Oni Press, Inc. April 2016
Writer: Christopher Sebela
Review by Neil Raymundo, April 24, 2016
Christopher Sebela’s “Heartthrob” explores second chances, short lives, and shared consciousness. The protagonist is a woman named Callie Boudreau, who was born with a congenital heart disease that gave her a very defined expiration date. We meet the character after a successful heart transplant procedure, where she is shown haranguing the doctor for the identity of the donor.
The Fix #1
Image Comics, April 2016
Writer: Nick Spencer
Review by Neil Raymundo, April 10, 2016
In January 2016 a group of would-be security box thieves called the “Hatton Garden Gang” were apprehended by London police. The unique element to the robbery was that the apprehended thieves were all veteran villains, with the oldest, known as “The Master” or “The Guv’nor”, aged 76. The criminals burrowed though concrete and ransacked seventy-six security boxes, securing 14 million pounds stirling of gems, but seemed entirely ignorant of contemporary problems such as street surveillance cameras. Save for “The Master”, who suffered a stroke in prison and was deemed too unfit for sentencing, most of the robbers were sentenced in March 2016 to seven years in prison.
The first issue of this title begins with an internal monologue decrying the rapid advancement of technology, and how it has made virtual crimes very lucrative while conventional rank and file criminals languish in obsolescence: tech-savvy teenagers steal and defraud millions and use the funds to go on luxurious early retirements, while the old guard struggle with adapting now that people and banks have gone digital. The internal monologue is then revealed to be coming from a ski-mask wearing robber, who, along with a Hawaiian-shirt wearing partner in-crime, have decided to rob an elderly care facility.
Bill and Ted Go To Hell 1 (of 4)
Writer: Brian Joines
Boom! Studios, February 2016
Review by DG Stewart, 2 March 2016
American film actor Keanu Reeves made his fame in two quirky films produced by US film company Interscope, entitled, respectively, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989) and “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Adventure” (1991). The two titular characters, using now very dated youth slang which would be incomprehensible to teenagers in 2016, formed a guitar rock band called “Wyld Stallyns”, the philosophy of which would very improbably become the foundation of a future utopia. In the two movies, the characters become romantically involved with two medieval princesses, are killed by evil robot versions of themselves, and travel backwards in time to meet, amongst others, Socrates, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Joan of Arc. This is accomplished with a combination of silliness and beguiling naivety. The movies were, at the time of initial distribution, simultaneously each an instant cult classic, as well as commercial successes. It is fair to say that the movies now generate nostalgia amongst those who grew up in the 1990s, and are impossibly incomprehensible to anyone born after that.
Mirrors’ Edge: Exordium #1-6 (of 6)
Dark Horse Comics, September 9, 2015 – February 10, 2016
Writer: Christofer Emgard
Review by Neil Raymundo, Feb 18, 2016
“Mirror’s Edge – Exordium” is based on a first-person perspective action/free-running game developed by EA Dice and published by Electronic Arts for various gaming platforms in 2007. The game focuses on a futuristic dystopian society in which an unnamed city is ruled by a totalitarian regime. The regime makes life comfortable for its citizens and keeps crime controlled, at the cost of controlling all aspects of the civilian population’s lives – from monitoring all communication, to controlling the media, and even banning leisurely activities such as smoking and alcohol.
The fact that it is based on a popular source material from a different medium is the biggest drawback of the “Mirror’s Edge” comic. It relies on the reader being familiar about the game. It is very difficult to follow a plot when dropped into the middle of a story without any background information.