Writer Zack Whedon and artist Georges Jeanty continue to be “big, damn heroes” to Browncoats everywhere this month by supplying us with another excellent issue of Serenity: Leaves on the Wind. The third issue of this series ratchets up the plot even more, pitting Mal and his crew against their old enemy, Jubal Early, and forcing our desperate characters to turn to a figure from the past in a last-ditch attempt for help against the almighty Alliance. Things couldn’t be more tense or exciting . . . it’s a mighty fine time to be a Serenity fan, isn’t it?
MINOR SPOILERS BELOW
When IDW first announced they would be using their new X-Files exclusive comic property of my favorite television series of all time to produce a crossover that included my favorite film ever produced, including two other properties whose toy lines I grew up with, I pretty much went into the geek equivalent of anaphylactic shock. It felt like all things in the world were finally righting themselves; world peace had just been achieved, cancer had been cured, and the Kardashians finally had their show cancelled.
Matt Kindt’s Mind MGMT has started digging down into some of the more unsavory aspects of running a top secret psychic spy agency. This issue shows the backstory of Big Jim, who looks like he is about eight feet tall. We get a glimpse of how he is recruited, trained, and modified by the Management. We also see his ultimate assignment to a circus and the strange little group of agents that drive the bulk of the story in this issue. We also get to see how bad things really look for Lyme, Duncan, Meru, and the rest of the team. (Spoiler: Super bad.)
Here We Go and The Daring Adventures of Android Jones author Jesse Young has released yet another new comic, this time the Western-themed Forbidden Love. It seems like Jesse’s releasing another new comic every week. His work ethic is something to admire. He’s amassing quite the portfolio of work, crossing many different genres and themes including sci-fi, fantasy, drama, and adventure. Outside of sci-fi, my favorite genre is Westerns. Nothing beats a good, old fashioned John Wayne adventure. The Searchers, True Grit, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are some of my favorites. It was like being part of a completely different world, without ever leaving America. It made you wonder what it must have been like to have actually lived in the Old West. Forbidden Love is no different. Jesse mentions in the forward that the song “Long Black Veil,” written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin, inspired the story. Lefty Frizzell originally recorded the song, but when I read the story, I couldn’t help but hear the version recorded by Johnny Cash in my head. If you haven’t heard that version, then do yourself a favor and Google it immediately.
Fanboy Comics' Sam Rhodes chats with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actor Chloe Bennett (Skye) about the "Kree injection" Coulson gave her, the future of her character, and more at the PaleyFest red carpet in Hollywood, CA.
Fanboy Comics' Bryant Dillon chats with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Executive Producers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen about their approach to S.H.I.E.L.D., which Dollhouse actor could make the jump to the series, and more at the PaleyFest red carpet in Hollywood, CA.
Fanboy Comics' Sam Rhodes chats with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actor Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May) about being S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "badass with a heart of gold" at the PaleyFest red carpet in Hollywood, CA.
Fanboy Comics' Sam Rhodes chats with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actor Brett Dalton (Grant Ward) about playing a tough guy on screen, how he relates to his character, and more at the PaleyFest red carpet in Hollywood, CA.
The creative team of writer Michael Lent and artist Marc Rene are back with the second chapter of their mind-bending and visually stunning sci-fi indie comic miniseries, The Machine Stops. Based on the only science fiction short story written by E.M. Forster, the famous English novelist who wrote such classics as A Room with a View and A Passage to India, Lent and Rene’s adaptation continues to be a relevant and timely story that is sure to engage fans of classic science fiction that challenges the reader.
Light Brigade is a bravado piece of storytelling. Created by writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Peter Snejbjerg, it packs a wallop of classic, good-old-fashioned adventure, while also delving into the reasons men go to war and the effects of war on their psyches, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. Here’s the simple story, as solid and entertaining as the best of “small-band-of heroes/antiheroes against all odds” military movies go, but with a spectacular supernatural twist: An American infantry division in Europe during World War II becomes tasked with helping the forces of Heaven stop the forces of Hell from taking dominion over Heaven and Earth by acquiring the Sword of God. That is the premise at its most boiled down, but Light Brigade is equal parts supernatural action adventure and human drama, and Tomasi packs so much introspection and emotion into his tale of soldiers struggling with ideas of faith, fate, duty, and honor that you find yourself not only reveling in the battle against the forces of evil, largely made up of undead Nazi soldiers, but also contemplating the meaning and importance of sacrifice, and of life itself.
