We here at Comic Booked have great relationships with the Small Press publishers. Probably because, like them, we do all this because we love it and hope for a paycheck someday. Big difference is that they have a much higher likelihood of getting paid. Anyway, so it is time, as Editor-in-Chief, to clean out my inbox with a bunch of awesome comics sent to me over the last two months. Some of these will look familiar and some will be new and amazing. Hope you enjoy them.
Goof #3 – Guy Hasson has created a very funny and loveable character in Captain Gorgeous, the super-goofy character who stars in Goof. In the first two issues, he showed off some of his super-powers and really made a fool of himself in front of Melody, this beautiful girl that he is smitten with. He may have super powers, but has very little social grace and even less control over his immense powers in certain situations. He kills a cat while trying to rescue it and breaks a little old woman’s fingers while trying to help her across the street. To make matters worse, Melody has been kidnapped by the alien invaders Captain Poop-Dee Pants and Captain Crap-Dee Pants. Captain Gorgeous heads for the alien ship to save Melody, although the rescue is a little more painful than it needed to be, for her. Unconscious and wearing nothing but Captain Gorgeous’ shirt covered in bird poop, Melody hangs limp in the Captain’s arms as he faces the two alien captains. To defeat these creatures, who surprisingly are a lot like him, he has to think about how he would defeat himself. He tricks them into blowing up their own ship, very funny stuff. A side story here is that the U.N. has assigned a special public relations guy to Captain Gorgeous and he takes a trip to meet the Utmost family, Captain Gorgeous’ family. They are a PR problem because the Captain has no powers around them and they take full advantage of this by beating him up and humiliating him at every opportunity. The interchange between the daughter and Jacobs is funny but also a little dark. We shall see how this part of the story continues to unfold. Find out more about all the titles at New Worlds Comics. My Rating: 4/5
Some Cool News – Do you like Ghostbusters? Do you like Domo? What if those two properties teamed up and produced a new line of toys? Guess what? That is happening. As a way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of such a great film, Domo is crossing streams with the Ghostbusters in a new consumer products line that will put a smile on the face of pop-culture fans everywhere. This supernatural entertainment mash-up takes a fresh approach to the Ghostbusters franchise blending both classic and new with cross generational appeal casting Domo in a line of collectibles and plush for a limited time only. The line, made possible through an agreement with Sony Pictures Consumer Products as brokered by Big Tent Entertainment, is slated to hit shelves in fall 2014. you can expect to see Slimer and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man as Domo. Sounds like some cool stuff and something I want to get my hands on. Who you gonna call? Domo!
The Dirge of Viqdis: The Fire Within Part One – Valkyrie Komics begins their run in the comic book arena with an interesting title, The Dirge of Viqdis, a series that is meant to introduce readers to the Z-Theory universe that all their comics will be based in. The story begins as the angels of Heaven discuss the war. The premise of this story is pretty cool, as they outline a plan by the seven archangels to create a weapon to fight the demons that have invaded the Earth. That weapon is an angel infused with the power of demons. This makes her more powerful, but also leaves her open to the influences of those demons. Now she is following the trail of demons that have been slaughtering whole orphanages full of children. Joshua Lee is the writer and creator of this book and it has some cool looking black and white art by Cillian Cubstead. My Rating: 3.5/5
The Gauntlet – Never one to let a segue feel forced, I want to talk about a cool comic/magazine that I heard about this year at Wizard World Philly. I spent all my time walking around the creator section of the con, really not even bothering with the long lines where you practically had to pay just to look at the movie and TV stars, and instead spent time on what I love most about working at Comic Booked, building relationships with creators. I met the guys behind The Gauntlet and Graphically Christian Comics. I was very impressed with the way this magazine was created. The blend of poetry, art, well written stories, and comics with a moral backbone that was unquestionable, was a refreshing entry in an industry that is much too focused on how tight or how little of a costume the female heroes wear or what other offensive things the writers/artists can tweet and get away with. The stories are easy to understand, and I would say that being a Christian is not a prerequisite to enjoying this comic magazine. At least browse their site and see some of the cool art and articles they have. My Rating: 4.5/5
The Spookies – Hobascus Holluck sent me an email to tell me about their comic strip called The Spookies. They are preparing to publish their first print comic collecting their strips. They have some funny stuff which you can check out at on their site. While you are there, you can also read the latest news on their print endeavor. Check out one of the strips of The Spookies. My Rating – 5/5
Monomyth #1 – Our friends over at OSSM, the creators of Thaniel, have put out a new comic called Monomyth. This is a real twist on the typical story of the Garden of Eden. Micheal the Archangel rebels against God by learning how to choose, just like the gift that the humans were granted. This leads to a whole battle between two factions of angels as the ones who follow God and the ones who learned to choose fight for dominion. In the end, the angels are hurled from heaven and the angel who sided with God, Lucifer, stops humans from choosing to disobey God by eating the apple. A pretty cool idea, and this comic was released on July 23rd. Written by Siike Donelly with art by Eric Ninaltowski, this is one I would recommend, just to see how this story plays out. My Rating: 4/5
Rapid City: Below Zero #1 – This was a cool comic, no pun intended. The story of super criminals that are trying to get away after a robbery seems pretty overdone, but this has a bit of a twist that I really liked. The focus of the story is really the origin of Icicle and her anguish at losing someone she loves. As the story unfolds, Coil, the leader of this group, has double-crossed the rest of the group and left them 20 yards underground, trapped. The only survivors are Icicle and Claw Hammer. As Claw Hammer works on digging them out, Icicle relives scenes from her childhood, how she got her powers or at least realized she had powers. From a chilling claustraphobic scene to her life in a prison for super powered villains, she had a rough life. Now she has only one goal… Kill Coil. My Rating: 4/5
That takes a load off my inbox. Thanks for reading and I hope you found something interesting. If you are a small press publisher and would like to be considered for review, please send me an email at aaronclutter@comicbooked.com.
lots of small press goodies! glad to see a big roundup again.