Review - Nancy Drew #1 (2018)

Nancy Drew #1 (2018) - 

Dynamite Entertainment

 

Written by Kelly Thompson

Art by Jenn St-Onge

Colors by Triona Farrell

Letters by Ariana Maher

Cover by Tula Lotay

 

They say you can't go home again.  I never really understood that one.  I've been "back home" a couple of times, it's pretty easy.  The real trick, I think, is what do you consider home?  Nancy Drew has made a new life for herself, but that is about to be interrupted.  Let's dive into this new comic book adaptation of the great crime solver.

 

First, don't call it a reboot.  I say that because it doesn't feel like one, even though that is the buzz word these days.  The story follows a 17 year old Nancy, who has found a life for herself doing her usual crime solving with a whole new set of friends.  That's when she receives something disturbing that pulls her back to Bayport.  I won't go into the details of what it was, or the circumstances, but it was jarring enough for her to drop everything and go.  If that wasn't complicated enough, how about running into your friends that you haven't seen or talked to in a while?  There are some familiar names and faces you will definitely recognize once she gets there and the case really starts.  I do love that this book really deals with the personal relationships first, and doesn't really dive into the case until the latter pages of the book.  Dive is a very appropriate word, and once you read the book, you'll understand.  We don't get much in the way of details about the case, but I will say that this book ends on a cliffhanger (again, very appropriate choice of words.)

 

This book is very well updated and just has a very good vibe about it.  It's easy to take for granted updating a character to modern times, but not everyone does it well.  Kelly Thompson takes a character you may already love, and makes he likeable to the nth degree.  I love the inner monologue on the notebook pages as well, a very nice touch and adds a lot to the story.  The group dynamic is also very fun and makes you want to read the story for the interactions just as much as the mystery itself.  The art is very solid throughout as well.  First you start with the cover by Tula Lotay which is out of this world good, they you get to the interior where Jenn St-Onge makes you feel like you're watching a high end animated series.  This book really is for everyone, and is just a very enjoyable read.  Every piece of this story just feels like it belongs and falls right into place.  I highly recommend this, whether you've been a lifelong Nancy Drew fan or not.

 

RATING:  PULL / BUY  

Review - The Last Siege #1

The Last Siege #1 - 

Image Comics

 

Written by Landry Q. Walker

Art by Justin Greenwood

Colors by Eric Jones

Letters by Patrick Brosseau

Designed by Keith Wood

 

If you're a regular reader of these reviews (or listener to the podcast), you know that I am a sucker for a couple of storylines in particular.  One is a good western, and the other is a good medieval story in a land of swords and kings.  So, naturally, combining those two things seems like a no-brainer to me.  When I read the premise for The Last Siege from Image Comics, I jumped at the chance to give this a read.

 

This story doesn't necessarily follow one character in particular, but a kingdom that is now being ruled by a cruel king.  In this story, we find ourselves in a free territory who's ruler has just fallen and left a sole heir.  She is very young, and confidence in her is quite low.  As a few (who claim to be looking out for her) try to decide her fate, a mysterious stranger shows up.  When someone has an agenda, the last thing they want is an outsider.  The middle and latter part of this book features some fairly intense action sequences, mixed with meaningful dialog as it pertains to the story going forward into the next issue.  What we are left with is a revelation that pretty much makes up everyone's mind for them in a way.

 

This book is billed as spaghetti western meets Game of Thrones by Image.  I can certainly see why they would say that, given that is has pretty strong elements of both (especially in the early seasons of Game of Thrones.)  The first few pages let the art tell the story, and I felt like that was a nice way to set the tone of what was to come.  The only problem I found as I was reading was that I simply did not have enough character background on the people in this territory.  Sure I felt bad for the 11 year old girl, no I didn't want to see a hostile takeover of innocent people, but I feel like giving me that sense of loss of their Lord in the first couple of pages may have made all of the difference in how invested I was.  I do feel like the western vibe was spot on, and given the unique setting for such a story, I am definitely intrigued.  There's enough here for me to keep going, and given just a bit more depth, I could certainly see this book being a part of a weekly pull.  But for now...

 

RATING:  PICK UP  

Review - Delta 13 #1

Delta 13 #1 - 

IDW Publishing

 

Written by Steve Niles

Art by Nat Jones

Letters by Tom B. Long

 

To me, the cornerstone of great science fiction is a good space exploration story.  That is one of the things that made me fall in love with science fiction in the first place.  Star Trek, at it's core, was about exploration (in my view), but with science fiction there is always more to it than that.  So it's only fitting that the same week we find out The Expanse may be saved by Amazon, we get a new book from IDW to satisfy our need.  Let's take a trip with Delta 13.

 

The story follows a crew that appears to be tasked with exploring the asteroid belt and deploying vehicles to document said asteroids.  In the early part of the book, the story seems pretty simple.  It seems like a normal crew, on a routine mission and already thinking about their next step.  How often does THAT work out in these kinds of stories.  Minor spoiler here, but it's in the initial description so I'll use it here, the crew comes upon a massive, undiscovered asteroid.  It's at this point where my anxiety as a fan kicks in.  This is when you try to find out exactly when the other shoe is going to drop.  I won't say anything else from here, other than the fact that this book pretty much has the perfect ending.

 

If I'm being honest, the first thing that caught my eye about this book was the amazing cover by Nat Jones.  Since he also does the interior art, we get a whole book full of that same incredible work.  He captures the dark and mysterious angle of this story so well, you almost don't need words.  That being said, Steve Niles takes us from pedestrian to intriguing almost with a snap of the fingers.  Things seem normal, then there's a jolt and you're hooked.  The characters had a good dynamic, and that is without us knowing much about most of them.  If I'm think interested now, I can only imagine how much more I'll be drawn in by the next issue.

 

RATING:  PULL / BUY 

Review - Ruin of Thieves: A Bridands Story #1

Ruin of Thieves: A Brigands Story #1 -
Action Lab / Danger Zone

Written by Ram V
Art by Sumit Komar & ROSH
Letters by Aditya Bidikar

Tales of pirates and the high seas have been told for quite some time.  With games like Sea of Thieves and others, plus the recent movies and television series, you could say these stories are becoming increasingly popular.  Danger Zone & Action Lab have their own tale to tell, and the fate of entire civilizations may depend on this heist.  It's time for A Brigands Story and to explore the Ruin of Thieves.

The story follows a group led by the vicious Stilian Desault, who is leading a group to steal the Myros Pendulum before it can fall into the wrong hands.  They are also on a ticking clock, as the artifact appears with the Myros Comet which can already be seen overhead.  The story picks up with Stilian's crew landing on an island to gather themselves and try to obtain more information.  What they end up running in to is a lot of trouble, but also, an interesting chance encounter.  I won't spoil that here, but it really changes the direction of this first issue.  It also adds depth to the characters in Stilian's group, as they come across something along the way that simply cannot (or should not) be ignored.  It's almost like when you're playing a video game, and you have your main task, but a side mission presents itself and it's something that you know you have to do.  If that wasn't enough, we now see a third group emerge in another part of the world who are also seeking the Myros Pendulum.  A priest and an army captain don't usually make for a good combination, but you would be surprised who is the most vicious.  We do get a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the issue, and you wonder if the quest was all for nothing.

This story definitely kept my attention.  I do feel like there was some backstory that I missed out on, but there is a great description in the beginning of the book that explains how the story got to this point.  Once you get the faces to match up to the names, which does happen in the middle of the issue, new readers can easily settle in to this.  The motive here is pretty simple on all sides, but it actually worked for me that it wasn't unnecessarily complicated.  I like the added aspect of several different groups, who all seem to want the same thing for different reasons.  It's a race against time, other factions and there are also some political games going on at the same time.  The art was pretty solid throughout, but seemed to especially shine in the action sequences.  There is also a scene with fire that really popped and gave more meaning to that particular scene.  While I don't find myself itching for the next issue, I do want to see where this story goes and think the characters have a solid foundation.  I could easily see being drawn in more with another issue or two.

RATING:  PULL / BUY

Review - Fraggle Rock #1

Fraggle Rock #1 - 

Archaia / Boom! Studios

 

Story & Art by Jared Cullum

Letters by Mike Fiorentino

 

When you think Jim Henson, it's hard not to think about The Muppets first.  If you grew up in the 80s, you know there was so much more to it than that.  One of the things I used to love to watch when I was younger was Fraggle Rock.  Naturally, when I saw that Boom! Studios was bringing us down to Fraggle Rock in comic book form, I jumped on the opportunity to check it out.  Let's see what this book has in store.

 

The story centers around Mokey and a problem that she is having.  Naturally, her fellow Fraggle friends try to help her, with mixed results.  This is a very family friendly story that you could definitely share with your kids.  There is a great message during, and at the end, of the story.  Unfortunately, that's all I can say and still avoid spoilers.  I will say that this book doesn't necessarily feel like watching an episode of the tv series.  That is not a bad thing, because if I wanted the tv series, I'd just grab my DVDs.  This book provides a nice 26+ page story that stands on it's own.

 

One of the things I loved that Jared Cullum and company did was, this book is a good starting point.  You don't have to know a whole lot, if anything, about the original series to appreciate this book.  Something I REALLY loved was the watercolor art by Cullum.  I also love how he used shading, or even lack of color, to depict the mood of his characters in each panel.  Story wise, it would have been easy to just make this a fan service book.  Instead, this story was full of both fun and emotion, which also provides a teaching moment for younger readers.  While this differs from what we have seen on the screen, this is a solid opening for this iteration Fraggle Rock in the comic book world.  Now, who's up for a paint night?

 

RATING:  PULL / BUY 

Review - Betty & Veronica: Friend Forever #1 (At The Movies)

Betty & Veronica: Friend Forever #1 (At The Movies) - 

Archie Comics

 

Written by Bill Golliher
Pencils by Dan Parent
Inks by Rich Koslowski
Colors by Glenn Whitmore
This Saturday is Free Comic Book Day 2018!  Not only is a great day to get free comics, it's also a great day to take a look through books that you may have never read before.  Sometimes trying something different and having more variety in your pull box is a good thing.  This week, I sort of went back to basics.  It just felt like a good week for a classic Archie Comics story, so let's head to the movies with Betty & Veronica.

The first thing I liked about this book was it's comic strip feel.  You get four short stories in this book, each of which is much more than a strip in length, but still gives you that "funny pages" type feel.  The classic look always gets to me and takes me back to one of the reasons I started falling in love with comics in the first place.  Each story has a movie theme, with Betty & Veronica visiting a Hollywood movie set, getting a job as extras and more.  There is one at a movie theater that I particularly enjoyed.  There's really nothing to spoil or not spoil, these are just fun stories that have a great throwback vibe.

Any time I see Dan Parent's name on an Archie comic, I know exactly what I'm getting myself into.  The art is one of the main things that has always made me love these books.  Hats off to Bill Golliher as well, who really captured the true essence of these characters and really made it feel like I jumped in a time machine.  Also, I'm not sure what the record is for number of exclaimation points in one comic, but this one may have broken it.  Sure, some stories were better than others, but reading this book felt like throwing on one of my favorite old nerd shirts and firing up my classic NES.  So when you go out to your local shop for Free Comic Book Day this weekend, remember the things that made you fall in love with comics in the first place.  Just like you, I always have my characters like Batman and Spider-Man, but it's nice to see that Archie comics can still make me remember those classic moments of reading the Sunday funny pages.

RATING:  PULL / BUY

Review - The Prisoner: The Uncertainty Machine #1

The Prisoner: The Uncertainty Machine #1 - 

Titan Comics

 

Written by Peter Milligan 

Art by Colin Lorimer

Colors by Joana Lafuente

Letters by Simon Bowland

Cover by Mike & Laura Allred

 

We like to absorb our favorite shows and movies in any way that we can.  It seems like every thing on the screen is now translated onto the page, with a few exceptions.  Rarely do we get to see something brought to comic books that we don't expect to see.  In 1967 (then again in 2009), The Prisoner combined elements of mystery and is a show that fans still love to this day.  The Simpsons even did a short parody episode based on the show.  Now it's Titan Comics' turn with The Uncertainty Machine.

 

The story follows an MI5 agent named Breen and we get to find out a lot about how he does his job right away.  His partnet Agent Carey is also a big part of the story, and something happens that leads Breen down a different path.  I'm not going to spoil anything here, even though some of the beats of the comic follow that of the show.  I will tell you that, if you are a fan of the show, The Village is definitely part of it.  There is also a pretty good explanation of what's going on right at the beginning of the book, so even if you're going in with no knowledge of the show, you won't be lost.  After Breen makes a decision that he can't turn back on, he sets his trap and waits for his intended target.  As you can imagine, that doesn't go so well and you do get the reveal that you are expecting at the end.

 

What I love about this book is the deep dive that it takes into the mind of an agent who has to juggle multiple identities.  I also picked up on a bit of a commentary on what happens when they find something that they can hold on to that reminds them of who they really are.  Peter Milligan is never stingy on the details in his books, and this book definitely needed it.  I also love how the art really highlights each identity, and also really got the shine in the last few pages.  If you were a fan of the original show, you'll love this trip down memory lane and you'll probably wonder what will be different about the adaptation.  Set in modern times, this book definitely has the ability to do some things that the original story simply could not do.  Only time will tell if that pays off.

 

RATING:  PICK UP