REVIEW: Shadow Man #1

Writer: Andy Diggle
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Colors: Ulises Arreloa
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Review: Madman

When I picked up my books from the LCS I noticed the stack was largely populated by the Big 2.
Exactly four Marvel books, 1 DC book (because…Batman), and two Image books.
You know it’s gonna be a good day when you get the new issues of both Saga and Manifest Destiny on the same day.

Having literally reviewed each of the titles I picked up this week at least once before, I decided to scour the shelves for something other than my usual fare.
Enter Shadowman.
Not going to lie, there where a few other new #1s that started this week, but I totally grabbed this one based on of the cover. There were two different covers available, this one and one that was way less dramatic. I’m not sure which is the main cover or if one is printed more then the other; I just know this one is better. I had zero info on this book before I made the purchase, so I forged ahead in the name of science. 

BOGO REVIEW: Oblivion Song #1 and The Highest House #1

Thank you all for your patience while we mourned and remembered our friend and founder, William R. Davis, Jr. He will be missed, but his spirit would groin punch us if we didn’t get back to our comic business. That is just his way.
For your patience, I decided to hit you with two reviews at once to get back on track.

Oblivion Song #1

Writer/creator: Robert Kirkman
Artist/creator: Lorenzo De Felici
Colorist: Annalisa Leoni
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Review: Art Bee

Image is launching another major title from Kirkman in Oblivion Song and if you just asked, “who is Kirkman?” picture me pinching my nose and shaking my head with my eyes closed. Kirkman is one of the most recognizable names in comic books and has been for the last decade due to his baby, The Walking Dead. According to him, this story has been on his workbench for some time now waiting for De Felici to be freed up enough to get on board.

After reading the issue, which includes 35 pages of actual content, my mind was toiling with whether I liked it or not and what did I just read. This spurred me to reread the issue and realize that I didn’t miss anything.

The story is centered on a man named Nathan who is involved in the search and rescue of people trapped in, “Hell”. Even though we are not told what this place truly is, it seems to be a parallel dimension in which thousands of people trapped. This, “Hell”, is similar to our world in landscape but has many large, nasty monsters running around as well as some smaller ones. Nathan hunts down survivors and tags them with a dart that zaps them back home where Nathan’s team, Duncan and Brigit, recovers them and renders first aid. We do find out Nathan’s motivation is find his brother, Edward. 

REVIEW: Lockjaw #1

Writer: Daniel Kibblesmith
Penciler: Carlos Villa
Inker: Roberto Poggi
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Review: Will Dubbeld

I’ve always liked the Inhumans.
To be fair, I like more comics than not, but in any case...
They didn’t seem to get a fair shake, those Inhumans. They had a sweet Moon base (or Himalayan city, depending), a kung fu master, a brooding king, a couple beautiful ladies, and mysterious alien origins.
Despite the above selling points, and many others, the Inhumans never got over with the fans as well as the Avengers or X-Men. Periodically given their own series and perennially relegated to guest appearances, Black Bolt and Company meandered through Marvel continuity until very recently.

When Marvel jumped the Inhuman shark.

Recent history has seen Marvel give the Inhumans a push the fans never asked for.
Shoved to the fore and down reader’s throats, we saw them fight X-Men in a shoddy storyline, bear responsibility for the creation of nearly all new superhumans, spawn several hot debut comics, and generally maintain omnipresent status.

Despite the House of Ideas doing their damnedest to crowbar the House of Boltagon into superstar status, there’s a few of the books I have enjoyed.

And here comes Lockjaw...

Madman's Reflections of a Pioneer

Notes on Flashpoint: The Last Major Story Arc in the Old DC Universe.

Here it is: the keystone of the HCB.
William’s loathing for most of DC’s Flashpoint mega-event is what truly created the HCB and put him on the attack. Two days after William wrote this review, I got the random phone call that would recruit me into the fight.
In the beginning that’s what it truly was. We went to war, calling out everything that was wrong with the modern day mainstream funnybook industry, especially in reference to the Big Two.
For the most part we’ve held true to William’s original mission statement:

“Comic criticisms that will cover anything interesting in the world of comics. Legit fans of sequential graphic story telling, truthsmiths balls deep in iconoclasm.” 

Granted, over the past 7 years we’ve learned to be a bit more constructive and a little less abusive, but just a bit. It was this very review that actually drew a response from none other then Scott Snyder himself in the form of a pretty nasty email. Apparently, he took offence to what William had to say about Detective Comics #881 and how Snyder ruined a great story arc with a really lame ending.
Although I don’t remember the exact content of said email, to paraphrase Snyder basically said we were amateurs and that we basically don’t deserve an opinion.

Art Bee’s Memoirs of William R. Davis, Jr.

REVIEW: The Movement #3
REVIEW:  Minutemen #1

William R. Davis, Jr.

If you all have been wondering what has been going on with the guys at HCB, we have been in mourning for the passing of HCB founder, William R. Davis, Jr. His passing took William in his prime, but he has left his mark on this world. Madman, Will Dubbeld, and I will never forget our fellow writer. Even though his schedule kept him from writing with us, his spirit and personality were imbedded into The Hammond Comics Blog. He will forever be the bedrock of this site.

Being the last regular member to join the team I never had the pleasure to meet William face-to-face, but we did have several one-on-one conversations in addition to our group chats. He inspired me to improve my writing and always offered positive and constructive criticism to keep my sights aimed upward. That is what I will miss the most.