BOOK POST | COMICS ROUND UP | AUGUST

Hello Everyone,

Here we are at the end of another month and I must admit my reading has been a little disrupted this month due to holidays and house improvements. However, I have managed to get some books and some comics read this month

Right! Let’s go!

Last month was the Eisner Awards (I think it was July 25th – not quite sure though) and this first comic was the winner for best limited series.

ZATANNA: BRING DOWN THE HOUSE

Mariko Tamaki, Javier Rodriguez (illustrator)

The winner in this book is the Art by Javier Rodriguez. However, the story is not too shabby either.

I do have a soft spot for Zatanna, and like to read anything to do with her.

As I said earlier, the art of this comic is the star of the show, particularly the colours used which mixes a kind of pop art style with a mix of heady psychedelia. In addition to doing the pencilling duties, Rodriguez also did the colourists job, so his vision for his art is not being interpreted by anyone else.

The story itself is basically a retelling of Zatanna’s origins. Similar to the art style there is a nice healthy psychedelic storyline which draws from Lewis Carrol amongst other things. In addition to this, there is a nice interpretation of The Phantom Stranger.

HELEN OF WYNDHORN

Tom King, Bilquis Evely (illustrator), Mat Lopes (illustrator)

The second comic on the list is another Eisner winner. This time it is Helen of Wyndhorn, which is written by the same team who wrote Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Helen Of Wyndhorn is one of those comics where I actually changed my rating. The story is a mix of Robert E. Howard’s Conan and Narnia. However, at the heart of it, it is a tale of grief and loss after the main character loses her father to suicide and how she deals with it.

The story revolves around Helen, who after the loss of her father is sent a governess to return her to her grandfather’s home Wyndhorn.

The story has different dimensions to it in that it is told from the pov of the old governess recounting her interactions with Helen and her Grandfather. But then the story takes on a life of its own as it is told to various people who are interested in the story. In addition to this, the story in some respects has echoes of Howards own suicide in that Helen’s father is an author who is writing sword and sorcery books. However, what no one realises is that the stories are based on fact and are not in fact made up stories.

The book does pack an emotional punch, particularly when we learn about Helen, who is not coping well and has turned to alcohol to manage her grief.

THE TWILIGHT MAN: ROD SERLING AND THE BIRTH OF TELEVISION

Koren Shadmi

The next book on the list is Twilight Man, which is a biographical comic of the life of Rod Serling.

This was an interesting and informative comic charting the legendary presenter of the Twight Zone’s life and career in television.

The comic deals with Serling’s time in World War 2 and from there when he went into writing scripts for television and became ‘the angry young man’ of television and finally his fight to get the Twight Zone onto television in order to bring real world politics into a fantastical setting.

This was well worth a read.

THE WITCHING HOUR

Jeph Loeb, Chris Bachalo (Illustrator), Art Thibert (Illustrator)

Written by the legendary Jeph Loeb, who has written some of the most influential comics such as Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Hush, and in addition to this, the art is by Chris Bachalo.

I have to admit that I had high expectations and it was disappointing at best.

The story (from what I could work out) follows a group of witches who are in the business of giving out second chances and justice.

It sounds ok, but to be honest it was a confusing mess. The story has interconnecting stories following a number of different people, flitting between the present and the background of one of the characters in the past. but in the end it comes together to give some kind of closure.

I definitely did not work for me.

CLIVE BARKER’S NIGHTBREED Vol. 1.

Marc Andreyko, Clive Barker (Creator), Piotr Kowalski (Illustrations)

I enjoyed the original film of this back in the eeeeeerm 1990’s? 

Let me consult the trusty (take that with a pinch of salt 😂) internet.

(Type type type) When was Nightbreed made? Aaah yes 1990. There you go!

And I also enjoyed the original book Cabal by Clive Barker, so when I saw this I had to read it. 

The Story gives background to some of the main characters that we encounter in the film and fleshes them out a bit. 

I really enjoyed this and will definitely be going back to read the other two volumes. 

BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD'S FINEST, VOL. 1: THE DEVIL NEZHRA

Mark Waid, Dan Mora (Illustrator), Tamra Bonvillain (Colourist)

Gosh! I really enjoyed this! 

Set in the silver age of comics this is reminiscent of the comics that I read when I was a kid. It’s a full-on nostalgia fest, but with up-to-date sensibilities.

Like I said this is set in a timeline of the comics that doesn’t affect the current timeline, and it is just fun! It’s like one big hug of a comic where you are rooting for the heroes. Obviously, things inevitably go wrong. Will they defeat this super warlord wizard bloke who was once the scourge of the planet and subsequently had his ass kicked by ancient superheroes. Well, what do you think? The art by Dan Mora and the inks by Tamra Bonvillain were just poppin and really add to the overall enjoyment of this comic.

ICE CREAM MAN, VOLUME 1: RAINBOW SPRINKLES

W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo (Illustrator)

Hmmmmmm! Not sure about this one!

This one is regularly touted as being one of the best current horror comics, but they must be reading a different comic to me. Don’t get me wrong it was alright, but most of the stories in this first volume were hit and miss (more miss than hit tbh). The comic is cut into individual stories. And like I said. They were alright, but nothing to write home about.

I might continue with the series and see if improves but it won’t be top of my list.

THE SENTRY

Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee (Artist), José Villarrubia (Color)

I read this as a direct result of watching the new Thunderbolts* film after I watched it the other day, and the fact that I did a 7 day trial on Marvel Ultimate.

I have never read this at all and when I was watching the film, I had no idea who Sentry and the Void were. It was probably at the time when I wasn’t reading comics as much (in both the 90’s and 00’s) due to being busy in life.

I enjoyed this one and I liked the approach that the writers took to introduce a new hero into the Marvel canon.

I particularly enjoyed how you never really knew whether the events taking place on the page were in fact in the main character’s head or whether they were based in reality and the ambiguity that this posed.

The art by Jae Lee fit the comic really well, but what I liked the most was the colours by Jose Villarubia which were quite muted and understated, fitting the comic well.