Amazing Spider-Man #55 Review

 

Writers: Zeb Wells

Artist: Emilio Laiso

Colorist: Bryan Valenza

Letterer: Joe Caramagna

Editors: Kaeden McGahey, Tom Groneman, Nick Lowe & C B Cebulski

Cover Artists: John Romita Jr, Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz; Michael Cho; Donald Soffritti; Luciano Vecchio

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $4.99

Release Date: August 14, 2024

 

The first time Peter Parker took out Shay Marken, Mary Jane's aunt Anna tricked him into a date with her favorite nurse at Ravencroft. Peter enjoyed their dinner but had to bail before dessert. The second time Peter stepped into the date knowingly, ditto. Did his second attempt express interest or an apology? Why should he try again? Is Shay even interested in him? Let's thwip into Amazing Spider-Man #55 and find out!

 

Story

Peter arrives late. He's surprised Shay waited. She wants to know why Peter arrived without shoes and with a black eye. He tries to palm her off by saying he has responsibilities to others. But Shay isn't letting him off that easy. Shay works in the Ravencroft Institute, after all. She knows what it means to devote her life to the betterment of others. Shay has seen how people's pursuit of wealth, fame, or whatever they valued turned them into villains.

 

In Zeb Wells' previous story, Kraven said his father feared the monster inside Spider-Man. Given what she deals with daily, Shay imagines the worst: Peter preys upon people's need for love and belonging. Late in Amazing Spider-Man #55, Peter Parker discovers a surprising symmetry with supervillains. Zeb Wells seems to ask if Kraven was correct. Is a man who regularly puts the needs of people he doesn't know over the people he has made commitments to a hero or a villain?

 

In its bid to defeat the Green Goblin, the Living Brain gave up everything it was to save Peter Parker. In Amazing Spider-Man #55, Peter must ask himself if Peter Parker was worth that sacrifice. Or was Peter only worthy of the Living Brain’s sacrifice because he was Spider-Man? The story makes for a brisk, thought-provoking read, alternately uncomfortable and charming. Given the series' history and title, it may only provide a glimpse of what could be. Or it might signal a new direction for our titular hero. One thing is unarguable. Shay understands that dating is hard. But Shay expects Peter to prioritize her and do his best for her.

 

 

 

Art

Emilio Laiso opens this issue with Spider-Man flying through the night. He looks lithe, fit, and elegant in his costume. When Peter reaches the restaurant, he finds Shay looking stylish and dressed to the nines. Yet Peter Parker arrives in casual attire. Unlike Shay, he has more than a few hairs out of place. His clothes cling to his limbs and torso as if he is out of shape, making you wonder how well Peter is attending to his fitness and how much of Spider-Man's appearance is due to the suit.

 

Compared with Shay, Peter looks awkward and childlike. Yet he gains the upper hand when he responds honestly and can't explain his tardiness. Shay momentarily relaxes. She knows employers often force employees to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements, and some personal issues must remain private. Peter is also masterful with the waiter. Yet Shay remains the dominant partner.

 

Bryan Valenza lavishes yellows and browns on the background behind Emilio Laiso's characters. The art exhibits a dreamlike luminosity outside and inside the restaurant. Much of Peter and Shay's conversation occurs in six- or eight-panel Old School page layouts. Highlights and shadows play across the couple's changing expressions. Shay rests a brown hand on the blue-white tablecloth when hope fades from her eyes. When Peter lays his hand atop hers, her flesh tones warm, and the tablecloth changes color to match Peter's hand.

 

Joe Caramagna thwips uppercase lettering into dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. The fonts grow bold for inflection, swell for increased volume, and shrink for lowered voices. Jolting red letters accompany a closing door, suggesting the end of a chapter of Peter Parker’s life in Amazing Spider-Man #55. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Peter Parker always means well. But his friendships suffer, and every voyage across the sea of love ends in a shipwreck. In Amazing Spider-Man #55, Shay forces him to look into the mirror and reassess his life. Will his costume and Uncle Ben’s words always define him? Or could he become the Amazing Peter Parker?

 

Rating 9/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23 Review

 

Writer: Cody Ziglar

Artist: Federico Vicentini

Colorist: Bryan Valenza

Letterer: Cory Petit

Cover Artists: Federico Vicentini & Neeraj Menon; Karen S Darboe & Jesus Aburtov; Doaly

Design: Jay Bowen

Editors: Kaeden McGahey, Tom Groneman, Nick Lowe & C B Cebulski

Publisher: Marvel

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 14, 2024

 

Blade transformed Miles into a vampire. The skies cleared after Miles helped Bloodline banish the ancient vampire possessing her father. But when Blood Hunt ended, Miles remained a vampire. Can Miles protect Brooklyn and keep his blood lust in check? Let's grab our venom swords, leap into Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23, and find out!

 

Story

The gods may no longer rule the world from Mount Olympus, but Zip Zephyr wants to change that. At least, he yearns to be feared. The demigod traces his ancestry to Boreas and uses his windbag like a leaf blower to sweep mortals from his path. When Miles tackled Zip Zephyr before, he had Ms Marvel and Shift beside him. He lacks confidence as he tangles with the demigod alone, and it shows.

 

Miles isn’t happy with how he reacts to threats. But then, he’s not thrilled to still be a vampire. So he heads to Misty Knight's garage and dials Doc Sasquatch's office on his holo-phone. Instead of speaking with Dr Kwan, the jolly green psychotherapist takes his call. Unfortunately, Doc Sasquatch can only theorize how the vampiric blood interacts with Miles' spidey powers.

 

Rabble nearly destroyed Miles’ family and left him traumatized. After Blood Hunt, Miles must cope with his thirst for blood and vampiric appearance. Miles' mask doesn't get torn in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23, but his actions frighten others. He feels isolated and fears rejection.

 

Tiana Toomes' upbringing could have turned her into a villain like Rabble. She once fought alongside the Vulture as Starling. Miles helped her walk a better path. She found ways to cope with her anger and grief. After Rabble's assault, Tiana encouraged Miles to seek counseling and take up journaling. She cannot allay Miles' concerns, but he can share his problems with her, and she should understand what he’s going through.

 

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23 sets up Cody Ziglar’s Birds Of A Feather story. After teaming up with Shift, Ms Marvel, and his uncle Aaron, and then with Bloodline and Hightail, Ziglar’s story promises to shake up things again with an all-new team-up. But then, as a hero imbued with spidey powers, venom blasts, and now vampirism, Miles Morales is an all-new, all-different Spider-Man.

 

 

 

Art

Federico Vicentini follows one page of Tiana living and patrolling alone with another showing Miles' brightening her everyday activities and superhero career. As Zip Zephyr towers over an armored truck, the security guards cower amid broken concrete. Wind flips the heavy vehicle through the air while Miles' thwips and blows send the demigod reeling. Silhouettes and shadows enhance the colored art as Zip crashes into the destroyed street. Amid the rising dust, a venom blast electrifies a double-page confrontation.

 

Doc Sasquatch hovers amid a pillar of blue light. Doc's green skin and hair shine beneath his office's overhead lights when the transmission ends. Darkforce portals no longer obliterate the sun’s rays, but as daylight ebbs, Bryan Valenza casts yellow, purple, pink, and orange into the sky. Light and shadow streak diagonally through an alley assault while bits of yellow drift through the darkness surrounding Tiana's apartment.

 

Cory Petit thwips black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons. He shares Miles' thoughts as white letters in red narrative boxes and Tiana's as scarlet words in yellow boxes. The delicate font rarely shrinks and emboldens for inflection. Zip Zephyr announces his name with giant yellow and blue letters, while the demigod employs a font devoid of curves. Colorful, transparent, energizing sound effects enhance every thwip, punch, blast, crash, and whoosh in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23. Thanks to Marvel for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

While introducing Shift to his family broadened Miles’ world, vampirism reduces him to the insecure and hurting Spider-Man. Miles looks to others for support in Miles Morales: Spider-Man #23. How long until Dr Strange’s magic wears off and Miles preys on those under his protection?

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Preview: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Starring Boris Karloff

 

Legendary Comics, in collaboration with Karloff Enterprises, is thrilled to announce the upcoming release of “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Starring Boris Karloff,” a stunning graphic novel adaptation of the classic horror tale. This new release features an all-new original design of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's creature, capturing the iconic actor's legendary portrayal in a fresh and faithful rendition of Mary Shelley's story. The graphic novel reunites the creative talents of Kerry Gammill and El Garing, the team behind the RONDO award-winning "Bram Stoker's Dracula Starring Bela Lugosi."

Here's a few preview images to give you a hint of this book's phenomenal beauty.

 

 

Legendary Comics kindly sent me a copy, and I look forward to reviewing it. In the meantime, consider pre-ordering it. “Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Starring Boris Karloff,” goes on sale October 22, 2024. You can secure a copy, and save 33% off the cover price, by ordering it today at Amazon.com.

Gilt Frame #1 Review

 

Writers: Margie Kraft Kindt & Matt Kindt

Artist, Colorist & Cover Artist: Matt Kindt

Letterer: Sophia Hilmes

Editors: Daniel Chabon, Chuck Howitt-Lease & Misha Gehr

Designers: Patrick Satterfield & Matt Kindt

Digital Art Technician: Tyler Li

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics LLC

Price: $9.99

Release Date: August 14, 2024

 

Sam and his aunt solve puzzles. They started the tradition when Sam came to live with her fourteen years ago. But can their love of word puzzles—or nuzzles, as they dub them—help the globe-hopping amateur detectives solve the mystery surrounding a murder and antique chairs? Let’s book our airplane tickets to Paris, leap into Gilt Frame #1, and see!

 

Story

Sam's parents abandoned him. They sought the truth about themselves by joining a cult. Then they disappeared, leaving their child with nothing but a walking stick. Sam loves rare books. He collects literary works that were personalized and discarded by other authors. Sam also likes Hawaiian shirts. But he loves his aunt and would do anything for her. Even if that means accompanying her on an unnecessary trip to France.

 

Meredith married a controlling man. She had money, but she lacked fulfillment. Meredith accepted her lot until Sam came into her life. Meridith and Arthur had purchased an adjacent apartment, so she moved Sam into it. Arthur didn’t care that the boy’s parents abandoned him. He didn’t care that Sam hid in the apartment each evening because Arthur disliked children. He just wanted Sam gone. Instead, Meredith gave Arthur the boot and raised Sam as her own.

 

In Gilt Frame #1, Meredith and Sam relax by the beach. They toast their success in solving a murder in Paris. Then Margie Kraft Kindt and Matt Kindt reveal Meredith and Sam’s history and what brought them to Paris. Aunt Merry and her nephew Sammy exhibit unique interests and personality quirks as they pursue clues involving a poem, a world fair, and a woman in black. Meredith and Sam’s adventures evoke Jonathan Gash’s Lovejoy mysteries and The Adventures Of Tintin by Hergé.

 

Amid Meredith's search for historic gilt frames, the truth behind two French chairs, and Sam's love of stories, the duo's sense of family and mutual devotion diverts and entertains. Blank pages separate scenes, while artsy title pages mark chapters, denoting times and locations. The double-length story may take as long to read as several superhero comics, yet Gilt Frame #1 leaves you wanting more. Post-story extras include newspaper clippings and a poem that Sam's dislike for the literary form only allows the Cliff Notes version during their adventures in Paris. 

 

Art

Matt Kindt opens with an extreme closeup of a knife embedded in a man's back. Then he pulls back to show Meredith reading a news article on her phone. She sits in a beach lounger beside Sam, toasting their success in a tropical locale. Kindt then rewinds the clock a week with extreme closeups of what appears to be a gun firing and a knife chopping fingers before slowly pulling back to reveal Meredith and Sam working in the kitchens of their respective apartments. When he portrays Meredith's final argument with Arthur, he rips the roof off a multistory building and shows the couple enter rooms and walk through the hallways linking their two apartments.

 

Matt Kindt brushes watercolors on gray paper in a carefree manner that enhances the emotional resonance of scenes. His limited palette often juxtaposes contrasting colors in a relaxed and pleasing way. The colors brighten when Sam remembers his hippie parents. The colors grow more restrained as Kindt provides an entry from an auction house catalog on stark white paper. The brushes leave blots, and background colors seep into characters, giving Gilt Frame #1 a homespun visual appeal.

 

Sophia Hilmes provides small, lowercase black letters with ample spacing between lines of text. While the font has a handwritten look, the dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes appear too perfect to be hand drawn. Aside from the food preparation scenes, no enlarged dialogue or sound effects heighten the events in Gilt Frame #1. Newspaper clippings and typeset print on browned parchment reveal the folklore surrounding a century-old theft. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

An abandoned boy who loves stories, the strange case of his vanishing parents, and his aunt’s love of antiques, travel, and solving puzzles transports two amateur sleuths across continents in Gilt Frame #1. Amid poems, clues, and the bustling markets of Paris, the triune focus on one person’s name only adds to the fun.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Coming Soon: Charlie Tango

CHARLIE TANGO

 

OPENING ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS ON SEPTEMBER 3

 

 

Kim, an air traffic controller under investigation after a tragic plane crash, is recruited by Charlie, her lover who specializes in lucrative real estate investments. Her police officer husband, Jeff, soon begins to suspect that Charlie is at the head of a major embezzlement scheme. 

 

 

 

 

CHARLIE TANGO was written, directed and produced Simon Boisvert. The film stars

popular Canadian actors David La Haye and Bruce Disnmore, and Stacie Mistysyn (Degrassi High). The original music was done by Oliver Palotai, keyboardist for the band Kamelot.

 

 

 

 

CHARLIE TANGO was first runner up, Best Foreign Film at the 2024 Myrtle Beach International Film Festival. Gravitas Ventures will release the film on digital platforms on September 3, 2024. The film has a running time of 98 minutes and will not be rated by the MPAA.

 

 

 

Thanks to Karen Oberman, at K.O. PR for sharing this cool movie news with us!

 

To view the trailer, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMWXTEiFOjE

 

 

Local Man #13 Review

 

Writers: Tim Seeley & Tony Fleecs

Artists: Tony Fleecs & Tim Seeley

Colorists: Brad Simpson & Felipe Sobreiro

Cover Artists: Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs, John Stinsman & Brian Reber

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 21, 2024

 

Inga killed Jack’s father. Jack wants to kill her. His mother, Lila, wants to be a sacrifice. Like the rest of The Faceless Horde, she’d rather have the world she wants than the one she lives in. Can anyone save Farmington? Or will The Price’s death cult destroy Jack and Inga’s hometown? Let's leap into Local Man #13 and find out!

 

Story

Brian Bucholz got mad. He beat up Jack Xaver. But he also told Jack the truth. His wife, Inga, killed Ben Xaver. Jack once loved Inga. Jack teamed up with Inga to save Farmington from The Price. But in telling Jack that Inga poisoned his dad, Brian shattered Jack’s image of Inga.

 

Alan Kopecki hoped Crossjack, the former superhero, could save Farmington. Then he learned that Jack and Inga kidnapped his boss, Police Chief Brian Bucholz. Jack has manipulated him and disrespected the rule of law long enough. Brian organizes local law enforcement and sets up a roadblock to apprehend Jack and bar him from returning to Farmington.

 

Inga loved Jack. Inga loved Farmington. When Jack abandoned her and the future she envisioned, she got mad. Then Inga got even. She conspired with the government and Camo Crusader. Although she used the profits to benefit her town, she harmed a lot of people and scarred her soul. In Local Man #13, Farmington needs her. It's time for Inga to make the right choices and be a hero.

 

Jack returned to Farmington after Camo Crusader kicked him off Third Gen. His former friends and neighbors regarded him with disdain. Gen Corp’s legal actions forced Jack to adopt an alias. But Jack no longer wishes to be Crossjack. He doesn't even want to be called Local Man. His superhero power is his accuracy. Jack has grown beyond the ability to hit any stationary or moving target. Now, his superpower is zeroing in on the truth, assessing what motivates people, and using reason to help people make healthier choices.

 

Ironically, a series celebrating '90s comics and superheroes received a Best New Series Eisner nomination in 2024. But then, Tim Seeley & Tony Fleecs blend delicious ironies into every issue. Jack's former friends and neighbors disdain Jack for sleeping with Neon. Yet her husband, Camo Crusader, asked him to have sex with her. Camo Crusader wanted Jack to father the next generation. Yet he killed the teens in 4^th Gen to harvest their powers. After Stacy Wohl’s death, a dog everyone adores is the only one capable of containing a hate-filled alien god. An anti-fungal drug killed his father, yet a fungus gave Jack lasting insights into human nature. In Local Man #13, everyone hates Inga, but she can become a hero and undo some of the harm she has caused.

 

Art

The Price and Lila Xaver walk through a field of chest-high grain. Lila's helmet visor closes when she sees the house where she and Ben raised Jack. Two locals paint over the street sign that once honored the town's heroes. Jack carries Pepper from the storage shed where Inga stored Fourth Gen's bodies. When Jack mentions that he needs weapons, the driver wearing a Metallica shirt opens the tailgate of a truck he named after a novel that inspired people to acts of kindness and respect. Then, he gives Jack the means to hurt people.

 

Brad Simpson & Felipe Sobreiro lavish attractive colors on Tony Fleecs & Tim Seeley’s art in Local Man #13. Snow falls through the pink and gray sky, while green, blue, and purple decorate dimly lit interiors. As the driver and Jack head toward Farmington, they stop before glaring red and blue. Colors grow bolder and more nuanced when Tony Fleecs pays homage to a ‘90s tradition and forces you to flip the comic sideways to enjoy a superhero shot of Local Man loaded for bear. Brad Simpson honors a fallen hero with yellow and green, while Felipe Sobreiro breathes life into Third Gen’s Air Raider and a famous 90s Image superhero in the closing flashback.

 

Uppercase black letters fill dialogue balloons. Words embolden for inflection, swell for raised voices, and rarely shrink. Sound effects help us hear Jack storm a firing squad, superheroes battle The Price, and a supernatural entity rise to claim its prize in Local Man #13. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Jack discards the last vestiges of his superhero identity and wields honesty and reason as his weapons in Local Man #13. The villains romanticize the past and fantasize about building a future on faded dreams. Jack’s message: honor the past but embrace today. Make every second count!

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Conan The Barbarian #14 Review

 

Writer: Jim Zub

Artist: Doug Braithwaite

Colorist: Diego Rodriguez

Letterer: Richard Starkings & Tyler Smith

Editor: Chris Butera

Cover Artists: Jae Lee, Rebeca Puebla, Doug Braithwaite, Stuart Sayger & James Harren

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 21, 2024

 

 

 

Conan traded his native Cimmeria for the frozen north. After several days alone, three Aesir discover his campsite. Will they slay the foreign youth for encroaching on their land? And what about the flame-haired siren who observes the confrontation from among the trees? Let's grab our swords and battle axes, shout “By Crom,” venture into Conan The Barbarian #14, and find out!

 

 

 

Story

After the Battle of Venarium, Conan leaves the southern border and heads north through Cimmeria. Perhaps he intends to return home. Instead, Conan keeps walking. He searches for something. Crossing into neighboring Asgard, he traverses a new land. Conan makes an abandoned camp his own. He fights wolves to claim his territory. He battles a bear, believing the meat will sustain him for many weeks. Instead, the trio of Aesir finds him. They disapprove of his wanderings. They'll teach him a lesson, perhaps worse. Besides, their people can use the meat.

 

 

 

In Conan The Barbarian #14, the Cimmerian’s ferocity surprises the Aesir. Two more Aesir arrive on horseback. One, Niord, halts the fight. He offers Conan a deal. In return for the bear and a week’s service, Niord will grant Conan free passage to the border. Conan sought the truth of his soul in solitude. Yet he agrees. At their camp, Niord admits he also yearns to know that his god hears his prayers. 

 

 

 

In The Daughter's Gaze, Chapter Two of Jim Zub’s story Frozen Faith, Conan is an unwanted stranger. Yet he soon becomes their friend. The Cimmerians banded together to repel the Aquilonian invaders. The Aesir tribes fight among themselves. The tribes vie for land and supremacy, only banding together to repel the continual Vanir raiding parties. Conan distinguishes himself through his character and how he fights. While he gains Niord’s respect, the flame-haired siren follows his movements. Conan may be just another inconsequential mortal who fights and dies in the blink of an eye. Yet she cannot look away. 

 

 

 

Art

The Aesir men attack with a knife and an axe. Conan sent wolves packing with his fists. The Aesir deserve no more. Like the Aesir, the dark-haired youth wears a fur cape and wraps his hands. Still, he prefers a loincloth to the clothes and armor of his bearded opponents who braid their long, blond hair. The flame-haired woman watching the encounter wears little more than a gossamer gown. The sheer fabric attached to her neck and waist covers little. As her hair and gown flutter to unseen wind, she does not exhale vapor like the men wrapped in clothes and armor.

 

 

 

Trees and people break the dominant blue-white snow and ground fog. Red overtakes panels of fighting. When Niord takes Conan's prize to his tribe, a roaring yellow-orange blaze rises like a pillar amid the people gathered before a snowbank. Conan's fur bears brown and crimson stains. The blaze of colors hailing the approach of night fades, painting the sky and nearby mountains blue. Brown colors Conan’s interactions with Niord’s tribe as the men sit on fallen logs around the campfire. Soon, more orange and yellow will dance and rage in the night. And later, Conan will face red-haired warriors. Perhaps they remind him of his father's friend, who taunted him as a child and urged his father to regard Conan as a lost cause. 

 

 

 

Amid Doug Braithwaite’s lifelike art and Diego Rodriguez’s restrained coloring, Richard Starkings adorns Conan’s adventure among the Aesir with black, uppercase lettering in white dialogue balloons. The flame-haired woman's thoughts inhabit blue lowercase letters in white narrative boxes. The utterances and musings embolden for intonation, occasionally enlarge, and never shrink. Shouts deform balloons and change the font color to match the blood spilled in this tale of warriors and gods. Thanks to Titan Comics and Heroic Signatures for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Conan befriends the Aesir in Conan The Barbarian #14. He demonstrates his amusement at those who would rouse his ire with barbs. While Conan assists his neighbors to the north, fights alongside them, and wonders if the gods exist, the daughter of one studies him. The flame-haired siren notes the Cimmerian doesn’t waste energy trying to impress others. Instead, Conan inspires them.

 

Rating 9.5/10

The Kevin J Anderson Complete Booklist & Reader’s Guide Review

 

Complete Booklist & Reader’s Guide Review

Writer: Kevin J Anderson

Publisher: Wordfire Press

Price: Free!

Release Date: Available Now!

 

Readers often wrote to author Kevin J Anderson, asking him about books he wrote, what series they belonged to, and where they could find his short fiction. Answering these requests was a time-consuming challenge, one that took time away from his first love of writing stories. When Western State Colorado University broached the possibility of him coming onboard as an adjunct professor of graduate-level publishing and creative writing, the task of updating his CV with everything he had written proved an even more demanding task. But it also proved a boon, as he finally had all his credits in one place, and could provide fans a comprehensive listing of all the books he has written, and all the short fiction he could track down.

 

The Complete Booklist & Reader’s Guide lists Kevin J Anderson’s publishing credits in alphabetical and chronological order. In addition to his short fiction credits, it also groups books according to series and genre. It’s an indispensable resource for Kevin J Anderson fans, including books and (most of his ) short stories published as of 2018. Best of all, you can get it free, along with his novel Comrades In Arms, when you join the KJA Readers Group at Wordfire Press.

Destro #3 Review

 

Writer: Dan Watters

Artist: Andrea Milana

Colorist: Adriano Lucas

Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cover Artists: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas; Karl Kerschl; Nikola Čižešija; Mico Suayan & Rex Lokus; Eric Canete; Tyler Kirkham

Editor: Ben Abernathy

Logo & Publication Design: Andres Juarez

Production: Richard Mercado

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: August 21, 2024

 

Destro stands on sacred ground. The spirits of former lairds watch him stride through the ancient stronghold. His frequent visits bring Destro peace. After reaffirming his intention to lead the clan forward, he opens the doors to depart. Then Destro spies an assassin in the tundra. Should he close the doors and wait until the blizzard forces the shooter to leave? Or will Destro take the fight to the hired killer? Let’s strap on our metal masks, leap into Destro #3, and see!

 

Story

Destro installed his cousin Artyom Darklon as the ruler of Darklonia. A drone strike disrupted the new government's first arms fair. As Extensive Enterprises didn't attend, Destro blamed them and committed MARS to destroying his rivals. Yet Xamot and Tomax, the leaders of Extensive Enterprises, claim Destro attacked the arms fair and blamed them for the destruction and deaths. Despite his confident façade, the unplanned war rattles Destro, so he returns to the Scottish Highlands. He'll be safe there, as only members of his clan know the castle's location.

 

Destro is used to staring death in the face. By encasing his skull in iron and covering his body in armor, he insulates himself from danger. But in Destro #3, he is not as invulnerable as he believed. This realization prompts Destro to reflect on his mask's significance. Still, that doesn't mean James McCullen Destro spends twenty pages thinking about his clan's history. There's the shooter in the snow to consider. Her name is Chameleon. And then there is the person she chats with on the radio. Someone named Overkill.

 

As Destro combats Chameleon and evades a flock of deadly drones, Dan Watters intersperses the action with Destro’s beloved family history and an unexpected discovery at MARS. The history lesson makes one wonder how much Destro recounts is verifiable and how much was borrowed from Alexandre Dumas to fuel a family legend. The technological discovery makes one question Destro’s conclusions about the attack in Darklonia. Throughout this series, Destro insists that he controls the game. But Xamot and Tomax have steadfastly proclaimed their innocence. Destro #3 asks, What if Destro is a player, and someone else is the dungeon master?

 

Art

As Destro walks through the vast doors of Castle Destro, one recalls the mercenaries leaving the Prime Minister’s residence to quell the Darklonian protest. As Destro climbs the snowy hill to confront Chameleon, one remembers him raging at the attacking drones and running to protect Astoria Carlton-Ritz. The diagram of his wrist-mounted rocket launcher recalls a similar diagram of an attacking combat drone. The way Destro’s rocket launcher crackles and fails to fire when he extends his arm in Destro #3 evokes the rocket that landed near him and Astoria with similar results.

 

Chameleon stares through pink and red goggle lenses and the gray rifle scope. She detects no movement in the circle of pink and red. But when the red, gray, and white figure leaps down to investigate, a red, gray, and blue figure rises. Amid the tussle, she loses her white jacket, exposing her long yellow hair. Adriano Lucas fills panels with red and green as Andrea Milana transports us to MARS, where Mercer and Scrap Iron make an intriguing discovery. While the overhead lighting threatens to turn the blue and gray fabric green, both men predominately wear red, evoking the Crimson Guard of Extensive Enterprises.

 

All too soon, Andrea Milana returns us to the Scottish Highlands, where Destro’s prowess rattles Chameleon’s confidence. As a sudden gust of wind streaks the air with gray and turns the snow a darker blue, she orders an attack of the drones. The fury of yellow, orange, and red Adriano Lucas unleashes evokes another fight in the snow a long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away.

 

Rus Wooton marches readers through Destro #3 with large uppercase black lettering in white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Words embolden for emphasis and never shrink. A red Click steps downhill, while a red Crackle stumbles and nearly falls. A bullet hurtles from the rifle through an enormous yellow Bang! Yellow, blue, red, and white sound effects enhance the dance of death in the snow, while giant scarlet letters burst a dialogue balloon to form a legend. Thanks to Image Comics, Skybound Entertainment, and Hasbro for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Destro thought he was untouchable. In Destro #3, he’s not so sure. Still, the laird of Clan Destro demonstrates that the best weapon isn't guns, tanks, drones, or smart bombs, but the ability to think on your feet, to adapt to changing circumstances, and to always believe that you are invincible.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.