Reviews

1. Matt Kindt’s Next Must-Read Comic: Dept. H #1 Review

   The Breakdown

   Dark Horse Comics presents Dept. H, an original murder/mystery series where each issue takes place in a 24-hour time span. Written and drawn by Matt Kindt, creator of Mind MGMT with his wife, Sharlene Kindt, provided beautiful water colors.

   Elevator Pitch

   Dept. H mashes multiple genres in a deep sea tale with wonderfully fitting watercolor art. The book’s sci-fi murder mystery evokes a sense of urgency that’ll have you flying through the pages. (more…)

2. Graphic Novel Review: The Puma Blues: The Complete Saga

   

   The Breakdown: The Puma Blues – an environmental sci-fi that rocked the indie comics scene of the 80s has been collected and completed for the first time. From the minds of prolific Ninja Turtles author, Steve Murphy, and famed Sandman artist, Michael Zulli.

   Elevator Pitch: Transmetropolitan meets Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, liberally dipped in the grittier side of the 1980s and paired with John Audubon-style nature art.

   The Verdict: The Puma Blues is the one of the best indie comics you’ve probably never heard of. But you know who has? Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Peter Laird, and Dave Sim, all of whom have been quoted singing the praises of Puma. That should be enough information to make you order a dozen copies immediately. The book is bleak, strange, a bit dated, and at times about as subtle as a kick to the groin from a Dead Kennedys fan, but undeniably earnest and disturbingly prescient. It’s not hard to see why so many prominent names in comics are big fans. Puma is must-have piece for lovers of obscure pop-culture, artsier comics, and anyone with a streak of punk rock in their soul. (more…)

3. ALBUM REVIEW: Chamber Band – Careers

   Lauren Furze is co-station manager on our streaming music station, Nerdy.FM. She also reviews the latest records from the multi-faceted Nerd Music genre and publishes her own tunes on her website, TheFifthSister, where this article was first published.

   I’m going to state this first and foremost: I think Careers is going to be one of the main contenders for the “best of 2015” title.

   Careers is the new album from Chamber Band, and is loosely inspired by the Hunger Games series. Now, that’s not to say you can’t enjoy this album without having read the books or watched the films – because you can. The band have managed to craft an album for everyone to enjoy. (more…)

4. VIDEO :: Vacation (2015) Review

   Our very own Chan Sterling caught an early screening of the Vacation revival, which comes out this week. Can the National Lampoon classic survive the experience of the 21st century reboot/ relaunch? Only one way to find out – click play and watch our Vacation (2015) review! (more…)

5. Graphic Novel Review: The Bozz Chronicles – How a Suicidal Alien Won My Heart

   The Breakdown: The Bozz Chronicles – a classic 80s comic series collected for the first time. Written by David Michelinie with art by Bret Blevins and John Ridgeway.

   Elevator Pitch: Doctor Who plus Sherlock Holmes plus ’70s Swamp Thing plus The Avengers. No, not those Avengers, the BBC show from the ’60s.

   The Verdict: Fun, charming, delightfully over-the-top. Only six issues long, so not enough time for much character development, but Michelinie still manages to make them likable enough that you’re fond of them by the end. Blevins’s art matches the tone of the stories perfectly. Worth the cover price just for issue 3, but thoroughly enjoyable throughout. (more…)

6. A Mayhem-Filled Fight Club 2 Review

   Wake up, Space Monkey. It’s been almost two decades since Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club novel was released and 16 years since the film. Now, its time to rize or die as the long awaited sequel comes back to punch you square in the ear. This review will contain some spoilers to the original Fight Club, but we promise not to spoil Fight Club 2. Just keep in mind, we’re reviewing the first issue here, so some secrets need to be shared… And remember rule #1. (more…)

7. Spoiler-Free Review: Letter 44 Volumes 1 & 2

   

   Imagine if House of Cards made beautiful love-babies with Independence Day. That’s right: Cold-hearted political schemes intermingling with the threat of alien invasion. Welcome to the troubled and awesome world of Charles Soule’s Letter 44.

   The graphic novel opens with newly inaugurated president, Stephen Henry Blades, receiving a letter from outgoing president Francis T. Carroll. In this letter, President Carroll defends going to war in the Middle East, stating it was a means to increase military size and strength in preparation for a greater threat. This threat is from a mysterious extraterrestrial race, currently building an unknown object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. They’ve been there for seven years, have yet to make contact, and NASA is still unsure about their intentions. (more…)

8. Sailor Moon Crystal Act 15 Review :: Infiltration, Sailor Mars

   The Black Moon Arc kicks off in earnest in Sailor Moon Crystal Act 15, filling Moonies with hope that this arc may not suffer the same issues as the last.

9. I Suffered Through The Martian, So You Don’t Have To

   Jessica suffers through Andy Weir’s space travel disasterpiece so you don’t have to.

10. Sailor Moon Crystal Act 14 Review :: Conclusion and Commencement -Petite Etrangere-

    Sailor Moon Crystal Act 14 sees the end of Metalia and the start of the Black Moon arc. It’s sort of a mess of an episode, but you should tune in anyway!