John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction – Twitch
Paperback
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Richard P. Clark
Lettering by Janice Chiang
Cover Art by Tim Bradstreet
Release date: October 8, 2019

While most know John Carpenter for his 40+ years of excellence directing horror and genre films, since 2012 he’s been prevalent in the comic book industry. With his wife and collaborator Sandy King, Storm King Comics was born. Their flagship comic, Asylum, became a global hit and the brand also releases an annual anthology right in time for Halloween called John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight. Their monthly anthology series, John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction, has been going continuously for a few years, giving Storm King’s collection of talented authors and artists a chance to tell vivid sci-fi stories. The latest of these is Twitch, written by Duane Swierczynski with art by Richard P. Clark, and lettering by Janice Chiang.

John Carpenter’s Tales For a HalloweeNight Vol. 3
Paperback
Creators include: “‹”‹John Carpenter, Sandy King, Steve Niles, James Ninness, Joe Harris, David J Schow, Louise Simonson, Duane Swierczynski, Jon Bogdanove, Tim Bradstreet, Richard P Clark, Federico Deluca, Darick Robertson, Joel Séguin, Jim Daly, Jan Duresna, David Kennedy, Frank Tieri, Amanda Deibert, Jimmy Palmiotti, Kaelan Patrick Burke, Mike Sizemore, Cat Staggs, Jaime Carrillo, Trevor Denham
“‹Cover by Tim Bradstreet
Published by Storm King Productions
Release Date: October 4, 2017

Back in 2015, John Carpenter once again re-invented himself and created Tales For a HalloweeNight from Storm King Productions. Created alongside wife and collaborator Sandy King, Storm King has produced comics and anthologies including Asylum and John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction. Volume 3 of the annual HalloweeNight horror anthology debuts today, the week of New York Comic-Con, and features stories by The Horror Master himself, Sandy King, and constant collaborators James Ninness, Duane Swierczynski, David J. Schow, Richard P. Clark, and more.

Judge Dredd #16
13 Badges, Part 3
Created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Art by Nelson Daniel
Letters by Shawn Lee
Covers by Brendan McCarthy, Inaki Miranda & Eva De La Cruz
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 26, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

So earlier this week I was given a copy of Judge Dredd #16 to review. Being a fairly big fan of Dredd I was extremely excited to make this my first review and not fuck it up. The only problem is that I had already made arrangements to hang out with a friend of mine, Richard. Now, Richard is a fairly swell guy right up until you start talking about politics. Then he loses his proverbial shit”¦ And with Richard”¦ everything comes down to politics. Even comic books. Richard knocks on my door and walks right in as he always does, sits down on my couch, and starts blathering on about something he read on some forum only he and a few dozen of his Libertarian buddies apparently know about. While this is happening, I’m sitting in my cozy chair reading the issue and being fairly well happy about it.

Dredd #15 left us in a rather precarious place. Ol’ Joseph was being held in the Hall of Justice and was being interrogated by Cal’s men. And by interrogated, I mean he was having the living shit beat out of him like he was a uniformed piñata. So, I’m about 3 pages into the story and really enjoying Nelson Daniel‘s art (he has a superb usage of shadow vs. color to create depth in the panels that’s kind of rare these days) when Richard looks over, sees Dredd, and launches into a tirade about how this comic is a tool by the media conglomerates to desensitize us into accepting the police brutality and surveillance as it is today. If we all accept Dredd‘s future as inevitable then we won’t complain blah blah blah. I think he actually said “Sheeple” at one point. Richard could have gone on for an hour about this, and how it’s unfair that bitcoin isn’t more accepted, and I wouldn’t have given two shits because I was completely enthralled with this story and the fantastic panels on every page.

Harbinger Wars #1
Written by Joshua Dysart
Story by Joshua Dysart & Duane Swierczynski
Art by Clayton Henry, Clayton Crain and Mico Suayan
Color art by Brian Reber
Letters by Dave Lanphear
Covers by Lewis LaRosa, Clayton Henry, Clayton Crain, and Patrick Zircher
Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: April 3, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Harbinger Wars #1 is the first effort in a line wide crossover from the newly returned Valiant Entertainment. Now, I haven’t been keeping up like I should have or wanted to with the rest of the Valiant line, but thankfully the whole team has done a great job not to let me get lost and make it an enjoyable read.

Joshua Dysart, the writer of this series, does a nice job in the first few pages in bringing you up to speed on who’s who and what’s what in the Valiant Universe. It’s never confusing or convoluted, and flows naturally with the kind of story telling that he’s using in this issue. That said, I’m not a huge fan of first issues of big crossover story lines because the author normally DOES spend a number of pages catching the audience up with what has come before. Again, that being said, this one is quick and painless and then hits the ground running. This issue certainly gets the ball rolling bringing several of the Valiant Universe characters together in what seems is a confrontation that’s been brewing for awhile. Very cool, nicely written issue.

X #0
Written by Duane Swierczynski
Illustrated by Eric Nguyen
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Cover by Raymond Swanland
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: April 10, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

I love a character that doesn’t necessarily follow the typical path of the superhero; one that might be more inclined to cause a bit of pain before getting any answers; or someone with a dark past who may not have any powers, but believes in and fights for the notion of justice. This, I believe, is what Dark Horse is aiming to offer with its re-launch of the 1990’s comic vigilante, X. The problem, however, is that this particular anti-hero seems highly un-relatable in the initial issue, X #0.

Written by Duane Swierczynski with art from Eric Nguyen, we are immediately immersed into a dark, seedy criminal underworld within the city of Arcadia. While packaging up sausage links made from the meat of a previous associate, crime boss Duroc receives an envelope with a very disturbing image: his mug-shot crossed out by a large red “˜X’. Duroc meets in private with two other men, Pietrain and Hereford, both of whom have been given the same frightful letter. We learn through their conversation that other men have received letters and were murdered shortly thereafter by someone they’ve dubbed the “X-Killer.” The three men come up with their own schemes of how to either avoid or take down the X-Killer.