Crossover Done Right!

I do a lot of bitching about Event Fatigue and Crossoveritis, which is a real thing.  I'm afflicted with acute cases of both, and I think it's worth complaining about.

Of course the only thing better than complaining is highlighting a positive, a signpost to point at and say "this is how things ought to be done".  Mark Waid's run on Daredevil is a how-to clinic on how superhero comics ought to be done - with an infatuation for the character and the genre.

Hack Slash # 13 hit the racks just the other day, and I was pleasantly shocked to find none other then Victor Morrow making a guest appearance!

Happy day, for lots of reasons.  Off the top of my head, I think the element that created the most novelty was the surprise - this was not in the solicitation, and I didn't hear anything about it from Seeley, Seifert, or Ketner in the usual spots.  That isn't to say that something wasn't announced, but I travel in the usual circles for these kinds of press releases and didn't bump into anything.  It was....a surprise, and in 2012, that's saying something.

More importantly, it makes a lot of sense.  If plopped into the same world, The Witch Doctor would absolutely be interested in Slashers as a treatable disease.  And yes, he would equally be interested in Vlad and Cassie, either as mutations or, I don't know, lymphic adaptations in the cosmological scheme.  Yup, the smart ass doctor should fit in quite nicely with the plot and the tone of the series.  Wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful.

Infinitely more enjoyable than Avengers Vs. X-Men, which won't see a dime of my money.  I have less than zero interest in that book.  After 1,000 NSF checks, who could possibly believe that this one won't bounce?  All you're getting with AvX is a giant expensive commercial for the next "Big Thing" that won't pay off.

Or you can read Hack Slash, which engages in clever, funny world-building on a monthly basis, with two leads that you can't help but fall in love with.  And when that book crosses over with something, it makes sense and enhances the experience, and does not require an ugly banner at the top of the book or an extra 37 disappointing tie-ins to purchase.

Hack Slash # 13....that's how you do a crossover.  Also, be reading Witch Doctor, too.  It's ridiculously good.

Chronic Review: The Tattered Man!

I got the Amanda Connor cover, of course!

The Tattered Man

Image Comics

Script:     Justin Gray/Jimmy Palmiotti

Pencils:   Norberto Fernandez

34 pages of story + another dozen of extras for $4.99

So, The Tattered Man.  I'm going to do this one really loose, so bear with me.

If asked to describe Tattered Man as a project, I would choose these words: strong, direct, visceral, satisfying.

The hook is blood simple - once upon a time a child named Isen escaped from a Nazi concentration camp with the help of a supernatural entity charged by the suffering of Jewish victims.  Isen kept the remaining rags locked safely away into his old age, discovered only when a trio of junkies robs his house looking to score.  The wheels come off the robbery, hijinx ensue, and the rags claim one of the robbers as their own, forcing him down a dark but potentially redemptive path as the vengeance seeking Tattered Man.

Gimmler:  creepy. evil. Nazi.

The comic looks fantastic, the visuals do not hold back.  There's a panel of Herr Gimmler in this comic that stopped me dead in my reading tracks.  It's hard to quantify just how astounding that is.  I read a lot of comics, my predilection is for text over the visuals, (yes, I know how stupid that sounds) and I've seen enough artwork at this point where it's difficult to phase me.  I saw that face and just stared at it for a few moments and just let the wow settle in for a bit.  Nailed it, Norberto Fernandez.  Nailed it.

The Tattered Man is a complex menagerie of lethal rags, and if this comic were a film, it would certainly earn an "R" rating, which suits me just fine.  I find no punch pulling, nor would I expect any from a script by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, the AC/DC of comics.  Yes, the tracks and albums do tend to sound familiar, but the riffs are raw, and powerful, and they do rock.

I mean, on the one hand, it really seems like this crew just visited the Nazis in Time Bomb.  That bogeyman has been done, by them, more than once.  On the other hand, the Nazis get visited because that symbol communicates.  This is really just a hybrid of Ghost Rider and Ragman, but at least it's Ghost Rider/Ragman done in a way that punches you in the throat.

I think sometimes Gray and Palmiotti are guilty of pruning their narrative bushes with chainsaws, but it works because it feels authentic, particularly in this story.  You understand how a pain like that could charge a vengeance creature, and the story shows you innocent blood that does feel like it needs to be avenged.  It just works.

The Tattered Man

And I don't mean to be too reductive, because I find some depth as well.  Isen asks the question that everyone should ask of vengeance - where were you before all this shit went down?  Vengeance is inferior because it is by definition late.   A better world would spend that energy stopping the bad things from happening, instead of compounding the problem with more pain.  Sometimes hurting back is all we've got, though.

Tattered Man also separates itself with a redemptive twist.  Dave, the man forced to wear the rags now, is the most sympathetic of the robbers.  Yet he's the one forced to bear the burden of righting the scales.  Mostly this means tearing into people in the most gruesome manner possible, but sometimes it means demanding that a woman make good by an orphan she helped create.  And there seems to be a way out for Dave if he can undo enough damage with the rags, providing hope and a driving motivation for the both the character and the book.  It works, man.

This is a prestige format type of package, basically a double-sized issue with a thicker and glossier cardstock cover for the price of just about two comics.  Is it a value?  It's on the border, I think.  Thirty four pages of story is really more like 1.5 comics, I guess.  I think the attribute that tips the scales toward the positive for me is that this comic represents a complete, satisfying story.

As your attorney, I advise you to go out and buy a copy of the Tattered Man if you have any interest in horror at all, because I would like to read more of these.

- Ryan

Chronic Review: Nether World # 1!

Nether World # 1

Image Comics

Script:    Bryan Edward Hill/Rob Levin

Art:        Tony Shasteen

Image is a bit unstoppable right now.  Lots of energy over there.  They're a bit more hit-and-miss than Vertigo if you look at the track record.  But if you were to ask me right now, as I type this:

"Who's got the most juice in comics?"

The answer is Image.  Enter Nether World, the latest in what seems to be an endless supply of fresh ideas.  The elevator pitch goes like this - Ray Parker is a classic noir dick hired by two different clients to find the same troubled dame in a city of lost souls.

Listen, the book has flaws.  The material has been done before, as the script itself alludes to midway through.  We've seen the Tough Guy With A Checkered Past, oh, sixty bajillion times at this point.  No noir tale is complete without a femme fatale bringing the detective (he's actually more of a skip tracer, but you say tomato...) a poisoned case, and so we've got that, too.  There's a lot of rough talk, and foul play, and nothing is as it seems, which is exactly how these things seem to go about business.  Whatever.

Here's the thing, and as things go, it's pretty important.  Nether World has more style in its vest pocket than most titles have in their whole wardrobe, and that's a scientific fact.  Style is not everything, but in a comics landscape that feels awfully rote, pre-ordained, and pointless - Nether World pops on every page, and that counts for a lot.

Once upon a time I used to watch Oksana Baiul skate, any chance I got.*  This was before she started drinking vodka like Warren Sapp would drink gatorade, back when she was crafting better twizzles instead of practicing one car accidents.  I don't know a damn thing about skating, but I don't think Oksana Baiul was a technical prodigy.  I do know that she had grace heads above any other girl on the ice, and even an idiot like myself could spot it from leagues away.  Nether World is sort of the Oksana Baiul of comics, except it's jamming you with punchy dialogue instead of mesmerizing you with Napolean Dynamite arm flutters.

So.  The art.  I'm still not qualified to judge these things.  From my caveman perspective, it's hit and miss.  Some of the action looks really dynamic to me, but sometimes the figures look awkwardly and obviously posed.  I don't think that Alexis looks like the same character from panel to panel, but she'll say stuff about leaving Parker the bottle, and who says stuff like that anymore?  And then I don't care that she doesn't really look like that in the next panel, because she still looks pretty hot, and I just want her to keep saying stuff.  And then she does.

The script is credited to Bryan Edward Hill and Rob Levin.  Not sure how the duties are distributed.  Maybe they both whip up a plot and one scripts?  Whoever is doing the dialogue is my hero.  The plot isn't bad, mind you.  I've every confidence that it's going to be fine, but it's early to tell if the plot is going to pay off yet or not.  Ray Parker (who you gonna call?) is in over his head on this case with the mysterious girl, it's all going end in tears, as these things inevitably do.

There's a twist at the end of the issue that takes the mystery of the thing and kicks it up a notch or three, and it legitimately took me by surprise.  But even that particular turn has been made many times before, and recently.  And that twist, good as it is, is not the primary draw for me.  It's not the beast per se, the magic is watching the way the beast moves. Every time somebody opens their mouth in this book, something exceptionally cool I wish I had thought of comes out.

The key to this book isn't reinventing the wheel, but putting an indelible shine on some really stylish rims.  And as long as Hill and Levin are at the wheel, I think I'm along for the ride.

- Ryan

*Yes, I watch women's figure skating.  The usual ridiculous criticism I endure over this fact is that it makes me a Giant Fag.  My response to this critique is two fold.  Firstly, I should be so lucky as to someday be cool enough to be a Giant Fag.  Secondly, I point out the irony of the attack, since it generally comes from supposedly heterosexual males who think my time would be better spent watching men in tight pants tackle and roll around the ground with other men in tight pants, rather than watch nubile young women in very short skirts bend into impossible positions in the most provocative manner possible.  But that's America, folks, land of irony.

Chronic Review: Halcyon # 1!

Halcyon # 1
Image Comics
Script: Marc Guggenheim/Tara Butters
Pencils: Ryan Bodenheim
22 pages for $2.99

Halcyon is a patchwork I haven't seen before constructed of things I've seen before. The antagonist is Oculus, and he's developed the ability to visit other dimensions/realities. He uses that ability to team up with his other selves, share information, and better dominate the respective home dimensions. It' s sort of a blend of Hickman's conclave or Reeds and the Wanted syndicate, except we're dealing with a Von Doom type instead of a Reed Richards.

The protagonists are a super team called Halcyon, lead by Zenith. She's banging an anti-hero named Sabre who has more scars on his back than Kunta Kinte. You just want to shout through the page and yell "Dude, it's not worth it! Just tell the guy your name is Toby and plot his inevitable demise in your spare time! Some day you'll be wearing a barrette on your face aboard the star ship Enterprise and it will all work out, I promise!" But some guys are just stubborn that way. (Now I'm digressing with Roots jokes? Yeesh. American slavery, now there's a comedy gold mine!)

At any rate, the problem on this particular world is that there are no problems. Someone or something kickstarted a phenomenon that is reducing the world's crime at an exponential rate. It doesn't sound like such a bad thing when you type it like that, but the way it's presented in the comic book is actually quite creepy.

My favorite moment in the book is a little (seemingly) throw away scene where we meet Sabre dispensing with some gun-toting hoodlums. There's the usual bravado and big budget action scene, and the criminals are apprehended. As Sabre turns his prey over to the police, they remark on how they kind of miss the usual body count.

Now taken at face value when I first read it, that scene rankled me a bit. It's just too much testosterone for me to swallow. But later, we find out that something is obviously working behind the scenes to prevent crime. And given that information...it's actually really spooky. Because now Sabre has to ponder - why didn't I kill those guys?

One of the great fears for any rational human is losing one's sense of self. If I ever find out I've got Alzheimer's...I'm checking myself out. Can't deal with it, too painful. What Guggenheim has constructed as the threat in this comic is a loss of free will that infects with no fanfare and no visible symptoms. Reality is simply being re-written to erase free will, (if such a thing exists, and I say it does) and that's positively horrifying. But it's a horror that manifests itself in people paying their taxes and not killing the people the turn over to the police. It's an interesting hook, and it's rendered subtly.

A couple of other things I liked. In the beginning of the book, "Jarhead" is ripping his way through Pakistan looking for Bin Laden. From a distance, the font actually looks a little like Urdu characters. But as you read them closely, you can see that it's actually English dressed to look like Urdu. It's a little difficult to read, but you know what? I think that actually helps the effect. I've never seen anything like that before, and I thought it was fantastic.

Incidentally, that scene also reads differently after you're exposed to the "anti-crime" effect. Bin Laden's broheims admit that they've already killed him - because he was an evil man. It's just bizarre on the first pass, and then you think to yourself..."that's the anti-crime effect in it's early stages, infecting their brains and using their still-active aggression to implement a peaceful solution." Kinda creepy-cool.

Also, there's this dude named Enos, and he's a cybernetically enhanced space chimp. And he's awesome.

I'm a teensy bit concerned about the alternate reality nonsense, because I've read too many stories that mistake confusion for sophistication. I'm not convinced that this story requires a gazillion different Occuli from 13 different realities in order to make this story fly. I think the anti-crime effect is a plenty good enough hook without it.

But to be fair, we're one issue in, and maybe at the end we find out that the different realities do make a significant difference to the storytelling. I'm just announcing my concerns now.

The other "problem" with the book is that other than Enos, I'm not really attached to any of these characters. It's early, so that may not be fair. I'm a character guy, though, and the strength of Halcyon seems to be based around the plot. Nothing wrong with that intrinsically, it just places itself outside of my wheelhouse.

I recommend Halcyon because Guggenheim has built a conflict rich with possibilities. It's difficult to read this and not wonder about how much Oculus has to do with this weird phenomenon making everybody act all nicey, how that effect will continue to warp people's decisions, and what the Oculus end game entails. As the first issue ends, his big plans include turning himself in to the authorities.

The whole thing is just a bit off the beaten path, and satisfyingly so. At $2.99, that's more than enough for me to reward this book with my patronage until it disappoints.


- Ryan

Chronic Review: Skullkickers # 1!

Skullkickers # 1
Image Comics
Script: Jim Zubkavich
Pencils: Chris Stevens & Edwin Huang
22 pages + 3 pages of extras for $2.99

Hard to imagine any comic that hit the scene with more pre-emptive buzz. There's a recent trend for tiny creator owned books blowing up: Locke & Key, Chew, Morning Glories. Each of those books had the good sense to be worth money after folks had a chance to actually read them.

Skullkickers is a new breed altogether, though. This thing was commanding 5X times cover price purely on speculation. Now that's heat!

So now that it's out...does the work justify the hype? Well, no. But before I get into what Skullkicker's isn't, I'd like to start out with what it is.

This is a buddy cop story about a couple of mercenaries, set in a Dungeon's & Dragons type backdrop. Neither of the main characters have names yet. The dwarf likes to kick things and make jokes - we'll call him Dwarfpool, since that's what he is. His larger human partner is no stranger to combat but more reserved, refined, and has a detective's eye. We'll call him Cable Guy, since that's what he is.

Cable Guy & Dwarfpool scratch out a living curing monster problems. They take great delight in doing this, and Dwarfpool spouts a lot of one-liners. Fine, but we're not exactly re-defining the genre here, are we?

After a quick warm-up with a big fat werewolf, the boys stumble upon a potentially lucrative case - the assassination of a muckity-muck chancellor. Cable Guy spots a dark figure in a tower just before the chancellor takes an arrow in the face. Cable Guy chucks Dwarfpool into the top of the tower so they can cash in on the 1,000 opa reward.

The killer gets away after a some gum-flapping and monk-shotting, and now the chancellor's body has been carted away. The mercenaries negotiate a fee to retrieve the corpse, but by the last page Cable Guy & Dwarfpool may have bitten off more than they can chew.

This comic does have some things going for it. You don't need to read 53 other things to figure out what's going on, and you don't need to attend Dartmouth to follow the action. Speaking of action, there is plenty of it. The book is briskly paced, and while tastes vary I would say you're getting your $2.99 out of the comic.

But the Next Next Big Thing? No, not really. This is just Cable & Deadpool without Nicieza's wit or cutting social commentary. I thought the bit about the fat werewolf was mildly amusing, but most of Dwarfpool's jokes just don't land. Most of the humor consists of Dwarfpool being grumpy, which is fine I suppose, but not groundbreaking.

I found some of the dialogue jarring. Most of the time the characters talk in a kind of stilted, archaic pattern. Some of that works pretty well. Dwarfpool says "Don' worry, yer dignits. We'll catch the blooder!" I rather like that. Occasionally they break pattern and speak as though they just got done tweeting a post about Justin Bieber. Cable Guy advises Dwarfpool not to "go there", at one point.


It's not a deal breaker, and it's probably consistent with the tone of the book, which is entirely dedicated to fun. The comic does not take itself seriously, so I guess there's no reason to be slavish about diction. Your mileage may vary on that, but I wasn't in love with the speech anachronisms.

The only other item I found problematic was a blatant contradiction. The jerkwad law man forbids the mercs to chase the assassin on page 13... and then demands to know why Cable Guy isn't chasing him on page 17! Maybe the point was to demonstrate the fickle nature of the character. Maybe. I think it's more likely a screw up. Again, not the end of the world - but if the book can't keep that straight, how in the world can I really invest in it?

For all I know, this comic turns into a runaway freight train, and I wish it well. I wouldn't pay $15 for it, though, that's for sure. If your store sold out and you're interested, get with your comic shop and order the second print shipping in mid October. This is not a bad comic, per se. Matter of fact, I would guess that it hits my broadcast partner in a very cozy place and he happily adds it to his monthly pull. And lord knows I have shrugged my shoulders and watched feeding frenzies I didn't quite understand. Battle Chasers comes to mind. This could do very well indeed. But it's not for me.

So yeah. There's nothing particularly broken about Skullkickers, and I think I might feel better about it if it hadn't come with 160 metric tons of hype. It's a serviceable actioner with a lot of fun and energy behind it. But given the choice, I'd far prefer something like Red Robin. And comparing Skull Kickers to say....Morning Glories? To each her own, but that's like comparing fourth grade finger painting to a Rembrandt.

- Ryan

Chronic Review: Turf # 1

Turf # 1
Image Comics
Script: Jonathan Ross
Pencils: Tommy Lee Edwards
26 pages (+1 page of Millar-spiel)for $2.99

I just don't have the mental reserves to attempt a re-creation at the first review I did of this book. So I've decided to mix things up a bit and run this as a Q&A and see what happens.

Q: So what's all this hullaballo regarding Turf - why is this a "Buzz Book"?

A: In the states, this is just another Image book nobody will read. But over in Jolly Olde, Jonathan Ross is a pretty big deal. In England they call television hosts "presenters", and Ross is about as popular as they get. He's got a standard talk show and also does movie reviews.

So over here, nobody gives a rat's ass. But in the UK, this would be the equivalent of Jay Leno or David Letterman starting his own comic. Forbidden Planet in London ordered more copies of this book than they've ever ordered anything ever. That's the level of interest we're talking about.

Q: OK, so what's the book about, then?

A: Turf was solicited as a gang war book populated with goons, vampires, and aliens set in prohibition era New York. That's exactly what it is.

Q: Sounds pretty wild.

A: That's not a question, but I'll run with it. It is pretty wild. I will sometimes talk nebulously about books that radiate "energy", and this is one of those comics. It doesn't just lay there dead, and this is not a guy slogging through his prose earning a paycheck. This is a ridiculous, over-the-top science fiction horror extravaganza.


To his credit, Ross plays it pretty straight. There are moments, particularly when the vampires start talking, that Turf comes dangerously close to being just silly. For the most part, the story plays out in mostly realistic and often brutal fashion.


Q: What does a bloody Limey know about 1920s New York?

A: Enough, I guess. Like I said, sometimes the vampire speech gets a bit over-the-top. But as far as the gangster/period talk goes, that never bothered me or pulled me out of the story. I'm not a linguist or a historian, so for all I know, he completely botched it. It all sounded reasonably authentic to me. There was nothing problematic about the period stuff. At least not for me.

Q: But there were some problematic items?

A: Well, sure, nothing is perfect except Kate Beckinsale. Ross is a television presenter by trade, not a comic book writer. Being new to the medium, he's written enough dialogue and exposition to choke a hippo. It gets so bad in places that the panels look absolutely absurd, because the word balloons have completely covered up Tommy Lee Edwards' art.

I'm not an art critic or a cinematography guy. So when Ryan notices that stuff....it's pretty bad. But listen, I don't consider it a deal breaker. Bottom line is that all of those words add an extraordinary value to the book. It took me almost 20 minutes to read this thing. I think I can read the entire "Old Man Logan" arc in that time.

I would be concerned if all of those words were dull and lifeless. They are not. I actually like the character of Eddie Falco, and there's a kind of infectious madness about the thing. Jonathan Ross is not an idiot. He will look at issue 1, recognize the issue, and iron it out. In the meantime, you're getting 6 times the story you normally do. Darn.

Q: So Jonathan Ross actually has some chops?

A: Damn straight. This is not Mayhem, for fuck's sake. He may not have a history writing comics, but he's still a writer, and it shows. Turf is a little bit odd, but you know what? That's a good thing. I used to bitch about Roger Ebert a lot, because his reviews seemed to favor anything that different, regardless of what I considered to be quality.

And now I get it. You watch enough of the same old movies, you read enough of the same old comics, you get sick of it. Give me something different, please. Turf is different. This will be the only comic you read this month featuring a guy putting his cigarrette out on a dead hooker's ass. That's a good thing.


My assessment is that Turf has some warts, but the beast is healthy and shows promise. I like books where the writer's passion bleeds out of the pages, and this is one of those. Jonathan Ross does not need to be doing comic books, folks. This is a labor of love, and it's actually a comparatively cost-efficient bit of fun.

- Ryan

PS: As mentioned on Market Spotlight, it may not be a bad idea to have a copy of Walking Dead # 70, featuring the first appearance of Turf in preview form. When Chew hit hard, the Kirkman preview instantly spiked to around $20. It wouldn't be out of the question to see a similar result here if interest peaks on this title.

Chronic Review: Fade to Black # 1

Fade to Black # 1
Image Comics
Script: Jeff Mariotte
Pencils: Danielle Serra
22 pages for $3.50

I bought into this book based on the solicitation copy, which sold Fade to Black as a survival horror book with a few clever twists in store. Things suddenly get real for a group of five actors on a desert set when a mysterious band of cannibals start eating the production crew. That could be fun, right?

I like horror in general, and I like your basic survival scenario a great deal. Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight is one of my all time top ten films - that's how much I love the niche.

So how is it that I would rather have a fresh glass of blow fish toxin than read another issue of Fade to Black? Let me count the ways.

Maybe it's Mario's incredibly authentic "gangsta" dialogue:

Makes you feel like you're on the mean streets. Esse. Somewhere Brian Azzarello is crying, and he doesn't know why.

Maybe it's these clever little "character moments" that subtly announce that they are CHARACTER MOMENTS by punching you in the throat while holding a roll of quarters:


Could it be the super realistic emotional reactions of the characters? I'm sure if you were a budding actor and just saw your director's decapitated head laying on the table, you'd bust out your rapier with like this:


It gets better. Directly after this "Aggh!" and that something that I think was intended to be funny, the entire group just goes on about their business of looking for a cell phone as though it was a plate of cheese and crackers on the table instead of a co-workers skull.

If that weren't enough to make you close the book and set fire to it, this incredibly long and completely improbable piece of exposition should do the trick:

Wha??? Why exactly is Dave Koresh in the distance being cryptic about "rightful places" and the "goal" when he's surrounded by nothing but dirt and his lackeys? Not only is that bit too talky and too long, but it reads like it was put down by Ed Wood. This is the hook that's supposed to drag us into the next issue, that and the mystery of who "the one" might be from our group of five actors we care nothing about. I don't think so. It's not just clumsy, it's an affront to fiction.

What makes it extra painful is the fact that 9 of the 22 pages of this book contain 3 panels or less. It reads in 3 minutes. There's just no value here. I'm struggling to find something positive to say here, and I can't. These things happen. Unfortunately. NEXT!

- Ryan

Chronic Review: Colt Noble & The Megalords

Colt Noble & The Megalords
Image Comics
Scripts: Tim Seeley
Pencils: Mike Dimayuga
64 pages for $5.99


To cut to the quick, Colt Noble is a He-Man parody. This should come as no surprise to Hack/Slash fans, who are used to Seeley lovingly splashing that book with 80s references. Hack/Slash is also no stranger to parody.

And if you're a fan of Hack/Slash, there's no reason why you wouldn't enjoy Colt Noble. It's the same happy mix of dark humor, sex appeal, and gratuitous action. When you get done reading a Tim Seeley offering, you're guaranteed to be grinning at the end.



This is comics done fun, what Alan Moore would probably refer to as "hamburger reading." But you know what? A good hamburger is well....good.

The plot? I wouldnt' bother, but the gist of the story is that young Prince Jaysen is supposed to be learning how to be a man so he can learn how to be a king. He's more interested in getting into his personal trainer Mareea's pants. Or blouse. He'd like to get anywhere with her, but he's actually just a little dink.

The conflict? Again, not particularly important, but a young lady named Hoodoo Hex gets pushed to the brink by some religiously intolerant D-Bags at the local pub and ends up summoning Archfiend, Lord of Annihilation instead of the hot-goth boyfriend she was trying to cook up. Let the hijinkx ensue!


Prince Jaysen fumbles his way into a trap that ultimately turns him into action figure avatar Colt Noble! Young Jaysen now has the ability to turn the tide against Archfiend's attacks and maybe a shot at the lovely Mareea if his still toxically infantile mind doesn't sabotage his new beefy looks.




This comic will not change your life. But it is damn funny, particulary whenever Archfiend is on stage. Double that when he's on stage with his summoner, Hoodoo. As usual, Seeley takes shots at a wide variety of targets including many of the cliched comic tropes he's steeped the book in. If you don't have a stick in your bum, you'll laugh at this comic. It reads like a Masters of the Universe movie written by the guys who did Porky's. How can you deny that?

I say even if it wasn't good, we owe it to Hack/Slash to funnel poor Tim Seeley some money, because DDP is in some financial straits and is now paying him in.....office space? That's cute and all, but Mr. Seeley needs money. But thing of it is...Colt Noble is good. Go buy this book, laugh a little, bask in a little guilty pleasure and reward a deserving talent instead of some "must read event" book that you're not really digging, would you, please?

- Ryan