Comics
[Comic Review] “Dead Drop” #1 Is Fast, Frantic, Fun.
Reviewed by Brady Steele. Valiant Entertainment’s Dead Drop #1 feels fast and frenetic like the best parts of the Bourne films, jumping from rooftop to rooftop or scene to scene. The inversion of using the characters involved and taking them out of their element is refreshingly effective. It’s a fun start to what feels will be a brisk paced miniseries.
WRITTEN BY: Ales Kot
ART BY: Adam Gorham
PUBLISHER: Valiant Entertainment
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: 6 May 2015
Dropping a solution bomb like X-O Manowar to stop a deadly global virus outbreak is a great way to leap right into the story. My brief exposure to this character gives me the impression of Conan the Barbarian meets Iron Man meets Captain America’s man-out-of-time aspects. Personally, that sounds like an amazing mash-up for a new hero and it is. Writer Ales Kot really makes this issue run as high-speed as the protagonist and antagonist through the streets of New York City. The clever parts are where this usually high-flying hero has to remain grounded to track down the terrorist running over cars and people and everything else that can possibly get in the way like misinformed police.
Artist Adam Gorham can portray scenes with fluidity effectively and creativity. The scenes of the “angry antibacterials” look nicely out-of-this-world and have impressive coloring by Michael Spicer to accompany it. The contrast between those pages and the chase through the streets really speaks to Gorham’s inventiveness to the story itself. His use of paneling throughout is especially eye-catching.
As over the top as a story can be with a caveman in alien space armor can be, this tale does a tremendous job of showcasing how X-O Manowarhas adapted well to his new world. He does not hack and slash his way to his adversary but uses his intellect and cunning to try to ensure victory. After only one issue, I’m already imagining this series as a four-part Netflix TV show that is instantly addictive. Get on board and see where this story swerves next.
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Mr. Steele enjoys all things comics and imagination-based. Using his lifetime of comic-fu-dom for good, he imparts his knowledge for the universe to enjoy and for you, dear readers, to pass it on.
Twitter: @mrbradysteele
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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