Comic Proportions

Beasts of Burden No. 2

Published by Dark Horse Comics. Written by Evan Dorkin. Art by Jill Thompson.

The Verdict: I'll say it again: I’m blown away by this series. Seriously, stop what you're doing and go buy this book, like, NOW. It's just so unexpected. It looks like a children's book, but reads like some twisted horror flick. It's the perfect combination of action, scary shit, cute animals, tragedy, humor ... and more scary shit. I'm in love with what Dorkin and Thompson are doing here. Now, get your ass up and go buy it!

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by Oni Press. Written by Greg Rucka. Art by Matthew Southworth.

The Deal: Writer Greg Rucka continues his near-trademarked line of strong, yet flawed, female heroines (as seen in Queen & Country, White Out, Detective Comics, The Question, and Wonder Woman, among others) with the private eye Dex, star of his latest comic series Stumptown.

The Verdict: Well Rucka's done it again. I'm not the biggest fan of his superhero stuff (with the exception of The Question) but he is a master when it comes to mystery and espionage. I particularly dig the elegant way he pens Stumptown — sans a ton of needless exposition, minimal dialogue and an economical approach to developing characters. And, yes, the art is amazing as well; like the writing it manages to be detailed without a lot of unnecessary line work. Both the artist and writer have built an intriguing and engrossing world here. Wonderful comic. Buy it.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by Vertigo (DC Comics). Story and art by Jeff Lemire.

The Deal: Jeff Lemire's anamorphic, post-apocalyptic comic rolls on to issue No. 3.

The Verdict: This issue is much creepier than the first two. After last month's rather violent final fight scene, Lemire has found a way to inject even more fear and paranoia into a book that's already saturated with nervous energy. With each page that I turn, I feel frightened — scared that any character could bite the dust. In other words, Lemire is on the right track. Buy it.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Rick Remender. Pencils by John Romita Jr. Inks by Klaus Janson.

The Deal: Legendary artist John Romita Jr. teams with regular Punisher writer Rick Remender to tell this one-shot tale about Frank Castle's final battle against the forces of Norman Osborn.

The Verdict: Rick Remender proves once again that he knows how to make the Punisher work in the Marvel Universe. Many writers have tried to pen Frank Castle adventures alongside the company's spandex-clad characters, and most have failed. But Remender gets it; above anything, the writer always keeps things gritty and grimy, even in a world that's populated with folks who can fly and shrink to the size of an ant. Combine that with equally gritty — and amazing — art by Romita, and you can't lose with this book. PLUS: The ending of this comic (which is, by the way, the best of the Dark Reign: The List one-shots) is a shocker. Buy it for the last few pages alone.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by DC Comics. Written by Geoff Johns. Pencils by Ivan Reis. Inks by Oclair Albert and Joe Prado.

The Deal: DC's blockbuster limited series — with Green Lantern at the center — keeps on trucking. This issue, the big baddie behind the whole crisis is revealed.

The Verdict: For the first three issues, this series kind of felt like a really long chase scene. This month's edition, however, adds a little more scope to the whole tale — while still keeping things action packed. There are a bunch of cool moments and several B-listers get a chance to shine (and one is killed). My only problem with the book is that the big reveal wasn't such a big deal because I'm not familiar with the character. At any rate, I highly recommend buying Blackest Night No. 4.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by Dark Horse Comics. Written by Evan Dorkin. Art by Jill Thompson.

The Deal: Evan Dorkin brings back his crew of paranormal-investigating dogs and cats for their very own monthly series.

The Verdict: I'm blown away by this series. It's subversively entertaining — sporting the look of a children's book (courtesy of Jill Thompson's incredible painted art) but filled with adult-esque dialogue, moments of horror and violence. Do yourself a favor and buy it. (By the way, I don't own any pets, but I still liked the comic.)

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Greg Pak. Pencils by Ariel Olivetti and Giuseppe Camuncoli. Inks by Cam Smith.

The Deal: In this latest issue of Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner teams up with his son from another planet, Skaar, to talk with/fight Wolverine and his estranged son, Daken. And there's a backup story starring the new She-Hulk from the future. No ... for real.

The Verdict: I've gotta give Greg Pak some credit — in this comic, he takes some truly stupid ideas and makes a quasi-interesting story out of it. That said, this book is filled with some REALLY stupid shit (such as a Bruce Banner who can't turn into the Hulk, running around with a ray gun, looking like a nerdy version of Indiana Jones). And the She-Hulk thing is just awful. I say kill everybody except Banner and Wolverine, and let's start all over again. I blame Jeph Loeb for all of this!

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by DC Comics. Written by James Robinson. Pencils by Mark Bagley. Inks by Rob Hunter.

The Deal: Writer James Robinson and artist Mark Bagley begin their stint on the Justice League, which stars a rather sparse-looking team that's fronted by an injured Vixen.

The Verdict: This issue is exciting enough — featuring a big (and slightly out-of-nowhere) fight with an old-school JLA villain — but, making reference to two DC limited series, it feels sort of in between crossovers. The dialogue is little better than Robinson's work in Cry For Justice, and Bagley's art is kinetic as ever (Rob Hunter's inks add a touch of flash to Bagley's sometimes middle-of-the-road illustrations), but I'm just waiting to see the team's new lineup.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Published by Image Comics. Written by Robert Kirkman. Art by Jason Howard.

The Deal: Writer Robert Kirkman and artist Jason Howard drop another issue of The Astounding Wolf-Man — as the series inches closer to its conclusion in No. 25.

The Verdict: This was, by far, my least-favorite issue of what's been, up until now, a fun and fairly enjoyable comic book series. This month's edition fails mainly because the events found within just seem to come out of nowhere are wrap up way too nicely. As the payoff for months of cliffhangers and sub-plots, the comic just didn't come through. If anything, it came off like the creators were trying to clear the deck for the upcoming end of the Wolf-Man comic. Whatever the case, I didn't dig this issue at all.

Reviewed materials provided by Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find: www.heroesonline.com.

Written by Matt Fraction. Pencils by Greg Land. Inks by Jay Leisten.

The Deal: Writer Matt Fraction continues his reign as "Head X-Writer in Charge" over on Uncanny. This issue sees the return of Magneto — but is he a threat?

The Verdict: OK, I am officially not digging what Fraction is doing on Uncanny X-Men. The dialogue is snappy, but the situations seem so ... familiar. Worse yet, some of the events in the issue seem to negate recent character developments. Take Professor Xavier, for example; he went through all that shit in Legacy a few months ago, and now he seems like he's back to being an asshole — as if he learned nothing from all his recent trials and tribulations. And Magneto somehow got the High Evolutionary to reverse the House of M stuff ... but just for him? Maybe there'll be more to that story, but so far it seems to go against everything that was in the "Endangered Species" story line. Anyway, I'm just not feeling the general direction of the book.