I’ve enjoyed Chris Roberson’s writing on other people’s properties—finishing up the "Grounded" Superman arc, and writing the Fables spin-off miniseries Cinderella—but I think it’s his own co-creation iZombie that has impressed me the most. So when I heard that Roberson had a new creation [...]]]> Written by Chris Roberson
Art by Rich Ellis
32 pages, color
Published by IDW

I’ve enjoyed Chris Roberson’s writing on other people’s properties—finishing up the "Grounded" Superman arc, and writing the Fables spin-off miniseries Cinderella—but I think it’s his own co-creation iZombie that has impressed me the most. So when I heard that Roberson had a new creation with artist Rich Ellis in the pipeline involving a woman who lost her memories and a strange antique store? I knew I’d have to give it a whirl. And while these are early days, there’s enough in this first issue to have my interest officially piqued.

When Memorial #1 opens, Roberson doesn’t waste any time in getting down to business. In the first two pages we’ve met the memory-lacking Em, and by page three Roberson has moved on to introducing a new pocket reality called the Everlands, the villains that reside there, and (presumably) part of the reason why Em is missing her memories. Roberson clearly has a lot of back story and set-up to deliver, and that’s smart. By casting the various hooks out to the readers, he’s not assuming that everyone will have read interviews explaining what Memorial is about, but instead providing the big ideas as fast as humanly possible so that readers will encounter them and get intrigued.

Since Em herself is a bit of a blank slate, that’s a smart thing. Her personality will be, I suspect, the slow burn throughout this initial six-issue mini-series. Roberson has done an excellent job of slowly revealing facets of his characters over in iZombie, and I suspect we’ll get the same with Em and the (brilliantly named) cat called Schroedinger. Meanwhile, Roberson continues to pepper hints about the cosmos of Memorial, teasing us with lines about stolen moments getting turned into stories even as they’re grafted into the Everlands, or quietly setting up an invasion of statues by having them all appear in the backgrounds of scenes leading up to that moment. It’s a carefully, meticulously plotted first issue, and we’re all the much better for it.

Ellis appears to be a relative new-comer to the comics industry, but there’s a comfort in his art that makes him feel like he’s been around for a while. His people are drawn well; good anatomy and proportions, and he hits the expressions for key moments quite well. Our first look at Em’s face when she has no idea who she is, for instance, is one of bewildered shock, and her nervousness on the next page as she sits on the emergency room gurney is clear to the eye.

He’s also good with the settings of Memorial, though, and in some ways they’re the big stars of this first issue. The glimpse of the center of the Everlands is fun, with little islands and strange buildings dotting the river, a wonderful (and deliberate) mish-mash of styles and regions. Likewise, the Memorial store itself gets a great full-page spread when he first see its contents, a collection of knick-knacks and artifacts sitting side-by-side. Ellis needs to sell us on the idea that he contains anything and everything in a single glance, and I think he does so quite nicely.

Memorial is off to a good start; with five more issues in this initial mini-series it can, of course, go any direction from here. But it’s a promising opening, and the parts that I’d like to see fleshed out (namely the main characters) have room to do so. And after all, based on Roberson’s past comics work, that should be around the corner. For now, though, I feel like Roberson and Ellis have presented more than enough interesting material to bring readers back for a second issue. That’s exactly what a debut should do. Unlike the main character of Memorial, I’ll definitely remember to pick up the next installment.

A crossover between the Legion of Super-Heroes and Star Trek seems like such a no-brainer that, similar to Aliens vs Predator, it’s hard to believe it’s taken so long for us to see it in comics. With the collision of these [...]]]> Written by Chris Roberson
Penciled by Jeffrey Moy
Inked by Philip Moy
32 pages, color
Published by IDW

A crossover between the Legion of Super-Heroes and Star Trek seems like such a no-brainer that, similar to Aliens vs Predator, it’s hard to believe it’s taken so long for us to see it in comics. With the collision of these two future-set groups of characters, though, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is an entertaining amount of set-up, but this is a mini-series that is clearly just getting started.

Most of Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is aimed at putting the crew of the Enterprise and a select group of Legionnaires (Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Shadow Lass, Chameleon Boy) into an altered timeline for both characters, one where the Imperial Planets attacks those who won’t join, pillaging its way across the galaxy. It’s a smart move, putting both groups into unfamiliar territory instead of having just one be the fish-out-of-water. It is hard to ignore the fact, though, that the two properties never have their characters meet each other in the first issue, though. Never mind that we haven’t gotten a face-off between Spock and Brainiac 5 just yet, this is a comic where each is unaware of the other’s presence.

Instead, the mixes we get are the littler, background ones; Talokians working as shock troops for a starship with humans, Andorians, and Orions on board, and an attack on the Durlans. Chris Roberson is clearly building his new world for everyone to see, and he does a good job with the voices of the main characters to make everyone sound right. He’s also smart to keep the groups of characters small on each side; Scotty is left behind on the Star Trek side, while the Legion has just six characters instead of the entire dozens of members that could have shown up.

The big draw for the first issue is seeing Jeffrey Moy and Philip Moy tackle the Legion again. Jeffrey Moy in particular penciled almost the entire post-Zero Hour run of Legionnaires, and having him reunited with the characters that created his career is a lot of fun. Jeffrey Moy’s also tackled the Star Trek universe before (I remember him drawing some Star Trek: Voyager one-shots years ago), and his clean, rounded art style is a welcome return to comics. He draws that smarmy smile on Kirk’s face that I remember from years ago quite well, and the Legionnaires themselves are definitely on point and true to form. I also like contrasts between the two locations that the teams appear in; the Star Trek crew’s being gleaming and shiny in the heart of the Imperial Planets stronghold, dingy and grimy where the Legion have landed.

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is off to a slow start, but this is a comic aimed squarely at hitting the nostalgia button. It does a good job of that, and there’s no doubt in my mind that its target audiences will definitely be on board for more. And I’ll admit that yes, that includes me too. If nothing else, I want to see what happens when the characters finally meet up. There’s a lot of promise here.

Of all the various Star Trek comic book ideas, I think IDW’s new Star Trek series has one of my favorites to date. For those unfamiliar with the most recent Star Trek film, it tells the [...]]]> Written by Mike Johnson
Based on a teleplay by Samuel A. Peeples
Art by Stephen Molnar
32 pages, color
Published by IDW Publishing

Of all the various Star Trek comic book ideas, I think IDW’s new Star Trek series has one of my favorites to date. For those unfamiliar with the most recent Star Trek film, it tells the story of Kirk and company’s first adventure together. As part of it, there’s time travel involved, and the timeline ends up getting altered. And so, with this new status quo in effect… this Star Trek comic is now showing us stories from the original Star Trek television series, but with this new cast of actors and relationships firmly in place. In other words, it’s Star Trek: The Original Series: The Really Special Edition. Brilliant.

This first issue of Star Trek begins its adaptation of "Where No Man Has Gone Before," and it’s at this point that I should admit that I’ve only seen a handful of original Star Trek episodes. (I know, this is a gap in geek knowledge I really should fix.) Based on what I do know about the episode, though, it feels fairly faithful to me, and it’s entertaining. (And after all, isn’t part of the idea of this series to appeal to those who haven’t seen the original episodes?) Even I was able to catch some little tweaks that Mike Johnson’s script added (the presence of Chekhov, who didn’t join the original series until the second season, Spock’s relationship with Uhura carrying over into the comic, or Kirk’s racing through the Academy process because of the recent film), but none of them felt intrusive or out of the ordinary.

It also feels to me like Johnson’s able to use this altered timeline to his advantage; guest characters from the episode are given importance by having it pointed out that they aren’t already main people on the bridge only because they weren’t on that initial adventure, for example, but they’re now being added into the mix. It makes you feel like they’re more than just random guest stars of the week, but in fact a real part of the running of the Enterprise. And while Johnson is lucky to have a strong episode script to adapt from, it is worth noting that Star Trek #1 flows quite smoothly in the shift from television to comic book; so many adaptations to comic come across as jerky or threadbare, and this is neither.

Stephen Molnar is in charge of the art for Star Trek, and I’m impressed in that he’s able to both nail all of the actor likenesses (by all accounts an extremely thankless task on a licensed comic) and also keep the art feeling lively. Looking at the characters, I can see the likenesses of Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and company all shine through; people who have only seen the Star Trek movie won’t be lost at all by the shift to a comic. Molnar is also able to liven up some of the visuals; having non-human aliens running around on the ship is a nice touch, and a way to both update the comic while still staying true to the original source material ideas. That said, if there’s one thing Molnar does probably need to work on, it’s exploding Enterprise consoles. Even I know it’s a pretty familiar sight from the show, and when we get three explosions in rapid succession, it’s already feeling like a slightly stale and unenthusiastic illustration. Better get used to drawing those, Molar.

Star Trek #1 kicks off a clever twist on the licensed comic. It’s aimed firmly at the new readers, but simultaneously has appeal to some older fans to see how everything lines up in the new continuity. And of course, with Johnson working off of existing scripts, it certainly makes life easier in terms of the writing process. I was entertained by this issue, and while I still do mean on watching those original episodes one of these days, this feels like a fun way to catch up bit by bit in a different manner.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of those comics where a surprisingly high number of people in the world know who the characters are, but few actually know the original incarnation. That’s the one created by Kevin [...]]]> Story and layouts by Kevin Eastman
Story and script by Tom Waltz
Art by Dan Duncan
32 pages, color
Published by IDW

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is one of those comics where a surprisingly high number of people in the world know who the characters are, but few actually know the original incarnation. That’s the one created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1984 through a self-published comic, and which might startle people only familiar with their mid-’80s animated series, or the live-action movies from the ’90s, or even the Archie Comics version based off of the cartoon. Unlike all of the spin-offs, the original was a dark, brooding, and somewhat violent story; now, over a quarter of a century later, they’ve been rebooted again, and this new incarnation lends itself quite strongly to that original vision of the characters.

In this reset of the characters, the turtles have abandoned a lot of the childlike goofiness that got added to the property when it was aimed at children. Catchphrases, jokes, even the four different-colored headbands are all abandoned as the comic slips back to those early stories, where personalities and weapons are how you told the four apart, and in general the Turtles were living a secretive, dangerous, grim life. Eastman teams up with Tom Waltz to plot out a story that begins in media res, with three of the Turtles working with their sensei Splinter as they fight a street gang led by a new cat-villain named Old Hob, even as Raphael has struck out on his own.

It’s a solid if slightly short opening; we see how the Turtles are operating in the present day, while also getting glimpses of their new origin. Instead of getting splashed by radioactive material (in a nod to the Daredevil comic’s first issue), they’re now test subjects from a local lab; presumably it’s where the mutated Old Hob character comes from, and with quite possibly additional humanoid animals around the corner. And while we see old characters April O’Neil and Casey Jones here, they’ve each got new roles as well, even if those appearances are brief for now. My only worry is that in general the comic feels slightly short; things are barely getting moving when it comes to a conclusion, and I can’t help but feel like Eastman and Waltz are relying at least a bit on nostalgia for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to carry readers through to the next issue.

Dan Duncan draws over layouts from Eastman, and I’m overall pleased with the end result. Duncan’s art reminds me of a mixture between artists like Jim Mahfood and Rick Leonardi; there’s a blocky, simple look to the characters but we then get those interesting squiggles in April’s hair, or the ridiculously cute original forms of the turtles as they motor around their terrarium. Eastman’s layouts serve Duncan well when it comes to the fight scene that opens the comic; it’s energetic and easy to follow, even when shifting from one Turtle to the next with each panel. The overall look might be a little cheerier than people would expect based on the script, but it tells the story well enough that I think he’s a good choice.

IDW is in the midst of a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles re-launch; not only do they have this reboot of the comic, but around the corner are two hardcover collections of Eastman and Laird’s original eleven issues (plus the four one-shots that came out around the same time, and all of which are fully restored). When I first heard of IDW bringing all of this into print, my initial thought had been to make sure to pick up the hardcovers. Now that I’ve read this first issue of the reboot, I’m entertained enough to come back for a second look. I’d like the pacing to get moving a bit faster, but for now the added hint of nostalgia is enough to make me interested. There’s no "cowabunga!" or "turtle power!" rallying cries here (save for a sidelong thumbing of the nose at the former), and that’s the way I like my Turtles.

Jordi Bernet is one of those artists whose work I admire every time I see, but whom I rarely encounter. With IDW publishing a series of reprints of Torpedo, a European comic about an Italian killer-for-hire, it seemed like the perfect [...]]]> Written by Enrique Sánchez Abulí
Art by Jordi Bernet
144 pages, black and white
Published by IDW

Jordi Bernet is one of those artists whose work I admire every time I see, but whom I rarely encounter. With IDW publishing a series of reprints of Torpedo, a European comic about an Italian killer-for-hire, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl and see a lot more of Bernet’s art in one fell swoop. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was just how brutal Enrique Sánchez Abulí’s scripts would be.

Torpedo Vol. 3 opens a story titled "Once Upon a Time in Italy" that flashes back to Luca "Torpedo" Torelli’s childhood, giving us a glimpse into his family life that involved a drunken father, a lecherous relationship with a school teacher, and violent abuse. It’s easily the best story in the volume, in part because it sets up everything that’s to come in Torpedo’s life. In reading this first story, I wasn’t expecting such a dark, wicked streak of humor from Abulí, one that continues throughout the Torpedo stories in general. It’s misogynistic, violent, and anything but family friendly, but it does so with a sly wink to the reader. So when Torpedo’s teacher gets hot for him every time a family member dies, it turns a dark moment into something with increasing humor. And when Rascal and Torpedo abuse and eventually kill a target in a crowded movie theatre, there’s something funny about their well-timed elbows to the face, comments about the female lead, and eventual drawing of guns.

That said, let there be no doubt whatsoever: Torpedo is an extremely violent comic. People who don’t want to read stories where death is an inevitability, or the protagonists sexually abuse the poor women who get in their way, should absolutely steer clear. Torpedo and company are horrible people, and it’s a fact that you need to agree with before you start reading these comics, or you’re just going to put yourself in a world of hurt. If you don’t mind the good guys always finishing last and being degraded (or worse), though, you’ll get a great deal of entertainment from Torpedo.

As for the art? It’s outstanding. Bernet’s characters are beautifully expressive, from wry sidelong glances right before attacking someone, to unadulterated surprise when opening up a safe reveals a midget with a pistol waiting on the other side of the door. Bernet pays attention to the fashions of the times; everyone’s dressed handsomely for the 1930s, and there’s variety in people’s suits and dresses. Cars, bridges, skylines, you name it, Bernet draws it. Best of all, the characters in Torpedo vary in attractiveness. This may sound like a strange thing, but it’s rare that an artist mixes handsome, beautiful, average, and homely characters all together; it feels that much more realistic, and it lets the truly beautiful people pop out in the crowd.

I quite enjoyed Torpedo Vol. 3, enough that I’m going to have to check out the earlier volumes before long. (As an added bonus, the legendary Alex Toth draws some of the stories in the first volume.) If you don’t mind your comics getting a little down and dirty (or if you’ve been enjoying Darwyn Cooke’s adaptation of the Parker graphic novels), you’ll like Torpedo.

Purchase Links: Amazon.com | Powell’s Books

Writing a licensed comic for a current property isn’t easy, because you’ve got to simultaneously come up with ideas for the characters and also not create anything long-lasting because there’s something else that automatically trumps anything you think of. So on the one hand, [...]]]> Written by Tony Lee
Art by Andrew Currie
32 pages, color
Published by IDW

Writing a licensed comic for a current property isn’t easy, because you’ve got to simultaneously come up with ideas for the characters and also not create anything long-lasting because there’s something else that automatically trumps anything you think of. So on the one hand, I’m willing to allow a little leeway. On the other hand, there’s also room for less leeway because if you don’t like the comic, well, you’ve got the original to check out instead. You know how that goes.

With IDW’s Doctor Who comics starring the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) over, Tony Lee and Andrew Currie are now kicking off their first comic with the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy, and Rory. He’s carefully set his story in-between the last season and the one starting this fall (with references to the wedding at the conclusion of "The Big Bang"), giving himself a little wiggle room as to not tread on any new developments that might happen when the show returns in the spring. And at its heart, it’s not a bad idea; the TARDIS gets invaded with holographic spam, forcing them to land for several hours on a planet that’s slated for destruction before repairs will be complete.

In reading Doctor Who #1, though, it does make you wonder whom Lee is writing for. The show itself doesn’t typically go for words-with-slightly-different-spellings puns, but here we’ve got a planet of holograms called Phayke, and an alien race that are looking for their next meal ticket called Scroungers. In short, it’s the sort of names that would be great for 6-year olds, but I’m fairly certain that’s not who’s reading this comic. It’s a little odd. The story itself is also slightly stretched out; once you get the joke, it just keeps going and going even though you’re ready to move on. Lee’s got some good ideas and twists along the way, but they’re all slightly too far apart from one another. By the time the social-network friend requests appear, you’re bound to be getting a bit bored with the comic. It’s too bad, because with a strong edit this could have been a much stronger, snappier story.

Currie’s art is nice if slightly bland. His likenesses are overall good (although Rory seems to get a default expression somewhere between "hangdog" and "dopey"), and he’s able to bring a much needed humor quotient to the comic. His rendition of Microsoft Office’s "clippie" (although here it’s a stapler rather than a paperclip) is hysterical, and Claude is a perfect example of how to draw beefcake in a humorous manner rather than in any remotely sexy way. He’s definitely at his best in drawing the Doctor, though, capturing Smith’s expressions in a way that feels like you’re seeing the actor but without looking like tracings of publicity photographs, and for that alone I think Currie’s a good choice for this new Doctor Who comic series.

The new Doctor Who #1 from IDW isn’t a bad comic, but it’s not a great one either. I appreciate that Lee hasn’t deeply rooted his comic in continuity (like so many feel the need to do), but this wasn’t the most riveting of opening issues. The most punch this comic has is the beautiful Tommy Lee Edwards cover, and that’s the first thing you see, not the last. I know it’s not the easiest job in the world to write the licensed Doctor Who comic, but with the premiere of new episodes just a few months away, the writing needs to step up its game a great deal if it wants to keep readers around. It’s too easy to just turn on the television instead.

I feel slightly late to the party with Locke & Key, now in its fourth 6-issue mini-series from IDW. I’ve been hearing great things about Joe Hill’s novels and short stories for a while now, and the praise didn’t stop when it came to [...]]]> Written by Joe Hill
Art by Gabriel Rodriguez
32 pages, color
Published by IDW

I feel slightly late to the party with Locke & Key, now in its fourth 6-issue mini-series from IDW. I’ve been hearing great things about Joe Hill’s novels and short stories for a while now, and the praise didn’t stop when it came to his comics. But with so many comics, and already being way behind, I figured it wasn’t worth trying to dive in at the halfway point in a series scheduled to run 36 issues in all. A friend kept assuring me that I’d have no problem giving the new mini-series a try, though, and what I found was a book full of some truly creepy images.

Thanks to the inside front cover of the first two issues of Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom, there’s enough immediate back story given so that you’re not entirely lost. The basics are spelled out there—three siblings, the bad guy posing as their friend who was really their father’s killer, a mysterious house with keys that have powers—and the rest is easy to pick up based on context. I like the simple idea of a series of keys that each grant a different power, because the possibilities are near-endless. At the same time, based on just these two issues, Hill doesn’t go berserk with a zillion different keys all showing up at once. The first issue of Keys to the Kingdom deals with the Animal Key, allowing characters to become an animal that best shows their true nature; the second issue uses the Mirror Key to change your appearance, and the Head Key to enter someone’s mind. Each key shows up for a specific reason or purpose, and most importantly they never feel like a deus ex machina, which is an obvious and easy trap that Hill could have fallen into.

With each key in these two issues, they’re also there for part of a larger purpose. So while Dodge becoming a savage wolf and hunting the protagonists while Bode has to figure out how a sparrow can be useful is entertaining in an action movie sort of way, it also allows Hill to use this as a chance to show how the small can still defeat the large and powerful, and it gives us a glimpse into Bode’s character in general. Likewise, in the second issue, the Mirror Key pushes Bode and Kinsey into seeing the other side of the race card, and while some parts come across a little too earnest (like Kinsey wondering about the empty seat on the train), on the whole it fits into part of the larger story, a subtle reminder about appearance being deceiving even as she continues to unknowingly date her father’s killer.

Hill gives Gabriel Rodriguez a lot of great visuals to tackle, and Rodriguez is definitely up to the task. The first issue of Keys to the Kingdom will probably catch people’s eyes because of how every couple of pages Rodriguez shifts between his own style and that of Bill Watterson’s from Calvin and Hobbes (depending on the point of view being Dodge or Bode), but there’s more to it than just that. It’s a lot of the little things in Rodriguez’s art that caught my attention, like how Dodge almost skulks back through the door to transform into a human again, or the tears welling up in Tyler’s eyes when he’s talking about his father, even as he squints his eyes shut. And in the second issue, when Kinsey is running out of the hospital and dragging Bode behind her, you can feel their frantic nature as they run and trip through the snow. Likewise, Erin Voss’s struggle to talk to the Locke siblings is almost painful to look at; you can see in her eyes the desperation and need to articulate what she knows, even as she’s unable to do so. Rodriguez’s expressive characters help seal the deal with Locke & Key, and even if I wasn’t into the story I’d want to stick around for his art. My only complaint with his work is that sometimes characters seem slightly shrunken, but even then it feels more stylistic than any fault with his character designs.

Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom hooked me, pure and simple. Fortunately the three previous mini-series are all collected, so sooner or later I’m going to have to sit down and buy them to see exactly what happened before. I’m glad that until that happens, though, Keys to the Kingdom is doing a good enough job on its own of keeping me entertained. And while I’m at it, I suppose it’s time to finally read some of Hill’s prose. Since the same people who have talked about his comics are also fans of them, well, I should take the hint, right? Between American Vampire and Locke & Key, it’s nice to have some new horror comics to keep me properly creeped out.

Purchase Links (Vol. 1): Amazon.com | Powell’s Books
Purchase Links (Vol. 2): Amazon.com | Powell’s Books
Purchase Links (Vol. 3): Amazon.com | Powell’s Books

Never let it be said that Harlan Ellison allows an idea to go to waste. For those unfamiliar with the television show The Starlost, it aired in the 1970s for a single season, originally created by Ellison. He withdrew from the series before it [...]]]> Written by Harlan Ellison
Art by Alan Robinson
32 pages, color
Published by IDW

Never let it be said that Harlan Ellison allows an idea to go to waste. For those unfamiliar with the television show The Starlost, it aired in the 1970s for a single season, originally created by Ellison. He withdrew from the series before it aired, though, and took his name off it and the pilot that he’d written. Since then, he’s published the script under the title he’d given it, Phoenix Without Ashes. And now, it’s back for a whole new generation who have probably never heard of it, as a comic-book mini-series. Here’s the thing, though: I’m not entirely convinced it needed to come back.

I’d never read the previous publication of Phoenix Without Ashes (or seen The Starlost), so I went the comic with middle-of-the-road expectations on what we’d actually get. And at first, I found myself going along with the story. It’s set in the future but most of the technology is distinctly in the past, bringing to mind Amish farming communities as our lead character Devon begs the preacher that runs the town for permission to marry Rachel, only to be denied because the computer says they aren’t genetically compatible. There are early hints on what’s going on laid out for us, though (mentions of a metal sky in particular), but only when Devon discovers a hatch in the ground at the end of the first issue is it becoming explicitly clear where Devon and the rest of his village really resides.

The problem is, what might have felt fresh and interesting in 1970s television isn’t quite as exciting now. Stories of communities in a larger craft, or other setting, are a dime a dozen. So when Ellison makes his big reveal to the reader, there isn’t the same sort of punch or moment of wonder. It’s a bit more of a "that’s it?" end to the issue, even as you’re fairly certain you know exactly where this is going. It probably doesn’t help matters that the script is somewhat weak; all the "thees" and "thous" from the preacher are trying to set his dialogue apart from Devon, but instead it comes across as a slightly impenetrable slab of words. On the screen this might have worked better, but here it felt like a large stumbling block for the reader’s eyes to slide over.

Alan Robinson draws Phoenix Without Ashes, and in a peculiar way it reminds me of old comics by Evan Dorkin. The characters have thick lines defining their faces, and characters feel slightly stiff and artificial. It’s a problem that Dorkin got over fairly quickly in his career as he continued to draw comics, and with any luck the same will be true for Robinson. Watching a three-panel progression of Devon running towards the church, it looks a little undynamic and posed. I appreciate that he’s trying to show time shift from one image to the next, but for now it’s just not quite there. Hopefully his action sequences, over time, will loosen up. It’s not a bad look overall, but every time motion shows up it’s hard to not see the stiffness in the work.

I’ve enjoyed a lot of Ellison’s writing over the years, but this feels like an odd project to bring to life. I’d rather see something new from Ellison (a big wish, I know), or even some more adaptations of his short stories like we had in the Harlan Ellison’s Dream Corridor series back in the day. This just doesn’t seem quite like the right project to bring back. Maybe if it continues beyond Ellison’s initial script it will begin to justify its existence, but for now, it just feels too dated to be that exciting.

I have a confession to make: about 25 years ago, I was a big Dungeons & Dragons geek. Played it all the time with friends, read the novels and comics, even helped maintain one of their official [...]]]> Written by John Rogers and Alex Irvine
Art by Andrea Di Vito and Peter Bergting
24 pages, color
Published by IDW

I have a confession to make: about 25 years ago, I was a big Dungeons & Dragons geek. Played it all the time with friends, read the novels and comics, even helped maintain one of their official areas on a computer network back in the day. But 15 years ago, I fell away from it all and I haven’t come into much contact at all with the game or products since then. So when a copy of Dungeons & Dragons #0 ended up in my mailbox, well, I couldn’t help but get curious. I’d loved the comics by Jeff Grubb, Rags Morales, Dan Mishkin, Jan Duursema, and Tom Mandrake that DC had published many years ago. Could this be my new "gateway drug" back inside?

Dungeons & Dragons #0 has two short stories that are meant to lure readers into their upcoming Dungeons & Dragons ongoing series, as well as Dark Sun mini-series. The first, by John Rogers and Andrea Di Vito, could best be described as fantasy by the numbers. The thief who stops during battles to loot the bad guys, the dwarf who gets excited about combat, the mysterious elf who is, erm, mysterious. There’s even mentions about how dungeons are full of mazes and twisty passageways. I hate to say it but this reminds me less of an actual story, and more of reading a dramatization of a group of friend’s latest gaming session. It’s not bad, but it’s not terribly good either. It’s by the book, no-surprises writing. Di Vito’s art is similarly inoffensive; he’s come along way since his CrossGen days, with rounded features and forms being drawn, but it’s utterly average and slightly forgettable.

It’s the back-up story by Alex Irvine and Peter Bergting that stands out a bit, a prelude to the upcoming Dark Sun mini-series. Maybe it’s because the Dark Sun world is a deliberate step away from average fantasy, but this feels much more interesting. It’s funny, because Irvine’s story isn’t terribly substantial or out of the ordinary, but it feels much more natural and wasn’t written as a series of cliche lines. The ideas of slavery and caste positions are a much easier hook for the reader, and I’d be interested in seeing more of Irvine’s story. The big star of this entire issue, though, is Bergting. I like his slightly angular faces, the thick blacks used for hair, and the jagged tattoos drawn all over Grudvik. It has a genuine style and voice of its own, and Bergting is an artist that will go places.

Part of what I liked about the old DC/TSR comics back in the day was that the characters in addition to the plots were interesting, to say nothing of some attractive art. I didn’t get that feeling at all with the lead story by Rogers and Di Vito, unfortunately, but Irvine and Bergting are showing promise in that direction. This comic wasn’t the welcome return to the game and worlds that I once loved that I’d hoped for. But I will take a look at the Dark Sun mini-series in January 2011 when it shows up, because that has a lot of potential. It’s a half-victory, which with just a dollar price tag, isn’t too bad. I just wish both halves of the comic were this fun. When a willing audience isn’t ready to immediately jump on for more, it’s time to take a closer look at what is and isn’t working.

One of the things I like about Scott Morse is that you never, ever know what you’re in store for. He jumps genres and formats faster than people can keep up, and often morphs his art style to match. So when I picked up a copy of Strange [...]]]> By Scott Morse
28 pages, color
Published by IDW

One of the things I like about Scott Morse is that you never, ever know what you’re in store for. He jumps genres and formats faster than people can keep up, and often morphs his art style to match. So when I picked up a copy of Strange Science Fantasy #1, the only thing for certain I knew was that the cover reminded me a lot old B-grade movie posters. Turns out that’s more or less what was waiting for me on the inside, too.

The best way to try and describe this issue of Strange Science Fantasy would be, "Race car pulp science-fiction cyborg apocalypse." And I’m sure I missed a few nouns and adjectives in there, because I think that only touches the tip of the iceberg. Any comic that shifts from car racing, to a driver being able to shine laser light out of his new cyborg head, to warring groups of gearheads is not your typical comic, after all. Strange Science Fantasy feels like a comic where Morse is just throwing as many crazy ideas into the mix as he can, then distilling them all down into a single issue.

The writing of Strange Science Fantasy #1 is entirely through narration; it feels more like you’re watching a documentary about the great gearhead wars instead of a present tense story. There’s no dialogue, just Morse explaining what happened throughout each stage of the uprisings and battles. The upside to this storytelling decision is that it lets Morse cover a lot of ground in just a few pages, moving forward at a fast clip that in many ways defines the story’s overall feel. The downside, though, is that it’s not a technique that lets you get close to any of the characters. With no dialogue and no resting on any specific scene, the action just whips on by with no strong focus to let you get to know them. They’re defined here entirely by their silent actions, not getting to know them on a personal level.

Morse’s art is as great as always. Here, he’s gone for a rougher, looser style that keeps bringing to mind those old movie posters. Those ragged drawings, though, don’t keep there from being a lot of emotion on the faces of his characters, and a lot of strong and powerful energy during the race and fight scenes. In those introductory panels where we first meet the world of Strange Science Fantasy, just a simple panel with the driver gripping the wheel shows his tension and concentration as he does so; it’s a great example of what’s to come. Morse also uses his color choices wisely throughout the book; while it primarily uses orange (an uncommon choice), he mixes it with blues, greens, and purples in a way that makes everything just pop off of the page. Most (but not all) panels are "widescreen" formatted, with narration right below the panel. It’s an interesting choice that works for his "documentary" style of storytelling, although if this had been written in a more standard way I suspect we’d have seen a very different series of layouts.

Strange Science Fantasy #1 is a fun, if slight, comic. At the end of the day, it’s the big ideas (cyber-elephants!) and the art that make me want to see more, even while the overall writing style is just all right. It’s cool enough though that I’m all right with that. And if you need an extra lure, well, there’s a one-page backup strip by Paul Pope about the creation of Headlight that makes me think Morse is a great choice to color any future Pope artwork. If you’re a Morse fan, you’ll want to take a look at this.