Severed #7 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & Scott Tuft (writers), Attila Futaki (art), Greg Guilhaumond (colors) & Fonografiks (letters)

The Story: It’s the finale!  How does little Jack get away from the cannibal?

Four Things: 

1. Creepy and disturbing! – Man, does this team understand horror or what?  Most monologues by villains/killers are contrived, but hearing the killer in Severed go through his motivations for picking Jack was really something: The dude actually gets off on crushing the dreams of children.  The bigger their dreams, the more he likes to eat them.  I also love that there was no attempt to make this guy redeeming.  We didn’t have to see his childhood and understand what made him a monster; nope, he’s just an evil monster who devours children.  A couple other moments really stuck with me too: the panel on page 2 where the killer is shown from above with a long shadow behind him AND the ending when the killer is yelling after Jack.  This story will stick with us!

2. Excellent art! – There isn’t much more to say about this art that I haven’t already said here and here.  But, for those who haven’t been following along, the art is splendid.  Futaki is laying down some wonderful lineart.  I mean, this stuff is among the most vital and lifelike art you’ll see from an artist who is working in a mostly realistic style.  If we had more artists like Futaki, I probably wouldn’t mind realistic art so much.  I only hope that less talented artists aren’t being inspired by him.  But, it doesn’t stop there.  Usually with lineart as good as Futaki’s, the colorist needs to just not screw up: don’t add stupid highlights, don’t ruin the light sources, don’t mess up the depth in the panels, etc.  But Guilhaumond actually improves the overall look of the book.  His colors are what make this book look so smelly, sweaty and dusty.

Severed #6 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & Scott Tuft (writers), Attila Futaki (art), Greg Guilhaumond (colors) & Fonografiks (letters)

The Story: Don’t follow creepy old men into backwoods tool sheds!

3 Things: 

1. The cat is out of the bag. – The creators have kept this game going for a few issues where the reader knew more about the bogeyman than young Jack did.  Honestly, they managed this suspense about as well as I’ve seen in comics and gave us all these ‘No! Don’t follow the strange man into the _______!’ moments.  But, the creators also knew when to stop the game and just let the story come to its climax.  What I loved about the scene with the shed in the woods is that the set up wasn’t much different than all the other teases we’ve gotten AND this scene happened early in the comic, so I half-expected this to be yet another tease.  However, the one difference in this scene is that Jack knew the bogeyman was a bad man so it really made sense to pop the balloon and move on with the story (even if I DO miss the masterful teasing from the last few issues).

2. Still a lot of little mysteries about the bogeyman. – Who is he?  Where did he come from?  Is he just a cannibal or is he some kind of meta-human?  How did he know Jack’s father?  Is he Jack’s father (in a Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker sort of way)?  Why all the fucking around?  Why not just eat him when they first met?  Is there more to the story with Sam?  How did he get away from the bear trap?  How in god’s green earth is Jack getting out of this mess only losing an arm?  Would the Old Man Jack we saw in issue #1 be able to even walk by an old shed without wetting himself?  I can’t wait to find out.

Severed #5 – Review

By: Scott Snyder & Scott Tuft (writers), Attila Futaki (art), Greg Guilhaumond (colors) & Fonografiks (letters)

The Story: A little boy is unwittingly on the road with a horrible cannibal monster posing as a traveling salesman.

Five Things: [With SPOILERS]

1. Creepy impending sense of doom pervades this book – This series did such a clever thing by showing the little boy as an adult in the first issue.  He was clearly missing an arm and this whole series is kinda, “Grandpa, tell us a story about how you lost your arm” vibe to it.  So, the reader knows that the arm is coming off at some point.  We just don’t know when or how it will happen.  Further, it looks highly likely that Jack (the little boy) will get attacked by this cannibal dude at some point, but we don’t know when the shoe will drop.  So, every scene before a page turn that shows something ominous really builds the anticipation.  Oh god! They’re going into a dark house!  Oh god! He drugged his water!  Oh god! He’s going to slam the hood of the car on his arm!  It’s quite well done and it’s hard to think of a comic that has effectively carried this sense of tension for as long as this creative team has.

2. Miss the little girl – It’s hard not to miss Jack’s budding-girlfriend/traveling companion, Sam.  She was such a neat character and had become so well developed in just a few issues that her absence is felt.  Clearly, she had to go away to get to this point where Jack is truly alone with the bad guy, but she’s still missed.  Maybe that’s just a testament to what a great character she was?

3. What’s this cannibal up to? – It’s really hard to figure out what this man is up to.  Perhaps he isn’t hungry yet because he just ate a few days ago?  In that case, perhaps it’s easier to just keep Jack around and alive (as opposed to killing/butchering and keeping the pieces in a freezer).  But, it almost seems like he’s taking on a fatherly role towards Jack.  The thing that makes this comic so great is that you know that something will happen.  But, we also know that it probably won’t be a straightforward ending with the cannibal gnawing Jack’s arm off with Jack miraculously escaping.  Something weird will happen involving Jack, the cannibal and perhaps Jack’s real father and it’s going to be really fun to watch it unfold.

Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors #1 – Review

By: Mark A. Smith (writer), Armand Villavert (art), Carlos Carrasco (colors), Fonografiks (letters) & D.J. Kirkbridge (editor)

The Story: Imagine a Hogwarts-like school where the young super-villains of tomorrow can learn their craft…

What’s Good: This is a charming little comic where you really feel like you’re hanging out for the day at a middle school for baby villains.  If just feels authentic as in, “Yup, that’s probably how they’d act.”  Smith writes breezy dialog for these little monsters and shows them as they go through their days at school.  Even though the whole thing is quite tongue-in-cheek, it has lots of normal stuff you’d associate with a story about 12 year olds.  There are a few kids who are a little too self-important because they haven’t learned humility yet, girls who daydream about the cute boy in class and playground fisticuffs settled with junior-sized super-powers.  It is also a lot of fun seeing the vast assortment of kids in this class and wondering what their powers are.

There is also a lot of humor that starts on the first page where we see a listing of courses for the hellions.  Some are stuff you’d expect: Explosives 101, Subterranean Lairs and Intergalactic Conquests.  Some are kinda funny: Home Economics, Public Speaking and P.E. – Dodgeball.  Then the humor continues as we see how the school was started with the theft of THE world’s ubervillain’s “Playbook”.  This uber-villain is kinda an Iron-Man like character and when the theft goes down, he is trying to entertain guests by serving cranberry muffins and tea (on a silver platter) while wearing a pink, frilly apron.  The whole issue is kinda a knee slapper.