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"can't see the forest" - Forest Comics' Journal  As from today my Comics related blogging will move over to the RevolutionSF website. Just click HERE to access the new version of "can't see the forest", and while you are there make sure to use the RSS Feed button to make sure you get all the latest updates. Also over at RevolutionSF you can find: - My review of Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer - A review of the Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 graphic novel - My thoughts on the Uncanny X-Men as part of the Comics of 1986 project. OK this is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. I'm squeezing reading the FCBD books in between the regular weekly comics stack, writing a script, a couple of book proposals, a magazine article, some online reviews and articles, plus research reading for a novel I'm working on. The result is the somewhat sporadic frequency of these posts. Keenspot - Spotlight 2007 104 pages of webcomics transformed to print and handed out to readers of regular comics. Sounds like a great way to attract new readers? Well it would have been if there had been any evidence of a guiding editorial hand. The contributions range from single page promotional art pieces to multi page strips. The layout jumps around, the samples on show often make no sense taken out of context. The cheap black and white reproduction doesn't work for art originally designed to be seen on a color computer monitor; and is often so murky that it's difficult to see what's happening. A nice idea, but one that needs a lot of work to make it effective. (MISS) Liberty Comics #0 (Heroic) If you like modern reinterpretations of obscure Golden Age characters this may be for you. If you like your super-heroines to have impossible anatomy - then you my also enjoy this title. The one saving grace in the book is that the three individual stories are short. To be fair the last entry, written by Mike W. Barr, is a thought provoking piece that tackles the sensitive subject of the internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII - however it is badly let down by the the worst art in the book. I rarely see Heroic Publishing books on the shelves, and after reading this I can see why. (MISS) Love & Capes #4 (Maerkle) I've already mentioned how much I like this title, so I won't start banging that drum again; but if you love traditional classic superheroes, then you should be reading this book. (OK, maybe I'll bang it a little.) Story aside, which was wonderful, creator Thom Zahler shows that he actually understands what FCBD is about and knows how to present his book accordingly. This is issue #4 of the regular series, given away for free. If you are a regular reader you can enjoy the way this issue progresses the story, but new readers can also immediately pick up what's happening. A well laid out "For those just joining us.." intro on the inner cover also helps. Love & Capes is, so far, the only FCBD offering to make direct reference to the media event designed to get people in the stores, the new Spider-Man movie. Let's summarize: - an issue of the regular series offered free (a reward for loyal readers) - a quick intro for new readers to set the scene. - an accessible enjoyable story with action, humor and great characters. - direct acknowledgment of the media event behind FCBD Hello Marvel, DC and several other publishers, TAKE NOTE - this is the way it should be done. (HIT) The Umbrella Factory / Zerokiller (Dark Horse) Another of the flip-book offerings, in this case being used to promote three new series. I think these sort of books work best when at least one of the stories is tied into a known property with a track record. This book obviously didn't work, because as I sit down to write this a week after reading it, I can't remember anything about the stories inside, and even a quick flick through failed to jog any memories. So I guess this one is a (MISS). Just spotted on writer Chris Roberson's blog and tracked back to the original article here. A rare medical condition (myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy, to be exact) has given a little boy the strength of ten toddlers. "We call him The Hulk, Hercules, the Terminator," his mother said. Liam can run like the wind, has the agility of a cat, lifts pieces of furniture that most children his age couldn't push across a slick floor and eats like there is no tomorrow -- without gaining weight. "He's hungry for a full meal about every hour because of his rapid metabolism," Dana Hoekstra said. "He's already eating me out of house and home." I'm not sure if he's going to grow up to fight crime or just perform twelve labors, but either way it's terrifically interesting! Interesting indeed, but sounds more like The Flash to me. Is the age of HEROES upon us? Just received this news from Mark Evanier. Gardner Fox has been selected to receive the 2007 Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing. The Bill Finger Award was instituted in 2005 under the supervision of comic book legend Jerry Robinson. Gardner Fox received a law degree in 1935 but instead opted for comics, writing his first stories in 1938 for the pre-Batman Detective Comics. He was also the first writer after Bill Finger to contribute to Batman's adventures and was responsible for several components of the character's mythology. Perhaps more notably, he created or co-created a bevy of important characters in comics' so-called "Golden Age," including The Flash, Hawkman, The Sandman, Starman, and Doctor Fate, and he launched what some call the first-ever superhero team, The Justice Society of America. In the late fifties and sixties, he worked on the revivals of most of those features, including the Justice League of America, and also co-created new characters such as Adam Strange. In his amazing career, he wrote an estimated 4,000 comic book scripts and also found time to author more than 100 novels, many of them under other names. Fox passed away in 1986. BuzzBoy and RoBoy Red (Sky*Dog) It's been a while since I've seen, never mind read, any BuzzBoy comic, so it was great to see this FCBD offering. It's a well planned and constructed package that works for both the new and returning reader. The stories were easily accessible giving a good introduction to the series ideas and concepts with a sequence of four short well crafted stories. The art work ranged in style form Saturday Morning cartoonish to an excellent EC style Wally Wood homage piece designed to please any long term comics fans. Perhaps the best piece was the closing one by creator John Gallagher on his early love for comics and how he started to write and draw his own stories. (HIT) Comics 101 (TwoMorrows) Not what most people expected to get on FCBD, a comics sized magazine that is all text articles. However the articles, drawn from the various TwoMorrows magazine titles, are interesting and information packed. This looks like it would be an effective way to introduce new readers to the content available in Write Now, Draw, Rough Stuff, Alter Ego and Back Issue. (HIT) Digital Webbing Jam 2007 (Digital Webbing) One of the great things about the growth of Digital Webbing has been the spin off titles from its core anthology series, as well as its adoption of the classic E-Man strip that was for too long without a publisher. This Jam sampler offers extracts from 5 DW properties including E-Man, most of them extracted from earlier printed titles. As such a couple of them are out of context and not too easy to pick up on what's happening or who the characters are. The range of genres from horror to parody to traditional superheroics is also something of a mismatch. As a result I'm not sure who this book was aimed at. (MISS) Family Guy / Hack Slash (DDP) Pairing a well known TV property with one of your lesser known ones in a flip book like this can be a great promotional tool. But here DDP got it all wrong. I sincerely doubt that the people attracted to the humor of Family Guy will be the same people who would want to read a gore fest like Hack Slash. The book maybe marked as TR (Teen Readers 14+) - but I wouldn't want my 15 year-old reading Hack Slash, heck I even find it an uncomfortable and disturbing read. (MISS) Justice League of America (DC Comics It continues to amaze me that DC still fail to really put any effort into their FCBD offerings. Once again we get a simple reprint of a book that was published a few months earlier, with the FCBD logo slapped on the front cover. No special FCBD content, nothing to sell the rest of their line or existing trade collections, just the same house ads that appeared in the original book. The reprint in this case being the Justice League of America relaunch issue zero. A fun nostalgia trip if you are a JLA fan familiar with the 40 year history of the team, but a continuity bound incomprehensible mess for any new reader. (MISS) A few quick thoughts and observations on various books picked up on this year's Free Comic Book Day event. As I see it the purpose of FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is two-fold: (1) To expose the range of comics available to new readers and encourage them to return to the comic book store on a regular basis. (2) To introduce regular readers to titles that they may have otherwise overlooked. Bearing that in mind I've marked the following mini-reviews as either HIT or MISS depending on how well I think they did in achieving the aims of FCBD. So on with the reviews.... DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT: Battlestar Galactica / Lone Ranger 20 pages Using the flip book format to promote two different titles is a neat idea and one that, if you select the right titles, showcase the depth and range of your imprint. However in this case all it does is show up the vast difference in quality between the two. Where the Lone Ranger side does everything right, the BSG side is a complete mess. The BSG story is poorly told and the art is simply awful with none of the characters on-model and I even didn't recognize the ship as the the Galactica until it was mentioned in the dialog. The fact that the story ends with a "to be continued.." and no indication of where it is continued is a major faux-pass for a FCBD book. On the other side the Lone Ranger tale is a well told 10 page stand alone character piece that reflects the tone and art style of the excellent on-going series. MISS FIRST SECOND: Black Diamond Detective Agency 32 Pages A well produced 28 page preview of Eddie Campbell's eclectic and innovative Victorian era western mystery story. Backed up by a brief overview of the First Second back catalog. A solid use of the FCBD concept to put something a little different in the hands of comics readers, that otherwise might have easily been overlooked. HIT IMAGE: The Astounding Wolf-Man #1 36 Pages Launching the first issue of a new series as a promotional giveaway is an interesting approach and shows Image's faith in writer Robert Kirkman. Luckily he doesn't let them down with an entertaining opening issue that lays the foundation for what could be a fun series. The back of the book also included promotional material for three other new series and a spread advertising free comics on the Image website. HIT MARVEL: Amazing Spider-Man 28 Pages Perhaps the most high-profile of the FCBD books, but one that fails to hit the mark. The majority of the book is a standalone 22 page story that introduces the new creative team of Dan Slott and Phil Jiminez. The story is a fun romp and reveals hints at where the title may be going, but in doing so appears to jump ahead of current continuity. The underlying sense of confusion isn't helped by the fact that the standalone story is followed immediately by a 6 page preview set firmly in current continuity and leading into a new storyline in the regular Amazing Spider-Man title. Overall I'm not sure who this book was aimed at, or what it was trying to achieve. MISS RENAISSANCE PRESS: Amelia Rules plus Apathy Kat 32 Pages I always look forward to reading the Amelia Rules FCBD offerings and this year was no exception. Leading off with a fun story featuring the regular Amelia crew as they discuss the rules and conventions of "hanging out," the book confirms its pedigree as an "edgier version of Peanuts meets Calvin & Hobbes." The second half of this issue is devoted to a relaunch of the, admittedly unfamiliar, Apathy Kay strip which features a cast of cute animals with extensive vocabularies. This FCBD edition also does a good job or promoting the trade paperback collections and a special upcoming issue of Amelia Rules. HIT TOKYOPOP: Choose Your Weapon 96 Pages A well put together collection with samples from 5 action packed shonen titles. With story archetypes such as the hero's journey, the mysterious lone warrior, battle mechs, martial arts and sword & sorcery included, there should be at least one strip that would appeal to anyone who enjoys a good action comic. HIT Just for my own future reference so I don't have to keep "googling" for it: Wally Wood's Classic "22 Panels That Always Work."  and in the same spirit Jon Morris' "16 Panels That Don't Work" 
This year's Eisner Award nominees for the Best Digital Comics * Bee, in “Motel Art Improvement Service,” by Jason Little * Girl Genius, by Phil Foglio and my personal favorite * Shooting War, by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman ( dangoldman).This one is being redone as a hard-cover graphic novel from Warner Books and will definitely find a place in my bookcase. Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser Dark Horse  Writer: Howard Chaykin Artist: Mike Mignola My introduction to the idea of sword wielding heroes battling mysterious evils in strange lands didn’t come from Howard, Burroughs or even Moorcock; no my first taste of sword and sorcery was a beat up old paperback book I found lying around my grammar school common room one lunch time. Why on earth I should pick up a book called “Swords of Lankhmar” I had no idea, I was more into stories of World War 2 tank squadrons at the time. But pick it up I did. Within a few pages I was hooked. Since that day Fritz Lieber’s lead characters of the large bearded ‘Northerner”, Fafhrd, and his sly accomplice, The Gray Mouser, have remained my personal archetypes of the “barbarian hero.” They mean far more to me than Conan, John Carter or Elric. They also seemed a natural fit for the graphical world of comic book story telling. Over the years a few attempts have been made to translate Lieber’s works to the comics medium. Arguably the best of these was the 1990 mini-series published under the Marvel Epic imprint written by Howard Chaykin and illustrated by Mike Mignola. A few years earlier Chaykin, a self confessed Lieber fan, had written a few stories set in the world of Lankhmar, but in adapting some of Lieber’s short stories for this mini-series he raised his game and perfectly caught the wit and underlying social commentary of Lieber’s allegorical tales. The atmospheric nature of the tales and their various settings, from urban to fantastic, from subterranean to supernatural, are perfectly captured by the art of a pre-Hellboy Mike Mignola. Now Dark Horse has collected the long out of print and difficult to find series in a single volume that deserves a place on the bookshelves of any discerning comics or fantasy fan. The collection includes seven adapted comics stories plus a short text piece by Lieber. I’d recommend the book for those who’d like to discover the worlds of Lankhmar as well as for those who wish to experience them anew. I can think of no better way to experience the adventures of these two great characters. |
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