Reviews

By Alan M Rogers

TIME BOMB #1 BY RADICAL PUBLISHING

CREATORS & WRITERS: Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray
ARTIST: Paul Gulacy
ADDITIONAL INKS: Charles Yoakum
COLORIST: Rain Beredo
LETTERER: John J Hill
EDITOR: Rob Levin
COVER: Paul Gulacy & Rain Beredo

56 pg FC $4.99

After the Omega Bomb of Nazi Germany is accidentally launched, giving the human race 72 hours to live, four specialists are sent back in time to prevent the disaster. Unfortunately, instead of getting send back two dys, our heroes find themselves 67 years in the past, landing right in the middle of a German POW camp.

As the four time-displaced heroes hurry to ground zero, they take careful steps not to alter the past. However, their presence has alerted a sinister and evil enemy to their mission, the creator of the Omega Bomb himself, Axel Von Metzger, The Butcher!

Everyone I know – comic book reader or not – loves to imagine the world is a more mysterious place than they think it is. Everyone wants there to be places we haven’t found. Everyone wants a little magic, a lost civilization or a corner of the planet with ancient, unexplained ruins.

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By Alan M Rogers

We Kill Monsters TP by Red 5 Comics

STORY: Christopher Leone & Laura Harkcom
WRITER: Christopher Leone
PENCILS: Brian Churilla
INKS: Hilary Barta, Brian Churilla & Richard Ellis
COLORS: Ronda Pattison
LETTERS: Jeff Powell

It’s just one more day. You wake up, fix a few cars, mourn your father’s passing, awkwardly interact with your ex-girlfriend and help your socially-inept genius brother slay a giant blue monster.

Things get weird when said genius brother drinks monster brain juice and is miraculously healed by it.

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Jurassic Park: Redemption by IDW Comics

by Alan M Rogers

WRITER: Bob Schreck

ARTIST: Nate Van Dyke

COLORIST: Jamie Grant & Dave Stewart

LETTERER: Chris Mowry

EDITOR: Tom Waltz

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Bobby Curnow

COVER A: Tom Yeates

COVER B: Frank Miller

It’s been 13 years since little Tim and Lex Murphy escaped from the island of Isla Sorna, and recent public opinion has reversed, with the world clamoring for authorities to re-open Jurassic Park! With the help of their controversial Granddad’s inheritance and their own sharp wits, a secret deal is struck to open a new park! This time they’ll get it right… right? Bob Schreck makes his writing debut on this all-new tale, under covers from fellow industry legends Frank Miller and Tom Yeates!

Humanity at the top of the food chain.

Most of us know it; instinctively, deep in our bones. It’s one of those things, like gravity, that we don’t ever think about.

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Atomic Robo 4.3 by Red 5 Comics

by Alan M Rogers

WRITER: Brian Clevinger
ART: Scott Wegner
COLORS: Ronda Pattison
LETTERS: Jeff Powell

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The wisecracking robotic investigator and special agent is once again face to face with his
reptilian adversary, the aptly named Dr. Dinosaur. This issue opens with Robo captured by the self-proclaimed time-traveling dinosaur genius, continuing the storyline Brian Clevinger began in the Free Comic Book Day comic released by Red 5 Comics.

Atomic Robo, as always, hearkens back (both in art and writing) to the pulp comics of the Golden Age – a wisecracking hero using wit, wisdom and sheer brute strength to defeat zany villains who blend absurd ‘take over the world’ plots with bit of actual (and sometimes frightening) personal agendas. Faced with an underground secret lab powered by the mysterious and somewhat inexplicable crystals, Robo has to overcome his embarrassment at being captured by the raptor’s cunnig plan while trying valiantly to thwart a bird-brained scheme involving Robo’s head, a threatening note of dubious grammar, and the United States Postal service.

Our hero quickly discovers that although intelligent dialogue with a (possibly) time-traveling dinosaur is difficult at best, witty repartee is unavoidable and finds himself in the unenviable position of saving himself by helping the mad scientist work the kinks out of his scheme.

The story is a riot of chagrined heroes; Clevinger shows his mastery of the short-form graphic
story, throwing the reading into the middle of things (in medias res, for the literary inclined) and then drags us along. I found myself laughing and shaking my head at every turn of the page – the interplay between hero and villain was so good that I actually forgot I wanted Robo to get away!

Scott Wegner’s art and Ronda Pattison’s colors compliment the story perfectly; Dr. Dinosaur is animated and his toothy grin manager to convey as much emotion as any humans face. Wegner skillfully manipulates Robo’s body language to help convey tone of voice and inflection.

Atomic Robo continues to be one of the best consistently good titles and is well worth picking up and reading, no matter where in the series you start!

Vampires are everywhere; books and movies and TV shows. There are dolls and stickers and folders and video games – vampires are everywhere. Our culture is enamoured with them, with the romance and the fear and the legends surrounding them. The question everyone should have is: what would the value be in yet another vampire tale?

The answer is simple: we’ve borrowed vampires from everyone else. Now, one of America’s greatest horror writers has put pen to paper to create a new vampire mythos – one that belongs to America. Dragon’s Lair’s Signings Coordinator, Robbie J. LaBanca read this new story from Scott Snyder and Stephen King.

American Vampire #1

by Robbie J LaBanca

Writer:
Scott Snyder, Stephen King

Art & Cover: Rafael Albuquerque

1:25 Variant Cover: Jim Lee

40p FC $3.99

Scott Snyder teams up with Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King to bring you a thrilling tale of a new kind of vampire. An American Vampire.

This isn’t your grandmother’s vampire tale. There are no lavish castles, filled with candelabras nestled in the rolling hills of Romania. In the first issue of this five-issue story, we first meet Pearl, the would-be Hollywood starlet, trying to make it in the infant world of moving pictures during the 1920’s, while working three jobs to pay the rent. Things start to look up for Pearl when the handsome star of the film she is an extra in takes a liking to her and invites her to attend an opulent party hosted by the film’s producer.

The handsome actor’s statement that the producer is going to “gobble her up” isn’t far from the truth – and that is where I will leave you.

The next story, written by the master of horror himself (Stephen King), introduces us to Skinner Sweet via William Bunting who retells his first-person account of the unbelievable events that unfolded during a train-robbery gone horribly wrong. Skinner attempts to rob a train, as we are led to believe he has done many times before (in addition to countless other felonies) without accounting for one special passenger who doesn’t go down as easily as the others.

William Bunting tells this story to the world via a novel he writes titled Bad Blood, convinced that no one would believe the tale unless it was published as fiction. The events that unfold after the robbery gone wrong changes what would have been Skinner’s untimely demise into the beginning of a whole new tale. The two tales will be soon become one as the story continues in the next four issues and I am personally delighted to watch how Scott Snyder and Stephen King masterfully weave them together.

Rafael Albuquerque’s art lends a interesting, cinematic feel to the story. His saturated colors and odd, angular perspective choices bring a noticeable interest to his art that works in a tight harmony to Snyder and King’s melody. Albuquerque’s lines are reflective of the plot and become less contained and more wild as the plot goes flying off the tracks like a train coming loose from the tracks.

In King’s inaugural attempt in comics, I feel he is more than simply successful. Although he is not slated to continue past the first five issues, I am looking forward to how he and Snyder work together to bring America it’s very own vampire mythos. In an area where there are vampires in every tween novel, TV show and big-box store poster rack, it is refreshing to read a well-thought out tale of personal horror written for a mature and intelligent audience.

All comics reviewed are out this week and are available at your local Dragon’s Lair Comics & Fantasy®!

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Green Lantern: First Flight Animated Movie

It’s no secret I’m a Green Lantern fanboy. How could I not be? Green Lanterns are Jedi Knights, old west Sheriffs and interstellar explorers all wrapped up in one cosmically-powered package. Their power comes from will – or, just being plain stubborn.

Not that I empathize with that or anything.

So when I saw DC had produced a Green Lantern animated movie, I had to check it out. Like the Wonder Woman animated movie before it, First Flight is an adaptation of an iconic origin story, re-telling the thrilling tale of how Hal Jordan began his career as one of the most decorated and respected space cops in the DC Universe.

I came to the movie with certain expectations. Wry quips, derring-do, a bit of violence, and a lot of ring-slinging. I had hopes of seeing Sinestro’s fall from grace and of watching Hal Jordan show the Guardians of the Universe that humanity is more than capable of playing in the cosmic big leagues.

I was not disappointed. The movie is fast paced, leaving out a lot of unnecessary and distracting detail, boiling the story down to it’s foundational elements. The story is fluid and smooth and doesn’t leave anyone confused about what’s going on. Even newcomers to the Green Lantern mythos will know exactly who is who and what’s going on. Longtime Lantern fans will be able to appreciate some of the finer details and the subtle references to the decades of Green Lantern stories out there.

The story opens with Hal Jordan in a flight simulator, out (once again) to prove he’s the best pilot out there, but Hal’s infamous bad luck strikesm, and he finds himself transport – simulator and all – to a wrecked starship belonging to Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of sector 2814. With his dying breaths, Abin Sur passes on his power ring to Hal Jordan, because he is a man without fear. He is a man capable of wielding the awesome power of a Green Lantern. In a flash of bright green light, Hal Jordan is transformed from a brash test pilot into an interstellar policeman.

After being inducted into the Green Lantern Corps by the Guardians of the Galaxy in a somewhat probationary capacity, Hal partners with the greatest Green Lantern of them all – an alien named Sinestro. As Hal follows Sinestro on a mission to uncover a threat to the universe at large, Hal begins to doubt Sinestro and some of his allies, and he doggedly searches for the truth like any good police officer would – by asking uncomfortable questions, doing violence to the bad guys and poking his very human nose where no one wants him to.

Hal eventually does get to the bottom of the mystery, but solving the case comes with a price, and Hal is forced to act on his own and face his own limitations – and his own mortality – at the hands of a hidden enemy. If you’re familiar at all with Green Lantern, it’s easy to figure out who the villain is, but the revelation is handled so well you feel like you’re seeing it for the first time. Along the way, Hal meets new allies, many of whom are familiar faces to Green Lantern fans such as Kilowog, Bodikka, Tomar Re, Ganthet and the Weaponers of Qward.

Overall, the writing is superb, managing to capture the flavor of the Green Lantern comics without losing any of the action or adventure we’ve all come to expect from DC movies. The animation is crisp and clean and reminiscent of the original Batman animated series. The dialogue is fantastic, combining police and psuedo-military lingo with the witty banter superheroes are so well known for.

One cautionary note. This movie is rated PG-13 for a reason. It has it’s fair share of gore and violence, and even a bit of language, but nothing is over the top. Parents might want to preview this before letting younget children see it, because the movie – like the comics it is based on – does not shy away from the dangers of being a police officer.

I highly recommend checking out this movie (Dragon’s Lair has it for rent) and falling in love with the Green Lanterns all over again.

~alan m rogers

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by Alan M Rogers

In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!

- Oath of the Green Lanterns

Across the DC Universe, the dead are rising to slay the living.

It’s all Alan Moore’s fault.

No. Really. It is! I mean, if there’s anyone to blame for zombies invading the DC Universe and wreaking havoc, Alan Moore’s the guy to blame. After all, he wrote the story that created the idea of the Blackest Night in the form of a prophecy. Right around the time he created Mogo, actually.

Geoff Johns just took it to it’s logical conclusion.

For those of you who don’t know, Blackest Night is the third part of the Geoff Johns epic Green Lantern trilogy he began with Rebirth and continued with the Sinestro Corps War. Everything else Johns had written for the Green Lantern universe has been part of those three stories.

Blackest Night is the culimnation of War of Light that began with the Sinestro Corps and has continued through the Green Lantern Corps ‘Sins of the Star Sapphires’ and Green Lantern’s ‘Rage of the Red Lanterns.’

Hal Jordan has already faced the Star Sapphire, the Sinestro Corps, and even Parallax, the embodiment of fear itself. He’s come back from the dead and traveled the cosmos. He’s done battle with demons, gods and supervillains and has sacrificed himself in the name of the greater good more times than once.

He has done battle against Red Lanterns, been tempted by Agent Orange and has possessed the power of Hope. He has seen friends die and be reborn and has stood at the edge of the multiverse, fighting for existence itself.

Now, he fights the legacy of those battles. Black Hand posseses the Black Power Battery, and the dead rise. The teaser proclaimed that “…the armies of fear and must fight together, because the dead shall rise…”

Daxam has fallen and Sinestro is free to confront the usurper Mongul. Is this going to be the redemption of the Green Lanterns and the Guardians, the redemption of Sinestro and his followers, or is the cosmos going to fall into darkness?

Dramatic preludes aside, Blackest Night is the culmination of the Green Lantern story for the past several years, and will affect the entire DC Universe. Originally planned to be a story contained within the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps titles, Blackest Night has become a galaxy-spanning story tying in to Superman, Batman, Titans, and even Wonder Woman!

The first issue was fantastic. Geoff Johns picked up storylines from Final Crisis, the aftermath of Battle for the Cowl and the recent Justice Society of America storylines and wove them together in a way that was not only accessible to new readers but respectful of the titles the Blackest Night story touched on.

The story starts with Hawkman on the phone with the Atom, Ray Palmer and leads into a heated emotional discussion between Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Geoff Johns is usually known for epic battles and dramatic moments manages to write a touching, bittersweet romantic moment between the estranged warriors.

Johns flashes between scenes as he sets the stage, giving the reader glimpses into the mystery of Bruce Wayne’s missing skull and the ongoing War of Light.

We see the legacy of Aquaman’s death – the arguments over whether or not he should be buried with his fellow heroes or if his remains should be taken to Atlantis. We see the Justice League’s morbid morgue of supervillains – a cyrogenic rogue’s gallery.

It is a moment of painful transition for the DC Universe as the last gasps of the Final Crisis work themselves out, and Johns presents it in a way that leaves the reader no doubt that Earth’s heroes are tired and worn down, just beginning to stand back up.

And we see the black power rings flying through space. They are unstoppable, tearing down every obstacle put in their path, no matter if it’s a Green Lantern of a Guardian of the Universe. The rings are Death, and no one can truly stop death.

For several pages, Johns lets us see the effects of the rings as the dead rise. Ralph and Sue Dibny. Aquaman. Pa Kent. And many, many others – familiar faces we may not even know are familiar yet rise from their graves.

It’s as wonderfully suspenseful, dramatic and epic as we could want, even from Geoff Johns. Ethan van Scriver’s artwork is breathtaking in scope, exquisitie in detail and vibrant in color, and brings the emotional story to life.

But the rest of this comic, already phenomenal, pales in comparison to the last three pages. These last pages are bittersweet, tragic, and some of Johns’ best work to date.

I won’t tell you the end, but I will tell you that if you read nothing else of Blackest Night, read this first issue. I will also tell you that if you read this first issue, you will be waiting for the second issue right along with the rest of us.

~alan m rogers