Silver Surfer #5 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors)

The Story: The Lord of Nightmares has his worst nightmare.

The Review: Of all the new Marvel titles I’ve picked up this year, Silver Surfer is probably the one I find hardest to review. It’s not enough for me to say that I enjoy it, which I do consistently; if my love for chicken nuggets taught me anything, it’s that enjoyment is a poor gauge for quality. My difficulty with Silver Surfer is figuring out what kind of title it wants to be. Is there any depth to be had, or is it just straight sci-fi-adventure?

This issue pushes the series toward the latter. From front to back, the plot is completely self-explanatory and almost childishly simple: the Lord of Nightmares has fallen asleep and must be awaken before the night has ended lest the world sleepwalk in bad dreams forever. That this is a done-in-one should already tell you that Norrin and Dawn have little difficulty with his particular challenge, making the situation seem less dire than everyone hypes it up to be.

Silver Surfer #4 – Review

By: Dan Slott (Writer), Michael Allred & Laura Allred (Artists)

The Story: Surfer, I have a feeling you’re not in Kansas anymore.

The Review: This issue begins a new story arc for the Silver Surfer and Dawn Greenwood, one that essentially tells a pretty straightforward tale of a family reunion but with enough humor and hints of mystery as to genuinely leave the reader guessing about what’s really going on.

The Greenwood family seems more extended than I remember, but with the characteristic “down-home” attitude that made Dawn such a contrasting figure to the Surfer’s “alien-ness.” I love the line about how some people don’t follow sports or politics, so why do we expect everyone in the Marvel universe to know about the superhero gossip? Still, in a very intriguing visual sequence, in one panel the entire family is present, and in the other, a repeated panel is presented as an empty haunted house. Whether these people exist at all is even in question, and if that’s true then it would suddenly cast the whole scene as quite tragic; the warmth and comfort from the Greenwood family is poignant and sincere.

That warmth and comfort is in distinct contrast from the absolute strangeness of the past four issues, even with the horror/suspense backdrop. For those expecting wall-to-wall off-the-walledness from Slott and Allred might be surprised how quaint these issues feel by comparison (even the Silver Surfer was surprised– shown by his mistake of Dawn’s twin as a shape-shifting alien) and especially with such good-natured and sweet humor coming from the family. This is helped by art, too. The clean line and graphic style is just as fitting for the simplicity of domestic life, which of course makes the incursion of ghosts/monsters so incongruously suspenseful. One touch that I’m noticing as becoming distinct is the use of textures and patterns in the coloring. The Sufer’s skin looks almost burnished with a dry brush effect, and several spacescape panels use dot matrices for a vibrant effect.

There’s another reunion in the making, of course, with Doctor Strange and (some version of) the Hulk making a subplot that mirrors the strangeness of the Greenwood household. This one falls more on the humor side of the spectrum despite the horror elements (the monsters are expressly “old-timey” Universal movie monsters,) and we expect these storylines to converge in with the Defenders reuniting. There’s one more factor in play, too, and that’s the trap captures the Surfer and serves as our cliffhanger. This makes what could be two fairly-typical mysteries suddenly not as straightforward as we might expect. The cliffhanger then is in how we anticipate all these fragments coming together.

Silver Surfer #3 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors)

The Story: To save the universe, Silver Surfer calls upon the powers of Larry, Curly, and Moe.

The Review: I’ve never much liked characters who had too many powers at their disposal, and Marvel definitely has a big share of them. From a storytelling standpoint, these kinds of characters just make things harder for the writer. It’s pretty hard to devise serious challenges for people like the Phoenix, Thor, or the Hulk, and even when you do, the power levels are so high that the story risks spilling out over the top. Superpowers too easily become an all-purpose tool in a character’s belt.

Take Norrin and his Power Cosmic, whose deus ex machina qualities make it virtually indistinguishable from magic. In this issue alone, Norrin uses the Power Cosmic to disguise himself, shield Dawn from the freezing vacuum of space, distract all of the Impericon’s guardsmen, and keep the entire pleasure planet running long enough for all its denizens to escape. The sheer utility of his powers causes Dawn to remark, somewhat uncomfortably, “That’s very…convenient.”

Silver Surfer #2 – Second Opinion

For our first review on this issue, click here…

The Review: I don’t go out of my way to read other people’s takes on the comics I review, but I come across them every now and then, and it’s always a fascinating experience. In this case, I was particularly interested that Newsarama’s Pierce Lydon panned
Silver Surfer #1, which I considered the best of the latest Marvel #1s. Now, it’s true this isn’t much of a paying gig for me, but I consider it my responsibility to suss out such drastic differences in opinion, if only to see if there’s something I missed.

While Lydon makes several criticisms that I’m ambivalent about,* the one that really caught my attention was his feeling that “Slott is missing the loneliness and rage that makes Silver Surfer an enticing character.” I wonder. As someone who’s vaguely familiar with Silver Surfer, but certainly no devotee, I feel that Slott is very well aware of the former herald’s tragic qualities, which manifest in his earnest determination to do right by everyone, to make up for past mistakes. But this is Marvel NOW! The point is to find new dimensions for these old characters, releasing them from traditional trappings.

Silver Surfer #2 – Review

By: Dan Slott & Michael Allred (Storytellers), Laura Allred (Color Artist), VC’s Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Story: The Silver Surfers battles the Never Queen, while Dawn is breaking through the Impericon

The Review: Here’s a test — If you can summarize a story and it looks like it comes from the lyrics of a trippy 70s’ rock ballad, chances are you are reading a great Silver Surfer story. In this issue we have the Queen of Nevers whose heart makes the impossible possible, Mr. Plorp whose hyper-acid reflux literally makes the sound “plorp,” a sword called the Edge of Reality that cuts “into the fabric of existence itself,” and the saving power of wishes.

The Allreds are a perfect choice to present all of this weirdness. Their designs are pure imagination, such as the variety of alien types and willing to explore the z-axis when drawing in space (both of which many artists fail to do in such settings.) I enjoy the playful touches, like Zed looking through a telescope via his third eye. I could question some of the artistic choices, such as the layouts during the “motivator cubes” prison scene. And why choose to have the walls of the prison the same width and color as the gutter space of a comic book panel? Visually confusing. As is Dawn’s first encounter with the Surfer’s board. Maybe the staging could have been exaggerated to show how it’s mirroring-not mirroring her?

The scripting is just as imaginative, containing many clever turns of phrase that are enjoyable to read and to twist your brain around. You’d expect it from the Never Queen and from the Surfer, but even Dawn manages to get a few good lines in, like “it’s beautiful … it’s every song you’ll never hear, every hope and dream you’ll never have.”

Silver Surfer #1 – Review

By: Dan Slott (story), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors)

The Story: When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true—sort of.

The Review: Would you know it, this is my third Marvel #1 issue this week! That’s definitely something of a record for me, a self-professed DC man. Then again, I’ve never borne any antipathy towards Marvel, and I’ve always been interested in exploring more of that universe. If nothing else, reviewing so many #1s all at once makes for an interesting study in how different writers handle debut issues.

Of his peers, Slott strikes the best balance among all the essential parts of a strong first issue. Felipe Smith focused almost entirely on thrill rides on All-New Ghost Rider, while Ales Kot got so caught up in character development that he didn’t start working on Iron Patriot‘s plot until nearly the last minute. Slott manages to cover all these areas and do quite a bit of world-building besides, resulting in an issue really worth following.

FF #16 – Review

by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred (Writers), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: Scott Lang gives a good speech, along with a beating, to Doom in order to remind him how much he sucks. After that, it’s BBQ time!

The Review: It’s always hard to see something beloved go. Many series never get the chance to reach the ending their designated writers and artists have in mind for them, which is always a sad thing to see. Winter Soldier, Dial H, Journey Into Mystery and countless others have received the short end of the stick in this matter, which makes it always a bit infuriating for those who were eager to support them.

However, there are also the rare book that naturally end, with the story simply concluding for actual reasons instead of sales or unpopularity. While it is equally sad to see those go as well, there’s always a certain feeling of satisfaction at seeing something reach the ending the creators had in mind. This is the case of such works like Uncanny X-Force and now FF, with the kooky adventures of the teachers and students of the future foundation finally reaching the point where their journey went full circle. However, while it it’s all nice and good that this series end on its own merit, is the conclusion actually satisfactory?

There could have been some missteps, but in a positively surprising manner, this story hits close to all the notes in a way that manage to give readers and fans most of everything they could have hoped for and perhaps a little more. With the story divided in two segments, there is a clear disparity in the tones of each scenes, yet it all adds up to the general themes of the book in a way that feels not only natural, but earned.

Detective Comics #27 – Review

by John Layman, Scott Snyder, Paul Dini, Brad Meltzer, Gregg Hurwitz, Peter J. Tomasi, Jason Fabok, Neal Adams, Dustin Nguyen, Guillem March, Bryan Hitch, and Sean Murphy

The Bat-Man, a mysterious and adventurous figure, fighting for righteousness and apprehending the wrong doer, in his lone battle against the evil forces of society…

Giant anniversary issues like this are always interesting to dissect. What’s the best use of all those pages? Will it connect to current storylines, or should it serve as a celebration of the character’s history? This behemoth issue tries to have its cake and eat it too, but that’s only a problem if it fails. So the question is: did it?

Let’s start at the very beginning, as I hear that that’s a very good place to start. The issue opens with a story from Brad Meltzer and Brian Hitch that goes by the highly appropriate title, “The Case of the Chemical Syndicate.” This iteration of “Chemical Syndicate” is a clever retelling of the 1939 original. Though it has been updated, it is a remarkably faithful adaptation. The major difference is the addition of Batman’s later character traits and a running commentary from the Dark Knight, himself, which would not have been possible in the original story without spoiling the surprise ending.

Though Meltzer displays an impressively economic writing style, cramming a lot into a short fifteen pages without overcluttering his story, the real meat of this story is in the narration. Basic Batman caption boxes do a fine job of showing up a mysterious and yet inexperienced version of the Caped Crusader. Meanwhile, a series of journal entries posit a number of answers to the question “why does Batman do it?” The answers are a master class in Batman, neither overglorifying the vigilante, nor digging too deep into his neuroses to appear heroic. Particularly over the last few days, I’ve been growing tired of a Batman too damaged to inspire us to anything healthy. Perhaps I’m biased by my recent musings, but I think this story navigated these dangerous waters very well.

FF #15 – Review

by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred (Writers), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: As it turns out, video games can actually help you beat evil and be a useful addition to society. Robots and tacticians do help too.

The Review: Whenever a book is close to reaching its inevitable conclusion, it needs to have either huge climaxes or a big load of payoff for its reader base. After all, the last few issues are the culmination of everything that went before, which means that the themes, characters and conflicts have to be portrayed in ways that can satisfy those that went on to be invested in the story in itself. With FF closing in to the final issue, does this one provide enough to sate those who have followed the series thus far?

The answer is a resounding yes. With plenty of what made the book interesting and entertaining being put on the page, not only does this issue respect the heart behind the series but it also manages to bring everything together neatly. Bluntly put, this is a gem of an issue.

For one, everyone in the book gets to shine a little bit, with the huge cast participating in the assault against Dr. Doom together in the most maniacal, yet fun of ways. With the kids taking part in the battle as if it was a video game and a competition, their zaniness are all brought forth to their maximum degree, with Bentley-23 being his crazy-self, Dragon Man being the voice of reason and so on. Even Caesar, Maximus, Sun Tzu and others are present with a certain role to play in the amusement and the chaos that ensues on the pages. The four teachers are of course here as well, yet their part in the battle comes as a bit less fun in this issue. They are effective in the story and for the progression of events and they do manage to work with the context presented, yet they pale in comparison to the rest.

FF #14 – Review

by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred (Writers), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: Both sides of the imminent battle prepares as both Dr. Doom and the Future Foundation gets their stuff and strategies together.

The Review: Cohesion is not something to be underestimated or dismissed in terms of importance. Sure, every readers desire a certain amount of memorable scenes, great lines and solid action, but not everyone thinks about their context and how important it is that every scenes follow each other in a natural manner. We may get fan-favourites characters or some of the best concepts ever put on paper, there needs to be a setting in which they can grow naturally to perfection before being unleashed for the readers enjoyment.

This issue, in a way, shows a certain lack in that regard as while the crazy antics and the rather fun mix of serious and comical matters are still very much present, not all of the scenes leads up to another really well.

It’s a bit of shame, as a lot of the very best elements that makes this series enjoyable are present, with the children’s antics, the willingness to mock some of the elements of its premise and the use of the odder ideas of the Marvel universe. The council of Dooms, the search for various robotic replicas, the Watcher and his girlfriend, Dakor the magician along other such ideas are used rather well in this issue, with a certain degree of importance, yet levity given to them.

FF #13 – Review

by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred (Writers), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: The Future Foundation lands on the blue area of the moon as they play and discuss about past and future events to come.

The Review: This will come off as a rather silly question, but do you prefer fun over drama in your comics? Would you rather have the characters play around with fun concepts and have adventures rather than simply press along with their ongoing storylines, vying for drama and further complication in an endless way?

If you answered yes to these questions, then FFis exactly the kind of comic you might be looking for, as the characters and the story seems to gravitate more toward a certain sense of optimism combined with pure entertainment. It is a joy to read if you are looking for something that isn’t afraid to be silly and to simply point out some of the more out-there elements of the Marvel universe.

A lot of this general vibe come from the kid characters, who let their general enjoyment of things and their sense of adventure permeate the story. Their sense of innocence combined with their playfulness makes their exploration and reactions to what they see on the blue area of the moon fun to see, with the Moloid kids messing around with the apes following the Red Ghost lost in the time mist, or Adolf walking with Luna while holding hands. The kids aren’t the only focus in this issue, yet their scenes are still as delightful as ever.

FF #12 – Review

by Matt Fraction, Lee Allred (Writers), Michael Allred (Writer/Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: As the teachers prepare for the rescue attempts of the Fantastic Four and the students mess around, Dr. Doom and Maximus mess around on their own.

The Review: I don’t believe I was the only one that was a tiny bit afraid that this title would receive a drop in quality with Matt Fraction leaving his scripting duty. Change, in comics as in anything else, is never easy as Lee Allred took on the title with Michael Allred, making this series an all-Allred affair until the sixteenth issue. However, change isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if it’s handled well.

To the major credits of the new creative team working with the notes left by Fraction, the tone is quite intact, as the adventures of the children and adults of the Future Foundation are still very enjoyable as they are. To an even greater amount of credit, they even went on with the plot, moving along several pieces without compromising what made this series fun to begin with.

Most of this effect is achieved through the excellent pacing, as Lee and Michael Allred have a knack to keep the momentum of the issue, moving each subplots at a steady pace without making it look rushed. Ant-Man gets some development about his issues with the death of his daughter, the kids get some more cute moments, the annihilating conqueror teased since the beginning of the series is being hinted at, Maximus and Caesar mess around and a deal of other stuff do happen here, as none of these scenes clash with the progression. It is a sign of excellent pacing as each scenes really do accomplish what they seek to do. They vary in terms of success, but for the most part it’s done well.

FF #11 – Review

by Matt Fraction (Writer), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: The replacement four meets the Impossible Man in their voyage to save the Fantastic Four. Meanwhile, the future foundation gets a class on how to conquer.

The Review: There are some book out there that could be only described adequately with one word: fun. There are dozens of other ways these types of books could be called, yet it all boil down the essence of pure entertainment. Sure, the role of every comic is to provide some form of amusement with its stories, characters, actions and so forth, yet there are some that have that special ”fun” factor that is hard to describe, yet can be felt when they are read.

FF could certainly be qualified as one of those books, with its non-grandiloquent way to look at their characters and their problems, the general adventures they have and the fact that the main story isn’t even that important to begin with. It’s all about the current adventure and how they make us perceive the action and the conflict they need to solve, which makes this book entertaining in ways that some book simply can’t emulate.

This issue as a perfect example as Matt Fraction use one of the classical characters from Fantastic Four created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. While he could have gone ahead and made a more traditional use of the character, making him do crazy stunts and be generally annoying toward the protagonists, he instead subvert the expectations of the readers by showing him in a role unseen with the character: as a father.

FF #10 – Review

Matt Fraction (Writer), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: Marvel pays a visit to the FF to write a comic book in order to create a better reputation for the replacement team. Meanwhile, Alex Power tries to find help in order to be free of Dr. Doom.

The Review: How far can charm push a title forward? That’s a legitimate question that most people could ask themselves when reading certain comics. A lot of comics nowadays (and even before then) relies a lot on the likability and the feel-good attitude of their characters and setting in order to bring readers onboard. It’s a strategy that has its appeal, though in the long run it may not be the most efficient.

FF, a lot of times, relied a lot on the kid characters and the awkwardness of its setting in order to bring readers there, bringing in emotions and a certain light-hearted attitude towards its stories. While none of the issues have been empty of content plot-wise, it has never been as big as a Jonathan Hickman comic or serious as a Greg Rucka penned issue. While it can give us some nice issue like the pool party issue, it creates a mystery as to where the book might actually be going. Where is the book going and what shall be the major themes that will drive the book forward?

FF #9 – Review

Matt Fraction (Writer), Joe Quinones (Artist), Laura Allred (Colorist)

The Story: Pool Party! That and also the meeting of Julius Caesar and the teachers.

The Review: This is a strange title. It is a curious way to start a review, but it also the truth. Let us consider exactly what we are reading: a bunch of superheroes teach a group of hyper-intelligent and very diverse group of children in order to form them for humanity’s future and betterment. In this group, we have a robot dragon, a bunch of children that comes from underground, with one of them having discovered his true gender a being much more feminine than what his masculine body would foretell, one being a head in a flying jar. I could go on with how bizarre all of these characters are but the point is this: this is a rather weird book.

While it may sound like a flaw of the book, let me reinstate this in the other way by pinpointing the fact that this is the strongest point of the title. Superhero books live by the fact that we can accept that some things aren’t here to make complete sense or to be completely logical, which this book accepts and even make it his biggest selling point. Where else could you get a book where all those students learn the joy of having a pool party, splashing around as their interaction provide the crucial entertainment we so crave?

As much as the teachers, the replacement FF are interesting and fully formed as characters, it is clearly the kids that are the stars of this book. The main reason is surprisingly simple: they actually behave as actual children, with their high and lows, their desires and their amazement toward some of their discovery. In making them so likable in their optimism, Matt Fraction managed to make it so incredibly gifted and talented kids can be so incredibly relatable as we see their actions. Who never splashed around when they were in a pool, trying to rush water toward the other to satisfy that primal urge of fun and action? These kids do in this issue and while it may sound as the most boring thing to describe in a comic, it is quite entertaining to read as these characters feel quite alive, as Bentley-23 tries to discover who the aquatic students, Vil and Wu are, while the other reacts differently to this whole basin of water that is there for their enjoyment.

FF #3 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (story), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story: The mysterious visitor from beyond the veil turns out to be more familiar than thought, telling tales of a horrifying (and pretty ludicrous) villain.  Also, the Yancy Street Gang strikes!

The Review:  I had high expectations for this book and as such, I ‘d be lying if I didn’t say that the first issue disappointed me a bit insofar as nothing much seemed to happen.  Then, last month, it started to click.  Now, with the third issue, I think this might stand along Hawkeye as among the very best books Marvel is currently publishing.

The reason for this is one word: fun.  That is really the best and perhaps only word I can use to describe this issue.  It’s off-kilter, it’s genuinely funny, it has a team with great chemistry, it’s thoroughly mad-cap, it’s human, and it’s clear that the creative team is having a great time putting it all together, which really shines through in their work.

FF #2 – Review

By: Matt Fraction (writer), Michael Allred (artist), Laura Allred (colorist)

The Story: The first four minutes of the FF begins right now.

The Review: Matt Fraction right now is on the rise. It sounds impossible for some, but it seems like so, as he is currently writing some truly beloved book with his familiar style, two of them being tied together ever since their inception from Jonathan Hickman mind.

These titles are of course Fantastic Four and FF, a franchise which has seen unimaginable heights through the pen of the previous writer, bringing us great sci-fi concepts and big comic book science with heartfelt kid characters. In FF, it would have been difficult to keep the same Hickman tone, especially with the concept that Matt Fraction has for this very series.

FF #1 Review

By: Matt Fraction (Writer), Michael Allred (Artist), Laura Allred (Color Artist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Review: Despite its creative pedigree, I still worry about the levels of commercial success this book will find. The Future Foundation is so intrinsically linked to its ‘big brother’ title The Fantastic Four that I guess a lot of people may feel that if you’re not buying the latter, there’s little point in buying the former. After all, this series was originally born out of necessity; Jonathan Hickman had too much story to fit into his Fantastic Four title alone, and now that Matt Fraction has taken over the franchise the same is true. With Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben heading off into Space for (‘relatively’ speaking) a year, someone needed to take their place keeping watch over Earth. This relaunch follows the team formed for that purpose. Their first challenge? Proving that they’ve got what it takes to hold your interest and to make this series a standalone essential.

Daredevil #17 – Review

By: Mark Waid (writer), Mike Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story:  Matt remembers a very special gift from Foggy.  Also:  the dreaded STILT-MAN!

The Review:  Mike Allred!

That’s really the major selling point for this issue.  It becomes clear within the first two pages that Mark Waid’s Daredevil is a series that plays to the Allreds’ strengths.  Waid’s book is naturally upbeat and energetic with a slightly retro, pop-art feel.  Of course, all of what I just said also describes Mike and Laura Allred’s work, so seeing them take on Daredevil is something that just makes sense.  Waid also gives Allred the sort of stuff that also plays particularly to Allred’s strengths.  For instance, in selecting Stilt-Man for this issue, he gives Allred a zany character with wacky physical characteristics, which is just the sort of thing Allred excels at.  Put simply, this issue just pops and it’s the best looking comic book I picked up this week.  Despite the heart-wringing content of the story, the Allreds’ artwork just makes you feel happy.

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.