Wow, we have some real winners this week. While Blood Queen and The Squidder make solid plot progression, they also prove that sometimes too much exposition can slow down the overall flow of a comic. Nailbiter and Spread continue to be glowing examples of horror comics today and Nightworld gives us a sweet dose of retro goodness.
Written by Troy Brownfield
Art by Fritz Casas
Published by Dynamite Comics
Issue three of Blood Queen makes some progress by introducing a real villain, and a cool one at that with the Purity Knight. We get a lot of backstory on the history of the witches and the story is fringed with feminism but the issue still ends up being a bit too wordy.
Luckily, Brownfield gives a pretty clever fight scene to break up the history lesson. Casas is still leaving something to be desired from the art, he handles action and sensuality well enough, its his in-betweens that end up looking too rigid. The plot is slowly unfolding and this issue makes the biggest leap forward so far, time will tell how interesting the plots will be.
Written by Michael Moreci and Steve Seeley
Art by Emilio Laiso
Published by Image Comics
A lot of plot progression in this issue. A lot. But thats not a bad thing. You can tell that the set up will be worth the payoff. While Cassie Hack and her new hunter friend are tracking down the titular Son of Samhain, named October, the centuries old monster Attan-Soolu is unleashing a Earth-crushing creature known only as The Beast.
Cassie Hack is a great main character, she has all the charisma of Buffy with all the sex appeal of, well, Buffy. Her fight scene, albeit short, was well choreographed and while Moreci and Seeley are doing a good job at keeping this plot moving, Laisos art is the real star of the show. His monsters are strong and scary and his hunters are clean and agile.
This combination makes for a solid comic and while it had a definite lull this issue, its overall a fun good looking comic with lots of promise.
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Mike Henderson
Published by Image Comics
Nailbiter is the best slasher movie thats never been made. Actually, it would be a television show and it would wipe the floor with The Following.
With every issue Williamson makes his main cast more interesting and gives the history of the town some of the most spectacular lore that Ive ever seen in a comic book. Finch and Crane find a huge lead in their case and Alice is doing something mysterious with Edward Charles Warren, our main killer. Williamson cleverly interjects the other famous killers into the title while fluidly progressing the story and allowing his characters to grow, his story to twist and turn, and his world to absorb us.
Henderson is the perfect partner in crime, his art is original and atmospheric, kinetic when necessary but completely mortifying in the next panel. You need to read this series.
Written by Adam Mcgovern
Art by Paolo Leandri
Published by Image Comics
Nightworld is a weird comic in the best way possible. If Jack Kirby and Edgar Allan Poe ever co-wrote a comic, this would be it. And it would only be complete with Leandris retro hyper-colored art. It tells the tale of Plenilunio, a mysterious demon creature who seeks to wake his true love from a waking sleep.
He comes to the aid of an old man who conjures him in search of a Soul Key but it looks like others also have their sights on the key. The comic is insane. The writing is completely Victorian and the art is like Dhali but its irrevocably fun. Its a call back to the golden age of comics and its entirely unique.
Written by Justin Jordan
Art by Kyle Strahm
Published by Image Comics
One thing I really appreciate about Justin Jordan is he will be the first to admit that he draws heavily from pop culture. And in this day and age, dont we all? If we could all create something as insanely good as Spread, then who cares what inspired us. Just keep doing it.
No, our hero, does some serious hunting in this issue but also shows a little bit of a soft side. We are also introduced to the narrators mother figure, Crazy Molly and to who appears to be one of our central baddies, a blond haired rockstar diva wannabe with a penchant for kicking ass.
Jordan and Strahm craft such a bleak world but you cant help but fall in love with No and his distinct similarities to another cold weathered badass with a mound of facial hair. The monsters are just that: monstrous. Spread is a runaway hit, dont miss out.
Written by Ben Templesmith
Art by Ben Templesmith
Published by IDW Comics
I know with issue one I talked about how plot was exactly essential to the comic but in this follow up, Templesmith has made a lot of progress and is starting to craft a neat science fiction world heavily laced with Lovecraftian influence.
Its definitely one of the most gruesome titles out there but Templesmith is so damn artistic it nevers comes off as gratuitous. However, while some of the layout for the world our characters live in is nice, it still gets a little too wordy in the middle of the comic and ends up bogging it down and throwing some trip ups into the fluidity of the storytelling.
Hopefully with more the story being laid out in this issue, it will mean we get to see more The Squidder just destroying people in the next go round.
