Archive: Author: Svetlana Fedotov

In honor of the newest Alien film, Alien: Covenant (read Keri’s review here), this reporter has decided to take a closer look at some of the franchise’s other pursuits, primarily comic books because comic books are rad. The Alien comic-verse has been helmed for close to 30 years by Dark Horse Comics and has become one of the longest movie/comic tie-ins in comic history. One of the earliest successes was a work titled Aliens: Salvation, penned by Dave Gibbons and illustrated by a young Mike Mignola in 1993.  A gritty, maddening tale of the last survivor of an Alien attack, the comic marks the beginning of Mignola’s career into horror, preceding Hellboy by only a few months. Though initially doomed to die in obscurity, Salvation was re-released in a fancy, hardcover graphic novel in 2015 and has made its way into my grubby mitts.
Continue reading “Retro comic review: Aliens: Salvation (1993)” →

I know what you’re thinking: how often am I going to talk about Adventure Time? It’s like I think it’s the best kids show to have come out in the past 20 years and that I’m absolutely heartbroken that it’s coming to an end and holy crap, have you seen the new episodes!? The answer is a lot, so get used to it. Way back a few months ago, I reviewed the initial issue of Adventure Time Comics (not to be confused with Adventure Time which is a similar but separate series that is currently on issue #64), and absolutely fell in love with it. Each issue features a collection of short, grayble-style work handled by different artists and basically just added cute little stories to the very expansive universe. Now at issue #10, the work is just as fun and easily digestible as the first time around and has even opened up its artistic borders to allow for more individual takes on the Adventure Time gang, creating a wholly original work that’s still tethered to the quirkiness of the original source.
Continue reading “Comic Review: Adventure Time Comics #10” →

There’s something about a good comic fantasy that really speaks to me. The high octane adventure, the bizarre creatures, the musclebound heroes, the world creation; the list goes on and on. With almost unlimited freedom to create and play within a world of the creator’s imagination, rules need not apply when it comes to magic and mayhem. Rose #1, named after its red-headed lead character, brings both of those elements head on in a land ravaged by an evil queen and the one person destined to stop her. Following in the footsteps of such comic greats as Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, and Berserk, Rose doesn’t stray too far from the tried-and-true formula, but what it does with it is pretty damn fun.

Continue reading “Comic Review: Rose #1” →

Immortality is something that has long been sought for but never achieved (supposedly).  The Fountain of Youth, eating a mermaid, a vampires bite, there are many ways to not die, but what would you do with all that time? Finally take up knitting? For the four soldiers of The Old Guard, it’s doing what they do best, fighting for the highest bidder. Written by Eisner winner Greg Rucka, The Old Guard has him step away from his usual superhero fan-fare and allows him to come back to his first passion, original comic work with longtime collaborator, Leandro Fernandez. While I don’t usually use the words ‘action-packed’ and ‘a mile-a-minute thrills,’ this work has a cinematic quality to it rarely seen in the graphic world. A tight read that never lingers, The Old Guard is a solid baseline from the finickiest of comic readers to full blown addicts.  

Continue reading “Comic review: The Old Guard #1” →

It’s ‘classic horror comics meets classic horror writer’ madness in the latest continuation of everyone’s favorite swamp monster, Man-Thing! RL Stine, the mastermind behind such hits as Goosebumps and Fear Street, has teamed up with Marvel to release a new story titled simply, Man-Thing. The comic will be starting from the Man-Thing’s origin story, that is, with scientist Ted Sallis who in an attempt to recreate the super solider serum, accidently turns himself into Deadpool. Kidding! He actually turns himself into Man-Thing when he tries to save himself and his formula by injecting the serum straight into his veins. Now a lumbering creature of the night, Man-Thing spreads his unique form of eco-justice through a fear toxin that pours through his vines.

Continue reading “Comic news you can use: Man-Thing meets RL Stine, Dr. Strange #6, and Jiro Taniguchi Passes” →

Death and the Wild West go together like chocolate and peanut butter or Australians and vegemite. From the harsh weather and even harsher land to forced labor and just-plain villainy, it’s no wonder that the horizon of US expansion is littered with the bodies of the dead. But from all the bad, something good always comes and in this case, it’s a rich history of legacy, traditions, and wild gods that still shake the earth something fierce. In BOOM! Studios newest release, Death be Damned, we see how far one man goes to find his wild gods and the length one woman goes for retribution. A retelling of the classic revenge story, the comic attempts to take a peek behind the veil in the bloody west but drops short of a truly distinctive experience. That’s not to say there aren’t good things about it.

Continue reading “Comic review: Death be Damned #1” →