Alex Paknadel

Another “big” event that uses pieces of characters as chess pawns for the sake of the plot its creatives want to tell. Loads of body and psych horror and none of the characters’ hearts.

The initial story pulled me in and the final story at least concluded it. I know the end was meant to be strong but failed for me as I think it misreads the Scarlet Witch (like many before have, especially Bendis).

Can’t really recommend unless you like seeing long standing characters turned into horror tropes, so it’s for Marvel Zombies fans I guess… (meer)

Roofstompers is TKO Short Limited Edition #8. TKO issues 3 short comics every quarter and Roofstompers is from their September 2021 release. In this comic, New York City surgeon Carrie Thurston tries to unwind from her stressful job by going on a hunting trip to Wind River, Wyoming. However, she does not find any relaxation. Carrie is assaulted by a wild bear and taken in by an elderly couple who live in the woods. Adelei and Seraphine are helping her recover from her physical wounds but as the weeks go by, Carrie suspects that they are not what they seem to be. They have strange visits every night from what they call the roofstompers. The story then turns into sci-fi.

This comic is only 20 pages long but it still has a complete plot. There were many surprising twists and turns and each page forwarded the story using both dialogue and drawing. The eerie atmosphere added even more to the comic. I enjoyed the color scheme for the artwork. Ian MacEwan did both the drawing and coloring for the comic. The passage of time is shown through the use of colors. They show each of the seasons and one page can have more than one season on it.… (meer)

After six years in prison, Noah McGlade is unwelcome in his home town of Redfork, West Virginia, but his father is dying, and he wants to see his daughter even if he is ashamed to be seen by her. What starts as a domestic drama about the coal miners and the opioid crisis takes a left turn into the supernatural as McGlade's family secrets are overshadowed by the secret that has been buried deep in the ground beneath them for ages but now creeps into the town the way oxycodone did before it.

McGlade is a bland protagonist, especially compared to his friend D-Ray. The writing and art are just as lackluster despite the many injections of gore and body horror.

Boring and forgettable.… (meer)

The ninth and final volume of The Eleventh Doctor contains two linked stories. The first, by Alex Paknadel and I. N. J. Culbard, brings the Doctor, Alice, and the Sapling to a primitive planet where the Doctor was friends with its ruler—only the planet is highly industrialized and the Doctor doesn't remember the ruler. Paknadel's story is enjoyable, packed with great ideas, and Culbard's art is, as always, the best.

The second, by Paknadel, Rob Williams, and a host of artists, wraps up the ongoing Sapling storyline with the return of the forgotten silence. It has some great moments and good callbacks—I got chills at the return of an element from Alice's very first story way back in vol 1, and the way they defeat the villain was clever—but this title has set a very high bar for itself, and "Year Three" was not as strong as the first two years, and neither was its finale. The story didn't feel as personal to our protagonists, and the Sapling never really emerged as a character. Good stuff, and still the best of the Titan ongoings, but it seems best that it ended here.

Titan Doctor Who: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence »… (meer)