When you are on issue number 258 of a nearly perfect series, how do you keep readers surprised? Stan Sakai has tried numerous approaches since relaunching Usagi Yojimbo at IDW. For some tales, like âHomecomingâ he tried to tap into emotional beats that had long been left dormant, reminding readers of some of the earliest…
Jennikaâs brought her band together, and itâs time to battle it out, heavy metal style, to see Bebop and Rocksteady leave Mutant Town for good in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #117. However, thatâs not the only thing on the Splinter Clanâs plate, as theyâve still got a time-traveling turtle they need to return to the…
After a time-travelling turtle from the future brings dire warnings of a dark timeline should Jennika not pursue her passions, Jennika challenges Bebop and Rocksteady to a Battle of the Bands. With the weight of a dark future pressing in on her, Jennikaâs got a lot riding on this battle â but first, she needs…
What do you say after nearly 40 years? What more can I say about Stan Sakaiâs lifeâs work that hasnât been said better by others over and over again? I want to be a cynic. If you have read how I cover other books, I tend to be aggressive, nearly bloodthirsty, going after flaws that…
The Tengu War comes to its conclusion as Usagi, Sojobo, Lady Nozomi and the whole Tengu clan fight to retain their honor in Stan Sakai and Hi-Fi Designâs Usagi Yojimbo #18. After binge-reading the previous 255 issues of Usagi Yojimbo over the past few months, I think what strikes me the most about Sakaiâs work…
The year is 1927, and two houses across the Atlantic are about to collide. At Keyhouse in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, Locke family patriarch Chamberlain is dying and regrets the loss of his son to Hell. On Fawney Rig in Sussex, England, Roderick Burgess holds court over his debauched followers and keeps the King of Dreams in…
Transformers ’84: Secrets & Lies Writer: Simon Furman, Artist: Guido Guidi, Colorist: John-Paul Bove, Letterers: Jake M. Wood and Tom B. Long, Publisher: IDW The Quote Unquote âMarvel Continuityâ of Transformers vaguely resembles an Inception-like flow chart. There is the 80-issue run of the Transformers series, minis like G.I.Joe vs. Transformers and Headmasters, filler stories…
If I were a comics creator, I would hate Stan Sakai. The man has been drawing a funny animal comic for nearly 40 years now and hasnât lost a step. Heâs been coursing a path for the rabbit ronin Miyamoto Usagi for decades, and continues to execute some of the most exciting cartoons in the…
Even when I was a kid, something about Transformers: Beast Wars felt different. Maybe it was the early and ugly CGI, but I like to think that even back then, I noticed the writing. Now, Iâm not going to get up here and make some claim about it being an underappreciated masterpiece, but as a…
Space. The final frontier. These are the comics of the Federation from IDW Publishing. Weâre looking at the complete miniseries Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Too Long a Sacrifice, where a series of murders on Deep Space Nine at the height of the Federation and its alliesâ war with the Dominion sets Constable Odo on…