Month: February 2005

Posted on

Small Gods Vol. 1: Killing Grin

Written by Jason Rand
Art by Juan E. Ferreyra
128 pages, black and white
Published by Image Comics

One of my favorite series of books from about fifteen years ago was Wild Cards, where super-powers had become part of every day life and everything was both the same and different at the same time. Small Gods gave me that same comfortable sort of feeling; not because the two series are the same, but because both of them are able to effortlessly take the world we live in and add in that one difference that changes everything.

Continue reading “Small Gods Vol. 1: Killing Grin”

Posted on

Ray Vol. 1

By Akihito Yoshitomi
208 pages, black and white
Published by ADV Manga

Some comics show their hand in the first couple of pages; everything’s spelled out for you and you know exactly what you’re getting. Then there are comics that sneak up on you, slowly pulling you into their clutches with each new piece of information and plot twist revealed. It’s the latter that Akihito Yoshitomi’s Ray falls into; at the end of the first chapter, I wasn’t entirely sure about the book, but by the end of the book, I was most definitely hooked.

Continue reading “Ray Vol. 1”

Posted on

Shaolin Cowboy #1

By Geofrey Darrow
32 pages, color
Published by Burlyman Entertainment

Geofrey Darrow doesn’t draw comics very often, but when he does, he’s got my attention. The two main two projects of his I’m familiar with, Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot and Hard Boiled, were both written by Frank Miller, while his new book Shaolin Cowboy is a book he’s not only drawing but writing as well. I knew the book would look gorgeous… but how would it read?

Continue reading “Shaolin Cowboy #1”

Posted on

Lunch Hour Comix #1

By Robert Ullman
64 pages, black and white
Published by Alternative Comics

I love the idea of the “journal” comic, from extensive travel journals (like Rick Smith’s Baraka and Black Magic in Morocco) to the strip-a-day-format (like James Kochalka’s American Elf). Robert Ullman’s new comic, Lunch Hour Comix, has a nice take on the latter concept. His comics are about his day and what’s going on, but they’ve got to be completed in one hour: the amount of time he gets for lunch. So these really are, well, lunch hour comics.

Continue reading “Lunch Hour Comix #1”