Comic News: Monkeybrain & Image Comics/Shadowline to Bring Out Masks & Mobsters Hardcover

IT’S CAPES VS. TOMMY GUNS IN MASKS AND MOBSTERS

MASKS AND MOBSTERS was hailed as one of the best webcomics of the year when it was released by MonkeyBrain in 2012, and now the Image Comics imprint Shadowline is bringing it to print in style, with a deluxe hardcover edition that collects all seven issues. Written byJoshua Williamson (GHOSTED, DEAR DRACULA) and drawn byMike Henderson, Ryan Cody, Jason Copland, and Justin Greenwood, MASKS AND MOBSTERS explores the secret stories of superheroes and mobsters vying for control of Golden City.

Writer Williamson imagines a world where, in the 1930s and ‘40s, superheroes and supervillains didn’t start appearing just in the pages of comic books but in flesh-and-blood life, confronting the underground powers that had maintained a fearful status quo.

"One of the things that always has stuck with me was... if all these superheroes started to pop up, how did that affect the mob's business?” said Williamson. “The masked men couldn't be paid off, and the supervillains didn't care about paying dues, right? How did organized crime deal with it all? I wanted to see that world from their perspective.”

Praise for MASKS AND MOBSTERS:

“Best digital series [of 2012]... an intriguing black-and-white tale about gangsters, snitches and the first caped do-gooders.”
– USA Today
 
"Smart work brilliantly presented. My favorite Monkeybrain series."
– Mark Waid

"Masks and Mobsters is such a fantastic idea that I burn with jealousy I didn't think of it first. Fortunately, Joshua Williamson, Mike Henderson, and company are doing things with the notion that I never could have imagined possible. One of my absolute favorite comics currently being published."
– Chris Roberson 

MASKS AND MOBSTERS is a 128-page, black and white hardcover, retailing for $19.99 (ISBN 978-1-60706-765-8). It will be in stores on July 3 and can be pre-ordered from the May issue of Previews.

Comic News: Assassins To Be Get Schooled in Five Weapons

When the world's deadliest, stealthiest, and most infamous assassins need a place to educate their children, an institution that respects and upholds their values, they turn to the prestigious School of Five Weapons. At the setting of the new Image Comics/Shadowline mini-series by Jimmie Robinson (BOMB QUEEN), FIVE WEAPONS, students train in the martial arts, pledging their loyalty to one "club": Knives, Staves, Archery, Exotics, and Guns.

The School of Five Weapons is turned upside down when a new student arrives, one carrying a name that all the students and teachers know: Shainline. The clubs vie for Tyler's loyalty, but it becomes apparent very quickly that this kid isn't someone who is easy to pin down. Tyler has just the edge he needs to succeed at Five Weapons — a razor-sharp mind!

Robinson writes and draws FIVE WEAPONS, and his clean, lively art is colored by Paul Little. The mini-series has the same mischievous tone as Robinson's series BOMB QUEEN but was created for a wider audience, as the "T" (teen) rating indicates.

"I wanted fun with an edge, but I also wanted Five Weapons to be smart and challenge the reader," said Robinson. "While there are plenty of weapons to be found in the pages, there is also an invisible sixth weapon between the panels: the skill of the human mind."


The showdowns are epic, the secrets are dark, and FIVE WEAPONS is insanely fun. The first, 32-page issue can be pre-ordered from the December issue of Previews and will be in stores on February 27. 

Comic Review: Comeback #1

COMEBACK #1
Written by Ed Brisson
Art by Michael Walsh & Jordie Bellaire
Image Comics (Shadowline)


FLIPPING THROUGH:

    We open to a man getting kidnapped and fall into a grand mystery. The kidnappers are partners Mark & Seth ... they work for a secret organization that were paid by the man's family to bring him to the future when he was supposed to be killed shortly after he was kidnapped. This organization gets paid to take people from the point they were supposed to die and start a new life with anew identity; even coming up with fake autopsy reports and all.

   We find a mysterious man taking a job that we THINK is for them. We have Seth feeling tired and haggard  And after we have a family who hired Mark & Seth to do a job end up missing we have ....



ART:

     Comeback has a tone of mystery and intrigue and Walsh displays that well.  There is a noir feel going with the story and art as Comeback gives the right atmosphere for the story. Walsh is about to give great emotion while still having fun with the sci fi aspects of the story. The style is simple and dark but still intricate enough to distinguish people and their emotions and fits.

    Jordie Bellaire's colors really help sell the atmosphere of the story as this sci-fi noir mystery continues it march. Scene colors match the tone of the scene. From the abduction being vivid and somewhat scary  to the dark underbelly of the way of time travel .... Bellaire really makes Walsh's art build upon the conspiracy and mysteries surrounding the story visually.

Overall all ... Walsh's art is good and solid but it is Bellaire that really helps sell it.

WRITING:

    Ed Brisson wrote a great piece here. We get a little action with a great, fast paced start. We slow down a little to get some meat. Then we get some more rising action. This was kind of shown like a first act of a movie or a miniseries that you'd see on tv. But it is good writing. Strong writing. Characters have an air of mystery but you want to know more about them. The plot is innovative as it is just taking reality and turning it up a bit instead of all out fantasy. Nothing last too  long. And the acts in the book are pretty well paced.

    Brisson knows he's got so much time and space and utilizes it well.


OVERALL IMPRESSION:

    Comeback is off to a great start for a 1st issue. It starts off strong and grips you right away and the plot keeps you coming back for more. Walsh and Bellaire are a good team together and really help give the story its noir/sci-fi feel. The story is definitely one to keep an eye on and I look forward to what we see and read next.


I give Comeback # 1 a 4 out of 5. I will come back for more.