James Bond #5 gets the adrenaline pumping in the leadup to the concluding issue of the VARGR storyline. What could have been a meandering 24 pages of explanations, revelations, and set-up is really an action-packed, brisk read with critical tidbits communicated so the reader knows where Bond will be heading for the final lap of his mission, and why.
Everyone knows that Bond survives his missions. He isn’t the sort of character franchises kill off only to resurrect a few months or years down the road. 007 is, essentially, immortal, but without the cheap shock value of ‘deaths’ that will clearly be reversed shortly thereafter by fantastical means. Part of the fun is witnessing how he remains alive despite the odds, with special joy provided in discovering how he flees traps laid out by his enemies.
James Bond 007: VARGR #3 Written by Warren Ellis Art by Jason Masters Letters by Simon Bowland Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment After two issues during which writer Ellis and artist Masters supplied fans with ample set-up, issue number 3 of the VARGR storyline finally kicks into higher gear. Bond takes up on Kurjak’s invitation to inspect …
It is interesting to note that the second and presumably final issue predominantly concerned with exposition arrives in December. Fans have been given two months to test the waters with the new series, get into the exceptional artwork, see Bond do his thing just a little bit and take in a fair amount of exposition. One gets the underlying sensation that by issue 3, which arrives in early January, things will really start flying…or exploding…or doing whatever crazy things Bond is best known for. Ellis and Masters have our attention. In the New Year it will be time to deliver the goods.
To say that the level of anticipation surrounding this book in the Bond fan community was high would be an understatement. Warren Ellis, a celebrated writer who has co-created fantastic original works as well as thrown his hat into the Marvel ring a few times, was a huge coup for Ian Fleming Publications. What would Fleming’s Bond transported to modern day be like?
The team of Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire has struck again. Hopefully, they will stick together beyond their last brief, but brilliant six-issue arc on Moon Knight, as the early signs of Injection are very positive. The creative team has once again succeeded at planting the seeds of a very mysterious and intriguing premise. Hopefully once the seeds start blooming, some pretty unexpected floral arrangements will appear. With Warren Ellis scripting, there shouldn’t be any less an expectation.
Comics can touch our lives in interesting ways. A college kid has an epiphany: the rapper he’s listening to while reading The Fantastic Four just made a Doctor Doom reference. Or maybe a young adult comes to terms with a previous attempt at ending their own life – through a comic’s creator coming to terms …
Warner Bros. and producer, Jerry Bruckheimer (best known for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and the U.S. version of The Amazing Race), are taking on the DC Entertainment property titled Global Frequency, a comic book series written by Warren Ellis. The high-profile television project which has landed a pilot production commitment at …
20,000 Days on Earth Written by Nick Cave, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard Directed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard UK, 2014 You don’t have to be a Nick Cave aficionado to appreciate the brilliant new documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. In fact, you don’t need to know a single song from his musical …
In the pantheon of unarguably great comics, Warren Ellis’ Planetary holds a permanent seat, being both devilishly clever in its premise and magnificent in its execution. For some 27 issues Ellis, along with artist John Cassaday (with occasional help) opened the chest cavity of 20th century genre fiction, performing the most reverent, respectful and gleeful autopsy known in either fiction or reality. Pulp adventure crimebusters, comic book superheroes, kung-fu cinema, Kaiju Eiga, and more came under Ellis’ knife, both tied together in one beautiful circulatory system and carefully extracted and brought gleaming like new into the light of day. There was also one issue with Batman in it, and it kicked a lot of arse.
Trees #4 Written by Warren Ellis Art by Jason Howard Published by Image Comics Finally, the plot has gotten a bit of a nudge in this issue. It’s still not going anywhere quickly, and there are only hints of action yet to come that are foreshadowed here. Finding reasons to keep reading this series is …
Supreme is a long-running and infrequently reprinted Image comic created by Rob Liefeld and with an acclaimed run by Alan Moore that has now been revived by Warren Ellis. For those who haven’t read it, it was sort of a take on Superman. Supreme’s revival is almost more of a reimagining to help familiarize new readers with an old premise. Warren Ellis’ writing style and Tula Lotay have given this well-regarded series a fresh new face and an interesting, dream-like feel to it.
Trees might finally be starting to go in a specific direction, but it’s continuing to do so very, very slowly. This comic is not heavy on action, or even particularly interesting dialogue. If you’re looking for a one-sentence summary, it would be something along the lines of “A young woman follows an old man around town, and a woman tells her artistic neighbor to get out more.”
Trees #2 Written by Warren Ellis Art by Jason Howard Published by Image Comics It’s hard to know what to make of this series. On the one hand, this issue has a lot more going on in terms of dialogue and exposition, and the premise of human life going on around the extraterrestrial is interesting.. …
We are living in the midst of a boom in good Science-Fiction comic writing. Trees is the latest Sci-Fi story from acclaimed author Warren Ellis. The comic book deals with the discovery of alien life, or more specifically, the fact that alien life doesn’t regard humanity as being particularly significant. The book takes place in three different locations and examines how human society has been shaped and changed by the presence of intelligent life that has, quite literally, been placed smack-dab in the middle of our civilization.
C.O.W.L. is a comic book that combines crimefighting with the politics of organized labor. The comic borrows characters, setting, and ideas from Kyle Higgins’ earlier comic The League. There are elements of film noir at work here, both in the shadowy art style, and the mystery that is unfolding in the comic. The book certainly has all the elements of a solid mystery: set in a city known for powerful players and corrupt politics, a dead man with dangerous information, and people with reasons to be paranoid.
With the announcement of the upcoming Damian: Son of Batman and Sinestro Corps series, DC has (for the time being) decided to stop making new series that don’t involve Batman, Green Lantern, or Superman. This is a shame because they experimented and are still experimenting with books in different genres, like war (G.I. Combat), western (All Star Western), …
With Scott Snyder’s highly anticipated Batman: Zero Year just around the corner and Man of Steel hitting the box-office this month, I felt that it was a perfect time to delve into some of the best re-vamped origin stories in comic books. While many may fall flat (looking at you Marvel: Season Ones) some have …
Desolation Jones Written By Warren Ellis Art and Covers by J.H Williams III Published by Wildstorm Comics It’s one of those great mysteries of the ages why UK writers produce some of the best, most creative, most profoundly messed up comics in the biz. Perhaps England, Scotland and Ireland are all over some kind of …
Undertones: Volume 8 As we approach the end of the decade, it seems fitting that this installment of Undertones concern itself with some of the most memorable film scores of the ‘00s. Though the films range in financial or critical success, and opinions may be divided as to the strength of some of the films …
The mad mind of Warren Ellis is once again to be unleashed on the big screen. According to Variety, Legendary Pictures is picking up the film rights to Gravel, the comic book series created by Warren Ellis (The Authority and Planetary) and published by Avatar Press. Gravel is sort of a hybrid between the spy/espionage …