A Fistful Of Comics - January 2014

  The other day I braved the wind and the rain to take a jaunt over to Southampton's Forbidden Planet and pick up a comic or two. Or three. Maybe four at the most...

  As tends to happen a lot, once in the presence of reading material my self-control gave up, hung out the "Back in an hour" sign and disappeared until the madness was over.

  So, here's what I bought and some thoughts on each. Let's start with the series I've been following for a while.

Uber #7 & #8 (Avatar Press)

 What's it about?  The war continues to get bloodier as more nations develop their own Superhumans. 

Issue#7 - During the day the Americans hold sway over Okinawa with their battleships and bombers. But at night the Miyoko are unleashed to cause bloody havoc.
Issue#8 - The Soviet Union is getting hammered by the German Panzermensch and in urgent need of a counter-weapon.  Stalin orders his scientist to find him some super-soldiers and never mind that the process kills 90% of the test subjects.

What I think:   A series that continues to be worth picking up. I still think there's not quite enough Superhuman brawling - you tend to get short, sharp bursts of bloody mayhem in among the strategic discussion - but somebody has sat down and put serious thought into how these guys would impact on the front line.   I also like the way all the various combatants are now scrambling to put their own Supermen into the field. A sort of metahuman arms-race, in fact.
 This isn't for the squeamish because whenever the Ubers go into action, body parts start flying. If you can cope with that and like a bit of Alternate History, keep an eye out for the TPB.
Favourite bit: GIs with bazookas v Japanese supermen.

Japan's Panzermensch get stuck into some hapless GIs

  Red Sonja #5 & #6 (Dynamite)

     What it's about: The climax of the "Queen of Plague" arc as Sonja faces off with the insane Annisia.

What neither woman realises is that things aren't quite as they appear to be.

    What did I think? This whole arc has taken Sonja all sorts of interesting places. She's gone from proud warrior to plague-ridden and depressed then back to avenging angel. 

  Gail Simone has done a good job in explaining why the redhaired killing machine has such a personal stake in this particular battle. Meanwhile villain Annisia is not exactly sympathetic but you do get some idea as to why she ended up on the road she's on. 

 These two issues tie up the plot threads and do it in such a way that the cliched "Former friends end up on opposite sides" story has enough new flavour to make it interesting. 

 Mind you, part of me is wondering whether the chainmail bikini is ever going to make a reappearance. 

Favourite bit: Sonja finding out that one of her favourite taverns is now closed. Getting poisoned and left for dead was bad but messing with her drinking haunts?  Now she's really annoyed. 

Bloody hell! Sonja wearing proper armour for a change.

The Fearless Defenders #11 &  #12 (Marvel)

What it's about: The Defenders are enjoying some downtime at Hippolyta's place when the party is crashed by Sea Monsters.

Then the gals have another run-in with the all-female Supervillain crew that's been such a bloody nuisance lately.

 Along the way Valkyrie and Annabelle have a little chat about certain ongoing issues.

What did I think? I'm beginning to suspect that this title is Marvel's chance to use a few female characters that haven't done much lately. There's a perfectly valid reason why all the Defenders are women but  is it just me or are all the bad guys they face female too? 

 If they're not careful Fearless Defenders is going to end up in some Chickfight Pocket Universe. 

 That aside, I'm still enjoying this title. It's nice to see a super-team that has some under-used faces, there's a decent ratio of personal drama to punchup and the writing team manage to make the point that this isn't just a bunch of randoms who hit people at weekends.  The team have an ongoing purpose as well as a few personal goals to sort out.

Favourite bit: The monster-bashing, beach-party. 

You think it's bad when your picnic gets invaded by wasps? How about when Kaiju show up?

Lady Rawhide #3 (Dynamite)

What is it about? The vigilante group known as the Sisters Of the White Rose have stirred up Old Mexico to the point of revolution. Lady Rawhide finds herself having to stop the bloodshed before it gets out of hand. 

What did I think? It's about a redhead who fights crime in her pants. I will cheerfully admit that the story telling is not the only selling point here. 

 Luckily the writing and art are more than enough to make me buy Lady Rawhide without feeling too guilty. I quite like the fact that at the moment she's facing off against people who clearly consider themselves the good guys, although their methods leave a lot to be desired. So the challenge is to stop them drowning Mexico in blood while ( hopefully) not leaving too many bodies lying about.

  This storyline is clearly building up to something. I'm looking foward to seeing where that might be. 

  Favourite bit: Lady R using her speed and agility to deal with a White Rose brawler. 

In Old Mexico they had Tit-Tape. Who knew?  

Next up, we have a clutch of titles where I saw the cover and went "Hmm. Interesting."

I don't think I even bothered looking inside.

Legenderry #1 (Dynamite)

What is it about? Publisher and socialite Britt Reid is enjoying a pleasant evening's conversation with nightclub owner Madam Pendragon when his lecture on the proper way to make a martini is interrupted by a disturbance outside. 

 A terrified young woman barges in, hotly pursued by armed gentlemen in masks. Madam Pendragon proceeds to express her displeasure in ways both forceful and messy. 

What I thought: Dynamite take some of their regular characters and drop them into a Steampunk world of elegant dresses and Zeppelins. So having a go at an "Elseworld" sort of thing, then. 

 It's an interesting idea and I have to admit, issue one made a definite splash. If all else fails, having somebody march in and start a fight is always a good way to get a comics storyline going. 

 I plan to keep an eye on this one. It has definite potential. 

Please don't ask me why the title is spelled like that.  I'm sure there's a perfectly valid reason for it.

Favourite bit: Do you even have to ask? See below. 

Our first clue that Madame Pendragon is more than just a simple club-owner.

In the back of another Dynamite title I found this neat guide to the Legenderry cast.

Interesting, huh?

Sin Boldly One-shot (Image)

What is it about? Two unrelated short tales. In the first "Hell Is Waiting", a sexy demoness makes a deal with a resentful artist.
In the second "Burning Roses", an elegant swordsman is sent after a former comrade-turned-traitor.

What I thought: I saw the cover, saw Linsner's name on it, thought "This is going to be worth reading." and plucked it straight off the shelf.
 It isn't quite what I expected. For starter's it's all in black and white. Secondly, what I got was a showcase for two of Linsner's characters that he's been drawing for a while but never got round to putting into a comic. Sinful Suzi is, as you'd expect, an agent of Hell who collects souls.
Obsidian Stone is male so wears rather more clothing and seems to be some sort of enforcer in a fantasy world that's part 18th Century, part Steampunk.
Take a wild guess as to which one I enjoyed more?
 Damn, Linsner knows how to draw. His stuff is always gorgeous to look at, even in greyscale and while he's best known for cheesecake, he does some marvellous facial expressions.
 The stories themselves are short snippets, clearly tied into something larger but not so much that they can't be read on their own. The Suzi story is more fun. Funnier, definitely.
  According to the notes at the back of the book, Linsner has plans to do a Sinful Suzi mini-series and something more ambitious for Obsidian Stone, both of which will be fitted in around the  next "Dawn" miniseries.
 Based on this little taster, I wouldn't mind reading either of those
Favourite bit: Suzi has a difference of opinion with another demon.

He may have a point. 

A bloke with a sword. I don't post them very often. Savour it.

And finally:

Clown Fatale #1 & #2

What is it about? This is the story of four young women who ran away to join the circus. 

Chloe - Aspiring actress who fell into clowning because there was nothing else.

Candy - Ex-hooker, looking for a new start.

Tina - Joined the circus to escape an abusive husband.

Aya - Erm. Nobody knows what the hell her story is. She's a bit peculiar, OK?.  

 None of them is currently enjoying their life.  They're broke, fed up and get zero respect.

   As one puts it "In the circus hierarchy, clowns rank dead last - below the guy who shovels elephant shit"

 Then one night somebody offers them a chance to earn some big money. A certain inconvenient person needs to be...dealt with. 

 This might be a way to escape the pies and the pratfalls once and for all. The catch is, first the girls have to pass a little test.

 What I thought: Out of everything on this page, I enjoyed "Clown Fatale" the most. 

 There's boobs, violence, drugs, more violence and if you're afraid of clowns, well, this comic will just give you more reasons. Subtle it isn't.

Saying that, our four facepainted anti-heroines are sketched in with enough detail to make them worth caring about and you do find yourself cheering them on. 

 Art- Lively and does the job. 

Humour - Oh yes.

Violence - Definitely. Bloody and over the top it is, too.   

 The whole thing is enormously entertaining and I hope somebody shows Robert Rodriguez a copy of the TPB. I bet he could get a film out of this.  

Favourite bit: The bit with the gorilla. Read the book to find out. 

The clowning quartet meet their fans. 

 That's all folks.