REVIEW: Doom Patrol #1

Writer: Gerard Way
Artist: Nick Derington
Review: Will Dubbeld

I've had my ups and downs with Doom Patrol. I adore the concept of a team composed of just screwed-up superfolks, riddled with dysfunction, and still trying to maintain a status quo and fight the good fight. The roster has always been engaging, filled with robots, giant-girls, shapeshifters and other misfits of science, and I'm always willing to give 'em a read.

Unfortunately for Doom Patrol (and myself) the book always seemed to fall just short of my expectations. Early stories aside, most of the contemporary Doom Patrol stories I've read seemed a bit pretentious and were weird just for weirdness' sake.

And yes, I'm mostly talking about Grant Morrison's run.
Lauded by most, found tiresome by me.

Script: Garth Ennis
Art: Carlos Ezquerra
Colors: Michael Atiyeh
Letters: Rob Steen
Cover Art: Isaac Hannaford
Review: Madman

Everyone needs some Ennis every once in awhile. That’s pretty much nerd law. The cover art is what drew me to the book initially with its apocalyptic landscape, tanks, real as hellfire, and did I mention tanks. I'm definitely not an expert on WW2 tanks by any means, and it doesn’t matter which country’s iron chariots we’re talking about. I mean, I’ve watched Saving Private Ryan and Fury but I'd be hard pressed to pick a Panzer or Sherman tank out of a line up. That being said, I thought the different tanks seemed like they were drawn with a lot of research and there are repetitive details on the related tanks within their squadron. So, I’m led to believe the artwork is somewhat historically accurate. Ha! Tanks!

The storyline takes place 30 days after the infamous D-Day. We spend time with and get to know a British tank group of B Squadron. The Squadron consists of Cromwells and Sherman Fireflies and is meeting up with the Allies already fighting in Normandy. On the flip side we get to know a squadron of Panthers of the Panzerabteilung pausing in a forest on the edge of a large open plain for maintenance between British airstrikes. Ezquerra drops a full page of British (I’m not good with aircraft, either) planes unleashing hell on the German armor . . . absolutely a thing of beauty. It's here at this Waterloo these two brotherhoods of destruction are fated to meet in the near future.  

REVIEW: Spawn Kills Everyone #1

Writer:  Todd McFarlane
Art:  JJ Kirby
Colors:  FCO Plascenscia
Letters:  Tom Orzechowski
Review: Art Bee

A couple of months ago I caught wind of this one-shot and instantly put it on my pull list. My curiosity was piqued beyond measure. Wanting to be completely surprised, I avoided all information about it as if it were leprosy. Now it has arrived and been read, and it has my emotions in a complete jumble.

All of the covers are great! The issue I purchased featured the cover by Liana Hee (pictured at left) and is by far the best of the three. When I first saw it I was certain it was a Scottie Young cover. By the looks of it Spawn is in a showdown with several Marvel super-heroes, enough to bow the wheels of a red wagon.

The artwork inside the issue is split for me. Most of it is excellent, but there are some panels that look of a lesser quality. They resemble a hurried job or one added at the last minute. Even the colors don’t seem to be of the same quality as the rest of the book. The chibi-style rendering of Spawn is really nice and adds to the exaggeration prevalent throughout the book.

REVIEW: Cavewoman: Freakin' Yetis one-shot

Story & Art: Devon Massey
Created by: Budd Root
Review: Will Dubbeld

I love the jungle girl stock character. I'm not sure if it started with the Shanna the She-Devil serial in early Marvel Comics Presents or watching Jane get imperiled in old Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan films but I've always had a predilection for these strong ladies of the primeval forest. I'm sure there's some sort of psychosexual response that was triggered in the reptile part of my brain as a lad, considering jungle girls are almost universally represented by healthy amounts of exposed flesh poured into leopard print, but that's a discourse for another time.

From Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, to Dhalua Strong, jungle girls have been pouncing through comic books for as long as they've been printed. Though not as popular or as prevalent as masked vigilantes or becaped supermen, they've remained a consistent minority and have even felt a twitch of resurgence in sporadic Shanna the She-Devil appearances as well as in Avatar Press' fairly pornographic Jungle Fantasy comic. Splitting the difference between superheroes and sexploitation lies Cavewoman.