Comic Book Reviews: Week of 03/11/2009
The Walking Dead # 59
Written by: Robert Kirkman
Art by: Charlie Adlard
Zombies? What are they good for? Absolutely nothing.
It’s been a strange ride in Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead”. I mean strange by the fact that most of the time, the real bad guys aren’t even dead. The zombies have mostly played second fiddle to the real flesh eating enemies; the living people around you. For the last 58 issues, Kirkman has solidfied this concept. But in issue 59, it is starting to change.
Accompanied by their new found friend and Rick’s former neighbor, Morgan, Rick and his son Carl along with the other newest member, Abraham, are on the road coming back from Morgan’s house, when they decide to go to the police station that Rick used to work at. Before going in to gather supplies, the group witness another side to Morgan. He is obviously on tilt and the group senses that he may be the next problem in a long line of problems. So, not only do they have to worry about being snacked on by zombies, but now they have to be careful around Morgan. We have already seen that he is little twisted in the past, being unable to kill his zombified kid and just letting him loose and all.
But the end of the book does bring up the next big shit storm. Abraham once spoke of a “herd” of zombies. A herd is basically a huge ass group of zombies that just roam around chomping on people. Well, it didn’t take long until we finally get to see one, and oh shit, is there a ton of them!
The herd is obviously going to be the next arc in the series, and it will bring the undead menace back into the forefront of the story. Obviously, some big things are gonna be a happenin’ soon.
As far as the writing and art goes. Stellar. And I really don’t need to elaborate. This is just one of those books that is always great and I can’t ever really think of anything bad about it.
I’m strangely disappointed by that fact…
G.I. Joe Movie Prequel: Rise of Cobra – Duke #1
Written by: Chuck Dixon
Art by: S L Gallant
Insanely long title aside, this Joe book is actually surprisingly good. Back in the day, I was known to trample a mother fucker to get to my TV set on Saturday mornings to watch the new episodes of the G.I. Joe animated show. It was a glorious time to be a kid. With nothing to do all day but watch cartoons and then make my own Joe adventures with the giant box full of Joe toys. Ahh, the good ol’ days. So when I heard of a live action movie that was to drop about 18 years after the G.I. Joe glory days, I was slightly skeptical. With childhood franchies being cashed in for another shot at the limelight, why wouldn’t I be? With some 80′s shows getting a fairly good translation, i.e. Transformers, among some bad i.e. the not yet released but most asuredly horrendous Dragonball movie and then some rumored to be awesome movies i.e. Thundercats and He-man. G.I. Joe is the next toon to flick to hit theaters this summer, and of fucking course they are gonna milk that cow till it dies shriveled and…er.. milk-less.
So what kind of market is prime for milking? Nerds. People like me. People who post comic book reviews on the internet. People who go see nerd movies and then bitch about them on the internet as well. People that, who as they type this are wearing a shirt with a Kingdom Come Superman symbol on it. So my wallet is just waiting to shell out dough for whatever nerd tax these marketing execs think they can peddle on me. So, being in my nerdy stupor, I plunked down the FOUR DOLLARS this book cost and went on my merry way. I sat on my couch and rummaged though my comic book haul and came across the two, count them, TWO G.I. Joe books I bought at the comic store. Hook, line and fucking sinker.
The cover of, sigh, G.I. Joe Movie Prequel: Rise of Cobra – Duke #1, depicts Duke in front of some kind of high techery, computer nonsense. I guess he is hacking in a computer with some kind of ‘Fantastic Voyage’ effect. I really expected this to be a quick cash in and a punch to my nuts, but it isn’t so much as either.
G.I. Joe Movie Prequel: Ris… fuck it.. Duke #1 is almost nothing like the show. In fact, if you take away the name G.I. Joe, you wouldn’t even know it is a Joe book. Inside, the story is about Duke before he became Duke. A regular soldier, HALO jumping his way into a viper’s nest of terrorists, go figure, with the goal of leading his squad into the enemy base and hacking into a computer to re-align a satelite. That’s about it. But it isn’t that bad. The writing is heavy on Army jargon and anagrams for shit I don’t know anything about, but it makes you feel cool knowing it afterwards. So basically Duke re-aligns the space junk and gets the fuck outta Dodge, meanwhile, some G Man visits him and offers him a better job. End. Roll credits.
While not the most insightful book, it does have some neat moments. Obviously, it will pick up more steam with the rest of the prequels and origins tales that IDW is churning out while gearing up for the movie release.
While I can’t recommend it with an ecstatic yelp of glee, it also isn’t awful. I guess it gives you a little taste of what is to come, but most likely, if you are excited for the movie, I suggest you read the other fifty books with G.I. Joe slapped on them. Chuck Dixon wrote this book, but he is also writting the main G.I. Joe book with art by the guy who basically redefined the art of Joe’s, Robert Atkins. Also, Larry Hama is doing G.I. Joe Origins, which is also really good. So if you want to read up on America’s favorite soldiers, I suggest picking up those.
My Next Week’s Pull List
Marvel
Amazing Spider-man #588
Punisher #3
Thunderbolts #130
Ultimatum #3
Uncanny X-Men #507
Wolverine #71
X-Force #13
X-Men: Legacy #222
DC
Supergirl #39
IDW
G.I. Joe Cobra #1
Wrap Up
I’m cutting this week short because my comic book shop sold out of some of the issues I wanted to get, most notably Batman: Battle for the Cowl #1 and G.I. Joe #3. I expect to get them later this week, so next week’s review might be a little longer.
So other than that, enjoy St. Patrick’s Day everyone. Grab a beer and if you got em, read some of those Grant Morrison Batman comics you have lying around. You might actually understand them while drunk off your ass.
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Tags: comics, gi joe, walking dead
