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Zod #8

I’ve never bothered with any sort of formal ratings system on this site, mostly because I don’t think the vast majority of these comics can be boiled down as simply as “Great! 8 out of 10!”. That being said, if I had some sort of formal adorability rating, this one would have to be close to the top of the scale. It’s printed in full and vibrant color, which is rare enough in the mini comics world, and the drawings look at times like they were done by a small child with access to all the crayons in the world. I mean that in the best possible way, of course. Thanks to the handy recap at the start of the book (people doing serial comics, take note), we’re instantly up to speed on the fact that Odysseus is out exploring the universe with his assistant Lloyd, and Odysseus’s son Miles has gone out looking for his dad after being concerned with the wooing being done to Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, by penguins. This issue only deals with the men, as Miles falls in with a touring rock group who are also secretly super heroes on the side, and Odysseus and Lloyd confront a giant octopus who just so happens to be the son of Poseidon. A fun comic all around, this is also one that you could leave lying around for your hypothetical kids or younger relatives to read without a care in the world. That’s assuming that kids still read, and I have no information on that but let’s just say I’m not terribly optimistic. Anyway, it’s a fun read for those who aren’t in a completely cynical state of mind. $2

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Zod #7

Boy, am I jaded. Whenever I see a comic as adorable as this (come on, just look at that cover) my immediate reaction is that it must be an ironically cute comic, not something that’s just what it is and not a parody of other cute comics. I have to say that I searched this for some trace of cynicism and I just couldn’t find it. This is the story of Odysseus and Lloyd exploring space, as well as Odysseus’s wife and teenage son, although we don’t see much of them in this chapter. I should point out too that despite the “#7” up there, this is the beginning of a new story arc, so new readers like me can jump right in. In this issue Lloyd takes a shortcut while Odysseus is asleep and they end up having to land on a strange planet. Luckily for them, this planet makes really great roast beef sandwiches, so there’s no immediate reason to leave. It’s a fairly tiny comic, but aside from the obvious cuteness, which manages to be cute without overwhelming any senses, it’s just a really gorgeous book. The inside is all in color, and it’s done exceptionally well. I don’t know where this story is going in the long term or if this style of art will wear on me (I doubt it from this issue), but this is fun little book, and it’s even something that you could leave around for whatever whippersnappers happen to be wandering around your house. $2

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Zod #6

Tell you what: just scroll down and read the reviews for #7 and 8 of this series. I loved them both, thought they were everything a comic like this should be, and when my main complaint about something is that it verged on being too adorable, well, that’s not much of a problem at all, is it? This issue, on the other hand, is a dream of (I believe) Lloyd, as he imagines a young man seeing a cute girl walking around, then again at a coffee shop later in the day. It’s still adorable, but this one manages to cross over that line into being obnoxiously cute. Or at least it is for somebody as bitter as me in that regard, but I think it may be universal. Luckily this marked the end of this “storyline” and 7 and 8 started something much bigger and better, so let’s just sweep this one under the rug and pretend that it never happened, OK? It’s not like it’s the worst thing in the world or anything, but later issues made me expect too much out of this earlier work. That probably doesn’t make much sense, but there you have it. $2