REVIEW: REVIEW: Breathless #1

Writer: Pat Shand
Artist: Renzo Rodriguez
Colorist: Mara Jayne Carpenter
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Review: Art Bee

There is not much of a story as to how Breathless #1 came into my possession. One of the guys at the LCS put it in my folder, and when I saw it I thought, “It doesn’t look horrible, so I will give it a try.”
What I would come to find out was this issue is a work of brilliance. There is so much going on here and my hope is to do it justice in this review.
Put on your safety glasses and hardhat as we get started.

Before reading Breathless #1, I really thought this was going to be something along the lines of a vampire story based on the cover and title. How glad I was to find out that was not the case. Pat Shand has shown us his writing aptitude in this story from the start. The main character is Scout Turner, a doctor at a pharmaceutical company. We are introduced to her on the first page while she is picking up her albuterol inhaler, and this one scene on the first page tells us so much about this character. She has asthma, is broke, has to deal with a lot of silly people, is a leap year baby, and her age; all without actually telling us. Shand gives us all credit for having a brain and being able to put thoughts together.   

REVIEW: The Incredible Hulk #714

Writer: Greg Pak
Penciler: Carlo Barberi
Inker: Walden Wong
Colorist: Frank D’Armmata
Review: Madman

I’m so not happy here.
I have steadfastly avoided every Hulk book involving the heretical Amadeus Cho. I just can’t do it; I don’t have the resolve to stomach this nonsense. Not only were we forced to deal with Hawkeye taking down one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, but we had to see one of Marvel’s most endearing characters replaced with an overrated Millennial. I do faithfully read the Champions books, and I really have been digging the series as a whole, but I try to ignore the new, “Totally Awesome Hulk”, as best I can.
Thankfully the series has been more focused on the other members on the team such as Nova and Viv lately, so it hasn’t really been all that hard to look the other way.

Although Amadeus has been around on and off since around 2005 he didn’t start ruining my Hulk until 2015 when Marvel started that whole All-New, All Different phase I grew to hate. After two years Marvel has advertised the return of Bruce Banner and the one, true Hulk, thank God.
Seeing The Incredible Hulk title start back up I snatched this issue hoping it was indeed the return of Banner, but it seems I jumped the gun and am way too early…
So here we are, Bannerless, going through withdrawals and being spoon-fed this World War Hulk 2.  As far as I can tell no one really cares about it, because one World War Hulk was enough. It’s so sad to see Marvel regurgitating the same old storylines over and over, just like Civil War…
I mean, what was wrong with the first one? I won’t even get started on the Nazi Cap.
Whose idea was it to take Marvel Down this road? I really need to know…asking for a friend.

REVIEW: The Terrifics #1

Storytellers: Ivan Reis & Jeff Lemire
Inker: Joe Prado
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Review: Will Dubbeld

Ah, DC...
My tempestuous, on-again, off-again comic book lover: unnecessarily complex and infuriating yet always drawing me back into a torrid affair.
Once again, DC swings for the fences with their Metal event and follows up with several spinoff books.
Most of them look like post-Image/Wildstorm derivative drek but a couple titles caught my eye, chiefly The Terrifics.
Throwing Plastic Man into a funnybook is nearly a guaranteed purchase on my part...

In the interest of full transparency I haven’t finished reading Metal, the lead-in series, so I’ve had to fill in some blanks with the power of imagination and some web sources.
And to be perfectly fair, as Scott Snyder is wont to do, Metal was a fantastic idea that got stretched really thin and probably ended much worse than it started.
Regardless, there was no way I was turning down a Plastic Man comic.
Especially one featuring Metamorpho.

I know the book’s angle presents Mr. Terrific as the focal character, but my power of belief can skew that focus towards Plas.
And Metamorpho. 

REVIEW: Isola #1

Story: Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl
Art: Karl Kerschl and Msassyk
Letters: AdityaBidikar
Review: Art Bee

My folder at my LCS, Comics Cubed, geysered forth an interesting comic book this week. The cover baffled me because, while being gorgeous, the font used was hard to decipher. The comic expert on staff at the time stated, “Yes. That had me stumped too. I had to open the cover and look at the copyright accreditation to understand that it says ‘Isola’.”
This helped immensely, and then the font made perfect sense, leaving me feeling a bit silly. Flipping through the pages, my eyes were treated to some amazing artwork; more on that later, though.

Oh, ok, I will talk about the art. Stop screaming at me…

What caught my eye and encouraged me to buy this book was the gorgeous image of a tiger resembling Prince Adam’s cowardly cat from the He-Man cartoon. Kringer was one of my favorite childhood characters. The cat drawn in this comic is rendered in a similar style with different coloring and is very attractive. All of the artwork in the issue is top shelf, colorful, and worthy of admiration. The artists’ use of blue tones is very conducive to developing detail during nighttime scenes, and I must say some of the best I have seen. Their use of tones in the transition of night to dawn is very compelling.