REVIEW: Slaughter-House Five Graphic Novel

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By Zack Quaintance — I have read Kurt Vonnegut’s seminal anti-war novel, Slaughter-House Five, maybe five times, making it the novel I’ve re-read the most in my life. I read it the first time in high school. I read it again in college when I went through a counter-culture 1960s literature fascination. I read it in my early 20s when I first started to write my own prose fiction, wanting to study Vonnegut’s use of distinctive voice, and I read it again with my wife soon after, who’d never read the book herself. I’ve read most of Vonnegut’s other novels, too. Vonnegut and his work are, quite obviously, something I enjoy.

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REVIEW: We Only Find Them When They're Dead #1

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By Gabe Gonzalez — If I were to describe this premiere issue of the new sci-fi comic, We Only Find Them When They’re Dead, I would do it with one word…fascinating. When it was first announced, I was enthralled with the beautiful artwork by Simone Di Meo as well as Mariasara Miotti’s vibrant colors that exploded off the page. I was also drawn in by what looked like wholly-original concepts, coursing with excitement. And it was all coupled with yet another high-concept Al Ewing story. After Ewing’s Rocket Raccoon series and his landmark run of Immortal Hulk, I firmly believe the man can turn any established property or original IP into pure gold. And now he’s coming up with concepts of his own.

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REVIEW: Mega Man - Fully Charged #1

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By Keigen Rea — Mega Man: Fully Charged #1 is a comic based on a show that I’ve never seen, based on a game that I’ve spent at most 200 seconds playing. It’s not so much that I’m uninterested in Mega Man as a game, or as a character, I’m just more of a Pokémon boy. What is interesting to me is that this is a pretty efficient and good superhero story, if also a bit trope-y.

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REVIEW: Wynd #3 is another perfect issue in a great series

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By Jacob Cordas — There has been a lot of discussion lately about decompression in comics. Stories that used to be told in one page can now take six issues or more to be fully realized. Often left out of this conversation though is the release schedule required of comic books. These longer narratives might as a whole be fantastic but when broken into segments falters heavily. Tom King’s Batman arc “Knightmares” is the pinnacle of this where it works perfectly as a whole but would’ve been excruciating to read bi-monthly.

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Once and Future #10 - REVIEW

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By Benjamin Morin — Once and Future has long been a series I’d been meaning to get around to reading, but I haven't had a chance due to my ever expanding backlog. I have only heard great things about this book, which is no surprise considering the creative talent behind it, so this weekend I finally sat down to take it all in and I came away extremely fulfilled. As someone who loves mythology and legends of old, this series taps into the heart of what makes these myths so fun and gives them a modern twist. This latest issue, in particular, immediately swept me up in its Arthurian adventure and did not let go.

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REVIEW: Faithless II #3 continues to explore love, corruption

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By Jacob Cordas — The issue opens with flies. Lots and lots of flies. The first page is swarmed with them, leaving mostly blackness. As it opens up, the visual is a magical reimagining of the setting we are familiar with from the last issue, but now the page is overwhelmed with sinister pinks and silence. The only noise being the sound of sleep and flies giving the opening scene a dream like quality - a nightmare that overwhelms the world.

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REVIEW: Something is Killing the Children #9

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By Larry Jorash — Nobody needs to be told that a horror-themed comic will have real substance and emotion when writer James Tynion’s name is attached. From his daring work on the Detective Comics story, “Night of the Monster Men,” to his brilliant, indie-debut on, The Woods, Tynion has displayed a subtle and delightful craftsmanship in the genre. Something is Killing the Children continues this trend in a gut-wrenchingly excellent way.

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REVIEW: Seven Secrets #1 struggles a bit with setup

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By Jacob Cordas — Seven Secrets will almost certainly be a fantastic series. Tom Taylor hasn’t written anything I don’t like. He has an incredible knack for taking tired concepts and weaving them into gold. He was able to turn a video game tie-in comic into a must-buy. He was able to take super hero zombies, a concept that has never worked before, and make the best elseworlds DC comic since Multiversity. He’s turned Suicide Squad from a comic I uniformly ignored to one of the best ongoing titles at DC (behind only DeConnick/Rocha’s Aquaman and Spurrier/Campbell’s John Constantine: Hellblazer).

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Faithless II #2 from BOOM! - REVIEW

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By Jacob Cordas — There’s a small detail I keep coming back to in Faithless II #2. Near the midpoint of the comic, our protagonist, Faith, has journeyed to Turin with her agent. Her agent reveals Louis, her mentor and possible devil, hasn’t come with them. He can’t fly. Instead he is taking a “slow boat from ‘Gina.” When Faith asks if Louis is afraid to fly, her agent says, “What else does can’t mean?”

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Something is Killing the Children #8 - REVIEW

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Keigen Rea — This issue feels like it was made for me, so it almost feels unfair that I get to review it. Liking it as much as I do very nearly breaks my normal critical process because I’m not sure I have any tangible criticism other than *excited noise* but, well, *excited noise*

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REVIEW: Once and Future #8 returns with a slow issue

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Keigen Rea — Once & Future isn’t a book that would normally appeal to me. I don’t really like stories about knights unless they are of the Jedi variety, and King Arthur doesn’t boost my interest either. Despite my feelings about the premise, however, I’ve enjoyed the series from the start as well as every bit along the way. The creative team has taken an idea I wouldn’t typically go for and turned it into a must-read title, a favorite of mine among the many great series running today.

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