Comic Review: TEN GRAND #6/#7

Ten Grand #6
Story By: J. Michael Straczynski
Art By: Ben Templesmith

Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Digital Price: $1.99
Diamond ID: AUG130718
Published: December 18, 2013

Why has a wounded angel been chained and imprisoned on the outskirts of hell for a hundred thousand years? And why should Joe Fitzgerald care enough to help her, since it'll just slow him down in his search for Laura? Knowing that his actions could result in his permanent death, and with a civil war breaking out in heaven, Joe must make a fateful decision that will endanger not only his soul, but the soul of the woman he loves more than life itself.

Ten Grand #7

Story By: J. Michael Straczynski

Art By: C.P. Smith
Cover By: Michael Avon Oeming
Image Comics

Price: $2.99
Diamond ID: NOV130526
Published: February 12, 2014

Joe Fitzgerald finds himself with a most unusual companion on his journey to Hell: an angel cast out by Heaven and unwanted in Hell. Soon they find themselves hunted by dark forces determined to stop their mission to rescue Laura...and only one of them may survive to see the journey to its conclusion.
Sometimes it can be hell trying to get to Heaven, so just imagine what it's like trying to get to Hell.

Joe Fitzgerald is out to save the love of his life—and his afterlife—and has descended into a void between the real world and the underworld, but in doing so he has become a part of the void and is now swept up in it and forgotten why he's there and who he's looking for. And that's bad news because there are entities from his past chasing him down to stop him.

The void feels eternal in one sense, but ephemeral too because of the murkiness and memory-clouding quality it creates, like his memories and footsteps are washed away as soon as his foot leaves the ground. At least he's not alone down there, as a voice reaches out to him to pull him from his fugue. And this new ally is definitely going to come in handy.

Through these two issues, I found myself thoroughly captivated by C.P. Smith's artwork, which I again assert is pitch perfect of this change in Joe's environment. And there is a sequence in the seventh issue that is absolutely gorgeous, to the point I want it on my wall.

In a way, the story feels like it has diverted from it's main story of Joe trying to reunite with Laura, but what's going on in epic fashion in these two issues feels like it's adding to a much larger tapestry. Joe seems poised to get back on track and I think what he's just gone through in the last couple issues will carry serious repercussions. Ten Grand is proving itself to be priceless.

5 Sheep

Gef Fox
rabid reader, wrabid writer
http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/

Sheep Comic Review: Ten Grand #5

Ten Grand #5
Story By: J. Michael Straczynski
Art By: Ben Templesmith
Price: $2.99
Diamond ID: JUL130546
Published: November 6, 2013
Image Comics

Joe Fitzgerald has crossed into Hell itself in an attempt to rescue Laura, the spirit of his murdered love who had been safely ensconced in Heaven (or someplace that looks a lot like it) before all the forces of Hell tore the veil to take her down into the depths of utter darkness. But why would they take her? Why would Heaven allow her to be taken? And what's Joe going to do when he finally learns the secret behind her situation? Be assured that someone's going down for this, and going down hard.

Ten Grand has a new artist, and as it turns out, the timing is perfect. That's because Joe is in Hell. Literally.

Well, I don't remember it ever being explicitly called Hell, and I sure didn't see any guys with pitchforks standing around, but as Joe searches for the love of his life--and his afterlife--it sure felt like some kind of Hell.

It was a little jarring for the series to suddenly be sans Templesmith as its illustrator, but C.P. Smith is a welcome addition. The quasi-Dante journey into the underworld felt so alien and so eery, especially with the new art style depicting it, I was utterly mesmerized.

If the series didn't already make you feel like you've stepped through the looking glass, reading this fifth issue sure as heck will. To be honest, not a great deal is revealed that propels the story forward, but what is there certainly gives a better appreciation for Joe as a character and the lengths he will go to save Laura.

Honestly, go find the earlier issues if you haven't read them already and get on this bandwagon. Business is about to pick up.

Ten Grand #2 review
Ten Grand #3 review


5 Sheep

Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Sheep Comic Review: Ten Grand #4 by J. Michael Straczynski

Ten Grand #4 
By: J. Michael Straczynski
Published August 7, 2013
Image Comics

Joe Fitzgerald has been to heaven many times...or at least someplace that looks a lot like heaven if you didn't know any better. But now he's going somewhere he's never been before: into Hell itself, in pursuit of the woman he loves. What he finds there will change his life forever

Joe Fitzgerald has a bad feeling that something is wrong in the afterlife, and when his attempts to summon his angelic informant fail time and again, Joe worries Laura isn't as safe in Heaven as was originally promised.

His hunt for the leader of the Divine Will cult has now led to seek out the same man he killed two years ago--the same man who killed him and Laura. And since he can't talk with the angel to find out what's happening, Joe seeks out alternative means, which send him to some haunted ruins in the middle of the city. Once he finds out for sure there's something wrong in Heaven, Joe has no other choice but to sneak into Hell.

The private eye schtick really takes a backseat in this issue, as Joe turns into a crusader to save Laura. I might otherwise be a little annoyed in the wild shift in focus, but the artwork is so mesmerizing and the journey Joe takes in rescuing the woman he loves is so intense, I'm just totally enamored by this series, still.

I guess the whole Sarah/Debbie storyline was a means to get to the real focus, which is Joe and Laura. Fine by me. Straczynski and Templesmith are doing a bangup job hooking me with this series. It's gritty and poetic and terrifying all at once. And it looks like the fifth issue might do more to push the story even further than this fourth issue. Can't wait to find out what happens next.

5 SheepGuest Reviewer: Gef Fox 
Wag The Fox

Comic Review: Ten Grand #3 by J. Michael Straczynski

Ten Grand #3 by J. Michael Straczynski 
Published: July 3, 2013
Story By: J. Michael Straczynski
Art By: Ben Templesmith
Image Comics

Joe Fitzgerald’s client is dead. The young woman he went searching for on her behalf is dead. And he’s not happy about it. Worse still, someone’s shaking the foundations of Heaven, in a move putting the spirit of his beloved Laura in jeopardy. Someone’s going to pay for it…even if that means walking into Hell itself.

"Dark and Terrible Things," the third issue in this enigmatic and absorbing story, sees Joe trying to piece things together after his latest client, Debbie, threw herself off the top of her apartment building--and Joe along with her.

After his brief respite with Laura in the afterlife, he's back among the living. Well, sort of, since his first stop is at the morgue to get some answers from Debbie's corpse via some angelic mojo at his disposal. He finds much more at the morgue than he was expecting though, which only serves to raise more questions about what's going on with the sinister cult, Divine Will.

The investigation takes a bit of a backseat, however, as we are offered a glimpse at how Joe and Laura meant, and see why a woman as pure of heart as her could involve herself with a killer like Joe, as well how Laura could inspire Joe to give up his wicked ways.

This issue might feel like a holding place for some, but I thought the flashback offered a better appreciation for Joe's motivations in this story, and by the end really hammered home how epic this story could become in future issues. Between Straczynski's engaging wordsmithing and Templesmith's unparalleled artwork, it's exceedingly hard to find fault with this new series. The slight downshift in the action is about all, and even then it only helped contextualize everything.

Tragic, tumultuous, and terrifying. Ten Grand has it all.

Ten Grand #2 review

5 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Ten Grand #2 by J. Michael Straczynski

cover B Sienkiewicz

Ten Grand #2 
Story by: J. Michael Straczynski

Art By: Ben Templesmith

Price: $2.99

Diamond ID: APR130575

On Sale: June 05, 2013

Series: Ten Grand
Image Comics
"ANGELS NEVER LIE"
FDA (Federal Demon Association) Advisory. Contents contain: one cult church where incantations are encoded into the playlist; one flesh-dwelling, food-obsessed demon; one seer capable of perceiving the spirit world but blinded to this one; one missing woman; one murder; one angel with an agenda of his own; and one rendezvous between supernatural investigator Joe Fitzgerald and the woman he loves, now deceased, in what may or may not be heaven. Warning: do not operate heavy equipment while reading.

"Angels Never Lie," the second issue of Ten Grand, sees Joe following every lead he can to discover what happened to Sarah Thomas, after her sister, Debbie, sought Joe's special talents after she went missing. Joe's reasons for taking the case are two-fold: each case he can solve affords him a chance at seeing his dead lover, Laura, in the afterlife--if only for a few minutes; and the person Sarah was last seen with is the same guy Joe killed two years earlier--the same guy who killed Laura.

Divine Will, the cult Sarah had apparently joined, is one of Joe's first places to sniff around. And to do that he calls on an acquaintance with a terrible gift for seeing the demons and doorways we were never meant to see. Johnny, the guy with the second sight, struck me as a character that could really be explored further, especially since he only shows up for a couple pages.

Once Joe busts up the party inside the cult's little nondescript headquarters, he finds a demon he hopes has the answers he's looking for, but the gluttonous creature winds up leaving Joe with more questions than he'd bargained for. And when Joe tries to find Debbie to grill her some more about her sister, Sarah, things take a very grim turn.

Evocative imagery and a bevy of brutal characters add up to one of my favorite new comic book series. Between Straczynski's deftness with dialogue and Templesmith's near-psychedelic illustrations, I'm tempted to call it a deadly combination and about as close to perfect as a reader could dare ask for. This issue is a bit of a downshift from the inaugural issue, but the universe has been fleshed out even more, and a new wrinkle introduced that could really sabotage all of Joe's efforts.

A variant cover Templesmith

Can't wait to tear into the third issue.

4 1/2 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction