Doctor Spektor #1
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Neil Edwards
Colors by Jordan Boyd
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Edits by Nate Cosby of Cosby & Sons Productions
Covers by Christian Ward, Francesco Francavilla, Phil Hester, Jae Lee, and Ken Haeser
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Doctor Spektor #1 is a whole lotta crazy. I mean a WHOLE LOT of crazy. Now, was it crazy good or crazy bad? Let’s take a look.

Going into this, I have to admit, I’ve never read a Doctor Spektor comic before in my life. But, I heard Mark Waid was writing it, so I wanted to at least check it out. Lemme tell you, I’m really glad I did. You don’t have to know anything about the character to enjoy this comic. In fact, I think if you followed the character before, that might hurt your enjoyment of this book. Waid gives us a Doctor Spektor that’s basically a reality TV star, but unlike the reality shows on TV now, this one’s actually a REAL reality show. If that makes sense. On camera, he’s a strong, fearless master of the occult, but behind closed doors, he’s a hot mess. I won’t go into any spoilers, but this is a REALLY interesting character, and if you removed all the monster fighting, I would still read this book, as Waid makes him an incredibly interesting and compelling character.

Voltron #8
Written by Brandon Thomas
Art by N. Steven Harris
Colors by Marcello Pinto
Letters by Marshall Dillon
Cover by Sean Chen
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: October 3, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Voltron #8 has a lot going on. While there’s tons of action, drama, and giant robots, there may be a little TOO much going on for the comic’s own good.

You can tell Brandon Thomas loves Voltron. And I mean LOVES Voltron. In some cases, that’s a very good thing. In some cases, writers are so in love with the property or franchise that they’re writing that they turn a blind eye to the basics of comic writing, and I think that may be the case here. I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve missed the past couple of issues, but I really liked the way this series started out. Upon reading this issue, I’m not finding the same fun series that’s full of mysteries that I remember. It’s frustrating to not understand characters that you’ve known and loved since your childhood, but here, I’m finding that’s the case. Prince Lotor is a bad guy who’s really a good guy pretending to be a good guy who’s hanging around with the evil witch Hagar who’s trying to sway him back to being a bad guy. I think. Heck, you got me at this point. Hopefully, when the current story arc plays out, Thomas will get this book back to the basics, otherwise, I’m afraid it might start to lose even the hardest of hardcore Voltron fans.