The Ayre Force
Written by Joseph Phillip Illidge and Adam Slutsky
Illustrated by Shawn Martinbrough
Published by Bodog

So I get this Graphic Novel in from a publisher called Bodog, who apparently have their own media empire including singers, mixed martial artists and apparently a poker site.

The GN stars real people who work for the company, of whom the only person I've heard of is singer Bif Naked.

Its drawn by Shawn Martinbrough, who used to draw Batman, back when the entire issue would have a green or red color tone. I was a fan of his work there, and here its solid if not inspiring work, with some minor quibbles in facial expressions and panel flow.

The story kind of scares me a little though, as it seems to encourage and glorify eco-terrorism. Now I can understand and put my belief behind not harming animals and that kind of thing. On the other hand its kind of scary to see the "heroes" killing the workers at a third world research center, or blowing up and killing everyone on whaling ships.

To me that's basically the equivalent of being mad at rising gas prices, so you beat up the gas station attendant. What makes this especially odd is that while they are harming and killing these workers, they know who and where the big bad guy behind this is. But don't go after him until he captures some of their members.

The book just doesn't seem to really think its ramifications all the way out, preferring to see things as only black and white. It says in the back that all the proceeds from the sales of this book will go to their organizations efforts to stop the mistreatment the heroes fight in this book. I'm not sure what to make of that, as if they can seem so enthused about fictional acts like these, I wonder what they would do in real life.

Caliber First Canon of Justice #1

Writer Sam Sarkar
Art Garrie Gastonny
Colorists: Imaginary Friends Studios
Letterer: Annie Parkhouse
Radical Comics, Due in stores April 30, 2008
(A PDF preview was provided by the publisher for review purposes.)

Clarity. Its an important detail when you launch a new comic, not to mention a comic line, to have. There are tons of new comics that come out every week after all. So if you get a reader to read your first issue you better leave that reader with a clear vision of what your series is about. Something that unfortunately Caliber fails at completely.

I've read it three times now, and still am scratching my head to try and figure out what is going on. There is apparently some Native American God who wishes to enforce the law. The law in this case being "white man's law" as being done during the time in history when Native American were being moved to reservations.

It does this through a shaman who is half white and half Native American. Who has visions that lead him to find a magic gun, that will only work for one man who will protect and enforce the law for everyone.

Unfortunately it seems that the shaman gets bad reception on his visions, as he doesn't have much luck finding the right person despite seeing his face.

Its a shame that this series writing isn't a bit clearer, as the art is really lovely. There is lush detail, good panel structure and just an open feel to the art.

Yet the story just lacks that sense of clarity. I don't expect to know where a story is going after one issue, yet I do expect to have a clear idea what type of story I read. This might get clearer with future issues, but I wonder with comic prices and the amount of diversity out there who comes back for the second issue to see if it does.

Hercules: The Thracian Wars #1(of 5)

Writer: Steve Moore
Art: Admira Wijaya
Colors: Imaginary Friends Studio
Letters Todd Klein
Radical Comics, due in stores April 30,2008
(PDF preview provided for Review)

Hercules and his band of friends have come to Thrace to train their army for war. When they find their reception to not be kind, they find themselves in a fight for their lives to survive.

I'm only vaguely familiar with the Hercules myth. Its been many years since I studied them in my younger days and while I remember liking them the details are sketchy. My most recent experience with it being the light hearted TV series starring Kevin Sorbo.

So I was a bit taken aback by the sheer brutality of this take on the series. Not that I was expecting light hearted fare, the detailed showing on page one of crows picking at dead bodies made it clear such would not be the case. Yet I was hoping for something to make me want to read more.

Especially give that the art by Wijaya fit the material well. There wasn't a ton of different facial expressions since everyone was in a bad mood. Yet there was a nice flow to the scenes and it showed the horror in vivid detail.

Still these heroes seem as reprehensible as those they fight. Be it slaying fleeing women who never bared a weapon, killing someone for being dismissive of them, or planning to eat the dead bodies of their enemies as one companion planned. I was left wondering why I should care if these characters lived or died.

Perhaps the intention is to portray a more realistic version of Hercules, and surely in a real world setting the characters would be very brutal and not likable as these were. Yet the take seemed quite cynical, and it just isn't to my tastes at least.

If someone is looking for a more brutal take on Hercules, in the vein of the harsher Conan stories, then this series could be the one for you.

Beyond #1

Created by Deepak Chopra
Scripted by Ron Marz
Art by Edison George
Colors by Parasuraman A.
Lettered by Sudhir R. Pisal
Virgin Comics, Due in stores May 28, 2008
(a PDF preview copy was provided for purpose of review)


Everyone has heard of a story of some family going to a foreign country and all, or parts, of the family just disappearing. Its an urban legend, and like all such stories get passed around, but no one really knows WHO the particular family is. This comic walks that familiar ground and takes it off into a suspenseful, supernatural path full of possibilities.

We follow an American named Michael, who has brought his family to India on a business trip. Michael is the typical "ugly American" visitor who not only can't see the wonders of the world around him, but gets annoyed when his wife and son do.

It was interesting to see how the art showed this closed mindedness by having Michael's scenes take place in small, closed panels . I took it at first to be an artist that didn't know when to pull back to let the scope of a scene show. Yet the more I read and thought on it, the more it actually worked to display that closed mindedness the character had.

Whether it was an elephant crossing in the middle of a street, or the beauty of the lighting of candles ceremony on the water. We never peel back to take in the beauty of it, just as Michael doesn't take in the beauty and wonder around him as well.

When Michael's wife goes missing he must open himself, and this is shown by the panel structure getting slightly more open, to find her. Not only taking in the beauty of the world around him but seeing the dangers as well. At least one danger that is scarily supernatural in origin.

This was a great start to the series, as while I start off disliking Michael a great deal. Seeing him start to change and realize what he faces to lose was engaging. I'm wondering right along with him and his son what exactly is going on, and whether or not he'll ever get his wife back or faces losing even more.

Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk (Hardcover)

by Greg Pak (Author), Carlo Pagulayan (Illustrator), Aaron Lopresti (Illustrator), Juan Santacruz (Illustrator), Gary Frank (Illustrator), Takeshi Miyazawa (Illustrator)
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Sometimes a book comes along at the right time for a reader, as this one did for me. I've never been the biggest Hulk fan around. I read a good portion of the Peter David run, but wouldn't say I was a huge fan of the character. Yet for a while I've been looking for a solid adventure story, with big fights, direct conflicts and a solid direction.

The Planet Hulk HC came into my hands through my library at a perfect time, as it hit all of those needs that I needed.

Writer Greg Pak, has to have been a big fan of Robert E Howard's Conan and Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter of Mars stories. Given that this Hulk story of the Hulk on an alien world fighting for his survival in gladiator like conditions hits the same vibes of those stories in elegant ways.

The story itself is fairly simple, the Hulk is blasted off Earth by his so called friends, and finds himself on a harsh alien world where his strength and brutality is needed to survive. On his journey he makes friends and enemies, as he forges a new life for himself.

This type of story is exactly why I wish there could be closures to series, instead of the never ending continue to "milk the cow" approach to comics at DC and Marvel. The story will be forgotten eventually since it doesn't overly rely on anything from the past, or have anything lasting that will last very far into the future.

Which is a shame as in and of itself its a fun adventure story. It also offers a telling theme of an over all current shift of approach to its characters at Marvel. Given that in this story the one we are to feel sorry for is the Hulk, who is hindered by Bruce Banner, not the other way around.

Its an odd change in story type, given that nearly all intelligent Marvel characters are now shown with dehumanized approaches to situations. Seemingly showing that brute strength and unwavering blind faith are things to admire over high intelligence. Which has been shown to lead those characters to ruin and betrayel of their friends.

A fairly big change from the time comics were read by mainly nerdy young boys. For whom stories of escape into worlds where intelligence was shown to win out over might were inspiring.

NORTH WIND #1
Written by David DiGilio
Cover by Andrew Huerta
Art by Alex Cal
Boom Studios, 24pgs, FC (1 of 5) SRP: $3.99

In the near future disaster has struck the world, and the planet is in a deep freeze. Humanity still survives in small pockets, and as always there are people who try to take advantage of others in the battle of survival.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the series when I first heard of it. The basic plot sounded a little too close to the movie The Day After Tomorrow yet it turned out to be something completely different. Which is a good thing as the movie was pretty dumb in a lot of respects.

Its obvious from just the first issue that writer David DiGilio has put a lot of thought into what the world would be like in this situation. His story is immersed in the world and society he's built, not on any particular character. Which is a good way to go about it as this story shouldn't be about how things affect one character but how the societies themselves work.

Issue one is an interesting beginning to the series, and quite rarely at times these days has me anxious to see what happens next with a bated breath. I want to see who all of these players are, how and whether they survive and if the world gets better.

Witchblade #116
writer Ron Marz
painter Stjepan Sejic
Publisher Top Cow
$2.99

Sometimes it is easier to just write a book off as something and never look back on it. After all there are a ton of comics out there to be read, and if it doesn't pass that first test then you move on and don't look back. Witchblade was one of those series which I tried way back when it first came out and dismissed it as mindless T&A garbage.

So when Ron Marz, whose Green Lantern and other work I'd enjoyed, was announced as the new series writer I really thought he was nuts to be honest. Yet he talked me into giving it a try, and I'll be damned if he hasn't completely overhauled the series.

Gone are the mindless plots and generic bad guys. This book is at times a crime drama that just happens to have supernatural trappings to add flavor. One scene in #116 with Witchblade lead Detective Sara Pezzini going to a murder scene, could just as easily been something out of an episode of tv's CSI or Bones it just hit that note so right.

Gone also are the stupid plots designed to get any female character's clothes off. Oh there is still some teasing, but the book's grown up. The sexual teasing is more natural now and more something you'd see in a James Bond movie, not the sophomoric American Pie type of previous stories.

Painter Stjepan Sejic knows how to draw a variety of different characters and body types. His work is atmospheric and beautiful, while still keeping a feel of fluidity that so many other painters art lack. How on Earth he can meet a deadline with the insane amount of detail he uses I don't know but am looking forward to seeing.

This issue is the perfect jump on point for any new reader. The characters are all introduced and showed doing the roles they have in order to serve the story. New mysteries are just beginning for Sara and a new Witchblade user, that are sure to intertwine as they unravel in future issues. So if you've been thinking of jumping on board, the time really is now.

Car Repairs Are Expensive!

I really wish I was mechanically inclined. This past week my car broke down on me in the middle of a busy mall entrance. Pushing the heavy 2002 Hyundai Santa Fe out of the way was quite a chore.

Not as much as finding out how much the repair bill was though. For a new timing belt and crankshaft positioning sensor, it only cost $100 for the parts. Yet in order to have hem put on I needed to go to the dealership, none of the shops would touch the odd car brand. Which brought the total to $700.

Big ouch, and means quite a lot of cutbacks for the next few months to absorb such a financial hit. One of those cutbacks is no new comics for at least 3 months, unless I can get something at a library.

Why Comic Pros Shouldn't Talk About Others Comics

Newsarama has an article by a Brandon Thomas sort of defending the One More Day Spider-Man story. It is a fairly well written article, not saying I agree with it or not, and makes some interesting points.

Then I get to the end and I see this for his bio:

Brandon Thomas is a freelance writer and columnist. He has written over a dozen comics for several publishers including Marvel and DC Comics, featuring popular characters like Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Hulk, Batman, and Robin, the Boy Wonder. His first creator-owned title The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury begins publication at Archaia Studios Press in February 2008. He lives and writes in Chicago, IL.

As soon as I read that part I just groaned as I knew what the reaction would be, whether justified or not. It is my opinion only here, but pros just shouldn't say anything further than "I like this issue/series/writer/artist/editor." Anything else just results in a result that there is no chance for the pro to win in.

Praise, as in this article, can be dismissed as just trying to get in good with the bosses in hopes to get further work and gets dismissed as a homer or mindless shill. Especially when it comes from a writer still trying to make a name for themselves. Negative takes can be even more destructive, as they can be accused of jealousy, unprofessional ism , etc. Not only by the fans, but by fellow pros themselves.

Sometimes, and I know its hard as most pros are fans themselves here. Yet its better to just keep the opinions to yourself, as there is just nothing to be accomplished by opening your mouth in a public forum.

What Idiot Thought of This?

I'm not talking about the story here, there is enough talk about that elsewhere and since I haven't (and probably won't) read it I won't talk about it. Yet I would like to know who on Earth thought it was a good idea to highlight that a single issue of a comic was "Still only 399 cents!"

Is that really something you want to highlight? I know comic prices have gone up. Yet dang I dont think single issues have gone up to the point where $3.99 for a single issue comic was a bargain. Heck I can got down to any book store and pick up a Marvel Digest, 5 to 6 issues worth, for a little under $8.

I Feel Strangely Compelled...

To pick up the current Spider-Man books, after reading the reaction and seeing the poll results from Newsarama has put together for Marvel's One More Day storyline that promised to change the Spider-man character forever.

Usually I pass up these events with a rolling of the eyes. Yet the amount of vitriol this story is getting, just has me so darn curious. I want to know "Is it really that bad?" If so it'll be good for a laugh, if not then who knows maybe it'll be a cool surprise. Something I seem to rarely get from Marvel's comics these days.

What Am I Reading?

Well with the Christmas holidays having just past, money is sort of tight. Currently I'm not following any series religiously, but through the local library I am reading the Essential Incredible Hulk by Peter David series of trades.

I originally jumped in about midway through this series WAY back when, just as the Hulk and Banner were merging and we had the time of the Hulk with Bruce Banner's brains. Now getting to read this impressive run (hey there aren't many writers who have a run as long as Peter David's Hulk run) from the beginning has been intriguing.

In some ways it reminds me a bit of the V4 version of Legion of Super-Heroes by Keith Giffen and the Biernbaums. Since as with it, there is a sense of taking things merely hinted at (at best) and running with them to explain changes, takes on and even paths for characters that for one reason or another had never seemed possible before.

The strength of this approach is the break from the traditional superhero track of everything being back to status quo by next issue. Things happen in these stories for a reason, and their ramifications have lasting effects that not only change the characters but the very type of stories that are done.

The only drawback to this is that you can go too far afield from what the characters heart that made them popular. Eventually you get to a point in the story where the writer has no further to go, and the fact that its a corporate toy means you can't just end it.

I sort of wonder if this is why the Hulk comics have sort of struggled for a voice over the years since Peter David left? No one really seems to know how to do a Hulk book currently, be it Bruce Jones's monster take or what appears to be (just from solicits haven't read it) Hulk as intergalactic bad guy take currently.

Other things I'm reading from the library are:

Superman:Back In Action from Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza - I haven't read a Superman title outside of Morrison's All-Star in... wow its been a few years. It was on the shelf though so I'm willing to give it a shot.

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man: Derailed - While its been a few years since I read a regular Superman title, its been since the Clone Saga that I read a regular Spider-Man title. Yet with me being on sort of a Peter David kick and that it has art by the late, great Mike Wieringo made me pick it up for a look.

Putting Up, Rather Than Shutting Up

Image's Shadowline Wants New Superheroine

So they are having a contest at Newsarama to find a new superheroine book to work as a counterpoint to their popular Bomb Queen comic. The rules are simple:

Contest will be divided into three parts as outlined below, deviation will result in immediate disqualification:

Round One:
Contestants e-mail a BRIEF one paragraph story synopsis by January 31, 2008 to: superheroinecontest@gmail.com. Stories/concept must be original with original characters. No pre-existing characters may be used unless owned by contestant.

Round Two:
Ten semi-finalists will be chosen from all entries received by the above date and notified by e-mail. They will then be required to turn in 5 (five) fully scripted pages by February 29, 2008.

Round Three:
The five finalists will be announced and their synopses posted on Newsarama on March 10. Newsarama posters will be encouraged to vote on their favorite. (Writers are strongly advised to direct traffic to the contest via message boards, myspace, etc…every vote counts!) Polls will close on April 4, 2008.

The winner will be announced April 28 with initial concept art/character design by Franchesco. First issue will be solicited with a cover date of November, 2008.

I don't envy Shadowline editor Kristen Simon's job of pouring over hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions. Yet I have to admire her and the Shadowline folks for wanting to get new voices and hopefully stronger female characters in their mix of books.

For years I've been wanting to see more female characters who weren't defined by the sum(or should that be size?) of their body parts. So I said what the heck, and even sent in a couple of proposals myself. You know, sort of a put up or shut up situation here I thought.

Oh and don't worry those saying "Oh no!! Another comic blogger who really wants to write comics, rather than write about comics." I have no chance of winning, and plan to post my quite funny proposals up when I talk about those that do qualify for the first cut. So everyone can laugh at my propsals as I will surely do the same for some of those that make it. (whether because they are truly funny or because they are truly bad)

Hello! Wow, I actually forgot this thing existed, and then had to think for a few minutes what the e-mail address and password would have been so I could log in. It has been kind of cool to look back and see what I was passionate about way back then.

These days I still read comics, not to the great extent I did back when this blog was active obviously. Yet its still one of the few interests I find that has such a variety of voices and selection. That I can also interact with to whatever extent I wish.

I don't have to sit through the same 15 actors and actresses over and over again as with movies or tv shows. Also since I mainly read trades I don't have to sift through ads and other junk to get the story, I just turn the page.

Hmm, maybe I'll revive this blog to explore my comic takes again, as well as what else I'm passionate about.

Attention Spans & Comics

I listen to really long audio books at work, and one of the comments I've been hearing from coworkers recently is "Gosh how can you stand to listen to one story that long? Don't you get sick of the characters after a while?"

Which made me pause, as to me the longer a book is, especially if it is a good one, the better as I like getting involved with the characters. Yet I wonder if that isn't as common as at least it once was, as even among comic fans sales decline at a fairly steady rate on even the most popular series.

As a comic fan I've experienced and seen the love fans have for characters. These characters are like old friends to many readers, and getting to come in and check in on their lives so often is a huge part of the draw for many readers.

Yet I wonder if the common person isn't interested in followingthe same characters for such a period of time. Oh it might be fine to go spend 2 hours every other year on a Spider-Man movie, but that same person might not be interested in reading Spidey's adventures every week.

Look at TV, many of the most popular shows are reality TV shows. Which has a new cast and location every year. A cast that also decreases as the show moves along, meaning less info for the viewer to keep up with.

Yet meanwhile comics continue to complicate their stories, not in terms of story quality, but in the amount of info you need to know to follow along.

News from Baltimore Con

This past weekend was the Baltimore Con, with lots of your usual comics news being released.

THE GOOD

Joss Whedon to Take On Runaways

Proving me wrong in my previous post, where I wondered why even continue Runaways with series creator Brian Vaughan leaving. Joss Whedon, whose work on Buffy, Angel and Firefly TV shows was amazing, has me thrilled to see what he'll do on this series of young people with powers and attitude.

THE ODD

Thor and Nova get new series relaunches. These are two characters I've grown an interest in during the past year reading old back issues and/or collections.

Too bad they are both done by creators, JMS and Dan Abnett, whose comic work I have yet to find a taste for.

JUST PLAIN ... HUH?

DC to Collect Who's Who in B&W Showcase Volumes Perhaps I'm missing the reason for collecting bios on characters and situations that are no longer relevant? It just seems like a sort of painful reminder to readers of what DC no longer does.

Runaways Creative Team Leaves

I must admit to being really dissapointed in the news of writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Adrian Alphona's exit from the Marvel series Runaways. It has been one of the more consistently entertaining, and fresh ideas to come from Marvel in quite a few years.

With its little ties to the Marvel Universe as a whole, it was able to breathe and do things that other series couldn't do because of the inertia of time and continuity that burden them.

The series will continue with a new creative team, and Vaughan says he wants to see it develop into a franchise. Yet this is one instance where I would rather just see the series end. Because if it does become that successful, it will likelt lose much of the appeal it brought to bear.

Galaxion Returns!

Via Johanna

Galaxion


One of the first "indy" comics I ever read was Tara Tallan's Galaxion series, which was a combination young people soap opera, Star Trek like sci-fi series. For years I've been hungry to see more of this series, and now I finally can with new pages every Tuesday.

I am really stoked for this!

What Have I Been Reading?

Actually I'm even amazed at myself at how odd an assortment of things I'm reading currently.

52 - No one is more surprised than I am to be reading this weekly series from DC Comics. For a long time I thought that I was through with the company, yet this weekly series has some how held my interest.

I can't help watching, perhaps in the way one can't help but look at a car wreck, for poor Ralph as just as it seems he's reached his lowest point they manage to drive him down even further. While Black Adam's role as a true vigilante hero in the vein of the original Nazi tossing Superman of Shuster and Siegel always draws me in.

Of course the series probably holds together better since I read 4 or 5 issues at a time since I get them through mail order.

Showcase: Elongated Man - I'd been a fan of Ralph and Sue for a long time, but hadn't read many of their individual stories. This collection going from Ralph's first appearance in the Flash to his run in Detective Comics was interesting.

The stories are a bit sappy, and just plain silly in spots, but they were still fun especially to see just how wildly Ralph used his powers. I was bummed that something as important as Ralph and Sue getting married wasn't covered in a story itself though.

Get a Life - This collection of Monsieur Jean stories even surpassed my already high expectations from reading other strips. As we get looks into Jean's single life, that never gets too sappy or wishy washy, but is heartfelt, entertainingly done stories of life in a clean easy to read style.

Arkham Asylum 15th Anniversary HC - Actually found this on a bargain rack at Books a Million for $3.58, despite the $29.95 cover price. I'd been interested in reading it for years, but I must be blasphamous here. I can't stand the art. It tries so hard to be intense and mood driven, that it fails to allow me to follow what on Earth is going on in the story.

The extras were interesting, especially to see a Morrison script, as well as discovering that Morrison could easily be an accomplished artist from the panel breakdowns he drew.

Back

I'm back. Where have I been gone? Nowhere really, I just got a new promotion at work, and found myself a social life. I also found that for a long time I just had nothing to say about comics or perhaps not enough to go throught the trouble of writing. Yet anyway I'm back and let's see how it goes now.