Shinku the (new) vampire slayer

Shinku #1 "Throne of Blood" part 1

Ron Marz writer

Lee Moder pencils

Matthew Waite inks

Michael Atiyeh colorist

Troy Peteri letters

Image Comics publisher

$2.99

First off, Shinku is for MATURE AUDIENCE ONLY!  (Does that mean I can use the really bad words now?)  So what is Shinku?  Shinku is the last of her clan, called Tadataka Clan.  Many years ago they were the mightiest samurai clan in their kingdom, but then a clan called Yagyu arose to oppose them.  This was a clan of vampires (and no it isn't your Twilight vampires) and they both waged war on one another.  As time past the Yagyu defeated the Tadataka leaving only Shinku left to deal with the vampires.  So there's your rough outline/origin, now let's get to the issue.

We're seeing the story throw the eyes of David Quinn, David is hanging out with a friend at a nightclub.  His friends encourage him to talk to this Goth Chick and one thing leads to another . . . . how do I make this "kid friendly"?. . . They went out back and started making out.  The kissing lead to the "HSSSSSS"ing which brought out the fangs.  Yuppers, he was making out with a vampire. But before she could take a bite out of David, Shinku comes speeding out of nowhere and saves him, she grabs him and the end up at her "home base".

The art team of Lee Moder, Matthew Waite & Michael Atiyeh did a breathtaking job with this issue the art just jumps off the pages.  Really loved how they made the splash pages for the origin have the feel of old time Chinese/Japan art. 

I don't think I’ve ever read a Ron Marz comic that I didn't enjoy.  Anything I see his name on is a comic that’s always a "Must Read".  With this only being the first issue I truly can't wait for the following issues to come out.  For $2.99 there’s a great story, stunning art, and vampires (because everyone loves vampires), how could you NOT give it a try?

-Joseph (AliasJoeG)-

Nobody puts Jubilee in a corner

Wolverine and Jubilee #1 (of 4)

 “Cursed Part 1”

Kathryn Immonen writer

Phil Noto artist

Clayton Cowles letters

Olivier Coipel cover

Marvel Comics Limited Series

Price $2.99

I was big into the X titles in the 90’s.  With all of the characters, the relationships, the history and for somebody like me who started reading / collecting at that time I just fell head first into the mutant universe. When I think X-Men I still have Chris Claremont, Scott Lobdell, and Fabian Nicieza on the top of my list as favorite runs.  Somewhere after those guys I moved on from the X-titles only checking in sporadically to see what was going on in the books.  What I always liked about Jubilee being paired with Wolverine was she was more then just a sidekick.  Outside of the blue and yellow costumes there was still that surrogate father daughter link that I’m happy to see is still going strong in this new mini-series.

As I mentioned I’m not that up to speed on the current storylines going on in the X-titles, I was aware that Jubilee lost her powers during M-Day but was completely surprised to find out she was turned into a vampire during the last crossover.  I do like seeing lasting effects spinning out of crossovers and have made a note to find out what comics this happened in, I do miss the astric (*) comments that’d give us issues number info while reading.  The “Previously…” page that starts the issue does provide a nice overview of the who, what, and where for Jubilee.  And Wolverine….. at this point I’m pretty sure everybody knows who Wolverine is.

The series starts off with Jubilee being held in a containment lab not only for the protection of people living on Utopia Island but for herself as well.  Infusing Wolverine’s healing factor blood into her system appears to working but this treatment is still in the testing stage.  Even though Jubilee may be all doom and gloom not knowing what is happening to her right now we do see that there's a positive support network besides Wolverine that wants to see her come out of this.

 Page from Wolverine & Jubilee #1

In addition to old favorites Cyclops and Emma Frost there’s some new X-Men that I haven’t seen before; Armor, Rockslide, and Pixie who Jubilee attacked leading to her escape from the island.  This is where the story kicked into another gear.  Jubilee meets a mysterious woman in a San Francisco bar that seems to know more about her then she does herself.  I don’t want to give the cliffhanger away that ends the issue but it does leave us with some exciting questions of where this story’s going.

Wolverine had the last line here to close out the issue, “it’s time to do this my way”, and things are going to get interesting.

Couple of quick notes on the creative team behind this comic, I haven’t read much of Kathryn Immonen’s work but I’ve enjoyed her interviews from the Word Balloon podcast. I do have a partial run of the Patsy Walker Hellcat mini she wrote, haven’t read it yet because I want to get all of the issues before jumping into it.  Phil Noto’s art was very impressive, great facial expressions really captured the emotion.  He’s a triple threat really by penciling, inking, and coloring his own work he has complete control of the art. 

panel from Wolverine # 75 by Larry Hama & Adam Kubert