CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Whoops. So, last weekend, I kinda bumped into a bit of a sinus problem and wound up being laid up away from the computer. No Blog Update. But I’m back in the saddle, abnd happy to bring you a look at two recent number ones from my friends at Dynamite Entertainment.

ARMY OF DARKNESS: FROM THE ASHES #1 is written by James Kuhoric and drawn by Fernando Blanco. Having completed his trip to the Marvel Zombies world, Ash is back in his own universe, only to find it overrun by death, destruction, and de-composure. It seems that in his absence, his evil duplicate has become king bad guy and is ruling the roost. Not good. FROM THE ASHES is okay, no great shakes… but it did finally help me figure something out. I’ve never really enjoyed the ARMY comics, and at first, I thought it was because I wasn’t a fan of the movies, but that isn’t it. The real problem is that the films only work because you have the charisma of Bruce Campbell carrying the load on screen. That charisma is impossible to duplicate on the comic page (though John Layman came close in MZ vs. AOD), making the book read something a bit more… standard than maybe it should. Not sure if anything can be done about it, really.

On the flip side, I was genuinely surprised by TERMINATOR 2: INFINITY #1, written by Simon Furman and drawn by Nigel Raynor. Honestly, when I heard that DE had picked up the license, I thought it was more than a stretch. But here’s where it gets interesting: not only does this touch on the first film, but it also picks up from the end of the third film, which gives it a ton more room in the sandbox to play. And play it does; new terminators, the beginning of John Connor’s journey after unlocking the bunker at Crystal Peak… rather than being trapped by the events of the second film, Furman expands the TERMINATOR universe immediately. And after some inconsistent art on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, Nigel Raynor is much, much better here. Apparently, he likes these robots more than ones that look like Grace Park. To each his own. But yeah, against any odds I’d have given you, this works. Mea culpa

That’s it for this week. Join me through the week for site updates. I am also now doing a weekly recap on my Myspace page, via bulletin. So friend me!

See you next time!

/Mason