Kickstart the Week, Preview: Peter Pan Comic

Renae De Liz is the illustrator of many gorgeous books, including The Last Unicorn and Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones. She was also the driving force behind the gloriously ambitious Womanthology. So you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled across her new gem of a project thanks to a random follower (@PeterPanComic) suddenly appearing on my twitter feed. (This is why I love twitter).

Renae has already begun the preliminary groundwork (and more) required to adapt the stories of J.M. Barrie’s enduring character, Peter Pan, into a full graphic novel. She has enlisted her husband, the similarly, fantastically talented Ray Dillon, on colouring/inking/lettering and design duties; and together they plan to rule the world! Or at least make a damn fine graphic novel worthy of your support.

You can find their official project blog, replete with sketches and character tags, HERE. And if you like what you see (why wouldn’t you?) you will want to bookmark it and keep a very close eye out for their impending Kickstarter project.

Naturally, I will be hyping this to the high heavens, but not just due to the talent involved. The initial character sketches and full colour images look wonderful. As a father, I would love to have a graphic novel of this quality to share with my kids. Still, even if I didn’t have my son and daughter to read this with, it promises to be a visually sumptuous adaptation of a timeless classic, and good art made with passion is always worth supporting.

Please, go and take a look for yourself. This won’t be the last time you’ll hear me mention it.

The Demon Cold & Dissassociative Thoughts

As mentioned above, I have a thoroughly horrific flu-type cold at the minute. Therefore, this will be relatively brief since looking at a screen of any size is causing my retinas to feel as though they’re catching fire.

Thought Cycle #1 – Cyber Force #1

The first issue of Top Cow’s C.F. Kickstarter arrived in my inbox this week. Look at how pretty it is:

Below are my initial impressions after my first full read-through:

Positives

• As shown above, the artwork and coloring in this is absolutely gorgeous,
• One of the central characters is a teenage girl, but – unlike a lot of independent comics out there – this wasn’t used by the artists as an excuse to draw perky young breasts bouncing all over the place as she ran. Even when the panel view was looking top-down on the characters. In fact, there seemed to be a concerted effort not to over-exaggerate any of the female characters in this way. I wasn’t overly surprised by this as the example art on the project page hadn’t shown any leaning toward, what I refer to as, the Zenescope style. But it was still heartening to see the female characters being used as fully rounded characters; rather than eye-candy/exposition tools.
• As noted above, the team working on this have absolutely delivered on the visuals. Each panel is crammed with detail, and it’s a non-stop ride from start to finish.

Minor Gripes

• Because this is a relaunch, of sorts, a lot of information had to be crammed into this issue for those readers unfamiliar with the original series. This is obviously to ensure that everything is set-up for the rest of the ride but, at times, the jumps in narrative were slightly disorienting. However, I believe that this will flow a lot better once the next couple of issues have expanded on the information packed into this first issue. This is a five-part series after all.
• This really is a minor gripe, though I’m sure that some people will agree with me here. In the opening sequence several in-world tech words are used, eg. Blinders and Mole. Given the context within which they are used (a chase sequence) these are obviously fairly standard bits of kit that the Shoc soldiers use. Therefore, the decision to put these words in “inverted commas” aka “quotation marks” every time they were mentioned by a character was entirely unnecessary. Personally, I felt that their use served only to detach the reader from full immersion into the C.F. world. At least it did for me. Like I said, this is a minor, and very person specific, gripe.

Overall, this was an excellent start to the series and, minor gripes aside, I’m very much looking forward to issue 2. You can order your copy, and read a bit more background on the C.F. universe, over at Top Cow’s official page.

Thought Cycle #2 – Arrow

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that interested when this was first announced. In fact, I was so disinterested that I didn’t even follow the multiple production updates, set pics and poster releases for it. Justin Hartley did a fine (if somewhat sanitised) job of bringing Oliver Queen to the small screen in Smallville. But, Smallville aside, I’ve never really been that interested in the Green Arrow as a character. Being more of a Marvel fan, Clint Barton and, laterly, Kate Bishop have been my go to characters when it comes to archery grounded superheroes. Still, I decided to give it a go and I’m glad I did.

The pilot was an excellent introduction to the character, played here by Stephen Amell. From the raw opening, which had Oliver racing, bare-foot, through woods and over cliffs to signal a passing ship to rescue him from the island he had been stranded on for five years. To his solo assault on a heavily fortified high-rise office back in the city; the frenetic action associated with this character was conveyed perfectly. Some reviewers have complained that there has not been a clear enough explanation as to why Oliver feels compelled to go down the vigilante route once he gets home, but I disagree.

Whilst it wasn’t overly explained, there was enough alluded to in the flashbacks to suggest that Oliver’s dad imparted quite a bit of information to him before he was stranded. Oh yes, that’s right, he was stranded – FOR FIVE YEARS. One would assume that, as well as using those five years to teach himself Russian and become a self-taught archery expert, he probably had the time to figure out quite a bit from his father’s notebook. The same notebook that he keeps in the case with the bow. The bow that doesn’t look like it was fashioned on an island in the middle of nowhere.

The character’s previous playboy lifestyle is also on display, even more-so than it was in Smallville, which rarely shied away from showing Mr Queen as a hedonisitic, womaniser on par with Marvel’s, Tony Stark.

Ultimately, this was a great pilot. The supporting cast were played well, though the inclusion of Oliver’s best friend, Tommy, did at times feel rather stilted. The stand-outs from the extended cast were, Paul Blackthorne, as DT Quentin Laurel, and Susanna Thompson, as Oliver’s mother, Moira Queen. Again, some reviewers were dissappointed by Katie Cassidy’s portrayal of Laurel Lance, Oliver’s ex-girlfriend. But in all honesty she wasn’t given a fantastic amount to do here, and I was left with the impression that she will become a lot more important as the series progresses.

As pilots go, this one worked. I’m looking forward to catching up on the second episode, just as soon as this vile cold has been exorcised from my system by the fire behind my eyes.

Discombobulation //K.T.W./Announcement/Comics/Other//

I have been neglecting this blog for the last week due to a confluence of events that are far too boring to go into here. Suffice to say, there is no full K.T.W. to speak of. However, you should definitely go and check out, Lust, the new comic project by Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Fell, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse), Menton3 (MONOCYTE, Silent Hill: Past Life) and Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Iron Spirit). You also still have time to back the Plume Miniseries for the next four days.

In other news, the short comic I wrote for the wonderfully talented Donya Todd will be available *FOR FREE* in the next twenty-four hours. Links will be made available once it goes live, but I don’t think I’ll be spoiling anything by posting the title:

For the comic lovers among you, I also suggest you pick up the following from the last couple of weeks:

Captain Marvel #4 Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy. [If you’ve read this blog before, you know about these guys already.]
Ghost #0 – Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Noto (Angel & Faith, X-23).
Happy #1 – Grant Morrison (Wyrd Comics Deity) and Darrick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, The Boys).

You can also find some good, but #SPOILER#-y reviews of Ghost and Happy over on Ariellalphabet’s blog.

For Ghost – go here.
For Happy – go here.

Why am I promoting another blog? Hmmm, well:

1) It’s Good, dammit!
2) The twitter suggestion to pick up Ghost? Yeah, that was me. It’s always nice to see someone actually listen to a suggestion, and it’s even better when they feel compelled to write a review because they enjoyed the thing you suggested.
3) Being nice is pretty awesome.

Anyway, I’ll throw a link up for The Demise of Horatio Lovemuscle when it goes live.

Until then you should probably liven up your day by reading Warren Ellis‘ (Tech-Wyrd Comics Deity) latest column for VICE:

Your God Is Not Strong – which reflects on the abuse of freedom of speech & expression stemming from the provocation of religious hysteria by a certain immoral (and non-religious) political group.

Kickstart The Week [Fast Sell Edition]: Project Eternity

As it says, this week is a quick one (again) thanks to my computer deciding it’s still do-everything-at-1000th-normal-speed day.

However, the project we shall be glancing at sells itself very nicely without call for lots of text. So much so in fact that…

IS ALREADY FULLY FUNDED!

With 29 Days to go!

So the only real questions to ask are:

1. Do you like RPGs like Baldur’s Gate, Fallout(s) 1 & 2 and Icewind Dale?
2. Are you excited at the prospect of owning a brand new RPG developed by creators and designers involved in creating the games listed above?

If your answer is a resounding YES then this is the project for you.

THE project.

Obsidian Entertainment‘s Project Eternity is an absolute must for fans of the distinctive RPG visual style created by the, BioWare developed, infinity engine. Though it will be running on a newer engine this will look, and play, like the RPGs you first honed your adventuring skills on. In non-gamer terms, this is a brand new RPG being made in the classic western RPG style. Not just by fans of the style, but by people who created and worked on several of the classics this game (visually) harks back to.

Thematically, this is going to be a fantasy RPG based in a world where magic is prevalent. So it’s not going to be another post-apocalyptic wasteland scenario. Fallout’s been done already. These guys did it. You will gather your companions as you travel around the world and they will grow with you. You won’t be alone for too long and figuring out how best to configure and utilise your party members will be vital to your progress. Whilst a lot of the specifics are being kept under lock and key, a quick viewing of the project trailer will offer you more of an idea as to whether this will suit your RPG-ing needs.

If this short (it took me half-an-hour to write these two minutes of text! *grumblegrumble*) description has whetted your appetite, you should definitely – GO TO THE PROJECT PAGE – and watch the video mentioned above. Also, read the text, look at the designs and click on all the links.

This is going to be something special for fans of this style of RPG and you will not want to miss out. Especially when you can get digital downloads (via Steam) of the full game, its soundtrack and the collectors book – which features concept art, the main handbook, monster manual and more – at the $35 pledge mark alone.

Go and check out Obsidian’s main page, as well as the project page, for even more updates.

Honestly, I’m so hyped for this project that I’m even considering throwing out this termite-infested hunk of junk and getting a new…

K.T.W. – The List of Three

Ladies and gentlemen, this week’s K.T.W. is – A list of three small projects I rather fancy.

As always, links to the project pages are provided along with a short synopsis of each. But, since I still have a lot to catch up on, I’ve kept the comment to a minimum. There are no favorites here (apart from all of them) so please disregard the numbering, it is for convenience only:

#1 – Batbean: Stories About Superhero Vegetables

Synopsis: A book for young children designed to get them interested in vegetables and healthy eating. The adventures of Batbean follows a winged bean (they actually exist!) in its fight against Mega Corp., which is headed by the evil mastermind Mr Free Radical!

You can read the first book, for free, at www.batbean.com. This kickstarter is to fund the printing of a physical collection of the first three books in the series as well as the e-pub of the third book.

Blog link: Here.

Project Link: Batbean

#2 – PLUME: Help K. Lynn Smith print a 5 issue mini-series

Synopsis: What it says in the title. K. Lynn Smith, creator of the web-comic, Plume [official site, here] has come back to kickstarter, after her previous success to fund a new Plume project. This time she is looking for funding for a new five-part mini-series. Plume is a Western/fantasy comic set in the early 1900’s… but not our early 1900’s. Just go to the official site and take a look for yourself. Rewards vary quite a bit and, if you’re outside the US, remember to read the $10 pledge for details on what you need to add for shipping costs at all levels. Though a digital option is also available at the $15 mark.

Fall in love with the web-comic: Here.

Back the new project: Here.

#3 – Detective Honeybear: An all ages mystery comic.

Synopsis: It’s a noir with a honey-obsessed bear detective. Seriously. Look at the picture if you don’t believe me. Oh, it’s also written by the guy that wrote, Thor and the Warriors Four. He also does a lot of other stuff, but we won’t go into that here. You can find out about him, and the rest of the project, in the video on the project page (link below). As with Plume, Detective Honeybear can already be found online in the eleven page comic: Detective Honeybear and the Case of the Curious Cap. Go and read it!

Detective Honeybear and the Case of the Curious Cap: Is HERE.

The Project Page: Is HERE.

Finally, here are some images from these projects that I couldn’t fit in above:

Kickstart The Week: Bittersweet Candy Bowl

In this week’s K.T.W. we’ll be looking at the Kickstarter to print the second collection (and more) of the web comic, Bittersweet Candy Bowl.

Let’s get straight to the point: Bittersweet Candy Bowl is a web comic about a group of cats going through high school, and life, just trying to figure it out. It’s that complex. If you have a thing against cats or reading stories to be entertained, walk away now. Actually, don’t. You’ll be missing out.

Mistletoe’d

Whilst it may not immediately grab you with a complex pitch, this is a funny little comic that is using the KS format to cater to its pre-existing, and sizable, fan base. Which, to be honest, is exactly what Kickstarter and other, similar, sites are there for.

This is not a project that has just been thrown together and put up for funding in the vain hope that it might strike a chord with enough people to become a success. Bittersweet Candy Bowl is already a huge success in its own right. The majority of people supporting this project will already be familiar with these characters and their history and, really, that’s the point.

By using Kickstarter to fund and print the second, physical, volume of BCB, Veronica Vera (creator/writer/artist) and her partner, Oliver (writing/editing/business) are able to offer their fans a variety of bonuses they wouldn’t get using a traditional distribution method. It also gives the fans a practical way to support a comic they already love, and invites them to help contribute to part of the story’s publishing history.

Both Books (as shown on the project page).

Personally, I like the web-comic. It regularly amuses me and, as a fan, being able to contribute a bit to something I enjoy seems like a worthwhile thing to do. I would definitely recommend other fans support this project, even if your just pitching in at the $5 entry level. But that’s enough from me. The project still has 25 days left to go (as of 27/08/2012), so if you’re not familiar with the comic but do like,

a) Cats,

b) Comics,

c) A good story with plenty of humor as well as moments of genuine pathos,

then you have plenty of time to go and – 

CATCH UP ON THE ENTIRE FIRST VOLUME

before making an informed decision.

The actual project page, which contains full reward & shipping details,  can be found: HERE.

And – in case you managed to avoid every other link in this article – the web comic, replete with archives, forums, a store and a fuller history of the comic itself, can be found: HERE. So go and take a look!

 

All images used in this entry were created by Veronica Vera, and are © to her 2006–2012. You can also see further examples of her other artwork over on her deviantArt page (here).

Kickstart The Week: Hero Party

I have to be completely honest with you. I had no idea who Marcelo Cassaro and Erica Horito (née Awano) were before I stumbled across their latest project, Hero Party. At least, I thought I didn’t. I have since learned that I am much better at remembering images and projects than I am the names of their creators. However, some quick research not only jogged my memory, but revealed to me a slew of facts to back up my initial, gut-instinct to feature this project as the subject of this installment of KTW.

Still, before we get to the author and artist’s impressive credentials, let’s take a quick look at some sketches:

Hero Party – Promo Sketch In Progress

Hero Party – Promo, Final Sketch

The purpose of the Hero Party kickstarter project is to raise funds for the, 48-page, first issue of a new, on-going, manga-style comic set in a fantasy-adventure world. The world and central premise of the comic itself are fairly typical of traditional, sword and sorcery style RPGs, such as Dungeons & Dragons. There are dragons, fiends, treasure and, of course, the intrepid adventurers. The twist here being that, in this world, in order to go hunting for the Dragon’s treasure (known as, the hoard) all adventurers have to belong to a legally authorised – you guessed it – Hero Party.

What is a Hero Party? Well, essentially, it’s the fantasy-adventure version of the Leverage team. You’ve got to have your Defender, Striker, Healer and Wizard, and if you’re not part of an H.P. you’re not allowed into the vast tunnel complexes where the dragons live to hunt for the hoard.

So sayeth the Law of Dungeons.

The tunnels have even got massive, demon-guarded, doors to prevent unauthorised adventurers from charging to their doom alone:

“You shall not pass!”

So far, so familiar. But, apart from the obvious visual appeal of the artwork, you’re probably still wondering why you should be interested in this particular Manga-RPG comic over the hundreds of others out there.

This is where some quick research pays-off – observe.

The writer of Hero Party is Marcello Cassaro. As I’ve said above, the name wasn’t immediately known to me, until I read his author page and realised I was already familiar with some of his previous work. Mr Cassaro was the creator of, Dragão Brasil, which was an incredibly successful RPG-focused magazine in his native Brazil that also generated quite a buzz over in the US and Europe.

He has also been involved in the creation of several other RPG projects and comics that you can read all about over at the – About Us – page on the Hero Party website. However, Cassaro is probably best known, outside of Brazil, for co-creating the comic series, Holy Avenger, which itself spun out of a short D & D campaign he originally wrote for, and published in, Dragão Brasil.

Holy Avenger – Issues #22 – #24
Cover art by Erica Horita (née Awano)

In fact, Holy Avenger is rather significant when considering the pedigree behind Hero Party as it also features the artwork of Erica Horita, who is illustrating this new project.

Erica has previously provided art for a large variety of RPG books as well as doing a lot of freelance illustration. She also co-founded Kanetsu Press, which published The Iron Maiden a, five issue, mini-series of the, Ethora comic.

Ethora – #4 Cover Image

Having read through both the project and official Hero Party pages, and having looked back at these creator’s previous works, I think that this could be a rather neat prospect. However, it is important to note – as mentioned at the top of the project page – this comic will be printed in black and white. There will be a full-color cover, but the comic itself will be in black and white only. Not that it will bother many Manga fans, but some, more mainstream, comic enthusiasts are prone to getting hot and bothered over these things and may miss this vital information if they are only skim reading.

Additionally, please take careful note of the shipping restrictions on the $20 and $25 reward tiers. Again, anyone seriously considering contributing to this project should be checking these things for themselves. However, as I am highlighting the project for your consideration, I do feel obligated to provide you with as much information as possible.

Hero Party – Full Color Cover

To read more about Hero Party and its creators, please check out the kickstarter project page and official site. I definitely recommend you take a look at the official site if you are still unsure as it features a rather nice Gallery where you will find more sketches and drawings of the Hero Party themselves.

The creators will also be available at New York Comic Con, which runs from October 11th – 14th at the Javits Center, NY.

Kickstart The Week: The Cartooon Art of Mike Deodato, Jr Vol. 1

Those of you that drop by fairly regularly may remember that I posted – this image – a couple of weeks ago. This week the KTW spot-light falls on a new project being launched by the artist behind that image, Mike Deodato, Jr.

The Cartoon Art of Mike Deodateo, Jr is a project that will collect together, for the first time, some of the more personal – non-superhero related – work of the well known, and prolific, comic-book artist. The cartoons set to be included in this volume were originally drawn as greeting cards for family members and friends over several years. As well as being markedly different from his work for Marvel, DC, Image, – et al – these cartoons reveal a warmth and humor reminiscent of classic newspaper strips like Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts.

If you’re a fan of the artist, then this book will show you a side of the man, and his craft, you won’t usually get a chance to see. Moreover, whilst the strips are quite personal, those show-cased over at the kickstarter project page illustrate a style and tone much easier for a wider audience to relate to. A characteristic that is, unfortunately, not widely shared by many projects currently out there by fan-favorite comic artists and writers.

If you are a fan of the artist’s previous comic work, or if you just fancy seeing something good natured and fun, take a look at this project. If the couple of strips I’ve included here haven’t quite won you over, a quick look at the home-video promo – shot by, Paula, Mr Deodato’s wife – may well change your mind.

Overall, this is a fun little project and I strongly urge you to take a few minutes to go and have a look for yourself.

All images in this post ©  Mike Deodato, Jr.

Gail Simone & Jim Calafiore are Leaving Megalopolis. With your help!

Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, Batgirl) and Jim Calafiore (Exiles, Batgirl, Batman: Gotham Underground) have teamed up again for the first time since their universally acclaimed Secret Six series to create a brand new, 80-page, graphic novel.

Leaving Megalopolis is a, creator-owned, survival horror comic set in, “a superhero universe gone horribly wrong.” The story follows the trials and horrors faced by a small band of survivors as they struggle to deal with the fallout created when their former saviors turn against the city they once protected. Both creators have stated that this book is going to be dark and as much about the individual character’s struggles with their personal demons as it is about escaping the terrifying wrath of their fallen heroes.

Leaving Megalopolis will be exclusive to Kickstarter, which means that if you want to own a copy of this book you’ll need to get over to their project page and pledge your support. Today is just the first day of fund raising and, as of 8:00pm GMT (12:00pm PDT), the project is already close to surpassing the half-way mark for funding.

Whether you are already a committed fan of Gail and Jim’s previous work, or just hearing about them for the first time. If you like comics told with passion and style, this is one project you definitely won’t want to miss out on.

You can find more updates on this, as well as other projects, direct from Gail over on her twitter feed and Tumblr.

Jim can be found over at his website where you will also find more examples of his wonderful artwork.

All images in this post are the property of Jim Calafiore and Gail Simone from the up-coming, creator-owned, graphic novel, Leaving Megalopolis.

Kickstart The Week: Molly Danger

Welcome to Kickstart The Week, the first in a new series of weekly articles to appear, right here. At the beginning of each week I will focus on one or two different projects that have caught my attention. I make absolutely no claims that these recommendations will not be completely biased by my opinion. In fact, that’s the point. These will be projects that I believe deserve your support and I will use this space, every week, to promote them. I will also include updates on prior, successful, projects promoted here.

Now, to business. Please give a warm welcome to your new hero, and mine:

Molly Danger is the creation of artist, Jamal Igle, most widely known for his work on Supergirl, as well as other high profile work on the DC properties, Firestorm and Nightwing. He also co-created the character, Venture, published in his own series by Image comics, which ran for four issues in 2003.

Synopsis.

Molly Danger is a, super-powered, ten year old girl who has been protecting the town of, Coopersville for the past twenty years. She fights, and regularly beats, the Supermechs – a team of cybernetically enhanced beings. But really, she just wants a normal life. She believes that she is an alien whose family died after crash landing on Earth, leaving her all alone. She believes she is the last of her kind. The truth of the matter is that she doesn’t really know, and what she thinks she knows is, most likely, wrong. The first book, which is what this project encompasses, introduces several new characters into Molly’s world, and it is these new friendships that will change her life, forever.

Why should you be interested (aka, why do I care)?

This project appeals to me for a number of reasons, but to make it simple, here are the main two:

Firstly, Jamal’s artwork is incredible, just take a look. Having read some of the comics he has worked on previously I know that, at the very least, the final product will be visually pleasing and a nice addition to my comic collection.

Secondly, and, in my eyes at least, more importantly, this is a comic I will be able to share with my young daughter. How can I be so sure? Well, other than it being centered on a, possibly, immortal ten-year old girl. In his pitch, Jamal voices a familiar sentiment regarding the current state of comics. Rather than paraphrasing, I feel it is best that you read what he has to say for yourself:

“In  2008 I became the artist of the comic book series, Supergirl and something became very clear to me. Whenever I would talk to fans, two things kept coming up. One was the lack of all ages’ material in the U.S. Comics market. The second was the lack of female heroes who weren’t an offshoot of a male hero or weren’t sexually exploitive. That’s when the seed really began to take root again and why I’m now attempting this massive undertaking.”

– Excerpt from the Molly Danger kickstarter page.

In a post DC 52 Catwoman/Red Hood & the Outlaws age, I believe that supporting a project with a strong female lead that,

a) Isn’t always half-naked,

b) Constantly having sex with, or otherwise being commanded by, every male character she meets,

and

c) Can be read by, and inspiring to, my Daughter,

is a very worthwhile cause indeed.

I used to love Catwoman. Selina Kyle was smart, daring and effortlessly cool. But there isn’t a chance in hell that I would let my daughter read the new DC 52 run, and I find that sad. But that’s a topic we’ll discuss again in the (not to distant) future.

This is about Molly.

If you’re not convinced yet, please go and take a look at the Official Molly Danger Kickstarter page. You will find a lot more information there, as well as more character, and page, sketches and artwork.

In conclusion, if you’re looking to support the future of comics, you will find few opportunities as promising as this. And, for those sceptics among you that don’t believe I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is:

 

I can’t wait to meet Molly.