Last Mortal #4 – PREVIEW

Last Mortal #4 PREVIEW

story JOHN MAHONEY & FILIP SABLIK
art & cover THOMAS NACHLIK

‘REGICIDE,’ Part Four The finale of the hard-hitting supernatural noir series from Minotaur Press is here. Alec King, the suicidal immortal, has been beat down, stabbed, and shot so many times he’s beginning to lose count. But finally, the man responsible for his best friend’s death is in his sights. The question remains – will Alec be able to make the hard decision for the first time in his miserable life?

 

Last Mortal #2 – PREVIEW

LAST MORTAL #2 (of 4)

story JOHN MAHONEY & FILIP SABLIK
art & cover THOMAS NACHLIK

“REGICIDE,” Part Two

What would you do if you hit rock bottom and there was no way out? If you had tried to take the final escape and discovered that path was blocked? In the case of Alec King, the suicidal immortal, you pick up a gun and set out to take out the bastards responsible for your misery. A class noir revenge tale with a supernatural twist from Minotaur Press!

RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

Last Mortal #1 – Review

By John Mahoney and Filip Sablik (writers), Thomas Nachlik (art), Troy Peteri (letters)

[Small spoiler warnings in effect–this review will give away the ‘twist’ at the end of the story, though it’s nothing that will surprise anyone even passingly familiar with the premise of the book.]

What’s Good: The idea of immortality has fascinated human beings for much of our history. It’s a gift associated with heroes and gods–either a result of divine birth or (occasionally) granted as an ultimate reward for a great deed.

But what if immortality wasn’t given to anyone godly or heroic at all? What if immortality just…happened?

That’s the situation that small-time crook Alec King finds himself in, following a disastrous attempt to help his best friend commit a far more heinous and complicated crime than either of them are used to. Interestingly, this first issue doesn’t deal with the consequences of Alec’s immortality at all yet, and instead serves as both an origin story, and as a primer to get to know our main character and what makes him tick. While I was surprised by the lack of…I guess…”immortal-ness”…in the issue, I wasn’t at all disappointed. The book sets up the characters (and Alec in particular) so well, and the action is so taught, intense and well-paced, that I was perfectly happy to let the story carry me along. When the denouement finally happens in the last two pages, it feels like a natural outgrowth of the story established to that point–and it’s impact is much stronger for it.

Witchblade #144 – Review

“Origin Secret” by Ron Marz (writer), Stjepan Sejic (art) and Troy Peteri (letters). “Secret Origin” by Filip Sablik (writer), John Tyler Christoper (art) and Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: In the main story, we are treated to a wonderful Ron Marz re-telling of Sara Pezzini’s origin story, and a recap of the high points of her history with the Witchblade. Filip Sablik’s backup story revolves around Sara’s partner and boyfriend, Patrick Gleason, and his significantly more down to Earth (though, in his own way, no less heroic) past.

What’s Good: Fifteen years is an impressive milestone for any comic. For an independent book that follows a female heroine, it’s downright astonishing. This issue is a fitting tribute to that outstanding accomplishment, as well as a celebration of the characters and mythology built over those years. Marz’s retelling of Sara’s origin is a great deal of fun, as well as a wonderful jumping on point for readers who may not be familiar with Sara, the Witchblade, or their perpetual nemesis Kenneth Irons. Part of me thinks that the framing story–in which an Internal Affairs agent reviews the secret notes of Jake McCarthy, Sara’s late former partner–was unnecessary, and that the space would have been better used by fleshing out this version of the origin even more. Then again, it also serves the story well by establishing this as a single character’s perspective on the origin story, and by reinforcing IA’s interest in Sara’s activities. Since it is all very well written, and since the transitions are handled so smoothly, it’s hard to find fault with it.

PREVIEW – The Darkness II (FCBD)

2K Games, Top Cow Productions, Inc., and the Free Comic Book Day Committee announced today that they have teamed up to produce The Darkness II: Confession, an exclusive comic tie-in for The Darkness™ II video game, for Free Comic Book Day. The 32-page, full-color comic will be a prequel to 2K Games’ upcoming video game, The Darkness II. Produced by Top Cow’s lead artists and writers in partnership with 2K Games, The Darkness II: Confession will be distributed by Diamond Comic Distributors to thousands of independent comic book stores worldwide on May 7, 2011.

The Darkness II: Confession introduces comic fans, video game fans, and new readers to Jackie Estacado, the bearer of The Darkness, an ancient primal force which acts a blessing and a curse for its bearer, allowing him access to an otherworldly dimension and control over the demons that dwell there. The Darkness II: Confession takes readers from Jackie’s origins in the first video game, through his rise to power, and the events leading up to The Darkness II.

Velocity #3 – Review

By: Ron Marz (writer), Kenneth Rockfort (art), Sunny Gho (colors), Troy Peters (letters) & Filip Sablik (editor)

The Story: Velocity very-pleasing-to-the-eyes race to save her Cyberforce teammates continues.

What’s Good: Again, Kenneth Rocafort’s art is the main attraction here.  Just keep an eye on his name because he’s a guy who you’ll hear about in the future.  The guy is just very, very talented.  This issue is so pretty to look at that the story kinda fades into irrelevance.  I would probably say he has been heavily influenced by Greg Capullo’s art because I see a lot of similarities to that scratchy, hyper-detailed style.  But, what really set’s Rocafort apart is the dynamism of his figures.  You can tell he has a very good understanding of human anatomy and musculature because when you see his characters in an action scene, it looks like a still taken from a movie because the bodies are all in the proper positions (i.e. they are properly balanced and have correct posture) and the right muscle groups are all taut.  I’m not sure if he uses a lot of photo-reference or if he has just spent a lot of time studying bodies in motion, but the end product is nice.

And atta-boy should also be handed out to Sunny Gho’s colors.  Even though I feel like the girl-with-red-hair trick is almost cheating, I still fall for it every time.  So it must be a little harder than just saying, “Viola!  I give you…RED HAIR!” or else all colorists would do it.  What makes Gho’s work a little different than other comics that have the magical red hair (e.g. Batwoman) is that he is using a pretty bright color palate and it still works.  Nice job.

The story is nothing too remarkable in this issue.  Not bad, but the art is sooooo the main attraction that the story just needs to competent.  And, it accomplishes that as we follow Velocity as she tries to save her teammates from a virus that the bad guy has infected them with.  We do get a pretty big cliffhanger and I’ll be curious to see how that turns out.  The story’s simplicity also works very well with the publication delays this title has had.

NEWS: Top Cow to give away tens of thousands of free comics in 2009

Top Cow Productions, Inc. announced yesterday it will launch the Let Us Win YOU Over initiative in February 2009 that will see the publisher distribute thousands of free comics a month to new readers through participating retailers across the United States and Canada.

Over the course of the yearlong promotion, Top Cow will send 200 free comics each to 25 comic book stores per month (a total of 5,000 free comics per month). Each month, a different set of stores, each month a different free comic. The stores will be spread out geographically and demographically.

Combined with the books it plans to give away during Free Comic Book Day on May 2, 2009 and the many books Top Cow gives away at various conventions across the country, the publisher stands to give away up to 200,000 free comics during the year.

Top Cow’s goal with the Let Us Win YOU Over initiative is threefold: to invite new readers to give Top Cow comics a try and win them over to their line of titles; to generate buzz and excitement for fans and the retailers they support; and to pump some much-needed energy into an industry not immune to the current economic crisis.

“We feel strongly that Top Cow titles are the best they’ve ever been and it’s important for to invite readers and retailers to discover why,” explained Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik. “While our competitors are straining the wallet of the average fan, Top Cow is making it easy to try new comics.”

So as to not slight existing readers who are already buying Top Cow titles, the publisher will also ship each participating store exclusive Customer Appreciation covers for each subscriber of that month’s free comic. It will be limited exclusively to the subscriber fans at the participating stores for that month.

Top Cow initially opened the Let Us Win YOU Over program to members of the comics retailer group, ComicsPRO, because of the organization’s commitment to banding together to ensure a strong and healthy retailer community.

“ComicsPRO retailers are eager to support this innovative promotion, with the hope of proving that new ideas can lead to new readers for quality titles,” said ComicsPRO President Joe Field. “Our mutual goals with this program are to expose thousands of new eyes to Top Cow’s singular brand of comics and to lead more readers to enjoying Top Cow comics and buying them from ComicsPRO member stores.”

“Our stores always looks for great ways to promote comics and connect readers to new stories they might not have given a second thought to before in the past,” said Michael Malve, owner of Arizona-based chain Atomic Comics and a member of ComicsPRO. “So when we heard of this very progressive marketing idea that Top Cow was coming up with, well, let’s just say we were one of the first to dive in.”

“We at Atomic Comics have worked hand in hand with many publishers over our 22 years in the business,” Malve added. “And in that time, Top Cow has been one of the easiest to work with. They have always made themselves available to retailers and listened to our concerns, as most recently noted in their $2.99 in 2009 announcement. I really look forward to this promotion and I hope other retailers embrace and take full advantage of a great opportunity that Top Cow is offering us with their Let us Win YOU Over campaign.”

Retailers who are not members of ComicsPRO and are interested in participating will be able to sign up through their Diamond Comics Distributors customer service representative in the next several weeks.