Reviews: Ghosts and spirit animals and bears, oh my!
My local comic shop has been reinvented! All because of this column. Whereas I previously visited with a few specific graphic novels in mind and kept the window shopping minimal … now I’m patrolling the new arrivals wall like a shark, pacing back and forth in search of fresh discoveries. It can take a few laps to spot some surprises, mostly ignoring the franchise superhero reboots because I have been down that road more than a few times. Each visit, I’m finding a lot of compelling titles, unique ideas, and new creators. A good reminder to reconsider any habits and discover what’s been right there all along. And now … our weekly installment reviewing first issues of new comics on the stand.
Blow Away
Blow Away
Zac Thompson
Nicola Izzo
Francesco Segala
BOOM! Studios
Did you like True Detective: Night Country and are craving more creepy isolated mystery in an isolated arctic setting? Blow Away arrives with perfect timing. We meet our nameless protagonist, a documentary photographer trying to capture footage of an elusive nesting bird with its hatchlings. Getting this one-in-a-million footage despite the white-out conditions could make or break her career, but she’s now been alone in the wilderness station for over 40 days with a looming deadline and allusions to past assignment dramas and mistakes. Attention is wandering to other topics. Is she observing that distant hunter on the horizon … or is he watching her? There’s some bloody polar bear encounters. And who are those two mysterious climbers now scaling the very mountain she’s filming? As the voyeuristic paranoia builds, I’m reminded of classic psychological films like Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, or even Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. The artwork and coloring preserves the mood with snow-obscured vistas and occasional camera point-of-view. It’s overall an unexpected genre to find in comics form, and I cannot wait to see where this story leads.
5 out of 5 daggers
SpectreGraph
James Tynion IV
Christian Ward
Aditya Bidikar
DSTLRY
Christian Ward brings his unique horror infused artwork to his collaboration with comics hottest writer at the moment: James Tyion IV.Ambitious new publisher DSTLRY has been blowing up my Instagram feed for months, touting their top-notch creative roster. SpectreGraph is the first book I’ve picked up from them and it does not disappoint. The oversized book and glossy cover jumps off the stand, and the painterly interior artwork is strikingly expressive, alternating between brightly colored SoCal sunshine and appropriately dark, moody interiors. I don’t want to spoil too much of the story because I enjoyed how the issue unfolds, but let’s just say it’s an intriguing new take on a haunted house. We are pulled into the story through the perspective of one very frazzled real estate agent. Our main character in this first issue is so focused on a potentially life-altering real estate commission that she’s oblivious to the glaring red flags of her “goth” buyers. There’s a few supernatural flare-ups toward the end that manifest in some scary, mind-bending visuals. I’m already hooked to see more of this art and where the tale will lead.
5 out of 5 daggers
Rook: Exodus
Geoff Johns
Jason Fabok
Brad Anderson
Ghost Machine/Image Comics
Fabok and Johns added an unexpected element to this post-apocalyptic yarn: spirit animals. It is a fresh element and let’s Fabok FLEX his world-building skills.To escape a chaotic and overpopulated Earth, another planet has been cultivated as a fully-controlled alternative and a better life sold to those that could afford the passage. Even the wild life is under control of wardens, who each maintain a psychological connection to an assigned species. As we meet our main character, Rook, the warden in control of crows, something has already gone terribly wrong. This new world’s power system has somehow collapsed and anyone with resources has paid for their escape off planet. Now all that is left are the corporate employees abandoned to survive among dwindling resources and a rapidly collapsing ecosystem. Rook and another warden are scavenging for parts to build their own escape rocket, but the animal population is quickly mutating and the psychic connections to these animals is intensifying as well. Another high quality entry from Image Comics' new creator collective Ghost Machine, Rook: Exodus boasts killer artwork, intriguing concepts, and a real sense of urgency that should deliver thrills and surprises.
4 out of 5 daggers
