It's great to read a book from someone who's got a bit of fire in their belly over something and in Punk Rock Jesus (Vertigo) Sean Murphy is certainly feeling passionate about a few things. Religion, pollitics and reality TV are in the firing line here in a story about a TV programme that claims to have cloned Jesus Christ and invites viewers to watch his development in a controlled environment.
Murphy doesn't lose sight of building an entertaining story around his themes and he contrasts his serious points with doses of high drama and violence. There are outraged fractions of the public which make it neccessary to hire a bodyguard and the one in this story is plagued by a violent past growing up in the IRA and then the so-called Messiah himself grows into an teenager with a burning desire for revenge at his closeted life. The typically kinetic art art from Sean Murphy is in black and white which gives the work a suitably energetic immeadiacy. And if you've already read the series as a monthly comic, here's the killer: it contains ten new story pages...
Matt Kindt the illustrator tends to divide people, probably due to his niave-style artwork, but as a storyteller he wins fairly universal praise (see here). Mind MGMT vol. 1 (Dark Horse) focuses on a reporter investigating a case where every passenger aboard an aeroplane lost their memories. The trail leads her through mind-warping sci-fi territory to a clandestine organisation. 
Judge Dredd officially entered the US market (again) last year and it got the approval of the die-hards - given that the title is set in America it was certainly a worthwhile venture. Written by Duane Swierczynski and illustrated by Daniel Nelson, Judge Dredd vol. 1 (IDW) mixes shorter and longer stories which build on each other and maintains the short storytelling essence of the UK version.
Finally there's Tony S. Daniel's Batman: Detective Comics vol. 2: Scare Tactics (DC) packed with appearances from Mad Hatter, Court of Owls and Scarecrow and Swamp Thing vol. 2 Family Tree (DC) written by Mr Batman Scott Snyder & illustrated by Yanick Paquette.
For the Weekly Treats its a hot Batman week at DC with Batman #19, Batman and Red Robin #19 and on a slightly different track, DC's answer to the Marvel babies: Li'l Gotham #1. Marvel have Ultron #1 and Age of Ultron #5 (keep up now) and the final issue of Secret Service #6.
A full list of releases can be found under the tab at the top of the page...
No comments:
Post a Comment
Don't worry! Your comments will appear soon