July 5, 2009

Spotlight On: Clint the Hamster Triumphant #2

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clint2I’ve decided to pick up where we left off with our favorite punk hamster and review Clint the Hamster Triumpahant #2 of 2. In-case you missed the first segment, click here to familiarize yourself with the first part of the story, as well as a brief bio on Don, penciler Ken Meyer Jr., and inker Mike Dringenberg. Then come on back this way to catch up with part 2.

The story picks up right where #1 left off- in Bangkok with Clint dangling from a rope that’s attached to the landing gear of a helicopter that belongs to the evil transvestite, Queenpin Wilhelmina Fisk! Did you get all that? Clint’s opening monologue sets the stage for those readers who missed out on issue #1, “There’s a transvestite crime lord steering dis whirlybird that wants me dead… people call him the Queenpin. The scumbag just killed the only friend I had in Bangkok- tossed him into the choppers spinning rotor blades. It was an ugly sight… oh, and while I’m on the subject of ugly sights, take a look at my face and remember it… this is my story… this is my comic book… this is my buck-fifty now, Sucker!!! I’m Clint, Adolescent Radioactive Black-Belt Hamster!” Yeah, he’s bad ass.

Clint tries to get to Wilhelmina by climbing the rope, but the he/she cuts the line, causing our hamster pal to crash through an office window and disrupt the work of a poor janitor. Never in my life have I heard the exclamation “Buddha’s Bones” before, but prior to Clint crashing through the window, the janitor says this as he lets our a sigh, and for some reason this tickled my funny bone to the point where I found it worth mentioning in this review. Anyway, Clint eventually jumps into a passing plane (which has a banner in tow stating the credits of the comic), coming face to face with a new sidekick, A.J. Brillo. His last sidekick was a small rat named Curlektra who was the friend mentioned in the opening monologue, but A.J. (a human) is a stylin’ suit wearing pilot and the master of Kung-Shu- a very technical form of podiatric combat. A.J. used to dust Wilhelmina’s pot fields, but when she blew him in to the Feds, he has been looking to settle the score ever since!

By splattering their plane’s windshield with a black goo, Wilhelmina causes the boys to crash into a nearby jungle river, allowing her to narrowly make an escape (and doing anything ‘narrowly’ is difficult for a fat person to pull off). Despite being temporarily stifled, the duo refuse to give up on their hunt of Fisk, as A.J. remembers that the tranny used to have a Jungle Retreat she liked to frequent. They find the Retreat, taking on the disguises of transvestites (so as to fit right in with everyone else), and Clint makes the observation that the place looks like it was taken directly out of the movie Apocalypse Now (hence the homage for the issue’s cover design). The only differences being that the Retreat is full of trannies, and the weird cult rituals are more bizarre in nature than frightening. Bizarre might be an understatement as the people there repeatedly listen to the songKarma Chameleon by the Culture Club, and make exclamations like “Hey sailor, wanna dock your ship in my port?”  and ”John Wayne was a fag!”, so you can only wonder what the heck is going on over there…

Now at this point in our coverage of the comic, we have to revert back to one of the questions posed in the write up of issue #1; what does Clint have to be so triumphant about? Well, if I were to answer that question, I’d be giving the ending away, and that just isn’t any fun. All I’ll say is that he and A.J. come face to face with Wilhelmina for the last time, and I think Clint’s cause for jubilation may be because his solo adventure has come to an end… If you really want to know what happens and you can’t seem to find a copy of the issue, drop me an e-mail and I’ll tell ya!

The story also contains flesh eating piranhas, a guy named Dieu (who despite his namesake seems to be a constant victim of Murphy’s Law), and a metal dog and his poodle friend who traverse a river on their boat. It’s pretty ridiculous, but the best scene involves the creators themselves. Yes my friends, writer Don Chin, penciler Ken Meyer Jr., inker Mike Dringenberg, and letter Kurt Hathaway all make an appearance in this comic! It’s easily the most entertaining part of both the Clint issues, and feels like that scene in Gremlins 2 when they take over the movie theatre and start making shadow puppets on the screen. Yeah, it felt like that only instead of Gremlins, it was terrifying renditions of the creators! Ok, they weren’t terrifying just funny as all hell.

The scene starts out in total darkness as both Meyer Jr. and Dringenberg comment about how great it is that they’re getting paid to basically do nothing (because they’re the artist and the inker and the page is just black). Then Kurt Hathaway shows up and is mocked by the other two as they call him a “drone” for being a letterer. Ken proceeds to beat them both up. Turning on the lights, Don enters the room with a crap load of McDonald’s, and when his inker and penciler can’t work due to the beating they just took, Chin flies into a rage. Hathaway tries to whistle his way out of the room, but Don gets a grip on the letterer and kicks the crap out of him. Yeah, the two and a half page scene is totally unrelated to the events going on with Clint, but it definitely shows why Don was hired to write for Cracked magazine!

Now onto some quotes from the issue:

“Hey , pal, do me a favor and follow that chopper! I got a score to settle with the fat tub of lard inside!” – Clint

“We’d be getting into some heavy bush, got a machete?” – A.J.

“I hadn’t seen such pathetic apparel since The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” – Clint

“I was a backup kicker for the Raiders in ‘70… until I got busted on a drug rap!” – A.J.

“Yeah! I feel like John Byrne already!” – Ken Meyer Jr.

So there you have it; a complete review of the two issue Clint the Hamster Triumphant mini series!

This article was also published as part of Wacky Chin Month over at ComicImpact.com.

 

July 1, 2009

Spotlight On: Zen Intergalactic Ninja #2

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zenarchieZen Intergalactic Ninja #2 is published by Archie Comics, and was released in 1992. This second chapter of a 3 issue mini series was produced via Archie’s ‘Adventure Series’ which are books specifically geared towards kids (aren’t all Archie books specifically geared towards kids?). This line of comics also published the first series I ever read as a child, and consequently, the series that got me hooked on comic books- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. Much like TMNT Adventures, Zen focuses on conveying environmental issues in an entertaining way to kids; the main villain is named Lord Contaminous whose mission is to create a Kingdom of Contamination by destroying the environment, and it’s up to Zen and his compatriots to prevent him from doing so!  

Zen was created by Steve Stern and Dan Cote, and while this issue is written by Stern the pencils are provided by Ross Andru with inks by Mike Esposito. Stephen Stern’s credits include Beowulf the Graphic Novel, the official comic book adaptation of the animated TV classic, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, and the War of the Worlds and Shygirl graphic novels from Best Sellers Illustrated. Ross Andru’s biggest claim to fame would most likely be creating Marvel’s anti-hero, The Punisher in 1974. He did a 9 year run on Wonder Woman from 1958-1967 (beginning with issue #98), which at the time totally revolutionized the character. Andru also worked on DC’s war comics line in the 50’s and 60’s, drawing books like Our Army at War (which later became known as Sgt. Rock), GI Combat, and All American Men of War. Archie’s mini series of Zen the Intergalactic Ninja turned out to be his final project as he passed away in 1993. The art inZen is actually pretty cool as unlike kids comics nowadays, Andru’s clean, fine lines prevent it from looking too cartoony. Zen’sinker, Mike Esposito was classmates with Andru at the High School of Music and Art in New York City. It seems fitting that Ross’ final piece would be alongside his childhood buddy.

Ok, now onto the comic!

The issue begins with Zen, a blue skinned alien from outer space, training the child star of the book, Jeremy, on how to use a jet pack. He isn’t very good at it and this prompts a warning from Zen to the rest of his super team that they need to be in top shape if they hope to defeat the evil Lord Contaminous. The problem though, is that Zen seems to be the only competent hero as his compatriots come across as bumbling idiots. It may be because they’re all made out of recycled materials (remember this is a pro-environmentalism comic) who go by the names of Lawnranger, Pulp, Bottle Bandit, Lights-Out (he’s a robot), and another dude whose name isn’t mentioned in this issue but he seems to be made out of aluminum and throws can bombs. Yeah… aside from Zen, if I were living in an area under the protection of these guys, I’d feel safer in Gotham City. Lawnranger is probably the most awkward of the bunch as he talks like a retard and is the only member who doesn’t wear any pants. Which is odd because even the robot wears at least a pair of tighty-whities. Luckily though he’s made out of grass (but not the fun kind of grass) so he has no genitalia… either that or it’s just too small to see. Either way, he has a very strange moment with a bird that has landed on his hand, as he whispers “Pretty bird” to it which totally reminded me of the blind kid form the movie Dumb and Dumber. Yeah, it was a little weird. 

538549-zenpreview1_super1Anywho, Lord Contaminous- who is a giant pink monster with skulls for knee caps- lives under the Earth’s crust along with his toxic henchmen Slick, Sulfura, Smogger, and Garbageman. Hey, it’s a kids book so it only makes sense that the bad guys are named after things that are harmful to the environment. In their quest for global toxification, the villains choose to commence their assault on The Big Apple (although wouldn’t it make more sense to take out some national parks first? I mean NYC is already a nasty cesspool, so why begin there?). Contaminous has his cronies build a truck which they need to get to the Earth’s surface in order to cause a raucous and draw Zen’s crew into a trap. He needs to get the Geocrystal from them before he can begin his world wide destruction as it is the only object that has the power to stop him, and Jeremy currently has it in his possession…

Meanwhile, Zen is teaching Jeremy to learn how to activate the power within the crystal. The young boy describes how the crystal’s powers work: “Y’see, the Earth’s alive- just like you’n me. The energy inside the planet- right under our feet- is called eco-power! When I hold the crystal and concentrate real hard, I can tap into the eco-power- like lightning thru a lightning rod!” Ok then. Suddenly, Zen and his team catch word that Contaminous is up to no good, and as they set off to confront the villain, they are intercepted by U.S. General Lorenz who is hell bent on taking Zen down because the alien told him to “Blow it out your ear.” I guess thems is fightin’ words to old washed up U.S. army guys!

This confrontation results in one of the sillier moments in the comic when Lorenz’s men are firing anti-aircraft guns at Zen’s awesome looking insect-like ship. Lorenz takes out a pistol to fire his own shots at the craft, when Zen lowers the vehicle down to the General’s hand and with some sort of antennae sticking out from the bottom, bumps the gun out of his hand. This allows the heroes to make their escape and head towards the real threat, Lord Contaminous. Now, how the incapacitating of Lorenz resulted in all of the other guns to cease fire on the ship is beyond me, and why Zen opted to pull off this crafty maneuver as opposed to just blasting the General also makes me scratch my head, but hey, it’s a kids book so I’ll roll with it. The issue ends after a brief confrontation between Zen and Contaminous’ men, as the villain shows that brute strength can overcome skill and guile…

zen-entityThe comic had some other ridiculous moments, like when Lorenz is looking at a computer image of Zen and Jeremy, stating that he doesn’t know who Jeremy is because he was unable to get a ‘clear view of the boy’… even though in the picture he’s viewing Jeremy is looking directly into the camera. Also, I’m not really sure what zen means on the planet where Zen is from, but in this issue the character has attributes that are totally contradictory to any zen practice. For instance, he’s very short tempered as after Lights-Out rescued Jeremy from plummeting to his death he exclaimed, “I saw that grandstand play- an’ I’m ticked off with both o’ya!” It seemed a little over the top considering the robot did just save the child’s life. He’s also constantly getting annoyed with his teammates, stating how they drive him nuts. Last I checked zen practicers avoided these hindering emotions through mindfulness, understanding the nature of impermanence, and accepting the suffering of all living beings.

Granted, this is only one issue from a kids’ mini series, as Zen has had many different incarnations during his comic book career, and whether his personality has remained the same in all of them is unknown to me. His first appearance was in Zen Intergalactic Ninja #1, published in 1989 by Zen Comics. The series ran for 6 issues, and then made another go with volumes 2 and 3, published by the same company in 1992 and 1993 respectively. After the mini by Archie ended, they published another (this time lasting 7 issues), and then the rights were passed on to Entity Comics who, according to the covers of the comics, gave the character a much more badass look. The character even appeared in the risque magazine, Heavy Metal, which is quite the stark contrast of genres when compared to Archie.

zenddpIn 2008, Devil’s Due Publishing released a series of trade paperbacks collecting past issues of Zen as well as Zen Intergalactic Ninja #0 for $.99 cents in an attempt to relaunch the character. While the issue excited previous fans of the book, it would appear that not enough new readers jumped on the band wagon as no follow up issues were made. However, a web comic entitledZen Bounty Hunter written by Stephen Stern and drawn by Bill Maus (Threshold) has recently been released, and if you’re interested you can read it by clicking here. The story gives a much more adult take on the character, and I think it bodes well for him. Also available to read on the website is the origin of Zen, also written by Stern and illustrated by Tatsuya Ishida (Sinfest). Some notable artists who have worked on Zen over the years include Mike Mignola (Hellboycreator) and Sam Kieth (The Maxx creator). Zen was also featured in a video game made by Konami for both the NES and Gameboy, and had an action figure line from Just Toys.

Overall, Archie’s Zen Intergalactic Ninja #2 was a fun read- it’s a typical good versus evil 90’s story that has fantastic art for a kids book. I’d like to get my hands on a copy of Zen’s appearance in Heavy Metal, because I really think this character would work better in a more bad ass setting.

This article was also published at ComicImpact.com.

 

June 30, 2009

Spotlight On: Titanium Rain #1

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What condition do you predict the world to be in 20 years from now? Well, in Titanium Rain the future looks bleak as the continent of Asia has erupted into a civil war, forcing countries to take sides while the United Nations is caught in a quagmire, preventing it from intervening. The Chinese Jade Empire has begun their tyrannic bid for control of the Eastern Hemisphere, but the Sino Union, the land of Free Tibet, and of course, the good ol’United States of America are the only nations who have the stones to stand in their way. The members of the Jade Empire have commenced what they call their ‘Divine Revolt,’ and by outnumbering the Allied Citizens nearly 3 to 1, engage in all out warfare in their bid for supreme domination! Titanium Rain is published by Archaia Studio Press, and is written by Josh Finney (Utopiates, Star Trek: Enterprise) with art by both he and his wife, Kat Rocha (Utopiates).

Sometimes writing for a comic web site has it’s perks, as I was forwarded an advance PDF copy of issue #1 by our friend here at the site, Michael Colbert (who is going to be depicted in the book and is good friends with Josh and Kat). After meeting him in my store I was excited to discover what Titanium Rain was all about, and when he sent me the file, I had no clue what to expect. Well, the post analysis is this; Titanium Rain #1 totally exceeded my expectations, and I’m happy to promote it here at Comic Impact because it’s just that good!

The book reads like a thrilling hybrid of the movie Black Hawk Down, the RPG BattleTech, and a game of Risk. It’s made up of intense action sequences mixed with political intrigue on a global scale. It sets the pace right from the opening panel as we read a peaceful quote from the Buddha positioned above a stone statue of him, which is subsequently blown to bits by automatic gunfire. The year is 2031 and weaponry has advanced to include giant mechs armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, and anti-aircraft mechs that resemble giant spiders. A fierce street battle is played out, and when the opposition becomes too much for the American forces to handle, they radio in for some air support- a group of F-35X Hellcat pilots who call themselves Phoenix Squadron.

The air combat commandos are a group of highly trained individuals and Alec Killian, a.k.a ‘Space Case’ is the leading player of the story. We are introduced to the rest of the crew (Buffalo- the abrasive one, Chess- the cocky leader, Happy- an intelligent British woman, and Peanut- the aviator shades-wearing cool dude) as the exposition is dealt with nicely during a round of poker. The pilots role play as different factions of the global conflict and gamble accordingly, as Chess draws analogies to the game and their current war-time situation.

Suddenly an emergency alarm goes off and the pilots abandon their hands to take to the skies, heading towards the contested mainland in China where the fiercest fighting (and our opening battle scene) is taking place. This is when we learn that there is more to the group of air commandos than initially meets the eye…. Take my word for it- I didn’t see this reveal coming, and it’s an awesome surprise!

Titanium Rain is everything you wish G.I. Joe would be, as it significantly ups the bar for military themed comic books. Archaia Studio Press joins the ranks of indie companies like Asylum Press who, despite being one of the little guys, refuse to shirk quality in favor of quantity. Finney’s writing is intricate and thoroughly researched, while he and Rocha’s pencils are clean and shockingly realistic (their style reminds me a lot of Mike Choi’s work), complete with bright, vibrant colors. Check out these quotes and preview images from the issue:

“To be alive is to be at odds with the world.” – Alec Killian

“There’s only one way to be at peace with nature… and that’s to give up the fight.” – Killian

“You know how the public is… say you wanna improve on God’s design and everyone gets squeamish.” – Mister Bramford

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Titanium Rain #1 (of 6) debuts in August, and for more information check out the official website by clicking this link. Also, please visit Mike Colbert’s website on Cancer Research by clicking here.

Seriously, how bad ass does this book look!

This article was also published at ComicImpact.com.

 

June 30, 2009

Michael Jackson’s Poop House

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2h2pchiThis is more of an opinion piece than anything else, but I feel this stuff needs to be said.

So by now we all know that the King of Pop is dead… or at least you should know because it’s impossible to access any mainstream news source without seeing MJ in a loud, obnoxious headline. He passed away due to cardiac arrest last Thursday afternoon (June 25), and at the time I was riding the bus to work when suddenly a 20 something year old girl loudly exclaimed “Michael Jackson died!” to everyone on board. This revelation was followed by the passengers around me emitting exclamations of shock and grief upon hearing the word that someone whom they had only known through a CD player or a TV court case had moved on from this dusty shit sphere. The news spread like wildfire as everyone (including myself) whipped out their electronic talking devices and sent text messages as fast as it takes a 16 year old to sound like an idiot. This collective response was both funny and disgusting to me, considering no more than a week before a video had been released of a young woman being shot to death in the streets of Iran, but no one seemed to give two shits about that. Seriously, Michael Jackson’s death has garnered more attention than this bone-chilling-practically-unwatchable-all-too-real murder happening half a world away. What. The. Fuck.

To boot, within an hour of getting to work some guy called the store and asked if we sold MJ memorabilia. We didn’t. Then someone else called looking to pawn off a bunch of MJ cards and posters. These sick, uneducated leeches of society were trying to make an instant profit on the death of a fellow human being, making me feel ashamed to be part of this collective that has been dubbed ‘humanity.’ The buck doesn’t stop there. Surprisingly, no Michael Jackson comics were ever produced (although he had been sighted at comic shops before), but his shapeshifting mug did make it’s way into other forms of entertainment media. Take this Sega Genesis video game called Moonwalker for example:

While the game in and of itself is both fucking hilarious and ridiculous (but the soundtrack is kick ass), what’s truly disturbing about this game isn’t the fact that Michael runs around rescuing little girls (funny how they aren’t boys, eh?) while ignoring the full grown women, rather it’s that this game cannot be found on eBay for cheaper than $52 and even goes as high as $1,999 for a factory sealed version. I shit you not my friends. The leeches are everywhere. This game hasn’t risen in value because it’s ‘rare’ or even that desirable to play, but because Michael Jackson is now a rotting corpse in the ground (just like all those who are currently being massacred in Iran), and that means the potential to make a quick buck to many. People disgust me.

So to lighten the mood a bit, I give you these two jokes about the tragedy that was Michael Jackson:

“When Farrah Fawcett died and went to Heaven, God said he’d grant her one wish. She said ‘I want to make all of the children in the world safe.’ So God killed Michael Jackson.”

“Did you hear the news? Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest! Yeah, I guess it happened when he found out that Boyz II Men was a band and not a delivery service.”

Ha. Ha. Look, death is no laughing matter, but the way this whole thing is being handled by the media and certain human beings (just look at these morons) makes me want to slam my head against a wall for being powerless in my ability to raise awareness about the REAL TRAGEDIES OF THE WORLD.

Without a doubt Michael Jackson was a slam dunk dancer, singer, and one of the best performers to ever hit the beat, but this media frenzy is so nauseating that it’s making me despise him even more in death than in life. How is this STILL bigger news than the civil conflict in Iran, and how is he given this free pass for molesting little children? Google ‘child molester’ and take a peek at the first picture that shows up… interesting huh? Sure, you could make the argument that he was proven innocent, but if that’s your stance, I expect a big fucking grief party the day O.J. dies.

What? He was proven innocent after all.

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This article was also published at ComicImpact.com.

 

June 27, 2009

Exclusive Interview with ‘The Bomb’ Creator, Steve Mannion!

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I also write for ComicImpact.com, and this week we interviewed the artist/writer/creator of Asylum Press’ The Bomb! So download the podcast interview below and give it a listen:

Hey there Comic Impact readers and listeners! If you read the most recent Trade Tuesday article you know I covered The Bomb, published by Asylum Press and written and drawn by creator Steve Mannion. Well, I had promised an interview with both Steve and Frank Forte (the head guy over at Asylum) around the first week of July, but Steve was able to fit us into his schedule and do a solo interview with Simon and I!

Download this podcast as we talk to Steve about The Bomb, his new mini series Fearless Dawn, Canadian television, cigarettes, his time at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Design, girls, punk rock and much, much more!

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Plus win a SIGNED COPY OF FEARLESS DAWN #1 by sending us the answers to these three questions which are clearly answered in the interview:

  1. Steve’s favorite type of cigarettes.
  2. Which mainstream characters he would choose to draw if given the opportunity.
  3. The inspiration behind his comic strip, Chicks on Bombs.

It’s that easy to get free cool shit here at Comic Impact (seriously, are you participating in our other contests?). Stay tuned to the site for the upcoming interview with Forte and Mannion, and for future reviews featuring Asylum Press comics!

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DOWNLOAD EPISODE (Right-click and choose “Save As…” and save locally)

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST
Thank you to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens to and tells their comic book stores about this show. We really appreciate it, since we make this show for you guys!

If you’d like to subscribe to the podcast just click here. This link will open up iTunes and take you to the Comic Impact subscribe page on the iTunes music store.

This article was originally published Here.

 

June 23, 2009

Spotlight On: The Bomb

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bombCcover_400I wanted to check out something a little more on the indie side, so I went with The Bomb published by Asylum Press. Originally released in August 2008, Steve Mannion is the writer and artist of the trade and holy shit does his talent shine!

The Bomb is a series of T & A black and white short stories of the superhero/horror genre that are crude, hilarious, and sexy all at the same time. It’s also jam packed with pin-ups, which is appropriate considering the trade’s main story line takes place in the late 1930’s/early 1940’s when pin-up girls were all the rage. Plus, the main characters are f-ing HOT (seriously, if I had an extra copy of this book my apartment would be littered with Mannion’s art). The Bomb has a wide array of characters and is broken up into a bunch of vignettes that have no real continuity in relation to each other, as most of them stand on their own as solo stories. Because of this the book’s pacing feels like a Vaudeville show or one of the rare good episodes of Mad TV- fast, funny, and highly enjoyable.

dsc04402-266x300The star of the book is Prissy Jones, a.k.a the super-chick Fearless Dawn. Prissy is a late teens/early 20 something school girl who is cute, sexy, and endearing in the most dorky way possible. She wears glasses, reads comics, and smokes cigarettes, while repeatedly breaking the fourth wall to the delight of the reader. At school Prissy is constantly harassed by the tough girl, Betty Magillicutty (who looks A LOT like the temptress of the day, Betty Paige… actually, she looks exactly like her). After being humiliated by Betty for the last time, Prissy decides to make a stand as she sends away for a Joe Jeeder Miracle Strength Kit. She saw the ad in a comic book she was reading (pick up any comic from the 80’s and you’ll get an idea of what she ordered), and once the package arrives she pumps herself up and kicks Betty’s ass. Prissy then happens upon a costume (to the chagrin of a horny douche), tailors it a bit, and decides to head out on her first mission as the superhero, Fearless Dawn!

After the Third Reich invaded Poland in 1939, a ghoulish looking Nazi dude called ‘The General’ is recruiting men in America for his evil forces. He’s planning on making his own army of Nazi zombies so Fearless Dawn decides to investigate, scoping out The General’s HQ at the Sauerkraut Factory. She’s still too new at the superhero gig, and dsc04403-300x185eventually gets herself captured, but guess who comes to her rescue? Betty Magillicutty! The girls lay down some kicks, punches, and marbles, making a narrow escape to the factories roof top. There they back themselves into a corner as The General and his men are closing in fast, so the girls strip down to their undies and set their clothes aflame in order to attract the attention of the local police. As the cops arrive and arrest The General, the girls leap from the roof top into a stream below, making a safe exit.

Other stories in The Bomb featuring Fearless Dawn include a battle between her and a villain known as ‘The Monster’ (they duke it out with fish and salami as weapons), a tale where The General escapes from prison (ironically by using a Joe Jeeder Miracle Strength Kit) and comes looking to get his revenge on the girls, the back story of how Prissy and Betty were able to overcome their differences to become best pals (the reason is pretty ridiculous!), and a futuristic story where Dawn takes on her arch nemesis Helga Von Krause. Helga is German, hot, and wears an unzipped army jacket without anything on underneath… yeah, she’s a goddess. Have I mentioned yet that Mannion draws really sexy women? We also get an outtakes section, and at the end of the book we are treated to a few full color pages starring Dawn and Betty!

dsc044011-300x235Throughout the trade we meet a variety of other characters totally unrelated to our lovable duo, like Brownhole Jones, the captain of the S.S. Blow Me Down, his woman Sea Goin’ Lil, and their first mate Seaman Stains. They’re a group of pirates who get wasted, party with zombies, and generally cause trouble. As for Sea Goin’ Lil, as Mannion says, “Think Mae West mixed with… some hot chick and you’ve got a good idea of what Lil’s all about.”

Other characters who make multiple appearances are Jungle Chick and Dinosaur, whom Steve gives the following introduction, “Jungle Chick starts out in the story pretty stupid and then she gets hit in the head and now she’s really stupid.” Basically these one or two page stories are in the style of Tom and Jerry or Spy vs. Spy, where Dinosaur (a T-Rex) is constantly trying to kill Jungle Girl but is repeatedly foiled one way or another- like by a giant rock falling on his head, or a bubble of tar burning his eye. Jungle Girl is totally oblivious to what’s going on, heightening the hilarity of the situation. Oh, did I mention that Steve draws really hot women?

We also meet characters like Lizard Guy who serves as a host of sorts, randomly popping into the book saying things like, “Heeeeey I’m Lizard Guy! Wasn’t that great?” or “Heeeeey this is Lizard Guy! Enjoy the next story.” Witchie Witch and Robynn are two women who show up at the end of the trade and get nothing more than cameo appearances, leaving me wondering if perhaps they’ll have a larger role in an upcoming series… Mannion also provides some stand alone short stories like Dead Men Don’t Lose which is about a Nazi general who refuses to believe that Germany lost WWII and has his own plans for global domination (it would appear that Steve is fascinated with Nazi’s, but I can dsc04405-226x300forgive him because they are always depicted as the villains and because he draws bodacious babes… have I mentioned that already?), and Chicks on Bombs (which I incorrectly call Girls on Bombs in the podcast- whoops!) which sounds exactly like what it is- absolutely hilariously ridiculous. Especially when the Chicks on Bombs meet up with a planet of Guys on Planes!

As if that weren’t enough, included in the latter half of the book is a Swimsuit Special where practically every character is featured, and most are featured more than once like Fearless Dawn, Betty, Sea Goin’ Lil, and Jungle Girl. Yeah… it’s a nice section to say the least. Mannion even rewards his readers with a shower shot of Betty and Prissy (please excuse me while I go grab a kleenex).

In case you just skipped down to this part of my review, Steve’s art is clean, detailed, and downright sexy! He switches artistic styles like a new born switches diapers, and his writing and pacing feels like you’re watching a live performance where after each little vignette the lights dim, the MC comes out to introduce the next piece, and your imagination flows with the show. It’s awesome stuff. Asylum Press had announced late last year that a new Fearless Dawn mini-series was supposed to hit the shelves in April. However, due to the recent Diamond shipping restrictions the book had to be delayed. Here’s some exciting news for you; I dsc04399-286x300managed to set up a phone interview with both Steve and Frank Forte (Asylum’s head dude and main scribe) early next week! So keep an eye out for that podcast as I’ll be sure to ask them when we can expect the release of the Fearless Dawn mini.

The Bomb is a trade I recommend to anyone with a sense of humor and an eye for smokin’ hot art. It’s totally kick ass and exceeds it’s $15 price tag in entertainment value. If you can find it at your LCS, definitely get a copy, and if you can’t find it, head over to Asylum Press’s website, AsylumPress.com and check out their store to order The Bomb. Be sure to stay tuned for the interview with both Steve and Frank, and for more reviews from Asylum Press!

This article was also published at ComicImpact.com, and to listen to my podcast about the trade, please click the link!

 

June 18, 2009

Spotlight On: Zell, Sworddancer #1

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GetAttachment.aspxHave you ever seen the movie Space Mutiny? No? Well, I don’t blame you. Ok, how about Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders? No. Hmm… uh, Killer Clowns From Outer Space!? Also, no… well, I’ve run out of analogies for  you people! The point I’m trying to make is that lots of terrible sci-fi movies were made in the 1980’s, and so were some not-so-great sci-fi comic books. I’m sorry to state that our wacky comic for the week, Zell, Sworddancer #1 falls into this category.

Published in July 1986, Zell has 31 pages of ad-free story printed in glorious black and white. The comic is published by Thoughts & Images, a short lived company that quickly went the way of the dinosaur. Thoughts & Images began in 1983, publishing the sci-fi animal story, Albedo, which lasted 15 issues from 1983-1987. Next came Zell, then The Desert Peach(numbers 1-3) in 1987, which was followed by Xanadu #1-#5 all published in 1988. That’s when the T & I staff hired a really fat lady for a receptionist who wouldn’t stop singing. The company does have one claim to fame, which is the first ever appearance of Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo. The samurai rabbit first appeared in Albedo #2.

The inside cover of Zell is a foreword by the author where he states that Zell started as “a secondary character in another story… in a multi-generational epic sword and sorcery tale.” He goes on to cite some of his previous work (Albedo, Command Review) and compliment the people who helped make Zell possible. But when the introduction is completed the author leaves no signature, and a writer is not credited anywhere in the comic nor is there a splash page or any credits to be found. Oh, the dysfunctional 80’s how we don’t miss you! So I had to do some intense internet searches to find the name of Zell’s writer, as any site that has the book listed is also lacking creative information.

Well, the writer’s name is Steven A. Gallacci who was born in 1955 and spent 6 years in the Air Force as a graphics specialist, including serving a tour in Germany. His wife recently died in 2007 which makes me feel kind of bad for the review I’m about to give this comic. Sorry dude, I’m just the messenger. Steve Adams (Megaton Holiday Special, Big Bang Comics) is the man behind Zell’s pencils, layouts, and inks, and his name is mentioned only in the forward. Like Gallacci, he’s a tough guy to find information about on the ‘net, and he could be this guy, but I’m just not sure. At the end of the main story, we are uh, ‘treated’ to a ’special’ (and I use that in the helmet wearing sense of the word) two page story about a centaur by Donna Barr (The Dreamery). Barr, who was much easier to find information on than the two gentleman, provides both the words and pencils in the story and seems to be the only creative name on Zell whose career survived the decade.   

Now onto the comic!

Zell, Sworddancer #1 begins with a metal manufacturing complex orbiting the planet DeAtutia as ‘the wave of death,’ which has been sweeping across the galaxy, has suddenly killed the crew. At this point I was excited for the coming story, but we never hear about this ‘wave of death’ again, nor does the scene return to space. Instead, the story appears to jump ahead a few generations (or more, it’s difficult to tell), where we are brought to the surface of DeAtutia (I think- Again, I’m not sure, it could be a different planet). DeAtutia is all desert, and the action begins when a group of caravanners who are guiding a group of merchants are suddenly ambushed by raiders. One of the raiders is named Jewhan, which I found to be ridiculous. The people fight with primitive weapons like swords and pikes, but sorcery is also used by some. The raiders kill everyone except for a sword wielding woman, but once the men have her surrounded she kneels then commits suicide with her own knife. Apparently seppuku (look it up) is unheard of on DeAtuita and is generally taken as a bad omen in combat.

The raiders travel on dinosaurs that resemble a horse sized version of a brontosaurus, and for some reason (which went over my head), Jinko the raider leader is abandoned by his men. The woman who committed seppuku is later found by a group of traveling robed witches who dissipate her unmoved body from the battle the day before. I have absolutely no idea what these opening scenes have to do with the plot.

Enter Zell, a simple minded teenage girl who lives with her poor father, making their way to the town hub of DeAtuita. The stable boy Tasak wants to win Zell’s favor, but his brother advises against it because she’s poor (even though he cleans stables), tries to be a dancer, and is a ‘wielder’ (again, whatever that means). Apparently poor dancers aren’t good enough for poor stable boys on DeAtuita. Zell, ever the curious one,  goes off on her own to look for one of her girlfriends when she is suddenly jumped by a group of guys that are working for the robed witches mentioned earlier. She kicks their asses with a staff, but magic from a witch subdues her. We are never told why she was attacked or what the witches want with her.

Tasak knew Zell was in town but is unable to sense her (apparently people can do this). He discovers that her father was killed by the witches and travels West to look for her. If you were unsure before, Tasak proves that he’s a moron because after the first night of searching for Zell, the narration reads, “That night, he reviewed his plans – especially the part when Zell, grateful for her rescue, agrees to marry him.” Uh, shouldn’t the ‘hero’ be more focused on finding the damsel in distress first, reviewing the battle plans as opposed to daydreaming about marriage? Yeeeah. Anyway, Tasak ends up joining a caravan to travel with while he searches for his love, and within this group he spots a woman who looks like- you guessed it – Zell! That is where the issue ends. What a cliffhanger! 

While the art by Steve Adams shows potential, most of the time it’s nothing more than lightly detailed sketches, and maybe given a larger budget it could have been something really wonderful. It’s very clean, but simple, and the dinosaur horse things look way cool. I want one. I hate to say it, but Steven Gallacci’s writing is pretty bad. Not to mention there are typos galore: “caravaneers”, “boods” (instead of broods), “broght”, and “maybe” is used in the wrong context as it should have read ‘may be.’ There were also two people editing the book- Gallacci and some woman named Bev… probably the aforementioned singing secretary. After reading up on Steven’s history, it came as no surprise that he was a military guy trying his hand at writing comics. 

Donna Barr’s two page short story, Stinz, isn’t very exhilarating either. The plot is about a family of centaurs who have a rebellious kid named Steinheld (’Stinz’ for short) which means ‘Champion of the Beer Mug.’ Stinz likes to take off his clothes, disobey his parents, and straddle sheep. Sounds cool right? Well, it isn’t. One of the opening lines pretty much sums up the story, “They went to church every Sunday, peacefully bought milk and leather from their two-legged neighbors, and behaved themselves in every way as self-respecting land-owning farmers should.” Ugh. Stinz reads like an Amish Bible tale told by parents to their kids at bed time. 

Gallacci provides an afterword (also unsigned, like the foreword), stating that “Next time, this will be the letters page, but for now, it’s the apology page.” Please sir, apologize away for enticing me to purchase this comic! I won’t stop you! Oh, who am I kidding… He doesn’t care. What Steven was really apologizing for was Zell’s tardy release date. He states that the full fledged Zell series won’t begin until 1987, making me wonder why this issue was published in 1986. The answer doesn’t really matter though, because (surprisingly) this was the only issue of Zell’s career. The sole redeeming factor of this comic is a one page story about Yusagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai on the back cover. Now for some quotes:

“I don’t want a husband – not yet. I want to be a dancer! You know that!” – Zell

“A bitch with a blade.” – Jewhan

“Oh, come on Arsak! You sound like an old Worry Woman!” – Tasak

“Passage to the west. I can work the tack – or pay in good fingers.” – Tasak  (I have no clue what this means but it sounds dirty.)

Zell, Sworddancer #1 reads like it wishes to be Dune or Dinotopia, but ended up like Space Mutiny, and looks like a low budget Jim Henson film. Steven Gallacchi and Thoughts & Images have a website, but it hasn’t been updated sine 2007. I suppose if I were him, I probably would have left my name off of this comic too.

This article was also published at ComicImpact.com.

 

June 17, 2009

The Thought Balloon: Talking With Writer Marc Guggenheim About Young X-Men

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On Saturday at my comic shop we had Marc Guggenheim (Amazing Spider-Man, Green Lantern movie script) in for a signing event to promote his original work, Resurrection. Well, being the X-Men junkie that I am, I couldn’t help but pick the affable writer’s brain about his short lived series, Young X-Men. Also, being the unprofessional comic book reporter that I am (hey, I work pro bono!), a tape recorder was something I was lacking. Yep. However, rest assured that once I was done speaking with Marc I bolted to the computer and jotted down notes while they were fresh in my mind.

Marc gave me the green light to write this little ditty on our conversation about Young X-Men, and as you’ll soon read he was very candid with what he had to say…

Our dialogue began with my asking where the character Ink came from and why he chose to use him in such a prominent role for the series. His response was that Marvel told him to not populate Young X-Men with a majority of front runners from New X-Men, but to create a bunch of new characters to introduce into the Marvel Universe. He of course did this with Ink, Leon Nunez, Cipher, and by elevating the status of Wolf Cub to team leader. He thought Ink was a cool concept for a character, given how his power set was virtually limitless. When asked why he ended up making Leon Nunez be the mutant and Ink just the pawn, Guggenheim did it for the sake of a plot twist, a fun reveal. He put the two characters in a coma at the end of the run because yes, it made sense that a Phoenix Force tattoo would drain the energies of both, but also so that another writer could pick the two characters up again at some point down the line. A quick follow up on that sentence was that he doesn’t foresee this happening in the near future.

meandmarc

I then asked him why he decided to have the virtually unknown, and unpopular, character of Wolf Cub take the role of team leader when some better options were available. His reason was that he knew he wanted to kill him off so he gave the character an opportunity to be cool before doing so. We both agreed we weren’t so sure if that panned out to satisfaction. I had to ask who his favorite character to write was and without missing a beat he answered “Rockslide.”

Guggenheim’s original concept for Young X-Men was to call the series New Mutants and pen a team comprised of the characters in New X-Men, but Marvel shot down the idea. So he worked with what he had, but what he had to work with ultimately wasn’t enough for the series to survive. When asked why he thought that was, Marc sighed and said he’d be the first to admit that looking back on the run some not-so-great decisions were made on his behalf, but what can you do? One such decision would be to have revealed Donald Pierce posing as Cyclops at the end of issue #2 instead of #5. Reason being that many fans were confused why Cyclops was leading this young team of mutants in the shambles of the Xavier Institute when everyone else had already made the move to San Francisco. This turned fans away from the title early on as they mistakenly chalked a clever reveal up with another book that pays no attention to the ‘mainstream’ continuity. Guggenheim did appreciate how the title’s fan support increased after the first arc, but by then it was too late as the plug had already been pulled.

We both were in agreement that the main reasons why Young X-Men got off to such a slow start was because A) people were expecting to see a team made up of the New X-Men, not unknowns like Ink and unpopular mutants like Wolf Cub, and B) writing any team of younger mutants is difficult because the fan base isn’t there for a title to survive solely based on a new generation of characters-  people also want to see the main players like Emma Frost or Wolverine. So in the case of Young X-Men, the timing was just flat out bad since it took place after Messiah Complex when all of the New X-Men were disbanded and the adult X-Men all moved to California. With the big names out of Westchester (where the title took place), Guggenheim was denied the use of a more recognizable supporting cast.

He said that early into the run Marvel informed him that he was going to be pulled off the book and be replaced by another creative team. Therefore Marc was forced to scrap three years worth of ideas and instead pick out the high points, summing it all up by issue #10, his last scheduled issue. If you go back and read #10, you can see how Guggenheim sets the stage for someone else to take the reins. However, a short time later Marvel told him that the series was getting canceled at issue #12, so the new creative team would produce only the final two issues. Marc said fuck that, deciding to write the final two installments himself, saving Marvel the trouble of bringing on new names who were totally detached from the series for it’s finale. So, he stated that the final story line was rushed, but it was his best effort at summing up what he wanted to accomplish over the course of three years.

What were some of his plans that he had to scrap? Well, for one, he was grooming Anole to become a top member of his class, building to a point where the character would eventually emerge into a prominent leadership role (I totally called this by the way). Guggeheim said he wanted to remove more of his appendages so that they would grow back like his right arm, buffing up the character, making him more of a force to be reckoned with. He also wanted to evolve Dust by showing that she has a weakness, which I think he youngxmen12accomplished even with the early cancellation. Ink’s story line was supposed to be a roller coaster ride, ending with the Phoenix tattoo as a climax as opposed to a solution to the character being placed in comic book limbo.

Marc also admitted to having a rocky relationship with his editor, which began right from the get go as they disagreed over which direction the title should take. The two had trust issues as the editor would miss little things like messing up the title of the second story arc, calling it “Books of Revelations” as opposed to “Book of Revelations,” understandably making it difficult for Marc to trust his advice with larger topics. Hindsight is 20/20 though, because his editor was the one who advised that the Donald Pierce reveal happen sooner rather than later in the series, but Marc originally disagreed. Like he said, some things he would have changed looking back.

Marc Guggenheim is a totally cool, down to Earth guy who is enthusiastic to talk with and genuinely grateful to the fans who read his work. However, after his experience with penningYoung X-Men he admitted that he’s going to stick with writing sol0 characters for the near future!

The entire Young X-Men run is available in two trade paperback volumes, entitled Final Genesis 
and Book Of Revelations.

 

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