Quick Review Pack #4
Mad Cave Dashes and A Triumph
So I’ve been making a bit of a transition as of late. I left the job I’ve had for a long number of years on good terms and I had to make a few changes. While I’m packing for North Carolina I also have to change a lot of my emails to my gmail. It’s a turf kind of deal, Spectrum’s to be exact unlike how gmail can be everywhere. With more ways to keep spam off my end. Sigh…data being sold off is one thing but it’s a little easier with Incogni.
Problem is one of them was Bluehost, Gutternaut’s domain host. Because of this change, I’m locked out for 2 months. So I’m gonna hafta do a lot more stuff here on Substack. Starting with these reviews.
Dick Tracy Vol. 1: Tell a great story with classic characters. Great for newcomers and fans alike. Personally I like how the characterizations stand out in a Neo-Noir setting, everyone is well rounded and driven despite how bad things look. All of the art show off stylizations and intense moments with equal measure. Best of all, it keeps to what it set out to do, show that despite the bleakness in crime dramas, you don’t have to make every hero in that situation a cynical drunk. Plus showing optimism as a strength without forcing it. Shoutout to the writers
and Michael Moreci for a great time. And the artist . 10/10Request from
for his SKATE Directive Kickstarter. I’m always a fan of good and distinct characterizations, especially with how out there villains can get. A brilliant, petty, man who lives in fantasies of his making that fans would love to hate. But I would’ve liked it more if this issue told more by showing instead of leave everything to narrations that offset the pace. The more direct callbacks to other comics like Stealth didn’t help either. The last three pages setting up another a villain from that title for here also felt like it was there to fill up space. 6/10
Stefano Cardoselli, my old friend…and with Francesca Perillo no less. You both never seem to get away from this setting. I guess looking for hope in a doomed world is a classic with Long Cold Winter #1. Think the Mandalorian meets Angel Heart. With Cardoselli’s surprisingly expressive imagery on masked characters and robots, you get a real feel for how suffocating the world is and looking for something better always comes with a price. 9/10
