I made a couple of trips to Zia Comics over the holidays. Before Christmas, I went over while buying some gifts at the Downtown Mall. On Christmas Eve, I was there again, since I’d gone to work early. The Wednesday Farmer’s Market was set up, and I picked up a $13 1 lb. bag of pistachios. (That was likely my best Christmas purchase.) Frankly, there wasn’t much at the comics store, but I wanted to give them some business. I picked up an eclectic collection.
Oz: Heart of Magic
Zenescope publishes comics with salacious-looking covers, but honestly the stories inside are pretty conventional heroic fantasy fare. It flirts with being naughty, but doesn’t cross the line. The men are handsome and the women are beautiful and there’s plenty of action, so it’s a lot like an Old School comic.
Actually, I could probably recommend this to young teen girls. Our heroine, Dorothy, is every bit the heroine without being a “girl-boss.” She’s not the best warrior or wizard. Her journey is one of gathering friends and inspiring them. She sacrifices herself at one point and her friends sacrifice of themselves to bring her back. It’s not even guilty of “the girl who’s the key to everything” trope. She gets a lot of pivotal help.
Unlike the last time I reviewed a Zenescope comic (11-20), I’ll recap the story a bit. (That was a low-effort review. My apologies. I even got the name wrong calling it, “Zenoscope.”) This is loosely based on the Wizard of Oz. I assume some of the characters and places are from the Oz novels, since there are a few silly-sounding names. (I did like the villain name, “Ann Soforth.”)
This is a complete story arc from an ongoing series. Dorothy has become queen of the Emerald City, but has been usurped by a wizard, who has taken on her appearance. He then changed her into a (rather appealing) blue-skinned girl and Dorothy has had to flee the city with a few loyal retainers. She’s off on a quest to find the good witch, Glinda, who looks dangerously thin and really needs to eat a steak or something. Oh wait, that’s Wicked, not this book.
On the way, Dorothy needs to find allies, who are often in the form of foes that are attacking her. Finding Glinda and rallying her troops, they march on the Emerald City, which is being looted of its magic by the evil wizard. In defeat, the wizard tells Dorothy that a worse threat is coming.
Overall, this was on sale for $10, as opposed to the $20 cover price. So, it was okay, but nothing special. It’s not written for kids, maybe a teen audience, but not so much for me or older readers. I can see trying some more at some point, definitely in a collected trade format.
Fire and Ice: Nekron
Fire and Ice is an early 80’s animated fantasy movie. It’s got some impressive names attached to it. It was directed by iconoclastic maverick animator, Ralph Bakshi, with character designs by the master fantasy artist, Frank Frazetta. A couple of famous artists did the backgrounds. Peter Chung, creator of the iconic Aeon Flux cartoon, worked on the movie. The story was written by noted comic book writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. The film extensively uses rotoscoped animation of live action actors to give it a realistic look, even with the fantastic environment.
My only experience with the film is that I started watching it on Youtube once and I maybe only watched a few minutes. That probably tells you what you what I thought of it. I just wasn’t engaged by it. I shamefully only finally watched the whole movie just to write this review. Okay, plot and plot logic-wise, this film is terrible, which is surprising given the writers. Animation and character-wise, wow! This movie is spellbinding. It’s like a cool Frazetta fantasy painting come to life . . . which is exactly what it is actually. The characters are interesting, too. It just needed more of a story.
As far as this comic book goes, the name, “Frazetta,” at the top was enough to get my attention, along with the striking cover. However, the “Frazetta” in question is Sara Franzetta, his daughter, and she’s the writer. This comic provides a backstory for Juliana, who is the mother of Nekron, the wizard villain. It explains her and her sons’ hatred for the Fire People. Unfortunately, even with the movie’s rather sparse plot, the comic doesn’t really match up with it. Moreover, it creates an additional plot hole. Nekron had brother in the comic, more beloved by their mother. What happened to him? (It might match up better with the other Dynamite Fire and Ice comics.)
The art is good, if a bit ugly. In that, it fits this kind of unpleasant story. It’s dark fantasy. For a prologue, this is good and complete, but it leaves you wanting more and more of a resolution. Good thing there’s a whole movie you can watch afterward. Honestly, you read this and keep waiting for Conan to show up. That’s a criticism and also compliment of sorts. There is no hero in this story, but it sets the stage for one. I’d recommend this to a fantasy fan who has actually seen Fire and Ice beforehand.
After watching the movie, I suddenly remembered that I’d seen another Fire and Ice comic. This one was based on Teegra, the heroine of the movie, and I think it came out in 2024. I don’t have it, so I don’t know anything about it. If I’d seen it on the rack, I probably would have gotten it just for the cover (and just for that rack, ahem).
Now here’s the guy we really want a series about. This guy, Darkwolf, is a total badass in the movie. Online speculation is that he’s Nekron’s father. I’m not sure that fits. I might have thought he was Nekron’s lost brother from the comics, but that apparently doesn’t fit with other Fire and Ice comics that Dynamite has produced. Darkwolf just is what he is: cool.
Blondie: Against the Odds
I’m a Blondie fan definitely. I snapped up this trade paperback immediately when I saw it. The thought of reading the backstory of the group in comic book form was irresistible. I should have read the back cover more carefully, which does sort of warn you that that’s not the whole contents. (Zia Comics sells all of their comics and trades sealed, so you have to buy it to find out what’s inside.)
I have my favorite bands and artists, but I don’t really care about their history. (If fact knowing too much about them would likely cause me to hate them, like Taylor Swift, who I used to be a fan of.) It’s more about the music than the personalities for me. The only band I ever became an online fan of was the Corrs, a 2000’s pop group from Ireland. Even then, I can’t tell you anything about them, except their names.
The first part of the book features a highly abstract origin story for Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. It’s a drug trip, but well-illustrated and functional. It doesn’t really tell you about the band or making their songs or being famous or the breakup. This is not an illustrated MTV: Behind the Music. Even three text pages in the back about the band, doesn’t really tell you anything.
Most of the book features little vignettes “inspired” (very loosely) by the songs of Blondie and some nice portraits. I’d say the little stories are hit-and-miss, but they’re all miss, except for the artwork on some of them.
This wasn’t a great purchase. If you’re a Blondie fan, I don’t know what you’re going to get out of this, other than some nice pinups. It was a missed opportunity to tell the story of a New Wave Punk band from humble beginnings becoming stars and then fading out. You could have used the same artists telling different parts of their story in different styles. A trippy, abstract style in the art and writing would have worked perfectly.
Let’s write this off as a prototype and come back and do an illustrated history of the legendary club that Blondie started in, CBGB’s. It can be a bunch of stories about the various bands that performed there, along with stories about how it started and how it was run (ultimately into the ground).
I did see the movie, CBGB, starring Alan Rickman as owner, Hilly Kristal. It was tremendously entertaining and kind of scary given the very unhygienic and dangerous conditions there. I loved the part at the end with actual real life footage of bands getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thanking Hilly. This is calling out for a comic book adaptation.
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