Sandman Presents Thessaly: Witch For Hire #2

February 28, 2004

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Ghostraker (or) The Importance of Well-Hidden Jars

Thessaly gets information about her situation from Fetch… the hard way.

Writer: Bill Willingham
Art: Shawn McManus
Colors: Pamela Rambo
Letters: Rob Leigh
Editor: Mariah Huehner
Cover Art: Tara McPherson
Publisher: DC Comics/Vertigo

This issue is another solid installment of Thessaly’s tale by Bill Willingham, but it takes a darker turn this issue. It’s not quite as much fun as last issue was. Not to say I thought this comic book would be all rainbows and puppy dog tails, but the title takes a definite turn down a dark trail I didn’t see coming this issue, and that leaves the reader a little uncomfortable.

After disposing of the latest monster that Fetch has conscripted her to defeat, Thessaly takes the ghost to a secluded cabin somewhere so she can begin to rip information out of him a piece at a time. Thanks to him, Thessaly has spent the last two years of her life fighting monster after monster. Now that she knows he’s the cause, she wants to know what else he’s got up his sleeve.

Fetch makes an odd choice as narrator of this series – he’s got that roguish charm going for him, but considering what he’s put Thessaly through while claiming to be in love with her, he’s not an altogether sympathetic character. Of course, considering some of the things she has done in her long life, Thessaly isn’t all that sympathetic either. That just makes it all the more odd, really, how likeable and engaging both of these characters really are.

Shawn McManus, who first drew Thessaly back in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series, does a fine job in this issue. He’s never too realistic with his pencils, keeping something of a cartoonish edge that somehow suits the characters very well. This doesn’t stop him from drawing the nasty stuff when necessary though – he gives us hints of Thessaly-spawned violence at the beginning and a look of some of the horrors she’s really capable of towards the end of the book, and all of it fits in with the style used for Thessaly herself just fine. He doesn’t lose anything transitioning from one style to the other.

There have been several Sandman Presents specials and miniseries since the original book ended. Almost all of the best ones have come from the able keyboard of Bill Willingham. He’s one of the best assets DC Comics has right now, and it’s encouraging to see how much great work he’s getting to do these days.

Rating: 7/10

Doctor Who (2008 Series) #5

July 12, 2008

Doctor Who #5 (IDW Publishing)
By Gary Russell & Mirco Pierfederici

The Doctor and Martha return to Earth, rather abruptly, dropped onto the northern tip of England in the late 1950s. Separated from the Tardis, they have to seek out help, but instead find out that a line has been drawn in a galactic conflict. As always, the fate of the universe rests in the Doctor’s hands. So what else is new? Gary Russell really does a good job of whipping up a story that would fit just perfectly in the universe of the TV show. He has a good feel for the characters, and uses their backgrounds very well (Martha’s medical knowledge helping her to ferret out the aliens in their midst, for example). I do have to take off points for the artwork, though. Mirco Pierfederici‘s lines are too heavy, not fluid enough, and some of his poses are kind of weak. His depiction of David Tennant is pretty good, but his Freema Agyeman is very inconsistent. Bland artwork pulls down an otherwise strong comic book.
Rating: 7/10

Marvel Zombies Vs. Army of Darkness #3

April 30, 2007

Quick Rating: Sweet
Title: Night of the Livid Dead
Rating: Parental Advisory

Even if Ash survives – will he and his allies be able to find the Necronomicon and rid the world of Marvel Zombies?

Writer: John Layman
Art: Fabiano Neves
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Rus Wooton
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Cover Art: Arthur Suydam
Publisher: Marvel Comics/Dynamite Entertainment

Last issue, in the most deliciously amusing death I’ve ever read in a comic book, we saw Ash Williams get the top of his head bitten off by a zombie Howard the Duck. This issue… look, let’s just take it as a given that he pulls through somehow, okay? That should be no surprise to absolutely anyone, and way he survives – while kind of a cop-out – is the sort of cheesy, goofy solution that I have come to expect and love from the Army of Darkness franchise.

Ultimately, Ash and his few allies manage to continue their hunt for the Necronomicon, but when they find out where it is, it may be an ever harder quest to find it than they were up for. There are tons of cameos in this issue, and we see more and more how the Marvel Zombie world differs from the mainstream Marvel U, particularly in the development of the timeline. There are characters from throughout the Marvel history, including several frozen in forms they had decades ago and others exactly as they appear in current continuity. Really, it’s a mishmash, allowing the creators to whip up Zombiefied forms of the heroes at whatever point in their development they so choose.

I quite like Neves’s artwork. He’s got a softness that gives the book a very lush feeling, but he doesn’t flinch from the blood and guts either. Just imagine Modok turned over on his giant cranium, half-eaten by creatures craving brains. Yeah. It’s just as gross as it sounds.

Neither the Marvel Zombies series nor the Army of Darkness comics are really a home for substantive storytelling. They’re universes to have fun, to throw out a ton of in-jokes, and to hurl buckets of blood at the reader. Putting them together has really proven to be a perfect fit.

Rating: 8/10