I don’t want to write this . . . again. Yet here I am writing about being disappointed by a couple of Indy comics for what seems like the umpteenth time. This may truly be the end of this experiment in comics diversity. It’s bad enough paying high prices for a comics, reading said bad comic, and then feeling compelled to write about the bad comics. It’s self-flagellation on top of self-punishment.
I was at Zia Comics
looking for a couple of Archie Christmas
comics that were solicited for this week on the Archie website. Given that I’ve been disappointed several
times looking for Archies at the shop, I went down on a Wednesday still hoping
for the best. They didn’t stock
them. I officially give up. The new Wonder Girl was there, but they weren’t drawn by Joelle Jones, so I passed on it. In lieu for that and without finding any
interesting trades, I picked up a couple comics with the most interesting
covers. It’s a poor strategy for finding
quality comics.
Before going to the comics store, I went by the used
bookstore to find a couple of books for dad for Christmas. I found a big book on painting instruction that
he was asking for and a large photobook with landscapes for him to paint. These books were heavy enough to qualify as
an upper body workout for carrying a long distance, which was what happened as
I’d walked there from work and back. The
cost of those two huge used books with store credit was nearly the same as
these two comics. After reading these
comics, I’m now writing about them to complete the torture.
Radio
Apocalypse #1
Heck of an eye-catching cover, you have to admit.
The artwork inside is also dramatically punk, if not
perhaps best described as drastically punk.
The character designs are almost indecipherable at times in their very
loose, sketchy style. I think this is an
artistic choice rather than a lack of skill.
(If I were drawing this comic, I know it would be from a lack of
skill.) What makes the artwork appealing,
even in its roughness, is the dynamic color palette. If you were a colorist, this could be
inspirational material.
As for the story, it’s the apocalypse again. Survivors are living in a shanty town
surrounded by a multitude of dangerous creatures. There’s a radio station broadcasting to the
wastes run by an old man. He takes in a
thief, who had attempted to raid his compound, as a helper. A lesbian couple (because what other kinds of
couples are there in comics these days, unless it’s a hetro-mixed race couple?)
is trying to make it to town, but one is left behind. The girl meets the old man in town, and he
plays a song for the other girl in a dramatic ending.
I’m not going to say it’s trite, but it’s nothing terribly
original to this point. There is lots of
emotion in the story. There are stakes
set in a desperate struggle, even inside the town. It’s hard to say where this is going, but it
seems unlikely I’ll be getting another issue.
It’s not bad. It is
interesting looking and the story and setting aren’t terrible. Really I question if the store will carry
another issue or will there be another issue, so it’s hard to get too
involved. It was a longshot I’d be
getting my $4 out of any comic to begin with, much less an obscure Indy
title. The publisher, Vault, lists several trades of other
titles in the back. They seem to be pitches
for movies or TV shows, which describes most Indy titles.
White
Ash Season Two #1
This is a Scout
Comic. I’ve bought one of their kids comics before. This comic was
noticeably thicker than a standard comic, which explains the $5 price tag. There are more pages in it, but much of the
bulk of the comic may come from the cover.
It is the thickest cover I’ve ever encountered on a comic. This thing might stop a bullet.
I wish this were Season One #1, because I have no idea what’s going on in this. This issue assumes the reader has familiarity with the characters and the setting. There’s no recap page even any backtracking to explain the previous “season.” It’s set in the real world, but there’s an elf girl and a half-dwarf guy. There’s a clan of dwarf miners and something like trolls hunting in the woods. There’s a murder mystery going on maybe? There’s some romance. I don’t know how any of this fits together.
The artwork is in an appealing cartoony style. It’s Darwyn
Cooke-inspired. The inside
artwork isn’t as polished as the cover though.
The coloring is excellent. While
I couldn’t quite make sense of the story, at least the visual storytelling
flows well. The “Mature Readers” tag may
refer to a single use of the F-word or some suggestions of sex. There’s no nudity.
This was just disappointing. This page was literally almost all of the action in the comic. I’d so hoped it would be fun and adventurous,
especially for the extra price. The
cover was so promising. Even if I was
familiar with the material, basically nothing happens in this issue. It just sets up future issues. Unlike the other comic, the stakes of the
conflict in this one aren’t clear.
There’s nothing enticing enough in the issue to make me want to get
another.
Once again in the back, there’s plenty more trades
available from the company. These comics
are considered cheap pilots or proof of concept for movies and TV shows. Much like the Indy publishers, who keep
hoping one of their titles turns into a hit (i.e. Walking Dead), I keep hoping one of these Indy purchases will turn
out to be a good read. The chances of
either happening are very low to this point.
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