World Comic Book Review

25th March 2024

James Bond 007: Felix Leiter (Hardcover) (Review)

James Bond 007: Felix Leiter (Hardcover) Dynamite Entertainment, 2017 Writer: James Robinson Dynamite Entertainment has secured a license from Ian Fleming Publications Limited to release James Bond stories as comic books. We have previously reviewed James Bond 007: Hammerhead written by Andy Diggle and James Bond 007: Vargr by Warren Ellis. Here, we look at … Read more

James Bond 007: Hammerhead (Review)

James Bond 007: Hammerhead Dynamite Entertainment, August 2017 (collected edition) Writer: Andy Diggle This is our second look at US publisher Dynamite Entertainment’s license of Ian Fleming Publications’ world famous character, the British spy James Bond. Our previous review related to the story “Vargr”, written by Warren Ellis. (Our third critique, to come, will double … Read more

Centipede #1 (Review)

Centipede #1 Dynamite Comics/Atari, July 2017 Writer: Max Bemis “Centipede” #1 is the start of a new comic book mini-series created in partnership between American comic book publisher Dynamite Entertainment and American software developer Atari, Inc. The comic is based on the fixed shooter arcade game of the same title, released in 1980 by Atari … Read more

SMOSH #1: Lost in Translation

SMOSH #1 (review)
Dynamite Entertainment, May 4th, 2016
Writers: Michael McDermott, Yale Stewart

“SMOSH” is a comedic comic book series published by Dynamite Entertainment, based on the same-named web-based comedy channel from Youtube stars Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. The duo only serve as co-developers of the story alongside Dynamite editor Rich Young, with zombie anthology FUBAR’s Michael McDermott and online webcomic JL8’s Yale Stewart on writing chores.

The stories themselves are based on recurring SMOSH comedy skits that Messrs Hecox and Padilla conceptualized and starred in, which in a way justifies the use of the SMOSH brand even without the active participation of its creators.

Dynamite Entertainment’s decision to publish an SMOSH comic book is a commercially sound one – Messrs Hecox and Padilla’s network of Youtube channels boasts of more than 36 million combined subscribers. It also helps that the bulk of SMOSH’s audiences consist of that very lucrative teen/tween demographic.

However, the execution palls as neither of the two writers commissioned seem capable of translating SMOSH’s brand of comedy into comic book form.

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