Overdue Review – London Horror Comic #1 and 2
This is my last overdue review. I really hated that these reviews sat on my “desk” so long, I am hoping that my effort to finish them means something.
Anyway, here we go again.
London Horror Comic #1
Written by: John-Paul Kamath
Penciled by: Lee Ferguson
Inks by: Marc Deering
Letters & Book Design: by Matty Ryan
Colours by: Hi-Fi Design
Price: $3.99
Suggested for Mature Readers
I will start out by saying that I am not a big fan of horror comics, in fact,? I usually don’t even give them a second glance when I see them on the shelf.? This comic actually surprised me, the stories were good? and well thought out (though the last one I didn’t quite get).? A few of them had a funny side to them that was refreshing and I like how others tied back into comic book culture.? The art was good, thought maybe not my taste, but still well done.? Overall I really liked this issue and was glad that I gave it a shot.
London Horror Comic #2
Written by: John-Paul Kamath
Penciled by: Lee Ferguson
Inks by: Marc Deering
Letters & Book Design: by Matty Ryan
Colours by: Hi-Fi Design
Price: $3.99
Suggested for Mature Readers
First, I have to say that the cover on #2 was just a little disturbing.? Having that naked chic in the tub with that guy with the eyes all over him just made my brain all confused 
.? This issue surprised me too, the stories had just enough of a twist to make them interesting.? Once again the art was good, just not my style, which is just my opinion.? I know I can’t do any better, and I have certainly seen a lot worse in my time.? The one thing I didn’t like was the last story.? I didn’t find it very “horrifying” just damn cruel.
Overall, if you like the horror genre, then you will more than likely like these books.
When I went to the author’s website I discovered that he got hit by Diamond’s cut backs on minimum orders, so #3 would be the last issue of this series.? With that in mind, you will only be able to get #3 on his online store.? This series was different enough that I just might give that last issue a try when it comes out.
Overdue Review – The Manga Guide to Statistics
Before I start this review I have to apologize to the publisher and the author for taking so long to write this review.? When I agreed to do the review, I thought I had plenty of free time to complete it in a timely manner, and I soon learned otherwise.
With that that said, here is my review.
The Manga Guide to Statistics
Written by: Shin Takahashi and Trend-Pro, Co., LTD.
Publisher: No Starch Press (November 28, 2008)
Overall I really liked this book.? The art was well done and the underlying plot to make the book flow was interesting if not new.? I think the author did a great job of trying to make the examples in the book as real world as possible so that the concepts would be easy to understand.? It has been a long time since I have had taken any classes in statistics (or classes at all for that matter) , so I have to admit that after a while the math just made my head hurt.? When I started seeing some of those more complicated equations, I started having flashbacks to all those calculus classes I had in college, and I had to put the book down and take a nap.
If you know of someone that has to seriously learn this material however, I have a feeling that this book is just what they are looking for if they are having trouble.
Overdue Review – P-Brane: The Green Man
Here is the second in a series of comic reviews that I should have done a long time ago.
Though P-Brane: The Green Man really isn’t a “graphic novel” by the strictest sense of the word, it is more like a “photo” novel where photos? of real “actors” and objects are then manipulated to make the art of the book.
Even though this is an interesting concept, I didn’t really care for how it was done in this book.? In the books that I usually read the hand drawn art just flows better to me, while this book just looked like a slide show with speech balloons. ? To me this just looked sloppy and hashed together and really made it really hard to read.
As far as the plot goes, it all seemed like nothing that spectacular. ? Man wakes up with amnesia, is able to do incredible things without any explanation, alien invasion, serial killers killing evil men, etc..
Anyone that has read books or comics, or watched TV for any length of time will have already seen almost every element of this story before, just maybe not put together in this particular way.? The flow of the book was very disjointed to me, things jumped around quite a bit and it was difficult to follow.? As well as that, the plot went places that didn’t make any sense to me at all.? Especially the ending.? Every time I thought I had a handle of what was going on in this book, there would be another turn in the plot that didn’t make any sense to me.
The dialogue, in my opinion, was the worst part of this book.? It is barely two-dimensional, choppy and has barely any feeling in it.? I have the feeling that the photo thing is partly to blame.
I won’t go on any further, it’s pretty obvious that I…well… hated this book.? There I said it.
Being somewhat of a writer myself, I don’t like tearing up someone else’s work, but this was just horrible in my opinion.
Overdue Review – Ayre Force
It has been close to a year since I first got this from the publisher.? Even though the company doesn’t appear to be selling this book anymore, I said I would review it; so here we go.
First a little info about the book from its press realease:
AYRE FORCE Invades 2008 NY Comic Con
April 4, 2008
Bodog Entertainment’s first ever graphic novel AYRE FORCE to make debut at NY Comic Con, April 18 – 20
Digital entertainment giant Bodog Entertainment has expanded its already extensive wealth of entertainment offerings even further to include the release of its first ever action packed graphic novel AYRE FORCE.
Based on real people, AYRE FORCE reveals the hidden activities and past of Bodog’s billionaire founder, Calvin Ayre, as he leads a covert operations unit composed of Bodog Music artists Bif Naked, Jason Darr and Nazanin; Bodog Fight mixed martial artists Tara LaRosa, Jorge Masvidal and Trevor Prangley; and Bodog Poker players Evelyn Ng, David Williams and Josh Arieh. Ayre and the AYRE FORCE have been engaged in a years-long war with pharmaceutical magnate Janus Winter, attacking the illegal operations of Wintercorp all over the globe. Now, Janus has upped the ante by unleashing his genetically engineered, superhuman children on Calvin and his team, intending to put an end to the war between the AYRE FORCE and Wintercorp once and for all!
Assembled by an incredibly talented creative team, the people behind AYRE FORCE are Illustrator Shawn Martinbrough (How To Draw Noir Comics, Batman: Detective Comics, World War Hulk: Frontline), Writers Adam Slutsky (Maxim, Bluff Magazine) and Joseph Phillip Illidge (Batman), Color Artists Andrew Dalhouse (The Sisterhood) and Felix Serrano (Batman) and Letterer Marshall Dillon (Street Fighter: Alpha).
This does sound exciting doesn’t it?
Well there was a lot of action in this book, but I wasn’t too excited about it when I was done.? It was pretty cheesy and came off to me as more of advertisement for Bodog.com than anything else.? The mix of fiction and real life people was a little strange to say the least, and gave it a “dirty” feel; for lack of a better word.? I even felt a little guilty after I read it.
The plot and the dialogue reminded me a lot of the action films that Arnold Schwarzenegger did back in the 80’s, cheesy and a lot of one liners, just not done near as well.? So I guess if you like that kind of stuff you might like this, but I doubt it.
Overall I wouldn’t recommend this, even if you could still get a copy, despite the fact the proceeds were supposed to go to charity.? Since this book isn’t even relevant anymore, not really that much else to say about it.
The Quick and the Read #8 – More comic book reviews so soon? You gotta be kidding me…
Filed under: Comic Book Reviews, The Quick and The Read
Here we are for another installment of comic book reviews that everyone has already commented on to death.? I realized that I had missed writing reviews and found the last installment therapeutic, so I made an effort to write up some more.? With the book gearing up again, I definitely need the practice.
Batman #678 – Morrison’s “Batman R.I.P.” story is getting freakier by the second, but I have to say that I am enjoying it, even though he is messing with Batman. I just love how he is sneaking in all of those classic pieces of Batman history that were at one time wiped out by the first Crisis.? I look forward to reading this title every month.
Final Crisis: Rouges’ Revenge #1 of 3 – Just another example of the quality comics that I expect from Geoff Johns.? Really good stuff that makes me wish Johns was back on the Flash, but I will settle for him taking over the Legion J? You listening DC??? Seriously, I really loved this first issue.? I am looking forward to the rest of the series.
Justice Society of America #17 – Once again, Johns wows me with his writing skill.? Not many writers can have this many characters to deal with and give them all such distinct personalities.? ? This is another title that I look forward to every month, and the homage to heroes past makes this one of my true favorites to read.? I highly recommend it.
Batman #1-3 – I am really torn on this series so far.? The story is interesting, but I have never really cared for Kelley Jones’ art.? I don’t hate it, but I don’t really like it that much either.? I doubt that I will hang around for 12 issues.
Tangent: Superman’s Reign #2-5 – I never read any of the Tangent stuff the first time around.? For whatever reason it never interested me.? I got the first issue of this series out of curiosity, and I have to say it is pretty good.? The history back up stories have been a good read as well.? I am glad that I stuck around.
Green Lantern Corps #26 – Peter Tomasi has really surprised me since he started writing this title.? He has been one of the few that I have seen that has been able to write the Green Lantern Corp since their rebirth a few years ago.? This issue was really good, and this is another title that I look forward to reading each month.
