Showing posts with label Juan Castro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Juan Castro. Show all posts

Monday, June 15, 2026

Gun Honey Doubles Down #0 Review

 


Gun Honey Doubles Down #0 Review

Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $0.00 (Free Comic Book Day issue)

Release Date: May 2, 2026

 

While battling to preserve the secrets in the Yamato Vault, Joanna Tan discovered a plot to assassinate Alexis Stern, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. Separated from Brook Barrow, Joanna traveled to Paris to foil the nefarious agents who had cost Brook his career. As representatives of all the nations on Earth converge to determine the world’s top athletes, Joanna battles U.S. Intelligence agents and spies from other countries to prevent the assassination.

 

Afterward, Joanna learns that a spy is returning to Russia. Intel suggests the country's president may debrief him. If Joanna can sneak a gun into the meeting room, there's a big payday in her future. Can Joanna Tan break into the Kremlin? And if so, who will help her accomplish the impossible? Let's leap into Gun Honey Doubles Down #0 and see!

 

Story

When she travels to Russia to meet an old friend, Joanna Tan gets a rough welcome. As Olga points a gun at her face, Joanna realizes that, despite all her experience and skills, she can still die. It’s a sobering thought, and a moment when time stops. Then, Olga relents and invites her inside. But when Joanna asks about her father, Olga sags. Her father has been an empty shell since his son's death. And Olga seems shattered by the double loss of her brother and her father's withdrawal.

 

This moment reminds Joanna why she agreed to take the case. The huge payday is a part of it. Likewise, the challenge of breaking into the Kremlin also excited her. But seeing a repressive dictator go down might also bring justice to Olga, her father, and all the other people President Vulapin has hurt in Gun Honey Doubles Down #0.

 

Charles Ardai’s story follows Joanna Tan as she prepares for her mission. It also flashes back to those who helped her before she left Paris for Moscow. As Joanna embarks on her Mission Impossible, she courts danger and employs the skills Dahlia Racers has taught her. But once Joanna enters the Kremlin, she will be alone without a friend to aid her in Gun Honey Doubles Down #0.

 

Art

As Joanna meets death in a hallway, she clutches a red toolbox. When purple-haired Olga, dressed in a pink night robe, lets her in, she sets her gun down before a framed photo. Ace Continuado and Juan Castro replay the key events that brought Joanna to Russia across two pages. Then, Joanna picks up the handgun and returns it to Olga’s hand.

 

Asifur Rahman surrounds Olga in browns, tans, and muted green. A memory of more vibrant green, yellow, and blue, when Joanna meets with a woman clothed in green, presages Joanna's preparation in Olga's apartment. Then, adorned with green and yellow, Joanna walks past an iconic landmark beneath a bright blue sky. As she heads toward a red wall, Joanna Tan carries her red toolbox toward the rifle-toting soldiers guarding metal doors.

 

David Leach fires black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons. Joanna’s offscreen dialogue fills light blue boxes, while Olga’s inhabits lavender boxes. But as Joanna strives to stay beneath the radar, gunfire, alarms, and explosions follow in Gun Honey Doubles Down #0. After the twelve-page story, six pages of black-and-white art with colored narrative boxes provide a glimpse of the upcoming series. Thanks to Titan Comics, Free Comic Book Day, and Yesteryear Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

After her idyll in Borneo, fighting to safeguard the secrets in the Yamato Vault, and attempting to foil a plot hatched inside the U.S. Intelligence community, Joanna Tan heads to Russia. She may be striking a blow for freedom. But that doesn't mean Joanna Tan can’t have fun as she ventures into the tightly controlled Kremlin in Gun Honey Doubles Down #0.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For what happened last time, see my review of Gun Honey Collision Course TP


Thursday, May 14, 2026

Gun Honey: Heat Seeker Exposed Preview

REGULAR EDITION COVER ARTIST: LUCIO PARRILLO
 


When Dahlia Racers rescued Evie Parker and Rosaline Priess from Dr. Livonia Cutler, she got more than a CGC copy of The Incredible Hulk #1. The woman who designs acts for magicians and helps people disappear has become part of a family.

 

Their domestic situation isn't ideal. Evie can't feel anything without Dr Bessemer Preiss’ magic formula. Rosaline’s dad made her into a bomb. Dahlia dislikes discussing her past. Will Dahlia and Rosaline get along when Evie visits the man who experimented on her? 

 

Here's all the info from Titan Comics & Hard Case Crime:

 

 

Gun Honey: Heat Seeker: Exposed

Writer: Charles Ardai 

Artist: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artists: Lucio Parrillo & Artgerm

Publisher: Titan Comics

Book Length: 112 Pages

Price: $17.99

Release Date: May 13, 2026 
ISBN: 9781787747678

Fiery heroine Dahlia Racers is on the run in this latest volume of the acclaimed Gun Honey comics spin-off that fans of crime noir and pulp fiction will love.

The incredible creative team of this hot series is back, written by award-winning co-founder of Hard Case Crime Charles Ardai, with slick and sultry art by Ace Continuado.

Award-winning writer and co-founder of Hard Case Crime Charles Ardai returns to the Gun Honey universe in the next action-packed volume of the spin-off featuring the sultry and explosive artwork of Ace Continuado!

Dahlia Racers, the ex-girlfriend of Gun Honey Joanna Tan, is a fiery redhead who, when someone’s gunning for you, will take the heat on herself – for a price. As a master of disguise and deception, she uses every trick to dupe those who want you captured or dead.

When a relentless investigative reporter threatens to expose her criminal activities, mistress of misdirection Dahlia Racers needs to disappear - from the reporter, the police, and her own former clients who want to silence her…permanently!

If you’re a fan of classic pulp fiction and crime noir, and love a strong sexy heroine, this is the book for you!

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 


 


 

 






Here's another cover option, available at your local comic shop:

 

DIRECT MARKET EDITION COVER ARTIST: ARTGERM

 


Order now from your local comic shop (or online at forbiddenplanet.com for UK & EU!)

 

Thanks to Titan Comics for sharing this preview with us.

 

For how the previous series started, see my review of Heat Seeker Combustion #1

For how the Heat Seeker series began, see my review of Heat Seeker: A Gun Honey Series Vol 1

 


Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Batgirl #18 Review

 


Batgirl #18 Review

Writer: Tate Brombal

Penciller & Inker: Takeshi Miyazawa

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Mike Spicer

Letterer: Tom Napolitano

Cover Artists: David Talaski & Christian Ward

Things To Come Variant Cover Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa with Mike Spicer

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99 Card Stock

Release Date: April 1, 2026

 

Her parents made her a monster. When Cassandra rejected a life of hurting and killing others, she found the belonging and purpose she sought in her Bat family. Then her mother burst into her life in Gotham. In her resultant journey around the world, Cassandra discovered a brother. In addition to Tenji Turner, Cassandra also befriended Jaya Jayesh.

 

Tenji forges a link between her past and her future. Jaya's healing helps Cassandra face her past. But when she brings Tenji and Jaya to Gotham, Cassandra's Blood heritage activates. Can she restrain her magical Blood powers? And can Cassandra Cain avoid once again feeling like a monster? Let's leap into Batgirl #18 and see!

 

Story

Cassandra Cain traveled around the world seeking justice for her mother. Instead, she found only blood, betrayal, and death. Yet along the way, she discovered Tenji and Jaya, new additions to her found family. Cassandra looked forward to resuming life in Gotham and integrating them into her Bat family. Instead, her heritage took over her life once again. Cassandra judged that her best hope of escape lay in Wu Lin, her mother’s cousin. But just as Cassandra, Tenji, and Jaya found him, his assistant, Wu Zhi, killed him.

 

In Batgirl #18, Cassandra, Tenji, and Jaya travel to the Spirit World. In this realm hostile to life, where the dead crave their life energy while awaiting reincarnation, the trio finally meets Wu Lin. But while Tenji welcomes him as an uncle, Cassandra keeps her distance. She may need his help to return to her Bat family. Still, Wu Lin represents the past she has fought so hard to escape.

 

In Tate Brombal's story, Cassandra undertakes a journey through the Spirit World. Like Lady Shiva's sudden appearance in Gotham, the Blood of Wu has derailed her chosen path. Cassandra cannot understand why they manifested. When Wu Lin sent his emissary, Cassandra refused to join the Blood of Wu and learn how to activate them. But even if she didn't want them, Cassandra now wields the powers of a god.

 

Just as Batman helped steer her in a more positive direction, Wu Lin once again offers to help Cassandra control her Blood powers. If she wishes to escape the Spirit World, Cassandra cannot refuse. Still, whether she can use her Blood powers without sinking deeper into her heritage and further away from the family she loves remains to be seen.

 

Art

Stephanie Brown yearned to speak with Cassandra when she traveled around the world. Once again, while their family awaits Cassandra at the dinner table, Stephanie's texts to her Bat sister go unanswered. In Wucorp Tower, Wu Lin kneels surrounded by red notepaper. Instead of facing a mirror, his blood flows into a portal behind him. While Jaya kneels to study the writing, Cassandra Cain leaps into the swirling void in Batgirl #18. Jaya follows her as Wu Lin's people barge in. Tenji regards the women and the hail of bullets with wide eyes. But his features transform from shock to fright, as he falls toward a street bordered by traditional Chinese buildings. The trio forms a circle facing outward and raises their weapons as revenants and monsters draw near.

 

As Takeshi Miyazawa and Juan Castro pack panels with eye-catching characters, furious action, and menacing monsters, Mike Spicer unleashes a vivid spectrum of colors on Batgirl #18. After Stephanie's blouse ushers readers into the purple book-lined tower office at Wucorp, the red note papers seem invitations to another realm. As red lines of energy swirl around Cassandra, she stands upon red symbols. Red tinges foreground characters. Jaya fights while wearing a red mask. And swords slice red lines through bodies.

 

Tom Napolitano places Cassandra’s white uppercase thoughts in black narrative boxes, while spirits speak white letters into black dialogue balloons. As Cassandra, Jaya, and Tenji speak black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons, a red border surrounds Cassandra’s words. The letters grow bold for intonation, swell for raised voices, and shrink for lowered voices. Unlike many of the other spirits, a man Cassandra distrusts speaks black letters into white balloons. Yet, the scars covering his arms bespeak a similarly traumatic history. Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this story with us.

 

Final Thoughts

Life forged Cassandra Cain into a weapon. Despite her skills in the martial arts, she dislikes inflicting harm on others. Yet as Cassandra navigates the Spirit World, she ponders the qualities that make a person worthy of life in Batgirl #18.

 

Rating: 9.8/10

 

For what happened last time, see my preview of Batgirl #17





Monday, March 30, 2026

Batgirl #18 Preview

 


Her parents made her a monster. When Cassandra rejected a life of hurting and killing others, she found the belonging and purpose she sought in her Bat family. Then her mother burst into her life in Gotham. In her resultant journey around the world, Cassandra discovered a brother. In addition to Tenji Turner, Cassandra also befriended Jaya Jayesh.

Tenji forges a link between her past and her future. Jaya's healing helps Cassandra face her past. But when Cassandra brings Tenji and Jaya to Gotham, her Blood heritage activates. Can she restrain her magical Blood powers? And can Cassandra Cain avoid once again feeling like a monster? 

Here's all the info from DC Connect:

 

Batgirl #18 Preview

Writer: Tate Brombal

Penciller & Inker: Takeshi Miyazawa

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Mike Spicer

Letterer: Tom Napolitano

Cover Artists: David Talaski & Christian Ward

Things To Come Variant Cover Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa with Mike Spicer

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $3.99/$4.99 Card Stock

Release Date: April 1, 2026

 

“The Curse of the Blood” continues!

 

Batgirl’s battle with the Blood of Wu explodes beyond Gotham as Cassandra, Tenji, and Jaya are thrust into a supernatural war tied to her family’s past. To save Batgirl from the curse, the trio must face ancestral horrors and a destiny darker than any of them expected.

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 


 

 

 


 

 


 

 

Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

 

 


Friday, December 5, 2025

Heat Seeker: Exposed #4 Review

 



Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artist: Carla Cohen, Yasmine, Ace Continuado, Cosplay, Bräo & Ang Hor Kheng

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: December 3, 2025

 

When internet reporter Jacqueline McGee discovered the Yamato Vault, she learned about Dahlia Racers and all the people she had helped. Most of those people were forging better futures to make up for their past. But Jacqueline doesn't care. She wants to expose anyone who breaks the rules. And that includes Dahlia Racers, the illusionist who enables people to evade the authorities. But not all Dahlia's clients are criminals.

 

Sally Portenza thinks everyone is out to get her. She sees people who aren’t there. Jacqueline let slip that she knew about Sally. But before Dahlia can reach her client, Jacqueline gets there first. What does Jacqueline want with Sally? Or did Jacqueline mention Sally’s name to draw Dahlia there, in case her other efforts to kill or imprison Dahlia failed? Let’s slip on our disguises, leap into Heat Seeker: Exposed #4, and find out!

 

Story

Sally sees the world, and her imagination fills in the rest. Her aunt Miriam visits her, even though she died years ago. Hilary Clinton also visits her tropical island, even though she no longer seeks the presidency. Yet when Sally looks at Dahlia, she sees her mother. When Jacqueline arrives, Sally rejoices. Her aunt Miriam has arrived to protect her from her evil mother.

 

In Heat Seaker: Exposed #4, Jacqueline isn't interested in protecting anyone. She reveals that her righteous crusade is more about ratings than anything else. Jacqueline may not see her dead relatives. But like Sally, Jacqueline sees the world, and her imagination fills in the rest. People are stories, and it's her job to make them as exciting as possible.

 

Charles Ardai's fast-paced story is a desperate race for survival. Jacqueline has killed people to create the story she wants to tell the world. But along the way, she also forced Dahlia to kill someone. That unnecessary death weighs on Dahlia's soul.

 

Heat Seaker: Exposed #4 isn't just about Dahlia Racers. It's also about the people in her life, and the family Dahlia has built. Jacqueline McGee may have fans around the world, but she is alone. Dahlia isn’t perfect. But when she’s in trouble, her friends support her anyway they can.

 

Art

Ace Continuado and Juan Castro open behind Dahlia, suggesting that Jacqueline is far away. But a profile shot reveals the women's proximity as Jacqueline presses the gun against Dahlia's forehead. The artists point the camera up from the ground to suggest Sarah Claride is far above Evie and Rosalind. Sally's fortune allowed her to buy a Caribbean island. Yet as the women fight in Sally's cabin, the one-room home is as empty as her life. Likewise, Sarah's money allowed her to purchase a castle. Yet the large room Edie and Rosalind visit is devoid of anything except a computer and weapons.

 

Asifur Rahman lavishes bright and appealing colors on Heat Seeker: Exposed #4. Yet red, pink, orange, and yellow shine brightest as Dahlia and Jacqueline face off. The jungle foliage is tinged with orange and yellow, while red sprouts from wounds. Dahlia wears a red wig, forced to shave off her short blonde hair by Jacqueline's murderous pursuit. Yet Jacqueline's head is half-shorn, with one side covered in long red-pink hair. The style intimates how unbalanced her life has become, while the color suggests Jacqueline's desire to destroy the woman she envies.

 

David Leach fires black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons and colored boxes. Sound effects accompany fighting, gunfire, flying drones, and a moment of truth. Thanks to Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Jacqueline may have stripped Dahlia of her anonymity. The belligerent blogger may have made Dahlia a fugitive. But Dahlia's life is about crafting illusions. She has trained her body to help her meet any challenge she faces. Amid the betrayals and double-crosses, Dahlia's ability to think around problems proves her most lethal weapon in Heat Seeker: Exposed #4.

 

Rating 9.5/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Heat Seeker: Exposed #4.


Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Heat Seeker: Exposed #3 Review

 



Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artist: Kendrick Lim, Megan Lara, Bräo, Ace Continuado, Cosplay

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: October 8, 2025

 

Internet reporter Jacqueline McGee doesn't care how many lives she ruins. Then she gets a boon. While digging into the secrets from the Yamato Vault, Jacqueline learns about the clients Dahlia Racers helps disappear. 

 

When Dahlia refuses to discuss her clients, Jacqueline shares Dahlia’s secrets with the world. The reporter blows up Dahlia’s apartment. Police die along with those Dahlia sought to protect. Then Dahlia dies while trying to evade the police. How will Evie Parker, Rosaline Preiss, and Cesar carry on without her? And who will Jacqueline go after next? Let’s slip on our disguises, leap into Heat Seeker: Exposed #3, and find out!

 

Story

Dahlia makes her living by faking deaths. But unless she can regenerate like Savage Dragon, Dahlia can't recover from falling onto a metal building support. As workers use a hydraulic crane to pull her body off the giant skewer, a paramedic tends to Evie Parker's gunshot wound. The paramedics take her to the hospital and store Dahlia's body in a morgue freezer. Rosaline Preiss cries. Cesar urges her not to, but the girl can't help watching Jacqueline’s final report on Dahlia.

 

In Heat Seeker: Exposed #3, Cesar cares for Rosaline in Evie’s absence. But Jacqueline doesn’t take time to rue her actions. Elated with her success, Jacqueline races off to find the people Dahlia sought to hide. Like US Marshal Samuel Gerard searching for Dr Richard Kimble, Jacqueline doesn't care about her next victim's guilt or innocence. Nor does she care how they may have served society in their new lives. All Jacqueline wants is to capture them, film them for her followers, and deliver the "justice" her fans demand after condemning them online.

 

Charles Ardai's story shows his heroes doing what they do best. It demonstrates how easy it is to be popular if you treat people rudely and vilify them. Amid the high-flying action and the twists and turns, Heat Seeker: Exposed #3 reminds us that we all have skeletons in our closets. In an age when society judges our worth by our social media profile, digital records make everyone fair game.

 

Art

Ace Continuado and Juan Castro open with Dahlia's body spitted on the central metal support rising from a circular platform. After a police officer grabs Jacqueline’s phone, two silhouettes watch it fall with Dahlia’s death on the screen. The paramedics load a body bag on a stretcher into the ambulance. Then, the artists cut to a doctor sewing up Evie’s shoulder. Jacqueline weaves through traffic as she races across a bridge on her motorcycle. 

 

Asifur Rahman lavishes bright and appealing colors on Heat Seeker: Exposed #3. Amid his loaded palette, red hair links Dahlia with Jacqueline. While red seems associated with death, Dahlia's green jumpsuit becomes a symbol of life. Compared with their black body bag, the paramedics wear green stripes on their black jackets. The doctor attending Evie wears green scrubs, while the gray freezer units reside behind a green door. And later, a desperate woman races across a green sea toward a verdant tropical island.

 

David Leach fires black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons and boxes. Off-camera dialogue inhabits colored boxes, while Dahlia’s thoughts dwell in their blue narrative cousins. Sound effects enhance a dramatic rescue, wailing sirens, and automobile accidents. Thanks to Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime for providing a review copy.

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 


 


 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Dahlia Racers spends her life burying secrets that could harm her clients. Jacqueline McGee devotes her life to unearthing secrets and exploding people's lives. Amid pulse-pounding action, stunning reveals, and generous fan service, Heat Seeker: Exposed #3 compares how our careers shape their characters, and how our perspective fuels us with hate or love.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For how this story started see my review of Heat Seeker: Exposed #1.


Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Heat Seeker: Exposed #1 Review

 


Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artist: Artgerm, Lucio Parillo, Bräo, Des Taylor, Photo, Yasmine, Ace Continuado, Tehani Farr & Sozomaika

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: June 4, 2025

 

When Dahlia Racers rescued Evie Parker and Rosaline Priess from Dr. Livonia Cutler, she got more than a CGC copy of The Incredible Hulk #1. The woman who designs acts for magicians and helps people disappear has become part of a family.

 

Their domestic situation isn't ideal. Evie can't feel anything without Dr Bessemer Preiss’ magic formula. Rosaline’s dad made her into a bomb. Dahlia dislikes discussing her past. Will Dahlia and Rosaline get along when Evie visits the man who experimented on her? Let’s slip on our disguises, leap into Heat Seeker: Exposed #1, and find out!

 

Story

Dahlia and her assistant Cesar were supposed to help Rosaline disappear. Evie and her fellow mercenaries were supposed to kidnap Rosaline from Dahlia’s clutches. But when the bullets fly, things get complicated fast. Now, Dahlia is navigating a conventional life. She waves goodbye to Rosaline and hopes her adoptive daughter has a good first day at her new school. Then Dahlia gets a call from Joanna Tan. The Gun Honey she helped disappear has a message for Dahlia. “You know how all the secrets stored in the Yamato vault got put online? Your name is in them.”

 

Some of the people Dahlia has helped disappear, like Joanna, are good people trying to escape the people who want to kill them. But internet reporter Jacqueline McGee doesn’t care. In Heat Seeker: Exposed #1, Jacqueline calls herself the Bitch with a Bone and gets her kicks by making headlines. Nothing gets her more excited than exposing other people’s secrets to her million followers. Dahlia may not turn into a monster like Bruce Banner in Charles Ardai’s story. But even if she did, Jacqueline wouldn’t worry about the Hulk hurting her or smashing up her apartment. All she would care about was getting great footage.

 

Dahlia enjoys helping people disappear. Her clients pay her handsomely. She gets to employ her phenomenal artistry. Then, she plants false evidence to convince their pursuers and the public that her clients died. Heat Seeker: Exposed #1 forces Dahlia to confront her past. Perhaps she helped some of her clients escape justice. Others feared for their lives. None of them want anyone unearthing their past lives. Dahlia was supposed to protect their secrets. Her clients won’t be happy Dahlia let them down.

 

Art

Dahlia hides her appearance beneath a mop of red hair. But when Jacqueline appears with a megaphone outside her apartment, the wig is the first to go. Ace Continuado and Juan Castro demonstrate that Dahlia’s makeover artistry is worthy of Sherlock Holmes or Slippery Jim diGriz. When Dahlia reaches the subway, a colored circle in her palm reminds her that the clock is ticking. As the city's computer did to Logan, Jacqueline's actions could consign Dahlia to Carousel.

 

Joanna Tan stands in a square of yellow light in an abandoned building. The graffiti-marked walls glow green and purple from the sparse light pouring through the glass skylights. Asifur Rahman lavishes a loaded palette on Dahlia's high-flying action and dramatic encounters in Heat Seeker: Exposed #1. Jacqueline's red skirt echoes Dahlia's wig. And when the purple-haired reporter meets with Dahlia later, her green shorts echo Dahlia's trademark jumpsuit.

 

David Leach fires black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons. Joanna Tan’s off-camera dialogue inhabits yellow boxes, while Dahlia’s thoughts dwell in their blue narrative cousins. Sound effects amplify buzzing phones and silenced handguns while a rain of bullets and exploding glass shake the action-packed panels. Thanks to Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Dahlia's new family implodes as her partner abandons her and a ruthless reporter sets her clients against her. Pulse-pounding action leads to an explosive finish in Heat Seeker: Exposed #1.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To look inside see my preview of Heat Seeker: Exposed #1


Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Heat Seeker: Combustion #4 Review

 


Writer: Charles Ardai

Penciller: Ace Continuado

Inker: Juan Castro

Colorist: Asifur Rahman

Letterer: David Leach

Cover Artist: Ivan Tao, Irvin Rodriguez, Ace Continuado & Photo

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: 3.99

Release Date: March 19, 2025

 

Arturo Durenbrad wanted Rosaline Priess captured and Evie Parker dead. In return for a CGC copy of The Incredible Hulk #1, Dahlia Racers agreed to help them disappear. A dramatic makeover from Dahlia and a brawl in an Austrian brothel left Durenbrad dead and Parker injured.

 

Durenbrad’s mercenaries captured Rosaline Priess and Dahlia's assistant, Cesar. Can Parker and Dahlia rescue the captives before Livonia Cutler detonates the apoptosis bomb inside Rosaline Priess? Let’s pull on our fire-retardant clothing, burn into Heat Seeker: Combustion #4, and find out!

 

Story

Dr Livonia Cutler outfitted her traditional log cabin in Mittenwald, Germany, with a high-tech lab. She also built a secret elevator and a disguised airplane hangar in the basement. When Dr Cutler disappears beneath the ground floor with Cesar and Rosaline, Dahlia and Parker find a way down. As one plane roars away, Cesar and another plane await them.

 

Heat Seeker: Combustion #4 boasts a high-flying pursuit as Dahlia and Parker try to rescue Rosaline and prevent Cutler from destroying London. While the ladies handle things in the air, Cesar seeks Dr Priess on the ground. Rosaline’s father may have used his daughter as a guinea pig, but he has learned about the bloodbath in Innsbruck, Austria. Cesar drives off to find him, hoping he doesn’t have to journey back to Venice to find a way of defusing Cutler's apoptosis bomb.

 

Charles Ardai makes your head spin by reversing your understanding of key story points. While Dahlia Racers shines brightly as an action hero, Evie Parker is the rising star in Heat Seeker: Combustion #4. Her fiercely protective nature, ability to keep up with Dahlia, pop culture dialogue, and disregard for death suggest that she could headline a future series from Hard Case Crime.

 

Art

Ace Continuado and Juan Castro demonstrate a flair for production design worthy of the late Ken Adam. The artist and inker’s portrayal of Dahlia Racers and Evie Parker evokes the James Bond introductory films of Maurice Binder. Like Charles Ardai, Ace and Juan do a number on your mind as Parker masquerades as Dahlia, who resembles Arturo Durenbrad. But we know where we stand after Dahlia pulls off her mask, slips on her red wig, and changes into a cleavage-revealing black catsuit.

 

Asifur Rahman lavishes a palette of bright, appealing colors on Heat Seeker: Combustion #4. Background colors heighten the airborne action, while Dr Livonia’s apoptosis bomb makes an interesting link with Dahlia Racers. Rahman paints the ground action even more vividly. Dr Bessemer Priess proves he is a villain by clutching a gray cell phone as he drives (A major No no) against streaks of yellow, orange, and red while a red semi-truck pursues a gold Volkswagon (Goldbug?) on a blue, yellow, orange, and red road.

 

As Charles Ardai leaves readers breathless with his mind-bending, fast-paced rescue plot, David Leach fires small, black uppercase words into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. Sound effects help us hear beeping phones, honking horns, and a scream that evokes Man-Thing. Thanks to Titan Comics and Hard Case Crime for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

While Dahlia and Parker emulate James Bond, Rosaline's father demonstrates an affinity for the third Doctor Who, and Dr Livonia Cutler goes Green in Heat Seeker: Combustion #4.

 

Rating 9.2/10

 

For more covers and a look inside see my preview of Heat Seeker: Combustion #4.