Night of the Red Panda #1
Written by Greg Taylor
Art by Dean Kotz
Monkeybrain Comics
Some time ago I happened upon a podcast website for Decoder Ring Theatre (which I really should review separately at some point), and there I fell in love with the Red Panda.
What was not to love, it was all pulpy goodness, with a great Canadian hero, and his trusty sidekick The Flying Squirrel. There were twisted bad guys, evil Nazis (set at the time leading up to, and through WWII), and plenty of humour.
Being set in Toronto, ON., only added to my delight as a Canuck.
So a comic starring The Red Panda, well I was in love with it before cracking the pdf.
That is of course a dangerous thing. You can be in for a huge fall when your expectations are high.
But Greg Taylor never really stumbled with a podcast episode that was a total stinker, and here in the medium of comics he is off to a solid start with issue #1.
The story is classic Red Panda, dead bodies and intrigue aplenty.
Dean Kotz’s artwork has a great ‘caricature’ inspired style which might not hit the spot for everyone, but I think sets the book apart, and works for a character with a strong pulp heart, tinged with humour.
This is a highly biased opinion given my love of the podcast, but this book does it for me. I dug it completely, right down to the added character backgrounds at the back of the book.
Find it. Buy it. Love it.
Lobster Johnson The Glass Mantis
Written by Mike Mignola & John Arcudi
Art by Toni Fejzula
Dark Horse Comics
Mike Mignola gave us Hellboy, and based on that alone I’m up to read anything he is associated with.
Since Lobster Johnson, a pulp hero in every sense of the term, has his roots in the Hellboy books, and Mignola is on board with ‘The Glass Mantis’ how could I not be intrigued.
I’ll start by noting I am only somewhat satisfied by the art of Toni Fejzula. The style works, but it is not stylized work like that of Mignola himself in Hellboy, so it left me wanting the master. I do feel for Fejzula in that regard. He has to be himself as an artist, so he can’t be expected to be Mignola. The result is a level of expected dissatisfaction by at least some readers, (like myself).
The story on the other hand is good, old-fashioned pulp, with just the splash of mysticism needed to be part of the ‘Hellboy-verse’.
Pulp is a genre I profess to enjoy most of the time, and this book certainly works based on that general interest.
I’ll always be up for more Lobster Johnson anytime Mignola is inspired to write another tale.
