Red Roots Volume One: An Inventive, Genre Blending Comic

 Red Roots Volume One by Lorenzo De Felici

Red Roots book cover

Author and artist Lorenzo De Felici

Many thanks to Image Comics and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of the wild and inventive comic Red Roots by Lorenzo De Felici. This volume collects issues 1-5, world building a mysterious other dimension where a high school biology teacher and a professional killer end up meeting through a giant warrior creature named Grit. The story starts off alternating between the two characters, Dante (or Dan), the professional killer out for vengeance, and Katie, a high school teacher who makes an unsettling discovery in her home, leading her to question her sanity. Their stories converge in a strange, new world where the red roots bring new recruits to join the battle-inflicted world. We gradually learn more about the world, the seemingly endless battles, and the various creatures that inhabit this world as Dan and Katie learn more through their interactions with other creatures, including Grit. The artwork is stellar in this collection, moving from a realistic style to a fantasy world populated by inventive creature designs. At times, the story is a little hard to follow since the transitions from one world to the next are sudden, but we learn more about how Katie and Dan ended up in the land of the Red Roots and how they might be afforded an opportunity to leave. The story ends suddenly without any resolution, so I’m hopefully that future issues will examine more about how Dan and Katie navigate this strange world, managing threats from the enemy combatants as well as creatures within the town who seem suspicious or jealous of their position as humans. I really enjoyed how the artwork and story synthesizes several genres to create a unique tale that can appeal to sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and action/adventure enthusiasts. I’m looking forward to learning more about the world of Red Roots in subsequent issues. Recommended!

Journeying to Another Dimension of Sound, Sight, and Mind in The Twilight Zone: Stories from the Fifth Dimension

 The Twilight Zone: Stories from the Fifth Dimension by Dan Watters, Morgan Beem, Tom Scioli, James Stokoe, L. Marlow Francavilla, Francesco Francavilla, and Nate Powell

The Twilight Zone book cover

Many thanks to IDW Publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to journey to through a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind, with their entertaining new collection of stories from The Twilight Zone: Stories from the Fifth Dimension by Dan Watters, Morgan Beem, Tom Scioli, James Stokoe, L. Marlow Francavilla, Francesco Francavilla, and Nate Powell. I’m a fan of the original show The Twilight Zone, as well as many of the other iterations. I loved the ironic twists of the episodes and how many of the episodes encourage viewers to think deeply about their own behavior and actions. The stories in this collection feature many of the same kinds of selfish, greedy, and thoughtless characters who experience a kind of cosmic irony, and the authors are able to make the stories unique and different from the episodes. Not all of the stories were great or land with the same kind of impact of the dramatic irony, yet they still managed to resonate with me. The artwork is also good, rendered in black and white, which harkens back to the classic episodes from the 1960s. Furthermore, each story is framed by unique artwork with faceless people, creating a kind of connective transition among the different stories that replaces Rod Serling’s iconic introduction to each episode.

The first story is “Blanks”, is the kind of story that reminds me a little of “Time Enough At Last” and Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death”, where a rich man who is dying is seeking a scientific path to immortality on an exclusive and secluded island. “The World of Your Wildest Dreams” is a story about a group of astronaut explorers who discover a planet with an Earth-like atmosphere populated by creatures who seem to have an interest in Freudian psychoanalysis and are able to manifest the crew’s deepest, repressed memories. This story also featured a great surprise at the end, and the artwork is creative, especially the creatures that inhabit the land. “The Relic” has some of the best artwork in the book, although the story was a little hard to follow. It features two warring groups in a seemingly ancient world that are battling for control and dominance over one another. There are some surprising images that crop up that lead readers to question the setting. The ending was very surprising and also a little humorous. Nevertheless, the story does raise some questions about our own values, beliefs, and practices. “False Bottom” is a story with an unlikeable character whose vacation with his sister and brother-in-law is disrupted when they travel through their houseboat’s false bottom to another world. I liked the modern relevance of this story, and as a story where we see an unlikeable character receive some karma. “False Bottom” is an eerie and unsettling story that can appeal to those who question the bros and those partaking in the maxxing culture. “Silent Warning” is a kind of monster story about a group of scientists who discover a meteor at the bottom of the ocean. It’s emitting sounds, which is odd for a space rock. As a result, they enlist the expertise of Dr. Emily Sorenson, a scientist who studies sonic frequencies underwater. The group of male scientists and crew members seem to discount Dr. Sorenson’s ideas and suggestions, while she grows more attuned to the strange and haunting frequencies emitting from the meteor. I really liked the setting, artwork, and mutant fish that threaten the scientists as they explore the mysterious meteor.

The Twilight Zone: Stories from the Fifth Dimension collection is a nice addition to the Twilight Zone series. The stories are entertaining and contain ironic twists, with some hitting harder than others. The artwork, rendered in black and white, is good and adds to the classic, Twilight Zone feel of these stories. Recommended!

 

Green Mutants Fighting Each Other: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X Godzilla by Tim Seeley with Artwork by Fero Pe

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X Godzilla by Tim Seeley; Artwork by Fero Pe; Colorist Luis Antonio Delgado; Letterer Brian Kolek

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X Godzilla cover

Author Tim Seeley

Artist Fero Pe

A great, big kaiju thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for making their latest Godzilla mashup available to preview. Sometimes unlikely pairings can have a great payoff. Whether it’s the Judgement Night soundtrack or Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg, the unexpected pairing of two seemingly disparate individuals or groups can show more alignment and result in fascinating and novel outcomes. Such is the case with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles X Godzilla, where it would seem like the 4 pizza loving, skateboard riding turtle brothers, named after Renaissance painters, who hail from NYC would have little in common with Japan’s biggest export and most feared giant monster, Godzilla, and his other kaiju kin. However, as this comic makes the point, both the Ninja Turtles and Godzilla are mutants whose mutations provided them with unique skills and powers. While the Ninja Turtles grew from mutagen in the NYC sewers, Godzilla’s mutation arose from radiation from the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. What was also interesting about this pairing is that there’s a shared backstory to the pair. Shredder and Master Splinter were both part of the Foot Clan, which was formed in Japan and was one of the organizations that attempted to protect people from the kaiju attacks in Japan’s past. This comic features flashbacks to the Foot Clan’s older days when Shredder and Splinter worked together. Although the Foot Clan struggled to contain the giant monsters, they were able to develop a kind of connection to the creatures through meditation, allowing the Foot Clan to better understand the monster’s motivations and drives. It’s a creative and fascinating way to seek ways to understand and potentially exploit the monsters’ anger, fury and pure power to wreak havoc on the world.

The story includes flashbacks and alternates between NYC and Shredder and Krang’s crew in the Technodrome as they make their way to Japan to take advantage of the kaiju. The action starts as Bebop and Rocksteady are attempting to take some proprietary hardware from a Japanese scientist who is in NYC. The Turtles come to her rescue, and eventually learn more about the attacks on Japan from Godzilla. They spot Shredder there, and Master Splinter then reveals his long connection with the Foot Clan and their role in keeping the kaiju in Edo Island. April O’Neil and Casey Jones are also featured, along with Mondo Gecko, a newer character who I wasn’t that familiar with but enjoyed his time on the pages. There’s much creativity that went into integrating these stories, bringing in various Godzilla nemeses like King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, Rodan, Jet Jaguar, Hedorah, and Mothra. Both Hedorah and Mothra have some prominent roles in the plot of this story as well, and I loved the way Tim Seeley incorporated these canonical Godzilla characters and their backstories into this graphic novel. In addition, Fero Pe’s artwork is incredible in this, along with the coloring by Luis Antonio Delgado and the lettering by Brian Kolek. There are also some great alternative covers by other artists, especially at the end of the graphic novel. It was fun to see these variations on the stories and the attempts to blend the Turtles with Kaiju. This is a great and fun pairing of two seemingly different cult classics that works really well due to the entertaining story and the excellent artwork. Highly recommended!

Cosmic Dread and Body Horror in Gruesome Comic Event Horizon: Dark Descent

Event Horizon: Dark Descent by Christian Ward; artwork by Tristan Jones

Event Horizon: Dark Descent book cover

Author Christian Ward

Artist Tristan Jones

Many thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Event Horizon: Dark Descent by Christian Ward with artwork by Tristan Jones. This comic is based on the original film Event Horizon and serves as a prequel to understand how the abandoned ship The Event Horizon was initially left floating in space sending out distress signals. While I’ve heard of the film, I’ve never seen it. It’s not necessary to see the film to understand the basic storyline of this comic, but it might be more interesting if you are familiar with the events of the film. You’ll be able to pick up on a few key details (that I ended up googling while reading this). Nevertheless, as someone who was not really familiar with the film, I absolutely loved this comic. The story and artwork are dark and dread-inducing. It’s bloody, gory, and gross, and the pages are filled with the kind of cosmic horror that can truly tout the term Lovecraftian. I loved how the story combines elements of sci-fi, quantum physics and space travel with occult and demonology, and doing so in a creative and unique manner that synthesizes these two genres.

The story begins with Dr. Will Weir, who is in the original film. Dr. Weir is the designer of the ship, but he is grieving over the loss of his wife. His grief seems to induce strange dreams about his wife who is calling for him to find her. In some of the dreams, he envisions her bloody and eyeless, among other graphic scenes in the Event Horizon. We then learn about the crew of the ship who are preparing to fulfill the main objective of their mission: an interdimensional jump facilitated by a gravity drive, allowing the ship to fold space time and move between vast distances in a matter of minutes as opposed to millions of years. The ship has staffed a crew of expert scientists, physicians, engineers, and navigators to facilitate this monumental experiment. However, as we learn in the first act, all of the crew members are escaping their own personal traumas and pain they experienced on earth, whether it was recent or from their pasts. In a way, they all seemed to see the journey in space as a means of escaping their past pain; however, as we will soon find out, hell is inside of them, and their pain and trauma will reemerge as their worst nightmares.

As the crew gets ready to engage the gravity drive, the communications officer receives a notice from Earth about one the crew members’ whose escape involves a death he tried to cover up. When Nia Atwell, the coms officer, attempts to inform the captain about their navigator Devlin Conners’s warrant, Conners ends up killing Atwell. It was a little unclear if this prevented these two crew members from being at their posts and prepping for the jump, but in any event, when the gravity drive is engaged, something strange happens, and it seems to have opened a portal to hell, bringing in Paimon, the sightless king of hell. Paimon recognizes the desperation and violence in Conners and uses him as a kind of soldier to inflict his torments and violence on the crew, killing them in gruesome and gory ways. I won’t get into the details here, but the story takes on a kind of occult slasher feel, as the crew, unaware that a portal to hell has been opened, try to make sense of the uncertainty and dread that seem to be plaguing all of the crew. Furthermore, each of the crew members begin to hallucinate about their traumas, re-living them and experiencing the pain and tumult of these traumatic experiences that they sought to escape.

I couldn’t put this edition down, reading through the story in nearly one sitting. The story really picks up once Conners kills Atwell and the portal to hell is breached, allowing Paimon to enter the Event Horizon. Furthermore, Jones’s dark, gory artwork contributes to the feeling of dread and cosmic horror that permeates this book, like a lurking fear or creeping death. His artwork emphasizes not only the uncertainty of unexplored dimensions but also features examples of gruesome body horror and a gory ghoul that seemed to be constructed from the bodies of the dead crew members. It’s totally gross, and I loved it. This was a fun and wild comic, although it’s definitely a downer. Nevertheless, I recommend this for fans of dark sci-fi, and the kind of Lovecraftian cosmic and body horror that Stuart Gordon would be proud of. Highly recommended!

 

The Beauty of Friendship in Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

 Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

Beautyland book cover

Author and Philly Native Marie-Helene Bertino

This was an incredible book. I recently saw that it was listed as one of the best books of the year so far. When I read the description about the life of a alien-girl who is activated to send messages to her alien friends (whom she has never met) through a fax machine, I thought it sounded interesting; however, this description in no way captures the beauty and emotion in this book. I found myself wanting to read through as Adina (the self-identified alien) gradually moves through life, navigating school, friendships, work, and love. Her mother and friend, Toni, are consistently with her, as is her dog Butternut. I really enjoyed the book’s narration and it was interesting to see how later in Adina’s life, the book took more of a reporter approach (or at least I noticed it more towards the end of the book, when Adina seems more desperate to contact her alien home). Beyond just being a creative and lovely story about a person who struggles to find herself, I loved that this book was about someone who grew up around the same time I did and could share some of the same music loves (frequent mentions of Black Sheep, A Tribe Called Quest) and challenges experienced with navigating adolescence and adulthood. I felt like I could relate to a lot of Adina’s experiences, and I loved how kept her reports and observations to share with her alien family through the fax machine. I also loved how her observations became more astute and philosophical as she grew older. It was also great to see how Adina frequently faced challenges, and despite desiring consistency and a kind of uniformity, she still pushed herself for change when it was necessary. When she revists Beautyland (the store) to see how it has changed, the clerk mentions that it only recently changed, but was time for an update. I’m not sure if Adina expected things to remain the same, as this was a site of one of her first instances of a kind of awareness of her class, but I think this was a signal for her. The ending of the book gets a little bleak and sad. I found myself growing sad while reading along, but I think this was one of the great strengths of Bertino’s writing—it elicited such emotion and empathy with a unique character. I also loved her mother’s words to her about her perceptions and how Adina’s kind of fantasy world seemed to protect her, but also isolate her. This is one of those books that I will recommend to friends and give as a gift since I think many people, especially people my age, should read this. Especially if you grew up in Philly around the 80s and 90s and shopped at House of Bargains. While my mom took me to the one at Ivy Ridge Shopping Center, I totally could relate to the dim lights and overstuffed racks with Oshkosh and rainbow striped long-sleeve polos. I really can’t wait to read more from Bertino. 

Battling for Spice: Dune: Edge of a Crysknife

 Dune: Edge of a Crysknife by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson; illustrations by Simone Ragazzoni, Andrea Scalmazzi, and Frank D. Mazzoli

Dune: Edge of a Crysknife cover

Many thanks to BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy of Dune: Edge of a Crysknife, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson with illustrations by Simone Ragazzoni, Andrea Scalmazzi, and Frank Mazzoli. I’m not completely immersed in the Dune world, but I have watched the recent adaptations and read the original Dune book by Frank Herbert. This is a story that incorporates many of the themes about colonization and rebellion, as well as the specifics of the Dune mythology, and creates some plotlines showing how the members of the Fremen are battling against the Harkonnens, enlisting the Shai-Hulud for help.

There are two interrelated stories contained in this edition, and both feature stories of resistance to the Harkonnens, but they have different artists. Nevertheless, the artwork is pretty similar, and it is colorful and bright, helping to highlight some of the unique features of the Fremen and Arrakis.  Nothing stood out to me too much in either story, except that there’s a battle for spice mélange and both stories feature the shai-hulud, the giant sandworms that populate Arrakis. Both stories also feature a plot involving Dmitri Harkonnen, another ruthless Harkonnen governor. I really liked his artwork, as the artists made him appear imposing and brooding. While he doesn’t say much, his presence is felt through the harsh conditions he imposes on the people of Arrakis. Ultimately, the Fremen employ a plot to infiltrate Dmitri Harkonnen’s headquarters. Will it work? How will their inside knowledge lead to changes? This was a quick read, and it should be of interest to other fans of Dune. I would have appreciated some additional background or character lists since I sometimes struggle with keeping the varied houses and factions within the Dune mythos clear. Nevertheless, it’s pretty easy to see and understand which forces are at battle in these stories and what the stakes ultimately are. If anything, the ending of this edition left me wanting more, waiting to find out what will happen next in the saga to control Arrakis and the flow of spice.