Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy

Spiraling out of the events of Heroes in Crisis (which I have not yet read), Poison Ivy has returned from the dead. But Ivy's resurrection hasn't been easy as there appears to be something in the fabled Green causing the villain to turn into a literal vegetable. Leave it to BFF and soul mate Harley Quinn to do whatever it takes to fix her friend. And when it turns out that the Floronic Man, Jason Woodrue is behind Poison Ivy's flawed regeneration, Harley will go full Thelma and Louise in a cross-country escape!

This was a great Harley Quinn story in which you can tell how much she loves her best pal, Red. Jody Houser really captures this unique relationship extremely well. There's lots of great twists and turns in this road trip farce. Well, until the last chapter. For some reason the Supergirl writer takes a great story sprinkled with comedic fisticuffs and shove in as much 3rd action carnage as unnecessarily possible. What does Jody Houser think this is- a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie?

The artwork by Adriana Melo (Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor) was good. But the cover artwork by Elena Casagrande (Catwoman) was superb! Too bad we couldn't get the entire story illustrated by her!

It was a good story that had an ending that just went off the rails. I'm okay with the disappointing end. But the last chapter that got us to it was a real put-off that ruined an otherwise flawless story.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Doctor Who The Thirteenth Doctor: 2019 Holiday Special #1 (Family Comic Friday)

 If you were expecting a Doctor Who holiday special for 2019,  sorry, it already happened! The New Year's Day episode titled 'Resolution' was the only live action fun starring everyone's favorite Timelord! But that doesn't mean that Whovians will have to go without any further festive fun! Thanks to our friends at Titan Comics, we get not one but TWO! holiday specials in sequential art form! Join Family Comic Friday as we look at the Doctor Who The Thirteenth Doctor: 2019 Holiday Special #1 and 2!

(Please Note: Rating is for issue #1 only!)

Doctor Who The Thirteenth Doctor: 2019 Holiday Special #1 
Written by Jody Houser
Art by Roberta Ingranata
Published by Titan Comics
Retail: $5.99 each

After an adventure on an interstellar amusement park, The Doctor and her companions Graham, Ryan and Yaz all seem to have differing accounts of just what happened. This isn't a case of witness bias. The Doctor recalls Graham being eaten by a carnival game. But Graham thinks that 'The Doc' is bonkers. It was Ryan who got into trouble at a haunted house- and it almost turned him into a ghost!

This case of mixed-up memories has The Doctor alarmed. Going to the TARDIS memory banks, the Timelord discovers that the ship has no memory of ever going to such a terrible planet! Thus The Doctor and the gang will retrace their steps by going to the last place recorded in the TARDIS data banks: a world that only wants the Thirteenth Doctor to leave- AGAIN!

 By the end of the first issue, this band of heroic time (and space) travelers will encounter evil toy soldiers, a evil Santa wannabe and a hidden terror that will make the blood flowing through both of the Doctor's hearts run cold!

When I first heard of a Doctor Who holiday comic special coming to stores for the 2019 Christmas season, I was thrilled! But to find out that we're getting 2 issues! Holy Cow! Santa must have known that I had been really good this year!

The story starts off kinda slow. It really doesn't reflect the holidays until about the last third of the first issue. I'm really hoping that issue #2 will be chock full of festive fun!

The idea of the 4 members of the TARDIS having differing accounts of their previous adventure made for an intriguing mystery. Jody Houser (Stranger Things) has really set the stage for what I hope will be an exciting issue #2.  

Parents and guardians should note that while issue #1 is quite safe for the entire family, issue #2 promises a menacing creature that may be too scary for very young readers.

The Doctor's companions are some of the best we've had to grace the TARDIS since the Ponds and Houser really captures their energy and personalities very well. I only wish that the artist could have done the same with their likenesses.

Artist Roberta Ingranata (Robyn Hood) does a good job illustrating Graham and Ryan. But the images of the Doctor are hit-and-miss. Sometimes it looks like actress Jodie Whittaker. Sometimes the art looks like a random cosplayer dressed as the Thirteenth Doctor. but Ingranata's renderings of Yaz are just not good. Instead of reflecting  Indian-English actress Mandip Gill, many of the panels of Yaz look nothing like her! I was  very disappointed in that.

Issues with the artwork aside, I was pleased. Despite the BBC and Chris Chibnall being Scrooges by not giving us an official 2019 holiday TV episode, Titan Comics made off like Santa by gifting us with this two-parter. Even a Doctor Who special with flaws is better than no Doctor Who at all!

Doctor Who The Thirteenth Doctor: Holiday Special 2019 #1 debuted in stores and digital platforms earlier this month. Issue #2 will debut on December 18th, 2019!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood and Vine

     Zephyr is a superhero known as a psiot, a human with psychic abilities like being able to fly and use of very powerful force fields. By day, Zephyr is Faith Herbert but a recent event allowed the world to find out her secret identity. So Zephyr has moved to LA with a new secret identity and a job as a writer for a Buzzfeed type website. 
      The move for Zephyr has been wrought with challenges but she's making her way on her own. However, she's going to have to call in the help of some old friends as Zephyr finds herself the target of a shadowy agency that's trying to make human weapons out of the psiots that reside within the City of Angels.
      This collection of Faith's first few issues as a solo act has been a critical success. So when I saw this at my local library, I had to give it a view. 
      The Valiant Comics universe is perhaps the one that I am the least familiar with. I have very little knowledge of Valiant's backstory so it took me a while to really understand what has been going on. The parts about Zephyr the superhero weren't as enjoyable as Faith Herbert the person.
       Faith is a fangirl and I delighted in catching many of the pop culture and geek references peppered throughout this book. It also gave me an idea for a new comic series which I am pretty excited to tackle if I ever get the chance. 
       Another thing I enjoyed about this book was the inclusion of the character Archer. From the series Archer and Armstrong, this is about as much as I know about Valiant. Well, that and Turok, that dinosaur hunting Indian guide. Anyways, Archer's story seemed really interesting and if I ever get a chance, I wanna check it out. Seems like it might make another good read.
      By the final chapter in this book, I was enjoying reading the Zephyr parts as much as the sections that cover her secret identities. There's at least a second volume of Faith comics out there and I am more than willing to give this series another go. 
      A feminist comic that doesn't get very preachy and doesn't seem to be anti-men. Faith doesn't always need help to save the day but when she does, she's not afraid to ask other guy superheroes to help. Refreshingly different in a day and age where the Steve Trevors of the comic book world are 198 lb wimps that only think about sex.

     Worth Consuming

     Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.