The Avenger Special 2014

Writer – Mark Rahner
Aritst – Edu Menna
Colours – Adriano Augusto

Richard Henry Benson, better known as the Avenger to most, returns to star in his very own special featuring a tale of racism, zombies, robots, Billie Holiday, violence and televisions.  Written by Mark Rahner, he does a good job but the book is a little long with a tale that at times, just seems to meander a little bit.  Like the Doc Savage Special, this story could have been told in twenty-two pages and was definitely not worth the cover price.  It was not terrible, but it could have been so much better.  It did feature a fair amount of action to at least keep the pace of the book up a bit but it started to get tedious about halfway through which is never a good thing.  If it had been more succinct and cohesive, a little more suspenseful and less super-heroic, the book probably would have worked much better than it did.  So instead of featuring a great story, it merely featured a decent one.  Mark Rahner has done some great work in the past, Dejah Thoris being one, but here you simply started to lose interest which is a real shame.  The artwork by Edu Menna was good if a little plain at times and really, if you are forking out this much money for a book, the story and the artwork should be better than what was given.  While this book might be a slightly entertaining, it is another wasted opportunity by Dynamite to thrill its readers because in today’s climate of excellent books, you want to be thrilled.

3 out of 5

The Shadow One-Shot 2014

Writer – Michael Moreci
Artist – Anthony Marques, Moritat, Dev Madan
Colours – Andre Szymanowicz

The Shadow also receives a new one-shot this Christmas courtesy of Dynamite Comics that finds the titular hero having faked his death so that he might draw out the criminals in the city as well as their leader, a man who was trained just as he was.  Of course with The Shadow hardly appearing in his own book, it is up to the supporting cast to carry the load and frankly, without The Shadow, it is just not that exciting.  Whether it was because Michael Moreci wanted to focus on those who worked for the man or he simply thought it would work as a plot device does not really matter because in the end, the story, just like the Doc Savage and The Avenger specials, was a little boring after a while.  Out of the three issues that were released, this one was the best of the bunch, but some of it could have been cut down to create a more streamlined story.  The best part of the book was the artwork, which even though done by three different artists, looked fantastic.  Each style seemed to flow into the other and even though it should not have worked – it did.  The ending was the weakest part of the book overall, because after The Shadow shows up and takes care of business, the book simply ends.  It leaves you wanting more and you find yourself asking the question ‘That’s it?’  It was a wee little disappointing to say the least once you hit the end of the book because of its abruptness and because you wanted more action with The Shadow.  Still, the book was fairly good overall and worth checking out more than its companions.

3.5 out of 5