Comics
Review: ‘Blackacre’ #9
“Blackacre” #9 functions as the midpoint in a number of plotlines within the series. The most obvious drawback to this is that there is no one plot that utterly captivates the reader’s attention in this issue, but all gradually build and develop throughout. While the payoff has to wait until next issue or later, this is still a solid piece of storytelling.
WRITTEN BY: Duffy Boudreau
ART BY: Wendell Cavalcanti
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE DATE: August 7th, 2013
For perhaps the first time in the series, the most compelling character in issue #9 is Sinclair. Sinclair has been brought before a council to determine the whereabouts of Hull, and to punish Sinclair for his previous failures to comply with inquiries. Instead of denying any involvement, Sinclair publicizes the existence of his covert operations program and declares it a necessity to protect the public good. He saves his strongest argument for next issue, but this is still an interesting gamble. And betting that his detractors may be cowed by his variation of the “national security” argument, despite his motivations being entirely self-serving and destructive, isn’t the most implausible of strategies.
Meanwhile, Hull continues to bond with peripheral members of, or rather converts to, the church of Sacred Yoke as he works with them on an outlying camp. Despite their rather fanciful notions of what lies behind the wall of Blackacre, Hull finds himself gaining more and more respect for them, and perhaps they see Hull as a means to escape the more familiar oppression Sacred Yoke brings. Greene, meanwhile, misjudges Lee and has to attempt to mend his already fragile relationship with her in order to bring about a significant vision he’s had. It’s difficult to tell where this will eventually lead; it certainly seems a little implausible that Greene receives visions from God. “Blackacre” is a little too pessimistic for that. But the tension between this skeptical tone and Greene’s fervent belief is one of the more interesting things about this series.
For all that though, there’s nothing terribly exceptional about this issue. It’s just good at what it does. But with Bird and Fauna closing in on Hull and Greene, and Sinclair about to sway his would-be vanquishers to his side, high drama seems just around the corner.
3.5/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – GeorgeShunick
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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