[For those that may know I posted this on a new blog, which I've realized gets no attention, so I've moved it here, this isn't this year's review, but something I wanted to keep and incorporate into this blog]
My Year in Review for 2022
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On-Going Series: Vampblade
Series: Glory: The Complete Saga
Limited Series: Raphael: Bad Moon Rising
Single Issue: Dazzler: The Movie
Honorable Mentions:
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Amalgama: Space Zombie, Galaxy’s Most Wanted, Bonyeer: The Aromatic, Super Massive, Adventureman
On-Going Series : Vampblade
The
reason why I’m keeping this here is because of the ending, it’s not
over as a series (the series ended last year [2021 {I wrote this in
2022}]), but it’s over at the moment, but the series as a whole is still
open to keep going. That’s a little confusing, but between when the
series stated (2015-ish) and with 2020 happening publishing for comics
got a little messy (financially speaking), just to throw some history
about what’s still going on (currently as of this posting). Though with
the book it’s in a bit of limbo till things settle for the creators (and
publishing house), but at this point, you’ve most likely popped up an
article or two about what’s going on within Action Labs and know, so
we’ll go back to the review. I love violence comics, there’s something
about cathartic beatings (whether verbal or physical) that really
release a ton of serotonin (the happy brain juice) into my soul. This
comic doesn’t let up with the amount of grandstanding for a character to
have this beautiful moment of One Piece (manga by Eiichiro Oda) level
of destruction. There are times within the series that stands out beyond
it’s own two legs, that a spin-off series (I’m looking at you Danger
Doll Squad) was developed to expand on story plots and connect parts of
the World to other characters, that then inspires another spin-off
series (I’m talking about you Amalgama) to expand that expansion. By the
end of the series Vampblade had fallen through every Superhero trope in
the book, from Time Travel to Body Double to Hell to Alien Invasion!
Then the one thing that stops a comic from being ‘On-Going’,
publication. As Superhero comics go this is their most shared trope, an
unexpected ending. I had a blast and this is one of my Top Five comics
of all time (and of 2022)!
Series : Glory: The Complete Saga
How
we change between On-Going Series to Series is simple, there’s an end.
If they come back, that’s a new series, but this was a rebooted
character that got a second life in a more modern interpretation. You
can tell this was intended to be a longer story, but I’m so glad that
both Joseph Keatinge & Sophie Campbell agreed that this story needed
an end and a really good ending. There’s not many series that I enjoy
to the point of tears, but this is one of those magnificent comics.
Again it’s another cathartic and violent series, that has a strong
emotion base between the characters, whether you know who they are or
not. It’s good writing when you can jump into something blind and not
know anything more than what is being told to you and enjoy every
minute. Like I said, not many comics pull me into an emotional state
that takes days to get over, but took five pages to read. It’s really
that good of a book.
Limited Series : Raphael, Bad Moon Rising
What
started out to be me enjoying a cover to a book (thank you Sophie
Campbell) formed into an obsession to find the first issue (since I have
the other three) that then changed my mind on everything TMNT. I don’t
really know what clicked into place, but I just finished reading TMNT:
Urban Legends (volume 3 [Image Run {Reprinted in color, with ending by
IDW}]) by Gary Carlson & Frank Fosco, so my desire to find more from
the Teen Turtles was high on my reading queue. While thumbing through
all the comics I have I was reminded about this four issue run, that I
found out came from a Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (second
Volume) where Shadow visits a cult (It’s New York). Anyhow, that’s the
main reason why she was at the farmhouse for volume 4 of TMNT, though
this takes place somewhere between. Long and Short, this focuses on the
Werewolf Queen and the King of Atlantis, beautiful character moments,
with some astounding Illustrations & ink work by Jim Lawson
(solidifying him as my top five favorite TMNT artists). If you ever want
to get into the weird world of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, this would
be a good ground breaker between the TV shows/Movies and the comics.
Single Issue : Dazzler: The Movie
When
thinking about characters that had a hard start Dazzler always comes to
mind, since she started as a promotion, a mascot of sorts for
Casablanca Records. Then just became a huge character within the X-Men
ongoing series. I found her in a little Pilot called “Pryde of the
X-Men”, where she was a headband wearing leather jacket toting finger
gun shooting laser wielder. To say the least, she had a special place in
my heart, so reading this comic was a distance from that character, and
a recoupling within the same issue. Mostly because she was still a
strong character that was still developing herself, emotionally (as a
person does) and distancing herself from being just an Advertisement (as
one does). By the end of the feature we see her more whole than when
she started, though battle damaged within the landscape of Hollywood. As
a single issue, without knowing anything about her, it’s a great story
that stands on it’s own, maybe not a Movie in theaters, but I’d be
excited for the TV movie’s annual screening.
Honorable Mentions: Mini-Top Five Suggestions
-Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
-Amalgama: Space Zombie, Galaxy’s Most Wanted
-Bonyeer: The Aromatic
-Super Massive
-Adventureman
Honest
suggestions, if you have similar tastes to myself, you wanna see a
little violence with comedy, good story structure, and amazing
illustrations, then these are my top five suggestions of 2022 (even if
it’s 2023 [though re-posted in 2024]).
