Term Life – OGN Review

By: AJ Lieberman (writer), Nick Thornborrow (art), Brandon DeStefano (letters) & Jade Dodge (editor)

The Story: A criminal on the run from the Russian mob and dirty cops is forced to take his estranged daughter with him on the lam.

What’s Good: This is a very solid 144 page softcover OGN from Image.  If you enjoy crime stories, this is something you might want to check out.

The trick with any crime story is to give us a main character we can root for.  That isn’t always an easy thing when the main character is a criminal, but Lieberman has a pretty good concept to make Nick Barrow seem not quite so bad: Nick just plans the crimes and then sells the plans to other dudes to do the actual robbing, shooting and killing.  So, Nick’s hands are relatively clean and we can want good things for him.

As with many crime stories, the action revolves around a heist-gone-bad.  When the dust settles, the big Russian gangster’s son is dead and he thinks that Nick is responsible, and here is where the story deviates from the norm (which would be to show Nick somehow take down the mob) by showing Nick resigned to the fact that they’re going to kill him eventually, so he buys a huge life insurance policy with his estranged 13 year old daughter as the beneficiary.  The only trick is that it’ll take 21 days for the paperwork to be processed, so he has to stay one step ahead of the bad guys for 21 days and his daughter will be provided for.

But, the real highlight is the father – daughter story between Nick and a daughter that he barely knows.  This isn’t even really part of the “crime story” as the set-up is typical: divorced parents, teenage girl, mother hates father, father has barely seen daughter.  But the execution is quite good as the kid realizes that her dad isn’t quite the villain that mom made him out to be.  Even if you are a good parent, there is a lot to identify with in terms of staying close to your kids and not wanting a gulf like this to ever develop.

In terms of narrative structure, the action is mostly linear, but there are places where it bounces around in time a little bit, especially in the early phases of the story.  The end is much more linear.  And the scenes are very quick and choppy with most being only a page or two.   This gives the story a faster feel than it would ordinarily have.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #10 – Review

By: AJ Lieberman (writer), Riley Rossmo (art & colors), Clayton Cowles (letters) & Kristen Simon (editor)

The Story: The conflict between the two groups of triplets comes to a head as volume 1 of this very original series wraps.

What’s Good: This comic has all the elements that have made Cowboy Ninja Viking a fun and unique addition to the pull list for the last year.  When CNV started, the triple-personality concept was so novel and entertaining that it was almost hard to critique it objectively.  Now that the novelty has worn off, we can appreciate it for the interesting story-telling device that it is.  It basically has allowed a comic with a pretty limited cast to feel much bigger than it really is as Lieberman can use (or not) the various personalities to achieve whatever goals he has for the story.  The range of personalities is so complete that he has a pretty full toolbox of character elements.

Issue #10 also marks a pause-point for CNV as the creators are moving on to other projects for awhile.  But, they do a nice job of wrapping up the plot that had gotten a little confusing in the past few issues AND they leave us with a couple of very enticing plot-twists that will make it a real shame if the hiatus becomes permanent.  I pretty much want issue #11 next month!

Rossmo’s art is perfect for this series.  It is frenzied and kind of has a life of its own.  I particularly like how he knows which parts of the page need more detail.  Many panels feature people without much in the way of a face and this serves to direct your eyes to other parts of the panel where he really wants you to look OR to simply take in the whole scene rather than focusing on the individual faces.  But, he also masterfully shows pretty complex emotion on the faces of his characters when it is called for.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #9 – Review

By: AJ Lieberman (writer), Riley Rossmo (art & colors) & Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: A bunch of triple-personality types with a nuclear bomb!  What could possibly go wrong?

What’s Good: Cowboy Ninja Viking is something to enjoy every month because it is so different and unique.  There simply isn’t another comic that has such a frenzy of weirdness going on month-to-month.  The story is very deep and complex and rewards a reader who pays attention and isn’t afraid to pull last month’s issue out as a reminder of what happened.  Some of this is because it is a very dense comic.  The golden age format is put to full use to squeeze extra story in between the covers.

This issue continues several plots that have been stirring for months: the forces of good under Dr. Ghislain are searching for a lost nuclear weapon and our hero, Duncan’s is trying to regain his lost multiple personalities.  There is satisfying progress on both of these plots and the story moves forward with the still enjoyable interjections from the oddball personalities (the roadie character is becoming a favorite).

Rossmo’s art continues to be a real star in this series.  It is very unique style that in places is very sketch-like and scratchy, but the important details in panels receive the attention required to bring out the emotion of the characters.  For example, the character of Oliva Nix takes a more starring role this month and she moves from be squiggles in the background to being a very sexily drawn character this month (with the point of this change becoming clear towards the end of the issue).  It is very impressive work.

Cowboy Ninja Viking #5 – Review

By: AJ Lieberman (writer), Riley Rossmo (art) & Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: After sorting how who the good guys and bad guys were last issue, Duncan, Nix and Professor Ghislain try to stop the dastardly schemes of Mr. Blaq.

What’s Good: The first three issues of CNV were just a zany exercise in weirdness.  I loved the heck out of them, but there wasn’t a lot of story and I couldn’t have really told anyone what they were “about”.  Issue #4 really tied up a lot of loose ends and put the pieces in place to start to tell an actual story and now we are starting to get a real story and it is a good story so far. We’ll probably know over the next few issues whether CNV has enough story to be a real ongoing series.

Story aside, this continues to be a really cleverly written comic.  I spent the entire time reading it just snickering audibly to myself and wishing I wrote half as well as Mr. Lieberman.  Most of the clever parts come from the odd coupling of the larger-than-life Dr. Ghislain, Duncan (with his triple personalities) and Ms. Nix playing the straight-person.  Ghislain has really grown into a great character!  I also loved how in this issue for the first time they showed the triplets speaking with all three personalities without always using insert panels showing the character dressed up as a cowboy, cook, sniper, etc.  It really hits home how nuts these characters are when you see them essentially arguing with themselves.

Finally, the last panel is a great homage to the X-Men (substituting multiple personalities for mutants).  Describing it in words doesn’t do it justice, but I’m pretty sure we never saw Xavier rolling around with a martini in hand!

What’s not so good: There are a few places with I lost track of who was doing what in this book.  With these triplet characters, each one has three personalities and keeping track of which character has which personalities is a little hard.  It’s a fun book, but you do find yourself flipping back and saying, “Is the big guy with the crew cut the one with the Navy SEAL personality?”

Conclusion: This continues to be one of the biggest breaths of fresh air out there.  I’m sure at some point it’ll get stale, but it hasn’t so far.

Grade: A-

-Dean Stell

Cowboy Ninja Viking #2 – Review

By AJ Lieberman (writer), Riley Rossmo (artist)

The Story: Nix and the Cowboy Ninja Viking saddle up and head out to Japan to take down Ammo, but the Triplet’s not going down without a fight, and may actually be serving a larger endgame than anyone realized.

The Good: I’d read recently that CNV has been upgraded from a limited to an ongoing series, and I think that’s about the finest compliment you can pay a book like this. Lieberman and Rossmo have the makings of an insanely fun book on their hands here, and this issue just goes to show the last one wasn’t a fluke. Lieberman’s writing is smart and manic, gleefully chomping on bits of Tarantino dialogue and plot points from Alias and spitting the whole mess out on paper. You’d think that would make for a fairly disgusting, regurgitated mess, but you’d be wrong. These guys fully understand the genres and conventions they are exploiting, and they do it with a wink and a knowing smile. I like that this issue brought out Duncan’s character and made him more human, and I think the extent to which Lieberman can bring that out of Duncan will only fuel the success of this book. Rossmo’s art is perfect for CNV. I didn’t care for it one bit on Proof, but his frenzied style is exactly what this comic needs. Under Rossmo’s direction, the fight sequences between Cowboy Ninja Viking and Pirate Gladiator Oceanographer take on the kind of furious intensity worthy of only the finest summer blockbusters, know what I mean?

The Not So Good: I’ve got two small issues that are still annoying me. The first is the use of the mono tones Rossmo uses to color the book. Last month it was blue, this month it’s red. Is it going to be green next month? Purple? Don’t know, and I don’t care, because frankly I think Rossmo’s art here, as well as the overall design of the book, is strong enough that it doesn’t need any color at all. The tones are an eye sore, but I don’t expect that to change. Also, I’m still not convinced yet that this idea of the Triplets is anything more than a gag. I’m sure this is a point Lieberman will address in forthcoming issues so I’m more than willing to ride this one out and see where it takes me.

Conclusion: Is there a point to teaching each aspect of a person suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder how to be an assassin, or does it just make for some fun, brutal storytelling? I’m not sure yet, but I do know that I’m having a good time reading this comic, and at the end of the day isn’t that what counts?

Grade: B

-Tony Rakittke

 

Cowboy Ninja Viking #1 – Review

by AJ Lieberman (writer), Riley Rossmo (artist)

The Story: Dr. Ghislain is the creator of a program that that trains people suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder to become killers known as Triplets.  Duncan, living his life as a Cowboy, a Ninja, and a Viking, is one of these Triplets and remains Ghislain’s greatest success, even if he/they want to kill the good doctor.  When another Triplet goes rogue, Ghislain and Duncan must put aside their differences to track him down.

The Good: Cowboy Ninja Viking has proven itself to be a very different kind of story, and that’s a great quality to possess in an industry saturated with mediocrity.  Lieberman has hit the ground running with a plot that is clearly aware of the many genres it draws influence from and unapologetic in wearing those influences on its sleeve with pride.  At the same time though, Lieberman’s not afraid to have a little fun with the story, and you can see that in the way he approaches the Triplets.  I enjoyed Duncan’s multiple personality commentaries and thought the uniquely-styled dialogue bubbles were a fun touch (the Cowboy has a six-shooter, the Viking has an axe, and the Ninja has a sword).  I wasn’t a huge fan of Rossmo’s art on Proof, but his style has definitely won me over on this book and feels more appropriate here, where the grainy linework gives the story the feel of an epic grindhouse movie.

The Not So Good: This issue is largely set up and explanation as the cast of characters needs to be introduced and fleshed out, and the plot needs to be laid out enough to give readers a sense of what the hell is happening.  This was a necessary evil for what I suspect is going to be a skillfully complex story, but I have to admit it made for some slow reading.  I was also left wondering what the point is, if any, of training people with Multiple Personality Disorder to become killers, beyond being a quirky plot twist.  This is one detail I feel Lieberman needs to address at some point if he wants to retain readers.

Conclusion: Cowboy Ninja Viking is a complex tale of action, espionage, and psychosis from a skilled creative team, and I’m definitely on board to see what happens next!

Grade:  B-

-Tony Rakittke