Sweets is Pretty Sweet

August 5th, 2010

Sweets #1 Cover

COMIC REVIEW
08/06/10 (PORTLAND) Andy Grossberg

Sweets

Artist/Writer: Kody Chamberlain
Publisher: Image Comics

Sweets, a new Image book from writer-artist Kody Chamberlain is a cop drama for people who are sick of cop dramas. While it’s trite to compare it to CSI or NCIS or any of the other dozen cop shows currently on TV it needs to be done for contrast because the main similarity is that there are cops in this comic as well. Sweets feels far more visceral and dark and somehow less like it’s mugging for the camera than the endless string of unrealistic cop-schlock shows that permeate the airwaves (and we all know that Crime Scene Investigators investigate crime scenes, they don’t solve crimes!). No, Sweets is far more like reading a Carl Hiaasen book with its flavor of the South, and its mood: a real almost edible sense of place. Or better yet, Sweets is like what 100 Bullets should have been, what it was when it started out less confusing.

The story itself seems to hit some of the usual beats we expect from a cop drama but that’s not a bad thing really. It’s set in pre-Katrina New Orleans where our hero is a detective who’s just lost his daughter and his wife is divorcing him. His job performance has suffered and he’s hanging on by a thread. But his earnest partner gets him a reprieve if together they can solve a series of murders that includes the killing of a priest. Strands are woven that imply a deeper story and the motivation of the killer is already hinted at in the corruption we see through a city prosecutor who has a thing for rough love with call girls. And of course there is the recipe for pecan pralines, possibly one of the sweets from which the comic takes its name.

The art reminds one of Bill Sienkiewicz with some of the line work but it’s far less frantic, more precise, yet equally as graphically intense. The color palette is muted hanging a thick pall over the whole work adding a sort of claustrophobic feel to the comic and adding to the sense of dread presence that the impending hurricane brings with it. The cemetery scene, a striking street car shot and even the architecture in the splash page at the end of the first issue all add to the overall feeling to the point you can almost taste the weather as the storm approaches. The city itself plays a role as a character in the comic if only visually so far.

The first issue shows real promise for the series and I plan to come back to the next issue. Overall, I can find only one fault with Sweets and that’s that I have to wait a month for another issue. Hurry up, Kody!

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Let the Mookie Win

July 19th, 2010

Titmouse Mook Cover

GRAPHIC ALBUM REVIEW
07/19/10 (PORTLAND) Andy Grossberg

The Titmouse Mook

Titmouse is an animation studio maybe best known for the Adult Swim cartoon they produce, Metalocalypse. (You can read about our studio visit here.) But they’ve also done commercials, music videos, title sequences for shows, and much much more. Now they have added a graphic anthology to their resume. Why? Who knows, maybe they couldn’t help themselves. But it is an undeniable fact that this entry into the printed page is as creative as everything else they produce. Titmouse brings you: The Titmouse Mook.

A page from the mook

Just because a few comicbook adaptations have made some money at the box office everyone thinks they can produce a graphic novel. And every art school thinks they can turn out comic artists. But the mainstreaming of comics has left many cracks in the drying cement of its glorious multi-story tower and those cracks are where the artists of this mook live. In the muck, the grime, the dirt between slabs, which is exactly where talent has room to explore and grow like weeds, coming from a sort of anti-mainstream filled with work that makes you reexamine what you thought sequential art was supposed to be.

Yet page from the mook

Stories in the mook take stabs at genre convention, quite handily, while ripping apart preconceptions. A well drawn story with a female lead that is grounded with schoolboy humor? Flawless in its execution and chock full of satire. These are stories that grab your shoulders and shake the fixed notions out of you. Why a man with a beard of bees? Does it matter when there’s a story to be told? Sure this is a lot like any old sketchbook put out by some animation studio so you’d expect the artists to be familiar with the comic medium but many of these guys run with it and in directions that are unexpected.

Another page from the mook

There is the weird, the strange, the odd, the gross, the unpolished bits around the edges of comic art that show where there is still room to expand. And then, just when you think you have a a handle on it, they drop in some pieces from an art show in LA or an interview with an artist who’s using a prosthetic leaning device to help him draw while lying on the floor. No, what you have in your hands from the moment you open their mook is pure chaos not just static art on a page.

But if this isn’t enough, and I know it isn’t, read our review and interview with Titmouse head honcho Chris P. in the latest Tripwire out in two weeks. Or click on the pages in this review to get a closer look at some of the art. Or better yet, check it out yourself here.

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Well Conceived Inception

July 15th, 2010

Inception Movie Poster

FILM REVIEW
07/15/10 (LONDON) Joel Meadows

Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo Di Caprio, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe
Studio: Warner Brothers

Inception is a film that’s hard but not impossible to pin down in a review. Christopher Nolan is probably the smartest director currently working in Hollywood, so when The Dark Knight made buckets of money, it gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do next. He played his cards a little close to his chest and what coverage there had been was deliberately vague and cagey. In these days of everyone knowing every intimate detail of every new TV series and big movie, that was rather refreshing.

DiCaprio plays Cobb, a man who has the ability to enter people’s dreams for a living and he is hired by Saito (Ken Watanabe) seemingly to enter the dreams of Robert Fischer Jr, the son of magnate Maurice Fischer, to force him to alter the path of his life and follow in the footsteps of his now-deceased dad. So Cobb assembles a team that includes the suave Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt), Englishman Eames (played by Tom Hardy) and a very young Ariadne (Ellen Page) to get inside the mind of Fischer Jr. We are thrown into a world of many layers watching the team at work. But not everything is as it seems: Cobb has a wife, Mal (the gorgeous Marion Cotillard), who appears to have disappeared.

Visually, Inception is incredible with everything from the sound editing to the production design working in concert to offer a fully-immersive experience and the performances are very consistent. The one wrong note on the acting front is Ellen Page, who feels miscast here amongst a more accomplished and experienced group. But this is a minor quibble and Nolan shows why he is one of Hollywood’s best stylists, creating a series of well-realised interlinked worlds.

Inception does have its progenitors in films like The Matrix but there is no epic conspiracy at play here. Inception deals with far more intimate and emotional concerns, despite scenes that are obviously homages to the Bond films and even a little nod to Planet of The Apes. There is a lot going on in the film, especially when the team are operating on several dream layers at the same time and it is essential for the viewer to concentrate when watching. In fact, it could be argued that Inception is a film that needs to be seen more than once to pick up everything that Nolan has intended to do with it.

It is the ultimate antidote to flabby summer blockbusters filled with noisy explosions and battling robots. And although sometimes the director’s reach exceeds his grasp, at least he is striving to do something a little bit different. With Shutter Island and Inception under his belt recently, DiCaprio is also firmly established as one of the best actors of his generation. Inception is a film that will be discussed for years to come and, dare I say it, was worth the wait…

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TRIPWIRE ISSUE #54 COMING SOON!

July 1st, 2010

TRIPWIRE #54 cover

07/01/10 (LONDON)

TRIPWIRE RETURNS FOR 2010!

TRIPWIRE is back with another info-packed issue! The Eagle-nominated British-American magazine about comics and genre culture returns this July bringing even more of the quality features you’d expect from our previous issues.

Beneath an exclusive Futurama cover featuring everyone’s favorite robot Bender, we chat with Matt Groening and David X Cohen about plans for their new run of the animated sci fi series on Comedy Central. More TV interest you? How about an examination of the works of Jim Henson and The Henson Company?

Maybe you like movies. You’ll love our talk with with veteran movie poster artist Drew Struzan revealing all about his work on the most iconic movie images in the history of cinema. We also get up to our arms in the special effects of megahit Iron Man 2 with SFX house Double Negative.

Do you read books? Author Glen David Gold talks to us about his novels in an exclusive interview. Also, fantasy grand master Michael Moorcock gives us a glimpse into his early career and growing up in post-War London.

Maybe comics are your thing. We feature Dave McKean discussing three decades creating his own niche as an artist, illustrator and director. We’ve also got J. Michael Straczynski and Paul Cornell talking about their takes on Superman, Wonder Woman and Lex Luthor respectively. We also cover the various anniversaries of Captain America and DC Comics with in depth articles by our own comics experts. Plus we talk to Titmouse about their new magazine+book. Lastly we end the whole thing with a giant helping of original strips from some of the usual suspects like Roger Langridge.

TRIPWIRE #54 ships the last week of July and comes in at 124 pages with our new lower price of £6.95 UK, $9.99 US and $10.95 Canadian. You’ll find it at Barnes & Noble in the US, Chapters in Canada and via Diamond UK in Britain as well as at finer bookstores everywhere.

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Green With Envy: Shrek Forever After

June 12th, 2010

Shrek Movie Poster

FILM REVIEW
06/12/10 (LONDON) Joel Meadows

Shrek Forever After

Director: Mike Mitchell
Voices: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas
Studio: Dreamworks

It’s staggering to think that the first Shrek movie was a whole decade ago. It’s been a phenomena that refuses to die. Shrek Forever After is the fourth, and promised to be the last, in the green ogre’s animated franchise. The series has adhered to the law of diminishing returns: the first one was fun, the second film was slightly less fun and the third one was rather dull. So expectations were pretty low when I went to see this at a press screening at the Empire Leicester Square, probably London’s nicest cinema, on a Sunday morning.

The filmmakers have done a reboot of sorts here with the mcguffin of Shrek Forever After asking what would happen to this world if Shrek had never rescued and married Princess Fiona. It’s a smart but entertaining conceit, showing us a world ruled by the poisonous Rumpelstiltskin where ogres operate a resistance against the tyrant’s iron fist. It also gives them the chance to turn the status quo on its head and reintroduce the relationships between Shrek and supporting characters Puss in Boots, here a very tubby house cat and the pet of Princess Fiona, and Donkey. Rumpelstiltskin has an army of witches to keep the population in check. It makes it all a little more entertaining than its most recent predecessor, but it also makes you realise that the whole concept has run its course.

In terms of the animation, the quality is great as you’d expect and it never outstays its welcome. Of course, it’s showing in 3-D but this doesn’t add a great deal to proceedings. Its running time is around the 80 minute mark and the voice talent are enjoyable as ever. Shrek Forever After is a decent wrap up to 10 years of Shrek on screen and as I write this review, the box office has reflected this with its takings currently at $146 million just in the US. Let’s hope that they leave the characters alone now…

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Shoot to Thrill?

May 20th, 2010

Robin Hood Movie Poster

FILM REVIEW
05/14/10 (LONDON) Joel Meadows

Robin Hood

Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett
Studio: Universal Pictures

The new Robin Hood film directed by Ridley Scott and reuniting him with his regular collaborator Russell Crowe is a film that’s changed direction several times. Originally it was going to be called Nottingham and have the evil sheriff as its protagonist. But that idea was ditched and so what seemed like a more traditional Robin Hood tale was filmed. At last the results are available for all to see and I was lucky enough to catch a press screening of it at Empire Leicester Square, probably London’s nicest cinema.

Scott has played fast and loose with history here as Richard The Lionheart, played by a chunky Danny Huston, is dispatched quite early on here and it is Prince then King John (Oscar Isaac) who becomes Hood’s adversary. But it doesn’t matter as, like King Arthur, Robin Hood is a legend and a folk tale and criticising it for its lack of historical veracity is like accusing James Bond of inaccurately portraying modern space technology. It just doesn’t matter as what really counts is putting together a compelling and exciting cinematic ride and Scott with the help of Crowe and its supporting cast have certainly done that.

Here Crowe plays Robin Longstrides, a footman in King Richard’s army who, with his three mates Will Scarlet, Littlejohn and Alan A’Dale, are thrown into the stocks after insulting the King. When the King mets his untimely end, the foursome decide to make a hasty exit and flee France to come home. Unfortunately Prince John is a feckless playboy more interested in bedding the cousin of the King of France than taking the country in hand and turncoat Godfrey (a truly sinister Mark Strong) is determined to act as facilitator to allow the French to conquer what they see as a now weak country ripe for plucking. So Robin, after a promise to dying knight Sir Robert Loxley to bring word of his demise to his wife and father in Nottingham, makes his way to the Midlands in England and masquerades as Loxley. Loxley left a wife behind, Marion (Cate Blanchett) and so he lives with her, while her estate is endangered by local youths and the danger of the Sheriff of Nottingham taking his tithe. Things come to a head with Robin and his men joining forces with the barons and the King to prevent King Philip of France’s forces from taking England from the sea.

Robin Hood looks fantastic and is as rousing and exciting as Gladiator with everything definitely on screen. Crowe has come in for flak with his accent but the fact is that no-one knows definitively  how the residents actually spoke in Nottingham during this period and so this is such a minor quibble. When we’ve had to suffer the bouffant-haired indignity of Kevin Costner and that Bryan Adams song in the 1991 version, a slightly inconsistent accent really isn’t anything that should cause concern. Crowe, as an older Robin, feels right on screen and another thing that Scott has done here is that the English look particularly unglamorous and down to earth and at no time are Robin or his fellow bowman dressed in Lincoln Green. The scenes where they use their bows in battle are shot and edited brilliantly with everything pared down and sparse. Mark Strong as traitorous English Knight Godfrey is a great villain and unlike most of the other films he’s appeared in over the last couple of years, he exudes menace and is perfectly cast here. Cate Blanchett as Marion is a little bit redundant here as she doesn’t have much to do except look pretty but in a Boy’s Own Adventure, the female characters don’t really play much of a part.

Robin Hood is a fantastically well-executed and entertaining summer movie with some amazing touches from Scott, who shows that he hasn’t lost his unique ability to bring something new to something seemingly so familiar, and the introduction of a backstory for Robin, where we see that his father was a crusader for better treatment for England’s people, which puts a new spin on proceedings while still fitting in with what Scott has brought to the screen. Things are left open for a sequel and the viewer comes out of the cinema hoping that a sequel will see the light of day. Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe should be very proud of what they’ve achieved here…

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Pressing Issues: Iron Man 2 Sort of Flat?

May 9th, 2010

Iron Man 2 Movie Poster

FILM REVIEW
05/07/10 (LONDON) Joel Meadows

Iron Man 2

Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gywneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke
Studio: Paramount / Marvel

The first Iron Man was a real joy to see at the cinema, filled with fun and a likable screen presence in Downey Jr. So expectations for this sequel were fairly high. I went to see it at a press screening at Odeon Leicester Square in the evening. I bumped into a few fellow journos there as I often do. Unfortunately my verdict on Iron Man 2 is that it lacks the cohesion and fun that the first one possessed.

Here, Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is publicly known as superhero Iron Man now and the US government is pushing him to share that technology. Enter slightly shady business magnate Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) who joins forces with Russian supervillain Whiplash, played by an increasingly strange looking Mickey Rourke. He believes that his father was hard done by Stark’s father Howard and is out for revenge. Meanwhile the technology that is keeping the millionaire alive is failing and so he turns to the work of his long-dead dad to help him out.

Downey Jr. is still good value here but the quips are fewer and the increased screen time of Paltrow, at her whiniest as an actress, makes for a less-than-engaging movie. Rockwell is obviously a fantastic actor under normal circumstances but he’s just a plot device here as is Rourke. Stark’s battle with his failing health is resolved very neatly and the one nod to the classic ‘Demon In A Bottle’ story from the comics is a clumsy scene that is up there with Peter Parker dancing in Spider-man 3 for misconceived superhero film sequences. Also, the Favreau cameo as Stark’s bodyguard, while charming and short in the first film, is rather too long and protracted here.

There are a few nice set-pieces here (the senate committee to force Stark to hand over the Iron Man suit, the Stark weapons expo and a sitdown with Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury) but overall it doesn’t gel. And the final battle between Iron Man and War Machine versus the drones looks and feels like a video game. Scarlett Johanssen as Black Widow is totally redundant here too: while she looks pretty amazing, there’s not a lot for her to do.

Perhaps Iron Man 2 has been hit by second film syndrome but it’s an empty and hollow experience, that will leave little impact on the viewer once they’ve left the cinema. At the end of the film, we are left with a nod with another Marvel superhero but let’s hope that the third film is more like the first and this was a temporary blip.

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Peter O’Donnell Has Passed Away At 90

May 4th, 2010

05/04/10 (LONDON) Joel Meadows
Peter O’Donnell, the creator of Modesty Blaise, has died at the age of 90 at his home in the South of England. Modesty Blaise was one of the most important British newspapers strips and ran in London newspaper Evening Standard from May 1963 until 2001. The strip had many admirers and was an influence on  the James Bond films. I was lucky enough to interview O’Donnell a few years ago for issue #225 of the Judge Dredd Megazine.

O’Donnell’s obituary appeared in The Times.

Also Rich Johnston has run a story about it on Bleeding Cool.

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Stumptown Comics Fest 2010

April 26th, 2010

04/26/10 (Portland OR) Andy Grossberg

TRIPWIRE was at both days of Portland’s famous Stumptown Comics Fest possibly the indy comics show of the year. It compares favorably to others such as APE: It brings out some of the bigger guns like Dark Horse and Oni (if for no other reason than that they’re based there) but also dozens of DYI mini comics creators and others were in the room taking part in the photocopier revolution and getting their work seen. There were panels and signings from the likes of Paul Pope and Mike Allred and on Saturday night they gave away the 4th annual Trophy awards.
The Inside of Exhibitor's Room
The crowd seemed bigger this year than last as the show continues to grow every year. A lot of the programming focused on creating comics yourself with panels like An Artist’s Intro to Contracts or Rights and Local Printing & Publishing but there were also spotlight panels with creators like Craig Thompson. There were also terrific offsite events like Dr. Sketchy’s art classes. In all it was a low-key but terrific and exhausting show.

Things really got started the night before though at Guapo Comics, a neat comic shop and cafe that stocks a ton of Portland’s independent comics in the back. The beer was free and I’m told there was free food but we got there too late for that. Judging from the crowd the party was a success. The inside of Guapo Comics

There was so much to see that it took going on both days just to absorb the plethora of diverse books for sale in all shapes and sizes. I’m always hungry for new comics and the inspiration that comes with them so the exhibitor’s room was like food for the starving.

The guys from Sparkplug ComicsIt was great to see that many of small publishers like Sparkplug Comics have survived the stuttering US economy.

Batton LashBatton Lash was signing copies of Wolff & Byrd as well as his Archie work.

Richard StarkingsAnd of course Richard Starkings was there to promote Elephantmen (see our review from last August of last year).

Fantagraphics boothFantagraphics made the short drive down from Seattle.

Shawna Gore from Dark Horse reviewing portfolios Dark Horse Comics even had portfolio reviews going on both days!

Overall it was another great show and a triumph for the guys who put it on. I came back with so many new books to read that my head is spinning. Hopefully I’ll have some reviews of stuff I picked up to follow throughout the coming weeks.

Posted in Books and Novels, Features, Graphic Novels and Comics, News | No Comments »

On the Shelf Special

January 11th, 2010

Joel Meadows, April 2010

TRIPWIRE gets back into the swing of things with a review roundup of a few graphic novels and trade paperbacks from DC Comics and Vertigo.

The cover of Preacher book one

First we have Preacher Book One (Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon with covers by Glenn Fabry, Vertigo/ DC Comics, hardcover) It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since we were first introduced to Jesse Custer, Tulip and Cassidy. Ennis and Dillon had just come off a highly-regarded run on Vertigo’s Hellblazer but it was plain from the start that Preacher was a very different series. A broadly supernatural series featuring Custer, a Texan preacher who found himself endowed with power that seemed to fall from Heaven itself. This hardcover collects the first 12 issues of the series and illustrates why Vertigo has such a reputation for occasionally creating fiction that really stands the test of time. Ennis doesn’t waste any time, introducing the main protagonists on the first page of the first issue, ably abetted by the simple yet brilliant art of Steve Dillon. Ennis has the admirable ability to write cinematic dialogue that manages to further the plot and characterisation. It is also the outsider’s perspective (a non-American writing about the US) that lends the series its unique voice. The trio of main protagonists have a rare chemistry that engages the reader while the threats at large here including Custer’s psychotic family, a New York serial killer and The Saint of Killers, the embodiment of retribution, all add to the overall sense that you’re privy to something a little bit different. DC has been representing many of its classic series in a durable hardback format and Ennis and Dillon’s work certainly deserves to be preserved for posterity. Glenn Fabry’s covers should also be mentioned as they set the tone for the series almost as much as Dillon’s interiors. Preacher is a darkly satirical slice of Americana, a fantastic road trip through the country’s black heart.

The cover of Tom Strong deluxe Edition Volume One

Tom Strong Deluxe Edition Volume One (Alan Moore, Chris Sprouse & Al Gordon plus various, Wildstorm/ DC Comics, hardcover). It’s been just over a decade since Alan Moore started his America’s Best Comics experiment over at Wildstorm and DC has decided that some of its output warrants the hardback treatment. Tom Strong was a great series: cut from the same cloth as pulp classic creations like Doc Savage and The Shadow but with a Victorian steampunk and a Golden Age superhero spin. Each issue reads like the creative team were having fun when they worked on them and this lightness of touch makes Tom Strong such a joy. Sprouse and Gordon are a magnificently talented artistic pair while the guest slots from artists like Art Adams, Jerry Ordway, Dave Gibbons and Gary Frank help to bring the world that Tom Strong inhabits to bright technicolor life. The series also has that feeling of familiarity that makes it accessible to readers steeped in comicbook lore. Tom Strong, raised on a South pacific island, losing his parents at an early age, is the perfect foil for Moore et al’s vintage adventure tales and visually the art pops to life in the larger format. Moore can be an inconsistent writer, taking himself too seriously on occasion but here he strikes just the right balance between pulp adventure and something with a little more depth to it. Tom Strong is a fun, rollercoaster ride of a comicbook…

The cover of The Nobody volume one

The Nobody (Jeff Lemire, Vertigo/ DC Comics, hardcover) is an original graphic novel, something that Vertigo is doing more and more of these days. It concerns itself with a mystery bandaged man who finds himself in the small town of Large Mouth. Local loner Vickie gets friendly with him but just what is his secret? Lemire handles the pacing like an old pro even though he’s only been doing comics for the last five years or so and visually the stark black and white and blue works a treat. The Nobody is about trying to escape your past and redeem yourself and is a worthy addition to anyone’s library…

The cover of Fables Volume 1 Deluxe Edition

Fables Volume 1 Deluxe Edition (Bill Willingham, Lan Medina/ Mark Buckingham & Steve Leialoha, Vertigo/ DC Comics, hardcover) Fables has been a mainstay of Vertigo’s line since it was launched back in 2002. The series, that looks at what could happen in the real world if the characters from the world of fables lived here with the ordinary people, starts strongl with a murder mystery and then the second arc is about a revolution that begins up at the farm, where the Fables who couldn’t pass for human live. The artist on the first story, Lan Medina, is solid as is the man who follows him, penciller Mark Buckingham and inker Steve Leialoha holds it all together. Willingham’s conceit works well here and it is a very likeable comic creation.…

The cover of DC Comics Classics Library Batman/

Batman: Death In The Family (Jim Starlin, Marv Wolfman, Jim Aparo and George Perez, DC Comics, hardcover). Forever remembered as the comic story with the publicity stunt (DC invited people to phone in to either save or damn Robin), the company has reissued it and its companion story, A Lonely Place of Dying, as part of their DC Comics Classic Library. Twenty years later, there’s an anodyne blandness to the storytelling that makes it hard to connect with the material. Starlin and Wolfman are solid writers but when the Joker bumps off Robin, it feels strangely anti-climactic. The Batman canon has contained a number of stories that stand the test of time, that fans and readers will enjoy for decades after their publication – the Englehart and Rogers run, parts of the O’Neil and Adams run, Batman: Year One to name but a few – but I’m not convinced that Death In The Family should be counted in that company.

The cover of Jonah Hex: Six Gun War

Jonah Hex: Six Gun War (Justin Grey, Jimmy Palmiotti & Cristiano Cucina, DC Comics) Hex continues to be one of DC’s best-kept secrets. Since 2010 is the year the character hits the big screen, the profile of the title will grow. Six-Gun War sees the scarred western hero/ anti-hero go head-to-head with a man out for revenge after Hex killed his son. Helping the bounty hunter out are other DC western mainstays, the suave gambler Bat Lash and possessed bank teller Lazarus Lane aka El Diablo. It’s a gritty and exciting western epic with Palmiotti and Grey’s simple yet effective script matched by the dynamic stylings of artist Cucina. Jonah Hex is one of the most consistent mainstream comics currently published and DC’s line would be poorer without it. Six-Gun War is the perfect introduction to the series too…

The cover of Doc Savage: The Silver Pyramid

Doc Savage: The Silver Pyramid (Dennis O’Neil, Andy Kubert & Adam Kubert, DC Comics) O’Neil is no stranger to bringing pulps to comics as he wrote the classic Shadow run that DC put out in the Seventies. So this collection of the miniseries published in 1987/ 1988 doesn’t change your opinion of him as a natural crafter of stories featuring these characters. DC have issued this because they’ve just launched their First Wave line, which incorporates Doc Savage, The Spirit and some of the other Street & Smith characters into a single universe. Here we see a generation of Savages battling an evil Nazi scientist with the original Savage seemingly out of commission. It’s pulpy, enjoyable material with the visuals of the Kubert brothers a solid marriage with O’Neil’s dynamic yarn. The colouring is a little garish so it would have been even more enjoyable if they had recoloured it but this is a minor quibble. The Silver Pyramid is an epic yarn that ticks all the necessary boxes…

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