Episode 75 - Reviews of Sheltered Vol. 1, Dead Boy Detectives #1-2, The Royals #1, and Black Dynamite #1

In this episode of The Comics Alternative, Gene and Derek look at a variety of recent comics. They begin by discussing the first volume of Sheltered (Image), focusing on the story’s concept and its pacing. Next, they look at two recent titles from Vertigo: Dead Boy Detectives and The Royals: Masters of War. Although both guys are excited that the two dead boys are with a new ongoing series — they first appeared in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman from the 1990s — they’re not sure that the current storyline is clarifying itself. With The Royals, both Derek and Gene are taken by the concept and think the first issue sets up an exciting miniseries. Finally, the Two Guys look at Black Dynamite (IDW). They’re intrigued by the series’ links to the Adult Swim cartoon — which itself is a spinoff of the 2009 Scott Sanders film — but they aren’t sure that the first issue fully establishes its parodic potential. In all, Gene and Derek want to see how the creators discussed in this episode follow up on the promise of their initial stories.