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.

The X-Files/Ghostbusters: Conspiracy #1
Written by Erik Burnham
Art by Salvador Navarro
Colors by Esther Sanz
Letters by Shawn Lee
Edits by Tom Waltz & Denton J. Tipton
Covers by Miran Kim, Dan Schoening & Luis Delgado, Joe Corroney & Brian Miller
IDW Publishing
Release Date: January 22, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Going into The X-Files/Ghostbusters: Conspiracy #1 I was a bit nervous, because I’ve never watched the X-Files television series. So, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t understand what was going on. So, did it make sense to me? Let’s find out.

Thanks to regular Ghostbusters writer, Erik Burnham, I totally understood what was going on in this issue. He gives a great introduction to The X-Files characters, lays out their purpose in this crossover, and has it make total sense, instead of just a big mash-up of the two different properties. Not only that, he actually shows us a different side of the Ghostbusters’ life that we haven’t seen in the regular Ghostbusters title.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #27
Story by Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, and Tom Waltz
Script by Tom Waltz
Illustrated by Mateus Santolouco
Colored by Ronda Pattison
Lettered by Shawn Lee
Covers by Mateus Santolouco, Kevin Eastman, and Kenneth Loh
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 30, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

With Leonardo still under Shredder’s control, the leader of the Foot Clan has nearly consolidated his power in NYC’s underground in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #27. The remaining three Turtles scour the city looking for their lost brother, while mustering their forces (and technology) to confront the dreaded leader of the Foot!

Thankfully, this title consistently feels like it was written in the glory days when the original creators were at the helm. Undoubtedly, it helps that co-creator Kevin Eastman is at the helm of the story. Even Mateus Santolouco‘s art is reminiscent of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle titles of days past…only with cleaner lines and more vibrant layouts.

Doctor Who Omnibus, Vol. 2
Written by Tony Lee, Jonathan L. Davis, Matthew Dow Smith, Al Davison, Matt Sturges
Illustrated by Al Davison, Matthew Dow Smith, Blair Shedd, Kelly Yates, Brian Shearer
Colored by Lovern Kindzierski, Charlie Kirchoff, Phil Elliot, Al Davison, Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by Chris Mowry, Robbie Robbins, Neil Uyetake, Al Davison, Shawn Lee
Cover by Tony Lee Edwards
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 23, 2013
Cover Price: $29.99

Doctor Who Omnibus, Vol. 2 is a massive collection featuring the tenth Doctor, as portrayed by David Tennant. It collects issues #1-16, as well as the 2010 annual comic, and an eleventh doctor story, “A Fairytale Life.”

Now, I’m a pretty big Doctor Who fan, and the tenth doctor is my favorite, but this collection largely fails to capture that Whovian magic I was looking for. I would have expected to have larger, more explosive stories in a comic because the special effects budget has no limits, but I found the majority of the stories were contained to a handful of “sets” and sometimes felt claustrophobic.

Mystery Society, Vol. 1
Created by Steve Niles and Ashley Wood
Written by Steve Niles
Artwork by Fiona Staples, Andrew Ritchie
Letters by Robbie Robbins, Chris Mowry, Shawn Lee
Cover by Fiona Staples
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 2, 2013
Cover Price: $27.99

Volume 1 of Mystery Society takes you on a journey around the world in 160 pages. Nick and Anastasia Hammond, er…I mean Mystery (they had their name legally changed), are the leaders of the newly formed Society and are hell bent on righting wrongs and pretty much just saving the world. Of course, they have their faults. You can’t look that good and have that much money without some issues, right?

Nick is a bit overconfident, not to mention a tad impulsive. These two attributes tend to get him in trouble from time to time. Luckily he’s actually a pretty good superhero, especially when you add his wife, Anastasia, to the mix. She’s far more level headed and meticulous about the plans they make when setting out to solve a problem. The coolest thing about these two is their backstory. They inherited a bunch of money but before that they owned a bookstore (awesome, right?). And it was during those early years that they decided that, if given a chance, they would spend their time helping people. Add in some cool hideouts and gadgets and that is how the Mystery Society was conceived.