Geek Of The Week : Zombi # 2

The action and weirdness continues in Xombi #2 from DC Comics. Picking up where the last issue ended, David Kim, Catholic Girl, Nun The Less, and Nun Of The Above take on a horde of ghouls from long ago Halloweens. As they battle, a portal is discovered that must be the escape route of the prisoner that Kim is after. Leaving the nuns behind to deal with the ghouls, David jumps the portal to track his target.

The nuns regroup after their battle and learn that there may be more to the person that they thought David was trailing. David and a Rustling Husk, a homunculi hit man created from the ghosts of wasps and yellow jackets, that were driven mad with desperation from trying to get through a closed window, find their quarry. Someone named Annie Palmer facilitated the escape of James Church, a person who has become the crude, disgusting, embodiment of the fictional Mr. Hyde character.

Working for Roland Finch, a man who had been posing as a prison guard, Annie Palmer tries to convince Mr. Hyde to change back to James Church. Its then that David and the Rustling Husk jump in to recapture Church. Held at gun point, Mr. Hyde finally relents to the demands to change back to his other half. Only he reveals that he isn’t who everyone thought he was. And David Kim may have way more than he can handle.

Catholic girl with religiously charged powers, and nuns firing novena bullets, bullets that are embodied with the attributes of saints, taking down a mob of ghoulish trick-or-treaters. A creature created from the desperate spirits of dead wasps and yellow jackets. The physical embodiment of a fictional monster from classic literature. And an ancient creature that is rage incarnate. The Zombi team continues to bring the action and wiedness in this issue.

John Rozum writes Zombie # 2, with Frazier Irving creating the artwork, and Dave Sharpe doing the lettering. The writing and art is fresh and unique. A few more pieces of the story are revealed. And the characterizations, details, and textures that the creative team puts into these issues, continues to make Zombi one of the best comic books being published.

Geek Of The Week : Xombi # 1

“It’s happening all around the world. Things that aren’t where they’re supposed to be slipping free of the confines of their containers, all signaling the advent of one event in particular.”

Xombi #1 has some mysterious forces seeping into the world. The initial signals may seem small, but it appears to be pointing to something bigger that is coming. When these signals set off alarm bells for those who monitor the super natural, the call is sent out to David Kim, Xombi.

David Kim was a medical researcher who has been infested with nanomachines. These nanomachines keep David young, and in peak physical condition. His body is super efficient so that he doesn’t produce waste, he doesn’t get sick, old, drunk, or fat. The nanomachines also gives him the ability of molecular reconstruction, allowing him to turn one object into something else. Although In this issue he only shows that he can do it with small scale objects. And in David’s words, this makes him an”immortal weirdness magnet.”

So David is sent to a secret prison beneath Dakota to make sure that the prisoner kept in the green house doesn’t escape. Its a cryptic message, but you can feel that its serious. The prison is said to be under the care of The Church, and when David arrives there he is met by a few of The Church’s agents, Nun Of The Above, Nun The less, Catholic Girl, and Father Maxwell.

Locked in the basement of a larger building, the prison is a village of houses that have been shrunk down to the size of doll houses. Yet they keep their mass so that they are just as strong as when they were full size. The prisoners are shrunk down to 1:18 scale and kept in the miniature prison.

Nun The Less uses her power to shrink down and goes in to investigate the prison. She finds that all of the prisoners have been brutally murdered, except for the prisoner in the green house. He’s missing. David now learns that the prisoner was James Church, who was infected by a copy of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” This caused him to develop a Hyde personality of his own.

While Kim is trying to get a handle on this information they are attacked by a trio of ghostly aberrations. Father Maxwell seems to die of horror while Catholic Girl generates a force field to protect her and the two nuns, and David engages the ghosts. And while these ghost have given the group a little freight, the rear horror in yet to come.

This is a cool comic book. John Rozum writes the story of weird happenings and mystery. I like that everything isn’t being fed to you right up front and that things are being revealed as you read along. I like that its a little cryptic and mysterious. And this issue gives you a sense that there is a lot going on in this world. Some of it might be peripheral to the main story, and everything isn’t examined in depth, but it adds a lot of texture to the story. Rozum has created a weird and interesting world that is inhabited by weird and interesting characters.

The art is does an incredible job of feeding this story. Frazier Irving handles all of the art on the comic, with Dave Sharpe doing the lettering. This issue is excellently rendered and has good story telling. The thing that is really going ot stand out to you is the coloring. The different places are colored with a different over all hue. Some scenes are colored so that everything has a yellow cast to it, and some are cat in a green, blue or purple. This really adds to the work and helps to create some stunning visuals. It also helps to create the unworldly feeling of this comic book.

Xombi was created by the late Dwayne McDuffie during his days with Milestone Media. And this issue is a great tribute to what he added to the world of comic books. Xombi #1 has an interesting setting with a lot goiong on around it. The characters are unique. And the artwork is awesome. The little story and reveal at the end is creepy and has me wanting the next issue. This is a cool, weird, unique comic book that you should be reading.

Geek Of The Week: Fables # 102

I have not read the Fables comic book in the past, but when I saw that the comic was starting a story arc that would take the characters of classic fables and put them in to a super hero type of story, I decided to give it a try.

Fables # 102: Super Team! Part 1 of 5 from DC’s Vertigo imprint takes us to the kingdom of Haven, a fantasy realm where the characters of classic myths and folklore live. As the story opens we follow Flycatcher as he meets Bigby, brings him back to Haven, and briefs him on the current situation. The Dark Man roams the boarders of Haven where he is kept at bay by an invisible barrier that is maintained by Frog. The Dark Man claws against the barrier, using his power to weaken it more every day. It is only a matter of time before the powerful villain will break though.

To prepare themselves for an inevitable battle the denizens of Haven are assembling a team that can take on The Dark Man. And they plan to do this by following classic archetypes of comic book super hero teams. The reason for this is that magic draws power from belief and strong conviction. So, as Pinocchio reasons, going the super hero route will give them added power from the belief of generations of comic book readers. The stage has been set, now we wait for part 2 to see who makes the team.

I enjoyed this issue. Bill Willingham’s story about fairy tale characters preparing to follow in the classic archetypes of comic book super heroes was a lot of fun to read. I love Pinocchio’s explanation about the role that he will play on their super team, and of why the comic book super hero team dynamic is needed in this adventure. And it cracks me up that he’s “smoking” a pipe that makes bubbles and is carrying around a stack of comic books for reference. The land of Haven with its population of mythical characters provides a great background for the story. And even though this story has its light hearted moments, the great evil lurking at the gates adds a sense of urgency. This looks like the set-up to a classic adventure. The artwork looks great. Mark Buckingham pencils this issue, with Steve Leialoha inking, Lee Loughridge providing colors, and Todd Klein providing the letters. And fittingly, they create a comic that is reminiscent of the art from 70s era Marvel comics.

There is a lot of history to Fables that I don’t know about. And there are many characters in this issue that I’m not familiar with, and some that aren’t even named in this issue. Still, I think this is a good issue to pick up on. Willingham does a great job of setting the stage so that you can get into this particular story even if you don’t know about everything that came before. And you don’t need to be able to know each character on sight to be able to understand what’s going on. This is an extremely well told story. You can just dive right in and you pick up on what’s going on as you read along. This is a must buy issue.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents # 1-2

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. – The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves.  This is the government agancy at the center of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents # 1-2 from DC. An agency charged with tackling the kind of threats most super heroes don’t even know exist.

The first issue opens with the organization monitoring two of it’s agents, Dynamo and Lightning. The duo is taking on an army of robots in an effort to extract one of their operatives, The Raven form the prison of the enemy organization called Spider. However, Dynamo and Lightning are only distractions as a secret agent is able to free Raven. A secret agent that has pulled an elaborate ruse and double crosses the team.

With their agents lost, the agency needs to put replacements in the field. The agency uses high tech equipment to empower their agents. A process that will work for only a handful of people. Identifying those rare individuals is a task given to Daniel, a god machine that uses quantum computing to select agents.

The second issue focuses on Henry Cosagi, a runner from Kalenjin who has been targeted to be the new Lightning. Henry had everything he could ever want. He was an Olympic gold medalist, and world champion runner. His ability made him world renown, rich, and gave him a loving family. And when test for for banned substances come back positive, he loses everything.

This is when Henry is approached by Toby, a “salesman” for the agency who works with colleen Franklin to recruit new agents. New agents who are given uniforms with equipment that gives them extraordinary powers. However, they also have drastic side effects. Side effects that they are they are starting to find out about as they launch an attack on a Spider base.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is a cool comic book. Nick Spencer is weaving a story that floats through the time line of how the new agents come to be selected and are sent out on their first mission. The story is well paced and well told. And I like how there are some slower moments in these  issues. They’re taking their time with some things and not just rushing through everything. You have time to really absorb the story. The super hero action mixed with human drama and espionage make this an interesting comic. The artwork is excellent. Cafu is the penciller, with Bit as the inker, Santiago Arcas as the colorist, and Swands providing the lettering. This is a good looking comic book.

People who are in desperate situations are recruited for a special mission tasks force. They are equiped with special suits that give them extraordinary abilities. And the suits may also cause their death. Super heroes in covert ops. This is a book comic to buy.

Batwoman # 0

Batwoman # 0 launches Kate Kane’s solo series from DC Comics. The comic book is divided between two stories. The first story has Batman performing surveillance on Batwoman from afar. While she is engaging the Religion of Crime, Batman is evaluating her abilities. And she proves that she can handle herself quite well.

The second story are flashback scenes of Bruce tailing Kate Kane. He employs different disguises and keeps  notes on his thoughts about her over the course of a few weeks. He digs up a little of her background, watches her play the role of the spoiled socialite, and lastly performs a small test of her abilities to prove his theory that Kate Kane is indeed Batwoman.

Issue 0 is a short intro to lay a little ground work for the new Batwoman comic book that kicks off in inerest when issue # 1 is released in February. J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman are the writers of this issue, and they tell a solid story. Its a short read, and doesn’t get too in depth, but it gives a little insight into Kate Kane for those that might not be familiar with the character. The comic has an interesting presentation as the pages are split between the two stories. The top half of the page has the panels telling one story, while the bottom half of the page is carrying the other story. This layout idea makes for an enjoyable reading experience.

The real star here is the artwork. The half and half page  layouts are carried out well by using two  artists. J.H. Williams III is the artist for the Batwoman part of the story. And Amy Reeder is the artist on the Kate Kane half, with Richard Friend covering the inks. Dave Stewart is the colorist on the book, and Todd Klein is the letterer. J.H. Williams III is one of the top comic book artist. His work looks great. And he uses creative panel designs and page layouts to make his work an incredible read. Amy Reeder brings a different look to her story, but she is a compliment to the comic. They both work well together.

The story is decent, but not a big stand out for this issue. Although you do get to know a little about Kate Kane. The artwork alone makes this worth checking out. And you should give the comic a try when the first issue comes out. J.H. Williams III is a dynamic artist and story teller. He’s doing things with his pages that are unlike anything else that you’re going to read.