Released on June 10th, 2020
It's July 1st...which should mean the only thing people are thinking about is what they're going to do to celebrate the big holiday this weekend. Unfortunately, the virus pandemic that has swept the globe isn't getting any better...at least here in the U.S. Since I wrote the "30 Reviews in 30 Days" feature, things have gotten somewhat better here in Pennsylvania. Last Friday the state went into the Green phase...which meant that barber shops and nail salons could open back up. Restaurants are allowed to have outdoor dining. Comic book stores finally opened back up two weeks ago. Florida and Texas have had a big rise in cases, mostly because their governors are Republicans and idiots and opened up too early. California attempted to reopen most things but had to stop doing that when a surge in cases started. So, quite basically, we're fucked. This virus isn't going away any time soon. A few scientists have said what I think most scientists actually believe: the virus isn't going away and we'll just have to learn to live with it. The death of comic book stores hasn't occurred, as some had thought, though if things get worse and worse then who knows what will happen. The big news in the comic book world was that DC officially broke from the Diamond distributor and two new distributors, Midtown Comics (UCS) and DCBS (Lunar), are shipping DC books now. DC comic books are now on sale on Tuesdays, which means that new comics are now coming out on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's good that comic book shipping isn't a monopoly any more, although the last time this happened, when Marvel left Diamond and started their own shipping company, the comic book industry tanked and Marvel went bankrupt. All of this craziness means that comic book shipping has been pretty haphazard and all over the map since new books started coming back out about a month ago. And so far it isn't really new books that are coming out, but books that would have been released in April that are just delayed. This week actually has no new Marvel books coming out, and DC only has a few digital only releases. Image has a ton of books coming out this week, noticeably three from writer Robert Kirkman. They're not exactly three typical, ho-hum books, either, they're huge fucking releases that merit attention. So why not delve into the mind (and books) of Robert Kirkman for a week? Hell, he's been the biggest writer/creator in comics for the last five years or so at least. And either because he's rich (thanks to his The Walking Dead TV money) or just a good guy, he's actually doing something pretty unique this week. To help comic book stores in this dire time of need, he's publishing a new Walking Dead book and sending it to comic book stores for free (customers have to pay $4.99 for it). The book, Negan Lives!, is a comic book store exclusive, meaning it isn't being published digitally (granted, I assume someone is going to scan it and post it online sooner rather than later). The other books he's writing that are coming out today are the Free Comic Book Day issue of Fire Power #1 and the Fire Power prequel graphic novel, both of which were supposed to come out in early May. Kirkman also has three other monthly books that he writes, so I figured I'd review the latest issues of those and let the world know if his stuff is any good these days. Kirkman was one of the best writers in comic books...about ten years ago. His early issues of The Walking Dead were legend, as was Invincible. Die!Die!Die! is one of his newer books and it's not really entirely his book. He writes it but the ex-producer of The Walking Dead TV show, Scott Gimple, co-plots it. Chris Burnham, who used to draw Batman, Inc. awhile back, is the artist. The book is kind of like Mission: Impossible; a secret, government funded group of assassins/spies help prevent world destruction. The caveat, as the ridiculous title kind of tells you, is that this book is balls-to-the-wall bonkers. It's ridiculous and super bloody and comedic. I guess since I've read all ten issues so far (the book recently returned from a year long hiatus with #9) I kind of like it. Intrigued is probably a more apt description. The book is probably most famous for being a "surprise" release. It came out with only a few days notice and was sent to comic book stores for free. Considering nobody really talks about it online that much, I guess very few people kept reading it after the surprise wore off. The last issue, #9, came out in March, and #8 came out in February 2019, so while reading #10 I have to admit that I was a little lost as to what happened in previous issues. The book started with three identical twins that were also assassins. One is evil. One comes back from the dead in this issue. There's not really much of a plot in this issue besides the dead brother coming back. There's some action but I wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Amusing? Sure. I did laugh at the scene when a mother is showing her daughter the parlor trick of stabbing a knife between your fingers really fast while not cutting them. "Is game," she says to the child. "Hand and eye to work as one. Mostly just looks cool. Is in...all the movies." Should I also mention that the book opens with, for whatever reason, a sequence showing that men are getting pregnant now and so they're all suddenly for abortion? Dick babies. Does that make you laugh? Kind of just embarrassingly stupid. I guess the book just tries to shock for the sake of shock. It doesn't help that the art looks a little rough and rushed. But the book does have one good element; it feels like Kirkman and Burnham are having a total blast making it and it shows. I just kind of wish maybe reading it felt that good. * (out of ****)
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