In my attempt to get caught up on reviews before the end of the year (Yes, I know 2016 is just a few days away!), today I'm featuring five comic books that were published between 2014-2015.


Book Description: Vampirella, the beautiful and bloodthirsty heroine, travels to Mississippi to help an old flame solve the mystery of his murdered fiancee... a woman who appears to have died thirty-seven times before.

Burdened by a mystical wound that will not heal, can Vampi hack through racist demons, evade corrupt lawmen, and solve this strange Southern mystery... or will the man she once loved sacrifice his soul to get the answers instead?

Final Thoughts: Similar to other comic book characters, Vampirella has received several makeovers since her debut in 1969. Here, Diamond Book Distributors have rebooted the character once again, where Vampirella travels to the south to help solve a few mysteries. By the cover one would think this was a straight up horror story, but actually there is quite a bit of humor throughout each tale. The illustrations are nicely done, adding a bit more fun to the stories. Overall, I enjoyed the new Vampirella and I recommend it to others.

Book Description: A young boxer, Salvador, refuses to take a fall, but has no problem taking a vicious drug gang’s pay-off. When they take their lethal revenge on Salvador and his family, he returns as THE CROW, in search of vengeance… and forgiveness.

Final Thoughts: I'm a huge fan of the 1994 film version of The Crow featuring the late Brandon Lee. I've never been interested in reading the original comic books, though I did read one paperback tie-in when I was a teenager.

The Crow: Pestilence tells the story of a brand new character, Salvador, a boxer who is killed and is resurrected as The Crow to seek revenge.

While the overall revenge plot is a little stale, the dark illustrations make up for it. In the end, it wasn't a bad read.

Book Description: They’re finally here! Welcome Bullwinkle the Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel back to comics in these four great tales, "The Psychic Sidekick," “The Washed-Up Wizard," “First Moose on the Moon,” and “The Burger Monster.”

Plus, four back-up stories featuring everybody's favorite mountie, Dudley Do-Right.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters
by Erik Burham, Dan Schoening, Tom Waltz
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pub. Date: May 5, 2015
Retail: $17.99
ISBN: 9781631402531
Pages: 104 pages
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

In my humble opinion, last year's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature film reboot was a complete letdown and next year's Ghostbusters all-female reboot looks like a major disaster. Luckily, the Nickelodeon TMNT animated series has ignored all the errors the 2014 movie made and has turned out to be a great cartoon. TMNT has continued to appear in comic book form with this May's release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters, which combines all 4 issues from the crossover mini-series.

The crossover occurs when Donatello tests out Fugitoid's Interspatial Teleportation Unit and accidentally zaps himself, along with Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, April O'Neil and Casey Jones, to a parallel dimension. They literally crash a church wedding  and before they can figure out where they are, a supernatural demon is unleashed - a Japanese warlord named Chi-You.

Chi-You takes possession of Casey Jones and the wedding guests, turning them all into his minions. Out of nowhere, the Ghostbusters (Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz, Dr. Egon Spengler & Winston Zeddemore) arrive to save the day, well, kinda, as Chi-You is much stronger than your average ghost, so they ghost-busting team must team up with the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to stop the demon and his league of minions.

Ash and the Army of Darkness
by Steve Niles, Dennis Calero and Nacho Tenorio
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Pub. Date: October 21, 2014
ISBN: 978-1606905166
Pages: 192
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:
 
While I consider myself to be a horror-buff, I never knew the Evil Dead films even existed until I caught the last half of Army of Darkness on the Scifi Channel (now known as Syfy) in the late '90s during my teenage years. Being a fan of Bruce Campbell ever since he starred in the short-lived series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., I instantly took to liking to what little I saw of the movie. Luckily, the movie reaired the following weekend, so I could watch it.  I was able to find the VHS (Remember those?) of Army of Darkness at Best Buy, along with Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn. I later rented the original Evil Dead and eventually bought it on VHS, so, basically I saw the movies in reverse. And of course I saw last year's remake.

There have been several comic books based on the character Ash from the series over the years, but none has picked up directly where Army of Darkness left off - well, until Dynamite Entertainment released a brand new series last year called Ash and the Army Darkness. The eight issue series is now available in one volume.

Damian: Son of Batman Deluxe Edition
by Andy Kubert, Grand Morrison
Publisher: DC Comics
Pub. Date: July 22, 2014
ISBN: 978-1401246426
Pages: 176
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Arriving in comic book stores this Tuesday, July 22, 2014 is the hardback Damian: Son of Batman Deluxe Edition, featuring Issues #1-4 of Damian: Son of Batman and Batman #666.

In the DC Comic Universe, Batman had a son, Damian, with Talia al Ghu. At the young age of ten, Damian took on the identity of Robin, fighting side-by-side with his father and later becoming Redbird, until his death by the hands of the Heretic.

Damian returned last year in the"what if" 4-issue storyline, Damian: Son of Batman, which Damian takes up Dick Grayson's mantel as the Batman in a potential future after Batman dies. Unlike the old Batman, Damian will kill criminals if needed, despite the fact that this upsets his elderly father, Bruce Wayne. Damian decides it is best that he goes by the Batman code and not kill anyone, but his anger always gets the better of him.

In Batman #666, Damien is now adult taking over his father's legacy as the Batman, but he uses more violent approach to stopping criminals, which has upsets Commissioner Barbra Gordon, who condemns Batman's actions. In this version, Damien sold his soul to the Devil in exchange to receive the immortality he needs to protect Gotham.

The X-Files: Conspiracy
by John Stanisci
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pub. Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1613778968
Pages: 152
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

I grew up watching FBI Agents Mulder and Scully investigating the strange and the bizarre on Friday night and then later on Sunday nights over the course of nine seasons. I even watched the short-lived spinoff, The Lone Gunmen and the two X-Files feature films. The franchise seemed to be dead until the official 10th season comic book series arrived last year, picking up where the 2nd feature film left off.

Despite dying in the final season of The X-Files, it is explained in the comic book series that The Lone Gunmen (Byers, Fronhike and Langly) faked their deaths and they are continuing their work to expose conspiracies.

In The X-Files: Conspiracy, The Lone Gunmen are sent internet files from the future, where they learn that a deadly virus will wipe out humanity. Of course the trio turn to Agents Mulder and Scully to help them, but while they are investigating one lead, it is up to the Gunmen to investigate several urban legends that might be the cause of the upcoming outbreak.

This is a crossover with other IDW Publishing titles, so these urban legends involve the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Ghostbusters, the Transformers and the Crow. Between being chased in the sewers by mutants, being scared to death by a ghost and confronting alien-changing robots, the Gunmen have their work cut out for them.