Chosen & Forsaken
Written by Eric Watkins
Art by Armando Rillo
Letters by James Maddox
Colors by Vladimir Popov
Cover by Aleksi Briclot
Broken Icon Comics
Release Date: Available Now!
Cover Price: $4.00

Chosen & Forsaken is a nice little independent comic. This is one of those comics that you can tell the creative team put their heart and soul into, and it shows.

Author Eric Watkins does a nice job crafting a very unique story. It’s got a lot of different elements in it. Military adventure, supernatural, and zombies, and although you might think that that’s all a little much to cram into a comic, Watkins does a great job of balancing all of those elements perfectly. They’re so spread out and each given equal time, that there’s really no way to classify this comic as being just ONE genre. It’s got a little something for everyone.

Kirby Genesis: Silver Star #6
Written by Jai Nitz
Art by Johnny Desjardins
Colors by Vinicius Andrade
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Alex Ross
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 27, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

In Kirby Genesis: Silver Star #6 there’s a LOT going on. Unfortunately, I didn’t like much of it, to be honest. While it was a good effort, I found myself SO lost in this comic, that I almost gave up reading it. But for you, dear readers, I stuck with it.

Writer Jai Nitz had me SO confused with this issue I don’t know where to start. This comic is ALL over the map, it seems there’s more than a handful of Silver Stars and a number of his villains (who are also all the same person), that I really had a problem knowing just who was who and who I should be routing for. There’s also a little girl, that I THINK turns into a love interest in the end, but I honestly don’t know. I’m afraid this comic falls victim to some VERY confusing storytelling. A narrative or re-cap paragraph would’ve helped immensely here.

Conan Road of Kings #12
Written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz
Script by Roy Thomas
Pencils by Mike Hawthorne
Inks by John Lucas
Colors by Dan Jackson
Letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Cover by Aleksi Briclot
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 18, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

All good things must come to an end and Conan Road of Kings #12 is no exception. For the past year, we’ve had the good fortune of reading this great title, but sadly, this is the last issue. Now, Conan is not going away, it’s got another series with a different creative team coming up, and if they do half as good as this one, it’ll be amazing!

Conan: Road of Kings #10
Written by Roy Thomas
Art by Dan Panosian
Colors by Dan Jackson
Letters by Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Cover by Aleksi Briclot
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: November 16th, 2011
Cover Price: $3.50

This month’s issue of Conan: Road of Kings has both its hits and misses. Unfortunately, it goes to extremes. When it hits, it hits hard and when it misses, it misses big. Part of me will always give this book the benefit of the doubt, because it’s Roy Thomas writing Conan, and you can’t really get much better than that, right?

Legendary Conan writer Roy Thomas handles Conan: Road of Kings #10, I feel, as if he really wasn’t sure where it was going when he started writing it. As a result, there is a LOT of politics involved in this issue, and they stand out like a sore thumb. Kind of like the endless scenes in the Star Wars prequels that take place in the Galactic Senate. About 30 seconds into them, you just want to roll your eyes and yell “WHO CARES?!?!?!?”. I got the same feeling from the political “intrigue” in this issue.

Conan: The Road of Kings #9
Written by Roy Thomas
Art by Dan Panosian
Colors by Dan Jackson
Letters by Richard Starkings
Cover by Aleksi Briclot
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 19, 2011
Cover Price: $3.50

Roy Thomas on Conan. What more could you want? This is classic Conan the Barbarian. Swords, sorcery, and everything that make up the genre. Except, there is a serious lack of scantily clad ladies in this issue. But, I’ll forgive you, Roy.

My one major complaint about the comic (and the Conan books in general) is that if by chance you’re picking up Conan on a whim, you might find yourself a little lost. Although there is a recap on the inside of each cover, with the Hyborian names, and all the political intrigue going on, it’s quite easy to become confused as to who’s who. But, still, Roy Thomas tells a fantastic Conan story. He hasn’t missed a beat.