Reviews: Jack The Ripper; Wolfskin Vol. 2- Hundredth Dream

JACK THE RIPPER (Transfuzion, 2010; Softcover)

Orignal Graphic Novel, 54 pages, black and white

Writer: Gary Reed

Artist: Mark Bloodworth

Not quite a book and not quite a comic, The Illustrated Jack the Ripper is a happy marriage of both. It features numerous written passages discussing various facts and theories and other pages done in comic book style. It also has reproductions of actual newspaper drawings and mortuary photographs from the era, which are a real treat and worth the price of admission alone. Like many people, I have long been a sucker for the whole Jack the Ripper thing. There is a real mystique, and the fact that it is virtually unsolvable means that we'll never tire of studying it. 

WOLFSKIN VOL.. 2: HUNDREDTH DREAM (Avatar, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Wolfskin: Hundredth Dream Nos. 1-6 (cover dates April, 2010- April, 2011)

Writer: Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer

Artist: Gianluca Pagliarani and Chris Dreier

Like all Avatar titles, this boasts high quality writing, artwork and computer coloring. The production values are really top notch on this title. This is a very thinly veiled metaphor for today's society, albeit done with copious amounts of medieval, Dungeons & Dragons style bloodshed. I sometimes have a hard time embracing tomorrow, much like some of the characters in this story. I do not, however, go on a bloodsoaked rampage across the countryside to try and prevent that change from happening. This is a really good read, and I highly recommend it to the aforementioned D&D crowd as well as fans of Avatar Press' other titles.

The OCD zone- This book has a nice heft to it, the result of the thick paper stock used. All of the variant covers are included, making this a nice package even if you did collect the regular series.

Reviews: Classic G.I. Joe Vol. 9 & Vol. 10; Robert Bloch's Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper

CLASSIC G.I. JOE VOL. 9 (IDW, 2010, softcover)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 81-90 (cover dates December, 1988- September, 1989)

Wow, the restoration in this volume is pretty bad. Can't IDW work out something with Marvel to borrow the stats or film or files from the original issues or something? There's really no excuse for the obliterated linework and spell-checked word balloon errors like we see here.

The stories are increasingly silly, with G.I. Joe veering more into Dreadnok/sci-fi territory. These are all still fun reads, but if you are looking for a 'serious' military comic book then you should look elsewhere. Issue 85 is something of a sequel to issue 21, Larry Hama's infamous 'silent' issue, with no dialogue or word balloons. Groundbreaking at the time, modern day writers have aped this stuff ad nauseam now.

I really wish that IDW had gone back and inserted the non-reprint portions of the G.I. Joe Yearbooks where they should have originally have been based on publication date. I guess that you can blame Marvel because they didn't insert them within the original 5 trades, but IDW should have lumped those in with Volume 6.

CLASSIC G.I. JOE VOL. 10 (IDW, 2010, softcover)

Collects G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero Nos. 91-100 (cover dates October, 1989- May, 1990)

At last! IDW figured out how to properly restore and remaster this series! There was a typo or two, but the linework looked good.

High art this is not, but G.I. Joe is a fun read. High energy, non-stop action. It was a thrill to see Snake Eyes return to prominence, and also the sheer number of reveals. Snake Eyes' real face, Destro's real face, even Cobra Commander's real face...all revealed! If you were a child of the '80s, this was a blast...if not, it's probably still a lot of fun. I just wish that IDW would break the tradition of putting crappy artwork on the cover by people who didn't even do the original series. Marvel started that when they did the first 5 volumes in the early Aughts, but there is no good reason to keep on keepin' on with it, in my opinion.

ROBERT BLOCH'S YOURS TRULY, JACK THE RIPPER (IDW, 2010, softcover)

Collects Robert Bloch's Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper Nos. 1-3 (cover dates June- August, 2010)

This is an adaptation of Robert Bloch's story written Joe & John Lansdale with artwork by Kevin Colden. This is very well done stuff, and I like the fact that the coloring is so sparse. Kind of an off-blue/gray color with plenty of red thrown in for effect. This story has an interesting take on the Jack the Ripper mythos. Like the Kennedy assassin(s), the true identity of Jack the Ripper is likely lost to the mists of time. According to the biography in the back of the book, Robert Bloch also wrote the novel Psycho.