Deadshirt

It’s Wednesday and that means new comics. Let Deadshirt steer your wallet in the right direction with reviews (with preview pages) of titles out today from Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Boom! Studios, Archie, MonkeyBrain, Oni, Fantagraphics, Top Shelf, Action Lab, and more!

Sirens #1

Written, illustrated and created by George Perez

Colored by Leonardo Paciarotti

Lettered by Ed Dukeshire

BOOM! Studios

$3.99

George Perez returns to comics after a few years off due to health issues with a new creator-owned series from BOOM! Studios. While the story is pretty thin, it basically exists to allow him to draw as much crazy stuff as he can in the span of twenty-four pages, from tenth century vikings and dragons, to wild west gunfights, to massive sci-fi battles (also featuring dragons). All of these, of course, feature very pretty ladies. The story involves a group of outlaw “Sirens” moving through time to rescue their queen, who will then somehow be able to pull them out of the time periods in which they’ve been trapped. I’m sure it’ll all make sense in a few issues.

Regardless, the reason for this book existing is Perez’s art and it looks fantastic. Bouncing from one hyper-detailed action scene in unique locales to another, he gives himself a lot to work with here and it pays off. His style does see some small variance for each time period, the wild west pages seem to be infused with a little Chaykin and the 1950s-set sequence feels influenced by Richard Corben, which is cool in that it gives every few pages a slight difference as he moves from time period to time period. For an artist who turned sixty a few months ago, Perez’s work is as strong as ever and it’s great to see him back and doing his own thing.

– Jason Urbanciz

(Click thumbnails to enlarge)

 

Godzilla: Cataclysm #2

Written by Cullen Bunn

Art by Dave Wachter

Lettered by Chris Mowry

IDW

$3.99

Godzilla: Cataclysm has an interesting premise: a world in which the devastation of the classic installments of the film franchise had lasting consequences, both on the Earth itself and on the psyche of the human race. Twenty years after the disappearance of the last of the Kaiju, Tokyo is in ruins, with shantytown scavengers scrounging up whatever they can find… until the return of the monsters.

The second issue delves a little more deeply into the spiritual aspects of the survivors, which is both interesting and a little broad. The Kaiju are prayed to sort of like gods, and there are references to early sacrifices to appease their wrath. It’s an interesting look at the toll the monsters have taken, sort of a dark mirror to Pacific Rim. It’s also a little better suited to a comic, where you can have long-winded discussions set to dynamic visuals a little more easily. I don’t know that the world feels as “real,” per se, as Bunn would like, but it’s an exploration of Kaiju concepts that I haven’t seen very often in the genre itself.

Artistically, the book is solid, with faithful, intricate recreations of familiar monsters. I’m glad to see Biollante, an interesting monster mostly wasted in her own movie, make an appearance, and the dusty, collapsed scenes of Tokyo provide a strong backdrop that’s subtly different from most of the films. I don’t know if anything can top James Stokoe’s waveform onomatopoeia take on Godzilla’s classic roar, but  the fights here have the scale and grandeur the characters deserve.

All in all, this book reminds me of the Nolan Batman movies: fantastic concepts treated with as much psychological realism as possible. While it doesn’t necessarily capture the feel of a classic Godzilla movie perfectly, it’s enough of its own animal to be worth a look. There are also some hints towards the end of a more intricate backstory than simple monster fights, so hopefully that’ll be an interesting payoff, as well.

– Joe Stando

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Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Witches #1

Written, Illustrated, and Lettered by S.M. Vidaurri

BOOM!

$3.99

Based on the beloved television series of the same name, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Witches is a four-issue series exploring different folk tales featuring magical ladies. This first installment, The Magic Swan Goose and the Lord of the Forest, is absolutely stunning. S. M. Vidaurri completely owns every aspect of the comic; the art is weaved beautifully with Vidaurri’s expressive lettering style, and the story feels like a classic while evoking modern notions of female roles. Each following comic in this series will have a different creative team with a lot to live up to after this strong first issue.

This comic is seriously gorgeous. Each page is designed as an individual piece, often framed with birds or flower garlands; you could honestly pick any page at random and hang it up on your wall as art. Traditional panels are used sparingly, and instead the lively lettering draws your eye around the page as you experience the story. The text is basically a character in itself, eliciting emotions depending on how the artist wisps and whirls it around the page or adds elegant detail.

Vidaurri presents a lovely visual fairy tale with wonderfully imagined (and if you’re familiar with his work, vaguely familiar) characters, such as an antlered white rabbit deemed King of the Forest. The story borrows from Russian fairy tale tropes, and at the same time feels fresh and clever with the art style. There are no true villains in this tale, only natural evils and the strong-willed maidens who have to bring balance to the world. I look forward to the rest of this series, but this first issue will stick with me for a long time to come.

-Sarah Register

(Click thumbnails to enlarge)

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