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