What Is Techno Again?

Where fiction collides.

Posts Tagged ‘OneMetal’

Published: Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Review: Tank Girl: Skidmarks

The movie Tank Girl grabbed my attention, showed it a good time, and then debased it (and my morals) while skipping around singing musical numbers and making out with kangaroo men. The new Titan Books trade Skidmarks pretty much pulls the same trick, only I’m wise to its act—or at least indifferent.

Read the full review at OneMetal, or hey, hunt down the book and see for yourself: Bollocks.

Conceived from the British minds of Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, the punk rock female powerhouse known to indie comics readers as Tank Girl struck infamous gold for its brash dialogue and dramatic, almost psychedelic visuals (Hewlett would later animate the band Gorillaz). The title even inspired a film that bombed the box office despite rocketing ambition. Previously, Titan Books introduced audiences to a compilation book called The Cream of Tank Girl. Now Skidmarks ranks as the publisher’s latest, first appearing as a twelve-part series in Judge Dredd Magazine.

With her reckless friend Barney needing expensive medical care, Tank Girl enters the no-rules Watermelon Race at a chance at snatching the first place, multi-billion dollar cup prize. Rufus Dayglo, whose talent has decorated Tank Girl comic pages before with The Gifting and Visions of Balooga, illustrates Rebecca and her pals as they squash rival cars and speed toward the finish line, her beloved Balooga co-manning the tank. Of course, their hopeful clean victory hits a few bumps along the road, including a technical snag, a dangerous shortcut, and a lead-footed new competitor.

Published: Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Review: Fogtown

Personally, I don’t get noir. I mean, I get noir, but I don’t understand why anyone in the twenty-first century still enjoys film or book noir, in which misogyny and frivolous women reside. Maybe it’s a girl thing, but hey, misogyny is kind of dumb if you ask me, not all women are fickle, and anybody who calls me a dame will promptly get punched in the face.

Anyway, Fogtown is a good example of what doesn’t work about noir, which is a tricky genre as it is.

Check out my full review over at OneMetal.

Vertigo Crime invites readers into the seedy underbelly of a 50s San Francisco with Fogtown, a noir-styled graphic novel told from the perspective of a private eye named Frank Grissel. The often drunk detective has more than a skeleton or two hidden in his closet.

Published: Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Review: The Iron Saint Vol. 1

Jason Rubin struts his creative stuff with the trade release of The Iron Saint (formerly Iron and the Maiden). These spunky characters should be video games bosses!

After reading that Jason Rubin, co-founder of Naughty Dog and the creator of Crash Bandicoot and other successful platforming series, had dipped his creative pen in Top Cow’s ink, my heart was won. Rubin originally produced Iron and the Maiden for Aspen Comics before turning the characters over to the capable publisher Top Cow. Renamed The Iron Saint (an apparently acceptable substitute for the sue-happy Iron Maiden band), the comic’s first volume hit stands today. So does Rubin work his magic for creating iconic, cartoon mascots onto a hundred-plus colored pages illustrated by Joel Gomez and Francis Manapul? You can bet your furry whiskers on it.

Read the full review at OneMetal.

Published: Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Review: The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Séance for a Vampire

Vampires and ghosts, and ghost vampires, and vampire ghosts and séances for vampire ghost … things? That’s just about what you can expect with The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Séance for a Vampire from Titan Books. Check out my review at OneMetal for more information.

A good mystery always remedies boredom, and adding a deerstalker hat, cape, and pipe makes a good detective story even better. Sherlock Holmes’ wit and talent situated alongside his investigative partner, John H. Watson, makes for a cannon of juicy stories, which span from the late nineteenth century to early twentieth. The uncouth often worm its way between logic and sensibility, but the elementary duo manage to decode the most befuddling whodunits, murders, and nefarious schemes known to Europe … in most instances, anyway.

Published: Monday, July 12th, 2010

Review: A God Somewhere

This book killed me inside. It sure was good, though … you just might want to cry for humanity when you’re finished.

Why is it so … you know? Visit OneMetal for the full review.

A God Somewhere tiptoes the boundary between Wildstorm, its actual publisher, and Vertigo, DC’s heavier and more mature back end of comic book titles. John Arcudi’s original graphic novel evolves from a simplistic, almost cliched tale of a man who wakes up with superpowers to an unrecognizable nightmare that ruins everything, and everyone, in its path.

The first chapter begins with a message of destruction, but the narrator’s warning only grazes the violence to ensue. Readers should brace themselves for a terrifying and gut-wrenching experience. Outlined with implications (unfulfilled love, a severed connection between brothers, racial indiscretions), the comic quickly takes a dramatic turn in exploiting them. When an unidentified explosion rips through Eric Forster’s apartment building, many are left dead or buried—except for a completely unscathed Eric. What’s more, he soon develops an omniscient mentality, knowing when and where others need his now superhuman assistance. The change rattles those close to him in different ways, but the initially pleasant book gradually falls into uncomfortable territory once Eric’s personality, intelligence, and world view show signs of tampering.

Published: Monday, July 12th, 2010

Review: X-Files/30 Days of Night #1

X-Files? Vampires? Yes, please! This Wednesday, July 14, you can have both thanks to Wildstorm’s line-up. And how is the crossover? Click the link and head over to OneMetal to find out for yourself!

The television phenomenon whose supernatural, paranormal, and extraterrestrial graces earned it nine long seasons, two movies, and more praise than one basement office can tuck away has met revival in the comics community. After Topps Comics provided fans three years of issues, which matched the second through fifth seasons, the X-Files packed up and transferred to its new home at Wildstorm (DC). Now a successful writer and a guitarist are bringing two horrific sci-fi wonders together on the page. 30 Days of Night co-sire Steve Niles and Adam Jones of Tool fame have partnered for the six-issue crossover X-Files/30 Days of Night, which premieres this Wednesday.

Wildstorm isn’t holding back in celebration, either. They’ve arranged a total of three distinctive covers to accompany the debut: The standard cover features the work of Andrea Sorrentino (God of War), the X-Files variant that of Tom Mandrake, and the 30 Days of Night that of Sam Kieth (The Maxx, Lobo). With Mandrake previously contributing visuals to The Spectre and Batman comics, the DC familiar is providing the main artwork for this latest X-Files mystery.

Published: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Review: Batwoman: Elegy Deluxe Edition

I like Greg Rucka’s Gotham Central series, and given the context, it makes sense that he’d kick-off the new Detective Comics, featuring a lesbian Batwoman. Read all about the Elegy Deluxe Edition GN at OneMetal. Here’s a snippet:

Another masked redhead swings into Gotham’s troubled heart, declaring war against its criminal infestation. A mighty symbol emblazoned on her costume, the new Batwoman fills the city’s streets with more than nervous electricity: She sparks a little controversy, as well.

Greg Rucka has handled lesbian issues before, particularly with DC’s own series Gotham Central, and now he’s back steering the army brat Kate Kane through tumultuous relationships and putting her in the thick of Gotham’s miscreant welcome brigade. Kane, military cadet turned superhero, faces the city’s second most famous Lewis Carroll nut, the cult leader “Alice” whose religious ties nearly cost Kane her life once before. The lavishly dressed villain converses purely in rhyme, and the High Madame oversees the thirteen covens with merciless, sadistic attention. Kane’s vengeful strike against Alice’s latest homestead attracts the interference of the cult’s supernatural sect, shape-shifters known as the True Believers. When the fight escalates, taking to the skies, Kane learns a secret that disrupts her moral compass and awakens unhappy family memories.

What do you think of Kate Kane?