Moon Girl #1-5 Created by Gardner Fox & Sheldon Moldoff
Written by Tony Trov & Johnny Zito
Illustrated by The Rahzzah
Lettered by Troy Peteri Red 5 Comics
Release Date: May 2011–October 2012
Price: Digital $1.99/issue | TPB: $11.96
Reviving a Golden Age comic is tough. Doing it with style is even tougher. And yet we find that this new incarnation of Moon Girl does just that. I had the pleasure of reading all five issues back-to-back and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Amazingly enough, Tony Trov and Johnny Zito created a 1950’s New York with a combination noir and pulp ambiance. Drawing upon all the best elements of those two genres, they really bring this comic to life for the reader. I must say that it created a near perfect background for this story to be told. And what a story it is…displaced princess becomes avenging badass. And it’s accomplished through expert storytelling that takes me back to my youth and all those summers spent reading old pulp novels and golden age comics.
Dogs of Mars Trade paperback
Story by Johnny Zito, Tony Trov and Christian Weiser
Art by Paul Maybury Image Comics
Release Date: May 2, 2012
Cover Price: $15.99
Dogs of Mars is a comic rooted in restraint. Nearly every panel of this Sci-Fi horror comic is a detailed study in delicacy. Everything from relationships to brutal violence is explored in Dogs of Mars. Yet, none of it is fully exposed to us as readers. When many comics sprint from one extreme to the next, Dogs of Mars plants the first seeds of terror from page one. The result is a completely visceral experience that will leave you checking to make sure your doors and windows are locked.
Dogs of Mars has a pace and tone that should exist organically in this genre of comic yet rarely does. Writers Johnny Zito, Tony Trov, and Christian Weiser have crafted something that will genuinely make you uneasy. That sense of discomfort is in part due to the fact that the writers of this comic have done everything in their power to alienate the reader. Characters are far from home, on an uninhabitable planet and they are being hunted. These are not careful calculating aliens hunting the unfortunate astronauts either. These are rabid and vicious beasts with snapping jaws that will eviscerate everything that comes in their path.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press