Comic Review – KISS Kids #1

                I have railed against the comic industry on numerous occasions for being to focused on their aging readers and not really doing much to attract new readers to their product.  While, in general, I think that still holds true, this week’s entry helps to soften that blow a bit.

Cover:

                I picked up the Bruce Timm cover as it was the first one visible as well as the one I wanted anyway.  What can I say about Bruce Timm the artist that hasn’t already been said?  Regardless of the subject matter, his style is undeniable.  Seriously, this looks like Gene Simmons stepped right out of the Batman the Animated Series cartoon (and how awesome would that be if KISS was included).  This fits incredibly well with the overall tone of the book as it is definitely going for a more light hearted, animated feel, and who better to give you an animated feel than the father of DC’s animated universe.  Timm does a great job of providing not only the animated “feel” but also capturing the likeness and, more importantly, the personality of Simmons.  The way that Timm, using just lines, can indicate multiple different textures within the piece without making everything overly detailed or pushing the piece out of his characteristic style shows a grasp of the tools that are well beyond what most cartoonists could ever hope to accomplish. 

                The cover is very generic, but it has a feel that you just can’t get anywhere else.  The colors from Rom Fajardo are a little muddy, but they don’t do too much to detract from the overall illustration. 

9/10 – I have a feeling if Timm came back to comics full time (as in doing a whole book and not just covers/pinups) people would line up around the block for their chance to pick it up.  He is that good at what he does.

Story:

                The story, by Chris Ryall and Tom Waltz (the guys that have written pretty much every other KISS comic for IDW over the past year) is actually a collection of short stories, ranging from one to five pages.  While I wasn’t overly impressed by IDW’s other KISS comics, the simple fact that these two writers can go from such a heavy-handed concept, built almost exclusively for adults, to something for kids that actually works well speaks to their abilities as writers.  It’s also nice to see that the two writers have fleshed out the characters enough that regardless of who the writer is, the characters have the same “voice”. 

                The stories are pretty typical in terms of things that you would think might happen to kids, just with a spin on it to take advantage of the subject matter (sixteen year old Christine is the babysitter, Gene’s favorite birthday present is money, etc.).  The whole thing has a very Calvin and Hobbes feel to it and is incredibly accessible to kids.  I can easily see this generation of children running around pretending to be Li’l Demon or Spacey with their friends. 

                While the decision to include KISS kid robots as the bullies seems a little corny, it does make more sense than trying to shoehorn in some KISS-related villains (though why there isn’t a “Wicked Lester” yet, I don’t know).  Besides that, though, everything is pretty seamless in terms of the transition from adults to kids.

8/10 – This may be the most fun KISS-related series since Psycho Circus was in its heyday. 

Art:

                Jose Holder does a great job on the art duties for the most part.  The kids themselves are well thought out and provide both an accurate representation of the KISS makeup while “smoothing the edges” so to speak for the younger audience.  The storytelling and pacing are well done with an abundance of well-drawn backgrounds that serve to ground the cartoony characters in reality.  The quality of Holder’s artwork is steady throughout the book as well.  From story to story, page to page, he remains incredibly consistent with his linework and character models. 

                The one place where Holder seems to fall flat is his representation of “normal” people, especially adults.  The fact that they are so much different in style to the KISS kids really prevents everything from gelling together.  It’s fine if the backgrounds are realistically represented, but once you make the other humans take on similar realistic characteristics, it makes the KISS kids stick out like a sore thumb.   

8/10 – This feels like almost the perfect project for Holder, who really shines here on the artwork.

Overall: 8/10 – If you are looking for something to read with your kids, this is definitely it.

Comic Review: KISS Solo #1

            I have reviewed a few of IDW’s KISS comics in the past, giving both glowing and terrible reviews to the issues.  I was intrigued by this new release as the series that started out in a promising way nearly a year ago, ended with quite the thud, and Mars Attacks KISS was a disaster.  I hoped that a new series focusing on the individual members in their own issues might help writer Chris Ryall flex his muscle and do an introspective journey into each character without giving them such a high stakes assignment like saving the world.  In essence, this could hopefully get the characters back to being an interesting group of characters for the launch of whatever series comes next.  Let’s see how they did.

Cover:

            I’m not going to lie, one of the main things that drew me in to this title in particular is the inclusion of Angel Medina.  I know that there have been KISS comics before and since, but Medina’s run as penciller on the KISS: Psycho Circus comics from Image in the 90’s cement his status in my mind as the definitive KISS artist in comics.  He has a dynamic drawing ability that I loved on his Warlock and the Infinity Watch stuff for Marvel but that really came through when he was allowed to cut loose at Image.  I hoped that by including him in this project, it could bring back some of the mojo that made those Psycho Circus comics some of the most interesting and impressive in the long history (KISStory?) of KISS comics.  Not only was Medina the artist on this first issue focusing on The Demon (the Gene Simmons persona) but he also did the covers for all four issues.

            This cover has all of the same magic that the Psycho Circus comics carried.  The only thing that is any different in fact is that the comic takes place in the city as opposed to the more urban settings of Psycho Circus (it was in a circus after all).  Combine a dynamic pose with an insane amount of detail on The Demon’s armor (a Medina hallmark) as well as a well drawn city in the background and you get a classic cover.  It’s like a Spiderman or Batman cover mixed with Spawn (which Medina also penciled for a while).  This takes me back to the 90’s in a good way, not in the kind of way that seeing a character with too many pockets and chronically obscured feet does. 

10/10 – Maybe I’m a sucker for seeing one of my favorite artists from my youth returning to one of my favorite properties from my youth, but I thoroughly enjoyed this cover.

Story:

            Chris Ryall has been hit or miss with the KISS property in my opinion.  I know that he is also the editor in chief at IDW, so anything negative I say could and probably would hold him back from giving me any kind of work on two properties (KISS and Transformers) that I would love to have a hand in.  That being said, and I am being totally genuine here, this issue is a huge step up from where the series left off.  As I suspected, exploring the characters one on one is a lot more effective than just throwing them out there in a “let’s save the world” scenario.  I will say, having an appearance by the four horsemen of the apocalypse seemed like it was shoehorned in to take advantage of Medina’s design skills and his ability to draw action sequences.  There is not much gleaned from that that could not have been done in a different, less formulaic way (unless of course this leads to a bigger, over-arching plot point to draw the four issues together).  The fact that The Demon gives us a running commentary about how he is beating the horsemen is nice and brings me back to a more 90’s style comic, where exposition of this nature was the norm.  I know that a lot of people don’t like it nowadays, their big argument being that there is no way that that much dialogue can be generated in the time to perform the action depicted on the page.  To this I say: you’re reading a comic book.  Settle down, have a beverage and quit finding fault in something that was industry standard before there was an industry. 

            That being said, this is not nearly as dialogue heavy as you would think.  It definitely gives Medina’s art room to breathe and flow throughout the page.  Knowing that Medina is the main draw here, Ryall does a great job of crafting a story that fits his strengths (even though it doesn’t really work exceptionally well as a story on its own, as a vehicle it is great).  It is full of fighting and opportunities to provide dynamic poses of The Demon and those that he is fighting against.  As always, Ryall works in some classic KISS easter eggs for us diehard fans, using song titles at key points in the story as a shout out to the roots of the series.  The best part is that Ryall knows what songs are “Gene” songs and makes sure to use those.  I hope that he continues that tradition in the later issues and with the same kind of knowledge and care that he did here. 

6/10 – It’s no Psycho Circus, but what is at this point?  This definitely had a similar feel to those stories though (and I’m sure a lot of that had to do with Medina) and Ryall did a good job of letting the art be the highlight here and giving at a vehicle to do so.  There are a couple good parts but nothing that really jumps out at me.  Definitely one of the better issues in the IDW series though.

Art:

            It’s Angel Medina!  On KISS!  What’s not to love!?

            Ok, there’s a couple things that I can mention that stood out to me in a negative way.  Every page is made up of inset panels (much like in last week’s review) and while this is not nearly as confusing for this issue (mainly because the colorist – Romulo Fajardo – does a better job of differentiating the panels with color, it is still something that I skewered the artist for last week, so as much as I love Medina’s work I can’t let him skate by on that.  There’s an incredible amount of movement and detail in each of the panels so that is a positive, plus the fact that Fajardo does an excellent job of coloring straight from Medina’s pencils. 

            The four horsemen themselves are not very unique in their appearance either.  War (as a woman in this iteration which is interesting to see) looks like a Starfire knock-off, Famine looks like a differently-colored Darkseid with some odd prosthesis while Pestilence and Death look like characters in an obscure Japanese fighting video game.  The amount of detail is great but Medina’s overall character designs for these four is just not up to par with what I would expect.  Medina does do a remarkable job of storytelling though and actually keeps everything clear while still making it intensely detailed. 

7/10 – A solid effort by one of the better artists out there that deserves more work than he’s getting.  There’s got to be a horror property for Dark Horse or something that he can work on!

Overall:  7/10 – I have no idea what to expect from the other issues in the “solo” series, but this one was not bad.  I hope that Ryall can build on how much better this one was written than the previous issues in subsequent series starring these characters.

Comic Review: Mars Attacks KISS one shot

            Yesterday netted quite the haul of comic books as many of the titles on my pull list had new issues released yesterday.  Unfortunately I got in late last night and was only able to partake in a small sample of last yesterday’s riches.  The latest issue of Transformers: Robots in Disguise did not disappoint and is quickly becoming one of the best books on the market as the action is fast paced and the twists and turns are expertly crafted, not to mention the fact that the artwork is cartoony enough to clearly carry that nostalgia of the cartoon while detailed to the point of fitting with the darker subject matter of this book.  I can already tell without reading any of the other comics I obtained this week that that will be crowned as best of the best.

            Unfortunately I already reviewed Transformers: RID at an earlier date, so I fought off sleep and cracked open Mars Attacks KISS, the latest in a month of Mars Attacks one shots featuring the characters currently under IDW’s publishing thumb.  

Cover:

            Many younger people do not realize that Mars Attacks was a series of collectible cards back in the day.  Hell, some have no idea what these aliens are while a few vaguely recognize them from the Tim Burton movie in the nineties.  The covers to the Mars Attacks… series of one shots are therefore crafted to look like those cards of yesteryear.  I must say that this works incredibly well as not only a design element, but the art itself actually has a vague correlation to the story.  I love the painted artwork and the way that Ray Dillon uses the light from each individual’s “powers” as not only the primary, but the only light source just gives it a really nice feel to it, even if we are watching a human get torched right there on the cover.  The triangle effect that Dillon creates works very well as a design element as well. 

9/10 – I would like a painting of this to hang in my house.  Dillon has a real knack for light and shadow and the aliens are creepily-awesome.

Story:

            Chris Ryall does a good job of fusing the two subjects together pretty seamlessly.  As weird as it sounds, this story feels like it could fit right into place between the various storylines that Ryall writes in the regular KISS book, the same formula is followed for the most part and it all is believable in the context that it is placed in.

            All that being said, the writing is pretty bland, boring and even formulaic at times.  The “twist” ending that the kids involved are actually young versions of the original band, and the reason that they take the persona’s they do, including the makeup, is so that the lone remaining alien in their midst (who they take on as their guitar-tech by the way) does not feel like he is garnering any negative attention from other people is just weird and seems forced.  The concept, while by no means is it fresh and new, is at least consistent with the universe it’s placed in and relatively fun. 

            The problem lies in the little things, the actual execution of the plot and the dialogue leave a lot to be desired.  I kind of feel bad for Ryall because it feels like the whole Mars Attacks… concept came from the higher ups and he had to shoehorn two different concepts together for the sake of selling more cards or comics or something.  That does not forgive him for poor writing on the actual issue itself but I can understand why he may not have given it his best effort.

2/10 – Very unimpressive story born from a concept probably forced upon the writer.  It may not have been his idea to do this particular mash-up but he cashed the check so he should have delivered.

Art:

            Let’s start out by saying that this is definitely a step up from the art in the regular KISS book.  That is not saying much though and the art by Alan Robinson in this book is only marginally better in many places.  Yeah, the aliens look cool, but that’s more a product of their initial design than anything.  I do like how Robinson incorporated the design of the KISS costumes and makeup with the domed-heads of the aliens.  Some of the story elements were interesting, the way that the aliens used their new KISS-powers to kill humans along were visually appealing, but the issue itself was very inconsistent.  There were a couple panels, and a couple pages even, that were well done and I really liked, but others where they seemed generic.  Maybe there was nothing on there that Robinson found interesting, or that he wanted to draw, but he still needed to show a bit more consistency, especially in the face of a weak script.

This page is just graphically awesome.  From the characters to the sound effect and all of the textures.  You can tell that Robinson liked making this page as much as I liked looking at it.

Probably the best all around page in the book as the storytelling is perfect, that third panel where it's the beat before the payoff, phenomenal use of a pause.  The art here is great as well.  

This on the other hand: lame writing and the art is marginal at best, especially the hand on the far left of the page.  What the hell happened there?

This is when it was confirmed to me that Chris Ryall had checked out of this book.  When the hands of the Elder, the all powerful being in the KISS-verse claps and crushes an entire invading force of aliens, and that is your big resolution to this threat...really?  I just paid $3.99 for that?

4/10 – Some good, some bad, but not much to really get too excited about.  I’d like to see Robinson’s take on a book that he is fully invested in as I can see potential for quality work, it just has not consistently materialized here.

Overall:  3/10 – Aside from the cover, which is awesome, the whole book reeks of inconsistency.  There’s a decent formula for a plot but it is not carried through to an adequate conclusion, and the art goes from good to okay at the turn of a page.     

Comic Review: The Hollows #7

            My main concern with picking up The Hollows by Chris Ryall and Sam Kieth is that I would like it too much and would therefore be roped into another $4 comic every month.  Let’s see how all worked out.

Cover:

            The cover is interesting, even though it is a little plain.  The artwork is very cool, showing a nice sketchiness as well as some well placed shadows and color.  The three characters on the cover do look a little out of place though, as if they were all pasted on there together.  It could be that the girl and the little pink creature do not have the same monotone sepia look to them that makes this seem a bit strange, but I’m not sure.  The logo is interesting and just easy enough to read where all of the extra noise around the letters looks like a decent design as opposed to a mess.  The fact that the W seems to be resting on the guy’s head is unfortunate but not overly distracting unless you are looking at it with a critical eye. 

            The overall design on the cover does a decent job of moving your eye to the upper right quadrant where the guy’s face is.  Luckily Keith uses a good page design here as the face definitely has nothing specific about it that draws your attention to it on its own.  Hell, his giant belt has more contrast than his face does.

3/10 – Lineup covers don’t really do it for me, regardless of how nice the illustration looks.  So far, my $4 is safe.

Story:

            I like post-apocalyptic stories.  Really, I do.  I enjoy seeing what writers and artists envision for the future and how the scarred landscape can become a character unto itself.  This seems to be another post-apocalyptic story; however we are not really given any info as to when it takes place.  In fact we are not given much info at all.  We know that it takes place in Japan, and that society now lives in cities that are built onto man-made giant trees in order to keep them from the toxic gases that are on the ground below.  And if those gases don’t get you, the soul sucking zombies will.  They live down below as well.  Being that the cities are all on the sides of the trees (think those big platform-like mushrooms you see on the sides of trees) people apparently get around via jetpack, except for our “hero” Craig, who has crafted himself a pair of wings. 

            Upon using his wings to fly (on his way to the store to pick up some diapers, which is a nice way to ground the story in reality a little at least) he runs into one of the trees while checking out a group of people being devoured by the zombies.  I realize that he was probably distracted by the carnage below, but you’re telling me he didn’t see the giant man-made tree that is large enough to build multiple cities upon? 

            Okay, ridiculous plot device aside, we are then introduced to the people that live inside the trees.  I assume this “the hollows” that the title references, but nothing is ever explained about how those people can live inside the trees at ground level without getting sick.  Even Craig makes reference to it but nothing is explained.  I assume that it will be explained eventually though (at least I hope).  At the end of the comic, Craig just jumps off a building and flies away, presumably back to his life.  There is no reference made to jet propulsion or even that the wings are powered by anything more than Craig flapping his arms.  I find the logic to be pretty hard to believe then that a full grown man could flap his arms enough to lift himself off the ground.

2/10 – Nothing was really explained here.  Nothing at all.  I have no idea where this comic will go from here as there is no real conflict outlined, and honestly nothing to keep me interested.  This issue is titled “Chapter One” which makes me think that maybe it should have been put out as a collection instead of serialized.  My $4 is so very safe and snug right now.

Art:

            While I am not a huge collector of everything Sam Kieth, I know who he is and I have seen some of his more mainstream work in the past.  I was therefore a little excited to see what he does here when he is let loose from the restrictions of “corporate comics”.  What we get is incredibly loose and free-flowing.  This works great in certain areas, while in others it feels almost like a sketchbook.  This can be ok, but often it feels unfinished or just plain glossed over.  I do like the fact that Kieth did everything art-wise here, pencils, whatever inks there are and the colors.  Looking at the output it’s absolutely necessary for that to happen though as I would be completely lost if I was a colorist brought in on this from the outside. 

It's amazing how we can go from pages like these that look completely mailed in...

To this, that is a beautiful illustration.

This is also an incredibly creepy page (at least the top panel, then it devolves as we move further down). 

 4/10 – While the art is good, it looks too much like I’m just looking at a Sam Kieth sketchbook with these characters as opposed to a comic.

Overall:  3/10 – This is not what I expected, but thankfully I will not have to worry about an additional comic coming to my pull list.