Guest Review by Brittany DeSalvo
Star Power is a new futuristic sci-fi comic, the first issue of which came out in February 2013, by writer Michael Terracciano (Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire) and artist Garth Graham (Comedity and Finder’s Keepers). On the web, Star Power is a webcomic which updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. To date, issues one and two have been released in print at conventions and the webcomic is on chapter #3 as of October 3rd.
Filed under Brittany DeSalvo, Comics, Comics Reviews, Guest Column, Sci-Fi, science fiction, Superheroes, The Nerdy Bomb
Guest Review by Brittany DeSalvo
Joe’s Comics’ new debut “Sidekick” through their partnership with Image Comics is written by J. Michael Straczynski and illustrated by Tom Mandrake and HiFi.
This first issue leaves a little to be desired, partially due to the length, but there is a lot of promise for what’s to come. First impressions had me thinking that, it’s a comic: show, don’t tell. Starting with lines like “We’ve beaten the Sonic Master, but his sound bomb is still active and there’s no way to defuse it before it goes off in two minutes! His threat is going to come true: He’s going to destroy the city and there’s nothing we can do to stop him!” is like force-feeding the audience the plot. Luckily, the force-feeding of back story didn’t last long.
The main character of the story, Flyboy (aka Barry), who is the young sidekick of hero The Red Cowl, debuts by breaking out of the sidekick cocoon and rising beyond his normal limits by saving Sol City when the actual hero had admitted defeat. That one shining moment of glory does not define him, though, and he is about as far from perfect as a crime fighter can get. So far, he’s really not that likable of a character. Then again, he’s not supposed to be. The fallen Flyboy is gritty, he’s depressed, and he’s pathetic, but he’s relatable. Sidekicks have fallen victim to stress and depression before, but it looks like Flyboy is going to take falling from grace to a whole new level. From putting up ultimately unsuccessful campaigns on “Dreamstarter” to raise funds to fight crime for Sol City to staging robberies to look like he’s saved the day, Barry’s attempts to take control of his life become more and more futile.
By the end of issue #1, it seems as though he’s already hit rock bottom, but sounds as though he has a lot farther to fall. Just how far will his spiral take him, and where’s he going to end up? How will this spiral and ultimate turn towards evil differ from that of other more recognizable comic book characters who have been burned by the citizens they want to protect and ended up on the dark side because of it? Questions readers will genuinely want to know the answers to after reading this tantalizing introduction to Straczynski’s new story.
‘Joe’s Counter,’ the blurb at the end from the author, is a nice touch. Straczynski says, “…every month for the next twelve issues we are going to drive Flyboy deeper into madness and mayhem, darkness and depravity. We’re going to do to him all the things mainstream comic writers stuck with sidekicks are told never to do to them. It’s going to be wonderful. Also deeply disturbed.” His writing in this portion of the comic is superb; it’s intriguing and it leaves the audience wanting more. The idea is good, the desire to turn it into a successful story is there, we’ll just have to wait and see whether the folks at Joe’s Comics can pull it off and make this a unique comic truly worth reading.
“Sidekick #1” is available August 7. Visit our friends at Image Comics.
About the Author: Brittany DeSalvo is a freelance writer and editor for the start-up nerd site TheNerdyBomb. Her author page is accessible at http://thenerdybomb.com/author/brittany-desalvo/.
Filed under Comics, Comics Reviews, Image Comics, J. Michael Stracynski, Superheroes
Currently on the shelves is a book with a bright orange cover and a powerful story about coping and understanding death and loss. Our lives can become so routine: work, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat. Ironically, the closer we come to death, the more we appreciate life. Just like they say, our lives flash before our eyes at a time of crisis. It can unnerve us. Americans, for example, have been thought to not deal too well with death. However, given the popularity of zombies, that overall outlook seems to be improving. And there are some cultures who appear to be more in touch with death. “When David Lost His Voice,” the new graphic novel by Judith Vanistendael, published by SelfMadeHero, gives us a story that shows how life and death can come to terms. It’s a story not without a healthy dose of good cheer.
I recently viewed Julie Delpy’s “2 Days in New York,” a comedy about what happens when relatives from France descend upon a couple’s New York apartment for the weekend. In the movie, you see just how crude, or earthy, depending on your taste, these French folks can be. The humor itself felt French too, embracing the absurdity in life more than your typical American comedy. It seems to be a matter of dropping any inhibitions and yet done with a certain style. In that regard, I find a similar sensibility running throughout this graphic novel. It is the story of David, who discovers he has developed a cancer in his throat. He is an older gent who has a full-grown daughter, Miriam, as well as a 9-year-old daughter, Tamar, from a recent marriage to Paula. And Miriam has recently given birth herself to Louise. It is quite a premise: all these women are a vital part of David’s life and the prospects for his future don’t look so good.
David is a special man who is well loved. He’s a man of few words. He prefers to let his actions speak for him. He owns a bookshop so he deals in words every day but, for seeking deeper meaning, he can make good use of silence. It is these qualities that are on display as he does his part to console Tamar, about the possibility he may not be around for much longer. He’s there for her. He’s attentive to her child’s viewpoint.
David and his wife, Paula, tirelessly work together to keep their daughter calm, even if it requires adhering to an elaborate scheme to make it look like it’s possible to send mail back and forth attached to balloons. It’s almost easier for David to attend to little Tamar’s needs than it is to attend to the needs of anyone else. Miriam keeps seeing him as a ghost. Paula, an artist, reconstructs him from x-rays.
Interestingly enough, it’s Paula who becomes very vocal and loses control a bit over all the quiet surrounding David. It’s bad enough that David won’t talk about it. But no one else is capable of articulating what’s happening either. Or does it just seem that way? Balance is gained when a child’s perspective, that sense of lightness, can be brought into play. Maybe mermaids, magic, and notes sent on balloons can help make things better.
As long as everyone believes in hope and compassion, then the end need not be harsh and bitter. In a story that floats with such delicate ease, Judith Vanistendael does a beautiful job of evoking what is involved when all parties manage to transcend a crisis and create something new.
“When David Lost His Voice” is a remarkable graphic novel by Judith Vanistendael. She is a Belgian author of graphic novels and an illustrator. She is known for “Dance by the Light of the Moon,” two volume work also published by SelfMadeHero. You can find out more about purchasing your own copy of this book here.
Filed under Comics, Death, Graphic Novel Reviews, graphic novels, Judith Vanistendael, SelfMadeHero
Tom Kaczynski is sensitive to the fact that consumer culture seems pretty much a lost cause and any attempt to reverse course would appear to be futile at best. It’s the stuff of great comics and Kaczynski has an excellent handle on it. “Beta Testing The Apocalypse” brings together, thanks to Fantagraphics Books, an impressive collection of social satire with a distinctive voice. I hate to throw in the term, “snark,” in this review since it’s too easy and sort of misleading. Kaczynski’s humor is, at times, acerbic, with an attitude, I suppose, but it’s much more than that. This book collects eight comics, the majority having appeared in the Fantagraphics anthology, MOME. Read as a whole, the author’s vision comes through as heart-felt, witty, and maybe even, perhaps, genuinely concerned. Oh sure, it’s all in good fun. I’m just saying this stuff will get under your skin.
Have us Westerners crossed a line of no return? We worship cars. We allow ourselves to be herded like cattle to our office cubicles. We create myths about the great dream to own a house. Well, you get it. The readership for this type of satire already gets it. Where Kaczynski shines is in the details. His characters are numb and they know it. The world is too much with them, as Wordsworth says in his poem, and they have given their hearts away. In “976 SQ FT,” Kaczynski gives us a hipster couple, having recently abandoned suburbia, who mock their new “urban” neighborhood as nothing more than a few blocks sliced and diced by a highway overpass, a bridge, and an avenue. They cope with the nonstop construction of new condos. They think they’ve managed to get a handle on an increasingly artificial environment until one day, the joke is on them.
Wordsworth goes on to wish, in that same poem, to just be a pagan. But can such silly near-sighted humans ever get it right? In “Million Year Boom,” an ambitious young man takes a new job that will find him living on a corporate campus for several years. Hired as part of the new marketing team, he is less than impressed with the current company logo that looks like it was lifted out of a clip-art file. However, the company is stuffed with investor capital and the energy of start-up idealism is too much to resist. It’s not until he comes to see that the company’s goal is sort of crazy, that he hesitates. The allergy he’s developed from one of the company’s new species of plants is not a good sign either. But then again, when he thinks it over, a corporate return to the wild could be the sort of crazy that he’s always hungered for.
Kaczynski’s characters are often attempting to push back and find that something that is pure and real. “The New,” throws into bed conflicting beliefs in the authority of first world and third world states. Architecture is seen as a possible solution to the many ills of one struggling nation. Sex and power are confused with the potential of building something “great.” The end is near for everyone when architecture turns into a cosmic portal to unspeakable horror.
So, no, there is no snark here. It is wry humor, told and drawn with a deft touch. Never overburdened or overwraught, what we have are naked apes with too much technology, and too much time, on their hands.
“Beta Testing The Apocalypse” is published by Fantagraphics Books. Visit our friends at Fantagraphics Books here.
Filed under Comics, Fantagraphics Books, Graphic Novel Reviews, graphic novels
