Comic Book News

A Comics Odyssey - Issue #15

By Wayne Hall Jun 16, 2011, 23:25 GMT

Now that every DC Comic series feels like a mini-series (they'll all end in one way or another in September), let's take a look at one Bat-book and see what else is up in the comics universes before I review a book about werewolves, who aren't happy that vampires and zombies are currently getting all the press. Here are the headlines, all taken from the scifipulse.net website:  
 
Warehouse 13  The Comic Book!
 
Enter a world of endless wonder as Syfy's smash-hit dramedy makes its comic book debut this August! 

When a series of sudden, unexplained sinkholes appear beneath the streets of Rio de Janeiro, the Warehouse team heads down to Brazil in the middle of Carnival to uncover the cause. 

What they discover is that someone is using an ancient artifact to move massive chunks of earth and mine huge, underground gold deposits.  With the ground becoming increasingly unstable, our heroes find themselves in a race to retrieve the artifact before the entire city collapses! 

Written by the writers of Warehouse 13, this thrilling 5-issue action adventure/mystery series promises to snag, bag and tag fans of the show and new readers alike!

"We're all very excited to be partnered with Dynamite Entertainment in bringing Warehouse 13's unique brand of endless wonder to a whole new audience.  If you love the show and you love comics, then this book is for you," said Jack Kenny, Executive Producer/Showrunner

Madam Samurai¡ Takes Best Digital Comic Prize At LA New Media Film Festival

Scar Comics and the creators behind Madam Samurai recently announced that Volume One took the Best Digital Comic prize at the May 2011 LA New Media Film Festival, an event described as ¡°Sundance for the Facebook generation¡±.

Work on Madam Samurai: Volume Two is progressing well, and Scar Comics plan to launch the book on August 27th at the new Birmingham Comiccon 2011 BC. The action-packed sequel concludes the story of a female samurai warrior who travels to Victorian London on a mission of vengeance.

The original creative team has reunited, with Empire award-winning screenwriter Gary Young (known for Michael Caine thriller Harry Brown¡) and Eagle award-winning artist David Hitchcock (Springheeled Jack) working together to complete the Madam Samurai¡ origin story in style.

Winnick Gives His Take On Catwoman

If you're a fan of the DCU Universe, then you're living in interesting times right now with the renumbering of many of their titles. But most intriguing is who will be working on said titles.

Over the last couple of weeks details have slowly been coming out about the 52 titles that DC will relaunch in September.

Two titles of interest to fans of The Batman Universe will be Catwoman¡ and Batwing, which are to be written by Judd Winnick, who is no stranger to the Batman Universe having played with numerous characters from the Batman Family, including Jason Todd, currently known as the Red Hood.

When asked about his new jobs of writing for Catwoman, the writer was fast to admit that many fans in and outside of the DCU will be somewhat familiar with Catwoman from the various interpretations already seen in movies and television, and he hopes to hook some of those none readers into his take on the character.

"Our general marching orders are to try to appeal to new readers as well as existing readers. With Catwoman, we're very lucky in that respect. All the books are trying to hit the ground running. There's not going to be a lot of origin stories floating around. We're not having äs where, you know, Superman is crashing from Krypton. That's not what this is about.

"And equally, we're not going to start out telling the story of how Selena became Catwoman. She's Catwoman, and we take off right from there.  I'm very lucky in the respect that she's very well known. I think if you grabbed 100 people on the street and asked them about Catwoman, they'd not only have heard of her, but they could probably tell you a lot about her. They'll get all the basics right. And these are things that I find to be advantageous in creating this title for both new readers and older readers."

Review: Harbor Moon
Harbor Moon truly gives werewolves their due.

Here's the book's description: When Timothy Vance receives a call from a man claiming to be his long-lost father, he takes a trip to out-of-the-way Harbor Moon, Maine. But the man is nowhere to be found and unfortunately for Tim, the town doesn't take very kindly to strangers. As he struggles to stay alive and learn the truth about his father, Tim discovers that Harbor Moon is protecting an incredible secret ¡­ and it turns out that Tim may have more in common with its residents than he could ever imagine.

Published by Arcana, Harbor Moon is written by Ryan Colucci and Dikran Ornekian, and illustrated by Pawel Sambor.

Maybe it's because I come from a small town myself that this book really rattled me. Every place has its own secrets and its own social structure, and when someone who's obviously new arrives and tries to function there, it rarely works out well ¡­ even when you're a relative of someone there.

That's what happens in Harbor Moon. Tim knows he needs to find his father when he gets there, but in so doing, he really stirs up a hornets' nest of trouble. Are those who are being friendly really being kind? Or are they trying to find something out or get close enough to hurt you? And are people who aren't being nice to you really your enemies? It takes time to sort that all out, which is something Tim doesn't have.

The mystery is unveiled slowly and anxiously, with danger on all sides. Unlike True Blood where the werewolves are controlled by vampires, they rule in this comic. That adds a level of savagery and animalistic unpredictability to the story as it moves along. You have no idea what's coming next, and I like a good surprise!

Sambori's painted art is spooky, creepy and engaging all at the same time. It fits the somber, dark mood of the story extremely well. It made me feel as if I were in a warm, dark place while also nervous at the same time. Some might not like that all the panels are not as visually easy to interpret, but it gave me a strong sense of unease when I had to look more closely at some panels than others. I was wasting valuable time before an attack took place, after all!

And I liked the ending as well. Could there be more from these characters in the future?

Harbor Moon engages the senses on many different levels. This is what horror should be¨Cmysterious, mirky and scary at the same time. I enjoyed reading it and think you will, too!

For more on this fascinating comic, check out their website here.

Wayne Hall contributes to the Smallscreen, Film and Graphic Novels/Comic Book sections of the Monsters And Critics.com website. He writes recaps for Fox¡¯s Bones, Syfy's Warehouse 13 and the BBCs Doctor Who.  He is co-editor and a news writer for SciFiPulse.Net. He also serves as a host for the SFP-Now weekly podcast and produces and stars in the Wayne's Comics weekly podcast. You can check both of them out at http://www.sfp-now.com.