Writer and Creator Brian Hawkins
Pencils and Inks Morgan Sawyer
Colors Scappaticci
Letters Micah Myers
For Alterna Comics and Fubar Press
What sort of message would I send if I had a platform to speak. What sort of ideas and thoughts would I try convey to the public. Sometimes I think that I just have a story to tell and sometimes I try to think about message and how to convey that through the story. I feel like a fun story and a story with a message are not mutually exclusive but are generally separate by nature, not because they should be, but because sometimes it’s hard to not separate the two. With an idea like that in RE-Creation Project it can be serious, it should be serious, and yet Hawkins finds a way to tell the story in a fun way. Messiah is a god among men in a world being overrun by aliens. As I said the idea of being a god and transcending your being into a god like state is some pretty heavy material but Hawkins presents it in a way that easily digested and still fun, especially for being in a comic book format. These ideas are made of the stuff that people like Eckhart Tolle have made a living writing about and Hawkins has brought this to comic books. Hawkins has a knack for writing about remarkably complicated ideas and breaking them down into absorbable bits that an average reader can deduce at his/her leisure and take or leave as a deep meaning or just an entertaining comic book. I feel like I enjoy Hawkins writing so much because I can appreciate both sides of it; the great comic writing and world building, coupled with the boundless ideas that are world changing and mind blowing if considered deeply. Hawkins is by far one of my favorite indie writers.
When talking about comic art I have to admit that I’m pretty week. I know a lot of the names that I should know and stuff like that but I generally rely on the feel I get when looking at the art. I say this because I feel like this art is more complex than it looks at first glance. I love the way the characters are presented and the fact that they’re all very unique. The main character, Messiah, looks exactly like I would picture an old hip hop guy and sadly most of the guys I grew up listening to are approaching this look rapidly. Messiah has some grey hair and looks like he stepped out of a 90’s Tupac video but the feel of the character is on point. All of the other characters have a distinct feel but they don’t stray from the style of the book, or better yet, Sawyer’s style. I do feel that Sawyer’s style is unique and strong but I also feel that he owes a good firm handshake to Scappaticci for topping it off with some tremendous and consistent coloring. One of the coloring details I enjoyed most was the grey in the “caveman-serpent hybrids” things that invaded Earth, I like how it made them look and I feel like was a perfect way to introduce the bad guys.
Seems like lately I have been praising one particular letterer while saying that there are a couple of top notch indie letterers but today I finally get to talk about one of the other guys! It’s great seeing Myers lettering in a book because like the other few top notch indie guys I know I’m going to see something fitting and I know that it will only add to the book’s unique feel. One of the things I feel Myers does really well is action lettering, he makes pages pop with actions like rawr’s and argh’s that add that little something that is much needed. Without the action lettering the caption pages and dialog balloons are still done perfectly and they add to the feel as well. Overall Myers is one of the best in the game and deserves his due.
If this sounds like something you want to see you can pre order on Gumroad and when it’s out you can get it on Alterna’s website.
