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This week the Wednesday Comics Reviews team leans into AWESOME, with reviews of magical gabling in Arcana Royale #1, the most metal Spawn in Medieval Spawn #1, and, of course, Moonshine Bigfoot. Plus, as always, The Prog Report!
Moonshine Bigfoot #1
Writers: Mike Marlow and Zach Howard
Artist: Steve Ellis
Inker: Zach Howard
Colorist: Nelson Daniel
Letterer: Thompson Knox
Publisher: Image Comics – Syzygy Publishing
Review by Zack Quaintance
There’s a thing in comedy, where a joke starts as good but then gets bad as you keep repeating it. However, if you repeat it again…and again…and yet again…suddenly it gets great. I had that feeling while reading Moonshine Bigfoot #1.
Now, to be clear — at no point is this a bad comic, even a little bit. The art is as bonkers as the pulpy name/concept. Every member of this creative team has an intrinsic grasp as what makes not only a good comic, but an absolutely awesome one. One of the things I personally love about comics as a medium is the way it feels built for self-aware silliness, for ideas that won’t play in most novels or even TV shows or films. Comics can be a skunkworks of ideas, where something like a moonshine bigfoot can not only work, but serve as a starting point for action and humor and even poignant character moments. And this book knows all that so well.
To put it simply, it is indeed about a moonshine bigfoot. It’s a book that mashes up cryptids with The Dukes of Hazard. And then because why the hell not, it also layers in a futuristic monster-hunting secret organization that might also actually run the world. In just one issue, the creative team has built a narrative foundation where almost any idea seems like it could work. And I love that about Moonshine Bigfoot.
Getting back to my opening point though, I think the characters in this comic use the phrase moonshine bigfoot 20-some times (I didn’t count, but that was my feeling after I finished reading). It’s hilarious. There’s just people running around going, “well dang it’s an actual moonshine bigfoot!” …and then a few panels later someone else re-establishes, “what we have here is a moonshine bigfoot.” And repeat…and repeat.
To me the use of excessive joke repetition tells you exactly what you can expect here: A. a moonshine bigfoot, and B. a confident book, one wherein you can trust the creators to be in on the joke with you as you speed through over-the-top absurdly good-looking comics awesomeness on every dang page.
Verdict: BUY
Arcana Royale #1
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: A.C. Zamudio
Colorist: Bill Crabtree
Letterer: Josh Reed
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Review by Zack Quaintance
There is, perhaps, no more reliable comic book than a horror story written by Cullen Bunn. As Garth Ennis is to war comics, Bunn is to horror, producing a seemingly-endless supply of spooky stories, year after year after year. This spring, Bunn is teaming with artist A.C. Zamudio (colored by Bill Crabtree and lettered by Josh Reed, who are two of the best at what they do) on Arcana Royale #1, which takes his usual horror leanings and twists them into something slightly different.
Indeed, Arcana Royale uses some of Bunn’s repertoire of horror storytelling around its edges as it forges into supernatural thriller territory (almost a heist story, but not quite that), delivering a first issue that publisher Dark Horse bills as The Sandman meets Rounders. And that definitely seems like an apt comparison, starting with the page 2-3 spread that gives us a set of fantastical poker players in a smokey room, playing cards. From there we learn our lead character is a brazen serial gambler who relishes getting into tight spots and poker-ing her way out of them. Said tight spot in this new book is the supernatural poker game that dolls out invites via miniaturized eldritch horrors and takes places in alternating spooky venues, from slaughterhouses to murder scenes to abandoned churches.
What’s really for sale with this book is a combination of two familiar story constructs — horror and high-stakes gambling. It’s a pretty interesting combo, one I’ve maybe not really seen before, at least not seen tackled so directly. I think it’s the type of story that works well in comics. Plot-wise, it really could have just been a gambling story, but the visuals there wouldn’t have drawn in the audience nearly as well as they do with the spooky touches we get from Arcana Royale.
And that’s what I enjoyed the most here. The artwork in this book is really stunning from the cover on. Zamudio is a great choice for a book like this that demands so many character designs. He delivers a world here that oscillates from realistic dark alleyways to the more supernatural rooms described above. And Crabtree — one of my favorite colorists — elevates every piece of imagery in this book. The art is sharp, interesting, and just perfect for the scripting.
If that sounds up your alley, you’re definitely going to dig this book.
Medieval Spawn #1
Writer: Rory McConville
Artist: Marco Itri
Colorist: Ulises Arreola
Letterer: Andworld Design
Publisher: Image Comics
Review by Jordan Jennings
There’s something simple but effective about Medieval Spawn. First, he shows that Hellspawn are part of a longline of warriors for demon Malebolgia. Second, he’s just a wicked knight themed Spawn. It’s such a low-fantasy/ pulp hero concept that I could have sworn it was written by Robert E Howard. This is the direction Rory McConville decided to take the character with Medieval Spawn #1. The comic is basic in its plot, Medieval Spawn aka Sir Jon of York and his company of soldiers are in pursuit of a knight carrying a cursed amulet. The cursed knight damns a whole town in service of a demon and it is up to the Hellspawn to put a stop to it.
This is all a Medieval Spawn plot needs to be. It is dark and foreboding and full of violence, yet there is a sense of morality to it all. McConville has the Hellspawn narrating most of the issue in the past-tense, which lends itself to not only the pulp vibe but gives the impression this is the Spawn sharing his tale.
Medieval Spawn’s characterization is simple but to be honest, there isn’t really all that much to Medieval Spawn. The character doesn’t really have a lot of appearances thanks to the complex legal issues that ensnared the character throughout much of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Yet, McConville gives the character his strong moral center that is trademark to most Hellspawn. Just like the main Spawn, Al Simmons, Sir Jon expresses regrets about his past life. McConville does a great job capturing that essence in brief but effective lines of dialog or narration.
The art in the book by Marco Itri is slick and dynamic. Itri’s take on the Medieval Spawn armor is a solid update to the classic look that adapts elements that would become more synonymous with Spawn following Capullo’s run on the character, namely the spiked and asymmetrical bracers. The only real qualms I have with the art are the fair generic design to the town of demons and some of the coloring choices. I would have liked to see more variety in the designs, but I understand the economy of comic making. There just isn’t a lot of time to design unique demons but some diversity would have been nice.
The coloring by Ulises Arreola is solid work. It does the job well, but it is very bright and warm for a Spawn comic about fighting a town of demons. The warmness from the colors along with the saturation just doesn’t fit the tone of the story. There is also a glossy sheen to a lot of surfaces that is overused that doesn’t look as great as one would want. Again, the coloring isn’t bad or awful, but just mismatched to the story being told.
Medieval Spawn #1 stands pretty well in the sea of expanded Spawn universe comics. It is a simple story that doesn’t get too bogged down in the lore of Spawn and captures the pulpy elements of the character quite well. Its art is solid, but the coloring does mismatch the tone at times. I still recommend this comic to any Spawnhead or for people who just like stories like the Witcher. It’s a pulpy, low fantasy comic for people who like pulpy, low fantasy comics, just like me.
Rapid Wednesday Comics Reviews
- G.I. Joe #6 (Image / Skybound): This issue marked the finale of G.I. Joe’s first story arc, and man was it a doozy, bringing together plot threads that ran through not only this arc but also many of the G.I. Joe miniseries we’ve seen to date. I realized while reading this that although technically we’re on the sixth issue of G.I. Joe proper, the story being told here is really part of a much deeper run, with several dozen issues behind it from across books like Duke, Cobra Commander, and Destro. But that’s not to say this issue felt over-stuffed with continuity. It’s actually a really tight action set piece for most of its page count, with Duke battling Cobra Commander as Destro and Baroness square off in a helicopter chase. Writer Joshua Williamson is one of the best in comics at writing action that feels tense, consequential and driven by character, and he’s at the peak of his powers in this issue. Pair that with Tom Reilly’s always-interesting linework and the superb colors of Jordie Bellaire, and you’ve got a book that looks as good as it reads. Letterer Rus Wooton is also among the most prolific and strong in comics, rounding out the team. It all leads to a fantastic last-page reveal/cliffhanger. These Energon Universe books are doing a really good job at staying patient and building, telling a much larger inter-connected story that never feels manipulative or purposefully strung out. It’s like big budget comics that feel both satisfying and restrained, and that’s a really accomplishment. —Zack Quaintance
FOC Watch
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The Prog Report
2000AD 2429 (Rebellion Publishing): As promised, this week I’m looking at Ghosted, a new story from writer Guy Adams, artist Megan Huang, and letterer Simon Bowland. Ghosted premiered three weeks ago, and it’s provided some interesting variety. It uses some familiar ideas for Prog readers, namely its setting as a futuristic mega-city with relentless unforgiving authoritarian police. But it puts new spins on them at every turn. The city where this story takes place is Kinshasa, which is at the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo, walled off from a world it has financially surpassed. The art and design work is also a relatively stark contrast from your usual Dredd strips, going with utopian and bright rather than dystopian and dingy. But the way individuals are subjugated and brutalized — here largely based on financial worth — should feel like familiar territory to most readers. After three parts, Ghosted has laid some interesting track. There are mysterious dream sequences that double as what seem to be special ops missions, and they just might be spilling into the real world. There are powerful club drugs mixed up in this, too. So far, I’m still in a place where I’m curious to see where this story is going, even if it feels a little disorienting to me so far, perhaps by design. The artwork is kinetic and an interesting departure, and the ideas are nothing if not ambitious. I’m curious to see how (or if) they can all be brought together. This week’s cover (above) is by Jake Lynch (after Steve Dillon). As always, you can pick up a digital copy of The Prog here. —Zack Quaintance
This column is compiled and edited by The Beat’s reviews editor, Zack Quaintance. Read past entries in the weekly Wednesday Comics reviews series!
Next week, we’ll be looking at Moonshine Bigfoot #1 and first arc finale G.I. Joe #6 for real this time (delays not withstanding)! Plus, as always, FOC Watch and The Prog Report…don’t miss it!
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