Comics Review: Record of Lodoss War: The Crown of the Covenant

I’ve looked over the large manga section at B&N several times, but not seen anything I wanted to get involved with.    A couple of weeks ago, I saw a video about Sword World.  (Actually, this isn't the video I'd watched.  I can't find it.  There's stuff about Sword Word at the end of this.)    It’s the Japanese version of D&D.    It’s sort of an explanation why there’s so much D&D-inspired manga and anime, but D&D isn’t popular in Japan.    Lodoss is one of those inspired series.    I happened to see this book and that it was a new storyline, so I thought it was a purchasable coincidence. A very long time ago, I think I rented a Lodoss video, so I think I’ve seen it. That’s my only relation to it.   

I guess I should speak a little about Sword World, though the current version doesn’t really have much to do with this manga. There a website featuring a huge amount of game materials translated into English. I downloaded and looked over a bunch of it. In short, this probably isn’t the RPG system you’re looking for. I found the latest version slightly incomprehensible. It only uses d6’s, but don’t mistake that for a lack of complexity. It’s like D&D, but you’re like, “What’s with all the rest of this stuff?” I might compare it to D&D 5e, but with charts and flowcharts. The Starter Rules Set is maybe a little more understandable.

What are its unique points? You can play as a Tabbit. That’s a humanoid rabbit. No, they’re like cute little rabbit halflings, not giant green rabbits, like Jaxxon from the Star Wars comic books, you freak. You can be a Lycant (not pronounced like it looks) and be a wolf person. You can also play as Runefolk, which are sort like Blade Runner Replicants and Eberron Constructs. There are guns and I think they’re considered magic weapons doing magical damage. And this is just the basic rules. There’s two huge supplements with it.

There is a default setting of Raxia. It’s pretty well detailed. I don’t think there’s any encouragement for doing your own setting. There are also whole campaigns and adventures available, though they’re not quite what you’re used to. These are a set of instructions on how to run the adventures with little regard for deviation, or even interaction, apart from rolling reactions on a table. It’s much more methodical than what most gamers would call a “railroad.” (There’s a literal magical railroad connecting areas of the continent, again like Eberron.) Some of these campaigns were structured to where they give rules on how to run them as solo adventures.

I also got a previous version of the rules, though probably not the original set of rules. This was much more 3e inspired with multiclassing. Halflings, called, “Grassrunners” (for some reason), were a core character class. (They’re in a supplement in the current version.) This version is tied to Lodoss. The island is on the setting’s world map as “Island of the Damned.” It isn’t the main adventuring area. There’s a much larger continent to the north. I skimmed a bunch of Sword World material; I’m not a scholar on it. The current version might also be part of the setting, but I can’t find a continental map of Raxia in the books. (I might just be missing it.)

Overall, I’d put Sword World on the level of interesting inspirational material, but not a replacement game system over whatever you’re using now. In the setting, all of the characters (for the most part) are members of an Adventurers Guild that accept missions for money and there’s plenty of opportunities on Raxia. If you like the setting, it could be used with your favorite game system fairly easily, since most of it is borrowed from D&D. (Just stat out Tabbits as halflings with fur and extra cuteness.)

Okay, back to the manga. The iconic Deedlit appears on the cover, which is an immediate attractor to anyone with even a passing familiarity of the Japanese take on European fantasy. And it brings up the question: How do you sleep with those ears?

This volume is mostly all setup for the series. Lodoss has been at peace, but now one of the kingdoms, Flaim, is getting ready to invade the other kingdoms. The small island of Marmo has lost their king. The eldest prince has refused the crown. His three younger brothers have a conference to decide what to do.

Alucia will take the crown and defend the kingdom.

Zayd will rebel against his brother and flee to Flaim to join their cause.

Lastly, Lyle, the idealist, will attempt to find the eternal maiden, Deedlit, and the Knight of Lodoss, to rally the other countries to fight Flaim.

It’s complex and pretty well thought out. By the end, Zayd is in the Flaim military and is off to war. Lyle finds Deedlit and convinces her to join him on a quest to restore peace.

Map from the manga.

Map from the older Sword World edition. You can see Lodoss in the lower center.

This was labelled as a special Barnes & Noble edition. I don’t know what was special about it over than a little color section at the beginning. There was also an afterward from the creator, who is a big fan of the original.

So, what do I think? The artwork is okay, but nothing spectacular. The characters are interesting and the cast isn’t overwhelming in size to this point. The story is interesting and detailed, though not terribly original. Like I said, this book just sets the table. There’s some minor action, but this is mostly exposition.

It’s enough to kind of make me want to read more, maybe not enthusiastically. If I knew how many volumes this was going to be I could make a more informed decision. This is one reason why I’ve been reluctant to get back into manga. Reading a long form serialized tale that likely has an ending point (granted, that might be after a hundred volumes) is attractive, but it makes you reluctant to just try a random book. I’ll mentally debate getting more. (Two more volumes are available now.) If you’re a Lodoss fan already, you might want in on this. If not, but you like Japanese fantasy, you might want to give it a try.

Memorial Day Weekend 2022 Part 3

Part 2

 5-29-22 Race Day

I look forward to this day all year, though there have been horrible disappointments (a couple of times I missed Indy because of broadcasting issues).  However, I felt really busy all day.  I made little to no effort at recapping anything.  (I barely watched some of the races.)  I feel like I’m gradually phasing out the blogging compared to my more maniacal blogging of all sporting events I was watching in previous years.    

 

Indy 500

It was such a relief tuning into this years’ Indy 500 and seeing blue skies.  Weather can definitely ruin your racing.  There was an enormous crowd having a good time at IMS, which was great to see.  I was over at dad’s apartment to watch.  I saw the opening ceremonies at my apartment and the first lap before going to see him.  I noticed Steve Aoki briefly doing the music while the drivers were introduced.  I think he was also doing a show at the Snake Pit on the infield during the race.

 

For lunch, I talked to some guy in India to order a Papa John’s pizza.  I thought I heard him say $17 for a large pepperoni, but thankfully it was only $10 at the shop.  Regardless, it was really good. 

 

I’ll just cut to the chase in describing the race.  Scott Dixon was leading late and looked like the driver to beat, but got caught for speeding on final pit stop.  (I thought they had pit lane limiters on Indy cars so you couldn’t speed.)  Jimmie Johnson, an Indy 500 rookie, led a lap with his fuel strategy.  Unfortunately, he crashed a few laps later with six to go.  This messed up his teammate, Marcus Ericsson, who was cruising to the win.  The race was red flagged.  The crowd approved of the decision.

 

The restart began with two laps left.  The announcers were the most excited they had been for the entire race.  The crowd roared as Mexican, Pato O’Ward, made a serious challenge on the final lap.  Ericsson weaved all over the width of the track to break up the draft behind him.  A crash late behind them froze the field and Ericsson held on for the win.  Ericsson’s extremely hot girlfriend got look on as one of the Indy princesses impulsively planted a giant lipstick mark on his cheek as he drank the milk. 

 

F1 Monaco

Gone are the days of me waking up at 6:30am to watch this live.  This race started just before Indy finished.  (The red flag caused Indy to run late.)  Since this race was on delay, they cut right to the race without a prerace.  (Thanks to the NBC Indy people for not spoiling the results.)  However, it was raining in Monaco.  At other F1 tracks, these conditions can lead to a great race.  At Monaco, it’s still a slot car track.  The cars had on their grooved rain tires, err . . . I mean, tyres.  They did a rolling start under caution to begin the race.

 

I went ahead and went home.  Dad could probably take a nap without the F1 race on (though he might get to sleep faster).  After I got home and put the leftover pizza in the fridge, I went to Paleta Bar next door for a delayed dessert.  I hadn’t been there in a while, because it’s expensive and has upset my stomach the last few times.  (Also, a weed shop opened next door.  The addicts are lined up outside all of the time.) 

 

I picked the “New Mexico United” ice cream bar (named after Albuquerque’s soccer team).  It was flavored with cookies and cream with bananas, then dipped in chocolate and covered in almonds.  It was delicious, but afterward, I was full for the rest of the day (with a slight bellyache).    

 

I called my friend, Ron, to see how he was doing with his cold.  We ended up on the phone most of the afternoon.  The MLB.TV free game was the Padres and the Pirates.  The video wasn’t blocked, so we were able to watch, which we appreciated.   MacKenzie Gore pitched seven scoreless innings for the Padres, but bullpen coughed up the lead.  Trent Grisham won it in the tenth, 4-2, with a two-run homer after two bunt attempts.  

 

I missed the homer.  My computer and the TV where I had the F1 race on aren’t in the same room.  I kept shuttling back-and-forth, while chatting with Ron on the phone.  (Not to mention, I had a couple of Twitch streams up with girls, ahem.)  I did see the end of the race.  The track had dried and the top four cars on each other’s bumpers.  Since it was F1 at Monaco, nobody could pass.  Sergio “Checo” Perez won.  No doubt Mexico was happy.  They came close to also taking Indy on the same day. 

 

From seeing the start, I knew the two Ferraris were in front of Checo, but didn’t see how he’d gotten in front (since I was getting ice cream and watching baseball).  From reading up later, Ferrari had messed up their pitstops and called both cars in at the same time to change to slick tires, err . . . tyres.  The race was going to run long because of the rain, but instead, they switched to making it a timed race.  I have seen timed car races before, and ones that even changed from laps to timed during the race.  But, I’ve never seen F1 do that.  One of the best races I ever saw was Jenson Button winning the 2011 Canadian GP in the rain, a race that went way over time.

Coca-Cola 600

The early end to F1 allowed everyone to see the start of NASCAR’s Charlotte race.  (Nice coordination between the three networks today.)  This event was the usual cluster-f it is every year.  I told Ron the best betting on this race is over/under 10 cars on the lead lap by the end. 

 

Play-by-play on a race this long is problematical.  I’ll just hit a few highlights.  Chase Elliot was doing well and won Stage 1.  Late in Stage 2, he spun through the infield.  It was too early for a victory celebration, Chase.  This accident happened in side-by-side commercial.  This happened at least four or five times today between this race and Indy.  They never broke from commercial, though.  The Big One happened right after.  Ryan Blaney spun in front of the field and took out 12 cars.  By halfway, 10 cars were out (including three of my favorites, Chase, Ryan, and William Byron), but only one car off the lead lap.

 

Meanwhile, the Chihuahuas were playing the Space Cowboys on the radio.  (I can’t believe I just wrote that sentence.)  The pups were down by 10 in the sixth, but had a 6-run inning later to make a game of it.  They got within 2 runs late, but finally fell 17-14. 

 

Late in the race, Chris Buescher had a rolling crash through the infield and ended up on his lid.  He met the same fate of nearly every front runner or challenger for the lead in this race—a crash.  By the end, there were 17 cars left on the lead lap.  (I should have taken the over.) 

 

Kyle Larson, who seemed poised for the win, though he’d had a race full of setbacks, got taken out with other frontrunner, Ross Chastain, after Austin Dillon spun, when the leaders all tried going four-wide.  In the second Overtime, Denny Hamlin won it.  Hours ago, he’d actually been the pole-sitter and hadn’t been anywhere near the front since.  I think everyone, especially the drivers, were good and tired of this race by the time it was over. 

Part 4

Sketch Dump: The Pony Book 21

This is final post for this sketchbook and, finally, we reveal why it's called "The Pony Book."  First is another sketch of Pernille Orum's Cowgirl.  It's the same image, but flopped and expanded.  This turned out well, because Pernille's painting is awesome.   

At Zia Comics, they have a lot of statues of comic and anime characters.  I fell in love with this My Little Pony inspired statue they have in a glass case.  This is Applejack.  It wasn't that big, but I had no room for it, also it was over $100.  (It's also been sold since I saw it.)  

I found images of it and other statues in the line and set about sketching them.  I showed a picture of the statue to a co-worker and then my sketch, which I was pleased with.  (The little horse actually took  me longer to draw than the girl.  Really.)  It was just a pencil sketch, because I wasn't confident about inking over it.  She urged me to ink and color it anyway.  She was right.  It turned out okay.

This led me to doing some of the other characters.  This is Princess Celestia.  

This is Rainbow Dash.  I liked doing the shoes.  (The pony, again, was impossible for me.)

Lastly, here's Sunset Shimmer.  (The pony turned out a little better.)

Sketch Dump: The Pony Book 15

This first drawing is Midge from Archie Comics, based on Adam Hughes' rendering.  This is actually drawn on blank paper.  For some reason when I finished the sketchpad, I was reluctant to start using my next new sketchbook.    

If you want to have some fun, look up some old Springmaid ads.  They're fun and cheeky.  

The sketch on the left is a model that looked cute.  The other is some ad art from Imagine FX magazine.  That turned out better than I thought it would.

Lastly, I finally watched the four Evangelion movies on Amazon Prime.  (The first one was good, then it got weird, then really weird, but the last one ended really well.)  I fruitlessly tried to do a do sketch of Misato, but never did.  There's a pencil sketch of a villain from an old issue of Firestorm at the bottom right.      

Comics and Book Review: Momentary and Starstruck #6 Part 1

This is sort of a Christmas-related post.  This was a card from a friend of my dad.  It’s so cute.

 

For Christmas my boss, Eric, gave me a $25 gift card for Amazon.  It was taped to a bag of chocolates, which I was initially more interested in.  I’d had a falling out with Amazon a few years ago (and certainly I don’t like the way they’ve profited off of the cold) and hadn’t ordered anything from them since.  However, at 5:00am while I was trying to sleep that morning, suddenly I started thinking of ways to use that card.  I got up and wrote them down and went back to bed (and wondered why I couldn’t have had that brainstorm well after I’d gotten up for the day).

 

I checked out a modest list of choices online.  I keep wanting that first book of the modern Guardians of the Galaxy, but I’ve had such bad luck with the title that I’m reluctant to buy anything sight-unseen.  I have the first two hardcover Archie Daily Newspaper Strips volumes and the oversized Sunday Best Collection.  These all get my highest recommendation.  I looked into the third volume and found it was $79!  I’m guessing poor distribution turned it into a collector’s item.

 

I settled on an Ilya Kuvshinov artbook and a comic book I’d spent years looking for, Starstruck #6.  I asked my co-worker, Mike, who has no qualms about using Amazon, if he’d order them using his account.  The amount went over the card and he graciously paid it and called it a Christmas gift.  They arrived at our workplace separately.  The comic came well-protected in bubble wrap and sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard.  It also came with a Far Side strip inside, a nice touch.  The book came with a bunch of cables and such that Mike had ordered for work.          

 

Momentary: The Art of Ilya Kuvshinov

I think I’ve gushed enough over my purchase of Ilya’s second art book, Eternal (6-1-20).  Buying that book restarted my drawing hobby that I’d given up on for a couple of years.  Over a year and hundreds of daily drawings later, I’m still trying to recapture the initial inspiration that that book gave me.  If only I could figure out how to keep drawing like I did when I first got that book.  (Let’s be honest, I’m not that good to begin with, but my lousy inking and coloring have ruined a lot of my fairly decent sketches.)

I’m not expecting miracles, but I’m hoping this book will help.  Momentary was his first book.  It’s smaller in dimensions and pages than Eternal.  There’s a few text pages, but they only talk about why he was drawing and not how.  Some drawings do come in a series showing the stages in the production of the final image.  The artbooks of Pernille Orum and Asia Ladowska that I have include extensive tutorials.  Honestly, I’d rather have more pictures, but the tutorials would be useful for producing professional-level work.  Ilya has posted videos for that. 

Most of the artwork in the book is full color pictures of cute girls.  There is a pencil section of people he sketched on the train as part of his 50 sketch-a-week art school assignment.  (That’s one way to get artists to learn how to draw faster.)  There’s a manga-ish section and a section of cyber girls.  It’s all very appealing.  As you’d expect, Ilya’s style isn’t quite as well defined as in his later book.  Also, some of the girls have bad haircuts with way too short bangs.      

Mike and Eric both flipped through the book and were visibly impressed.  I was too.  I can’t wait to start drawing from this (and simultaneously being nervous about it and delaying it).  Certainly I feel like Ilya’s work somewhat validates my own artistic choice of mostly just drawing female headshots.  There’s no end to the variety of just that subject.  Of the two books, Eternal is better, but getting both books is the best option.  

Part 2.

Sketch Dump: The Asia Notebook 18: Ilya, Imagine FX, and others

Here's some Ilya Kuvshinov sketches from Imagine FX.  These just kind of suck and the coloring is suspect.  I'd messed up the head on the one on the right and had to re-ink it, thus explaining the background shading to cover it.

There's one of Spider-Gwen on the left.  That's another Ilya sketch on the right.  It was a black and white sketch, and unfortunately I was left to my own devices on the coloring.  I don't know what I was thinking.

That's Twitch DJ Jessu on the left.  She's not cross-eyed in real life.  Argh!  That's an Imagine FX sketch to the right.  

These next two are some quick sketch pages.  The three to the left are of Snow White from Fables.  That's Minmei in the top right.  That's Nova Satori on the bottom center, and a model on the bottom right.

There's the Joker's new girlfriend, Punchline, on the bottom left.  That's Death on the top middle and streamer Avori on the bottom.  The top left and right are from Imagine FX, and that's a model on the bottom right.

Sketch Dump: The PO Notebook 20: Final Post Grab Bag

We've hit bottom on this notebook.  Maybe, or maybe not, in terms of quality, but this is the last post for this sketchbook.  (Don't worry.  There's a whole another sketchbook of crummy sketches ready to go.)  I wasn't sure how to categorize these, so they all got lumped together.  

The one on the left is a anime-ish drawing I found on the Internet.  That's the DC character, Dolphin, on the right.  I prefer the classic hot babe look for Dolphin, but the new fish-girl version was a little more interesting to draw.

   

Here's two poor attempts at drawing Projekt Melody.  I really like Mel, but these turned out terribly disappointing.  Maybe I'll try again someday.

Starting at the top left, that's Gamora, Oracle, an unidentified girl from the Legion of Superheroes, Tara from the Herculoids, and another character from Future Quest.

Supergirl on the left and Jade from Future Quest on the right.

And Viper (top left) and more of Supergirl finish this series off.  This sketchbook had some ups and downs in it, but it felt like a good learning experience.  I really unexpectedly enjoyed working from the Pernille Orum artbook.  I recommend it.  

Sketch Dump: The PO Notebook 17: Raven, Roxy, Rainmaker

The sketch on the right is the only worthwhile one here.  She's Raven's mother from the Teen Titans.  Here's the comic where it's from.  On the left is Rainmaker from Gen 13.    

That's Raven from George Perez's first Teen Titans trade paperback, which I reviewed here.  The other color picture is from Grimm Fairy Tales, reviewed here.  The other two are from the manga Marionette Generation.  

  

A couple of more Teen Titans sketches.  On the left, is a character from the newer issue above.  The other is Raven from the classic trade paperback. 

It's Roxy from Gen 13 and her and Rainmaker below.  Obviously, these were all from the same  issue featuring the girls in swimsuits.  I do like this Roxy one here.

Comics Review: Bargain Bin Grab Bag: B&V and Power Rangers

So, I’d bought a couple of comics at Zia Comics a couple of weeks ago while waiting for a repair to my truck.  Those were for other people.  Before I went there, I’d gone to Coas Books and raided their bargain bin and gotten plenty for myself.  You never know what you’re going to find there.  Once, for example, I found a bunch of comics from the 50’s.  

(Archie and Uncle Scrooge, Huckleberry Hound, Classics Illustrated, Dennis the Menace Christmas Part 1, Part 2.  There are a few others listed in late 2013.  You can look for those yourself.  I should have put a separate tag on these.)     

 

These 12 issues are a bit eclectic.  There’s no way to logically group these.  I do notice that there’s no Marvel Comics here.  There were Marvels there, but I wasn’t interested in any of them, which is the usual for me.  I blame the closing of Hastings for this anti-Marvel bias.  I bought a huge number of comics at the time (which led to a terrible time at the cash register).  I kept a few of the DC comics, but divested myself of all of the Marvels.  They were mostly from the 2000’s, and they were all bad.  I’m still not over it. 

Betty & Veronica #1

This is a Free Comic Book Day edition.  I assume it’s about the same as the original, but has a section at the back promoting the CW Riverdale show.  Adam Hughes only did three issues of this series, but I’ve had a terrible time collecting them.  I have all of them, but they’re in three different formats.  Two of them are in digest form, so I’d like the full-size versions.  Now, I’ve got two of them in comic book format; I just need #3 now.

 

Adam Hughes is one of favorite artists and best known for his cheesecake.  Here he is doing two of my favorite comic book girls, Betty and Veronica.  That said, his script is way too precious in dialogue.  It’s hard to read when your eyes are rolling.  Also, the colors in this are really washed out and muted.  It’s not bright and colorful, even when totally appropriate for a story taking place in the fall.  What’s really disappointing are the character designs for the girls.  Maybe Hughes sort of toned down his interpretation because of his reputation and the context of a teen book.  They’re just not as glamorous as the two most famous high school girls in comics should be.

 

All that said, I’m keeping this and looking for that other issue.  It’s still really cool-looking and not bad to read.  If only Archie Comics had more actively pursued top-notch talent to do some special issues.  There’s no way they could hire someone like that for an extended stay, but I’m sure there’s lots of talent who would love to do their take on a comic they probably read as children.  Unfortunately, I think Hughes had some production delays.  In spite of his fairly conservative take on the characters, he was also getting protested because of his previous work.  (Some people don’t want women in comics drawn attractively.)  So much for this experiment at Archie Comics. 

 

I like Madelaine Petsch on Riverdale as Cheryl Blossom.  Somehow I ended up on her Youtube channel awhile back.  She's very likeable.  As for black Josie and the Pussycats, once again, a redheaded character was exchanged for a black person.  Nice job devaluing Valerie and eliminating one of my favorites, Melody.  I have more on this, but I'll stop here.            

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #6, #7, #9, #11

I’d heard good things about this comic, but passed up getting any individual issues or a trade.  Finding these four issues loose at a discount was a good opportunity to try it out.  First, the production is top notch.  The comic is physically made out of quality materials.  The story takes up all but four pages of the issue.  Two of those pages are even a little Bulk & Skull continuing comic strip.  The artwork is excellent.  The story is unfortunately basically decompressed in presentation, but is solid.  This was obviously written by someone (Kyle Higgins), who knew and loved the source material.  If a new comic could come close to being worth $4, this comes the closest. 

 

These are not an “adult” versions of Power Rangers stories.  They are also not just like the original series.  They’re not a kid’s show based on recycled footage of a Japanese Sentai show.  These are basically superhero-like comics in the Power Rangers setting.  The stories are more developed than the show and the characters are given some space to grow, but they are action-oriented adventures.

 

But just to be honest, while I watched Power Rangers, I was a bit out of their age-range when they first came out.  I was mostly watching for the girls (RIP Thuy Trang).  I’ve watched some of the follow up series, even on Mexican stations in Spanish, because they’re kind of fun, but I don’t really think highly of the franchise.  (I should mention that this series is based on the original team and villains.)  So, these are great if you’re a Power Rangers fan, but if you’re not a big fan, they’re okay.       

I couldn’t help but notice this ad.  If I find one of these, being the wrestling fan, I’ll have to try one.

Part 2