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Well! Um, yeah, what to say about Issue #4 of Bigfoot: Sword of the Earthman (written by Josh S. Henaman, line art by Andy Taylor, color by  Thomas Bonvillain)? I can tell you this: I won't be able to say whatever it is I have to say without revealing some big spoilers, so consider yourself warned. As a recap, Bigfoot was summoned to Mars from Earth by the hunted and persecuted Council of the Blue to Mars, because reasons. He hooks up with a bard/conman named Castor Bagworm, and the two escape captivity under the tyrannical Lord Jeoffa. After two more hair-raising escapes - once from the army of Lord Jeoffa's rival Queen Mara and then from

The latest chapter in Lazarus (writing by Greg Rucka, art and lettering by Michael Lark, color by Santi Arcas) is slow and oddly discordant with itself, but worth the money. I say buy it and then hold on for Lazarus #3, when things promise to get more interesting. First, quick recap. The world's been taken over by 16 hyper-rich Families, who are so wealthy and powerful that governments and borders are now irrelevant. Forever Carlyle is the Lazarus of Family Carlyle, genetically engineered to heal almost any wound instantly and then trained to be the "sword and shield of her family." Translation: The other Carlyles do rich people stuff. Forev

I was about halfway through my first reread of Not My Bag (written and drawn by Sina Grace) before I realized that it was about me. Well, okay, not specifically me. That would have beeen creepy, and in more than one way ("He knows about the clown suit and the trained ferrets?!"). It is, however, a pretty accurate portrayal of what every artist goes through when they have to work a "real job", and any artist who has will get an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu if he reads this book. Not My Bag opens after the narrator (Grace or an artist who just happens to have written some of Grace's books) crashes his car and has to get some f

Serena is a woman with a lot on her mind, like whether she's a cyborg assassin from the future or just crazy, why she just killed her mother and a perfect stranger and why those human-headed octopi are crawling in through her window. Like I said, she has a lot on her mind. The Code Crimson (writing by Elizabeth Fernandez, art by Lisa Perz), which started its third issue yesterday. When the story opens, Serena is a librarian who's hearing voices, or at least a voice, inside her head. She seems fairly cool with it, though, which would imply that she's been living with this for a while. Other than that, there's nothing really special about her

I had a few bad moments when reading Quantum and Woody #1 (written by James Asmus, art by Tom Fowler, color by Jordie Bellaire, suggested by Kenneth at Maximum Comics in Las Vegas, NV). I saw a scientist hurriedly running from a laboratory where Unspeakable Experiments had undoubtedly taken place, a mook catching the scientist and finally a hooded, full-lipped guy surrounded by high-tech squickiness congratulating the mook for doing what mooks do best. The overall atmosphere smacked of Grant Morrison's The Filth or Daniel Merlin Goodbrey's Necessary Monsters - that is, an untouchable secret society maintaining an odious status quo, and those

Remember how I said back in my review of Bigfoot: Sword of the Earthman #2 (written by Josh S. Henaman, line art by Andy Taylor, color by  Thomas Bonvillain) how Bigfoot - you know, the title character - had displayed the same initiative and awareness as a bearskin rug in his own comic book? How he was basically the sidekick to the sidekick Castor? That may be changing. First, a recap. After escaping the clutches of Lord Jeoffa and being encouraged at swordpoint to join the army of his rival Queen Mara, Bigfoot and bard-cum-con-man Castor Bagworm have their desert outpost attacked by a swarm of moth-vampires. For revenge, the survivors load

I really wanted to like Dunkin Skids, written and drawn by Shakeem Winn. Unfortunately, it has some serious polish problems, and I'm afraid I can't recommend it until they're resolved. And that's a shame, because Winn has written a good story that has sucked me in, and it promises to get better and better. It's how he's chosen to tell his story that I have issues with. The eponymous Dunkin Skids is a drug runner and former junkie living in Goddamn City with his daughter Kim. Dunkin promises Kim that he'll get her out of Goddamn City and into a better life, she heads off for parts unknown, and Dunkin's addiction comes roaring back. He manag

Science fiction is almost never about the future. Science fiction, like Lazarus #1 (writing by Greg Rucka, art and lettering by Michael Lark, color by Santi Arcas) is about the present, with the writer's concerns and phobias magnified, then flung far into the future or onto a distant planet to make them more palatable to the reader. That's why science fiction is so bad at predicting the future. It focuses on the concerns of today - things that loom large now but may be trivial, nonexistent or transformed beyond recognition tomorrow. That being said, though, I think that the future contained in Lazarus is quite possible. Lazarus #1 - suggest

Dust: Withered Earth (written by James Ninness, drawn by John Narcomey) starts about 180 years after an apocalyptic "plague" on Earth. Scientist Deborah Adams is travelling from the ruins of Mexico to the ruins of San Diego with soil samples, which can help her colleague Dr. Curran develop fruits and vegetables that can grow in the barren soil, something that hasn't happened in two centuries. Unfortunately, her party ambushed and killed, and she's nearly raped by a clan of cannibals.  Fortunately, though, drifter Jim Dust shows up just in the nick of time to rescue her. Seeing how handy he is with a gun, she hires him to escort her to San Di

It's hard to review an ongoing webcomic like Goblins of Razard because it's ongoing. I had many of the same problems as Bigfoot: Sword of the Earthman - there's something there, I just haven't gotten to it yet - but those problems are magnified here through the fast-twitch lens of the Internet. I mean, damn it, I have a cable modem, so I oughta be getting next year's Surprise Twist Ending now! I'd originally intended to review just issue #1, which debuted in April of 2012, but I wound up power-reading three issues and what's been published of the fourth just to get a workable fragment of the story. Writer Sarah Arrowsmith should be applauded