Lone

A little over a decade ago, Dark Horse published “Lone Wolf 2100,” a reimagining of Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s classic “Lone Wolf and Cub” manga. Dark Horse has decided to reboot that futuristic story, but Eric Heisserer and Miguel Sepulveda’s version of “Lone Wolf 2100” unfortunately feels like everything else on the market. RELATED: “Lone Wolf 2100” Puts the World’s Fate in the Hands of a 6-Year-Old Girl Like its predecessor, “Lone Wolf 2100” stars Itto, a robotic protector tasked with bringing Daisy Ogami to a safe place, so that a special virus in her bloodstream can be used to stop a worldwide epidemic. As the epidemic spreads, creating zombie-like victims known as the Thrall, their path is blocked by infectee and Thrall-hunter alike. Heisserer’s biggest change to “Lone Wolf 2100” is shifting Daisy Ogami from a baby (similar to the child in “Lone Wolf and Cub”) to a young girl. It gives Itto someone to talk to and makes Daisy an actual character instead of merely a MacGuffi

Ande Parks and Esteve Polls tie an admirable bow on the latest adventures of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, a task they perform admirably in “The Lone Ranger” #25. Sporting an iconic Francesco Francavilla cover, the duo’s “Legend” story offers readers a compact sample of the man, myth and legend of the Lone Ranger. Unfortunately, “The Lone Ranger” #25 doesn’t afford much more exploration beyond sampling, as there are neither the pages available or any issues to follow. Instead of packing too much about any one person or circumstance into “The Lone Ranger” #25, writer Ande Parks tells readers just what they need to know about the Ranger, Tonto, their apparent adversary Colonel Masters and the circumstances Masters has imposed upon the local Arapaho Indians. Parks gives both Tonto and the Ranger their own individual spotlights throughout the issue, offering readers plenty of reason to support both characters. The writer chooses to close out the tale with a string of captions as opposed to

Liz Prince’s new collection “Alone Forever” gathers together short comics drawn with a unifying theme: being single. But before you start backing away thinking that this going to be either a “woe is me” misery fest or a “I’m single and fabulous!” explosion, turn off the internal alarm. “Alone Forever” is pretty darn funny, even while maintaining a slight melancholic streak from start to finish. While the main thrust of “Alone Forever” is about being single, what’s great is that Prince has such a good sense of humor about the entire endeavor. In one story when talking about the dating site OK Cupid, she draws herself with huge weepy eyes while thinking, “Still no message from Tacofan13? Why?!” Other times she talks about how she’s all right with being single (when urged to ask out someone in a restaurant), then suddenly snaps a pencil in half and smashes through a wall screaming. Mostly, though, “Alone Forever” is full of exasperation, and that’s an emotion that carries comedy quite

“Clone” #12 continues a surprisingly welcom shift in this comic that started last month. After ten issues of “Clone” being a big espionage/science-fiction thriller, David Schulner, Aaron Ginsburg, Wade McIntyre and Juan Jose Ryp have begun a story that is much smaller in scale. But this sort of story (let’s call it an isolation/imprisonment thriller instead) is just as effective, even as it also follows quite nicely from everything in the earlier issues. One of the things that I have to give Schulner, Ginsburg, and McIntyre credit for is that this kind of successful shift shows the versatility of the overall “Clone” story. Not a lot of ongoing series would be able to temporarily set aside its initial thrust for something along these lines and have it work, but “Clone” #12 is able to embrace and integrate in this different style. Don’t get me wrong, just like “Clone” #1-10, the book is still full of shocks and surprises. But it’s definitely a different sort this time around. For a bo

I recently caught up on about six months’ worth of “Clone,” and I came to one conclusion above all else: David Schulner, Aaron Ginsburg, Wade McIntyre and Juan Jose Ryp adore the big cliffhanger. If “Clone” were a television series (with an insanely high budget), at the end of each episode, there is no doubt in my mind that viewers would be going bonkers waiting a week to find out what happened next. In a big action thriller comic, that’s exactly what’s needed. “Clone” #10 continues in that vein, as Luke continues to try and rescue his wife, even as he also has to finally go up against the villainous clone Beta who already massacred his parents. What’s surprising when you go back and examine “Clone” #10 is how much plot advancement happens in its 22 pages. Multiple battles start and end, the lives of several characters change, and there are some huge plot developments added into the mix. Schulner, Ginsburg and McIntyre deserve a lot of credit for this; so many comics would have doled

The pedigree for “Clone” includes three writers from Hollywood. This month’s issue feels like it’s coming straight out of a movie script heading into the third act. It’s a relentless thrill ride from cover to cover. There’s only one scene that comes close to being talking heads, and even that one is filled with peril and intrigue. Luke, the original from which all clones spring, is off to save his wife and child, leaving his own parents behind in the process. That’s when his most murderous clone shows up to wreak havoc and destruction and, yes, death. Juan Jose Ryp’s storytelling feels like it was ripped straight out of the storyboards for a movie script on this one, as he carefully controls his “camera” to let us see just what we need to see and when. It causes a bit of a cheat in the last panel of the issue to pull off the surprise, but it’s easily forgivable. You want those moments to gasp at when you read a book like this, so a minor story hiccup can be forgiven. (Specifically, a

Filled with ridiculous amounts of irreverent fun, “Pantalones, TX: Don’t Chicken Out” features the coming-of-age tale of Chico Bustamante. Yehudi Mercado’s study of the town where underwear was invented feels like a modern-day allegory to “Peanuts,” welcoming readers of all ages and offering plenty of silliness built around a boy’s dream to become a Texas Legend. As with all intentionally funny all ages material, there is plenty here to fuel laugh tracks of all ages and sizes, intellects and interests. I dialed in to the incredible faux ads and use of hackneyed Texas flora and fauna. After all, what could be funnier visually than a stagecoach wagon equipped with all-terrain tires being pulled by a team of six armadillos? Mercado’s art is strong, stylized and stylish, using graphic design sensibilities and fun filters to craft a memorable landscape visual collection that quickly establishes itself as a recognizable brand. Mercado uses the story and dialog to display his saucy wit t

“The Lone Ranger” #13 from Ande Parks and Esteve Polls is a standalone tale as our intrepid lead takes down a disgusting man who peddles in female Chinese slaves. The problem with the issue is that I have nearly completely summarized the events in that one sentence. The story of one man’s courage and sense of duty against another man’s depravity and sense of entitlement has the bones of something fine, but little is done with it to make it pop on the page or in my mind. Esteve Polls shows some flair in his art but there aren’t many opportunities for it to shine in this issue. His page of the Lone Ranger suiting up is really quite stirring as he grabs his gear and we culminate in a heroic pose. Later, a showdown between hero and villain yields some fine layout work as Polls pits the eyes of each man against each other through the main conflict of the scene. Character’s faces work well and the storytelling is clean. The structure of the story breaks roughly in half with the first nine

When David Schulner and Juan Jose Ryp’s “Clone” first debuted, it was surprising, fun and adventurous — the sort of comic that makes you almost instantly want to read more. Now that we’re on “Clone” #4, though, some of that freshness is starting to fade. It’s starting to feel a bit more like, well, a clone. “Clone” #4 is a bit more generic than most of the previous issues, which proves to be a detriment. Change the faces of the various clones and this comic wouldn’t need more than a couple of dialogue tweaks to work just as well. The issue presents a very standard breaking-into-facility story here, and that’s frustrating. Right now, it feels like “Clone” #4 has lost a bit of sight on what its big hook is. On the plus side, in terms of just another action heist, it’s not bad. Schulner falls into some cliches here and there, but it’s still entertaining enough. The action stays high from one scene to the next, and even when we have the inevitable cut in the action to the offices of the

“Clone” #3 by David Schuler and Juan Jose Ryp picks up directly after last issue’s cliffhanger, as Patrick leads Luke into the enemy’s lab complex. The opening scene has some excellent shock value due to Ryp’s lurid visuals. Also, the villainous Patrick is a great character. He is made of the same genetic stuff as Luke and the other clones, yet out of numerous clones, only Patrick seems to have chosen to ally himself with what the others see as the enemy. Patrick is shrewd yet nearly deranged, seeing the other clones are threats rather than kin. He is unable to separate his identity from genetics, unable to feel legitimate unless he is unique. Thus Schulner brings up the question almost every clone story has to answer: are clones human, each and every copy? Or are they only variations of the same person? Afterwards, Schulner’s plotting takes some conventional turns. The rescue of the pregnant wife still feels a little cliched despite the twist about the singularity of the child. Th