ADVANCED REVIEW: Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm #1

Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises of all time. Indeed. you probably won't find a franchise with more fan clubs. The original three films are beloved in American culture, with the three prequels being successes. (Though not in a lot fans' eyes.) Star Wars has a heavy backstory within the films, plenty of untold stories. That's where the comics come in. There have been lots of Star Wars comics over the years, Knights of the Old Republic, Tales of the Jedi, etc. However, this new mini-series by Dark Horse will go down in history. It's going to tell how the franchise began. This could go down as famous or controversial depending on how it's handled. Truly, I'm surprised this hasn't been done before. Dawn of the Jedi, this is where it all begins. What you get is a very intriguing start to this legendary franchise.

Official description from Dark Horse:

On the planet Tython, in the center of the galaxy, an order of warrior monks strives to maintain peace and to balance the mysterious power known as the Force. But a stranger is coming--one who will destroy both peace and balance, and open the galaxy to exploration and conquest. This is where it all begins!

The majority of the issue is an explanation of how the Jedi came together. It's simple, but effective. It doesn't bore or confuse the reader with explaining all the alien races deeply, it simply explains how this whole thing came to be. It's also a good way to get new fans. It's a simple, yet intriguing story. There are no lightsabers, or the 'Dark Side,' it's the beginning of Star Wars. Character wise, the story has some pretty interesting ones. Xesh, whom I'm sure will become a fan favorite, looks to be the Darth Vader of this story. Then there's these commanders with the title 'Predor.' There's an interesting backstory going on here that I hope will be a little explored in future issues. So far, no central 'good guy' has been established. Usually that would be a bad thing, but the story carries itself. Granted, it's not exactly known what the 'bad guys' want yet.

The art is solid. It's standard comic book art, it fits the story. It's not dynamic like Jim Lee's, but solid. The fight looks nice and fluid. I must give praise to the script, it's good stuff. Since this is an advanced review, I'll refrain from using any of the good quotes. The whole explanation of the 'Force' was interesting, I'm sure hardcore Star Wars fans will be intrigued. New fans can also jump in, some parts may be a bit confusing, but it's a good place to start if you've been waiting to pick up a Star Wars comic.

Overall, Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm #1 is a very good comic. Simple, but effective. However, the main reason why you should pick this is up is because THIS is how it all began. THIS is the first chapter in the Star Wars saga. THIS is how the Jedi form. If that's not reason enough to check this out, I don't know what is. It features an explanation of how the 'Force' came to be, and managed to squeeze in a sold fight and story. Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi #1 releases this Wednesday on the 15th.

8/10

Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe Dark Horse Review

Ah, Gamera. If you're a Godzilla fan, you've heard of the giant super turtle. The un-humble beginnings of this franchise started as a mere cash-in of the Godzilla franchise. As the early films went, it differentiated from Godzilla greatly......and not in a very good way. (I enjoy Gamera vs. Guiron as much as the next Kaiju fan, but really, the Showa Gamera films were not very good.) It wasn't until the revival in 1995, with the release of the famous Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Thanks to this, the flying turtle was no longer a mere Godzilla cash-in, he was his own franchise. Now, Godzilla has had some comics, from the infamous Marvel series, to IDW's current series. I recently bought the complete Godzilla Dark Horse series, which was very good. Now, even I, a big Gamera fan, didn't realize that there was a mini-series by the company about the super turtle until not too long ago. It's even rarer than the Godzilla one, and that's saying something. I never thought I would read it, but that changed, thanks to MyComicShop. Now that I've read the four issues, I can share my thoughts.

I can't find any reviews for this series, so I'm going to proclaim this one as the first. Anyways, the Heisei Gamera trilogy is a high-mark for Kaiju fans, boasting everything that makes a Japanese giant monster movie good. This series actually takes place within that continuity, one year after Guardian of the Universe. That makes this series canon. I think that's sound, fans of the film could dive into new stories. Of course, this being a mini-series that takes place after Guardian of the Universe, it's pretty confusing if you haven't watched the film. The main problem with this series is that it feels too rushed, the monsters aren't fleshed out. It's still fun however, if you're a fan of Gamera, or the film.

The first issue has the return of the "Shadow of Evil:" Gyaos. He's handled incredibly, there are some really cool scenes with him. The fight with him and Gamera was great, very fluid. There are some amazing splash pages with the two. It was nice to see Zigra and Viras revamped, it's always cool to see familiar characters. The problem here is that they aren't fleshed out enough, especially with Zigra. The sinister fish appears, but doesn't have any vital role, and loses rather too quickly. Viras on the hand other hand, is better handled. (He is the main antagonist.) His scene with Karbone about taking over the world was cool and a bit disturbing, now that's how you add character. Sadly, his plan would have worked better if it was done over the course of an ongoing series, not a four issue mini-series.

The main character is Lutz, and man, is he annoying. The story should have told completely from the perspective of Asagi, she's a heck lot more interesting. With that aside, Gamera isn't handled that well in my opinion. He didn't have much depth, which was quite sad. The art is very well done, with some great splash pages. If the art wasn't good, it would be hard to appreciate this mini-series. (And for non-Gamera fans, forget about it.)

Overall, the Gamera mini-series by Dark Horse was a disappointment. The first issue was excellent, but the rest were lacking something. Still, it has some nice fights, and we get to see some classic Gamera characters revamped. If only it was an ongoing rather than a mini-series.

6/10.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Dark Horse Review

I always knew that their was a rare, out-of-print Godzilla series by Dark Horse. I never thought I'd actually get it. While searching for some some Ghost Rider comic packs on Ebay, I decided just to see if they had any packs of the Dark Horse series. Imagine my excitement when I came across the complete series in NEW condition for $29.00 or best offer. I put in an offer for $25, and it got accepted. Of course, it doesn't come by the latest estimated time of arrival, I end up getting a refund and that package was never heard of again. I couldn't let that stop me, I had to get this series.....and I found a way in the form of MyComicShop (Great store by the way.) They had every issue thankfully, so I bought them all. (And a few bonuses, like the Gamera mini-series by Dark Horse, which I also will review soon.) Now that I'm done with this prologue, let's move on to the good stuff.

The Godzilla Dark Horse series has some interesting beginnings. There's this cool manga adaption they translated of the Return of Godzilla, (known to American audiences as Godzilla 1985) and strange one-shots like Godzilla vs. Charles Barkley. (Don't ask.) It wasn't until 1995 when the big G got an ongoing series by the company. You see, the last ongoing Godzilla series was the Marvel Comics one in the 70's. Try finding a good a comment for it. Yeah, NO ONE likes that series. I haven't read any of it, (but two more bonuses I got were two issues of that series, so I'll know just how bad they are, if they are bad) but I could tell by the covers why no one liked it. (Godzilla looks like a bright green dinosaur. Think about that for a second.) The point is, according to fans, Godzilla hadn't had a decent comic series until 1995. Enter the Dark Horse era, which I've heard solid things about it. I managed to  read every single issue yesterday, so why don't we hear my thoughts?

It's inevitable that I'm going to compare this to the current Godzilla series: Kingdom of Monsters. This series is the complete opposite of that, it's more dialogue based and slow-paced. Issue Zero was weak in my opinion. (Apparently there was something called the Color Special that took place before Issue Zero, what?) Even Issue One I thought wasn't that strong. My favorite things about those two issues were the amazing covers. As you could see, the covers for this series is just outstanding, none of that variant cover nonsense, there's one main cover and each of them are just spectacular. Let me just put one of the amazing covers in large mode.

I could look at that cover all day. Back to the actual stories, the series picks up and gets better at Issue Two, with the debut of Cybersaur, who is an obvious homage to Mechagodzilla. One of the good things about Kingdom of Monsters is that it won't let you get bored, whether it's good entertainment or cringe-worthy entertainment. King of the Monsters suffers from having a bit too much words, and characters you just can't like. (I wanted Kate to seriously die every time she appeared on page.) However, King of the Monsters is obviously more high-class than Kingdom of Monsters, each issue feels like a good buy, whereas Kingdom of Monsters, some issues there feel like "buying for time." I was a bit worried after the first issue that this series would go the boring route of humans chasing Godzilla, but from issue Two on, it becomes a very good series.

There are a few different arcs, with a few standalone ones. The stories of course follow Godzilla, the other main characters are G-Force. They are OK, nothing special at all. They're just......there. I can't really say I liked or cared for anyone, some of their dialogue can be too cheesy. Kate, the reporter, being the worst of them all. They never really are deepened or fleshed out, but aren't the worst characters out there.

I find it funny how each time in the letter column of this series someone asks something like "Why aren't you using real characters like Rodan or Ghidorah?" And Dark Horse has to answer every time how they couldn't license the other TOHO monsters, it's almost a running gag. With that said, the original creations are good for the most part. The Mechagodzilla wannabe, Cybersaur, is good but is lacking depth. I know he's just a robot like MG II, but he's finished off rather too quickly. In issue three, we have a much better original creation, a Rodan/Gyaos hybrid: giant space bat Bagorah. I really liked this one, the fight between him and Godzilla was very good. In Issue Five, another robot, the All-Terraintula, (whom I like to call Mecha-Kumonga) appears. Mecha Kumonga here is sadly even more empty than Cybersaur, and the cover shows its color being yellow, but inside, it's purple. What's up with that? Issue Thirteen sees the debut of Burtannus, who's most likely a distant cousin of Jiger. It's a shame her amazing appearance on the cover can't mach her more bland look inside the issue. The fight was disappointing also. Issue Fifteen has Godzilla battle Ebirah-um, excuse me, I meant the Lord Howe Monster. That issue was my favorite actually, it's a stand-alone blockbuster, with it being being 95% of it devoted to the battle between the two.

As you could see, Godzilla is completely based off his Heisei appearance, which makes sense, cause at the the time the Heisei films were being released in America. Unlike Kingdom of Monsters, Godzilla is drawn with amazing detail every issue. There are many amazing splash pages with him, it's just awesome. He's neither a hero nor a villain in the series, like his Heisei counterpart.

Did you know that Godzilla was really the force that sunk the Titanic? Neither did I, as the time-travel arc (Issues 9-12) said. It's realistically crazy, (see what I did there?) but also happens to be the most poorly-received of the series. I'm going to have to agree with this one, Godzilla going to different time periods gets a bit dull after awhile. Sure, Godzilla meeting Sir Francis Drake is cool, and the splash page of the big G breaking the Titanic in half is truly one of the most amazing splash pages in the history of comics, but after two issues, you just want this arc to end. It doesn't help that the villain is the cheesiest antagonist I've ever seen. The arc with the alien species, the Dianii, was good, reminded me of the Showa days. The aliens are Hirogen wannabes, and not very good ones. However, the surprise plot twist that brings the Aliens of the Third Planet from the Black Hole into the arc really made things supremely interesting. This Planet of the Apes-type of species last appearance was in the classic film: Terror of Mechagodzilla. So you could imagine how seeing some aliens from the actual films was. (Apparently then can get the rights to alien species, but not the monsters, hmm.)

I watch Godzilla movies mainly to watch outrageous monsters duke it out. What I like about this series is how fluid the fights are, you feel every blow. Whereas the fights in Kingdom of Monsters feel a bit messy, the fights here are more detailed, especially Godzilla's fight with Ebir-the Lord Howe Monster. What's sad was that this series was placed on indefinite hold (canceled) at Issue Sixteen, due to lackluster sales. It's disappointing, cause it definitely felt like it could have gone for another twenty issues. The last Issue, Sixteen, was interesting because it was completely Godzilla-centric. I would like to see more comics like that. (I''m looking at you once again, Kingdom of Monsters.) I love the little boxes that explain the situations, it's like we're getting inside the monsters' heads.

Overall, King of the Monsters is truly a great Godzilla series. It has a high-quality feel to it, something Kingdom of Monsters right now is lacking. The art is very good, with some of the best covers I've ever seen. My only real draw-back was that it sometimes could get dull with too much word boxes, it made me feel like skipping a lot of the words. Still, the action is great, Godzilla is awesome, and there's no real-world references. If only it was longer, why didn't you fans pick it up? Ah well.

8/10.