DESPERADOES: Banners of Gold
Writer: Jeff Mariotte Artist: Jeremy Haun
Price: $3.99
In today’s comic market, there has been little room for Westerns. Mariotte and assorted artists have made some headway with this and the previous three books in the series. As such, I am happy to review this book because a diverse market is a stronger market. New readers bring money to the market and spend it. This story follows a shootist, Gideon Brood, and his assorted cast of friends and compadres. In this book, you find a mystery unraveling, and Brood and his posse are faced with having to help transport some folks to another area, and solve a growing problem of a madman, with a knife. I have no complaints here. The writing is rock solid and the art is equally worthwhile. I think the coloring adds to the mood, and I think Gideon Brood looks like my pal Beau Smith. So really, what was there for me not to like?
“When a genetically-enhanced band of terrorists overrun a secret weapons facility in Alaska, the fate of America - and the world - hangs in the balance. The future lies in the hands of infiltration expert Solid Snake, who must defeat the terrorists or die trying.” I cannot tell you if this book accurately depicts the events in the Konami series of games by the same title. I am certain, however, since it is IDW producing the work, that there is in fact a level of quality here that is rarely matched in the industry. The story is anything but linear, showing well the chaos that is battle. The writing and dialogue are able and interesting to me. But you all should know that when a book has Ashley Wood’s name upon it, that I am reading that title to see his storytelling and images. There seems three styles here, modernist abstract, photoreal and surreal. I like each style of image and while I think my reaction to Ash Wood doing a book of this sort was huh? it was never a complaint. Simply, I like Ash’s work so much and find it both challenging and worthwhile that it is easier to imagine him doing popbot or Automatic Kafka than this. I am glad to have been wrong however, and I would like to state that fans of Ashley Wood will not be disappointed by this work. I would not necessarily have read this without Ashley Wood’s involvement. Therefore, I appreciate his and Oprisko efforts, and I might well now pick up the video game. Looks like if, I am the test subject, the goal of this comic succeeded.
OLYMPUS HEIGHTS #1-5
By Kevin Munroe
$3.99
Monsters, a hunter of monsters, fun friends and situations and adventure. This title follows the hunt, as well as the life of the somewhat lovable boobish lead character. This book is a combination of genres and even mediums. It is not horror, it is not humor, it is not adventure. It is all of the above. It looks to be an animation style moreso than a comic style of illustration as well. The confluence of mediums allows the book to achieve certain story goals that I think it would otherwise not have. The animation style lightens the setting, and the mixture of genres allows Munroe to write and illustrate what could have been a dark, gritty, moody piece as light fun and somewhat cute. This book did not altogether work for me, but I know literally dozens of folks who it will work for. My taste aside, this is a smart worthwhile effort.
Press Release
February 7th, 2005 -- Cartoonist Jason Marcy announced today the creation of his new website, at www.JasonMarcy.com. The creator of the popular JAY'S DAYS series of autobiographical graphic novels maintains a Live Journal/blog and a daily journal comic strip, both of which are accessible right from JasonMarcy.com. In addition, readers will be able to keep up on the latest Jason Marcy news, buy his books, and stay on top of the latest in the life of the Oshawa, Ontario cartoonist. In addition to JAY'S DAYS, Jason Marcy has been a contributor to Comic Book Galaxy, a website focusing on opinions and criticism of comics and graphic novels. Galaxy editor Alan David Doane, who contributed to the design and implementation of the new site, said "Readers need a central place to go to find information about their favourite cartoonists, and Jason's new site will be that central area that he's needed for a while now. After JAY'S DAYS BOOK THREE, everybody knows Jay can hold his own with other popular autobio guys like James Kochalka and Joe Matt. So this site is designed to make it easy to find out what Jay's up to on a daily basis."
In addition to his comics career, Jason works as a pasta maker and caterer at a small shop in Oshawa, Ontario, and enjoys life with wife Kristine and their son Xander. In the coming year, Jason Marcy is planning to release a number of new projects, including JAY'S BOOK OF HATE, JAY'S DAYS BOOK FOUR, and an anthology with various writers and artists called MY DAY IN THE LIFE OF JAY. Even further, Jay plans an as-yet unnamedcollection of one page strips used to "warm up" before Jay's Days writing and drawing sessions, and a collection of the daily 365 Days With Jay strips. Questions about JasonMarcy.com can be directed to Jay@JasonMarcy.com or alandaviddoane@gmail.com.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Thanks to IDW Publishing for their product, and I particularly hope that readers will try out their books.
“Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer.” Plutarch
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