Do you share comics? If not why not? I got to read a bunch of comics when I lived with my best male pal in college and we both shared what we liked. Also my beloved brother in law and I shared comics and he and I still read them and talk about them. Now you do not always enjoy what your buddies read but you will never know if you do not try. Also I have a habit of buying any good series I find in the cheapo bins. Giving it to a potential fan means that I might grow the industry and perhaps have another friend to talk comics with. Here is a fun site for sharing comics and while I cannot guarantee all trades, I suspect you can have a lot of fun there. I lift my copies of Infinity Inc and Knights of Pendragon in tribute to my pals, Russ Stewart and Phil Wallace, you guys rock.
Once again this is a review column and I am thankful for all the comics submitted for review.
SAM HENDERSON’S MAGIC WHISTLE #9
WRITER/ARTIST: Sam Henderson
So a guy is trapped by a boulder and tells his dog to go and tell his wife help and that he loves her. The dog crosses country, moving heaven and earth and finally arrives to tell the wife, and explodes. He was an exploding dog you know. This is a funny collection of silly, slightly dirty but always amusing cartoon strips. Some are in color, and there is a bit of commentary by the artist. There is a great deal of laughs here, and if you like your comics a bit nutty and raunchy then check this out.
HI-HORSE OMNIBUS
Work by assorted talent
Edited by Arey, Arp, Reilly, & Som
I tend not to like Anthologies. It is rarely because of the assorted work, it is more about the compilation’s lack of focus. Unfortunately, I do not enjoy most compilations with a theme either. So I think that it is about the many hands at work that confuses/distracts me. There wasn't a stinker amongst the many stories here, and I did enjoy the Gabrielle Bell story a great deal. In this collection the many stories and themes including: sucked into the television, monsters, spending time with father, a search for a working bathroom, a stranded pirate, and the miserableness of quitting smoking. Hi-Horse introduces a new generation of 18 comics innovators here and I offer this work with my recommendations and an acknowledgment of my own limitations of the format of anthology.
TERRA OBSCURA TPB
WRITERS: Alan Moore & Peter Hogan
ARTIST: Yanick Paquette
The writer Alan Moore made it clear when working on his imprint ABC at Wildstorm when it was an imprint of IMAGE that his work while about super powered folks that it was neither cynical nor ironic. These were straight forward stories that had a strange newness about them. I say strange because Moore was able to write in the super hero genre without obeying the many clichés that riddle it. Terra Obscura is a story about the heroes of a counter earth who seek to stop the break down of the world’s technology due to a greatly powered magical being. This work evokes in homage the history of DC Comics super heroes and the infinite earths erased in the Crisis event of 1985 or there abouts. But beyond homage, this is a seriously excellent read. The dialogue and plot are top notch. The art has moments of brilliance but it is not to my taste in general. However that, this is good enough art, and beyond that this is a fine volume and I give it a large buy recommend.
From Moonstone Books:
MISTER MOTO #1 & 2
WRITER Rafael Nieves
ARTIST Tim Hamilton
My thesis for my master’s degree at North Dakota State University was in part about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War Two. And that era and situation is where this interesting work happens. Painted upon a tapestry of real history with some fine mastery of the feelings and facts Rafael Nieves might have hit the jackpot here with me. With moody art by Tim Hamilton that looks like a 40s noirish film this could have been a perfect work for me. But it is not. The writing and the art are both good and bad in stretches. The story is intriguing but not well told, both in dialogue and story progression. The art is evocative but not clear. So the weaknesses of both talents comes through and their talents are not altogether complimentary. I often had to wonder what had just happened and while I realize this is a mystery I should have enough facts to decide what happened and I did not. I liked it, actually a lot, but this is fairly rough.
REVIEW GRADES:
From DC/ABC:
TERRA OBSCURA TPB: A-
From Alternative Comics:
SAM HENDERSON’S MAGIC WHISTLE #9: B+
HI-HORSE OMNIBUS #1: B-
From Moonstone Books:
MISTER MOTO #1 & 2: C+
Alexander Ness
The Land Of Frost
Box 142
Rockford MN 55373-0142
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