AfterShock Comics Reviews: Animosity, Bad Reception, Dark Ark, Shoplifters
Reviews on the following Aftershock comics in the order I read them:
- Animosity (26-28)
- Bad Reception (4-5)
- Dark Ark: After the Flood (3-5) & then FCBD 2020 “Instinct”
- Shoplifters will be Liquidated (4-5)
Individual series information can be found here
Series: Animosity
Issues: 26-28
Rating: 4.75/5 stars
These last three issues bumped up my rating from 25. It started at a 4 and rose up...EVEN WITH the “The End” at the end of 28. What the why?
26) There is a neat comparison of the past in NYC and the present at the Capitol of the New Holy Texan Empire. The art shows a neat dichotomy between the two as well.
This issue harks back to why Sandor wasn’t a fan of Oscar.
As Sandor tells his story in TX, so does Mittens on the Mississippi River.
27) The pit fighting Gladiator-style and I hate how the animals are treated. Sandor sacrifices himself to those horrors to save Ben and it makes my heart warm. But he is still planning on leaving, and collaborates with a gerenuk named Eloise. She is a sweet soul.
I’m glad that Jesse is also not a fan of Lola...but we do see in 28 that she understands the scar the older girl has and that she is on her own mission. I mean, she has a point about Sandor’s behavior.
Yay, a bee!
The snake venom causing hallucinations of T-Rex skeletons is hilarious. So while the issue isn’t perfect, the humor bumped things up a bit.
28) The first pages are quite powerful and really show how time has changed and passed since the first issue.
I want a safari park (tho not at the expense of the animals)! POTTER!! <3 I am soooo happy for him.
Jesse has a good heart, and hasn’t changed her core values. She is still HER.
The page with Sandor and Eloise walking has a really awesome setup. It’s a great mirror to a few pages later when he and Jesse are walking.
Oh, Zarza. Series: Bad Reception
Issues: 4-5
Rating: 4/5 stars
Okay, it took until now to realize that the art for this series and Dark Ark (except for the more recent ones I read) is pretty much the same. Jurek looks like Shrae and the coloring is all so very similar.
Blaise’s side story is a dumb and bad secret to keep from Gaia.
Gaia’s secret is worse.
Talk about a bunch of backstabbing. And just psychosis holy cow.
I think this wrapped up extremely well and is quite dramatic. I couldn’t stop reading!
Series: Dark Ark: After the Flood
Issues: 3-5
Rating: 2/5 stars
This is a different artist than before. Where I didn’t like the original art because of how soft it was, I don’t like this because of how hard it is. Plus the characters don’t look the same at all.
Khalee is faced with near anarchy from both the other humans and most of the other monsters. Except Kruul, who is a monster with morals and I really do like him.
Khalee fasis Aris, who rises from the depths of the water all creepy, then starts screaming at her and is very shifty. The humans want to kill Khalee and Rea. Khalee stands up to her master.
It is utterly interesting that she was attuned to God and His angels as a kid. And maybe is now? I’m not sure. The back and forth between past and present wasn’t awful for these, because they add to the story, but I feel like it was overdone.
Instinct
A Free Comic Book Day short for 2020...and oh look yet another artist. *sigh*
Before landfall, each creature on the Dark Ark gives into their innate instinct. Spiders, humans, and manticores all want their children to be the first born. The spiders are grotesque; the humans seek for a way out of bondage; and the vampires are vampires.
Not a huge fan mainly because I was eating while reading and that was a poor idea.
Series: Shoplifters will be Liquidated
Issues: 4-5
Rating: 2/5 stars
I am so confused. The conversation at the start of issue 4 threw me through a loop and the end of issue 5 left me just as confused. What is going on with Lance? He goes through extremes to take down Nussbaum and then Provo goes cuckoo and then Lance doesn’t matter anymore. The scene changes started blurring together, with the same coloring both above and belowground, and too many of the characters bled together to look the same.
I am super glad that Nussbaum isn’t brainwashed (even though I disagree with him, brainwashing is not cool) and that he doesn’t change.
A lot want him dead. Others want him gone. Provo learns he’s missing and then...follows through on his plan? Goes through with it anyway? Doesn’t care? It’s all so ambiguous.
- Animosity (26-28)
- Bad Reception (4-5)
- Dark Ark: After the Flood (3-5) & then FCBD 2020 “Instinct”
- Shoplifters will be Liquidated (4-5)
Individual series information can be found here
Series: Animosity
Issues: 26-28
Rating: 4.75/5 stars
These last three issues bumped up my rating from 25. It started at a 4 and rose up...EVEN WITH the “The End” at the end of 28. What the why?
26) There is a neat comparison of the past in NYC and the present at the Capitol of the New Holy Texan Empire. The art shows a neat dichotomy between the two as well.
This issue harks back to why Sandor wasn’t a fan of Oscar.
As Sandor tells his story in TX, so does Mittens on the Mississippi River.
27) The pit fighting Gladiator-style and I hate how the animals are treated. Sandor sacrifices himself to those horrors to save Ben and it makes my heart warm. But he is still planning on leaving, and collaborates with a gerenuk named Eloise. She is a sweet soul.
I’m glad that Jesse is also not a fan of Lola...but we do see in 28 that she understands the scar the older girl has and that she is on her own mission. I mean, she has a point about Sandor’s behavior.
Yay, a bee!
The snake venom causing hallucinations of T-Rex skeletons is hilarious. So while the issue isn’t perfect, the humor bumped things up a bit.
28) The first pages are quite powerful and really show how time has changed and passed since the first issue.
I want a safari park (tho not at the expense of the animals)! POTTER!! <3 I am soooo happy for him.
Jesse has a good heart, and hasn’t changed her core values. She is still HER.
The page with Sandor and Eloise walking has a really awesome setup. It’s a great mirror to a few pages later when he and Jesse are walking.
Oh, Zarza. Series: Bad Reception
Issues: 4-5
Rating: 4/5 stars
Okay, it took until now to realize that the art for this series and Dark Ark (except for the more recent ones I read) is pretty much the same. Jurek looks like Shrae and the coloring is all so very similar.
Blaise’s side story is a dumb and bad secret to keep from Gaia.
Gaia’s secret is worse.
Talk about a bunch of backstabbing. And just psychosis holy cow.
I think this wrapped up extremely well and is quite dramatic. I couldn’t stop reading!
Series: Dark Ark: After the Flood
Issues: 3-5
Rating: 2/5 stars
This is a different artist than before. Where I didn’t like the original art because of how soft it was, I don’t like this because of how hard it is. Plus the characters don’t look the same at all.
Khalee is faced with near anarchy from both the other humans and most of the other monsters. Except Kruul, who is a monster with morals and I really do like him.
Khalee fasis Aris, who rises from the depths of the water all creepy, then starts screaming at her and is very shifty. The humans want to kill Khalee and Rea. Khalee stands up to her master.
It is utterly interesting that she was attuned to God and His angels as a kid. And maybe is now? I’m not sure. The back and forth between past and present wasn’t awful for these, because they add to the story, but I feel like it was overdone.
Instinct
A Free Comic Book Day short for 2020...and oh look yet another artist. *sigh*
Before landfall, each creature on the Dark Ark gives into their innate instinct. Spiders, humans, and manticores all want their children to be the first born. The spiders are grotesque; the humans seek for a way out of bondage; and the vampires are vampires.
Not a huge fan mainly because I was eating while reading and that was a poor idea.
Series: Shoplifters will be Liquidated
Issues: 4-5
Rating: 2/5 stars
I am so confused. The conversation at the start of issue 4 threw me through a loop and the end of issue 5 left me just as confused. What is going on with Lance? He goes through extremes to take down Nussbaum and then Provo goes cuckoo and then Lance doesn’t matter anymore. The scene changes started blurring together, with the same coloring both above and belowground, and too many of the characters bled together to look the same.
I am super glad that Nussbaum isn’t brainwashed (even though I disagree with him, brainwashing is not cool) and that he doesn’t change.
A lot want him dead. Others want him gone. Provo learns he’s missing and then...follows through on his plan? Goes through with it anyway? Doesn’t care? It’s all so ambiguous.