World Comic Book Review

28th March 2024

Corruption at its Finest

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.

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Better to Burn the World than Rule the World

G.I. Joe: Deviations (review)
IDW Publishing, March 2016
Writer: Paul Allor
Review by Neil Raymundo, 30 March 2016

Comic book villains have a variety of motivation. Some are propelled by a lust for power (Julius Caesar in “Asterix”; the Kingpin in “Daredevil”) and some because they embody power (Lucifer Morningstar in “Lucifer”; Death in “East of West”). Others are motivated by psychosis (The Joker in “Batman”). Some reform (Magneto in “X-Men”) and some are motivated by vengeance and incapable of reform (Lex Luthor in “Superman”). Some are motivated by something else.

The “G.I. Joe” franchise started as a line of toys produced and owned by toy company Hasbro, originally created in 1964 and consisted of 12-inch figures representing four branches of the U.S. armed forces ( both “G.I.” and “Joe” were generic terms for U.S. soldiers in World War Two though the latter term has become derogatory in some South East Asian countries.) The toyline is responsible for popularizing the term “action figure,” and at the time developed a small following among young boys.

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Under New Management

Turncoat #1 (review)
BOOM! Studios, March 2016
Writer: Alex Paknadel
Review by Neil Raymundo, 25 March 2016

“Turncoat” on the face of it is a run-of-the-mill detective story with a female protagonist. Marta Gonzales is a down-on-her-luck retired policewoman trying to make ends meet as a private investigator. Her latest case involves a rich kid who ran away a decade ago and fell in with the seedy underground.

What differentiates this title from routine detective tales is that the case is actually a minor detail in a much bigger, and more interesting story, and further, “Turncoat” is a science fiction story with a fascinating backdrop.

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Deviating from Quality

Transformers: Deviations
IDW Publishing, 16 March 2016
Writer: Brandon Easton
Review by Neil Raymundo, 17 March 2016

Transformers: Deviations is a one-shot published by American comics publisher IDW Publishing as part of its March 2016 “Deviations” event, where the publisher takes existing titles and crafts standalone stories featuring alternate realities, either as a result of one aspect of the franchise being changed (such as gender-swapping a main character) or an important event happening differently. This is what IDW Publishing has done with its title, “Transformers: Deviations”.

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