What is a Short Pants Review? While we’d love to give full reviews to everything, there just isn’t enough time in the day. So we’ve come up with Short Pants as a way of providing capsule reviews from our varied review writers, giving quick hits and short capsule thoughts about various comics we’ve read recently.

This time out, Dave and Randy cover Conan the Cimmerian #0, BPRD: The Ectoplasmic Man, Hulk #4, Immortal Iron Fist #16, Indiana Jones Adventures Vol. 1 TP, Magdalena/Daredevil, Man With No Name #2, Pilot Season: Alibi, Thunderbolts #121, Transformers Spotlight: Wheelie and X-Men First Class Vol. 2 #13.

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What is a Short Pants Review? While we’d love to give full reviews to everything, there just isn’t enough time in the day. So we’ve come up with Short Pants as a way of providing capsule reviews from our varied review writers, giving quick hits and short capsule thoughts about various comics we’ve read recently.

This time out, Nick covers Ex Machina #33, Angel After the Fall #2, Captain America #33, Daredevil #103, Umbrella Academy #4 of 6, New Warriors #7, and G.I. Joe America’s Elite #30.

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Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: E.J. Su
Company: IDW Publishing

I know, I know…the Transformers comics are usually synonymous with uninspired, licensed comics that are about as interesting as watching paint dry on a Sunday afternoon. I myself wouldn’t ever say that because I have always been a fan of the property and of the original Marvel comics run, even though a few of those story lines were a little less than…What’s the word? Perfect. Having said all that, and skipping over the Dreamwave stuff, we now come to the IDW imprint of the Transformers line, which has been nothing short of a pleasant surprise. IDW, Simon Furman, and E.J. Su Continue Reading »

Writer: Tom Waltz
Artists: Casey Maloney and Stacie Ponder
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Boy, I couldn’t wait to get Gene Simmons’ Zipper open and take a look at what was inside.

Okay, it’s a horrible name. But the book is good.

In a truly unitary culture, where all are one and everything is done for the betterment of the group, there can be no greater sin than to be an individual. To be different, to think differently, is the mark of a dangerous mind- one that threatens the Continue Reading »

Writers: Joss Whedon & Brian Lynch
Artist: Franco Urru
Company: IDW

Given the success that Dark Horse has found with Buffy Season Eight, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that IDW, license-holders for Angel, would try the same thing with Whedon’s other series in the “Buffy-verse.” There are a few key differences, such as Angel being a limited series (presumably first in a series if it’s successful) rather than an ongoing or Joss Whedon being co-writer rather than sole writer of the first arc. The biggest key difference, however, is one that works in IDW’s favor, and that’s that many of Angel’s fans were unhappy with the ambiguous season finale, and being able Continue Reading »

Writers: Gene Simmons, Leah Moore, John Reppion, Tom Waltz, Chris Ryall, Sean Taylor, Dwight L. MacPherson, and Nick Simmons
Artists: Matt Busch, Jeffrey Zornow, Esteve Polls, Steph Stamb, Jon Alderink, and Grant Bond
Company: IDW Publishing

Anthology comics are a tough package to sell. There’s no hook to grab the reader on every story besides the overall theme (if there even is one), so the quality of the writing and art is more important than ever, and with the variety of stories involved, there’s a good chance that only about half are going to connect with each reader on average- and that’s if you have a good book.

This one has several things going for it. Gene Simmons is a name people know, even if it isn’t for comics. Horror anthologies have a long, successful Continue Reading »

Writer: Stuart Moore
Artist: Tyler Kirkham
Companies: Marvel Comics & IDW

Welcome to Transformers fever, people. The new live action movie has hit theaters this past week, so really it makes sense, with fans already geared up for that event, that there should be no better time to see the release of a giant fan-pleasing crossover between The Transformers and the uber-popular team The New Avengers than now, right? Well, yes and no. Yes to the theory that the idea is a sound one, as it’s a neat idea that will no doubt all but fly off the shelves of your local comic book store. No to the execution of that sound idea, which is where things are either made or broken, and you know that Continue Reading »

Writer/Artist: Ben Templesmith
Company: IDW Publishing

Though I’ve enjoyed some of what he’s done, I wasn’t really what you’d call a diehard Ben Templesmith fan. Until I read Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, which really seems like some sort of peak in the artistic sensibilities he’s been developing, and now I find myself anxious to hunt down his art book, Tommyrot, his sci-fi project Singularity 7 and the rest of the 30 Days of Night books. But enough about me… let’s talk about sentient maggots who save the world on a regular basis. It will come as no surprise to anyone reading Wormwood that Templesmith is a collaborator with Warren Ellis, as Continue Reading »

Writer/Artist: Eric Shanower
Company: IDW Publishing

Everyone’s seen MGM’s classic Wizard of Oz musical, right? Lesser known is the fact that Frank Baum, author of the book on which the movie was based, would go on to write 13 sequels to his original story between 1904 and 1920. The 1985 movie Return to Oz (starring a pre-scary Fairuza Balk) was an amalgamation of two of those books, but put off audiences with a decidedly scary tone not present in the books. That same year, Eric Shanower published the first in a series of five Continue Reading »

Writer: Brian Wood
Artist: Kristian
Company: IDW

Believe it or not, I had never read anything by Brian Wood before Local. After reading, and really enjoying Local, I picked up several trades and two new books written by Wood, DMZ and Supermarket. I’m enjoying them both, but right now I’m going to give you the lowdown on the lesser known, but really very good, Supermarket. Seriously, it has machine gun toting Swedish porno chicks; it has to be good, right?

Pella, our protagonist, is the teenage daughter of a high ranking Japanese Yakuza and a high ranking member of a Continue Reading »