Hey, it's Guest Review time! My good friend (who prefers to remain Anonymous) and I run into each other at the local comics shop from time to time - and it's always interesting to see which comics we both buy and which ones the other guy missed. Here's his review of one I missed. Take it away, Anon:
Murder Falcon #2
By Daniel Warren Johnson
Published by Image Comics
I’ve always been fascinated with heavy metal music from the time that I moved back to the United States after living overseas in the late 1970s.
In those days, my musical tastes went little further than Abba, but all of my friends were listening to KISS, which seemed a far cry from “Dancing Queen” to me. The theatrics, the sound, the loudness of KISS were alien to me, but also really interesting.
It didn’t take long for my musical interests to follow suit with my friends. From Ozzy Osborne’s on-and-offstage antics and operatic sound to the androgyny and clearly satanic (sarcastic eye roll) Motely Crue, I wanted to hear more of this music and understand this “heavy” music. I wanted to understand why it sounded that way and, more importantly, why it made me “feel” the way it did.
(One more paragraph and I promise that I’ll to get to the review of the comic book.)
A well-made documentary that I watched a few years ago described the sound of heavy metal as a feeling. The excitement that it creates. That the hairs stand up on your arm. It evokes a reaction, which is what makes those of us who like heavy metal tend to like it so much.
And that’s what Daniel Warren Johnson’s Murder Falcon is all about.
Like a lot of heavy metal music, the plot itself is pretty preposterous but fun to follow. The story follow a down-on-his-luck amateur guitarist who is linked through the dimensions to a butt-kicking monster who fights worse monsters and needs the guitarist’s music to power his abilities. And the monster’s name is Murder Falcon. With a falcon’s head, a robotic arm, and a costume from an early Rambo movie, the adventure begins.
In issue #2, we reconnect with one of the guitarist’s former bandmates, who is also needed as a part of Murder Falcon’s mission.
As a writer/artist, Johnson’s story tugs at heartstrings and matches well with his frenetic, high-energy art. Simply put, it reads and looks very heavy metal, which makes sense.
It’s easy to dismiss Murder Falcon as an early Image hero-with-lots-of-pockets romp, but there’s more going on here. Murder Falcon is not for everyone, but it’s worth a look and I’m enjoying the heck out of it.
Grade: 9 out of 10
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