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Review: ‘Dead Boy Detectives’ #3

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10 years ago

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With two appealing protagonists, “Dead Boy Detectives” #3 strikes the right balance between charming and frightening at the same time. After being introduced in the pages of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman,” the dead boys make their own mark with a new supernatural adventure. More alive in death, the boys are about to discover that there is nothing good about going back home.

WRITTEN BY: Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham
ART BY: Mark Buckingham
PUBLISHER: Vertigo Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: February 26, 2014

Though Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland died, they decided to stick around as ghosts, solving mysteries in their spare time. The irony is, the two best friends only started living after they died. Now, Edwin and Charles will have to face something terrible they have avoided for so very long. They have to solve the mystery behind their own deaths. When they return back to their school, Edwin and Charles unexpectedly uncover dangerous secrets in the hallways. Time hasn’t changed as their school is still overrun by bullies and bad teachers. There’s nothing worse than a bully who also happens to be a ghost.

I really like how writers Toby Litt and Mark Buckingham are exploring the back-stories of their main protagonists. In the opening pages, Charles unlocks a forgotten truth about his past. After staring at his tombstone, Charles panics after realizing he may have a living relative. There is someone else other than Edwin that remembers him. Charles experiences a sudden brush of hope, knowing that there is a brother or sister who cares about him.

Because Edwin and Charles are ghosts, you really don’t expect them to be afraid of anything. Litt and Buckingham remind readers that these two best friends, at their core, are just naive kids. Edwin doesn’t want to go back to school because he is still afraid of being picked on by a bully. In the afterlife, Edwin runs away from a physically imposing bully, who haunts him as a poltergeist.

In a well-detailed two-pager, Buckingham delivers a surreal illustration of an innocent girl passing between the living and the dead. Hanna is lying on a stretcher, covered in knives and locked in chains. On one side, a demon rises from a fiery pit of lava. As the demon attempts to take possession of her body, Hanna’s soul flies off towards a bright light. Buckingham illustrates dozens of skeletal arms reaching out to grab Hanna’s spirit.

Notice how the color scheme differentiates the perspectives between the living and the dead. When Crystal is walking across the school’s hallways, Charles and Edwin realize she is being followed by the ghost bullies. In Crystal’s point-of-view, colorist Lee Loughridge uses white tones to depict the ghostly figures. When Crystal suddenly sees the phantoms, Loughridge paints the backgrounds with a vibrant purple shade.

“Dead Boy Detectives” #3 manages to keep the mystery suspenseful, while revealing certain clues along the way. The bromance between Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland is what makes the “Dead Boy Detectives” series really stand out.

4/5 Skulls

Reviewed by – Jorge Solis

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Comics

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

Published

6 days ago

on

April 18, 2024

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Witchblade cover

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.

  • Cover A: Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover B: Giuseppe Cafaro and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover C: Blank Sketch Cover

  • Cover D (1/10): Dani and Brad Simpson (Full Color)

  • Cover E (1/25): Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto, Virgin Cover (Full Color)

  • Cover F (1/50): J.Scott Campbell (Full Color)

  • Cover G (1/100): Bill Sienkiewicz. (Full Color)

  • Cover H (1/250): Line art by Marc. Virgin Cover, Inks (B/W)

Witchblade #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Witchblade comic panel Witchblade #1 cover image

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