Garrison #6

(No Spoilers)
Where Sparta U.S.A. frustrated the heck out of me, in the end Garrison was successful in underwhelming me. I tried to give this book the benefit of the doubt but ultimately it was just your average comic.

Did we get more fun Francesco Francavilla art? Absolutely! Plus we get some great action scenes but that’s something that this series has delivered since the beginning.

X-files/30 Days of Night #3

(No Spoilers)

The nightmare for Agents Mulder and Scully continues as the threat increases substantially in this issue. Niles and Jones have gone from making this feel like an X-files episode to feeling more like an X-files movie.

The layouts and the pacing take on more of a widescreen feel in this issue. Mandrake’s art seems to be getting better and I like some of the huge establishing shots he illustrates. Plus, like I’ve mentioned before, we don’t have a particular vampire character we’re following so Mandrake takes the vampires we do see and seems to give us only teases of them. Whether it’s in shadows or close-up shots, he truly gives them a beast-like quality. This is a departure from the way Niles has presented them in the past which was a mixture of the human and animalistic traits. But again, I think it’s the lack of a main vampire character (so far) that drives this notion.

Ides of Blood #2

“Beware the Ides of March” (No Spoilers)

Stuart C. Paul and Christian Duce deliver another beautiful issue in this intriguing mini-series. Paul’s writing is flawless and Duce’s art continues to be amazing as we get arguably one of the most unique takes on one of the most infamous assassinations in history.

Paul’s skills as a writer shine here as the pacing is excellent. He is able to pack so much story into these issues so far that I really feel like I’m getting my money’s worth reading this comic. In a 32-page comic that only has 22-pages of actual story (standard because of the ads) you feel like you get twice as much story. I’d liken it to what Adam Beechen is doing over in Wildcats.

Garrison #5

(No Spoilers)

Alright, we got a little more with this issue than last. There wasn’t a single explosion in this issue but there was a great hand-to-hand fight at the beginning. But thankfully fighting is not all we get in this issue as we finally get some revelation here.

When I started reading the issue and the fight began to run long I was afraid we wouldn’t have room for much else. Don’t get me wrong, it was an awesome fight but this series has been leaning more towards action than story since the beginning so while I was expecting it, I was also hoping for a little more substance too. Francavilla continues to deliver some awesome fights and is still finding new and interesting ways for Garrison to finish people off. Then afterwards we get a pretty funny scene of Garrison and Agent Bracewell in a plane that I thought was amusing but again I thought we were running out of comic too quick to fit in more story.