My first two reviews of Crossover were about the importance of this series, especially in this day and age. It is about how we treat people that are different than us, and it’s a spin on the social and allegorical leanings of the X-Men.
The first issue of Home Sick Pilots gave us an interesting setup for a haunted house story. A punk band consisting of three high schoolers ends up in a house, looking for a badass place to have a concert that will completely destroy the popularity of a rival punk band. The rumors of it being a haunted house turn out to be true, and as both bands face off, it comes to life and terrible things happen. But, wait! There’s more.
I feel like I just read another Joker origin story. In Haha #1, we meet Bart, an extremely positive man living a not-so-positive life as a clown. (Yes, this does sound just like the plot to he DC movie, Joker.) Bart has a wife (who doesn't share his glass-half-full perspective), two kids, and a small dog. The comic does have a few different twists and turns (No spoilers!), plus gorgeous and evocative art by Vanesa Del Rey (Redlands).
“What? You want me to go live with Zed?!”
“I wish you wouldn’t call him that. He’s still your dad.”
“But…we barely even see him!”
“He visits for the holidays!”
“Yeah, but weird random holidays that no one here has ever heard of!”
“That’s not true! Panathena is a very big deal in Greece.”
“Really, Mom?! Panthena? I don’t think that’s big deal anywhere…”
If you follow me on social media, you’ll know that I not only run Kickstarters for my own comic, but back many, as well. So, I was delighted when I ran across an all-ages comic called Bird with Stick, a fantastical story featuring birds, magic, and the fear of the unknown.
2020 was, in many ways, the year of Star Trek. We received hours of new media content with 3 TV shows and more to come. Although we have moved to the future (narratively) in the shows, the comics have continued to focus on the past. This month, Star Trek: Voyager - Seven’s Reckoning #3 takes the reader into Voyager’s 4th season (1997-1998) with an untold tale of Seven of Nine.
Previously on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Anya’s machinations were revealed, and while Faith may be the newest Slayer in town, she’s not the biggest Slayer-related revelation. Enter Morgan.
I first reviewed the first issue of Starship Down in March 2020 and was really excited by the concept and execution. Alas, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent individual issues were canceled, with Dark Horse opting to collect the entire series into a trade instead.
In issue eight, we finally get a glimpse of the villain and the end game. Up until now, Nailbiter Returns has been a subversive, ultraviolent horror comedy laying a little to the left of the more serious tones of the original Nailbiter run. If the original was Se7en, then this is Se7en but directed by Sam Raimi. It’s been fun as hell. I will not lie; it has also been relatively contained among our handful of characters and the killers who are playing a serial killer game to the hilt which actually involves killing people.