On this edition of Media Monday I have a new edition of Pull List, which will be on Mondays from now on, for you. And this is a long one. Quick primer. I write each review right after reading the issue and their will be spoilers.
I like a bit of cheesecake, Jungle Fantasy: Vixens #1 (By more people than I fell like mentioning) is just that. Or, at least that's what I thought it would be.
This issue contains three stories. The first is a dialogue free affair. It is a day in the life of the titular Vixens, Kit and Lani. This is a fun little story, that is an excuse to draw pretty (mostly naked) women in a jungle/prehistoric setting. I liked this one. The art was good and as I said, I dig a bit of cheesecake.
Things went downhill with the second story. This one was called ‘Mother's Day‘. It explained the back-story of the girls. Kit and Lani were on a space ship, the ship went down, now they're on this planet and are looking for Kit's parents.
This story wasn't what I was expecting. I thought this would be a fun book about hot chicks fighting dinosaurs and maybe primitives.
What we get is a group of convicts, with a nude bound woman (a Security Officer from the ship) in tow, led by a man wearing a necklace that belonged to Kit's mother.
Kit freaks out, she and Lani had been hiding, and attacks the guy. And then things get very rapey.
What do you expect a group of convicts, let alone on a dinosaur planet, to do when they find a hot half naked chick?
These guys take her prisoner and after taking her to their camp the leader lays down the law. She is their toy now, to illustrate this he kills the woman.
Lani shows up and frees Kit. They try to escape but are caught. They seduce two men, graphically, and then kill them. Kit goes back to the camp finds the leader and the story ends with her holding a knife to his dick, which is erect.
This was not fun. Rape is a big turn off for me. This was way too dark of a story for, what I thought, was going to be simple cheesecake. This was also a lot more graphic than I would have expected.
The first story had nudity, but this story was almost pornographic. I'm not a prude, porn is cool, but this isn't what I was expecting.
Also that graphic seduction left a bad taste in my mouth. The girls went pretty far before killing the guys. It felt odd to see these two all over a pair of rapist.
The last story was one of those page of dialogue page of art things. This story told us more about the girls arrival to the planet and their encounter with a group of slavers.
The last story wasn't as rapey but it feels like it'll go that way.
I get the feeling this book is going to be a woman in peril thing. That is to say the girls will always be under threat of rape but never actually be raped. That is not my thing.
I like cheesecake. I like exploitation. Cheesecake is fun and light hearted, exploitation is dark and gritty. Those two don't meld well.
There was another problem I had with this book. The band of convicts instantly gave it a 'post-apocalyptic' vibe and I am very over that genre. I won't be picking this up again.
This next book is a complete 180 from Jungle Fantasy. Action Lab Dog of Wonder by Vito Delsante, Scott Fogg, Rosy Higgins and Ted Brandt is a fun lively book. It has somewhat of a Disney vibe to it. I mean the Disney afferent Cartoons from the 90's.
The setup here is that a dog, Action Lab, is going around town and freeing other dogs from pounds, puppy farms, and unkind owners.
We meet a local Animal Control Officer who will be our antagonist, but necessarily a villain, and a few other dogs.
Action Lab is a quick easy read with a bright cartoony art style. I really enjoyed it.
It's not breaking any barriers, shining light on taboo subjects, or going in new unexplored directions. This is a simple hero animal book. Which is a good thing, as far as I'm concerned.
That's not to say that there aren't a few moments of darkness. We see a puppy being forced into Dog Fighting, years later the same dog is rescued. He is scarred from the fighting and no one wants to adopt him. Sadly this means he's going to be put down. That is until Action Lab rescues him.
That part might be a little much for younger readers, but if they can get past it they'll enjoy the rest of the book.
This one is definitely aimed at a younger audience but still enjoyable if you don't take thing too seriously.
I'll be picking it up again.
I don't quite know what to say about Monstress, by Marjorie Lie and Sana Takeda.
Let's start with the art. It's beautiful. It's very detailed with a slight Anime feel to it. Aside from a few spots that look a bit sketchy the art is beyond reproach.
As for the story. I was really enthralled by this. There is a lot going on here.
A real quick rundown, you have two groups Witches/humans, and something called Arcanics. There was a war between the two and now there is a truce.
The story follows an Arcanic, named Maika, who is now a slave. She has gone undercover, although we don't know that at first, and is soon owned by a Witch. The Witch is performing horrible experiments on these Arcanics.
I won't go into too many specifics. There is a very detailed back story, although we don't get the full picture here. It is obvious that the writer has spent a lot of time crafting this world.
Honestly, there are shades of other things here. The one that came to my mind immediately was the manga Claymore. I read a few volumes of that years ago and never finished it. The similarities here are subtle. The art style, female hero, and dark fantasy setting are all shared between the two series.
That isn't to say that this is a rip off or even clichéd. You can just see some of the creators influences. This isn't a bad thing by any means.
Still, I don't know if I'll be sticking with this one. I like it, I do. But this is one of those series that will read better in one sitting as a trade. I think I'll wait for the run to finish and then read it.
If you are even remotely interested in Monstress, I'd suggest you give it a try.
I have a problem with “Rah! Girl Power!” feminism in media. It doesn't come of as equality to me. When male characters are made stupid and ineffectual so that a female character can look better, I get annoyed. Why can't the female character just be as good as or better than them, without them (the male characters) being morons. I thought Another Castle #1, by Andrew Wheeler and Paulina Ganucheau, was going down that road.
Princess Misty came off a little overbearing at the beginning of the issue. She is the princess that want's more. Here, that more is adventure and to be able to do things Prince's do. I don't have a problem with that. We see that Misty is a capable fighter, because her father wanted her to be able to protect herself.
Then we meet her male suitor. Instead of an oafish goon he seems like a nice guy. The two get into some trouble. The Prince isn’t a great warrior. He knows that though. He isn’t a cocky asshole, and why would he be a warrior? He is a pampered royal. In this setting it makes sense that Misty would be the better fighter and more anxious to get her hands dirty. That isn’t what happens. Instead Misty does something that changed my mind on this book. Instead of fighting like a Prince (she assumes) would, she abdicates and acts like a Princess.
She ends up the prisoner of Badlug, our villian for the evening. We see that the Prince is on his way to save her and will probably fail. She get's her chance to escape, after taking responsibility for her predicament which was a nice change of pace, but decides to stay. Misty is now planning to take down the bad guy from the inside.
After a rocky start this turned around. I ended up really enjoying this and liking Misty as a character. The art has a great cartoony vibe with wonderful pastel colors. It adds a lot to the book. It gives it a unique vibe that you don't see very often.
I'll be adding this to my 'Definitely Reading' list.
I believe it was in the first installment of the Pull List that I talked about Ghostbusters International. I mentioned that I enjoyed it and wanted to get caught up on the series.
I did just that. I can honestly say any IDW Ghostbusters book written by Erik Burnham and drawn by Dan Schoening is worth a pick up. I thoroughly enjoyed the two, rather short lived, ongoing series and the few minis the two did together.
The one shots with out them are more miss than hit.
As for the Second issue of Ghostbusters International. I enjoyed it but I'm sure this will read better as a trade. Still I'm not dropping it but I'll probably wait for a few issues to accumulate before I drop back in.
If you have interest in the Ghostbusters pick up one of the trades that have Burnham and Schoening's names on it. Schoening's art takes a while to get into but it works for this series.
I like talking animal books. You know that. I also like a bit of light hearted fun. Action Cat & Adventure Bug #1 delivers those two things. The only issue is that this is written for a very young audience and has a very frantic pace.
What I mean is the stories are very short, this is an anthology, and a bit jerky. It seems as though this was written with short attention spans in mind.
That's not to say that Art Baltazar and Franco haven't done good work. This is a bright, colorful, fun book that I can see kids loving. Kids or potheads. It has that same sort of appeal that SpongeBob Squarepants and Rocco's Modern Life had. That cartoon lunacy.
Having said that I'll be sticking around to see the next issue for one reason only. It's not the art or writing it's this one page.
Howard the Duck #5 was a fun issue but left me angry. Not the story itself. Howard and the Guardians taking out the Collector was great and the last page of the issue, the surprise reveal of Beverly was fantastic. What left me angry is knowing I have to wait to see the rest of that story.
The next issue is a crossover with Squirrel Girl followed by an issue that takes place in the Savage Land. That means two months before I finally get to see what caused Howard and Bev to split up.
That sucks.
I haven't read Squirrel Girl in years, I have no experience with the new Unbeatable series, but have heard a mix of things. Some good a lot bad. I haven't checked it out because I find the art to be ugly.
Still, I can't read the second part of a story by itself. So, I'll be checking out The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #6.
Sometimes you read a book because the of the story, other times it's because of the art. Then there are times when a book is less about the story or the art individually, but about the two creating an experience.
‘Bigfoot Sword of the Earthman’ is like that. I just read the first four issues, written by Josh S. Henaman and drawn by Andy Taylor, and I am at a loss.
This is a confusing read and the art, while not unpleasant, isn't amazing. Yet, this is a hell of a read. This is an experience. A pulp story that has a literary air about it.
For the first 3 issues I wasn't really sure what the main story was, but I enjoyed the smaller plots. The fourth issue brought everything, well almost everything, into focus.
The story here is that Bigfoot is brought to an alien world, which may or may not be Mars, to either save it or destroy. So you have Conan by way of Barsoom.
This book starts out with Bigfoot and an alien in prison or enslaved. The blurbs that start each issue tell you a lot but they aren't written in a way that’s easy to consume. The entire series is that way.
Anyway Bigfoot, he is called the Earthman here, and the alien escape. They end up conscripted to a militia and fighting vampires. They win and are separated.
That brings us to the fourth issue. We learn why Bigfoot is on this world and just what he is going up against.
That’s a very short recap but with a book like this you either skim the surface or empty the pool. I didn’t want to go that deep into it. You have to dive in yourself.
I really liked this book, even if it wasn't an easy read. This book has a language all it's own. If you can get past that wall you'll find a really compelling experience. This is a definite most read.
I'm torn on ‘I, Mage‘. The art is nice and the story seems interesting but there isn't much there. Nothing is really grabbing me and making me want to continue reading.
I am not drawn to this world. I can't say it's a place I want to get lost in, but I also don't mind visiting.
This still isn't a guaranteed pick up. I'll see what happens next month.
I been meaning to write about ‘The Hangman; #1, by Frank Iieri and Felix Ruiz, for a few weeks. I kept forgetting to do that. So here I am with three issues to go over.
Before I talk about this series I want to mention that it is being published by Dark Circle comics. I find that interesting because Dark Circle is a sub line of Archie Comics. This very dark book is being published by they people who do Archie books. That is crazy.
The first issue goes by very quickly. It starts off with a man and his family at home. We quickly learn the man, Michael Minetta, isn't an ordinary family man. He has a guy tied up in his trunk.
It turns out Mike is a killer for, what I assumed, was a Mob boss. He has been tasked with killing a man who has been having an affair with the bosses girl. Mike doesn't just shoot or stab the man. No he covers him in strawberry jam and feeds him to rats.
The guy, while being eaten, gives a clue about what this book will really be about. He mentions something called the 'Boia' it's basically boogey man whose name translates to the executioner or The Hangman.
Mike blows this off and gets in his car so that he can now kill the woman, he mentions one of the things he is going to do her. Mike is not a good person.
As he's driving the Hangman appears. He makes short work of Mike and then ascends to heaven. The last image of this issue is Mike hanging from a noose.
This book had me very quickly. The drastic personality shift in Mike was stunning. He goes from loving husband and father to psycho killer. This isn't a man who is just doing a job, he enjoys this job.
The writing is pretty good but the pacing is a bit off. Also Pete, the guy being eaten by rats, talking while those little guys rip him to shreds was odd. When you are being eaten alive by hundreds of rats the only sounds you should be making are screams. For some reason the writer decided to have Pete being eaten while giving us exposition. That makes his death seem less terrible. The guy is still capable of having a conversation as rats eat his dick! That takes a lot of the impact out of this scene. Aside from that the issue is well written with strong character work.
The art has a dark quality to it that works well with the story. I almost want to call it grungy but I'm not sure if that's the right word. This isn't overly polished art but it does have a style all it's own. There is good use of black and shots of color where appropriate.
All in all this first issue was enough for me to put this down as a must read.
I was a little let down by the second issue. We see Mike in hell. First he is confronted by all of the people he has killed, man did this guy get around. One of them is a prostitute that he strangled, the rest are most likely hits. I'll get back to that prostitute in a second.
So, the devil appears, all of the people Mike saw were actually (I think) illusions. The Devil lays things out for Mike. The Devil hates his job but he doesn't want to lose it. So he made an agreement with heaven. This is where the Hangman comes in. The Devil lets Heaven pick a guy to become the Hangman. The Hangman then kills people Heaven doesn't want alive anymore. In return the Devil gets to keep ruling hell.
Here's where I was let down. Mike comes off as a badass here. He isn't scared of the Devil. Ok, I can accept him acting like that, but why wouldn't he take the Devils offer? If he becomes the Hangman he gets to return to Earth, kill people (which is what he was doing before and seemed to enjoy), and work his way into heaven. Where is the down side to this? Why is this evil douche bag getting this shot at redemption?
Mike tells the Devil to fuck off, that's cool but I'm not ready to root for a guy that was going to cut a woman vagina out and mail it to her mother in the previous issue. Yeah he mentions that it's overkill but he was still going to do it.
Anyway, Mike finally agrees when he sees that his wife and daughter are in danger. So he becomes the Hangman. The issue ends with him, in the Hangman mask, returned to earth.
Mike is not a sympathetic character. I don't want to see him stand up to the Devil and act badass. As I said earlier this isn't a guy who is doing a job he hates. He is not a reluctant killer. This guy's victims are not just hits. That prostitute, I told you I'd come back to that, was not a hit. He strangled her. If a hit man is sent out to kill a prostitute it's a quick bullet to the head. He strangled her. That is an act of passion. This guy is a stone cold, unrepentant killer.
I don't want to root for him. Not yet anyway. Still I can't say this isn't a compelling read. It is. I want to see if Mike can become a sympathetic character. Can someone who doesn't want to be redeemed be redeemed? I need to know.
Issue 3 took away a lot of my concerns from issue 2. I'm going to get to the plot but first I want to talk about Mike.
He doesn't want to be redeemed, we knew that, but the thing is I was wrong about why. I thought it was because he was too badass to admit he was wrong. Instead I get the feeling he doesn't think he deserves to be redeemed. He says in this issue he doesn't give a damn about himself just about his family. That line cleared things up for me. I'm not supposed to like this guy because he doesn't like himself. At least that's how I read it.
So we get a lot in this issue. We meet a kid, who is being bullied. The kids uses some sort of power to take his bully down. A woman appears and we learn that she is a servant to this child. The child is actually one of the demons trying to take over hell, Amodeus. That bit of information comes at the end of the issue.
We see Mike outside of his home watching his family until he is transported to an apartment. The apartment belongs to Jack Tenant, a reporter and the Hangman's scribe. It's his job to keep a record of the shit the Hangman does.
While in the apartment the woman from earlier appears. She asks Mike to come with her to meet her boss. Mike refuses and the woman uses him like a pin cushion.
There is going to be a lot of stuff happening in this comic. I didn't think this book would venture into, what I can only call, Hell based political intrigue. That may be a bit of a reach but that's where I see this going. Demons trying to use the Hangman to seize control over Hell. So the West Wing, but on fire. Time will tell if I’m right about that.
Three issues in and I'm in love with this book. I used the word 'compelling' before and I'll use it again. This is a compelling read. I want more. The Hangman is not only a must read but I'm now going to take a look at the other books Dark Circle is putting out.
Luna The Vampire by Yasmin Sheikh was a big miss for me. It's a gag book with a very 90's Nickelodeon art style, or if you prefer a modern ugly cute style. The two are very similar to me.
This is an ok book. The art works with the story, but it's just not that funny. I didn't laugh or chuckle once while reading it. That's a problem for a gag book.
I get the feeling this book is either for 12 year old girls or 22 year old women. Which means I am not the target demographic. So my not enjoying this isn't a shot against the book itself.
The only thing I really took away from this comic was that I need to check out the new Jem and Holograms series. There was a short preview at the end of this book, only about 5 pages long, but that was enough to catch my interest.
So Luna the Vampire is a pass but Jem and Holograms? That might be a must read.
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, written by Mairghread Scott and drawn by Sendol Arts, desperately wants to be as cool as SilverHawks or Voltron. You can see the inspiration from those cool Sci-Fi cartoon shows of the 80's.
Unfortunately this book doesn't live up to the hype. The main issue is the art. This looks like stills from a cheap flash animated series. The art is very clean but is lacking in depth. Everything looks flat and the art can come off as amateurish at times.
The writing is OK. The dialogue is about what you would expect. Nothing groundbreaking and only one of the characters, Colt, had a unique voice.
The story is simple. The setting is space, deep space, and the Star Sheriffs are the law. One of them, Joshua Rider, is answering a distress call. He runs into a bounty hunter named Colt and learns that a band of rebels/criminals/terrorist have taken over the train. One of the bad guys is a Star Sheriff as well. The bad guys get a way and the chase is on.
Nothing about this series was eye catching, but I wasn't about to write to off until a scene towards the end of the comic. Colt, the bounty hunter, has a way of tracking the bad guys. He tells the Star Sheriffs, a female Sheriff shows up to aid Joshua, that he will tell them where to go for the right price.
These Star Sheriffs have power suits, robotic horses and all types of technology. I have no doubt they could pay this Bounty Hunter for his time. Instead the Female bounty Hunter deputizes him. He has no choice in the matter and will not be getting paid.
No FUCKING thank you. That shit right there, that's my pet peeve. I hate when people are forced into doing things they don't want to do. This is an exceptionally annoying example. The good guys force a person to help them. There is no reason for this. How much could this guy have wanted? He has bills. Now not only is he not getting paid, he has to waste his time helping these assholes. Time that could have been spent on other jobs, jobs that pay.
Adding that to the uninspired writing and flat art makes this an easy pass.
‘Shaft Imitation of Life’ continues to feed my need for cool PI noir/exploitation fun. This is quickly becoming a favorite series of mine.
The art is fantastic and the writing, each character has a unique voice. That’s not something that's easy to do. You can very easily end up with caricatures, but not here.
This issue jumps ahead from the previous one. Shaft has moved on from the case in the first issue, looking for a young gay man for his parents, and is in search of an easy job.
He finds the easy job, consulting for a movie, but ends up getting pulled back to the previous case. Tito, a gay man Shaft met in the previous issue, needs some help. Shaft isn't in the mood to help but does. When he sees just how much shit he'd have to go through to really help Tito and find the lost boy he walks away.
The issue ends with Shaft on the set of the movie. But it's easy to tell that he isn't actually done with that case. The man cares. Even if he doesn't know it.
This is a very good read. I can't wait for the next issue.
Unlike Shaft 'Escape From Monster Island' isn't keeping my attention. This book was on the chopping block after the first issue and this one didn't do anything to change my mind.
To be fair there wasn't much it could do. This issue was all about exposition, laying the groundwork so that we can understand what happens next. Although I don't know why that couldn't have been combined with the previous issue's exposition.
That way we would have a first issue that gives us the back-story and the rules, while the second issue moves the plot forward. Instead we get two issues of exposition, both with a bit of plot.
That's fine for one issue but when you have two like that you end up with a boring read.
I won't be picking up a third issue of Escape From Monster Island.
‘Afterburner Tales of the Cool and the Wicked’ #2 was just as good as the first issue.
The art in this book is amazing, this issue more so than the previous one. Some of the imagery in the Persephone story is breathtaking.
This book and Shaft have a lot in common. They have that noir flavor and rely on a lot of character narration. Both have great art and are very well written. I think I prefer this one because of the subject matter and I really, Really, dig the art style.
Next up we have Venus. This is a four issue mini that has just finished. Which means this is the perfect time to give it a look. As always I read one issue than talk about it. So some of the things I say in one part may contradict what comes later. Venus is written by Rick Loverd and illustrated by Huang Danlan. It's a Sci Fi space adventure.
The art in this book is great. Everyone has a distinct look and the Mayflower, the space ship, interiors are simple but effective. The exterior shots, of Venus, are foreboding but beautiful. Really the high point of the art for this issue are the characters. The artist does a great job of portraying emotion.
The writing is crisp and fluid. There are no instances of clunky dialogue and the story grabs your attention from the get go. I have very little negative to say about this book. On to the next issue.
Issue 2 furthers my position that Character work is the main appeal of this series. That's not to say that the story isn't good.
Before I get into the story I want to warn you about spoilers. This is a good book and if you like Sci-Fi you should check it out. If you plan on doing that skip the rest of this write up. There are major spoilers ahead.
The plot, which I didn't talk about in the first part of this write up, isn't groundbreaking. The set up is that the US is sending a team, made up of military and private sector personal, to teraform and mine Venus. Apparently Mars was taken by a rival government union. As such the US is now in danger.
On the way to Venus an explosion, caused by sabotage as we learn in this issue, rocks the ship. The captain is killed and replaced by a Pilot who is non military. Now she and the crew have to find a way to survive.
This is made all that much harder when they learn help isn't coming. Why you ask? Because the Earth is fucking EXPLODING!
The earth didn't explode. You can forgive me for that mistake, that's what it looked like. What actually happened was a little less dramatic but only a little. War. Nuclear war. Everything is fucked. The Earth is basically a post apocalyptic waste land.
Meanwhile on Venus things aren't that much better. First of all there is treason a foot. Secondly without a way to grow food the survivors will have to make do with a limited supply of MREs.
This issue really sells how badass the Captain is. Not only is she a great pilot but she is tough as nails. The way she takes down one of the traitors is brutal.
I had one complaint with this issue. My problem is with the bad guys being military. Sure the Captain isn't military and these Marines may not like following her orders but there is a chain of command. Military men and woman hold that sacred.
I think it's a bit of a cop out to have the bad guys be clichéd macho marines who don't want to follow the command of a Civilian.
The final issue is, honestly a bit of a letdown. Not because of it's quality, no, but because it's not the end. Well, I hope it isn't.
After the reveal of the Traitor, Tim Thorne, the last issue picks up with him under arrest and the dude who attacked the captain still in a coma. Things are still bleak. Their is no way to grow food and help is not coming.
To make matters worse the Captain is going to have to precede over the trial of a traitor that she had just had sex with. Adding to that is the fact that pretty much everyone knows about their affair.
Luckily, I guess, the traitor escapes. He steals the Captain's files and makes a break for it. He is able to walk outside the base without a space suit which is impossible, for a normal man.
The Captain and the Robot chase after him but he ends up getting away.
On the positive side they may be able to grow food, but they're not alone on Venus.
That is where this issue and this mini ends. That's my problem. This shouldn't have been 4 issues. This is an 8 issue story, easy. I have no idea why it was cut in half. It makes no sense.
By the time the second mini comes out, if it does, the momentum of the story will be lost.
Still this is a good read. I give it a full recommendation and will keep my eye out for a second mini.
Let’s stick with Sci-Fi for a bit. Replica by Paul Jenkins and Andy Clarke is a different kind of Sci-Fi. This isn't as serious or dramatic as Venus.
This is a more lighthearted and comedic book. Venus is the Deep Space Nine to Replica's Farscape.
I liked both those series but Farscape was one of my favorite shows at the time. So I am looking forward to seeing where this book goes.
Detective Trevor Churchill is a cop, a human cop, working on what is basically a universal intersection. The Transfer, as it's called, is home to a million different species all trying to live together. As you can imagine that doesn't always work.
So you need Cops. For some reason the precinct Trevor works at operates under human, American I assume, laws. This means Trevor is the number one guy. His status as the go to guy is bolstered by the fact that most of his fellow officers are unaware of the protocols of human, American, law and are (In his own words) idiots.
So what is an overworked cop supposed to do? Clone yourself that’s what. Trevor comes up with the idea of getting a clone to help with paperwork. He ends up with more than he bargained for. Literally, he now has dozens of copies of himself.
That is the setup to Replica. Let's see what happens in Issue #2.
In issue 2 we learn a few things. First the clones are not perfect. They are exact physical matches, as far as I can tell (Except for their hair), but their personalities are another story.
Each clone has a unique personality. This makes things more fun for us and probably easier for Trevor.
The plot of the issue has to do with a political murder. Basically an ambassador is killed and another one takes the blame for it. Except he couldn't do it because he is a squid like being in what looks like a floating snow globe.
The real culprits are a species of red assholes, not literal assholes. It's now up to Detective Churchill, his clones and the other officers to catch the bad guys.
Also one of the Clones is a bad guy. We see someone in silhouette talking to the red Dudes, after learning that the crime could only have been done with inside help. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together.
Issue 3 continues the story from the precious issues and show us a few more of the clones. It also has the apparent death of one them.
There wasn’t a lot to talk about with this one so let’s just skip to the next one.
Okay, issue 4. This is the most recent issue I have and I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with this series or not.
It's good, the art is fine and the writing is good, the idea is fun and the alien species are unique and visually interesting.
So why do I just fell a bit 'meh' about this series? I think it's the clones. Each clone has a unique personality and look but seeing the same face, even with different features, gets a little boring after a while.
Still I don't know if that's the reason. I think my main problem is with the villains of the book. The Scarlett aren't interesting to me. They have no weaknesses. They are too strong to be convincing.
They use the basic rule of the Transfer, that the laws of all the Races are enforced, to their advantage. They are the most unified and unscrupulous race so they can do pretty much anything.
The problem is that if they can do anything why are they bothering with all of these multi phased plans?
There is a species called the 'Mzultch', they have a really cool design, that are in possession of some very old Machine Artifacts. The Machines are the oldest species on the transfer.
The Scarlet want those artifacts and everything that has happened in the series so far was just so that they could take possession of them.
My question is why they didn't just change their laws so that they were the legal owners of any Machine Artifact? That's all they'd have to do. If it's the law of their planet it's the law of the Transfer.
So they Scarlet are both incredibly devious and also a bit stupid. Or the laws of the Transfer are much more complicated than that.
Anyway, I don't know if I'll be sticking with this one. It's a maybe for now.
That's it for this edition of the Pull List. (Updated List below.) Next week I'll be getting back to Scooby-Doo. See you then.
Must Read.
Atomic Robo (Whenever the new Mini is released.)
Invincible
Chew
Tarot Witch of the Black Rose
American Monster
Pencil Head
Kennel Block Blues
Shaft
The Dark and Bloody
Trespasser
Howard the Duck
Afterburner Tales of the Cool and Wicked
The Hangman
Ghostbusters
Action Lab
Another Castle
Action Cat & Adventure Bug
Bigfoot Sword of the Earthman
Venus
Maybe.
Badger
I Mage
Monstress
Replica
Back log.
Zombie Tramp
Elephantmen
Hack Slash
Mouse Guard
Project Superpowers
The Goon
Mice Templar
Super Dinosaur
Hero Cats
Pass.
Jonesy
Fake Empire
King’s Road
Rat Queens
Insexts
Devolution
Collapse
Death Rattler
Second Sight
Snow Fall
Wraithborn Redux
Steambusters
Citizen Jack
Johnny Red
Red Fury
Jungle Fantasy:Vixens
Escape From Monster Island
Burnt out.
The Walking Dead.
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