Christian Ward

Loved these books. Ward's art is, as always, phenomenal—"realistic," at least in terms of the comic-book spectrum, but also impressionistic, emotional, and evocative. His use of color is masterful. Ahmed's storytelling is intimate, personal, well-paced, and runs the gamut of human experience and emotion. There are definitely some impressive action set-pieces, but this run is primarily about relationships, and specifically about the work of humility, vulnerability, and forgiveness necessary show more to repair broken relationships. [same review for Vol 2: HOME FREE.] show less

Invisible Kingdom has a lot of great things going for it. It is a fast-paced narrative that happens to be quite relevant with wisdom and mind-bending visuals about a novice nun (none) and space courier for a major corporation discovering a conspiracy between the dominant religion and the all-powerful mega corporation. When they do, they become prey in a desperate interstellar chase in order to suppress the truth.

The story line is pretty great, is often humorous, and has moments of wisdom. show more Christian Wards art is mostly wonderful, full of vivid and popping color work although some of the action scenes of quite busy.

If you love action-oriented, space capers - you'll love this. Check it out. show less

I was dreading reading this, because Marvel's push of the Inhumans is the least interesting thing about Marvel by a long shot, and Black Bolt is the King of the Inhumans. But it turns out that if you take the King of the Inhumans and put him into space prison, allow him to speak, and team him up with the Absorbing Man, a hood from Brooklyn who used to fight Thor, he suddenly becomes enormously interesting! Well, interesting enough to hang an enjoyable story off, anyway. This is fun and show more well-done, a prison break narrative featuring superheroes and -villains; in addition to Blackagar Boltagon and Carl "Crusher" Creel the Absorbing Man, there's an old alien man (apparently a Hulk villain), a kid with many eyes, and a Skrull pirate who refuses to shapeshift because she likes herself the way she is. Christian Ward's art is sometimes a little difficult to follow, but usually incredible, handling conversation and surreal space torture with equal aplomb. The best issue is the one where Black Bolt and Creel are trapped in a room together as the air runs out, and Creel reveals that amidst his superpowers, he has an all-too-human tragic backstory-- but also hopes and dreams. Funny and touching. All this plus Lockjaw! Who knew I could be made to care about an Inhuman? I think this is one of those ongoings that gets cancelled after twelve issues, so one more collection will see the series off; I'll have to check it out from the library. show less

A gender-shifted space-opera reimagining Homer's Oddyssey with phantasmagorical art and written with fluid, classical cadences and rhythms. It's one of the oldest of stories, of course: after the fall of Troiia, Odyssa and her warriors begin the long trek back to Ithaca. Having offended Poseidon and irked Zeus, she finds herself tossed by star-storms and cast adrift, beset by enemies and plagued by monsters. It's stunningly imaginative, dizzying and disorienting, filled with passion and show more poetry and hideous violence and insane divine familial relationships. Proper myth, then. If the superheroic and the divine overlap in The Wicked And The Divine, this propels pulp comics into the magnificent and sordid grandeur of ancient legend. show less