Comics (2238)
The year is 2844. Life is filled with uncertainty and war. Avalon, once ruled by Arthur McBride, has since collapsed into disrepair after the fall of his dictatorship. The struggle for control seems focused around one reporter’s quest to decipher the journal of Maia Reveron who happens to be closely related to the former tyrant.
Dark Horse Books presents a brilliant guide into the world of the newly released video game, ReCore. As seen in the launch trailer, The Art of ReCore hardcover (HC) edition is stunningly beautiful. It perfectly encapsulates the adventure following Joule Adams, lead character in this science fiction struggle for humanity’s survival.
The last we saw Conan, not only was he betrayed by the brother of one of his party members, but he came face to face with what appeared to be a troll. Most of Issue #3 deals with the immediate threat which is veiled in a mystery we may not figure out, but while Conan is away, chess pieces continue to shift at home.
In the months that have come since the release of Van Jensen and Pete Woods' Cryptocracy, one of the stranger books I've ever read has continued to get stranger and stranger. With the Nine's existence revealed and their influence on the world realized, the lives of both those who live outside the sphere of influence of the nine families and those who live within their ranks are at risk. This issues takes the Mars family to the Preserve, where the threats of Hum and the impending arrival of the mysterious Chronos have driven the families to war and divided the beings of the many factions that exist in this world. The reveal of their doings has also been falling on Bela, the host of a fringe conspiracy show that helped shine the light on the Cryptocracy. It's all leading to some massive shifts for Mars' Grahame and the entire tribe.
With this six issue mini-series coming to a close, I wanted to start off this review by saying how awesome this series has been. Since reading the Kickstarter-funded Leaving Megalopolis a while ago, I have absolutely loved this world and those within it. With this second installment, this book has gotten totally insane, in the best way. While I'm sad to see it go, the ending of this series points heavily towards there being more of this in the future.
While newspapers and comic strips continue to struggle to attract the attention of younger audiences and the general public in this digitally inundated world, cartoonist Matthew Foltz-Gray’s Spirit of the Staircase strip has managed to find eager readership in the Knoxville Mercury, and the collected volume of this popular comic strip, Tap Water and Tuna Party, recently published by Karate Petshop, is charming, chuckle-worthy, and may even draw some lapsed newspaper readers back into the funny pages once again.
Sometimes, the joy of reading comics is all about pushing aside the question marks and whole-heartedly jumping into the crazy end of the pool. Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes #1 (Dark Horse) is a prime example of this. A natural crossover (Tarzan and apes always fit together), fans of both worlds can find enjoyment in this new world.
Will you just stand here? Mind your chin on the trapdoor then…
Skottie Young returns to his drawing duties, and we're given another fun turn as he explores one of the conventions he leans on heavily in this world: Larry's Hat of Holding. First off, this is the first he's referred to it, so the name made my polyhedral-rolling self squee a bit, but it's really entertaining that he takes the existence of it as an excuse to make an entire issue. Having been adventuring in Fairyland for three decades, lot of things have ended up in this magic chapeau: critters, weapons, people, and an unspeakable evil or two.
Honor is a tithe paid in blood.
I love westerns. It wasn’t always the case, but after I spent some time driving out west and seeing the land, I found an appreciation of the genre. Rick Remender has a new series that is draped in his sci-fi sensibilities but has the West at its heart, and it perfectly utilizes the slow burn to great effect. In Seven to Eternity, folks who haven’t sold out to the Mud King (equivalent to greedy landowners and bankers, but seemingly with more of the whole “your soul is mine” kind of vibe gong on) have been either subsumed in a great war or pushed to the outer boundaries of the world. One family has stayed out of his reach, but when their patriarch is brought low, they’ll have to decide how they’ll move on, and not everyone can agree how it should be done.
Teenagers…amiright?
When last we met our intrepid heroes, Emporia, Tor, and Dane were trying to find their way back to the children who were about to get a good look at the inside of a grenade and then the vast expanse of the vacuum of space. Cheery. Things get explosive at the top of this one (Yeah, I sometimes want to slap me, too.), and we see the results. With the rash of insanity that we’ve seen so far, I can say there are a few moments of calm in this issue, but as you would expect, they don’t last long at all.
