Comic Proportions

Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels No. 3

Published by Dark Horse Comics. Written by Mike Mignola. Art by Ben Stenbeck.

The Deal: Write Mike Mignola (the creator of Hellboy) and artist Ben Stenbeck roll out the latest installment of their Witchfinder limited series, which follows the exploits of Victoria-era paranormal detective Sir Edward Grey.

The Verdict: I'm really enjoying this book. Grey is a hero in the vein of Solomon Kane — religious and stodgy but a man of action. The story is engrossing and filled with cool period touches and just enough supernatural elements to make it scary. On the art side of things, Stenbeck's work takes the best elements from Mignola's shadowy drawing style and mixes it with his own to come up with something that's unique but still able to work for the world of Hellboy.

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

Justice League: Cry For Justice No. 3

Published by DC Comics. Written by James Robinson. Art by Mauro Cascioli.

The Deal: It's the third issue of the JLA-centric limited series starring Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Green Arrow, the Atom and several other DC heroes.

The Verdict: Damn, this book was damned-near unreadable. Filled with awful dialogue and some really preposterously coincidental plot points, I actually had to put it down a few times. Last issue was decent, but this is definitely a move in the wrong direction. But, all that said about the story, the art sure is pretty.

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

The Flash: Rebirth No. 4

Published by DC Comics. Written by Geoff Johns. Art by Ethan Van Sciver.

The Deal: It's the latest issue of the limited series that promises to relaunch and revitalize the Flash as a character and a franchise — featuring a story by hot-writer-of-the-moment Geoff Johns and drawings by artist Ethan Van Sciver.

The Verdict: OK, this is the issue where Flash: Rebirth finally gets going. The first three issues were a tad bit slow and unfocused — although I think those books worked to build up a much-needed personality for original Flash Barry Allen — but this week's edition ties together some story elements, revs up the action and includes some really cool character moments. If you weren't feeling this comic at first, I'd recommend sticking around — because it looks like it's getting good.

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

Daredevil No. 500

Published by Marvel Comics. Written by Ed Brubaker. Art by Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, Klaus Janson and more.

The Deal: Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Michael Lark wrap up their run on Daredevil — and tie up a lot of long-running plot threads — in this historic, giant-sized anniversary edition of the book. Plus there's a ton of extra stories, pin-ups and other content in the comic to tickle your fancy.

The Verdict: Brubaker's version of Marvel's blind superhero sometimes came off as a little too much of a victim, but in this issue the character finally acts like a bad-ass. If you're a fan of Frank Miller's ninja-centric storylines, you'll really get a kick out of this. While we're on the subject of Miller, it really is amazing how his influence is still being felt on DD damned-near 20 years later. Wow, eh? Anyway, buy the book. It's good.

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

The Deal: It's the latest issue of the Outsiders. Fresh off their battle with Vandal Savage and other villains, the team embarks on a new mission to hunt down a pack of escaped inmates from Arkham Asylum.

The Verdict: OK, this book has officially lost focus ... again. After writer Peter Tomasi went through all the trouble of setting up a new status quo, mission statement and headquarters for the new team, he throws all that out the window to go in a whole new direction. What is this — Teen Titans? After all the shakeups in this book — since even Judd Winick was handling writing chores — what this comic needed most was stability. No all that seems gone. At this point, I can't see this comic surviving. And that's sad — because I'm a fan.

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

• Chew No. 3: Chew is still a tasty-ass comic. Buy it. Buy it. Buy it.

• Captain America: Reborn No. 2 — Two issues in, this limited series is still an entertaining and engrossing read. But as I've said before in this space, can we just get to the end so I can see the Steve Rogers Cap back in action in the Marvel Universe?

• Justice League: Cry For Justice No. 2 — Though it's peppered with a few corny moments, the second issue of this limited series reads better than the first. Now, the art is (and was last issue) amazing ... but the story still seems to be moving a tad bit slow.

• Destroyer No. 4 and 5 — I hope that fans of Robert Kirkman read this five-issue series; it's everything you could ask for from the writer: extreme violence, copious amounts of blood, profanity ... and love. (Yes, love!) The art, by Cory Walker, is stunning ... oh, and the comic features one of the best endings to a series I've read in years.

• The Hangman No. 1 — Part of DC's Red Circle comic line, The Hangman really isn't anything you haven't seen in a superhero book before. I won't be buying the ongoing series when it starts in a few months.

• War of Kings No. 6 — This comic was a little too mired in cosmic crap. (Honestly, I'm just not a fan of the Inhumans.)

• Jonah Hex No. 46 — The latest issue of Jonah Hex starts off with a bang — a flurry of bullets actually — but then turns into a boring Civil War flashback.

• Superman: World of New Krypton No. 6 — It's an engrossing book, but it leaves me wondering: Is there anything good about living on New Krypton? Seems to suck being a Kryptonian.

• Agents of Atlas No. 9 — I'd never read this comic, so I decided to pick it up. Well, I found it in incredibly unreadable. Clumsy dialogue, uninteresting situations and not a lot of needed exposition. Bleck!

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

Doom Patrol No. 1

Published by DC Comics. Written by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis. Pencils by Matthew Clark and Kevin Maguire. Inks by Livesay and Kevin Maguire.

The Deal: Writer Keith Giffen leads the charge on this title, which stars DC’s long-running group of misfit heroes the Doom Patrol. The Doom Patrol now lives with mad scientists on Oolong Island, but still seem to suffer from chronic bouts of self-loathing. Then in the second feature, the Metal Men take the spotlight.

The Bad: As soon as this book was announced, I feared it would be a dud. And after I saw the first few preview pages of the comic online, my fears were pretty much confirmed. Now, having read the entire issue, I’m convinced that I don’t have an interest in this book — and, if it continues on this course, it might already be on its way toward cancellation. What’s wrong with Doom Patrol? Well, there’s nothing repulsive about it. The art is decent. The character deigns are OK. The story is mildly interesting. And that’s the problem. The book is nothing spectacular; and in this terrible economy — with shelves already flooded with titles — if you’re not knocking it out of the park, you might as well go home. And, hey, I’m a Giffen fan.

The Good: In the main Doom Patrol feature, Giffen’s dialogue is engaging and entertaining. The Metal Men second feature, by the old Justice League creative team of Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire, is funny ... and actually better than the main Doom Patrol story.

The Verdict: I probably won’t be coming back for the second issue. And while the Metal Men story is good, it’s not great enough for me to plunk down $3.99.

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

Secret Warriors No. 6

Published by Marvel Comics. Plot by Jonathan Hickman and Brian Michael Bendis. Script by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Stefano Caselli.

The Deal: It's the latest issue of Marvel's lone espionage comic, starring the long-running spy Nick Fury (former director of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and his band of superhuman secret agents.

The Good: I've been loving this book and acting as an evangelist for it since the first issue. Five more issues in, the comic is still great. So great, in fact, it's hard to even remember that, not too long ago, Nick Fury was one of those Dr. Strange-type characters — good for a cameo appearance, but not interesting enough to hold down his own book. Well, those days seem done. This version of Nick Fury works by shrinking the cast of characters to a manageable size and throwing a healthy dose of superheroics on top of the spy stuff. So, instead of faceless agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fighting faceless hordes of Hydra, we've got a small, fleshed-out group of superpowered "secret warriors" fighting big-time bad guys like Gorgon (from that cool Wolverine story arc). Add a splash of great dialogue and several really cool-as-shit character moments (like when Dum Dum Dugan says to Nick Fury, "You give me a month and I'll deliver the baddest bunch of evil bastards this world has ever seen."), and you've got one hell of a comic book.

The Bad: I got no complaints. It took me a moment to get into the art, but now I'm lovin' it.

The Verdict: Buy it dammit.

I wrote sort of a post-mortem regarding the recently canceled Marvel Comics series Captain Britain and MI13 for the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find blog.

Check it out — right here — and tell me what you think:

I was busy working on Creative Loafing's "Best of Charlotte" issue last week, so I wasn't able to tell you about this comic when I picked it up — but I REALLY want to recommend it.

The headline says "Comic of the Week," but in the case of this particular title, I should name this post: "Funniest Comic Ever Published." Because this damned book made me laugh my ass off.

And now I have no ass.

Anyway, for folks who don't know, The Goon is the horror/humor title written and drawn by the talented Eric Powell, and Dethklok is that band of mildly retarded rock musicians from the bizarre Adult Swim/Cartoon Network show Metalocalypse.

To be honest, I never watched a ton of Metalocalypse (Yeah, yeah, I'm an idiot. I know.), but this comic turned me into an instant fan.

So what's the story behind this one-shot (which was published by Dark Horse Comics)? Well ... who gives a shit? All you need to know is that the totally convoluted — in a good way — plot leads to The Goon battling Dethlok (well for a few panels). The selling point of the book is the stream of gross situations and profanity-laden dialogue that seems to skeet from every page. Here's a sample of some of the best lines in the book:

"My head feels like balls if balls were on my head and had been kicked really hard."

"I'm Franky! And I do cocaine!"

"Little did you know that the ink used in this comic book was mixed with our own blood ... after we mixed our blood with poison!! Lick the ink from your fingers and embrace death!"

"[Referring to Dethklok's music] It's like Satan was in my head with a chainsaw-powered tuba that was fueled by the cries of the innocent!"

"[Referring again to Dethklok's music] What's that sound?! It tells me my skin is alive and it hates me!"

Good stuff, eh? I've gotta imagine that the creators behind this comic — Powell and Brendon Small — were smoking a weed-filled apple bong when they put this thing together.

If you only have $3.50 left in your bank account, skip eating and buy Dethklok Versus The Goon instead.

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