Owner: Comics Slop URL:http://comicsslop.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sat, 26 May 2007 21:08:24 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Comic book reviews, new and old Site statistics:Click here
Paradox #1 by Christos Gage and Luis Henrique Ribeiro 2007-05-25 15:23:00 "Sorry. That kid... Poole... he has a family. I have to notify them.""I overreacted. You know what it's like for women in this job."(it's got to be awful since she's got to spout terrible dialogue)Christos Gage's Paradox
is apparently the story of regular cops in an extraordinary world--the coroners need necromancy degrees, flying demons are no big deal, and lycanthropes show up in scenes lifted directly from The Monster Squad. Gage has written some stuff at Marvel and DC and it's been all right--I remember liking his Deadshot series. Paradox (#1 anyway, I'll never know about #2 or #3 or #1 after page ten) is a piece of crap though.Gage writes for TV cop shows and maybe his dialogue's terrible on them too, but in Paradox it's all exposition. It's amateur hour stuff, both writing-wise and art-wise. Besides having problems with perspective, the artist can't figure out how to place objects in space, so the action scenes (I saw anyway) were really terrible.Oh, damn, I forgot abou
Unique #3 by Dean Motter and Dennis Calero 2007-05-25 13:28:00 Like I said before, I'm pretty sure there's a Weekend at Bernie's homage in the first issue of Unique. Unfortunately, the last issue totally rips off Freejack (I mean, Freejack, really? Come on).Anyway, the last issue's really bad. Platinum Studios is infamous as the comics-to-movies (but first the movie options have to sell) guys--they've also never had a movie--and Unique #3 reads like the last fifteen minutes of a movie, except since there aren't any actors, the characters don't really make any impression. The bad guys are boring, Dennis
Calero's dark, photo reference-heavy art is not suited for action scenes, and the last pages are ludicrous (when it also rips off Timecop).The only reason I wouldn't give it an F is because of Calero's art and because, while there's some terrible dialogue in it, most of Motter's writing on that level is fine. It's just not enough story... maybe he wrote a treatment and turned it into a comic book instead of writing a comic book and turn
X-Men: First Class #1 by Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz 2007-05-24 23:15:00 First Class #1 starts just like you'd expect--with lame jokes. The Beast is so smart, he tries lecturing panicked people; Iceman makes claws, which Marvel Girl mocks. Loads of goodness--the first issue is narrated by Iceman, his letters to his mom, which bleeds stock device--but then it changes. Once Professor X tells Angel the reason he wants to fly is because he's a caged bird, First Class gets interesting.Unfortunately, the talking school computer version of Cerebro brings it right back down to the previous level--especially when Iceman compares it to an IMAX theater. The further references to future continuity--Jean Gray's younger sister, Jean Gray's future as Dark Phoenix--are real lame.The conclusion is poorly paced and the whole thing is a big disappointment, especially since everyone seems to love it (and writer Jeff Parker
).DTags: Marvel Comics, X-Men: First Class, Jeff Parker, Roger
Cruz, Review, Comic Book Read more:First
, First Class
Sword of the Atom by Gil Kane and Jan Strnad 2007-05-23 18:06:00 I tracked down and read Sword
of the Atom because DC's got a trade coming out in August and I didn't want to order it and get a piece of crap. Even though the second issue goes way too far with its Marvel-style recap (you know, when there's a one or two page recap of the previous issue, usually revealing information previously not imparted to the reader--much like a serial recap actually)--Sword of the Atom #2 takes four pages maybe, apparently using the same art. But almost immediately following, it turns itself around.Sword of the Atom's a decent little Incredible Shrinking Man riff--the Atom versus snakes, lizards, riding around on frogs. It's fun, like the "Tom and Jerry" cartoons where Jerry had little cars around or whatever.Oddly, it's a rather adult story in the first issue--the Atom's wife is cheating on him and, for the first five or six pages, it doesn't even read like a superhero comic. It never does really, just because it's about the Atom the Barbarian or whatnot
Uncanny X-Men by Ed Brubaker, Billy Tan and Clayton Henry 2007-05-16 17:20:00 I hate to say it, but I think Uncanny X-Men is probably the best thing Ed Brubaker's writing right now. It's a big fat space adventure with some sci-fi standards and lots of continuity, none of which I knew, and it's not afraid of being too serious, at least in terms of the reading experience.I'm not sure if Brubaker was having fun or just cashing a check, but The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire is stress-relieving, it's so enjoyable. The worst thing about it are the fill-in issues, when ClaytonHenry
takes over and Brubaker does his fill-in issue thing. He's started doing this thing at Marvel, when his main artist gets busy, there's a fill-in. In Shi'ar Empire, it's Clayton Henry doing the story of Vulcan (who the X-Men are chasing). These issues range in quality--the first being the worst, the second the best, the third (and fourth, maybe, I can't remember how many there were, probably three) being a little blah. Some of the fault is Henry's art in the first one, thoug Read more:Billy
Wonder Woman by George Perez, Len Wein and Greg Potter 2007-05-06 23:38:00 It had never occurred to me to try reading GeorgePerez
's Wonder Woman
comics, then a friend told me they were good, so I checked out the first collection, Gods and Mortals.Besides Perez's great art, it's all about his plotting (Greg Potter
scripted the first two issues, Len Wein the other five in the collection). He lays out the revised Wonder Woman origin like a movie--like Superman, specifically--spending the first two issues establishing the series's revised Greek mythology and bringing Steve Trevor into the story, then spends four issues working up a situation for Wonder Woman to resolve, one both personal and global.Reading, I found it odd no one could put together a Wonder Woman movie, because this series is perfect for it. There's the affable supporting cast, the varied action setpieces... everything. Except a satisfactory close. Even though Wonder Woman is an ongoing series, the last issue in the collection leaves something to be desired, even from that perspective. It'
Unique #1 by Dean Motter and Dennis Calero 2007-04-05 22:54:00 Unique's from Platinum Studios, who I believe develop comic "properties" for TV and movies in reverse... first they get the property optioned, then they published a comic book. Whatever. It's a little odd since Unique's from Dean Motter, who's famous (to most people) for Mister X, but to me... well, he did Terminal City and I love Terminal City to pieces. Unique's his first comic work in a while and, while it's fundamentally different from Terminal City or Electropolis or Mister X--he has a central character here, where in the other works he has a protagonist and a big supporting cast, it does continue on a lot of his previous themes. When I got around to the word 'somnambulism,' I was perfectly at ease with Unique. (Somnambulism being one of Terminal City's little quirks).The first issue is long, but it's not particularly dense. It's confusing as hell--though Motter explains it to some degree by the end of the issue--but Dennis
Calero's heavily photo-referenced art creates
Avengers: The Initiative by Dan Slott and Stefano Caselli 2007-04-05 16:15:00 I read some bad reviews of Dan Slott's Avengers
: The Initiative and didn't believe them. I've never read anything bad from Slott before... but Initiative is awful. It's if Fox News did one hours shows... oh, wait, I guess they do (“24”), so it's kind of a mix of “American Idol,” “24,” and something else awful.Besides the stupid characters--which are most of them--there's also the downright awful ones. These aren't good human beings--they're garbage and there's no point in reading an “American Idol” filled with neo-con garbage. It's actually not propaganda, just because it's not competently written enough. Besides all of Slott's characters either being stupid, bad, or evil (and these are established characters... like Hank Pym), his whole concept is poorly handled. It's a super-hero training camp--ostensibly run by the Avengers--but it's really a military operation. For that aspect, Slott basically lifts from Full Metal Jacket. It might just be me, but cons
Scalped #1-3 by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera 2007-05-29 14:57:00 I only read the first three issues of Scalped because I was following the inverse of my recent Crossing Midnight policy (read to three, get a B, read to give, get an A), because Scalped gets an A from maybe even the first issue. The pacing in this comic is absolutely fantastic--not just Aaron
's jumbled, Killing-esque time changes--but also because there's just so much freaking content in each issue. So many scenes, so many characters, all of them memorable, either through Aaron's characterizations or Guera's art.I feel really terrible too, because I ignored Scalped and Aaron's previous series, The Other Side. Because he's a Native American, obviously.No, seriously--I'm not even sure if he is a Native American--the real reason isn't much better. I thought he was Cameron Stewart's friend or something and he got the Other Side gig through nepotism. In other words, I'm a dick.And now I feel stupid (in addition to terrible), because I missed out on getting to brag about there bein Read more:Jason
Satan's Sodomy Baby by Eric Powell 2007-05-28 20:35:00 When I was paging through the store copy, I realized Satan
's Sodomy Baby is really nothing worse (scandalous, sacrilegious, whatever) than what Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon did in Preacher, only a little more visual, with a little more immediate comedic payoff.Powell
makes fun of rednecks and organized religion in Sodomy Baby. That's about it.But it's really funny the way he does.ATags: Eric Powell, Dark Horse Comics, Satan's Sodomy Baby, Review, Comic Book
Talent #1-4 by Christopher Golden, Tom Sniegoski and Paul Azaceta 2007-05-28 16:33:00 Mildly effeminate college professor Nicholas Dane survives a plane crash, suddenly possessing the talents of the other 147 passengers. His mission... to give them all closure. His boss... God (except writers Golden
and Sniegoski call it "The Balance," so it's not offensive or too Christian). His enemy... an insidious troupe of Catholic cardinals.The first issue actually isn't that bad. Paul Azaceta's art is, throughout, excellent and it's a setup issue, so there's some leeway for the exposition-ridden dialogue. However, once it becomes clear nothing is getting resolved and there's no real point to the story except to show off how bad the bad guys are, Talent
gets real boring.It's only four issues too and they're full of action. Azaceta's not an action artist though. Especially not when scenes are simply lifted from John Woo movies. Except lifting is allTalent is about--the evil Catholics are from The Da Vinci Code, the whole powers thing is from an M. Night Shyamalan reject sc Read more:Christopher
Crossing Midnight #1-5 by Mike Carey and Jim Fern 2007-05-27 23:36:00 Originally, I was only going to read the first three issues tonight, since it's a three-issue storyline, but then I decided to do five, because the collection is five and because issues four and five are a two-part story.I'm glad I did. While I was going to give Crossing
Midnight a B after the first three, after the five, it's an A.I wasn't particularly wowed by the first issue--mostly irate over the inappropriate order of surnames and given names--but a friend had told me the series took a bit to grab on. And it does. While the first issue does introduce some mildly interesting things, it's all in summary. It kicks off in full scenic action with the second issue and works a lot better. The second issue's also when Carey
brings out some seriously wacky things and really engages the reader. The narrator of the first three issues is a male twin, telling the story of his sister and the mystical trouble she's about to get in. While he's active for it, she's really the subject. In
She-Hulk #15-18 by Dan Slott and Rick Burchett 2007-05-27 00:17:00 I'm trying real hard to find something nice to say about the latest She-Hulk arc, "Planet Without a Hulk," but it's impossible. Slott immediately turns the character in a strumpet--she has two one-night stands in four issues and attempts another with Wolverine, who tells her--and Marvel's intended nine-year-old audience--he doesn't want "Juggernaut's sloppy seconds."Only in the last issue, before the whole thing turns around on an idiotic conclusion--the real problem with Marvel Comics today is Iron Man is a smart Adolf Hitler and either Marvel doesn't realize it or it's going to be a dumb story some day resolved in a bad comic book written by Mark Millar--does Slott begin to regain his handle on the She-Hulk character. But, really? The damage is done. Reading the first issue, I knew Slott was off the book at issue #21 and I wondered if my negative reaction was influenced by knowing he was leaving it. However, hell no, it's not.Slott hasn't just abandoned She-Hulk, of course,
Tales of the Unexpected #1-8 by David Lapham and Eric Battle 2007-05-21 02:00:00 Score one for originality... Tales
of the Unexpected
#1 opens with a Sixth Sense "homage." Or it rips it off... one or the other. It's so lame I kept wondering if one could do "bullet-time" in a comic book, just for the full 1999 experience. Maybe get some Prince playing.Why's this comic called Tales of the Unexpected? The first issue ends informing we poor readers the next issue (and mysterious tale) will take place in the same building as the first tale, which kind of makes it Tales of the Unexpected in this One Building (so far, anyway).Lapham's narration is atrocious and his attempt to do cop-talk rings falser than an episode of "Cop Rock" (the singing parts), but Eric Battle
's art is nice. Good line detail, but he can still make the ridiculously-goateed Spectre look big and scary.Oh, I love it--the second issue starts with ethnic slang. So cute. Misused fake contractions ( and las' and an'). Maybe it's supposed to be a bad ethnic comedy--kind of like the hub-cap scene in N Read more:David
The Damned #1-5 by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt 2007-05-19 04:37:00 I hadn't realized The Damned was from Oni. It doesn't really make any difference, it's just I'd forgotten Oni was out there, except the irregular Local release.Simply put, The Damned is a Hammett-esque mob story with demons. They have Italian names still--one of them has Dante's last name, which I'm too tired to look up--and they basically act like mobsters, but their stooges are mortals. The main character can't stay dead (through a curse), so it's a really cool idea.Brian
Hurtt's art's fantastic--there's some jaw-dropping, beautiful panels--and the writing's generally real good, taking advantage of the genre norms and the twist... except the ending's a little pat. Introduces a deep character motivation in the last issue and such. I think there's a sequel coming though, which is great. The world needs more Brian Hurtt comics.B+Tags: Oni Press, Cullen Bunn, Damned, Brian Hurtt, Review, Comic Book
The Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott and Phil Jimenez 2007-05-12 16:06:00 Dan Slott does great Spider
-Man. I'm not sure how well this Free Comic Book Day issue sells Spider-Man (or Spider-Man 3), but it's a great time. Slott mixes in all the things I think of when I think of Spider-Man--the concern for Aunt May, the public distrust, the wacky supervillain. In this one, the supervillain is a big Spider-Man fan, which is a new one for me, but plays well with Slott's modern setting for the story, even if it is an old fashioned issue.Phil Jimenez's art is real nice, but it's actually only really special a couple of times. It does well with Slott's set pieces and it looks real good, but it doesn't really bring anything to the comic itself.Being continuity-minded, I don't see where this issue fits in, but it really doesn't matter... it's just a good time (Slott really should write either The Amazing
Spider-Man or at least the Marvel Adventures Spider-Man).B+Tags: Comic Book, Review, Marvel Comics, Dan Slott, Amazing Spider-Man, Phil Jimenez
The Leading Man #1-5 by B. Clay Moore and Jeremy Haun 2007-04-12 22:58:00 B. Clay Moore
's The Leading
Man is at its best when it's not about its titular character, an actor slash super-spy (all big Hollywood actors are super-spies, since they're often on location). When Moore's writing that character, the comic drags. In the five issues, there's only one scene when the character's reasonably likable. However, when it's all about the super-spy's support crew, Leading Man really works. It's funny and not because Moore's spending a lot of time on his dialogue, trying to make it sound hip and funny (though he obviously does), but because the characters have time to develop some depth. The lead character never does.There's also the big problem with the concept. I had some vague ideas going in, but it's just a stupid idea. The Leading Man seems like it's been packaged for Colin Farrell or something. The actors as spies thing does not work and, though it's amusing on first read, all of Moore's details fall apart with any real consideration. It's not
Mr. Stuffins #1 by Andrew Cosby, Johanna Stokes and Lee Carter 2007-04-11 10:14:00 I'm a big fan of talking stuffed animals. I'm not sure if it's an established genre (it should be), but I also think whoever makes these things, they're going to make a fortune. Who wouldn't want a walking talking teddy bear? Who knows, they could make farting sounds at inopportune moments and so on.Mr. Stuffins (so far, it is only the first issue) features no such scenes, but instead has the bear as a espionage agent, dedicated to protecting his owner. Instead of over-explaining the bear being reprogrammable or the government computer scientist programming in the same language as toy companies, writers Cosby
and Stokes
ignore all that malarkey and concentrate on what works--a teddy bear who's a secret agent.There's a good deal of time spent on the boy's family problems (parents separated, teenage daughter dating man on motorcycle) and it doesn't really contribute anything. It's a standard troubled family (the dad even works too much) but it does a couple things: first, it do Read more:Andrew
, Johanna
, Carter
Captain America #22-24 by Ed Brubaker and Mike Perkins 2007-06-02 18:07:00 You know, given the font and the color of the font, no one should have been surprised what "The Death of the Dream" meant. It's on the bottom of the last page of #24 and it's damned obvious.Anyway, the "Drums of War" Civil War tie-in arc in CaptainAmerica
is, consistently, Brubaker's best work on the series. Why? Because there's two things going on in each issue--the tie-in stuff and the stuff Brubaker's doing in Captain America
. The Captain America stuff has mostly to do with Nick Fury and the Red Skull, the Civil War stuff has mostly to do with how a couple of Cap's friends are dealing with Civil War. While the "all therapy" #22 is sort of goofy in that aspect (especially since Peter David does it so much better in X-Factor), the Bucky and Nick Fury #23 is awesome and so is the Cap-centered #24.I didn't read Civil War except in the store, paging through it, or reading some of the funny online rewrites. My question, besides why isn't Captain America always this good (the answ Read more:Perkins
X Isle #1-5 by Andrew Cosby, Michael Alan Nelson and Greg Scott 2007-06-05 18:17:00 X Isle is mostly concerned with its own hipness--the references to blockbusters are limitless, even past the obvious "Lost" reference of the whole series and characters all say really witty things for their dramatic situation. There's a visual reference, if not more, to the X-Files movie, there's some other stuff in there... but it's actually a neat book.The series is schziophrenic, which is why it works. It can't decide if it wants to be a sci-fi thing, a horror thing, a jungle thriller, a monster movie, a father and daughter story, a race drama, or a... well, I forgot. Oh, no I didn't. An academic thriller. It's all wacky and crazy and it's a consistently engaging read, even it does move too slow in parts--like the setup--and too fast in others. The third issue, for example, seemingly takes place over five or six minutes. Or not. But fast.AndrewCosby
and Michael
Alan Nelson
's dialogue is occasionally clunky. It's funny--I just read a review of DC's 1970s Justice League vol Read more:Scott
Skinwalker #1-4 by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir and Brian Hurtt 2007-06-20 12:11:00 I tracked down Skinwalker because of Brian
Hurtt. I think I'd always thought his first work was in Queen and Country or something, so this late 2001-early 2002 series was--I thought--going to be a discovered delight (discovered delights being forgotten works, the best example being Elia Kazan's Wild River, which are mostly unknown and absolutely wonderful). Unfortunately, it's not. On a few levels. Well, a couple. Two, not a few.First, to get it out of the way... the inks. Hurtt inks himself these days and he does a much better job of it than his Skinwalker inker, Arthur Dela Cruz. Now, I realize--not seeing the distinctive Hurtt nose in Skinwalker--Hurtt's obviously matured as an artist. But there's something jarring about how sharp Dela Cruz's inks are in the book, how reductive they are... Though, again, I might just be imagining things.Second, and more important, DeFilippis and Weir's story is serviceable, but totally unspectacular. It's pedestrian in its twists and turns-- Read more:Christina
The Boys #1-6 by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson 2007-06-19 11:17:00 As a writer, Garth
Ennis is in a weird place today. He's in his finest form, whether it's The Punisher (which shows his handle on telling human stories under the most unlikely circumstance) or The Boys (which shows, just because he's telling crude jokes about superheroes, he can also get the human element in there), but there's almost no buzz around him. His Ghost Rider series got more buzz than anything else lately... and, since he is in that great form, writing some of the best comics coming out today, it's all incredibly distressing. The support The Boys got when DC cut it loose and Dynamite picked it up, that response was the first appropriate response I've seen.At the time, of course, I didn't really appreciate it, because I wasn't reading The Boys. I'd seen a few things, but the way the series is laid out, especially in the first three issues, it's impossible to pick it up and look at it and really get anything out of it. Ennis establishes a pace and some rewarding lit Read more:Robertson
Dr. Thirteen by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang 2007-06-18 12:26:00 I'd heard about "Architecture and Mortality" because some online reviewer was surprised at how Azzarello portrayed the "architects" of the DC Universe (Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid). He portrays them as... for lack of a better word... douchebags. For someone who hates writing superhero books (didn't Azzarello once say that, around the time he wrote that terrible Superman run?), he's crafted a very nice story about how self-important... douchebags (for lack of a better word) shit all over things people care about. Nostalgic fan-boy love is entirely misguided. I try not to participate in it at a local level (though Dan Jolley can attest I used to, but the whole Firestorm relaunch led me to shed it after I saw my peers' mentality). But if the four 52 writers, at least a couple of them, wouldn't have jobs if it weren't for fan-boy mentality (and I'm not talking about Waid). So it's shitting on the people who make you popular, who are responsible for your pa Read more:Brian
, Thirteen
, Cliff
, Chiang
Black Summer #0 by Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp 2007-06-21 12:06:00 I didn't order BlackSummer
#0. My retailer was nice enough to include it in with my other stuff. I think one of the Savage Critics already pointed out it isn't really a "preview" issue or a prologue, but the first part of the story... so #0 is a little misleading. But whatever. I'm not a Ellis
-fan catering retailer or an Ellis-supporter myself (Fell's fine, but falling off).Though I will point out this comic is the second one Avatar has published in which George W. Bush is murdered. It's a lefty's wet dream and the scene when the superhero explains why he killed Dubya is freaking awesome. Great speech. Anyway, how is Avatar publisher William Christensen not on the no-fly list?Really, though, besides that awesome speech, Black Summer is mostly a bunch of exposition-heavy talk. All very by the numbers. Cool, but standard.Ryp's superhero art is amazing though. Just his art in general. It's always surprising he's never done any work at the big two, but given how his style is both Read more:Warren
The Ride: Die Valkyrie! #1 by Doug Wagner and Brian Stelfreeze 2007-06-27 12:35:00 Die Valkryie #1 could really be about anything and the Stelfreeze art would make it worth a look. I'm not familiar with the previous Ride titles, but I imagine they're similarly absurd. There's a lot of funny moments, nice Stelfreeze art, and an acceptable plot. The present action of the comic book is in spurts, but there's about ten minutes of scenes in it and it takes place over an hour or two. It's very light and doesn't invite deep reflection... which is good, considering the flash takes precedent over actual character.I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be more familiar with the characters--from the earlier Ride comics--because the reader is dropped in the middle of the adventures of an unlikely girl-gang (I say unlikely because it's never defined whether or not they're a gang or just... pissed off teenage girls) and a group of nuns running with a tough, gun-totting mechanic. As a setup, I leave more pissed off at the lack of information than anything else... but, like I sai Read more:Brian
, Wagner
Pulphope?!?! 2007-06-27 08:38:00 Pulphope was available at MoCAA?Damnit.Tags: Adhouse Books, Paul Pope, Pulphope, Commentary, Comic Book
Something just occured to me 2007-06-26 18:41:00 Seeing as this cover is from the yet-to-be-published Daredevil #100.And damn... Matt Murdock can't smell a Skrull? WTF?Tags: Brian Michael Bendis, Daredevil, Marvel Comics, Commentary, Comic Book
(Evil) Dead Means Dead? 2007-06-26 11:11:00 Sam Raimi on Spider-Man 4:"Either way, if this tangled web does still involve the filmmaker, Raimi has been busy brainstorming about the villains he'd like to get into the next flick. 'I would love to see Electro, Vulture, maybe the Sinister Six as a team,' he said."I guess dead doesn't mean dead in the movies either...Imagine the budget on that thing. If 3's was $258 with two villains and 2's was $200 with one, I guess it's only $58 million a villain... so figure $490 (though Kraven might be cheap).But still... the most expensive movie ever made will probably be made by Sam Raimi, who spent $375 thousand on his best movie.If I was better at math, I'd figure out to what power worse Spider-Man 4 will be... is it 1,307? Or can you not figure negatives....I really hope he gets it made. I don't ever want to see another Sam Raimi movie (except such a spectacular bomb will make him a martyr to movie hipsters).Tags: News, Commentary, Spider-Man 4, Sam Raimi, Comic Book, Movies Read more:Means
This looks interesting: Mechademia 2007-06-25 17:35:00 I didn't find this myself. I read about it this morning at Comics Worth Reading.http://mechademia.org/It's a literary magazine about manga, which is kind of what the Comics Journal is almost (or one can pretend it is) and what MOME sort of isn't but is nearer to than not.Except MOME isn't manga (or is it now? I only have the first one).Anyway... looks interesting
. Ooh, Amazon even has it.Tags: Mechademia, Commentary, Manga, Comic Book