The Greatest Crossover Ever? No

Valhallahan

My name is Valhallahan and I’m a sucker for hype. It’s a curse many geeks share, and in some cases it leads to disappointment. This is one of those cases.

I suppose this issue did all that was needed of it, in that it set up the premise for the crossover, ready for it to sprawl out into the various mini series it encompasses, but the comic itself is pretty bad. I can’t fault the art particularly, as it is accomplished stuff and looks rather nice when the writers give them something decent to draw, but the dialogue is bloody ridiculous and the plot progression is incomprehensible. This second problem stems from the fact that this issue, although titled "Infestation #1" is actually Zombies versus CVO: Covert Vampiric Operations. For those who don’t know, let me fill you in on CVO from what I gleaned from this issue of Infestation and the two issues of CVO I once got in a grab-bag: It’s a big load of shite. More specifically, it is the story of a group of covert soldiers who happen to be -wait for it- Vampires! Yeah! Woo! Awesome! No. The team consists of two interchangeable broody tough guy types and Lady Death. Oh sorry, that’s not Lady Death, that’s the third member of the CVO team, she’s a vampire commando that used to be a supermodel! How cool is that? Not very? Oh well, I’ll continue. Interestingly, she is quite curvy and buxom for a supermodel, methinks she’s been padding out her CV. Just because the place has a stage and people are watching you, it doesn’t make it a catwalk. So the 'Glamour' model and the two angry dudes seem to work for a bunch of ghouls in suits and... you know what? I can’t be bothered.

A Pony and Trap

But what did I expect? This is, after all the set up for a story which is essentially of the kind we all used to play with our toys when we were kids. "Then Captain Kirk beams down to the planet and there’s a zombie and then the zombie bites him and then Ghostbusters shoots the zombie and then more zombies come but Snake Eyes cuts their heads off but Megatron comes down and shoots Snake Eyes because he is a zombie too and then the Enterprise crashes because Dad stepped on it by accident but it transforms into Optimus Prime and then they fight and then Leonardo Kills Mum-Ra who looks a bit like a zombie and then Happy Meal transforming Big Mac shoots Grizzlor and then John was a zombie" and in that way, I’m still hopeful for the series.

Artist's Impression of writing process

It seems that this issue has very little bearing on what will proceed it. In fact the other titles aren’t really crossing over at all, it’s more like Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers where all the characters face a common foe, unbeknownst to them, with Infestation serving as the book ends which tie the stories together. In fact, the types of zombie don’t even appear to be consistent judging from the previews, with Transformers opting for a Blackest Night style evil dead, while Star Trek goes the more neoclassical route. As it stands the shiteyness of this initial part, is not going to stop me from trying the others, they are all previewed in the back of this book and have completely different, franchise-appropriate creative teams, and I must say though not a fan of his super-hero work, I look forward to seeing Kyle Holtz’s Ghostbusters art.

This was disappointing start, but not a deal-breaker. I’ll be trying out the Infestation minis but skipping the next instalment of this extended CVO advert.

Survival and Land out of a possible Dawn.

The Greatest Crossover Ever?

Valhallahan
Well colour me intrigued.

I picked up a copy of Infestation #1 this week on a whim. I’d seen this advertised a few months ago and knew I had to give it a go. Infestation is a crossover for all (or at least most) of indie publisher IDW’s licensed properties. Essentially it’s *insert name* versus Zombies. I know, I know, "Zombies? What is this, 2007?" I hear you cry. The Walking Dead aside, I’m as sick of zombies as the next man (unless the next man is a Necrophiliac they love that shit) but hear me out! Y’see where it gets interesting is who the licensed characters are, and IDW have quite the list of *insert name here*s.

So Roll up, roll up for

Transformers
Vs
Ghostbusters
Vs
GI JOE
Vs
Star Trek
Vs

Robots

Vs

Zombies!

Oh yeah you heard that right. Throw in Thundercats or Star Wars and that’s my childhood right there.

Aparently it crosses over with CVO (Covert Vampiric Operations) too, which is a shame because what I read of that (from bargain bin grab bags, I hasten to add) really did suck, if you'll parden the pun.

I’m going to go read this and tell you how it looks.

Be right back.

Swap Shop Massacre: D&D WITH A&V

Dungeons & Dragons #0
Written by John Rogers/Alex Irvine
Art by Andrea Di Vito/Peter Bergting

Action Ash
I thought for this months swap shop, knowing Valhallahan's hate for the fantasy genre, it would be funny to nominate issue #0 of the Dungeons & Dragons comic.

Well the joke was on me!

I used to play a bit of D&D in my early teens and I always thought it might be fun to try it again some time. I always had fun fighting orcs by rolling die, completing quests and finding treasure. As I got older I forgot about it and even stopped playing RPG's on consoles and computers. In present day I find I don't have the patience to get into World of Wankcraft, and have only just played Neverwinter Nights, god knows how many years after it's release (Also, I know I wont complete it). So when I heard about a D&D comic I thought it was a great idea, and that maybe it would rekindle my interest in playing RPG's again...

Well now I just don't want to.

The D&D comic was probably the most average thing I've read in my life! The story was meh, the characters were meh and the art was (insert expression of apathy, indifference or boredom).

I can't slag it off totally though, because I thought they did a good job of introducing the different character types in a short space but I didn't really care about them. The best thing about it was that the dialogue and characters reminded me of a Saturday morning cartoon show, but I would much rather watch the actual Dungeons & Dragons Saturday morning cartoon show from the 80's, than read another issue of this.

2d6 wrinkly little goblins with rusty daggers out of a possible 5d20 marauding Orc bandits with +2 flaming swords.

Valhallahan
My name is Liam and I am a geek. Not a just a bit of a geek, a big old geeky geek. I’m writing a comic book blog for Drokk’s sake. See? I said Drokk! Anyway despite my geeky geekdom there's one rung of geekery ladder that I've never ascended/descended to: ROLE PLAY! To me it's all wizard and fairy shit. Now, it's not that I'm against Fantasy per se, but it's not my favourite genre. I grew up reading Conan and I've read the Lord of the Rings trilogy more than once, but, and I know this is a stretch for a superhero fan, I find the whole arena faintly ridiculous. There, I said it. It's my problem, not theirs'. Now with this in mind here's what I thought of Dungeons and Dragons #0, as a complete D&D virgin (not the usual context in which D&D and virgin are used in the same sentence - sorry, couldn't resist).

Like I what I bitched about Avengers Prime for, I read both stories in the space of cigarette (inc. lighting time) which is fine for an #0, but future issues better have more substance. You do get quite a chunk of extras too, which although I wasn't into it enough to read, I'm sure they’re good if you like that sort of thing. In this book, we’re given two tales from the D&D Universe, with very different tones. Of the two stories presented, I preferred the second, probably because had more of a Gladiator/Conan vibe, but preferring it to the other doesn’t mean I was all that keen, it seemed like the set up for a neutered, bloodless version of something we've seen a million times before.

It's a good #0; it's noob-friendly and provides a variety of content to get your teeth into, but it's just not a particularly good comic. The art is ho-hum, I was expecting some Bisley-esque awesomery, but it was a bit limp. As I said before though, I'm biased against all that wizard shit, so what do I know?

Two Wizard's Sleeves out of a possible Gandalf.