Category Archives: Avatar Press

Rover Red Charlie #1 Review

Avatar Press, , , ,

roverredchar

A zombie plague has consumed New York City.  The city is literally burning to the ground, and the feeders (humans) are either killing each other or committing suicide.  Rover Red Charlie is a new mini series by Avatar Press.  This heartfelt tale follows three dogs, Rover, Red and Charlie, as they struggle to survive what appears to be the end of the world.

Garth Ennis is the writer of this captivating series.  Rover Red Charlie is not your average comic.  The story is written from the canines’ points of view, and it’s about survival, friendship and loyalty among three different breeds.  Strong, emotional dialogue that will nearly tempt you to jump inside the comic, and rescue all three canines.  I especially like Charlie, a service dog with strong leadership skills, and the feeder that sacrificed his life for Charlie was heartbreaking.

Michael Dipascale provided the outstanding artwork.  The feeders have detailed facial expressions, but it’s the canines that truly stands out among everything else.  They are all realistic looking and perfectly drawn.

Knowing that I’m always looking for new comics to read, and that I have a comic blog, one of the owners at the comic shop recommended Rover Red Charlie.  I quickly said, “Oh no” when I saw that Avatar Press was the publisher.  When I saw Ennis’ name on the cover, I said, “Oh heck no.  No thank you.”  That’s because whenever I see either name, I immediately associate them with Crossed.  I know that Avatar Press publishes comics that are beyond bizarre, so I didn’t want anything to do with Rover Red Charlie.  Later that day I realized my comic blog is about my honest reviews.  I like to read comics and share my opinions for those looking for new comics to read, or for readers who are looking for a jump-on point.  There’s a comic to suit everyone’s tastes, so for me to not read and share Rover Red Charlie would be discriminating.  I called the comic shop, asked to have the book placed into my box, and purchased it the next day.

I believe that Crossed is the only story that I’ve ever read by Ennis.  I was amazed with his writing in this book, and have decided to read more of his work.  I searched and learned that he’s written comics about a couple of characters I really like, so I’ll be Ebaying and Amazoning it pretty soon to find the books.

Although I was hooked by its debut issue, this title doesn’t fit my current personal taste.  But that doesn’t mean I won’t recommend other readers to give it a try.  It’s definitely worth reading.

VERDICT (drum roll please)

I recommend this mini series, especially to readers that are dog lovers, and/or zombie fans.

Crossed Review

Avatar Press, ,

cross25wrap

March 13, 2013 was C-Day, a day of celebration for the return of  Garth Ennis to Crossed:  Badlands #25.  Not knowing anything about Crossed, except the title, I decided to read issue #25 and a couple of trade paperbacks to see what the hype was about.

Crossed:  Volume 1.  Garth Ennis, writer.  Jacen Burrows, artist.

Crossed:  Family Values, Volume 2.  David Lapham, writer.  Javier Barreno, artist.

Crossed:  Badlands #25 (wrap cover).  Garth Ennis, writer.  Raulo Caceres, artist.

A strange virus has spread worldwide.  Those infected are known as Crossed because of the red cross-shaped rash on their faces.  As soon as the infected turns into a Crossed, all hell breaks loose and the madness begins.   They immediately become murderers, sadists, rapists and cannibals.  If they go so long without torturing the uninfected, they turn against one of their own.  They are able to talk, though their speech is limited and consists of violence, sex and curse words.

There is a handful of survivors across the world, struggling to survive.  Some of the survivors will add strays to their group, while others will rob them of their food, weapons, transportation and any other supplies for survival.

This SICK series is published by Avatar Press.  I cannot believe something like this is in print.  This is beyond horror.  It is also beyond gory.  I just can’t think of a more suitable term for it right now, except for SICK.

As soon as the infected turns into Crossed, they immediately become sex-crazed, murderers, rapists and cannibals.  And they are always smiling and laughing.  They rape, maim and kill adults, children and animals.  They tell you what they’re going to do to you both violently and sexually.  There is no holds barred for anything.  Family members turn against each other.  They also have sex with each other.  And they know it’s  their own family member.  There is one story where a mother was a Crossed.  As soon as her son turned into one, they began to have sex with each other.

The Crossed do everything with smiles on their faces.  A Crossed was being tortured by four other Crossed.  They were ripping him apart.  One was twisting his arm off.  Another was eating his intestines like he was eating spaghetti (you know how we slurp spaghetti one noodle at a time).  Another had ripped his leg off and was licking the wound.  The last one was doing the leg that was ripped off.  You read it right.  F’n a leg.  And all five of them were laughing.

They rape, kill, and everything else.  All while smiling and laughing.  Anywhere and everywhere.  They will be walking in the street, then out the blue they’ll just start having sex.  Oral, threesome and/or whatever is in their paths.  These sex-crazed beasts also have sex with children and animals.  And most of them walk around either naked of half-naked.

The virus is spread through bodily fluids.  Bite.  Rape.  Fluid soaked weapons.  Fluid soaked weapons?  Yes.  A man was shot while trying to escape the Crossed.   Two members of the group he was traveling with saw a group of male Crossed masturbating over some bullets.  They rush back to their group to find the man had turned into a Crossed.  The bullet that hit him was covered with semen.

What disturbs me, in addition to all of the above, is that Crossed sits on the shelf in my local comic shop.  But Sex is behind the counter.  I had to ask for it.  I walked right into the store and grabbed Crossed #25 right off the shelf.  The book doesn’t even have a parental advisory disclaimer on it.  This is bad.  This is sad.  Sex #1 is behind the counter (my review shows there was nothing in the story that warranted it being held behind the counter) but this sickening comic book is on the shelf, in plain sight.

VERDICT (drum roll please)

I DO NOT recommend this title to anyone.