Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword #8 - A Review

Somehow, I've missed Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword #7.  Thankfully, that didn't matter too much.  Only one of the stories in this issue - Breckinridge Elkins: Mountain Man - is a continuation from that issue and it turns out the first part of the adaptation is available to read elsewhere on-line.  I'm not much for Westerns, but Howard's natural humor comes through in the script and artwork of adapter Gary Chaloner and I found it to be an enjoyable read.

The rest of the issue is of similar high quality.  Dan Jolley spins a Solomon Kane tale in rhyming verse, with epic artwork by John Nadeau.  John Arcudi (of The Mask fame) delivers a humorous tale of daily life in Hyboria and the dangers of accusing a small-town blacksmith of shoddy workmanship.  The artwork of Frank Bianacarelli depicts a Cimmeria well in line with Howard's descriptions of a grey and dismal land.

The only real slow spot in the issue is the first part of Conrad and Kirowan: A Book And Its Cover.  Based on characters Howard created for a series of supernatural detective stories that owe much to his pen-pal H.P. Lovecraft, this tale is a good read that suffers from being included alongside such high-action adventures as the ones described above.  Academics sitting around a study discussing dark magic is not quite so exciting as the action contained elsewhere in this issue.  Still, the artwork by Alberto Alburquerqeue is skillfully done and the story is not bad at all - just incongruous to the rest of the book.

Conan The Barbarian fans will want to pick this issue up for the reprint of the Roy Thomas and John Buscema's adaption of the classic Conan story The Tower of The Elephant.  This reprint features colorization by artist Moose Baumann and, for once, colorization has actually improved upon a classic!  If you haven't read the original story, you're in for a treat and if you have... well, this reprint makes it seem like you're reading it for the first time.

Fast Thoughts On The Comics Released The Week of 01/20/2010

The good news is that payday has come, my tab at the comic book shop is all paid up and I have all the books I wanted to get over the last month.

The bad news is that leaves me with 40-something books to cover.

Why is that bad news? Consider the effect that writing 40 something reviews in a timely manner would have on your friends' list to say nothing of my front page.

So rather than spam-bomb us all with individual reviews, I'm going to do this the old-fashioned way and just give you my Fast Thoughts on each issue, with comics scans as needed.




FABLES #92 - It's a sad sign when a story about Flycatcher can't get me excited.

Don't get me wrong - this is a pretty good story. But it's still the first part of a two-part story that is taking time away from the main plot (i.e. retaking Fabletown) and it revisits a lot of characters who - quite frankly - we didn't need to see again after The Good Prince.

Flycatcher got his happy ending and it was implied that he and Red Riding Hood would eventually fall in love. We don't need to see that spelled out as we do here.

And in case you can still bring yourself to care, there's STILL nothing about Rose Red and her mental breakdown in here.


JOE THE BARBARIAN #1 - There are some things that you don't expect to go together. Orange Juice And Toothpaste. Politicians and Honesty. Grant Morrison and Subtlety. And yet, in this book, Grant Morrison has begun a series that I suspect may come to be regarded on par with those of Alan Moore, in so far as she sheer amount of activity hidden in plain sight in each panel of this book. I needed to reread it several times to get a sense of what is going on.

A fever dream brought on by a diabetic nerd failing to take his meds? A young fanboy's dreams of escaping into a better world come true? It is too early to say just what is happening here as both interpretations are equally valid at this point. All I can say is that it costs you little (just $1) to give this book a shot and see if you are as enraptured and eager to see Issue #2 as I am.


POWER GIRL #8 - I admit it was a minor concern, seeing as how there are very few Superman purists who might be upset about a character like Vartox being presented as a male Maxima but it was nice to see that Vartox's intentions were not quite as skeevy as originally thought.

This isn't just a funny book - it's a fun book. Fun in a way that has been lost in most modern comics. If you aren't reading Power Girl, then you should.


SOLOMON KANE #1 - I suppose it was inevitable that sooner or later one of Dark Horse Comics' reimagining of the works of Robert E. Howard would prove completely disappointing.

Solomon Kane is a bit of a mess all-around. Ugly, darkly-colored artwork obscures the action of a script that gives us little insight in to the characters and little reason to continue reading. I'll be passing on this in the future and I suggest you all do the same.