And then, there were four.
The second issue certainly cashes in on the promise of the first, and though there are some issues, I think this will be a series I’m going to enjoy.
Swords, sorcery, mystical creatures, and elementals fill the world of Michael Moorcock’s epic fantasy world. Though this is my first time venturing to Melinbone and her Emperor, as someone who grew up on Dungeons & Dragons in the '80s, I feel right at home. Magic swords, epic quests, and gods dallying in the lives of poor confused mortals . . . such grand fun!
Spring Heeled Jack was a British folk tale that grew up from a string of attacks on young women during the Victorian Era, around the same time as Jack the Ripper. They said he looked liked a devil and had clawed hands. Terrorizing Londoners, he often escaped capture by leaping impossible distances into the air over walls and onto buildings, thus earning his name.
Regular Show has some ridiculous whackadoo going on, always. The brilliance of the show for me is just how quickly the world goes from realistic to utterly bonkers in no time flat, and it works for me because of certain characters who can straddle the two with class and understated machismo. Enter Skips. This guy hangs out with Death, gained immortality and incredible maturity in a single incident, and had a knockout appearance in one of my favorite shorts of all time from the Kaboom! Free Comic Book Day issue with a 20-sided die. Seriously, maybe the best series of panels I’ve seen EVER.
Paul Revere, John Henry, Casey Jones (not the one from TMNT), Al Gore. Huge figures of the American tapestry whose lives became shadowed by the legends they became. There are stories that folks would tell each other before the advent of TV, YouTube, and smartphones took away the need of entertaining each other with stories in parlors and at the bar.
What lies on the other side, in the great, undiscovered country from which no traveler returns?
In Chris Sebela’s Ghost series, the answer is cool powers and a whole lot of butt-kicking. Separated from her mortal coil and her memories, Ghost puts herself in the way of baddies, trying to sling their nasty mojo on the mortals of Chicago. With a sweet array of powers and surprise pretty much always on her side, she wails on the things that go bump in the night with a vengeance.
Everything done in Chicago comes with strings attached. In this alternate history epic, Chicago’s streets are patrolled not only by the police, but superpowered humans who work for the Chicago Organized Workers League, a union of super and non-superheroes who are the check to the supers that fall on the other side of the law. Allegorical to the union struggles of the same era, the story magnifies the power moves and underhanded dealings that built the modern metropolis that stands today.
Browncoats, rejoice! Firefly’s back! Feeling like no gorram moron ever took to the axe to our beloved show, Leaves on the Wind picks up right after the events of the film, Serenity. It’s a new, dangerous ‘verse, and Captain Tightpants is just trying to keep his ship in the air and his family safe.
What is truth? If enough people agree on a thing, does it become a reality? If you have enough power, is everything you say law?
Anybody else remember the What A Cartoon Show on Cartoon Network? I remember seeing the inaugural episodes of Dexter’s Lab, Johnny Bravo, Two Stupid Dogs, and countless others by Gendy Tartakofsky, among others. If you’re like me and have a fond nostalgia for those cartoons, then you’re going to love this 11-book event and this issue, in particular.