Jeremy Haun has already seen one of his creations, The Beauty, picked up by FX as a "prestige" series under the direction of Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story). Haun is hoping his latest, Murder Podcast, follows suit.
In addition to the 1st issue hitting stores last week, Ignition Press, Haun's publisher, previewed the series in ashcan form. Inspired, perhaps, by some of those Japanese horror movies that have hit here in the US, Haun's concept sees ordinary folks being driven to murder by, well, shall we say, subliminal messaging in the podcast they listen to.
Ignition also released an ashcan preview of Voyeur, a spy mystery set at a hotel in Southeast Asia. The 1st issue officially dropped earlier this week. Something tells me that the cat & mouse game that drives the plot isn't going to end well, and that's all I have to say.
Ratings:
Voyeur: B--.
Murder Podcast: B--.
Dynamite has gotten caught up in the obsessive fever over 1st issues.
Instead of continuing the numbering for Space Ghost following the annual, the company chose to reboot to #1 for the series' "2nd season". However, let's give writer David Pepose credit for acknowledging the series' nearly 60 year history.
For example, Eclipse Woman, a villain introduced in 1981's Space Stars, is repackaged as an ex-girlfriend of our hero, and is not the cosmic menace Hanna-Barbera's writers made her out to be 44 years ago. Instead, Pepose has decided that Eclipse Woman is his & Dynamite's answer to, say, for example, Catwoman or Black Cat, in that there may still be feelings between Space Ghost and Eclipse Woman, which means a sequel is likely.
Pepose has also added to Jan & Jace's backstory by introducing their grandfather, and threw a bone to fans of the cult favorite Space Ghost Coast to Coast with an easter egg in issue 2's script.
Rating: A.
We took a look at Pepose's treatment for Captain Planet. It's not quite what you thought it was.
Pepose aged up the characters, making the Planeteers into young adults, with the exception of Ma-Ti, still the youngest member of the team. Wheeler works for an auto company in Detroit (he was based in New York in the TV series). Linka is now a rock musician, and in her first appearance, her band is a masked, co-ed combo, not unlike Pussy Riot, who were a sensation in Russia more than a decade ago. Gi is a scientist. Kwame is a retired soccer player due to injury. So not digging the beard the Captain is sporting.
In other words, this is more of an updating than a rebooting. Take it or leave it.
Dynamite is also waving good-bye to a trio of books at the end of the year.
The Herculoids ends its run in November. Silverhawks & Thundercats: Lost wrap in December, all after 10 issues. Of the three, the Herculoids got the worst of it, as artist Craig Brusseau's attempts at emulating the style of Alex Toth have deteriorated over the last few issues. Not good.
On the other hand, Dynamite welcomes back the former Charlton & DC hero, Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt in November after a lengthy absence, and also relaunches their adaptation of Disney's "The Lion King'.
We are SO not digging DC KO, launching next month. A tournament bracket suggests that this is DC's long awaited response to Marvel's Contest of Champions, which was first tried out in the 80's. Meanwhile, Marvel's really stretching the bounds of creative common sense with 1776, a 5 part miniseries out in November that posits iconic heroes like Captain Amerca, Spider-Man, Hulk, Dr. Strange, et al, in the Revolutionary War. This screwball concept comes from the pen of J. Michael Straczynski, with Ron Lim and Sean Damien Hill drawing. As if that isn't crazy enough, Marvel is also rebooting the Green Goliath as The Infernal Hulk. Unless you're a hardcore Hulk fan, avoid like the plague.
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