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Pick Your Pickle and Prepare for Puns: Pickleball's Board Game Just Launched. A fast, fun, irreverent board game that celebrates the joy of Pickleball. Fans of silly puns, pickles, and fast-paced games alike have a new game to add to their list of must-haves: HotShot Pickleball. This delightful card-drawing board game is quick to learn and gives a surprising amount of opportunity to lightly strategize as you race to the ball and attempt to hit it back over the net to your opponent. The debut release from indie studio Midnight Trading Co., HotShot Pickleball was made while game designer Robert Gelb was recovering from an Achilles injury sustained, ironically, by playing Pickleball. For those who haven’t heard of pickleball, it's the fastest-growing sport in the world, with over 32 million players last year. HotShot Pickleball is a lively, family-friendly game that combines the fun of the sport with a cast of quirky, pickle-themed characters like Stew Cumber, Kim Chee, and Corni

Featured Review @TopCow Aphrodite IX #8 @ImageComics @TopCowMatt @StjepanSejic



Aphrodite IX #8

Is Aphrodite XV a threat? Or an ally?



Preview


See the 9-page preview of Aphrodite IX #8

Review


See the Review Rating Overview page for more information on how I rate each comic


Cover & Solicit 4/5


This issues cover is drawn by the talented Stjepan Sejic (Witchblade, Cyber Force and Army of Darkness), who also does the interior art and colors. It's an attractive cover featuring Aphrodite XV and Aphrodite IX fighting. While the solicit and the cover make it appear that XV and IX will battle it's only a partial truth.

Art, Colors & Inking 4/5


Sejic has changed his art style for the second arc of the book and I really enjoy this style of his as well. Again it suffers slightly from a lack of what I could call cybernetic details but otherwise it's pure eye candy. If you want to see a great example check out the two page spread from the preview, he does a great job with the facial expression on Aphrodite and the battle is just breathtaking and well executed.

Layout & Flow 5/5


The flow of this issue was very good as usual you can see that Hawkins and Sejic are running like a well oiled machine. Again we are taken back and forth between the events happening and the hopping around doesn't distract and is easy to follow.

Story 5/5


Matt Hawkins is doing an excellent job of telling the story and building on this future world that ties into his Cyber Force volume. This issue continues a new story arc with Aphrodite IX and Aphrodite XV breaking into Speros City to find and kill Burch. At the start we find what "appears" to be Aphrodite IX (looks can be deceiving) just walking around in Speros City with weapons out. Once she is spotted she is immediately confronted by local forces. I love how Matt added several lines throughout this issue with little snips an comedic comebacks by both Aphrodite's. I mean really the line "Your gun talks to you. That's cute. You have a name for it?" just made me crack a smile. The battle ensues but eventually Aphrodite is brought down. Next we are taken to Burch who is still investigating the catacombs and learn that CDI has actually developed multiple models. Aphrodite even confirms there are 9 versions of her model IX. Hawkins also builds more on the differences of how the genetically altered Gens and the cybernetically enhanced Speros view the world, Gens thru religion and belief and the Speros thru progress and order. In the end Matt leaves us with more unanswered questions that keep you wanting more pages in the issue. We finally get to see the arrival of Artimis from last issue, and a new IX named Hades. I can't wait to see what plans Hawkins has for the rest of this arc, and how the other nine IX models are going to come into play.

Verdict - 4.6 (9/10) (Buy Aphrodite IXSAVE 10%


This issue just blew me away. It had action, comedy, and a lot of intrigue. Hawkins and Sejic are a well oiled machined and are telling an epic story with the reboot/continuation of the original Aphrodite IX. If you aren't reading this book you should be.

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