REVIEW: Captain Kronos-Vampire Hunter #1

Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Tom Mandrake
Colors by: Sam Mandrake
Lettering by: Simon Bowland
Review: Will Dubbeld

After the rather disappointing Mummy: Palimpsest book I was a bit crestfallen about Hammer’s foray into comicdom. I absolutely adore Hammer Horror films. They’re gothic, moody, jam-packed with atmosphere and usually include a healthy dose of Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee.
Lest we forget, they’re also jam packed with Hammer Glamour girls...

The Mummy comic had none of the above.

Upon hearing about this Captain Kronos book, however, my spirits lifted a bit. Captain Kronos was and is one of my favorite Hammer films. It’s a ridiculous vampire-hunting romp across the European countryside with the titular character and his two sidekicks. The Captain is an ex-military man turned swashbuckling bane of the supernatural and is accompanied by Professor Gorst, a wise bespectacled hunchback with a wry wit.
Rounding out the trio is Carla, a dark haired, fiery-eyed gypsy beauty who was rescued by Kronos from the village stocks.
Her crime? Dancing on the sabbath...   

REVIEW: Batman the Dawnbreaker #1

Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver
Colors: Jason Wright
Letters: Tim Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok and Brad Anderson
Review: Art Bee

It’s story time, folks! There once was a great hero called Art of the Bee who ventured into the revered land of Comicdom to collect his treasures from the sacred chest of The Folder protected by Sir Shawn. With treasures in hand, a glorious glimmer distracted Art of the Bee's eye from the end of the treasure shelves. What could this bauble be? It must be investigated! The expedition began, and after trudging mere seconds up a sheer face of carpeting, my eyes beheld a wonderful…shiny, foiled cover of Batman the Dawnbreaker #1, gleaming at me with all of its splendor. It beckoned for my coin, and I did buy.
I guess I am just a goblin at heart! Oh, shiny!

Back to the seriousness of comics…

The cover of this one issue tie-in is truly one of my favorites and could very well earn my vote for a Hammy next year. It’s not very often my money is spent on just a cover, but this was well worth it as the contents are worth as much as the cover. 

REVIEW: Sink #1

Story: John Lees
Art & Colors: Alex Cormack
Letters: Colin Bell
Review: Cody “Madman” Miller, a.k.a Identity Crisis

I was sifting through the books in my to-read pile when this wild and crazy cover with a bloody, fox-headed, shovel-wielding vigilante covered in blood jumped up and volunteered for dissection. I believe I may have snatched this book up after my comic dealer talked it up as a twisted horror book…sold. I’m all about helping the little guy out and spending a few bucks to check out their work.

I had never heard of Comixtribe before now and in fact had to search them out with Google. As it turns out, “Comixtribe is an indie publisher that publishes many acclaimed comics and has one goal. Their goal is to help creators make better comics.” So sayeth Comic Vine Wiki. Since I’m being honest, I have never in my life heard of any of the books credited to these guys. It would appear they are into podcasts, forums, and all that fancy tech stuff, so you can check them out if you’re into that sort of thing.

I’m really glad I picked up this book. The first issue is intense to say the least. In fact, I believe my first thought directly after reading the issue was, “Damn that’s creepy.”
Much to the contributors’ credit, it’s creepy enough that you want to see and read more, but not so creepy that you lock yourself in your “safe space”.