I picked up a bunch of stuff at Comic-Con, and am working through all of it. Brief thoughts follow.
The Living Corpse #1/2 (Ken Haeser, Buzz Hassen):
This didn't really float my boat. To be fair, it's a half-issue, and doesn't give much time to build. Way too talky, though (and not good, Brian Michael Bendis talky).
Zeros 2 Heroes (Jay Iscariot, Rudolf Montemayor, Diego Simone, Christian Colbert):
Sure, it's a commercial. But it's a commercial for an interesting publisher / creative community concept. And it worked, as I then went and created a profile on zeros2heroes.com (user adamcrei).
Demons of Mercy (R.H. Stavis, Walter Geovani, Jonathan Clapion, Andew Hennesy):
I'm curious to see how this project pans out. Demons of Mercy is the comic that will "interact" with the video game from Maxum Games. in "unprecedented ways" with the Xbox 360. I missed the panel discussion on this one, but hope to get a recap from either the Marvel or Maxum folks, to publish in my video game blog.
As far as the issue itself, it's OK. The story's not bad (if a bit contrived through the first 10 pages), and the art is kind of Scott Campbell-esque, but the forced cheesecake is a bit irritating. I actually prefer the cover art, done by Randy Queen, Andrew Crossley, and Sarah Oates.
The whole thing has a semi The Darkness / Tomb Raider / Danger Girl / Witchblade vibe(ish).
Fusion Fall: Worlds Collide!! (George Krstic, Matthew Schwartz, Chester Ocampo, Eru):
Matthew over at Cartoon Network hooked me up with a copy of the prelude story for the upcoming Cartoon Network MMO video game. This book has got a pretty slick true-to-manga look, and while I'd normally be averse to "hipped up" versions of CN properties (for me, Dexter looks too "new" Johnny Quest), it all works here.
The MMO was in fine playable form on the show floor, and there's around a year more of polish, so it should only get better. The comic sets a good backstory, provides a device justifying all of the CN properties getting together, and provides some nice sub-plots (romance and infighting) to boot.
Beowulf:
Honestly, this just feels like a rushed, shallow Comic-Con giveaway meant to build traction for the full series (and therefore, film and game). No disrespect meant, but that's how it feels to me.
