Comic Book Reading...

As far as my reading goes, I have to say that I’m slowing down for Christmas and going for stuff that I know I’ll enjoy rather than books that will challenge me in any way (although I’ve still got a couple more reviews to post before the year is up...) What? It’s Christmas, I deserve a break! ;o) The same goes for comics although I’m little more up for trying out stuff that I wouldn’t normally read. Today’s post then is a mixture of ‘nostalgia buzz’ and ‘never read it until the last couple of days’. See if you can work out which is which, it’s quite easy to tell...



‘Star Wars: Resurrection of Evil’ (Dark Horse Comics)

When I was at primary school, the sure fire route to having loads of friends was to have a Star Wars annual full of all the stuff that Marvel were putting out after ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ came out in the cinema. You could literally re-arrange an entire classroom to suit your whim as everyone vied to sit next to you! When I saw Dark Horse’s collection of all the old Marvel Stories, I actually had to buy myself a copy. I had no choice in the matter...
Well, I didn’t have people wanting to sit next to me while I read it but ‘Resurrection of Evil’ was a real buzz to read. We’re talking about a far more innocent time where ‘canon’ was something that fired laser blasts and writers were free to get on with the serious business of writing entertaining stories that are nothing but fun to read.
Things kick off with the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ being retold in comic book format. I liked the way that the writers add little extra bits into the story to flesh things out but I’m pretty sure that Darth Vader never once called Luke Skywalker ‘youngster’, he just didn’t. Where things really got going for me though was after this story finished and writers were free to get on with the business of recounting what happened during the search for Han Solo. Archie Goodwin’s ‘Death Probe’, ‘Droid World’ and ‘The Crimson Forever’ were the highlights for me but it was all good really. Al Williamson and Carlos Garzon do sterling work on the art. As a big Star Wars fan, ‘Resurrection of Evil’ will now be sitting very happily on my bookshelf, I just need to find the others...



‘Dusk’ – David Doub

I don’t know what it is with me, I’m getting tired of seeing constant ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ clones but I keep picking them up anyway... David Doub’s ‘Dusk’ looked like it had potential but fell short for me.
The initial concept looked like it could be an original take on an established trope with abused wife Eve seeking solace in the vampire underworld and one vampire in particular. As I went through each story in the book though I felt like I’d seen it all before. I never watched a lot of ‘Buffy’ but I’d seen enough to see it all here. Woman in love with a vampire? Check. Troubled teen calls up powers that he cannot control? Check. Vampire hierarchy metes out justice on one of it’s own? Check. The one bit I really wanted to read fizzled out when one of the pivotal characters was found to be asleep! I wouldn’t mind hanging around though, just to see how that one pans out...

The stories are too short to sufficiently expand upon the characters and I found that the artwork (although admittedly impressive) seemed to be at odds with the story instead of working with it. Maybe it was just me but it was a little too cute for a story that was supposed to be pretty dark...

Like I said, the potential in one of the ongoing storylines looks like it could be interesting. Whether it’s enough to carry the book as a whole? I don’t know...