“A horrible witch and her zombie servant host a dinner party for a family of corpses, and Hellboy and Roger turn up to blast them all back to hell in this team-up story from Roger’s early days at the B.P.R.D.”

This is Richard Corben? Really? Wow so different from what I am used to, yet I still love it. This book has the typical Hellboy visuals done right. Mostly I base that on the flat color style. The action scenes were a lot of fun here and the character designs stayed solid all the way through. Overall a great looking Hellboy comic.

“Ian and his team find themselves under attack from a roving army of marauders. Now they must fight to the death to protect not only their mission, but a small group of civilians who, against all odds, have survived the zombie apocalypse. But even if they defeat the attackers, will the victory come too late, given Ian’s fateful prognosis?”

Have you taken a second, sat down and looked at the way Joe Wight draws an issue of The Last Zombie yet? I am guessing if your reading this you probably haven’t so lets start simple. PICK UP THIS BOOK! Not that the art is the only thing going for it, but this issue is full of action, death and fire.

“Created and put together by writer Jason ‘Bloke’ Crawley this latest issue contains 7 devilishly delightful tales brought together to form the hellish Issue 666. This is but one of 6 different cover variants for this issue so be sure to check out the other covers that are available here on Indyplanet including the Cover F wraparound Werewolves Vs Vampires!”

6th issue means 6 different covers! Can you believe that! 6 Covers to choose from and they are all above, Grade A top choice visual meat! The interiors on this one are on the level with the past issues. Nothing is short of Gore-geous from page to page, but Borroni stood out the most to me. Every story has a different look, and they all look great.

“It’s the not-so-typical story of girl meets wolf as told by David Gruba (writer) and Rene Castellano (artist). See what happens when the mother-in-law comes to visit and when the Wolfman goes out on his late night jaunts. This all ages book will appeal to kids, married couples and joke book enthusiasts.”

Artwork: 4.0 out of 5
You can call it cartoonish, you can call it manga inspired, or you can just call it plain good. This book looks great. I love the character designs, no wait do I love them… yeah I really love them! Look at the cover alone, do you not see the calf? That is just funny! The interiors look the same, except they are in glorious black and white and man… do they POP! Okay hands down, I LOVE the look of the mummy the most. Can we have a book on him please?

“What if you could wish revenge on everyone who makes your life hell, and someone (or something) would do the dirty work for you? When bullied Deacon learns the dark past of his small town Texas high school, he discovers a vengeful ritual used to wreak havoc on his enemies – like the school’s all-star quarterback. But when Deacon wakes up covered in someone else’s blood, he realizes that the ritual was no childish game. And with every passing day the lines blur between the payback he envisioned and the revenge he’s commiting.”

Why what do we have here? Another great looking comic by Paper Street Comics is what. I will just say that I deducted half a point only because of the neck on the final page. Other than that this book is a treat to the eyes. It has a kind of tv cartoon feel to it.

Originally published in 2009, Dusk is a graphic novel written by David Doub that follows the lives of Eve and Ash. Ash is a vampire, and Eve is a human who takes regular drinks of Ash’s blood that he provides to her. Ash seems a very thoughtful and considerate master, very much unlike many of the other vampires we encounter in these stories.

Ash’s blood gives Eve enhanced strength and speed after she consumes it. Eve needs the extra advantage Ash’s blood provides when going up against other vampires – she’s taken on the responsibility of being Ash’s right hand.

“Featuring 7 tales of terror, Virus Comix is proud to present the second issue of its anthology series, bringing together a collection of art styles from around the world into one issue.“

Wow, seven awesome looking stories. The art styles range from realistic to cartoonish, they go from highly detailed to perfectly inked. I can’t say enough on how nice this issue looks. I don’t even want to try and pick a favorite. One thing that most of these stories had in common was that awesome old school horror look. Nicely inked pure black and white panels that just add so much to the story. I want more and I want it now. Lets get these guys doing more books for my viewing pleasure.

Fantastic from page 1 to page 32. This is a fun looking issue that I wouldn’t mind if it were done for adult readers, but since it is for kids I can say it rocks! Every artist brings a unique look that is inviting and yet scary enough for the genre. I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the pumpkin grow eyes in the first story. I also want to add that black and white was the right way to go here.

There were 6 short stories in this issue and every single one of them I enjoyed. Sometimes you can really get things played down to the target audience but I can happily say that I enjoyed this and I think the age range should go from 6 – 200.

A long while ago, Matt asked me if there was anything in the DriveThruComics.com store that I’d like to review, and I spotted a new (meaning new to me) superhero series called Freshmen. The first six issues were up and available, so I requested them and wanted to give them a go. (I found out after reading all six issues that the series is co-created by Seth Green of Robot Chicken and sundry other projects, which makes *perfect* sense.)

Here’s the short of it: due to dorm overflow, fifteen college freshmen are shipped over to live in the science building, which has been modified to create living space. When a lab experiment explodes, their cells evolve — granting them powers related to whatever they happened to be thinking at the moment.

“This new series is ripped right out of the real-life drama unfolding on the Mexico-Arizona border! FEEDING GROUND reaches a large and diverse audience no matter your personal point of view on the issue. In this factious story, a famine caused by Blackwell Industries drives Diego Busqueda, a noble “coyote,” to lead a band of Mexican border crossers across the unforgiving Devil’s Highway, a desert cursed with blistering days and deadly nights. Back home, Diego’s daughter Flaca discovers that something hungrier prowls the factory fields. Stalked and persecuted, can the Busqueda family maintain their dreams of immigration or will the horrors of the desert tear them apart?”

Mash-ups are all the rage; whether it be Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, or any number of lesser-known works, putting two seemingly unlikely things together has become a literary obsession recently. Revere: Revolution in Silver carries on this growing tradition, positing that, in his spare time, Paul Revere was actually a werewolf hunter and member of an occult organization dedicated to defending the world against supernatural threats.

With the early days of the American Revolution as the backdrop, Revere: Revolution in Silver takes this premise and runs with it. Doing an interesting bit of world-building, writer Lavallee and artist Bond create a whole new mythology around the famous American revolutionary.

Back in the mid-1990s, Top Cow launched a daring new series about an artifact that could be wielded only by women — and the man who tried to take possession of it. In Witchblade: Origin, the first eight issues of Witchblade are brought to an audience who missed them the first time around. It’s a great origin story: Sara Pezzini, the tough cop who becomes the bearer of the Wicthblade, is far more vulnerable here than we see her at the current point in the series. She’s largely alone in the world: she has an irresponsible sister, a neighbor whose murder leaves her with a teen girl seeking her advice, and a partner who dies in the first issue. Her parents have been dead for some time, but she still thinks of them, often, talking to them in the box text. While she knows she has her boss — who is much like a father to her — and coworkers who care about her, she hesitates to share herself with them, especially when she is feeling weak.

I had a couple of sneak peeks at this volume of Tracker as the issues were being released, and I have to say it’s really nice to see it all together in one volume. The Issue 0 preview and Issue 4 just whet my appetite for what looked like a great werewolf story. As it turns out, the story is exactly what those bits and pieces promised.

Alex O’Rourke is one of the best trackers in the FBI — he’s so good that his instincts are the only thing helping the FBI track down Herod, a serial killer whose vicious attacks look more animal than human. Alex gets into the middle of an attack, following a hunch that Herod will be there, and miraculously survives, recovering on the autopsy table.

“ONE THOUSAND OPAS AND A DEAD BODY,” Part Three—A pilfered poison pabulum has pickled pieces of our protagonist’s paunch while portentous poetic prophecies proudly parade apace, parlaying a perilous paradigm. Paraphrasing: SKULLKICKERS is a particularly perfect packaged pamphlet of plucky pulp worth every precious penny in perpetuity. Purchase!”

First of all the “tripping sequence” are you serious? How can you relate that both verbally and visually any better in a comic book? Ridiculous! onto this issue, it rocks. I find myself flying through the pages, not because there is nothing on them of course, but because I get lost in this universe so well.

“Lenore might only be small, but her talent for mischief — and occasional wanton destruction — is anything but. Witness the mayhem that ensues when Lenore and friends are attacked by a gaggle of vicious militant mice, and cower in the face of an assault by undead German soldiers from Hell! Never has the term ‘something for everyone’ seemed more sinister and bizarre.”

While I can honestly say that this style may not appeal to everyone, it sure does appeal to me. In my teens I recall watching cartoons like Invader Zim, Agh Real Monsters and even today catching an episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog. So a book like this just comes off to me as looking great.

In a comics universe like the one in Top Cow’s Witchblade continuum, characters occasionally crop up who end up needing their own series. Those cross-series first appearances of the Magdalena, the church’s servant for wiping out evil using strength of arms and the ultimate guilt trip: the ability to make a person see all of the evil he’s ever done, are collected in Magdalena: Origins.

Near the beginning of the Darkness series, Jackie Estacado is dealing with plenty of issues (including, apparently, not being able to perform in bed), and he doesn’t really have time to deal with another hero-of-the-week trying to take him down. But, of course, that’s his lot in life now that he’s the incarnation of the Darkness. A Magdalena is dispatched by the church to challenge him and, ideally, destroy him.

I didn’t know what to expect with this book right off the bat, ha I said bat. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be just another vampire book or going off how I interpreted the item description, an update on the classic story. I read this book as more of the later, and I was not let down. Actually I never read the Bram Stoker version, just seen the movie, but this came across in the same kind of vain. However it was updated to the 1930’s.

The artwork was just fantastic. It has a nice dark and gloomy look to it, that really sets the visual tone for the story very well. The pages actually come off to me as these great digital paintings. Lets just say that I like the look of this book.

“Janey Belle is on her path for revenge, for those who are responsible for her death. with a little help from the Zombie Queen, who has a common enemy.“

There are a few artists that I like to lump into the same category as Dan Mendoza; Jason Martin, Bryan Baugh, Buz Hasson, Ken Heaser and Josh Howard. Each of these guys has a very cartoony style to their artwork that may have some people looking the other way, but I want you all to know that would be a mistake. In this book you are treated to outstanding visuals that consist of great character designs, awesome colors and some of the most GORE-geous death scenes that I found in more recent comics today.

“This is the final volume of “Family Bones”, a true crime graphic novel about the elderly serial murderers from Missouri. In their 70?s, Ray and Faye Copeland were sentenced to death for the murder of many farm workers that lived with them. The tale told through the eyes of their unwitting nephew comes to a gruesome conclusion. And through it all somehow this city boy finds young romance with a neighbor’s daughter. Written by the actual great nephew of Ray and Faye Copeland, “Family Bones” is a gritty, fish-out-of-water American gothic that will send shivers down your spine.”

I enjoyed the artwork in this volume a bit more than I did in Vol. 1. Not saying that there is better talent on board here, just that I liked the more realistic look that this group of artists brought to the project. Even as the story progresses here, and we see more of the true nature of the cast, it seems to get grittier and darker.

“No one knows where these two warriors came from. The only thing that’s clear is that they’re two of most ornery, trouble-making $%@# that have ever lived. SKULLKICKERS is a fantasy action-comedy: Two mercenaries are entangled in a high-class assassination plot and nothing—werewolves, skeletons or black magic—will stop them from getting paid. If you love tabletop fantasy RPGs or movies like Army of Darkness, SKULLKICKERS is waiting for you!“

Have you ever read a comic book and then tried to replay it all in your head, but all you seem to recall is a cartoon? Except you didn’t just watch a cartoon. No, instead you read a comic book. This book does that to me. The artwork is playful and laid out so well that I really recall it as a cartoon. Sure you’re not going to get super detailed action here, but who cares?