In The Local Pocket #3 - Carmen #2

Carmen #2

Carmen #2 is written by Mike Speakman, art by Matty Taylor, letters by Tom Orzechowski and published by Dumb Skull Ink. Finally the wait is over for the much anticipated second issue of the local comic Carmen, a spy thriller. I was so excited as I eagerly swiped my way through my digital copy (I was far too inpatient to wait for my physical copy) the only downside is now I have to wait for issue #3.

Issue #2 begins where issue #1 left off with Carmen the captive of the corrupt Booker King, CEO of King-Dome Come Industries, and being interrogated about her deceased boyfriend Brody. Booker King begins to reveal why Brody needed to be eliminated but still not what their plans are for Carmen. We also learn more about Lucas, the solider, who returns to his family farm with a dark secret and darker memories.

Not the face of a man having pleasant dreams

As I've mentioned before I'm a huge sucker for anything done with water colour and Carmen #2 is no exception. Despite their quirky, yet refreshingly different, design the character's still have expressive face. The backgrounds are mostly single colours but have a fantastic way of setting such a foreboding tone for the entire comic.

This is my favourite panel, poor Vincent.

In issue #2 we get more of an insight into the ruthlessness of Booker King, his shady dealings and hints at just how much influence and power he has (hint: It's a lot). More is revealed about Lucas, the reportedly dead solider returning home, and what exactly happened to him and Brody in the army.

Carmen #1 was a great comic but issue #2 has really hit its stride telling an incredibly story with both frightening and sympathetic characters and using unconventional art style to set a tone full of dread. Carmen so far is telling a story that is not so far-fetched that it couldn't happen (science fiction elements aside) giving it a truly frightening element to it, they aren't fighting the Cobra Commanders trying to conquer the world for undisclosed reasons or Hydra endlessly trying to destroy a small group of super beings, This is a corrupt organisation who's super power is money and influence and you don't get much more realistic than that.

I give Carmen 4 out of 5 thumping hearts

Find out more about Carmen here

Carmen is a local comic supported by Kickstarter which if you haven't used before not only helps support indie comics and other project but gives the people who support projects opportunities for extra bonuses such as signed art work and the chance to be in the comic, so keep an eye out for the next kickstarter opportunity.

The Beauty #1 - Looks To Die For

The Beauty Issue #1

The Beauty is written by Jeremy Huan & Jason A. Hurley, art by Jeremy Haun, colours by John Rauch, lettering & design by Fonografiks and published by Image comics. The beauty is the name of a sexual transmitted disease that effects over half the population, how could a disease possibly become so prevalent?  Worse, why would people intentionally become infected? Perhaps because this disease makes people beautiful and not just good hair day beautiful but perfect supermodel beautiful.

They say die young and leave a beautiful corpse

The Beauty issue #1 begins with an infected beauty on a train coughing up a little blood then suddenly, without warning, bursting into flames. Agent Foster and agent Vaughn, a beauty herself, from the beauty task force head to the crime scene originally reported as a bomb but when they view the strange state of the body it becomes apparent that this was no bomb. The detectives are interrupted by a bio hazard team from the center for disease control removing the agents from the case despite their objections. Foster and Vaughn continue to investigate the case after a suspect on their anti-beauty terrorist watch list becomes active. As the agents chase down the terror suspect he draws a gun and begins babbling about trying to save the beauties and save everyone.

The Beauty has the darker look of a noir style set in modern day with the perfect excuse to have perfect looking, sexy characters. Characters are not highly detailed in most panels with lots of shading over faces and eyes, giving them a dark and somber look but then and faces shown close up are highly detailed showing wrinkles, stubble and sweat on non- beauties and highlighting the perfect features of the beauties. The only thing I don't like about the art is that there are a few panels where characters seem to be missing their pupils, it's weird.

My eyes my beautiful eyes!

The only characters that have had a chance to make an impression in issue #1 is detective Vaughan, who has been reluctantly pulled deeper in the Beauty epidemic than she intended, and detective Foster, a seemingly by the book good cop, good husband and good friend.

Disease hipster?

If you like crime stories and science fiction The Beauty would definitely be a a great addition to any pull list. I'm super excited to see where this comic goes and how it portrays people that intentionally infect themselves with a disease for the purely aesthetic reasons.

I give The Beauty #1 3 & 1/2 out of 5 exploding beauties.

Find out more about The Beauty here.

The XII - The Father #1

The XII - The Father Issue #1

The XII is written by Patrick Trahey, art by Luis Suarez, lettered by MaGnUs and published  by SOL Comics. The XII (as in 12) is a post apocalyptic series that I picked up on Kickstarter and had sitting in my "to read" pile (which was continually getting larger) for a few months and when I finally got around to reading it I was annoyed that I wasted so much time not reading them because they were fantastic and I now eagerly await the release of issue #4.

The story begins with an unknown man being chased by by heavily armed, gas mask wearing men screaming asking what happened to his family and seems to meet an unfortunate end. We then flash back to a week earlier to find out how this man got into such a glum predicament. We find out that this man, our main character Caleb, is the leader of a small group of survivors consisting of his wife, Anna Bell, their 5 children, his brother-in-law, Alvin, and friend Hank. The adults of the camp are concerned how they will make it through winter with a failing crop and so many mouths to feed that they begin to consider going out of the "dead roads" despite Anna Belle's objections. These problems quickly take a back seat when a suspicious old man turns up requesting food or harbour saying that "The 12", a dangerous group that murder and mutilate travellers, are on the road. Caleb and his group know better than to trust strangers and dismiss The 12 as a ghost story. Their suspicions proven true as the old man and his group steal their livestock and burn their house to the ground. This forces Caleb and his family to move to their secret base and they now have no other choice then to head out on the dead roads to search for some kind of salvation.

Not exactly looking promising

The thing that distinguishes the characters and their situation from other post apocalyptic titles is that these characters have already established a way of living without modern comforts and begun to truly work for a better future by farming and teaching the children to read and how to prepare for the future. These characters have their problems and disagreements but still have some semblance of a functioning family.

The art of The XII is black and white with the only colour present being orange, usually for fire. The characters are all different in design with the children being incredibly cute and the adults having a tough hardened look about them as you would expect people who had scraped a living out of nothing to look.

The XII is a great comic that has heart warming family moments, tragedy and fear all topped off with a little hope. Every struggle that Caleb and his family face they still have hope that they will some how make it, as the series progresses their hope and resolve will be tested as dark futures come to pass and darker pasts are revealed.

I give The XII 4 out of 5 flaming arrows.

Find out more about The XII here.

Bizarro #1 - It Am The Worst!

Bizarro #1

Bizarro #1 is an all ages six part miniseries written by Heath Corson, art by Gustavo Duarte & Bill Sienkiewicz, colours by Pete Pantazis, letters by Tom Napolitano and published by DC Comics. Bizarro is an warped copy of Superman, created by Lex Luther, with a child like mind who speaks in a muddled up backwards English. I was a little unsure when I first picked up Bizarro as to what on earth could fill a six issue mini series that wasn't just pretty pictures for kids but I was pleasantly surprised that Bizarro #1 was a fantastic mixture of innocence, comedy and charm.

Bizarro #1 begins with Jimmy Olsen and Bizarro on a road trip together as Jimmy narrates that he is taking Bizarro to "Bizarro America", also known as Canada, as he is causing too much trouble in Metropolis despite his good intentions. Jimmy hopes to publish a coffee table book about the trip but within two hours of leaving Metropolis Jimmy has already decided that this was probably a mistake. After a car accident caused by Bizarro's pet chupacabra, Colin, totals Jimmy's car they come across the evil used car salesman King Tut who uses his mystical powers to hypnotise everybody in town to buy his (slightly) used cars.

The character of Bizarro is just adorable and reminds me of a little brother that follows his siblings around wide eyed, doing their best to help but usually just getting in the way. Bizarro is constantly telling Jimmy how much he likes him in just a way that makes it impossible to not to love him. Jimmy, despite being constantly annoyed with Bizarro, is extremely patient and never yells at him or puts him down making him a really likable character.

Every parent in the world has pulled that face

The art has an endearingly goofy quality to it that seems to fall somewhere between children's book and comic. Duarte & Sienkiewicz have done a really good job making Bizarro's face expressive despite the design of the character not allowing for a huge amount of detail. I love how Colin is randomly placed in panels either sitting on Bizarro's shoulder, hanging off his arm or just watching the commotion from the sidelines, it's adorable.

I want a Colin

I'm not really much of a Superman fan so when I heard about Bizarro I didn't take too much notice and just happened to pick it up because I thought the art looked cute and I wanted to show it to a friend who is a big Superman fan, after reading issue #1 and enjoying it so much I decided that I would just recommend it to her and she could buy her own copy because I wasn't about to hand over mine.

I give Bizarro 4 out of 5 Chupacabras

Find out more about Bizarro here.