CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Welcome to the latest CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA! This week, part one of two, as I take an extended look at some of the latest books from Dynamite Entertainment. Let’s get to it!

THE LONE RANGER #2 is written by Brett Matthews and drawn by Sergio Cariello. I described issue one of this origin story of the Ranger as being “Batman meets Brisco County, Jr.”; it was a good book, not a great one, but there was obvious potential waiting to be tapped. Nicely, issue two makes me look pretty smart: this is a huge leap forward from issue one. Right out of the gate, we’re introduced to Tonto, and he’s a fascinating guy, a warrior who will obviously play sidekick to no one. We also get a look at the conspiracy that killed John Reid’s family, and what will drive his becoming the west’s greatest hero. Throw Cariello’s excellent art into the mix, and this reads as one of the best books Dynamite has produced this year. I was never a fan of this character, but I’ll be a permanent convert if the creative team can keep up this level of quality.

Brandon Jerwa and Mike Oeming write, and Lee Moder draws, HIGHLANDER #1, which follows in the footsteps of the original 1986 cult classic. Now, given the quality of every other piece of HIGHLANDER material that came after Christopher Lambert’s career highlight, Jerwa and Oeming had to do very little to produce something clever; however, given that opening, they wisely don’t choose to coast and phone it in. Instead, they offer up a genuinely fascinating idea: the Kurgan, one of the most evil men to ever walk the Earth, left disciples in his wake, and they are more than willing to continue doing the dead immortal’s work… no matter how dirty it might be. Their latest act was to cause the Chernobyl meltdown. Worse is that many of the disciples were recruited and created by a special Russian government project. That means long and scary odds for Connor MacLeod and the allies he has cultivated over the last few hundred years. The one weakness here is that, like in the film, MacLeod is not a very interesting fellow when compared against the rest of his cast and has yet to come to life in the comic. Still, this is solid reading, especially when factoring in Moder’s usual terrific art.

The ARMY OF DARKNESS comic won a “Scream Award” for Best Screen-to-Comic Adaptation this autumn, so hats off to the creative team for that achievement. Issues #10-11 are written by James Kuhoric and drawn by Kevin Sharpe, and continues Ash’s quest to stop Dracula from achieving true immortality and ultimate power. Throw Frankenstein’s monster into the mix, and you get an almost deliriously goofy tale of time travel, werewolves, and other assorted nonsense. The AOD comic has never really grabbed me, and I gave that some thought a while back, trying to figure out why. What I realized is that, plot and storytelling ultimately take a back seat in Ash’s world. It is the journey that counts most, and the sillier the journey, the more the book is true to its roots. Kuhoric really excels at delivering the goofy elements that make Bruce Campbell so appealing on film, and Sharpe turns in some good-looking pages. But even with the analysis, I still can’t quite find my way into the book. That’s just the way things go.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA #2-3 are written by Greg Pak and drawn by Nigel Raynor. The first couple of issues saw Pak setting up a story that had more than a bit of uncertainty; the Galactica crew found a drifting ship that contained what appeared to be the dead loved ones of many of the fleet’s survivors somehow alive and well… including Zak Adama. Smelling a Cylon plot, Commander Adama and the rest have been more than a bit wary, but the story hadn’t given the reader much to work with. That changes here, as we finally see the true plot get into motion. And as a pleasant surprise, it isn’t all as cut and dried as you might have believed. Instead, Pak delivers a story that plays surprisingly fair with your emotions and gets much closer in feeling to the series itself. Not only do we get all that, we also get a pleasantly surprising nod to the original series. I had enjoyed the first two issues of this book, mostly because I love the series, and getting more of the characters during the hiatus between seasons was nice. But this was the first time I really enjoyed the comic on its own merits, which bodes well as the book continues forward.

That’s it for Dynamite part one! I’ll be back with main site updates this week, and back next weekend with part two!

/Mason