Afterlife with Archie #10 (Archie)
These Archie Horror books come out slower than a horde of lurching zombies, but they are always 100% worth the wait.
This issue featured a re-imagining of Josie & the Pussycats in this new horror-filled world of Archie comics. I do not want to spoil it, but I love that the world is expanding outside of Riverdale. This issue opened up a lot of great possibilities.
The art and colors are stunning. Francesco Francavilla needs to be mentioned in the same breath as Frank Quitely – who also put out a book this week – and I truthfully cannot tell which one is better looking.
This series has stunning storytelling. If you fell off because of the long delays, get back into it.
Ratings: 5 out of 5
Zombie Tramp #26 (Action Labs / Danger Zone)
To be honest, I was not expecting much with this series, given the title. Perhaps I went in with such low expectations that I was surprised when it was not the worst book I read this week.
This book will have its audience. Its first quarter is basically torture porn. Then it turns into a total cheesecakes fest for the next half of the book. It ends with a story that at least has a small hook for new readers to wonder what happened.
Ratings 1.5 out of 5
Vampblade #7 (Action Labs / Danger Zone)
If you are like me and never have read an issue of Vampblade it does not take too long to figure out what this book is all about. It is right there in the title. Vamperella + Blade = Vampblade. “Sexy vampire fights other vampires.” As a matter of fact, that was the only thing that happened in this entire issue. Vampblade fights Mario Brothers-inspired demons of some sort in a sewer. How do I know they are Mario Brothers inspired? Because Vampblade tells us, then procedes to go on for several pages of video game references.
I typically like having some books that are fun (even the occasional cheesecake is alright), but this was simply #notgood.
Ratings: 1 out of 5
Broken Moon: Legends of the Deep (American Gothic Press)
This was my first title from American Gothic Press and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The art is very scratchy and unpolished, but reminds me of Sean Murphy. The art was fine, but it felt very storyboarded at time.
The lettering was tough to get through. It looked so unprofessional that it really took away from the art and story. However, going back over the book and just looking at the book without the word balloons, it redeemed itself.
The story itself was pretty good. I really enjoyed the setup of a fishing town during the apocalypse, with kaiju roaming the seas. I wished we explored that more, but the story took a couple of Mad-Max-with-werewolves turns after that and left me wanting more of that first story.
Ratings: 2.5 out of 5