our protagonists escaping from a cannibal cult camp and the President and his bunkerized government get ting ready to attack the terrorists...errrr....resistance.

Skroce's art is OK...a couple whiffs on plastic-looking faces, but largely he's held back visually by the subject matter he wrote.
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Ash is back on the beat, but not quite as orthodox as before. She'll let a replicant slide here and there. And that gets her access that she wouldn't otherwise have. Now, she's tracking down a death at the under-construction seawall, and it doesn't look like the death is a replicant. This issue represents a ton of gumshoe sleuthing, and that means world building as we see even more of the Blad e Runner world.

Andres Guinaldo's art is really strong in this issue; in fact, I'd suggest the Peach Momoko cover is the least impressive art in the book. Guinaldo's coming into his own, and that's exciting on a book that can be as visually wild as this.

Not my favorite issue ever, but one that I can appreciate as a means to get through the story. Keep it coming!more

One of the downsides of these awesome looking covers is that you then have to open the book and see that the interior art sometimes doesn't live up to the excitement. This is totally the case here, where a great looking Frank Cho cover obscures what is run-of-the-mill, cartoony character work inside.

The story is a down-on-his-luck writer who has to move back into his parents' house be cause he's loaded up on debt and out of options. He goes out drinking with his hometown buddy and...well...the superhero origin stuff happens. The plot is simplistic and predictable. The scripting is adequate.

Truthfully, I'm surprised Image ran it because it's so Big 2-derivative. There's nothing special about it.more

The protagonists and their hunter have indeed found a live God. But the hunter doesn't care. How do Malik and the small crew of the Vihaan II get out of it? Gotta read the book!

Ewing's story is dense, which is interesting as it's anything but over-written. Every word has meaning, and it takes a study of the page to get where it's headed (and I'm not sure that I do).

But Simone DiMio's art and colors are the star of the book once again. Lavish work, just gorgeous.more

Another "after the fall" story, this time where a guy holed up in the safe bunker meets up with a girl from the insane wastelands that used to be America. With lots of cannibalism. Lots. There's lots of world-building, but it's largely Mad Max-style screwball stuff.

Art by Steve Skroce (who also writes) is reasonable if a touch fanzine-ish.

In all, this is perhaps the ch eesiest of the dystopian batch of books to have arrived since covid-19 hit. But a little corny fun isn't all bad.more

This book lost me. Not regretting dropping it.