Comics
Review: ‘Storm Dogs’ #4
The mystery on the planet Amaranth takes a breather this month as fighting ensues. There’s also torturing, big plot jumps out of nowhere, and treading water. Storm Dogs #4 shotgun-blasts its story all over the place.
WRITTEN BY: David Hine
ART BY: Doug Braithwaite
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: 20 March 2013
This issue feels rushed and scattered. From the uninspired multi-colored cover (is it an alien mosh pit?) to the last-panel reveal/next-issue tease, this installment pushes the story along briskly and awkwardly. Scenes, characters, and story points jump out of nowhere and hobble themselves together to bring various plot lines to a head. Hine and Braithwaite seem to press shuffle on all elements of the story and let them fall where they may.
The themes of low-tech vs. high-tech, spiritual vs. logical, tribal vs. organizational all show up. Frankly this mystery is not making sense to me in this chapter. Maybe that’s why I didn’t enjoy it as much as previous issue. Why is everyone on this backwater planet anyway? I hope it gets figured out because I have no idea. It’s too vague in some areas and way off topic in other spots. A prime example are the body-jumping sex rentals. Is this really going to be relevant later on? I’m not sure I want to know the answer.
The book is looking rougher and tougher by the issue. The story itself is pretty tough to swallow and follow. I’m hoping that this issue is the weak link in the chain holding “Storm Dogs” together. Nonetheless, that last panel hook will keep me interested to see how all this all makes sense.
2/5 Skulls
Reviewed by: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brady
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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