Comics
Review: Brody’s Ghost (One-shot)
Young twenty-something Brody has been attempting to live a standard twenty-something existence, except this goal is hindered by the lingering presence of ghosts. Brody decides to build up his psychic and physical abilities (with the help of the ghosts) in order to unearth the identity of the elusive Penny Murderer. Dark Horse Comics has taken 4 stories from the series (originally posted on MySpace Dark Horse Presents) and put them into this campy and fun one-shot! Read on for the skinny…
STORY AND ART BY: Mark Crilley
EDITED BY: Rachel Edidin
PUBLISHED BY: Mike Richardson
This one-shot of Brody’s Ghost contains four tales from MySpace Dark Horse Presents, and this one-shot issue serves as a short anthology of the series. In the first story, “The Midnight Train,” Brody opens up a can of whoop-ass on some thugs who attempt to mug a young girl. In “The Scene of the Crime,” Brody goes back to the scene of the crime of one of the Penny Murderer’s victims. While there, he uncovers some useful information from someone he runs into. In the third installment, “The Test,” Brody learns the value of perseverance while training with the ghosts. In the last story, “The Big Game,” we glimpse into Brody’s attempts to live a normal existence, despite amusing interruptions.
Brody’s Ghost puts together some interesting episodes that establish the series’ story arcs really well. It serves as a solid introduction to someone who hasn’t read the series; the different episodes definitely keep the reader wanting to know what happens next. The order of the stories is confusing at first, but it is difficult to capture all the aspects of a series in one issue. Nonetheless, the stories are still interesting, funny, and they capture the essence of the characters quite well.
The art in Brody’s Ghost uses a more “sketched” look to capture some of the rougher details in faces and scenery. The city scenes especially look raw, a little dirty, and paired with the slightly dulled color palette, it adds an authentic quality to the characters and their surroundings. This realism, in turn, keeps the pace of each episode in check; the episodes that are supposed to be more amusing are relaxed and light, while the action episodes are full of expression and have a more suspenseful tone.
Make sure to check out Brody’s Ghost when it drops on December 28th! Preview right here
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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