SECRET SIX / UNCANNY X-MEN / HARLEY QUINN X-MAS / BITCH PLANET / ESCAPE FROM NY / LADY DEMON / THE VALIANT / SAVAGE DRAGON [Reviews]: Stuff These In Yo Stocking!

Escape From New York #1 — BOOM! Studios

“Sister” Angie Wood

BOOM! Studios is quickly becoming my main source of comics. With the expected success of their Eric Powell and Brian Churilla team up on Big Trouble in Little China, Boom has taken on another iconic Kurt Russell character in their latest comic Escape from New York.

“The Apostle” Lance Paul @Lance_Paul

Lady Demon #1 — Dynamite Comics

As a male nerd growing up in the early 90’s crushing on Jim Lee’s drawn female figures, the closest we could come to going full nerd-gasm was with the “Bad Girl” trend that took place during the 90’s. With the likes of Witchblade or Chaos comic’s Lady Death, Purgatori and the little known Lady Demon a pubescent child finally had his first nerd super model. Recently Dynamite Comics picked up a few characters from Chaos, one of these is beautiful yet deadly Lady Demon.

Written by Aaron Gillespie, Lady Demon #1 hits the ground running. Aaron is creatively talented when showcasing these two entertaining aspects of Demons’s character. Similar to DC’s Firestorm mixed with tad of Marvel’s Ghost Rider, when innocent Violet and her boyfriend are slaughtered Lady Demon makes a deal to co-habitat her vessel and give Violet the retribution her soul needs. With art by the talented Mirka Andolfo (Damsels In Excess, Chaos), Lady Demon peaks your interest and keeps you flipping pages for just that right amount of violence, gore and PG-13 nudity. The Traveling nerd says read it and enjoy it, but don’t come in seeking high cerebral mental intriguing literature. 3/5 Smily’s agree!

The Valiant — Valiant Comics

“Heirophant” Luke
@LUKEPOISONER

Valiant Comics once again deliver the high-stakes and wildly imaginative goods with this new, prestige format team/ crossover book: The Valiant. We are introduced once more to Gilad, The Eternal Warrior, and his never-ending ( and repeatedly failed ) duty to protect the Geomancer from The Immortal Enemy. Only this time Gilad has a little help from his friends: with Aric and his X-O Manowar Armor, the nanite-powered super-soldier Bloodshot, his own immortal brother Armstrong, and a more powerful Geomancer coming into her powers. But can our assembled heroes defend the spirit of the earth from the forces of entropy and decay; or will darkness reign yet again?

Ably plotted and scripted by Jeff Lemire (Animal Man, Green Lantern) and his former Sweet Tooth cohort, Matt Kindt (Pistolwhip, Lost Girls), this first issue sets up all the pieces on the board clearly, with a steadily mounting tension. This book is going to be a blast come next issue. The artwork is somewhat of a curiosity; it is excellent, but not exactly the Paolo (and his dad, Joe) Rivera (Daredevil, Mythos) style I was perhaps expecting; he’s taken on some extra grit and quirkiness to these pages, so much so I initially almost thought he was working off Matt Kindt‘s breakdowns or something. If this is indicative of where Rivera’s style will go since his departure from Marvel, then it looks pretty exciting.

The Valiant promises to bring together the elements of the Valiant universe we haven’t seen interacting so much in the Unity or Harbinger titles; and aside from being a little saddened they haven’t included Archer, I cannot wait to see how Valiant’s heavy hitters fare against their absolute worst nightmare. 4.5/5 Defenders of the Faith

“Cardinal” Roberto de Bexar @RobBex2

Savage Dragon #200 — Image Comics

Very rarely have I finished a comic book where the only thought that ran through my mind was “what the frack was this?!” and no, not in a good way. You have to give Eric Larson (SuperPatriot, The Amazing Spider-Man)major, major props for doing this book for as long as he has been doing this. The issue is a pretty easy jump on point. For anyone who hasn’t read the book in forever, Larson recaps everything through casual dialogue which catches everyone up.

That’s not what got me.

It was the odd three-way that throws everything off for me in the book. If you read the book, you’ll understand. If you read Savage Dragon or like Eric Larson then you know his artwork (which I dig) and he continues stellar work slinging the pen and ink. The storyline is interesting and a slightly depowered Savage Dragon is actually a pretty cool idea.

But still, I come back to his son, Malcom and the crazy amount of sex that Larson has him and his girlfriend and his step/not stepsister have with each other. It read like a middle-aged man trying to relive what he wished his sex life had been when he was 18 years old. Here’s hoping that the next issue rights the ship. As it stands with this issue, this is for Savage Dragon fans only. 2/5 Fins.