Now collected in hardcover, just in time for the feature-film adaptation, KICK-ASS is an adult-oriented comic that lives up to both its title and its hype. In terms of WTF moments and outrageous humor, Mark Millar out-WANTEDs WANTED with this superhero spoof.
The premise is that socially invisible teen Dave Lizewski wonders why no one in real life has ever dressed up to become a superhero like those in his beloved comic books. Out of sheer boredom, he orders a wetsuit on eBay and transforms himself into the do-gooder eventually known as Kick-Ass.
[click to continue…]
Apparently, Phillip Margolin couldn’t make up his mind if FUGITIVE should follow the adventures of a conniving Lothario across two continents, or focus on the legal challenges of defending this same character in a murder trial here in the U.S. So he decided it should be both, and then some. And the result is an overly long, unfocused mess.
The con man is Charlie Marsh, serving time in prison for tax fraud. But when he foils a prison break, freeing hostages and nearly getting killed himself, he becomes a hero. Marsh claims he experienced a spiritual epiphany during the attempted break, and writes a best-selling book that he soon transforms into popular self-help seminars held across the country. At one of them, he begins an affair with the wife of a U.S. congressman and is later accused of murdering the husband.
[click to continue…]
A few years after DC Comics invited indie cartoonists to poke fun at its stable of superheroes in BIZARRO COMICS and its sequel, BIZARRO WORLD, Marvel gets into the act with the brilliantly subversive STRANGE TALES. The result is a sure bet for the year’s most fun comics collection.
Paul Pope’s Inhumans adventure is continually interrupted by big dog Lockjaw’s desire to be fed. In a purposely overly cute style à la Hello Kitty, Junko Minzuno imagines Spider-Man depressed while living in an all-spider town, because his powers are no longer special. Dash Shaw’s psychedelic “Dr. Strange vs. Nightmare” pits the sorcerer against perhaps his greatest foe yet: the overwheming desire to yawn.
[click to continue…]
When you see the names Lee Child and James Patterson being bandied about as blurbs on a book cover, you sort of know what kind of novel it will be: one with a lone hero, like a former government agent who plays by his own rules. It seems to be a subgenre all its own in most modern thrillers, so I was a bit hesitant going into THE BRICKLAYER, the debut novel from a former FBI agent writing under the pseudonym of Noah Boyd.
Right away, this book stands as a breath of fresh air. In what’s obviously meant to be the start of a series, we’re introduced to protagonist Steve Vail at a bank robbery. While a SWAT team waits outside, Vail takes justice into his own hands, then leaves the scene to avoid any sort of credit. Right away, you get the sense that Vail is not a man to be reckoned with, and it shines throughout the book.
[click to continue…]
We could easily spend this entire page arguing if ABLE ONE, the latest from the ever-reliable Ben Bova, is science fiction or a techno-thriller using slightly extrapolated hardware. It’s a bit of both, actually. But, bottom line: It is one of the most suspenseful, insightful, can’t-put-it-down-for-long novels you are likely to read this year.
A seemingly typical day goes wrong when truck drivers and other commuters notice that their GPS devices are suddenly no longer working. Then, TV and radio stations find themselves off the air. Most phone lines and, yes, even the Internet is down. Before long, the heads of state discover that damned near every source of electronic communication is no longer working, and global commerce is brought to a near-total standstill.
[click to continue…]
