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PTF Reviews Super Suckers 5.1

Started by PTF, July 20, 2020, 09:40:45 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

PTF

PTF Reviews Super Suckers 5.1

Yep, we're finally back. Fair warning to everyone: I am currently in quarantine. So keep six feet from your computer and/or smart phones. Don't worry, I'm wearing my mask and gloves and I have a bottle of hand sanitizer that I will use after every third sentence. Oh, and for people who wonder what a covid-19 test is...you know how the Egyptians used to scoop the brains out of people before making them mummies? Like that.

But you're not here for mummies, you're here for vampires! So let's just get to the intro.


Jess and Kelly learn that being an undead blood sucking fiend has consequences: like not being able to give birth. Not a good time for Dragos, the STD provider, to return, but why is he back and has he lost weight? And Vera has gotten word that her father is a cowboy without a single cow. Sounds like more zany adventures with our favorite—Super Suckers


The Good.

The writing. Out of all this issues this is probably my favorite from Darin Henry and crew in regards to quips, comebacks, and one liners. Every page has a character saying something very clever and witty. So it's really hard to go a page without chuckling...and I'm a guy who might possibly be doomed. And we get some fun with caption boxes with the winking and just doing a caption box to annoy the letterer. One of the best jokes even gets to make it in the cover. It's not my favorite joke, but it's the joke I'd put on the cover. What is my favorite joke? Read on.

This issue is what you expect from the first part of a trilogy. You have the characters being introduced with problems/plot and the set up for the next two issues. You have a flashback of Vulture Gulch to show what is probably still going on in the present. Jess and Kelly realizing being undead can cramp your life outside of college, Vera's dad is having problems in the homestead, Dragos is back with a little freaky problem. Yeah, you really want to see what happens next and that's what this issue should be about. And I like that we're setting up for another possible storyline in advance. Also more proof that women named Connie are or will be evil.

And it's nice to see Stewart and Vera on a date and bonding. They do play off each other really well. And we even get a bit from some of the minor supporting cast with great one liners from Clover and the other girls from RHO RHO RHO House.

I'm really surprised how good the writing is because when I see three writers credited my first thought is, "this one's gonna be rough...like a long demented q-tip up my nose!" (A very recent thought...) But save for a very minor error, I can believe just one person wrote this so a good team effort from the writing team.

The art: Ah, it's nice to get my fix of classic Archie...which I, ironically, can't get from Archie Comics itself. Jeff Shultz does his usual amazing job. It's just a very entertaining book to just look at. My favorite expression in the comic is probably Vera's bug eyes when Stewart is getting his groove thang a little too close for comfort. And I like the design of cursed Dragos as he's now a mix between a Ken doll and one off those swamp goblin puppets I had as a kid with wings. And I liked that he starts his flashback by the panel turning the page into it. Loved the panel of the vampire blood cell and the human blood cell. Best page. I'll go the last page just because Dragos' reaction to the greatest horror he could have ever dreaded to see.


The coloring and lettering. The coloring was provided as always by Glenn Whitmore and lettering by Marshall Dillion. And yes, chances are very good I will have a field day with this name come issue 5.2 when the gang arrive in Vulture Gulch. And you have the usual amazing job. I really like the pimple on Kelly's forehead. I know it's just a red and white little dot, but hey, I'm easily impressed. When it comes to local, different lightings, various colors this is probably Whitmore's best work on the series. If I had to go my favorite part, it's the flashback. You have moonlight, nice lighting on the characters, and Cletus with the different color around as he prepares to attack to intensify the scene...as much as you can with a toothless vampire. And his coloring helps me ignore something I didn't like on two pages.


 Marshall Dillion...the last page alone is great. Just a great job. Love the sound effect with Kelly falling on Prof. Lipp. The coloring hobo's NOOOOOOO! I like how Kelly's slap were consistent with coloring and font only the second one a little bigger and with stars. Lots of expressive word balloons. And to go with coloring I like how each color reflects what's going on. Jess is squirting chemicals on people so it's snot green, Woosh is white, and painful acts are yellow. Nothing I can really complain about as it all works and makes sense.

Summer aka my favorite joke. Yeah, this one gets a special mention because I laughed out loud on that one. It's even better with the beat panel of her still having the same blank smile and the reaction she gets from the girls around her.  Favorite joke in the comic.


The Bad.



If I had to find a place where I know Darin Henry didn't write, it would be Dragos as he is talking with the girls. It should have been "vee" instead of "ve" since I remember that in the first issue. It's a minor nitpick, but that's what you get when you keep asking someone to review your book who has way too much time on his hands.


The art: I don't like Vera's new hair style. And it might have been decided because Vera and her mom look alike so to help distinguish them. The new 'do just doesn't say Vera to me. Shultz also forgot Kelly's nose in one panel (Page sixteen the very last one). And I wish there had been a floor drawn in the dance hall because it looks like everyone is dancing in a purple void. Not much else besides that.

Coloring: Dragos had a much darker skin tone in the first issue.

...

And if someone on the creative team posts something like, "There's no sun in Transylvania" as an explanation, I'm deducting a grade for being a smart aleck.

The intro. It's the original one from the first issue and yeah, it still does the job, but I just like it when the intro involves and element of what is going on in the comic as a nice little tease to the reader. It's more fun to look at then the characters just posing. And it would have helped with a problem I had: it would have been a great way to recap Dragos and his impact on the comic. We get a brief recap from Kelly and Jess, but I think we needed a little more for new readers who might just start with this issue. And the intro would have done that.

No Sitcommercials. Huh. Guess this is like a DVR recording?

The pimple: Maybe it's because I'm possibly sick and may end up a ventilator soon, but I'm kind of disappointed the pimple vanished from Kelly's forehead. Just seemed like a fun visual gag you could have milked through the rest of the story. Plus you could have worked it in with her biological clock and the pimple making her more mental.


Professor Lipp: Cover your friggin' mouth when you cough!! It's because of people like you; I'm in the situation I'm in!!!

2020. Not comic related in anyway, but I think we all need to always acknowledge whenever possible that the year 2020 is horrible.


What I Learned from what I read.

1.   The undead can't have kids.
2.   Club Soda >>>>>>>Club Sandwich
3.   One old drunk hobo could feed an entire pack of vampires back in the day.
4.   When you're a player, you're eventually going to get Josh Tuckered.
5.   A good slap will calm people down.
6.   Making southern accents is fun.
7.   Cows aren't racists.
8.   Pimples go away when the plot shifts to another crisis.
9.   I'll never eat marshmallows again.
10.   Huh. And here I thought Jughead was a werewolf.


So yeah, another great issue. We have a few minor errors here and there, but nothing egregious or unforgivable. It's just your usual fun story at an extremely affordable price. And like I said, first part of a three parter and it does it's job. I'm going B+

Pick up the book. It's a great book done by an excellent team with a bargain of a price.


So future plans: I'm going to review the last two issues of Blue Baron and post a Super Suckers fan fic. Lot going on but...I've got time. I mean, maybe not too much time. How long can it possible take for a corvid test to come back, right...?


Also, I've been meaning to review Vamperonica so be on the lookout for that.


So thank you to everyone who—cuff cuff—read and hoped you had fun.

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