Deadman: Love After Death #1

Deadman is one of DC Comics' most strangest, though rather obscure, characters due to his rather seemingly limited and cliche storytelling of being a ghost able to posses people and solve crimes, but Deadman: Love After Death #1 proves there's more to him. The first of just a two part story, this comic sees the former trapeze artist Boston Brand investigating the sightings of a ghostly female trapeze artist. Being able to see each other and at times touch one another, the two ghosts fall in love after so long of not being seen by others. Due to the surroundings of where Ann was staying at, both living and ghostly forces are able to hurt and endanger to which Deadman promises he will try to protect her from and figure out how to get away. This first half of this miniseries is perfectly haunting, atmospheric, and gothic thanks to the writing, artwork, coloring, shading, character designs, and even the style of the narration lettering. With Mike Baron's writing, you get a sense of classic noir stories but with ghosts that perfectly combine with melancholic feelings and haunting dread. Kelley Jones has a style to the artwork that is highly unique due to how Deadman and other strange creatures look compared to other normal characters. Deadman has a very lanky, often highly bony appearance while some of the things he faces are very grotesque. Another aspect to Jones's work is how he uses shadows to enhance the atmosphere and make the horror aspect to this story more pronounced. The coloring from Les Dorscheid is just as striking due to managing to make so many colors seem so dark and foreboding. All the while Todd Klein's lettering not only never feels too intrusive for either the dialogue or narration, but the yellow paneling for the latter feels rather fitting for this story. With all that's been shown so far, Deadman: Love After Death #1 is certainly a powerful first half that will hopefully be concluded well in the second issue. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 3rd set of comics:

1. Star Wars: Dark Empire #1

2. Deadman: Love After Death #1

3. Hulk Vol. 5 #1

4. Avnegers: War Across Time #1

5. The Yellow Kid

6. Action Comics Vol. 1 #674

Scream VI

Changing things up from the previous installments' suburban small town settings to the cramped, large, and loudness of New York City, Scream VI also alters its typical slasher genre by adding pulpy and more violent kills associated with Italian Giallo. A year after the last entry, Sam and Tara Carpenter have moved to Manhattan with their friends trying to move on from what happened, but due to online conspiracies Sam is often harassed about her being behind the killings. Soon after the new Core Four, as well as Gale and now FBI agent Kirby Reed, have to deal with another Ghostface killer that acts more brutally and leaved behind masks from the previous slashers. While it sucks that this is the first one in the series to not have Sidney due to Neve Campbell feeling the pay wasn't worth it, it's a nice change of pace as it helps the new cast, in particular Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, shine and Courtney Cox is back and is still wonderful. Another return from Scream 2022 are writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett who work incredible well together. The writing gives us good character beats, has wonderful mysteries, and manages to come up with new ideas as well as how it pays homage to the legacy of the rest of the franchise. While the direction continues its unique style and managing to make New York City claustrophobic and terrifying with heart pounding kills and chase sequences. Without Brett Jutkiewicz's cinematography, a lot of the tension, griminess, and uniqueness wouldn't be as effective. Scream VI may have lost out on its biggest star and character, but it still managed to be such an effective sequel. Over all: 100%

2023 top list so far:

1. Creed III

2. Scream VI

3. M3GAN

4. Cocaine Bear

5. Knock at the Cabin

6. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania