"Wailing Blade," #1 Review

I like Comixtribe, they always put out interesting and quirky books. I was a big fan of, "Sink," when I had the chance to acquire a digital copy for review ahead of its release and was pleased when it became a big hit thanks to its great quality. They've been promoting an upcoming comic for a bit now, "Wailing Blade." The first issue had a special release at NYCC 2018 and some copies were sold online (along with a free digital copy that was temporarily available, a nice promotion). I purchased a copy of #1 as I wanted to give it a read figuring a Comixtribe book was bound to be good (plus it had Joe Mulvey on art, whose work is great). Having read the first issue of, "Wailing Blade," I can say I loved it and am eager for more!

"Wailing Blade," takes place in a far-flung future well after society collapsed. This results in the world being a mixture of medieval-type structures and living conditions mixed with super-advanced technology--remnants of the long-lost past. Writer Rich Douek has a clever idea here, with the only other examples of this sort of, "Post-post apocalypse," I can think of being maybe, "Horizon Zero Dawn," and a handful of books and short-stories. Within this world there is the Headtaker, who is a soldier and executioner of sorts of the land's ruler known only as the, "Tyrant." The Headtaker is a very scary guy, and he wields the titular Wailing Blade--a massive sword that can do some serious damage. This debut issue alternates between following the exploits of the Headtaker as well as a handful of rebels who fight against the Tyrant called, "Windcleavers." The Headtaker is clearly the bad-guy here, working for a ruler whose name even declares them a fascistic dictator, but he still is an interesting character to witness the adventures of, along with the rag-tag group of Windcleavers struggling to survive in a world falling under total control of evil.

As I noted earlier, Joe Mulvey is the artist and his drawing always impresses. Whether he's illustrating the surreal mixture of a lush landscape along future/ancient technology, or portraying the Wailing Blade ripping-up people in a most graphic fashion, Mulvey's art is fantastic and makes each page gorgeous. Between Douek's story and Mulvey's drawing this is a stellar debut for the new series. I am excited for when this first issue has its official release in (I believe) 2019 and will be sure to order myself a copy of it and all future issues!
5 out of 5 stars.

Interview With the Creative Team Behind, "Sink"

Not too long ago I was able to do an advance-review of the first issue of, "Sink." Published by Comixtribe, this book is written by John Lees with art by Alex Cormack and I loved issue #1. I had the pleasure of being able to speak with John and Alex via Skype a few weeks ago and thought that as the first issue of, "Sink," will be in stores a week from today (on 9/13/17) this was the perfect time to post our interview! You can enjoy it below:

For more information about, "Sink," you can visit the website John mentioned here.

John Lees is on Twitter at this address.

Alex Cormack can be reached on Twitter here.

Sink will be in all finer comic shops on 9/13/17 and can be pre-ordered at Things From Another World should you desire a copy!

Advance-Release Review: Sink #1

"Sink," finished making clear it was a stellar comic at the end of its first issue when we met the most terrifying clowns I've seen in a comic-book in some time.Clowns, fucking clowns. I don't even have a phobia about them but can admit that I understand why they freak some people out. Even before we're introduced to a posse of violent clowns in a blue van that actually come from a real-life scare in the 1990's that writer of the comic, John Lees remembers well, plenty of other creepy events occur.

"Sink," is a comic series focused on, "A forgotten East End district of a warped funhouse mirror vision of Glasgow, Scotland," known as Sinkhill. You may wonder if it is a pleasant place? Well, "Sinkhill is a hive of crooks, deviants and killers, and ordinary folk unfortunate enough to live among them." Each issue will be its own standalone tale in the region and the first issue introduces us to a variety of folk whom I imagine will pop-up again as the story proceeds. This first issue focuses on a young man named Allan who finds himself stuck walking home late at night/super-early in the morning after missing-out on a variety of transportation opportunities and not thinking to charge his phone enough to keep it from dying. As he proceeds on his jaunt he runs-up against a serial-killer bus-driver whom he doesn't even realize he's narrowly escaped, faces deranged mobsters who wear condoms as headgear (its a part of  a gang initiation), and meets a man who wears a huge fox mask and wields a deadly shovel appropriately named, "Mr. Dig." Oh, and those damn clowns.

As I mentioned, John Lees' writing gives us quite a scary tale, but what really makes things eerie would be Alex Cormack's moody and dreary artwork that gives Sinkhill an incredibly depressing and uncomfortable vibe. The hideous and misshapen people compliment the atmosphere perfectly, with Allan and his friends looking perfectly normal but as the night proceeds and Allan meets an assortment of twisted figures, the designs morph from regular humans to disgusting and gross beings that look more monstrous than real...which is kind of a given for clowns, but yeah.

In the back-matter for, "Sink," Lees touches upon how he wants his comic to exist on that line between a crime-comic and horror-comic. There are scary and nearly-supernatural elements but also there is an emphasis on the horrific nature of crime. The gang-members chasing Allan down for little more than shits and giggles may look terrifying, but are all-too-human (as Mr. Dig and his shovel prove). There is discussion of class and how Allan may think he's some kind of everyman but clearly is ill-prepared for the kind of rough life faced by these Glasgow residents he claims to relate to. Obviously, nobody deserves to face danger simply walking through a, "Bad part," of the city. It is just as true however that not using your brain and putting yourself at risk because you think you, "Know this area," when you just ride past it on a bus daily to get to your higher-class establishments is a prime example of class-privilege. As Mr. Dig tells Allan upon saving him, "You act like you know Glasgow because you bus in on weekends? We live here. Maybe the only thing making these animals any different from you is they don't have a nice house in the suburbs."

The first issue of, "Sink," is scary, bloody, and has some smart social messages mixed into all the horror and violence. I loved it and can't wait to see what other residents of Sinkhill we can look forward to seeing in future issues. The debut issue of, "Sink," is currently in the July 2017 issue of, "Previews," magazine and you can tell your comic shop to order you a copy for its upcoming September release. I would encourage you to do so.
5 out of 5 stars.

One Sentence Summaries Sneaks Back To Smack You In The Face With Awesome

Opener
This is my fourth time presenting summaries of comic-books that are only one sentence long. Yes, sometimes I take advantage of semicolons or run-on sentences but I still feel each comic is only given a sentence so let's not get overly grammatical up in this sucker. Anyways, here are some thoughts....

Main Attraction
Ghost Rider #4
I'm not sure if I enjoy this because it is actually a great comic, or if it is just an okay comic with amazing art by Tradd Moore giving it the sensation that it is better than it actually is.

Thomas Alsop #1
I think the 2nd issue of this is out but I haven't read it yet, although I imagine it continues the clever idea of being like a tale about John Constantine if he were (was?) a fame-whore.

Mighty Avengers #11
I heard this series was possibly being cancelled, which is a shame because besides this and "Avengers Undercover" (which is confirmed as cancelled) I don't really read any "Avengers" books anymore due to growing bored with Hickman's comics and getting sick of Remender's super-dull saga with the Apocalypse twins that seems like it has taken 20-something issues when eight at the most would have been enough.

X-Force #6
I've quit this comic after this issue and I don't get why the writer of this (Si Spurrier) is creating something so mediocre when the X-series he did before (X-Men Legacy) was one of the best series I've ever read; life is disappointing sometimes.

Batman #32
One of the incredibly small number of DC comics I'm still reading, I continue to be a fan of "Batman" for reasons I can't quite figure out beyond that it has at least had the same creative team since launch, told interesting stories, and been creative in its originality while still calling-back to the past....perhaps that's exactly what this kind of comic needs and the very reason why I like it.

The Wicked and The Divine #1
Well damn, that was a really, really enjoyable comic.

The Red Ten #6
Comixtribe's version of a Justice League slowly being killed by a mysterious being on an island in the vein of "And Then There Were None" has actually worked out quite nicely, resulting in a comic I look forward to reading whenever it manages to come out with its somewhat sporadic release schedule.

Closer
That is all my musings for now. I hope I've inspired you to check out some comics and possibly avoid others.

I Dropped a Lot of Comics Part Three: Other Publishers.

I already talked about the Marvel Comics I kept or ditched, along with DC and Image's output, but what about the other, smaller publishers? Let's discuss....

Other Publishers

Among Dark Horse's offerings, I no longer want to read that "Killjoys" comic because the damn thing makes no sense to me. It is sad as I truly adore Gerard Way's "Umbrella Academy" comics and hopes he returns to them soon. I am keeping "Dark Horse Presents" because even though it is an anthology book, and lots of anthologies are hit-or-miss, "Dark Horse Presents" has enough titles that "hit" I feel it is a good value for the money. One other Dark Horse title I want to keep up with actually had a segment in the anthology, "Resident Alien" which has a new mini, "Resident Alien: The Suicide Blonde" coming up. Lastly, "Fatale" by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips is shaping up into quite the big story and I want to keep on following it for now.

Publishers that I am reading only one book from currently are Dynamite with their title "Uncanny" and the newly-formed Amigo Comics with its superb, "The Westwood Witches". I am also reading a good number of Boom Studios books considering they don't have a ton, with "Six Gun Gorilla", "Deathmatch", and "Suicide Risk" all being excellent reads by great writers (Si Spurrier, Paul Jenkins, and Mike Carey, respectively). There is a small publisher known as Comixtribe who puts out some good stuff too, such as "The Red Ten" and "The Standard". Also, anytime IDW releases something by Ashely Wood I snatch it up, but there aren't any current works solicited by him that I know of.

If there were one company who "won" all of this cutting among the smaller publishers it would probably be Avatar Comics. I am reading a lot of their output besides "Crossed" (which I got tired of some time ago) and "Feral" (which I haven't gotten around to trying). I'm reading the new Christos Gage title. "Absolution: Rubicon" which is a sequel to the original great mini-series "Absolution". I'm also reading "Uber", "Skin Trade", "Extinction Parade" and am eager to read the upcoming, "God is Dead" by Jonathan Hickman. I guess I just really like a lot of Avatar's stuff.

That's all the smaller stuff I can think of that I'm still interested in. Stay tuned for Part 4 where I discuss all of these posts and what they reflect of my tastes and the comic-book industry.

A Glowing Review of the 3rd Issue of "The Standard"

In a previous post I discussed some of the comics coming out from new publisher Comixtribe. My favorite as of only its first issue was "The Standard" and with it now on its 3rd issue, I continue to greatly enjoy the comic. I find it a pleasurable read not just because the characters are interesting, the art is good, and the main plot is intriguing, but also because of how the comic subtly explores and comments on the classic tropes of super-hero comics and how they have evolved over time. As I discussed in my previous post, the first issue dealt with a protege of the famous hero "The Standard" who later assumed the title. Named Alex Thomas he took over the mantle some time ago but was often more busy being a reality T.V. star (that reminds me of my other post today about super-heroes and the media) than fighting crime, even if his heart was in the right place. If I may spoil how the first issue ends, Alex Thomas ends up murdered mysteriously and as of the 2nd issue the original Standard, elderly Gilbert Graham, has taken his heroic mantle back-up.

The things about the series that are most interesting are seeing how Gilbert's past exploits compare to today's conflicts. In scenes set in the past right around when the cute innocence of heroic comics started to end it is seen how Gilbert went up against silly villains such as, "The Skunk" who would say cute puns--whereas today Gilbert is fighting super-powered people abducting children and committing all sorts of heinous crimes.

The most telling scene of meta-commentary is where one of Gilbert's foes, the aforementioned Skunk, is almost murdered by an overzealous police officer and in the process of defending himself accidentally kills the lawman. He bemoans, "I've never killed anybody before. I never wanted to, that's not what I do this for. This is supposed to be fun. There's some thrills, some bumps and bruises, but no one gets hurt. Not really. No one is supposed to get hurt! What's happening to us? How did it come to this?" It is as if the comic is showing us what might have been going through the minds of our fictional characters had they been real heroes seeing as their world slowly went from foiling simple bank robberies to horrible crimes. These elements of "The Standard" are what take it from a pretty good comic about heroes to a great comic about heroes and how we as a society view and treat them in our fiction.

As the latest issue of "The Standard " comes to an end some sub-plots have been resolved but the overall mystery of just who or what killed Alex Thomas remains. If "The Standard" keeps providing not only great storytelling, but clever commentary on super-hero comics, I'll be extremely excited to follow this story to its conclusion.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Rant-Reviews--Funny Comics, Serious Comics, and Just Plain Confusing Ones

Adventures in Reading
Even though my blog had been a bit sparse on the posting until this avalanche of content, I still was reading plenty of comics when I had the chance. Therefore, I now present to you my thoughts on some of them.

Deadpool #7
Poshen and Duggan have been writing one fun Deadpool. Despite a start that I found a bit weak, once the book found its footing around issue #3 it became highly enjoyable. Interestingly enough, this issue doesn't continue the story of the first six issues, choosing instead to be a faux-inventory issue set around the Bronze Age of comics. With an art style that could easily pass as being from then you could almost believe this were set in the past, were it not for the fact that Deadpool hadn't been created yet back then (plus there are some smart little winks to the future in a few of the jokes). Scott Koblish absolutely nails the aforementioned art and most of the jokes are successful in making me laugh. Whoever said you can't do quality done-in-one issues this modern day was as liar, as this comic proves otherwise.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Stormwatch #19
I've seen some positive reviews of this issue and am wondering if something is wrong with me and the not comic. I say that because I read this issue and instead of fully liking or hating the it I can only wonder just what the Hell is happening. It seems the current Stormwatch has been erased from existence so now heroes are being pulled from other dimensions to form a new team, but some of them are the previous versions of Stormwatch characters? Is that what is going on? Do those weird robot-looking things that are altering history serve as villains or are they actually doing good things and we don't realize it? Why is that creepy guy with the huge eyes around, as I've read writer Jim Starlin created him long ago for a different comic? Seriously, what is happening in this comic? I ask because I truly have no clue, and that makes it pretty low in enjoyment-levels.
2 out of 5 stars.

The Standard #2
It is only on its second issue, but after its strong debut (as I've discussed before in a post on new publisher Comixtribe) and this equally excellent entry I'm prepared to say "The Standard" is shaping up to be one stellar story. Between its clever bouncing-around from the past to present, an older superhero investigating the death of his former sidekick, and some clever meta-commentary on how heroes have functioned in society's psyche ("If people see us as fun and colorful they're not as scared of us") this is definitely a comic worth buying, or demanding your store start stocking if they haven't been carrying it yet.
4.5 out of 5 stars.


Batman #19
The opening to this issue had me absolutely scratching my head until I reached the conclusion (which I'm going to spoil) some 20-ish pages later. After that everything made sense. Writer Scott Snyder is at his best when instead of trying to tell complicated sweeping tales (such as "Court of the Owls") he focuses in on characters and their motivations. His run on "Detective Comics" was stellar in making James Gordon extremely creepy, and in this single issue Snyder has made the villain of the issue, Clayface, pretty interesting between his powers changing and new mysterious motivations occurring. Clearly the evil Bruce Wayne at the start of the issue is Clayface, but the question now is what does he have planned, and why? After the somewhat disappointing, "Death of the family" arc with the Joker I'm pleased to see the book become a good read again.
4 out of 5 stars.

Team 7 #7
I've given up on trying to understand this comic. The characters that randomly show-up, their motivations, what the overall plot is, I just don't care. This thing went from moving at a relatively leisurely pace to throwing out every random idea it has now that the series dies a sad and unnoticed death next issue. This is just bad comic-booking right here.
1 out of 5 stars.


Age of Ultron #6
This came out today and I read it first out of my stack of new comics. I didn't do this because it is such an amazing comic that I have to read it as soon as I buy it. No, it is more a curiosity about if Bendis can keep this pretty-good-so-far story moving along as well as he has. Perhaps having Bryan Hitch turn in lovely artwork those first five issues helped as his super-detailed way of drawing scenery really imparted the destruction being wreaked by Ultron. That, and things are relatively fun with the whole, "The heroes lost and are just trying to survive now," plot. Also, Bendis has a tendency to have a huge team then strangely just focus-in on a single character or two, but that has worked pretty well in this series, giving everyone a bit of limelight. Be it showing Black Widow and Moon Knight on the West Coast, Hawkeye and Spider-Man escaping a bunch of villains, or Luke Cage and She-Hulk working together to trick Ultron, having all these little moments of duos has helped move things along pretty well.

One thing that has bugged me is we still haven't actually seen the main Ultron doing all this and learned what his true motivations are beyond killing everything--and we're more than half-way through the series now. Perhaps there isn't much of a twist beyond, "Ultron hates human life," but the story has kept hinting at such a thing, be it in the text or with the weird announcement that a character Neil Gaiman wrote for an issue of "Spawn" will be showing up at the end (I still can't wrap my head Angela showing up like that). I'm just concerned with the next issue seeming to go the, "We changed the past and ruined the future!" route if it turns out that actually occurs. Still, the accelerated release schedule of the book has been great as it keeps it fresh in readers' minds and means the event won't go on forever ("Secret Invasion" felt like it took 2 years). I'm liking this still, and that's always good.
3.5 out of 5 stars.

That's All She/He Wrote
We've got some comics reviewed, some being quite good and others pretty bad. I guess at the end of the day all you can do is hope the positive outweighs the negative. Then again, most comics weigh the same so that saying doesn't really work now, does it? Such is life...

A New Comic Publisher Whose Work I'm Enjoying--Comixtribe

Some Good Stuff

Comixtribe is an independent comic's publisher that has put out some neat stuff. They started out super small-press, not even using Diamond Distributors as they were just so new and little-known. Instead they went directly to comic stores and would see if said stores were interested in stocking their comics. That is how I came across some of Comixtribe's stuff a bit ago in one of my stores, "Newcastle Comics". I've been happy to see they have grown enough to the point you can now find their fine books in "Previews". Thanks to my store having a good stock of it, I have read everything they have put out so far. Therefore, I thought I would discuss their comics.

"Scam" #1-3

This has had the most issues put out so far, with three currently released. This is has been described by folk as "Ocean's 11" with superpowers and I'd agree. You've got a team of people trying to run a con-job on a casino owned by a former member of their team who screwed them all over awhile ago. It's a a fun read that I've enjoyed but have a complaint about. The art is quite nice, but doesn't always make all the characters look too different, which can be a problem as the story mainly focuses on a few of them resulting in the rest feeling a bit interchangeable or otherwise forgettable. The plot itself is continuing to intrigue me however, as the twists and turns are not always what I expect--a hard trick to pull off on someone who has read enough comics to often accurately predict what is going to happen in a book.
3 out of 5 stars (for all the issues together)

"The Red Ten" #1-2 & "Oxymoron" Hardcover

I supported the "Oxymoron" Kickstarter and was pleased to see it grow into a bigger hardcover with nice alternate covers and other goodies. I supported it at the level where (with some extra funds for other goodies I wanted) I got the signed book (with a snazzy alternate cover) and it had an artist's sketch inside, some pins, a bookmark, an art print, and Kickstarter-exclusive alternate-cover versions of "The Red Ten" #1 and #2. All this was 40-ish dollars and a good deal if I do say so myself. The "Oxymoron" book focuses on the villain of, "The Red Ten" as he engages in various adventures, some humorous, others gruesome. While he may be inspired by the joker what with the grin and his nemesis being an analogue of Batman, Oxymoron is unique enough that it doesn't bother me. He's a villain obsessed with contradictions enough to a point he'll even do seemingly "heroic" things such as fight zombies attacking the town because he can't stand something as oxymoronic as the "living dead".

The cool alternate cover I got via Kickstarter

Oxy is no sweetheart however, doing things in his hardcover to people that are just cruel and monstrous. Be it forcing a supposedly "selfless" man to make a horrible choice, or crashing a beauty pageant and making everyone grossly deformed, Oxymoron is a sick man. That makes it all the more interesting how in the first issue of "The Red Ten" Oxymoron apparently has killed himself after killing the hero who always stopped his exploits. Having lured the rest of the heroic group to his island however things get interesting when it becomes apparent everyone is going to be killed one-by-one. The heroes are all substitutes of sorts for other famous heroes--which is acknowledged in the first issue's afterword--but as is also pointed out, because these aren't Superman or somebody else we actually could see these characters die. Plus, the heroes that have spoken so far have enough of a personality all their own I don't mind the clear similarity to other "big name" heroes.

The dark humor of the "Oxymoron" book is enjoyable, plus the "And Then There Were None," styled retelling with superheroes in, "The Red Ten" also is proving fun. The characters in these books seem to have more personality than in, "Scam," and my only issue with these publications might be that because the "Oxymoron" book has a variety of writers and artists at times the tone and look can seem to swing from funny to scary at a jarring pace. "The Red Ten" is a bit more tonally consistent so that isn't a problem with the comic series. I would definitely recommend "The Red Ten" if you want a fun tale where the heroes may actually meet their doom (spoiler for those who never read "And Then There Were None", it doesn't end happily). If you find yourself intrigued by the character of Oxymoron then check out his book too, though it isn't necessary to get enjoyment from "The Red Ten".
Oxymoron Hardcover
3.5 out of 5 stars
The Red Ten (both issues)
4 out of 5 stars.

"The Standard" #1

Only one issue of this has come out so far (via Comixtribe, it was distributed in the UK previously) but I've enjoyed it so much this is probably the Comixtribe comic I'm most excited to read more of. It is focused on how there was a superhero named "The Standard" who retired and his protege took over. The protege revealed his identity however and now is a celebrity who does more work for his reality TV show than actually fighting serious crime. The shock ending of the first issue is what really grabbed me and made it apparent the old "Standard" is going to need to come back to hero-ing. The comic has a single artist but he alters his style to show the old-times with the Standard being fun and fluffy while in the present day things can get pretty grim and violent as that shocking ending showed. The next issue can't come soon enough!
4.5 out of 5 stars.

Conclusion: Give Them A Try
Sometimes it can be scary to try a comic by a company you haven't ever read the work of, or which features new characters. You shouldn't be afraid to try new stuff however, because you might discover a neat publisher with some snazzy books. Comixtribe's works aren't perfect, but of a great quality and very enjoyable. You should definitely give one or two of their publications a try if you want comics about powered-folk with interesting twists.