Top Cow's Pilot Season

What you need to know: 39 minutes is puts a new spin on the bank heist story.


What you'll love

Starts with a bang:Action oriented stories need to start with a bang. This one does a good job of it, and while there is something to be said for building tension. It was nice to see a story about robbing a bank, where an actual bank was robbed in the first few pages.

Smart Premise:Inspired by the North Hollywood robbery of a Bank of America in 1997, 39 minutes antagonists are heavily armed, well trained, and they rob only rural areas. The idea being that there's not way they can be stopped in that envrioment.

Coloring: Brian Bucellato did a bang up job, I think he carries
the art in most cases. The colors leap off the page.

What you won't

Art: Overall I enjoyed the art, but closeups of people proved tricky for the artist. Especially in the prison scenes.

Ending: Maybe I'm dumb, maybe not but the ending lost me. Someone was, someone elses father. I read it a few times and even went back to figure it out. I may be having a brain fart but it was unclear to me what the hell was going on. With an original story like this one, these kinds of things should be abundantly clear.


Bottom line: I loved it a very strong outing. So far this would be my pick.

Grade: B+




What you need to know: A Fem Fatale seduces men into doing her bidding via online dating.

What you'll love

The Premise: The premise is so simple, yet clever, it's a wonder that anyone hasn't thought of it before.

Characterization: For a first issue there is quite a bit of character development. We begin to learn what motivates this woman to do the things she does. More importantly we are allowed inside of her head.

Well researched: I love a book that teaches me something new and/or makes me reach for my dictionary.


What you won't

Predictable: You can see where this issue is going from the
start. It doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
I wonder if future issues would be that way
if the series were to continue.

Likeability: Last time I checked men are the primary
readers of comics. This story is about a woman
duping and essentially using men. We aren't
told who our heroine works for, why she does
what she does or how she became what she is.

Bottom Line: The Asset is full of potential and is a strong
issue though I question if it has the legs to be a strong series.

Grade: A-