Quick Hit Reviews – Week of February 23, 2011

Sometimes there are soooo many comics published in a given week (ahem….I’m looking at you Marvel) that despite the heroic efforts of the WCBR writing staff, we simply can’t give every comic a complete review.  Thus, the Quick Hit Reviews…

New York Five #2 – Wow is Ryan Kelly a great artist!  The story here is solid, slice of life stuff as we follow our four college freshmen as they adapt to life in NYC, but the star of this issue is Kelly’s art.  His character work is really strong as young ladies are all cute and express appropriate emotion, but his attention to the city around them in just incredible.  The city just feels alive. I really need to track down New York Four and I encourage everyone to check out this Vertigo series.  Kelly and Tommy Lee Edwards (on Turf) made a LOT of artist’s backgrounds look like dog food this week.  Grade: A-  — Dean Stell

X-Men: To Serve and Protect #4 – All I ask of an anthology series is to give me one really memorable story.  I almost don’t care if 3/4 of the issue is crap as long as I get that one stellar tale.  This issue has a BIG mission accomplished for Jed MacKay and Sheldon Vella’s story of Dazzler, Misty Knight & Colleen Wing engaged in roller derby death match involved a really wacky version of MODOK (Mental Organism Designed Only for Roller Derby!!).  Vella’s art and colors are just amazing.  Toss in a good finale to the Rockslide/Anole story that has woven through this anthology series and you’ve got a winner.  I love the X-office continues to publish these anthologies.  Grade: B+  — Dean Stell

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.