Elephantmen: Armed Forces (Review)

Armed Forces is a collection that includes the sold out graphic novel  War Toys (see: Book of the Month), War Toys: Yvette, & a couple of issues from the ongoing monthly, Elephantmen.  Richard Starkings continues the writing on this masterpiece of Pulp Science Fiction, while artwork is done by some of the greatest artists in the industry today....Moritat, Boo Cook, Ladronn, & Axel Medellin.

Yvette

While I must admit that Saga has taken over as the #1 comic book in my heart, Elephantmen takes a backseat to nothing else being published today.  Completely original, entertaining, with some of the best storytelling and artwork available....it's in a word: Awesome!

The Hardcover editions are breathtakingly gorgeous, with attached ribbon bookmarker, great binding....a very "real book" look and feel.

This volume is a prequel to the other Elephantmen volumes, showing the history and background on our main characters, the war fought in Europe between Central Africa & China, & the European resistance led by it's symbolic leader, Yvette. She is really the star of this volume, as she matures from naive little sister to unstoppable Force of Nature!

Elephantmen: Questionable Things (Review)

The fourth volume of the wonderfully awesome Elephantmen series, Questionable Things continues to ask questions....and does answer some as well.  In fact, just about every question that I'd asked since I began reading this series was answered in "Q.T.", including a "hint" at possibly the biggest question of them all (going way back to the ending of Elephantmen: Concrete Jungle, released several years ago), does Sahara really die?

The impressive thing about this volume is the amount of different artists that contributed their work (especially in Issue #25, which had 26 different artists).  The amazing thing that makes it even more impressive is that they didn't lose the tone or feel of the story!  That is a very difficult thing to accomplish when you have so many artists working on the same project (I've seen books with just a couple artists lose the feel and tone  of the story).  Great job by all the artists involved in Questionable Things...and of course, to the mastermind of it all, Richard Starkings.

Book of the Month: November 2011

Elephantmen: War Toys (volume 1) is one of those priceless gems that is no longer available....sold out everywhere! However, it will be released along with E:War Toys (vol.2) and the Yvette mini-series in Elephantmen: Armed Forces, coming out soon as a hardcover graphic novel collection.  Look for it!!

The story of the war to end all wars now in one volume! The prequel to Image's hit series, Elephantmen! Africa and China are at war. The battlefield: Europe, recently devastated by a lethal virus. Enter: MAPPO's soldiers, The Elephantmen. Even in the face of blistering resistance, it seems that nothing can stop MAPPO's advance across France to the North. But as Hip Flask comes face to face with the last vestiges of humanity in the frozen Scandinavian wastes, he discovers that only the dead see the end of warfare.

Elephantmen: Dangerous Liaisons (Review)

Citizen's Grade: Awesome.

If you are not already aware, Elephantmen is the best comic book being published today! Period.  I know fans of other books may argue, and I myself do have some favorite characters that would rank higher....but in issue after issue the Writing is brilliant, the Artwork is breathtaking, the Lettering is top-of-the-industry, and the Inking is perfect for the look and feel of this series....EVERY SINGLE ISSUE, EVERY BOOK!!!  When you purchase the volumes you just want to set them on your bookshelf and admire them for hours! Then invite your friends to come look (but DON'T TOUCH!) as well.  I can not recommend this title enough, IT IS the best overall title being published today! Period.

Elephantmen: Wounded Animals (Review)

Citizen's Grade: Awesome!

The Elephantmen monthly comic book series is the best in the industry today! Richard Starkings's creation stands in a class of it's own....and is definitely the best creator-owned comic, period. As much publicity as Kick-Ass (the Marc Millar owned title) has received in the last couple of years, it did not have the characters or plot to be an ongoing series like the Elephantmen. My previous review of Wounded Animals was a vague overview, this review is more in-depth.

This first volume of the Elephantmen series introduces us to the main characters and the overall theme and plot of the series....Hip Flask, Ebony Hide, Obadiah Horn, Sahara, Miki, & Savannah. Starkings' great strength as a writer is his ability to take seemingly unconnected events and short stories and weave them together into long, winding masterpieces.

Top 5 Comic Book Artists

This list comprises the best artists in the Comic Book Industry. Although I could make this list very long, these are the ones that when I see their work....I salivate.

Elephantmen: Fatal Diseases (Review)

Citizen's Grade: Awesome.

Volume Two of this incredible series isn't quite as great as Volume One, only because the first volume (Wounded Animals) was so great that nothing could possibly equal it! Elephantmen: Fatal Diseases details the continuing, complicated lives of Hip Flask, Ebony Hide, Obadiah Horn, and the rest of the survivors of MAPPO's genetic experiments in Los Angeles, 2259, as a meteor falls in Santa Monica Bay and a new epidemic must be contained! The characters converge in cataclysmic fashion, showing the deeper elements within the Elephantmen's lives.

Elephantmen: Wounded Animals (Review)

Citizen's Grade: Awesome.

The first seven issues of the Elephantmen on-going series are collected in this deluxe volume. In the year 2224, a mad scientist named Dr. Kazushi Nikken creates giant human-animal hybrids....elephants, rhinos, camels, zebras, crocodiles, etc. After brainwashing them into an army of fearless killers, he sends them off to kill. But the United Nations liberates the elephantmen and integrates them into society.

That's the basis of the series, which offers an original look into racism, xenophobia and globalism.

Elephantmen: War Toys (Review)

Citizen's Grade: Awesome.

The story of the war to end all wars now in one volume! The prequel to Image's hit series, Elephantmen! Africa and China are at war. The battlefield: Europe, recently devastated by a lethal virus. Enter: MAPPO's soldiers, The Elephantmen. Even in the face of blistering resistance, it seems that nothing can stop MAPPO's advance across France to the North. But as Hip Flask comes face to face with the last vestiges of humanity in the frozen Scandinavian wastes, he discovers that only the dead see the end of warfare.