What’s cooler than being cool? Ice KING! Welcome back to the pediatric perversion that is the world of Pendleton Ward. This six issue series is dedicated to the peculiarities that define our Ice King, hopefully providing some insight into why he’s such a princess snatching old coot. Through what seems like innocuous run-ins with various denizens and princess’ we are deceived into legitimate character building!
The Ice King is hunting for his ironically kidnapped penguin but needs the help of a super-cool and super-secret wizard gang to get him back. And thus ensues a series of seemingly random encounters that, upon reflection, managed to successfully give us a peek under the royal robes to find a reluctantly helpful but also not helpful monarch. It’s easy to write off these interactions as trivial and insignificant but by the time I finished the last page I was surprised at the quality of the sum of these character building moments.
But alas, the King needs to be cool and, as anyone with half a brain knows, if you want that cool and indifferent je ne ce quoi, you seek out vampires. And unlike those twinkle toed pussies in Twilight these vamps got scary swag. The search for cool takes us to some fun places and to some fun extremes, making this issue a weird cross between Adventure Time and Clueless.
What I enjoy about this series so far is how light and easy it is. It’s silly and simple but don’t let that disarm you! When I sat down to write this review all these ridiculous interactions between burger people and vamps and cool wizards accumulated to make a good character foundation. It’s easy to almost forget that the Ice King’s ultimate goal is to recover his kidnapped penguin Gunter because it’s only lightly mentioned, but this remains a well plotted out book that will generate more than just a few chuckles.
Score: 4/5
Adventure Time: Ice King #2 Story: Emily Partridge Writer: Pranas Naujokaitis Artist: Natalie Andrewson Publisher: BOOM!/KaBOOM Price: $3.99 Release Date: 2/17/16 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital
Speaking of which -- I appreciate Rucka's restrained use of action. It features heavily at the front of the book then exits altogether, giving way to some nicely written, clever banter. You get your sword-swinging and explosions out of the way early here. If that’s what you’re into.
The series begins with a slow zoom into a computer screen which tells you a lot of what’s going to happen. We meet a man asleep on a pop mail direct train as everyone is about to have their e-ticket checked to make sure they’re not spam. One man, a spam file of some kind, decides that he won’t be filtered and jumps off the train. This gives our main character the chance to get away and figure out who he is, where he is and what he’s supposed to be doing.
Unfortunately, the story suffers from some pacing problems and being a victim of its own creation. There’s such focus on keeping the computer gag realistic that the character motivation is weak on both sides of the story. Sure the heroes have a bit more motivation to stop the virus, but none to help Cooper. That and their backstories are weak and really do nothing for the story other than add a few gags for the writer to work with. The pacing is choppy. We cut back to the villains and cops too many times and they really don’t add to the story so much as they break the flow. The cops on that note are a clever addition, but under-utilized. I would have liked to see them play a bigger role or even replace the video game characters.
Perhaps this would be less of a problem if there was a central theme to tie everything together, but it doesn't feel like there is. Each discussion revolves in some way around heroism, and one assumes moves Clark a little closer to Superman. But while each conversation has some interesting ramifications for Superman (Oliver Queen shows him, for example, how successful a dual life can be), but they mainly seem intent on foreshadowing. Lex talks about his own superiority and starts his antagonistic relationship with Clark, Oliver discusses his experiences on the Island, and Dick Grayson talks about Batman's psychology. This last conversation is the most problematic mostly because Landis is unable to believable capture the voice of a child. Even for a child as intelligent and odd as Dick Grayson, it's off-putting to have him saying lines like 'Fear needs hope'.
There’s just too many questions unanswered at this point in the series and a few more are stacked on at the end of the issue when a character from the original series is reintroduced. Who made the app? Who else has it? Is it a bad thing that Janey is becoming more and more known to the world? That last one is probably my biggest hang up with the series because currently it keeps its monsters somewhat hidden from the world, but then it loves the internet and social media. It just ends up giving me the feeling that it either needs to have her fully embraced by the world or continue to be hidden. Personally, I vote for hidden because then it’s a bit like Spider-Man revealing his identity in that it’s interesting for a bit, but then the stories really suffer. She needs to be more like Batman and remain a myth.
Though Gotouge is opting for a more raw-feeling type of line work that belongs in the Jump of a over a decade ago, the thought put into his visual storytelling is ahead of some of his peers. Guys like Horikoshi are freaks of nature: they are wildly talented and creative and can control the pace through the sheer force of channeling shonen goodness through aesthetically strong pages. Creators with more subdued styles are often left to impress with the content of their stories rather than pure aesthetics. I am not sure if content alone will carry Kimetsu no Yaiba; however, I am sure that there are hints here that Gotouge is a mangaka with a lot of potential. There are one or two killer pages that I spent a few minutes on. Given that they were important story pages and I spent my time just sort of staring at them, the visual impact of the page was in lock-step with the story. Having that kind of control over the reader's absorption of the story without simply appealing to your splash pages is always a feat.
What’s been incredibly interesting about Just Another Sheep is the alternative history that writer Mat Heagerty has crafted. That and the mixture of conspiracies that he’s added to the identity of the Les Cordes. For instance, they want to stop the moon landing (revealed in a flashback) because of the risk it could pose to the earth. Tidal waves and death and such. It’s a strange thought that landing on the moon could cause that, but Les Cordes isn’t willing to take the chance. They truly guide the history of man.
Bill and Ted Go To Hell #1 is a fresher story than its comic predecessor. Whereas in Most Triumphant Return, the story relied more heavily on the tropes we know and love from the movies, and it worked well because it successfully reminded the reader that this was an awesome thing you should absolutely be into again. In Go To Hell, Joines seems to be aware of the elements that make Bill and Ted what it is, but doesn’t cram them all, and knows he has 4 full issues to tell his story. The dialogue is very much belonging to this franchise, but it’s kept to the basic, as it is aware that too much of it could become annoying. 
I won’t spoil the set up for the next arc, but I was like, “Damn” when I read it. That’s the thing that Venditti did very well with this issue, he knew that he couldn’t just have Gilad wake up in a field or some basic shit and have everyone walk away satisfied. Anything less than what he did would have done the previous three issues a disservice.
While all issues of the series have a sharp, straight-forward sense of characterization, issue 152 is especially noteworthy for Sakai's un-remarking portrayal of human behavior. Instead of making the villagers noble souls and the thieves despicable villains, Sakai portrays both sides as struggling to survive in a world where doing so is very difficult. Both sides demonstrate surprising generosity and overpowering fear in equal parts, and both groups are alternatively victims and transgressors. As such the issue never becomes which side is in the right (allowing the reader to decide this for themselves).
Anyways, our hero, Jarra, is as grotesquely disproportionate as his Gunflin kin, sporting a magnificent troll-doll up-fro. Enticed by an opportunity to see the tall, slender and altogether unGunflin-like princess, the usually diligent Jarra and his mischievous friends ditch work to eaves drop on the official council proceedings. The princess seeks the counsel of the Dwarlin Edlers (that is how it is spelled in my copy of the book), hoping these ancient sages can aid in her search for the lost empress. Unfortunately the Dwarlins have gone silent. This silence is one of many mysterious omens surrounding the visit of the princess. Her perpetually guffawed aid does not like it! Not one bit! She will be played by Tilda Swinton in the movie adaptation. The trip turns out to have not been a complete waste, as the Gunflins have discovered an artifact of alien, specifically Ngor, origin. The dialogue hints at the Ngor being a techno-organic race, whose lifeless remain are common in this realm. However, this artifact, which may be the chrysalis referred to in the subtitle, appears to be active. The issue leaves off with the princess reaching out to the glowing artifact.
This was the first new title from Heavy Metal that I read. I really enjoyed it. Sure I’m a sucker for time travel stories in general, but if you remember my first paragraph then you’ll understand that I’m quite particular about what makes for a good time traveling story. Writer Scott Duvall has a great foundation here. He’s introduced a main character that is relatable and who you can sympathize with, which checks off my first box. He then introduces a story that revolves around Ben that’s interesting and better yet has science and a setting that is also intriguing. So it checks all of the boxes.
There’s some obvious twists to the story, but for the most part that’s the issue. The black suit of death is sent elsewhere and that’s where the real story will begin.
Creator Andrez Bergen lists his creative influences for the comic in the back of the issue, siting things like Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python, Jack Kirby’s 60s collages and David Aja to name a few. Aside from Aja, I’m not really into the madness that is Gilliam and Kirby’s work. The abstract collage construction of art is not something I’m drawn to or interested in and that is the entire way this comic is laid out.
That’s not the only thing that makes Subaru evil though. Aside from making all of his fall classic match ups Shokugeki, he asks for the challenger’s favorite kitchen knife as a prize. Takumi puts his moon blade on the line and so you can imagine the incredible stakes.