DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #9

**

Stranded in an alternate universe overrun by zombies, the only safe-haven being a secret research lab run by non-zombified humans attempting to solve the zombie epidemic, Deadpool has found himself doing missions to help himself and his traveling companions to return to their own universe. With the assistance of the severed head of his alternate self now a zombie, one of these missions is to capture a Super Human within the universe who has also been turned into a zombie. By using the severed head, Deadpool lures the Super-zombie into a trap to then capture him and take him back to the secret lab. To pay Deadpool for his services, the lead researcher, a very fine, rather horny Professor Veronica pays Deadpool by sleeping with him.

Published for May of 2010 by Marvel and written by Victor Gischler and pencilled by Bong Dazo, This comic book left quite a bit to be desired. I was really looking forward to reading this story, knowing that Deadpool is indeed the "Merc with a mouth," I was expecting a lot more action and attitude from this one. The pace of the book was rather slow and the only somewhat humorous repartee was between Deadpool and his own zombified severed head, and even that was more annoying than funny or interesting.

The redeeming factor in this issue was the artwork by Dazo. His rendering of the zombies were grotesque and over the top, but only slightly which made for a great hand-drawn comic feel. And even his illustrations of Professor Veronica were gorgeous enough to make her reward good bait for Deadpool's capturing of the zombie.

I did not like how the story ended though, just as it seemed that the action was going to start as the zombies learned the location of the secret laboratory, the issue ended with "To be continued..." Though I thought the artwork was awesome, I've always been more story oriented and the story just didn't trip my trigger in this one, which is why I rate DEADPOOL: MERC WITH A MOUTH #9 a two of five stars.

PROJECT A-KO the graphic novel

**1/2

A United States adaption to graphic novel form of a Japanese animation film, PROJECT A-KO definitely has a Japanese anime feel to it. Katsuhiko Nishijima and Kazumi Shirasaka wrote the original storyline for the Japanese anime using characters designed by Yuji Moriyama. However Tim Eldred is responsible for transforming the film to comic form with the artistic assistance of Ben Dunn's pencils. This graphic novel, published in 1995 by CPM (Central Park Media) Comics, is a collection of four comic books chapters released previously as individual releases.

PROJECT A-KO follows three main characters: A-Ko -- our heroine, a red-haired, 15-year-old high school girl who has inherited super strength and speed from her super-hero parents; B-Ko -- A-Ko's nemesis and classmate who happens to be an engineering genius and sole heir to her families fortunes; and C-Ko who considers A-Ko to be her best friend in the world and spends every moment devoting herself to making her best friend happy, up to and exceeding the point of being overbearing and highly annoying. Oh, and did I mention that C-Ko is the object of both A-Ko and B-Ko's affection?

The heart of the story is definitely about the struggle between A-Ko and B-Ko in order to win the heart of C-Ko. Battles are ever escalating between the two as B-Ko continues to build stronger, more powerful robots in order to do her bidding and A-Ko continues to destroy them. The story is filled with many different comedic shticks that involve A-Ko's constant tardiness, and C-Ko's cooking as well as her constant mood swings. They even stick an agent in there who is trying to kidnap A-Ko for her relation to a certain "Super" guy as well as a known "Wonderful" lady!

Now that the plot-line stuff is out of the way, lets get down to reviewing it. This was the first book that I've read that has had a heavy Japanese influence in the story and structure. I liked all the banter between the characters, I thought that it was all quite humorous! Typically, I'm not a fan of anime or manga, but I know enough to know that traditional manga is printed in reverse and generally in black and white. To start out with, I believe that it was the fact that this was an American adaption and that it was coming from an anime film that this was in color, which I did like. The illustration was solid and definitely had the feel of the Japanese anime. Even though the story was told well, I still find that the characters truly weren't that interesting and that the plot wasn't what was keeping me turning the pages. This is why I give PROJECT A-KO, out of a possible five stars, a two-and-a-half.

MAD-DOG #1

****

First off, I would like to apologize to those who actually follow this blog because I haven't posted anything in a long time. During the Wisconsin winters it gets very cold, and our computer room in the house here does not have heat, making it very uncomfortable to sit and freeze my proverbial backside off just to write a review to a comic book that no one has thought of in years. However, now that warmer weather is on the rise again, I'm hoping that I will be able to get back to doing some more reviews. And, in fact, the comic book I will be reviewing for you today is among one of my favorite series. Unfortunately it didn't fit the times that it was in and therefore suffered a short run by Marvel, however I found the series highly entertaining. It's called Mad-Dog!


This series of Mad-Dog, a part of Marvel's "Ace Comics" line goes back to May of 1993. Mad-Dog used a rather unique style to fit two comic books into one. It seems that the editors couldn't choose between which version of the Mad-Dog character to write into their comic series; a wholesome, upstanding super-hero with dog powers and a young boy side-kick, or an almost rabid animalistic Mad-Dog hellbent on destroying the people who cursed him with his canine abilities. Their solution was to run both characters in the same magazine, one starting at one cover going half-way through while the other character starts at the other cover and runs upside-down heading back to the center.

Writer Evan Dorkin and penciler Gordon Purcell handle the "rough-edged" character while Ty Templeton handles writing and drawing on the clean-cut version. Let's start with the rough-edged Mad-Dog. With his DNA fused together with that of a dog, Dr. Jeffrey Austin finds himself with super-human strength and speed as well as heightened senses and a bit of a temper that he can't control. This first issue doesn't go far into Dr. Austin's background, but alas, true believers, I have read ahead a bit to give you the background. Mainly the first issue is an introduction to Mad-Dog as a vigilante in the Chicago-land area beating up gang-bangers. The illustrations in this version are highly detailed and action oriented even if the coloring was quite dark. To compare Mad-Dog to DC's Batman would make this version of Mad-Dog edited by Tom DeFalco most conducive to the "Dark Knight" style character.

On the flip side of this issue we find editor Bob McKay's more PG Mad-Dog. Dr. Jeffrey Austin in a veterinarian who, thanks to an experiment gone wrong, has many dog-like abilities. Along with his side-kick, Buddy, "The Bravest Boy Alive," he battles wrong-doers all around town. Reading this version of Mad-Dog, I can't help but this of Adam West's Batman from the original TV series way back when. The art has a more golden-age feel to it, going as far as using action words like "Wham!" and "Crash!" While I did enjoy both versions, I found that I did prefer McKay's more wholesome Mad-Dog, simply because the subtle humor in it cracks me up! Considering also the double-sided format of the comic book, and that I enjoyed both Mad-Dogs. I would have to rate Mad-Dog #1 a four out of five stars.

New Stuff!

Just to give you a heads up, I recently got a bunch of new comic books! Yesterday, my son Tommy and my wife Melissa accompanied me to a comic book store on the west side of Madison so that they could meet a friend of mine who works there, come to find out that he was sick that day. However, while there I did pick up a couple of new comics, and on the way home, we stopped off at Half-Price Books, where I found a couple of graphic novels that I look forward to reviewing for this site.

I also happened across a bargain. When the book store has too many comic books, they take the ones they have had for a long time that simply aren't selling and wrap them in a big bundle of anywhere from 40 to 50 comic books and then sell the bundle for $5-$6! I found one of these and when I got it home I was pleasantly surprised to find 14 issues of Daredevil as well as some other stuff that looks pretty good and even a couple of graphic novels thrown into the mix.

I am attempting to get some more of the newer releases, however, I am quite limited in my funds, so generally what I have is more of the older stuff, but that's not to say that old is bad. Comics have always been known for the artistic way that they tell stories. But yes, as I get the newer comics I will post my reviews here. I'm truly looking forward to reading all the "new" stuff and I also look forward to reviewing them and posting those reviews here for all to peruse. I hope that you enjoy!

GREEN ARROW #13

***

The Green Arrow is a classic character from DC Comics.  He is millionaire playboy Oliver Queen, who learned survival skills and archery after falling off a yacht and marooned on a deserted isle with nothing but a long bow he had purchased because it was a movie prop.  Eventually, he finds his way back to civilization and creates the heroic persona known as the "Green Arrow." 

This issue of GREEN ARROW was released as DC's Holiday issue in 1988.  Written by Mike Grell and penciled by Dan Jurgens and Dick Giordano, this issue finds our hero returning home to Seatle after an extensive encounter with the Yakuza while abroad.  Right away, he begins his heroic deeds being "Johnny B. Do-Gooder," both in and out of costume.  Some of the deeds he does include rescue a cat from a tree, stop an abusive husband, help a little old lady change a tire and stop a group of Neo-Nazis from assaulting an old man on the streets.  Then we find that Oliver is being hunted down by an unknown assailant and the book ends with the classic cliff hanger.

Grell, I would say does a decent job with the story.  It's original, however at this point, not exactly riviting.  There is an element of mystery in the the whole "who's tryin' to kill him?" storyline, but that question doesn't really enter until the last two pages.  I also found that the "Johnny B. Do-Gooder" element in the middle was a bit hoaky.  I do like the beginning of the story in which he is reunited with his girlfriend.  Grell does a great job writing her range of emotions upon Oliver's return; first overjoyed at his return, then worried concern over the wounds that he has from his battle with the Yakuza, then extreme anger that he has brought this intense worry into her life--anger enough to make her knock the crap out of him with a vicious right cross, and eventually back to the feeling of relief that he is actually home.

The visuals in this one are quite good.  Jurgens and Giordano make great use of space and have a good mix of framing.  All flows quite well visually.  Also well done would be the colors added by Julia Lacquement, they really add a lot of dimension as well as warmth or mystery to the proper scenes.  In my opinion, the graphics in GREEN ARROW #13 bring it up in the ratings.  Without the rich graphics, I would have given this issue a two and a half, however, I think that the graphics bring it up to about a three out of five.

NAZRAT #1

****

Going back to 1986 with this one, NAZRAT #1 was published by Imperial Comics out of Boulder, Colorado.  Both written and drawn by Jerry Frazee, Nazrat is a character from a fantasy world in which animals are "intelligent" beings that commingle with society.  He is a rogue rat, accomplished thief and survival expert who uses his cunning to get out of sticky situations, accompanied by his friend Kipper, who is a tender-hearted, muscle-bound dog.  Together, the two roam the countryside and steal from other robbers and "miscreants" and Kipper titles them.

Though Nazrat and Kipper are rough and tumber characters, this series seems to be one part action, one part comedy.  Frazee writes the dialog for the characters very well and does a nice job of showing the friendship between the two without being corny.  He also shows the action in the story through decent artwork and through quick banter. 

I'm not sure if there it is just a coincidence that the main character's name is really just Tarzan spelled backward, but the reference really doesn't come up in the story line, I was kinda hoping for a spoof of the theme from the Tarzan stories.  However, I guess that Nazrat is a very agile rough tough fighter and has a real good instinct about how to take care of himself, maybe that's where the reference comes in.  Mr. Jerry Frazee, if you happen to read this, please let me know more about this question I have of the origin of Nazrat's name.

Even though the book was published in black and white, I thought that the artwork was very fitting of the story and the characters.  I also like that the comic was absent of any advertising, except for previews of other comics published by Imperial located on the last two pages.  That does drive up the price of the book over all, however it allows for more room for story, which I thought flowed very well in this, the first issue of NAZRAT.  All the elements above combine, in my opinion, for a rating of four out of five stars.

and now a word from our sponser:

(well not really a sponser, just a funny picture I found)

 

SPIDER-GIRL "Avenging Allies"

***1/2

Sorry that it's been so long since I have posted any reviews.  I have been pretty busy in life.  However, I have been doing some reading.  Some of that reading has included Marvel's "SPIDER-GIRL Avenging Allies," written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Pat Olliffe.  This one is a graphic novel that collects Spider-Girl #12-16 and the 1999 Annual and is the third volume of Marvel's SPIDER-GIRL graphic novels.  To be honest I probably wouldn't have spent my time on a Spider-Girl book, but I happened across this one at my church's rummage sale for just a quarter.  Can't go wrong at that price!

May "Mayday" Parker is the daughter of Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man.  Mayday has inherited some of Spider-Man's abilities, including super-strength, some of his ability to stick to walls and most importantly, his agility and "Spider sense."  During this collection, she is in the process of learning how to use her abilities to combat crime and foes the likes of Darkdevil, the Avengers and the man named Kaine, who shows her the worst defeat she has ever known.  Spider-Girl also finds herself teaming up with Speedball to do battle with a Mr. Fantastic style villain named Mr. Abnormal.  Throughout the whole book, Mayday is battling her emotions, wondering if she is doing the right thing using her abilities in the same manner that her father did as Spider-Man.

As I mentioned earlier, typically this is not a book that I would have grabbed shopping by looking at the cover.  However, I'm glad that I was able to find this one at the rummage sale.  I was very pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this novel!  Pat Olliffe  makes the book look wonderful and Tom DeFalco has always been an awesome writer in my personal opinion.  The only thing that I wasn't too crazy about with Spider-Girl, is the way that her thoughts are written in the second person.  I understand that DeFalco was trying to allow the reader to feel more like they were in fact in the story.  However, it didn't take to long to get used to how her inner thoughts were written.  I will definitely continue to look for other Spider-Girl comics.  All in all I thought that this was a very good book!  I'm going to give "SPIDER-GIRL Avenging Allies" a score of three and a half out of five stars.