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 #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.

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 #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.

Wolverine and the X-Men #17 – Review

By: Jason Aaron (writer), Michael Allred (art), Laura Allred (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story:  So just what exactly IS Doop’s job at the school, anyway?

The Review:  No  more AvX tie-ins for Wolverine and the X-Men!!!  Is it any surprise that this is the best issue of WatXM in months?  I highly doubt it; with the shackles of AvX gone, Jason Aaron is allowed to go back to his usual craziness and here he gives us the kookiest issue in quite some time.

It’s a done-in-one that spotlights Doop and is drawn by the Allreds.  If that sounds awesome to you, rest assured that it is awesome in every way that you think it is.  It’s been quite a while since I read a Marvel comic that was this freaking funny from cover to cover.  Seriously, Jason Aaron does not let up for one moment with the jokes.  Once the issue gets started, it’s gag after gag after gag, occasionally even simultaneously.  The issue is so utterly ludicrous and some of the jokes are so completely over the top (and even, in one case, kind of twisted…) that it almost feels like WatXM has gone on a Doop fueled fever dream for a month.

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 #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 #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 #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.