Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #6 Preview

 

 

They say our greatest adversary is ourselves. In Mitchell Shelley's case, that's infinitely true. He has lived many lives. Mitchell has seen many ages. He has had many names. And every time Mitchell dies, he is reborn with new powers. Yet as he lives each new life on Earth, Mitchell also inhabits a place beyond time and space. 

In this final issue, Ram V concludes an epic saga that revolves around two questions. Is there a difference between saving the universe and falling in love? And secondly, if you lose your memories, is that the same as dying?

Here's all the info on this final issue from DC Connect:

 

Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #6

Writer: Ram V

Artists: Anand Rk & Mike Perkins

Colorist: Mike Spicer

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar

Cover Artists: Jeff Dèkal & Evan Cagle

Publisher: DC Comics

Price: $4.99/$5.99

Length: 32 Pages

Release Date: September 3, 2025

 

The end is nigh for Resurrection Man as he suffers at the hands of his greatest enemy…himself. But can the two men put their differences aside long enough to save the universe from its imminent death? Gashadokuro has come, and he’s ready to feast!

 

 

Now, let's take a look inside:

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks to DC Comics for sharing this preview with us.

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Jenny Frison; Dani & Brad Simpson; Maria Wolf & Mike Spicer; Martin Simmonds

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 24, 2024

 

Dr Edwin Thompson hunted the Creature for thirty years, but it eluded him. Kate Marsden traveled to Peru to capture Darwin Collier. She wanted justice after he tried to drown her. When the reality of the situation grew apparent, she made a deal with Dr Thompson. Help me kill Collier, and I'll help you capture your Creature. Kate thought she had the benefit of surprise, but Collier knew she was coming and laid a trap. Now, Dr Thompson's fate is uncertain. He may be deceased. His assistant Christiano, ditto. Kate is in Collier's custody. What will the soldier with a penchant for drowning people do to her? Let's grab our knives and rifles, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps taught Darwin Collier how to kill. Watching the life seep out of a victim's eyes changed him. Humans once dwelt in the ocean. Collier began to wonder why we left. So he sought out people with the sea in their eyes to help them return. A business trip to Peru introduced him to the Creature. Dr Thompson’s Missing Link confirmed his beliefs. And it shed bits of itself to help him transform into its likeness.

 

In the United States, all those Collier tried to baptize into their new life died except Kate. She followed him across the world to Peru. Collier welcomes her as a disciple. He hid his transformation from others, but in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4, he reveals his changed features to her. Now, she sees through a glass darkly. Collier will use his needles, surgical thread, antiseptics, and the Creature’s shed hide to clothe her in its glory. How can she fail to recognize the gift he has bestowed upon her?

 

But Collier's misdeeds are catching up with him in Dan Watters & Ram V's story. The drug producers he helped train in military combat and surveillance found the remains of his latest victim. They won’t wait while he picks them off one by one. And then there are Christiano and Dr Thompson. The disfigured researcher tends to his wounded assistant. But when he sees the Creature, he grabs his rifle, abandons Christiano, and ventures into Collier’s sacred temple.

 

Art

Matthew Roberts shows figures treading a dirt path to the lake between stony hills in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4. A silhouette against a red field shows the man drawing his prize from the water. The narco’s eyes close as he presses the severed head of his colleague against his own. Nearby, Dr Thompson pulls his assistant from the dark water. Christiano’s face now bears similar disfiguring scars. Dr Thompson tears off a shirt sleeve. Then his eyes bulge, and he abandons Christiano. Darkness obscures his face and chest, and his eyes glow yellow as he enters the cave.

 

Trish Mulvihill paints the periphery of the cave in blues and greens. We first glimpse the Creature as a silhouette with blue eyes. Later, we see the Creature in all its green radiance. By contrast, Collier's webbed hands and the scales adorning his body are a dull and faded green. Yet his eyes glitter like gold and glow yellow as he disappears into the humid gray darkness. Red stains the dark water inside the cave, revealing the shadows of men bearing rifles as Collier seeks those who defiled his temple.

 

Uppercase black letters inhabit white dialogue balloons and gray narrative boxes. DC Hopkins' font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Sound effects heighten small moments, helping us hear tearing cloth and scratching claws. Yet enlarged colored dialogue joins the chorus of violence and death as Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 reaches its crescendo. Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Like the disease that once ravaged Christiano, the hunger for revenge refuses to release Kate. As she seeks freedom from her torment, Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #4 ponders the difference between animals, humans, and monsters.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

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

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Trish Mulvihill

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Julian Totino-Tedesco; Dani & Brad Simpson; Anwita Citriya; David Talaski

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 26, 2024

 

Darwin Collier tried to kill Kate Marsden. Haunted by her brush with death, the journalist pursued the former Marine from her home in the United States to a remote village in Peru. Kate reports on what she can prove. So when fishermen pull drowning victims from the Amazon, Kate dismisses talk of a local legend. Likewise, she ignores the carved wooden images of the Creature in a vendor's stall. But then the Creature saves her from drowning. When Kate ventures into the jungle to apprehend Collier, the Creature saves her again. Or at least, so she remembers. What drives Kate and those involved in her quest? Let's grab our knives and rifles, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, and find out!

 

Story

Collier victimized Kate. He tried to drown her in the Hudson River. She told herself she wanted justice. But the stark reality of life in the jungle leaves its mark on her. Now, she doesn't care about dragging Collier back to the United States and testifying against him in court. She just wants to kill him. The Creature may have helped her. But in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, Kate's through being a victim. She's willing to become a monster to kill another. If the Creature can help her accomplish that, all the better!

 

The Creature victimized Dr Edwin Thompson. One swipe of its claws left Edwin disfigured. For thirty years, he’s endured people’s reactions to his appearance. The severed nerves in Edwin's face impinge on his sleep. So he fled civilization and took up the cause of his friend Dr Carl Maia. But if his mission is to understand how life evolved from the ocean to land, why is he fixated on this Creature?

 

Civilization victimized Christiano’s family. When they fell on the wrong side of the political jungle, his family fled the We’re Right And The Other Party Is Wrong crowd to live with the indigenous people of Peru. Like the fires that rise when loggers cut down trees and burn foliage to create grazing land, malaria burned through Christiano in his youth. He may not have a wooden idol of the Creature in his room at Dr Edwin Thompson's house, but he revels in the mysterious nature of the jungle and reveres the Creature as its guardian spirit.

 

Civilization victimized Darwin Collier. The Marine Corps unleashed an unquenchable thirst for violence. When they threw him out, he couldn’t adjust to civilian life. After Collier fled the United States to share his Marine Corps skills with others, his drug trafficking employers abandoned him when his hunger for death resurfaced. As he hides from civilization and those who wish to kill him, Collier finds a new purpose in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3.

 

 

Art

Kate swims in the river near Edwin's home. She doesn't know how much of what she's seen is real or imagined. The ripples in the water evoke the Creature's green, scaly hide. Yet the netting Christiano laid on the ground galvanizes her. She slices off a portion and hurls it onto Edwin’s desk. That evening, as Kate sits on the roof and watches the flames leaping above the trees, Christiano’s gaze drifts to her cigarette and the fire ravaging the packed tobacco. As Kate and Christiano share their near-death experiences, faces dance with skulls in the raging flames.

 

Trish Mulvihill lavishes a loaded palette on Matthew Roberts' relatable characters, drama-fueled encounters, and the explosive finale in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3. Light spears the muggy jungle, casting leafy shadows upon Kate’s head and shoulders. The vibrant green forest contrasts with the calming beige and tan in Edwin’s home. Still, he tames the Creature by sketching it in black and white. The yellow and orange fires reflect off rivers and streams while orange and mauve spirits invade the purple skies.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and never shrinks. Sound effects help us hear a knife thrust and a gunshot. Yet an enlarged final sentence may shock readers most in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3. Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #3, Dan Watters and Ram V pit the people who inhabit nature with those who violate it to enhance their status in civilization. The jungle of Peru becomes a battleground between those who burn for revenge and those who seek to become something more.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

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

Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2 Review

 

Writers: Dan Watters & Ram V

Artist: Matthew Roberts

Colorist: Dave Stewart

Letterer: DC Hopkins

Cover Artists: Matthew Roberts & Dave Stewart; Francis Manapul; Dani & Brad Simpson; Stephanie Pepper; Christian Ward

Publisher: Image

Price: $4.99

Release Date: May 29, 2024

 

Journalist Kate Marsden was on the trail of a hardened killer. Then she saw something she couldn’t comprehend. As Kate fled, she slipped while crossing a river. The current sucked her down. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't fight free. Has the Amazon claimed another victim? Let's strap on our masks and flippers, leap into Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, and find out!

 

Story

The Marine Corps kicked out Darwin Collier for violent conduct. Police suspect him guilty of seven drownings. He tried to make Kate his eighth victim. Kate tracked his movements to Peru, where he purchased items from a local pharmacy. But then Collier left town, and Kate couldn’t find him.

 

Lately, boaters have pulled bodies from the river. Kate followed a local man who picked up the latest victim and transported it to the river. As Kate watched a boat carry it away, she heard a noise. She thought perhaps it was Collier. Instead, a strange creature met her gaze.

 

In Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2, Kate awakens in a house with an IV drip in her arm. These days, she fights the urge to sleep. Dreams follow, and they often return to the time Collier tried to drown her. The attempt left Kate feeling violated. She is strung out on amphetamines and can’t bear to let anyone touch her. She also suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage due to brain cell death from lack of oxygen.

 

But Kate isn’t frightened now. She remembers how Christiano found her by the river and that Christiano’s employer, Dr Edwin Thompson, took her in. She goes to Edwin’s laboratory, where she learns the drowning victim had black sand in his lungs. Edwin believes a mythical creature killed the drowning victim. Although Kate doesn’t want to admit it, she glimpsed the monster. But she's a journalist, grounded in accepted truth and facts. So, Kate asks Edwin to take her to the Black Lagoon. She must know she is not slowly losing grip on reality.

 

Kate Marsden claims she wants justice in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Like any victim, she struggles with anger from Collier's savage attack. But Kate isn't in the United States anymore. The law doesn't work the same way in Peru. Her chances of utilizing the Peruvian legal system or getting Collier extradited to the United States (assuming she could capture the former Marine) are low. Besides, she suffers from Anoxic Brain Damage. Why should anyone trust her judgment when she's unsure she can trust her memories and perceptions?

 

 

Art

Kate Marsden awakens on a cushioned rattan couch. Pulling the IV from her hand, she ignores the tropical potted plants and the jungle outside the wall of windows and heads down a hall toward Edwin's lab. Clad in surgical gear, Edwin speaks into a microphone connected to an 8 Track Tape Recorder. As smoke rises from a pipe near the table, he cuts into the body with a scalpel. Wrinkles navigate his face and neck like rivers on a map. Kate's straggly hair frames her confused expression as her wide eyes behold the dark granules on the bloody blade. Then the wind whips her hair as she sits near Christiano at the back of the boat while Edwin sits upfront, staring grimly at the jungle ahead.

 

Dave Stewart applies a loaded palette to Matthew Roberts’ realistic art in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2. Stewart paints Edwin’s lab in pale greens, blues, beiges, and grays, while Edwin’s surgical gear, lab surfaces, and a hanging screen reflect the more vibrant greens glimpsed through the tall windows. The white drowning victim looks lavender in closeups, while dark red shows within rents from whatever also tore off a portion of the man’s ear. The lavender reminds Kate of two amorphous circles shining in the darkness. The twin circles evoke jellyfish, floating wherever the currents take them. But Kate knows they're not.

 

DC Hopkins carves uppercase black letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes. The font grows bold for intonation, swells for elevated voices, and rarely shrinks. Spotting the man who nearly killed her sends green words into a yellow balloon. Darker green words emerge from the Burnt Umber lips enclosing a mouth filled with sharpened teeth, while yellow words signal a hail of gunfire in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Thanks to Universal Studios, Skybound, and Image Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Kate Marsden grapples with local legend, an obsessed scientist, drug traffickers, a serial killer, and the limits of her exhausted body and damaged mind in Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives #2.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

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

The One Hand #1 Review

 

Writer: Ram V.

Artist: Laurence Campbell

Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Letterer: Aditya Bidikar

Cover Artists: Tom Muller, Laurence Campbell & Lee Loughridge

Publisher: Image

Price: $3.99

Release Date: February 7, 2024

 

After a long and successful career, Detective Ari Nassar is retiring from the Neo Novena Police Department. He seems resolved about his upcoming lifestyle change. If boredom strikes, Ari can always train boxers at the gym again. Will he let anything get in the way of the rest of his life? Let's leap into The One Hand #1 and find out!

 

Story

Ari receives retirement cards. His fellow police give him presents. He eats his cake and enjoys his party. Then he notices Detective McCormac enter Lieutenant Souza's office with a file. He watches them converse through the office windows. The Lieutenant closes the blinds. That only confirms Ari's suspicions. He enters the office and picks up the file. One glance is enough. "I got this one, Lieutenant," he says.

 

Twenty-three years ago, Ari caught a serial murderer. Years later, the pattern repeated. So he caught the next killer. Was the second killer a copycat? The police never released details from the original crime scenes. Now, the old pattern has resumed. Another crime scene. Another meticulous recreation of the original killer's MO. Ari's not about to sit this investigation out.

 

In The One Hand #1, Ram V. introduces us to a detective who never had an overriding ambition to become a police officer. Nor was Ari particular about what crimes he solved. He did the job and never sought the limelight. Yet Ari yearns to answer the question that cast a shadow over his career. Did he arrest the wrong people? Or were the deaths part of a larger mystery he never even suspected?

 

 

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Art

Outside light makes the immense windows in Ms. Halam’s office glow. The blinds cast stripes across Ari's pitted features. He assures the police psychiatrist he's okay. Yet Ari remembers ducking beneath police tape in the pouring rain and entering the crime scene in The One Hand #1. Flame from his lighter and CSU floor lights illuminate the writing on the wall. Lines and blocks form square patterns on the wall. What message did the killer try to communicate?

 

Lee Loughridge lavishes a limited palette upon Laurence Campbell’s art. Glowing signs, windows, headlights, and streetlights turn the purple sky red, yellow, and orange. An unseen figure sprays a hand red. A victim lays slumped, colored solely in red. Ari's precinct seems impersonal, lost in yellow and beige. Orange and red warm Lieutenant Souza's office as Ari confronts his superior. Like the falling rain, the loneliness and isolation of Neo Novena seep into your pores in The One Hand #1.

 

Aditya Bidikar fills white dialogue balloons and narrative boxes with large uppercase black letters as Ari shares why he joined the police. No words accompany scenes of Ari’s retirement party or when he exits the 1950s-style cab, walks past immense Roman columns, and enters the police department. As Ari walks past a display of glowing TVs in the rain-soaked street, the rounded vacuum tube screens shout the news he dreads to hear. The One-Hand Killer Strikes Again!

 

Thanks to Image for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

After a long and storied career, a retiring detective leaps back into the fray to solve the case that made and plagued his career in The One Hand #1.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

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

Rare Flavours #1 Review

 

Writer: Ram V

Artist: Filipe Andrade

Colorists: Filipe Andrade & Inês Amaro

Letterer: Andworld Design

Cover Artists: Filipe Andrade; Rafael Albuquerque; Frany

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $4.99

Release Date: October 25, 2023

 

Rubin and Mohan venture into the desert. Dilshan and Dilkush shadow the rakshasa and the filmmaker. How will this adventure shape Mo's documentary? Let’s dive into Rare Flavours #2 and find out!

 

Story

While their driver repairs his ramshackle lorry, Rubin takes out his notebook and continues his story. Less a letter than a book, he chronicles their journey. Into it, Rubin pours his longing for the café in Somarah and his concerns about Mo.

 

Rubin worries the filmmaker has lost his passion and wonders if the young man can reclaim it. Mo once made a powerful film that prompted Rubin to leave his place of safety and brave civilization. Since then, the old hunger has overwhelmed him. In taking others’ lives, Rubin put himself at risk. And for what? To find a young man who's dead to the world?

 

In Rare Flavours #2, Ram V further explores Rubin's passion for cuisine. The ageless demon adores the ingredients of traditional dishes. Their preparation becomes art, and consumption brings growth. While someone will pay for their desert excursion, Mo finally shares what soured him on life. The rakshasa seems unlikely to reform, but might Mo finds renewal?

 

Art

Filipe Andrade's wavy lines conjure a desert. Rubin and Mo share the cab with Manish. Despite his John Lennon looks, Mo's expression, posture, and movements suggest weariness. By contrast, Rubin's zeal shines through his eyes and unshakable smile. But even that palls beside their driver's glowing face. Panels provide glimpses into Manish’s experiences and ancestry. As they travel, their pursuers wear grim guises. Dilshan and Dilkush focus on the road ahead as they discuss the danger Rubin poses.

 

Bright colors give Filipe Andrade’s flowing shapes in Rare Flavours #2 a modern art appeal. Assisted by Inês Amaro, he shows their metal truck glowing with the sun’s radiance, Manish’s acclaimed ancestor, and a desert swathed in the Mathania Chilli. After their afternoon in the painted desert, a purple sky hangs over the travelers as they pause for an evening meal in a grassy field.

 

Bakasura’s commentary for Mansi fills scraps of light-beige parchment and yellow narrative boxes with black, italicized uppercase letters. Andworld Design’s attractive font also graces white dialogue balloons in Rare Flavours #2. Lowercase italics flow across panels showcasing ingredients and recipes. Vibrant lettering helps readers hear tassels blown by the wind, an engine coughing to life, and Rubin enjoying his meal while giant orange laughter explodes from a dialogue balloon.

 

Final Thoughts

Exploring the relationship between pain and purification, Rare Flavours #2 ponders what we lose when we exist solely for today.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

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

Rare Flavours #1 Review

 

Writer: Ram V

Artist & Colorist: Filipe Andrade

Letterer: Andworld Design

Cover Artists: Filipe Andrade; Fábio Moon; Anand R.K.; & David Mack

Publisher: Boom! Studios

Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 20, 2023

 

An enormous man wearing a white suit visits an art gallery in Bandra, Mumbai. Yet the painting he gazed upon dwarfs him. Standing before the immense canvas on the waxed tile floor, he composes a letter in his head to his friend Mansi. Who is this well-dressed man, and why did he abandon his café in Somarah without telling his friend goodbye? Let’s dive into Rare Flavours #1 and find out!

 

Story

The painting shows the legendary Hindu hero Bheema attacking the rakshasa Bakasura. Determined that the rakshasa should eat no more villagers, Bheema clubs Bakasura to death. The enormous man is sad that people today remember him as an uncouth barbarian. Yet he smiles, revealing the fangs shown in the historic painting.

 

As Bakasura leaves the gallery, two men are on his trail. Dilshan kneels in an alley, sniffing the rakshasa's scent. His partner Dilkush stands behind him, his feline friend Manimeow resting on his shoulders. Both men—and perhaps also the cat—are determined to find Bakasura before he kills and devours another victim.

 

Without background knowledge of India or the Hindu epic of Bheema and Bakasura, Rare Flavours #1 is a lot to take in. Yet it’s easy to understand how Bakasura could hunger for what he once agreed to give up. Watching the centuries pass, he found comfort in TV shows celebrating food. Anthony Bourdain's death compelled him to return to the world he left behind. Yet, surrounded by temptation, his old hunger returns. It is a monstrous, overwhelming hunger: one he cannot refuse.

 

Anthony Bourdain DVD set available at Amazon.com

 

 

The rakshasa meets with a young filmmaker named Mohan in one of Bandra’s beautiful cafés. He introduces himself as Rubin Baksh and asks Mohan to take a journey with him. They could make a powerful documentary about Indian cuisine and those who weave such savory magic. That is if Mohan—who goes by Mo--agrees.

 

Art

Filipe Andrade brews Ram V's rich story with magic all his own. His loose, flowing art evokes children's book illustrations in Rare Flavours #1. He sketches buildings and crowds while rendering Mo, Bakasura, and the hunters with compelling detail. Despite his youth, the filmmaker is already tired of life. By contrast, charming, sophisticated Bakasura—or Rubin, as he now calls himself—charms with elegant attire and impeccable manners. His hunters—hardened killers--wear frowns as they weave through the bustling city. Beware the long, sharp knives they wield!

 

Filipe Andrade loads his palette with soft colors. The eye-pleasing pastels convey India's vibrant diversity. He shades without relying on gray and scatters colorful reflections on polished surfaces such as tables and floors. Dilkush and Dilshan, cast in purple and mauve, sweep like shadows through the vibrant seaside city. Yet the crowning glory of Rare Flavours #1 is the mural in the opening scene. Brushstrokes flow across Bakasura as Bheema attacks the people-eater beneath a purple, orange, yellow, and turquoise sky.

 

An Anthony Bourdain action figure? Check it out at trampt.com

 

 

Andworld Design writes Bakasura’s mental note to Mansi with black, italicized uppercase letters on scraps of light-beige parchment. This attractive font graces white dialogue balloons and mauve narrative boxes that show Dilkush’s conversation. Lowercase italics convey offscreen commentary from Bakasura--or Rubin--suffused with eloquence and reverence for how food and spices can wield magic upon the tongue.

 

Final Thoughts

Taking inspiration from a Hindu legend—and the longest epic poem ever written—Rare Flavours #1 tantalizes with its reverence for artistry as it tackles addiction and the allure of forbidden fruit.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

For more covers see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.