|
|
Reviews and commentary by Tony Isabella
"America's Most Beloved Comic-Book Writer & Columnist"
Current TOT >>
TOT Archives |
About Tony |
Message Board
TONY'S ONLINE TIPS
for Friday, January 25, 2008
Boom! Studios submitted Hunter's Moon #1-4 of 5 [$3.99 each] for Glyph Awards consideration and it's definitely worthy of consideration. Writer James L. White, who also wrote the Academy Award-winning film Ray,, is delivering a solid suspense tale of an estranged father and son reconnecting just before bad things begin to happen.
Ambitious businessman Lincoln Greer takes his son Wendell for some bonding and bow-hunting. Black faces are a rarity in the town of Menifee that borders the woods and their rented chalet and the angry Wendell has a close call with the law almost immediately, a close call Lincoln manages to smooth over. Things get better and then worse as Wendell is kidnaped and Greer is accused of murdering his own son. Things go even further south when Lincoln learns what he must do to secure his son's safety, a criminal machination that will pit the elder Greer against an entire town.
White's script is high on suspense and tension. His Lincoln Greer is an intriguing, sympathetic hero, his Wendell a convincing teenager. The police, the townspeople, and the villains border on cliche, but they do serve the story. Decent art by Dalibor Talajic and Sebastian Cardoso completes the package.
I hesitate to rate Hunter's Moon at this time because much depends on whether or not White delivers a satisfying finish to his story. I'll call it a tentative four out of five Tonys with the note that a really good ending could raise that score and a bad one could lower it.
******
LIGHTNING ROUND REVIEWS
Here's a six-pack of short and hopefully to-the-point reviews. Just the facts. Just the opinions. No floating Tony heads. Hey, we had to cut the budget somewhere!
5 Shots [Creative Elamentz Studios; $9.95] by Jemir Robert Johnson has a good premise with intriguing heroes. Jay Nova is a former gang member with an ability that lets her read minds. Randy Michaels, her partner, is an ex-cop. They are detectives and expediters who get things done quietly. Sadly, the writing isn't up to either the premise or the characters and the artists - five artists, five stories - even less so.
Writer/artist Mario Gully sent me three "first issues" of his Ant character, though only the most recent is eligible for a Glyph Award. Ant TPB: Days Like These [Arcana; $9.95] grabbed me. Eight-year-old Hanna Washington is a shy girl with what seems to be a rich imagination in which she pictures her future self as a great hero named Ant. Unfortunately, her ex-con father is falsely accused and convicted of a murder in the here and now. Can her future self save her dad before he's executed? Gully's art leans very heavily on his obvious Todd McFarlane influence and that can be distracting at times. But the story is engaging with an ending that hits hard. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but this trade paperback has interested in reading more Ant comics.
Ant Volume 2, #1 [Image; $2.99] features an older Hanna (now spelled "Hannah") and not enough information for me to get a handle on what's happening to her now. Once again, though, it was good enough that I want to read more.
Them there's Ant Unleashed #1 [Big City Comics; $3.99] with an "explicit content" disclaimer on the cover. Gully is still the writer. The new artist is Marco Turini; he's good, but not as good as Gully. I'm not sure where this series fits in the previous Ant series, but I do think the explicit elements don't add enough to the story to justify their presence.
Gully has my attention. When I read more of his Ant comics, I'll let you know if it was deserved.
I received a selection of odd-but-interesting review copies of items from Microcosm Publishing. I'll be reading them all once I finish my Glyph Awards stuff, but, at this point, the only one I have read is Microcosm founder Joe Biel's Bipedal, By Pedal [$2], a collection of "experiences and thoughts around the Critical Mass bicycle movement."
Keeping the explanation of the movement as short as possible: Critical Mass events are bicycling events in which many bikers do their level best to piss off motorists. Okay, that may be slightly - ever so slightly - unfair. Bike riding is a good thing. Those who enjoy it have every right to safer conditions. But what comes across mostly strongly in this zine is that many of the Mass folks believe they have a God-given right to inconvenience folks driving cars whenever they damn well feel like it. The movement strikes me as just a somewhat more "green" version of the "me, me, me" mantra of our increasingly self-centered society.
If you'd like to check out this and other Microcosm stuff, you can visit the company website at:
www.microcosmpublishing.com
Published by Peter Normanton, From the Tomb #23 [$7.95] is the latest issue of his horror comics-centric magazine. I get a kick out of FTT with its unbridled enthusiasm for its subjects. Though the articles could be better composed, each issue contains more than enough good stuff to make them worth buying and reading. This time around, the highlights are a Haunt of Fear cover painting by Al Feldstein and a Chic Stone-drawn story from the 1970s which uses LSD as the catalyst for its horror.
Watch for more of my Lightning Round Reviews in future editions of TOT.
******
BLOGGY BITS
Here comes more of my own "me, me, me" stuff.
My blood pressure reading today - the day I'm writing this and not the day you're reading it - was the best reading I've had all year. I attribute this to two things.
I've been watching what I eat closely for the past two days. I haven't avoided foods I enjoy, but I'm becoming a real tiger for moderation in enjoying them.
I've had a fairly relaxing day writing this column. In fact, I think writing is the best medicine for me. Probably not as good as writing and getting paid well for it, but good medicine all the same. Give me a great paying gig and I could be running marathons within a matter of months.
A number of readers have asked about my convention schedule. Besides the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, which will be held in Philadelphia sometime in May, I'm talking to two other promoters who have inquired about my being a guest at their events. Neither show is a comics convention, but no comics conventions have offered to pay my expenses. Anyway, once the dates and the details on these other conventions are set, I'll announce the appearances right here in TOT.
More bloggy bits to come.
******
COMICS IN THE COMICS
In our last Comics in the Comics,, I ran Lalo Alcaraz's La Cucaracha from December 21, 2007, completely forgetting that it was the third in a three-day series, sent to me by ace CITC spotter Tom Duffy. Here's the entire sequence:
And here's the Judge Parker strip from Friday, January 25 of this year:
Recognize the two gentlemen in the street? If not, then you never read one of the all-time great detective strips, created by Alex Raymond in 1946 and carried on after Raymond's untimely death by John Prentice. The two gentlemen are Rip Kirby and his assistant, the former burglar Desmond. The strip ended in June of 1999, but it's nice to know the guys are still around.
******
GUY GILCHRIST'S CARTOONIST'S ACADEMY
My pal Guy Gilchrist who, with brother Brad, has turned Nancy into one of the best comic strips around, is also the headmaster of his very own school, Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy. Later this year, the Academy will hold three monthly seminars with three legendary artists.
Here's the press release on them:
SIMSBURY, CT, January 24, 2008. Silver Age legend of major comic publishers, Marvel and DC, Richard "Dick" Ayers will kick off a monthly series of seminars as special guest at Guy Gilchrist's Cartoonist's Academy. Located at 237 Hopmeadow St., Weatogue, CT, the seminar will be held on Saturday, March 1, from noon to 3:00 p.m. Call early to register for this full afternoon of family fun, as there is limited seating, 860-651-4400.
Ever since serving his country in WWII, Dick Ayers has created some of the greatest comic book art of all time: The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandoes, Captain America, and the Two-Gun Kid. You have a chance to meet Dick and spend an afternoon hearing about his life and art. He will demonstrate drawing techniques, answer questions, autograph his books and art prints, and pose for photos. See original 1949 live TV footage in which Dick and his cartooning were featured on the CBS suspense show, The Comic Strip Murder starring Lili Palmer. The film was lost for decades, and was only recently found.
Refreshments will be served, and tickets are $30 per person to help the Academy fund the military scholarship, outreach programs, special enrichment programs such as this one, and the filming of this lecture for future students.
April's workshop with Mike Valentine is two workshops in one: an hour will be spent on how to draw the Flintstones, followed by a two-hour course, "How to Draw Caricatures for Fun and Profit." Valentine is the artist of all Hanna-Barbera characters, including The Flintstones, Captain Caveman, Scooby-Doo, Huckleberry Hound, and many more.
Mike's seminar will be held at the Academy on Saturday, April 12, from noon to 3:00 p.m. Refreshments will be served and cartoons of featured characters will be shown. Admission is $25, and again, please call early. This is a great family event for all ages, and a wonderful chance to learn from a master caricature artist, with lots of one-on-one, in a small setting.
Yet to come is George Wildman, comic book editor, primarily known for drawing Popeye. All three legendary artists, Dick Ayers, Mike Valentine, and George Wildman, have decades of professional experience in many styles of illustration appearing in numerous forms of media. For more information, please call 860-651-5733 for availability and also visit...
www.gilchristcartoonacademy.com
Guy Gilchrist is the award-winning cartoonist of Nancy, Mudpie, Your Angels Speak, and The Muppets, and is a writer and illustrator of children's books. His internationally syndicated column "Night Lights & Fairy Flights" appears weekly in the Sunday Hartford Courant and in 100 papers around the world.
In case you were wondering, that is yours truly in the Nancy strip pictured above. It ran on April 8 of last year. Guy sent me the original art, which will be hanging on my office wall as soon as it gets back from the framer.
That's all for this edition of TOT. Thanks for spending part of your day with me.
I'll be back Monday with more stuff.
Tony Isabella
<< 01/24/2008 | 01/25/2008 | 01/28/2008 >>
Discuss this column with me at my Message Board. Also, read Heroes and Villains: Real and Imagined.
Recent Columns:
| NEWEST | Finale (06/22/2010) |
| 06/17/2010 | I review Siege |
| 06/16/2010 | Linda Gold 1949-2010 |
| 06/15/2010 | Everett True Tuesday! |
| 06/14/2010 | I review The Amazing Adventures of Nate Banks #1: Secret Identity Crisis, Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America and The Walking Dead Volume 2: Miles Behind Us. |
| Archives >> |
Current TOT >>
TOT Archives |
About Tony |
Message Board
|
|
THE "TONY" SCALE
ZERO: Burn your money before buying any comic receiving this rating. It doesn't *necessarily* mean there's absolutely nothing of value here - though it *could* - but whatever value it might possess shrinks into insignificance before its overall awfulness.
ONE: Buy something else. Maybe I found something which wasn't completely dreadful in the item, but not enough for me to recommend it when there are better comics available. I only want what's best for you, my children.
TWO: Basic judgment call. I found some value, but not enough to recommend it. My review should give you enough info to decide if you want to take a chance on it. Are you feeling lucky today, punk? Well, are you?
THREE: This denotes something I find perfectly respectable. There are better books out there, but I wouldn't regret buying this item. Based on my review, you should be able to determine if it's of interest to you. Let the Force guide you.
FOUR: I recommend anything earning this rating. Unless you don't like the genre, subject matter, or past work of the creators, I believe you'll enjoy this item. Isn't it uncanny how I can look right into your soul that way?
FIVE: Anything getting this rating is among the best comicdom has to offer. You should buy/read this, even if the genre/subject matter doesn't appeal to you. It's for your own good. Me, I live for comics and books this good...but not in a pathetic "Comic-Book Guy" sort of way.
Please send material you would like me to review to:
Tony's Online Tips
840 Damon Drive
Medina, OH 44256
|
|
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
