Comic Review: Danger Girl: Renegade #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Written by Andy Hartnell
• Art by Stephen Molnar
• Colors by John Rauch
• Letters by Neil Uyetake
• Edits by Scott Dunbier
• Published by IDW Publishing

Before reading this issue, I didn't know that Danger Girl had an established history in comics. As it turns out, that is a very good thing. Danger Girl: Renegade #1 makes me want to read more, and its back catalogue means I don't have to wait for a new issue to get more.

Comic Review: Drive #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Written by Michael Benedetto
• Pencils by Antonio Fuso
• Inks by Emilio Lecce
• Colors by Jason Lewis
• Letters by Frank Cvetkovic
• Publisher: IDW Publishing

Drive started its life as a novel, then was adapted to a movie, and with Drive #1, IDW is now adapting the novel to comics. While the novel is considered a classic and the movie has a lot of critical acclaim, the comic is unfortunately not up to those standards.

Comic Review: D4VE2 #1

• Story and Letters by Ryan Ferrier
• Art and Colors by Valentin Ramon
• Published by IDW Publishing

Even after reading through it a couple times, I can't tell you what exactly D4VE2 is. It is about robots, and is quite out there, even by comic standards. Trying to summarize it is a losing battle. I will likely check out the next issue, though I find it difficult to explain exactly why.

Comic Review: Boy 1 #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Writer/creator: H.S. Tak
• Art: Amancay Nahuelpan
• Colors: Sebastian Cheng
• Letters: Dezi Sienty
• Editor: Denton J. Tipton
• Producer: Jeremy Entin
• Publisher: IDW Publishing

 Science fiction often exists for the sake of making fantasy stories feel more grounded. From the beginning, Boy-1 seems to be straddling that line, trying to bring fantastical things to life while actually starting in real science and moving forward. It focuses on genetic engineering, though exactly the role that it plays in the plot is not really clear quite yet.   

Comic Review: String Divers #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Creator/Art director: Ashley Wood
• Storytellers: Chris Ryall and Nelson Daniel
• Letters: Neil Uyetake
• Editorial Assistant: Michael Benedetto
• Publisher: IDW Publishing

When I first read it, I had no idea where String Divers came from. I had my suspicions, but it wasn't until looking into it later that I discovered that it was based off of a toy line. I don't say this in judgement, since I'll defend the possibility of good out of any source material, but to illustrate how knowing the genesis of something can explain so much about it.

Comic Review: The Shrinking Man #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Adaptation: Ted Adams
• Art and Design: Mark Torres
• Colors: Tomi Varga
• Letters: Robbie Robbins
• Publisher: IDW Publishing

Shrinking Man #1 is the first issue in IDW's adaptation of the Richard Matheson novel, which even if you haven't read it, you likely know from reputation. True to its name, it follows a man who is shrinking a little bit every single day, and despite their best efforts, scientists have no idea why it's happening or what they can do about it.

Comic Review: Transformers: Combiner Hunters One-Shot

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Written by: Mairghread Scott
• Art by: Sara Pitre-Durocher
• Colors by: Yamaishi
• Letters by: Tom B. Long
• Editor: John Barber
• Publisher: IDW Publishing

Transformers: Combiner Hunters One-Shot starts off with an idea that I can really get behind. There is the possibility of combining some Transformers together to create a much larger one, and while that is happening, there are other Transformers hunting them down. As a high concept premise goes, it's pretty good. Also, despite this being a one-shot, it's not surprising that this is part of the Transformers comic universe; IDW has built a strong universe with those comics, and one of the strengths of a shared universe is the opportunities to tell a small story within that universe.

Comic Review: Transformers: Robots in Disguise #1

This was originally posted as a review for Word of the Nerd. Reposted here with slight modifications.

• Writer: Georgia Ball
• Artist: Priscilla Tramontano
• Letterer: Tom B. Long
• Cover: Priscilla Tramontano
• Alternate cover: Travis Sengaus and Josh Burcham
• Publisher: IDW Publishing

I've never been a Transformers fan, mostly because I was born about 10 years too late for it to be a large part of my early life. In fact, all I've seen are the Michael Bay movies, but those are another discussion for another time. I do know a lot of it by osmosis, and with the launch of a new ongoing series based on a cartoon series, this issue of Transformers: Robots in Disguise (not to be confused with the previous series of the same name) felt like a place I could jump in and just have some fun with the series.