This week I was unable to read Green Wake vol 2 as I said I would, I left it where I was living for the last month, but thankfully I got ahold, finally, of Joey Esposito’s Footprints Trade, a book I’ve been eager to get my hands on for months now.
WARNING: PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THESE COMICS THIS POST MAY CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS OF THE COMICS BEING REVIEWED!
Comic: Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Issue 4
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Authors: John Ostrander and Jan Duursema
Artists: Jan Duursema, Dan Parsons, and Wes Dzioba
Issue 4 of Dawn of the Jedi’s first story arc Force Storm brings the plot to a powerful climax in anticipation of what’s to come in the next issue. Shae Koda, Tasha Ryo, and Sek’nos are all trapped in the Abyss of Ruh and, at the opening of the issue, are confronted by visions created by Dark Force energies. They manage to overcome these fears and chase after the Force Hound Xesh who is facing horrors of his own. They catch up with Xesh and try to save him but he quickly turns on them again and leaves them to an inevitable death. As I said, next issue brings this story arc to an end, one that I am very excited to see. John Ostrander and Jan Duursema have come back together to create an amazing to story as we get to learn the origin of the Jedi Order from the Je’daii. The rockstar team who brought us Star Wars: Legacy are back and in full force in the new series from Dark Horse Comics. Duursema’s art brings to life creatures from the Star Wars Universe as no other artist has managed to yet. Ostrander and Duursema have come together to create a story with incredible relevance to the Star Wars Universe and together they will slowly show us how the beloved Jedi of the George Lucas became the Guardians of Peace and Justice across the Galaxy.
Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi Issue 4: 8.5/10
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Comic: Footprints
TP Collection
Publisher: 215 Ink
Author: Joey Esposito
Artist: Jonathan Moore
I’m a sucker for independently published and pushed comics so when I read on Twitter that Joey Esposito was putting out a comic I got a hold of him immediately. He sent me over to 215 Ink’s website where I was able to read the first issue for free and I was hooked. Joey also managed to send me issue 2 a few weeks later, it was a great way to continue the groundwork he had laid out in the first issue and it left off on a crazy cliff hanger. A few weeks later I went over to my local comic book store to order the Trade that was scheduled to come out in December at that point I believe. I finally got my hands on it yesterday and after months of waiting to see how the story would end I got my wish and I couldn’t be happier.
Footprints takes place in a noir world where creatures like Big Foot and The Yeti are able to walk the streets and no one gives it a second thought. In fact those two are brothers in the world created by Esposito and Moore, they are The Foot Brothers Detective Agency. Years before the main story took place the two of them had a falling out but at the top of the book Big Foot gets a letter from his brother and travels via Jersey Devil to the Arctic only to find his brother dead, his head cut off and on the floor in front of him. This prompts Foot to get the old gang back together to find out who is responsible for his brother’s death. With the likes of The Jersey Devil, The Loch Ness Monster, Megalodon, and The Chupacabra helping him out Foot soon discovers people he thought were his friends have been using their abilities as Folk Tale Monsters to create weapons for the U.S. Government to use. They also discover that Yeti’s old fling, Motheresa, is breeding an army of Mothmen.
Jonathan Moore’s art fits the mood of the story perfectly, the dark shading used in panels make you look hard at what you’re seeing, and with that comes a reward in his artwork. At the end of the book there is a step by step feature that shows how Jonathan went about sketching, inking, and washing the pages, being able to see his artists process is a treat.
If you enjoy Urban Legends and the monsters that come with them as I always have and like to see a different take on them Footprints is a comic that you can’t miss out on. An interesting fact that I didn’t know about Footprints was that it was funded over on Kickstarter, at the back of the book they have listed all of the names of the people who helped fund Footprints and get it out and into our hands. Many thanks to all 199 of you! Mixing characters that have been known for centuries into a noir detective tale, Esposito and Moore have managed to create a unique story that I hope they will eventually revisit and give us a Volume 2.
Footprints: 9/10
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For more reviews of this weeks comics go over to IGN to check out their weekly Comic Round up headed up by Joey Esposito himself. If you have any suggestions for comics or trade collections I should review tell me about them in the comment section below and I’ll see what I can do. I’ll see you all next week until then remember, life happens between the panels, why don’t you go out and write the story yourself?
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