Dracula vs. Santa another comic in Zuda this month done by Melissa DeJesus (that woman has talent), and Ed Power who did a 'cool as hell' written script. Here is the synopsis: Santa’s home is under attack! Count Dracula has decided with its six full month of darkness that the North Pole would make a perfect headquarters (he got the idea from the movie ‘30 Days of Night’, but will NOT admit it as he thinks admitting he has a Netflix account weakens his image) and he’s gathered an army of the world’s most famous monsters to evict Christmas Town’s current residents. Now it’s elves versus vampires, flying reindeer versus werewolves, and Christmas versus Halloween as the forces of darkness and despair descend upon the bringers of joy and merriment! In the end only one holiday will be celebrating. Dracula vs. Santa: Welcome to the ‘Winter Wonderland’ of our discontent!
I have mostly high praise for this, but I did have a WTF moment reading this comic, so bad stuff first.
WTF moment/ Where was the Count, at his day job on Sesame Street???
If it says Dracula vs. Santa in the title, Dracula better damn well show up in the comic.
I know it's only 8 screens, not a lot of space to work with, but come ooooooonnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!! As I got closer and closer to screen 8, I (not being my first rodeo as far as reading Zuda goes) figured Ed and Melissa were saving up the Dracula appearance for a 1 panel cameo on the very last screen. Kind of like how they did the most God forsaken character in comics (no it's not Rob Liefield -haters) Wolverine's first cameo appearance in Incredible Hulk. It would have been a high drama note to end on, and set things up well should it win. Instead we get some elves tossed in the air, and who knows it could have been Jack O'Lantern or the Bogey man doing that. I really expected him to show up, and it was a let down he didn't.
By the way who's side is the ghost of Christmas future on?
Considering you killed off the Easter Bunny Godfather 3 tribute style, I'm interested in what the balance in the tone of the comic will be: comedic moments vs. Rudolph getting field dressed by a werewolf?
It's not a naughty list it's a shit kicking list and you do not want to be on it Vald!
Now the praise. Ed and Melissa managed to make Santa a really cool, smart, and kick-ass character. This characterization of him, kind of reminded me of the St. Nick is a fable issue of Fables. They took a well established concept -Father Christmas- and made it a fun and action filled story -Dracula being M.I.A. put aside. I liked the reindeer being curled up at Santa's feet, nice touch. first screen was a great lead in, a iconic shot, with a toymaker/Watchmen reference very well timed considering. I also wondered if this might be setting up a plot point that maybe Santa's not so good after all considering the source material. Watch those Easter egg tangents! ;) I really enjoyed the pace of the story their wasn't too many panels or too few per screen, but just right. [Yeah that's a line from the 3 bears, but it fits] I thought the art work done on the children (being naughty, or nice) was very impressive, Melissa has a easy to follow and very enjoyable style. Their are text boxes, but Ed doesn't over do it and they fit the story.
I liked the use of magical artifacts combined with modern day technology. Good beats (thanks for that Ed), to end a screen on, and move to the next screen. I love the silent bells, and I love their leader Nick Frosty, a three foot tall version of Nick Fury if their ever was one. Some reviewers are not such Frosty fans, but I really enjoyed the in joke. It enhanced the story for me with a little wink to the reader. I really enjoyed screen 4. We had of course great art, but also damn fine written dialogue between Nick (of the big gut), and Nick (of the eye-patch), with last panel foreshadowing -vampires don't show up on recording devices according to the latest White Wolf edition. On screen 6 I enjoyed Santa's silent night ring tone, and seeing the poor Easter Bunny in the last panel took away the light action whimsy feel to the story up to this point. Screen 7 really had me feeling sorry for the poor bunny. Melissa's art will melt your heart on this screen it is so expressive. The dialogue was perfect for this scene -go Ed!!! The last panel Godfather tribute with Santa's friends/employee's in the background, shows fantastic screen composition. [a side note Toykopop needs to get its corporate head out of it's corporate ass -a Sokora Refugees reference] I liked the last screen, but again where was that Dracula cameo shot?
Will St. Nick get impaled on a Christmas tree, Will the Count receive a gingerbread man shoved where the sun don't shine?
Well that's the reason you would vote for it, to find out the answers to those questions. The colors really fit the comic. Letters easy to read. The art and dialogue were really top notch. My searching for Dracula in context, this comic gets an easy 4/5 stars and a fav.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Maintaining Bohemia Zuda review/ demonstrate absurdity by being absurd
Maintaining Bohemia is another comic this month done by Harold Sipe, and Buster Moody (Buster being one of Patrick Morgan's of Bayou fame's alternate personalities), on Zuda. Speaking as someone who used to go by a number of different aliases, it just makes things more confusing than need be. Unless of course your planing to rob a bank or something, or pulling a Ed Mcbain ...
Here is the synopsis: Who keeps order in the land of total indulgence? Who cleans up after performance pieces that involve dead fish and stagnant water? Who keeps a conceptual art school tethered to Earth and functioning on a day-to-day basis? The janitorial and security staff of the New Academy of Art and Design are all that stand between clean, well-maintained hallways and pseudo-intellectual chaos. Maintaining Bohemia follows the support staff of NAAD (New Academy of Art and Design) as they navigate a campus filled with immature and uninformed examples of conceptual art from students more concerned with thrift store t-shirts and hair care products than any higher pursuits. The staff provides an outsider’s view to the workings of the modern art school. A man-on-the-street’s view of lame and fake crucifixions, slightly pornographic videos of puppet suicide, and the same footage of animal slaughterhouses that show up in sophomore performance class year after year.
memories
This comic I think has reminded all of us of our Art school/ Art class memories which I'm now going to wander into: I went to a community adjunct satellite school for a pretty well respected university in my state. I took a number of art classes, cause I like art. One piece we had to do was a mixed media/ collage and my options were limited. I had my art boards, political magazines, old comic book price guides, some cheap metal, and a baker's dozen of glow in the dark skeleton Halloween novelties. So I put something together I had a cutout of the Punisher holding a gun in his hands, and to his left various political leaders. Not to mention pictures of tanks, planes etc; -this is after 2001. I used the metal to link the various boards together, and tied the skeletons to them hanged man style. Believe it, or not it actually turned out quite well, until it came time to display it. I wanted to do the best I could with what I had, and make it look as cool as possible. The other students at the school soon divided up into two camps. You had the folks who thought it made an anti-fascist statement against TPTB. The other camp thought it had a pro-security counter terrorist message. This would have been fine, except you had some students who thought if it was pro-fascist it should be taken down, and some thought if it was anti-American it should be taken down. My reaction: WTF??? -it's just art class. The administration of the school was so worried about the images I used and what could be implied from them (the revolution starts here in art class -I guess was the fear), they even had a nice long talk with my teacher. Who being a fine teacher assured them I was not some gun toting radical with idle hands. After this I decided to say the hell with it. You want something to piss your panties about, you'll get it.
Serial Killer Bedroom
Whatever you may think of Rush Limbaugh he has a damn accurate quote: "you demonstrate absurdity by being absurd". So I went to work on my next piece, which as you may imagine involved a lot of red paint. We did a diorama(sp?) of a room. So I got a lot of little doll furniture to look like a bedroom. My little sister gave me one of her seldom used dolls, and I went about ripping it's arms, legs, and head off. Bless it's heart it never had a chance. I painted the room all white. I then glued pieces of the doll all over the place. i think I put the head under the bed, but I can't remember for sure. I poured red paint all down the walls, and all over the floor, and doll furniture. I ripped out a lo of the dolls hair and had it matted with red paint stuck to the walls. It did look gruesome as hell I have to say. Then I stopped working on it, and left it out where every student could see it for the next week, until I was back in class to finish it. My teacher told me everyone was talking about it, and the general consensus was I needed to be dragged off to a padded room.
It was all a set up. I finished the piece by posting these words on it:
Just because this is gruesome, bloody, and ultra-violent!!! Doesn't make it a declaration of future intent.
It's me doing a parody of me.
Hitler painted roses, and we all know how that turned out now don't we?
I actually had a fellow student come up to me and tell me before she read that she thought I was a psycho, but after that she thought I was a really cool guy.
Ahhhhh.....
Maintaining Bohemia reminded me of those grand moments, so thanks again for that.
The review I bet you thought I forgot about.
I had the same reaction to some of my fellow students earnest nonsense as the staff of the school. I really enjoyed the way the script took the piss out of art class. What i didn't like was the impossible to read letters in small screen mode. That's my only real compliant though. For some reason the ink work reminds me of some of Robert Crumb's stuff. The puppet/muppet with family/masturbatory issues was funny as hell. I really liked the way you set it up with the T.V. panels. The hand manipulating the Elmo look-a-like (colored red instead of brown might have gotten you a lawsuit), visible throughout was a nice touch. On top of everything else poor production values. Ending with the 'blood' thrown on the camera, in spite of Omle riding the lighting was even funnier. The story is very well written, and the art really does have that underground comix feel to it. Screen 4 panel 6 It looked like Joker laughing gas mixed with melting glass skin, to give him that facial expression. The flashback to the teacher being just as lame in panel 5, was a nice bit of cultural insight. I liked one of the staff used to be a student, and the way he talked was such a tip off. You could also say look at him now. I love the character of Reg, great written dialogue. I loved panel 5 on screen 6. This comic has some of the smartest written dialogue on Zuda, screen 6 is a real stand out. I liked the power tools joke, and also the serious/humorous element of the psyche meds. I really enjoyed the way you introduce all of the main characters and do such a good job on their characterization in only 8 screens. I enjoyed the pace Harold and Buster established for the comic, it really fit Zuda well. I loved the layout of screen 8. The effect panel 2 had on the rest of the page, with Reg looking up at a 'fish' in the last panel, very impressive work from these two creators. Their is even a little cubism thing going on with the character art work. The colors were damn well done, no real surprise there. One of the best written synopsis's ever.
4/5 stars and a fav. Great work from these two creators, an amazing read.
Here is the synopsis: Who keeps order in the land of total indulgence? Who cleans up after performance pieces that involve dead fish and stagnant water? Who keeps a conceptual art school tethered to Earth and functioning on a day-to-day basis? The janitorial and security staff of the New Academy of Art and Design are all that stand between clean, well-maintained hallways and pseudo-intellectual chaos. Maintaining Bohemia follows the support staff of NAAD (New Academy of Art and Design) as they navigate a campus filled with immature and uninformed examples of conceptual art from students more concerned with thrift store t-shirts and hair care products than any higher pursuits. The staff provides an outsider’s view to the workings of the modern art school. A man-on-the-street’s view of lame and fake crucifixions, slightly pornographic videos of puppet suicide, and the same footage of animal slaughterhouses that show up in sophomore performance class year after year.
memories
This comic I think has reminded all of us of our Art school/ Art class memories which I'm now going to wander into: I went to a community adjunct satellite school for a pretty well respected university in my state. I took a number of art classes, cause I like art. One piece we had to do was a mixed media/ collage and my options were limited. I had my art boards, political magazines, old comic book price guides, some cheap metal, and a baker's dozen of glow in the dark skeleton Halloween novelties. So I put something together I had a cutout of the Punisher holding a gun in his hands, and to his left various political leaders. Not to mention pictures of tanks, planes etc; -this is after 2001. I used the metal to link the various boards together, and tied the skeletons to them hanged man style. Believe it, or not it actually turned out quite well, until it came time to display it. I wanted to do the best I could with what I had, and make it look as cool as possible. The other students at the school soon divided up into two camps. You had the folks who thought it made an anti-fascist statement against TPTB. The other camp thought it had a pro-security counter terrorist message. This would have been fine, except you had some students who thought if it was pro-fascist it should be taken down, and some thought if it was anti-American it should be taken down. My reaction: WTF??? -it's just art class. The administration of the school was so worried about the images I used and what could be implied from them (the revolution starts here in art class -I guess was the fear), they even had a nice long talk with my teacher. Who being a fine teacher assured them I was not some gun toting radical with idle hands. After this I decided to say the hell with it. You want something to piss your panties about, you'll get it.
Serial Killer Bedroom
Whatever you may think of Rush Limbaugh he has a damn accurate quote: "you demonstrate absurdity by being absurd". So I went to work on my next piece, which as you may imagine involved a lot of red paint. We did a diorama(sp?) of a room. So I got a lot of little doll furniture to look like a bedroom. My little sister gave me one of her seldom used dolls, and I went about ripping it's arms, legs, and head off. Bless it's heart it never had a chance. I painted the room all white. I then glued pieces of the doll all over the place. i think I put the head under the bed, but I can't remember for sure. I poured red paint all down the walls, and all over the floor, and doll furniture. I ripped out a lo of the dolls hair and had it matted with red paint stuck to the walls. It did look gruesome as hell I have to say. Then I stopped working on it, and left it out where every student could see it for the next week, until I was back in class to finish it. My teacher told me everyone was talking about it, and the general consensus was I needed to be dragged off to a padded room.
It was all a set up. I finished the piece by posting these words on it:
Just because this is gruesome, bloody, and ultra-violent!!! Doesn't make it a declaration of future intent.
It's me doing a parody of me.
Hitler painted roses, and we all know how that turned out now don't we?
I actually had a fellow student come up to me and tell me before she read that she thought I was a psycho, but after that she thought I was a really cool guy.
Ahhhhh.....
Maintaining Bohemia reminded me of those grand moments, so thanks again for that.
The review I bet you thought I forgot about.
I had the same reaction to some of my fellow students earnest nonsense as the staff of the school. I really enjoyed the way the script took the piss out of art class. What i didn't like was the impossible to read letters in small screen mode. That's my only real compliant though. For some reason the ink work reminds me of some of Robert Crumb's stuff. The puppet/muppet with family/masturbatory issues was funny as hell. I really liked the way you set it up with the T.V. panels. The hand manipulating the Elmo look-a-like (colored red instead of brown might have gotten you a lawsuit), visible throughout was a nice touch. On top of everything else poor production values. Ending with the 'blood' thrown on the camera, in spite of Omle riding the lighting was even funnier. The story is very well written, and the art really does have that underground comix feel to it. Screen 4 panel 6 It looked like Joker laughing gas mixed with melting glass skin, to give him that facial expression. The flashback to the teacher being just as lame in panel 5, was a nice bit of cultural insight. I liked one of the staff used to be a student, and the way he talked was such a tip off. You could also say look at him now. I love the character of Reg, great written dialogue. I loved panel 5 on screen 6. This comic has some of the smartest written dialogue on Zuda, screen 6 is a real stand out. I liked the power tools joke, and also the serious/humorous element of the psyche meds. I really enjoyed the way you introduce all of the main characters and do such a good job on their characterization in only 8 screens. I enjoyed the pace Harold and Buster established for the comic, it really fit Zuda well. I loved the layout of screen 8. The effect panel 2 had on the rest of the page, with Reg looking up at a 'fish' in the last panel, very impressive work from these two creators. Their is even a little cubism thing going on with the character art work. The colors were damn well done, no real surprise there. One of the best written synopsis's ever.
4/5 stars and a fav. Great work from these two creators, an amazing read.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Dave Sim Ousider Artist/ What have Wikipedia wrought?
I do not think Dave Sim is a misogynist.
I read Cerebus by Dave Sim. How big a fan am I of that comic??? I am currently buying my way into having a complete (16 volumes) Cerebus Library.
In this economy.
Yeah I know call me crazy too.
I don't think they're gender wide conspiracies by mind reading women to take my and every other guy's God giving testicular fortitude away from us. If you've been burned more than twice by the opposite sex in a major way, I do understand being jaded and cynical as can be. The fact of the matter is a certain percentage of the human population is just born sorry as hell, and this crosses gender lines. If you've got hooked up (pun intended) with more than your fair share of lying bastards, or lying bitches -as the case may be, you have my sympathy. Turning a individual asshole (or three) into a universally representative stereotype isn't fair or right. Bitching, ranting, raving about it, or working your feelings into a story your writing is understandable. If the story in question happens to be a damn fine read, you can get some entertainment out of it, if not catharsis.
That's my view on the sexist issue in general, which leads into the religious issue when your taking about Sim's various comments.
Which also leads into a discussion of political views, one things just leads into another and then another... Do the never ending tangents (links) remind you of Wikipedia??? it's what got me started on this as a matter of fact.
Dave Sim's religious views are not anyone's traditional doctrine. That being said in the last volume of Cerebus Sim wrote this about a religious parody in the comic: "Only God knows who has sufficient faith and who hasn't and it could be that all, some, or most of the adherents of that church run rings around me in the faith department. We'll find out on Judgment Day." [The Last Day, page 255] I agree with Sim's view on this, no if, and, or but qualifiers needed. You believe what you believe, by the time you find out for sure it would be a moot point to say I told you so -if you could.
Now let's talk about Fletcher Hanks
I've read and enjoyed some of Fletcher Hanks stories collected in 'I shall destroy all the civilized planets' and a new collection coming out later on. Their is something impressive about the singular vision of a single creator. [Dave Sim had great help from Gerhard, but it was Dave's vision that got everything started.] Hanks had his own voice in stories he wanted to tell that is just as unique as Dave Sim. Unique being a code word for 'this shit is crazy' -but used in a complementary way.
I understand just because a creator puts a negative element in a story it doesn't mean the writer shares those views. If I enjoy a story well enough the personal history/views of the creator won't make me not read on, page after page. I wouldn't go as far as Norman Mailer did though.
The limits of reason, and having the good sense God gave a piss-ant is not a bad thing.
According to Fletcher Hanks Jr. he and his mother were abused brutally by his father. Others have already asked the question, but it bares repeating: "What would happen to Fletcher Hanks in a Fletcher Hanks story?" Could some of the quarters that give Sim hell, be giving Hanks more of a Pass? Ask yourself what's worst: a sexist pig who traces (the hater's view of Sim), or a rat bastard who abused his family? (my view of Hanks)
If your answer to that question was sexist pig who traces, you deserve to be dragged out into the street and shot BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Sin City style.
Everyone has opinions your not going to like, not everyone beats up their wife and children.
I still enjoy Hanks comics work, but it's in a the man was a S.O.B. perspective.
Outsider Artist
According to Wikipedia an outsider artist is/does:
art created outside the boundaries of official culture, think insane asylum inmates
self-taught or Naïve art makers
a successful art marketing category
That last one bears repeating don't you think:
a successful art marketing category
Reading about Hanks lead me to Wikipedia which led me to 'outsider art' which led me all over the place...
Labeling someone with the term outsider makes it okay to go fanboy with no grand questions given to if I like the work do I endorse by proxy the creators views/actions/ or treatment.
A writer could punch babies for kicks *ahem ;)*, just because you like their work doesn't mean you endorse that kind of behavior. You can and I do separate a creators work from their personal life. In some blog posts I've read people tie their conscience into knots , to get out of moral loop-holes, that don't even really exist.
Or to go all Matrix on your ass: Their is no spoon.
An outsider artist is self taught-
Dave Sim check.
An outsider artist has a idiosyncratic viewpoint in the extreme-
Dave Sim double check.
An outsider artist usually has a history of mental problems-
Dave Sim triple check.
An outsider artist also happens to be the toast of the town with certain critics.
If Dave Sim had wrapped himself in the cloak of Outsider Artist; instead of just an outsider, he could have had a ton of support, instead of just a ton of bad press.
I read Cerebus by Dave Sim. How big a fan am I of that comic??? I am currently buying my way into having a complete (16 volumes) Cerebus Library.
In this economy.
Yeah I know call me crazy too.
I don't think they're gender wide conspiracies by mind reading women to take my and every other guy's God giving testicular fortitude away from us. If you've been burned more than twice by the opposite sex in a major way, I do understand being jaded and cynical as can be. The fact of the matter is a certain percentage of the human population is just born sorry as hell, and this crosses gender lines. If you've got hooked up (pun intended) with more than your fair share of lying bastards, or lying bitches -as the case may be, you have my sympathy. Turning a individual asshole (or three) into a universally representative stereotype isn't fair or right. Bitching, ranting, raving about it, or working your feelings into a story your writing is understandable. If the story in question happens to be a damn fine read, you can get some entertainment out of it, if not catharsis.
That's my view on the sexist issue in general, which leads into the religious issue when your taking about Sim's various comments.
Which also leads into a discussion of political views, one things just leads into another and then another... Do the never ending tangents (links) remind you of Wikipedia??? it's what got me started on this as a matter of fact.
Dave Sim's religious views are not anyone's traditional doctrine. That being said in the last volume of Cerebus Sim wrote this about a religious parody in the comic: "Only God knows who has sufficient faith and who hasn't and it could be that all, some, or most of the adherents of that church run rings around me in the faith department. We'll find out on Judgment Day." [The Last Day, page 255] I agree with Sim's view on this, no if, and, or but qualifiers needed. You believe what you believe, by the time you find out for sure it would be a moot point to say I told you so -if you could.
Now let's talk about Fletcher Hanks
I've read and enjoyed some of Fletcher Hanks stories collected in 'I shall destroy all the civilized planets' and a new collection coming out later on. Their is something impressive about the singular vision of a single creator. [Dave Sim had great help from Gerhard, but it was Dave's vision that got everything started.] Hanks had his own voice in stories he wanted to tell that is just as unique as Dave Sim. Unique being a code word for 'this shit is crazy' -but used in a complementary way.
I understand just because a creator puts a negative element in a story it doesn't mean the writer shares those views. If I enjoy a story well enough the personal history/views of the creator won't make me not read on, page after page. I wouldn't go as far as Norman Mailer did though.
The limits of reason, and having the good sense God gave a piss-ant is not a bad thing.
According to Fletcher Hanks Jr. he and his mother were abused brutally by his father. Others have already asked the question, but it bares repeating: "What would happen to Fletcher Hanks in a Fletcher Hanks story?" Could some of the quarters that give Sim hell, be giving Hanks more of a Pass? Ask yourself what's worst: a sexist pig who traces (the hater's view of Sim), or a rat bastard who abused his family? (my view of Hanks)
If your answer to that question was sexist pig who traces, you deserve to be dragged out into the street and shot BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Sin City style.
Everyone has opinions your not going to like, not everyone beats up their wife and children.
I still enjoy Hanks comics work, but it's in a the man was a S.O.B. perspective.
Outsider Artist
According to Wikipedia an outsider artist is/does:
art created outside the boundaries of official culture, think insane asylum inmates
self-taught or Naïve art makers
a successful art marketing category
That last one bears repeating don't you think:
a successful art marketing category
Reading about Hanks lead me to Wikipedia which led me to 'outsider art' which led me all over the place...
Labeling someone with the term outsider makes it okay to go fanboy with no grand questions given to if I like the work do I endorse by proxy the creators views/actions/ or treatment.
A writer could punch babies for kicks *ahem ;)*, just because you like their work doesn't mean you endorse that kind of behavior. You can and I do separate a creators work from their personal life. In some blog posts I've read people tie their conscience into knots , to get out of moral loop-holes, that don't even really exist.
Or to go all Matrix on your ass: Their is no spoon.
An outsider artist is self taught-
Dave Sim check.
An outsider artist has a idiosyncratic viewpoint in the extreme-
Dave Sim double check.
An outsider artist usually has a history of mental problems-
Dave Sim triple check.
An outsider artist also happens to be the toast of the town with certain critics.
If Dave Sim had wrapped himself in the cloak of Outsider Artist; instead of just an outsider, he could have had a ton of support, instead of just a ton of bad press.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Rejects Zuda review/ please continue to kick ass
The Rejects is a Zuda comic by kingofsnake, and slidestudios.
Here is the synopsis: When Ultra-man, the world’s greatest superhero, is diagnosed with terminal cancer the government launches a secret black ops program designed to create a new generation of superheroes from abducted children. The program is soon scrapped as, “a terrible idea in the first place” and the children they’d been experimenting on are deposited back in their homes with no memory of the ordeal. Chris and Eric are two of these rejects. Chris quickly discovers he has some invulnerability and super strength. Unfortunately he has no control over whether or not his powers will work. Eric wakes up with control over electricity but using it drains his mental and physical energy like a battery, leaving him to pass out from exhaustion. Eric has been a fanboy his whole life and is eager to try to become a hero himself. All Chris ever wanted was to blend into the crowd, and suddenly it’s like trouble is just following him around. Now being normal seems to be out of the question, and being a superhero is a lot harder than they ever thought it would be. Chris and Eric find themselves thrust deeper into the world of heroes and villains they’d only ever read about. As they discover more about their powers and super heroism in general, it seems only a matter of time before they begin to run into other rejects. For better or for worse.
It's a fun young kids learning to use their powers super-hero story. Their are also some nice comic fanboy acknowledgments throughout. We have at this point the expected shout out to the "with great powers" line. The most interesting part of the story for me however was the various Superman-esque subplots established on screen 1. Ultra-man who gets his powers from the sun has been diagnosed with terminal skin cancer. The Lex Luthor stand-in Max Mercer sees his company stock prices skyrocket, on the news. The expected to be funny (and it was) inept super-hero face off was very good, but the wee bit of foreshadowing on screen 1 was what really got my attention to seeing where this story goes. Screen 1 also had the worst layout of the whole comic, but Slide improved on that by leaps and bounds (vague early Superman reference) by the end of the 8 screens.
The villains are suitably stupid, and I thought the dialogue amongst them was very well written, kudos Nate kudos. That being said Shemp is my favorite stooge, so watch that shit, 'ya hear me??? I loved the heroes big reveal was done standing on a stack of DVD's. I also liked the villains laughter at them. What was most impressive was the pace of the story and how these two creators worked so much into the story, the jumping around through time element was nice too. The art for the fight scenes was fantastic, I loved the use of sound effects throughout.
Some nifty examples from the comic to show you what I mean:
I loved the running joke of Punch-boy assuming everyone is just going to think he his Ultra-man's kid and the way you set it up on screen 4. I enjoyed all the dialogue between the not so dynamic duo, and the screen composition here.
The way 'electrify' was handled on screen 5 was very good, art and colors equally impressive.
Smack!!! down goes the Duracell kid!!! nice Green Giant reference on screen 6 too.
I loved the sound effects in the last panel here, to show Pea-boy's inept series of punches.
The action scene on 7 was well done all the way across the line.
Screen 8 really did have me laughing out loud, it was a nice kicker to end on. It also reminded me off all the bullshit summer blockbuster mega event ret-con's Marvel and DC have used to try to to con me out of my money since the early 90's. I'm just surprised you didn't have one of the badguy's think he was a Ultra-man clone...
Have I mentioned how much I freaking love the lettering.
But not in a unethical or immoral kind of way.
I always card'em first and everything is completely consensual.
King/Slide whichever one of you did the letters it really added to the enjoyment of the comic for me.
I enjoyed everything about this comic, even the humor was cool as hell, hence a 4/5 star rating and a fav.
Here is the synopsis: When Ultra-man, the world’s greatest superhero, is diagnosed with terminal cancer the government launches a secret black ops program designed to create a new generation of superheroes from abducted children. The program is soon scrapped as, “a terrible idea in the first place” and the children they’d been experimenting on are deposited back in their homes with no memory of the ordeal. Chris and Eric are two of these rejects. Chris quickly discovers he has some invulnerability and super strength. Unfortunately he has no control over whether or not his powers will work. Eric wakes up with control over electricity but using it drains his mental and physical energy like a battery, leaving him to pass out from exhaustion. Eric has been a fanboy his whole life and is eager to try to become a hero himself. All Chris ever wanted was to blend into the crowd, and suddenly it’s like trouble is just following him around. Now being normal seems to be out of the question, and being a superhero is a lot harder than they ever thought it would be. Chris and Eric find themselves thrust deeper into the world of heroes and villains they’d only ever read about. As they discover more about their powers and super heroism in general, it seems only a matter of time before they begin to run into other rejects. For better or for worse.
It's a fun young kids learning to use their powers super-hero story. Their are also some nice comic fanboy acknowledgments throughout. We have at this point the expected shout out to the "with great powers" line. The most interesting part of the story for me however was the various Superman-esque subplots established on screen 1. Ultra-man who gets his powers from the sun has been diagnosed with terminal skin cancer. The Lex Luthor stand-in Max Mercer sees his company stock prices skyrocket, on the news. The expected to be funny (and it was) inept super-hero face off was very good, but the wee bit of foreshadowing on screen 1 was what really got my attention to seeing where this story goes. Screen 1 also had the worst layout of the whole comic, but Slide improved on that by leaps and bounds (vague early Superman reference) by the end of the 8 screens.
The villains are suitably stupid, and I thought the dialogue amongst them was very well written, kudos Nate kudos. That being said Shemp is my favorite stooge, so watch that shit, 'ya hear me??? I loved the heroes big reveal was done standing on a stack of DVD's. I also liked the villains laughter at them. What was most impressive was the pace of the story and how these two creators worked so much into the story, the jumping around through time element was nice too. The art for the fight scenes was fantastic, I loved the use of sound effects throughout.
Some nifty examples from the comic to show you what I mean:
I loved the running joke of Punch-boy assuming everyone is just going to think he his Ultra-man's kid and the way you set it up on screen 4. I enjoyed all the dialogue between the not so dynamic duo, and the screen composition here.
The way 'electrify' was handled on screen 5 was very good, art and colors equally impressive.
Smack!!! down goes the Duracell kid!!! nice Green Giant reference on screen 6 too.
I loved the sound effects in the last panel here, to show Pea-boy's inept series of punches.
The action scene on 7 was well done all the way across the line.
Screen 8 really did have me laughing out loud, it was a nice kicker to end on. It also reminded me off all the bullshit summer blockbuster mega event ret-con's Marvel and DC have used to try to to con me out of my money since the early 90's. I'm just surprised you didn't have one of the badguy's think he was a Ultra-man clone...
Have I mentioned how much I freaking love the lettering.
But not in a unethical or immoral kind of way.
I always card'em first and everything is completely consensual.
King/Slide whichever one of you did the letters it really added to the enjoyment of the comic for me.
I enjoyed everything about this comic, even the humor was cool as hell, hence a 4/5 star rating and a fav.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Panda Force Zuda review/ Pink is not my favorite color in this context
Panda Force is another Zuda comic this month, done by Sean Causley.
Here's the synopsis: A tear in the fabric of time has allowed sinister futuristic forces to wreck havoc upon the citizens of the 21st century. A highly trained and secret force of infant warriors has been assigned to protect our vulnerable world by the Animal Command Alliance (ACA) -- the NATO of the future. These elite baby soldiers go by the name of Panda Force!
This is not my go to genre of choice. I've probably typed that about a hundred times since I've been following Zuda, so maybe I should say what those words mean to me. It means I think the art/dialogue is fine, but the story is not something I would be interested in following should it win. It goes without saying I wouldn't part ways with the money in my pocket to buy a dead tree edition should said comic make it into print. That being said Panda Force isn't awful by any means.
Panda Force's lettering is pretty much unreadable for me in small screen mode. You get visually assaulted by all the day-glow colors from screen one. I doubt Sean was saying to himself as he colored this: "I'm going to burn their mother-******* eyes out!", but you never know. The color scheme actually fit, but it just went a little too far into a 'rainbow threw up on the pages' territory. Having a lazy Panda Force fighter did a good job on bringing some characterization from screen 1 on -which I liked. It does have the powerpuff girl feel to the art which I also enjoyed. The cat-pee spraying villain was a nice touch, and Mee-ouch as a name got a laugh from me. I liked the full page shot on screen 3, but felt it might could have had more impact. I thought it ended on a nice line, it was a good more, or less self contained short. I thought the banter with the villain, and the fight scenes were some of the highlights.
Some nifty examples from the comic that show you what I mean:
The sound effects are very well done especially for the fight scenes, one of the funnest parts of reading the comic for me.
The fight scene starting on screen 4 was really well done panel layout-wise. Screen 5 was definitely the highlight Sean, the reaction shot to be peed on by the evil feline "ohhhh--no--you--didn't.." was damn funny. In the next panel with the Panda Power up I liked all the sound effects as extra gadgets went off. Rock, paper, missiles was another good line.
We managed to see the two other members of Panda Force worked into the story. We also see when it's not a giant panda robot, the suit of armor becomes a backpack. I thought the art on her parents was very well done, and I liked the break the fourth wall wink at the end.
Have your cats spayed, or neutered.
The colors hurt my eyes, couldn't read the letters, and the concept didn't thrill me. Nothing was really wrong with the story or art, I'm just not in the audience for this one. Little kids who fight in giant robot panda suits is a twist, but not for me. If you like younger aimed more lighthearted
stories as opposed to the ultra-violent graphic violence I usually favor, you should give it a read. 3/5 stars.
Here's the synopsis: A tear in the fabric of time has allowed sinister futuristic forces to wreck havoc upon the citizens of the 21st century. A highly trained and secret force of infant warriors has been assigned to protect our vulnerable world by the Animal Command Alliance (ACA) -- the NATO of the future. These elite baby soldiers go by the name of Panda Force!
This is not my go to genre of choice. I've probably typed that about a hundred times since I've been following Zuda, so maybe I should say what those words mean to me. It means I think the art/dialogue is fine, but the story is not something I would be interested in following should it win. It goes without saying I wouldn't part ways with the money in my pocket to buy a dead tree edition should said comic make it into print. That being said Panda Force isn't awful by any means.
Panda Force's lettering is pretty much unreadable for me in small screen mode. You get visually assaulted by all the day-glow colors from screen one. I doubt Sean was saying to himself as he colored this: "I'm going to burn their mother-******* eyes out!", but you never know. The color scheme actually fit, but it just went a little too far into a 'rainbow threw up on the pages' territory. Having a lazy Panda Force fighter did a good job on bringing some characterization from screen 1 on -which I liked. It does have the powerpuff girl feel to the art which I also enjoyed. The cat-pee spraying villain was a nice touch, and Mee-ouch as a name got a laugh from me. I liked the full page shot on screen 3, but felt it might could have had more impact. I thought it ended on a nice line, it was a good more, or less self contained short. I thought the banter with the villain, and the fight scenes were some of the highlights.
Some nifty examples from the comic that show you what I mean:
The sound effects are very well done especially for the fight scenes, one of the funnest parts of reading the comic for me.
The fight scene starting on screen 4 was really well done panel layout-wise. Screen 5 was definitely the highlight Sean, the reaction shot to be peed on by the evil feline "ohhhh--no--you--didn't.." was damn funny. In the next panel with the Panda Power up I liked all the sound effects as extra gadgets went off. Rock, paper, missiles was another good line.
We managed to see the two other members of Panda Force worked into the story. We also see when it's not a giant panda robot, the suit of armor becomes a backpack. I thought the art on her parents was very well done, and I liked the break the fourth wall wink at the end.
Have your cats spayed, or neutered.
The colors hurt my eyes, couldn't read the letters, and the concept didn't thrill me. Nothing was really wrong with the story or art, I'm just not in the audience for this one. Little kids who fight in giant robot panda suits is a twist, but not for me. If you like younger aimed more lighthearted
stories as opposed to the ultra-violent graphic violence I usually favor, you should give it a read. 3/5 stars.
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