The epic sequel to DC vs. Vampires barrels toward a chilling conclusion! Matthew Rosenberg and Otto Schmidt reunite to bring their tale in the DC vs. Vampires universe to a shocking end, set against a world plunged into a grueling winter. As the human resistance gathers strength against the menacing vampire queen Barbara Gordon, an even more sinister threat lurks just beyond sight.
The malevolent Darkseid has tightened his grip on this ravaged planet, forcing a tenuous alliance between humans and vampires. To stave off complete annihilation, they must join forces to confront the terrifying New God. But their ultimate victory\ lies in a prophecy surrounding the child of Mister Miracle.
Can these bitter foes keep from tearing each other apart long enough to uncover their greatest chance at survival? This collection delivers the foreboding conclusion of DC vs. Vampires: World War V, including issues #7-12.
We're excited to announce IDW head writer for Transformers: All Hail Megatron, Shane McCarthy, as an official guest for Ia-Con Online! Oh, and did we mention he’ll be answering YOUR questions during the con? Send them in now using the link below:
ASK SHANE McCARTHY
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Panels Far, Far Away: A Week in Star Wars Comics 5/8/19
This Saturday was both May the Fourth (Star Wars Day!) and Free Comic Book Day. This not only means we got an extra (free!) Star Wars book this week, but both Marvel and IDW provided strong showings for their own comics taking place in the galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars Adventures Free Comic Book Day 2019 written by Cavan Scott and art by Derek Charm
Free Comic Book Day books are often a bit of a mixed bag. There is an unfortunate tendency for some publishers to release comics that function more as glorified advertisements for their product than a comic in their own sense. While at the end of the day the product is, well, free, the spirit of the event should always be about making comics feel welcoming and fun to new, especially young, readers. Luckily, IDW’s showing this year is a colorful delight and a great comic to share with Star Wars fans young and old.
I was more than a little surprised to open up this book and find Crater and Lina stalking their way through Darth Vader’s castle on Mustafar. Any return to Tales from Vader’s Castle is welcome in my book, but I hardly expected Cavan Scott and Derek Charm to return us to this delightfully creepy miniseries so soon. Derek Charm’s art in Vader’s Castle was easily his best work on Star Wars to date and seeing him return to these vibrant colors and creative layouts is a visual treat.
The issue picks up between chapters four and five of the original book and finds Lina telling Crater about a failed job conducted by Han Solo and Chewbacca in their early years of smuggling. Unlike the original series, Charm remains to do the art for both the frame story and the “tale” in question. It gives the comic a sense of visual consistency, and I will never turn my nose up at more Derek Charm, but combined with the story’s more playful tone, the creepy atmosphere of the original source material is lost. Despite the framing and similar color palette, this story as a whole feels more in tune with a regular installment of Star Wars Adventures than with Tales form Vader’s Castle. For a Free Comic Book Day title this is a more than welcome decision, but it begs the question of why tie this title into the Halloween mini-series to begin with.
Regardless, it’s really hard to find much to complain about for a free comic, especially one as fun and visually striking as this. It makes for a joyful read and keeps the spirit of the biggest day in comics intact and thriving.
Score: B+
Star Wars Adventures #21 written by Cavan Scott and Shane McCarthy and art by Derek Charm and Nicoletta Baldari
Two Cavan Scott and Derek Charm collaborations in one week is a delight in and of itself. It also helps here that their headlining team up of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker makes for one of the best stories that Adventures has delivered in recent months.
Tasked by Leia with organizing a key supply exchange with a picky alien merchant, Han and Luke find themselves on the planet of Rion in the Outer Rim. While Luke has the mission on his mind, Han can’t help but pass up taking part in a local swoop race. The catch? Renting a vehicle for the race costs half of the crew’s money for their deal. The twist? The other racers are intent on cashing in on a bounty on Han’s head.
What follows is an incredibly fun chase story that sees Han trying to win a race with not only the rebellion but his own freedom on the line and Luke trying his best to assist from the sidelines. It makes for a high stakes set piece for our characters and allows both of our central heroes plenty of opportunities to shine. Scott keeps finding clever ways to complicate the race and force Luke and Han to think on their feet and Charm illustrates it all with a clear sense of energy and style. It’s hard to believe the whole thing comes in at just twelve pages.
Shane McCarthy and Nicoletta Baldari’s secondary story about an unassuming Chandra-Fan named Kabe’s heist of important Imperial supplies is less flashy but just as fun. Baldari’s visual storytelling here is a standout and Kabe comes across as a strong personality without ever speaking a line of dialogue. She speaks through emoji-like images and just as often through well drawn body language and facial expressions. There’s also a certain undeniable charm to seeing her outwit and out maneuver trained Imperial soldiers with ease.
Score: A-
Star Wars Age of Rebellion: Boba Fett #1 written by Greg Pak and art by Marc Laming
Honestly, I’m more than a little shocked at the lack of Boba Fett in Marvel’s publishing line. After how prominent the armored bounty hunter was in Legends continuity, it only seemed natural that we would eventually get a Boba Fett miniseries or even ongoing. However, coming up on year fives of the Marvel Star Wars license, Boba has barely even guest starred since the first arc of Jason Aaron’s run on Star Wars back in 2015. Luckily, fans are sure to get all that they want out of “Hunter’s Heart,” the latest story form Age of Rebellion.
It’s clear that we are in for something special when a wordless Boba Fett rides a robotic horse into town looking for fresh bounties. Writer Greg Pak frames Boba as an almost entirely mute character, keeping him as a mysterious and deadly source of on high justice. Pak’s story of Boba hunting down another hunter gone rogue feels like an old fashioned Western with an added Star Wars flare for the dramatic and spectacular. Pak keeps Boba’s wordlessness as a source of tension and crafts him into a capable enigma whose actions reveal more about the man beneath the mask than words ever could.
The real star here proves to be Marc Laming’s outstanding pencils. Laming is clearly proud of his work here as evidenced by his Twitter teases for this issue going back months and he should be. Incredible work clearly went into the craft of this issue and the result is frequently stunning. Laming’s pencils are dependably detailed and dynamic and the results here are just as great. Combined with Neeraj Menon’s pitch perfect coloring, “Hunter’s Heart” is a visual feast from the formerly mentioned robotic horse, to burning villages, to the strange mushroom like foliage, and even to Boba himself.
If you are a fan of Boba Fett you owe it to yourself to grab an issue of this stellar comic as soon as possible. I mean, Boba on a robot horse. That should really be all you need.
Score: A
Star Wars Doctor Aphra #32 written by Simon Spurrier and art by Wilton Santos and Caspar Wijngaard
It’s a new day for Doctor Aphra. Freed from her ties to the Empire, the rebellion, or psychopathic droids, the good doctor finally returns what she is best at: robbing ancient tombs for her own profit.
Simon Spurrier returns Aphra back to basics with the closest thing this series has had to a breather in close to twenty issues. While there is still plenty of “space Indiana Jones” action to go around, Spurrier slows down the pace for an issue that is more about theme and character. Fittingly, Spurrier calls back to the series’ start in more ways than one. While Kieron Gillen opened up Doctor Aphra with a story about the relationship between the titular anti-hero and her obsessive archaeologist father, Spurrier takes a similar route and explores Aphra’s perhaps even more complicated maternal issues.
It turns out that neither side of Aphra’s parenting was really all that cut out for the job. While her father is an easily distracted dreamer, her mother proves to be cold and pragmatic and together they form a picture of just the sort of woman that Aphra would grow to be. Thematically, Spurrier builds off this to pair Aphra with former Milvayne runaway, Vulaada. Giving Aphra a new sidekick to bounce off now that the usual suspects have shuffled off their mortal coils or disappeared to parts unknown is a welcome decision and seeing how Aphra handles working with and looking after a much younger woman is rife for the sort of wild storytelling we’ve come to expect from this series. Spurrier closes the issue out with a welcome return that is sure to leave fans buzzing and opens up for what should be an exciting arc.
Unfortunately, visually, “Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon” proves to be a disappointment. Between Kev Walker and Emilio Laiso, Doctor Aphra has had some stellar art teams in the past and while a new visual team is welcome, the results here aren’t as strong as one would hope. “Doctor Aphra #32″ splits the visuals by time period with Caspar Wijngaard and Stephane Paitreau handling the story’s flashbacks to Aphra’s childhood and Wilton Santos and Chris O’Halloran bringing to life the contemporary adventures. Of the two Wijngaard and Paitreau prove the most successful with striking pencils and character designs that capture the emotional intimacy of the scripting well. Santos and O’Halloran on the other hand struggle. Between Santos’s awkward eyes and uninspired environments and O’Halloran’s often ineffective or hollow coloring choices, it’s hard not to feel a little let down by the look of this issue, especially when tasked with bringing to life a trap laden alien tomb.
