Dedicated to the lates reviews for books, restaurant and even the latest events. Some of the book reviews contain some minor spoilers. Let us know your thoughts by sending your letters to our newest reviewer Benjamin Leff at ben@theeventmagazine.com. If your interested in having us review your book, restaurant or your next event, please click here to contact us.
Dark Horse Presents Issue #12
Dark Horse Comics
Written by various writers
Art by various artists
Dark Horse has issued another compilation of works ranging from Aliens, Sabertooth Vampire and just about everything in between you can think of. Each story is unique and has no relation to each other and some of the stories are the next chapters in an ongoing series. The Aliens story bounce around a few days of someone who’s going to kill all the aliens, to a discussion of being human. Another story deals with a group of zombie and gore fans trying to get away from someone they scared.
Reading this, I’ll say the art for most of the stories is what each story needed. Whether detailed and clean to less detail, each worked with what was being said. The same can be said for the paneling of each story. Most where basic squares with some of the details spilling over, again this did not interfere with the flow of the story and in some cases helped push it along. Now, we get to the writing. Ok, it’s one of my pet peeves when I read comics but if it’s an ongoing story, don’t you think it would be wise to tell the reader what happened in the previous issue or book? In all but two, this was not done. The only reason why one did it was because it was the first chapter in the story. For most stories, this would have helped me a lot.
Who out there knows who TNA Wrestling is?(www.impactwrestling.com) They are the other wrestling league other than the WWE. They have been around for 10 years and have been slowing gaining respect and admiration. This past Friday 4/20, I took my son to the show they had at the Ft. Lauderdale War Memorial Auditorium. This was the first time they did a show in this city and from what I saw and what Jeremy Borash was saying, it won’t be the last time they come.
Also, before the show, I had a chance to interview Bully Ray; he's one of the top heals (bad guy for all you non-wrestling fans) in the company and in the industry. He was part of most decorated tag-teams around, the Dudley Boyz. Other than him wrestling now he also runs a wrestling school up in Orlando, Team 3D Academy (http://www.team3dacademy.com/index2.html).
Now mind you, my son is not a wrestling fan as of yet but the way the show was presented, he was able to get into it and had a lot of fun. I told him that it could be a living comic book. As the first match started (X-Division title Zima Ion vs. the champ Austin Aries) my son started booing Zima (mainly because I told him who the bad guy was). The two of the started into their fast paced match that is the hallmark of the X-Division and I was amazed how well they were able to pull off their moves. Zima was really taunting the crowd and getting a good reach, or pop, from the audience. Bully told me that if he could change anything, it would make the storylines more real. Find out whom has a problem with whom and have them feud.
The next match was the Knockouts with Velvet Sky taking on the champion Gail Kim (two of the most attractive women on the planet if you ask me). Again, they played to the crowd and everyone was into the match. My son asked me if Velvet liked Wonder Woman because her outfit kind of looked like hers.
The third match was the tag champions of Samoa Joe and Magnus versus Kazarian and "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. I asked Bully Ray about the status of tag-team wrestling, "It’s a dying art form. It really doesn’t exist in the WWE anymore. There’s no one team that’s truly credible." But these four men put on a fast paced match that had a lot of teamwork. The audience was really into this with chants of "Joe’s gonna kill you!" and "Magnus, Magnus, Magnus!" It was a real fun. Another thing I asked Bully Ray was the differences between tag wrestling and singles. "It’s weird, going from four to two. There’s no one to tag out to when you need to take a breath."
The next few matches were solid all around. Jeremy Borash was announcing and he was also picking out the loudest fans (not really because he didn’t pick my son) to go backstage and meet the wrestlers. Also, Gail Kim was signing autographs after her match, as well as one of the most famous referees Earl Hebner. He was also taunting the people sitting ringside.
The main event was a "three-way dance" with Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy against the World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Rude. Bully Ray came out and started out addressing the audience making them hate him even more than they do. When I asked him about where his character came from, he said it was an extension of himself from his ECW days. "I don’t want them to hate me, I want them to despise me! To try and knock this chip off my shoulder." And the crowd ate it up, booing him mercilessly. In my humble opinion the next time they’re in town, go see the show. I give it 5 caps out of 5.
Ice Age: Playing Favorites
Kaboom!
Written by Caleb Monroe
Art by Shelli Paroline & Braden Lamb
Who has not seen the Ice Age movies? Well, now they’ve made the jump to comic books. This looks to be the introductory issue for the series. Here we have Manny and Ellie going off to have a nice romantic night for their anniversary. They’ve chosen Diego to watch Peaches while they’re gone. But since they’re in a heard, with Sid, Crash and Eddie, everyone thinks they can baby-sit, add to that situation that Peaches thinks she can watch after herself. And of course, you have to have Scratte trying to get a nut. Minus the squirrel, who’s had an evening like this?
This is a fun book that you can have for your kids and enjoy it too. Reading through it, the story flows very well and is an easier read for kids of all ages (even those who are bringing in a paycheck). Plus the story isn’t too ridiculous with outrageous things. There would be no way to match the art from the movies to a page form but the way they did it, it works. It’s bright and easy to follow. The same could be said for the paneling, nothing over-the-top. They stuck with basic squares, it’s not cluttered at all and it fit.
For me, this is something that when my son goes to bed tonight, I’ll use it for his bedtime story. It’s fun, has a happy ending and is an easy read. Now mind you, I’m a fan of the movies and am happy to see a company take them to the comic world. With luck, they’ll keep this same style, because it should be successful if they do. In my humble opinion, if you have a child who you want to introduce to the world of comics and want something to start them off on, this would be it. I give this 5 caps out of 5.
