Writer: Frank Tieri
Artists: Angel Unzueta & Jose Luis w/ Scott Hanna Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino Cover Artists: Kyle Hotz & Dan Brown Variant Cover Artist: Skan In this issue we get just a little more information. But not a lot. First off, Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, is not only the Mayor of whatever fine little town this takes place in, but he’s also taken the liberty of making himself Interim Warden. (Ummm, can we say power hungry, inferiority complex maybe?) What’s worse is his top executive staff: Green Goblin Taskmaster Moonstone Hobgoblin Scorpion An entire staff of villains running a prison insane asylum??? No. This won’t go bad at all. Needless to say, Jameson strongly disagrees with the new staffing arrangements and wants to leave. But Fisk has that covered and blackmails him to stay. It just deflates all of John’s aspirations, like letting the air out of a balloon. Grizzly is still feeling like a monumental failure because of his beat down at the hands of Ant-Man and then, just to add insult to injury, Ant-Man offered him a job. So not only did he kick Grizzly’s ass but then he pitied him so he offered him a job. So sad. So Grizz is talking about all of this in group therapy sessions. But, some of the other non-conformist type inmates consider him a sell-out and decide he needs to be taught a lesson. Then, just to throw in an extra special curve ball for good measure, someone named Dr. Kafka appears at the front gate in the middle of the night. Only thing is, she’s supposed to be dead. (Not quite sure they sure offer to let her come inside for tea and scones if you know what I mean…) THE END So, I expect now that the stage is set, in issue three we will start seeing some action. We better with all these villains locked up together. Does that even logically make sense? Let’s put the worst of the worst all together in one prison and I bet you anything not a one of the will conspire to do anything wrong or break the rules. Not a one. YEAH RIGHT!!!!! The genius who came up with this plan, like the geniuses who came up with the bright ideas of Stalag Luft III in WWII and Alcatraz as a federal prison, should probably just be taken out and shot. The bullet will be a lot cheaper than what it’s going to cost to fix all the problems that are about to arise from housing these evil morons altogether in one place. But, what’s the fun in that, right? The writing and artwork are still very well done in this issue and make it worthwhile to read. I do hope you enjoy these when you pick them up. So far, I am. RATINGS Overall 4/5 Artwork 4/5 Story 4/5
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Writer: Frank Tieri
Artist: Angel Unzueta Colorists: Rachelle Rosenberg, Dono Sánchez-Almara Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino Cover Artist: Kyle Hotz & Dan Brown Variant Cover Artists: Kim Jacinto & Rain Beredo, Ryan Brown This is going to be an interesting series, to say the least. Allow me to demonstrate by creating a mental image for you. Picture this: Ravencroft (just the name is eerie, is it not?). The mental prison hospital where all the really crazy bad guys and psycho villains are incarcerated. Now, apparently this place has long existed. But something happened and now it has been rebuilt, to the max. No holds barred; no expense spared. Top of the line and state of the art all the way, through and through, top to bottom. At this psycho sicko pizza party works one Mercedes “Misty” Knight. She’s been a police officer; something called a Daughter of the Dragon and a Hero for Hire. (Sounds pretty positive to me.) Her actual position hasn’t totally been fully defined yet, but she seems to be like some sort of administrator/counselor to the inmates. This job not only allows her to interact with prisoners and staff, she also acts as eyes and ears for whoever it is that is running this crazy carnival. This includes keeping her sights on Security Consultant Agent John Jameson. Here’s where I get a little confused. Jameson is the Security Consultant but he’s also attending group therapy sessions at the hospital with the other inmates looking for reform. And boy, are they a bunch to behold. There’s this one guy they call Grizzly, he got his ass spanked by Ant-Man and now he’s having some sort of emotional and mental breakdown because of the slam to his ego and his masculinity that follows being whooped on by an insect that people literally flick off of themselves like little specks of disease. So, Grizz is feeling a little down in the dumps. But it’s not so much the inmates at this prison that are the problem. It’s also the staff. THE END Amazingly, this was one of those first issues that made you immediately feel the need to read issue two. So, I did. Review for that will be coming shortly. Unfortunately, not a lot happens in this first issue, it’s an intro issue. So, we just get to meet the characters and see where it’s all going to go down. I have to admit though, I think this is gonna be wild. We’ve got some interesting characters making some major appearances here. I liked this issue. I wish it moved a little faster but it’s an introductory issue, you know how those can go. So, here shortly I’ll have the review for #2 posted and that will give you a little more information about the story. Now, for the writing itself. It’s great. I also love the way Marvel gives you little reference boxes telling you where to refer to if you want to see when that particular character/plot story line got its first appearance. The artwork is pretty damn good guys. I like it, I gotta tell ya. The covers are different than the inside artists but they still draw quite the eye. The color palette is fairly muted. The colorists seem to use the more vibrant colors for impact and emphasis, rather than just using them for striking color and flashiness on the pages. I’m really excited to see where this series is heading. A bunch of criminal maniac villains all locked up in one place. What could POSSIBLY go wrong? RATINGS Overall 4/5 Artwork 4/5 Story 4/5 Story by Rodney Barnes
Artwork by Jason Shawn Alexander Colors by Luis Nct Lettering by Marshall Dillon Main Cover by Jason Shawn Alexander and Luis Nct Black Friday Cover by Francesco Mattina LCSD Cover by Jason Shawn Alexander Okay, as the first issue there really isn’t a whole lot, I can tell you. You guys know starter issues are difficult because they either have a ton of information or very little stretched through twenty-five or so pages. This would be the latter. What I have deduced thus far is that we have a father and a son. Both are cops in Philadelphia. It’s also very apparent they don’t get along or see eye to eye on pretty much anything. I don’t know why they would go to work at the same precinct. You’d think they would try to distance themselves from each other with the kind of animosity that seems to brew between them, but it also seems like they each feel they have something to prove. To whom, I don’t know. The father is investigating the possible existence of vampires in Philly due to contraction of Yellow Fever. The thing is, he believes he’s traced the source of the original infection back to former President John Adams. While yes, this seems like a very outlandish idea, you gotta admit, it’s creative. And farfetched as it may be the writing style is pleasantly unique. This writer is able to use different writing methods to distinguish changes in time and place, between first and third person, seamlessly, letting it all flow together. Though it’s obvious some of the dialogue is narrative and some is present tense, it’s so easy to follow and distinguish between the two that you can blaze through this issue in a matter of minutes. The artwork is something I also found to be different on an enjoyable level. It IS a bit dark in general in color and hard to identify different characters at times, but the artist is still a talented individual and should be given their due credit for good work when it’s deserved. You can’t ever please everyone with one thing. So, I give them props. But it’s the story and the dialogue that let you know who is who in each interaction and in each situation brought up as the story progresses. So far this was an interesting enough first issue that I want to continue the series. I already have the next two or three so I will be reviewing those when I get to them. But this one DID catch my attention and is now on my radar. Well done gentleman. RATINGS Overall 4.5/5 Artwork 4/5 Story 5/5 |
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