America’s Got Powers #1 – Review

By: Jonathan Ross (story & script), Bryan Hitch (story & art), Andrew Currie & Paul Neary (inkers), Paul Mounts (colors) & Chris Eliopoulos (letters)

The Story: When a mysterious crystal gives a bunch of children superpowers, the government puts them on a reality show.

Review: This is a fine comic if you’re looking for more superhero in your life.  Caveat: I personally find it almost impossible to gush about new superhero-ish comics, so keep that in mind while reading this review.  I still want to know what’s going on with a few of the superheroes I’ve known since childhood (Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine), but I don’t have a lot of room in my heart for new takes on superpowers and prefer to read non-superpowered comic books nowadays.

That said, this is a fine story.  It kinda reminds me of something Mark Millar would write and that makes sense because I think Jonathan Ross comes from a similar standpoint as a storyteller: He’s interested in easily digestible popular stories.

The set-up is simple: Mysterious crystal comes to Earth and makes all the pregnant women of San Francisco give birth to super-powered babies.  The evil government locks them up and forces them to compete in a sort of American Gladiator-esque reality show where some of the kids find fame and fortune and others get hurt/killed and are miserable.  As stories tend to do, our “hero” looks like he’ll end up being one of the ostensibly weakest of the kids who is thrust into a nasty situation.  That’s kinda it.  Not a lot of nuance going on here.  And, that’s fine because I enjoy my non-nuanced entertainment too (I just don’t want it to be about new superheroes).

Turf #3 – Review

By: Jonathan Ross (creator/writer), Tommy Lee Edwards (creator/art) & John Workman (letters)

The Story: A swirling the pot issue as the intrigue between vampires, mobsters and a shipwrecked alien thickens.

What’s Good: Tommy Lee Edwards has just been great in this series.  Every single page is just beautiful.  Some artists convey absurd levels of detail by just drawing lots of little things, but it is amazing that an artist like Edwards can achieve a similar impression of detail with a completely different style that leaves thick and scratchy strokes all over the page.   Wow….  And, the guy never, ever skips on a background.  You do see artists who do little tricks like placing the perspective down low and looking up so the background is the sky (which is easy to draw)….not Edwards.  It is almost like he enjoys drawing bricks, bars, steps, houses, windows, wall panels, etc.  He really gives this title a period feel.

This is a middle issue, since this series has grown from 4 to 5 issues.  As such, we don’t expect stunning revelations but more of an organization of the furniture for the party that should happen in issues #4 and #5.  Ross does an admirable job of getting the players into position: the vampires now have their new leader, the mob may be in league with an alien and the nosey reporter is helping the deposed vamp leader.  Fun all around and it has been nice to watch Ross grow as a comic writer.  Check out Issue #1 compared to this to see how much he’s cutting down on exposition and sometimes allowing Edwards to do the storytelling.

Another highlight of this issue for the true comic aficionado is that it is hand lettered.  Letterers probably have the least luck with the ladies at comic conventions and we often unfairly dismiss their efforts or fail to even mention them.  But, in this issue we get the treat of seeing a creator (Workman) who still letters by hand and it gives the who issue a warm feel as the text feels alive.

Turf #2 – Review

By: Jonathan Ross (writer & creator), Tommy Lee Edwards (artist & creator) & John Workman (letters)

The Story: As the war between vampires and Prohibition-era NYC mafia families gets hot, the cops and aliens from space enter the fray.

What’s Good: I wish Tommy Lee Edwards did more comic art because I could look at this stuff all day.  His art is a wonderful combination of rough and sketchy where you can see the individual pencil lines in the character’s faces and very intricate and detailed backgrounds.  It’s a great combination for a crime-themed book.  I would also say that this is a great way to do photo reference.  Edwards is clearly using some pictures as a guide here, but it looks good and I didn’t spend the entire issue trying to figure out what B-movie actors he was using.

The story is still ramping up in this second issue (out of five).  The first issue (from what I remember of it, more on that below) had established that the vampires were moving in on the mafia families.  This issue introduces a shipwrecked alien to the story and also some crooked cops.  This would have the makings of a good crime/mafia comic anyway, but adding vampires and aliens just makes it better.  Your results may vary, but I enjoyed it.  The scenes of the mobsters fighting with the vampires were really cool!

Turf #1 – Review

By: Jonathan Ross (writer), Tommy Lee Edwards (illustrator) & John Workman (letters)

The Story: In Prohibition Era New York City, a family of vampires move in on the mafia.  Meanwhile, an alien crashes out near Coney Island.

What’s Good: Let’s start with the art.  This is a good looking comic book!  It’s the kind of thing that makes the rest of the comics in the stack look pretty pedestrian.  Tommy Lee Edwards is a very talented artist and when you put good artists on titles that they own, care about, and have a financial interest in, you almost always get a “best effort.”  Not only is the book beautiful without resorting to splash pages, but it is consistent!  I didn’t see any bad panels where you think, “That guy is kinda funny looking!”

As for the story, I really enjoyed it too.  Mobsters running booze – mixed with vampires – mixed with space aliens: How can you beat that combo?  The story is really a mob tale that centers on one of the families controlling the bootlegging in NYC in early 1929.  I’d probably enjoy this book if it was just a mob story, but when the new “family” that is muscling in on the action is a clan of vampires… Well,I just love me some wacky stuff.  We do get to see the space alien (who is a bootlegger or sorts too), but it is pretty brief.  I guess we’ll have to tune in for issue #2 to see that play out.

Ross also writes really well.  Even though he is a celebrity-type in the UK and is a big comic book fan, I am 99% sure this is his first time serving as a writer and he does a great job.  He also delivers a solid value: 26 pages and probably 100% more writing than is the norm for a $2.99 book.