Down And Nerdy Podcast

Down And Nerdy Podcast
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Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Review - Clue #1

Clue #1 - 
IDW Publishing
 
Written by Paul Allor
Art by Nelson Daniel
Letters by Neil Uyetake
 
Imagine it's a Friday night and you're getting settled in for what will, hopefully be, a nice weekend.  The whole family is home, dinner is done and you're looking for something to do.  Problem is, the power has just gone out.  What do you do?  I guess, in 2017, you grab the smart phone right?  Well, there was a time, when board games were the go-to in this situation.  Remember those?  IDW does, but this time we're going from the board to the panels.  Let's dive into Clue #1 from one of our past guests, Paul Allor.
 
The first thing about this comic is that it's very self aware.  If you're familiar with the game (and the movie) of Clue, a some familiar names await you in this book.  Being a murder mystery, you know what's coming, and you SHOULD know who the victim is before even turning a page.  One thing that is different are the stories of who some of these characters are, plus some new faces.  The story takes place at the classic mansion during a dinner party with quite an interesting array of guests.  It is also narrated by the butler, Upton, who pops in from time to time.  There's not much more I can really say in terms of the plot without spoiling anything, but one of the editions of this comic comes with a few extra pages which gives clues that may help unravel the mystery. 
 
Right away this book has a very likeable vibe.  Even though you know the basis of what this is going to be about, Allor finds a way to make it feel fresh and really make you wonder what is going on.  Even in the first issue, he also gives you a reason to care about and/or suspect each member of the dinner party.  There is also the matter of making what seems obvious, not so obvious.  One of the things that Allor had to accomplish here, much like the game, is to make you doubt yourself.  He succeeds in that, and much more.  I can imagine that this is how Mel Brooks would have approached a Clue story and brought it to life.  With solid art to back things up, I'm certainly interested to keep trying to solve the mysteries of whodunnit.
 
RATING:  PULL / BUY 

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Review - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Millennium #1

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Millennium #1 - 
Titan Comics
Written by Sylvain Runberg

Art by Jose Homs
Translated by Rachel Zerner
Letters by Phillipe Glogowski
Fans of the novels by Stieg Larsson have always been curious to see The Girl With The Drago Tattoo stories come to life.  The movies have become a reality, but now there is even more.  This time Lisbeth comes to the comics world in this new adaptation from Titan Comics.
The book follows the very familiar story of journalist Mikael Blomvist, a disgraced journalist that has taken a job to investigate the disappearance of a member of the Vanger family and chronicle the family's history.  From another angle, we have Lisbeth Salander who is a computer hacker who is investigating Blomvist himself and the possibility that he was set up in his recent conviction.  One investigation definitely goes more smoothly than the other, but there are certainly scars on both sides.  Blomvist gets a bit more wrapped up in the Vanger family than he had initially planned.  We also see Lisbeth's situation change after a tragedy in her life.  When I say worse, I mean a lot worse.  We also get flashes of something else going on, and a secret that is clearly not ready to be revealed yet.  When Blomvist sees his two worlds collide, Lisbeth just tries to hang on to hers.  The end of this first issue sees things trending towards an eventual meeting of the two stories, and a big step forward in the Vanger family disappearance.
With an over sized, 64 page first issue, the book definitely gives you our money's worth.  Problem is, I'm not sure that was the correct decision here.  While the extra pages allowed for a lot of background, the story seemed to drag on at points, especially when following Blomvist.  If you are a fan of the books and/or movies, it may drag on even more for you.  You're not getting much original content here, given the same basic story and principle players involved.  That doesn't mean there are no redeeming qualities to this book.  If you don't know the story at all, it does have good intrigue and stories about an eccentric family always play pretty well.  You'll also get plenty of information on these characters, so you won't be lost if you're not familiar with the books.  This is a tough book to rate based on those two factors.  The art is good on the interior, but the cover definitely pops more than the rest of of issue.  I would actually like to see the next issue become more of a regular sized story, which should actually allow the story to pick up the pace and have more of a sense of urgency.  If you're true fan of the books though, this would merely be a chance for you to experience a familiar story in another medium.
RATING:  PICK UP 

Review - Dark Days: The Forge #1

Dark Days: The Forge #1 -
DC Comics
 
Written by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Pencils by Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, John Romita Jr.
Inks by Scott Williams, Klaus Janson, Danny Miki
Colors by Alex Sinclair, Jeremiah Skipper
Letters by Steve Wands
 

Dark Days: The Forge #1 -
DC Comics

Written by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV
Pencils by Jim Lee, Andy Kubert, John Romita Jr.

Inks by Scott Williams, Klaus Janson, Danny Miki
Colors by Alex Sinclair, Jeremiah Skipper
Letters by Steve Wands




Since the start of the Rebirth initiative, DC Comics has pretty much stayed away from any major crossover arcs.  There have been teams ups and crossovers here and there (most recently the Lazarus Contract and The Button), but it has mostly been singular story telling.  That ends now with, what looks to be, a huge multiverse crossover with Dark Days: The Forge.  Let's see what this star studded creative team has to offer.

There is a lot of mystery attached to this book, but there are two things that we learn right away.  I won't spoil either one, but to put it plainly, something potential devastating was discovered and Batman is hiding something from everyone.  The book has a very "something is going on here" feel to it, and it brings in a few Justice League characters that we know and love.  There is one in particular that is sent to investigate exactly what Batman has going on, and ends up on quite the adventure of his own.  We do get plenty of Batman in this book, so don't worry about that.  We also get his usual secrecy, but this time, it's more than usual and nobody seems to know why.  Things are certainly eluded to at points, including the origin of the problem, but there are no real giveaways in the story.  One thing I did not expect, was the reveal at the end.  If you want an ending that will make your eyes pop out and really want the next issue, this book does that and then some.

Dark Days is definitely an appropriate title for this book.  Snyder and Tynion IV really make you feel and give you the sense that something is REALLY wrong  and it's danger is of epic proportions.  That's a fairly impressive feat, considering we have no real idea what it is.  There is a flashback side to the story that does give you some background, but certainly not enough to really give away the scope of what is being dealt with.  I do love that it makes one of my favorite characters part of the story, and it makes sense to include him given the timeline of when things started.  Match this up with the stunning work of three of the top artists in the industry, and how could you NOT want to keep reading this book.  I think this is a great start to, what could be, Rebirth's first signature multiverse arc.  Given the amount of individual hits that Rebirth has already had, I have every confidence that this trend will continue.  So ready to dig a little deeper (pun totally intended!) 
 
RATING:  PULL / BUY 

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Review - Justice League #22 (2017)

Justice League #22 - 
DC Comics
 
Written by Shea Fontana
Art by Philippe Briones
Colors by Gabe Eltaeb
Letters by Dave Sharpe
 
When I was younger, I loved the Justice League titles for a lot of reasons.  Not only did it bring a lot of my favorite characters together, but in some instances, the book would introduce me to other characters that I may not have seen in other books.  That's how I became a fan of characters like Firestorm and Red Tornado (don't judge me.)  The Rebirth initiative from DC Comics saw a couple of new Green Lanterns join the League.  Even though you SHOULD know them from the Sam Humprhies run on Green Lanterns, this is your chance to really learn a bit more about Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.  Time to dive into the pages of the first Justice League title from writer, Shea Fontana.
 
The two aforementioned Lanterns have been sent on a mission by the League, which ends up not being as one and done as you think.  What Baz and Jessica did not know is, they had some company on their way back into the Watchtower and it would cause something major that hasn't happened very often at the headquarters of the Justice League.  That brings about a theme in the book, which deals with the confidence of the young Lanterns and how they are perceived by their fellow League members.  It should be no surprise who decides to help them through those issues, but I'll leave that for you to read in the issue.  Another familiar face provides help, and this may be a SPOILER, but I think I actual saw Batman crack a smile at one point.  At the end of the story, you really get that feel-good, old school Justice League comic feeling that I remember from my childhood.
 
What Shea Fontana brought to this book was a solid story, but also a really sense of a team dynamic.  I've had trouble getting into the recent run of Justice League, but this book had such a good vibe about it.  I don't know if it was the team dynamic, some of the small moments between characters or the steady page to page pace of the story.  It just all worked for me, and I was read it, I just felt like this is what a Justice League book is supposed to feel like.  We also get a glimpse of how Fontana handles writing Wonder Woman, which she will do a couple of issues from now.  I was confident in her abilities before, but now I'm looking forward to that book even more.  The art is solid throughout, and the final page of the book really made me smile.  I really hope Justice League can carry this momentum into their next few issues.
 
RATING:  PULL / BUY