Updates, info, reviews, and whatever I get around to about The Comic Hunter, at 465 Main st in downtown Moncton! You can contact me through this blog, or e-mail me at thecomichunter at gmail.com, or also call at the store. (506) 855-4950. The Comic Hunter has arguably the largest selection of Board Games, Graphic Novels, and Back Issues in the maritimes, as well as a great selection of gaming books and products.
Black Panther: The Man Without Fear
Read like bit of a strange title? Well that’s because it is sort of strange, but I’m going to go ahead and start this review off by telling you that this new book is absolutely great.
Following the events of Doomwar, King T’Challa’s empire in Wakanda has been reduced to poverty and has lost their vibranium, the very source of what their kingdom was once built upon. This has no doubt left the Black Panther shattered, seeing his people suffer, and though he had to do what had to be done, he wasn’t able to come out of the battle with Von Doom unscathed. Fast forward a few months to Shadowland; Matt Murdock attempts to manipulate the Hand for the greater good, and loses his soul in the process. Now we’re back to square one. Daredevil has some soul searching to do (quite literally) but doesn’t want to leave his territory to crumble amongst the criminal rabble: Cue T’Challa. Both men are searching for something that they have lost and both men need to search for it elsewhere, so Daredevil enlists Black Panther to look over his city. The concept may seem a bit trite, (the soul searching) and perhaps so, but the idea of Black Panther looking over Hell’s Kitchen? That’s just too cool.
David Liss is the writer, who I never recognized before, but let me tell you he does a marvellous job. The “Daredevil-out, Panther-in” scene in the comic’s first few pages seems a rushed passing-of-the-torch for a territory so entrenched in Murdock’s history, but it actually works. Liss doesn’t delve too deep into the self-loathing or melodrama; he just sets the scene and setting and then gets right into the story.
After the events of Shadowland, and the subsequent crumbling and dissipating of the Hand presence, crime has risen again and with it a new Gang threat. The disappearance of Daredevil is apparently well known, and those on the seedy side of the law are taking advantage. A Romanian family, lead by a man called Vlad the Impaler (who reveals a secret of his past), is trying to make an impression in Hell’s Kitchen, and the Black Panther wants to nip it in the bud. T’Challa quickly finds out that ruling Hell’s Kitchen isn’t quite like ruling a kingdom: nothing is off limits.
Liss weaves a sort of noir-ish tale, which works really well in the dark and gritty confines of Hell’s Kitchen, and the new villain is a welcome face as well. It would have been hard to swallow T’Challa going up against Fisk or the like, but this keeps the setting familiar but the people and events fresh.
I’m definitely looking forward to the unfolding of T’Challa vs. Vlad. Give it a read if you enjoy the darker streets of Marvel’s heroes.
Fables Volume 3 – Storybook Love
Willingham’s amazing series continues in this third volume, giving a bit of insight into some residents of Fabletown’s pasts. The volume opens with a one-shot tale involving Jack Horner, and his time spent with the Confederate forces during America’s civil war. The tale is clever and funny, Jack being a great character.
The volume then focuses on two separate arcs that involve threats posed to Fabletown, the first from an outside source, and the second from within. The first, a two-part caper, involves a journalist who believes Fabletown to be a secret society of immortal vampires. Though quite in the wrong, Bigby isn’t going to allow any sort of information getting out to the world about their clandestine community. He forms a crack squad involving Boy Blue, Bluebeard, Prince Charming, Flycatcher, Sleeping Beauty, and the anchor (not really) Jack Horner. Bluebeard believes their plan to be nonsense, but in a threatening scene, Bigby puts him in his place. This is a great bit that reminds how Big and Bad the Wolf can actually be.
In the second arc, Goldilocks, now a dangerous fugitive on the run from Fabletown authorities, apparently isn’t content with the way Snow White took the bullet to the head in their last encounter. A powerful spell makes Snow and a certain wolf companion delusional, taking a camping trip far away, while Goldilocks attempts to track them down and finish the job.
More like a series of small short stories than a powerful plot-driver, Storybook Love is a volume that tides us over before the next big arc, but it definitely does it well. There are a few large cliffhanger points, most importantly: Snow White becoming pregnant!
I hope you’re enjoying the series so far, because large and dangerous work is at foot, and the next volume exemplifies that to the fullest!
Fables Volume 2 – Animal Farm
So there was a fake murder, and it didn’t take Bigby Wolf, Sheriff of Fabletown, very long to discover the culprits behind the scheme. After seeing Bigby dishing out the punishments to Rose Red and her (now ex) boyfriend Jack Horner, the series makes the journey from Bulfinch Street in NYC upstate to the Farm. Snow White has business to do up there, and brings her recently-scolded twin-sister along for the ride, but when they arrive it appears strange things are afoot.
In this second volume, Willingham introduces the readers to the Farm for the first time and the myriad of storybook folk who can’t pass in human society: Shere Khan the ferocious tiger, Henny Penny (‘The sky is falling!’) and the Billy Goats Gruff, to name a few. Not quite as perceptive as her office partner Mr. Wolf, Snow White doesn’t quite catch on to the fact that there is about to be a violent insurrection at the Farm, spearheaded by the ill-tempered Goldilocks. The Animals are fed up with being cooped up away from the city, and they plan to take matters into their own hands in an effort to get back to the glory of the homelands. But first they need guns. Lots and lots of guns. How are tortoises and hares going to pull triggers? Funny thing about that...And of course every great revolution needs a great leader, so this one has...Rose Red!?
Willingham’s second volume is every bit as good as the first, and then some. He introduces many new characters, while building upon the foundations of the first volume and fleshing out those characters as well. If you haven’t read it yet, grab it and join in. Things only keep getting better.
