Summary: As a convict named Shadow reaches the end of his sentence for armed robbery he thinks his life is just about to turn itself around when all of a sudden everything goes pear shaped: no job, no wife and a persistent stranger with a sketchy job offer.

Plot: I've long been a fan of Neil Gaiman and among his works  American Gods is definitely one of my favorites and so the last few years have been a serious boon for me as the tale finally makes its way to the screen and to life. However, in all the excitement of the up coming tv show i some how entirely missed that it was also going to be made into a comic by long time Gaiman collaborator and top notch fantasy artist and writer P. Craig Russell until just last week. Seeing the cover made be break out into a huge grin, and it didn't fade after the reading either. Russell's terse, bare bones narration really gives the whole introduction of Shadow feel like a perfect bit of noir. Not much is said but there is a sense that just permeates itself through every page and into you. It's a fantastic feeling that totally immerses you into the world.

Art: Better men than I have praised Russell's past work so there isn't much to say about how beautiful his art is, but even for a long time fan there was one scene that absolutely blew me away: the first meeting with Bilquis.  It's eroticism was slow to build and sensually soft but what what really made it more than just a sex scene was the fantastic imagry; the subtly phallic spiritual rise of the john was one of the best artistic representations of an orgasm seen on page and it fit perfectly with the mysticism surrounding Bilquis. 
Grade:10/10

Summary: In an alternate universe where the Romulans are the species that makes first contact the world of Gene Roddenberry is a vastly different place. 

Plot: It's an interesting concept; what if the Romulans had made first contact rather than the Vulcans....but it never really gives you a sense of what that world would be like or why instead only giving us a drawn action scene with Will Riker playing Snake Pliskin trying to free Picard. I like the Next Gen a whole lot, but abandoning the concept of Earth in the Romulan Empire instead of forming the Federation in favor of weird action story made little sense to me. We never get why these people came together, why Picard is important or why the original Enterprise exists and because its just a weird one shot we'll never find out. So although the thought behind it was interesting there is no follow up, and without a real beginning or end it makes for a strange read.

Art: Hood has a good handle on action and his designs of the Next Gen crew as members of Escape from New York were certainly entertaining.


Grade:5/10