Each week, I'll visit the local comic shop here and pick up a book to review. It'll just be a book that caught my eye for that week. I'll share with everyone here my thoughts on the book and welcome any comments about my review, good or bad. The inaugural book I am doing is Airboy: Deadeye #1 by Antarctic Press...



Writer: Chuck Dixon & Gianluca Piredda
Art - Ben Dunn
Cover Art - Kelsey Shannon

I was first exposed to Airboy when Eclipse Comics released the title in 1986. At the time, I was unaware of the earlier Hillman Periodicals releases of the Golden Age. While I eventually found out that Hillman had originally produced the series, I have yet to have read any of the original. I do remember enjoying the Eclipse title and the various spin-offs (Valkyrie, Sky Wolf, the Heap, etc.). It was because of this that I chose this book to review.

***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***

THE STORY: The story starts off with a Japanese fighter plane attacking a U.S. air carrier in 1946, a year after World War II has ended. The pilot of the plane is known as the Peek-A-Boo Bandit! Airboy, takes to the skies in Birdy (his trusted plane) to engage the Peek-A-Boo Bandit. After a VERY brief chase Airboy loses his target! Surprised, he signs up with the search party that is going to scour the island that PABB has last been seen on.

While searching the island, Airboy gets into an argument with one of the others about being called "Airboy". He makes it known that his name is David Nelson and it was the newspapers that called him Airboy. A trap is sprung and Airboy David saves the person for a flying spike. They spot the PABB and the chase is on! Airboy David corners him on a ledge and the man, Hiro Nakai, surrenders. Both airmen show mutual respect for the ability of the other. Hiro is then sent back to his homeland apparently without facing any consequences for the multiple attacks he has perpetrated against the U.S. As he is getting ready to leave, he invites Airboy David to come visit him in Tokyo.

Airboy promptly takes the PABB up on the invite and scares two young kids playing soccer when landing his plane in Tokyo. They show him the way to Hiro's house where Hiro introduces David to his young daughter, Yumi. Yumi is immediately smitten with the also young David and asks him how he became Airboy, which the Japanese also call him. A very short four-page origin recap leas into an interlude.

An Italian and Japanese scientist are working on a disintegration ray somewhere in Tokyo when a Nazi shows up. The Nazi starts to yell at the two scientists until the Italian had enough and zaps the Nazi with the disintegration ray! While it proved effective, it didn't quite work completely because the Nazi's boots were still there. The Japanese scientist reveals his plan to become Shogun (which I think will be his supervillain name) and return Japan to its former glory by chasing the Americans and Europeans off of Japanese soil. The Italian reveals that he is just in it for the moola so all is good as long as he is paid. End interlude.

Meanwhile, back at the garden shack that Hiro and Yumi call a home, some members of the Yakuza show up to make Hiro and offer he can't refuse. He refuses. He then goes off to "take care of some business". He leaves Yumi in David's capable hands. Hiro knows he can count on David to stay and protect his only daughter. David promptly summons his trusty plane Birdy and leaves Yumi behind while he goes off to follow Hiro to his "business".

I think I give this story a 3 out of 5. There was nothing really earth shattering in it but it did do good in setting up what is to come. The short origin recap I thought was a good touch for those that might not have known about Airboy before. I also thought that it flowed fairly well.

THE ART: I found the art to have a slightly anime-ish influence which was unexpected, especially since the cover is devoid of it. While I don't mind this style of art per se, I don't know if it works well for a 1940's air fighter. There were a few "big eyes" moments that really stood out. Being a black and white book, the art was crisp and detailed without looking cluttered. If you can get used to the anime influence, it really wasn't that bad. Overall, I think I'd also give the art a 3 out of 5.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Airboy: Deadeye #1 did not deliver on the nostalgia that I was expecting but it was a fairly enjoyable read. The anime style art really threw me off for a few moments, but once I got used to it, it wasn't that bad. I don't think this book broke any new ground and right now, doesn't really FEEL like an Airboy adventure but that might change if everything they set up in it comes out as expected (or better yet, NOT as expected!). Overall, if you are looking for the Airboy of old (1940's or 1980's) I don't think it is here yet. If you are patient though, he just might make an appearance. If you are looking for something a little different from super-heroes, there are better books out there but giving this one a try might be OK. I plan on at least getting issue #2 to see what happens.

FUNNY L'IL FACT: There is nothing at the end of this issue that tells you what is coming up in issue #2 but there is an ad in the back of the book that tells you about issue #3.

Nice review, macathro. I don't believe I'll be searching this title out for myself, but I appreciate the review none-the-less.
Will you be following up with a review of #2 when/if it appears on the shelves?

I look forward to your other reviews.

Thanks DeadOne! If/when #2 comes out and I pick it up, I am more than happy to follow up. Thinking out loud about it, if I follow up on a previous review, I might end up doing two books those weeks. If not, then I'll probably lean toward the follow-up issue but we'll see.

Wow! A new week of comics already! Perusing the shelf today, there were four books that caught my eye. They were Dial H (DC), G.I. Combat (DC), Spider (Dynamite), and X-O Manowar (Valiant).

I first experienced Dial H for Hero when it was part of Adventure Comics in the 1980's. The idea of being able to send in concepts to DC for them to use was pretty cool. The main story I remember is when one of the teens dialed "HORROR" instead of "HERO" and turned into a monster!

I didn't read G.I. Combat when it first came out but did win a huge batch of them at an auction a few years ago. My son has been reading them and he even picked up one of the Showcase Presents books. Besides, what could be better than soldiers fighting dinosaurs!? Add a gorilla on the cover and you have an instant hit, right Mort?

The Spider is an old pulp hero that I haven't had the pleasure of reading so I was really interested in learning more about this character. I think he is also Stan Lee's inspiration for Spider-Man (at least the name not the powers).

Finally, I remember when Valiant first came out with the Gold Key characters along with some new characters. My favorites were Archer & Armstrong but there is something about putting a barbarian into an Iron Man-type of battle suit that makes for fun reading!

With these choices before me, I turned to the scientific method on how to choose which one I would review. I asked my son. He ALMOST chose G.I. Combat until he saw...



He said I had to do this one because it was the worst name he had seen for a comic in quite a while. So there you go. Dial H #1 it is...

Writer: China Mieville
Artist: Mateus Santolouco
Cover Artist: Brian Bolland
Colorists: Tanya & Richard Horie

***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***

THE STORY: The story starts outside of an apartment building where you hear two people arguing. You soon find out that they are Darren and Nelse. Darren has recently picked up Nelse from the hospital after he had suffered a heart attack. Nelse is an washed out boxer who chain smokes and is overweight and doesn't really think that he had a "heart attack" heart attack. Darren gets mad and storms out of the apartment.

Following Darren, he is soon confronted by an obvious group of ne'r-do-wells who intend to do him harm via bats and other such blunt instruments. Meanwhile, Nelse feels bad for making light of his situation and goes to apologize to Darren (who at this point is smack in the middle of the ne'r-do-welling). Nelse finds him and rushes into help. After being soundly beaten back by a skinny ne'r-do-well, Nelse rushes to the nearby phone booth (with the requisite 21st century rotary dial) and randomly dials numbers.

A bright flash causes one of the ne'r-do-wells to ask if the fat guy just exploded (which I thought was pretty funny) when from the phone booth emerges...Boy Chimney! (believe me, I'm not making this up). Boy Chimney apparently has a body as strong as bricks and control over smoke and ash. Boy Chimney takes exception to the ne'r-do-welling he sees going on and decides to unleash his own version of it upon the perpetrators. All the while, Nelse's thoughts are made known to us that he is indeed the extremely skinny Boy Chimney.

Stopping short of killing Darren's attackers, he scoops up his friend and rides the smoke to the hospital. The next thing he knows, he can feel that Boy Chimney is about to go away so Nelse ends up stuck on a roof as the sun starts to rise. Interlude...the head ne'r-do-well is on the phone with a mysterious someone asking for help to go against Boy Chimney because his group isn't equipped to handle it. You can tell by his side of the conversation that someone will be sent in to help him against this new "hero"...end Interlude. Nelse heads back to the phone booth (after checking in with Darren at the hospital) to find out what happened. He dials various words, such as CHIMNEY, HELP, BACK, etc. Then he stumbles upon the magic word(s) and dials IF SO! There it is!

Anther bright flash and the story cuts back to the head ne'r-do-well in his office. He is just minding his own business (along with what looks like a dead body) when he hears a disturbance in the hallway. His group of ne'r-do-wells seem to be really sad about lost mothers and other such things. What brought on all this sadness is non other than Nelse's newest identity, Captain Lachrymose! (again, I can't make this stuff up!) He can bring great sadness from people's memories and use it to fly, have superhuman strength, etc. While causing the head ne'r-do-well to weep over receiving a cowboy hat instead of a viking hat for his seventh birthday (really, I'd cry too!) the dead body in the office rises because it really isn't that dead!

Captain Lachrymose (my new favorite captain by the way) turns to face this new threat when he realizes...that not so dead body doesn't have any thoughts that he can use against her! She can also spit some sort of black substance that isn't really explained. Not wanting to fight an old lady that wasn't quite dead yet and can spit black stuff Captain Lachrymose issues his ultimatum "Leave Darren Hirsch alone!" then rips a big hole in the wall and leaves.

Well the head ne'r-do-well is no dummy! If Captain Lachrymose wants Darren Hirsch left alone, the only thing to do is launch a plan to KILL Darren Hirsch! OK, maybe he isn't too smart. You see who his mysterious phone partner is but don't really get a good look at him, although he does have fingers that end in suction cups. The story ends with Nelse finally figuring out that the numbers don't just spell IF SO, they also spell HERO!

THE ART: I loved the art! I don't know if I have seen this artist's work before but I must say, I really did like it. Some of it was confusing with the effects of Boy Chimney (I can't believe there hasn't been a LOSH by that name yet!) but it never was a detriment to the story. He did a great job actually making people look different while giving the heroes (and one villain) more of an exaggerated appearance. The colors really worked at setting the moods.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: If I had to use one word to describe it, it'd be "Interesting". I know China is more of a novelist and that shows in some of the language used (lachrymose anyone?). I haven't read any of his work, except this book of course so I can't really say if it reminds me of him or not. It is a much different approach to the title than I remember but I like it a lot. The art is very nice to look at and I'd be interested to see where the story goes. I would recommend this for your pull list if you like your heroes a little bit on the eccentric side.

Well, another week has gone by so you know what that means, another random review! There were only three books that I picked up. One was Fairest #3 and another was Alabaster: Wolves #2. I was just going to pick one of these when I saw...



For a crisp $1, I figured what the heck! So, without further ado, here is my random review of Higher Earth #1!

WRITER: Sam Humphries (also the creator)
ARTIST: Francesco Biagini
COVER ARTIST: Ben Oliver* see Funny L'il Fact below
COLORIST: Andrew Crossley
LETTERS: Ed Dukeshire

***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT

THE STORY: Well, the story certainly kicks into high gear right off the bat with the first page showing someone falling to the ground surrounded by ALOT of debris. Next, the locals are checking out what exactly fell from the sky to see if any of it is worth keeping. One of them triumphantly holds up what looks like a breastplate exclaiming in joy that "It's mine! It's mine!" Well, the man who fell to the ground with it begs to differ and to prove his point, he uses the sharp end of the sword he is holding. The local quickly agrees with his argument, drops the breastplate, and runs off. A black bird lands on the breastplate and lets out a loud squack! The guy talks to the bird as if he knows it mentioning that the sooner they find "her" the sooner they can leave. As he walks away, you see someone is following him.

There is a transition to a new scene where a mechanical bear attacking a local. The back of the bear opens up to reveal that it carries a young woman! She takes a small dinosaur toy from the dispatched local with a "Mine!" It then shows that the stranger is watching her through some binoculars and that his shadow is watching him the same way! It is the first time you see that he is wearing a futuristic suit of armor.

The next scene shows the girl going into her home and putting the toy with a collection of others. She is startled when the man enters and attacks him. He blocks her attacks and tells her her name. She stops, surprised that he knew it. They have a conversation about what has been going on with her while she keeps asking how he knows her name. He promises answers if she were to come with him.

Outside, they are sitting on a big pile of junk while he explains that there are many Earths, each different and each connected. The bird lets out a loud squawk when the girl's home explodes! The man in armor leaps to the attack while the two are distracted. The man fights him off and throws him off the large pile. Telling the girl that she is in danger and must come with him to survive. He takes the breastplate and activates some sort of mechanism forcing her decision. She agrees to go with him. One of the bright spheres in the sky starts to descend to them. The light totally surrounds them.

The final scene starts with someone yelling to "Shut it down!" talking about what appears to be a machine dumping metal debris through one of the light spheres. The three travelers end up coming through the wrong way. It is obvious that they weren't supposed to be able to do that. The man attacks some of the workers with his sword and the three run off. Just before they are about to leave the building, the man warns the girl that she is an illegal. The book ends with him opening the door revealing a futuristic landscape.

I give it a 4 out of 5. Some of the transitions were unexpected and made me check to see if I missed a page or two. With that said, it flowed very well and was a quick read. It provided enough background information in the conversations as well as dropping some clues as what is to come. Overall, a great read.

THE ART: I liked it. It had the feel of being a BOOM! book, which isn't a bad thing. It had a very slight manga influence but it worked well with the story. The color really set the mood well. It also was used in the switching of scenes and was very crisp. I think I'd give it a 4 out of 5 as well.

THE COVER: The one I got was really eye catching. The use of color and shading is great. I found my eye going back to it a couple of times.

Overall, this book gets a 5 out of 5. The main reason for this is the price. For $1.00, everyone should give this book a try. I know the second issue is going to cost more but I'm willing to give it a go because the first one was so cheap.

FUNNY L'IL FACT: As with other BOOM! books, lets just say this one has a few covers. In fact, it has Cover A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, SDCC Exclusive Cover, and Third Eye Comics Exclusive Cover. Whew! Selling the book for only a dollar, I'm surprised they can afford to pay for all these covers!

Another solid review!

(And glad you didn't pick Alabaster: Wolves #2 as I already did that one. Turns out the writer saw my review and twittered the hell out of it on the internet! )

Thanks! I'll have to see your review of #2 (although I don't use Twitter so it won't go anywhere).

By the way, if I mention that I picked up a book that you'd like to see a review on, just let me know. I'm sure I can be persuaded to do an extra one or two.

Wow! I almost missed this week. With a wife’s birthday, Eagle Scout projects to help out on, and impending end of school activities, the week just got away from me! With new books coming out today, hopefully it won't take me as long to post! I only purchased one book this past week and it was...

Catwoman #9!

(My scanner is acting up so the image will have to come later)

I have been following this series since the New 52 launched and must say, I have been enjoying it for the most part.

WRITER: Judd Winnick
ARTIST: Guillem March
COVER ARTIST: Guillem March
COLORIST: Tomeu Morey
LETTERS: Carlos M. Mangual

***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT

THE STORY: For all you Bat fans out there, this book is the start of the first crossover between the New 52 books, Night of the Owls! The Owls appear to be a secret society that has existed in Gotham since its earliest days. The story starts in Gotham in 1665. Members of this secret society are talking about the recent exploits of one of their operatives, The Talon. The Talon seems to be too honorable for this group because he refused to kill his prey outright instead offering him a chance to defend himself. Instead of fighting, the prey ran out into the streets where the Talon took him down. Unfortunately, he was spotted and forced to take down some local police officers as well. Unsatisfied with his performance, the Court of Owls decide that a new Talon is needed and the current one should be "retired".
Cut to present day Gotham where Catwoman and her new partner, Spark, are staking out the Penguin’s hideout waiting to steal a knife that will complete a set of five. Unknown to them, the Penguin did not leave when his car did so when they arrive at the skylight, they notice that he is still there. Suddenly, Talon, revived from his “retirement”, arrives and kills the Penguin’s bodyguards intent on doing the same to the Penguin. Spark wants nothing to do with this conflict but Catwoman has a different idea. Crashing through the skylight she distracts Talon from his target.
So, the fight between Catwoman and Talon is on! There is some witty banter on Catwoman’s side and fanatical ravings on Talon’s. Just when it seems that Talon has the upper hand, in steps Spark to save his partner! During the fight, Talon notices the knife that the duo is trying to steal and it was one of his from oh so long ago! He is quite mad and wants to know where the rest of them are. Catwoman agrees to give the whole set to Talon and end the fighting when, BOOM!!!!, the Penguin blows Talon’s head off with his umbrella gun! Realizing this is bigger than anything she is prepared to handle, Catwoman takes Talon’s body to the one person that can help. She turns on the Bat Signal and leaves the dead body there.
STORY: I liked that it flowed well from the previous Catwoman book and really didn’t seem like the beginning of a big crossover. The ruthlessness of the Penguin makes you realize that he is much more dangerous than most people give him credit for.
ART: This artist has been pretty consistent with his work so far. His figure work and facial expressions are really good for the most part. It seems that he uses close-ups a lot and I don’t know if that is to avoid background work or not. It could be that it is more “dramatic”. The coloring does a good job enhancing what is drawn. With most of this story taking place at night, the use of lighting is important and I believe that both the artist and colorist pulled it off well.
OVERALL IMPRESSION: I would give this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. If you haven’t been following the Catwoman series then it might be a bit confusing in that it picks up from issue #8, there is enough exposition to get you caught up fairly quickly. As the beginning of a bigger crossover, it does a really good job setting up the premise. Batman’s future involvement will make sense as well thanks to the ending scene. It’d be interesting to learn more about this Court of Owls and their intentions for Gotham. I’d recommend picking it up.
Sorry for the LATE review!

I have been reading Batman (since the New 52 relaunch) and I am enjoying it. I am looking forward to all the ...Owls crossover books. Thanks for the review!

I haven't really ever followed Batman but I agree with you, I'm looking forward to finding out more about the Owls. Thanks for reading my review!

Nice review Mike. Like pwog, I've been reading the Owls storyline in the main Batman title since #1, and am enjoying it. Very solid art and storytelling. That said, I just don't have the motivation to buy all the crossover titles. I'm sure the stories are good, but there are too many and it would get too pricey.

I noticed that this week. I think I saw about seven or eight books marked with the Night of the Owls banner. I don't think I'll be following too much of the storyline because of it. It will be a trade that I'd look into getting though. Oh, and thanks about the review!

I'll get my next book up tonight or tomorrow (hopefully with an image!).

Nice review Mike. Thanks.

I think there is about 12 books in the Owls cross-over. It seems to be the #9 issues of Batman, Detective Comics, Batman: The Dark Knight, Batman and Robin, Batwing, Batgirl, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Nightwing, Red Hood and The Outlaws, and All-Star Western, plus May's Batman Annual #1.

I'm a sucker for this stuff so, I asked my LCS to put copies away for me. That's why I can never afford the GA & SA books I want...

What pleases me most about Snyder is that he was VERY clear that readers did NOT have to get all of the cross over titles to keep up with the events in Batman. Like you guys, I'm not planning to buy all of the others. Snyder and Capullo earned my trust and dollars, but the others I'm less willing to extend myself for at this time.

I'm hoping to have a full-on review of the series later in the summer once my schedule frees up a bit. This series is just to smoking to leave alone.

I know I said this but there is a reason for no new book. I haven't picked any new books up in the past few weeks. I went on vacation for 10 days and have not earned any store credit yet. Hopefully, I can get that changed soon and start up the reviews again. Sorry!

Cool

Vacation is good. I read about them once...