Five Ghosts Delivers Amazing Art, Story

  I don't do a lot of formal comic book reviews on this blog, but I picked up the first two issues of a new comic book from Image this weekend called Five Ghosts: The Haunting of Fabian Gray, and it is phenomenal!  Easily the best new comic I've read since Abnett and Lanning were tearing it up on Guardians of the Galaxy. 

Five Ghosts tells the tale of 1920's treasure hunter Fabian Gray, a man both literally and figuratively haunted by five amazing spirits and the knowledge that his deeds may have doomed his own sister. When things are at their most dire, Gray can call upon the powers and faculties of one of his five ghosts: the Detective (Sherlock Holmes), the Archer (Robin Hood), the Wizard (Merlin), the Samurai (Miyamoto Musashi), and the Vampire (Count Dracula). These spirits grant him supernatural abilities. He might remind longtime comic book readers of Marvel's Dominic Fortune, but mixed with a liberal dash of the occult.

Writer Frank Barbiere's solid story comes to life under the talented hands of amazing artist Chris Mooneyham. Mr. Mooneyham's pencils, inks, and colors suggest the supernatural dynamism of Mike Mignola, but with a touch of Howard Chaykin at the peek of his powers.

This five issue mini-series stands at two issues in, and with a recent reprint of issue one, should be readily available. While reading it I immediately thought that Fabian Gray would make the most awesome RPG or skirmish wargame character!  Run, don't walk, to your nearest comic book store and snatch up copies of Five Ghosts, you will not be disappointed!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

Alien Legion Earns Omnibus

As a kid growing up in the 1970's and 1980's, I was fortunate to be exposed to a lot of sci-fi in various forms. From Star Wars to Buck Rogers, to Battle Beyond the Stars, I absorbed elements from the sublime to the ridiculous with equal fervor and relish.

Aside from a few Star Wars comics in the late 1970's and early 1980's, I didn't really get my sci-fi from the funny books until Alien Legion. Developed in 1983 for Marvel Comics' Epic label, Alien Legion was created by writers Carl Potts and Alan Zelenetz, and first drawn by talented artist Frank Cirocco. It filled a void I didn't really know was there. It was military sci-fi--like the French Foreign Legion in space! What could be cooler? My friends and I all bought it. We picked our favorite main cast members. Mine was the profit seeking Torqa Dun, but there were so many cool aliens and characters that everybody could pick someone different.

Now Dark Horse Comics is set to publish Alien Legion's very first Omnibus, collecting the first 352 pages of Legion comics in one nifty color volume. I can't recommend this collection more highly, and when it hits the stores December 16, 2009, treat yourself to an early holiday present, or better yet, add it to your gift list and let one of your loved ones buy it for you! Either way, it'll be $25 well spent.

--Scott

Plugging R.E.B.E.L.S.!

I just finished catching up on my run of DC Comics' R.E.B.E.L.S.! Anybody who reads this blog will remember that I really dig space-based superhero action, and R.E.B.E.L.S. has it in spades. Now up to issue #6, Tony Bedard is really putting together a slick cast of characters around leader Vril Dox, the mastermind everyone loves to hate.

This title doesn't get enough pub, so hopefully my humble recommendation will
cause a few readers to check this title out. It's worth a look!

Scott