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Monday, January 10, 2022
Comic Books, Magazines and Books from Diamond Distributors for January 12, 2022
DC Comics Shipping from Lunar Distributors for January 11, 2022
Batgirls #2 (Cover A Jorge Corona), $3.99
Batgirls #2 (Cover B Hicham Habchi Card Stock Variant), $4.99
Batgirls #2 (Cover C Rian Gonzales Card Stock Variant), AR
Batman And Scooby-Doo Mysteries #10 (Of 12)(Cover B Dario Brizuela), $2.99
Batman No Man’s Land Omnibus Volume 1 HC, $125.00
Batman Urban Legends #11 (Cover A Jorge Molina), $7.99
Batman Urban Legends #11 (Cover B Karl Mostert), $7.99
Batman Urban Legends #11 (Cover C Arist Deyn), $7.99
Batman Vs Ra’s al Ghul HC, $24.99
Books Of Magic Omnibus Volume 2 The Sandman Universe Classics HC, $150.00
Detective Comics #1048 (Cover A Irvin Rodriguez), $4.99
Detective Comics #1048 (Cover B Lee Bermejo Card Stock Variant), $5.99
Detective Comics #1048 (Cover C Jorge Fornes Card Stock Variant), AR
DMZ Compendium Volume 2 TP, $59.99
Future State Gotham #9 (Cover A Simone Di Meo), $3.99
Future State Gotham #9 (Cover B Mike Bowden Card Stock Variant), $4.99
Harley Quinn The Animated Series The Eat Bang Kill Tour #5 (Of 6)(Cover A Max Sarin), $3.99
Harley Quinn The Animated Series The Eat Bang Kill Tour #5 (Of 6)(Cover B Mike Hawthorne Card Stock Variant), $4.99
House Of El Volume 2 The Enemy Delusion TP, $16.99
I Am Batman #5 (Cover A Ken Lashley), $3.99
I Am Batman #5 (Cover B Francesco Mattina Card Stock Variant), $4.99
I Am Batman #5 (Cover C Nikola Cizmesija Card Stock Variant), AR
Joker #11 (Cover A Giuseppe Camuncoli & Cam Smith), $5.99
Joker #11 (Cover B Jim Cheung), $5.99
Joker #11 (Cover C Kael Ngu), $5.99
Joker #11 (Cover D Karl Kerschl), AR
Justice League Vs The Legion Of Super-Heroes #1 (Of 6)(Cover A Scott Godlewski), $3.99
Justice League Vs The Legion Of Super-Heroes #1 (Of 6)(Cover B Travis Moore Card Stock Variant), $4.99
Pennyworth #6 (Of 7)(Cover A Jorge Fornes), $3.99
Robin And Batman #3 (Of 3)(Cover A Dustin Nguyen), $5.99
Robin And Batman #3 (Of 3)(Cover B Rafael Albuquerque), $5.99
Titans United #5 (Of 7)(Cover A Jamal Campbell), $3.99
Titans United #5 (Of 7)(Cover B Kael Ngu Card Stock Variant), $4.99
Sunday, January 9, 2022
Comics Review: "THE MAGIC ORDER 2 #3" Offers New Terror for the New Year
THE MAGIC ORDER 2 #3 (OF 6)
IMAGE COMICS/Netflix
STORY: Mark Millar
ART: Stuart Immonen
COLORS: Sunny Gho and David Curiel
LETTERS: Clem Robins
COVER: Stuart Immonen
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: Stuart Immonen; Jason Shawn Alexander
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (December 2021)
Rated M / Mature
The Magic Order created by Mark Millar at Netflix
The Magic Order was a six-issue comic book miniseries written by Mark Millar and drawn by Olivier Coipel. Published in 2018-19, The Magic Order focused on the sorcerers, magicians, and wizards that protect humanity from darkness and from monsters of impossible sizes.
A second six-issue miniseries, The Magic Order 2, has arrived. It is written by Mark Millar; drawn by Stuart Immonen; colored by Sunny Gho and David Curiel; and lettered by Clem Robins. The new series focuses on a magical turf war between The Magic Order and a group of Eastern European warlocks whose ancestors the Order once banished.
The Magic Order 2 #3 opens in Romania, one thousand years ago. The first of the Moonstones leads a band of wizards from the thirteen corners of the Earth against the dark wizard, Soren Korne. Their victory against him – a twist of fate involving a creature known as “Othoul-Endu” – changed the world for humanity. The Magic Order was born, and it made the bad things go away.
Back in the present, Korne's descendant, Victor, has gathered his forces, and they are making their move to retrieve the pieces of the Stone of Thoth, a talisman from ancient Egypt that summons anything from space, time, and beyond. Standing in their way is The Magic Order … and standing in the way of the Order is one of their own, the troubled wizard, Francis King!
THE LOWDOWN: In the wake of the Black Wedding, as seen in The Magic Order 2 #2, I was ready to go deeper into the sequel to my favorite Mark Millar written, creator-owned comic book, The Magic Order. Of course, this third issue does not disappoint.
One of the many things that Millar does supremely well as a comic book writer is make his characters, the good, the bad, and the depraved, engaging. It is one thing to fashion personalities for fictional characters that are the good guys. It is quite another to make even the most despicable villains have motivations that feel genuine to the readers – even if those motivations are … also despicable.
If The Magic Order is really like a blend of Harry Potter with a Martin Scorsese mob film, the series needs comic book artists whose storytelling chops are strong enough to make The Magic Order more than that. Here, there are dark arts families that are as ruthless as a mob family, and the magic is as big as anything found in Harry Potter media.
What Stuart Immonen brings to this mix is power and scope. Whatever he presents on the page, he imbues with the sense that there is more. He makes the masters of the dark arts characters malevolent and malignant rather than simply being evil. And what about the struggle of the heroes? Well, it's worse than it looks. The good guys may be powerful, but Immonen depicts that struggles and troubles as ever bigger. I've been reading comic books so long, and Lord, it is good to know that there are still artists that can grab my imagination and sweep the cynicism and cobwebs away.
Seriously, what Millar and Immonen are delivering in The Magic Order 2 would scare mobsters and make boy wizards pee their pants. If you aren't reading The Magic Order 2, dear readers, your pull list is out of order. And you don't need to be a wizard to fix this pitiful situation.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Mark Millar and of The Magic Order will want to read The Magic Order 2.
A
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://twitter.com/mrmarkmillar
https://twitter.com/netflix
https://twitter.com/themagicorder
https://www.mrmarkmillar.com/
http://www.millarworld.tv/
www.imagecomics.com
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Saturday, January 8, 2022
Comics Review: "NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #1" Examines the Universal Monster
NIGHT OF THE GHOUL #1 (OF 6)
comiXology/Best Jacket Press
STORY: Scott Snyder
ART: Francesco Francavilla
COLORS: Francesco Francavilla
LETTERS: Andworld Design
EDITOR: Will Dennis
COVER: Francesco Francavilla
32pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (October 2021)
Age Rating: 15+
Episode 01
Night of the Ghoul is a digital comic book miniseries created by writer Scott Snyder and artist Francesco Francavilla. It is published by comiXology as part of its “comiXology Originals” line of digital comics. This six-issue series will later be collected in trade paperback form by Dark Horse Comics. Night of the Ghoul focuses on the dark conspiracy behind a lost horror film from 1936.
Night of the Ghoul #1 opens at night in the California desert – fifty miles west of Calexico. Forest Innman and his son, Orson, race to an old folks home, where Forest will pretend to be an agent of “Northgood Health Insurance.” Under that guise, Forest hopes to meet one of the home's residents, Charles Patrick.
Charles Patrick, however, isn't his real name. He is really T.F. Merritt, a screenwriter and film director from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In 1936, Merritt shot a film, “Night of the Ghoul,” that was meant to stand side by side with James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) as seminal Hollywood horror films and as instant classics. “Night of the Ghoul,” however, never made it to the silver screen. A mysterious studio fire destroyed the footage and killed the cast and crew at the wrap-party. The film became a legend, but no footage was ever recovered … until now.
Inman, obsessed with horror films, found a forgotten canister of footage from “Night of the Ghoul,” and this discovery has sent him on his odyssey to meet T.F. Merritt. But Merritt asks one important and ominous questions: has Inman watched the film?
THE LOWDOWN: Twenty-nine of the 32 pages of Night of the Ghoul #1 are story pages. My synopsis is really only a broad overview of what happens in this first episode. There is an entire co-plot that is actually the depiction of the film, “Night of the Ghoul,” which artist Francesco Francavilla draws in beautiful black and white.
Francavilla and Snyder work as a single creative unit. Snyder's story, which recalls the classic horror films of yesteryear, and Francavilla's art, which is inherently spooky, come together in one alluring package. There is an extra creepy scene that takes place in a hall in the home that does not come across to me as ever being a script and then a series of illustrations. It seems to have come into existence whole, so convincing is the evil that it conveys. Night of the Ghoul is a world of shadow and fog, not creative process, one that will invite you inside … in time to kill you.
This first episode is not so much an intellectual experience as it is a reading experience that calls on the reader's memories and the emotions attached to specific memories. The authors seem to bid you to get inside this story and feel, perhaps, feel the way you did when you first read comic books. In that way, Night of the Ghoul is a pure pop comic book, like Francavilla's The Black Beetle comic books.
I am recommending Night of the Ghoul because it is the kind of horror comic book that makes me remember my earliest horror comics experiences – Charlton Comics and Warren Publishing. And it is the kind of comic book that gives me a reason to keep reading comic books.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Scott Snyder and of Francesco Francavilla will want to try Night of the Ghoul.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://twitter.com/comiXology
https://twitter.com/DarkHorseComics
https://twitter.com/Ssnyder1835
https://www.instagram.com/ssnyder1835/
https://twitter.com/f_francavilla
https://twitter.com/andworlddesign
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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Negromancer News Bits and Bites from January 1st to 8th, 2022 - Update #19
by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:
ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
SIDNEY POITIER - From Deadline: Former President Barack Obama pays tribute to Oscar winner, the late Sidney Poitier, who died Thurs., Jan. 6th, 2022.
From Deadline: Star tributes continue to pour in for Sidney Poitier.
From Deadline: This is the site's Sidney Poitier (1927-2022) page.
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TELEVISION - From Deadline: Partners Damon Wayans, Jr. and Kameron Tarlow are developing a female-driven reboot of the seminal 1950s sitcom, "The Honeymooners," for CBS Studios.
MOVIES - From Deadline: Actor Chris Evans ("Captain America") is rumored to play legendary Hollywood star, Gene Kelly, in an untitled film.
FILM FESTIVALS - From Variety: The 2022 Sundance Film Festival has scrapped plans for an in-person event and will be exclusively virtual.
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 12/31/2021 to 1/2/2022 weekend box office is Sony/Marvel's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" with an estimated take of 52.7 million dollars.
From Negromancer: My review of "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
From Deadline: At 654 million dollars in overseas box office, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" is now the top Hollywood film of 2021 at the international box office.
OBITS:
From Deadline: Bahamian-American actor, film director, and Black American activist, Sidney Poitier, has died at the age of 94, Thursday, January 6, 2022. He was the first Black male actor to be nominated for the "Best Actor" Oscar - for "The Defiant Ones" (1958) and the first to win it - for "Lilies of the Field" (1963). He received the "Honorary Academy Award" in 2001.
From Variety: Diector, screenwriter, and actor, Peter Bogdanovich, has died at the age of 82, Wednesday, January 6, 2022. One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Bogdanovich directed such films as "What's Up, Doc?" (1972) and "Paper Moon" (1973), and "Mask" (1985). His most famous work was "The Last Picture Show" (1971), one of the most acclaimed films of the 1970s. He earned Oscar nominations for directing the film and writing its screenplay.
From Variety: Actor, screenwriter, and producer, Max Julien, has died at the age of 88, Saturday, January 1, 2022. Julien was best remembered for his role as "Goldie" in the seminal blaxploitation film, "The Mack" (1973). He wrote and produced another seminal exploitation classic, "Cleopatra Jones" (1973). Julien was also a sculptor and clothes designer.
From APNews: Former NFL coach and player, Dan Reeves, has died at the age of 77, Saturday, January 1, 2022 from complications of dementia. Reeves a member of the Super Bowl VI (1972) champion Dallas Cowboys as a running back. He won another Super Bowl as an assistant coach of the Super Bowl XII (1978) winning Dallas Cowboys. Reeves was the head coach of the Denver Broncos from 1981 to 1992 and led them to three Super Bowls, all of which they lost. Reeves was coach of the New York Giants from 1993 to 1996. He coached the Atlanta Falcons from 1997 to 2003 and led them to Super Bowl XXXIII (1999), which they lost.
From Variety: American animal advocate and beloved television actress and comedienne, Betty White, has died at the age of 99, Friday, December 31, 2021. A five-time Emmy winner, White starred on CBS's "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" from 1973 to 1977, NBC's "The Golden Girls" (1985-92), and TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" (2010-15).
From APNews: "Betty White, an ageless TV star, was America's sweetheart" by Frazier Moore.
From APNews: "Actors, comedians and President Joe Biden" react to death of Betty White"
From EOnline: Robert Redford offers his "crush," Betty White in a heartwarming tribute.
From Deadline: Don Cheadle shares a touching tribute to Betty White. White and Cheadle were co-stars on "The Golden Palace" (1992-93), which was a spinoff of NBC's "The Golden Girls."
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AWARDS:From Deadline: The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has named the Japanese film, "Drive My Car," the "Best Picture" of 2021.
From Deadline: The 2022 / 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards have announced their nominations. "Zola" leads with six nominations. The winners will be announced Sun., March 6, 2022.
From THR: The 2022 / 79th Golden Globes Awards nominations have been announced. "Belfast" and "The Power of the Dog" lead with seven nominations each. Winners will be announced Jan. 9th, 2022.
From GoldDerby: The 2022 Critics Choice Awards nominations have been announced. "Belfast" and "West Side Story" leads with 11 nominations each. Winners will be announced Jan. 9th, 2022.
From Deadline: The American Film Institute announced the "2021 AFI Awards" Top 10 list, and the list includes "Dune," "The Tragedy of Macbeth," and "West Side Story."
From THR: Director Aleem Khan's "After Love" tops the 2021 British Independent Film Awards, winning six awards, including "Best Film of 2021."
From Variety: The New York Film Critics Circle has named the Japanese drama, "Drive My Car," as the "Best Film of 2021."
From Deadline: The National Board of Review hands director Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" it "Best Film" and "Best Director" awards. Will Smith picks up the "Best Actor" award for "King Richard."
From THR: Netflix’s "The Lost Daughter," directed by actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, dominated the 2021 Gotham Awards in New York on Monday night (Nov. 29th). The film won in four of the five categories in which it was nominated, including "Best Feature."
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"RUST" ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING DEATH:Thursday, January 6, 2022
Comics Review: "Nita Hawes' NIGHTMARE Blog #3" - Me and the Devil Blues
NITA HAWES' NIGHTMARE BLOG #3
IMAGE COMICS
STORY: Rodney Barnes
ART: well-BEE
COLORS: Luis Nct with mar and Silvestre Galotto
LETTERS: Marshall Dillon
EDITOR: Greg Tumbarello
COVER: well-BEE
VARIANT COVER ARTIST: Jason Shawn Alexander
28pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S. (January 2022)
Rated “M/ Mature”
Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander
“The Fire Next Time” Part III: “Along Came a Spider”
Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a new comic book series created by Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander. Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is written by Barnes and drawn by well-BEE; colored by Luis Nct; and lettered by Marshall Dillon. The series focuses on a woman who is on a quest to root out the evil in her city.
In Baltimore, Maryland, which some call “Bodymore, Murderland,” there is a woman named Dawnita “Nita” Hawes. She is the owner of “Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog” where citizens can contact Nita when they have a problem of a supernatural or paranormal nature. Nita has just begun her quest to root the evil out of her city – with the help of her dead brother, Jason.
As Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog #3 (“Along Came a Spider”) opens, Anansi, the God of Stories and Knowledge, arrives. Detective Harden slowly comes around to seeing things Nita Hawes' way … slowly. Nita also has a conversation with Jason.
Meanwhile, our heroine travels back to Annapolis, Maryland, in a bid to uncover the lost history of legendary blues singer, “Howlin'” Henry Hawkins. He is now a resident of “Happy Acres Rest Home,” and his body is a vessel for the demon, Corson, who continues his plot against humanity. As Nita gets deeper into Hawkins' history, Corson moves closer to her. And what does Anansi want?
THE LOWDOWN: Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog is a spin off of Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander's hit vampire comic book, Killadelphia. In fact, Dawnita “Nita” Hawes is the ex-lover of one of Killadelphia's lead characters, Jimmy Sangster, Jr.
The first three issues of Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog have established that this comic book can stand on its own. Still, writer Rodney Barnes helps the readers find delight in the threads that connect the two series. In Nightmare Blog, Barnes is offering a blend of dark fantasy and horror that is intense its violence, but also intimate in its telling. This narrative is personal because it is so much about Nita Hawes, and it is vulnerable because she is vulnerable. That is best exemplified in her conversations with her brother, Jason's spirit. For all its lovely demonic violence, this series feels like a character study that spreads out from Nita to other characters.
[Also, both Nita and Jason have paid high costs to live in the United States, and I wonder if their unhealed wounds represent all our wounds. When I say “our,” I mean Black and Brown people only, boo.]
The beautiful art by well-BEE, with its illustrative qualities, brings Barnes' potent imaginings to life. There would be no comic book without the comic book artist, and well-BEE is making Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog an incredible comic book.
With Luis Nct and company's dream slash nightmarish colors and Marshall Dillon sounds of Hades lettering, the pentagram is complete. We have a winner in Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog, the comic book I insist you read – from Hell with kisses, Leroy.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of Killadelphia and of the original Hellblazer will want Nita Hawes' Nightmare Blog.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://twitter.com/TheRodneyBarnes
https://twitter.com/jasonshawnalex
https://twitter.com/luisnct
https://twitter.com/MarshallDillon
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
http://rodneybarnes.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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