Dracula vs. King Arthur #1. Silent Devil. Adam & Christian Beranek (writers); Chris Moreno (artist); Jay Fotos (colorist); Nick Beranek & Heather Addley (letterer). The origins of Dracula and King Arthur and how Lucifer sets up their cage match. And let’s face it, we just want to see some vampire vs. Excalibur action. Geek factor shot up the moment the title was announced, now if the battle can just be pulled off with a modicum of coolness, then satisfaction will be ours. If final third of this issue is any indicator, I don’t think we’ll be disappointed.
Emo Boy #1. Slave Labor. Steve Elmond (writer/artist). I’ve spent ten minutes staring at the blinking cursor here and trying to figure out why this is brilliant. Or why it was able to invoke that internal ha-ha-wait-WTF-was-that? reaction that so few things can. However, I’m at a loss.
Flak Riot #1. Image. Michael O’Hare, Robert Place Napton (writers); Michael O’Hare (artist); Mike Garcia (colorist); Jason Levine (letterer). The tale of a mousy office worker (and her pet floating AI-bot) who decides to take a 72-hour course and become a badass techno-advanced bounty hunter. The story shows some humor and promise, though it would have been nice to understand the relationship between Earth and The Other Dimension (O.D.–I’m wondering if there’s a place called D.T. as well) up-front, as when it becomes apparent that everybody on Earth knows about O.D., it’s a little jarring. The art is my favorite part, though, as it seems like what would happen if J. Scott Campbell illustrated for 2000 A.D. and, you know, did it on time.
Gravity #1. Marvel. Sean McKeever (writer); Mike Norton (artist); Jonathan Glapion (inker); Cory Petit (letterer). The story of a young meta who wants to be a superhero and thus puts on a pervert suit to do his thing, but winds up getting it all wrong is nice for teens, since this is what the book is for and Marvel actually rates their books. Of course, it’s been done before and there’s nothing really new here except for our hero having a roommate who’s a superhero fanatic and blogger he can tap for info. It’s nice for what it is, but there’s nothing terribly novel here.
Mr. T #1. AP. Chris Bunting (writer); Neil Edwards (penciller); Randy Emberlin (inker); Dan MacKinnon (colorist). Well, I never thought I’d be reviewing a new Mr. T comic. And here’s the thing: it’s not bad. Edwards’ artwork is pretty clean, and Bunting provides a decent first issue setup. Of course, that’s all this issue is is a setup towards beatdowns to come, so it’s kinda hard to review just by itself. T was apparently a protector of the streets until he had to go underground. Now a new drug called Shaz-8 (I think it’s Shaz…the lettering made it look like Shat for a minute, which sounds like their answer to Marvel’s MGH) brings him back up again. The camera setups leading up to the payoff are pure melodrama, but…honestly, isn’t Mr. T all about melodrama? We’re talking about a guy who used to have a dog with a mohawk for a sidekick. Anyway, we’ll see what happens with this one.
I love Slave Labor. I love them all. My favorite of course is Gloomcookie, but they just all rock the hizzy.