Oops . . . . SWEET #3
Sunday, December 7, 2025
MY WEEK IN COMICS - - - December 07, 2025
#697-#698 = THANKSGIVING over-sized one-shot by Mark Russell and Mauricet (Ahoy Comics, November 2025)
Synopsis:
An intense, timely one-shot from Mark Russell (X-Factor, SECOND COMING) and Mauricet (HOWL). Thanksgiving — a day when American families come together, until the strain inevitably tears them apart. But for one family, the cruel and deadly secret of the Turkeyneck Killer binds them together in the saddest, most shameful way possible.
This complete story is both timely and topical. If you are a fan of the creator-owned work of Mark Russell, then you know what a good satirist he can be, always observant and pointing out human foibles. His points are even sharper here, and border on cynicism. There’s a reason why some family members dread the annual Thanksgiving get together - and Russell has assembled a dysfunctional family with plenty of individual flaws.
There’s also a reason beyond the age of this group that there are no children present. That would only serve to blunt the message. Keep the kids out of this one. THANKSGIVING is one of the best complete-in-one-issue stories I’ve read this year, and definitely rises to my Top Five of 2025.
In the opening pages, Russell sets us up: “Holidays tend to be our milestones in life, the way we count years. . . . Rituals to convince us that nothing’s changed . . . Is it the comforting lie of ritual that makes us family? . . . or does it simply keep us - - from ever truly knowing the other people at the table?”
So, six adults gather round the family table while outside the police are on the lookout for the latest murder by the Thanksgiving Slasher a.k.a. The Turkeyneck Killer. There are some twists and turns in the story, beginning with Grandpa announcing after dinner the start of the annual tradition - - family confessions. Things get wild when Uncle Stan makes an unusual double-sided offer to family members.
Mauricet’s art is perfectly suited to this story, embellishing the innocence of a family get-together with the whimsy, the humor, and the horror.
As narrator Jo (recent college grad, with a mountain of debt) reflects: “Talk to people about right and wrong and they look at you like you’re asking them to go avenge a ghost from the Thirteenth Century . . . . . The belief system of most people is that nothing too terrible could be happening if they still have a decent selection of dipping sauces.”
Worthy of multiple reads. FIVE STARS.
#699 = TWILIGHT ZONE #2 written, illustrated and lettered by Tom Scioli (IDW Publishing/IDW Dark, November 2025) “A World Of Your Wildest Dreams”
So far, this title has been doing a bang-up job of recreating the feel of those old black-and-white episodes of The Twilight Zone television series. In Scioli’s story, a deep space exploratory expedition lands on a planet with an atmosphere close to Earth’s.
It appears to be uninhabited and barren, but unusual vegetation and animal life forms begin to appear. Oddly, they seem to be directly related to the thoughts or memories of various ship members. It’s not long before even stranger aliens appear and confrontations break out before some of the crew is captured and hauled away to stand before a judge. Strangely, their behavior seems to mirror the opinions of a crew member regarding the judicial system.
It turns out that the planet is a resort of sorts where the resident aliens adapt to the mindset of visitors and offer an adventure of therapy, rest and healing for as long as the guests desire. Considering that the recent visitors are from Earth, their priorities and trauma point out some basic flaws (as highlighted by the aliens).
Scioli makes some good points here, a side benefit to an already entertaining story. His art is intriguing and tight, often jammed into six to nine horizontal panels per page. There is plenty of dialogue and interesting exchanges between humans and aliens.
The story wraps up when one crew members decides to leave, and is allowed to return to Earth - - wherein another twist in the story awaits that seems quite appropriate. FOUR STARS.
#700-#705 = ROOK: EXODUS #1-#6 by Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok (Image Comics/Ghost Machine, April-October 2024)
This is the kind of science-fiction adventure that comics and movies seem the best formats for. Johns builds a fantastic world with tons of potential for future storylines. Fabok’s interpretation of that world and how he depicts it is simply marvelous.
Combined with the great coloring of Brad Anderson, this is a book to marvel at the visuals. My only beef (and a small one) is that many of the action/fight panels are a little cluttered and hard to decipher. Also, the special effects words used by the letterer are usually unnecessary and contribute to the clutter.
In an unspecified future, opportunities on Earth were diminishing - so several farmers accepted an offer from Better World corporation to move to a brand new planet (named Exodus - - Johns seems to love irony) and develop the natural resources there. Many farmers become Wardens, who use special helmets tapped into a neural network that gives them control over select animal species.
Then the world engine that powers Exodus breaks down and the majority of the population leaves, with a promise from Better World to return and pick up the various Wardens who remain. After months of waiting Rook is trying to scavenge various parts to build a ship and exit the planet.
Rook’s helmet gives him control over birds. His best friend, Swine, control pigs. Ursa controls bears (who have mutated to larger forms), is very aggressive and is determined to establish himself as chief Warden. He brutally attacks Swine and Rook in the first issue.
The first story arc deals with Ursa’s attempts to kill various wardens and take their helmets for use by his own minions. There are Wardens with control helmets for almost every form of animal life on Earth and the costume designs are very clever.
The animals were lab-manufactured on Earth by Better World and have mutated to giant forms of their species. The bears, turtles, and boars are even huger, big enough to be used as transport for the Wardens.
Ursa wants to capture the massive communications center that reveals the locations of each warden. The compound is heavily guarded and the first story arc deals with Ursa’s efforts and the resistance of mostly Rook and Dire Wolf against him.
This is an action-packed story, but Johns manages to reveal enough of Rook’s character and mindset to make us care. I look forward to seeing how he fleshes out the characters of other Wardens in future issues.
A great beginning to an epic series. FOUR STARS.
#706 = DEATH DOG #1 of 2 by Bryce Ingman and Alan Robinson (Ahoy Comics, November 2025) “Black Ops Friday.”
I love a good dog story, and based on the debut issue this could turn out to be one. If you also love dog tales like Lassie, Marley And Me, The Art Of Racing In The Rain, etc . . . then check this out. Others may have mixed feelings.
In a near future, dogs are extinct. Using their brain patterns, scientists at Cupid Canine made robot dogs that look and behave just like real dogs. They also have the ability to speak up to 100 words.
However, that wasn’t enough to keep the company solvent. So Cupid Canine made some behavioral updates and put them into new militarized dogs to sell as security to various governments, companies and organizations - - the “Death Dogs”.
Two of the scientists became very attached to one of the former dogs, Lucky, who had a flaw: she couldn’t pronounce as many words and used one excessively - - “potato.” When the order came through to turn off Lucky, they installed her data chip into one of the Death Dogs.
Flash forward a year later, and the former Lucky is not performing to standards as a security dog. When she fails to bite the hand off of a young shoplifter and licks him instead, she bolts from the scene. Later she follows him (never identified by name) and ends up rescuing him from a thug who is a body scalper and wants to monetize parts of his body. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#707 = VIKING MOON #2 of 5 by Joe Pruett and Marcelo Frusin (Image Comics, November 2025) The art and colors by Frusin are simply killer! A beautiful book to view.
Viking leader Ulf is the only survivor of the attack by werewolves, just barely. Daughter Yrsa encounters a native in the woods who remarkably speaks the Viking language (learned from the first explorers) who warns her to return to the ship and leave.
Ulf makes it back to the beach encampment and shuffles his tribe off to the abandoned former Viking settlement that his now-deceased exploration party had discovered.
When they manage to reach their destination without further skirmishes, an unexpected stranger (with an army of archers) delivers a surprise message.
Good action scenes. Suspense and drama. Werewolves versus Vikings - - what a combo! THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#708 = DELUGE #2 by Cullen Bunn and Marika Cresta (Ignition Press, November 2025) The river running beside Sieverville Correctional Prison For Women is now so high that it threatens to flood the jail.
The local authorities were ill-prepared for the storm, and only have a small boat to transport the prisoners to safety, requiring them to leave in small groups of five persons. However, there is something in the knee and hip-deep water levels that cover the prison floors, something monstrous and serpentine, that is making it difficult to reach the boat.
Many woman prisoners have revealing flashbacks to the incidents that led to their incarceration and the eldest of them, Mama Bear, has plans to use the flood as cover to leave prison life forever.
Lots of gory scenes, as the river monsters don’t distinguish between guards and prisoners. Good, suspenseful B-movie drama in a comics format. THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#709 = DARK SOULS: MOTHER OF MOURNING #1 by George Mann and Maan House (Titan Comics, January 2026) I usually avoid comics based on video games, but the cool art style employed here (almost a painted look) by Maan House grabbed my attention. It’s definitely worth the price of admission, although I won’t be following this title.
A medieval fantasy world growing darker. The holy fortress of the Grand Order of the Knights of Mourning has seen better days, and the ranks are thinned due to knights leaving on a mission and never returning. The holy relic-corpse of the Mother of Lillies resides in a temple in the fortress. Her soul was stolen and now she sleeps in eternal stillness.
One of the knights is given the mission to retrieve her stolen soul from the dangerous Mausoleum of Gaith. A talking raven befriends the group and guides them.
This one cuts to the chase, only using a double-page spread to illustrate all the challenges and fights they encountered on the way. The issue ends with their arrival at the Mausoleum.
Nothing wrong with the story-telling here. It just seems too familiar and ho-hum to me. Guess I wasn’t as ready to read this kind of fare as I thought I might be. THREE STARS.
Thursday, December 4, 2025
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