iZombie #28 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: Will Xitalu eat the world or Gwen find a way to stop him/it?

A few things: 1). A pretty good ending, considering. – I know we should only grade these comics on their actual merits (i.e. what’s on the page) because in time, no one will care that this series probably ended a little prematurely due to Roberson’s (kinda messy) departure from DC and lackluster sales.  If you go back 5-6 issues, there was nothing about the story that screamed, “The end is nigh!”.  So, it was a little worrying to see the end announced so soon and wonder how Roberson and the Allreds would wrap things up neatly.

Given those conditions, this is a pretty solid ending.  Not a “great” ending, but very good.  This story was really about Gwen and she gets to complete her story arc.  The way she ends things makes sense given what we know of her character.  And the people of the universe get to trade that nasty, tentacled Xitalu monster for a hot, naked cosmic being.  That’s an upgrade to any pantheon!

I Zombie #26 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: The end is near as the extra-dimensional squid-monster Xitalu (and his demonic minions) attack.

Two things: 1).  Story isn’t moving quite the way it should. – This series only has two issues left and there is a LOT going on.  In a way, this issue is a microcosm of the entire series where we’ve had more ideas and characters than we have pages.  I Zombie has an ensemble cast, but Gwyn is really the main character.  All of the other characters support her – or should support her.  But Gwyn is only on 6 pages of this issue!  And, it isn’t as if this is some isolated story arc in the middle of the series where the supporting characters move to the front…..only two more issues remain!  How is Gwyn going to have a satisfactory conclusion to her story when she will probably only get a handful of pages in those final two issues?  The answer is that she probably won’t have a satisfactory conclusion and it just smacks of this series being cancelled before it’s time. It’s a shame because there is such potential here.  Gwyn is a great character has to yield time to interesting characters like: Ellie the Ghost, the hot vampire grad students, Amon, the Dead Presidents, Diogenes and Spot and his chimpanzee grandfather.  True, there are a few characters who are less interesting (this phantom gunman, for example), but for the most part the characters are really cool.  But, both this issue and this series suffered from the problem that more isn’t necessarily better.  This series probably would have been better if Roberson had only used half of these characters and saved the rest for a future project.

IZombie #24 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Jim Rugg (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: A background for Agent Kennedy of the Dead Presidents.

Review: This is an issue that suffers a little bit because of the news that the series is ending at issue #28.  We have a lot of plot threads that need to be resolved and (honestly) the background of Agent Kennedy wasn’t in the top 10.  Issues like this that focus heavily on the background of one particular character work very nicely in long running series.  We saw a lot of these issues over the 72 issues of DMZ and they added richness to the various characters, but I’m not sure this was the story that I Zombie needs here at the finish line.  It would be like Scalped having an issue that focused on Office Falls Down’s childhood in the middle of this final story arc: Nice, but not necessary.  Moves like this make one wonder if the series is naturally ending or if someone just decided to pull the plug?  It doesn’t seem like this is the issue the creators would have put out there if they always intended for the series to end so soon.

IZombie #22 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor), & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: The big threat is beginning to show itself.  What impact will this have on our main characters?

Five Things: 

1. Interesting plot development for Gwyn. – Even though I Zombie has an ensemble cast, Gwyn is the main character.  I was a eager to see Gwyn get taken back to Dead President headquarters (because surely that place held some answers about what is going on with all these monsters), but it’s still interesting to see her and Horatio on the run.  This will probably lead to some answers too, just not the ones we thought we were going to get.

2. Love, love, LOVE Laura Allred’s colors. – Honestly, good colorists don’t get enough credit.  Laura Allred’s colors are the glue that holds this series together.  Of course, some of the power in her colors comes from things like the way Gwyn’s RED dress pops off an otherwise grey page.  But, she’s got some other clever tricks too.  Love the white/grey hair color for Gwyn and the slightly purplish hue to her skin; no normal humans are these colors and it helps to set her apart.  I also love the vampire chick’s combination of green sweatshirt + red hair.  Again…the red hair (with a little orange) is a color that you’d never see on a living human.  You can’t look at these characters and think they are normal.  Another thing that catches my eye about Ms. Allred’s coloring is that she doesn’t add highlights (which I HATE), she adds shadow.  It sounds simple, but I surely don’t see other colorists working this way and it is very effective.

3. Great cover. – It seems like the only place to get decent covers anymore is on creator-owned books.  I LOVE the way your eye is drawn to the object of interest (Gwyn) on this cover.

IZombie #21 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), J. Bone (guest artist), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: Gwyn the zombie gets hooked up with the Dead Presidents and Galatea’s plans start to make more sense.

Four Things: 

1. Nifty guest art by J. Bone. – Whoah! Wasn’t expecting this…  Guest art is a fact of life in comics and it’s nothing new either (go back and read those old X-Men comics and you’ll find lots of guest artists).  What’s neat about this J. Bone appearance is that it isn’t on a done-in-one issue that explains some back-story item even though that seems to be the popular way to use guest artists.  Nope….this guest art happens smack in the middle of a story arc.  A couple of things are cool about this…..  For one thing, J. Bone’s art is a lot of fun.  He’s much more of a cartoonist than Michael Allred is and that means that his storytelling is crisp and clear because he can do all the exaggerated body language stuff.  But he has that same economy of line that Allred has, so the even though the shape of the characters is a little different….it’s still a similar overall look.  You could probably convince me that Allred drew this when someone dared him to draw like Bruce Timm or something.  The other thing this shows is what a wonderful job the Allreds did of designing the characters.  Between their colors and their identifying features, it’s never a problem recognizing our favorite characters even with a very different art style.

2. Consistent coloring is so important. – This issue really makes you appreciate how important coloring and consistent coloring is in comics.  Even though the line-art duties have changed for this issue, by keeping Laura Allred on the colors, this book looks and feels like I Zombie.  Obviously coloring is important (duh!), but a big part of identifying some of these characters lies in the color.  For Gwyn it’s all about her hair and skin tone.  For Galatea’s vampire helper, it’s all in the red hair and the GREEN Oregon Ducks sweatshirt (LOVE that red/green combo).  I doubt this would have worked as well if they’d brought in a new colorist for this issue and just given them the color palate that Mrs. Allred uses.

IZombie #20 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Bond (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: With the feds on site looking for leftover zombies from the big outbreak, how’s a girl supposed to get a brain to eat?

Five Things: 

1. A new direction for the series. – The ending of this issue really causes one to wonder if the series is headed into a new chapter.  The first story cycle really seemed to mostly be about establishing the characters.  True, there was a story going on with Galetea’s plans and the big zombie outbreak, but most of it was about undersouls and oversouls that the differences between ghosts, zombies, mummies, revenenants, were-creatures, etc.  Now Gwyn has gone running off with the Dead Presidents I guess to be part of their super-team?  It should be very interesting to take Gwyn out of her hometown and see what happens, especially with the Dead Presidents who are such interesting and mysterious characters.  And, we’ve also got the were-terrier and his new boyfriend, someone getting chloroformed behind a dumpster, Ellie’s new boyfriend, etc.  Lots of good stuff…

2. Maybe getting a little busy again. – If I’ve had a long-standing bone to pick with this series, it’s that it has a little too much going on in each issue.  It reminds me a little bit of when you’re trying to download 8 things onto your computer at one time.  Sometimes it is more rewarding to let just one thing download first and be done with it while the other stuff happens in the background.  To that point, there are 6 distinct plotlines rolling through this issue and that’s a lot to get into 20 pages.  It’s Roberson and Allred’s book and they can pace it how they please and I really do enjoy it, but I might enjoy it even more if they’d prioritize one of the threads and move the others into the background.  Or, kill some characters.  That’s always good for sales.

IZombie #19 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: In the aftermath of the zombie outbreak, our main characters take time to regroup…..or hide.

Five Things: 

1. Nice settling point for the series.  We always make a big deal of “jumping on points” and their importance to new readers.  But, what about us existing readers?  Sometimes it is nice to have an issue that slows down and recaps what has happened and resets the action.  I Zombie is a kinda complex story….there’s a lot to remember from month to month and if you have a single month where you were perhaps sleepy or distracted when you read an issue, going forward it is kinda like juggling when your timing and rhythm is messed up.  So, I really appreciated how this issue slowed things down, allowed us to catch out breath, but also started a small pebble rolling for some new story action.

2. Glorious art!  When you engage fans on the weird “story vs. art” discussion, you’ll find answers all over the place, but I’m an “art guy”.  I can enjoy a story that is hectic sometimes if it has consistently superb art to carry the water from issue to issue and that’s what we’ve got with I Zombie.  I love the simplicity and softness of Mike Allred’s characters.  We get so detuned from reading superhero comics with their focus on detailed anatomy and rippling muscles that we forget that isn’t how people really look.  Allred’s characters are all wearing clothes and sometimes they are all the more attractive for it.  I mean…..our eyes/brains can just discard an image of Catwoman or Psylocke because they are so clearly not a realistic depiction of a woman…..but Gwyn (the central character of this series) just looks like a sexy lady you’d see on the street.

3. Enjoy Gwyn’s dilema.  Gwyn’s in kinda a pickle in this issue.  Eugene, Oregon has suffered a zombie outbreak and while the national guard and monster hunters have put it down, they’re still looking for stray zombies to kill so Gwyn needs to lay low.  But, that presents a problem because if she doesn’t eat a brain soon, she’ll stop being sexy, coherent Gwyn and become shambling, “Brraaaaiinnnnns!” Gwyn. I’m looking forward to seeing how this gets sorted out.

IZombie #18 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Jay Stephens (guest artist), Laura Allred (colors), Michael Allred (inks on a few pages), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: The back-story of Diogenes, the monster hunter from the Fossor Corporation.

What’s Good: This is a very clean and streamlined story.  IZombie is an enjoyable series, but its Achilles Heel is that it has a lot going on in a typical issue with the action bopping around to visit a large cast of characters in every issue.  Not a problem here.  This issue is really smooth.  The main story thread of I Zombie has introduced us to the characters of Diogenese and Horatio who are monster hunters for the Fossor Corporation.  Diogenes is the old, grizzled vet and this issue gives us our first glimpse into his backstory as we see him when he was a fresh, new agent and he’s teamed with the Fossor’s top agent and sent to Brazil to clear out some vampires.

As you’d expect, the situation is bigger than they anticipated and they get into all kinds of hairy situations.  One of the fun things about this series is that, even though it is very much set in the present-day “real world”, there are these constant vampire infestations, zombie outbreaks, etc. and the Fossor Corporation is there to mop things up.  It kinda has feel like the Men in Black movies where the aliens were everywhere, yet the civilians were so buried in their daily life that they didn’t even notice.  Substitute zombies/vampires/mummies/were-creatures for aliens and you get the idea.

This issue also has some of its trademark fun as exhibited when Diogenes and his mentor track down the vampire nest and meet the “vampire queen”.  What’s awesome is that she isn’t some immortal being who has been a source of myth and legend among the native peoples for centuries. Nope, her origin is more like the vampires in Eugene, Oregon in the main story arc who are just a bunch of University of Oregon graduate students who got bit by vampires and decided to open a paintball facility.  It’s really fun to see a writer just have fun and not be a slave to Bram Stoker.

I Zombie #16 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: Many plot points crash into one another as the zombie outbreak afflicting Eugene, Oregon comes to a climax.

What’s Good: Honestly, the best thing about this comic (and series) is the artwork.  I’ve heard podcasters and bloggers toss rocks at Mike Allred because he always draws the same way, which is true, but if I drew this attractively I’m not sure I’d be in a huge hurry to change things up.  His softer style is the perfect fit for this title where the lead character is a female zombie because he makes Gwyn look soft and feminine (as compared to the statuesque superheroines with the bulletproof bossoms and shiny butts we see in other comics).  Even the guys in this comic are soft and kinda emo.  I’m not sure if that’s just how they appear with Allred’s art or if Robertson tailored the characters to Allred’s strengths, but it gives this comic series a very unique feel compared to anything else on the shelf.

Kudos also to Laura Allred for her wonderful, mostly flat colors.  She has many touches throughout this series, but one of my favorite is the way she colors Gwyn.  Since she’s a zombie, you’d expect her to be kinda grey, right?  Well Allred colors her lavender!  Ordinarily, you’d think, “Why would a zombie be pinkish/lavender?  That makes no sense because they shouldn’t have blood flowing around!” but it works well because it shows that Gwyn isn’t human without making a hideous monster.  I guess Allred could have made her greenish too, but then she wouldn’t be attractive and Gwyn’s ability to be pretty is an important part of this series.

From a story standpoint, a lot of threads come crashing together in this issue.  One of my complaints about the series is that way too many things are going on for a 20-page comic, but at least most of those stories are starting to interweave.  In this issue, Gwyn, Horatio & Spot get out of the sewers and run into those freaky/cool Dead Presidents who we’ve seen in the back-up stories for the last few months.  So, that is two stories pulled in.  Then Diogenes (Horatio’s monster hunter boss) shows up to address a dangling plot point about how Horatio is dating Gwyn (who is a zombie).  And Spot’s grandaddy (who is trapped in a chimpanzee body) shows up with Spot’s geeky friends.  It is all coming together and next issue should be even better.

I Zombie #15 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: A cute zombie & her monster-hunter boyfriend take on a hoard of shambling zombies.

What’s Good: This is a pretty standard issue of I Zombie.  If you’re invested in and enjoy the story material (which is kinda upbeat slice-of-life meets creature movie), this will be a fun issue for you.

Even though I’ve enjoyed this series quite a bit, one of my constant complaints has been that there are too many plot lines for a 20-page comic.  In this issue, Roberson smartly reduces most of the story elements to a page or two.  So, even though we check in with the chimpanzee grandfather and Galatea, the main story of Horatio and Gwen trying to deal with a hoard of zombies occupies more than 50% of the issue.  This makes the comic feel more like it is about something and has a story than merely watching a lot of goings-on among a group of loosely connected characters.

It also looks like a lot of these plots are starting to swirl together such that you could almost see all these strange characters in one place in an issue or two.  And, that includes the Dead Presidents back-up story characters that have been a cool addition to this series.  Some neat things could happen if these folks all intersect and I’m looking forward to that.

IZombie #13 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: After spending the first dozen issues mostly sorting out who these freaky characters are, it seems that we are embarking on our first mission-based story arc having to do with the evil Galatea and an outbreak of zombies.

What’s Good: This is another very strong month for this title visually.  After taking a break last month, Michael Allred is back on art duties; and when you combine his clean, efficient and organic style with Laura Allred’s soft and tasteful colors with Todd Klein’s artful lettering, you get a pretty product again.  If you read comics largely for the graphical storytelling (as I do), just the combinator of these 3 masters at work accomplishes 80% of the battle of having a good comic.  What I love so much about Michael Allred’s work is seeing how varied and organic his lines look.  Just look at any panel in the comic and see how many varied thicknesses of line he shows.  You can almost start to guess what kinds of implements he is using.  One thing that makes the final product really distinctive are the partially shaded aspects you get with what looks like a gray marker.  It isn’t clear if Michael is going that (with a marker) of if Laura adds the effect while coloring, but it allows for subtle shading while maintaining an almost flat coloring style for most objects.  Flat colors just kick all kinds of ass and if you don’t believe that, take two comics, one that has flat colors and one with this highly rendered stuff and put them across the room and see which one POPS out at you.

The story itself settles a lot in this issue.  IZombie has been very enjoyable, but its biggest fault is that there is just too much good stuff going on.  You had the main characters, the vampire ladies, the chimpanzee grandfather, Amon the dude with all the secrets, Galatea and her vampire underling and the monster hunters.  Often times, it was just too much to keep track of, but in this issue, it seems to be streamlining into two stories (that’ll probably connect).  The stories seem to promise some answers to what Galatea is up to and also threaten the gang with some Romero-style zombies.  The zombies might even have some impact for our main character, Gwyn – The Friendly and Attractive Zombie who is trying not to become a shambling, “BRRAAAIINNSSSSS!” zombie.

What’s Not So Good: Even with what I’ve said above, there is still a little too much going on in this issue.  The part that bugged me is that the vampire girls show up for a couple of pages and while I really like the vampire girls, it isn’t clear what they have to do with the story right now.  It kinda seems like they could go back on the shelf for a few issues until we have more resolution on what appear to be the main story lines.  Then, we get a back-up story, that has all kinds of cool/awesome wackiness like a Soviet zombie/special-forces soldier, a talking brain in a Mr. Coffee pot and a team of super agents consisting of an lucid zombie, a funky ghost and a were/she-male.  And, that part is awesome! But as I’ve said, this series has already got a lot of things going on at once and now we’ve got ALL this new stuff too.  It’s almost too much awesome at once.

Conclusion: Great, great issue (and series) from a visual standpoint.  The story is enjoyable too, but I really don’t think it would hurt to streamline some more.  It’s a shame because all of the story elements are really cool, but it is kinda like drinking out of a fire hose.

Grade: B

-Dean Stell

Follow Dean on Twitter.

Follow WCBR on Twitter and Facebook.

I Zombie #12 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Gilbert Hernandez (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Review: Anyone who has followed my reviews of this series knows that I’m a serious fan of Mike Allred’s art, so when I first flipped this issue open, I said, “Hey!  This isn’t Mike Allred art!  Oh…wait a minute….this looks like one of the Hernandez brothers!  Hot dog!”  A glance at the credits shows that, in fact, our guest artist on this issue is Gilbert Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame (among other things).  Vertigo just does a TREMENDOUS job of bringing in guest artists who are incredibly talented and pretty consistent with the look and feel of the series.

Since I’m already talking about Mr. Hernandez, let’s stick with his art.  He is a great example of knowing what lines are important and the fact that sometimes you don’t have to noodle with your art and make everything hyper-detailed to get across the impression that the artist is trying to convey.  Just as a random example, there is a page in this issue with a ghostly cowboy.  He is pot-bellied, but Hernandez is able to communicate this fat belly with a mere rounding of the contour of the character on one side and three short lines above the belly (showing where the shift folds to envelope the belly).  That’s it.  And then to top this off, colorist Laura Allred just colors the shirt flat blue.  What a relief when you see image after image in Marvel/DC superhero comics where there would be a lot more linework and some heavily rendered coloring showing off the glistening highlights of the dude’s fat belly.  This is a great issue from an art standpoint.

The story is up to the task too.  My biggest complaint with I Zombie is that there is too much stuff going on in most of these issues.  This issue is very streamlined as it amounts to a simply back-story on Ellie the Ghost.  Long time readers of the series know that Ellie is main-character, Gwyn’s best friend, but we haven’t really known much about her: How she died?  Why she hangs out in the graveyard?  How did she met Gwyn?  All are answered here.

I, Zombie #11 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters), Gregory Lockard (assistant editor) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: Kinda a wrapping up story as many loose ends are secured.

What’s Good: Roberson and Allred have done a yeoman’s job of world building over the first eleven issues of I, Zombie.  It hasn’t always been smooth, but I do feel like with this issue, they finally have all of their game pieces out on the board such that they can play with them.  That may seem a little strange: “How can it take 11 issues just to get organized?”  Well, this world is complex.  You have zombies, were-beings, vampires, ghosts, possessed beings and a few others.  On top of that there is a secret society of monster hunters that features prominently.  And….none of these creature types is exactly what you’ve grown used to from other fictional works.

Of course, Gwyn, the cute and coherent zombie (who merely needs to eat one brain per month to remain cute and coherent) is one great example of the novel spin on the undead archetypes.  But there are many others…  For example, we learn in this issue that the vampire chicks who were running the paintball club (and sucking just a little blood on the side) were until very recently a bunch of graduate students at the University of Oregon.  As readers, we’re so used to vampires all being world-weary, 800 year old Viking kings and the story being about how they are people-out-of-time, that this is a very fresh take.  These young ladies have been vampires for a couple of months and are just getting the hang of it

And, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have art duties from the Allreds with letters by Todd Klein.  I think if you’d put worse artists on this series, I may have dropped it a few times when the story got too complex, but the Allreds’ soft and lively art helps me just skate on through.  I’ve made my positive feelings for the Allreds’ art know in multiple places on this site, so let’s spend a moment talking about Mr. Klein’s lettering.  Lettering is really becoming a lost art form today.  You get to see great hand lettered works sometimes (anything John Workman works on), but a LOT of lettering these days is nothing special: boring fonts, word balloons that are WAY oversized, etc.  I’m 99% sure that Klein does computer lettering, but his work just shows that someone approached the lettering with the same care that was used on the art or the scripts.  It is hard to describe, but the lettering almost has a softness that echoes the art.

I, Zombie #10 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: Gwyn has to talk to someone from her pre-zombie life in order to calm the voices in her head.

What’s Good: Many of the conceptual things in this issue are very strong and have been strong throughout this series.  This remains a series with zombies, vampires, werewolves & monster hunters but without those characters playing to the stereotype.  At its core, it’s really about a group of people who are outcasts from society, but without society even really noticing them.  The creators have created a very rich world with a lot of possibilities.

The star of this issue/series is still Gwyn, the zombie.  How you relate to her is going to be fundamental to whether you enjoy this series.  If she kinda clicks in your brain, you can push past some of the issues I’ll talk about below.  If you just don’t care for her character: early 20’s woman finding her way in the world and facing a HUGE identify crisis (because she’s a zombie), you should probably read something else.

I read a ton of comics every month and the best asset that a comic can have is an incredibly strong and consistent artist.  Good artwork and graphical storytelling can smooth over a lot of problems.  Michael Allred’s linework is just so smooth and efficient.  I’m a huge fan of obsessively detailed art, but I can also really enjoy an artist who knows which lines are important and Allred definitely falls into that boat.  He doesn’t noodle with his art and that’s great because sometimes those extra lines just screw up the power that a character can have.

I, Zombie #9 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), Todd Klein (letters) & Shelly Bond (editor)

The Story: Gwyn goes out on a date with a monster hunter.

What’s Good: At its core, this comic has a ton of potential as just a human relationship type of comic.  Sure the main character is a zombie, but she still has hopes and aspirations and does things like goes on dates, which is the A-story in this issue.  As a reader is it hard not to like Gwyn and want her to find some happiness in her kinda tragic existence.  Still, you cringe when she goes on a date with Horatio the monster-hunter (to a miniature golf course of all places) because you know it probably won’t end well.

The Allreds’ art continues to be stellar.  When you have art like this in a comic series, you can ride out some rough patches in the story that would be cause real heartburn with weaker art.  Michael Allred has such a nice, soft line.  His women are really pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way; they never look like skanks.  Even the tramps don’t look like skanks.  And Laura Allred’s colors are the perfect match.  I love the blue/white she uses for Gwyn’s hair and the purple/pink for her skin tone.  It makes it clear that she is something other than a normal human.

Dean’s Drive-by Reviews

My pull list is way too long (even after a fairly vigorous pruning recently), so just about every week I read a few comics that don’t get the full review treatment from us here at WCBR.  But, it still seems fair to give the comic a quick thumbs up/thumbs down…

Iron Man – Thor #2 – Sometimes I wonder why I have such a long pull list.  Rhetorically, why do I take so many chances on comic books when I know that most will be mediocre?  Well….comics like this one are the reason.  The #1 issue (of 4) was nothing special.  Not bad, but nothing good either.  But, this comic was just all kinds of kick ass.  It features Thor and Iron Man immediately after the events of Siege.  They get pulled into a scheme by the High Evolutionary (who I love) to create a “new god for the 21st century” on the premise that the current gods are old and archaic.  In his mind a new god must incorporate diving power AND technology and get this…..[SPOILER WARNING]…..he wants Tony Stark to be the new god.  Cool, huh?  It also features Volstagg loaning out a pet dragon to Thor to serve as bloodhound.  Scott Eaton’s art is great and Veronica Gandini’s color just pop.  My only complaint is that continuity….how does this happen right after Seige?  I thought that is what Avengers Prime was?  Oh well.  It is funny how a good comic makes continuity problems wash away.  Grade: A-

I, Zombie #8 – This title took ~5 issues to get its feet under it because Chris Roberson had a LOT of groundwork to lay for his world, but this comic is really working now.  His neat world has friendly zombies, vampire, ghosts, possessed animals and ancient monster hunters and there is a lot to like.  And of course Mike and Laura Allred’s art is really impressive.  I love how they can draw attractive women without having them look like skanks.  Grade: B

She-Hulks #2 – This is just a whacky fun comic.  It isn’t central to the Marvel universe, but if you’re a She-Hulk fan, it is not to be missed.  It’s also a good comic for those trying to find a good comic with heroic women (something in short supply in comics sometimes).  The basic story is that Jen She-Hulk and Lyra, the Savage She-Hulk, are fighting the Intelligencia.  That leads to enough shenanigans, but when you mix in that Lyra is also trying to deal with the rigors of high school, the fun just ratchets up a notch.  Ryan Stegman’s art is not to be missed.  Grade: B

Wolverine: The Best There Is #1 – I’m not sure if it is “the best there is”, but it does have some promise.  The main draw here (for me) is Juan Jose Ryp’s art.  I’m all about artists who “go for it” and Ryp does that in a few places in this comic.  The story is just okay.  It’s a little derivative since we’ve all seen stories where someone is trying to do kidnap or otherwise twist Wolverine to their own purposes.  And, the story was a little disjointed and didn’t really come together for me.  Charlie Huston (the writer) could also have fed Ryp a few more scantily clad women and blood/guts since that is where he excels (and not as much with talking heads).  Editorially, I wonder what is up with this title.  Really…another Wolverine title that seems to be only partially related to continuity in either the X-books or the other Wolverine books?  Why not just call it Wolverine-Max and just turn Ryp loose to do his thing?  THAT would be awesome.  Despite the story/editorial challenges, I’ll be sticking around for Ryp’s art.  Grade: C+

Batman 80-Page Giant 2010 #1 – This was okay and solid.  The problem is that it is 80-pages long and that is a LOT of “okay and solid” to read.  Nothing in this comic was remotely “bad”, but the overall comic commits the cardinal sin for an anthology of not having a single superlative story.  The best story is Peter Miriani and Szymon Kudranski’s harrowing Joker story, but it is first story of the issue.  Then you get your energy sapped by a few of the middle stories and have to limp to the finish.  I hate to say bad things about it, because no single story was dreadful, but I was glad when it was over.  I also generally want to see anthologies take more risks from a storytelling standpoint and these were all pretty standard short stories with Batman’s villains.  Hard to recommend at $5.99.  Grade: C-

Generation Hope #2 – I preorder my comics, so even if #1 is bad (which happened with Generation Hope) I am usually still stuck with issue #2.  Sometimes that gives the comic a chance to find its feet, but not in this case.  This was a confused mess.  I spent a lot of my time confused about what was going on in the story and I didn’t like how a lot of the action in this comic was handled by Cyclops and Wolverine.  There are ~20 comics to see Cyclops and Wolverine…..I wanted this comic to star Hope, but she spends most of this issue knocked out of action.  Not an auspicious start to her semi-solo title.  Espin’s art is fine.  But….  Grade: D

– Dean Stell

Dean’s Drive-by Reviews

My pull list is way too long, so every week there are at least a few comics that I read that didn’t get a feature review from me or my colleagues here at WCBR.  Nonetheless, they deserve some kudos (or a warning sign) as a service to our loyal readers.

Strange Tales II #2 – What a star this was!  It was my pick of the week in a really strong week.  What you have here is an anthology featuring a bunch of independent creators taking a whack at our favorite Marvel characters.  The stories are all complete one-off, out-of-continuity stuff, but boy are they fun.  Keep an eye out for a left over issue of this when you head to the comic shop this week.  Grade: A-

X-Men: To Serve and Protect #1 – Marvel should really just have a series called “X-Men Anthology” that allows a variety of established and new creators to tell quickie stories in the current X-Men continuity.  Fun stuff abounds: Rockslide and Anole taking a Dark Knight turn and fighting crime vigilante style, Emma getting her trip to the spa interrupted by an over-libidoed Mandrill, Cyper being heroic (with art by Pepe Larraz who I really like)….  It’s all good.  Grade: B+

I, Zombie #7 – This series took a few issues to get going, mostly because it took Roberson awhile to get all of his toys out of the box.  It is a complex world that he has created.  But, now that it is humming along I’m really enjoying the antics of Gwen the zombie and her band of friends.  It has an almost Scooby-Doo feel (think I may have heard someone make that comparison on a podcast, but can’t remember who).  I wish there was more of a connection between the monster hunters and Gwyn though.  Perhaps there is a connection and I’ve just misplaced it in my brain?  Also….Mike Allred art!  Colors by Laura Allred.  This is the softest style in mainstream comics (if you consider Vertigo mainstream) and I love it.  Kudos to anyone who can draw a pretty lady in gravedigger overalls without resorting to heaving bosoms or having the outfit unbuttoned down to her navel.  Grade: B

Punisher: In the Blood #1 – Now that he isn’t Franken-Castle any more, we can have plain, old Punisher back in the Marvel 616 universe.  What you have here is a pretty classic intro to a Punisher story.  The main villain is Jigsaw and that’ll probably please classic Punisher fans who didn’t like the monstrous turn that Remender took them on.  Boschi really nails it from an art standpoint.  It’s a little unclear if Punisher is going to have an ongoing in the Marvel 616 universe as this is only a 6-issue mini.  The economy is NOT being kind to sales of B-list characters, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Punisher went to a series of minis.  Grade: B-

Iron Man – Thor #1 – I was pretty excited about this because it is written by Abnett & Lanning, but for some reason it didn’t stick to me at all.  I had to pull the issue out of the bag just now to remind myself what the story was about.  That’s not a good sign.  But, that happens when the villain isn’t revealed until the final page and now that I’ve done my remedial homework, it appears to be a story about Thor and Iron Man getting caught up in some plot with the High Evolutionary.  This could be fun because Abnett & Lanning should write this sort of story well.  I didn’t love the art.  It isn’t even remotely “bad”, but Eaton’s work looks very Deodato-y and that just isn’t a style I care for much with harsh, dark shadows even in sunny scenes.  I’ll probably keep getting this out of my faith in Abnett & Lanning.  Grade: C-

– Dean Stell

 

I, Zombie #6 – Review

By: Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors) & Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Now that we know where zombies, vampires & ghosts come from, what about were-terriers?

What’s Good: Roberson has a pretty complex story to tell and has to deal with the challenge of establishing all of the expansive groundwork for this series without allowing the reader to get bored, because issue #6 is still explaining to the reader “what is going on”.  He does a very good job of continuing exposition in this issue while also telling a touching tale of how Scott (the zombie’s boyfriend) became a were-terrier.  Let’s just say that you’ll never look at roadkill quite the same way again!

But, there is more to his story than that.  It also tells a touching story of how Scott was orphaned at a very young age and was taken in by his grandfather who just happened to be a golden age cartoon voice actor.  Of course, Scott loves this (becoming a comic geek) and has a hard time rationalizing that to his grandfather, this is just a “job” and that he sees as representative of his failure to be a “real actor”.  Clearly Roberson was making parallels to many golden age comic artists who didn’t have any sort of passion for comic books…they just needed a job and they could draw, so they did the work.  As he grows, Scott (predictably) grows away from his grandfather but everything comes full circle in a way that is appropriate for this funny series while also slightly touching.

iZombie #4 – Review

by Chris Roberson (writer), Mike Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Gwen gets to know Amon, who explains the existence of monsters, while Horatio fights Claire the vampire.

What’s Good: After three issues of relaxed storytelling, it’s nice to see iZombie really lay down some big ideas.  Readers impatient with the slow pace should be somewhat appeased this month, as the book is given something of a new, or at least unexpected, direction and a great deal of information.

The core of it concerns the existence of monsters in this world and Roberson’s explanation is surprisingly intellectual and yet completely logical.  He brings forth the idea of the soul, but argues that every person has an oversoul and an undersoul.  How this ties into the various monsters who inhabit iZombie is very well put together and it’s great to see Roberson doing some world-building, crafting a kind of mythos that can be drawn upon in future.

The mummy Amon’s back-story is also explored a little bit as he takes Gwen on a tour through his memories, while introducing the above ideas.  I like Amon as a character; he adds a suave, mature voice to the comic that’s a good fit.  He’s a fun character and I look forward to seeing more of him.

Art-wise, this is another solid outing by Mike Allred.  I especially enjoyed his creative paneling, as Amon  inserts himself into his own memories while the page reflects the fact that he and Gwen have gone on mental walkabout.

iZombie #3 – Review

by Chris Roberson (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: The hunters continue their vampire-chase with Horatio meeting Gwen in the process, someone discovers Scott’s secret, and Gwen meets the mummy.

What’s Good: Without a doubt, the best thing about iZombie, this issue included, is Michael Allred’s art.  It has a wonderful life to it and its pop-art style suits the comic perfectly.  Everything has a delightful air of kookiness and eccentricity that truly gives colour to Roberson’s world.  Indeed, Allred gives the world of iZombie a sort of poppy timelessness.  All of the characters, Gwen in particular, are adorable thanks to Allred and the designs are solid throughout.  I particularly enjoyed Allred’s depiction of Gwen’s powers, where the images are grainy and rendered in black and white.  While the world looks wonderful, Allred’s work on his characters’ faces is also very human and perfectly expressive.

Once again, Roberson’s three main characters continued to grow on me this month.  Scott is the perfect example of the “lovable loser.”  From his condition, to his forced isolation, to his being ribbed by Gwen, the guy is the perfect combination of nice and pitiful; it’s hard not to constantly feel bad for the guy, while also smiling at the inherent comedy of his tribulations.

Gwen, on the other hand, remains as cool as ever and Allred and  Roberson both make a wonderfully awkward “love at first sight” moment between her and Horatio this month.  She’s a solid combination of snark and vulnerability and scenes like this highlight that.  Meanwhile, Ellie continues to be a source of fun in her own right, as Roberson makes her sound humorously out of date.

iZombie #2 – Review

by Chris Roberson (writer), Mike Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Todd Klein (letters)

The Story: Gwen closes in on the murderer while one of the vampire paintballers gets a little too murderous.

What’s Good: This is a big improvement from last month’s issue that assuages most of my concerns regarding this series.  One of the key reasons for this shift is that unlike last month, which was all set-up, there actually is a definable plot.  The murder mystery provides for some intrigue, particularly in its introduction of a shadowy character who seems to be the killer (and possibly a mummy).  Things are already looking to be more complicated than they seem.

Gwen’s poking about into the victim’s life also gives Roberson a chance to better show how her “powers” work, or rather, how annoying they can be.  He does a great job of integrating the victim’s mind into Gwen’s thought processes.  While clearly not a sentient being, the victim’s “voice” often informs, or interrupts, Gwen’s own internal narration.  At times, it even attempts to finish her sentences and Gwen has to seemingly restrain herself from speaking the words out loud.  It’s a creative way of showing the victim’s intrusion into Gwen’s mind and it’s good fun.

Speaking of Gwen, she’s more likable than she was last month.  Her narration seems less forced, with Roberson clearly less concerned with making her seem as cool as possible.  What results is a more natural feel to the character that better suits a strong protagonist.  She also has a conversation with the victim’s child that hits the right notes, juxtaposing the child’s innocence with Gwen’s awkwardness.  Supporting characters Ellie and Scott also have strong, and surprisingly serious, outings as Roberson touches upon the heavy burdens that both bear due to their “conditions.”  Roberson also continues to impress me with the comedy he injects into the most minor characters; Scott’s work friends are just as fun as Gwen’s.