Deadshirt

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

Rumble #7

Written by James Arcudi

Art by John Harren

Colored by Dave Stewart

Lettered by Chris Eliopoulos

Image

$2.99 (digital)/$3.50 (print)

Rumble has taken a slightly different direction since its first arc, and it’s one I like a lot. After the slam-bang opening that established the scarecrow warrior god Rathraq and his fight against the monstrous Esu, the book has shifted to smaller, more personal stories about the various cast members. This month plays with the politics of the Esu, with various characters bringing their grievances to their queen. There’s a very mythic, fairy tale quality to the Esu, that is juxtaposed well with some of them looking like cats or homeless people. It’s an interesting world that Harren and Arcudi have created, and they’ve populated it with complex, well-designed characters.

The other nice thing about the past two issues is how well they function as introductions to the world. While I love this book (and I really, really love this book), I can see the difficulties in telling someone to pick up the first trade of something if they want to check it out at all. It’s nice that we get recaps/reveals of the mythos parceled out over standalone stories; stories that have enough action themselves to not drag. It’s a cool way to approach the book without diving into a new long arc, and the bits we do get (like the introduction of the creepy Guttvang) are intriguing setups for the next big… rumble.

– Joe Stando

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Wild’s End: the Enemy Within #1

Written by Dan Abnett

Illustrated and Lettered by I.N.J. Culbard

Additional Material by Nik Abnett

BOOM! Studios

$3.99

The second series of Dan Abnett and I.N.J. Culbard’s deft mixture of The Wind And The Willows and H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds is quite a treat. In a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, Martians have landed and have had their first battle with Earth. We catch up with the survivors of that battle and also some new players on the scene. The Army has arrived and doesn’t know what to make of things, they’ve detained all of the people who had fought the aliens’ first strike and are trying to make sense of the seemingly insane stories they’re telling. To understand what’s going on, they’ve brought in the only people who’d have a clue about aliens in the early 20th century: science fiction authors.

While most of the issue is spent introducing new characters and catching up with existing character situations, Wild’s End is still a delight. Abnett’s dialog is crackling, especially between the two sci-fi authors who come from determinedly different ideas of the genre. I adored Abnett and Culbard’s previous work together on the Vertigo series New Deadwardians, and my adoration continues here. It’s easy to dismiss this series (and Deadwardians) as merely a “mash-up” of two properties, but they invest so much into the story here that at no point does it feel anything other than fresh and new.

Culbard’s clean, strong lines give this book a solid foundation. It’s amazing how much life he invests into each character design. It’s one thing to draw several different species of animal in human clothing, but he makes each such an individual that you look past them being animals and believe in them as characters.

Wild’s End is a lovely comic, and I highly recommend it to everyone. The collection of the first series should be in shops in a week or two, so do yourself a favor and pick it up along with this comic.

– Jason Urbanciz

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Power Up #3 (of 6)

Written by Kate Leth

Art by Matt Cummings

BOOM! Studios

$3.99

A mysterious beam of light strikes a pet store employee, a construction worker, a mom, and a goldfish, endowing them with superpowers that seem meant for other people. Now this team of randos has finally assembled, and, after fleeing the scene of a fight in Sandy’s minivan (with her kids, no less), the trio of human members decide they maybe need to practice a little more discretion…and come up with rad superhero names! This all-ages comic has been an adorable delight from the get-go (and it’s hard not to relate to Amie, who has stars in her eyes and exclaims “awesome” as the other powered people tell their individual origin stories).

The bulk of the comic’s endearing appeal comes from the artwork by Matt Cummings, who seems to have mastered the ability to make every single facial expression cute. He’s got a knack for action-packed fight scenes, as well, and his clean, effortless lines are just as fitting for animation. Even the alien monsters who seem kind of ticked that these people got powers feel non-threatening and almost cuddly.

Despite referencing various anime and comic books, everything about this story remains refreshing, especially Kevin. I love the concept of a muscular, manly construction worker ending up with Sailor Moon powers with the outfit to boot. Even more enjoyable is the fact that Kevin isn’t bothered by the crop top and the pink skirt, just that he has a hard time tracking down his regular clothes afterwards. He’s the kind of character that you want teaching young readers about gender norms and kindness toward others.

My hope for this comic is that this limited run knocks it out of the park and the creative team is able to get a longer-running series (or maybe even a cartoon!) so that they can continue to tell the stories of these wonderful characters.

– Sarah Register

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Be sure to let us know what you picked up this week in the comments below, on Twitter or on our Facebook Page!