No Hero #1 - Review

The Good…

• Great writing, as usual, by Warren Ellis.
• Juan Jose Ryp returns with great art that is pretty reminiscent of Black Summer.

The Bad…

• The similarities are pretty high when it comes to No Hero and Black Summer. Some people might not like that.
• The ultra-gore might be a little too much for some people.

Full Review

With Black Summer out of the way, my attention has now shifted towards the next big thing from the Avatar Press camp and, more importantly, from Warren Ellis. I’d been following Black Summer almost religiously and have really taken a liking to his work on Anna Mercury so No Hero seemed like a pretty obvious pick-up for me. The big question is weather or not it would be worth it.
Even though I already knew it would be.

Ellis’ work has been, alongside the writing of Garth Ennis, one of the main reasons that Avatar has grown so popular over the past little while. No Hero is definitely not an exception to that as the writing and overall style of the book really sets itself apart from many of the other, much more mainstream, books that most people have become accustomed to. While the book really does keep that same look and feel as Black Summer, there’s certainly enough here to really keep the two books completely separate, which is nice. After the events of this first issue, alongside the little preview shown of the upcoming issues, it’ll be interesting to see where Ellis goes from here.

What can you say about Juan Jose Ryp? For starters, the guy’s work is just awesome. His ultra-detailed, and therefore ultra-violent style, that Avatar readers have become somewhat accustomed to has returned and brought with it once again the familiar tones and emotions that were running rampant throughout Ellis and his previous title. He’s easily my personal favorite artist working at Avatar and one of the biggest reasons I think I enjoyed this book as much as I did.

So, those of you out there that enjoyed Black Summer and it’s ultra-gore style, No Hero should be an instant pick-up. It has the same dark twist on the world of superheroes that many people really enjoyed about Summer and it also features a great deal of people getting their ears kicked off. Ok, it’s actually only one guy but, in my books, that’s more than satisfying enough. While it might not be the book for everyone, it’s definitely going to have a core audience that really enjoys this title.

Go read No Hero #1. It’s good stuff.

No Hero #1

7.9 out of 10 stars

No Hero #0 - Review

The Good…

- Another original idea from the mind of Warren Ellis that seems like it’ll be a very interesting read.
- As with his work on Black Summer, Juan Jose Ryp is fantastic in the art department.
- The comic is only $1.00 which is always good.

The Bad…

- Like most #0 issues, it’s terribly short.
- Unlike Black Summer’s over the top intro issue, there isn’t a terribly large amount of action in this opening issue.

Full Review

The team of Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp, fresh off of Black Summer, have now returned with their next saga for Avatar comics in the form of No Hero. The title has been getting quite a push from the publisher both on their website and in shops in the form of posters and ads in their other comics but the big question is will it be able to stand on it’s own, away from Black Summer, and gather a following? Will it actually be a good comic? We got our first taste this past week as issue #0 hit store shelves.

While there’s not really enough content in No Hero #0 to really get a good idea as to just what the rest of the book will bring, let alone do a proper and full review, we do manage to get a sneak peek at some of the comic’s characters and just what the main idea of the book is. It all has to do with showing off the real world for the comic’s superheroes. Many comics, usually from Marvel and DC principally, portray heroes as people who live normal lives and have secret identities without any real backlash in their normal lives. In No Hero, we see a former hero who has massive scars on his arms from the painful process he had to go through to be rid of his powers. We see others mutilated to the point where a normal person, or even a hero, would die. However, because of his…gift, he continues to live in extreme pain. Ellis does a good job of really redefining the word “superhero” and showing the painful reality that many of them could possibly face by becoming one.

Juan Jose Ryp’s work really caught my eye when I started reading Black Summer a while back and it’s safe to say that his work is just as good as it was then. If anything, his work is too similar to the style and character design from his previous work with Ellis. I’m not entirely sure if that’s a bad thing but I can already see people making the assumption, because of the character in the ad campaign who looks very similar to Summer’s Tom Noir, that this is actually Black Summer 2 as opposed to the stand-alone comic that it actually is.

Overall, there’s very little more than just gruesome violence and a quick introduction to the characters and origins of No Hero. To be honest, that’s all I’ve ever wanted so I’m pretty pleased with the issue. My main problem, which is why the issue loses some major points, is that it’s far too short, even for a zero issue. Then again, it’s only a dollar so you can’t really go wrong with it if you’re a fan of Ellis and Ryp’s previous works.

No Hero #0

6.9 out of 10 stars

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Black Summer #7 - Review

The Good…

- As with the first six issues of the comic, including the zero issue, the writing by Warren Ellis is top notch and really brings the mini-series to a satisfying close.
- Juan Jose Ryp’s art is, again, amazing.

The Bad…

- The ending is a little predictable.
- The real shame is that this series had to come to a close. I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit.

Full Review

Black Summer has been one of my favorite books since I first stumbled upon it months back. It’s been a long wait for a couple of the past issues as there’s been a number of delays and shipping problems with Avatar as well as the miscellaneous other issues that come with releasing a comic book. Although, now that the long waits are behind us, Black Summer manages to wrap up quite nicely and clean up all the loose ends that were left hanging at the end of the sixth issue. This is mostly due to Ellis’ constant desire to create something different than the norm, which I’ve gone over numerous times before, as well as his ability to build a really wicked story full of unique and interesting characters, which I’ve also gone over. It’ll be interesting to see how No Hero, Ellis’ next project with Juan Jose Ryp, turns out. The only major complain I have with Ellis’ work in this issue is that is comes to a fairly predictable conclusion that I could pretty much see coming since the mid-way mark of the fifth or sixth issues. Regardless, entertaining nonetheless.

Speaking of Ryp, his work has been fairly consistent the entire way through this series and issue seven is no exception. Tons of action, great detail as well as a heavy dose of blood and mayhem to really push the climax of the story to the limit. While I wasn’t a huge fan of his work in the early stages of this project, I have to say that he’s really grown on me and I’d now consider Juan Jose Ryp to be one of my favorite artists, certainly my favorite working for Avatar.

Overall, Black Summer’s seventh issue ends the series on a high note and really drives Ellis’ anti-hero point home. Ryp’s artwork is a perfect vehicle for Ellis’ writing to do that on as well and I’m really hoping that the two bring the same level of professionalism to the pages of No Hero when it starts hitting shelves in September. As for me, I’ve been picking up numerous other Avatar projects such as Anna Mercury, No Hero (Zero issue) and Gravel, which I would suggest to many fans of Black Summer to do as well. If you’ve been following the series and have been enjoying it throughout the entirety, issue seven certainly won’t disappoint.

Black Summer #7

8.5 out of 10 stars

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