Watson And Holmes #1-6
Created by Brandon Perlow & Paul Mendoza
Written by Karl Bollers
Art by Rick Leonardi, Larry Stroman
Colors by Paul Mendoza, GuruEFX, Archie Van Buren, Jay David Ramos
Letters by Taylor Esposito, Dave Lanphear, Nicole McDonnell, Wilson Ramos Jr.
New Paradigm Studios
Cover Price: $2.99 each

Is it just me or does it seem like everything is getting a makeover or a reboot these days? I know the winds of change are always blowing but sometimes it feels like everything is the same, though perhaps just slightly different. Take the legendary Sherlock Holmes, for instance. New movies, a couple of ongoing television programs, and several different comics. Some are modern, some are not. Every one of them is ever so slightly different in the concept, few are spectacular. None of them, however, are as far off the beaten path as Watson And Holmes.

This particular incarnation features two men, both African-American, with a distinct sense of civic duty. We still have Holmes as a private investigator with uncanny deduction skills but this time he’s a bit more action oriented. His well-known and steadfast companion is still in the medical field but this time he’s an intern and far more athletic than in versions past. The setting is very urban, gang activity is a way of life and death is commonplace. A place where the innocent and the guilt live side by side and the line between them is blurred. And even though the status quo is so disheartening, the locals are terrified of what might happen were they to become involved in anything.

World War Mob #1
Written and Created by Vito Delsante
Art and Color by Giancarlo Caracuzzo
Letters by Vito Delsante
Covers by Michael Manomivibul
New Paradigm Studios
Release Date: January 8, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

What a lot of folks never read about, with regards to the second world war, is that the Allies solicited help from every group they could. This included the organized mob, who had lots of ties to their homelands. World War Mob #1 explores this through the eyes of five men from different families who find themselves under orders to do the unthinkable.

The first few pages are a black and grey flashback of how life was for these men as children. The only exception to this monochromatic color scheme is when blood is shown. The red in these frames is stark in contrast and emphasizes the violence and desperation of their early years, where survival was more important than anything else. Jump forward to World War II and we see that same violence in full color as our Mafioso protagonists are shown fighting Nazis.