The Saviors #3 – Review

by James Robinson (Writer), J. Bone (Artist)

The Story: It seems to me that James Robinson might take the name ”day of the dead” a bit too literally…

The Review: Having no expectations can be a great thing. When there is no hype or prejudice set against a book, it provides a good chance for the very piece of graphic literature to provide surprises and please the readers with its concepts, its characters and its execution. It’s always a very tough task to let go of expectations, yet it can be achieved through numerous methods.

One of them, it seems, is to not really mind the book’s existence. It might seem a tad harsh, yet I haven’t been wholly impressed yet by James Robinson and his new series The Saviors. While it is decidedly a good idea to base a story around, the world building itself and the various elements haven’t cemented yet to provide for a definitive appreciation on my part. However, it is still a young series and Robinson could very well amplify things in this one. The question is, does he actually achieves this?

What he does well is set up some new ideas as well as presenting new characters. While the focus of the first two issues was decidedly more on Tomas, the writer presents a larger cast here. With each of them being affected by the appearances of lizard men differently and having a different background, Robinson does bring the readers up to speed on their personality and their quirks rather quickly, yet not without efficiency. Some are perhaps a bit stereotypical, yet there is a certain clarity in their motivations and their semi-functionality as a group that does manage to make them interesting enough to make it so there could be development and surprises in the long run.

Still, despite it all, Tomas is still the main protagonist, with a certain focalization on his feelings and reactions brought to the forefront. His personality and his general assessment of the situation driving some of the scenes forward, there is a comprehensible reasoning behind Tomas, yet not one that makes him that interesting or particularly likable in the process. His fears and his desire not to be involved in an underground war against weird lizard people is something that can be easily understood, yet his desire to be protected without him lifting a finger to help in the war effort is something that it more irritating than it is appreciable. While a flawed character makes for a much more interesting lead than a good and utterly perfect one, the character of Tomas Ramirez is perhaps a bit too cowardly to be effectively liked. There’s plenty of room for development and deeper understanding of just who he is, yet so far it’s a bit too soon to properly get attached to a stoner and generally cowardly and detached hero.

The Saviors #2 – Review

James Robinson (Writer), J. Bone (Artist)

The Story: Escaping from certain death, Tomas wants to know what exactly is going on with those weird alien reptiles.

The Review: Trying new things can be hard. While many people generally hold in a positive light any attempts of others to try different genres, writers and artists, it’s not always the easiest of process to just go out and actually get invested in something entirely new. It’s always a matter of quality, of talent behind the creative team, yet there has to be a willingness for the readers to try it out in the first place.

Despite my first reactions and my fears, I rather enjoyed the first issue of James Robinson and J. Bone’s The Saviors, a series that tries to breathe new life into an old story of alien beings in our midst without our knowledge. Presenting us their protagonist and a general sense of danger in ways that felt right for the most part, it made me feel rather good at the prospect of continuing with the series in the first place. However, first issues aren’t everything as there needs to be a good continuation of the story to prove that the concepts has legs of its own. Does the second issue prove that this has the potential to be interesting in the long term?

In some ways, it’s a bit of a tough question to answer straight away. James Robinson, the mind behind this story, does provide enough information and development to make sure readers might be intrigued toward what might happen next and what everything might actually mean in the long term, yet he stumbles a bit along the way as he tells the rather simple story in this issue.

The Saviors #1 – Review

by James Robinson (Writer), J. Bone (Artist)

The Story: Smoking too much weed can have unforeseen effects, such as dependency, a certain lack of ambition and being the prey of weird lizard monsters.

The Review: We live in an age of comics that is kind of revelatory. With a huge explosion of creator-owned comics, there is now a diversity that wasn’t the norm a good number of years back. Writers old and new arise, with people like Brian K. Vaughn and Jonathan Hickman being in on the game just like others like Kurtis J. Wiebe and Jim Zub, with each of them having a particular story or two to tell. For people looking for comics without any trace of capes or tights, it’s rather grand to see something develop so quickly.

It’s with these kind of thoughts that I approached The Saviors, a new creator-owned series by James Robinson and J. Bone. With Robinson being responsible for some beloved stuff like Starman and JSA: The Golden Age, I was rather curious to see how he would fare with this. Would it be on the same level as those classic, or would it fall in the same category as his Earth 2 run?

This issue shows a lot of potential, to be sure, as it offers a certain horror feeling with a certain ease that allows for a great mix between tension and comfort. With the stoner protagonist at the helm of this comic, Robinson provides for a nice template for development, even though Tomas Ramirez is perhaps a bit on the stereotypical side.

Pulp Friction #4 – Review

By: Mark Waid (story), J Bone (art), Rom Fajardo (colors)

The Story: Who will save us when the Spirit and Rocketeer are down for the count?  It’s President Franklin Delano Roosevelt!

The Review: After the four months it took to get from #1 to #2, I wasn’t expecting to see #3 for at least another month or so.  So it was with no small amount of surprise that I discovered #4 sitting on the IDW shelf in my comic book shop last week.  That, of course, left me with the question of what to do about #3; I wasn’t all that enthused about hunting down an issue in which I had only a very mild interest anyway.

Eventually, I did what I so often do: compromised.  I did rummage through the back issues for #3 (and, might I add, they had plenty in stock); I did not actually purchase the issue.  Instead, I thumbed through it, got what I needed to know, and discreetly placed it back where I found it.  Well, come on—it’s not as if Pulp Friction boasted such complications in the plot that I needed the issues near at hand for reference.

The Shade #4 – Review

By: James Robinson (writer), Darwyn Cooke (penciller), J. Bone (inker), Dave Stewart (colorist)

The Story: A cover on Life magazine?  You’ve really made it.

The Review: It’s not usually my style to start off a review with bias, but I’ll make a rare exception to say that this series has one of the freshest voices of all the titles coming out of any publisher right now.  A lot of it has to do with the unique qualities of Shade himself: erudite, wry, witty, and not a little bit of a romantic, a mix you don’t often hear from comics characters.

Even more than that, the title offers a great combination of different tones and running plotlines, making it a grab-bag of genres that can’t be perfectly qualified as just one.  Over the course of the series, we’ve had bits of spy-thriller, romance, supernatural, sci-fi, pulp, mystery, and drama, all of which Robinson weaves together with wonderful credibility.  Furthermore, Shade’s long-lived existence allows for a wide range of periods and settings as well.  In short, this book has the opportunity to tell almost any kind of story it wants in any way it wants.

This time around, we get a WWII tale of conspiracy and patriotism, involving not only the already surprising intervention of the Shade—given his general indifferent to greater world matters in general—but also the two-gun, motorcycle-riding Vigilante and the cross-dressing Madam Fatal, also known as one Richard Stanton.  You’re never going to have a weirder set of characters than that, and that alone makes this issue a standout from the year’s releases thus far.

Honestly, the plot is nothing much, being one of your typical “Who’s the mastermind scheming to kidnap/kill the Figure of Importance in question?”  The reveal of this individual also proves a bit cliché and predictable, both as to his/her identity and how it happens.  What makes it an entertaining read is Robinson’s use of Vigilante and Madam Fatal (and if you’ve never heard of either before, I imagine the surprise will be even greater), and the timing of Shade’s appearances.

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.

Justice League: The New Frontier Special #1 – Review

By Darwin Cooke (art & story), J. Bone (art), David Bullock (pencils), Micahel Cho (inks), Dave Stewart (colors)

Coinciding (a week later), with the release of New Frontier on DVD is this special one-shot by Darwin Cooke. Like his previous mini-series, this book perfectly encapsulates the time and imagination of the early Silver Age. The issue is a 48 page behemoth, divided into three self-contained stories, plus a small section at the end devoted to the art of the New Frontier animated movie.

The first story is the centerpiece. It deals with Superman’s loyalty to what the President of the United States refers to as “the greater good”. The President considers Batman a threat to the country, stating that a vigilante kept unchecked, no matter how righteous his intentions, is still unlawful. He tasks Superman and Wonder Woman to bring Batman in, thinking that once Batman is out of the way, other similar vigilantes will turn themselves in.

Diana instantly opts out. She knows that Batman would rather die than give up his convictions and she gives a stern warning to Clark about this. But when the President calls upon Clark, giving him a direct order to bring Batman in, he complies and heads to Gotham City. Batman, already ahead of the game, has prepared an elaborate trap to capture and en-prison Superman. Once the game is afoot, Superman falls into this trap, hook, line, and sinker.

My initial reaction to this was a lot of eye-rolling. How many times have we seen this story? How many times have writers hammered into our brains that Batman will always outwit Superman? For once, I’d like to see Superman beat the crap out of Batman. Well, as it turns out, Superman finally catches on that he’s being baited and refuses to let Batman win.

Superman eventually gets his hands around Batman’s throat, but Wonder Woman shows up to stop the fight. Realizing that they have to work together and form a bond of trust, Bruce Wayne extends the first olive branch to Clark, revealing his secret identity! I can’t begin to tell you what a brilliant moment of humility this is on Bruce’s part. What plays out from here on marks the beginning of the “trinity”. This  story is so cinematic in being drawn and narrated so well, I could actually see it playing out as a movie. Good stuff.

The next two stories are written by Darwin Cooke and drawn by other artists. One story is about a solo Robin and how he first meets Kid Flash. It’s a teenage tale about kids trying to prove they can be just as good as adults. It also serves as a precursor of sorts to the Teen Titans, which is unexpected and a nice touch. The final story has Wonder Woman being repulsed by the chauvinistic nature of men and doing something about it. Going undercover with Dinah, she infiltrates a “men’s club” and initiates a series of hi-jinx that don’t go as planned.  This story (and art) is easily the weakest of the three, but Dinah’s sarcasm does a nice job off-setting Wonder Woman’s snottiness.

If you loved New Frontier, picking up this follow-up is a no-brainer and worthy edition to your collection. For everyone else, I realize $4.99 is a bit on the high side, but for a one-shot like this, it’s worth the price. Check it out! (Grade: B+)

– J. Montes