Review -- LAZARUS: Immortal Coils

Lazarus: Immortal Coils
Created and Written by Joseph Gauthier
Art by Carlos Rafael Duarte
10 Worlds Studio

The idea of an immortal force for good existing to fight a cabal of evil is certainly not a new storyline in terms of comic books.
It’s not even all that new when you add the feel of ‘religious’ birth for the character, and make the cabal a legion of demons.
So Lazarus: Immortal Coils is not breathtakingly new. Who cares.
This is an excellent comic. Creator Joseph Gauthier has taken some familiar precepts in terms of a story, but kept it fresh enough to hold interest through the first four issues at least.
One of the ways Gauthier manages to keep the story working is by using a rather minamalistic writing style. There is, for example, a 12-page section in Issue #1 has barely a written word on them, and only two have any actual character dialogue at all.
I will admit I’d prefer a bit more ‘story’, but I get the feeling these early issues are setting the title’s mood through the art, with the expectation Gauthier will write with greater depth moving forward.
So while Gauthier keeps it simple, writing only when it helps propel the story forward, often doling out the dialogue as if the words are gems, it does put a lot of the onus for liking the books on the artist.
Fortunately Carlos Rafael Duarte carries the pressure of making Lazarus easily with his excellent pencil work. This guy knows how to draw action scenes, and there are a ton of action scenes in this story.
Duarte can capture facial emotion too.
This book is heavily art reliant, and Duarte’s style is hot. A definite comic art talent to watch.
Gauthier said he connected with Duarte through a third party.
“Carlos was hired through Glass House Graphics run by David Campti who helped me put the art team together,” he said. “I went through a lot of artists, but Carlos’ attention to detail was what singled him out. It's hard to ask what his influences are because the relationship for something like this is different from what you expect or read in interviews. I don't want to give the impression there's no personal investment from an agency artist, there has to be, but a lot of weight is put on the client to know what he wants and brings it to the table. You have to know what you want and it has to be in the script. You can’t assume the artist will know a movie, or has read the same book, especially if the artist is overseas. The client, in this case the writer, becomes the Art Director. Even if you don't know much, you have to know what looks right for the book and guide the artist where he needs to go. Because I approached L:IC like a film, I went about it in a similar fashion,
going to different artists to design the elements that made a package I then gave to Carlos who drew from that. Not everything was in there; some things had to be done on the fly.
“Carlos and I didn't have much conversation about style, because I was already happy with what I saw him do. In fact, his style at the time was so classical it got him the job. I knew I wanted flashback scenes and modern scenes to be drawn differently. The flashbacks had to be more classical, and the present more stylized. There were many historical references, like Jesus' hair. Normally done long, I read a Time magazine article that disputed the men of that time would wear long hair, so I gave Jesus short hair. The coloring style was taken from the Kazuaki Kiriya's Japanese live action film adaptation of Casshern.”
As for Lazarus the character, Gauthier said he is one he had in his head for ages before finally being able to bring him to the page.
“A long time; I'd always had the character in mind going as far back as high school, and how he's presented in L:IC was always there, but he was much lighter in color,” he said, adding a laugh. “I started developing Immortal Coils in 2004 with Alex Lugo who was attached as the artist. After the pages, colors, and lettering were done it was 2007. Add another year to get the publishing deal. Then, tack on another year before getting the courage to publish myself, and you’re looking at five years.”
While having nearly a half decade to fine tune Lazarus, Gauthier said he really doesn’t look much different from his original ideas.
“Surprisingly, he hasn't changed all that much since when I first conceived this notion of Jesus resurrecting Lazarus as a more human reaction, that Lazarus can't die, and what it feels like to live forever as this ‘unplanned occurrence’,” he said. “Visually, I always see him as a modern rogue in boots, openly brandishing knives, guns, and riding a motorcycle. His character was always in place and was essential to attracting people to him emotionally. There was never anything overtly courageous about him. In many ways he was suicidal. The world he inhabits changed more than he did as I discussed
telling a straight action adventure story, supernatural horror, or both.
“Characters like the Speaker and the Wandering Jew (Ahasverus/Verus) were later added as flip sides to Lazarus.
“Having Lazarus fight shape shifting demons came from my not wanting to limit the stories in any way. I want the freedom to take Lazarus wherever I can and have him go up against whatever I want.”
Gauthier said the book is one he was proud of as it came off the press, but looking back he sees things he would do differently.
“I am very proud of the work I did on L:IC. It remains a crowning achievement, and the compliments keep coming in,” he said. “Problem is ideas depreciate just like cars and computers. The minute you drive a new car off the lot or buy a computer the next model is already in the works.
“An artist is constantly growing and when Lazarus was in production I saw things I could do better, new angles and perspectives to try, and character dynamics to explore, but it was too late. There's only so much room you have with an artist to make changes once they have the script. I remember in issues one and two there were pages I wanted redone, one being a double page spread.
“Carlos made the changes, but wasn't happy about it. Not after going through the proofing process, drawing, inking, getting the ok, then having to go back and do it again, even if I did pay for the extra pages. He was absolutely right for feeling that way.
“The point is the ideas never stop. The story I would do now is not the same as what I did in 2004, but once it’s out of your hands, you have to accept it's done. Everything you would do differently goes into the next story. L:IC is one of the best looking independently produced books out there, but at the end of a four year process, when the book is in my hand, I know I can do better.
“I’m very happy with the acceptance we’ve received. The people who’ve seen and read the book love it. We had a person who was at our signing in 2008 when issue one was published through Markosia, who came back for the trade this year so he can read the whole story. That really blew me away. I hugged the guy so hard I think I upset his personal space.
“Artists are cynical about their work. It's not often a writer or artist will look at something they've done and say they're proud of how it came out, and when they do it's meaningful. I'm very proud of L:IC. It continues to confirm I'm a writer and that I'm good at what I do.”
Gauthier will have an opportunity to put the things he has learned doing the first story arc of Lazarus as he continues to build on the character’s story.
“The next title speaks for itself - ‘Suicidal Tendencies’. Lazarus is on a journey that will force him to face things he’s avoided for centuries and take him to darker places,” he said. “He’s a walking dead man in a hell of his own making who needs a spiritual resurrection. The next story has him connecting with someone, a woman, for the first time since the death of his friend and family in 33AD. Lazarus is like anyone who has gone through trauma - you get bit by a dog, you're afraid of them. Lazarus feels betrayed by us and distances himself. Right now, he's fighting for himself out of revenge. He can’t fight for us because he doesn’t even like us. The next story is the first turn of the page, the first step in his transformation into a warrior and our hero.”
Make sure you check out Lazarus at www.10worldsstudio.com. You can also go directly to Indy Planet at www.indyplanet.com and search under Lazarus.

-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- Adam Wreck and The Kalosian Space Pirates

Adam Wreck and the Kalosian Space Pirates
Art by Michael S. Bracco
Written by Micheal S. Bracco

Sometimes a comic simply encapsulates the heart or the medium. Adam Wreck and the Kalosian Space Pirates is one of those books.
In they're purest form comics are about kids, at least in my mind. Certainly the medium is diverse enough to allow the creation of books for adults, and that's what keeps someone like me interested. But, ultimately there needs to be comics which are the treasures of young people. They need ti be something they look forward to spending their allowance on. They need to have a story a kid can get inside and pretend they are part of the adventure.
When I was young, Batman was that sort of title. They really are more geared to an older teen audience today.
The Phantom fit the bill too.
Today young readers can still find adventures they can daydream over in titles such as Jay Piscopo's Capt'n Eli (previously reviewed here), and a great story like Adam Wreck.
Adam Wreck is the star of the story, a young man in the age of space travel . He is the son of the 'famous geniuses' Albert and Betty Wreck. You can imagine that a young boy with famous parents faces some challenges whether he's able to fly a space craft, or not?
Mix is some evil-type space pirates, and you have a comic that reminds of the Saturday morning space serials of an earlier age.
Wreck is the hero, but there are memorable characters along for the ride, like the sort of anti-hero Voric who is a rogue, but a basically good one, and the despicable Captain Lipos, leader of the pirate scum.
Michael Bracco said the story was something he wanted to do for young readers, but still hold true to his interest in scifi.
“I am a real big science fiction dork. I love to read it, watch it, write it and most especially draw it,” he said. “ For the past four years I have been working on a Science Fiction series that was geared towards an 18 - 35 year old audience. As a full time middle school art teacher, I have also spent the last seven years working with kids and talking to them about art and how it fits into their lives. A big part of how they perceive art is in movies and comics and after spending enough time with them I started to really want to write something that they could connect with, have fun with and learn from.
“Once I started work on Adam Wreck I realized that bringing it to work with me was the best thing I could do. The kids gave me feedback on the drawings and the story and they in turn got to see me making art in the real world. It all came full circle and made the process very meaningful for me and hopefully for them too.”
The art is what initially catches your attention with Adam Wreck. It is rendered in three colours only, black and white, with red added to amazing effect throughout. The art literally pops off the page because of the unusual colouration scheme.
Bracco said the use of red was something he thought would add a unique quality to the book.
“I really wanted to do something that had a signature look and that used color in a different way,” he said. “I wanted something poppy and fun that made the reader feel connected with the world itself. The spot color and the blockier, bolder drawings really felt animated to me and it was a fun art problem throughout.”
Past the colouration, Bracco's art has a 'fun quality' using simpler pencil strokes that gives it more of a Saturday morning cartoon-look, than a book based on a highly realistic style.
“My art tends to be very rendered and detailed and again for Adam Wreck I wanted to play in some uncharted territory,” he said. “I enjoyed using the simpler line work as it allowed me to do so much of the art in the computer. The gray and orange tones play a major role in shaping up the Adam Wreck universe and were just fun for me to experiment with.”
As for the storyline, Bracco keeps it light, but interesting. This isn't a story with guns blazing and blood splattering. Nor, for it's intended audience should it be. There is intrigue, but the young Wreck perseveres and triumphs. Just like any good young hero should.
“Usually my work, which is more geared towards an older audience, tends to be a lot darker and more tragic.” said Bracco. “I take a lot of inspiration from Terry Gilliam, Frank Miller, Brian k Vaughn and Luc Besson.
“In this case I got to really step outside my comfort zone in terms of story and let the kid in me out. I guess it ends up being a mixture between my adult influences and as you said, all of the fantastic Saturday morning hours spent in front of the TV.”
Bracco said the story was one that just came to him one day, more, or less, out of the blue.
“It's usually the art for me but in this case it was the story. It hit me like a brick over the head one day driving home from work,” he said. “From there I immediately started drawing out all the characters. Captain Lipos shot out of my hand, while Voric was a more exhaustive character to nail down a visual for. I think because where Lipos just had to fit an archetype, Voric needed to be a more complex character that could grow with the story and be taken into (if any) future installments.”
Bracco said the finished book is one he likes – a lot.
“It was a heck of a lot of fun to draw and write for and going through it after I finished I found myself chuckling and excited, which I think is a pretty good measure,” he said.
Bracco said he now hopes the intended audience likes it enough to allow him to let Adam wreck continue to explore outer space. One read and you'll hope to see more too.
“This book was Adam's crash course in an alien universe,” said Bracco. “If I get the chance to continue it, I really want to show The vastness of alien society and how Adam and his family would fit in. I think it could be really interesting for the family to integrate into a giant, multi planet, multi species galaxy as strangers and see how another world deals with problems like the environment, energy, war, poverty and all the things that we deal with.”
You can find out more about Adam Wreck at adamwreck.websiteanimal.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham & Eggs

The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham & Eggs
Art by Lauren Monardo
Written by Stephen Lindsay
Brain Food Comics

Sometimes comic books today take themselves too seriously.
Certainly, the medium should be more respected as both an art form, and as a way to tell stories than it is in North America, especially as adult entertainment, but there is also room for just fun-loving comic efforts.
Who will ever forget Scrooge McDuck, or who didn’t love the concept of Dark Wing Duck, even though it started out as an animated series.
Credit the team of writer Stephen Lindsay and artist Lauren Monardo with remembering those simpler comic themes when they came up with The Slightly Askew Adventures of Inspector Ham & Eggs.
This is one of those tongue-in-cheek, highly entertaining, sort of spoof, and just plain fun efforts which really make comic books what they are at their heart.
Inspector Ham is a portly piggie who is a direct take on the famous Sherlock Holmes.
Now anytime you use the great Holmes as a template you’re on the right track in terms of doing a good story. Holmes is perhaps the greatest arch type private investigator ever created, and has permeated fiction in many ways. I mean the holodeck episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation with Data as Holmes were among the best of that super series.
Lindsay and Monardo use a world populated by cartoon style animals which is a long way from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original take on Holmes, but darned it’s so much fun it still works.
How can you go wrong with a wild boar bad guy, and his German accented second in command raccoon, and their legion of bad guy rabbits?
Mix in a snappy dressing gorilla thug and an overly enthusiastic hound cop, among the various characters and you start to see the fun.
As fun as it is, the story is for adults, as a few decapitated heads dripping with blood show rather clearly.
Against the backdrop of the characters Lindsay writes a pretty straight forward Holmes-style mystery, although the humour is thicker for obvious reasons.
Monardo said the idea for Inspector Ham just sort of emerged from conversations with Lindsay, and out of a need to do something.
“It's a funny story, actually, well to Stephen and I, anyway,” she said. “I was wrapping up work on Venture Bros. Season 3 storyboards and I knew I needed another job, and soon! Stephen and I tended to IM (instant message) each-other throughout the day and just joke around or discuss comic business, so I was talking to him about other jobs I might do. As a lark I said that maybe I'd become a spy, but not just any spy, a deli spy! I'd work for Boar's Head Brand and spy on other lunch meat companies like Hormel, Oscar Meyer and the like. And my code name would be Inspector Ham. To punctuate this I drew a tiny human detective body with a massive pig's head and a huge magnifying glass. The two of us instantly fell in love with the character and the idea and things just spiraled out from there.”
The characters ended up being designed over the Internet too.
“The character development took place mostly through Instant Messaging between the two of us,” said Lindsay. “We would drop a name and then build the character's personality around that. Lots of banter back and forth simply trying to make each other laugh. When it worked, we went with it! After that, the characters really develop further as the story progresses.
“I take a fairly organic approach to my writing. I don't plan out too far ahead. This way, as I'm writing and throwing the characters into various situations, they start to react almost on their own. It's those reactions that really further the development of them.”
Lindsay said his influences for writing are varied, making it easy to get into something a little off the norm such as Inspector Ham.
“I have a ton of comic writers whom I really respect and look upon as influences. Steve Niles, Robert Kirkman, Frank Miller; all the greats,” he said. “But, then I draw a lot from other areas of writing as well. Influences like Stephen King and Jack Kerouac, all the way back to Mark Twain.
“For this particular book, I draw a lot of influence from the old, campy Batman television series. Not so much with the humor, as Ham & Eggs is a bit more raw than the Batman TV show, but in the interactions and relationships. It sounds weird, but that show carries the same vibe through it that I try to instill within Ham & Eggs.”
Monardo said the first chat really laid the foundation for the book.
“As far as the character personalities and building the cast, I'd say about 85 per cent of the characters were created in that initial chat we had,” she said. “I drew Inspector Ham, then I said about having an evil black boar villain named Baron VonBlackforest. Then Stephen suggested a side-kick, which I opposed at first, until he said ‘No, no, it would be a chubby little chick named Eggs’. Ham & Eggs...how could I refuse?
“We then added, at Stephen's request, the character that became Colonel Strudel, who at first was just ‘a raccoon with an eye-patch and a monocle on the same eye.
“Aesthetically, they started out different than they are. If one were to look at the original designs, I had drawn them with Thomas Nast the political cartoonist on the brain. They all had almost caricature-esque heads and smaller bodies, but not anthropomorphized, just animal bodies standing on the back legs. As I drew the comic and got further into the issue, though, they sort of found their own way of being drawn. The characters started to change bit by bit until they found a comfort zone, and that's where they are now. And I think they're quite happy there.”
Artistically, Monardo could be working for Disney. It’s perfect for the title. The lines are sharp. The ability to instill emotion into the faces of animal characters wonderfully well-done.
Inspector Ham is particularly well-drawn, with the portly hero, memorable for the first look. The shot of him smoking the familiar pipe on the cover of issue one is a classic, and quite frankly I might have made it the entire cover rather than the main element of a collage.
Monardo said she ended up teaming with Lindsay on Inspector Ham after working together on a previous project.
“Well, we had just finished working together on Stephen's first book, "Jesus Hates Zombies: Those Slack-Jaw Blues" and we really had a great time of it,” said Monardo. “Through that I managed to trick Stephen into trusting me enough to do designs etc. I mean ... errr .... all kidding aside, we worked really well together! As far as storytelling, we both came from ‘film’ type backgrounds, he was an independent film-maker and I was an independent animator, so we had a lot of the same sensibilities as far as compositions, pacing, acting etc.
“The look of the series was originally meant to appear like a children's book, bright colors, cute characters, innocent and unsuspecting. Then, due to a major reveal via the splash page on page 4 of issue 1, the reader is quickly informed that it's anything but innocent and unsuspecting. We wanted to let the audience know right off the bat that there would be unexpected twists and turns, and that this wouldn't be your average animal cartoon.”
Like many comics today, Inspector Ham began online, building momentum before going to a print edition.
“We ran it as a web-comic for all of issue 1 and part of issue 2, and if I remember correctly we started doing two pages per week but went down to one since we both had real jobs, and didn't have the time to do both,” said Monardo. “But I'd say that if we came up with the idea in December, I did character designs and Stephen started scripting and we had the first three pages done in January. After that we shopped it around to a few publishers here and there but decided ultimately to self-publish, which is what we're doing now.”
Monardo said the response to Inspector Ham has been beyond expectations.
“I think in a lot of ways it surpassed our expectations,” she said. “Going into this we weren't sure if anybody but us would find it funny, but went ahead with it anyway. I think we both figured if we loved it so much it would come through the work and attract other people to it too and if not at least we had fun.
“I think the real test as far as acceptance and audience will be when the volume 1 trade paperback is released soon. Right now we have the individual booklet issues but they aren't cost effective and they're hard to get massive exposure from. People love buying Graphic Novels and Trades now, more and more people are choosing them over booklets, so we have high hopes for this one.”
Monardo added in some cases people have gone the extra mile in supporting the title.
“Also, I really have to thank our buddy Socko Jones and all the crew at Comic Book Jones for some of the success we have had so far with it,” she said. “They've been a massive support for us and we owe a lot to them. Plus we wouldn't have Detective Jack Valentine Jones if it weren't for them; he's Socko's real dog!”
The good news is there is more to come from the world of Inspector Ham.
“We actually have two Ham & Eggs side dishes in the works,” said Monardo. “One is the origin of Colonel Strudel, called ‘St. Severin's Day Murders’. It'll probably have some humor in it, but it'll be far darker in tone than the core series. I don't know if you've noticed but he's one messed up little dude.
“The side dishes are all drawn by different talented folks, too. For example, I'm plotting the SSDM book, Stephen's scripting, and our amazingly talented friend Daniel Thollin is doing all the artwork. He does amazing work, especially horror stuff, and his promo images have me floored, I can't wait to get this book done.
“The second book planned is actually a bit of an homage to the H&E origin, it's called ‘On the Trail With a Curly Tail, -- the caption I wrote on the very first Inspector Ham drawing-- and will be written half by Stephen and half by myself. We have 12 or so outstanding artists lined up to do five-page stories on this! One of them, Danilo Beyruth, has already completed his story and it is amazing. We're really blessed to know so many talented people.”
Overall, if you like comics that take you back to a simpler time in the medium this is it.
The book, the third issue just coming out now, also provides a darned fine story, coupled with great art. A definite winner of its type of comic.
www.inspectorham.com is the comic's official site, and www.brainfoodcomicsonline.com is their self-publishing site. The booklets can be purchased through their printer at www.indyplanet.com!
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- Webspynn

Webspynn
Art by Heriberto Bezerril (Issue 1)
Toni Masdiono (Issue 2)
Written by A.J. Hill (Issue 1)
Created by Tyran Eades (took over writing Issue 2)
Indie

An unmined motherlode of inspiration for comic books in the rich First Nations culture. Webspynn, which is a superhero story begins to connect with the myth and culture of American Indians, and that element, while only touched on in the first two issues was certainly a crucial one in grabbing my attention.
Now the name and the look will draw comparisons to Marvel’s Spiderman, but A.J. Hill has a more mature take on the storyline than the original Spidey, and in general than most stuff from that character today. Webspynn stands on its own, even if he is influenced by the spider and has web capabilities.
Eades said the Spiderman comparison is expected, and the old Marvel character was an influence.
“I believe me and A. J. wanted to introduce the character without a lot of the usual Spider-man-like tones,” said Eades. “Granted when talking about Webspynn #1, there are a lot of similar tones to Spider-man, such as the hot female supporting character from next door, the villainy of bank robbers, and the hero springing into action at the hint of danger.
“We wanted a few major points to be made with the first issue. Webspynn is not your typical spider-like superhero. The character’s next door neighbor is actually a stripper. Both the hero and his natural identity will always be balance in every issue of the book. These are just some of the ideas that created the tone of the initial story.”
Hill said the concept is to be darker than most mainstream heroes.
“The need to see a spider-themed hero as Predator, Stalker, Hunter, and Fearmonger. There's no shortage of spider-themed characters in comics but I feel that a great many of these characters gloss over the spider for the most part,” he said. “There's a real emphasis on the spider's webbing, strength, wall-crawling, but not a whole lot about just how creepy they are. Some of our comic mainstays started out that way but the focus either shifted, or the characters are established in such a way now that even their enemies don't pay homage to just how unsettling one of nature's more perfect predators, personified -- talk about alliteration -- is supposed to be.
“This is about a scary vigilante SOB who is made all the more scary by his detachment from the human condition as well as his primal connection to all things that go bump in the night and draw even more fear from us.”
Interestingly Webspynn was actually a character that became more than the creator ever expected it would be.
“To tell you the truth, Webspynn was never suppose to be in his own book,” said Eades. “My original purpose for the character was simple, a hero with a cool costume. The character was originally a part of a group of vigilante teens and in this team, Webspynn was more of a secondary character with little history or background information.
“The idea for Webspynn to receive his own book came at the Baltimore Comic Con in 2007. I decided months before the convention to draw Spider-man, one of my favorite Marvel characters, with a spider-like character of my own. Just weeks before the Con, I decided to have one of our colorist to bring the half Spider-man and half Webspynn picture to life. This picture ended up as a banner at the BCC which attracted the attention of A. J., of course the rest is history.”
Hill picked up on the story.
“This iteration of Webspynn starting taking shape right after BCC '07 and hasn't stopped evolving since,” he said. “It was slow going at first since there was so much ground to cover, and we really didn't want to tread a lot of the same ground we'd seen in other comics.”
Hill said Webspynn as a character developed rather naturally once the idea of creating a book around him came into focus.
“Tyran had an amazing character design on display at BCC '07 and I couldn't pass up the chance to give function to the form of Webspynn,” he said. “It was getting a lot of attention and I thought it was overdue for a lot of concrete answers to stand up to the tidal wave of positive inquiry. I guess I said all the right things and Tyran gave me a shot at putting my own spin on the character. There, that was your prerequisite pun.”
Eades said it was a case of putting the right team together to bring Webspynn to life.
“This matching between creator, writer, and character continued to develop over the holiday season of 2007 to the spring of 2008. Just about once every month, Webspynn, A. J., and myself convened at a local mall to talk shop,” he said. “I’m surprise we got the project off the ground with so much off topic stuff from the happenings of Marvel and DC.”
A superhero’s success is often tied to the look. The Hulk with yellow skin? I don’t think so.
Webspynn has a modern, classic look. What does that mean? Well it combines traditional hero in spandex style, but with a more dramatic white and blue suit with a modern flair. It’s a winning look.
Eades said he simply advertised for an artist and that brought options his way.
“I had an idea of how I wanted the book to look so I posted a note on the website, Deviant Art, for a sequential artist,” he said. “I was looking for a dynamic artist who could deliver great action sequences and show true facial expressions and emotions in their line work.
“The first artist for the project, Heriberto, was great but declined on continuing with the project. Luckily, I kept in contact with one of the other artist from the posting, Toni Masdiono, the current Webspynn artist. Toni and my relationship on the book is almost perfect. He is becoming more familiar with the character and supporting cast, while I get the chance to flex my writing skills.”
Artistically, Heriberto Bezerril did a solid job in issue one, but Webspynn took a major step forward in issue two with Toni Masdiono coming on stream as penciler. The book has typical colour work on most pages, but at times intersperses dramatic black and white pages where he uses the blue of Webspynn’s suit as a highlight colour to great effect. I could get into a whole book done in that fashion.
It is difficult to come up with fresh hero concept these days, and while Hill’s Webspynn borrows from Spidey, this is still a pretty solid effort in creating a new take on the genre.
The strength will come from tieing the story to the old myths and stories of the First Nation’s culture, and hopefully Hill uses that connection to full effect in future issues.
Hill and Eades are happy with what is being created with Webspynn.
“I can't speak for the acceptance/audience part of that question but I can definitely say that the final product blew me away,” said Hill. “The art team, the ones doing the real legwork here, turned out panel after panel of professional work. It's the equal or better of anything I've seen on the shelves at my LCS (local comic shop) and I'd honestly pay to see our penciler on one of Marvel or DC's top franchise books.”
Eades added, “the book has come a long way from the initial ideas to its actual printed form. I am pleased with the response from the many individuals that have bought the book.”
There is more to come from Webspynn too.
“The plan, from where I'm sitting, is to explore more of Andrew's roots and Webspynn's psychology,” said Hill. “I'm not going to call Andrew shallow but he definitely wears his heart on his sleeve. He's a simple man with simple motivations and the potential to be incredibly complicated. It'll be a lot of fun to watch as he realizes what his true power and purpose is.
“Webspynn, on the other hand, is a totally different person. More to the point, he's not so much a person as a force of nature. He's been bridled in the form of Andrew and like any wild animal, he wants to break free. He's an eternal creature in an ephemeral world with people a lot less mighty and a lot less mindful than he is.
“I really want to explore how uncomfortable he feels in Andrew's skin while Andrew discovers the thing crawling underneath his skin.”
Eades said the initial story is laying the foundation for the future.
“The current story arc, ‘Gather the Warriors’, will introduce a lot of supporting characters and subplot elements,” he said. “A lot of these supporting characters will be made up of normal folks like Milani while, the others will be ‘supers’ or ‘baddies’. The GTW story arc is set up from issues 2, the prologue, to issue 6 and issue 7, as the epilogue.”
“Beyond the GTW story arc, I can’t say but my intention is to bring back A. J. to do a story arc or two. This will give me the chance to do some minis and one-shots featuring Webspynn and some of my other characters.”
Check Webspynn out at www.heritagecomicshsq.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- The Book Of Sorrow

The Book of Sorrow
Art by Tim Hall
Written by Jason Phillips
Indie

To say I was at first blown away by, and slightly confused by the storyline in The Book of Sorrow would not be an understatement.
Actually in the world of comic book stories I am quite satisfied when a story has the level of complexity that I have to think my way through it, and Jason Phillips makes you think here.
The good thing is that once you fall into the dream world Phillips is building the story around, you find a deliciously malevolent world, filled with nastiness, and yet there is always the side of good which holds out the promise things will work out … although I’m not sure as this story moves forward it’s going to be a victory without its share of casualties.
Against the back drop of the battle in the dream world is a love story, which while the reason the war rages, takes a backseat to the action over the first two issues of this excellent series.
Interwoven into the story are memorable, albeit dark characters like the dangerous jester Despair, and the powerful Grieve.
While a dark story, Tim Hall said the influence was still life.
“Our own personal lives are the underlining engine that drive the story,” he said, adding “outside influences from movies, art, and music help to create the fiction that surrounds it.”
Coming from life, or not, the book took time to coalesce into written form.
“We worked on the initial idea for about two-years,” said Hall. “Neither of us have a ton of time on our hands so when we would get together we would just talk comics and listen to music. We did not want to develop anything that did not have reasoning behind it. We've always hated those ‘just because’ story lines. Because of this it took a little time to figure out were we wanted to go.”
Hall said the characters are an element where they looked inward for inspiration.
“Most of the main characters designs and back stories come from their own personal trials within the world of absolution,” he said. “Every character originated from thinking about how a real person would react in these extra ordinary situations. Some of these characters are reflections of people that have touched our own lives. Secondary characters mainly come from functionality. Most of the characters in our book were thought up by thinking about, ‘how would this work?’ Once you think like that things just kind of fall into place.”
Interestingly, in general terms Hall said as a co-creator, what he reads is not his biggest influence.
“I would say music is probably my primary influence,” he said, adding “a few writers that have influenced me are Clive Barker, not just his novels but also his intricate views on how art is created. James O'barr because he was really the first comic book creator that showed me comics could be more than superheros. David Mack because of his ability to use this medium to showcase his own emotional stories through artistic metaphor. Finally Shakespeare was a big influence on the narrative sections of the book.”
A perfect match to the story is the art provided by Tim Hall, who is also the series co-creator with Phillips.
Hall uses a dramatic, style for the stunning black and white art which immediately draws attention.
I particularly like how he tones down the art with softer shading hen dealing with the ‘real world’ love story, then uses a heavier pen stroke in shading the art on the other side of the veil. It creates a noticeable difference between the worlds which works well since they have a decidedly different dramatic atmosphere.
Hall and Phillips have worked together on The Book of Sorrow from the start.
“At first, just like the story, we literally sat in a room and I drew as Jason sat there looking over my shoulder,” said Hall. “And we would go over everything together. This book is very much the two of us. Later once things got started I continued to draw and would show pages to Jason, as they were being done, to get an opinion on layouts and style. I know he has a vision for the book as do I and I am adamant about capturing both.
Hall said he draws his art influences from a broad spectrum of creators and artists.
“Most of my influences come from various places like movies, music, comics, video games, and art,” he said. “To name a few artist that have inspired me, James O'barr, David Mack, Jason Shawn Alexander, Greg Capullo, Kerry Gammill, CP Smith, James Jean, Random unknowns that I've seen here and there but do not know their names, and the list goes on and on.
“I like a lot of different styles and I think you can take things from all of them. If you ever get to the point were you only like this one guy then your style will probably start looking like that one guy. Having multiple influences really helps to keep your style your own.”
The co-creators are rightfully proud of their effort on Book of Sorrow to-date, and they promise more to come.
“So far we are proud of how it looks and we feel like we have made a major step towards a style that is uniquely our own,” said Hall. “The look is an ever-changing process expect a slight change in style in issue three.
“Acceptance has been surprising because we have only been promoting at our local shop. The audience seems to range from all different types. We have not tried to grab one particular group. With any type of art, you are really trying to produce something that you yourself are pleased with, never thinking about what appeals to others. All you can do is hope people appreciate what you've created afterwards.”
Hall said there is certainly more to come for the title, but he is not releasing any secrets.
“Expect many issues to come,” he said. “We don't want to give away any major plot points so all we can say is there is a lot in store.”
The Book of Sorrow may be dark, but one that you should mark as must read material. A top indie offering which deserve a broad audience.
For more information check out www.thebookofsorrow.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- The Legend Of Isis

The Legend of Isis
Art by unlisted
Written by Aaron Stueve
Bluewater Comics

Isis is a Goddess and she’s hot, what more could most red-blooded comic book reading males want in a comic.
Sure that might be stereotyping comic book readers a touch, but then I again I was once a young reader, and although well-aged now, I know where my comic book roots are. The same place that makes the comic book humour of The Big Bang Theory so darned funny.
But back to The Legend of Isis, this is a book which is going to draw comparisons to DC's Wonder Woman. They are both Goddesses, and are heroines in our world. Isis is just realizing that, which at least gives the storyline some freshness.
Having only issue three to draw from makes gauging the storyline a bit difficult, because I can’t say how things developed over the first two issues.
I can say I was impressed enough by issue three to want to read more as the story unfolds.
The issue has Isis in a sword swinging battle with the Scorpion Queen which rages through the entire issues, interspersed with cuts outs to the mortal cast of he book. The fight scene art is rendered large and dramatic, and really is the heart of this book. Sadly, the inside book credits do not list a penciller, although I assume his last name is Hernawan from the exterior cover. Whoever the artist is, it’s very solid comic work.
Writer Aaron Stueve said he is working to build the base for the ongoing series.
“Darren (creator Darren Davis) told me to introduce two of his new characters – Tony and Cleo, so I had to do that somehow. Also, I was told Isis needed a bigger supporting cast, so I had to do that too,” said Stueve.
“But more importantly I also wanted to take Isis to some strange places. Basically, I wanted to mess with her head. I like the idea of a woman stuck out of her own time. But that doesn't feel like enough conflict for me, so I wanted to throw a character into the story that would make Isis wonder if anything was real, so the conflict would be more profound than before. By the end of this storyline, Isis is not only a girl stuck out of time, but she is a girl stuck out of time who isn't sure if anything is real. In a sense, I'm driving her crazy, because the next storyline builds on this one.”
Working on an ongoing story, and one not of his own creation, Stueve said he focuses on creating story arcs.
“I plan out an arc with the hopes of keeping it at four issues -- I failed on that point with this arc because it ended up being five,” he explained. “This usually takes a night or two, or three, of just rough idea and story sketching. This is followed by scripting.
“For this particular storyline I wrote a page by page description of what I wanted to happen in each issue, sent it to Darren who reviewed/edited it then sent it to the artist, who drew it.
“When the pages were done, I then went back and added all the dialogue. This isn't normally how I go about writing scripts, however, while I was writing these issues, I was also in the process of earning my MFA in creative writing, so I had a few other things on my plate.
“So from idea to book with this one I would guess it took about six-eight months because after I decide upon dialogue, the letterer letters it, the colorist colors it, the editor signs off on it, it goes to the publisher and ba-da-bing-ba-da-boom, Isis.
“Normally, I like to do page-by-page and panel-by-panel scripting with the dialogue at the same time, and that is what I am back to on Isis, which makes the creative process a little more time consuming. But I think it pays off with the finished product.”
As a writer, Stueve said he is constantly picking up ideas.
“I am influenced by everything,” he said. “I carry a notebook with me at all times and am constantly writing notes. Scenes that play out in some of my stories are scenes I have seen at malls, in stores, or on the street.
“I am also influenced by what I read, and right now I am just finishing Don Quixote, I am reading the third part in the Imaginarium Geographica series, and a wonderful book of short stories by Karen Gettert Shoemaker called Night Sounds.
“As for comics, I'm digging all the zombies in DC right now, more because I like zombie stories than what is actually happening, Evan Dorkin's Beasts of Burden is freaking phenomenal too.
“Then, as much as I hate to say this because everyone seems to hate what's going on in Marvel's Ultimate Comics line, I really liked Ultimate Avengers and Spider-Man. I also enjoy anything Mignola. The list goes on and on really.”
Stueve said so far The Legend of Isis is developing into something he truly likes.
“The final look, particularly this arc, is great,” he said. “It looks like a comic I am proud to be a part of. As far the audience and acceptance, I must admit I would like more fans. Although, there is a Facebook group fan page, which is cool.
“But I hope word gets around with this arc that Isis is going in a whole new direction that will surprise everyone. Hopefully our fan base will keep growing. I like the growth, but I'd be lying if I said I was 100 per cent happy with it. I want more growth! More!!”
Check out Isis at www.bluewaterprod.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- UNMASKED

Unmasked
Art by John Broglia
Written by Michael Sarrao
Indie

There are tons of superhero comics. Why?
Hey deep down that is what most think of first when thinking about comic books, at least in North America. It is characters such as Batman and Superman that really captured imaginations decades ago, followed by the Marvel Universe many years later.
Over the years you would think most hero ideas would have been exhausted, yet there are still those who can put an interesting spin on the realm of superheroes.
That of course brings us to Unmasked, created by writer Michael Sarrao.
With Unmasked Sarrao has a world where superheroes disappeared for a time, and are reemerging. However, the new generation of 'hero' has a more self-centered view of what they do as heroes. They see violence as a way to create the world they want, more than protecting the world as it is.
OK! the idea of power hungry heroes is not totally unique. The Watchmen coming to mind thanks to the outstanding movie, but it is a storyline far less explored than the general 'do-gooder' vision of the hero we get with Superman and Spiderman.
Only two issues into the title, Sarrao has set up some intriguing plot threads which work as big time hooks to read more.
The heroes may not have a break-out superstar character among them, but they work as an ensemble cast with a story more focused on their mind set than their powers, which is a nice change for the genre.
Not surprisingly Spidey and the Watchmen helped Sarrao in terms of inspiring him to look at the superhero genre.
“The initial groundwork for Unmasked really started during the Spiderman movie hype back in 2002,” he said. “When the movie came out and it was a success it made me think about what I could write that would be just as cool and fun. I had picked up the Watchmen graphic novel for the first time ever later that year and read it twice over. The groundwork was laid in my mind for a series where the 20th Century heroes are gone and now a new wave of violent legacies have appeared in the wake of the world wide economic crisis. Rookie reporter Paige Cruise has taken it upon herself to uncover the whereabouts of the 20th Century heroes and unmask the New Age heroes.”
Sarrao is also keeping the secret identities of the heroes’ secret as a way to build suspense in the story, which is a nice storytelling tool.
“The approach I want to take with Unmasked is that we don’t know who these superheroes are. They can be anyone,” he said. “This is a huge departure from the common superhero mythos as we know who Superman, Batman and Spiderman are. I want to amplify the mystery making their "unmasking" that much more shocking.”
The reporter Cruise is actually a more integral part of the story than the heroes in many ways. Having a now super powered character playing a major role is also not something generally scene in the genre, giving another element of freshness to Unmasked. Sarrao said he saw having that context to the story as important.
“I had always liked the combination of Mulder and Scully from the X-Files and I wanted that same kind of chemistry from Paige and Scott our main characters,” he said. “I eventually threw the 'reformed' super villain Eric Ziest in there to serve as comedic fun and as a bizarre mentor.
“The superheroes developed from the classic archetypes of Superman, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman etc., but with some more realistic costume designs. For example, characters from the 1940s have a very World War II military look to them instead of the undies over the tights.”
Interestingly Unmasked was initially envisioned as a movie, with the story initially developed as a script, but becoming a comic in order to potentially attract movie interest.
“I had been writing notes for Unmasked since 2002. It wasn’t until 2004 where I had decided to write a full length movie script for the series,” said Sarrao. “I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Film from Brooklyn College and I had always wanted to see this story on the big or small screen. I coordinate events at Brooklyn College and I met a fellow alum, Vinnie Favale, a VP of CBS Late Night Television. He advised me to take the screenplays and convert them to comics as graphic novels were starting to gain momentum in Hollywood. After he told me that I was on my way to adapting the scripts and searching for an artist.”
As a writer Sarrao said Unmasked was relatively easy to put into words because the characters became very defined in his mind rather quickly.
“If you know your characters well they start writing themselves,” he said. “Once a writer is in that inspired mode, nothing can stop him/her. I wrote that initial script in two-weeks. When I converted Unmasked from feature length script to comic book form it took a bit longer as the formatting and flow of pages were things that I needed to learn. Creating the Unmasked mini comic has been an eye opening and educational experience. I credit John (Broglia), and my letterer Kristyn Ferretti for helping me along the way.”
Artistically, Unmasked is simply excellent. John Broglia has a style that leaves this story, which I basically set in the current era, with a definite classic, near pulp-feel. These are square-jawed 'heroes' that pop off the page.
The colours are amazing too. Broglia uses muted-orange and yellow as backgrounds on several panels to great effect when doing flashback scenes, and in issue two, scenes in a snowstorm are quite dramatic.
Broglia can draw folks.
Sarrao said he ended up teaming with Broglia on the recommendation of a friend.
“Credit goes to Jacki Berger,” said Sarrao. “She was my assistant at Brooklyn College at the time and she knew I was writing screenplays. I had told her what Vinnie Favale had said and she suggested a friend that was an artist. I emailed John the script, he liked it and we were off and running.
“I like his style as it was very reminiscent of the old Batman Animated Series as well as the other series that had followed.”
Broglia said he just wants to tell a story through his art.
“My influences have always been cartoonists that have not only mastered their own artistic style but the art of sequential storytelling as well,” he said. “Will Eisner, Bruce Timm, Michael Avon Oeming, John Romita Jr, and most recently, Darwyn Cooke. Each one is a master in the field of cartooning and comic book art. If I can accomplish just half of what these talented men have, I would consider myself blessed.”
Sarrao said he certainly is satisfied with the finished product.
“We created this mini comic to pitch to publishers,” he said. “I think it looks gorgeous. John’s art combined with Nick Filardi’s colours and Kristyn Ferretti’s letters are fantastic. I’m sending it out to publishers and hoping that someone will give us a shot. We have over 300 fans on Facebook and hope we can spread the word out even more.”
And, there is more Unmasked story to come.
“As these New Age Superheroes start to force their rules upon society, Paige is going to desperately search for the old 20th Century heroes and try to band them together to face their deadly legacies,” said Sarrao.
This is one of those titles that if it was coming from a big name publisher there would be a significant buzz. The story and art are both excellent, and as a result Unmasked deserves a long look. Find it, and enjoy.
For more information check out http://www.facebook.com/l/8fd21;Michaelsarrao.blogspot.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- TECH STORM: RAGES OF WAR

Tech Storm: Rages of War
Art by Ryan Crouse
Written by Ryan Crouse
Star Verse Comics

While these reviews are generally an online exclusive of Yorkton This Week's Web Extra feature, since Ryan Crouse is a Yorkton-based creator, this is a review that is appearing both online and in the Sept. 23 edition of YTW.
Crouse is one of those business-minded young men who focuses on taking his talents as far as he can by strong marketing.
As a result of that philosophy Crouse's Star Verse Comics celebrated its 10th anniversary this summer. It doesn't matter how you slice it, but for a small indie comic label to make 10 years is rather amazing. That said Crouse markets his comics effectively through his small label with a website, and being active in supporting others doing what he is doing.
As a side note Crouse uses the same plan in promoting Iron Dragon his metal music effort with Sam Derkatch.
But, back to Tech Storm. The new release is the second of a two-part storyline called Rages of War, the first issue coming out ages ago, which of course is one thing that happens to indie creators doing everything themselves, and needing to hold a job to pay the bills. Getting books out in a timely fashion is hard.
You know it's been a while when the creator struggles to remember when the idea of Tech Storm first came to him.
“Honestly, I can't totally remember what inspired it originally,” he said. “It was probably something to do with watching a lot of the Star Wars Movies and GI JOE cartoons while I was growing up.”
In terms of real time Crouse said, “between issue one and two, I had them both written roughly 10-plus years ago!
“With that said, I began planning and sketching on this issue sometime in 2007, but with all the other side projects going on (The Iron Dragon CD, and inking for other companies around the globe), I kept putting it off to the side.”
As a result, it's a little bit of a challenge as a reader trying to jump back into the storyline after a lengthy hiatus.
That is not quite so difficult here because Crouse's storyline is a rather straight forward good versus evil conflict, and you realize the good guys to cheer for pretty quickly.
As a storyteller there are times Crouse repeats a bit, yes we get it that the big bad guy 'Death' has to be stopped. A few of the panels where that fact is reiterated in one way of another would have been better served expanding the story a little bit.
Crouse said the story did allow him to expand on many of the characters, such as Tech Storm, “you see more of what he is capable of in a combat situation,” he said. Adding with Death “you see more of his fury and rage and you also get to see how tough (he) really is!”
Ridor “takes more lead as he stays more off the battle field and more into the control base to help Tech Storm with tips and directions so to speak.”
There are a few places too where the lettering is just a bit small, or faded, and that tends to slow reading just a bit too.
When it comes to writing, Crouse said he really draws from within, rather than having a lot of outside influences.
“Well, I don't really have any 'big' influences, but I guess ones that helped me along the way would be ones such as Todd McFarlane, Gregory Wright (Original Deathlok Series), Frank Miller, Peter David, Warren Ellis, Chris Claremont, Stan Lee (of course), & J. Michael Straczynski,” he said. “I am probably missing a couple here.”
In the end though Crouse has planted a few seeds to create hooks for Tech Storm to return in new storylines.
Artistically, Crouse shows this is a hobby. The art has a rawness to it. He has the idea of a muscled body under control, but his faces, especially the mouths, are a work in progress. While not an artist, in interviewing many over the years, hands and mouths are two aspects of the human body which are a challenge.
While not the best-looking work, for a futuristic tale it works. Had the story been a passionate love story the art would have come up too-short.
Crouse said among pencilers he looks up to people like Todd McFarlane, Ian Churchill, Rob Liefeld, M.C. Wyman, Gary Frank, Walter McDaniel, Ed McGuinness, Greg Capullo, Jim Cheung, while among inkers others catch his eye including; Mike DeCarlo, Greg Adams, Todd McFarlane, Steve Rude, Tim Townsend, Don Hillsman II, Kevin Conrad.
Doing both the writing and art, I was curious which Crouse saw as the hardest part of the book's creation process?
“Well for me, I would have to say that they are both pretty even,” he said. “With the writing, you have all the research! For example, when I was working on Donar (another title he creates), I studied for hours on Norse Mythology, ancient symbols, languages, etc.
“When doing the art, it basically comes down to time, as in how long it will take to draw and ink. I have had a page take just an hour or two, and another page take over four hours - depending on the detail work that I am laying down.”
In the end, Crouse said he likes how issue #2 turned out.
“Expectation wise, I am very pleased with the turn out of this book,” he said. “Ian Shire of Dimestore Productions and Self Publishers Association (or SPA for short) ( http://www.dimestoreproductions.com ) did a great job making this my first comic book sized comic.”
While this is the end of the current story arc for Tech Storm, Crouse said the character will return.
“Since this was the conclusion of the 'Rages Of War' series, next will be Tech Storm #3 'Cyber Wars' (part 1),” he said. “I will not reveal how many parts the next installment will be, but I will tell you that it will look deeper into the internal conflict between Death and Cyberior.
“It will also be heading in a new direction based on what happened at the end of Issue #2 and the mysterious character at the end.”
Certainly for local comic fans, this should be a must to support a local creator and entrepreneur. I know I look forward to future works from Crouse.
You can check out the title at the Star Verse Comics website at - http://www.starverse.ca.
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra

Review -- R13

R13
Art by Daniel Bradford
Written by Thomas Hall
Blacklist Studios

When you go into a comic book store and see the shelves filled with titles, something has to attract your attention pretty quickly to draw you away from your familiar titles.
Credit Daniel Bradford for catching the reader's eye with the great cover art on issue #1 of R13. What comic book fan wouldn't be attracted to a giant octopus attacking a ship? Frightened men are seen on the deck. One poor sailor is wrapped in a huge tentacle.
And, in the middle of it all is R13, a robot, with a sort of steam punk, pulp-era look.
The result is a dramatic scene of battle that draws people to look at the book more closely. It's an excellent piece of cover art which does its job.
Flip through the pages, and Bradford's work continues to impress.
Whether a facial expression on a scared seaman, the cool look of the robot with its floating skull head, or larger panels of battle, the art is simply fantastic.
Bradford has a skill that reminds of Mike Mignola's Hellboy at times, and that is about as good as it gets in terms of comparison.
Bradford said Mignola has been a definite influence on his work.
“Absolutely. Mignola is a big influence,” he said, adding, “Stephen Gammell is a huge influence as well as Jae Lee, Jason Shawn Alexander, and Ashley Wood.”
As for inspiration, Bradford said that depends on the issue he is working on.
“It changes. The first issue was very inspired by Stephen Gammell, as well as a steady stream of the 'Mars Attacks!' theme playing in the background,” he said. “... The look of the book was pretty experimental for me as far as the colors go. I was really just making it up as I went along, ditching what didn't feel right, keeping what I thought was working and putting aside things that I thought was pretty cool but would work better in a later issue. So I was pretty nervous about how the book would be accepted artistically.”
Story wise, Thomas Hall has chosen a minimalist style for issue #1 of R13. There isn't a lot of words here, yet the sparing use of text, works.
Often comics today get knocked for relying on art, and forgetting to tell the story in words. Yet with R13, the action-oriented first issue really uses the art to tell the story. When you're looking at a giant octopus in battle, there are not a lot of words needed.
At the sane time, Hall's story leaves enough questions about the unique R13 that you want to read the next issue.
Hall said R13 came about by drawing from several things, include classic horror, to create the storyline.
“Robot 13 was inspired by a lot of things,” he said. “Some of it came from Daniel’s designs and the thoughts that I had when I saw them, and some of it was from things I read about when I did research. We got a bunch of ideas and really started talking about them, and once Daniel and I were pretty happy with the direction, I started writing.
“I was reading Frankenstein when the whole thing started, and some of that factored in, as did some discussions Daniel and I had about Greek Mythology.
“But in the end, everything we do usually builds from the back-and-forth of Daniel’s designs inspiring me and my writing giving Daniel ideas. All we ever care about is the end product. Neither one of us has too much of an ego when it comes to ideas… Sure, I write the script and Daniel does the art, but ideas come from both of us and we just want to do something extraordinary.”
The pair can feel good in the sense they have done just that creating an extraordinary comic.
In terms of influences as a writer, Hall said he has some in the comic world, and some of the world of literature.
“In terms of comics, I love guys like Allan Moore and Grant Morrison who write very literate comics,” he said. “It’s great to see someone take really wild, creative ideas and actually try to push their work into the realm of literature, rather than something more disposable. I also love the writing of Tom Sniegoski, because he takes the stories he writes for comics very seriously in their construction. That’s rare, to find someone who looks at everything like it was a novel when they are “just” doing comics.
“Outside of comics, I read mostly older writers like Edgar Allan Poe or Flannery O’Connor. Today’s writers don’t do too much for me. Maybe I was born in the wrong era, I am not sure, but I love the total reliance on words that people had back in the day. Bending them to do your will… most writers today don’t want to work that hard.”
Once the ideas firmed up, Bradford said they got them onto the page rather quickly.
“Once Thomas saw the robot designs he began work pretty quickly and started banging out script ideas before I even really knew what was going on,” he said. “I gave him some of my ideas, like all the villains and monsters originating from Greek mythology and a few other ideas that are still held pretty close to the chest for the time being, but this was really one of those things that triggered other ideas that were rolling around in his head at the time so he was able to get some pretty incredible background going real quick.”
Getting the book to print was a challenge but one the creators took on by launching their own comic book company with Blacklist Studios.
“From a business standpoint, Blacklist Studios is our baby,” said Hall. “We put up the capitol to start it, and we have been working diligently to get our books out and to do publicity and everything that is involved with publishing Robot 13. So on the one hand, there is nobody to tell us 'No' or to turn us down. We know that issue #2 is coming out and issue #3 will follow that. Nobody is 'firing' us, nobody is canceling our books or hiring another writer or artist instead of Daniel or I. We have that security.
“On the other hand, we don’t have a big corporate bank account behind us, so we have to be wise with our money and follow our business plan for the long haul. It’s not difficult, but it’s a lot of work and we have to take it all seriously.”
This is a story that catches attention. The art is as good as it gets. What more can you say. A great comic creation tandem at work here.
The creators say they are satisfied with the reaction to a book which they admit may not be very mainstream in a comic world dominated by superheroes.
“We felt that we had a pretty strong idea and concept from the beginning but we really didn't know what to expect once the book was introduced,” said Bradford. “We were floored, however, by the overwhelming response we'd gotten, which, of course, increased our nervousness about creating a successful book. Wowing readers from the beginning is great, keeping those readers hooked is even better but far more difficult.
The sentiment of success was echoed by Hall.
“I am very happy that people seem to connect with our book,” he said. “Robot 13 has some elements in it that aren’t the norm in comics, and we have tried to use images very poetically and I am looking to bring out a level in our characters which is a little more sensitive than people may be used to. I think readers have been waiting for that- something a bit deeper than typical action comics. So far that seems to be the case, anyway. We don’t take that for granted, either, because we consciously look to make each book better than the last.”
So what lies ahead for R13?
“Issue #2 brings with it a bit more mystery concerning Robot 13, and we see his personality brought out a bit as well,” said Hall. “Our Hero battles a Phoenix in that, and it’s quite amazing, especially in terms of the visuals. The ending of issue #2 is somewhat of a shock -- I obviously don’t want to give it away, but it will drive the series forward for some time to come. Beyond that, you have to wait and see, but I am pretty sure that fans of the first issue will really enjoy what we have in store.”
Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/l/25800;www.blackliststudios.com
-- CALVIN DANIELS
-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra