Ah well, it's the life of a comics blogging obscurity, I suppose. Let's get on with today's Panel by panel, hm?
DEAD OF NIGHT, FEATURING: MAN-THING #1
If you've heard of Marvel's Man-Thing, it's probably for one of two reasons:
A) It was a ripoff of DC's Swamp-Thing, or
B) It was the comic that had the first appearance of Howard the Duck!!! WaAaugh!
Anyways, Issue 1 of this miniseries retells Man-Thing's origin: Ted Sallis is working in the Florida Everglades on the Super-Soldier Serum under orders from the U.S. government. Luckily, he's working with his partners Eric Schast and Ellen Brandt, the latter of whom is his fiancee.
He discovers that -gasp!- his partner is using the prototype serum on invalids!
He escapes to subsequently discover that his fiancee is also an agent of A.I.M.!
Gasp!
So Ted runs away with the prototype, but Ellen lands a bullet in his chest. Ted falls into the swamp. . .
Guess what happens to poor ol' Ted?
He becomes the Man-Thing and returns to Eric and Ellen to -what else???- wreak his vengeance*!
*WARNING: Those links are fairly explicit. This title is under Marvel's MAX line, which means it can really push up the gore, the blood and yes, the nudity. Don't worry though, writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Kalo don't make it gratuitous.
Now let's review this sucker.This entire story was framed with the character of "Digger." He's the guy narrating, and we're digging a grave with him as he talks to us.
How cool is that?
All in all, the story had smart narration, but seemed very rushed. Ted makes all these -gasp!- discoveries in the first half of the book, which seems kind of contrived. . .
BUT! I'm totally willing to believe it, because there was such a retro feel to the book. If you look at the cover, you'll see, "Beware the terror that is. . . the Man-Thing!" and that cool little "Featuring: Ellen Brandt. . . Ted Sallis. . . and Digger!" The art is a cool throwback too. You get the feeling that this is a fun book, and no, I don't mean Justice League Unlimited fun, or X-Men: First Class fun. This is fun dialed up to horror.
That said, Dead of Night definitely isn't for everyone. If horror and black humor isn't your thing, this won't hook you on them. I like the genres, so I really liked this comic book.
Four super-serum swampies out of Five. Count me in for next ish!
A Random Thought about the Comic: for once, the ads weren't the annoying Marvel merchandise schlock. It was, for once, Marvel house ads! It was awesome to see ads for Mark Millar's and John Romita Jr.'s Kick-Ass, or Garth Ennis's and Howard Chaykin's MAX miniseries War Is Hell!
It still has that annoying "hand coming out of the stomach" hot dog ads, though. Booooo.
A) It was a ripoff of DC's Swamp-Thing, or
B) It was the comic that had the first appearance of Howard the Duck!!! WaAaugh!
Anyways, Issue 1 of this miniseries retells Man-Thing's origin: Ted Sallis is working in the Florida Everglades on the Super-Soldier Serum under orders from the U.S. government. Luckily, he's working with his partners Eric Schast and Ellen Brandt, the latter of whom is his fiancee.
He discovers that -gasp!- his partner is using the prototype serum on invalids!
He escapes to subsequently discover that his fiancee is also an agent of A.I.M.!
Gasp!
So Ted runs away with the prototype, but Ellen lands a bullet in his chest. Ted falls into the swamp. . .
He becomes the Man-Thing and returns to
*WARNING: Those links are fairly explicit. This title is under Marvel's MAX line, which means it can really push up the gore, the blood and yes, the nudity. Don't worry though, writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Kalo don't make it gratuitous.
Now let's review this sucker.This entire story was framed with the character of "Digger." He's the guy narrating, and we're digging a grave with him as he talks to us.
How cool is that?
All in all, the story had smart narration, but seemed very rushed. Ted makes all these -gasp!- discoveries in the first half of the book, which seems kind of contrived. . .
BUT! I'm totally willing to believe it, because there was such a retro feel to the book. If you look at the cover, you'll see, "Beware the terror that is. . . the Man-Thing!" and that cool little "Featuring: Ellen Brandt. . . Ted Sallis. . . and Digger!" The art is a cool throwback too. You get the feeling that this is a fun book, and no, I don't mean Justice League Unlimited fun, or X-Men: First Class fun. This is fun dialed up to horror.
That said, Dead of Night definitely isn't for everyone. If horror and black humor isn't your thing, this won't hook you on them. I like the genres, so I really liked this comic book.
Four super-serum swampies out of Five. Count me in for next ish!
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