Road kill Du Jour #1 Review
Inverse Press
Writer: Kevin LaPorte
Line Art and Inks: Shawn Harbin
Colors: Laura Guzzo
Reviewer: Ross Rivers
Summary: A biker is cursed to ride the bayous alone and consume only roadkill after his family & brothers-in-arms are massacred!
Review: Picture this; you’re driving along some American country roads down South and you spy a blonde biker eating road kill straight from the road. With no salt or nothin’. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?!?
You drive on. Unless you’re Hennie, supporting character to protagonist Dujour. No, Hennie stops and offers the man Beef Jerky.
That’s the confusing opening of Road kill Du jour. Not a bad opening, all things considered, but still confusing. Thankfully, more is explained as you go. Dujour isn’t just a nut bar with a hankering for squashed armadillo. No no, this is a dead biker who’s cursed to live off road kill while he tries to avenge his love, Vanessa.
And now it makes sense. Except for Henni’s generosity and, let’s be honest, stupidity. Unless I missed something. Oh, also, Dujour appears to be able to turn into giant versions of the animals he eats. And he fights a giant alligator. Because that’s what he does. I’ve never met a biker who can do that. Well, the turning into a giant armadillo thing. I’ve met people who’d do the other stuff...
This book is kinda odd, right? Road kill, bikers with morphing powers and generous people with jerky is odd. It’s stupid, it’s messy, it’s ridiculous and it’s great.
This right here is how Wolverine should be. Dujour is now more Wolverine than Wolverine has been in years. Wolverine’s a soft loser while Dujour is an armadillo. A cool one who has to fight a pregnant voodoo witch in the near future.
I’m not joking when I say it’s better than any Wolverine in the last few years. The animal intensity of the protagonist and the obvious dark past that we will likely never learn all of and all the rest of what made Wolverine such a compelling character in the first place can be found right here. I mean, it’s not as good as the earlier Wolverine books but it’s the closest you’ll find now.
Kevin LaPorte obviously knows how to write absurd B-Movie stories. Heck, pair him up with Bruce Campbell and you’d have the best B-Movie in years.
Here he demonstrates his ability to write those kinds of stories with ease. Old horror comics are filled with these crazy stories that make no real sense but are great any way.
It’s a crazy book; I just can’t stress that enough. The art does an amazing job at portraying it, too. It’s sharp and you can tell who’s who, which is always a plus in any comic.
Shawn Harbin is a perfect match for LaPorte’s energetic, silly writing and helps bring the characters to life. The guy draws a good giant armadillo, too.
Special mention should be made for colourist Laura Guzzo, mostly because her work on the book reminds me a lot of older Vertigo titles like Hellblazer, Lucifer and Preacher. It manages to be both bright and menacing.
There’s not a lot to be said about the first issue. It’s really just a crazy mess of crazy and that’s the only way a book about a road kill eating dead biker called Dujour would work.
It’s really worth checking out, folks. For the animals if nothing else.
Editor's Note: To find out how to get your own copy of Roadkill Du Jour #1, head on over to the Inverse Press website!
Inverse Press
Writer: Kevin LaPorte
Line Art and Inks: Shawn Harbin
Colors: Laura Guzzo
Reviewer: Ross Rivers
Summary: A biker is cursed to ride the bayous alone and consume only roadkill after his family & brothers-in-arms are massacred!
Review: Picture this; you’re driving along some American country roads down South and you spy a blonde biker eating road kill straight from the road. With no salt or nothin’. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?!?
You drive on. Unless you’re Hennie, supporting character to protagonist Dujour. No, Hennie stops and offers the man Beef Jerky.
That’s the confusing opening of Road kill Du jour. Not a bad opening, all things considered, but still confusing. Thankfully, more is explained as you go. Dujour isn’t just a nut bar with a hankering for squashed armadillo. No no, this is a dead biker who’s cursed to live off road kill while he tries to avenge his love, Vanessa.
And now it makes sense. Except for Henni’s generosity and, let’s be honest, stupidity. Unless I missed something. Oh, also, Dujour appears to be able to turn into giant versions of the animals he eats. And he fights a giant alligator. Because that’s what he does. I’ve never met a biker who can do that. Well, the turning into a giant armadillo thing. I’ve met people who’d do the other stuff...
This book is kinda odd, right? Road kill, bikers with morphing powers and generous people with jerky is odd. It’s stupid, it’s messy, it’s ridiculous and it’s great.
This right here is how Wolverine should be. Dujour is now more Wolverine than Wolverine has been in years. Wolverine’s a soft loser while Dujour is an armadillo. A cool one who has to fight a pregnant voodoo witch in the near future.
I’m not joking when I say it’s better than any Wolverine in the last few years. The animal intensity of the protagonist and the obvious dark past that we will likely never learn all of and all the rest of what made Wolverine such a compelling character in the first place can be found right here. I mean, it’s not as good as the earlier Wolverine books but it’s the closest you’ll find now.
Kevin LaPorte obviously knows how to write absurd B-Movie stories. Heck, pair him up with Bruce Campbell and you’d have the best B-Movie in years.
Here he demonstrates his ability to write those kinds of stories with ease. Old horror comics are filled with these crazy stories that make no real sense but are great any way.
It’s a crazy book; I just can’t stress that enough. The art does an amazing job at portraying it, too. It’s sharp and you can tell who’s who, which is always a plus in any comic.
Shawn Harbin is a perfect match for LaPorte’s energetic, silly writing and helps bring the characters to life. The guy draws a good giant armadillo, too.
Special mention should be made for colourist Laura Guzzo, mostly because her work on the book reminds me a lot of older Vertigo titles like Hellblazer, Lucifer and Preacher. It manages to be both bright and menacing.
There’s not a lot to be said about the first issue. It’s really just a crazy mess of crazy and that’s the only way a book about a road kill eating dead biker called Dujour would work.
It’s really worth checking out, folks. For the animals if nothing else.
Editor's Note: To find out how to get your own copy of Roadkill Du Jour #1, head on over to the Inverse Press website!
The Steam Engines of Oz #0 FCBD Edition
Arcana
Story by: Sean Patrick O'Reilly and Erik Hendrix
Script by Erik Hendrix and Sean Patrick O'Reilly
Art by: Yannis Roumboulias
Coloring by: Chandran Ponnusamy
Reviewed by: Robert McClelland
Summary: SteamPunk Originals Presents: The Steam Engines of Oz FCBD. Get a special sneak peek at the upcoming re-imagining of Oz through a SteamPunk lens. Find out what happens 100 years AFTER the witch is dead. In an Oz ruled by a once revered hero, salvation comes from the unlikely wrench of Victoria Wright, who dares to question status quo and sparks a rebellion. This FCBD Edition will give you an exciting extended preview of the upcoming graphic novel AND a look at what else Arcana's SteamPunk Originals line has in store for readers!
Review: After having done a slight bit of research and coming across the summary and anything else I could find to better understand things about this book. I can now safely say I'm a bit more learned when it comes to this FCBD title. Arcana's doing something pretty different with the Oz property and using Steampunk for this version of Oz is pretty darn nice. Its nice that different comic companies can use the same property and nobody gets all uppity about copyright issues and the like. One thought that comes to mind is what the cross over would be like between Arcana's Oz and Big Dog Ink's Oz. That'd certainly be something for the ages! Although I'm probably just getting ahead of myself, but hey awesome ideas and the like! I'm glad I decided to pick this up at the convention I went too yesterday for FCBD. Although to be honest I wasn't really sure of what to expect, and at first I honestly thought that the Victoria girl at the beginning of the book was going to be one of the baddies in this story. But was nice to see that wasn't the case.
I liked how she was on some friendly terms with the prisoners. And since they hardly seem like the wrong sort of folks to be around, it really has me curious on why they are in there. Plus the story being set a 100 years later I'm fairly curious to learn why the Tin Man is the way he is. Yannis' art and Chandran's colors I thought went well together. The fact they didn't make Victoria into an overly sexy character was a fairly good thing too. She seems to be rather spunky and rather likable which has me looking forward to seeing just how well developed of a character O'Reilly and Hendrix will make of her. I also find myself curious on whether or not the White Witch seen in this issue is the same one from a hundred years ago or simply a descendant. But considering the reverie held for her, I'm thinking it could be the original. Although I honestly thought she too was some bad news at first. I don't know about any of you, but the later interactions between a few of the characters and the chef was fairly amusing.
If you for whatever reason somehow missed out on this, I urge you to try and find a way to read this title. As its a great start to something I think will be good. Especially if you tend to enjoy Steampunk styled goodness.
5 out of 5 Wrenches
Arcana
Story by: Sean Patrick O'Reilly and Erik Hendrix
Script by Erik Hendrix and Sean Patrick O'Reilly
Art by: Yannis Roumboulias
Coloring by: Chandran Ponnusamy
Reviewed by: Robert McClelland
Summary: SteamPunk Originals Presents: The Steam Engines of Oz FCBD. Get a special sneak peek at the upcoming re-imagining of Oz through a SteamPunk lens. Find out what happens 100 years AFTER the witch is dead. In an Oz ruled by a once revered hero, salvation comes from the unlikely wrench of Victoria Wright, who dares to question status quo and sparks a rebellion. This FCBD Edition will give you an exciting extended preview of the upcoming graphic novel AND a look at what else Arcana's SteamPunk Originals line has in store for readers!
Review: After having done a slight bit of research and coming across the summary and anything else I could find to better understand things about this book. I can now safely say I'm a bit more learned when it comes to this FCBD title. Arcana's doing something pretty different with the Oz property and using Steampunk for this version of Oz is pretty darn nice. Its nice that different comic companies can use the same property and nobody gets all uppity about copyright issues and the like. One thought that comes to mind is what the cross over would be like between Arcana's Oz and Big Dog Ink's Oz. That'd certainly be something for the ages! Although I'm probably just getting ahead of myself, but hey awesome ideas and the like! I'm glad I decided to pick this up at the convention I went too yesterday for FCBD. Although to be honest I wasn't really sure of what to expect, and at first I honestly thought that the Victoria girl at the beginning of the book was going to be one of the baddies in this story. But was nice to see that wasn't the case.
I liked how she was on some friendly terms with the prisoners. And since they hardly seem like the wrong sort of folks to be around, it really has me curious on why they are in there. Plus the story being set a 100 years later I'm fairly curious to learn why the Tin Man is the way he is. Yannis' art and Chandran's colors I thought went well together. The fact they didn't make Victoria into an overly sexy character was a fairly good thing too. She seems to be rather spunky and rather likable which has me looking forward to seeing just how well developed of a character O'Reilly and Hendrix will make of her. I also find myself curious on whether or not the White Witch seen in this issue is the same one from a hundred years ago or simply a descendant. But considering the reverie held for her, I'm thinking it could be the original. Although I honestly thought she too was some bad news at first. I don't know about any of you, but the later interactions between a few of the characters and the chef was fairly amusing.
If you for whatever reason somehow missed out on this, I urge you to try and find a way to read this title. As its a great start to something I think will be good. Especially if you tend to enjoy Steampunk styled goodness.
5 out of 5 Wrenches