Comic Stack 02/04/2015

I have a confession. I have a ton of first issues of comics. I’m not even joking about this. While I enjoy reading and reviewing comics, I’m not one that likes to review every single issue of a comic, especially if I lose interest and quit the series. I prefer to review volumed editions for that reason. After deciding that I really need to start weeding through my comics, I thought I’d start posting about the #1s I read. What better day to post than on the most holiest of days (next to New Video Game Tuesday, of course)–New Comic Book Day?

This won’t always feature the newest releases, but it will feature comics I’ve recently received. This will kind of be like review bites, but all comics based and only focused on the first issues of comics I have. I won’t be focusing so much on your mainstream Marvel and DC comics. That’s not to say I may not include books from some of them or their imprints from time to time, but it won’t be your typical X-Men or Batman books unless there’s some exceptional reason I think they should be included.

Revenger #1 by Charles Sanford Forsman
Publisher: Oily Comics (January 21, 2015)
Genre: Action-Adventure, Crime, Leading Ladies

“When all else fails, Revenger evens the score.”

Revenger is about a woman who doesn’t take any shit. That’s what the blurb said about this comic, and it felt fitting to start this with that. Revenger follows a woman who helps people who have problems they can’t solve themselves. Violence is her trade, but she gets results. The story starts with a brief fight scene where we get a glimpse that there are things that hunt the protagonist and what her motivations might be. Later in the story, she’s contacted by a teenage boy who fears that his missing girlfriend’s father may have done something terrible to her.

The art on this one made me feel some kind of way. It made me think of Beavis & Butthead and seemed a bit understated for the story itself, but there was something strangely compelling about the style all the same. Also, I do have one little gripe. This story takes place in a troubled United States during the 1980s, but there’s little in the art wise or story wise that makes me feel like I’m reading a story set in the 80s.

I was a little afraid that this was going to be schlocky. All the elements were there for it to turn me off. However, the story is captivating. Who is this woman? What made her this way? Can I have her autograph? There are so many questions and so few answers at this point. Forsman isn’t showing all his cards. He’s carefully presenting them in a way to keep me reading.

Sanity & Tallulah: Plucky Teen Girl Space Detectives #1 by Molly Brooks
Publisher: Molly Brooks (January 21, 2015)
Genre: Science-Fiction, Leading Ladies

Sanity & Tallulah #1 introduces us to two teenage girls–Sanity and Tallulah, in case you’re wondering, ages unspecified–who live on the space station WilnickSS. After dropping off some mail, Sanity and Tallulah decide to do a little exploring after Tallulah suggests that they check out an asteroid belt that’s out of bounds, but not, y’know, a lot out of bounds. In the belt, they make a discovery begging to be investigated, if only to decide if it’s worth the risk of telling the adults and possibly getting into trouble.

Though their ages aren’t specified, I’m going to assume the girls are around 15 or so. I make this assumption because there’s a running gag throughout the comic about Tallulah losing her learner’s permit (again) because of all the precautions she forgets and risky driving she does. She drives a small space shuttle. How cool is that? However, this comic is perfectly acceptable for reading with younger children.

This comic is one of the wordier comics, but that’s part of what makes it delightful. It’s about two teenage girls, and of course, they ramble. But you’re also presented characters that go beyond the giggling teenage girl trope (not that there isn’t giggling). Sanity shows an acute aptitude toward science in the comic, and it’s hinted that Tallulah might be quite the mechanic. It’s nice to see these traits, which are typically considered “for boys,” represented in the two leads while still maintaining that charm.

They’re Not Like Us #1 by Eric Stephenson
Publisher: Image Comics (January 21, 2015)
Genre: Science-Fiction

A young woman stands on the side of a building. She’s finally fed up with the noise in her head. Nothing helps. She feels the only way she’ll have any relief is if she “sleeps” forever. Before jumping, a man tells her that maybe the only real salvation she’ll have is if she accepts the truth of her situation.

Somehow, she survives. She learns that there’s not just noise going on in her head. The mystery man ( I call Cas since he looks like Casanova Quinn from Casanova) informs her that she is a telepath, and he takes her to a home for other “gifted” people like herself. He gives her a new name (Syd) and tells her that she’s never to think of her old life now.

At this point, it started feeling a little X-Men-ish for me, and I was starting to feel a little let down. All these people with awesome powers living together and assuming aliases. I was interested, but not moved. I was thinking, “Yeah, I’m going to wait for a volumed edition of this, at best.” Then, the other shoe dropped when Syd was explained the rules of her new life, a life she didn’t ask for. That was the “Well, damn!” moment that actually made me sit up in my bed.

From that point, even the title took on a different perspective. I looked at the title from the angle that the characters of this book aren’t normal people. However, after reading it, I realize the title speaks more along the lines of normal people not being special like them. I’m interested. They got me. I’m buying issue #2 as I type.