Nerd Culture Podcast

For my review this week I am looking at the Image four part series Lost Vegas.

As I have mentioned in a previous review, Image Comics is my favourite comic publisher. They consistently bring out new quality titles. If you are not reading Saga and East of West get on it!

Lost Vegas is a very interesting idea. It is like the film Ocean’s Eleven but in space. Lost Vegas for all intents and purposes is the city of Las Vegas set on a spaceship.

The story itself revolves around an unnamed slave who has 24 hours to pull off a heist and break out of Lost Vegas. The four issues also establish some very interesting side characters, with the most fascinating being a huge talking reindeer.

Lost Vegas is created by Jim McCann (writer) and Janet K Lee (artwork). For the most part the story and artwork is quite good. The biggest problem I have with Lost Vegas and this is not the fault of the creators is that I wanted more. The story felt very compressed in the four issues and it has left me wanting more. I love character back story and I just wished there was more back story for the characters. But like I said this is not the fault of the creators as they only had four issues to work with.

Janet Lee’s artwork in the first three issues is quite good. The different aliens look very cool and the main villain is drawn very well. You can tell he is a back stabbing jerk.

I am not sure what happened in the fourth issue though as the artwork looked a bit different.  I am not sure if a different artist drew the final issue.

Like I mentioned my biggest gripe is that I want more. Hopefully Image gives the go ahead and there will be more issues published (fingers crossed).

I give Lost Vegas 2.5 Lukes

I would love to hear your feedback.  Please comment below or you can contact me via Twitter @bennykane1983.  If you have suggestions on other titles that I should read would love to hear from you.

Quick Fire

X-Men Battle of the Atom was the last straw for my current X-Men reading. Uncanny X-Men and All New X-Men are now dropped from my pull list. It is a shame as I like the X-Men. Here is hoping Days of Future Past brings some new life into the franchise.

For my next review I will be looking at Letter 44 published by Oni Press. I have not read any titles by this publisher so I am looking forward to it.

Benny

For my review this week I am looking at issues 1 & 2 of the digital comic Collateral – Dear John. A big thank you to the writer Matt Nicholls who got in contact with me to review his comic. If you would like me to review your comic please get in contact and I am more than happy to do it.

A debate I have heard in some comic forums is the one between digital and paper comics. I am not 100% sure why but I just feel I can get more comfortable reading a comic anywhere so prefer paper comics. If I had an iPad or similar portable device my opinion would probably change.

But enough about comic reading preference and onto Collateral – Dear John. When thinking about comics, thoughts about superheroes is usually not too far behind. Collateral delves into a world of superheroes but from a different perspective, the perspective of a normal family dealing with the consequences of living in Vacant City, a city filled with superheroes. I enjoy reading stories that take on a different perspective so this was right up my alley. I give credit to Matt for taking this interesting concept and writing a compelling story. After reading the first two issues I am curious to see where the story is heading and cannot wait to read more issues.

The artist on Collateral is Lee Taylor and I really enjoyed the black and white art style used throughout the comic. There are many panels throughout the first two issues with no dialogue which really gives Lee’s art the chance to shine. You can really feel the emotions portrayed in those panels.

I highly recommend giving Collateral a read and give the first two issues 3.5 Lukes.

If you are interested in reading Collateral please click this link to Comixology and you can purchase each issue for the low low price of $1.99, which is great value.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Collateral, please comment below or contact me via twitter @bennykane1983.

For my next review I will be looking at the Image title Lost Vegas by Jim McCann and Janet K Lee.

Benny

For my review this week I am taking a look at the Justice League of America 12 issue series Justice.  A big thank you to David for providing the reading material for this review.

The Justice League is the ultimate DC team book containing some of arguably the best super heroes in comics comprising, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Aquaman and The Flash to name a few.  Justice was not my first visit to the Justice League.  A few years ago I picked up a collection of the original Justice League comics.  Although it was interesting to read the original issues like so many things from the past they have not aged well (for example, there is a kid constantly clicking his fingers).  Thankfully Justice is from 2005 so it is far more modern.

Justice is written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger.  The story in Justice is fairly complicated and hard to explain in a paragraph but the best way to explain what a reader is in for is by looking at the splash pages at the end of the book which tells you that this book is going to be a super hero vs super villain showdown of epic proportions, which is an exciting proposition.

I did enjoy reading Justice but I think I would have enjoyed the story more if I had more knowledge of the DC Universe.  Although I did recognise many of the heroes and villains, there were many characters I was not aware of.  I believe I will be able to appreciate Justice more after doing more Justice League reading.  This is by no means a slight on the writers.

On the other side of the equation the artwork in Justice is stunning.  Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite have done an exceptional job in drawing this book.  In my year or so of reading comics on a regular basis I have noticed that I pay more attention to story then art but Justice is one title where from the first page the art had the majority of my attention.  Words cannot do justice (terrible pun I know) to the artwork.  There were some emotional moments throughout the book and the facial expressions captured the emotion beautifully.  Although it is a different style, the artwork is on par to Finding Gossamyr (reviewed in Free Comic Book Day reviews).

I give Justice 3 Lukes.  In time after doing more reading I believe the rating would go up.  If you are completely new to the DC Universe I do not think this is the best place to start but if you are well versed in all things DC give it a go.

I would love to hear your feedback about Justice and suggestions on other Justice League of America stories I should read.  Please comment below or you can contact me via Twitter @bennykane1983

Quick Fire

If you are not reading East of West written by Jonathan Hickman published by Image Comics you should be.

For my next review I will be taking my first step into digital comics by looking at Collateral – Dear John by Matt Nicholls and Lee Taylor.

Benny

Something a bit different for my review this time, as I am doing a mystery review.

The title that I am reviewing is 100 Bullets Volume 2: Split Second Chance. A big thank you to Mitch from All Star Comics for choosing the title for me and also a big thank you for not choosing a $100 omnibus!

To choose my mystery title I gave Mitch one criteria, a single issue or trade that I had not read. I have heard many things about the 100 Bullets series and all of those things were positive so I was excited going into reading it.

The main idea behind 100 Bullets put simply involves the following:

You are offered a gun and 100 untraceable bullets.  Do you use the gun and bullets to enact vengeance?

It is a simple idea but one that is interesting on many different levels. The biggest strength of 100 Bullets is the story and the writing. Mr Brian Azzarello has done an outstanding job in writing a compelling story and also writing people of different socio-economic backgrounds.

As odd as this sounds one of the things I was most impressed with were the issues at the end of the trade which were set in France. Much of the speech is in French (as it would be in France) but it was not translated. I like that Mr Azzarello has decided not to dumb it down.

The artwork in 100 Bullets is by Eduardo Risso and as much as I enjoyed the writing the artwork is just as enjoyable. 100 Bullets is a dark, mysterious and dirty world and Eduardo really made me feel that. It is exceptional work by both writer and artist.

It is judgement time and I give 100 Bullets Volume 2 a 4.5/5 Lukes.  I am looking forward to reading Volume 1 and then through to the end of the series. Mitch from All Star also tells me that the sequel/prequel series Brother Lono is starting to kick into gear as well, and I cannot wait to read that also.

I would love to read your feedback. Please comment below or you can contact me via Twitter @bennykane1983.  If you have suggestions on other titles that I should read I would love to hear from you.

For my next review I will be looking at Justice by Alex Ross which was kindly provided by David (what a legend!)*.

Benny

*Editor’s Note: Ben was not coerced or influenced into making this (obviously true) statement 🙂

For my review this week I am looking at A User’s Guide to Neglectful Parenting by Guy Delisle.

This is a different comic then the normal, Marvel, DC or Image title.This is a collection of short and sharp stories which have a newspaper comic strip feel to it but never fear this is no Fred Basset rubbish (I don’t know anyone who finds Fred Basset funny, if you are a fan I would like to hear from you).

A User’s Guide to Neglectful Parenting contains a number of different stories revolving around a dad and his son and daughter. The comic is divided into a number of stories based on a few different parenting themes. My personal favourite is called The Easter Bunny which involves the father telling the son about the Easter Bunny with the story ending with the father laughing out loud at how ridiculous the idea of an Easter Bunny is.

I read the majority of the book while waiting in an appointment room and I had some genuine laugh out loud moments.

I really love the angle that Guy Delisle has gone with in this book. He has taken what is a very serious topic (parenting) and put a hilarious spin on what not to do. While not a parent myself I imagine that dads and mums would really enjoy reading this.

The art style is very simple but effective. Some of the facial expressions of the dad are brilliant.

I give A User’s Guide to Neglectful Parenting 4/5 Lukes – One of the most enjoyable new reads I have had in a long while. I highly recommend checking this title out.

I would love to hear your feedback. Please comment below or you can contact me via Twitter @bennykane1983.

My next review is going to be a mystery review. On my next trip to All Star Comics I will ask one of the guys to pick a title for me that I have not read and I will review it for you fine folks.

Enjoy your comic reading!

Benny