Death Sentence: The Complete Collection Review

 

Writer: Monty Nero

Artists: Mike Dowling, Martin Simmonds & Monty Nero

Letterer: Jimmy Betancourt

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $49.99

Release Date: July 1, 2025

 

Sex can be many things. At its best, it celebrates love. But people also barter sex in the hopes of securing love. For many, it is a form of pleasure or diversion. At its worst, people use sex to dominate others. Even in the healthiest relationships, sex can spark infections or transmit disease.

 

Still, diseases can clarify what we want in life. They can bring us closer to the people we care about. Some can even attack the pleasure centers in our brains, making us happier while killing us. What happens when a sexually transmitted disease (STD) gives us superpowers? How might it change the world? Let’s leap into Death Sentence: The Complete Collection and find out!

 

Story

Verity Fette seeks love in an endless cycle of relationships. But she's always too self-absorbed to make them work. When her counselor asks what she wants to do with the rest of her life, Verity doesn’t have a plan. She knows the G+ virus will kill her. It’s time to figure out what she wants in the months she has left.

 

When the Whatevers broke up, Daniel Waissel continued as a solo artist. But the cult phenom struggles without his former bandmates in Death Sentence: The Complete Collection. His record label hopes the G+ virus can enhance his musical abilities and repay their investment in him.

 

David Montgomery enjoys a life of wealth and fame. The crowds adore him. “Monty” has successfully transitioned from a standup comedian to a movie star. He enjoys money and fame while using the G+ virus to manipulate others.

 

In Death Sentence: The Complete Collection, the Department of National Security tracks people with exceptionally high G+ ratings. When Weasel's powers manifest, the authorities realize they should have brought him in earlier. He explores life in a secret facility where they house patients with exceptionally high G+ ratings. The government hopes to learn how G+ enhances people like Weasel and Verity. But they miss Monty. And his inflated ego, boosted by years of despising his audience, fills him with the need to control others.

 

In Monty Nero's story, the G+ virus enhances a person's life in unexpected ways. For most, it boosts their existing abilities. But the virus endows a few with superpowers. The government wonders about the superhumans' appetite for destruction. With G+ slowly infecting the world, lying dormant for months or years to avoid detection, another Black Death seems unavoidable.

 

Art

Mike Dowling employs a traditional comic style to reveal Verity’s inner turmoil and Weasel’s struggle for a breakthrough. While the Rock and Roll lifestyle involves groupies, Monty fills his evenings with orgies. Amid the explicit sex and violence, Verity receives a plush apartment on a beautiful island. Weasel's ability to phase through solid objects leads to manslaughter. And Monty becomes the Scanner that David Cronenberg warned us about.

 

Martin Simmonds gives a lush, painted look to the second series of stories in Death Sentence: The Complete Collection. After helping save the world, Verity Fette roams the streets as Artgirl. She foils crimes with holograms of surprising beauty. The crowds follow Weasel, who enjoys the street festivals. But when he seeks solace, he glows as he uses his Kitty Pryde-like abilities to burrow through the dark crust of our planet. As superheroes like Artgirl encourage anarchy in the UK, Mayor Tony Bronson rages in London's City Hall. Bronson's unrestrained hair frames his wild features as he insists that he calls the shots. And in the UK government's fractured state, Bronson can declare martial law.

 

Monty Nero takes over art duties in the final chapters of Death Sentence: The Complete Collection. Monty Nero’s traditional penciling and coloring portray the characters amid realistic settings. Nudity, always obscured under Simmonds' watch, occasionally returns. But by now, the focus of Death Sentence: The Complete Collection has shifted from how the virus is transmitted and the ways people couple sex with domination. Costumed superheroes appear as a woman with a green thumb becomes a hellraiser. And on a remote island, an undercover agent investigates what Britain's Department of National Security is doing with all the G+ data they have collected.

 

Jimmy Betancourt fills dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with uppercase and lowercase letters. Font size varies, while volume swells letters, and emotions deform balloons. Sound effects amplify this story about the delicate balance of society, while white letters in black boxes conclude each issue with a quote inviting contemplation. Essays on the characters and situations reveal observers' reactions to how superpowered people are changing the world order. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Terrorism isn't always about politics or money. People manipulate loved ones out of fear. Superpowers only enhance people’s ability to hurt and terrorize others. In Death Sentence: The Complete Collection, Britain becomes ground zero for a devastating attack from an unlikely terrorist. The rising pandemic empowers the poor and disadvantaged. Heroes arise while politicians scramble for control as governments realize that another arms race has begun.

 

Rating 9/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Death Sentence: The Complete Collection. 

Savage Sword Of Conan #1 Review

 

Writer: John Arcudi, Jim Zub, Patch Zircher

Artist: Max von Fafner, Joe Jusko, Patch Zircher

Letterers: Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt

Cover Artists: Joe Jusko, Gerardo Zaffino, Max Von Fafner,

Publisher: Titan

Price: $6.99

Release Date: February 28, 2024

 

Story

Legendary Hyborian scribe Roy Thomas opens Savage Sword Of Conan #1 with an essay on how Stan Lee’s experimental foray into mature titles with Savage Tales evolved into the legendary Black & White magazine.

 

Conan And The Dragon Horde

Prince Zaahid raises an army to retake the city that exiled him. Conan is his general, and Ineah builds and maintains his war engines. Despite Zaahid’s orders not to consort with Ineah, Conan develops a relationship with her. The prince keeps his plans close to his chest, revealing his wisdom only after danger threatens. His secrecy costs Conan's soldiers their lives. Angered by these unnecessary losses, Conan refrains from engaging Prince Zaahid’s guards, Sussein and Saham.

 

Despite Zaahid’s lack of concern for his men, his preparations propel the army across the Hyrkanian steeps. But after they lay siege to Ul-Dalkhana and Ineah’s engines of war mercilessly pound the city, the army begins to drift away. After several months, Conan's remaining forces number less than sixty. When Conan reports the desertions and requests leave to recruit replacements, Zaahid assures him that their numbers are adequate and his home city will soon fall. At this point, Conan decides to defy the Zaahid’s wishes and discover what the prince is hiding.

 

An air of mystery pervades Conan And The Dragon Horde. Unlike Prince Zaahid, you never know what to expect next. John Arcudi doesn’t lace his dialogue with traditional Conanisms, such as dog, cur, and wench. Conan’s relationship with Ineah proves an equal partnership, as each respects the other’s abilities and outlook. Those seeking the otherworldly dangers that threaten Robert E. Howard's Hyborian world will enjoy John Arcudi’s contribution to Savage Sword Of Conan #1.

 

Sacrifice in the Sand

In his short prose story Sacrifice in the Sand, Conan The Barbarian chronicler Jim Zub introduces readers to a young woman adorned with fine linen and sparkling jewelry. Captain Nkosi and his guards escort Khepri to her date with Destiny. Even more than the women who served Thulsa Doom's snake cult in John Milius' Conan movie, Khepri's sacrifice will honor her people and enhance Set's power. Yet on this dark (and stormy) night, a man will threaten to devalue her sacrifice and risk her family's security. Jim Zub’s contribution to Savage Sword Of Conan #1 portrays our Hyborian hero as a patient man who chooses his battles and recognizes that beliefs often serve temporal authorities more than the divine.

 

Master Of The Hunt Part One

As the rain falls in sheets, Patch Zircher welcomes us inside the Ox Knuckle Inn. Inside this Welsh pub in the Vale of Glamorgan, the aging patron, Gruffud, reminds us that this is All Hallows Eve. Yet before Christianity redubbed the holiday, locals called it Samhain. The barrier between our world and the Tylwyth Teg, or fair folk, thins on this sacred pagan holiday.

 

In Master Of The Hunt Part One, Gruffud regales us with a tale of Solomon Kane. The righter of wrongs has ridden from Devonshire on his steed Nicodemus. Solomon follows the tracks of a giant beast to a farm, where he meets Gwenllyan Maddocks and her son Roland. Gwenllyan tells him that an animal attacked her flock. While her husband Edmund tracks the beast, Soloman helps her hired hand Wilkin shear and butcher the dead sheep. But the following morning, Roland disappears, and Wilkin never returns from the Ox Knuckle Inn.

 

Patch Zircher portrays Solomon Kane as an even-tempered, approachable figure in Savage Sword Of Conan #1. Solomon seems akin to Tolkien's Aragorn, wise in the ways of the temporal and spiritual world, not judgmental or quick to anger. Wily old Gruffud inserts himself and a dissenting patron into this intoxicating brew of pagan beliefs, Welsh mythology, and a humble, brave hero who lives by a strict—but not cruel--moral code.

 

Men Shall Die For This: Robert E. Howard And The Vengeance Of Solomon Kane

Jeffrey Shanks' essay covers Solomon Kane's origin as Howard's earliest recurring hero. Soloman Kane began as a manifestation of righteous justice. As Howard matured as a person and a writer, Solomon Kane's worldview grew more complex. Shanks compares Howard's Solomon Kane stories with tales by Alexandre Dumas, Edgard Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, and H. Rider Haggard. Of those listed, it’s worth noting that Haggard's hero, Allan Quartermain, first appears in King Solomon's Mines. 

 

 

 

Art

Max von Fafner’s art in Conan And The Dragon Horde honors the best traditions of the fabled magazine. His photorealistic art conveys the majestic sight of cavalry, infantry, and wheeled engines that hurl boulders and explosives at a walled city. Zaahid looks stately, Conan determined, Ineah self-assured. Sussein and Saham’s glee in dispatching anyone who disobeys their leader suggests they know more than they're telling. Fafner's detailed panels convey mood, drama, and action while not skimping on small details, such as tall grasses or stony ground.

 

Patch Zircher’s art in Master Of The Hunt Part One has an elegant and historic appeal. While Soloman Kane wears the hat and cloak of a Puritan, the penciling evokes Prince Valiant. Detailed sketches of people and settings convey a lighter, less masculine tone than Fafner’s. Zircher's Black & White images show a varied use of gray for shading akin to ink wash in Savage Sword Of Conan #1. Yet scenes of the beast appearing at night, Solomon Kane entering a pub unbidden or reaching for his sword utilize heavy inking.

 

Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt lay siege to panels with uppercase and lowercase words in dialogue balloons and narrative boxes. Word size ranges through entertaining stories and informative essays. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy of this sword and sorcery magazine for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

After Conan battles monsters, lays siege to a doomed city, and pursues a woman promised to Set, Soloman Kane tracks a creature terrorizing a remote Welsh community in Savage Sword Of Conan #1.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

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

Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1 Review

 

Writer: Jody Houser

Artist: Roberta Ingranata

Colorist: Warnia K. Sahadewa

Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt

Cover Artists: Pasquale Qualano;

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: July 5, 2023

 

Wearing a cloak, a monocle, and a Cat Eye mask, Doom attends a 19th Century ball. Missy, the female incarnation of the Master, also crashed the party. She introduces herself to guests as Doctor Who. Is the assassin after Missy or someone else? Let's activate our vortex manipulators, travel into Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1, and find out!

 

Story

Doom, the time-traveling assassin, received orders from Terri at the Lesser Order of Oberon. Her target is The Thief. In the webcast, "Meet Doom: The Universe's Greatest Assassin," Doom says that Death stalks her. She only has 24 hours to live unless she can find the Doctor. Somehow, she knows that Missy isn’t the Doctor. We later learn that The Thief she hunts is a couple. Amid the costumes, the aliens fit right in.

 

Later, Doom visits the Stormcage Containment Facility, the sometimes home of River Song. Doom tells the administrator she's here to quash a danger threatening the 52^nd Century prison's reputation. Missy tracks the trail left by Doom's vortex manipulator and follows her there.

 

Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1 sparkles with humor. While most stem from Missy's banter, Jody Houser suggests allusions to the Third Doctor story "The Sea Devils." It's difficult to know how to feel about Doom or worry that an assassin we don't know might die. But at least she protects the administrator's job and saves the universe from her targets' villainy.

 

 

Art

Some guests in the grand ballroom wear fanciful masks like Doom’s. A few wear costumes. Most dress like Missy, in attire suitable for high-society functions in the late 19^th Century. Wood-paneled walls rise to decorated ceilings. Guests stride past turned banisters lining the upper-story landings. Lord and Lady Pretty Paw bring to mind the Sisters Of Plenitude from the Tenth Doctor story "New Earth." A cloak sheathes Doom's clothes. Missy saunters along in her purple coat and skirt. A green stripe and “12” placard adorn her purple tophat.

 

With bar-lined cells occupying several levels, Stormcage brings to mind the original Master’s visit to Stangmoor Prison in the Third Doctor story, "The Mind Of Evil." Yet another cell, holding a green-skinned alien, uses laser beams for metal bars. With his green skin, pointy ears, and purple hair, Administrator Cire looks nothing like Colonel Trenchard, the prison warden in "The Sea Devils," or Raymond Westwell, the Prison Governor in "The Mind Of Evil." But he's got a pleasant view as a blue-tinged transparent ceiling reveals stars glowing and ribbons of cloud circling a gas giant.

 

A rich spectrum of soft colors makes Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1 an appealing comic. Sometimes shadows ground characters, and shading adds depth to interiors. Panels glow with radiance. Missy's purple tophat, coat, and skirt link her with the purple-haired administrator and Doom, who wears a purple waistcoat. The vortex manipulator on Doom’s arm also features purple. While our monocled assassin doesn't wear green, the green stripe on Missy's hat blends well with the administrator's skin and that of one of Doom's targets at Stormcage. My only question is why Missy's travel through time makes the "12" placard shrink when she reaches Stormcage.

 

Uppercase black letters inhabit white dialogue balloons, making Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1 an easy read. Yellow narrative boxes relate targets from Terri at the Lesser Order Of Oberon. Sound effects help us hear Doom's vortex manipulator activate and feel the anguish of her targets.

 

Final Thoughts

Doctor Who: Doom’s Day #1 is a diverting romp from 19^th Century New York to 52^nd Century’s Stormcage. Seasoned with humor and peppered with allusions to the original Master and River Song, the story satisfies as Missy constantly fights her instincts to be oh-so-bad.

 

Rating 8.4/10

 

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