Tagged: review

Review: ‘Shmobots’ by Adam Rifkin and Les Toil

shmobots_tpb_7-5396725Shmobots is a pretty stupid book on its face. And it’s pretty stupid inside too.

Government negligence leads to a city full of worthless robots (termed [[[Shmobots]]]), and three of the laziest ones hang out with a guy and do pretty much nothing with their lives.

The humore here — from writer Adam Rifkin — is all pretty obvious, heavy on robot cliches and slacker jokes we’ve heard before. Yet the book has an undeniable charm, no doubt because its creators acknowledge those faults and even celebrate them.

Sure, the lead robot character is a carbon copy of Bender from Futurama, but he’s used (at least this is my guess) to make fun of the stupid humor genre even while revelling in it.

There is a more involved plot than I let on: the robots and human friend are constantly looking for money, while unknowingly they’re being stalked by the Shmobot Killer. The plot advances at a marijuana-soaked pace.

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Review: ‘The Number’ by Thomas Ott

The sequence of numbers 73304-23-4153-6-96-8 sit at the top of each page of the superlative new horror graphic novel The Number by Swedish artist Thomas Ott..

Those repeated numbers create a cadence to the book, a dark rhythm drummed into readers’ heads that’s further instilled through Ott’s consistent use of four panels per page.

The wordless story follows a prison executioner who discovers a slip of paper marked only with the previously mentioned number. As the man notices bits of the number turning up in his life, he decides to place his fate in the number, taking it for a wild ride of good luck.

But after a night of gambling success, the man wakes to find the dream turned ugly, and the number only leads him farther into darkness.

It’s not terribly difficult to predict where things end up — after all, the book begins with the quotation “Good people are always so sure they’re right,” from a woman who was executed in prison.

The worthiness of the book lies instead in the way in which Ott unspools his protagonist’s demise. The story moves along briskly, and Ott transitions effectively from the sedate beginning into the surreal and terrifying conclusion.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #12 – “The Stolen Earth”

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the “sonic screwdriver” equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the “Doctor Who in Review” archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #12: “The Stolen Earth”

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ComicMix Columns & Features for the Week Ending July 27, 2008

  • News
  • July 28, 2008

With so much news coming out of San Diego from ComicMix HQ (at booth #3208) and elsewhere, it’s my job back here in New York to make sure all our regular columns and features don’t get lost in the hype! Here’s your weekly one-stop shopping source for all our exclusive goodies:

So, I hear there’s a convention going on this weekend…

Review: This Week in Trinity – Part 8

As Comic-Con starts to lull into submission (begin your hype for ’09!), I finally get a chance to sit down with the latest issue of DC’s weekly [[[Trinity]]] and ask myself again why I ever agreed to do weekly reviews.

Yes, the series is still so much better than [[[Countdown]]] that it’s useless comparing the two, but after last week’s big explanations of some of the major mysteries, issue eight has no tension among much weirdness.

We start off with Morgaine Le Fey, Enigma and Despero all hanging out on the largest moon of Itatoq (funny, I’m vacationing there this winter). Because they’re villains, a fight ensues, but after some “We’re all so evil” dialogue the three agree to form their own evil threesome.

At their disposal is the Cosmic Egg, which confused me, since last issue seemed to imply the JLA had the egg (and the villain inside it) stashed somewhere safe. Apparently they stashed it on the largest moon of Itatoq (miles and miles of sandy beaches!).

After that are scenes of the heroes going about their lives, still filling the generic roles prescribed to them by the universe (aka Kurt Busiek). Bruce is sleuthing, Clark is fighting robots and Diana is… shopping. Ahem.

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SDCC: Kevin Spacey Partners With Devil’s Due

  • News
  • July 25, 2008

Shortly before Comic-Con started, word spread that Devil’s Due was bringing a major celebrity mystery guest, who was then shortly revealed to be Kevin Spacey.

Kevin Spacey? The actor? Yep, that guy.

At Comic-Con on Thursday the sort of odd pairing was explained, which ComicMix‘s Chris Ullrich reports:

Devil’s Due partners with triggerstreet.com to find new comics talent and hopefully get them to the big screen

Kevin Spacey (co-founder of triggerstreet.com) said when asked why they were doing this, "Because comics are taking over Hollywood"

Triggerstreet started as a site to allow aspiring filmmakers to upload content for peer review. Now you can upload comics for the same purpose (and to be discovered, I suppose). Here are their uploading guidelines, which were just posted:

* The page size should be 6.875" wide x 10.438" high.
* The page count should be a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10.
* You may also (optionally) upload an icon / avatar
associated with your Comic. The image should be 85 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall and in GIF or JPG format.
* Your Comic should be uploaded as a .pdf file.

Review: ‘Bluesman’ by Vollmar & Callejo

Bluesman
By Rob Vollmar and Pablo G. Callejo
NBM, August 2008, $24.95

[[[Bluesman]]] was published once before, as three album-sized collections, but this is the first time the entire story has been collected between two covers. It’s a moody tale, told in black and white – but mostly in grays, from the background to the characters.

Lem Taylor is a blues guitarist, wandering through the rural Mississippi Delta in the late ‘20s, hungry and foot-sore. With him is a blues pianist, Ironwood Malcott, and together they make some excellent music. But that doesn’t put food in their bellies half the time, let alone a roof over the heads and a bed at night more than every so often.

As the book begins, their luck is beginning to look up: they get a decent gig at a popular juke house called Shug’s and are invited up to Memphis to record some sides by J.L. Dougherty, a traveling salesman who also acts as a talent scout.

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Doctor Who in Review: Season Four, Episode #11 – Turn Left

The hit BBC series Doctor Who is now in its fourth season on the Sci-Fi Channel, and since we’re all big fans here at ComicMix, we’ve decided to kick off an episode-by-episode analysis of the reinvigorated science-fiction classic.

Every week, I’ll do my best to go through the most recent episode with a fine-tooth comb (or whatever the "sonic screwdriver" equivalent might be) and call out the highlights, low points, continuity checks and storyline hints I can find to keep in mind for future episodes. I’ll post the review each Monday, so you have ample time to check out the episode once it airs each Friday at 9 PM EST on Sci-Fi Channel before I spoil anything.

Missed a week? Check out the "Doctor Who in Review" archive or check out any of the past editions of this column via the links at the end of this article.

Keep in mind, I’m going to assume readers have already watched the episode when I put fingers to keyboard and come up with the roundup of important plot points. In other words, SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s begin now, shall we?

Season Four, Episode #11: "Turn Left" (more…)

ComicMix Columns & Features for the Week Ending July 20, 2008

  • News
  • July 20, 2008

With Dark Knight blowing all other movie premieres out of the water, comics continue to be front and center in the public consciousness. What better way to celebrate that than being a part of the hottest ticket around? ComicMix contributors will be at San Diego (headquartered at Insight Studios’ booth #3208) along with many of you; stop by and say hi to many of the luminaries listed below! Here’s what we’ve had for you this past week:

Have a great time out west, everyone who’s going!

Review: The Dark Knight

the-dark-knight-joker-poster-500w1-3595774Considering the amount of massive blockbusters that have disappointed the fans this year, it is safe to say that all of your expectations will be met going into this movie. [[[The Dark Knight]]] delivers on so many levels that it becomes hard to critique it, and all that’s left is pure childlike enjoyment for approximately two hours.

Those of you who are unaware of the plot for the sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins, this film takes place shortly where we left off: Batman is patrolling the streets, crime is on the rise, and more and more “masked vigilantes” are stepping up to try and take out the [[[Batman]]]. Wayne Manor is still destroyed, so all of the caped crusader’s hijinks are based out of a new penthouse apartment, which is a nice change. Batman’s gal Rachel Dawes (originally played by Katie Holmes) returns, this time played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. This time, instead of Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy filling the evil quota as Ra’s Al Ghul and Scarecrow, respectively, we get the late Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart as The Joker and Harvey Dent, which of course means we get to see a little Two-Face!

[SPOILER WARNING: READ ON AT YOUR OWN RISK]

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