Graphic Breakdown: ‘Violent Love #1’, ‘Harbinger: Renegades #1’, ‘Josie and the Pussycats #2 ‘ & ‘Eddy Current: The Complete Series & Lost Tales’

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

It’s Friday! Let’s talk more comics! I for one cannot wait!!

Violent Love #1 

Written by Frank J. Barbiere
Illustrated by Victor Santos
Published by Image Comics

Man, I love a book that has Frank J. Barbiere as the writer. He just has such a great way of writing that I find incredibly appealing and accessible.

Such is the case of Violent Love. It’s a great debut for  new and I’m kinda violently in love with it.

Daisy Jane and Rock Bradley were two of the most notorious bank robbers in the American Southwest. And then they fell in love.

That is the synopsis for the series.

But it is so much more than that. Daisy and Rock are such well drawn characters, you can tell how much thought went into it. The two couldn’t be any more different but Barbiere makes their contrast work.

Opposites attract and we are off and running!

Victor Santos does a hell of a job illustrating this series. The look is super cool. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens here. A great debut for a fascinating book!

RATING: A

Harbinger: Renegades  #1 

Written by Rafer Roberts
Illustrated by Darick Robertson
Published by Valiant Comics

This is another great book that came out this week! This picks up where we left off with the story of everyone’s favorite Valiant team. I was sad that Josh Dysart wasn’t writing….but Roberts does a great job picking up where he left off.

Six months ago, a secret team of renegade whistleblowers leaked the existence of these extraordinarily dangerous individuals to a stunned world.

Today, all across the country, crude, DIY psiot activation attempts have left hundreds brain damaged…or worse. The emergence of a new psiot in a community often leads to riots and mass violence.Gun sales are through the roof. America is terrified of what could happen next.

With this revolutionary upheaval now in motion, Kris Hathaway, John “Torque” Torkelson, Faith “Zephyr” Herbert, and Peter Stanchek are about to discover their calling. Together, the HARBINGER RENEGADES are moving from town to town, building their ranks, and subverting authority one mind at a time…and setting out to prove once and for all that behind their power, there has always been a purpose.

This book was awesome. I liked the story. And Robertson kills it on any book he’s drawing. This book deserves a bigger audience. Make it happen by buying this title.

RATING: A

Josie and the Pussycats #2 

Written by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron Deordio
Illustrated by Audrey Mok
Published by Archie Comics

Those of you who have been reading this column regularly know I just love the direction Archie Comics has taken. It’s super cool watching and reading what they are doing.

This is no exception as I just love this comic. It’s fast, full of pop, and just plain fun. I just thoroughly enjoy this line of books.

As the girls look to play their first gig outside Riverdale, they run into some unexpected complications. Can they bust up a crime ring, help the criminals see the error of their ways, and jump-start the band’s music career, all through the power of rock, friendship, and, Melody assures us, entirely legitimate comic book science?

The writing is great and the art by Mok is truly full of energy. I feel happy when reading these books.

And why not? That’s what a good comic book is supposed to do. Again, I praise the people at Archie for making me read and enjoy Josie and the Pussycats.

And I praise them for making me wanting to read the next issue as soon as I put this one down.

RATING: A

BURIED TREASURE

Eddy Current: The Complete Series & Lost Tales

Written and Illustrated by Ted McKeever
Published by Image Comics

This was one of those books I picked up in floppy black and white format in the late 80s in a quarter bin. I loved it.

When Image decided to collect it years later, I almost cried. (They collected this and McKeever’s other books in the same  universe: Transit and Metropol, both are completely brilliant)

This book was one of my favorites.

What’s it about?

Eddy Current is insane. At least that’s what the world deems him to be. The very same world he intends to save.

A window of opportunity opens, literally, allowing our hero to escape the asylum he calls home.

Bed-check isn’t until 6am, giving him 12 hours of freedom to accomplish his hero-given quest.

Joined by a massive wall-of-a-woman called Nun, Eddy will live an adventure filled with the depths of humanities darkest crevices, as well as the heights and power of friendship and redemption.

This series had 12 issues initially. Each issue was supposed to represent one hour. The writing is deep and the art is wonderfully stylized and great. This is brilliant. This is one of the great lost independent books and if you haven’t read it you are doing yourself a disservice. Buy it now. And thank me after.

RATING: A