Comics

Review: “Axe Cop: The American Choppers” #2

Published

10 years ago

June 18, 2014

Axe Cop, the axe-wielding uber-insanely original hero from the Nicolle brothers, just keeps getting wackier and weirder. “Axe Cop: American Choppers” #2 goes full-tilt from start to finish with action, creativity and axes. There are lots of axes, demonic lumberjacks, stealth rocket flying RVs and axe heads too. It’s pure fun with head-chopping, ham chefs, and morning cereal tests too.

WRITTEN BY: Malachai Nicolle

ART BY: Ethan Nicolle

PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics

PRICE: $3.99

RELEASE: 18 June 2014

Reviewed by: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brady

I admit I’ve never read any previous stories of Axe Cop. I did thoroughly enjoy the Axe Cop animated series and hoped the comics were close to that. I am happy to report it is so much more from top to bottom entertaining than the TV series ever could be. Thanks to comics being an amazing medium for storytelling, plus young Malachai Nicolle’s unstoppable imagination, this series is so enjoyable. Axe Cop and his team of fellow axe friends have formed the American Choppers team to be even more awesome together than apart. Demonic walking axes keep springing up and attacking people. Anyone that gets chopped by one of them turns into an axe beast, naturally.

The story is so fast paced and dense it’s almost appears scatter-brained. It’s not but at the surface, that’s how it looks. The art by older brother Ethan Nicolle keeps everything flowing attractively. Even when the Choppers are forced to flee, the small and big in each panel is a feast for the eyes. It’s crisp and tight, but not overly so. It doesn’t look too childish or too over-the-top ever which is remarkable given the story.

I don’t know if this is the first time anyone has written down what a little boy’s imagination can do. I doubt it. The fact that this series continues to grow and evolve with Malachai Nicolle’s creativity is a testament to how much talent in this family tree. This feels like a world someone else utterly fun like The Tick or The Goon should appear in. Baring that team-up in the future, there is plenty of fun and action to be enjoyed in this series. Pick it up and find out why Axe Cop is so much cool.

When not enjoying comics of all shapes and sizes, Brady is a moderately successful English teacher living in Daejeon, South Korea. Just like the world around him, he relishes exploring anything new and interesting in the world of comics and graphic novels.

Twitter: @mrbradysteele

Zac Thompson

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Comics

‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics

Published

7 days ago

April 18, 2024

Meagan Navarro

Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.

Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.

In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”

The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”

Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”

“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.

Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”

Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.