Showing posts with label Jackson Guice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jackson Guice. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: JAMES BOND: Himeros #2

JAMES BOND: HIMEROS #2
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Antonio Ruso
COLORS: Adriano Augusto
LETTERS: Social Myth Studios
EDITOR: Joe Rybandt
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Butch Guice; Francesco Francavilla;
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (November 2021)

Rated T+

Based on the characters and stories created by Ian Fleming


“James Bond” is a fictional British Secret Service agent created by Ian Fleming, a British writer and novelist.  Fleming introduced James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale, and featured the character in 12 novels and two short-story collections.  Of course, most people know Bond because of Eon Productions' long-running James Bond-007 film series, which began with the 1962 film, Dr. No.

Over the past 50+ years, Bond has made sporadic appearances in comic books, but Dynamite Entertainment has been steadily publishing James Bond comic books since early 2016.  Their latest James Bond comic book is James Bond: Himeros.  It is written by Rodney Barnes; drawn by Antonio Ruso; colored by Adriano Augusto; and lettered by Social Myth Studios.  In Himeros, 007 finds himself caught in a web of powerful people who will kill to keep their child sex trafficking secrets from coming to light.

James Bond: Himeros #2 opens on Wilhelm's Island in the South Pacific Ocean.  After billionaire financier and notorious sex trafficker, Richard Wilhelm, was killed in Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh, London, it didn't mean that all his secrets died with him.  There is Wilhelm's right hand man, Sarah Richmond, and arms dealer, Anton Bates, who enjoyed the sex services Wilhelm provided, wants Richmond dead.  Enter MI6 agent, James Bond, ordered by his boss, M, to protect Richmond.

Wilhelm's Island proves to be a place of traps, and back in Florida Bond is wondering if he knows who activated those traps.  Meanwhile, someone comes calling for Richmond.

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is James Bond: Himeros #2, which is one of several Dynamite James Bond comic books I've read.

As I have written many times previously, I am a huge fan of Himeros' writer, Rodney Barnes, because of his supreme vampire comic book, Killadelphia; his tragically canceled Marvel Comics series, Falcon; and his young Lando Calrissian comic book, Star Wars: Lando.  He recently dropped Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog, from Image Comics, which has huge upside, judging by the first issue.  Barnes keeps me in his harem of readers with some lovely action in Himeros #2, especially because he includes a classic 007 element of thrills.

Antonio Ruso's art and storytelling come at the readers like lightning-quick punches, capturing all the surprising kinetic action.  Adriano Augusto's colors capture the exotic settings and moods of traditional James Bond fiction, but this time, he also offers the hues of fast and furious.  “Himeros” is the Greek god of sexual desire, and after reading James Bond: Himeros #2,  dear readers, I think you will desire this series also.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of James Bond comic books will want to try James Bond: Himeros.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/
https://www.facebook.com/DynamiteComics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).


Tuesday, August 29, 2023

#IReadsYou Review: JAMES BOND: Himeros #1

JAMES BOND: HIMEROS #1
DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: Antonio Ruso
COLORS: Adriano Augusto
LETTERS: Social Myth Studios
EDITOR: Joe Rybandt
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Butch Guice; Francesco Francavilla;
32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (October 2021)

Rated T+

Based on the characters and stories created by Ian Fleming


“James Bond” is a fictional British Secret Service agent created by Ian Fleming, a British writer and novelist.  Fleming introduced James Bond in the 1953 novel, Casino Royale, and featured the character in 12 novels and two short-story collections.  Of course, most people know Bond because of Eon Productions' long-running James Bond-007 film series, which began with the 1962 film, Dr. No.

Over the past 50+ years, Bond has made sporadic appearances in comic books, but Dynamite Entertainment has been steadily publishing James Bond comic books since early 2016.  Their latest James Bond comic book is James Bond: Himeros.  It is written by Rodney Barnes; drawn by Antonio Ruso; colored by Adriano Augusto; and lettered by Social Myth Studios.  In Himeros, 007 finds himself caught in a web of powerful people who will kill to keep their child sex trafficking secrets from coming to light.

James Bond: Himeros #1 opens in Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh, LondonRichard Wilhelm is imprisoned there.  He is the billionaire financier infamous for trafficking underage children from various parts of the world to his secret island in the South Pacific.  Before long, he is dead, and while he was murdered, the public is told that he died by suicide.

At MI6, M has called Agent James Bond to find Wilhelm's right hand man, Sarah Richmond, and bring her to London before the people that killed her boss kill her.  However, Anton Bates, the man who ordered Wilhelm killed, is well-connected to very powerful people, and he hires the best killers...

THE LOWDOWN:  Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department recently began providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is James Bond: Himeros #1, which is one of several Dynamite James Bond comic books I've read.

I am a huge fan of Himeros' writer, Rodney Barnes, because of his supreme vampire comic book, Killadelphia; his tragically canceled Marvel Comics series, Falcon; and his young Lando Calrissian comic book, Star Wars: Lando.  Barnes is very good at creating comic book stories in which the characters face tremendous consequences and have a lot to lose.  Barnes' narratives are also fueled a sense of dread and of menace.

Antonio Ruso's art and storytelling comes at the readers like lightning-quick punches, and Adriano Augusto colors capture the exotic settings and moods of traditional James Bond fiction.  “Himeros” is the Greek god of sexual desire, and after reading James Bond: Himeros #1, you will desire it, dear readers, and desire more.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of James Bond comic books will want to try James Bond: Himeros.

A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/DynamiteComics
https://www.dynamite.com/htmlfiles/
https://www.facebook.com/DynamiteComics/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNOH4PEsl8dyZ2Tj7XUlY7w
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dynamite-entertainment


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

----------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the affiliate link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the affiliate link below AND buy something(s).


Monday, May 14, 2018

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for May 16, 2018

MARVEL COMICS

MAR180936    ALL NEW WOLVERINE #35 LEG    $3.99
FEB180947    AMAZING SPIDER-MAN EPIC COLLECTION SPIDER-MAN NO MORE TP    $39.99
MAR180783    AVENGERS #2    $3.99
FEB188370    AVENGERS FIGHT AS ONE LITHO #3 (BUNDLE OF 20) (NET)    $PI
FEB188371    AVENGERS FIGHT AS ONE LITHO #4 (BUNDLE OF 20) (NET)    $PI
MAR180876    BEN REILLY SCARLET SPIDER #18 LEG    $3.99
FEB180935    BEN REILLY SCARLET SPIDER TP VOL 03 SLINGERS RETURN    $15.99
MAR180910    CABLE #157 LEG    $3.99
MAR180858    CAPTAIN AMERICA #702    $3.99
MAR180859    CAPTAIN AMERICA #702 LARRAZ YOUNG GUNS VAR    $3.99
MAR180860    CAPTAIN AMERICA #702 TEDESCO CONNECTING VAR    $3.99
MAR180889    DAREDEVIL #602 LEG    $3.99
FEB180926    DEADPOOL CLASSIC TP VOL 22 MURDER MOST FOWL    $34.99
FEB180933    HULK RETURN TO PLANET HULK TP    $15.99
MAR180820    HUNT FOR WOLVERINE CLAWS OF KILLER #1 (OF 4)    $3.99
MAR180821    HUNT FOR WOLVERINE CLAWS OF KILLER #1 (OF 4) GUICE VAR    $3.99
MAR180810    INFINITY COUNTDOWN DAREDEVIL #1    $4.99
MAR180811    INFINITY COUNTDOWN DAREDEVIL #1 LIM VAR    $4.99
MAR180870    MIGHTY THOR GATES OF VALHALLA #1 (OF 1)    $4.99
MAR180871    MIGHTY THOR GATES OF VALHALLA #1 (OF 1) GARNEY VAR    $4.99
NOV171041    MMW DEFENDERS HC VOL 06    $75.00
NOV171042    MMW DEFENDERS HC VOL 06 DM VAR ED 260    $75.00
FEB180940    MOON KNIGHT LEGACY TP VOL 01 CRAZY RUNS IN FAMILY    $17.99
MAR180883    PUNISHER #224 LEG    $3.99
FEB180943    PUNISHER INVADES THE NAM TP NEW PTG    $34.99
MAR180866    QUICKSILVER NO SURRENDER #1 (OF 5)    $3.99
MAR180967    STAR WARS POE DAMERON #27    $3.99
FEB180942    STAR WARS POE DAMERON TP VOL 04 LEGEND FOUND    $19.99
MAR180923    TRUE BELIEVERS WOLVERINE DYING GAME #1    $1.00
MAR180922    TRUE BELIEVERS WOLVERINE FATAL ATTRACTIONS #1    $1.00
MAR180944    WEAPON H #3 LEG    $3.99
MAR180945    WEAPON H #3 SMITH VAR LEG    $3.99
MAR180904    X-MEN RED #4 LEG    $3.99
MAR180930    X-MEN WEDDING SPECIAL #1    $4.99
MAR180931    X-MEN WEDDING SPECIAL #1 DODSON VAR    $4.99
MAR180849    YOU ARE DEADPOOL #3 (OF 5)    $3.99
MAR180850    YOU ARE DEADPOOL #3 (OF 5) ESPIN RPG VAR    $3.99

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for June 18 2014

IDW PUBLISHING

MAR140376 ARCHIE SWINGIN SIXTIES DAILY NEWSPAPER COMICS 1963-1965 HC $49.99
JAN140431 CHARLES SCHULZ PEANUTS ARTIST ED HC PI
APR140420 DEADWORLD RESTORATION TP $19.99
APR140385 JUDGE DREDD MEGA CITY TWO DIRECTORS CUT #1 $4.99
APR140389 KILL SHAKESPEARE MASK OF NIGHT #1 $3.99
APR140360 LITTLEST PET SHOP #2 $3.99
APR140365 MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDS FOREVER #6 $3.99
FEB140359 PARKER THE HUNTER NOVEL HC ILLUS BY DARWYN COOKE $29.99
APR140446 POPEYE CLASSICS ONGOING #23 $3.99
APR140352 POWERPUFF GIRLS #10 $3.99
APR140357 SAMURAI JACK #9 $3.99
APR140345 STAR TREK CITY O/T EDGE OF FOREVER #1 $3.99
APR140346 STAR TREK CITY O/T EDGE OF FOREVER #1 SUBSCRIPTION VARIANT $3.99
APR140435 STARSTRUCK TREASURY ED $9.99
APR140374 TMNT ONGOING #35 $3.99
APR140372 TMNT TURTLES IN TIME #1 $3.99
APR140418 V-WARS #3 $3.99
APR140380 WINTERWORLD #1 $3.99


Friday, May 23, 2014

I Reads You Review: UNCANNY X-MEN in Days of Future Past

UNCANNY X-MEN IN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
MARVEL COMICS – @Marvel

PLOT: Chris Claremont and John Byrne
STORY: Chris Claremont
PENCILS: John Byrne
INKS: Terry Austin
COLORS: Glynis Oliver
LETTERS: Tom Orzechowski
EDITORS: Louise Simonson (original), Gregory Wright (reprint)
EiC: Tom DeFalco
COVER: Jackson Guice and Scott Williams
ISBN: 0-87135-582-5; paperback (1989)
48pp, Color, $3.95 U.S., $5.00 CAN

One of the most famous stories ever published in an X-Men comic book is known as “Days of Future Past.”  The two-part story was originally published in The X-Men #141 (“Days of Future Past,” cover dated: January 1981) and #142 (“Mind Out of Time!” cover dated: February 1981).  The popularity of “Days of the Future Past” is affirmed in the fact that the story has been continued and retold and has also influenced and inspired other X-Men publications and stories in the decades since its original publication.  This story is also the basis for the shortly to be released film, X-Men: Days of Future Past (20th Century Fox, 2014).

“Days of Future Past” was the creation of writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne, who were both credited as the story’s “co-plotters,” with Claremont providing the script and Byrne providing the pencil art.  Their collaborators were Terry Austin (ink art), Glynis Oliver (colors), Tom Orzechowski (letters), and Louise Simonson (editor).

I first read the story ages ago.  It simultaneously stunned and thrilled me, so much so that I immediately reread it.  This story had it all:  a dystopian future, an assassination conspiracy, dead X-Men, X-Men in peril, X-Men murdered before my very eyes, Sentinels (which were then new to me), the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and a superhero/super-villain battle.

The X-Men #141 also probably has one of the most famous (if not the most famous) X-Men comic book covers.  Over the years, I made reading “Days of Future Past” an annual event.  One of my repeat readings was courtesy of a 1989 single-issue reprint entitled, The Uncanny X-Men in Days of Future Past.  When I recently discovered that I no longer had a copy of this comic book, I bought one from Mile High Comics, during a sale.  Because of the new X-Men movie, I decided to read and review The Uncanny X-Men in Days of Future Past.

“Days of Future Past” alternates between the (then) present year of 1980, and the (then) future year of 2013.  The X-Men #141 (“Days of Future Past”) opens in the year 2013.  The story introduces a dystopian future North America that is ruled by the mutant-hunting Sentinels.  Mutants are incarcerated in internment camps, and people are classified by their genetics.  The Sentinels not only killed almost all the X-Men, but they also killed many superheroes, including the Fantastic Four.

We meet an adult Kate Pryde.  She is one of the last surviving X-Men, along with Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus.  Kate and the X-Men join Magneto, Franklin Richards (son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm of the Fantastic Four), and his girlfriend, a telepath named Rachel, in a seemingly-impossible plan to travel into the past and change the horrible era in which they live.

On the eve of a feared nuclear holocaust, Kate’s mind travels backward through time to posses the body of her younger self, Kitty Pryde.  There, she convinces the X-Men: Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler and Angel that they must stop a plot by the newly reassembled Brotherhood of Evil Mutants:  Mystique, Destiny, Avalanche, Pyro, and Blob.  The Brotherhood plans to assassinate United States Senator Robert Kelly, a pivotal event in mutant–human history.

The X-Men #142 (“Mind Out of Time!”) finds the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in a pitched battle in and around the Congressional building.  Meanwhile, in 2013, the few remaining X-Men make their last stand.

Apparently, Marvel Comics has designated that “Days of Future Past” takes place in Earth-811 in the Marvel “multiverse.”  When I first read “Days of Future Past,” I saw it as probably the real future for the X-Men.  I also saw it as the height of the X-Men run by the team of Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin.  There would be no letdown, however, as this team would produce only one more issue of the X-Men after “Days of Future Past.”  Byrne exited the title to become both a writer and an artist, taking over the Fantastic Four.

As much as I have enjoyed reading the X-Men comic books that came after “Days of Future Past,” only a few have even come close to being as close to this Claremont-Byrne classic.  I think some people consider this Byrne’s best work as an artist.  For a long time, I agreed with that, but, as an artist, Byrne would go on to produce much more polished work, with a stronger sense of composition and design than what is found in his original X-Men run.  As a writer, I won’t compare his collaborative X-Men work with his work as a writer-artist on Fantastic Four and on various Superman titles.  Indeed, he was really good on those, too.

I think of X-Men #1 to #66; #94 to #143 (the final Claremont-Byrne-Austin); and Giant-Sized X-Men #1 to be the core of X-Men “mythology.”  Everything that springs after these issues is not quite fan fiction, but much of it seems like a vain attempt to replicate the Claremont-Byrne blueprint.  I think the reason why “Days of Future Past” means so much to me is because it marked the end of an extended run of what I see as the best and the most important of the X-Men.

From the publication of the first issue of The X-Men to “Days of Future Past,” the title introduced startling new concepts, offered gripping narratives full of drama, melodrama, and soap opera, and sometimes presented visionary graphics, graphical elements, and graphical storytelling.  Pretty much everything since “Days of Future Past” has been a rehash, a copy, or a slavishly inspired remake.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.