Batman '66 meets The Green Hornet by Kevin Smith, Ralph Garman, and Ty Templeton

*Note: This review was originally published on GoodReads on April 15, 2015, but has since been revised. That original review can be read here.*

What a delight this was to read! Batman '66 meets the Green Hornet was everything I was hoping to read and more. The Batman and Robin from the Adam West/Burt Ward 1960s television show team up with the Green Hornet and Kato from their 1966 television show featuring Van Williams and Bruce Lee to take on the Joker and General Gumm after they conduct a train heist of sorts. The heroic team-up doesn't always play out so well and the two crime-fighting teams often end up clashing with one another as much as they do with the criminals.

Now Kevin Smith has had some pretty admirable comic book runs in the past, but the opinion on his Batman work seems to be pretty divided at best. Maybe it is because he is working with the classic Adam West television version of Batman, but this team-up book should quell some of the reservations a person may have before checking this book out solely because Kevin Smith's name is on the cover. Smith isn't the only writer to praise here, comedian/radio host Ralph Garman tagged along to write the comic along with Smith and they make a superb team. I'm uncertain if one was in charge of plotting and the other took scripting duties, but whatever the case, they both nailed the voices of these characters. Multiple times throughout the book characters made me laugh out loud, which kept in touch with the overly-goofy nature of the Batman '66 television show, but never once were the emotional and dramatic beats (and I use those terms as loosely as I can when applied to a story such as this) sacrificed at all.

The artwork was also a huge highlight. Ty Templeton, who handled pencil duties for the majority of the book, was on his A-game as well. Templeton got close enough in likeness to make the characters completely recognizable, but not too close as to make it a complete distraction from the story itself. The visuals helped with the fact that I could only hear each individual actor's voice in my head while reading the story, and I absolutely loved it. The landscape Templeton laid out seemed a little expansive for this story, but nothing so far-fetched that you couldn't imagine seeing it on the Batman television series nearly 50 years ago.

Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet is a book that any reader of any age can enjoy and get something out of. The story was equal parts beautiful, fun, comical, and nostalgic, and I only hope that this team returns to tackle another team-up story in the near future. Recommended, recommended, recommended!

5 stars out of 5

You can head over to InStock Trades and purchase the hardcover here.

Fairest: In All the Land by Bill Willingham

*Note: This review originally appeared on GoodReads on October 30, 2013, but has since been revised. You can view my original review here.*

I am a fan of Fables, but I haven't been up to speed with the happenings in Fabletown in quite some time. I have read very little of Jack of Fables (although I love what I have read) and I haven't even touched any of the issues of Fairest. I went in to Fairest: In All the Land not knowing what to expect.

Outside of my slight confusion over what had happened to Bigby, which was referenced a few times by a few different characters, I wasn't lost at all. The story is broken up into seven sections for each day of the week, and shorter stories within each section, each drawn by a different artist. The opening pages, as narrated by the Magic Mirror, offered a nice layout of the story at hand without being overwrought. We soon find out that there have been a few murders and Cinderella is quickly called upon to figure out the who and the why behind the deaths. The shorter stories make for a quick, but engaging read.

While having suspicions over what to expect before opening the book, I realize now that the amazing lineup of artists should have quelled those feelings. Gene Ha, Adam Hughes, Phil Noto, Mark Buckingham, Tony Akins, Ming Doyle and Chris Sprouse all in one book? I should have been sold from the start. Even the stories illustrated by artists that I was unfamiliar with were gorgeous and held up in their own way. The change in artists would normally remove some interest in a story, at least with monthly issues, but the artist changes in this book worked well. I feel like each artist offered something unique to the story and absolutely nailed the pacing the story called for. 

Fairest: In All the Land is absolutely worth checking out to anyone who was, is, or wishes to be invested in the world of Fables.

4 stars out of 5

You can head over to InStock Trades and purchase the hardcover here or the trade paperback here.

Avengers: Endless Wartime by Warren Ellis and Mike McKone

*Note: This book was originally reviewed on GoodReads on October 6, 2013, but has since been revised. You can read the original review here.*

I don't quite know where to begin with Avengers: Endless Wartime. A large part of me was jazzed when this was first announced: I get to see Warren Ellis tackle writing some of these Avengers characters again, and the thought of Mike McKone on art duties is enough of a sell for me, but I can't help but feel confused and disappointed. For a story that takes place in the Marvel 616 continuity, it sure didn't have the feeling it belonged. 

Ellis is one of my favorite writers, always bringing thought-provoking, often satirical and socially aware elements to his work and the characters he writes, but this story was all over the place. I had a hard time believing any of these characters would speak or react in the way that Ellis depicted them to, especially Tony Stark. The voices for the characters just seemed off from the Marvel 616 universe and more in line with the Marvel cinematic universe. That would be a fine tool to use to bring in new readers who are solely familiar with the Marvel Avengers-related movies, but Avengers: Endless Wartime wasn't marketed that way. I am not even a stickler about continuity in the least, I just had a troublesome time sorting through the characterization in my own head, which in turn caused even more confusion. I also found the pacing to be jarring and had to re-read some panels and pages over again a few times because I was certain I has missed something when in fact I didn't. The plot was overly-convoluted for the page count. This would have been a much smoother read had there been an extra 20 pages to flesh out the story and fill in the slight gaps. But alas, there weren't.

Mike McKone's art was not up to par with his previous work. I can't perceive it being due to deadline issues, but I don't know. Once again the pacing was off, and the art's sequential story telling was choppy. This could be due in part to either page count or just the script Warren Ellis provided, but it still took its toll on the story. The artwork started off strong in the first quarter of the book, but I cannot make sense of where it went wrong or why. There were many gaps in between panels, where normally easy to fill in the blanks, that came off as missed opportunity in the narrative's fluidity (or lack there of). Colorist Jason Keith did a great job keeping the art together, really nailing it on the coloring duties, but that's the best part about the art. 

I can't fully endorse this as a book that can be a nice stepping stone for new readers to sink their teeth into, and I can't convincingly say this is a must-read story for the die-hard continuity freaks either.

2 stars out of 5

You can purchase Endless Wartime here over at InStock Trades.

Thor: God of Thunder, Vol. 3: The Accursed by Jason Aaron, Ron Garney, Nic Klein, and Das Pastoras

*Note: This review was originally published on GoodReads on March 28, 2014, but has since been edited. You can read that original review here.*

This third volume of Thor: God of Thunder is further proof that Marvel made the perfect decision by appointing Jason Aaron to write this book. The Accursed is primarily focused on the five-issue arc dealing with Malekith the Accursed and his reign of terror after escaping from the Hall of Nastrond, but the stories that impressed me even more were the two that started book-ended the collection. Those two were quiet and intimate character pieces of Thor and his life outside of grueling battle and set away from Asgard. Aaron knows how to get to the emotional core of Thor and focus on character's strengths and weaknesses.

Ron Garney handled most of the art in this collection, and it looks perfect. Garney is a welcome replacement for Esad Ribic when he isn't drawing this book. Garney has a much cleaner, less pencil-driven style of artwork than Ribic does, but he has no problem retaining the tone that Ribic portrayed in the first two volumes. Nic Klein and Das Pastoras also provided some of the illustration and each artist looked great in their own way. All of them seem to feed well from Jason Aaron's scripts.

I cannot recommend this series to anyone enough.

5 stars out of 5.

Head over to InStock Trades and pick up the hardcover here or the trade paperback here.

Forever Evil by Geoff Johns and David Finch

*Note: This review was originally published on GoodReads on September 13, 2014. You can view that here.*

Let is be known that I tend to stay away from DC events. I haven't been totally keen on the events DC has been promoting since Brightest Night (which was the perfect event) except for Flashpoint, and even some recent crossovers have left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't pick up Forever Evil in single issues and actually dropped the Justice League title I was picking up monthly because I didn't want to bother with the tie-ins. With all of that out of the way, I do have faith in Geoff Johns (even as of late) and enjoy David Finch's art when I feel he is "on," and also figured that we are far enough removed from this storyline in the monthly DC titles for this event to finally pique my interest. It turns out that I was pretty excited to see that I had won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.

I will admit that after the first ten-or-so pages that I had a gripe with the pacing. I appreciate the idea of this story taking off as it hits the ground, and I am aware of all of the set up and other story tie-ins involved, but since I avoided those I almost felt like the beginning of the book was rushed. I'm not looking for a clunky exposition dump, but the way this story took off didn't feel quite right. While the writing left me feeling slightly off in the beginning, David Finch was nailing it with the artwork at the start (focusing on Lex Luther and that whole talking heads scene), but once the helicopter crashed and the action hit all around, everyone became a little less detail oriented and the focus shifted to a few bombastic explosions. Finch picked it back up with that four-page spread of the Crime Syndicate and all of the DC rogues (which was a beautiful scene), but lost that strength towards the end of the first issue. 

The inconsistencies in artwork seemed to plague the remainder of this book as well. I really love Finch's work on the Avengers, and a lot of his Marvel work in general (oddly enough since his style is suited far-more for the house style DC likes to keep in a lot of their current books) but I couldn't tell what Finch I was getting here. Looking over the book again I can see that the quieter moments where Johns focused on plot development and character interaction seemed to bring out a much cleaner and enjoyable style out of Finch than that which we saw depicted in his fight scenes and battles. That isn't to say it is all bad - there are some great shots in some of the fights, but it's almost as of the characters come second to the overtly shadow-heavy fights, which can also be attributed to a possible inking issue.

Geoff Johns nailed it and kept me interested with those quieter character moments. He also seems to have better comedic timing than most other comic book writers, knowing exactly when to drop in a line or two for levity's sake. Reading the Grayson monthly title has obviously left me privy to what happened to Dick Grayson in this story, but I'll be damned if I didn't get tense seeing how it all played out here anyway. Johns has such a good grasp on the character voicing and I believe he hit the right notes with the Batman/Grayson relationship. Even the choice of Lex Luthor, Captain Cold, Black Adam, Bizarro, Black Manta and Sinestro teaming up together made for an interesting ride from the disparate villains. (Side note, I want to see an Owlman ongoing series.)

I was torn between rating Forever Evil a 3 and a 4, but eventually settled with a 3. While I had some complaints with art and pacing, especially at the very beginning of the story, Forever Evil seemed to nail all of the emotional beats seamlessly and make for an enjoyable story. I don't know if this is a story I need to revisit, but I am glad I gave it a shot at the very least.

3 stars out of 5

You can purchase the Forever Evil hardcover here at InStock Trades or in trade paperback here.

Django Unchained (Graphic Novel) by Quentin Tarantino, R.M. Guéra, Jason Latour, Denys Cowan, and Danijel Žeželj

*Note: This review was originally posted on GoodReads on December 17, 2013, but has since been revised. You can read the original review here.*

This book is one of the best and most faithful adaptations of a movie I have read. Drawing scenes from the original script, there are a few parts throughout the book that didn't make it to the big screen, so it didn't feel like a direct translation; it was close enough to the movie so that those familiar with the film won't feel lost while adding scenes that give this book an edge and making it a suitable supplement to the movie. 

The highlights of this book were easily the scenes drawn by R.M. Guéra (Scalped artist), and the flashbacks illustrated by Jason Latour (artist of Southern Bastards, fill-in artist for Scalped, and writer of Spider-Gwen and Winter Soldier). The Guéra/Latour combination in the first few issues played well bouncing back and forth off of each other, a beautiful compliment of art styles, and the flashbacks were in just long enough to give a taste of some back story but not long enough as to take you out of the present timeline. Both of artists have this rough, sketchy style and know how to draw ugly characters and depicting an honest portrayal of emotion and mood. There are quite a few other artists on this book, all making the book look superb, but the frequent change of artists brought this book down one star for me. 

The rotating door of artists, however, did not deter from the overall feel of Django Unchained. The pacing was superb. All of the major beats were given the proper amount of time to shine and the weight of each dramatic scene never suffered in return.

The collected edition of Django Unchained is highly recommended for anyone who is a Taranino fan and to those who enjoyed the film. I would even recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen the movie but enjoys a nice drama packed story with equal parts action and comedy. This is one story that will resonate with you for a while.

4 stars out of 5

You can purchase the hardcore edition of Django Unchained from InStock Trades here or the trade paperback here.

Apocalypse Idaho by Rich Lundeen

*Note: This review was originally published on GoodReads on May 28, 2015, but has been edited since. You can read the original review here.*

The Good:
Apocalypse Idaho gave the appearance that it was going to be pretty straight forward horror novel in the beginning, but it took some weird turns with the quickness. The weird turns were great! I appreciated that aspect about the book; I never truly saw where the story was heading which kept me engaged. The characters seemed like a well-rounded demographic. The way they played off of each other lent itself to some much needed comedic relief in what could ultimately be seen as a treacherous fate for the town of Rockwell (even if it was a little ridiculous, in a good way). I laughed out loud at many parts of this book, and the humor was right up my alley. 

The Bad:
Not much bad with book, per se. The typical typos that come with a self-published book took me out of the story momentarily, but I could generally overlook that. I know the digital versions have since been corrected. What I will point out is this: with the marriage of Johnny and Autumn Sparks freshly dissolved, I can understand that it would take time for one or both parties involved to adjust - Autumn clearly moved on but Johnny didn't. To me I didn't feel Johnny's need to find Autumn as urgent as I probably should have. I felt like he cared to find her because he felt like he should, like it was his responsibility, I didn't necessarily get the true sense of "love." Johnny's portrayal as the good person he was makes sense to me, and for that reason I could see him trying to find Autumn to ensure her safety and survival, but coming from a relationship standpoint I never quite felt as if he wanted to save the marriage and his wife as much as he believed he should. That was a heavy weight to carry throughout the narrative, and I don't feel like Johnny's driving force forcefully drove him.

I will say that the line "It's like a Michael Bay movie where the camera is shaky and the plot unintelligible" on page 137 had me laughing pretty hard and made the entire read worth it.

The Judgement: 
Apocalypse Idaho was a fun book and presented itself in an interesting way with its phrasing and pop culture references. Never once was I bored or felt like I was growing tired of where the story would lead. I enjoyed the book and I look forward to at the very least checking out anything that Rich Lundeen writes in the future.

3 stars out of 5

You can purchase the trade paperback or digital version of Apocalypse Idaho here.