In 2012, Archie Comics made a concerted effort to relaunch its superhero line, with a new generation of heroes inheriting the mantles of their Silver or Golden Age predecessors. Unfortunately, New Crusaders, for example, suffered from poor distribution, as there wasn't a lot of interest in reviving what most fans see as 3rd rate or lower heroes.
From that era came Ivette Velez, the new Jaguar, trained by the original himself, Ralph Hardy. 12 years later, Velez lands her first solo adventure in the latest 1-shot from Archie as it continues to try to reinvent the Crusaders.
Writer Keryl Brown Ahmed serves up a story of Peruvian mysticism that ties into the Jaguar's history. Velez isn't the first female Jaguar. DC's Impact line had the first back in the 90's, and it appears she's been retconned out, which is too bad. Get past the helmet that Ivette wears as Jaguar, and enjoy the ride. Now, you have to hope enough people were interested to coax Archie into following up.
Rating: A-.
Titan Comics & Heroic Signatures have revived Savage Sword of Conan, the original version of which launched 50 years ago at Marvel. Roy Thomas, long associated with Robert E. Howard's barbarian icon, from writing a bazillion stories for Marvel back in the day, as well as at Dark Horse, wrote the foreward for the first issue, giving his blessing to this 21st century reboot.
A bonus is the beginning of a serial starring another of Howard's heroes, Solomon Kane, written & drawn by Patrick "Patch" Zircher, who does a better job with Kane than Marvel did back in the 70's. I'm sold.
Rating: A.
Dynamite adds to its WB/Hanna-Barbera line in May with Space Ghost in an all new series, and with Jonny Quest featured at Free Comic Book Day on May 4. Dynamite is giving Space Ghost a revamped origin, which casts aside what Joe Kelly came up with at DC some 20 years ago. The creative team for Quest remains a secret.
We told you how a prominent artist had landed a gig doing variant covers for ThunderCats, and, possibly, also Space Ghost. Now, in the words of the late Paul Harvey, comes the rest of the story.
The artist in question is 518 resident John Hebert, who has a deal with a Canadian company for exclusive variants, such as the one shown below.
ThunderCats copyright Warner Bros Discovery.
Unfortunately, we can't show you the whole thing, but it is available for purchase. We're digging.
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