Rival Angels Season 3 Volume 2

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 3 Volume 2
Date: 2018
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley, Cale Ranots
Artist: Alan Evans, Cale Ranots
Colorist: Aaron Daly, Mabel Lim, Kay King

After 10 years without missing an update, the pro wrestling webcomic Rival Angels wrapped up with a massive cross-promotional storyline, collected in this final trade paperback volume.

Although multiple backstage storylines are wrapped up here, the wrestling really takes center stage, with a classic wrestling angle in the style of Kenny Omega's current cross-promotional reign in AEW, AAA, and Impact.

In the Rival Angels world, this kicks off with all four of the Upstarts buying front-row tickets when Japanese promotion BRA does a Chicago stop on their US tour. This serves to reignite storylines that were left behind when Sabrina Mancini left Japan at the end of Season 2, Volume 1.

A cross-promotional PPV is quickly organized, headlined by Olympic medalist Camille Cote challenging Yvonne Carmichel for the Rival Angels World Championship. And that's just the beginning of the final push that results in the emergence of a powerful new faction, and completes the journey of the Upstarts to the main event level.

The wrestling angles and matches are pretty much spot-on perfect here, and the interactions between Sabrina and Sun are a highlight, although all of the Upstarts get their moments.

There are also a few nice epilogues bits that take a look into the future, as well as a backup story by Cale Ranots that goes into the technical aspects of BJJ and catch wrestling in a training session.

Considering the epic journey of this series, this was a great conclusion that really showcased the creator's love of pro wrestling, and sent the fans home happy.

Rating: 9/10

The Crude Knight #4

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #4
Date: 2020
Publisher: Ryan Little / Plastic Sword Press (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

The zombie-like Avalon warriors of Merlin have control of the oil fields are besieging Jonathan's family home as they prepare for a final assault.

Much of this issue is setup for that upcoming final battle, but there is some good character development and a bit of extra backstory revealed by Jonathan and his father.

There is also a huge plot twist, with some excellent visuals and what is sure to be a gigantic impact on the conclusion of the story.

The story continues to be relatively contained and straightforward, and the pacing never lets up. This definitely had me excited to see how things will go down in the conclusion.

Rating: 8/10

The Crude Knight #3

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #3
Date: 2019
Publisher: Ryan Little / Plastic Sword Press (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

Merlin's rapidly-growing force has taken control of the Avalon Oil Fields while Jonathan, Maria, and their forces try to find a an effective way to attack. A contest of champions sees Maria take on the newly-reborn Sir Kay, but that only leads to further mayhem, and Merlin continues to hold the upper hand.

First of all, the action and fight scenes in this continue to be great, especially in Maria's fight with Sir Kay.

There is a thematic element here of persistence, the need to keep attacking and keep fighting in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and the theme gets pushed hard, especially in dialogue directed at Jonathan, who seem less sure, but may also be a bit more flexible in his thinking.

This does come somewhat at the expense of explanation of what Jonathan's father's actual strategy is here. The contest of champions is never really explained. What does either side gain if they win? It's not clear. It it just a setup to give Jonathan another chance at pulling the sword from the stone?

Likewise Merlin's dialogue shows a lot of righteous rage, but doesn't give much idea of exactly what his end-goal in all of this is.

This is where the very fast pacing of the story becomes, well, a double-edged sword. This was an enjoyable read with lots of fun action, but could have used a step back to make everyone's motivations a bit more clear.

Rating: 7/10

The Crude Knight #1

Review copy from the publisher.

Title: The Crude Knight
Issue: #1 (also includes #2)
Date: 2018
Publisher: Ryan Little (current Kickstarter for Crude Knight #4 is here)
Writer: Ryan Little
Artist: Yusuf Idris
Colorist: Nick Warner
Letterer: Nikki Powers
Editor: Cody Coloumbe

The Arthurian saga plays out in modern times on the Avalon Oil field, where every thirty years the sword Excalibur appears and must be melted down and thrown back into the oil to prevent the forces of Avalon from being unleashed on the world.

The heir to the Avalon oil empire is Jonathan Moore, capable, but a bit of a slacker. He's been kept in the dark about the family secrets, but things escalate quickly once the sword reappears and the first worker who approaches the weapon becomes possessed by the spirit of Merlin Ambrosius.

The concept here is clever, and the pacing of the story is great. Artist Yusuf Idris does a nice job with the action scenes, which quickly take on a zombie-apocalypse vibe as the Avalon oil turns anyone who touches it into a warrior of Avalon.

Jonathan's family has an army of hired mercenaries, but they are being quickly overrun, and Jonathan's friend Maria seems to be the only person capable of holding things together. Jonathan's oil-baron father provides some backstory but little guidance except for wanting Jonathan to pull the sword from the stone.

I would have liked to see more Arthurian lore incorporated into this, but the story still has time for that. This issue, which is really the first two issues of the story as a result of the Kickstarter stretch goal meeting its mark, does an excellent job of getting the story off to a fast start and never letting up on the action.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans, Keith Malkowski
Colorist: Aaron Daly

The Upstarts reunite as "Ultragirl" Sabrina Mancini returns to Rival Angels after her time in Japan. She returns just a Brooke gets booted out of Hell's Belles and saves the rest of the Upstarts from a beatdown. But even with the possibility of Brooke and Sabrina mending the rift between them, the Upstarts' show of unity with prove to be fleeting.

While the backstage soap opera was still a big part of this volume, the wrestling was the focus, particularly the build to the Bad Blood PPV event. This volume gave the best overview of the Rival Angels federation that we've seen so far, and the continuity and flow of many different subplots and storylines came together very nicely.

The ending was less directly focused on the Upstarts than it could have been, but it still marked a big moment for Rival Angels, and there was plenty of intriguing setup for the continuing story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Rival Angels Season 2 Volume 1

Part of a Kickstarter reward package.

Title: Rival Angels: Season 2 Volume 1
Date: 2014
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans
Colorist: Aaron Daly

Rookie wrestler Sabrina "Ultragirl" Mancini travels to Japan to join Tokyo-based Millennium Wrestling Association. She makes new friends, faces new and old rivals, and deals with the sexism of an organization in which womens wrestling is not a priority in spite of the talent of the womens roster.

The parallels to pre-"Womens Evolution" WWE are pretty clear, right down to the Hulk Hogan stand-in who serves as one of the sexist authority figures.

Sabrina's romantic plotline with Lightweight Champion Yoshihiro Yamamoto has some sweet moments, and the backstage intrigue involving various factions was complex enough to keep things interesting.

One thing that worked well here compared to previous volumes was the use of more of a rapid-fire highlights style to tell a bunch of wrestling stories in a small number of panels. I found it really effective in advancing plot, while saving the blow-by-blow action for a few important matches. Sabrina's full match with Black Widow was given the space it needed as a major event.

While I missed Krystin, who was back in Rival Angels and didn't appear in this volume, Sun got in a pretty awesome feel-good moment, along with some good character interaction.

The soap-opera cliffhanger was a classic cliche, but I am interested in seeing where the story goes next.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #4

Fourth of a set of issues bought from the creators' Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 4
Date: 2018
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

Ravenwood continues his preparations to enter the labyrinth while Ellision's demon creature begins its campaign against the guerilla forces of Seem.

This issue did a nice job mixing action with intrigue while advancing multiple plotlines. Some good backstory was provided along with a bit more insight about just how dangerous the labyrinth is.

Solid issue that kept me interested in the story.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #3

Third of a set of issues bought from the creators' Kickstarter.


Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 3
Date: 2018
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

Ravenwood continues to plan his expedition into the labyrinth while the Kalizarian forces prepare for their assault on Garrison Hadge with a new plan in place to deal with Seen and his troops, who have so far prevented every attempt at landing. And Cromwell finds Silvermain, who is deathly ill with the plague.

After what I felt was an issue that became a bit hard to follow in places, this one did a lot to improve the focus, even while continuing to juggle a large number of plotlines. This issue had some strong moments, and it built tension toward some major confrontations and revelations to come.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #2

Second of a set of issues bought from the creators' Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 2
Date: 2016
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

Review of the previous issue is here.

I have to be honest, this one was challenging to follow everything that was going on. The creative team's use of uncaptioned scene shifts in the middle of pages did not help matters. This is already a complex tale with a big cast, and I felt like the "Our tale thus far..." bit at the beginning could have done a better job of recapping some of the immediate setup for this issue's action.

That being said, the fact that there is a lot going on in this issue enhanced the epic feel of the story, and left me interested in seeing how the various threads would come together. There were a lot of great individual scenes as well, and a good mix between action and dialogue.

This issue could have used a bit more room to breathe, but there was no lack of advancement of plotlines, and I look forward to reading more.

Rating: 6/10

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #1

Another comic that I bought via Kickstarter.

Title: Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother
Issue: 1
Date: 2016
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Writer: Jose Calderon
Artist: Daphne Lage

I've previously reviewed the first five issues of the Tall Tales: Thieves' Quest series (my review of the fifth issue, with links to the reviews of the other four is here).

The anthropomorphic fantasy epic picks up with Ravenwood and his band of adventurers in the city of Azbeth, where a monster-infested labyrinth hides the enchanted healing water known as the Tears of Talis, the only hope to save a plague-stricken and besieged city.

Unfortunately, so far the labyrinth and its denizens have proven too much for Ravenwood's band. They convince him to try to find a guide, and he ends up with competing options.

That's the main plot, but this is loaded with subplots. This is not a great jumping-in point for those new to the series, and even I had a bit of trouble figuring out who is who, having only read five issues of the previous series. Still, the pacing is really good, and the intrigues and interactions definitely held my interest. By the end, I felt comfortable with the story, even if all of my questions had not been answered.

The artwork in this issue is especially fun when the giant monsters from the labyrinth show up.

Rating: 7/10

Rival Angels: Damsels of Destruction: Wrestling Maneuvers And Techniques Issue: Volume 2

Bought as part of a package from the creator's Kickstarter.

Title: Rival Angels: Damsels of Destruction: Wrestling Maneuvers And Techniques
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2014
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans

I reviewed the first volume of this supplementary minicomic series here, and this is basically more of the same. This is an all-artwork collection to accompany the Rival Angels webcomic and graphic novel series about four rookie women pro wrestlers.

This volume skips the commentary aside from a quick introduction, and lets the action speak for itself. There are some classic wrestling moves here, along with some less commonly seen ones, and a few of the more over-the-top gimmicky moves that fans will know from WWE.

The artwork is lovely, and it's fun seeing familiar characters from the series in action. This isn't really necessary as a part of the series, but it makes for a fun bonus item.

Rating: 6/10

Circadia #4

From the creator's Kickstarter.

Title: Circadia
Issue: 4
Date: 2018
Publisher: 36 Plums
Writer: Jennifer Dugan
Art: Sarah Simes
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover: J. Kiakas

Previous reviews of this series: issue #1, issue #2, issue #3.

Trapped on Earth with a horde of monsters in pursuit, Zara and Aderes seek out the mysterious fortune teller who has been watching Zara. The confrontation unravels more of the tragic events that left Zara caught between two worlds. When the monsters close in, a sacrifice must be made, setting up the next issue's climactic confrontation with the demonic Smoake.

The change in art styles felt a bit off at first (each issue of Circadia has a different artist), but Sarah Simes' renditions of the characters grew on me as the book progressed.

There was a bit too much of Aderes yelling at Zara to run, something that felt like it had been sorted out in the previous chapter, but there were also a lot of really intriguing revelations from the fortune teller, and some nice building of tension as Zara struggles with her devotion to Aderes and her fight for her own agency.

As far as I can tell, the fifth and final issue is not yet available, but I am very much looking forward to seeing how this all wraps up.

Rating: 7/10

Circadia #3

Third issue of a set of four that I got from the creator's Kickstarter.

Title: Circadia
Issue: 3
Date: 2018
Publisher: 36 Plums
Writer: Jennifer Dugan
Art: Jey Pawlik
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover: Olivia Stephens

My review of the first issue is here, and my review of the second issue is here.

Tara's dream lover from the dimension of Circadia has been transported back to Earth, and all they want to do is to get back to Circadia where the palace is under attack by the monstrous forces of Smoake.

But when Zara tries to transport them back, she discovers that it may be too late, and Smoake has sent some of his creatures back to attack them on Earth.

This chapter does a nice job of moving through Aderes' stranger-in-strange-land experiences and launching right back into the action.

Zara gets in a bunch of great lines here while Aderes does a lot of standing around wide-eyed. Fortunately the direction of the plot becomes more clear by the end of this issue.

The rotating artists used in the series can be a bit odd-seeming at first, but issue three artist Jey Pawlik is very quick to develop and really fun style for Zara. Aderes felt like a bit more of a departure from the previous issues, but by the end of this I was enjoying their look as well.

I would like to get a bit more insight into the villain as the series approaches its climax, but the interaction between Zara and Aderes continues to be a lot of fun.

Rating: 7.5/10

Circadia #2

Second issue of a set of four that I got from the creator's Kickstarter.

Title: Circadia
Issue: 2
Date: 2018
Publisher: 36 Plums
Writer: Jennifer Dugan
Art: MJ Erickson
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover: Eli Baumgartner

Review of the first issue is here.

Zara's double existence begins to unravel as she is transported to Circadia with her full set of memories from Earth.

Some of this chapter involves catching Zara up on things that have already become obvious to the reader, resulting in a lot of fairly predictable reactions. Fortunately, there are enough little revelations and plot twists thrown in to keep the story interesting.

It's also fun to see the role reversal as Zara asserts her own authority and becomes protective of Aderes against the Queen's anger.

The artwork, this time with MJ Erickson on art duties, continues to be lovely, especially the work on Zara in this issue.

Rating: 7.5/10

Circadia #1

I got this one from the creator's Kickstarter.

Title: Circadia
Issue: 1
Date: 2017
Publisher: 36 Plums
Writer: Jennifer Dugan
Art: Keezy Young
Colorist: MJ Erickson
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Cover: Jen Bartel

A dancer our world dreams of being a princess in the world of Circadia. She is a dancer there as well, but in Circadia, she is in love with the Queen's assassin, Aderes. But when Aderes begins questioning Zara's mysterious disappearances, two worlds begin to come together.

This book did a tremendous job of introducing the characters and worlds in a small number of pages. Zara's personality shines through in both versions of her character, and Aderes, the nonbinary lover of Zara's (maybe not) dream world is a good balance for Zara's romantic side, while still clearly sentimental in their own way.

The art is lovely, and the bits of worldbuilding we get, including a scary look at the villain, are very effective.

This was a very enjoyable read, and I'm glad I picked up the first four issues as a set. Looking forward to reading more!

Rating: 8.5/10

The Heavenly Bride Book Two

The second volume of Katrina Joyner's collected webcomic. I purchased both volumes by way of Kickstarter in 2016. My review of the first volume is here.

Title: The Heavenly Bride
Issue: Book Two
Publisher: The Writers of the Apocalypse
Date: 2016
Writer: Katrina Joyner
Artist: Katrina Joyner

The second volume of Katrina Joyner's collected webcomic, The Heavenly Bride, continues the entanglement between Lhung, a celestial dragon in human/vampire form, and Taus, a winged assassin in training.

This volume delivers quite a bit more plot than the first book in the series, and it introduces new characters while solidifying the worldbuilding. It also brings the tragedy of Lhung's vampiric nature to the fore, and provides the needed backstory for a better understanding of Taus' complex situation.

There is a sexual assault and the subsequent response to it that, while not show graphically, was an unpleasant sequence that also ventured into some overplayed tropes, but it does not remain a focus, and the story is able to move beyond it.

The setting becomes more fascinating as it is fleshed out, and the minor characters get a lot of development. This is a story with a lot going on, and I'm interested to see how it continues to develop.

Rating: 8.5/10

Xenoglyphs Volume 1

Writer Omar Spahi contacted me on twitter and asked me to give his Xenoglyphs graphic novel a look. There is currently a Kickstarter to fund the complete series running here.

Title: Xenoglyphs
Issue: Volume 1
Date: October, 2014
Publisher: OSSM Comics
Writer: Omar Spahi
Artist: PJ Catacutan
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Barbara Randall Kesel, Alex Wilson, Siike Donnelly

Trade paperback (I read the ebook version) collecting the first six issues of the Xenoglyphs comic series. The publisher is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund the complete series.

This was an interesting take on the idea of the heroes traveling the world to bring together some set of magical artifacts. In this story, the magical artifacts (the Xenoglyphs of the title) are scattered around the world, and the heroes are dedicated to keeping them scattered. It's the villain who's trying to bring them together.

Staff-wielding adventurer Steven James and his techie friend Dom Jenkins are Seperators, part of a legacy of protectors who have helped keep the Xenoglyphs hidden for centuries. The Xenoglyphs give their wielders elemental powers (with nine elements in this system), and could grand godlike abilities if brought together.

A villain calling himself Anubis is out to track down the Xenoglyphs, starting in the midst of the Arab Spring demonstrations in Egypt. Steven and Dom have arrived there to try to protect the Xenoglyph, and soon encounter Jennifer, another Seperator, who goes against Seperator tradition to make an alliance with them.

This story had excellent pacing, with an overall entertaining Indiana Jones kind of vibe. The worldbuilding was accomplished smoothly, and the action never slowed down. Fight scenes were fun and plentiful with all the characters getting their moments to shine. The villain had a great look and came off as suitably menacing.

I could have done with a few less cliches. At this point I cringe at phrases like "chosen one" and "master of evil". I would be happy to never again see a scene where the male hero warns a female character who has already proved herself to be a capable fighter to stay out of a fight out of concern for her safety (and by "concern for her stafety" here, we mean a combination of stupidity and sexism).

But that being said, there was a lot to really like here. Good dialogue, generally appealing characters, and even a couple of surprise plot twists and hints of future plot twists, especially toward the end of this collection. I think there is the potential for this to go in some really interesting directions as it continues, and in spite of a couple of bits that felt tired, this was generally a fun ride.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Chronicles of the Tal Nor Volume 1

This is a comic I backed on Kickstarter last year.

Title: The Chronicles of Tal Nor
Issue: Volume 1
Publisher: T. Perran Mitchell / 534 North
Date: November, 2015
Writer: T. Perran Mitchell
Artist: Kelsea Jewell
Letterer: T. Perran Mitchell
Cover: Rebecca Silver
Editor: Rose Petrecz

This is the variant edition with (lovely) cover art by Rebecca Silver.

The Tal Nor are an order of law-enforcers in the fantasy realms of Wynset. They function a bit like the Star Wars Jedi in that they are independent of politics and generally respected by all. Well, except by the bad guys.

In this case, the bad guys are some manner of humanoid creatures who have enslaved the population of a village and put them to work in a hidden mine. Tal Nor agent Sophie has located the captives and decides to take out the bad guys solo rather than waiting for backup. Bad idea.

Most of the rest of the book involves Sophie trying to get out of the trouble she's gotten herself into while her Tal Nor friends attempt to mount a rescue.

The action proceeds at a good crisp pace, and there's a nice flow to the dialogue. The characters' manner of speaking has a modern (as opposed to medieval fantasy) vibe, but what it lacks in flavor it makes up for in expressing the relationships between the characters and making them sympathetic.

Kelsea Jewell's watercolor artwork has some hard-to-follow moments, but it works well in the key spots where it needs to, and has a couple of really great scenes and sequences.

Writer T. Perran Mitchell isn't afraid to let Sophie take a beating, and she comes off a lot tougher in her vulnerability than she would if she were simply an invincible fighter. This story left me convinced that Sophie is tough, and made me want to cheer for her.

It will be interesting to see where this story goes from here. There was plenty of room left to expand on characters who had small parts in this first issue.

Rating: 7.5/10

Kay And P Volume 2

I saw Jackie Musto last week at MeCAF, but I actually picked up this book through Kickstarter.

Title: Kay And P
Issue: Volume 2
Date: 2014
Publisher: Jackie Musto
Writer: Jackie Musto
Artist: Jackie Musto

This trade paperback collects issues 6-10 of the comic, which, in turn reprints the webcomic version of the same story.

The story is about a young woman who lives with a talking skeleton that has been her companion since childhood and that only she can see. That's how things stand at the start of this volume, anyway.

Kay, an aspiring artist and music student, lives by a simple set of rules: "Don't call me your girlfriend. Don't leave your stuff at my place. And it's not anything serious." She has good friends, good conversations, and not enough time to get everything done.

Kay is also beginning to notice strange things around her, and not just the skeleton who's been her best friend since she was a kid.

Kay is an instantly engaging character with a great supporting cast, dialogue that flows naturally, and enough geeky qualities to make her interesting. P is the overprotective practical member of the team, and he has some great reactions to Kay's adventures, not to mention running snarky commentary.

This was fun all the way through. There were some interesting plot twists, including an absolutely awesome surprise ending.

I'd really only read this in bits and pieces online. I loved how nicely the story flowed when it was put together.

Clever and fun.

Rating: 8.5/10