Comic Review: Debris #3

Debris #3 (of 4)

Story by:Kurtis J Wiebe

Art By:Riley Rossmo
Price:$3.50

Diamond ID:JUL120496

On Sale:September 26, 2012

Series: Debris

Maya and Kessel leave the world of ruin behind to discover a whole landscape of pure nature. The legend of Athabasca is true, but there is formidable opposition blocking their way and it becomes very clear: they are not alone.

Passing the halfway mark of this mini-series, I am left wondering just how many questions are going to be answered by the time I read the fourth and final episode. Because at this point, issue #3 offers more questions than answers. In that regard, this is feeling a bit like the other four-part series I read from Image called Grim Leaper, an entertaining series, but frustrating in its delivery. 

Picking up where the second issue left off, Maya and her cagey new companion, Kessel, head into the hills in search of Athabasca, a fabled land that is the last bastion for humanity. The story flashes back to Maya's childhood, as she is mentored by a protector of their home town of Maiden. The action scenes really are the best part of this series with electricity crackling in each battle, and Maya continues to be the shining star of the entire story. 

But where the flashback ends and is followed by another quick and exciting battle scene with one of the mechanical monstrosities, the rest of this issue amounts to a lot of walking and talking. Maya and Kessel climb the mountains and find signs of life inside a cave, but the revelation in the last panel is more aggravating than anything else, because it feels like the plot is being thrown off on a wild tangent. There is only one issue left now, and the story is nowhere near where I thought it would be after reading the first issue. Maybe there are more issues in the works, or maybe the fourth issue will miraculously wrap this series up in epic fashion. Personally, I'm guessing it'll be the former. 

For a series with such a strong premise and fantastic artwork, the story has been fading with me. Still, one more to go and my doubts could be dashed. I've got my fingers crossed.

reviews of issue #1 and issue #2

3 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox
rabid reader, wrabid wrier
Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Sheep Comic Review: Debris #2

Debris #2 

By: Kurtis J. Wiebe and Riley Rossmo

In the first issue of Debris, Kurtis and Riley quite effectively introduced Maya as a gorgeous redhead with unparalleled combat skills among her post-apocalyptic village. And following the death of her mentor and the encroachment of giant man-hunting machines, she left the relative safety of her village in search of Athabasca, the legend of a place that can help them with their dwindling resources and decaying machines.

The wastelands beyond her village's walls are lousy with giant mechanical monsters, but that's not much of a problem for Maya, as evidenced by the way she puts a stomping on what looked like a cross between the Tinman and a werewolf in the issue #2's opening pages.

When a sandstorm forces her to seek shelter in a ghost town, she discovers she's not alone out there in the desert. Kessel, an ex-pat from her home, has been holed-up alone for years, but the rumors Maya has been told about his departure turn out to be lies and she's left to wonder why. But there's not a lot of time to think about that, because she has to traverse some treacherous landscape if she has any hope of finding Athabasca. And that's not going to be easy with a marauding band of those wolf-like machines tailing her--and something else.

Again, the artwork is remarkably stunning for such a barren setting. Everything on the page just kind of pops and there's a kinetic feel to all of the action scenes, which is bolstered by incredible monster designs and Maya's all-round badassery.

If I'm going to take exception to anything, it's the unspoken little details left hanging from the first issue. At the end of the #1, Maya saw what looked like the ghost of a machine rising into the sky after it was destroyed. There is no mention of that or anything like it in this second issue. Also, Maya was knicked by one of the machines in the previous issue, and one of the shards left on the ground burrowed into the sand of its own volition. What the heck was going on there? Well, this second issue gave no explanation on that either.

Now at the midway point in this series, I really have to wonder just where everything is headed and what questions are going to be answered. Well, I have the third issue on my to-be-read pile, so I guess I'm going to find out.

3 and 1/5 out of 5 Sheep 

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox 

rabid reader, wrabid writer 

Sheep Comic Review: Grim Leaper #4

"Grim Leaper #4" by: Kurtis Wiebe & Aluisio C. Santos

Okay, if you've been following this mini-series like I have, you've probably been waiting for a pretty big payoff to what has in the previous three issues been shrouded behind a love story. Hey, the love story is great. Lou and Ella are a cool couple adapting to an extremely weird situation. I mean, if you died and wound up getting resurrected over and over again, each time suffering a horrifically violent death only to wind up sucked into the body of another random person, wouldn't you flip out just a little bit? I thought so.

What has been gnawing at me for the entirety of this series is not the relationship between Lou and Ella, but the nature of their circumstances. Each time Lou died, he wakes up in an ethereal corridor with portraits on the wall of each person he's been resurrected into. From there, the portrait of the next poor soul he's due to inhabit swallows him up, and he wakes up inside that person's body--and projectile vomits like it's an Olympic event and their measuring for distance. Why is this happening?

As best I can tell, it's so Lou and Ella can fall in love. That's it.

If that's the case, that was a letdown of an ending for me. Oh, the overall love story and redemptive aspect of Lou's character are great, but by the end of this final issue the whole thing felt like that season of Dallas where Victoria Principle wakes up and finds Patrick Duffy in the shower. It was all a dream, none of it mattered, now f--k off and live happily ever after. And the whole jump into Ella's point of view came out of nowhere, as the backstory reveals the two actually met on the night Lou died.

I'd say this four-part series really needs to be read in one big go, like when there's a trade version or if you have all four issues in hand and at the ready. Because, waiting weeks at a time between each issue could lead to disappointment from anticipating things you've set up in your own mind. Wiebe and Santos have a really interesting story here with two very likable characters, but the supernatural aspects of their relationship needed a more drawing out for my liking.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox 

rabid reader, wrabid writer

Sheep Comic Review: Grim Leaper #3

Grim Leaper #3 by Kurtis Wiebe and Aluisio C. Santos

I'm really starting to wonder just where this mini-series is headed. In the first two issues, I was hooked watching Lou and Ella find each other and fall in love while discovering the nature of their predicaments--a euphamistic way of describing the violent, gruesome deaths they suffer each and every time they are resurrected into the bodies of total strangers. It's such a strange concept. You die, wind up in a limbo of sorts, get sucked into the portrait of a stranger, and wind up inside their body, breathing in and out one more time, only to wind up dead all over again days or even hours later.

It's quite clear after the first two issues that someone is pulling their strings, though it's thoroughly unclear as to why. I was hoping for some answers to that with this third issue. What I got was more questions.

The second issue left off with Ella and Lou getting into an especially grizzly car accident, so the third issue naturally started with Lou coming back to life in the body of someone else. Whether these people are about to die anyway or mere victims of circumstance, that's never discovered, along with much of what's going on. Miraculously, Lou and Ella find each other again, practically without trying and decide to go on what could be called their first date.

The date, like all of their encounters, ends with a fatal conclusion. The key difference this time, however, is their demise is of their own design. Well, the car wreck was kind of Ella's design too, but this time around Lou is included in the deathwish. What happens after that really throws the story into an unexpected direction.

Honestly, I'm really looking forward to reading the fourth and final issue of Grim Leaper, but more out of hopes to see the main story meet a satisfactory conclusion with at least some kind of explanation as to what and why is happening to Lou and Ella. But with this third issue offering no answers on that front, I've become skeptical as to just how much will be revealed in the end. I'm a fan of ambiguity and all, but I don't think I'm going to be too pleased if the series ends on that note.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Getting 3 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

rabid reader, wrabid wrier

Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Sheep Comic Review: Grim Leaper #2

Grim Leaper #2 (of 4)
Story by:Kurtis J Wiebe

Art By:Alusio Santos
Price:$3.50

Diamond ID:APR120538

On Sale:June 20, 2012

Series:Grim Leaper
Image Comics

Lou Collins: Serial Leaper. Lou desperately tries to find Ella, the woman with an identical curse, before his next horrific death. But, there's malevolence waiting in the darkness, something that wants to kill Lou before he even gets the chance. Something alive. 

In the first issue of Grim Leaper, Lou met Ella. They're both dead, but neither of them will stay dead for some reason. No sooner do they die a violent death, then they get sucked out of limbo and resurrected in the body of someone else. Each thought they were alone with their affliction until they met, and now it's like love at first sight. The trouble is that when Ella died at the end of the first issue, Lou had no idea whose body she would wind up in next. He just had a reasonable hunch she'd be resurrected somewhere in the same town, just like what happens to him each time he dies.

As the second issue begins, Lou finds out the name of the dead gal Ella had inhabited. So, what's a boy to do? Why, go to her funeral, what else.

Well, that would have been interesting, but it turns out that the person whose body Lou is inhabiting has a bit of a sordid past that's about to catch up to him, and in the form of an excruciating and untimely demise before he can track down Ella.

It's in his new body, of a transit bus driver, that Lou begins to grasp mortality a little more, and the aftermath of death for the loved ones of the dead. In his new body, Lous discovers the bus driver is married, which brings the specter of what this wife will be left to deal with when he is inevitably killed off in another cruel twist of fate. His only real solace comes in the form of Ella who finds him by chance in her new body, which makes them wonder how intertwined their paths through the afterlife really are.

While this issue didn't do much more than cement the severely odd relationship and circumstances between Lou and Ella, it did it incredibly well. The electricity crackles off the page thanks to more fantastic artwork from Alusio Santos, and the dialogue sharpens up even more thanks to Kurtis Wiebe's writing.

Halfway through this four-parter, however, I'm left to wonder where the story is actually headed, as the unseen force propelling the two lovers from life to death and back again has yet to make its intentions known. Hopefully, by the end of the third issue, there will be a clearer sense of the ultimate fate for Lou and Ella.

4/5 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

Rabid Reader, Wrabid Writer

http://waggingthefox.blogspot.com/

Sheep Comic Review: Debris #1 by Kurtis Wiebe

Debris #1 (of 4)
Writer: Kurtis Wiebe
Artist: Riley Rossmo
Image Comics

On Sale: July 25, 2012

“In the far future, humanity has doomed planet earth to rot and decay, covering her surface with garbage. Now, ancient spirits called the Colossals rise from the debris and attack the remaining survivors, forcing the human race to the brink of extinction. One warrior woman, Maya, sets out to find the last source of pure water to save the world before the monsters bring it all to an end.”

Post-apocalyptic landscapes can be a dime a dozen, so each time a story with such a setting comes out it needs to strike its own chord. In the case of this four-part series, Debris, it looks like it'll be the red-headed prodigy turned protector named Maya. Oh, and the giant robots roaming the baron wastelands.

Maya, along with her grizzled mentor Calista, scout along the outskirts of their hometown as huge robotic creatures encroach on their territory. The desolation is established quickly, as is the harshness of the environment. It's never stated outright what happened to the planet for things to wind up the way they did, but you get the sense that Maya and her fellow survivors are barely hanging on.

Maya is a warrior though, emphasized by the sudden and audacious way she battles one of the mechanical menaces in the opening pages. It's a bleak story, but Maya manages to look like she's just come from a Maxim shoot. The most bad-ass protector the village has also happens to be the most unreasonably flawless in appearance. Go figure.

She mentions how she's a bit of an outcast in a town of dwindling resources and able-bodied, and she might wind up a memorable character in the end, but this first issue barely manages to set the stage and establish the determination and bravery she has going forward. There's no real clue as to what the conflict is, as its only alluded to, and a wild swing into the mystical at the very end felt like a speed bump rather than a twist.

The story feels too murky yet, but it did provide an exciting start to what could be a very engaging series. The history of Maya and her village is going to be fleshed out more, hopefully in the next issue, in order to put some meat on the bones of this story. I'm intrigued enough to want to check out the second issue, as it shows a lot of promise.

3 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox
rabid reader, wrabid writer
Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Comic Review: Grim Leaper Issue #1

Writer: Kurtis J. Wiebe
Artist: Aluiso Santos
Cover art: Aluiso Santos
Image Comics
Cover price: $3.50
Release date: May 30th, 2012

A brand new series from the mind of critically acclaimed writer KURTIS J. WIEBE (GREEN WAKE, PETKER PANZERFAUST), GRIM LEAPER is a gory romantic comedy. Lou Collins is caught in a cyclical curse of violent, gruesome deaths and new beginnings in the bodies of strangers. With no clue why, Lou desperately searches for a way to break the curse and cross over peacefully to the other side. Then equally doomed Ella comes along. It's a love story to die for.

A love story to die for. That's the tag-line for this four-part series from Image Comics. My hokey senses were tingling when I looked at the cover, but there was something to the puntastic title--Grim Leaper, get it?--that enticed me.

The story revolves around Lou. Lou's dead. At this point you might be thinking, oh great, another zombie comic. Nope, this book is way trippier than that. Ya see, Lou died a couple months ago, but instead of floating off to the pearly gates or fading into oblivion, Lou leaped into the body of someone else. What's stranger is that he barely has time to get comfortable in his own skin--or whoever's skin it is--before the specter of death rears its head again and Lou dies a horrible death all over again. Think Quantum Leap meets Final Destination.

Lou doesn't know why he keeps getting resurrected, or why he always winds up in the same small town, or why it feels like he's being given a second chance to do something but keeps getting killed before he can figure out what it is. It's like there are two cosmic forces playing tug-or-war with poor ol' Lou's soul. He's utterly alone, whether in limbo or back on Earth in someone else's skin. And then he meets Ella and everything changes.

By the time I got to the final panel of this book, I was hooked. The balance of suspense and snarkiness is done really well, and this first issue sets up the players and the stakes perfectly. what took me a little while to get used to was the artwork. The character designs had an overtly cartoonish feel to them that really dampened the grim subject matter. But as it wore on, it seemed the choices in point-of-view improved greatly and the liveliness of the characters shone through much better. The settings also built up well with varying shades of reds, blues, and greens, depending upon the scene.

The whole boy-meets-girl story ought to be very fun as the series goes on, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the second issue to pick up where things left off. Lou took a bit of effort to root for, as he's a tad dickish in the beginning, but he's downright likable by the end of it. Wiebe and Santos have something with a lot of potential here. I just hope the schtick doesn't outshine the story.

4 Sheep

Guest Reviewer: Gef Fox

rabid reader, wrabid writer
Wag The Fox: a den for dark fiction

Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productio
ns, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.