Warning: Potential Spoilers
Jesus E. Lee
Rating: Not interested
Blue Water Comics
Written by: Jon Carroll
Art By: Nick Justus
Various creators, credits within
Reviewed by: David Paul
Summary: Live in color for the 1st time! World's Ending! Volume One of Jesus E. Lee, by Nick Justus & Jon Carroll. Straight up retro superhero soul food! Included are the first four issues, the infamous Dick Fistus Tijuana Bible, concept drawings, and pinups galore! Jesus? No... Jesus E. Lee!
Review: I don’t do racist humor. In any way shape or form. It’s just not funny. When we accept racism in humor it is only facilitating the act itself. Humor is a means to an education. When you present racism in the guise of humor you are only hiding an ugly hatred and teaching the world that if you’re laughing surely it must be okay. It is not okay.
Some disturbed people laugh when they smear shit all over the walls of a public restroom. Others will join in, but no amount of laughter will change the fact they smeared shit all over the walls.
Maybe I’m being a bit preachy here but Blue Water’s JESUS E. LEE by Nick Justus lost me early on when an African American woman started yelling, “Good lawd no! Aww hell no! I ain’t dyin’! Not in no damn flood!”
As she is being chased (by a monster-child that’s going to eat her) she goes on: “I gotstuh get the hell outta this place!” “Whu-huh?! Aww lawd no!!”
Maybe I’m being too judgmental, so for the sake of this review I decided to read on. After all, the parody is something I’m rather fond of and close to as the creator of “JOSEPH!” a web series that riffs on Jesus as a modern day fourteen year old teenager.
Alright, getting over it I move on. But wait! Jesus E. Lee enlists the aid of a man by the name of “Dick Fistus” (whose gloves talk to him)? Mary Magdalene, who looks exactly like Carmen San Diego, shows up to help fight Lilith, Cain, Goliath, and a whole slew of others!
This is funny if you like dark religious humor, but it’s not for me.
Rating: Not interested
Blue Water Comics
Written by: Jon Carroll
Art By: Nick Justus
Various creators, credits within
Reviewed by: David Paul
Summary: Live in color for the 1st time! World's Ending! Volume One of Jesus E. Lee, by Nick Justus & Jon Carroll. Straight up retro superhero soul food! Included are the first four issues, the infamous Dick Fistus Tijuana Bible, concept drawings, and pinups galore! Jesus? No... Jesus E. Lee!
Review: I don’t do racist humor. In any way shape or form. It’s just not funny. When we accept racism in humor it is only facilitating the act itself. Humor is a means to an education. When you present racism in the guise of humor you are only hiding an ugly hatred and teaching the world that if you’re laughing surely it must be okay. It is not okay.
Some disturbed people laugh when they smear shit all over the walls of a public restroom. Others will join in, but no amount of laughter will change the fact they smeared shit all over the walls.
Maybe I’m being a bit preachy here but Blue Water’s JESUS E. LEE by Nick Justus lost me early on when an African American woman started yelling, “Good lawd no! Aww hell no! I ain’t dyin’! Not in no damn flood!”
As she is being chased (by a monster-child that’s going to eat her) she goes on: “I gotstuh get the hell outta this place!” “Whu-huh?! Aww lawd no!!”
Maybe I’m being too judgmental, so for the sake of this review I decided to read on. After all, the parody is something I’m rather fond of and close to as the creator of “JOSEPH!” a web series that riffs on Jesus as a modern day fourteen year old teenager.
Alright, getting over it I move on. But wait! Jesus E. Lee enlists the aid of a man by the name of “Dick Fistus” (whose gloves talk to him)? Mary Magdalene, who looks exactly like Carmen San Diego, shows up to help fight Lilith, Cain, Goliath, and a whole slew of others!
This is funny if you like dark religious humor, but it’s not for me.
Exposed Issue 2 Review
Geeky Comics
Written and Created by: Victor Wright
Pencilled by: Nino Cajayon
Coloured by: Thonie Wilson
Lettered by: Brant Fowler
Cover Illustration by: Ian Bell
Reviewer: Ross Rivers
Summary: Sgt Jackson and his men stumble on a secret Nazi experimental facility, headed by Hans Shultz the crazed German scientist testing on humans, for none other than Himmler.
The brave men plan to kidnap the German leader and end the war by means of negotiation. But instead go into battle with the new Super Soldiers just as the Devil Children emerge from within the darkness of the caves.
Review: It’s been a while since I reviewed issue one of Exposed but I do remember quite liking it. It had a very fun B-Movie quality to it that made it an enjoyable read. I remember thinking the art was kind of bland and the dialogue a little bit awful but, overall, it was pretty decent.
Issue two is pretty much exactly the same, except for the dialogue; that got worse. Wright has the ability to craft a story easily enough but he doesn’t seem to know how humans speak. In the first issue, it was endearing in its own way but here, it can get a bit irritating.
But besides the dialogue, the book continues the same way; vampire brats and Nazi soldiers. This issue develops the history of the vampires, revealing them be the rejected super soldiers of a Nazi super soldier project.
Of course, Nazis are a persistent bunch, so they end up trying again and getting the desired results. This leads to an action packed battle between midget vampires and muscular Nazis with our American heroes caught up in the middle.
Meanwhile, back in the Jackson family home, things develop even more but it’s not quite as interesting as I had hoped. That’s not to say it won’t get better, it just didn’t have as much to offer as it did in issue one. There are still hints to Jackson’s true colours, which does develop the character rather nicely.
Cajayon’s art has grown on me a bit more since I reviewed issue one! I originally thought it was just about serviceable and had nothing special to set it apart from any other horror book on the stands but I’ve come to appreciate it quite a bit more. It has a bit of a Tommy Lee Edwards quality to it (another artist it took a while to appreciate).
Cajayon has a lot of potential but there are still some improvements that need to be made, particularly around the hands (which, I hear, is one of the most difficult things to draw). They can sometimes look like they’re part of a broken mannequin. Thinking about it, that’d be a pretty interesting twist...
There’s no real horror atmosphere in this book, so if you’re looking for something scary, you should look somewhere else. This is more along the lines of things like “Underworld” and “Blade.” This is not a bad thing, of course; Action horror is a genre I’d like to see more of! Heck, I’d like to see everything mixed with horror; Fantasy horror, Sci-Fi horror... Biopic horror (Night of the Living Thatcher or JFK: The K is for Kill!).
So, out of all the things it gets wrong, it fits into the action horror genre perfectly. It has all the B-Movie qualities that made Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi into the stars they are today.
Over all, this is a good book with some solid pacing and good story telling but it has some of the worst dialogue I’ve read in a long time. It’s worth picking up, especially if you have a place in your heart for movies like Reanimator, Evil Dead, From Beyond or any of the other fantastic B-Movie horrors on offer, but don’t expect too much. It’s not literary genius but it’s certainly not bad.
Editor's Note: To grab yourself a copy of the second issue of Exposed, simply head here!
Geeky Comics
Written and Created by: Victor Wright
Pencilled by: Nino Cajayon
Coloured by: Thonie Wilson
Lettered by: Brant Fowler
Cover Illustration by: Ian Bell
Reviewer: Ross Rivers
Summary: Sgt Jackson and his men stumble on a secret Nazi experimental facility, headed by Hans Shultz the crazed German scientist testing on humans, for none other than Himmler.
The brave men plan to kidnap the German leader and end the war by means of negotiation. But instead go into battle with the new Super Soldiers just as the Devil Children emerge from within the darkness of the caves.
Review: It’s been a while since I reviewed issue one of Exposed but I do remember quite liking it. It had a very fun B-Movie quality to it that made it an enjoyable read. I remember thinking the art was kind of bland and the dialogue a little bit awful but, overall, it was pretty decent.
Issue two is pretty much exactly the same, except for the dialogue; that got worse. Wright has the ability to craft a story easily enough but he doesn’t seem to know how humans speak. In the first issue, it was endearing in its own way but here, it can get a bit irritating.
But besides the dialogue, the book continues the same way; vampire brats and Nazi soldiers. This issue develops the history of the vampires, revealing them be the rejected super soldiers of a Nazi super soldier project.
Of course, Nazis are a persistent bunch, so they end up trying again and getting the desired results. This leads to an action packed battle between midget vampires and muscular Nazis with our American heroes caught up in the middle.
Meanwhile, back in the Jackson family home, things develop even more but it’s not quite as interesting as I had hoped. That’s not to say it won’t get better, it just didn’t have as much to offer as it did in issue one. There are still hints to Jackson’s true colours, which does develop the character rather nicely.
Cajayon’s art has grown on me a bit more since I reviewed issue one! I originally thought it was just about serviceable and had nothing special to set it apart from any other horror book on the stands but I’ve come to appreciate it quite a bit more. It has a bit of a Tommy Lee Edwards quality to it (another artist it took a while to appreciate).
Cajayon has a lot of potential but there are still some improvements that need to be made, particularly around the hands (which, I hear, is one of the most difficult things to draw). They can sometimes look like they’re part of a broken mannequin. Thinking about it, that’d be a pretty interesting twist...
There’s no real horror atmosphere in this book, so if you’re looking for something scary, you should look somewhere else. This is more along the lines of things like “Underworld” and “Blade.” This is not a bad thing, of course; Action horror is a genre I’d like to see more of! Heck, I’d like to see everything mixed with horror; Fantasy horror, Sci-Fi horror... Biopic horror (Night of the Living Thatcher or JFK: The K is for Kill!).
So, out of all the things it gets wrong, it fits into the action horror genre perfectly. It has all the B-Movie qualities that made Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi into the stars they are today.
Over all, this is a good book with some solid pacing and good story telling but it has some of the worst dialogue I’ve read in a long time. It’s worth picking up, especially if you have a place in your heart for movies like Reanimator, Evil Dead, From Beyond or any of the other fantastic B-Movie horrors on offer, but don’t expect too much. It’s not literary genius but it’s certainly not bad.
Editor's Note: To grab yourself a copy of the second issue of Exposed, simply head here!