Alex Sinclair Archives - GeeksHaveGame

**ALPHA FLIGHT: TRUE NORTH #1** – Marvel Comics

Destiny “Evangelical” Edwards
@mochaloca85

How Canadian can a one-shot be? Well, Alpha Flight: True North is three stories about our favorite Canuck superteam written and drawn by a team of creators from America’s Hat. The comic starts with “Mired in the Past,” penned by Jim Zub (Uncanny Avengers) with pencils by Max Dunbar (Champions). Snowbird and Talisman investigate a small, seemingly abandoned town in the arctic circle and discover some monsters for their trouble. Dunbar’s art here is probably the best of the three stories – the monsters look genuinely creepy and Snowbird remains incredibly expressive, even when she’s transformed into a wolf. The story itself starts out interestingly, but ends a bit flat.

It’s followed up with “Monsters” from Jed MacKay (Black Cat) and Djibril Morissette-Phan (X-Men Gold). The Beaubier twins want to sunbathe after completing an assignment on Prince Edward Island, so Puck tells Marrina a tale (which Marrina refers to as a “confession”). MacKay described it as a story of friendship and history, which shines through in every panel. Morisette-Phan’s art during the flashbacks is all sepia tones and blurs, emphasizing the history half of the narrative.

The book ends with “Illegal Guardians” (ha!) that catches up with Heather Hudson and her daughter on the run while they’re being helped by Heather’s husband, James. Ed Brisson (Dead Man Logan) and Scott Hepburn (Deadpool) give us a story that feels like old school Alpha Flight, but is clearly just there to set up future stories. The cliffhanger twist makes it not as self-contained as the previous tales and it feels like this either should’ve been the start of the one-shot or the start of new, terran-based series that picks up where volume four left off. Overall, True North lives up to its name. It’s a love letter to the original Alpha Flight and fans of the classic team will enjoy it. 3.75/5 Wendigos.

-Destiny Edwards

**LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES: MILLENIUM #1** – DC Comics

You would think a line up of Brian Bendis, Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Alex Sinclair would result in something magical. That’s sadly not the case with Legion of Superheroes: Millennium. The story revolves around Rose/Thorn who is attempting to find out more about herself in a future society where she is struggling to fit in with herself. She pays a visit to Batman Beyond and there’s a small run-in with Supergirl and an elder protecting Superman’s suit. It just plain. Though I remain optimistic that this story will get better for the sole reason that the all-star cast in charge of this series. 2/5 Bibles.

-Tim Markham

**ABSOLUTE CARNAGE: SCREAM #2** – Marvel

Wow, I have thoroughly been enjoying Absolute Carnage, particularly this “Scream” mini series. Let’s start with the artwork. Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava and Erick Arciniega are doing a great job capturing the grittiness of the symbiotes– symbiotes that are not supposed to be pretty like Spider-Man. They are literally sentient bioweapons that can cause a lot of damage! The fight scenes show Scream’s offensive usage of her symbiote which was pretty cool. We also get further insight into the brutish behavior of Carnage’s “Mindless Ones”.

The story is good too. Cullen Bunn does a great job of allowing us to peer into the Scream symbiotes’ inner-dialogue. This gives us an even further view into the insanity that Mr. Cassidy is creating this time around. I also like this portrayal of Andi Benton. I was always a bit annoyed by her character; however, she is definitely holding her own in this book. As a huge fan of horror, I would definitely classify this arc as horror — this whole “GOD IS COMING” thing really creeps me out (and relative to GHG, yeah!). Absolute Carnage is really going into some dark places and I am here for it. 4/5 Books!

-Doice John

The story starts with the grand opening of Everything, a new store which sells, well, EVERYTHING. We’re introduced to a cast of people, whom most never meet, and how they come into contact with the store set in Holland, Michigan in 1980. The characters range from a city manager, a store manager, a school dropout, an electronics store employee, and an alcoholic. As the day continues after the opening, a few odds things happen and only gets stranger leading into the evening. What exactly is this store? Is it the store itself causing this?

Christopher Cantwell sells a story with a groundedness that matches its subtlety. I couldn’t help but think “and then what happened” at the end of the issue. I.N.J. Culbard‘s art gives a texture for a period, beginning and ending with store ads that echo its time. While reading Everything, I was trying to figure out what kind of story is being set up. Is the influence Stephen King, Chopping Mall or something else. It definitely fell into King territory, and was confirmed in a letter by the writer at the end of the issue. The issue’s central focus was on the characters and
their dynamics in the set up for what role they could play in what’s to come. Just thinking about kinda makes me more interested and I think that’s the effect the creative team is going for. 3/5 Bibles.

-Matthew Garza

Happy Tuesday, geeks and geekettes! Another summer Monday has come and gone, and we’ve got another rendition of Fistful of Comics here to sate us until San Diego Comic-Con rolls around later this week (and boy, you better believe we’ll be there)! We’ve got a highly anticipated premiere that hit shelves this past week, and you’ll hear exactly what we think of it here at GodHatesGeeks, where we’ll have our geek ambassadors providing ample, in-depth coverage!

Let’s jump right in before this week gets really crazy!

You might have heard that Brian Michael Bendis, a man who has easily been the best-selling and most prolific writer/architect for Marvel Comics for the better part of the past two decades, recently crossed the street to set up shop at DC Comics. It was no surprise that DC immediately folded up the really quite compelling narratives that Peter Tomasi/Patrick Gleason and Dan Jurgens had going in Superman, and Action Comics and handed the keys to the Fortress of Solitude to Bendis, who kicked things off by knocking out a six-issue weekly series The Man Of Steel to set up his sure-to-be years-long run, which by my math is going to be showing up 48 Wednesdays a year for the foreseeable future. This brings us to an all-new #1! The slate is wiped clean. Bendis has already broken a couple of major toys in the toybox and shaken up the status quo pretty seriously. Now, it’s time to fly. So, how does he do?

Really quite well. If you are a hardcore grammar person and read The Man Of Steel, you might skip the opening captions on the first page*, but as soon as our hero’s narration kicks in, Bendis keeps the narrative humming along at an excellent pace. The single-page flashbacks with Lois and Jon are strong vignettes that perfectly capture the tone of those relationships. The four pages with the League that establish the new Fortress of Solitude are efficient and do their work well. The conversation with J’onn is the most inspired scene, one of Kal’s closest friends making an impassioned plea for him to take a more direct leadership role on a planetary scale, underscored by Superman continually darting off to the save the day several times in under a minute. It reminded me of the relatively more realistic approach Busiek applied to Samaritan way back in the first issue of Astro City, the manner in which someone with Superman’s powers would have to most effectively apply them on a minute-by-minute basis. And then there’s quite a twist at the end that comes out of nowhere that certainly hooks the reader into wanting to devour the next installment right away, which is of course the ultimate priority of any quality slice of serial fiction.

The A-team of Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Alex Sinclair bring their A-game on art with clear storytelling that alternates between quiet human moments and massive splash pages that emphasize all the action and wonder we have every right to expect from any issue of Superman. 4/5 Thwarted Dominator Invasions.

-Rob Bass

*Grammar trigger-warning: and but the challenge was not having this review turn into me freaking out about this the entire time, but long story short, as an English teacher abiding in the MLA world, I am an ardent supporter of the Oxford comma (EDITOR: maybe hyperlink this to “Oxford comma”? https://www.grammarly.com/blog/what-is-the-oxford-comma-and-why-do-people-care-so-much-about-it/) and so skipping one there in the very first paragraph of the issue at the end of “truth, justice, and the American way” slapped me out of the issue at the very instant I was plunging in with an open heart. Which was fine, forgivable. AP style, the way that Clark writes as a journalist for Perry, says that there should be no Oxford comma, so I managed to bring myself over to that being okay, but then in the fourth caption box, there’s a tense-shift when everything goes to present when it absolutely should stay in past tense until the next caption, so at that point, I was like pacing my living room and freaking out about how this could have ever happened. As a result, it took me a few pages to get back to my previous open-heart mindset. I fully recognize that 99% of the folks reading this comic or review are not going to care one little bit about any of that. As is applicable to most situations, Mark Twain saw all this coming a long time ago and crafted the perfect encapsulation: “Perfect grammar—persistent, continuous, sustained—is the fourth dimension, so to speak: many have sought it, but none has found it.” But it’s still so important to me that we keep trying.

Die, Die, Die! is a tale of battling assassins and political machinations with a twist of debauchery. It is coke fueled, gory, depraved, and yet…dull. Written by Robert Kirkman and Scott Gimple, creator and executive producers of legendary comic and aging ratings juggernaut The Walking Dead, this a new addition to Skybound’s catalog.

Chris Burnham’s (Batman Inc.) artwork is vaguely reminiscent of R. Crumb here and the writing wants to be dark humor but doesn’t quite hit the mark. The characters aren’t quite fleshed out and a main one doesn’t quite emerge in this telling. Perhaps the next episode will be more compelling but this reader wasn’t hooked enough to want to find out. If you’re a fan of Kirkman, or at the least interested in his take on a genre that doesn’t involve zombies, this might be worth picking up– once the trade paperbacks get a few more issues to collect, that is. 2/5 Bibles.

-Colleen Vincent

Marvel’s X-23 is based on the mutant justice seeking trials of Laura and Gabby aka X-23 and Honey Badger. Laura, a clone from Wolverine, is on a mission to destroy the science and creators behind her and her sisters’ existence. The formula behind Laura and Gabby has been used for evil for far too long and the two sisters are out for revenge. X-23 was written by Mariko Tamaki and the main artist was Juann Caball. The overall aesthetic appeal of X-23 was extremely strong, especially with the bright visual colors and the ability to feel like you were involved in the scenes. As far as the art goes, this title was an enjoyable read.

While the concept behind Marvel’s X-23 is enjoyable enough, the writing is subpar and very cliché. I was expecting the type of compelling story and banter that readers can typically see in a Marvel-based comic, but X-23‘s claws quite never sink in. 3/5 Bibles.

-Savanna Leigh

**AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1** – Marvel Comics

Peter Parker has had a rough go of it over the years, but his day in Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 borders on absolutely ridiculous. Nick Spencer takes him through a crazy series of events that would break a lesser person, but instead shows him what really matters after he hits rock bottom. It could’ve been eyeroll-inducing, but Spencer knocks it out of the park, reminding us just how well he understands Spidey. Spencer actually made me care about Mysterio, one of my least favorite villains.

Ryan Ottley‘s art captures facial expressions extremely well and is a great complement to Spencer’s dialogue in the important moments. Here’s to hoping Spencer continues to crank out some good work with the webslinger, and we can keep our Spidey-fans happy. 4.25/5 Bibles.

-Destiny Edwards

Tag: Alex Sinclair

ALPHA FLIGHT / LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES / ABSOLUTE CARNAGE [Reviews]: Everything.

SUPERMAN / DIE DIE DIE! / X-23 / AMAZING SPIDER-MAN [Fistful Of Comics]: Calm Before The Con!