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| << December25, 2004 - [ComicBooknet E-Mag] CBEM 503.05 |
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----------------------------------------------------------------- [7] LINES ON PAPER Bruce Canwell bruce.canwell@verizon.net [Freelance writer Bruce Canwell is a New England native who has worked for both DC and Marvel Comics. His essays have appeared in TOMORROW SF, THE CORTLAND REVIEW, COMIC BOOK WEEK, the PORTSMOUTH (NH) PRESS, and AMAZING HEROES. In the summer he is often found at Fenway Park; in the winter, he enjoys playing high-stakes poker against really dumb opponents.] Installment 40: What Goes Well With Comics ...? (Part 3 of 3) I heard the news today, oh boy. WordsWorth is gone. WordsWorth was an absolutely GREAT bookstore, located at the center of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For a young bibliophile who grew up almost two hundred miles outside Boston, that first trip to Harvard Square in the very early 1980s was a magical thing: there were record stores and great restaurants and the Science Fiction Bookstore and comics' own Million Year Picnic -- and most of all there was WordsWorth, where the selection was extensive and excellent, and where every book sold at a discounted price. From the flimsiest pocketbook-sized paperback to the thickest hardcover novel or reference volume, WordsWorth put a sticker on every back cover showing the publisher's price, the WordsWorth price, and the customer's net savings. I cannot begin to count the number of stickers I have peeled off the backs of books purchased at WordsWorth over the past two decades. In my younger days, when I'd average only three or four trips to Boston each year, it was not unusual for me to return home with several big WordsWorth bags, each groaning under the weight of its contents. When I moved into the greater Boston area almost a decade ago, one of the benefits was that WordsWorth was suddenly less than an hour away. It was easy to zip down to "the Squayuh" for an afternoon, and while my days of leaving stores burdened by purchases are long gone, it was always fun to browse WordsWorth's familiar shelves. More often than not I would walk away with one or two new books: after all, my modus operandi was to check the shelves of my nearby "booksellers" for new releases of interest, then to buy them on my next visit to WordsWorth, giving my support to the independent store over the big, plastic, impersonal chains (they are called "chains" for a reason, you know). Now WordsWorth is gone, its closing all but unnoticed amidst Boston's frenzied celebration of the Red Sox World Series triumph (the story is, WordsWorth's owners wept amongst the empty corridors on October 30th, locked the doors behind them for the final time, then went to pick up their children at the Sox victory parade). WordsWorth is gone, as so many other independent retailers have closed in Harvard Square, making its attractions few indeed. WordsWorth is gone, and now when I buy a new book, I have the unenviable choice of buying from the chain stores -- all of which sell music or video, and, with their damnable sissypated "cafes," are not truly bookstores at all -- or pointing-&- clicking at that impassive on-line monolith, Amazon.com. The joy of reading books remains a delight . . . but because WordsWorth is gone, the joy of BUYING books has more than slightly dimmed. # We wrap up our discussion of quality creators and works in other media that should delight and inform the comics audience, works that may have flown under the radar of readers and professionals alike. We previously looked at four prose authors and four motion pictures; now we turn our attention to . . . MUSICIANS 1. HANK WILLIAMS SR.: Hank's is truly the quintessential country music story: the man who appeared to have it all, but who in reality was burdened with a bad marriage, a strong attraction to the bottle, failing health, and a great, crushing sadness. Is it any wonder, then, that Hank created hits in the 1940s/50s with titles such as, "Alone and Forsaken," "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "My Sweet Love Ain't Around," and "Cold, Cold Heart"? And is it not fitting that Hank recorded "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" only six months before he drank himself to death at age 29? Comics creators who are looking to get a handle on pathos need look no further than the recordings of Hank Williams. Listen to the melancholy "Lost Highway" or "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" -- the plaintive "Angel of Death," "Lost on the River," and "Wedding Bells" -- the heartbreak that underscores the defiance in "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)" and "They'll Never Take Her Love Away From Me." Hank comes up first on this list because comics people learn from him, and he learned from the comics. Earlier this year, PBS broadcast an AMERICAN MASTERS profile of Williams and his career, and more than one surviving member of his band spoke of Hank being out on tour, stopping at newsstands and five-&-dimes in town after town to load up on source material for his song writing -- romance comics! 2. CAB CALLOWAY: If Hank is one of music's Dark Knights, Cabell "Cab" Calloway unquestionably leads the charge of the Light Brigade. Renowned as a headliner at Harlem's (in)famous 1930s Cotton Club, Cab led his big band with an energy and verve none of the other greats of his era -- Basie, Ellington, Pops himself -- could match. A decade before Hank Williams was buying romance comics off the stands, Cab was making his mark in the world of animation, laying down an audio track of "St. James Infirmary Blues" and allowing the Fleischer Studios to rotoscope him, transforming him into a ghost who starred in the BETTY BOOP cartoon "Snow White" (legend says Cab was so delighted by the end result he literally fell out of his theater chair, kicking his legs in the air and whooping with laughter). He followed with another BOOP performance, this time built around the song "Old Man of The Mountain." What Cab can teach today's superhero creators is the rush a character would get from using his powers for the first time. Listening to Cab verbally gambol through numbers like "The Honeydripper," "Hi-De-Ho Man," "The Jumpin' Jive," or "Foo A Little Ballyhoo" stirs up feelings akin to those you vicariously experienced the first time you saw youthful Clark Kent prove he truly is faster than a speeding bullet, or when Tobey Maguire starts firing those webs in the first SPIDER-MAN movie. That such moments are still rare tells us there are plenty of creators swinging and missing when they take their cuts at this type of material. Perhaps a good dose of Cab could help raise our collective batting average? 3. WARREN ZEVON: Zevon could certainly teach anyone lessons about bowing out gracefully -- witness the album he created in his dying year, THE WIND, and the Grammy nominations it has garnered. He could also help create a template for Vertigo-style horror; as proven by the "Excitable Boy" of his most famous album and that supernatural mercenary, Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner. Yet where comics people can learn most from "Mr. Bad Example" is by listening to his love songs. The power of Zevon's observations in this department --"They say love conquers all/You can't start it like a car, you can't stop it with a gun" -- are both powerful and often overlooked. Pay specific attention to the way Zevon covers the RANGE of emotional reactions love generates. Some of his protagonists will plead to save a love affair, as in "Reconsider Me" ("'Cause I'll never make you sad again, and I swear I've changed since then"), while others, like the one in "Finishing Touches," walk away feeling nothing but derision for the ex ("You can screw everybody I've ever known, but I still won't talk to you on the phone"). Any writer skillful enough to run the gamut in such a manner is a writer to whom attention should be paid. 4. JOHNNY CASH: I was having a pint in a London pub in September, 2003 when I overhead a fellow at the next table say that Johnny Cash had died (less than a week after Warren Zevon succumbed to cancer, in fact). Right up to the end, Cash was writing and singing songs about the price of sin, a subject that should keenly interest every comics creator (though it rarely gets satisfactory treatment within the graphic storytelling medium). Youths who discovered Cash within the past decade have commented that he was "gangsta" before that neologism was coined. They often point to the convict at the heart of "Folsom Prison Blues," the guy who shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. What they invariably ignore is the POINT of the song: each day this convict hears the trains rushing by outside the prison walls and suffers because his actions have cost him his freedom ("When I hear that [train] whistle blowin'/I hang my head and cry"). Again and again and again, Cash shows us the perils of journeying down the dark road. In the 1960s, Cash sang of a young cowboy who ignores his mother's plea ("Don't take your guns to town, son") and seeks to become a gunslinger: her words are his final bitter thought as he lies dying in the street after being gunned down. In the 1990s, his AMERICAN RECORDINGS album tells the stark story "Delia's Gone," with Delia's killer pushed to the brink of madness by his actions ("Jailer, I can't sleep, 'cause all around my bedside, I hear the patter of Delia's feet, Delia's gone, one more round, Delia's gone . . . ."). Even Cash's most enduring love song is tied to the wild side of life -- if you weren't here, baby, I'd be out helling around and landing deep in trouble, but "Because you're mine, I walk the line." Too many comics take too little time to develop their antagonists. Some creators seem almost embarrassed by the very concept of villains, while others are content to produce barely two-dimensional, "Mwah-hah-ha!"-style cliches. The human cost of villainy is rarely explored, and all it takes is listening to a few Johnny Cash albums to realize how fecund a subject this can be. # NEXT INSTALLMENT: The tale of my first publication in comics. _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Thoughts From the Land of Frost Alex Ness Alexander@popthought.com [Alex has taught college level history and is a full time father. His interests include cats, comics and militaria. His writings have been featured on SlushFactory.com, UGO.com, and are currently on the Popthought.com web site. ] TEEN TITANS: FAMILY LOST Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Mike McKone $9.95 DC This tpb, TEEN TITANS: FAMILY LOST, is a trade paperback collection TEEN TITANS #8-12, plus the hard or rather, impossible to find TITANS #1/2. Deathstroke's daughter, Rose Wilson assumes the identity of the Ravager and switches from Titans ally to Titans threat. And Raven comes back with a new body, and a strangely different soul. Is she home, or she going to threaten the family of friends that are the Titans. What this book discovers that other titles have missed out on, is how deeply attached one becomes to others through trials and through victories. The team concept that Johns is so very good at expressing is one that works especially well on the title Teen Titans. Why? Well you can imagine that a team of youths would have ample enthusiasm for most of their tasks, but perhaps not enough direction and leadership. Making this team one where they behave as much as family and siblings is a touch that allows the reader to enjoy the work and feel empathy towards the characters. I think that you cannot go wrong with almost any title Johns has written, and for me his work plays much like Chuck Dixon's and that is a very fine compliment. The art was not as good as I like, still good mind you. (It seems to me that every artist since George Perez left the Titans 16 or more some years ago, there is an attempt by every artist since then to evoke or attempt to evoke Perez's classic images. Better to strike out while doing your own style than be a modest success using another artist's style.) Overall the price here for product is a very good one. FABLES: MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS Writer: Bill Willingham Artists: Mark Buckingham, Craig Hamilton, P. Craig Russell, Steve Leialoha $17.95 DC FABLES: WOODEN SOLDIERS makes the reader aware that these are maturely written thoughtful stories that evoke a world less than perfect and entirely unhappy compared to either the fables world, or our own. Willingham demonstrates how to take characters known for a variety of things already and perhaps even now passe, and remake them, give them new importance and give his particular spin on characters of fable. In this volume Prince Charming runs a political campaign and you see very quickly that this world reflects our world very strikingly. Is Prince CHARMING a real being, or is he an embodiment of the falsity of electoral processes everywhere? Is the title also evocative of the difference between the world of flesh versus the world of created. That is, are we Wooden Soldiers ourselves being manipulated into voting, or believing or hoping or fighting or dying? Vote your conscience? Or do what you really want to do, vote for Prince Charming. Do not assume that this is a trying or difficult read, it is clear, elegant and beautiful. Don't miss this. HARD TIME: 50 TO LIFE Writer: Steve Gerber Art: Brian Hurtt TPB, Color, $9.95 DC Ethan Harrow is an introvert, a bright fellow and an arse. When he and his equally odd friend bring guns to school as a mean spirited joke, bullets fly and people die as a result. In addition during the event Harrow learns he has powers within him that respond in a moment of high emotion and crisis. The title refers to the prison sentence received, and the title could also be a metaphor for the time he now spends in his own prison, his mind and spirit at odds within himself. The majority of characters are thought out and interesting. They are perhaps somewhat stereotypically considered, but they serve this story well. Steve Gerber is a writer who knows how to create a story, using well considered characters, thoughtful settings and creating mysteries that are yet to be resolved. Brian Hurtt is an artist who seems able to create a mood from the motions and flow of the story. This book does not utilize money shots and pin ups, but instead, character studies and emotive content. The color art here is particularly good. It is a limited pallet, but that in itself should not dissuade you, life in the joint would be dark, and somewhat colorless. I think the premise here is limited but good, it is interesting enough to return me to the monthly comics of the title. The execution here is not necessarily great, but it is quite good. I can imagine this story in the hands of others, and as such I do see some areas where I would like to see improvement, but for what it promises and what it delivers, I recommend this. MY FAITH IN FRANKIE Writer: Mike Carey Art: Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel Digest, BW, $6.95 DC A young woman has a dilemma. She loves a young fellow who is dead but has somehow returned, and is loved by her own personal God who is not a fan of her resurrected boyfriend. The struggle between the members of the love triangle makes for a spirited story, where the cast is forced to choose, where in other situations they might well just exist. Mike Carey has created here a very smartly written, fun work. There are no heroes in tights, and no horrific events. It also juxtaposes the place of ego with love. That is, the cast needs to decide if being adored is more important, than the well being of the being you love. The result is a practical real world situation. But more, is there something to be said for the fact that when the book ends there is a short consideration of what is Godhood, and what does it take to "create" your own religion. If a God does exist is worship an act of ego, or is worship the due reward for being a God? Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel do fine work, capturing the lighter aspects of the storing well, while still presenting enough content without seeming to be a child's story. In my experience this work is one to share with the manga reading crowd, as it has the same creative energy that is light and at the same time emotive. SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE: The FACE and The BRUTE Writer: Matt Wagner Art: John Watkiss, RG Taylor TPB, $19.95 DC The Sandman is a masked crime-fighter in 1930's New York. His realm of expertise leading to his name is using a gas gun to put the criminals to sleep, and capture them. What is exciting in particular about this book, is the use of era and setting as a vehicle for mood. Wagner makes excellent use of his artists, creating a dark, angry world in the night in the big city. Sandman's companion Dian Belmont is far more than a warm body, she is bright and feisty. In the story THE FACE, Chinatown is rushing headlong towards all out gangwar. Only Sandman can solve the mystery and prevent a great shedding of blood. Unlike the comics from the golden age that these characters come from, these stories are entirely mature, within the boundaries of the morals and values of the era. Chinatown is wonderfully real, much to the credit of Wagner, who clearly knows the difference between a good story and a quick one. THE BRUTE follows a fighter and child as they pursue opportunity through illegal matches. But is he really a brute? Wagner plays with archetypes and never quite gives you what you expect to see. Yet still delivers what the story needs. The art is not always as good as the writing, but it is good enough. I really enjoyed this book. SUPERMAN: TRUE BRIT Writer: Kim "Howard" Johnson, John Cleese Art: John Byrne, Mark Farmer Graphic Novel, Color, $24.95 DC Kal-El in this work is raised in the United Kingdom as Colin Clark rather than Clark Kent in Kansas, USA. The result is a look at the mores and values that you find in the UK, but more, the personal interest in fitting forces the adoptive parents to council Colin to avoid using his powers, so that he does not rock the boat. The fitting in is most important, and that we see it so clearly makes this work more a look at British cultural mores than a heroic tale alternatively considered. In the end the greatest opponent to this Superman is the media, particularly the tabloids of the UK. So, this is an intelligent reverse morality tale, not using Colin Clark to teach us the universal nobility of the ideals of humanity, but instead an object lesson to teach us that this society seeks conformity, seeks normality at the expense of our personal talents. We see that even a Superman in the UK finds himself and his motives suspect, as he stands out instead of blends in. But with two writers known for comedy (Monty Python) does this work as a comedy, however dark, or a drama with moments of levity? I cannot tell you. I did not laugh particularly here, and I thought that the tale in itself was anti-Superman more than any indictment of British culture. The greatness of the character did in the end draw him into leaving England in order to become more than he'd be allowed to in the UK. But then nothing is really different. In the end I think he should have succeeded in the UK in order to demonstrate the universal greatness of Superman. While the art was good enough, I did not like it, finding it balloony and uninteresting. The writing was good, but I wonder the agenda behind the story. I am content that this was an interesting project, but I did not find myself in love with the book. HORRORCIDE Written by Steve Niles Art by Chee, Josh Medors and Ben Templesmith $6.99 DC Steve Niles writes incredible stories and this collection of short stories is proof that he has a mind that is not limited to any format, or subject. See for yourself. BITCH is a gender tale that is more twisted than you can likely imagine. It plays with our understanding of dominance and fairness. You would not want to live in this world, be you male or female. TORG'S BIG DAY Through time travel and other means a Cro Magnon man goes into a new world, and barely understands it. Now he is bestial and ignorant, but he does learn from his betters. But if you give a chimp a gun, and the gun goes off, do you blame the chimp? MAKING AMENDS Gangs kill. A gang member in this story comes to regret his actions, seeks forgiveness but learns, that God may forgive, and Jesus may save, but your life in this world is a balance of actions and reactions, decisions and consequences. Is regret atonement enough or must you do more? NEIGHBORHOOD CREEP Is that old man who keeps toys and sports balls and stuff that land in his yard evil? Or have you been making him a monster in your mind to account for your own misdoings? The kids in this neighborhood find out, which exactly is correct. The writing here is playful and well done. The art is not evenly done, as you might expect with different artists creating the images of Niles's words. But it is mostly good, approaching excellent in a couple cases. As such this is a good work, and one worth your money, but I recommend looking through it first. Seven taters is a lot of money for a comic, even a good one. While I have little fear recommending this, it is worth my time and money, it might not be your cup of tea. HYDE Written by Steve Niles and Kris Oprisko Art by Nick Stackal $7.49 IDW "Two incredibly brilliant scientists race against each other to unlock the secret of man's dual nature. When they succeed in uncovering this horror of the mind and body, a terrified city becomes a victim." By dividing the nature of man, there is an undesirable result. This is not an unusual assumption, that human intellect is balanced by human primal savage instinct. Unleashing it means that there are no real restraints upon the alter savage being. Hyde is, all that we desire physically, without the intellectual restraints we have mentally, even morally. The being unleashed is not evil, but amoral. Amorality is a greater threat to society than evil, because while evil is destructive, it is so with an agenda that can be understood. Amorality has no agenda save pleasing the being who is amoral. Chaos is a result due to its unanchored morality. This book is a good look at the Jekyll and Hyde story, powerful and dreadful too. I think the book was somewhat poorly served by the art, but... the use of color and imagery certainly conveyed a sense of foreboding and anger. I say the story was poorly served by the art only because the audience for the book will be limited by it. Abstract expressionism is a favorite of mine, and this work approaches that. It conveys mood well, but for the average or typical buyer looking at a page may well not convey a story. So while the art is good in my opinion, it limits the potential readership. The writing is good as always from Niles. SECRET SKULL #1, 2 Written by Steve Niles Art by Chuck BB $3.99 IDW "Meeednight Pulps debuts with this story of girls, guns, and ghouls! A mysterious killer is on the loose in the city, but this killer only kills bad guys... or those about to be bad." A dark force has entered the entrails of the city, killing the criminal element. The problems with this, though, is that the city has a, correctly, firm policy against vigilantism. The chief of police is duty bound to end the reign of terror of the vigilante known as the Secret Skull. Problem is, the Skull owns the darkness. And adding to the difficulties are Niles's version of the undead, who have a stake also in the Secret Skull, but exactly what that is, and how beneficent these creatures of the night are, is mostly an unknown. I think that this was a fun book, with plenty of intrigue, and tons of dark mood. I liked it more than most books. The writing was top notch, really smart, with a few unexpected turns, and some well done table setting for the future of the storyline. The art, while not my favorite, was clean, expressive, and while dark, pleasant to look at. IMHO the strength of the art was in its ability to story tell. Overall a solid buy. WONDERLAND: CHILDREN OF THE FUTURE AGE Graphic Novel Writer: Derek Watson Artist: Kit Wallis Price: $6.95 IMAGE "In a future torn apart by conventional, chemical and biological warfare, three teenagers struggle to retain their humanity and survive against seemingly overwhelming odds. Brought up in isolation by a father intent on protecting them from the hostile environment that threatens their very existence, they face a danger more horrifying than anything they have faced before: a flesh-deforming plague of epic proportions. " Within the story is something a lot of people miss in stories dealing with disaster, a family. A man has raised his family, a daughter Sarah, son Edison, and orphaned Poncho in as best a situation as he possibly can. He kept them safe to young adulthood and gave them something like hope . There are robots, pets and an elephant amongst the menagerie of the family. When the father goes out to scrounge for food or supplies, he does not come back. The three teens are left to search for him, but more, simply survive in a world unforgiving. It is a dark tale with a great deal of warmth, and style. It smells like manga but does not taste like manga. The art is well considered and is a quality companion to the overall story and premise. A very nice work. COMMON GROUNDS TPB Writer: Troy Hickman Artists: George Perez, Carlos Pacheco, Ethan van Sciver, Dan Jurgens, Angel Medina, Sam Kieth and MORE Price: $19.99 IMAGE "Writer Troy Hickman welcomes you to Common Grounds, where superheroes and villains kick back in their off-hours. A total of 13 tales of triumph and tragedy are lavishly illustrated by a galaxy of star artists!" I had to avoid reviewing this initially because I had no idea what was the deal. I mean at first I thought it was heroes meeting at a coffee shop. Wait, that is sort of it. Heroes and villains do meet after work and discuss the travails of their work. The collection of artists here gather to illustrate the short stories of Troy Hickman. His short stories are collected here and they explore the various issues faced by heroes and non heroes. Well I remember stating here in this column that I do not altogether enjoy anthologies, and this is one of those beasts. So please if the concept appeals to you buy this because in its various ideas and finished product it is good, I just do not normally get anthologies. This one is better than most I think, great art and short, good stories. JACK STAFF, VOL. 2: SOLDIERS TPB By Paul Grist Price: $12.95 IMAGE "Twenty years ago, on the streets of Castletown, Jack Staff fought Hurricane, the most destructive weapon ever developed by the British Army. It turned out to be his final battle. This volume reveals the full story behind that final fight and why Jack Staff walked away from his place as Britain's Greatest Hero, and what happened twenty years later when the Hurricane hits Castletown for a second time." Flash to the present, normal, non super heroic, typical, average people are having attacks of rage to the point of murder. Are they connected to the Hurricane, which was born from scientists utilizing hormones and rage to create supermen to fight wars? Reading you will find most of the answers. But honestly while this is all well and good, Paul Grist is an absolute joy to read and follow his lines and absorb the story. His work is neither about art or words, it is a complete package, and is so in the most convincingly genuine cinematic fashion. I would like to recommend this to everyone, but the art is unusual and the story telling is so smart and real that it is likely to make people who read drecch complain. So let them read their drecch. ONLINE ARCHIVES: http://www.popthought.com/archives.asp?CMID=3 http://www.robingoodfellow.com/tftlof.html http://www.slushfactory.com/columns/an/ http://stlcomics.com/columns/tftlof http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem Alexander Ness The Land Of Frost Box 142 Rockford MN 55373-0142 _________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------- [9] Suspended Animation Michael Vance MiklVance2@worldnet.att.net [Michael Vance became a professional freelance writer in 1977. He has been published in dozens of magazines and as a syndicated columnist and cartoonist in over 500 newspapers. His history book, Forbidden Adventure:The History of the American Comics Group, has been called a "benchmark in comics history." He briefly ghosted an internationally syndicated comic strip, and his own strip for five years called Holiday Out that was reprinted as a comic book. Vance also wrote comic book titles including Straw Men, Angel of Death, The Adventures of Captain Nemo, Holiday Out and Bloodtide. His work has appeared in several comic book anthologies, and he is listed in the Who's Who of American Comic Books and Comic Book Superstars. Vance's weekly comics review column, Suspended Animation, has been continuously published for more than fifteen years, currently reaching more than 750,000 readers in fanzines, newspapers, and in over eighty websites. In addition, he worked in newspapers for twenty-two years as an editor, writer and advertising manager, creating three successful newspaper magazines. Michael Vance is currently communications director of a nonprofit agency, the Tulsa Boys' Home, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is a Christian.] Ezra #1/28 pgs. and $2.95 from Acrana/story by Sean O'Reilly, art by Alfonso Ruiz/ available at comics shops and www.kade.ca. Ezra is a beautiful female warrior who, like all of her battling Sword and Sorcery sisters, bares no scars and lots of skin. So what separates her from her competition? Ezra is well drawn and written. Although her debut is more an event than a story, Ezra talks and acts like a human being with calluses on her soul as well as her fingers. As she thwarts her attempted rape and fights to escape her captors, Ezra becomes a believable and interesting personality. I say hurray that she does it without the use of the profanity that debases too many comic book titles today. Dynamic and not overly gory, a second hurray is offered because Ezra is at least drawn less nude than most other gals that hop around this genre. Ezra #1 is recommended for readers who enjoy super-models with swords. MV Kade #s 1-3/28 pgs. and $2.95 ea., Arcana/story: Sean O'Reilly/ available at comics shops and www.kade.ca A Sword and Sorcery tale filtered through Japanese Manga, Kade is about a warrior who wears a domino mask to protect an identity known by all. If you are unfamiliar with the terms Sword and Sorcery and Manga, imagine Conan the Barbarian as a warrior in Japan. Kade seeks revenge on an evil Dark Lord and, to accomplish his heroic goal, kills lots of people and monsters with a gigantic sword. Well drawn by Eduuardo Garcia (issues #s 1 & 2) and Allen Otero (#3), this series needs the strong hand of an editor or writer who knows the rules of grammar and visual storytelling. Scene changes are often confusing, dialog is occasionally overblown, and the writer has trouble matching past, present and future tenses in the same sentence. Quality paper and interesting coloring won't help Kade stand out on crowded newsstands. MV For information on Vance's short stories, comic books, and available work, query MiklVance@Yahoo.com. _________________________________________________________________ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $4.98 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/Q7_YsB/neXJAA/yQLSAA/bGIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Thanks for subscribing to the Comic Book Network Electronic Magazine (CBEM) --------------------------->Disclaimer<--------------------------- This is an ANNOUNCE only mailing list, only the Editor can send messages to the list. No one else has access to the subscriber list. Replies to these messages will be received by the Editor ONLY, so you must CC: individual contributors if you want them to get your E-Mail. 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