So These Five Image Books Walk Into My Library…

So I looked at the titles in my “to review” stack and realized that some of them have been there for quite some time.  In fact, it’s been over a month since I made a bulk order of new comics. Time to fix that, but what to do about the stuff I’ve been wanting to review?  Hey, it looks like a good chunk of them are Image titles that I can bundle together in one go like I’ve done in the past! So brace yourself for brief reviews of “Isola,” “Regression,” “Sunstone,” “Seven to Eternity” and “Rumble.”

While the fact that I’m talking about all of these volumes in one post shouldn’t reflect on their overall quality, I will say that Isola, Chapter One would’ve passed by this blog without a mention otherwise.  It’s a fantasy series whose lush jungle setting allows for Karl Kershl to deliver some truly gorgeous artwork and that’s the most it has going for it.  Writer Brenden Fletcher spins a rather ordinary tale of a queen who was turned into a tiger and her faithful bodyguard who is trying to take her to Isola, the Land of the Dead, in order to remove the curse.  Along they way they meet the expected assortment of bandits and mages, as well as a crazy wise man with no real surprises along the way. There was a bit of controversy when this volume was released and the Barnes & Noble chain got an edition with an exclusive (read:  reprinted from online) prologue. I didn’t get that version, but what I’ve read here gives me the impression that it wouldn’t have changed my opinion if I did.

Regression vol. 3:  Sacrifice does manage to wrap up its story while offering up at least one surprise that I didn’t see coming after the way things were left in the previous volume.  Adrian’s mind has been completely dominated by the Valgeroti, yet he still has one more score to settle. That would be with the hypnotist who locked his demon away back in the first volume.  It sounds like a simple task. The problem is that the good guys have been refining their strategy over multiple timelines. While this volume’s embrace of a past/present/future settings may sound confusing, writer Cullen Bunn manages to keep it all straight to the end.  As always, it’s Danny Luckert’s art which drives the story as he always finds new ways to make bug-related horror look creepy. Here’s hoping he gets more high-profile work after this.

The way forward for Sunstone vol. 6:  Mercy, Part One is to go back.  Back to when Alan and Ally first got to know each other in college.  Back to when Anne was a full on metal edgelord in an institute of higher learning as well.  Creator Stjepan Sejic clearly sees filling in the respective backstories for these characters as a key part of the “Sunstone” mythos.  The catch is that the broad strokes of Alan and Ally’s history were already described in previous volumes, so there’s no real surprise to what we learn about them here.  It’s a credit to Sejic’s writing that seeing these two bondage initiates investigate their kink together manages to be a funny and enlightening experience. Anne’s story has a bit more drama to it since it’s harder to see how her budding relationship Laura is going to turn out, even if what we get here still allows me to hazard a guess.  Overall the series remains great, sexy fun with this trip down memory lane proving to be a worthwhile one so far.

The previous volume of “Seven to Eternity” made it clear that its real protagonist was Garlis Slum, the ruler of Zhal who had enslaved most of its people through his Offers.  His relationship with the disgraced Adam Osidis also turned out to be the most interesting one in the book. Though we get more of these things in Seven to Eternity vol. 3:  Rise to Fall it’s not quite as interesting as the previous volume.  Rick Remender is still writing with melodrama and worldbuilding on full tilt while Jerome Opena gives us some impressive visuals centering around the sky city of Skod.  It’s home to one of Garlis’ bastard sons, Volmer, who was cursed along with his people to live in the sky after his wife heard an Offer from the Mud King. We get some decent family drama out of this and good action towards the end as things go to hell, yet there’s nothing here that really subverts my expectations in the way that vol. 2 did.  Except for the “To Be Concluded” bit at the end which has me wondering how the creators are going to wrap everything up in vol. 4.

If you’ve been reading “Rumble” so far and thought to yourself, “This is pretty good, but it’d be even better if Rathraq got his human body back,” then I have the volume for you!  Rumble vol. 5:  Things Remote has the scarecrow warrior and his friends winding up on a mysterious island that was set aside for the gods of his era to live peacefully as the world passed them by.  Unfortunately, in addition to the main cast a large contingent of the Esu have also found their way here looking to settle some very old scores. Some of the history writer John Arcudi throws up here does get a bit confusing to take in, but it’s worth sticking with the story for its likeable cast and intriguing developments between them.  Also for David Rubin’s spectacular art as he shifts between island paradise and run-down slum, with lots of fighting in both locations, with style and grace. I don’t know if “Rumble” is really headed into its final arc yet everything in this volume leaves it in a good place if that’s the case.