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Meehan, Bram – Death, Cold As Steel #3 (with Jamie Chase)
Death, Cold as Steel #3 (with Jamie Chase)
You didn’t really think things would end up as neat and tidy as they appeared to in the last issue, did you? The real killer is shown in this issue, and it ends up making a lot more sense and sets up some reservations about the nature of the people with super powers that carry on all the way to the present. Again, it doesn’t make sense for me to say too much about it all here, as there’s no reason to ruin the surprise, and you’ll either pick these up or not. I will say that Bram had better not quit this series in six months or a year due to needing to pay the bills, or feed his kids, or anything silly like that. He’s building this story from the bottom up, stopping to fill in gaps in the middle along the way, and it’s obvious already that it’s the sort of thing that will only get better and deeper as more bits are added. Or I could be completely wrong and the whole thing could collapse into an ugly, disorganized heap, but he sure gives the impression of knowing what he’s doing, or at least knowing the potential of this whole story. Yes, if you hate anything related to superhero comics, you’ll probably hate this too, even though this particular series was just barely about the superheroes, and more about the regular people. If you’re able to keep an open mind though, dig in, and there’s plenty at his website to check out if you are curious. $2.99
Meehan, Bram – Death, Cold As Steel #2 (with Jamie Chase)
Death, Cold as Steel #2 (with Jamie Chase)
If you like your hero beat up, stitching himself up after a fight and getting into a car chase, this one is for you. This has been a pretty solid noir series so far. We get to find out who killed the indestructible man in this one (no, I’m not going to give it away) but, as you can probably tell from that “2 of 3” on the cover, there’s still more to learn after this. How did this happen? Mr. Morris spends the issue questioning people, breaking down leads until he eventually gets what he’s looking for. My only tiny problem here was with the art, and it’s teeny tiny. There’s a fine line, when doing a noir story, between dark shades and smudgy lines contributing to the feel of the whole thing and just looking like a rushed comic. It’s hard to even see the line in something as atmospheric as this, but there did seem to be a few panels when it looked a little cranked out. That’s my little complaint of the day, as the actual story is a lot of fun and 95% of the art suits this perfectly. The exciting conclusion should be up here in a few weeks, as this crew continues to add brick after brick to this mythology. $2.95
Chase, Jamie – Muse #3
Muse #3
Following the bloodshed at the end of the last issue, Jamil seeks an audience with the “good” daughter of the wizard. The wizard gets wind of this and what ensues would be called by at least one television wrestling announcer as a “slobberknocker”. For those intelligent types who don’t watch such nonsense, that means a serious fight between two powerhouses. So, for my minor complaint that the last issue was a little too talky, this one ends up being about half conversation and half fight scene, which is one more reason why it’s a bit silly to review graphic novels in chunks, even if said graphic novel did come out originally in individual issues. It’s still a lot of fun for fans of the genre, please see my warnings in the reviews for previous issues if you’re not a fan… $2.95
Chase, Jamie – Muse #2
Muse #2
This seemed more like an “in between” issue than #1. You know, when a fair amount of action is followed by long text pieces and explanations about where things are going? Necessary, sure, but with all these monsters (and a genuine wizard) wandering around, it got my bloodlust going. In this issue Jamil (the young man on a quest) decides to get political and draws a cartoon about the wizard where everybody can see it… and everybody immediately knows who did it. This means that Jamil has to get out of town, but he can’t even manage to get to the bigger monsters before one of the little ones forces him to turn back. Meanwhile, the good daughter comes to terms with what happens, the bad daughter keeps her rage alive and the wizard loses all patience. Throw in some civilian casualites and you have another solid issue, if slightly less exciting than the first, whatever that means. The same caveat applies here as the last issue: if you don’t like fantasy epics, please redirect your attentions to one of the many other pages around here that instead deals with whining 20 somethings. $2.95
Chase, Jamie – Muse #1
Muse #1
Who likes a good fantasy comic? If that person isn’t you, it’s probably best to wander to another artist on this site somewhere. If you’ve been looking for a decent fantasy mini-epic, you may be in luck. A young man on a quest (is there any other kind?) jumps off a bridge to avoid being killed by a very large monster and gets fished out of the water by villagers from a secluded town. He finds himself dumped into the middle of a confusing politcal situation involving an angry dictator, a daughter with at least a slight capacity for mercy and another daughter who seems fine with continuing to kill everybody who disagrees with her at all. Naturally, our hero dives right into things, and we can already start to see the sides forming in this struggle. Oh, and did I mention the conjured dragons? Just in case you thought this was all political or something. An intriguing first issue, and there are a few more still here to get to in the coming weeks. $2.95
Meehan, Bram & Chase, Jamie – Death, Cold As Steel #1
Death, Cold As Steel #1 (with Jamie Chase)
First, three cheers for an excellent title, which only gets better when you know that it was set in more appropriate, noir-y times (1946 to be exact) and the story inside deals with the murder of an indestructible man known as the Steel Soldier. It also looks like they followed my suggestion from the last review (although I’m not nearly egotistical enough to claim a direct cause and effect relationship there) to build more on the history of the group in general. This is the first of a three part mini series, and the story is simple enough: who killed the indestructible man? A detective/agent named Mr. Morris is called, and the rest of the story is a basic introduction to the other super powered agents left and the general set-up of the agency. If they’re planning on building their own world here, and it looks like that’s the general idea, they’re going about it exactly the right way. Keep this up for a few years and there should be plenty to work with here, and it’s already, at a minimum, damned intriguing. $2.99
