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The First Page
I guess I never remembered what a slow week the week after Christmas is in the world of comic books. Among all the large publishers, only eleven new books were released in total.
To put that in perspective, in a typical week Marvel and DC will each have at least fifteen new titles, if not more. Some of the larger independents will have close to that on a weekly basis as well.
That’s fine because it allowed me to get caught up on some reading and look ahead to what’s coming so I make sure not to miss any new series I want to add to my pull list.
There may be some of you who are reading this and have no idea what a pull list is. It’s something a lot of comic book stores have and it basically works like this. I tell them what I want to read on a regular basis and when it comes in, they pull it for me and it’s in a box waiting for me on Wednesday, which is new comic book day.
Now that the lesson is over, let’s get into the rest of the column.
New This Week
Mars Attacks #3 Dynamite
Fantastic Four #5 Marvel
Superior Spider-Man #1 Marvel
Uncanny X-Men #7 Marvel
X-Force #1 Marvel
Man-Eaters #4 Image
Die Die Die #6 Image
Hellboy and BPRD 1956 #2 Dark Horse
Go-Bots #2 IDW
Marvel Action Avengers #1 IDW
Bone Parish #5 Boom!
New Series Hitting Shelves In January
Peter Cannon Thunderbolt #1 Dynamite
Elvira Shape of Elvira #1 Dynamite
Turok #1 Dynamite
Criminal #1 Image
Gunning For Hits #1 Image
Oliver #1 Image
Vindication #1 (of 4) Image
Aliens Resistance #1 Dark Horse
Fight Club 3 #1 Dark Horse
Starcraft Soldiers #1 (of 4) Dark Horse
Wyrd #1 Dark Horse
Star Trek Q Conflict #1 (of 6) IDW
Young Justice #1 DC
Naomi #1 DC
Guardians of the Galaxy #1 Marvel
Black Widow #1 Marvel
Captain Marvel #1 Marvel
Crypt of Shadows #1 Marvel
Invaders #1 Marvel
Robyn Hood Outlaw #1 Zenescope
Zodiac #1 Zenescope
J.R.’s Weekly Pull List
Many of the comic book companies we’re taking a break this week and in fact, there were only a handful of new books out this week in total between Marvel, DC and the independents.
So, after picking up one lonely comic book in my inbox on Wednesday, I went back to Comic Force on Thursday and picked up a couple extra Christmas goodies. Where last week I had ten new books, this week I have but one new from my pull list and my goodies. Which BTW, are really good.
Pull List
Fantastic Four #5 Marvel (this was the 650th Fantastic Four book released)
Goodies
Black Knight 1 & 2 (of 5) Zenescope
Vampirella Southern Gothic 1-5 (trade paperback, full series) Dynamite
Review
Vampirella Southern Gothic #1 (of 5) Dynamite Comics
I bought this on Thursday as a Christmas gift to myself. The main reason for getting it, besides the fact that I dig the Vampirella character, is the fact that this was a five-issue series and could all be packed up in one nice trade paperback.
Who is Vampirella? Well, she’s a badass vampire superheroine. She has a lot of the same abilities as vampires, such as the ability to shapeshift into a bat, but she doesn’t have the issues with sunlight, holy water, garlic and crosses that typical vampires do. Now that you’re caught up, let’s get into it.
After beating the snot out of a bunch of vampire demons, Vampirella gets a late-night call from an old flame in Mississippi.
Seems that he’s trying to solve the mystery of his fiancee’s murder and needs a little help considering that he made a deal. One that’s, shall we say, hard to break because of who it was made with. Also, it looks as if this is the fiancee’s thirty-seventh death.
What happens next? Well, you’ll know when you read issue #2. I already know what happens and trust me, you’re going to want to read it.
Character Profile
Liesel Van Helsing Zenescope
You may be asking yourself where you’ve heard the name Van Helsing before. It’s possible that it’s from a questionable movie starring Hugh Jackman, but if you said Van Helsing, Abraham Van Helsing to be more precise, was Count Dracula’s nemesis in the book Dracula by Bram Stoker, you would be correct.
Welcome to Zenescope comics and their character, Abraham’s daughter, Liesel Van Helsing. Liesel is THE vampire hunter of her time and both sides know it.
And we might as well get out of the way that she is currently in a romantic relationship with Hades Blackstone, the now mostly-reformed god of the underworld.
Liesel won’t limit herself to just vampires, though that is her speciality. In different series, she’s gone up against and taken down a werewolf, mummy, Frankenstein and, yes, even the Count himself.
Her current series, Van Helsing Sword of Heaven is only two issues in to a six-issue series, but already the writing is drawing me in.
Dressed in her trademark fishnets, corset, top hat and steampunk glasses, generally, with a crossbow nearby, Liesel is making her way across India in order to retrieve a sword rumored to put an end to vampirism altogether.
If you thought she was the only one making their way to the sword then you’ve never read a comic book before! Of course, other people are trying to stop her and get the sword for themselves and, in true Van Helsing fashion, they’re of the blood-sucking variety.
Two things that Zenescope does really well are developing the backstory of their characters and keeping a lot of their series in series of five or six books so you can get in and out without a lot of expense. It’s a great way to check outa series you thing you may like and I think you may like any series in the Van Helsing line
The Back Cover
Did any of you catch the theme going on during the reviews? First, we had a superheroine vampire in Vampirella and then we had a vampire hunter in Liesel Van Helsing. Let’s hope these two never meet up. Luckily they’re from different companies so not much chance of that happening.
Looking back at this year I thought I’d share a few titles and characters that I found in 2018 that were really pleasant surprises for me. All these titles or characters are definitely worth checking out.
Grimm Fairy Tales–Zenescope
These aren’t your standard fairy tales but rather are adaptations of the classic literature. For example, in the Goldilocks and the Three Bears issue, there was a female, blond homicidal circus bear tamer with three bears and she needed to be stopped.
Of course, as a comic book, it has a hero and that’s Skye Mathers. To learn more about Skye, check out my character review in last week’s issue.
This series rocks for me as a writer because it takes the classic tales from the Brothers Grimm and tells them in a new, fun way. The issues go from one-issue stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears to a fairly long story arc revolving around the hidden realm of Camelot that so far has taken up nine issues.
Most series from Zenescope are five or six issues, so this is a big story arc that, by my guess, has at least two or three more issues to it.
Revenge of Wonderland—Zenescope
Another story from a brand that I’m quickly falling in comic book love with. They’ve taken the Alice character from the Lewis Carroll novel and made her an adult with a family. Alice now goes by the nickname Calie and in this six-issue series (we’re 5 issues in so far) she takes her daughter Violet to Wonderland where all kinds of shenanigans occur, none of which they’re prepared for.
There’s a whole Wonderland series and this is only the latest instalment in it. I’ve read the first series Zenescope published, Return To Wonderland, and I think I’ve probably read about half of all the Wonderland material. Here’s hoping that at the end of 2019 I have all the Wonderland books read!
Olivia Twist—Dark Horse
This one is similar to the previous and it should be easy to see that this is an adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist.
To save a boy she barely knows, Olivia Twist joins a girl gang of thieves called The Esthers. Set in futuristic times but with much of the clothing indicative of the original Dickens tale, this new series is only three books in, but I’m already hooked.
The writing is outstanding, the artwork is exceptional and while this is the first Dark Horse title to be added to my pull list, it surely won’t be my last.
Miles Morales Spider Man—Marvel
The further we get into the 21st century the more diversity we see in comic books. Case in point is Miles Morales, the Spider-Man of earth 616. Born to an African-American father and a Puerto Rican mother, he was created back in 2011 by Marvel and is said to be inspired in part by former President Barrack Obama and rapper Donald Glover.
Miles has powers very similar to that of Peter Parker, the Spider-Man of earth 1 and the character we were raised on. However, Miles has a couple extra tricks up his sleeve, such as his camouflage ability that allows him to literally blend his costume into whatever is surrounding him. He also has the ability to send out venom blasts, directed energy, that paralyzes whoever Spidey touches.
Vampirella—Dynamite
I’m loving this black haired vampire-superheroine that’s been the property of Dynamite since 2010. She was originally created in 1969 in the now-defunct Warren Comics black and white horror books. If you want to know more, check out the review of Vampirella Southern Gothic #1, above.
Catwoman—DC
Never did I think I would be reading a comic book based on a villain, but then again I never thought I’d see a wedding invitation with the names Bruce Wayne (Batman) and Selina Kyle (Catwoman) on it, so always expect the unexpected.
No, Catwoman and Batman never did actually tie the knot and no, I’m not telling you why. You either need to read the Batman comics for yourself or Google it if you’re feeling lazy.
This series picks up after the wedding that never happened and Selina has decided to go into retirement, but for Gotham’s most notorious cat burglar that’s not an easy thing to do. The series is only six issues in, so get to your comic shop, grab their back issues and subscribe to this series.
What did you find in 2018 that really rocked your comic book world? Share it with us. Also, what are some of your favorite characters? I’m very interested in finding out.
Happy New Year and I’ll see you in 2019!
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Photo credit: Mars Attacks, Peter Cannon Thunderbolt and Vampirella covers courtesy Dynamite Entertainment. Revenge of Wonderland and Van Helsing covers courtesy Zenescope.
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