BATMAN DAMNED 1: bloody good mystery launches DC Black Label in a vivid horror-noir style spawned from writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo.
Who killed the ghastly corpse that is retrieved and found to be the Joker?
Who mortally wounded Batman? And why can’t he remember what happened?
BATMAN DAMNED 1: there is a buzz with this book!
The art by Bermejo is masterful in the bleak view of Gotham and the Dark Knight and the hyper-action sequences that flow and dance off the page, like a great swordfight.
The world, from gambling on dark street corners to bashing medical staff for an escape route, is very much alive.
And just look at Bermejo’s BATMAN DAMNED 1 cover!
I thought Jim Lee and Alex Sinclair’s pentagram-backed caped crusader, and a lot of emphasis on a particularly badass-looking cape, was stunning (and it is).
But then I saw the steam coming off of the battered cowl in Bermejo’s Batman, and I realized the lunatic-like bloody expression beneath that cowl was worn and scraped, and either grimacing or . . . smiling!
Was Batman smiling like the Joker?
The depiction of a militarized Batman by Bermejo is iconic.
The Rambo-like Bat Belt and its dangling straps with rings for hooking weapons and tech to the beaten leather-like material and the many buckles on the worn army boots give a fierce edge to the amnesiac Batman.
And the talented scribe Azzarello crafts an ingenious and twisted tale of mystery, horror, and Bat-lore that shoots from page to page, impact to impact, whether it is physical blows, or mental, or emotional ones.
His Batman has to deal with a supernatural influence, a hole in his memory, and the detective case of a lifetime.
But there are also the wrinkles and the deeply hidden crevices in the world where metaphors for Satanism and Christianity, for the Gothic towering over Gotham and the strange creatures crouching in Bruce Wayne’s past and present shadows.
The DC Black Label launch title BATMAN DAMNED 1 is incredibly enticing for the adult comic book reader with a dark side.
The oversized format is incredible to behold in and of itself.
BATMAN DAMNED 1 is ad free and chock full of gorgeously detailed and gritty oversized pages.
This book should not be approached by the faint of heart or the Puritanical among us.
Get yours from your LCS – Red Shirt Comics got me – before they are gone forever!
“BATMAN DAMNED 1: Bloody Good Mystery Launches DC Black Label” was written by R.J. Huneke
Catwoman #3: chaos, curves & puurrfect cliffhanger makes for an incredible tale from artist and writer Joëlle Jones and her team.
Catwoman #3 Has It All: Mystery, Epic Fights, A+ Style, Twists
Let’s discuss the 30-pound cat in the room (yes, my kitty, Cosmo is a big-boned boy):
The variant covers by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau have been nothing short of amazing for the entire run so far, but Catwoman #3, I mean . . . WOW!
There are few words that can describe the powerful, scintillating, and, just, stunning depiction Selina Kyle in the Joëlle Jones-designed dress that Stanley “Artgerm” Lau paints.
There is no superhero costume in view and none needed.
See for yourself.
The Catwoman #3 variant cover
Now onto the book!
If you have not read Catwoman #1 or #2 or Batman #49 or #50 there is a mild Spoiler in the following paragraph, but otherwise we are operating SPOILER-FREE today.
Coming off a heart-wrenching abandoned wedding, Selina Kyle abandons Gotham for San Francisco where a new villain’s plotted narrative grabs a hold of the opportunity to frame Catwoman for murder and subdue her to her will. And Selina finds herself in a warehouse full of Catwoman costumes and many ready to fight.
The story is growing in intensity as the still grieving Selina attempts to heal in a city gunning for her.
The writing overall, from the character arcs, the new villain, to the dialogue, to the many wrinkles, twists, and turns of the plot, is extraordinary.
Catwoman #3 further proves Joëlle Jones has so much more to add to the Catwoman mythos and we can only sit riveted waiting for more.
And that puppeteer-villain is grotesque in every way imaginable.
“The secret shot-caller who’s been borrowing Catwoman’s M.O… steps out of the shadows…and her “secret origin” is unlike anything Selina’s run into before!”
Raina Creel, wife of the governor, is creepy, manipulative, murderous, and ruthless.
Her network reminds one a little of the Court Of Owls, if they had a San Francisco chapter. But we will have to read more to see how deep her malice and power goes.
The look and feel of San Fran varies greatly from Gotham and is captured very well, as is the ballroom, the ice-cubed filled bathtub recovery space, and the myriad Catwoman costumes.
The depiction of martial arts, and even brutal bat-swinging, spring off the panels in Catwoman #3.
And at the climax and the very last page we get a major cliffhanger that deals with Selina’s own backstory!
To say this book and series is a gem is an understatement!
Cover #1, from powerhouse creators Bendis and Mack, is ingenuity and incredulity at its best!
Blast off into a whole new territory of comic book creation complete with comic artist humor, scintillating spies /slash/ love interests, and a much more creative CIA recruitment process than this writer previously suspected possible.
Cover #1 is fresh and page-turningly addictive
The art, from character building that is good enough to feel their very bones, to the sharp dialogue, to the insanely surreal artwork that echoes feeling, suspense and often transcends panels, is fresh and page-turningly addictive.
Cover #1 from Jinxworld by writer Brian Bendis, artist David Mack and colorist Zu Orzu truly captures the imagination of James Bond fans, artists, and comic con fans alike.
Both covers are so rad!
Both covers of issue #1, by David Mack and the variant by Zu Orzu, have readers floored.
Each encompasses the main characters Max and Julia in stark silhouettes filled with words.
These point to secrecy in the CIA and a nearly subliminal and powerful new dynamic between the recruiter and artist.
The colors in the book itself (and on the covers) by Zu Orzu bring amazing tones where pieces of color and story significance jump out at the reader.
And the father-son samurai flashbacks are absolutely gorgeous.
The father-son dynamic for Max is something that must be of extra importance to the character and must be further explored in the series.
The premise is fairly simple at the onset: a talented comic book creator, Max, who travels a lot to showcase his craft meets a fan of his, Julia, who purchases some of his original artwork and coyly states that she follows him online.
It is likely not a chance encounter.
We will not spoil anything.
But comic book creators can make for the perfect cover as operatives in an ever-volatile world where intelligence and counter-intelligence operatives tread dangerously.
Artist David Mack has worked with the US Embassy to volunteer his art and mentoring to help youths across the globe after all.
He certainly has insight and perspective and has been collaborating with writer Brian Michael Bendis to birth Cover for years now.
Cover #1 is the launch of another creator-owned gem from Jinxworld
Cover #1 is the launch of another creator-owned gem from Jinxworld and with an award-winning team like Bendis and Mack at the top of their games, not to mention artist Zu Orzu’s accentuating colors, readers are hungry for Cover #2!
Jessica Jones creators Bendis + Gaydos’ Pearl intrigues readers, as the duo’s newest heroine brings grit and a steady hand to the tattoo parlor and the Yakuza gang wars surrounding San Francisco.
Pearl #1 introduces us to the young woman, her Iriguci spider tattoo, and her very capable gunshot.
The vivid and poignant illustrations form a neo-noir San Francisco befitting of Pearl, and the motorcycle scenes storm across the pages blisteringly.
Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos once created a new character in Jessica Jones (in the pages of ALIAS), the brash female P.I. with super strength and super alcohol tolerance.
And their newest unwilling participant in a ruptured feud is another fictional personage one cannot get enough of.
Pearl is wary, sexy, and her instincts are sharp!
The dialogue, timely placed motorcycle VRROOMMM’s (and other cutting sound effects) and a storyline of mysterious relationships, both new and old, that envelop Pearl’s life make for writing that utterly absorbs the reader.
SPOILER WARNING!!!!!
Pearl #1 introduces us to a world of effervescent color and feeling.
Pearl is a young tattoo artist tied to the city’s age-old feud by some act from her past.
Her night out with a girlfriend leads to a young man, named Rick, who notices a rare and revered tattoo artist’s work on her wrist.
He promises he is not hitting on her, but he too is a tattoo artist and a connoisseur drinking in her Iriguci spider, comparing it to the Mona Lisa.
And so, egged on by her friend, Pearl engages with Rick and his friends up until the second that he shows off his own work, a piece of a Yakuza tattoo on his buddy’s back.
Pearl tries to walk away.
But the bikes are already gunning through the air, the bullets flying.
She takes a shot to the arm, but fires her own semi-automatic handgun and the aim is true, killing gang members and saving Rick’s life.
The act holds consequences.
She is further tied to another gangster, Mr. Miike, a tattoo artist bearing his own Yakuza portraits.
Her steady hand is to be used to do more than needle ink.
Pearl is more useful, valuable, to him now.
Can she murder the man she just saved outright?
Can Pearl kill Rick when she finds him in her place and he is flirting, offering what seems to be thank you sex for her saving his life?
The tattoo artist Pearl has a history, a conflicted present, and a dangerous future.
The Pearl creator-owned series is off to a brilliant start!
ACES WEEKLY Comic Art Magazine sparks digital revolution with its riveting comic book and graphic novel short stories delivered every Monday!
For £1 per week, in any currency, readers get volumes of up to 150 pages in seven weekly parts.
ACES WEEKLY is the seven-card stud of e-comics!
To paraphrase David Lloyd, the idea for the award-winning ACES WEEKLY came down to comics looking better [than paper] with fewer limitations [and myriad possibilities].
In the very first volume of ACES WEEKLY, the gem Valley Of Shadows takes a black and white noir tale down new twisting alleys hereto untraveled.
More on Valley Of Shadows [Plot by David Jackson and David Lloyd, and the Script and Art by David Lloyd] later after we examine the cards, I mean the ACES.
When David Lloyd, co-creator of V For Vendetta and author/artist of Kickback (and a whole lot more), first launched ACES WEEKLY, very few comic books were available in a digital format.
Those that did come in a digital form required the paying of an extra dollar to the paper version, making a $3.99 book $4.99 in your LCS for the same 21 pages of content.
Now e-comics are in the mainstream, but none have the formula of six different works delivered every Monday night in an innovative set of seven serial installments.
Lucky seven!
At a buck a week, and adding that up, seven pounds for seven weeks of stories, you get 21+ pages for each of the six titles.
That is up to 150 pages, or six or seven comic books, for less than the price of two paper comic books!
Value aside, the proof is in the product, and ACES WEEKLY’s continuous stream of e-comic books are incredible.
The art is mostly in traditional comic form and looks STUNNING on screen!
Just like the serial installments of Superman of old, in the newspaper funny pages, the ACES WEEKLY tales are mostly told on horizontal pages.
The books are, after all, only bound virtually, in Cyberspace.
There is no limitation of the reader having to hold a vertically stapled comic book.
This means that you can read in a more natural line of sight akin to watching a movie on a widescreen, in the theater or at home.
ACES WEEKLY combines different widely appealing genres masterfully.
An omnivorous reader, like myself, loves the funny, the dark, the thrilling, and the wildly creative varying in voices from one comic book to the next.
ACES WEEKLY delivers a smorgasbord of quality each and every week!
Examples of this diversity are evident in the noir classic Valley Of Shadows by David Jackson and David Lloyd, the epic Santa Claus VS the Nazis by Benjamin Dickson and Gavin Mitchell where Santa Claus becomes a prisoner of the Nazis and the elves are enslaved, and then . . . on a planet in the middle of the Andromeda System . . . there is the powerful science-fiction book Dark Utopia by Mark Montague.
You could not ask for a better hand being dealt.
Think about it: Santa must break free of the Nazis to save the elves! What bigger stakes are there?
The art is unique, the writing top-notch, and the creations are made to pop out at you from the screen, no matter where you wish to enjoy the tales.
Each week you look forward to the latest installment of scintillating reading.
And in Volume One, Valley Of Shadows is one hell of a gripping whopper to kick off the experience.
Buddy Chaplin hasn’t got much going for him.
His marriage has failed, he’s in a dead end job, and he’s stopped looking for more.
But life is about to take an unexpected twist….
The art from David Lloyd is full of shadows, emotions, long blacks and stark whites.
The vivid scenes could easily make the silver screen.
The innovative use of comic book panels and art surrounding and behind the panels makes full use of the reader’s eye and the horizontal page layout for incredulity at every turn of the e-page.
The story, dialogue and plot of Valley Of Shadows are intricate, tight, and unique.
Security guard Buddy is dragged into helping someone, committing murder (in defense!), and racing against malicious and resourceful forces to save a stranger’s little girl from a horrible fate.
The villain is a megalomaniac bent on destroying a valley if that is what he needs to do to get an organ donor for his dying son.
And Buddy is just a normal guy who gambles too much, lost his own little girl and wife in a divorce, and gets caught up in a fight he should not be able to win.
The tale is utterly brilliant and it only scratches the surface of all of the ACES WEEKLY offerings.
The art is amazing, the creators on board ACES WEEKLY are extraordinary, like David himself.
For the cost of less than two paper books a reader can feast on six full length high resolution comics formatted and built for any type of screen, from a Smart TV, to a tablet, or a smartphone.
This reader is subscribing for life, and POWkabam will look to cover at least one of the many tales in each volume going forward.
Aces abound!
“ACES WEEKLY Comic Art Magazine Sparks Digital Revolution” was written by R.J. Huneke.
