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Review Date: Thursday, November 10,
2011
Here in Bongo Congo
Good King Leonardo is so happy that the power is finally
back on after the October snowstorm that he's decreed
that we celebrate with an eclectic selection of four
new comic book reviews. So let's see how this wide-ranging
variety of comic story themes and titles stack-up against
each other for our review: |
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Peanuts
#0
Publisher: Kaboom! Entertainment
Various Writers and Artists
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Although esteemed creator
Charles M. Schulz passed away over ten years ago,
Peanuts lives on forever in our hearts, minds and
the endless reprints of his beloved syndicated newspaper
comic strip. Happily, the kid-oriented Kaboom! division
of Boom! Entertainment has just published the premier
#0 issue of a Peanuts comic book with brand new
stories. The issue features two new tales by the
creative team of writer/penciler Vicki Scott, artist
Ron Zorman and colorist Lisa Moore. Also included
is a preview of an upcoming new Peanuts graphic
novel, along with several one-page reprints of classic
Peanuts Sunday funnies by Schulz himself.
Both new stories star the
Peanuts gang's animal buddies. "Carnival Of The
Animals" features Snoopy being full of puppy energy
as he does several funny impressions of wild animals,
which leads to an interesting philosophical discussion
between Charlie Brown and Violet regarding the power
of imagination. "Woodstock's New Nest" is just that,
a cute tale in which Snoopy wordlessly helps his
bird buddy Woodstock find the perfect nest. The
three classic Schultz Sunday funnies reprints feature
Peanuts gang members Sally and Linus, along with
a classic Charlie Brown and Lucy football sketch.
And last but hardly least, the issue concludes with
a four-page preview of the upcoming "Happiness Is
A Warm Blanket" graphic novel.
This new Peanuts comic book has a lot of good things
going for it. I liked the successful blend of old
and new; the creative team gives us a few fresh Peanuts
stories but faithfully sticks with Schulz's graphic
style and story characterization. It was also smart
to sprinkle into the comic book the three one-page
Schulz reprints, adding a nice classic tone to the
overall effort. My only constructive comment is regarding
the graphic novel preview, which presents four brief
Peanuts story vignettes which are basically reprints
of well-known Peanuts routines from previous Schultz
comic strips or story collections. I'm hoping that
the complete graphic novel doesn't just give us a
reprint effort and instead adds something new to the
Peanuts genre. The new comic book succeeds in that
regard, so here's an enthusiastic review recommendation
to get onboard with this brand-new Peanuts title.
And by the way, the promo issue #0 is priced at only
a buck, so get your copy now, before That's Entertainment
is all sold out!
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Dark
Shadows #1
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Stuart Manning: Writer
Aaron Campbell: Art
Carlos Lopez: Colors
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In the midst of all of the
Twilight movie series fan frenzy these days, its
easy to forget that one of the original vampire
fan favorite series of an earlier era was the 1960's
television show "Dark Shadows." Dynamite Entertainment
revisits those baby boomer vampire roots with a
new comic book title of this iconic t.v. vampire
show, which starred actor Jonathan Frid as Barnabas
Collins, the 200-year-old vampire head of the wealthy
Collins family. The ABC network series was an afternoon
daily soap opera, in which the extended wealthy
Collins family, mostly unaware that the family head
Barnabas was a vampire, had soap opera dramatic
experiences and adventures living in their creepy
mansion on the rural, rocky (and seemingly always
stormy) coast of Maine. The new comic book is scripted
by Stuart Manning with art by Aaron Campbell and
colors by Carlos Lopez.
An inside cover narrative
quickly brings the reader up-to-date on the Collins
family situation. The first segment of the plotline
introduces various family members familiar from
the t.v. series, including family matron Elizabeth,
her brother Roger and most importantly, the 20-something
family members, creepy cousin Quentin and Elizabeth's
pretty daughter Carolyn. The issue #1 plot interweaves
two sub-plots. In the first, family doctor Julia
Hoffman is working diligently to find a "cure" for
Barnabas's vampirism, failing in issue #1 with her
latest experimental injection. The second plothread
focuses on Carolyn trying to cope with the to-date
unexplained death of her latest boyfriend, while
suffering from unwelcome visions of a vampire who
looks like Barnabas. The issue ends on a very dramatic
note, as Barnabas comes across an unconscious Carolyn,
who's been attacked by an unknown vampire.
The joy of the Dark Shadows
television series was ABC's decision to take a routine
daytime soap opera, already on-air for a year, and
unexpectedly drop a horror element into a standard
daytime soap opera story world. The comic book creative
team sticks to the same successful story structure;
we're clearly reading a small-town soap opera tale
with horror layered on top of the base soap opera
genre. The results are two-fold: a wonderful homage
to one of the 1960's most original and high quality
t.v. shows, combined with an excellent comic book
plot that mixes vampire horror with a nice issue
#1 mystery regarding the introduction of a second,
unknown vampire to the remote Maine township of
Collinsport. It should make for a lot of fun in
upcoming monthly issues as the drama and mystery
unfold.
On a final review note, word on the vampire street
is that Director Tim Burton will be releasing a new
Dark Shadows movie sometime in 2012 starring Johnny
Depp in the role of Barnabas Collins. So until this
franchise hits the silver screen, whether you're an
old Dark Shadows fan like me or a newcomer who just
plain enjoys vampire stories, I know you'll appreciate
and be very entertained by the return of Barnabas
Collins and family to the modern-day world of vampires.
This comic book (and I'm sure the upcoming movie)
gives the story world of Twilight a run for its vampire
money!
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Zorro
Rides Again #2
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Matt Wagner: Writer
Esteve Polls: Art
Oscar Manuel Martin: Colors
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Issue #2 is on the new comic
books shelves this week of a three-issue Zorro Rides
Again mini-series. The series stars the well-known
Zorro, the masked swordsman who operates for all
good in colonial Spanish-ruled Alta California.
This new series is scripted by A-list writer Matt
Wagner with art by Esteve Polls and colors by Oscar
Manuel Martin.
Issue #2 alternates between
two separate sub-plots. The main storyline centers
on Zorro assisting his friend Lolita and her father
Don Carlos, who are being pressured by the corrupt
governor of Spanish Alta California to give-up their
land. Both Lolita and Zorro's own father are both
aware of his split identity between his civilian
and swordsman life, a fact which the father is conflicted
about. A secondary plotline continues a storythread
from issue #1, in which a beautiful woman takes
refuge in a monastary after the corrupt governor
has her husband and child killed. Upon learning
of Zorro's exploits from the monks, the woman sets
off in search of our hero for assistance in taking
revenge against the really, really bad governor.
This is an interesting Zorro storytelling effort,
with gifted writer Matt Wagner emphasizing quality
dialogue over fast action. While issue #1 may have
been more sword-and-adventure oriented, this issue
at least presents all of the major players in the
story as brainstorming their next moves against each
other, all of which no doubt will play-out in next
month's issue #3. It all works well in this issue,
presenting a storyline that feels like scenes from
an old-time Zorro movie. Given the dialogue and panel
lay-out, I felt at times as if I was reading an old
Classics Illustrated comic book retelling of a classic
literature tale. And that's not a bad way of presenting
a graphic telling of an old-school, historical-era
tale of adventure such as Zorro. So my review advice
is to take a break from the many modern-era and futuristic-era
superhero comics and give a worthwhile read to this
entertaining telling of the historic masked adventurer,
El Zorro!
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Avengers
Origins: Ant-Man & The Wasp
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Roberto Aguiree-Sacasa: Writer
Stephanie Hans: Art
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Marvel Comics has a new
comic title featuring a different featured one-shot
origins story in each monthly issue for various
members of the Avengers. This month's issue features
a new presentation of the combined origin story
of Hank Pym/Ant-Man and Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp.
The tale is scripted by Roberto Aguiree-Sacasa with
art by Stephanie Hans.
This origin plot progresses
through the basic well-known general facts of the
duo's origin, starting with introspective scientist
Hank Pym developing his shrinking technology, meeting
and successfully communicating with ants and evolving
into the role of the tiny crimefighter Ant-Man.
Along the way he meets chic fashion student Janet
Van Dyne and her scientist father. When the elder
Dr. Van Dyne is murdered, Janet not only turns to
Hank/Ant-Man to solve the murder but joins him as
his new sidekick The Wasp in solving the case. Without
being a detail spoiler, its worth noting that there's
an interesting science fiction element to the murder
mystery, as Dr. Pym was killed by an alien entity
which our tiny heroes discover and defeat by issue's
end.
I enjoyed this one-shot
origin issue for a few reasons. First, the origin
story is a very nice, modern-day refresher for Avengers
fans of the old-school origin details of this duo,
first told by Stan Lee in the very early days of
the Silver Age. Secondly, writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
adds a very strong emotional element to the re-telling,
emphasizing the emotional struggle that bonds our
heroes together, as Pym grieves the earlier murder
of his wife Maria and Janet newly-grieves her father's
death. Third, the art work is simply exquisite and
unique, giving us a panel lay-out and graphic style
that's both fresh and photographic in a very entertaining
manner. And finally, there is a goofy, cheesy element
to some of the story dialogue that adds a nice,
1960's throwback feel to this story. Whether intentional
or not, it reconnects these two mainstays of the
original Avengers team back to their Stan Lee origin
routes in a nice way that makes it all the more
fun to dive into this retelling of one of the earliest
origin tales of the modern-day Marvel Comics universe.
Next month's Avengers Origins issue will give us a
one-shot origin of The Vision. In the meantime, why
not start-off your collection of this worthwhile new
Avengers title with this month's high quality and
very entertaining re-telling of the Ant-Man and Wasp
origin story.
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Contest Winner Announcement!!!
Our latest contest challenged you
to correctly identify the most commonly-used street name
in America. We had several correct entries, so via a roll-of-the-dice
our winner is (drumroll, please)...Ray Loughlin III, who
correctly tells us that "Second Street" is the most common
American street name. Ironically, "First Street" is the
sixth most common street name in the U.S. Many Mid-Westerm
communities were laid-out in a grid street pattern, and
as such it was very common to identify the street closest
to Main Street/Central Street/First Street, etc. as Second
Street (versus our New England habit of paving-over old
cowpaths and naming them after folks in the community!).
Congratulations to Ray who wins our first prize $10.00 gift
certificate to That's Entertainment!
New
Contest Announcement!!!
One of our most popular contests
in recent months asked you to identify the most popular
fruit eaten in the U.S., which is the banana. So following
in the "fruit steps" of that contest, our latest contest
takes us to the world stage and challenges you to e-mail
us at Gordon_A@msn.com
with the correct answer to the question of what is the most
popular fruit eaten in the entire world. It might be the
banana or it might be something else, so e-mail us with
your entry no later than Wednesday, November 23. As always,
in the event of multiple correct entries, the winner of
the first prize $10.00 gift certificate to That's Entertainment
will be chosen via a roll of the dice.
That's all for now, so have
a great couple of comic book reading weeks and see you again
on Friday, November 25 Here In Bongo Congo!
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