Comics / Comic Reviews / More Comics

One Shot for the week of February 1st

By Troy-Jeffrey Allen
February 5, 2012 - 22:21

In the midst of tired reboots, retcons, point ones, and schisms, I’ve found myself looking more and more forward to the summer comic book movie than the wonderful bastardized medium that has inspired Hollywood. Regardless, with each new Wednesday I (like most nerds) continue to zombie crawl my way to my L.C.S. (Hi, Alliance Comics and Games in Silver Spring, MD!) in an attempt to outwit predictability in favor of finding something all-new and all-different . And that is where One Shot comes in. Every week, I pick up a handful of #1s from my local comic book store and review them in a desperate attempt to reclaim my loose lost love…the funny book.

Okay! It’s 11PM on Super Bowl Sunday and I’ve spent the last 5 hours drinking beer, eating finger foods dipped in liquor, and yelling booze-slurred obscenities at the screen. Let’s see what nonsense comes out of my keyboard!

Alpha Girl #1
Image Comics
$2.99
Don’t let the big heads and Saturday morning cartoon eyes fool you. By page three of Alpha Girl, the book has already separated itself from cutesy and pedestrian.
Yes, this is yet another zombie comic in what seems to be an undead comic genre, but at least this one is cheeky enough to use drug addicts, child molestation, and day laborers as a punch line.
Judith --- a cigarette smoking orphan that will fulfill the fantasies of any nerd with mommy issues --- narrates the first issue and is given back story but little personality outside of impertinence. That’s okay, though. Hopefully, the main plot (involving a cosmetic company that causes a zombie outbreak) will leave enough of a sardonic impression to cut a swathe through the trend that Robert Kirkman built.

Winter Soldier
Marvel #1
$2.99
Hats off to Ed Brubaker. Despite all odds, the noir and espionage-obsessed comic scribe continues to softly massage Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier back into Marvel continuity. With Winter Soldier #1, Brubaker goes for the deep tissue by attempting to pull off a retcon within a retcon.
Y’see, after the events of Fear Itself (Big Marvel crossover. Yawn. Gag. Snore.) Bucky was killed by a skinheaded Nazi bastard with a hammer of the gods. He was believed to be dead, but according to Winter Soldier (and Wikipedia) he was saved and took up the mantle as Captain America’s one-man black ops division.
Makes sense? Yeah, I don’t get it either. And while Brubaker expertly tries to his damndest to pull the same magic trick twice, the whole thing reeks of that good ‘ol superhero continuity dickery.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12