From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays, No.133
Hello all and welcome back to another edition of our all-ages column, From Friendly Ghosts To Gamma Rays! If you missed it, earlier this week we took a sneak look at Papercutz’s upcoming release of Peyo’s Benny Breakiron, check it out here! This week we take a look at two great titles, one that I never thought I would end up liking so much, and the other one that continues to live up to its hype! Let’s get right down to it!
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Eartha Kitt: Femme Fatale #1
Publisher: Blue Water Comics
Writer: Marc Shapiro
Artist: Felipe Montecinos
I loved, loved, loved this one. One can never always open with positive praise in a review, but surprisingly the team at Blue Water made it easy with this unexpectedly fun title here. Movie stars in comics have always been a thing. Roy Rogers, Bella Lugosi, recently even an Adam West title (also by Blue Water). So what was one to expect from an Eartha Kitt comic? Would it be a biography comic like Blue Water is known for? She had a career in music, on stage, in film, perhaps being best remembered in Geekdom as playing Catwoman on the final season of Adam West’s Batman. Interestingly enough, Blue Water decided to aim her in a pure fantastic all-ages tale, trying to give it a DC Nation-vibe and wildly succeeding, delivering up an all around solid title.
The story opens with an Eartha Kitt, maybe in her late teens, catching a wave on her surf board in Hawaii. Suddenly, a huge dinosaur who is referred to as the Gorgon shows up on the beach causing everyone to panic! Kitt uses some sort of magic power and transforms into a suped-up version of herself, complete in a costume reminiscent of her time as Catwoman on Batman. Turns out the Gorgon doesn’t mean to cause trouble, he is just separated from his Mom, and as the military moves in it’s up to Kitt to save the day.
The issue is just a “time-out for fun” kind of comic, and I hope the series keeps in this direction. Art side it’s cartoony and bright like anything you’d flip on Cartoon Network or Disney and see, however, that’s what they want it to be and they 100% nail that look. More than that, the action shots of Kitt flipping around and the Gorgon are rendered really well in this style, making the whole thing flow like a charm, being exciting and funny at the same time. Writing side was just as good as the art. It’s an odd idea: take Eartha Kitt, give her transformation powers to have a geek-approved costume, make her battle against dinosaurs and army men! However, they run with it giving us some old-school silver age comic fun that visually looks great, and the whole thing just works.
Eartha Kitt: Femme Fatale is a great all-ages title and it’ll be a series to keep your eye on. Don’t over think anything about this title, just take a chance and pick it up.
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Princeless #2 (vol.2)
Publisher: Action Lab
Story: Jeremy Whitley
Art: Emily Martin
Ah yes, it was only about a month ago that the cover image to this issue made tons of buzz and debate on the internet, as some folks cheered while other fanboys shook their fists. Now that the dust has settled a bit, the more important question arises, which is: How is the issue underneath that cover? Good news for fans of Princeless, it’s another great story (and for people who don’t know Princeless, check it out)!
The second issue of this second story arc is packed with a ton of good stuff, with a dual story developing here. The main part is we still are on the quest with Adrienne, who is off to save her sister Angelica, along with the spunky Bedelia, and this poet guy Roderick, who knows the way to Angelica’s castle, that they ran into last issue. However, to her surprise things are not what they thought they would be when she arrives, as tons of guys inspired by their “muse” Angelica have set up shop around the tower. At the same time, we also see Adrienne’s Dad, King Ashe, dealing with the disappearance of his wife the Queen, but the clues seem to be leading him towards something from the past.
Whitley crafts another great issue, propelling this series to get better and better. The comedic dynamic growing between Adrienne and Bedelia is spot on and growing with each issue, here the comedy as they discover some wake-up-blues. The dual story following the King is also a nice touch, expanding the world without feeling haphazard, but instead very much ingrained in what is going on, everything having gravity, no wasted pages here. On the art side things look wonderful from the pen of Martin, the highlight this issue being a battle that the King has with some wolves is some nice art on the page (but frankly, everything looks great).
Princeless #2 is out now from Action Lab. There’s lots of hype because it deserves it, so jump on board and check it out!
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Well that’s it for this week, see you next!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net
