Clone #1 – Review

By: David Schulner (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (art), Felix Serrano (colors), Rus Wooton (letters)

The Story: A man is pursued by his own clones.

Quick review: This is the type of story that will appeal to a certain type of reader.  It isn’t for me, but there are a lot of folks who enjoy these clone-type stories (otherwise, why are there so many such stories?) where there are multiple clones of a single person.  Some clones are good, some are bad, some are in on “the big secret” and some clones are not.  You know how it goes.  As you can tell from my tone, I don’t personally tend to enjoy this type of story, but a lot of people are fascinated by this idea of having an “evil twin” or all those questions about nature vs. nurture.

Thief of Thieves #1 – Review

By: Robert Kirkman (story), Nick Spencer (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (art), Felix Serrano (colors), Rus Wooton (letters) & Sina Grace (editor).

The Story: An art thief takes on a new apprentice.

Review: Nick Spencer is a very good writer.  I tend to think that a lot of comic writers are a little overrated and they rarely impress me, but Spencer has a way of stringing his words together in a very agreeable manner.  I like to read a comic and see sentence structure that is better than I could do myself and Nick Spencer fits the bill.  His words add to the over story concept, and that is a rare thing in comics.

That overall concept is compelling enough too.  I’m personally not much of a fan of art thief stories, but you could do a lot worse in your comic reading than to read a story about an experienced thief who takes on a younger and sexy female apprentice.  Surely there will be some big caper coming down the road, some sleeping together and some double-crosses, etc.  Maybe I’m speculating too much about the future of the story, but that’s a solid premise for any fictional tale and it is only common because it is good.  And as I mentioned, most common set-ups aren’t going to be blessed by having a writer as smooth as Spencer.

The art also checks out.  Shawn Martinbrough is an incredibly clean artist who has been around for a while.  He’s often doing fill-in issues, but he always brings a nice clean look to his projects so it is nice to see him get an opportunity at an ongoing with some big name writers attached.  If you like artists like Sean Phillips on Criminal you’ll probably like this.

Artifacts #4 – Review

By Ron Marz (writer), Michael Broussard (pencils), Chris Johnson (background assist), Rick Basaldua, Joe Wee,s. Jason Gorder and Sal Regla (inks), Sunny Gho and Felix Serrano (colors) and Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: Events are happening quickly now that (nearly) all the Artifact Bearers have chosen sides. All that remains is the discovery and recruitment of the unknown Thirteenth Bearer, on whom the outcome of the fast-approaching final confrontation hinges.

What’s Good: Marz and company continue to deliver the goods as the slow-burn buildup of Artifacts gets set to explode in the second act. This is not a big, flashy issue, however–its beauty (and meat) lies in smaller character moments and confrontations (Magdalena coming face to face with Tom Judge was easily the highlight for me), and that works very well indeed. Although the looming fear of Armageddon still hangs over every word and action, its nice to see the characters interacting on a more personal level, and doing something besides fret about the fate of creation. It was a much-needed break, and very well handled. It also goes to show the tenuous nature of the alliances on both sides (although our heroes do seem to be in a slightly worse spot than the villains on that count.)

All the discussion about the Thirteenth Artifact Bearer has me very, very curious as well. Fan speculation right now is leaning towards the notion that Sara’s daughter Hope is the Thirteenth Artifact…but not only would that be a little TOO clichéd and convenient (I hope) for what Marz seems to have in mind, it also seems to be, if not disproved, at least made far less likely by the fact that the villains do currently posses her. If Hope does turn out to be the Thirteenth Artifact itself (or something similarly important), it’s going to make the villains look awfully, awfully stupid. Like I said though, I don’t think that’s the direction this is heading…. at least I hope it isn’t.

Also: art is still outstanding. Feel free to cut and paste the gushing from my previous reviews here. Broussard and company are continuing to knock this thing out of the park.

Ayre Force (Graphic Novel) – Review

By Adam Slutsky and Joseph Phillip Illidge (Writers), Shawn Martinbrough (Artist), and Andrew Dalhouse and Felix Serrano (Colors)

Ayre Force is a unique piece of fiction as the characters are all based on real life professionals from Bodog, an international entertainment company. In this graphic novel, we learn the story of their fictional secret life as agents of “Ayre Force,” Bodog founder Calvin Ayre’s strike team to combat the fictional evil corporation WinterCorp. This book is pure action from cover to cover as these elite agents soon come face to face with the genetically altered children of Janus Winter, owner of WinterCorp.

The book starts out with the makings of a summer action movie, but the introduction of these characters quickly brings in a super-villain element that provides for an interesting “hybrid-genre” story. Imagine if a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from Marvel suddenly had to face a threesome of baddies by themselves, all while trying to stop extreme animal cruelty acts of a foreign company, and you’d get rough idea of what this story’s about. Perhaps one thing that I loved about the villains was that the idea behind them instantly reminded me of H.G. Well’s The Island of Doctor Moreau. Being a huge Wells fan myself, writers Adam Slutsky and Joseph Illidge instantly get my admiration for this homage to Dr. Moreau, intentional or not. Shawn Martinbrough’s art brings this high-adrenaline story to life. It can be really easy to make large amounts of action, explosions, and shooting confusing and muddled, but his work is not only clear throughout, but largely contributes to what makes this book so good.

This graphic novel isn’t without its flaws. There are a few instances where who is narrating isn’t made apparent until a few pages later. This forces the reader to turn back a bit to get the full meaning. Also, it appears that someone forgot to turn the sound effects on, as they are absent in the first several pages. The most annoying part is that with such a large cast of good guys introduced so quickly, it’s easy to get characters mixed up in parts, but the characterization that is there is strong. In fact, it might actually help if you read the supplemental material at the end of the book first so you can get a better idea of who is who. Still, these flaws seem minor when compared to sheer fun associated with this book. With all of the action, story, amazing art, and real-world influences, I have just one question: When are we getting a sequel?

Aside from the high action and great story, perhaps the best part of this graphic novel is knowing that all proceeds are going to fighting the real world evils portrayed in this book – mostly helping to fight bear-bile farming in Asia. For those interested, general and purchasing information can be found Ayre Force’s website: http://ayreforce.bodoglife.com/ (Grade: A-)

-M. Staples