#Image Comics Review

[dispatchdcu]

W0rldtr33 #7 Review

W0rldtr33 #7 Review #W0rldtr33 #thedeadliestbouquet #IMAGE #imagecomics #comics #comicbooks #news #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #Amazon

Writer: James Tynion IV Artist: Fernando Blanco Colors: Jordie Bellaire Letters: Aditya Bidikar Publisher:  Image Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: January 31st, 2024 Agent Silk continues trying to find the woman who murdered her partner as Ellison Lane confronts his sisters in a secluded cabin in the wilderness in W0rldtr33 #7.  This issue gives many of the vast array of characters a few moments…

[rontra]

ok it turns out if you draw kawakami a lot you'll end up with a lot of kawakami pics

[pedrocomicreviews]

The Power Fantasy #9

“Tell the truth and trust. Score 1 for team morality.”

Holy shit! Spoilers! Obviously! Holy shit!

Things start to fall apart. We are mostly done with the Second Summer of Love, but not with the context of us learning about it: Isabella still has to wade through her trauma with Masumi. Parallel to that, most of the other Superpowers are still trying to figure out how to best deal with each other, and specifically Eliza’s allegiance at this moment.

The Masumi part of the issue’s “conversation” goes pretty much the only way it could go– Isabella eventually reveals how her feelings about the Second Summer of Love relate to Masumi, whom she genuinely (or as genuine as Etienne will allow her to feel) loves, but who will never be her equal. I do think the comic is doing its best to try to showcase how Masumi isn’t superficial, which is a pretty good key to keep hammering on.

It would have been easy to make her kaiju come out unreasonably, that is to say in moments where we don’t perceive her depression as being “justified.” But the story does a great job at showing how that’s not the case at all– Masumi is a depressing person and she is depressed, but she’s not like that out of any moral failures or as a way to showcase how destructive she is. She is more than the worst moments of her life, she’s flawed and she’s good in ways that have nothing to do with the giant monster that comes out when she wants to kill herself.

And the difficulty of showcasing how that’s the case is the fact that if that is not the case, then Etienne is right, and that would be a morally repugnant thing for the story to say. Because fuck Etienne; but also, because Etienne being right would mean that depersonifying Masumi is the only way to deal with her. To treat her as less a human being and more a problem to be handled; a tamagotchi with a meter that explodes all of Asia. An object, capable of making sounds that make her appear like a full human being, with rights and opinions.

I think Gillen has done a fantastic job at showing us how that’s not only a bad way to think about Masumi, but also, it probably only makes sense from Etienne’s perspective. Everyone else seems to agree that Masumi has problems, but all other characters seem to believe she is still more than those very real, very dangerous problems. Etienne, on the other hand, has completely removed himself from the human conversation. This is an Animal Crossing save he’s invested in as far as he’s concerned, and he’s making sure things remain at baseline because of his own understanding of his place in the world.

At no point does it ever feel like you’re supposed to take Etienne at face value, but his attachment to Valentina gives him a sort of academic validity about the world that I believe he would never have if he was acting by himself. His credibility as a “good enough” user of his powers is only so because others don’t seem to have a good alternative, even if they really should probably figure one out soon.

Which leads to the other part of the book, the second half of this issue’s conversation about power and consequence. The latter half, a talk between Eliza and Magus, hits us with the massive revelation that Magus apparently did not make it further than the Second Summer of Love. He has been replaced since 1989 by Dev, Eliza’s husband, and that throws so many wrenches in so many assumptions we had about what’s actually going on with this book.

That’s fucking crazy! Holy shit it wasn’t Magus! What does it all mean!

And it works in such a beautiful way because Magus’s entire thing was being a compromised, “do whatever I have to” type guy before the Second Summer of Love, so it really didn’t surprise anyone when he did everything he’s done up to now– he’s the only one of them who has no agenda other than being ready for the apocalypse! He dislikes no action enough that he wouldn’t do it if it meant being ready for a Superpower-level threat! 

So of course you could pretend to be him, all you have to do is to be openly compromised. All you have to do is act like Magus wouldn't want to, because he’s the exact kind of person who would do things he hates for the sake of what he sees as the greater good. The Pyramid, the contract with the US, his tech, his plans, all of it– no one would ever even consider Magus to be happy and genuine about any of it, because that’s just the kind of guy he is! 

What a killer reveal, what an incredible piece of characterization. Power changed Magus so much the people closest to him didn’t notice it wasn’t him. Power changed Masumi’s relationships so much, people don’t trust her to be able to handle a conversation. It would be easy to keep lying. To maintain this world built on deception and on the assumption that no one can be allowed to be their true selves, because that would mean danger to everyone involved.

But the truth is still worth it, on both sides: it is worth it to respect Masumi, because she is a person and she can take it. And as far as Dev is concerned, it is worth telling Eliza. Because he loves her. 

And hopefully the book doesn’t end in a demonic apocalypse next issue, because I really hope he’s right. Maybe Magus has done nothing wrong, who knows. That’s not true, at all, but who knows!

I do wonder how it works– if Dev simply inherited the magicks that made Magus powerful, if he literally absorbed him, if Magus is still around and simply endowed him with it all in Hell… god, let’s fucking go, this is so more compelling than I expected and Magus was already my ride or die. Love wins and everyone is going to die, maybe.

Oh also, there’s a third, parallel conversation in this issue about Kid Ignition, but all I really care about is that he still sucks and I love him. My dumb little late 90s king. 

They will try to make me hate you and I hope they fail.

[ultra-phthalo]

TF EU Soundwave In Issue 7 Sky Bound

[Listens to 'Mother Russia Bleeds Night Brawlers' as I read Soundwave beating the bolts out of Starscream in a volcano.]

God damn Soundwave is preying on Starscream. Walking around him and taking his time. Starscream is cornered. And Soundwave acts, letting it slip in the end about how bitter he was that Starscream had kicked his Ravage. The fire, smoke and sharp boulders of the active volcano. The glow of magma being the Decepticons only light source throughout the scene. Transitions. Snapping into a sunny scene on the Autobot's side away from the Decepticons. This change from fire to sunshine is meant to act as a comparison for the talk Arcee has with Carly. Carly is just as bitter about the harm Starscream had caused in her life; as Soundwave is bitter about Starscream running the Decepticons into the ground and harming the cassettes. Carly wants to take out her anger on Starscream as much as Soundwave does.

Soundwave isn't just beating Starscream for control. He's manifesting as the hate that the Autobot's claim they'll refuse to become participants of. And it's saying Carly is acting like a Decepticon. When Cliffjumper refused to kill Starscream. Carly pushed Cliffjumper away socially and doesn't want to talk to him. Considering his refusal as a betrayal to the trust she had in him. Carly does this without knowing the true reason as to why Cliff wouldn't shoot. The reason likely being that Cliff takes being an Autobot so seriously he considers killing a pleading bot a Decepticon act. But right now she doesn't care to listen to the warning the Autobots are giving her.

[geekygirlexperience]

I got the chance to sit down with Amphibia's Matt Braly and character designer for the upcoming Mighty Nein show Ainsworth Lin to talk about their debut graphic novel, Family Force V!

The first half is spoiler free before we deep dive on the book! Join us to break down their process, nerd out on the Power Rangers genre, who are the breakout characters, and more at The Geeky Waffle.

[lunarharp]

figured i'd do this again..bit early i guess..

[kryptonbabe]

The Closet, the existential familial horror of a broken home, a review

The Creature and concept sketches for the character From the horror comic book The Closet (2022) written by James Tynion IV, art by Gavin Fullerton

This short miniseries was much more a depressing read than a scary one, the sinister imagery paired with the very real troubles faced by the adult main characters work to articulate how kids perceive conflict and hostility. Children can be very sensitive and their world follows slightly different rules, events tend to be felt more intensely. Their whole life is on the balance, their tiny little existence, they can't see things through the lens of different perspectives only experience can help them develop. There's an urgency to your problems when you're 4 years old, like the kid in this story.

But the focus of The Closet is not exclusively about this kid's fear of a monster, we get to see the lives of his parents too, more specifically his dad, a guy living a mid-life crisis, facing the horror of who he has become and how he feels trapped in a life that he should be grateful for. Then we get to see how the dad's and the kid's fears are connected, how we affect each other sometimes without realizing, how deeply we can scar those we love. And it's terrifying, but mostly it is depressing, and the comic does a good job with the art and writing to build this little bleak yarn, so alien and yet so familiar.

This comic has only 3 issues and the themes while not heavy can be upsetting for their hopelessness, yet for its short length the narrative is well balanced in its existential musings and creepy moments. I'm a fan of the naturalism of Tynion's writing here and Fullerton's sketchy and moody looking art also work to create a somber atmosphere, fitting for a claustrophobic familial horror like this.

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

April 23 2025 comic reviews

Here's my reviews for this week, April 23, available over at my other blog, @pedrocomicreviews.

Long reviews: Assorted Crisis Events, The Power Fantasy, Absolute Wonder Woman, Absolute Martian Manhunter

Short reviews: Star Trek, One World Under Doom, Ultimate Black Panther, Magik

I've been sick since Easter so I didn't even know if I was going to do reviews this week; and then some of the best comics of the year came out this and I had to talk about it. RIP Magik, I really liked this issue but I'm kinda beat after writing ~10 pages of thoughts about the others.

[dragonxv77]

Death battle review for…

Ghost Rider Vs Spawn!

Review under the line.

Also, Don’t take it too seriously, and of course spoilers for the fight and the winner of said fight.

Fuck. You failed me Herald scaling.

Welp, another of my favorite characters died. Add on he's my favorite superhero too. If we're talking about comics at least

Ok, onto the first impressions/Review!

The analysis's were pretty good! I am shocked to admit I think I preferred Spawn's! Hell, I was even slightly rooting for him which is shocking cause Ghost Rider where it comes to comic book heroes he's my favorite.

Not to say Johnny's was bad far from it! It was cool to learn even more about him and Zarathos plus the tid bits about the other Ghost Rider's. (God I need to actually read one of his comics runs at some point.) Plus the Crash Bandicoot joke got a slight smile on me also, SANS!

Now onto the fight!

It good.

Surprise, surprise, Ghosty is here deal out Penance! Onto Al for being a bad, bad, man or more accurately telling him bug off and go to hell with some dope voice acting to go along with it.

Ghosty gets shot, rams the hell cycle into Spawn, etc, etc, Ghost Rider adds a cheesy line then we get into the actual fight. It's alright the necroplasam vs hellfire bit was cool. Rider gets called a bum which made me smile in a pure "Bro, what?" Moment.

Then comes the First Penance Stare which does something but of course not actually killing the Hellspawn. To be expected, way too early into the fight to actually matter.

Get Hell portaled idiot! The momentary silence into showing infinite energy symbol was pretty sick. Spawn drags Johnny into hell with him then we get into the meat and potatoes of this fight.

NEXT STOP?

HELL MOTHERFUCKER!​

I was going to say Spawn saying "Welcome to Hell motherfucker" made no sense cause, well look at Ghost Rider! But then I remembered Zarathos might be angel! So Spawn saying that kinda fits if we're going by that logic, he probably just sensed his angelic powers! Which is pretty cool if you think of it like that. But i could be reaching with that one.

Then Rider proceeds to fucking explode! Shooting himself into the truck that fell in with them, douses it with hellfire, and tries to drive it into the fucker! But Spawns freezes time to stop himself from getting hit by it and destroys it!

Peak of the fight right there.

And everything after is just pretty darn good. Spawn and Zarathos have good interaction. Zarathos does his best Scorpion impression. His voice sounding great which is to be expected since they got the same VA from last time they were on the show.

Which was so good Spawn had too turn into his God/Angel form just from the sheer hype! And some help from a bit of Blue Hellfire, bust mostly from the impression!

Another great interaction especially from Spawn's end. They tussle a bit Spawn gets stomped on by the secret third Mario brother, Zarathos.

And then the death.

Damn Al why you got to do that to my Fav? Zarathos tries the Penance Stare which at that point I knew it was wraps for my Boi.

Despite getting his wing's getting torn off, (quick side note, that scream was not it for me. He sounded like he got kicked in the balls while recording that, oddly high pitched and just didn't sound good. Only bad part of voice acting in the episode.) Spawn manages to UNO reverse card the stare and kills Johnny after removing Zarathos from him!?

Bro, Spawn you did not need to do that to Johnny! You had Zarathos in your hand! Just send him back to earth bro!

Closing line was alright.

The Ending analysis was perfectly fine. I do however find it weird when they just said "Aw yeah, the Damnation stare would just send him to hell where he has infinite energy/power!"

Marvel's hell and Spawn's hell aren't the same though? Would've the stare just throw him into the Marvel version of hell?

Anyways..

A Solid 7.7/10 maybe 7.8/10.

The Next Time: Shiggyto! Let's goooo! My most anticipated from the kickstarter! No diff him Shiggy!

[keycomicsvault]

Battle Beast #1 review!

The much anticipated Battle Beast #1 by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley is now out, published by Image. The creative team behind Invincible have added to the universe with a series on a fan favourite character, Battle Beast. Spoilers for Battle Beast and Invincible ahead. This series is set concurrently to a large portion of the Invincible series, specifically running between issues 19-55. In…

[dispatchdcu]

Crave #1 Review

Crave #1 Review #crave #IMAGE #imagecomics #comics #comicbooks #news #art #info #NCBD #comicbooknews #previews #reviews #Amazon

Story and Art:  Maria Llovet Logo Design: Jesús Orellana Lettering & Design: Maria Llovet Publisher:  Image Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: November 29th, 2023 The creepy side of the internet and mobile devices is explored in Crave #1, the new miniseries from Maria Llovet (who did the brilliant miniseries Porcelain and Heartbeat).  Crave, like those miniseries, combines eroticism and horror…

[izzys-issues]

{TW: Vomit}

52. "(Not So) Secret Origin / Better Off Red / Writing Day"

(Radiant Black # 1 - 3, February-April 2021)

I've been looking forward to this ever since it was announced, and even more so after Comic Drake hyped it up. I'm a big fan of the costumes and am excited to see how this world evolves and gets fleshed out. It's neat to follow a new Peter Parker esque character with failed dreams and financial ruin but in a new context, though the social media element does remind me a lot of the PS4 Spidey game. Also how rad is it to see a letters column? Maybe other series have done them recently but I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw a comic printed since '92 with a letters column.

(Not So) Secret Origin: 6 😭 Crying Uber Drivers out of 10

FAVORITE: that initial morph sequence is so *chef's kiss*

LEAST FAVORITE: Puking through the helmet

Better Off Red: 7 🥣 Oatmeal & Raisins out of 10

FAVORITE: The first super fight of the series was appropriately short and I think established how the two different powers differ(?)

LEAST FAVORITE: He maintained a secret identity for like 3 pages before the police found out 

Writing Day: 10 ✅️ESTABLISHING A BRAND IDENTITY OUT OF 10

FAVORITE: The immersion of the cover, Nathan's creative process, being bad at changing a tire, staring at a blank Word document for 10 hours while browsing YouTube (which hits so close to home), the branding brainstorm, his first deliberate super rescue. It's all just too good.

LEAST FAVORITE: Parents interrupting you while you're doing homework

[pedrocomicreviews]

The Power Fantasy #6

"Okay-- it all comes down to the goth chick, right?"

I think every Kieron Gillen comic I've read defies neat classification. The Power Fantasy is very much not a superhero comic, but it has all the trappings of one, mostly for the purpose of examining and subverting them. One volume in, we're starting to see what they're going to do with it.

We are mostly done introducing the Superpowers by now, even if we still have one to go. More importantly, I think we have a pretty good idea of what they do both in this world and with each other. We have a literal guardian angel with a penchant for the greater good that goes against her best nature, a pyramid scheme conman who can actually put his money where his mouth is, a cult leader who's actually godlike-- these and more are all incredible characters that could be the protagonists of their own books, or the villains for a dozen others.

I think that's what makes this so compelling. It's not a book about how power would make villains and ruin the world, despite the world being a mess as a result of them-- it's a story about regardless of what power did to these people, they still have to live in this planet. Even if we eventually introduce aliens or other worlds (which I believe the timeline kinda implies we will?), there's no Earth-2 for anyone here. There's no easy way out, there's no Phantom Zone, there's no Arakko. They have to learn how to coexist or they'll destroy the world, and at that point, what's the point in being powerful?

And it's interesting to see how each of them doesn't fight. Etienne has fully accepted he is a well-intentioned monster and is manipulating people's entire lives to make sure things go the way he wants, planting people who he can either charm or simply mind-control one way or another to keep situations from escalating. Valentina (BRASIL NÚMERO UM PORRA) has decided to completely check out and has been living in a satellite since 69, and basically sweeps in and leaves to avoid making a mess. Superpowers joining governments, Superpowers breeding other Superpowers, Superpowers being too scary to even approach -- these characters disagree on everything, you never know what they're going to do next.

It's refreshing to read something that expects you to be at least a little grossed out at some of the things the titular characters do, and that assumes you'll have different thoughts when you come back to the book with more information and more context. It's well written, beautiful, and so far every issue has had a twist that completely recontextualizes the few pages prior.

It's rich without being overwhelming, dense despite being concise, approachable despite how deep the rabbit hole for its lore and character relationships clearly goes, and we're just seeing a glimpse of the iceberg so far. I am a massive The Wicked + The Divine fan, and I'm hoping this gets the same chances to shine as that book did.

Buy the first volume to support the series! I'm pretty sure it just came out.

[alexistalkscomics]

Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives! Issue #1: A promising start to the return of a classic monster

The 1954 classic, Creature From The Black Lagoon is one of my favourite movies of all time and the Gill-Man is in my opinion, one of the greatest movie monsters ever conceived.

So when I subscribed to Global Comix and saw that the first issue of Dan Watters and Ram V’s Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives! was available, I just had to read it.

Set after the events of the original film and ignoring its sequels, the comic serves as a standalone sequel that follows Kate Marsden, a journalist who is on an investigation in Peru that’s seemingly connected to a past trauma and is otherwise, completely disconnected to Gill-Man

Whilst some people might question this creative decision by the writers, I think that it very much works in the issue’s favour as it means that readers who aren’t familiar with the original film don’t have to worry about feeling locked out and it also gives the story a different set up to the film which allows it to avoid feeling like it’s just an adaptation of the movie.

The lack of Gill-Man in this issue is also another decision that works in its favour as it allows the Creature to slowly be built up as a more sinister and scary presence compared to the family friendly tone of the film.

However, the length and pacing of the issue left me feeling mildly disappointed as the page count combined with the brisk pace of the story made it feel quite abrupt when the issue ends on a cliffhanger.

Credit for creating an appropriately creepy atmosphere must also go to the somewhat scratchy (in a good way) art style of Mathew Roberts. One scenes that particularly earns him my praises is near the end of the issue where we see Gill-Man for the first time. When I read this scene, I felt the exact same sense of dread and excitement as when I first watched the film and saw the Creature in full for the first time.

My main and only real criticism for the visual aspects of the book is that the series is in colour. Even though Dave Stewart’s realistic colouring style compliments Roberts’ art well, I think that I would have preferred that the series be in black and white to enhance the feeling of the book as a tribute to one of the best movies of the fifties era.

Overall, Creature From The Black Lagoons Lives! #1 is by no means perfect or particularly groundbreaking but it gives readers a strong opening to a promising reintroduction to one of the best but often most overlooked parts of the Universal Monsters canon.

8/10

[superpoweredfancast]

Witchblade #5 Review

Witchblade #5 Image Comics Written by Marguerite Bennett Art by Giuseppe Cafaro Colors by Arif Prianto Letters by Troy Peteri The Rundown: Sara attempts to resist the Witchblade and everything it offers as she continues to investigate a personal matter. Sara is having dark and disturbing dreams about the Witchblade and what it is potentially doing to her. Things become more intense for her…

[kryptonbabe]

Ice Cream Man Vol. 2: Strange Neopolitan, a review

Ice Cream Man Vol. 2 by W. Maxwell Prince, Chris O'Halloran & Martín Morazzo

The most interesting thing about Ice Cream Man is how the writing and the art work in a delicate balance to hold all the elements in the series together. This is not an original book for its constructions blocks, but in the way these blocks are organized and how they inform each other. The nihilistic tone of some of the stories could be hard to engage with if not paired with the absurdism of the narrative and the dash of dark humor applied. The multiple characters and perspectives also offer an escape, even if momentary, for the existential dread.

This is a pretty bleak collection of stories and they employ a strong voice to guide you through them, admittedly this desolate tone might not be for everyone. I'm usually not a fan of a gloomy and sarcastic narration style, but the clean art and the other narrative elements lend earnestness to the stories told. The characters in this god forsaken world feel real and not cardboard cutouts built to reinforce the general hopelessness of the main voice, some of them are grieving, suffering, feeling compassionate, loving each other, but unfortunately they exist in this fictional world where happiness is so fleeting. The horrors they face might happen in bizarre scenarios, but they feel very real, dealing with drug abuse, the loss of loved ones, depression etc. This kind of horror is highly effective to move me, more so than explicit, graphic stories. The dread feels pervasive, uncomfortable, and yet meaningful

It's sinister to realize that under all surrealism through which we see this world, their reality is not so different from ours. And that's what is really scary about Ice Cream Man, there are monsters in this universe, but the reality that is hidden behind its fantastic veneer is the real horrific aspect of the series

I had a terrible time and I thoroughly enjoyed it