Comics

[Comic Review] “Cluster” #3 Fails To Keep It’s Hold

Published

9 years ago

April 1, 2015

“Cluster” #3 introduces an element of political thriller into the series as the renegade team’s captor drop a truth bomb on them implicating all of humanity in hostile takeover of an alien planet. There are themes of expansionism, energy conservation, ecology, and even race being brought to the surface of this once simple sci fi tale. Once again we are brought back to the fateful drunk driving accident in one of the most out of place background narratives I’ve ever experienced. “Cluster” is evolving, but I’m not sure if its for me.

WRITTEN BY: Ed Brisson

ART BY: Damian Couciero

PUBLISHER: Dark Horse

PRICE: $3.99

RELEASE: April 1, 2015

I was immediately taken with “Cluster’s” imaginative setting and novel premise, but as we get deeper into the world I finding it all to be a bit dense and somewhat disengaging. Once again we flash back to the source of Samara’s guilt:the drunk driving incident that led to the death of her sister, and so far we have seen absolutely nothing that wasn’t implicit in the very idea of a drunk driving incident: she was drunk at a party, she drove home with her sister, she is in the hospital and her father is yelling at her for being irresponsible. I doesn’t deliver any kind of new information one couldn’t have assumed, and it is exceptionally dark subject matter for this book.

In this the most dialogue heavy issue so far, the captor explains that the aliens on the planet or not hostile life forms trying to take over the planet but are in fact the natives being suffocated by the terraforming being done by the humans. He tells Samara if she can get her dad to bankroll an uprising that he will take the ticking time bombs off her squad. This arrangement is agreed upon shortly before a big robot shootout, which is cool, but I’m struggling to get invested in this story changes directions every issue and doesn’t have any characters that I care to follow. It isn’t a mess, it just doesn’t have any strong appeal.

I’m not sure what “Cluster” could do to hook me at this point, I was really into issue #1 because it was succinct and fresh and established an immediate conflict. Now the book only tread familiar intergalactic ground with a rag tag team that isn’t all that interesting. There is a twist I suppose, but it doesn’t have much impact because we don’t know much about the characters yet. I hope things start to come together, but as each issue comes out its getting harder to recommend “Cluster.”

Eric Switzer

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Comics

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

Published

1 week ago

April 18, 2024

Meagan Navarro

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.