Graphic Novel Review - Tarzan: The New Adventures Vol. 1

Name: Tarzan: The New Adventures Vol. 1

Written by: Roy Thomas

Illustrated by: Thomas Grindberg, Benito Gallego

I wasn't particularly sure about how I was gonna feel about this collection when I picked up. I was quite sure I would like the story written by the legendary Roy Thomas, but I didn't really know about the illustrators and as I wasn't really caught up in Burroughs' Tarzan mythos so I wasn't really whether this would hamper my understanding or enjoyment. I was also a bit sceptic about the format (Sunday newspaper landscape format) because I have almost no experience with it. 

Fortunately, despite my minimal  recollection of Burroughs' Tarzan mythos and the supporting characters I was easily able to follow the  story. There are two stories on offer in this collection, both of them building upon previous Tarzan story threads. Both had enough action sequences and twists and turns to keep me thoroughly entertained, but I liked the first one more due to its settings. 

The art was quite engrossing and the details of the jungle were depicted very exquisitely. I liked Grindberg's illustrations a bit more, most probably due to his coloring choices. The captions at the end of each page and the different styles used for lettering also complemented the fast paced nature of storytelling. 

Despite my unfamiliarity with the newspaper landscape format and my reservations with cliffhangers on almost every page, I really loved the plot and art. 

This gets 4 out of 5 stars from me. 

New Comic Review - Ant-man #1

Name: Ant-man #1

Published by: Marvel Comics 

Writer: Al Ewing

Artist: Tom Reilly

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: VC's Cory Petit

Sometimes you just know you are gonna like something before even reading it. That was the case with me this time as I knew I was gonna like this mini-series as soon as I heard about. The first issue feels like a nostalgic trip into comic books from the '60s with some stylish storytelling approach and innovative humor. 

The story starts in the future, in the year 2549 as we begin the narration with an unidentified male as he time travels to the' 60s taking us to a day in the life of Hank Pym in his early adventures as the Ant-man. After that it's a fun ride as the story shifts its tone to the storytelling typical of comics from that age, which is done very skillfully by Al Ewing, with the delightful mixture of goofiness, wackiness and humor of that particular period in comics. 

The art by Tom Reilly with the help of the unique style of coloring by Jordie Bellaire gives the overall experience of reading a comic book from the golden/bronze age quite brilliantly. They even insert the characteristic thought bubbles and page numbering in the corner to give the art more authenticity. The coloring somehow even manages to make the drawing aged even with its page colors. 

The whole issue is like a fun romp into the past with its delightful plot, stylish and campy storytelling and vintage drawing approaches. This was an experience I will cherish for a while and would recommend to all who loves this character or the comics from that age. 

A perfect score of 5 out of 5 stars from me. 

New Comic Review - Detective Comics #1062

Name: Detective Comics #1062

Published by: DC comics

Writers: Ram V and Simon Spurrier

Artists: Rafael Albuquerque and Dani

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Letterers: Ariana Maher and Steve Wands

It seems both on-going series' featuring Batman gets new creative teams on the same month, and this seems a very fortunate time for the fans as both start quite brilliantly. Ram V and Rafael Albuquerque seem to go in a totally different direction than the team handling 'Batman', as they aim for the supernatural mystery and horror element with their first story arc with interesting results. 

Ram V makes his Batman very dark, moody and he does seem a bit unsure of himself and his supporting cast, although having not much screen time does shine through and offer lots of promises for the future. His dialogues are quite brief and give a that he has a strong grip and understanding of these characters. 

The story has an atmosphere of gloom and foreboding nature pervading everything. The brilliant art and color combo gives it a gothic and poetic hue, despite occasionally drawing Bruce a bit too bulky and grotesque for my taste. But the backgrounds and the shadowed faces really give the art an operatic outlook. 

The backup story, which focuses on Jim Gordon reads like a hardboiled noir as the ex-Comissionar takes on a rather unusual missing persons case. This one is quite good despite being so short and the mystery will keep any reader interested in future issues. 

Between the captivating Zdarsky's 'Batman' and this unusually weird yet engrossing new direction for 'Detective Comics' by Ram V, this is a great time to be a Batman fan. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Graphic Novel Review - Xenozoic Tales Vol 1: Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

Name: Xenozoic Tales Vol 1: Cadillacs & Dinosaurs

Published by: Kitchen Sink Press

Writter: Mark Schultz

Artist: Mark Schultz, Steve Stiles

Letterer: Denise Prowell

The kids of my generation in my country (Bangladesh) grew up playing only a handful of arcade games and 'Cadillacs and Dinosaurs' were one of the crowd favourite. I didn't know till a few years back that it was based on a critically acclaimed comic series, but boy am I glad that I finally decided to check this one out. 

The premise itself is very interesting for 'Xenozoic Tales'. A future earth with only a few traces of technology, some vintage cars, a veritable horde of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals and very interestingly fleshed out pair of main characters. The setup is almost too good to be true and Mark Schultz knows how to deliver short yet thought provoking stand alone tales, and short story arcs weaving a kind of mesmerising tapestry. 

The 'black and white' art might seem a bit odd to people generally reading colorful comics, but if anyone spends a bit of time getting accustomed to the style; the rich details, masterful depiction of facial expressions and exquisitely drawn prehistoric animals will surely a sight to behold.

The unpredictable nature of each story was another aspect I loved, despite playing the video game a lot in my childhood, I was never sure in which direction the writer will take his story or how might the characters actually behave. Hannah Dundee is a specially delightful character because I kept wondering what new trouble she might get into next with her schemes. 

May be I am a bit biased due to my childhood nostalgia, but I will give this 5 out of 5 stars. I really wanna dig into the rest of the issues as soon as I can. 

New Comic Review - Daredevil #1

Name: Daredevil #1

Published by: Marvel comics

Writter: Chip Zdarsky

Artist: Marco Checchetto, Rafael De Latorre

Colorist: Matthew Wilson

Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles 

Despite this being the first issue of a new daredevil series, this is not really the beginning of a new story rather follows on from the last ongoing. This is as good as the last series and the new artist and colorist combination even makes the feeling even darker and more intensifying. 

I really loved the last volume of Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky, which in my opinion was one of the best ongoing Marvel published in the last few years. I didn't read Devil’s Reign event, but this issue gave me a gist of what happened in it. But to be honest, despite being a new number one this issue is not friendly to new readers at all, rather a confusing jumping on point for sure. 

Zdarsky's writing is crisp and to the point, the character interactions and the dialogues are very enjoying. I often time find myself  re-reading bits just to appreciate the prose. The banter between Matt and Spiderman was very emotional and delightful. The new antagonist seems quite creepy and the ending will surely make everyone breathless for what comes next. 

The back up featuring Elektra and Stick is also quite good, I have been a fan of Stick since the Frank Miller's days and Chip's really handled this tricky character masterfully.

Special kudos for the artist and colorist duo, who made the issue seemed much darker and edgy with their style. The use of black coloring and shadowing works so well with the tone and I think the issue was given another dimension due to the coloring of Matthew Wilson. 

I will give this 4.5 stars out of 5 (.5 deducted due to this not being new reader friendly). 

Retro Comic Review - All-American Comics #61

Name: All-American Comics #61

Published by: DC comics

Writter & Artist : Alfred Bester, Paul Reinman, Joseph Greene, Joe Gallaghar, Stan Aschmeier, Jon L. Blummer

This issue is mainly famous for the first story featuring the first appearance of 'Solomon Grundy' fighting the golden age Green Lantern Alan Scott. It has 4 other stories and a few extras. 

'Fighters never quit' is the first one, which is the aforementioned Green Lantern issue. Ignoring its historical value for the first appearance of Grundy it does have a message of heroes never quitting despite odds and despite a bit of repetitiveness was fairly enjoyable. (3 out of 5)

'Van Dorra's Box' was a story featuring golden age Atom. This one seemed a bit confusing to me due to the opening page, and the author seemed a bit interested in wanting to tell a humorous story but didn't quite nail it for me. (2.5 out of 5)

'The men with two lives' featured Doctor Mid-nite. This was the best of the bunch for me its wacky and unbelievable yet fantastic plot, some interesting characters and a twist ending. Golden age storytelling at its best. (4 out of 5)

'Captured', a Red, Blue and White story. Typical war story with a bit of humour, cheesy dialogue and some familiar racism of the 1940s. (3 out of 5)

'A Letter from home', another war story, this time featuring Hop Harrigan. This one was a bit too unbelievable at times with the hero overcoming too many obstacles rather easily and had so many one dimensional characters. (2 out of 5)

There were a few extras including a two page text story by 'Evelyn Gaines' also in the issue. 

Overall rating - 3 out of 5 stars. 

Graphic Novel Review - Batman: The Golden Age, Vol. 1

Name: Batman Golden Age Vol. 1

Published by: DC comics

Writter & Artist: Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Gardner Fox, Jerry Robinson, Sheldon Mildoff, George Roussos

Based on my experience with golden age comics so far, I wasn't really expecting much from this rather wanting to read about the origins of the character of Batman. While having much of the racism and other issues with comics of 1940's this was rather enjoyable and imaginative for the period. 

Some if the iconic characters of the Batman mythos get introduced here, including Commissioner Gordon, Robin, Joker, Catwoman, Hugo Strange etc. Most of them even act like their modern selves somewhat even. I really liked Batman #1 and also the other stories featuring Catwoman and theJoker. 

The art was a bit inconsistent and the lettering was quite hard to follow at times. The dialogue was as cheesy as you can expect for the times as well. The lack of Alfred was a blow too. 

Overall, I give this 4 stars our of 5 (one star added for the nostalgia and historical value). 

Graphic Novel Review - Pulp

Name: Pulp

Published by: Image comics 

Writter: Ed Brubaker

Artist: Sean Phillips

Colorist: Jacob Phillips

I will start by saying I have read only a few of Ed Brubakers works so I am not really very familiar with his style. Pulp was just a short graphic novel, which packed quite a bit of punch with its crisp and poignant storytelling, but my enjoyment was a bit marred due to the predictability of the ending. 

Pulp is the story of a pulp writer named Max, who is almost at the end of his career who used to write pulp westerns based on his own life experience. He decides to do something daring again to leave a bit of money for his lover to lead a comfortable life. But things rarely go as planned in this type of novels and we get on the ride with Max on his desperate attempts at earning a bit of peace at his end of road.

The monologues by Max were quite clearly the high points of the prose and left a good aftereffect even after the finish. The other characters were fleshed out quite well, although it always felt like a one man show. 

The art and color do add to the atmosphere of the overall experience quite a bit, adding a sense of the times.

My only real issue is that I could predict the ending only after reading the first one third of the book, which lessened my enjoyment quite a bit.

3.5 out of 5 stars from me. 

New Comic Review - Batman #125

Name: Batman #125

Published by: DC comics

Writter: Chip Zdarsky

Artist: Jorge Jimenez, Belén Ortega

Colorist: Tomeu Morey, Luis Guerrero

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Well, I was following Batman when Tom King began to write the monthly title, but as the quality began to fall gradually, after his run ended I decided to stop. Being a huge fan of Chip Zdarsky's brilliant Daredevil run once I saw his name as the new writer of the series I knew it was about time I started with it again. Can't say I am disappointed with the promising first issue. 

The plot follows Bruce with the aid of Tim Drake as Robin tries to stop someone who is trying to kill Gotham's billionaires. Lots of stuff happens for a single issue including but not limited to one death, one serious injury and one frame-up, and that's excluding the reveal of a new antagonist. The backup feature deals with Catwoman tries to deal with the repercussions of the aforementioned death.

Zdarsky's Batman already feels more humane and realistic in his dialogues and mannerisms than he has been in a while. Tim is as cool and calculative as always and Selina in her backup feature seems as charismatic and conflicted as ever.

I loved the art by Jimenez at times, specially his action sequences and there is a fabulous page of Batman creeping on a bad guy in rain and darkness that honestly gave me the chills. Ortega does a commendable job on the backup feature as well.

My only gripe is that there weren't other Bat related characters here, I wanted to see them through the mind's eye of Chip from the moment I heard of him taking over the title (Specially Damian and Grayson) and also I wanna see more action bits from Jimenez. It will be very hard to wait a month for the next issue.

4 out of 5 stars from me. 

New Comic Review - Aquaman: Andromeda #1

Name: Aquaman: Andromeda #1

Published by: DC comics

Writter: Ram V

Artist: Christian Ward

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar 

Well, Aquaman doesn't seem to have a lot of Elseworlds tales, but with the new 'Black Label' line from DC, he does get his spot to shine. This one is a moody issue just setting up the story and characters, but the beautiful drawing and intriguing mystery will definitely make anyone reading this charged for issue two.

The crew of the experimental submarine Andromeda, powered by a mysterious black-hole drive, have been chosen to investigate a mysterious object that landed in the 'spaceship greaveyard' known as Point Nemo. But they aren’t the only ones pursuing it. It has also attracted Aquaman and Black Manta.

The prose is crisp and tight with no room for idle banter, the non super powered characters seems interesting so far, Manta is as fiendishly awesome as ever (despite only being in a few pages) and Aquaman has plenty of room for breaking his stereotype as this is out of continuity.

The art is gorgeous and demands your attention due to its unusual use of colours to give readers the sense of being really deep underwater.

All in all, very promising stuff so far, 4 out of 5 stars. 

Graphic Novel Review - Sub-mariner: The Depths

Name: Sub-mariner: The Depths

Published by: Marvel

Writter: Peter Milligan

Artist: Esad Ribic

I always thought Namor was a very cool character and heard good things about this miniseries, and this really did live up to my expectations. Haunting prose and beautiful yet nightmarish art made this an experience to remember.

This is definitely an alternate universe story and Namor has a minimal appearance with no dialogue at all, but there is always a foreboding shadow of his menace pervading the whole atmosphere of the story. This was done quite brilliantly and almost made me forget I was reading a Marvel comic.

The story is about Profesor Steins search for Captain Marlowe, who went missing while searching for Atlantis who also have this overwhelming desire to debunk the myth of its existence. Stein is the main character and he is not likeable at all, but the author made us feel somewhat sympathetic to his plight and always kept us wondering what dreadful stuff might happen next.

The art is the main driving force and created the whole atmosphere for the fear and dread to sink in. It gives the slow pace of the story its deserved depth and charisma with its almost painting like nature.

Overall, I really savoured reading this short work. 

4 out of 5 stars from me.