Review Date: Friday, May 24, 2013
Here in Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo has decreed that its time to review
some comic books with a "dark side" theme, so
whether the plots feature voodoo, magic, detective
noir or The Dark Knight himself, let's see how these
latest mysterious comics stack-up against each other: |
Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1
Publisher: D.C. Comics Vertigo
Imprint
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds: Writer
Denys Cowan: Pencils
John Floyd: Inks
Dave McCaig: Colors
That's Entertainment has all seven issues on its new issues shelves of the DC
Comics/Vertigo Imprint title "Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child," so
naturally I backtracked to issue #1 to get a feel for this occult comic book
title from its kick-off issue. The comic book is written by Selwyn Seyfu
Hinds with pencils by Denys Cowan, inks by John Floyd and colors by Dave
McCaig.
The series is a New Orleans-based occult thriller starring hometown
college student Dominique Laveau. The premier issue unfolds in three
story segments. Act One begins with action-adventure, as Dominique and a
group of her fellow Tulane University college students are attacked by a
rampaging werewolf. When her friends are killed by the monster, Dominique
manifests an unexpected occult power that repels the attacker and saves her
own life. The mid-section sub-plot unfolds the larger picture of
occult doings in modern-day New Orleans. We're introduced to the mysterious
Chancellor Malenfant, a voodoo priest who is involved in local politics and is
in the service of a demonic being who is searching for Dominique.
The third segment of the issue follows Dominique as she reviews her family
history to try and understand her newfound occult power. We learn that
she's descended from a long line of New Orleans voodoo priestesses and its
revealed that her aunt has been sheltering her from the truth about herself and
her family history. The issue concludes in a dramatic bridge to issue #2
as Dominique discovers that her aunt has been murdered by the demonic forces
gathering against her, while at the same time she's confronted by an anonymous
demon hunter who's been stalking her throughout the story.
Its tough to stake-out some new storytelling ground within the genre of voodoo
fiction; its almost mandatory to use New Orleans as the storysetting, and a lot
of plot ideas have already been done to death (pun intended) in this narrow
fictional genre. That said, a tip-of-the-review hat is due to this
title's creative team for finding some fresh elements to mix into their own New
Orleans voodoo comic book tale. Several small plot touches add-up to a
fresh perspective in this storyline, including Dominique's innocence
regarding her family history, her unexpected manifested power and
a cop boyfriend who at this point doesn't buy into any of the voodoo
shenaigans brewing in his girlfriend's life.
Of particular interest is the mysterious demon hunter trailing Dominique.
He's presented as an old-school Wild West gunman, which offers some interesting
future potential reveals about his identity. It seems in the issue #1
story segment that he's actually on the hunt for Dominique herself instead of
her demonic pursuers, so it should be interesting to see how he ends up as
friend or foe in her further adventures.
Top it all off with an approriate artistic style for a voodoo-themed comic book
and we have one well-constructed and entertaining new addition to this creepy-spooky
comic book storytelling genre. It looks like DC/Vertigo is ending this
title with the most recent issue #7, so my review advice is to get onboard now
and enjoy the seven issues of this interesting comic book title while they're
all still available on the That's Entertainment new issues comic book shelves.
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Scott Snyder: Writer
Greg Capullo: Pencils
Danny Miki: Inks
Fco Plascencia: Colors
The main Batman title at DC Comics is currently up to issue #20 with the
second installment of a multi-issue story arc. So I've backtracked
to issue #19 to get a review feel for this tale from the kick-off.
The series is currently scripted by A-list writer Scott Snyder with pencils by
Greg Capullo, inks by Danny Miki and colors by Fco Plascencia.
This new storyline is entitled "Nowhere Man" and features Batman and
his allies in conflict with traditional Batman storyverse villain
Clayface. Three plothreads takes turns front-and-center in the
story. In the first story segment, we're witness to a lengthy
and violent bank robbery/hostage-taking with the villain, who's
obviously Clayface in disguise as Bruce Wayne, in a deadly cat-and-mouse
stand-off with Gotham Police Commissioner Gordon. The mid-section of the
tale flashes back to a few days earlier, as Batman alternates between dealing
with the grief of Robin's recent death and following a trail of forensic
clues from recent crimes, leading him to the conclusion that Clayface is
back on the Gotham crime scene. And the final few pages of the story
segment reveal the details of Clayface stepping-into the Bruce Wayne persona,
with more trouble to brew in issue #20.
It's a no-brainer these days to expect that any Scott Snyder-penned comic book
tale is of exceptional quality and so that's what we're fortunate to have
in this comic book. It's interesting to me that there's no particular
style to expect from a Snyder story; unlike a tale from Brian Michael Bendis or
Jonathan Hickman, Snyder's various comic book scripts differ in
approach and structure, but all have the same consistency of in-depth dialogue
and just a very strong and highly entertaining plot that's well-worth the price
of admission.
As a final review note, this 20-page Batman-Clayface tale is followed by a
second 8-page story entitled "Ghost Lights," starring Batman and
Superman as they encounter some deadly black magic goings-on in Gotham.
This two-part storyline deserves its own mention for exceptional high quality
and frankly could hold its own as a main storyline in any issue
of Batman. So a quick, well-deserved shout-out also to the creative team
of writer James Tynion IV, well-known artist Alex Maleev and colorist Brad
Anderson for this second story which is also not to be missed.
So all-in-all, a positive review recommendation is well-deserved for this comic
book, which serves-up two excellent stories, both well-worth following as they
continue in issue #20 of Batman!
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Brian Buccellato: Writer
Ronan Cliquet: Art
Mat Lopes: Colors
Dynamite Comics recently launched a new comic book entitled "The Black
Bat." The title character originally appeared in a few 1930's pulp
magazines as a masked crimefighter vigilante. Due to character
similarities to Batman, the pulp-era publisher kept this character firmly in
its pulp magazine inventory without a 1930's-era crossover into the world of
comic book publishing. Dynamite included The Black Bat in its 2012 Masks
comic book, with the ensuing popularity leading to the launch of the new comic
book title.
Issue #1 partially retells the origin story of The Black Bat with two
alternating sub-plots. In the first storythread, via alternating
flashback and current scenes, we learn that our hero is Tony Quinn, a former
lawyer for organized crime. When Tony resists further mob pressure, he's
tortured and blinded for his resistance. A mysterious covert agency
restores his eyesight to an uncoventional form of vision similar to Daredevil's
bat sonar sight, enabling him to don a 1930's masked vigilante persona and
fight crime as the anonymous Black Bat.
The second sub-plot focuses on The Black Bat's current investigation of
disappearing local city cops. Tony follows clues through the city's
underbelly, leading him to a Hulk-like mob enforcer. The issue ends in an
action bridge to next month's issue, as Tony fights and defeats the enforcer
but still has no clue where his adversary has hidden the kidnapped policemen.
We also learn at issue's end that Tony is being secretly monitored by the
covert agency that restored his sight.
This is an interesting modern-day comic adaptation of a 1930's pulp magazine
crimefighter that deserves a positive review recommendation, although the comic
has one noticeable weakness mixed-in with the good elements. On
the plus side, the art is strong and evocative of the detective/noir thriller
atmosphere appropriate for this tale. There are also a few entertaining
mystery elements in the story, including the unknown nature of the covert
agency that gave Tony his bat-sight and the main plot mystery regarding the
location and fate of the kidnap victims. The creative team also gives
Tony his own fresh personality and plot issues that lessen as much as
possible any potential traps of being labelled as a retread of either Batman or
Daredevil.
The main constructive criticism centers on the story setting. Its an odd
mix of a modern-day version of Gotham City-at-night and a 1930's urban pulp setting
reminiscent of The Spirit. It just feels like a confusing mash-up of two
vastly different urban timeperiods and lends the story an unfinished and at
times confusing quality. The creative team really needs to flip a coin
here, and pick either one of the two timeperiods within which
to firmly and clearly set their storytelling. In addition, the
anonymous city in which the story takes place really needs an identity, either
a real world city name or a fictional one. Once that confusion is
cleared-up, we'll have a more solid comic book title to add to
the lengthy list of detective/noir comic books. Until then, we have an
entertaining read with future potential, saddled with some vagueness
that allows for fun reading, but nothing to place near the very top
of your new issues reading pile.
Publisher: D.C. Comics
Gail Simone: Writer
Freddie Williams II: Art
Chris Sotomayor: Colors
Among the latest new comic book titles released under DC's "The New
52" series is "The Movement." The storyline centers upon a
gathering group of seemingly occult or mutant-powered troubled teenagers.
The series is scripted by Gail Simone with art by Freddie Williams II and
colors by Chris Sotomayor.
The premier story segment is entitled "Eaten from The Inside
Out." Set in Coral City, the plot is structured as
three interweaving storythreads. One sub-plot focuses on corruption
in the local police force, as an inner-city police captain tries
to address a sexual assault by two of his officers on a transient teenaged
girl. The second sub-plot introduces us to varied troubled street teens,
including the assault victim, as many of them are revealed to
have various forms of occult power. The third storyline introduces
an odd street cult growing in "The Tweens," the inner-city
neighborhood inhabited by the story characters. Dressed in flowing robes
and high tech masks, the street cult members livestream to the internet much of
the corruption and odd action happening among the story characters.
All three groups of story characters clash in an inner-city church
confrontation with one of the troubled street teens, who appears to be
demonically possessed. Without being a detail spoiler, the plot
peaks in a dramatic scene as a bridge to issue #2, as the street cult
members draw the line with the police captain, declaring The Tweens as their
own territory and demanding that the cops leave the neighborhood.
This title presents one oddly tossed-together mish-mash of a comic book
plot. We're presented with a large number of genre themes that really
don't mesh well together in one standard storyline, including occultism,
teenaged angst, some traditional superhero elements and police
thriller/corruption plot elements. The result is a lot of story
confusion, sketchy and unexplained plot elements/story characters, and
jarring scene transitions. The unnamed police captain is presented in a
confusing manner, alternating between behaving as an
honest crusader against corruption, an oppressor of the supposed
good-natured street cult and a victim of his wife's infidelity.
I know that writer Gail Simone has a strong fan following, but few of her
comic books that I've reviewed present a solid and well-constructed
storyline. This latest example is her worst yet in pasting-together plot
bits and pieces that ultimately don't result in a credible, logical or
just-plain-entertaining storyline. I'll give Simone another review chance
with her upcoming writing stint in Dynamite Comics's Red Sonya title. But
until then, I'd recommend that all Good DC Readers skip reading this confusing,
patchworked and frankly dull attempt at teenaged comic book storytelling
in The Movement.
Contest
Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest offered-up a bit of Massachusetts history trivia,
asking you to tell us what historical event forever ties-together the four
Massachusetts towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott. We had
several correct entires, so by a roll-of-the-dice the winner from among those
entries is (drumroll, please...) Erin O'Connor, who correctly answered that the
four Towns were disincorporated by the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts during the 1930's and flooded to create the
Quabbin Reservoir, the largest inland body of water in the State and the
primary water source for Boston and about 40 other communities.
Congratulations to Erin for winning the $10.00 first prize gift
certificate to That's Entertainment!
New Contest
Challenge!!!
As our Boston Bruins are currently in the thick of the NHL Stanley
Cup play-offs, the Bongo Congo Panel Of Contest Judges has decreed that we
cheer them on with a National Hockey League (NHL) contest question. The
Bruins are one of the "Original Six" teams that made-up the
League when the NHL restructured and modernized in 1942. Your
contest challenge is to e-mail us at Gordon_A@msn.com
no later than Wednesday, June 5 and correctly name those original six NHL
teams. As always, in the event of multiple correct entries, our contest
winner will be selected via a roll of the dice from among the correct
entries. Please note that our first prize $10.00 gift certificate to
That's Entertainment is redeemable for regular retail merchandise or in-store,
on-going specials, only.
That's all for now, so have two great Stanley Cup
Play-Offs-watching (Go Bruins!) and comic book reading
weeks and see you again on Friday, June 7 Here In
Bongo Congo! |
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