Review: The Reset (Comic Book)

Okay, I really wanted to pace myself on writing this review.  The Reset is another book that I had backed on Kickstarter.  This was actually a book that I had been looking forward to for a long time, as it promised a “comic of high concept sci-fi action, time travel and corporate espionage!”  Well, let’s dive right in.

The Reset is brought you us by:  Writer:  Matt Kund  -  Artist:  Kevin Zimmerman  -  Colorist:  Ertan Ceyhan  --  Editor/Letterer:  Noah Ray

The world is about experience a catastrophic event.  A scientist, Mr. Crais, has discovered some sort of time travel/teleportation that will allow him to “reset” the world to a certain point in history to essentially save the human race.  The Reset follows James, Mr Crais’s former partner, and James’ team as they try to stop Mr. Crais and his plan, which is to allow the rich and powerful of the world to maintain their wealth and power after the “reset” for a fee of 20%. 

***Maybe Some SPOILERS Below***

On the first page of the book, right away, I am intrigued.  The artwork sets a somber mood for the situation at hand, and in five panels and less than ten words, I already want to know more about the world that this book is based in.  Unfortunately, things get a little choppy from here on out.  We meet the main character, James, as he heads into work.  What he does for a living is as much of a mystery to us as is what the world he lives in.  James rescues a homeless child from being beat up by some looters inside James’ place of work.  James decides that the child can make it up to him by cleaning some labs.  Kind of strange, but I assume that this will be a fun Indiana Jones/Short Round friendship throughout the book.  Wrong.  Though the child appears to be part of the “team” in the next few pages he disappears from the cast faster than he appeared.  We do meet James’ female teammate whose name is… hmm…  I don’t think they ever mention her name anywhere.  Anyway, the pair is soon joined by another character named, Alan.  Together, they track Crais’s movements, and try to steal and recreate Crais’s tech.  Meanwhile, Crais is wining and dining with the rich and famous as they all contend for their spot in the reset.  The story advances pretty fast for a complex story, and in the end, I’m afraid I really don’t understand what happens.  I’m not sure if the reset happens, or what James’ team was really trying to accomplish, or if they even did it.

The artwork in the Rest is amazing.  The colors and linework are on point and they set the mood for all the scenes.  However, I feel like a lot of the story telling was put on the artists shoulders by the lack of advancing dialogue.  The effort was obviously put forward, but in the end, I was still quite confused on how the story ended.

The story concept was intriguing; The world is ending, and a miracle breakthrough in science will allow the human race to survive in the past… but at what point does the world reset too?  Of course, giving one person the power to decide the fate of the world is going to breed corruption, that plot device is no surprise.  Where I feel the Reset falls short is their characters.  Short of the first names (at least in most cases) we know extraordinarily little about the cast other than they are super smart and sneaky.  Okay, we at least also know that James was previously partners with Crais, but what they actually did together, and what caused them to break their partnership is a complete mystery.  On top of that, James and team’s plan isn’t exactly clear either.  It’s clear that they are capable of infiltrating Crais’s labs undetected, so if stopping him was the plan, I’m not sure why they couldn’t do that with the skills that they possess.

I wanted this book to be a great read, I really did.  It had a lot of potential.  This isn’t a terrible read, but I feel I must give it no more than 3.5 Stars out of 5.  The characters just were not relatable and there wasn’t enough context to the story.  Maybe they tried to squeeze way too much into 20 pages?  Perhaps it would have been better to plan it as 4 issue series… or perhaps a short introduction in the front of the book to set the scene?  Maybe I missed something, or maybe I just had higher expectations for this book, either way, this is just one comic reader’s humble opinion.  Please feel free to make your own judgements.   You can find The Reset here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattkund/the-reset?ref=discovery&term=the%20reset  and  Here:  https://www.facebook.com/theresetcomic/   

Review: "Sidekick For Hire" #1 & #2 (Comic Book Series)

Sidekick For Hire is another book series that I had recently backed on Kickstarter.  We always hear the story of the superhero—the main character wearing the cape and struggling to balance his/her everyday life with their hero persona.  But what about the sidekick?  On the outside, this book looks like a fun and sometime quirky superhero book, but it also manages to twist in some seriousness to the main protagonists life choices.

Sidekick For Hire is brought to you by:  Writer:  Kristian Herrera  -  Artist:  Rick Alves  -  Colorist:  Veronica Saraceno (Issue #1) & Jimmy Greenhalgh (Issue #2)  -  Letterer:  Toben Racicot  -  Logo Design:  Winston Gambro

The main character, Leo, is currently the sidekick to a hero with a bit of a reputation:  Captain Ultra.  Leo is going by the alias of Kid Alpha.  Leo reveals that he had achieved this “position” by placing an ad on an online job search site; he simply posted that he was looking to be a sidekick for pay.  From the start it looks like Leo is doing his sidekick gig with ease, but he apparently isn’t very good at it.  While busting up a gang of thieves, Leo takes a moment to check his messages and because of this careless interruption, Captain Ultra is shot and killed from behind—Tragically, this apparently isn’t the first time a hero has died while Leo has been assisting.  I suppose that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again… and again.  Leo places another ad online and awaits his next job offer.  Meanwhile, we get to see how Leo has been balancing his crime fighting career with his regular life.  Leo is in school; he has a male friend that he confides his alter ego life to, and he has supportive yet clueless parents that he visits regularly.  On top of that, it’s pretty clear that Leo’s poor ability to juggle his two lives is going to cost him a possible relationship with the girl that he’s obviously crushing on.  By the end of issue #1, it’s revealed that something more went on the night that Captain Ultra was murdered; something that will haunt Leo for the rest of his life. 

Okay, let’s unwrap this thing; I love this story concept.  I’ve read other sidekick books (from other creators) in the past, and this one holds up alongside them in my book.  Sidekick For Hire adds the twist that the sidekick is an actually occupation.  Leo is a pretty relatable character.  Although he has some fighting skills and dubs himself a “has-been gymnast,” he’s also a pretty clumsy guy that makes a lot of mistakes.  As far as villains go, Leo really is his own worst enemy.  He knows that he can get other jobs—safer jobs—to pay his bills, however he decides to follow a very unconventional occupational route just because he can’t stand working a regular job.  Not very smart, but it makes for a fun read.   

The artwork fits the book on every level.  I like all the colorful scenes, and the fun character designs.  I think that the concept for this book was well planned and had a firm theme that they had set in place.  Kudos to the art team!  They are all certainly working on a professional level!

As enjoyable as these first two books were, by the final page of Issue #2 it’s clear that these first two books were only setting the stage for the real story to begin. 

I love super hero comic books, but it’s important that we don’t forget about all the sidekicks out there that usually keep them from getting killed.  I give Sidekick For Hire a solid 5 out of 5 Stars.  I’m assuming that SideKick For Hire #3 will most likely come in the form of a Kickstarter campaign, and if so, I would recommend getting in on that one!  Sidekick For Hire is also available on ComiXology:  https://www.comixology.com/Sidekick-For-Hire-1/digital-comic/820948

REVIEW: "From Blood" (Comicbook Series)

So, I just finished reading issue #3 of From Blood, from Cosmic Times.  I supported this series on Kickstarter on their issue 1 campaign, where I was able to secure one of the foil covered variants of the book.  Somehow, I missed the Kickstarter campaign for issue #2, but I made up for it on the Issue #3 campaign and picked up all 3 issues.

FROM BLOOD is brought to you by the Following:

Story, Script, Pencils & Inks By:  Zach Bassett -- Story & Inks By:  James Whynot  --  Script & Edits By:  Martin T. Pierro  --  Colors By: Victorino Muyo JR  --  Letters By:  Michael Moore  --  Published By: Cosmic Times 

First off, From Blood is a little different from the books that I’ve seen come out of Cosmic Times.  In the past I had considered Cosmic Times to be more of a “family friendly” publisher that steers away from the heavy violence, blood and profanity.  Other than the profanity being bleeped out, From Blood covers all the rest of the bases that they had steered away from in the past.

The story opens in a mental institution where Dr. Reese is trying to make some sense of her patient, Patient 27, who has not spoken in 10 years and is prone to violent fits of rage.  As Dr. Reese attempts to make an emotional connection with Patient 27, she discovers that Patient 27 apparently can not be harmed—his body is indestructible.  Key the violent riot, and suddenly Dr. Reese and Patient 27 are escaping the mental institution to find out what gave him his strength, and what terrible sins it is that he is hiding from.  All the while, the couple is being chased by a covert government agency hell bent on unlocking Patient 27’s power for their own diabolical schemes. 

The cover art was the first thing that drew my attention to From Blood.  It shows Patient 27 crouched, with a powerful stare that is meant to instill fright, and his body appears to be covered in blood.  A lot of questions stirred in me, mostly that I wanted to see if this character had any depth or if this was just another gore filled splatter book?  But before I get to that, let me stay on the art.  I love the artwork.  It is readable.  I can’t say that about every indie comicbook that I read, either.  It’s clear what’s happening in every panel, and the art tells the story even when text is not present.  That’s what makes good comic book art.  That being said, it certainly didn’t hurt at all that the line work, and colors in From Blood are spot on also.  The use of all the “cool” tones sets to mood for the emotion that Patient 27 is experiencing—it puts you in the mental institution.  Great work by the art team.   

So, on the outside, yeah, the squabble for a super soldier serum kind of storyline has been done a million times over, so what makes From Blood stand out?  It’s the characters.  Each character had a well thought out personality and back story that adds to the suspense and the twist to the arc.  Dr. Reese, a divorcee that struggles with her own insecurities in her life choices and her faith—Marco carrying a heap of guilt and uncertainty in his actions against his friend—and of course Patient 27 and the source of all his rage and his drive—each character has an interesting part to play in this story and in turn engages the reader to root for them.  I can’t say this enough, characters are what make a good story. 

If I had to pick on something in From Blood, (which I don’t have to, but I will for the sake of balance), it would be the final antagonist in the story.  I found him to be bland in design and his back story was too much evil political scientist that somehow appears to have a license to do whatever he wants.  To me From Blood is a character driven story, and the villain’s character just felt a little blah compared to the rest of the cast. 

This series is a solid 4.5 out of 5 Stars for me.  A very entertaining read that I'm proud to have supported.  I would highly recommend you give this title a chance and consider checking out more titles from Cosmic Times!

Where to Find it:  http://cosmictimes.net/shop/