Django Unchained #6 – Review

By: Quentin Tarantino & Reginald Hudlin (story), Denys Cowan (pencils), John Floyd (inks), Jose Villarubia (colors)

The Story: It takes balls to pull a con on Candyland; they have ways of dealing with that.

The Review: Freedom is best described as intoxicating; it certainly encourages you to take chances and do things you wouldn’t otherwise.  It’s no wonder that most of the regrettable things you’ll ever do in your life happen between ages 18 and 30.  Away from your parents, given the power to eat, say, or do pretty much whatever you want, whenever you want, and the law of averages dictates that good sense will take a backseat sometimes.

Django has been experiencing that wild ride ever since Schultz freed him in #1, and we saw that even from the start he’s taken full advantage of his liberty.  Although satisfied to follow his liberator’s lead most of the time, he’s always made it clear that he does so by his choice alone and that he has no qualms about calling his own shots, even against Schultz’s mild judgment.  Basically, he’s been setting himself up for a fall from day one.  For us modern folk, that means drinking binges and one-night stands; for Django, it’s going to be much, much more painful.

Django Unchained #3 – Review

By: Quentin Tarantino & Reginald Hudlin (story), Denys Cowan (pencils), John Floyd (inks), Jose Villarubia (colors)

The Story: At the Schultz School and you, too, can learn how to shoot a snowman in the heart.

The Review: To this date, I still haven’t seen the actual movie of Django Unchained, but even just reading its comic book adaptation, I think I’ve caught on to its unique appeal.  It’s a story of opposing forces existing side-by-side: blacks versus whites, the freedom of the bounty hunters versus the servitude of the slaves, the practice of killing without mercy against the travesty of enslaving one’s fellow man.

For an example of these strings of contrasts, you need look no further than in our dual protagonists.  Aside from the differences in their race and class, you can see that there’s a kind of tension between Schultz’s obvious kindness and patience with Django and his utter lack of sympathy for their intended targets.  It’s the kind of strange tension you see with mafia men who nevertheless love their families, and it seems to embody the fundamental paradox of humanity: a species in whom depravity and virtue can coexist very, very comfortably.

Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child #1 – Review

By: Selwyn Seyfu Hinds (writer), Denys Cowan (pencils), John Floyd (inks), Dave McCaig (colors), Clem Robbins (letters), Joe Hughes (assistant editor), Karen Berger (editor)

The Story: A young woman gets involved in some funky voodoo/werewolf action in New Orleans.

Review: It was bound to happen: Vertigo has released a new series where I didn’t enjoy the first issue.  The publisher has been on quite a run recently: Unwritten, Sweet Tooth, American Vampire, I Zombie, Daytripper, Spaceman, New York Five and the recent Saucer Country… all were quite good and some are/were great.  But, Dominique Laveau Voodoo Child #1 left me pretty cold.

Full Disclosure: I’m not a fan of New Orleans-based voodoo stories.  Someone must enjoy them because various writers and publishers are drawn to the material, but I completely don’t care.  I’m just not a fan of weird, pseudo-godlike creatures fighting their battles on Earth or anything like that, so all the scenes of Caribbean immigrants speaking in tongues or scenes in graveyards leave me cold.  Also, I’m bored with every New Orleans story happening around the time of Hurricane Katrina.

And, that’s really my biggest complaint with DLVC #1… The subject matter just didn’t click with me at all.  It does have one positive: A young female protagonist.  That’s often a good start for me and I am willing to give this title a few issues to see if it can get it’s act together.  I never get tired of seeing stories where young women “grow up” and become a powerful force for something. I just don’t like it when their reason for doing so has to do with some unknown destiny they have because they are related to some ancestor they didn’t even know…