The Cryptics #1: In the same vein as Death Jr. the Cryptics too stars younger (and I dare say cuter) version of nasties i.e. monsters, only unlike Death Jr. where DJ is the main character, here there is such one. Instead we have, younger/kiddy versions of Dracula, the Sea Monster, a Werewolf and Jekyll-Hyde. In addition, while DJ is written in an ‘arc’ style, the Cryptics is written in an anthology style with stories varying from a few pages long to the single page ones. The artwork too is similar but not as ‘rounded’ as DJ and has a decidedly ‘angular’ feel to it with the colors being on the brighter side too (even more so than DJ).

Conclusion: Although not for the very young, the Cryptics (as with Death Jr.) is a story that should/will appeal to just about any comic reading demographic.

RATING: 8/10

Savage Red Sonja - Queen of the Frozen Waste #4: The final issue of the mini, this one has a whole lot of killing, bucketfuls of blood letting, an issue long fight, well, whichever way you put it, this issue has one simple purpose, okay two. One is to destroy the whole setup of the villain i.e. the queen (which included her underground base/lair as well as her subjects) and the second is to heroine go free (yeah, like that wasn’t going to happen). These minis are released independently and not as arcs of the ongoing Red Sonja series just to get the extra sales they garner. The Red Sonja character/brand name isn’t so spread out/exploited that the minis won’t sell enough numbers. Well, here’s to the next such mini.

Conclusion: Nice enough ending to a good enough (if a bit low on the content/depth) story.

RATING: 7.5/10 (Almost 8)