My Escape

I picked up a surprising amount of comics at the National Conference on Science Education this past week, but I am still also doing reviews of some of the books I brought home from Anime Boston. This one comes from a person I've had the pleasure of working with on some of my own comics.

Title: My Escape
Publisher: Missy Pena
Writer: Missy Pena
Artist: Missy Pena

Artist Missy Pena describes this 40-page full-color sketchbook as "a collection of sketches done in my free time, whenever I felt like I needed an escape from the real world." My Escape is a full color journey told in characters, setting, fashion, and magic.

In between the artwork, Missy give short insights into her techniques, her influences, roleplaying games, and fan art.The artwork features original characters with a bit of fanart from Legend of Korra and Assassin's Creed.

This is a beautiful book, and a great celebration of fantasy as a genre, and of the look and style of the fantastical.

Rating: 8.5/10

Physics Quest 2008: Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair

I attend a lot of Geeky conventions, but only a few are specifically related to my day job. This week, I attended one such event. The National Science Teachers Association was in Boston this week hosting their National Conference on Science Education. In addition to getting to do workshops with companies like Flinn, Carolina, Vernier, and Texas Instruments, and attending lectures by Bill Nye and actress/neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, I got to wander the huge exhibitors hall and collect a couple of bags worth of samples and freebies. You can read more of my adventures at the convention here.

Among the goodies I brought home were several comics, which I'll be reviewing here in addition to the remaining items I picked up at Anime Boston.

Title: Physics Quest 2008: Nikola Tesla and the Electric Fair
Publisher: American Physical Society
Date: 2008
Writer: Rebecca Thompson-Flagg, Christopher DiScenza, Justin Reeder, Kerry G. Johnson
Artist: Kerry G. Johnson
Editor: Alan Chodos

Designed as a middle-school level introduction to the work of Nikola Tesla, this comic begins with Tesla's arrival in America and his early work with Thomas Edison's company. After Tesla's falling out with Edison, Tesla eventually finds himself employed by Edison's great rival, George Westinghouse Jr. The "Current War" between Westinghouse and Edison would eventually decide whether America would be lit by alternating or direct current, and the decisive battle over the two competing systems would be fought at the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago.

While the story, by necessity, leaves out many aspects of Tesla's life and work, it does a nice job of presenting a cohesive story that introduces some important ideas about electricity, whirl introducing readers to several of the interesting historical figures of the late 19th Century. Mark Twain even makes an appearance.

Simplifies for the target audience, but still a good piece of science history that should get a smile out of steampunk enthusiasts as well.

Rating: 7.5/10

Lost Nova: Ghillies And Bastards

A traditional-format comic I picked up at Anime Boston.

Title: Lost Nova: Ghillies And Bastards
Publisher: Lost Nova
Writer: Stephanie B.
Artist: Stephanie B.

This is the second volume of Lost Nova, collecting the webcomic of the same name.

Pyrena heads to sea with Vera, but very quickly comes to doubt her decision to run away from home, especially as the crew of the ship that will be her new home begin to make their first impressions.

Once again, I really enjoyed this story, particularly for the pacing and the character development. Pyrena's moments of doubt and panic ring true, and the crew of the Odalisque are quirky and fun. Pyrena has great expressions and reactions to what she sees and experiences.

This is still in the early stages plot-wise, but the potential is there for it to be a wonderful nautical-flavored epic.

Rating: 8/10

Ladies of Literature Volume 1

I picked this book up in artists alley at Anime Boston. Technically an art zine, rather than a comic. Reviewing it anyway.

Title: Ladies of Literature
Issue: Volume 1
Publisher: Arielle Jovellanos
Date: 2013
Editor: Arielle Jovellanos, Janet Sung
Artist: Trung Le Nguyen, Amanda Scurti, Yssa Badiola, Alex Bahena, Grace Fong, Karina McBeth, Laura MacMahon, Kirsten Sjursen-Lien, Pablo Leon, Xiao Li, Erica Chan, Katrina Richter, Andy Lee, Abigail Malate, Chantal El-Bikai, Viktoria Ridzel, Rachel Royale, Jackie Yang, Jenny Xu, Desiree Surjadi, Michelle Hiraishi, Penny Candy Studios, Lily Pfaff, Lily Luo, Brigid Vaughn, Kristen Acampora, Amelia Chia, Grisselle Rivera, Diana Huh, Katy Farina, Janet Sung, Kristen Davis, Emily Ho, Arielle Jovellanos, Ava Nguyen
Cover Lettering: Paulina Ho

 This is a benefit zine collecting artists' interpretation of, well, exactly what the title suggests: Female characters (and a few female authors) of all genres of literature.

I loved the diversity of the characters covered here. Everything from Greek mythology to Shakespeare to Jane Austen to current hits like The Hunger Games and Harry Potter to childrens books. It was particularly awesome to find some of Tamora Pierce's characters here. There was a character from Battle Royale, and the same artist also did a character from one of the Animorphs books. Other authors represented included Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, C.S. Lewis, Hans Christian Andersen, Phillip Pullman, Roald Dahl, Sue Monk Kidd, and Diana Wynne Jones.

The interpretations showed a great diversity of styles, and were a lot of fun to see.

I loved so many of these, but Katy Farina's rendition of Molly Weasley was completely made of win. A couple of other favorites were Katniss Everdeen by Laura MacMahon, the characters from Tamora Pierce's Tortall books by Grace Fong, and Virginia Woolf's Orlando as depicted by Kristen Davis.

This was a lovely book and I look forward to the second volume.

Rating: 8/5/10

Rival Angels: Rookie Year Volume 3

I'm reviewing live from Anime Boston 2014! Sitting here at my table in Artists Alley (Table #43 if you're at the con! Come up and check out our comics!), while I review the first of several items I've purchased here at the con.

Title: Rival Angels: Rookie Year Volume 3
Date: 2011
Publisher: Rival Angels
Writer: Alan Evans, Justin Riley
Artist: Alan Evans, Lora Innes
Colorist: Dustin Yee, Aaron Daly
Cover: Lora Innes
Back Cover: Sarah Ellerton

This is the third trade paperback collection from the Rival Angels webcomic, which tells the stories of four women trying to make names for themselves in a WWE-style womens pro wrestling league.

The focus of this volume is on the frie
ndship between babyface rookie Sabrina Mancini and rookie heel Sun "Lil Dragon" Wong. When Sun joins heel faction Damage Inc., their friendship gets strained to the breaking point.

In the ring, the "main event" of this volume is Sabrina's semi-final match in the ongoing Television Championship tournament and the continuation of Sabrina's feud with Chloe DeSade's Hell's Belles group.

As with the first two volumes, writer/artist Alan Evans's love and knowledge of pro wrestling shines through with tons of familiar moves, classic wrestling tropes, and a good sense of match pacing and booking. I also enjoyed the geeky references and one-liners in the dialogue.

This volume also does a lot of work expanding the subplots happening both in the ring and outside. There is a lot going on here, and it sets up plenty of future twists and turns.

Rating: 8/10

Spider-Man, Storm, And Power Man

Public service comic from the 1980s. From the backlog. No idea where I picked this one up.

Title: Spider-Man, Storm, And Power Man
Date: 1982
Publisher: Marvel Comics, American Cancer Society

This is a public service comic co-published by Marvel and the American Cancer Society as part of an anti-teen-smoking campaign.

Before I get further into the review, let me mention that none of the creative team on the book are credited, which is something I absolutely hate to see. Fortunately, this isn't as common now, but it is still worth mentioning. There wouldn't be a comic without writers and artists. Is it really that difficult to spare a bit of space to give them credit? Stan Lee's name still manages to get prominently featured, of course.

On an unrelated note, why is it that Spider-Man's name has a hyphen but Power Man's doesn't? Just wondering.

So, on to the story. Bret, a star track athlete, has fallen in with a bad crowd and picked up some bad habits, including smoking cigartettes. Luke Cage is the volunteer coach for Bret's team and there is a big relay race coming up.

Cage is concerned about the group that is influencing Bret and follows him to the local hangout where some fairly stereotypical mobsters are engaged in mobster type activities. Spider-Man and Storm get involved. I am guessing that this is happening on a week when Galactus and Magneto are not, in fact, threatening the world, and there are no major Marvel crossover events going on.

Storm finds the secret lair of the bad guys and is immediately knocked out and captured by their supervillain leader Smokescreen (yeah, you had to know that there was going to be a goofy villain with a smoke theme). At least she does self-rescue later in the story.

The ending has Bret trying win the race while the superheroes take down the, um, evil gambling ring that is betting big money on high school track meets. Oh, and the book clearly shows Bret lining up to start the race and the starting gun goes off, and later cuts to him making a final push for the finish line. Last time I checked, the same dude is not supposed to both start and finish a relay race. Just saying.

But this book is not about continuity! It is about smoking! The discussions of the effects of smoking on the body are incorporated into the narrative about as well as could be expected. There are a couple of quick quiz type activities along with the main story. And aside from a few of the goofy bits like Smokescreen's name and gimmick, the book does not get overly preachy. I don't think anyone is going to smoke or not smoke just on the basis of having read this comic, but it manages to be relatively true to its purpose.

And also, given what the book was, it did manage to put together a reasonably entertaining story.

Rating: 5.5/10

Oh, and don't smoke!

Poser #1

A superhero comedy minicomic from the backlog.

Title: Poser
Issue: 1
Publisher: Radical Warren
Date: 2008
Writer: Radical Warren
Artist: Radical Warren

Full-color minicomic. This is a raunchy black comedy set in a world where superheroes and supervillains have spontaneously appeared and it's illegal for any normal civilian to interfere with them or attempt to imitate them. The main character likes to (illegally) dress up in a cape, and he accidentally kills a villain and is mistaken for a new superhero.

Minimalist storytelling and some amusing superhero and villain concepts work well here, but the plight of the main character is what really hooked me. 

Solid start with a bunch of clever ideas.

Rating: 8/10

Durga The Geomancer: Free Preview

Another quickie preview book from the backlog.

Title: Durga The Geomancer: Free Preview
Publisher: Creative Impulse Entertainment
Date: 2008
Creators: Jan C. Childress, Kevin Thomas

A young woman in New York City chats with her mother, discussing the daughter's odd ability to predict the weather and natural disasters.

Meanwhile something shifts deep beneath the Atlantic, and a government agency receives a tip that an old case file has reopened.

I was amused by the political prognostication of this title, written in 2008 and featuring a future where Hillary Clinton is President and Barak Obama is Vice President.

In all seriousness, though, the dialogue between Maya Simone and her mother at the beginning of this preview felt natural and managed to avoid most of the obvious cliches. The story did a nice job of building tension while sprinkling in enough background to keep it interesting.

The ending seemed a bit sudden, and it would have been nice to get a bit more of a taste of the mayhem which appears to be on the way.

But all in all, this felt like the beginning piece of a pretty engaging story.

Rating: 7/10

Horatio's Odyssey: Avenging His Loss

From deep in the backlog.

Title: Horatio's Odyssey: Avenging His Loss
Publisher: East 4th Productions
Date: 2008
Writer: Robertson Tirado
Design: Donovan Burgess

A story of organized crime and revenge in New York City. With aliens. Horatio, a former banker, uses the powers he got from an encounter with extraterrestrials to exact revenge on the mobsters who harmed his family.

This is a four-page ashcan-format promotional comic that serves as a teaser for the independent film of the same name. The art consists of photos with some digital manipulation. The colors look good and the photos are an effective way of showing off the look and feel of the film by means of a comic.

The writing in this teaser is a bit incoherent. I could figure out what was generally going on, but there was not much flow to it, certainly not enough to really grab my attention and get me curious about the movie.

Rating: 5/10

The Dark Hunters: Exclusive Collector's Booklet

Here's one I've had sitting around in the to-be-read pile for a while. This was a promotional item I believe I picked up at the 2008 New York Comicon.

Title: The Dark Hunters: Exclusive Collector's Booklet
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Date: 2008
Writer: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Artist: Claudia Campos

This is a manga series that ties in with Sherrilyn Kenyon urban fantasy fiction. Actually, this particular book is a preview ashcan for that series.

Starting with a legend from ancient Greece of a powerful ruler and warrior who was betrayed and left to wander the Earth as an immortal creature of the shadows, the story quickly jumps to modern times and a woman who is trying her best to stay out of the way of her supernatural-connected family.

Unfortunately, supernatural entanglements have a way of being, well, entangling.

Nice dialogue, including a cute Anne Rice joke thrown in there. The action just gets going when the book goes to cliffhanger, but that's fine for a preview quickie like this. The witch-family seems amusing, and there are plenty of hints at the depth of the story to come.

Rating: 7/10