REVIEW: Vinegar Teeth #1

Script: Damon Gentry & Troy Nixey
Art: Troy Nixey
Lettering: Troy Nixey
Colors: Guy Major
Review: Cody "Madman" Miller

This is one bizarre comic conceived perhaps in the midst of an epic Hunter S. Thompson bender in the heart of bat country. After reading through the book once I promptly had to read it again just to see if I really did read what I thought I had read and to see if perhaps I missed something the first go around. It’s just that bizarre. What Gentry and Nixey have going here is some askew Lovecraftian tale crafted around the stereotypical buddy cop shtick.
Except it’s not so typical.

There is a cop named Artie Buckle whose career-making case is foiled as the mob boss he’s setting up is devoured by an alien creature best described as a bloated bladder-like puffball with mindflayer tentacles (on steroids), T.Rex-like arms ending in claws, and, of course, a mouth. The creature later adopts the name Vinegar Teeth, hence the title, and instead of killing the thing the cops hail Vinegar Teeth as a hero and put him on the payroll. In an unexpected turn of events Vinegar becomes Artie’s new partner, and they do what cops do.

REVIEW: Witchblade #1 - 2

Writer: Caitlin Kittredge
Artist: Roberta Ingranata
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Review: Art Bee

A long time ago in a comic store far, far away…my former LCS sold me the very first issue of Witchblade. This was a time in my teens, mid-90s by my recollection, when my brain was swimming in the newness of the Image lineup and the explosion of new creations pouring onto the comic book shelves. Marc Silvestri’s Top Cow imprint was flowing with interesting titles brimming from his development of the 13 artifacts in which the Darkness, the Angelus, and the Witchblade exist.

For those of you not familiar with the Witchblade, please allow me to pour out a little knowledge.
The Witchblade, being the male offspring of the Darkness and the Angelus, is known as The Balance and must maintain balance at all times. Since it is male, it must always choose a female host. The two become one in their merging with the Witchblade providing power, strength, will, and insight, while the host provides a face and voice. The Witchblade chooses its host, but afterwards the host must accept the artifact or face death. There have been many hosts over time, but the one that began the series in the very first issue was Sara Pezzini.

REVIEW: 30 Days of Night #1

Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Piotr Kowalski
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Review: Will "Identity Crisis" Dubbeld

Originally crafted by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, 30 Days of Night ought to be a well-known property by now.
The original miniseries has spawned numerous spinoffs and 2 movies of better than average B-grade horror fare. Ironically, at that, considering 30 Days... was originally a screenplay that couldn’t get off the ground.

In any case, the gods of comicdom have deemed it worthy that 30 Days of Night be granted a reboot.
For some reason.
Perhaps it’s because Niles left parts of the original story untold, perhaps he’s possessed of some urge to reinvent the comic, or perhaps his tortoise needed a new pair of shoes.
I’ve not heard, any which way you cut it.

Seriously, though, Steve Niles has a tortoise named Gil.
He has adventures on Twitter. It’s adorable.

I impulse-bought the first issue of the 2002 30 Days of Night off the shelf. Templesmith’s art intrigued (and quite frankly, confused) me and, after reading, the story sealed the deal.
I’m always in for a good vampire story.   

REVIEW: Monstro Mechanica #1

Writer & Co-creator: Paul Allor
Artist & Co-creator: Chris Evenhuis
Colorist: Sjan Weijers
Letterer: Paul Allor
Review: Madman

I had no clue what this comic was about when I snatched it off the shelf at Comics Cubed in Kokomo, Indiana. All I knew was that it was written by Paul Allor, a local guy, so I was going to support it for at least the first issue. Truth be told, I don’t buy all the books he works on such as G.I. Joe or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as I just don’t have any interest in that subject matter. I have supported his creator owned books like Tet, Strange Nation, and OrcGirl, as well as the books he has done for Marvel including Uncanny Inhumans and Secret Empire: Brave New World.

At first glance I thought the cover was pretty bland. Not the pencils so much as the color just didn’t do it for me, and I wasn’t in all that big a hurry to actually read the book. As it were it ended up on the bottom of my, “to read”, pile.

Even though my biggest criticism about the book after the first couple pages continued to be the coloring work, by the time I had finished the issue SJan’s art had grown on me. After going back and just focusing on the art and color, I realize I must have just been in a bad mood or something, because I found I liked more pages than I disliked. Mainly I think it was her use of large amounts of the same color that turned me off, but on my second read I found it actually worked well within the context  of the story.

REVIEW: Charles Band’s Puppet Master: Curtain Call #2

Writer:  Shawn Gabborin
Artist:  Daniel J. Logan
Colorist:  Yann Perrelet
Review:  Art Bee

In 1989 there was a B-movie sensation that captured the imagination of my younger self, and its name was Puppet Master. I was a B-movie horror nut for a long time until it became a major fad in the mid-90s with an outpouring of plotless crap and gimmicky special effects. When the effects took the lead in the movie, my interest faded all together. A few months ago I caught word that a new big budget film was being made with the Puppet Master title in 2018, piquing my curiosity.

Puppet Master is a storyline centered on an ancient Egyptian spell which allows the caster to imbue an inanimate object with some of their own life force. In the movies, more than a dozen of them, the popular vessel used for this practice was marionette puppets, who were the true stars of the films. Each had their own personality and special ability. My personal favorite was Pinhead, with his tiny head and large arms and mitts, but all of them are well worth anyone’s affection.

Issue 2 starts out with a fight between the living puppets. Each one of them locked in heated combat (yeah, that is a pun since one of the puppets is a walking flamethrower) while their masters talk things over. The two in conversation are father and son, both unnamed in this issue. The father has apparently been given “near immortality” by the Egyptian god Anapas and that gift was conditional upon fathering a child.     

REVIEW: The Demon: Hell is Earth #1 (of 6)

Writer: Andrew Constant
Penciller: Brad Walker
Inker: Andrew Hennessy
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Review: Will Dubbeld

“Gone, gone, o’ form of man...”
With those words, Jason Blood transmogrifies into the demon, Etrigan.
Birthed by Jack Kirby in the ‘70s, The Demon tells the tale of medieval knight Jason Blood, bound by fel magic to the titular demon. Upon reciting an eldritch poem, Blood calls upon the rhyming demon and woe befalls those in his path.

Or that’s at least the gist as I remember. It very well could have changed 6 or 8 times (because DCs gonna DC), but we’ll run with what we know...

Jason Blood and Etrigan have run amok across the DCU for decades, meddling in affairs both superhero and supernatural. Currently, Jason appears to be keeping only tenuous control of Etrigan and has retreated to a shack in Death Valley.
A little too on-the-nose, but hey, comics...

Plagued by nightmares involving a little girl trapped in a hellscape, Blood seeks solace in liquor bottles until the military misfires a nuke into the desert.
By coincidence or prophecy, the little girl from Blood’s nightmare is tooling through Death Valley with her family.
The plot, she thickens...     

REVIEW: Batman Metal

Batman: The Red Death 

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Art: Carmine Di Giandomenico
Colors: Ivan Plascencia
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok& Dean White

Batman: The Devastator

Plot: Frank Tieri
Words: James Tynion
Pencils: Tony S. Daniel
 Inks: Danny Mihi
Colors: Tomeu Morey
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Jason Fabok & Brad Anderson
Review: Madman

I am admittedly lost as to the goings-on with the Metal DC mega-event. After Marvel finished this year’s Civil War I decided I was done with the Big Twos mega events, and I wasn’t spending anymore of my hard earned money on them. I’m proud to say I’ve stuck by that…well, until now, but this shouldn’t count. I truthfully bought all of these Metal Dark Knights books solely for the ridiculously awesome covers, as they’re all just amazing.

That being said, the only DC comic I am currently following is Batman and only because, well, it’s Batman, and I love his villains. Truth be told I probably love Batman’s rogues’ gallery more than I love Batman…
That may be a sin, but I’m fully prepared to deal with the consequences. I also feel that the artwork in said title is always above par, no matter where the actual plot or writing falls, so it’s really win/win if you like fancy scribbles.

From what I gather, these two books involve crazy dark versions of Batman from the Dark Multiverse coming to the DC ‘verse proper and jacking stuff up. In The Red Death, Batman comes to play with the Flash in a not so friendly way. In fact, Batman steals the Speed Force from Barry in order to better “save the world”. The way he does it is kind of lame, though. Batman straps the Flash to the hood of the Batmobile, which has had its engine modified with the tech Barry uses in his cosmic treadmill, annnnd they go really fast. The Speed Force somehow merges Bruce and Barry into the same body, and we are gifted a super-fast red Batman who instead of lightning flashing in his wake leaves this weird trail of red bats, which is pretty neat. We are also graced with a cameo by Scarecrow, which made everything ok.