Comics
Review: ‘X’ #5
“You’re going to need a bike and a can of spray paint. Red.”
With the end of X’s first campaign of vigilante justice, there are some loose ends to tie off. “X” #5 goes to show readers how the power vacuum fills itself and how our anti-hero sets the trap. The violence in this issue is of a different variety than we’ve seen before.
WRITTEN BY: Dwayne Swierczynski
ART BY: Tony Parker
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: September 11th, 2013
The hideous Berkshire has put down like the insane animal he was. The criminal power structure in Arcadia is now in flux. The targets in X’s sights this issue are more realistic and non-threatening to look at: The Accountant and The Mothers. Just reading these characters name makes them sound boring and unassuming. The art change this issue to Tony Parker (I think) is a good touch to showcase the more realistic aspects of this story. The story credits confused me but I’m pretty sure it’s another artist on this one shot issue. None of these characters are meant to look over-the-top hideous or horrific. I feel that’s the point. Not every character in Arcadia looks like a mutated super villain and they don’t have to. Looking like regular people is the perfect camouflage.
Mother Nature, Mother Invention, and The Accountant are left alive to consider their next moves. Blackmailing their previous employers is an interesting way to go. Instead of going in to beat and kill these opponents up close and personal, X goes about eliminating them with guile and from a distance. It’s nice to see our protagonist realize his limitations (and injuries) and still manage to get his job of justice done. Using his new partner Ferguson and keeping her involved is good as the cast of this series seems to be small and mobile. X compromising her values will be noteworthy to see how that affects her down the road.
I do enjoy these types of issues between arcs. It lets readers and creators take a breath, and showcase another aspect of the character. Dwayne Swierczynski continues to paint a mosaic of ultra-violence with different brush strokes in each issue. This time, it’s more straight forward guns and bad guys instead of a horror gore show. I think the strength of this series will be measured by the creative team’s ability to demonstrate their versatility. I hope they a have an assortment of distinctive tales to come.
3.5/5 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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