July 2018 New Comic Discoveries: So Much Horror

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By Zack Quaintance — Ice cream men, sunlight, sweethearts...there’s not usually anything scary about all of that innocuous and gleaming wholesomeness, but comics is comics, a skunkworks for ideas, and as such an enterprising group of creators has, indeed, made ice cream men, sunlight, and sweethearts scary. This is the central throughline of our three picks for July 2018 New Discoveries (the feature in which we finally catch up with comics we've been meaning to read). All of these stories take the precious, the quaint, the everyday pleasantness of being—and viciously mine them for hidden terrors, which, let's face it, seems appropriate for our recent times.

This is, after all, the odd and acrimonious year of 2018, wherein the news is a horror show and any attempt to understand the direction of the country by engaging with your neighbors is liable to end in a berserker bout of verbal combat. Maybe that’s why I found these three books so engaging...they contained ideas that seemed innocent, but, upon closer examination, were rife with seething dysfunction. If these comics are any indication, such explorations can yield fantastic stories (see also David Lynch, specifically Twin Peaks).

With all that in mind, let’s look now at our July 2018 New Comic Discoveries!

July 2018 New Comic Discoveries

Eclipse Vols. 1 & 2 by Zack Kaplan and Giovanni Timpano

In Eclipse, the sun has become an indiscriminate killer. A mysterious solar incident has occurred, turning sunlight lethal and forcing humans to spend the daytime underground. Old power structures have crumbled; new ones have risen in place. A mysterious group of albinos—immune to the light—have now appeared. They are murderous, engineered by corrupt societal leaders who are now targets of their revenge. Those are the high-minded things I like about the book. On a base this is really freaking cool level, I also dig the creative ways bad guys weaponize the sun, like using mirrors, poking holes in walls, etc. It’s scary and exciting stuff.

This book had been on my radar for some time, especially after writer Zack Kaplan’s other comics—Port of Earth and Lost City Explorers—were met with such enthusiastic reviews by many writers I admire and respect. This book’s concept essentially succeeds by turning the nurturing presence of sunlight into a lethal menace that exacerbates societal ills, ills that were easily ignored during less trying times, ills such as power disparities, corruption, and sacrificing the lives of those deemed inconsequential in service of the higher classes. This concept, of course, needs a grounded character-driven story, too, and Kaplan and artist Giovanni Timpano have definitely crafted one, one that is improving as their run continues. If only there were a fitting adjective to describe the exciting outlook for this book, to say the future of this story is...something. Oh well.

Check out our review of Eclipse #9!

Ice Cream Man Vol. 1 by W. Maxwell Prince & Martin Morazzo

There are so many good horror comics coming out right now (have you all read Gideon Falls? so good!), but, even amid the onslaught, Ice Cream Man by W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo stands out as exceedingly sinister, like if Alfred Hitchcock, Rod Serling, Stephen King and sometimes also David Cronenburg had a kid who grew up resenting the dysfunction of the suburbs and was now letting the pent-up angsty darkness flow. This is an anthology (I wish there were more of those...especially on TV, but I digress…), unified by the titular Ice Cream Man, who is, of course, always way way worse than he first seems.

Ice Cream Man Vol. 1 is excellent, and it’s a credit to this comic that through four issues nothing here becomes predictable. Not its structure, its characters, its themes. It’s sort of like The Twilight Zone in that all you know at the start of each installment is things fall apart. This, I think, speaks to our throughline of looking closer for dysfunction in 2018. I hadn’t realized this before, but the Twilight Zone was created after decades of American’s questioning each other, looking for commies or fascists or Soviet spies, etc. With a similar climate now, stories where horror lurks beneath a shining veneer are poignant as ever. Whether Ice Cream Man was conceived with this in mind isn’t relevant—the fear of what's being hidden is both real and compelling.

Sweet Heart #1 by Dillon Gilberton, Francesco Iaquinta, Maco Pagnotta & Saida Temofonte

For the third choice of our New Discoveries list each month, we spotlight a less-known book or a Kickstarter project, and this month it just so happens to be Sweet Heart by writer Dillon Gilbertson, artist Francesco Iaquina, colorist Maco Pagnotta, and letterer Saida Temofonte (the Kickstarter for Sweet Heart #2 runs through Aug. 10, btw). Gilbertson shared the first issue with us, and, man, is it a great fit for this list, turning childhood—and the traumas that occur—into a horror story with a fantastic mystery at its center. Simply put, Sweet Heart is a great comic that deserves to scare and disquiet a larger audience.

Gilbertson’s use of an omniscient narrator is understated when it needs to be and creepy as all get out when a more threatening tone is appropriate. Iaquina’s art is a great fit too, with his monster designs standing out as especially impressive, and Pagnotta’s colors add quite a bit. There’s also an impressive confidence in this book that isn't always present in crowd-funded comic efforts, a sense that the team has an urgent story to tell. The book’s greatest strength, however, is its poignant central metaphor, which I suspect is about childhood illness (or maybe hereditary addiction?) but, really, has a universality to it. Basically, whatever dysfunction was in your house (we all had some), I’m guessing you’ll see it play out here. I recommend supporting this one, for sure.

See all our past months of new discoveries here. And check back to the site next week for our Best Debut Comics of July 2018 as well as our Top Comics of July 2018, too.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Adventures of The Super Sons #1 by Peter J. Tomasi, Carlo Barberi, Art Thibert, & Rob Leigh

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By Zack Quaintance — You tell yourself that you’ve transcended simple comics fandom (also known as fanboyhood). You tell yourself things like I don’t prefer Marvel or DC, or my allegiance is to creators not characters, or whether something is relevant to continuity doesn’t matter so long as a story is strong. You tell yourself these things, sure, but then a book like Adventures of The Super Sons #1 comes along and calls you on your bullsh*t (sorry).

While the jury is out on most of that, superhero comics being relevant to continuity is (apparently) important to me. I loved The Super Sons first run, which tied in nicely to writer Peter J. Tomasi’s main Superman title. It spanned 16 madcap issues, and it had an adorable Batman/Superman-as-kids dynamic that yielded funny moments like I couldn’t believe. This new book, however, has essentially been set back and away from current continuity, and as a result the whole thing feels a tiny bit off, no matter how hard I fought to ignore it.

This is perhaps most evident in odd fixes made to separate this story from Brian Michael Bendis fledgling run on the main Superman comics: a caption reading in the not-too-distant past, a vague missive about how the boys’ parents have gone away for several weeks, etc. I know these things shouldn’t matter, and perhaps for most readers they won’t.

And to be fair, everything I liked about Super Sons has carried over. The banter is still really funny—Hey look, it’s Superboy and that kid I think used to work for Batman!—the dynamic between Jon and Damian remains strong—I think you’re secretly the greatest villain on Earth—and while Carlo Barberi’s art is a step down from Jorge Jimenez (anyone would be) his style is definitely fits here.

As a result, I think this book will land for many readers, especially those who didn’t grow up obsessing over what counted most within superhero continuity. I know it’s silly of me, but I’ve been trained in an odd form of literacy during my years of fandom, taught by things like Pizza Hut promotional comics to look for little differences used to drain stories of relevance. If I were buying a comic to read with my kids, I’d still have this one at the top of my list. I just had a nonsensical (and cracking) voice in my brain from adolescence, reminding me that this was just a tad bit inconsequential, taking me out of the story even though I knew I was being ridiculous.

Overall: This is still a fun comic with the same wonderful jokes and dynamic from the series’ previous iteration, and it’s a great book for young readers, to be sure. Veteran superhero fans, however, may notice small changes publishers use to make stories less relevant, potentially taking them out of the story. 7.0/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Green Arrow #43 by Julie & Shawna Benson, Javier Fernandez, John Kalisz, & Deron Bennett

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As a long-time Green Arrow fan, I am absolutely freaking out about Alex Maleev doing covers for this book.

By Zack Quaintance — Green Arrow #43 starts a new chapter for Oliver Queen and company (heh), one written by sisters Julie and Shawna Benson and illustrated by Javier Fernandez. That new team follows an all-time great Green Arrow run by Benjamin Percy with artists Juan Ferreyra and Otto Schmidt. This is actually the second issue of Green Arrow for the Bensons, who teamed with artist Carmen Nunez Carnero on Green Arrow Annual #2 (a No Justice tie-in) in May.

Phew. Now that introductions are finished, let’s get to it...so, like, is this comic still good?

In a word, yes. Green Arrow #43 is a good comic and a great tone-setter for a new run, one that makes a few things clear: Black Canary is going nowhere (and moving in!!), Roy Arsenal Harper is a big part of Ollie’s life, and DC Comics is committed to Green Arrow as perhaps the central lynchpin of its shared universe, a status first seeded in No Justice. In other shared continuity news, Roy also mentions Sanctuary (of Tom King’s upcoming Heroes in Crisis book), which Ollie is presently unaware of, although one expects that to change...

Anyway, those are all big picture story strokes. Green Arrow at its best, however, is a book that lives in smaller moments, in pretty bird pet names and the dichotomy of a family-monied corporate exec dual-lifeing it as a bleeding heart crusader. Thankfully, issue #43 takes aim at the endearing minutiae and nails its target dead-on (arrow joke, get it?…sorry). From panel to panel, this book brims with small but telling characterization: Ollie donning ear guards before going down to see Canary, the banter between Roy-Ollie-Dinah over chilli, Ollie’s posture and demeanor and cool-boss-guy garb at his office—it’s all just so quintessentially Oliver Queen.

Nailing the characterization was something Percy did incredibly well (he brought back the goatee!), and as such this transition to a new team is as smooth as an expertly-nocked arrow slicing through the air toward a bullseye (sorry again!). Fernandez’s clean linework and frenetic action sequences are also a treat, and the Alex Maleev covers bring a fantastic savagery to these proceedings before we even hit page one. The emerald archer, in other words, seems to be in good hands.

Oh! A closing thought...what if the box Martian Manhunter gave Ollie that can destroy the Justice League (the one Ollie gives Roy directions to as an insurance policy...should something happen to me) factors into Heroes in Crisis? That box is the Chekhov’s gun of the DC Universe right now...it’s obviously going off by act three.  

Overall: The Bensons and Javier Fernandez pull-off the difficult double task of redirecting Green Arrow’s larger plot while keeping the book’s characters grounded in the telling moments that marked Ben Percy’s run. This is a great jumping on point for new/returning readers plus a smooth transition for those who never left. 9.0/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: The Unexpected #3 by Steve Orlando, Cary Nord, Mark Farmer, Scott Hanna, Jeromy Cox, & Carlos M. Mangual

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In its third issue, some of the cost of the deaths in The Unexpected's earlier issues becomes clear.

By Zack Quaintance — If you read The Unexpected #1, you know the book feigned as if it were a story of a new hero (Firebrand) joining some kind of oddball super-crew (Neon and team). But then—spoilers—the book swerved, killing two of Firebrand’s would-be teammates plus also its presumed big bad. In The Unexpected #3, the price for some of that death has now come due.

With its first two issues, The Unexpected established itself as a rock-solid new concept in the DCU, one driven by a pair of compelling leads and their nascent dynamic. Introductions, however, have now ended and it’s time for the plot to push forward as its mysteries and ramifications rapidly expand.

Consequences is a major theme in The Unexpected, and not just consequences for characters but consequences for the world following the recent event story, Dark Nights Metal. Scott Snyder and team’s Justice League is currently exploring all that on a marco/galactic level, specifically the broken source wall. This book, meanwhile, is taking a more nuanced approach, extrapolating upon some of the other effects of Nth Metal (and the mystery of the Nth Metal Isotope at the heart of it all...sorry) as well as the existence of the Dark Multiverse. I don’t want to give anything away, but this issue also fully unveils The Unexpected’s actual big bad (who has appeared briefly in past issues and also in Metal...but I’ll say no more).

At the same time, Orlando, Nord, and team are building new ideas into the DCU with this book. In this issue it is revealed that orcks once ruled the Earth and lived in floating cities powered by Nth Metal (known to them as Uk Metal). This is used to flesh out one of the deceased character's importance, as well as to illustrate the cost of his death, but now that it’s been put on the DC board, it’ll obviously always be there moving forward. Building onto mythos is something Orlando seems bent on doing in all his work, and, in fact, a creation from his Justice League of America—Monster Valley—shows up again here.

Simply put, this is all a very cool approach to superhero storytelling, one that for detail-oriented readers (myself included) is quite rewarding. That aside, this book is also telling an action-heavy story that any reader could just pick up and enjoy (I’d reckon). Living in both of those worlds is most certainly to The Unexpected’s credit. This is easily one of the least predictable and awesomely surprising books at DC Comics right now, and I, for one, can't wait to see where it's all headed.

Overall: The Unexpected continues to be heavy on both action and detail, creating a book with as much to offer casual readers as it does obsessive superhero fans. The Unexpected #3 delves even deeper into Dark Night Metal’s fallout, a nice reward for DC devotees. 9.0/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Leviathan #1 by John Layman, Nick Pitarra, & Michael Garland

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Artist Nick Pitarra definitely draws one of the better Kaiju in recent memory.

By Zack Quaintance — Leviathan #1 is one of those ultra-polished books you can tell is the work of a veteran creative team, one that’s having a damn good time, too. This comic was written by John Layman (perhaps best known for Chew) and drawn by Nick Pitarra, a frequent collaborator of high-concept sci-fi writer Jonathan Hickman. This book is the first of a five-part series, and I’d describe its first issue as a well-executed madcap romp (albeit one that doesn’t come without a toll).

What’s most impressive about Leviathan #1 is how efficiently Layman, Pitarra, and colorist Michael Garland handle the storytelling basics. The book orients us with a confident, almost-stern narration, introducing us to our hero. They quickly make him relatable by showing us he’s a good host who threw a party in which some unsavory guests drank too much beer (we’ve all been there), and they let us know what he cares about most—his would-be fiance Vee. Then they put her in grave danger (a bit of a damsel in distress thing, but, not to worry, without spoiling anything I’ll just say she has some agency). This leaves us as an audience oriented, vested, and incredibly curious as to how our hero will respond.

Now, this is so far a pretty straightforward concept for a comic book, and so it’s also to the credit of its creators that story beats are made so entertaining. Layman’s voice here is smart and self-aware, funny in a meta way that also does work for the story. Our characters know what kaijus are (as any pop culture aficionado would), so much so that the creative team doesn’t need to explain where the titular Leviathan came from or why (not at the start, anyway). They can just write a few funny quips about how it found its way into a cooling tube of a nuclear power plant, or some sh*t, and we’re right back to the action.

Pitarra’s artwork and Garland’s colors are also quite impressive. There is an impressive level of detail lent to the backgrounds, cityscapes, and the monster, and he tweaks his style to be a bit cartoonish with the human form, one that sets an inherently looser tone that lets readers know crazy things can and will happens. Basically, the artwork in this book is rich to look at and also guided by some great choices.

This first issue (of five) seems to hint that there’s more to it than just being a monster story, and so we’ll have to wait until next month for a better idea of the scope.

Overall: In the end notes, the creative makes readers a promise...we guarantee every issue we’re gonna grab you by the throat and throttle you with insane nonstop action until your brains dribble out your ears. ...I’m not really up for all of that (ewwww), but I definitely liked this comic enough to come back for more. 8.5/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Eclipse #9 by Zack Kaplan, Giovanni Timpano, & Flavio Dispenza

By Zack Quaintance — After its first arc, Eclipse grew from a murder mystery that largely concerned two main characters into a full-blown examination of the motives of those who seek power, all set amid a complex conspiracy. This decision served the book well. Coming into the start of the third arc with Eclipse #9, I didn’t expect the same expansion. It seemed like the book had hit a cruising altitude, so to speak, at the end of the second arc and it would be just fine exploring ideas from there.

Eclipse #9, however, seems to indicate that this is a comic hellbent on upping the complexity of its story yet again, expanding it both in terms of its scope and its aspirations. Basically, Eclipse started out as a creepy horror story with an interesting sci-fi backdrop, but it has now become a deeper look at power dynamics, one that also has an interesting plot set in a world disrupted by disaster (a mysterious solar event has turned sunlight lethal, forcing society to spend its days underground).

The book hasn’t thrown out the killer and tense action sequences that made its earliest issues such satisfying reads either, which is a very good thing. No, basically it has now split into a dual plot, one about what’s happening inside New York City (where the most surviving humans seem to be located) and another that’s set in the world at large—both of which are liable to have interesting action scenes (in an especially cool bit in this issue, a character shot holes in a wall with a nail gun, thereby allowing the lethal sun in). The idea to split the comic into two settings like this is a really strong one that shows just how quickly writer Zack Kaplan is growing as a creator (this is his very first book, after all).

And the rest of the team is doing strong work, too. Giovanni Timpano’s art has been detailed and intricate from the beginning, expertly capturing the crumbling that has occurred above ground and the squalor beneath, while colorist Flavio Dispenza expertly uses hues that Clearly separate the shade from the light (which in this book literally separates life from death). It seems like this may end up being the third and final arc, and if that’s the case, fine, but I hope Kaplan and Timpano team together again soon because they’re partnership continues to get stronger with each issue.

Overall: Eclipse is a series that just keeps getting better, and issue #9 is no exception. The tense action and looming sense of danger from the start is still very much here, but the book has also really grown into a unique and complex look at power structures. 8.5/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: The Seeds #1 by Ann Nocenti & David Aja

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The Seeds debuts Aug. 1.

By Zack Quaintance — I’ve hoped for a while that a book would examine some of the themes in The Seeds #1. I’ve wanted a story (one with a smarter concept than I could casually drum up) that takes a hard and knowledgeable look at our current media landscape, how it got this way, where it’s going, and what stands to happen to society as a result. That’s quite a big ask, I know, but, hey, I can hope.

With The Seeds #1, it seems my hopes have been at least partially satisfied. This comic is definitely concerned with media (also sexual dynamics and the environment), and in its first issue (of four) media is an interesting and prominent theme, especially throughout a pair of nine-panel grids wherein our protagonist Astra talks indirectly about the state of the media with her editor Gabrielle.

Gabrielle discusses how rumors and falsehoods that get repeated become true, how sometimes it’s what people want, how truth seeming pliant is a fine justification for inventing stories, and how—more than anything—their outlet needs a scoop. The takeaway, as I read it, is that when you call the media fake long enough, the media eventually bends to that perception. It’s to the book’s credit that this is conveyed via such a well-done, smart, and natural interaction, one that simultaneously raises questions about our own society while establishing baseline facts about the dystopian world of this story. I liked it.

And, really, I liked The Seeds quite a bit. The book is part of former Vertigo editor Karen Berger’s Dark Horse imprint Berger Books, and like other entries in that line, it features veteran creators playing out intricate and literary ideas with little regard for accessibility. The book is written by journalist/documentarian/comic writer Ann Nocenti and drawn by David Aja (Hawkeye), a powerful creative team with powerful aspirations.

It's also a team one can trust to tell a satisfying story. Atop its underlying complexity this book has many great understated character moments. There’s a love story afoot, one in which one party is duty-bound to refrain while the other is hesitant because the first party says their leaving—it’s a story to which many readers will relate.

Moreover, this is a comic that rarely goes page without a really freaking cool ideas of imagery: a nightlife venue called Club Death that simulates dying, a naked figure in a gas mask beneath a giant American flag with a shotgun and an old TV, a lunch of deep fried bugs. Casually bizarre and fantastic. Basically, if you’re into stuff like pop art or pleasantly-abstract indie filmmaking, chances are you’ll dig this.

Overall: The Seeds #1 is the work of veteran and ambitious creators. It uses complex ideas, commentary, and imagery to create a world and themes that linger with readers. The full scope of the story is not yet clear, but there is every reason to believe Nocenti and Aja can be trusted to deliver a satisfying execution. 8.5/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Top Comic Book Previews for the Week of July 30

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By Zack Quaintance — Our previews feature is back after a week hiatus during our trip to San Diego. Last week we did, however, roundup our picks for SDCC 2018’s 10 Coolest Comics Announcements...so check that out if you haven’t already.

Anyway, no use in belaboring it...on to the previews!

*Preview of the Week*
The Sons of El Topo Volume One: Cain OGN
Writer: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Artist: José Ladrönn
Publisher: Boom! Studios
More Info: December 2018
This is a hardcover original graphic novel from legendary filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky (Dune) and virtuosic illustrator José Ladrönn (Incredible Hulk) that continues the 1970 Mexican Acid Western film written, scored, directed by and starring Alejandro Jodorowsky himself. This sequel, arriving in stores December 2018, tells the story of El Topo—a bandit without limits and a man with no moral compass. But when his journey through the arid west brought him face to face with a series of rogue outcasts, he found enlightenment in the unlikeliest place and was forever transformed, becoming a holy vessel imbued with the power to perform miracles. This was a journey that took him far from his first born son, Cain, and brought about the birth of Abel.
Our Take: We love Jodorwsky (as much for his films as for his candid appearance in the all-time great art documentary Jodorwsky’s Dune), and while this presumably means an end to any chance of Jodo making a cinematic sequel to the first film, his comics are always imaginative and worthwhile. Oh, and the Ladrönn art is is just stellar.

Blackbird #1
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Jen Bartel
Publisher: Image Comics
More Info: $3.99 / 32 pages / Oct. 3
An all-new ongoing series from fan-favorite writer SAM HUMPHRIES (Harley Quinn, Nightwing) and red-hot artist JEN BARTEL! In this neo-noir fantasy, Nina Rodriguez is positive that a secret magic world ruled by ruthless cabals is hiding just beneath the veneer of Los Angeles. The problem: everyone thinks she’s crazy. The bigger problem: she’s not crazy—she’s right. Can she unravel the mystery before the Great Beast catches up with her?
Our Take: Oooooo, shiny. Sam Humphries sensibilities and Jen Bartel’s art are such a wonderful fit, and look how nice it is washed over with all that neon. We’re not entirely sure what neo-noir fantasy means, but it looks like we’re in for some big magic fight in hella trendy LA. So, that’s cool.

Bone Parish #2
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Jonas Scharf
Publisher: Boom! Studios
More Info: $3.99 / 32 pages / Aug. 29
As a drug made from the ashes of the dead continues to spread across New Orleans, the Winters family is forced to defend their turf from the encroaching drug cartels. But some mysterious deaths could threaten everyone in New Orleans...
Our Take: Cards on the table...we haven’t read Bone Parish #1 just yet, but it was one of those books that half our Twitter feed (roughly) turned out to tell us to read. So, we’re on board with that and we’ll get to it when we have chance, plus also this second issue, too.

Harbinger Wars 2 Aftermath #1
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Adam Polina
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
More Info: $3.99 / 32 pages / Sept. 26
The power's back online and the fighting is over... but who are the real victors of HARBINGER WARS 2, and what was truly lost in the carnage? For those who survived the terrible onslaught - and who must now witness the devastating aftereffects of their actions - will there ever be peace again? As the seismic summer event of 2018 comes to a close, Eisner Award-nominated writer Matt Kindt (X-O MANOWAR, ETERNITY) sorts through the rubble of the most brutal confrontation ever felt in the Valiant Universe - and discover what lies beyond the bloodshed!
Our Take: It’s all in the solicit, isn’t it? Who ARE the real victors? We’ve enjoyed this event quite a bit (more than most Big 2 Events, incidentally), and what kind of savage would read and like an entire event and bail for the aftermath? Not us….not us.

Valiant High #4
Writer: Daniel Kibblesmith
Artist: Derek Charm
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
More Info: $3.99 / 32 pages / Aug. 1
Save the last dance! Homecoming is here! For the students of Valiant High - the super-powered preparatory academy where tomorrow's heroes learn what it takes to save the world - that means that the biggest night of their young lives is almost upon them...and that the Immortal Enemy is finally ready to make his move! But as Faith, Colin "Ninjak" King, Peter Stanchek, and Amanda "Livewire" McKee try to stir unity amongst their classmates, can teamwork triumph over ancient evil? From rising star Daniel Kibblesmith (Lockjaw) and Eisner Award winner Derek Charm (Jughead), this side-splitting, all-ages reimagining of Valiant's greatest heroes is going out in style!
Our Take: Save the last dance, indeed! Like the Harbinger Wars 2 event serving as a refreshing alternative to Big 2 events, this 4-part series has been a refreshing proximation of Big 2 fun and irreverent character takes. Kibblesmith is pretty funny guy, both in terms of writing comics and on Twitter, too.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

ADVANCED REVIEW: Hot Lunch Special #1 by Eliot Rahal, Jorge Fornes, & Taylor Esposito

There is a very personal feel to this story about mafia debts and severed appendages.

By Zack Quaintance — To join in on the food motif of Hot Lunch Special #1, let me start by saying this comic book feels like a main course of generational immigrant success story with a healthy side of Fargo-esque Midwestern crime noir, plus just a taste of a cautionary mafia power struggle. That’s a big meal (end of the food references, I swear), but it’s one that writer Eliot Rahal and artist Jorge Fornes serve up (damn it) expertly.

I liked Hot Lunch Special #1 quite a bit, and the main reason why is that there was a compelling level of realism here, one that at times made it feel almost like a memoir, although not quite because readers are never that far removed from a cops or crooks scene, or gasp a severed finger in a sandwich (that’s page 1, actually). Credit for this realism is, of course, due in large part to Rahal’s script, which I’m fairly certain was heavily informed by his familial history, but it’s also due to Fornes artwork, which strives for and achieves an immersive and intricate level of detail in even the book’s quietest moments—especially in the book’s quietest moments.

Fornes also does some great work with his colors, using them as so many masters have to make clear which scenes were set in the distant past for an older generation (one word: sepia) and which are in modern times.

There’s certainly a lot to pack into this debut, yet the book doesn’t fall victim to a frequent first issue pet peeve of mine: over exposition. No, there are no lengthy exchanges between two talking heads filling in how grandma met grandpa or how the family business first became entangled with organized crime (not a spoiler...all of that was in the solicit). Instead, Rahal and Fornes expertly careen this story through space and time, sparing us any over-inflation and keeping the narrative tight. It works so effectively that I halfway wondered if this was an oversized issued as I read. Put simply, a lot goes down.

But it’s all manageable and the hands of the creators go largely unnoticed. By the time the third act here came to its excellent cliffhanger of a conclusion, I felt like I knew who our main stakeholders were (especially the fantastic antagonist) and, more importantly, I felt like I had a reason to care about the story’s central family. I am—groan—ready for a second helping.  

Overall: Hot Lunch Special #1 takes a very personal generational story and mashes it up with  Fargo-esque Midwestern crime noir. It’s a quiet and grounded comic mostly, one that also feels taut and dangerous by its end. This first issue is promising, an excellent start for what may prove to be a unique book. 9.0/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

The Infinite Crisis of Being a Helena Wayne Fan

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With DC’s Doomsday Clock halfway finished—and potentially serving as a re-instatement vessel for the Justice Society of America plus other DCU characters—we turned to Diane Darcy, likely the foremost expert on Helena Wayne, who details the history of her favorite character and why she should return.  

By Diane Darcy — I’ve made no secret that I’m a huge fan of Helena Wayne (see my blog, Tumblr, and Twitter), and today I’d like to share my interest with all of you. Let’s start at the character’s beginnings: Helena Wayne was created by Paul Levitz, Joe Staton, and Bob Layton in 1977, originally conceived as the daughter of the Golden Age versions of Batman and Catwoman—a very intriguing background from which to build a character—and as a member of DC’s original superhero team, the Justice Society. She is, essentially, a character built upon DC’s Golden Age lore.

Helena Wayne’s Relationships

In the Bronze Age, The Huntress and Power Girl together were a second generation World's Finest team.

People are often defined by their relationships and Helena Wayne is no exception. Her most significant are her friendships with the Earth-2 versions of Kara Zor-L (Power Girl) and with Dick Grayson, the original Golden Age Robin who continued with that identity into adulthood.

With Power Girl, Helena provided a contrast to Kara’s outspokenness, impulsivity, and more assertive personality, but she also loved and respected Kara for those same qualities. Kara connecting with Helena in a meaningful way created character development opportunities for both women, effectively allowing them to cement their place as the second generation World’s Finest team.

With Dick Grayson, Helena provided a different contrast. Whereas Dick maintained unwavering loyalty to her father—never challenging Bruce’s authority—Helena didn’t hold her father on the same pedestal. When she felt her father stepped out of line, she refused to accept it. She either challenged his authority or worked to diffuse the situation another way. We saw this most notably in All-Star Comics #69 and especially in America vs. the Justice Society. When it came to Batman’s legacy, Dick considered it his responsibility to continue his mentor’s work as Batman, whereas Helena felt she could more meaningfully carry on that legacy on her own terms as Huntress.

Part of what makes classic Helena Wayne such a compelling character is her status as a superhero and a working lawyer.

Helena Wayne and the Crisis on Infinite Earths

Apart from Helena’s time as a caped crusader, I found her civilian life just as interesting. When she wasn’t fighting the good fight as Huntress—or stopping major crises with the Justice Society—she had a day job as an attorney, which also created interesting conflicts. She had a stronger preference for her work as the Huntress and often found it difficult to balance that with her day job. Her double life also created relationship problems with her boyfriend Harry Sims, who was Gotham’s District Attorney.

This was all established in Helena Wayne’s first eight years of publication, and writers used it to tell incredibly fun stories that went in interesting directions. You can imagine then how devastating it was when she was one of the characters sacrificed in DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot in 1986, later to be retooled in 1989 as Helena Bertinelli, the character we know as The Huntress today.

Helena Bertinelli

While not a bad character, there's no denying that apart from physical appearance, nothing of the original Helena Wayne Huntress survived via Helena Bertinelli. She was completely retooled. In fact, by the time DC reinstated the Wayne origin two decades later (during Flashpoint) we still ended up with a completely different character. Post-Flashpoint, Helena Wayne had a new origin and the same post-Crisis Helena Bertinelli personality. Also, her relationships with both Power Girl and Dick Grayson were profoundly changed.

Between two cosmic reboots, Helena Wayne moved further away from the compelling character Levitz, Staton, and Layton created in 1977, and her situation was made all the more complicated by being retooled into Helena Bertinelli post-Crisis.

Part of the promise of Rebirth and Doomsday Clock, however, has seemed to involve restoring all of DC's characters to their iconic statuses. What, then, would DC need to do with Helena Wayne to restore her to her original compelling stature while also saving her future? I have a few recommendations…

Four Ways to Fix Helena Wayne

Classic Helena Wayne as The Huntress contemplates crime and its causes in South Gotham City.

1. Make Helena Wayne and Bertinelli Separate Characters

Step one is to stop treating Helena Wayne and Bertinelli as the same character with two different origins. They are—at their cores—profoundly different. They are two very different women with different backgrounds and significantly different motivations.

Helena Wayne became Huntress to honor her family legacy. Helena Bertinelli, meanwhile, became Huntress as a way to reject hers. Essentially, Helena Wayne embraces where she comes from and Helena Bertinelli does not. Helena Wayne is a legacy heroine whose core values and motivations are shaped by her upbringing as the daughter of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. Helena Bertinelli is a tragic heroine with a conflicted identity, molded by Italian-American heritage, her Catholic identity, and her roots within a crime family.

Quite literally the only thing Helena Wayne and Helena Bertinelli’s origins have in common is they both became Huntress after seeing their parents killed. The reasons and circumstances that led to the deaths, however, are still profoundly different, inevitably sending them on very different paths with different potential for stories. Simply put, Helena Bertinelli—while still a compelling character—does not satisfy the needs of Helena Wayne fans anymore than Wayne does Helena Bertinelli fans. The answer is to let these two women co-exist separately.

2. Reinstate Helena Wayne’s Pre-Crisis History

Maintaining Helena Wayne's legacy and motivations for fighting crime is vital to ensuring she remains a compelling character.

In post-Flashpoint continuity, a version of Helena Wayne was created in which she served as Robin. While it was cool to see what Helena as Robin looked like fighting alongside her parents, this is better as an Elseworlds or What If story. Making her Robin changes too much of her character.

In pre-Crisis continuity, Bruce and Selina marry only after reflecting on their lifestyle choices and concluding they were not happy with where their futures were going. They also reflected on who they were as people, realizing that Batman and Catwoman were outlets for pain, not true identities. When they became parents, they retired their costumes to give their daughter a normal upbringing. Making Helena Robin changes Bruce and Selina from responsible to irresponsible parents who brought their daughter into their dangerous lifestyles—a regressive change.

Making Helena Robin also drastically changes her motivation. Pre-Crisis, Helena became Huntress both in response to her parents' deaths and in response to their legacies. She felt that with the upbringing she had, she had a stronger chance of making a difference in Gotham as the Huntress than as a lawyer in a courtroom. Why wait for a crime to happen when she could actively prevent it? The decision to become a costumed hero was entirely her own. It was very powerful. As Robin, the decision was made for her by her parents when she was a young age.

Finally, it’s simply more interesting having Helena Wayne as a Harvard graduate and a successful lawyer. She just has so much more agency than if you make her yet another sidekick whose choices were made for her while she was a child. Seeing Helena try to balance her life as a lawyer and as the Huntress created a conflicting and compelling dichotomy that affected her most intimate relationships.

3. Reinstate Her Original Identity, Personality, and Relationships

Speaking of her identity and relationships, the change I want most is to see them reinstated. I love when Helena Wayne’s Huntress showcases her detective skills, combat training, and, of course, her signature pistol crossbow, but her civilian identity is just as important. It’s the Helena Wayne side of that Huntress that most strongly attracts me to her character vs. Helena Bertinelli when she occupies the same costume.

What makes the Helena Wayne identity so special? It goes back to what I said at the start. She is the daughter of the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman, and she originated the Huntress identity as a way to continue their legacy. In being the original Huntress, she even provided the base template for Helena Bertinelli. (I always think of Helena Wayne as the Jay Garrick to Helena Bertinelli's Barry Allen.)

I also like the fact that she is a lawyer because it positions her as a working woman who earns her own money as opposed to living on her family's fortune. She even differs in this way from her father, who seemed to spend more time fighting crime as Batman than working a real job. (Golden Age Bruce started working a real job after he retired his Batman lifestyle.)

On the personality front, pre-Crisis Helena Wayne was never a dark and brooding heroine. Even when she experienced low points in her life, she still maintained a high level of self-confidence, which always spoke to me. She remained happy and optimistic in the face of grave troubles, which is another way she differs significantly from Helena Bertinelli.

While not as important as her relationship with Power Girl, Helena's friendship with Golden Age Dick Grayson is also worth revisiting.

What was also vital to her personality was her relationships, which brings me to another vital point—Helena Wayne needs Power Girl in her life and vice versa. They enrich each other's lives by being the legacies of the Golden Age Batman and Superman, and their friendship also makes their tragic circumstances a little less sad. If Power Girl in particular is going to return to her status quo of being the Earth-2 survivor of the Crisis reboot (a development we’ve seen hints of), having Helena is vital.

Another relationship that would definitely enrich Helena's life on the main Earth would be rebuilding her friendship with Dick Grayson. Even though Nightwing is a different character from the guy she knew as her big brother on the original Earth-2, the Prime Earth Dick still embodies the charm and appeal of the Golden Age Robin (perhaps with a better fashion sense). Of course, DC could also just retcon the current Earth-2 Grayson back into the pre-Crisis original and settle for having two Dicks on the main Earth instead of one. I mean, why not? We already have two Wally Wests. Just let the Earth-2 guy grow a beard and call him Richard. But I digress…

One more classic Huntress panel for the road...

4. Return Her to the Justice Society

Last but not least, reinstate Helena’s membership into the Justice Society. The Justice Society was her superhero family from the beginning, and putting her back on the team would allow her to reclaim her place within DC's Golden Age lore. She was always a character built on that history. Now we have a main Earth that erases the Trinity from the Golden Age, but putting an Earth-2 Helena Wayne Huntress alongside Power Girl, along with Lyta Trevor as Fury, would help make up for that.

I am, however, a realist, and I know it is unlikely that any of the things I want to see happen for Helena Wayne post-Rebirth will actually happen. If there is, however, a creator or editor at DC who’s thinking of Helena Wayne fans (like me), we’d absolutely love to see the classic character return. Her existence would benefit other characters in the DCU, and, most importantly, she is still so ripe with the potential for good stories.

Click here for a reading list of comics starring Bronze Age Helena Wayne.

Diane Darcy is a huge fan of Bronze Age DC, Earth-2, the Justice Society, Power Girl, and especially Helena Wayne as the Huntress. When Diane isn’t obsessing about comics, she enjoys music, writing, animals, and researching exoplanets, multiverse theories, and time dilation. You can find her at @HelenaWayneBlog

REVIEW: Wonder Woman #51 by Steve Orlando, Laura Braga, & Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

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This epic panel from Wonder Woman #28 is recreated this issue to great effect.

By Zack Quaintance — Steve Orlando and Laura Braga open their standalone story in Wonder Woman #51 by diving back into a past issue, one in which Diana faced grave danger. They open with a panel recreated from Wonder Woman #28 by Shea Fontana & David Messina, wherein the villainous speedster Mayfly has stuck a gun into Diana’s abdomen and begun to taunt her, asking rhetorically if she’s fast enough to stop a bullet fired at point blank range before it tears through her skin.

Borrowing an opening like this is a bold choice, but it’s a choice that pays off wonderfully, given the panel is not only an interesting visual but also a tremendous starting point from which to unpack Diana’s otherworldly empathy and compassion, as this story goes on to do. The opening reminds us how dangerous and hardened Mayfly is, how if ever there was a foe for Diana to dispose of forever and write off as lost, it would be this one. I know I certainly would with anyone who posed such a threat to me. Diana, however, is a hero, and this story is relentless in its determination to explore the qualities and beliefs that govern her altruism.

I’m really hesitant to spoil anything at all about this issue, even a little bit—I think this is a comic everyone should experience fresh. I will say only that at the center of this story is Diana essentially playing a game of chicken with her own beliefs, not so much risking her physical form (although that does come into jeopardy, because, you know, this is still a superhero comic) but risking her world view, which as many of us have learned over the past two years or so is a painful thing to have shaken.

It’s a great concept for a Wonder Woman story, and the execution that follows is nigh-flawless. Again, not to give too much away, but simply put, this is one of the best issues of Wonder Woman I’ve ever read, ever, from the characterization, to the poetry of the exchanges between Diana and Mayfly, to the way visuals are used throughout.

And let’s talk about those visuals: in addition to how well Diana and her central beliefs are handled and explored, this comic succeeds on the power of the graphic storytelling techniques used by Orlando and Braga. I still don’t want to tip anything, so I’ll just say vaguely that there’s an excellent scene that juxtaposes the heroine's and villain's disparate backgrounds. Also, the form of this issue leans into a core strength of comics—the ability to make fitful yet sensical leaps through time.

Finally, I also want to point out that this book has an ending that was so poignant it nearly brought me to tears. It’s that good.

Overall: This is one of the best standalone issues of Wonder Woman I’ve ever read, ever, and it tells a compelling story that speaks directly to the core of a classic and long-tenured character yet is also strikingly-relevant for 2018. This comic is 100 percent a must-buy. 10/10

Click here to read more of our recent reviews!

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

SDCC 2018’s 10 Coolest Comic Announcements

By Zack Quaintance — Yes, San Diego Comic Con is more about movies and TV than it is about comics, but! That doesn’t mean there aren’t still some pretty cool comic announcements happening the week of/during the con (some of which I got to be in the room for!). These are, of course, announcements about real printed comics, dozens of which are somehow written and drawn and shipped to small businesses across the country each week (which is all pretty crazy if you think about 2018 and the media landscape long enough).

With that in mind, we’d like to take a quick look today at 10 (plus one extra) of the coolest comic announcements to come out of this year’s con, ranked below in a fairly random order...let’s do it!

10 Coolest Comic Announcements

Electric Warriors Mini Series by Steve Orlando and Travel Foreman
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: November 2018
More Info: Diplomacy and Death via the Electric Warriors
Why It’s Cool: DC has essentially given Steve Orlando—one of its best writers when it comes to capturing the beauty to be found in obscure bits of continuity—and Travel Foreman—a visionary comic artist if ever there was one—a fairly-open canvas to do with what they will. This canvas—Jack Kirby’s Great Disaster future—is inherently Kirby-esque (seeing as he created it) and now we’ll get what is likely to be complex and surprising take on it spread through six issues. Sign me up.  

A potentially Dune-esque high-concept sci-fi story heavy with 2018 sensibilities by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward.

Invisible Kingdom by G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics and Berger Books
Release Date: March 2019
More Info: G. Willow Wilson to Write for Berger Books
Why It’s Cool: Speaking of visionary science fiction, have you seen the cover for G. Willow Wilson’s forthcoming Berger Books comic, Invisible Kingdom? Phew. The art is something, and the solicit evokes Dune-esque ideas of exploring the intersection of religion and commerce (presumably without all the stuff about how “spices” can expand one’s mind). Wilson is a thoughtful and attentive writer, and a take like this edited by former-Vertigo heyday editor Karen Berger is very cool indeed.

X-Men Black
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: October 2018
More Info: News from Marvel's X-Men Panel
Why It’s Cool: The X-Offices have tapped a super eclectic bunch of writers to do X-Men Black, a weekly series this October in which each issue centers on a different villain. It’s a pretty cool move to have Chris Claremont writing about Magneto one week, noted Maggott aficionado Leah Williams doing Emma Frost the next, and Scott Aukerman (Hot Soccermom) of Comedy Bang Bang on Mojo the next. Pretty cool indeed, especially as it seems to be leading a revival of Uncanny X-Men in November…

Gail Simone Overseeing Lion Forge’s Catalyst Prime
Publisher: Lion Forge
Release Date: Simone seems to be hard at work on this already
More Info: Gail Simone Discusses Being Named Architect of Catalyst Prime
Why It’s Cool: Speaking of cool oversight gigs, how about Gail Simone becoming the architect of Lion Forge’s still-nascent Catalyst Prime Universe? Cards on the table, I’d been contemplating jumping off this line after the former architect, Joseph Illidge, left for Valiant earlier this year, but now with Simone at the wheel I’ve scratched those plans and re-upped my excitement for this concept.

Donny Cates ‘Showrunning’ a Marvel Knights Commemoration
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: November
More Info: Donny Cates and Team to Commemorate Marvel Knights’ 20th Anniversary
Why It’s Cool: Speaking yet again (last time, I promise) about cool oversight gigs, Marvel announced that big ideas/bigger personality writer Donny Cates would be “showrunning” an event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its classic (for my generation, anyway) line of Marvel Knights properties, which back in the day told prestige TV-esque stories about characters like Daredevil, Moon Knight, and Black Panther. Joined in this effort will be an exciting new guard of Marvel writers that includes Matthew Rosenberg, Tini Howard, and Vita Ayala. Cool!

The Laphams doing ‘The Lodger’ for IDW’s Black Crown
Publisher: Black Crown via IDW
Release Date: October
More Info: Shelly Bond Announces Laphams Book on Black Crown
Why It’s Cool: From its inception, Shelly Bond’s Black Crown imprint at IDW (which has an aesthetic I describe as slightly drunk at a DIY punk rock show) has seemed to promise edgy and interesting comics, and the first batch was, indeed, strong. The second batch, however, is shaping up to fully capture Bond’s vision, starting with Euthanuats and continuing now with The Lodger, which is from the Laphams, a husband and wife duo behind the modern noir classic comic Stray Bullets.

Rush album cover artists are burning with jealousy.

Green Lantern by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: November
More Info: Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp to Take Over Green Lantern
Why It’s Cool: It’s Grant Morrison writing a cosmic book in the DC Universe, which alone would be cool enough to make this list, but, hey, it’s also Liam Sharpe on art! And his early work looks like an insane prog rock album cover. This, friends, is going to be epic.

Aquaman by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: TBD (I think? Info seemed scarce on when…)
More Info: DeConnick and Rocha Take Over Aquaman
Why It’s Cool: I couldn't find a release date, but Kelly Sue DeConnick writing Aquaman in time for the character's spotlight via a new movie is super cool. DeConnick is an exciting and polished comic writer, perfect for pushing Arthur in new directions after Dan Abnett’s safe and slow-moving take on the character.

Vision by Chelsea Cain, Marc Mohan, and Aud Koch
Publisher: Marvel
Release Date: November
More Info: Marvel’s Mic Drop Moment at SDCC
Why It’s Cool: Chelsea Cain is coming back to Marvel, in spite of a harassment campaign that resulted from a character wearing a pro-feminism t-shirt in a book about a strong female secret agent. Groan. But it’s good to see Cain back! Her last book for Marvel, Mockingbird, was a complex puzzle box of a story about Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. Mockingbird, one that incorporated interesting character and relationship developments for its lead. Tom King’s Vision is an impossible act to follow, but it will be cool to see Cain, Marc Mohan, and Aud Koch tell their own story with everyone’s favorite Marvel android.

Here's hoping we enjoy this book as much as the Shazam family is enjoying this roller coaster.

Shazam! by Geoff Johns and Dale Eaglesham
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: November
More Info: Shazam Comic Announced by Geoff Johns
Why It’s Cool: Geoff Johns’ take on Shazam in the New 52 might have been a bit polarizing (I liked it well enough), but circumstances now seem right for him to tell a very cool Shazam story. He’s returning to writing as a main focus and is presumably fired up to do so. Plus, holy cow of all the new art dropped at SDCC, I think Dale Eaglesham’s Shazam piece is my favorite.

Plus One More

Mars Attacks! by Kyle Starks & Chris Schweizer
Publisher: Dynamite
Release Date: October 2018
More Info: Dynamite Relaunches Mars Attacks
Why It’s Cool: Kyle Starks, whose Rock Candy Mountain is quite possibly the funniest comic ever, is now collaborating with Chris Schweizer on a Mars Attacks story. Yes, please.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #1 by Peter Milligan, Robert Gill, Jose Villarrubia, Diego Rodriguez, & Dave Sharpe

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Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #1 is out July 25.

By Zack Quaintance — Britannia: Lost Eagles of Rome #1 marks the first issue of the third volume of this series. I liked the last two volumes, but I’d somewhat forgotten just how good this book is. The answer, incidentally, is very very good.

Britannia is such an interesting conflux of two genres that don’t often meet: historical fiction and police procedurals. That setup is one of its strengths. Another arguably bigger strength is the attentions to both ambiance and character paid by writer Peter Milligan, obviously a student of mythology, the occult, and ancient Rome. 

The only discernible change from the first two volumes here (aside from plot, obviously) is artist Robert Gill has replaced Juan Jose Ryp. Ryp is one of the most intricate and detailed artists in comics, but Gill does his own thing here and does it well. It also helps the transition that it’s been more than a year since the end of the last volume. If you’re a returning reader just relax and enjoy...the book is as good as ever. If you’re a new reader, you can start with issue worry-free.

In fact, for Britannia newbies I’m fairly certain each volume stands just fine on its own. It’s been many months since the second Britannia book, and I’ve forgotten a lot that happened. Still, the creative team lies all the essential exposition out in a way that oriented me, and my sense is you’ll also be just fine if you’re totally new.

Britannia also stands apart from the rest of the Valiant Universe (no matter how badly I want the Eternal Warrior to show up). In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t set in it at all, although, admittedly, I may have missed an acknowledgment somewhere that it is. The reason I say this is because Britannia is grounded and realistic, mostly hinting at the occult and supernatural while leaving doubt as to whether it's entirely real. A good comparison might be Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott’s phenomenal Black Magick, which is set in the present day but uses mysticism sparingly as well.

The last thing it’s important to note is that while knowledge of ancient Rome perhaps enhances this book slightly, it’s not vital. Admittedly, my own knowledge of the Roman Empire is scant, and the only effect this has had on me is that when I finished the other volumes of this series, I went to Wikipedia to fill in gaps, which was kind of a bonus, one I hope will be useful for bar trivia someday.

Overall: I forgot how psychologically-complex and engrossing Britannia was until I started this new volume. This is a supremely well-executed comic, one I highly recommend to fans of both historical fiction and police procedurals. One issue in, it's just as good as its predecessors. 9.0/10

For more comic book and movie reviews, check out our review archives here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Rogue and Gambit in Love: A Look at the Iconic Couple's First Appearance

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By Theron Couch — A bad drink is often saved by the right chaser. In fiction, happy endings make great chasers, able to cleanse and forgive any unpleasantness in the story that came before. Rogue and Gambit, after years of will-they-won’t-they tension, took a major step forward in their relationship in the recent Rogue and Gambit mini-series, before finally hitting real pay dirt with their spontaneous wedding in X-Men Gold #30.

As if all that wasn’t enough, though, now they’re headlining a brand new series that starts Wednesday, Mr. and Mrs. X by Kelly Thompson and Oscar Bazaldua. This happy ending is one hell of a chaser, one that forgives a series of past missteps related to how these two have been depicted, including villainy, underdeveloped characterization, and an arguably disturbing first meeting between them. It’s that first meeting—as well as the first appearances of each character—that I'd like to discuss today.

Rogue’s First Appearance

Note how the cover teases a shocking mystery guest!

Rogue’s first appearance was Avengers Annual #10, and there was very little in that book to indicate she would spend decades as one of the most popular X-Men. Rogue shows up as part of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in an issue that starts with Carol Danvers being found unconscious, thereby kicking off a mystery that culminates in a confrontation between the Avengers and Mystique’s aforementioned Brotherhood.

Before the main event battle, though, Rogue assaults the Avengers’ heavy hitters all on her own, using her powers without the restraint commonly seen in her X-Men years. Rogue single-handedly eliminates Captain America, Iron Man, Vision, and Thor. But for all that power, her place in the story is essentially just as muscle for Mystique’s team, with no real character development aside from use of her powers. As she flees at the end, there’s no suggestion of redemption in her future; Rogue’s first impression is that of a powerful enemy to be seen on a recurring basis.

Gambit’s First Appearance

It would have been hard to predict at the time that the mutant called Gambit! would both enter and stay.

Gambit, on the other hand, first appears as a hero. Sort of. Uncanny X-Men #266 opens with Storm in the custody of the Shadow King and his Hounds. Gambit is engaged in thievery at the mansion where Storm is being kept—a perfect setup for him to help her attempt an escape. This Gambit, however, is a man of few words, lacking the flirtatiousness that later becomes a hallmark of his depictions.

When Gambit chooses to help Storm, it’s not because she’s an X-Man or a mutant, but rather because he suspects that she is Ororo Munroe, herself a famous thief. In this issue Gambit is little more than a cipher. The reader is given no special reason to care about this new character—except, perhaps, that he’s an active thief; Storm could have been rescued by anyone. Mutants come and go in X-Men, and there is nothing in Uncanny X-Men #266 to suggest Gambit would stick around.

Rogue and Gambit in Love

Mr. and Mrs. X (out July 25) looks to be a sweet chaser to one of the most famous-yet-tumultuous romances in the X-Men world.

Over time—and despite mutually rough beginnings—both Rogue and Gambit find a home on the X-Men, and eventually their characters are fleshed out. Being on the same team, it’s only a matter of time before the two start appearing together. Their first interaction takes place in the Chris Claremont and Jim Lee X-Men #1 and their romance begins in X-Men #4, several years after Rogue’s first appearance and roughly one after Gambit’s. To have a romance start so quickly, one can only assume it was love at first sight.

Well, it was something at first sight, if not exactly love.

In the recent Rogue and Gambit mini-series, it is revealed the couple actually first became entwined during the Muir Island Saga—which pays off machinations at work in Gambit’s first appearance. The entire X-Men team is on Muir Island during Uncanny X-Men #278 - 280, and the Shadow King has taken control of all of them. To avoid spreading himself too thin, those in the Shadow King’s thrall are free to act on their own when he isn’t in direct control. Their personalities, however, are dark and violent reflections of their normal selves.

These are the conditions under which Rogue and Gambit first meet, according to Rogue and Gambit #2—first meet and, it’s suggested, first make love. On the surface, the encounter can be see as one of simple lust and little more—but not to Gambit, who points out that even under mind control the two were drawn together. And maybe he's right, because they did start their little dance soon after.

Ultimately, Rogue and Gambit have experienced almost every permutation possible both as individuals and as a couple. Their fictional history began in a much different (and darker) place than where we find the couple now. In some ways, this makes their wedding the best happy ending of all. Rogue and Gambit have never quite forgiven themselves for what they’ve done. Perhaps they never can. But if a marriage is a leap of faith, maybe the message is that they each forgive the other, even if they can’t forgive themselves. Anyone who’s followed their histories knows that Rogue and Gambit have often been a rough drink. In that regard, Mr. and Mrs. X looks to be one hell of a chaser.

Theron Couch is a writer, blogger, and comic book reviewer. His first novel, The Loyalty of Pawns, is available on Amazon. You can also follow him on Twitter at @theroncouch.

The Long Con #1 by Dylan Meconis, Ben Coleman, EA Denich, M. Victoria Robado, & Aditya Bidikar

The Long Con #1 is out July 25, and highly recommended for anyone in the throes of post SDCC recovery.

By Zack Quaintance — The timing of this book is absolutely perfect. This is a comic about some kind of apocalyptic event that a group of comic con attendees survives by holing up for five years in the convention venue—and here it is just days after the nation’s biggest comic con wraps up. Given the inside ballball-y nature of the book—so many jokes for reporters, publicists, comic industry folk, and other media professionals—it’s a pretty safe bet much of The Long Con #1’s readership spent last week in San Diego.

I know I for one found myself relating extra hard to this book in the midst of post-SDCC recovery (I first read it last week but had to do it again now that I’m home). Solid timing aside, this is a smart, funny, and self-aware comic in and of itself, one that takes a meta look at the current state of fandom without once too preening or preachy. Although it does seem to have much to say about the current state of fandom, especially as it relates to how fast it’s grown, how all encompassing it’s become and the effects of its unprecedented levels of exposure and profit. If that’s what this is about, I’m here for it, for sure.

The main reason The Long Con #1 works so well, though, is that it grounds itself and its ideas in a pair of leads who are exceedingly believable and charismatic, in different ways. The concept is clever sure—survivalist nerds in their element!—but a clever concept only goes so far. The real feat of writing here is the characterization in one fleeting interaction between protagonist A—a grumpy and seemingly underachieving journalist—and protagonist B—a perky publicist for the publisher Total Bullshit, very indie, very hip. The minute I finished this book, all I wanted was more of them together, and I do believe I’ll get that soon, because I’m definitely going to continue reading this one.     

The artwork by webcomic artist EA Denich and colorist M. Victoria Robado works exceptionally well for the flashback scenes set at the con before our unspecified disaster struck. Denich has a crisp cartoon style that lends itself to sight gags as effectively as a prime-time animated sitcom. It maybe functions a little less effectively for the sci-fi wasteland bits, but it only really suffers by comparison the other. In general, the visuals are perfect for the tone of this excellent book.

Overall: The Long Con #1 is a must read for anyone who knows what pre-event media content is and how much editors value it. It’s a smart, funny, and self-aware look at the business of con culture, steeped wonderfully in outrageous dystopian sci-fi. 9.0/10

Writers: Dylan Meconis & Ben Coleman
Artist: EA Denich
Colors: M. Victoria Robado
Letters: Aditya Bidikar

Publisher: Oni Press

Check out more recent comic reviews right here.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

On Writing Lois Lane: The Significance of an Icon

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By Maya Kesh — Since Lois Lane first debuted in 1938’s Action Comics #1, right alongside Superman and Clark Kent, she has been a lightning rod for how society views strong women. Through the years, this significance has been a double-edged sword, with Lois’ characterization reflecting both progress and limitations in various eras. As the Superman comics pass to a new writer this summer amid much media coverage and fanfare, I think it’s important to look at how Lois has been written historically, what it means to write her well, and why her depiction is so important for Superman stories.  

Lois Lane Through History

In the early Golden Age comics (1938 - 1955), we see Lois Lane very much steeped in the working dame mode of that era. This is familiar to us through old movies like His Girl Friday.

In the Silver Age (1956 - 1970), Lois becomes a caricature of this idea, a desperate career woman who needs to marry to be happy. Lois having an end goal of marriage isn’t a problem, but it is a problem how that end goal is defined, as if when she marries Superman, she will have achieved the sum of all her ambitions. Marriage basically became an obsessive goal, one that wasn’t portrayed sympathetically at all.

Next came the Bronze Age (1970 - 1985) and the women’s liberation movement. During this time, Lois was seen through those changing progressive attitudes. Groovy, right? I am woman hear me roar. She was navigating slowly-evolving attitudes toward women in those years.

Wife/Mother vs. Career Woman

In the Modern Age, we’ve come to another turning point for Lois. She’s currently married to Clark, and they have a son, Jon. There has been a lot of discussion lately about what this means for Lois Lane, and it often comes back to this idea that being married to Clark and raising a child somehow limits her character.

This begs a question: Why? I think it goes back to the Silver Age idea that marriage is somehow an end for her. If she’s married, she can’t be everything she could be. That notion, however, brings us to another question: Are husbands and dads primarily defined by those roles, too? Or, are they written as multifaceted complex characters who are able to be many things to many people? The answer to the second question is decidedly yes. They can be career men (which isn’t even something men are called), as well as husbands and fathers. Women, however, are still often defined by stereotypes within labels, as if Lois Lane being a career woman means that she can’t also be a mother and a wife.

When Lois is written as a mom, for example, there is this idealized version of who mom is. And usually in the Superman-verse, this means Martha Kent, the stay-at-home mom who kept house and baked pies. Trying to fit Lois into that mold means writing her in an inorganic way that belies her personality. One’s personality doesn’t change after you have kids—my own teenagers can attest to that. Do priorities change, though? Of course.

Being a mother, however, shouldn’t turn Lois into Martha Kent. They’re entirely different people, and Lois doesn’t have the same skillset Martha does, nor does she need it to be a good mother. Basically, Lois might not be able to bake a perfect pie (although Clark probably can because he grew up with Martha as his mother), but she may be better-able to show her son how to pick a lock or hotwire a car if he ever loses his keys. This doesn’t make Lois any less of a mom. The definition of mother/wife should broaden to include all types of people. Just as dads are not inept stereotypes, neither are moms an idealized throwback to Leave it to Beaver.

In general, I think Lois often suffers from baggage writers bring when they think of her character throughout history. Some remember her as the abrasive pest she sometimes devolved into in the Silver Age, never mind that Superman was just as culpable at that time (so much so a site was dedicated to his Superdickery). Some seem to remember her as a man-hungry husband hunter, or as somebody who only loves Clark’s powers (I’d argue she always loved the man behind the disguise, no matter which persona that was).

How to Write Lois Lane Well

It sounds simple, but I think this bears emphasizing: to write Lois Lane, it is important to know who she is and the traits that have long defined her. Lois is strong, tenacious, compassionate, and ethical. She also wears her own masks. She’s vulnerable but doesn’t want the world to see it. Lois is fiercely dedicated to truth and justice, using journalism as her own superpower. She also understands there are shades of gray. Truth isn’t binary. There are some truths worth protecting from the public.

Clark’s identity, for example, isn’t for public consumption, as it doesn’t have any bearing on public welfare. There are, however, lies that exist to destroy people (ahem, most of what Lex Luthor does), and she is out to expose people who hurt others as they quest for power.

There are recent examples of Lois being written this way. This scene from Mark Waid’s Birthright shows us a Lois who stands up for injustice no matter where she sees it.

And this scene from Kurt Busiek’s Action Comics #850 shows us Lois’s early days with Clark. It’s a great example of how to write the triangle for two while giving empathy to both players, rather than turning Lois into an unsympathetic person only interested in Superman and his powers.

These are just two examples. Teenage Lois in Gwenda Bond’s young adult Lois Lane prose trilogy also gives us a multifaceted portrayal. In live action, for all of Smallville’s ups and downs, the TV show ultimately captures Lois’s complexity pretty well.

In the end, I think it’s important to remember Lois Lane was originally created alongside Clark Kent and Superman for a reason: she provides the audience with a narrative bridge between his identities. Through Lois, we as readers see the wonder that is Superman, while we also see the everyday life of Clark Kent—a dichotomy filtered through one character to create a consistent perspective.

This all speaks to why I believe it is so important for Lois to be written well, because it is through her that we gain access to all that is Superman. When Lois is allowed to reach her potential? Superman stories truly soar.

Maya Kesh is a lifetime comic reader and a writer whose articles often focus on how women are portrayed in comics. You can follow her on Twitter at @mayak46.

REVIEW: Skyward #4 by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, Antonio Fabela, & Simon Bowland

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Skyward #4 is out July 18. 

By Zack Quaintance — The first issue of Skyward opened with an inciting event that drastically changed the world: gravity inexplicably lessened so much that people, animals, and untethered objects began to float dangerously into space. One of the victims was our protagonist’s mom, who left to go running and disappeared into the ether.  

This was then followed by a significant time jump in which our main character went from baby to young woman. Quickly, we also learned her dad had become a devastated recluse who spent the subsequent years afraid to go outside. That idea kind of faded into the background, however, as our hero went and had adventures involving the most powerful man in the gravity-light world, who—surprise!—turned out to be amoral and self-interested. What this issue does is slow down our hero’s interactions with that insidious fellow to involve her dad in a way Skyward hasn’t since its first issue.

It’s a great idea. The father-daughter dynamic is basically this story’s heart, and given the dad's reluctance to go outside, overcoming that fear is presumably huge for our plot. On paper, I expected to love this issue. I, however, had slightly mixed feelings about how it was executed (very slightly). I still liked it quite a bit, but the dad was over-the-top cowardly at times. This was likely by design, but, man, did I cringe.

And his daughter’s reaction to his behavior seemed to be too much, in that she didn’t seem troubled at all that she had to literally knock him out and put him in a bag to get him outside because he wouldn’t step up when she needed him most. All I'm saying is it would have maybe been more effective to have a troubled look cross her face instead of playing the whole heartbreaking ordeal for laughs. But then again, Skyward is a pretty cheery book.

It’s a small complaint, one quickly erased from my mind by the creative team working to explore more of the scientific ramifications of how less gravity would affect our world. The art and structure continues to be on point and then some, too. I’ve said it before, but I want to close by again re-iterating that this is one of the most underrated books in comics right now (although that may change...this month Skyward was optioned for a movie...awesome!).

Overall: Skyward #4 continues to take a simple concept and explore its logical repercussions in the world, a device that has been executed to perfection. In this issue, the creative team slows down a bit too, making room for more interactions between its characters.  8.0/10

For more about Skyward, read our review of Skyward #3.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Quantum and Woody! #8 by Eliot Rahal, Joe Eisma, Andrew Dalhouse, & Dave Sharpe

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Quantum and Woody! #8 is available July 18.

By Zack Quaintance — Eliot Rahal took this book over starting with Quantum and Woody! #6, following a five-issue run by writer Daniel Kibblesmith, who is (objectively) one of the funniest writers in all of comics. Basically, to use a cliche, Rahal had HUGE shoes to fill, humor-wise...which is why what he did with the first two issues of this run was so surprising and impressive.

Rahal didn’t try to match or outdo Kibblesmith’s jokes, or even to maintain a similar tone, really. There were hints of the goofy character dynamic that drives this franchise, but Rahal largely pushed it in new directions, writing a first issue that stripped the titular characters of their powers and made them prove themselves as heroes anyway, which they did in poignant fashion. Rahal then followed that excellent story up with a fever dream of an issue that delved deeply into our characters’ psyches.

Now, in Quantum and Woody! #8 he gets to the business of re-grounding the book a bit in this franchise’s signature tone—its humor—but because of the hard work he did as a storyteller in his first two installments, it's easy to be vested in the goofy moments. I’m not tearing up at Woody’s pithy one-liners (of which there are many), but I do care a little bit more about both of these heroes after what Rahal has put them through (and continues to put them through). I also really like how he continues to build on his first issues. This is a new arc and jumping on point, to be sure, but there’s a lot here for readers who are already on the book.

Joe Eisma’s artwork (with colors by the always-great Andrew Dalhouse) is also a great fit. For readers of his recent run on Archie with all-time great comic writer Mark Waid, this hardly comes as a surprise. Eisma is able to oscillate without strain between moments of heavy character reactions and action sequences or site gags—whatever the script calls for, he nails it. His work isn’t as intricate as some other Valiant artists, but Quantum and Woody! is a unique corner of the Valiant Universe, and Eisma expertly draws it that way.    

Overall: All three issues of the Eliot Rahal run on Quantum and Woody! so far have been vastly different yet equally as interesting and great. Rahal and his collaborators are doing a really impressive job drilling into these characters to find new ground for fresh stories. 8.5/10

For more about this Quantum and Woody! run, read our reviews of Quantum and Woody! #6 & Quantum and Woody #7.

Hear Quantum and Woody! artist Joe Eisma's recent appearance on the WMQ&A Podcast!

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

REVIEW: Crude #4 by Steve Orlando, Garry Brown, Lee Loughridge, & Thomas Mauer

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Crude #4 is out July 18.

By Zack Quaintance — Crude #4 is yet another intense and emotional installment for one of the smartest series in indie comics. This book has a pair of clearly established plot lines—a father-son revenge story, and a meditation on late-model capitalism curtailing the humanity of individuals—and in this issue they begin to thoroughly intertwine in a way that really pushes the story forward.

Crude #4 opens exactly where the preceding issue left off, with protagonist Piotr Petrovich demanding information about his murdered son from a mob of attackers, all of whom he subsequently dispatches while incurring no greater damage than a cut on his arm. No greater physical damage, anyway. The larger stakes of the battle (as well as this book) involve what our hero learns about his son.

Being able to win fights but wanting instead to know more of his lost son is a value structure established quite well by Crude’s first three issues. Where #4 finds new ground is in its exploration of workers rights, corporations, industrial cartels, and the way individuals are controlled and debased by corrupt systems, no matter how hard they work. It also starts to explore the generational gap that has taken hold in society's across the world: the father as a good trusting soldier, the son as someone striving for change. This may be a reductive, but Crude is sneakily timely as hell.

In one particularly effective scene, a shady besuited executive rages that a single man is causing him so many problems, a man who is effectively acting outside established structures. It’s a telling metaphor, one Orlando and Brown have previously hinted at but kept in the background, wisely devoting earlier issues to vesting the audience in the more poignant father-son story.

One of the things I liked most about Crude #4, though, was the growth for the hero (or the promise of growth soon). It’s the best sort of character development: painful yet exactly what he wanted. Piotr has essentially been broken down of his own volition, continuing to learn that he didn’t know his son at all. Now begins the fascinating work of watching how he responds.

I’ve made this (likely simplistic) comparison before, but the emotional complexity of this comic is a bit like a Russian novel. At the same time, Orlando and Brown are clearly seasoned comics creators, because the usual qualities of great visual storytelling in chapter format are very much present: action, cliffhangers, callbacks to earlier issues. For me, it's this mix of fundamentals and meaning that make Crude so compelling.

Overall: Crude continues to have one of the most compelling hero's journeys in all of comics, one that blends gritty action with emotional devastation and subtle commentary. This fourth issue again ups the stakes in ways I could not have predicted. 9.0/10

For more about Crude, read our previous reviews of Crude #2 and Crude #3.

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.

Amazing Spider-Man #1 Brings the Funny: A 5-Panel Explainer

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By Zack Quaintance — The with great power comes great responsibility ethos of Amazing Spider-Man is almost universally relatable, especially for middle class Americans who’ve had even minor opportunities. It definitely resonated with me as a kid in a blue collar suburb of Chicago. The sum total of my power back then was manipulating my brothers into unholy pacts to combine birthday money for new video games. Yet there I was, reading ASM and nodding along, like, This story gets me.

That deeper meaning, however, was only half of why I loved the comic. I was also there because Spider-Man’s jokes were funny. Last Wednesday, a new team of writer Nick Spencer and artist Ryan Ottley took over Amazing Spider-Man (we loved the first issue), and while a more holistic view of their run will ultimately determine whether they do justice to that ethos, it’s immediately clear the humor is on point. I, for one, chuckled while reading...chuckled!

Anyway, today we're looking at five funny panels from Amazing Spider-Man #1. It’s not as insightful as some other recent Tuesday analysis pieces (ahem, see this thing about Deathstroke, please!), but like Spider-Man, we are also here to bring some funny (plus we're at San Diego Comic Con next week, so we have to do five day's worth of posts this weekend).

Let’s do this!

Panel 1 - Kiss B-Sides

The previous Amazing Spider-Man writer, Dan Slott, had a good sense of humor, to be sure, but you try writing 10 years worth of quips for the same voice and see how your results are toward the end. What struck my as different about Spencer's humor right away was how it extends past Spider-Man to include jokes at the expense of or said by other heroes in the Marvel Universe.

Take, for example, this excellent bit with the Guardians of the Galaxy. The writing here is funny, first as the Guardians banter and Groot lets slip something speciesist, and next as Hawkeye (a quippy fellow himself) mocks the way '80s music has become part of the Guardians' DNA via their depiction in the movies. 

Panel 2 - Workshopping Jokes

This was a nice little set them up and then knock them down kind of joke, wherein Spider-Man admits to workshopping past jokes to evaluate whether they're fit to be used again (although his ability to perceive their reception is a little questionable). Oh and stick with this, it's a long one...

Panel 3 - Doom-ocracy

In the (almost) words of the immortal Kent Brockman of The Simpsons, if Doom has said it before, he'll say it again...democracy simply doesn't work.

Panel 4 - Pop Culture

Now, I'm not saying that Spidey should become Deadpool (oof, no thanks, one is enough), but it's nice when his books have a little pop culture perspective in them. There's this quote—and I can't remember its exact wording nor who said it—and its gist is that comics are sort of a fast and immediate reflection of the pop culture zeitgeist at any given time (ignore that the panel below quotes dialogue from a movie released in 1977, please!). 

Also, I for one have always been curious about how superheroes manage to find the time and nutritional obsessiveness to stay in such great shape. Nice to get a little nod to that here.

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Panel 5 - The Magic Chair

This is absolutely the bit that made me chuckle. It should be noted that while I've placed these disembodied panels beside each other, this third panel is separated from the first one by quite a bit of narrative, making this joke what we who have listened to podcasts about the business like to refer to as a call back. 

Peter loves his chair.

Peter loses his chair.

Peter's chair (much later) finds a good home.

But Not So Fast

This is the part of this feature wherein I take a step back to taper my excitement. I must admit, however, that it's pretty challenging here. Spencer and Ottley's Spider-Man isn't yet demonstrably superior (heh) to Slott's. It's been one (very very very good) issue for them, while Slott did his thing with varied level of success for almost 10 years. So, I guess I'll pump my enthusiastic brakes here a moment by noting that they need to show they can perform at this high a level for more than just one outing.

Still, what a great start for the new team. It's a comic review cliche in an industry that runs on nostalgia, but this really is much closer to the Spider-Man stories I remember reading and watching when I was a kid. 

Zack Quaintance is a journalist who also writes fiction and makes comics. Find him on Twitter at @zackquaintance. He lives in Sacramento, California.