Since Zeb Wells took over writing duties on Amazing Spider-Man, there has been some tension between Peter and Mary Jane. As a reader, we had no idea what happened. Picking up the first issue felt like you missed out on a key story element. Here we are, 21 issues later, and Wells is finally giving us the story arc of what Peter did. Joining Wells on this issue are John Romita Jr. on pencils, Scott Hanna on inks, Marcio Menyz on colors, and Joe Caramagna on letters.
WRITING
This is an important story arc for Wells’ run, because a lot of what he’s doing hinges on whether or not this is a believable plot. Readers have been wondering how Peter ruined everything and screwed up all his relationships; this is Wells chance to show what he can do. This is an issue that jumps between the present and the past, one year ago specifically. Wells uses his time in the present to show us how the lives of Peter and Mary Jane are going. Peter is running late as usual and has to multitask to attempt to get to work on time. Mary Jane is moving on and living her new life with her husband Paul and their kids (part of the mystery that Wells has set up). All of this stops for Peter and Mary Jane when the Tattered Man reappears. Wells uses that moment to take us back in time one year. The last half of the issue is devoted to showing the reader how the Tattered Man escaped from Ryker’s Island and what his connection is to Peter and Mary Jane. Wells will definitely pique your interest with this issue. As it ended, I wanted to read more and see what would happen next. The use of the Tattered Man is an interesting choice too. We don’t know much about him or what his powers can do, but he is definitely a powerful threat. As the first issue wraps, Spider fans should be pleased with where this story is going. Wells is successful in getting fans excited and invested in this book — he gives just enough answers but raises more questions to keep you reading. I can’t wait to see what the next issue brings.
ART
John Romita Jr. does the pencils for this issue under Hanna’s inks, and it’s some of his best modern work. Romita Jr. can sometimes be a bit boxy with his art, especially with heads, but this issue doesn’t look like that at all. As Mary Jane talks to her and Paul’s children, their heads and body are shaped well and don’t have that boxiness that we sometimes see with his art. In a panel where Mary Jane is disappointed that it’s taking the kids too long to get dressed, Romita Jr. draws her wonderfully, and the look on her face is picture perfect. There is also something eerie to how he draws this rendition of the Tattered Man. Romita Jr. gives him a look and design that allows the reader to see that this is a character that is not playing games. The deadness of his eyes and unkempt hair lets us know this is a man with nothing to lose.
Menyz’s colors in this issue generate a lot of warmth. The reds as the Tattered Man slices a fellow inmate speak volumes, as does the vibrant yellow glow as the villain floats through the street. These can both signify danger for our hero, as warm colors can often be equated with trouble. There is a great page where Spider-Man is fighting the Tattered Man outside. The contrast in colors Menyz uses between the power coming off of the Tattered Man and the gorgeous blue sky is truly eye catching.
The letters by Joe Caramagna are excellent here. This is an issue that uses a lot of sound effects and yelling, so Caramagna had a lot of work to do. We get started right on the first page as Peter forgets what day of the week it is. Caramagna uses a large “FRIDAY” to emphasis Peter yelling. Later, as the battle between Spider-Man and the Tattered Man ensues, Peter hits him with a chunk of drywall and Caramagna lays down a nice “THUNK” right next to the Tattered Man’s head. This is an emotional issue, so the yells and loud voices are littered throughout the issue. When the Tattered Man reappears, Mary Jane yells “HE CAME BACK” — Caramagna uses a quarter of the panel for his letters to emphasize the fear in her voice.
CONCLUSION
Amazing Spider-Man #21 is a very good start for this story arc. Zeb Wells writes an interesting introductory issue that finally gives us the back story we’ve been waiting for. John Romita Jr. turns in some of his best pencils in recent memory and reminds everyone he is an A-list talent. Amazing Spider-Man #21 is available at a comic shop near you!
From writer Ed Brisson (Ghost Rider, Batman Inc.) and artist Netho Diaz comes Marvel Comics’ send series following the galaxy’s most terrifying hunters in Predator #1. Featuring inks by Belardino Brabo and Victor Nava, colors from Erick Arcinega, and lettering by Clayton Cowles, this new series is propped up by some solid art but brought down by an all-too familiar premise.
“FEAR IS REBORN! On a planet far from Earth, eight strangers find themselves in a deadly game. But this time, the Predators aren’t the only ones on the hunt. Someone has the Yautja in their sites – and they’ve been searching for this game preserve for a long time. Ed Brisson and Netho Diaz kicks off an explosive new series that will turn everything you thought you knew about Predators on its head!”
Writing & Plot
Accomplished comics writer Ed Brisson makes a couple of unusual choices with his script for Predator #1. In his defense, he makes this new series an actual direct follow-up to last year’s Predator mini-series, much like how in the Dark Horse era most of the separate comics were actually linked into one large story. Also, from page one this certainly feels like a Predator story. We quite literally hit the ground running with some good old-fashioned bullet-flinging and spine-tearing. However, while it’s impossible to escape the tropes and habits of prior Predator stories from every medium, this one sticks a little too close to one of the franchise’s prior films. A group of killers the world over are suddenly dropped onto a jungle planet with no memory of how they got there, and are immediately hunted down by the masked aliens. While every Predator comic has had its obvious references to the films, just blatantly re-using the plot of one – in this case 2010’s Predators – feels cheap. Granted, Brisson throws some interesting wrinkles in the story, it still stays too close to that film for too long. The other strange choice here is using the 2018 film The Predator – the one film we’re all trying to forget – as essential backstory. Yes, the prior series does the same thing which also becomes a key element in this new chapter, but using such a hilariously flawed film as plot fodder is an odd idea. Fortunately, the issue does pick up in the last couple pages with the potential for some genuinely interesting developments. Hopefully, Brisson is able to make some magic out of a pile of oddities – this is comics, after all.
Art Direction
Predator #1’s strongest feature is its visual storytelling, thanks to the efforts of Netho Diaz’s pencils and Belardino Brabo & Victor Nava’s inks. The art team here throws the reader into this alien jungle with excellent environmental detail, great character animation, and strong sequential pacing. While the cast aren’t really memorable as characters (not a huge deal, they’re mostly trophy fodder), they are each drawn with a distinct look that matches their varied backgrounds as different kinds of soldiers. Without spoiling one of the major plot points, several of the fighters here have a distinct descriptor that adds even more of a sci-fi twist to this alien-filled comic. Diaz’s designs look the part without ever feeling completely out of place. His take on the Predators themselves is familiar in all the right ways, with a touch of his own to make at least one of the hunters memorable. One of them has a missing eyepiece in his mask with the scar to match, making for some pretty badass closeup shots. Brabo and Nava’s inks make the jungle dark and oppressive, and perfect the detail in every panel. They work in tandem with Eric Arcinega’s dense color art to make a stellar visual experience that stands tall with other great looking Predator comics. The deep jungle greens and flashes of thickly-toned blood spatter make for a proper Predator reading experience right out of the original 1987 film. Finally, Clayton Cowles’ letters make for great punctuation in every sequence. His dialogue balloons are easy to read and capture character tone well, but his SFX work is what really shines. Every action sequence is peppered with cleverly placed FX lettering that never overtakes the panels, but still make an impact on the page. Overall, this new entry in the Predator universe has some solid visual work that brings readers right back into the hunt.
Verdict
Predator #1 is a puzzling first issue that has some definite potential. Ed Brisson’s script relies too heavily on prior films for too long before dipping into the most interesting new plot elements. The visuals from Netho Diaz, Belardino Brabo, Victor Nava, and Erick Arcinega are very solid and sit high among modern Predator comics. While there are some problems with this first chapter, it’s got enough intrigue and momentum in its story to warrant reading what’s coming next. If you’re a Predator fan, be sure to grab this issue from your local comic shop today!
THE X-CELLENT #1 hits your local comic book store on March 15th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you!
About the issue: Your favorite celebrity super villains are back! Zeitgeist is still on a mission to achieve social media godhood, no matter who he has to kill! But the spotlight won’t be big enough when the next generation of the X-Statix drop in! Join Peter Milligan and Michael Allred for the final half of their mutant celebrity saga!
The issue is by writer Peter Milligan and artist Michael “Doc” Allred, with colors by Laura Allred, and letters by Nate Piekos. The main cover is by Michael and Laura Allred.
Check out the THE X-CELLENT #1 preview below:
Are you excited for THE X-CELLENT? Sound off in the comments!
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 hits your local comic book shop on April 12, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an early review for our readers. The book is written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing; Kev Walker is the artist, Matt Hollingsworth is the colorist, and you will read the letter work by Cory Petit.
About the new series:
One year ago, the Guardians of the Galaxy were destroyed. Their optimistic future is shattered by the betrayal of one of their own. Now they ride the space lanes of a lawless corner of the galaxy, trying to outrun their tragedy. Can they rediscover their heroism and humanity on the bleakest frontier? Can they forgive the failures of their past? Or will they fade into the dark, eternally unforgiven?
My first impression of the issue; I have no clue what is going on, the jokes are clunky, but the artwork is amazing. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 coming out in May, it’s hard not to read the dialogue and add the voices and delivery of Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff to the comic. With that said, I can’t wait to read the second issue.
The setup by Kelly and Lanzing is enough to hook me for the first story arc. GROOTFALL is an intriguing concept, and Walker makes it look impressive. The western setting works for the comic, and jumping right into the action gives the book a sense of urgency. It isn’t until you put the book down that you start to ask a million questions. This is good because you are engaging with the story.
Walker’s art and Hollingsworth’s colors are the stars of the show. There are major Mike Mignola and Walt Simonson vibes going on in this book. With his horned jacket, Drax is definitely the “Hellboy” of the Guardians. Hollingsworth’s colors are rich and bold yet maintain the western feel.
Walker’s use of panel structure adds to the chaos of the story and the dysfunction of the Guardians. Angling action panels give the reader the feeling the story will jump into your lap. Also, the chaotic panels almost seem to rattle as the impending doom gets closer.
Cory Petit has to deal with a lot of yelling and action, but the story remains easy to follow and read. In one great example, a word balloon is outlined in red as Star Lord said, “LET’S RIDE!” followed by a “FWOOOSH” and a “THOOM.” The action jumps off the page, and you feel solid movement as the action unfolds.
Overall, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 is a must-buy in my book. I need to know what happened to Groot and Rocket Racoon!
THE FORGED #1 hits your local comic book shop on March 15, but thanks to Image Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an early review for our readers. The book is written by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann, with art by Mike Henderson, Nolan Woodward brings the colors to life, and you will read Ariana Maher’s letter work.
About THE FORGED #1: In the 11th Millennium of the rule of the Eternal Empress, a squad of planet-smashing super soldiers find their routine mission to be anything but. These are the Forged. They take no prisoners.
Check out my review below.
THE FORGED #1 is a gorgeous oversized book. Rucka creates an indie film with heart, and then Trautmann, Henderson, and Woodward elevate THE FORGED to a blockbuster movie with the artwork. This was a fun read and hooked me on the concept and the mystery.
The best part of the issue is how Rucka and Trautmann creates a bond between the reader and the female team of grunts, the Forged. You are right in the trenches with them, and you might get covered in some grease if you don’t watch out.
Image Comics calls it an over-the-top pulp adventure of sex, violence, and sci-fi inspired by Conan, Heavy Metal, and other comics you tried to hide from your parents. The way the “navy” officers were designed and the color the palette used, THE FORGED felt like an R-Rated version of Robotech.
Since this is a female-led book, it was interesting to look at the “camera angles” used in the panel layout and who was the object and who was the subject. Also, there is a character named Cassandra. In Greek Mythology, Cassandra means the one who shines and excels over men. Rucka gives you layers in THE FORGED; how deep you want to go is up to you.
THE FORGED #1 is a must-buy because of its concept, depth of story, and over-the-top artwork.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: MASTERVERSE #2 hits your local comic book shop on March 15, but thanks to Dark Horse Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has a five-page preview for our readers. The issue tells three tales written by Tim Seeley with art by Eddie Nunez, E.J. Su, and Victor Santos. The colorists on MASTERVERSE #2 are Rico Renzi and Michael Wiggam; you will read the letter work by Deron Bennett.
About the issue: In the depths of Castle Grayskull, The Sorceress attempts to save He-Man from Zodak with more tales of his influence across the multiverse! In a world where champions have fallen, a hard-bitten Duncan and his partner Evil-Lyn take on a strange kidnapping case in MAN-AT-ARMS-FOR-HIRE! And on the Harmony Sea, Adam, Commander of the King’s army and the captured thief Jitsu search for the power to conquer Eternia!
I’ve been in a bit of a comic slump lately. I’m reading plenty (maybe that’s the problem), but it felt like a while since I read something that really made me feel something. That’s not to say I haven’t read some really good, or even great, stuff recently. I was just looking for something that would remind me why I love this medium – something that moved me enough to say “man, I need to write about this book.”
Then I picked up the first volume of PUBLIC DOMAIN.
PUBLIC DOMAIN is Chip Zdarsky’s creator-owned series, which he puts out first via his Substack, and then later distributes physically through Image. It’s an inside baseball look at the comics industry, about a family whose patriarch co-created “The Domain,” one of pop culture’s most recognizable characters. The Domain has been a cash cow for the publisher, but Zdarsky’s protagonist reaps very little of the rewards. There are elements of both comedy and drama; it’s a wide critique of the business behind our favorite characters, and it’s a very intimate look at one family’s dysfunction. Ultimately — and this is PUBLIC DOMAIN’s greatest strength — it’s about people.
Broken people, to be exact. People who do the wrong thing when they’re trying to do right, and people who do the right thing and are punished for it. Complicated people that you want to both yell at and root for at the same time, and their relationships with one another.
Take Syd, the father who co-created The Domain. Syd worked hard his whole life to provide for his wife and two sons, but at the expense of being truly present in their lives. Then there’s Miles, the eldest son who seems like he wants to help his family, but acts in a way that’s frustratingly selfish. Even characters who are introduced as mustache-twirling bad guys are given sympathetic moments as the story progresses.
These characters feel real. People will read PUBLIC DOMAIN and understand Miles’ complicated feelings towards his father — the odd mixture of resentment and gratefulness.
And the overall story feels just as real (unfortunately). As big as superhero properties are today, the general non-comics-reading populace doesn’t know about the writers and artists who created their favorite characters. Most will defer credit to the corporations instead of the people who did the work, which is exactly how the executives want it. All too often, we hear stories about creators who did not receive credit or compensation for their work.
Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster struggled in poverty without recognition for most of their lives while DC profited off their work. The same went for Bill Finger, who established almost everything recognizable about Batman, but whose contributions were downplayed and virtually ignored by his co-creator Bob Kane. And these are just two of the most famous examples; there are countless other creators from every generation whose characters both big and small are featured in blockbuster movies and TV shows, but who will largely remain unknown to most viewers.
It’s infuriating, but that’s part of what makes PUBLIC DOMAIN so gripping. There’s not that wall of separation where you can read it and say, “it’s just a comic.” It’s a comic that is perfectly emulating all-too-common real life scenarios in both the family drama and the copyright disputes — something Zdarsky acknowledges outright on his credits page, where he makes a point to state that he and his collaborators own their original works. I wanted to read a comic that made me feel something deeply, and I did. Syd and Miles’ story made me feel rage and sadness — and these feelings were all amplified because I know there are real people walking the streets every day experiencing these same things.
Slice-of-life comics feel “real” in a way that other genres can’t. They give us characters and scenarios that we can see ourselves in without any qualifiers. They allow us to relate and engage with the story to its fullest extent — which is why it’s sad we don’t see more of them in the mainstream. Western comics just haven’t taken much of a chance on slice-of-life comics in the way that manga, webcomics, and underground comics have, but PUBLIC DOMAIN is the perfect example of why mainstream publishers should embrace this genre. (And yes, there are other great slice-of-life comics put out by major publishers, but they’re few and far between. I beg you to look into them.)
I read a lot of comics, and when you indulge in too much of something, you can start to lose your taste for it. The tropes jump out at you more and more, and the stories don’t resonate with you like they once did. PUBLIC DOMAIN shook me up in a way that I forgot comics could. If you passed it up because a legal drama about a dysfunctional family didn’t sound appealing to you, I implore you to give it a chance. It’s a tale about troubled people trying to hold themselves together in the face of injustice, and what’s more real than that?
(Side note: if you’re interested in learning more about real-life comic creators who were screwed over by the system and those who fought back, check out the documentary BATMAN & BILL on Hulu.)
Lost Ollie is a hybrid live-action and animated, four-part series on Netflix about a boy and his toys from director Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse) and creator Shannon Tindle (Kubo and the Two Strings) featuring the voice talents of Mary J. Blige and Tim Blake Nelson and starring Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin). Scot Stafford of Pollen Music created the score by blending two wildly different musical genres.
Ollie is a rabbit toy with a country twang who wakes up at the lost and found of an antique shop. Vague memories remind him that he was separated from his best friend, Billy. So Ollie decides to take a journey, following the little clues offered by his fractured memory to guide him. But he has helpin the form of Zozo (Nelson), a toy clown, and his friend Rosy (Blige), a pink, sword-wielding teddy bear. During his adventure to find his family, Ollie remembers his life with Billy, his parents, and the hard times they faced. Billy’s also searching for his friend despite the troubles happening to and around the young boy.
PopAxiom spoke with Scot Stafford about making the music for Lost Ollie.
Split In Two
Scot’s story starts, in part, because of a musically talented older brother. But the skill was a mystery. “It was nowhere to be found in our family before him. I have no idea what possessed him, but he was obsessed with music at a very young age,” Scot explains. They took piano lessons, and by the time Scot was five, and his brother was eight, he was writing songs.
They had a cassette recorder that recorded a bit too fast. “When we’d play it back, it would sound slow. So we’d sound like older people,” Scot continues. “Farts would sound funny.”
Scot and his brother “became obsessed” with recording themselves, including creating a fake radio station. “We’d write these songs about disco but in no way remotely influenced by disco. It was what we thought disco was from watching all these cool people on TV.”
When asked about his earliest influences, in addition to disco, Scot references going to church as a child. He was amazed by the impressive sounds of a choir and the immense pipe organs.
Scot studied classical music but only played it half the time. “I was always in a rock band or some experimental noise band. So by day, I was a classical musician and this mischievous rocker by night.”
Scot attributes his wide range of interests early on to his ability to adapt to the ever-changing nature of film and television music production. “Every project is different,” Scot says. “I think Lost Ollie brought a lot of different things together. We all have different interests, and when a project can bring those together, that’s unique and precious.”
Rip-off
In his 20’s, Scot focused on songwriting and playing in bands. “It didn’t fully pan out, at least regarding a career,” Scot laughs. However, his early musician years led Scot to meet and befriend a number of incredible creatives.
One such creative was animator Doug Sweetland, who had been coming to Scot’s rock shows for some time. Pixar was gaining acclaim as an animation studio, and Sweeland had just finished up on Bug’s Life when Doug approached Scot with ideas for a collaboration on an animated music video for one of the band’s songs.
“I was fed and nourished by animation, but at that age, it wasn’t what I was paying attention to,” Scot says. “I also thought at the time that computer animation was more about the death of art than creating a new one. So I was one of those guys.”
Doug and Scot started talking about doing a music video together. Doug pitched a few ideas for some songs, and then Scot’s perception of Doug completely flipped. “It’s hard to describe, but I realized this person I thought I knew was a complete genius,” he recounts.
Years later, Doug was directing a Pixar theatrical short called Presto and asked Scot to come on board as a composer. “It evoked a lot of nostalgic cartoons,” Scot says of the score. “It was an incredible opportunity to dive into the golden era of cartoon scores.”
“I went deep into Carl Stalling who was probably, along with John Williams, my biggest influence,” Scot says of the legendary composer. “I spent a month trying not to rip off Carl, but the people that influenced him.”
About Lost Ollie
Scot met with show creator Shannon Tindle. “The first thing he said was that he wanted it to sound like an Appalachian Lord of the Rings,” he remembers. “That’s a very evocative thing to say. Sometimes these broad strokes are a strong idea. I knew I had to work on Lost Ollie.”
It was the “perfect prompt” for Scot, even if most others might balk at that strange combination. “Not only do I have family roots in Appalachia, but it’s also something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I grew up for a big part of my life in West Virginia. That region is a special place culturally in terms of music and instruments.”
Scot also grew up as a big Tolkien nerd. “I memorized Elvish poetry when I was 12 years old,” he recalls. To have a project like this that brought together Appalachia and folk music with the implied epic orchestral music was intriguing.
He asked himself, “How do I find a family of instruments that would speak those two languages to get to that level of emotion?” The answer to his questions came in the form of a fretless mountain banjo, which he learned how to play, as well as a mountain dulcimer. Both instruments are heard frequently on the score.
Wrapping Up
There’s no doubt that it was a challenge for Scot to blend orchestral and Appalachian folk together harmoniously. “We had some talented musicians in the recording studio,” Scot explains. “I worked with Stephen Spies, a staff composer at Pollen. He’s a talented fiddle player. I got him to record some of the fiddle parts, which became one of the central sounds of the score. Subtle changes would push things to sound more orchestral or more Appalachian.”
Also key to the score was the technology used to capture the sound. On Pollen’s JJ Wiesler’s recommendation, they recorded the orchestra in Atmos in Budapest. “We captured the front, back, and height of the hall, placing microphones according to common Atmos speaker locations. Most of the time, when you mix music, you never provide Atmos to the mix. It can be hard to preserve that throughout the process. But because JJ was mixing the music, and long-time collaborator Jamey Scott was doing the final mix, we were able to pull it off,” Scot says.
In the future, Scot’s excited to push formats creatively for more impactful, immersive experiences. Fans of a beloved Japanese franchise will also be excited to learn about Scot’s next project. “I’m working on Shannon Tindle’s next big project, an Ultraman feature,” he reveals.
Is Lost Ollie on your watch list?
Thanks to Scot Stafford and Impact24 PR
for making this interview possible.
The premise is simple: read one comic every day for the entire year. It seems like a simple task but there is no way that I read 365 comics last year, even if you count the individual issues in collections. So, this year, I am committing myself to this reading challenge, in the hope that I can broaden my reading habits and fully engage with my favorite hobby again.
I’ve realized that this project is turning into something of a comics diary, revealing more about me as a person than I expected. And that’s the beauty of comics. It’s not just about picking up the latest copy of Spider-Man on a Wednesday, reading it, and then slipping it into a sleeve for it to be filed away. The comics we read are a reflection of our mood at the time we read them. They represent our mindsets, our opinions, and our personal philosophies. When I first started writing about comics, places like Facebook and Twitter were instrumental for sharing those thoughts, getting recognized, and starting conversations. These days, not so much. I barely use my Twitter account, and Facebook is for personal use. I hide as much as possible behind privacy walls. I am running out of places where I can talk about comics, especially about the kinds of things that interest me about the medium. Most of what I read on social media frustrates me and often raises my hackles. The conversations are puerile and often founded on discrimination and hate. I know this is only a small representation of ‘comic fans’ (and more often than not, they’re not really comic fans), but they are usually the loudest and dominate conversations. I have also seen a number of the websites that I loved become nothing more than listicles and promotional tools for the publishers. They are devoid of discussion.
Every now and then I go through a stage where I contemplate giving up on comics. I have a cup of tea and think about leaving the house of ideas behind me. At the end of last year, I cancelled my standing order at my local comic shop, one that I had for over a decade, because I was no longer able to afford it. At least, that was my excuse. In reality, I wasn’t reading the comics that I was buying — even the ones that I liked such as Saga, a title I haven’t read since the hiatus, but have still bought every issue of. I guess, as I’ve gotten older, my tastes have changed. I am more interested in the concept of comics than I am in actually reading comics. My enjoyment has moved away from the pure entertainment of the medium towards an appreciation for the art.
I was in a Facebook group dedicated to comic appreciation which turned out to be more predominately people showing off their comic collections and new buys. There was very little discussion about the comics or the medium in general. One post that has stuck with me was from a man who was complaining that the workers in his local shop (young ‘uns, obviously) weren’t aware that Miracleman was an old character made popular in the 1980s by Alan Moore and published in magazines long since extinct. This poster was mortified that he had to explain to the staff that the character dated back to the early days of comics and had been reinvented and re-released on a number of occasions. He finished his post with a quip about a hypothetical 5 year old trying to convince him that a Funko Pop toy was a comic. Oh, how these young un’s lack any knowledge. Except, to that theoretical 5 year old, the Funko Pop figure would probably factor into his love of comics. The toy would be a large part of how the child would engaged with and enjoy comics. In the same way that large audiences go and see the Marvel movies, and in turn consider themselves connoisseurs of comics. My love of comics was born through the Transformers comics of the mid 1980’s. I loved the cartoon show and bought piles of toys (unfortunately, lost to car boot sales over time). The comic was bought for me because of the other media I consumed and I soon became addicted to it. For me, the interest in comics started with television shows and toys. Therefore, who are we to deny the love of paraphernalia surrounding the medium?
This project was supposed to help me find my love of comics again and, 8 weeks in, I think it has but not quite in the way that I thought. I don’t want to spend each week reading 7 comics and then writing a short review about how much I liked them. My intention was never just to write a list of my favorite comics and why I read them. Therefore, in the future, I’m going to incorporate other aspects of comics, as I have already done, into my daily ‘reads’.
Anyway, this week I have been mainly reading comics from the digital anthology Aces Weekly. I subscribe to the site and pay some money every now and then to get access to the volumes as they are released. The fact I don’t know how much or when I pay says something about my commitment to the business model that David Lloyd is promoting. I log into the site possibly once a year and read a whole bunch of comic strips in one go, instead of reading it week on week, which I think you are supposed to do. The following comics are the 7 that I enjoyed, for one reason or another, from my sporadic reading this week.
Living the Dream Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 57: Living the Dream by Fer Calvi
I started to read this strip from the latest volume (number 61) but it’s only three weeks in. The comic, however, like so many others in Aces Weekly, has been going on for a number of issues, so I went back to read the earlier chapters. I picked this one out because of the art style. I love the cubist renditions of the world the characters inhabit and how the color changes from the ‘real’ world into the digital world affects the way you read and digest the story. The visual change is significant and striking but, fundamentally, the art style is the same.
I’m not really a fan of the story, or the characters, as I found the dialogue flat and forced but flicking from page to page to look at the wonderful art was enough to justify reading several chapters.
The Pack Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 58: The Pack by Jok
The Pack is a perfect short story and a wonderful comic. The black and white artwork sets the atmosphere of this gritty crime story with brutal characters in a brutal narrative. It reminded me of the older crime comics I was reading last week and uses the medium brilliantly to tell the story. Jok manipulates the space on the page to invoke emotions and involve the reader directly with the narrative.
Jok is an Argentinian artist who has found a market in European comics. He adds a sense of humor to his work but, as demonstrated in The Pack, it is his draftsmanship that is his greatest talent. The story slides across the page like the ink from his pen.
Combat Colin Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 59: Combat Colin by Lew Stringer
Going all the way back to volume one for this comic strip action. For those who know, Combat Colin was published in the weekly marvel comics Action Force and Transformers. So, I’ve been reading this strip for many, many years. Lew Stringer is a lover of British comics and enjoys the whimsical nature of the gag strip. With Combat Colin he mixes aspects of different strips to produce some uniquely entertaining. The jokes are dreadful (on purpose) and the characters are over the top (again, that’s the point) but somehow the strip is endearing.
In this first volume, Colin and his sidekick, Steve, fight Giant Zombie Yeds, created by mad scientists who were just experimenting on corpses (as they do). Seemingly dismissable, Combat Colin is actually steeped in history and draws on aspects of the comic strip that have been around longer than the comic book. There’s more to Lew Stringer than cheap tricks and bad puns. His work is worthy of discovery.
Panza Tripod Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 60: Panzer tripod by Reza Benhadj
“Let’s admire the countryside.”
Z21 — the central alien character in this story by Benhadj — sums up the visuals perfectly. This is a visual treat where a combination of shadow and negative space make up the images within the panels. The comics within Aces Weekly have a page design to fit a monitor screen, a different shape to the standard American comic book, and Benhadj uses it perfectly with a combination of full page long shots and collections of small, tight panels. The framing in this story is spot on and is reminiscent of the original Alien movie.
Visual scope. That’s the best way to describe this comic.
Bog Trotter Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 61: Bog Trotter by Katie Cunningham and Hailey Renee Brown
This macabre vampire-esq story about female empowerment is told in mostly grey scale artwork. The darkness that underlines the narrative is reflected in the disturbing creature that stalks the tale on almost every page. Cunningham and Brown weave a cunning short story about the sexism embedded in the educational establishments around the turn of the 19th century but do it with a gothic horror twist.
The comic reads in the same way a Hammer Horror movie plays out: lots of elaborate costumes and clever word play barely distracts from the creature in the room. The rendering of the vampire creature is suitably grotesque as it enchants the leading lady. It is succinct and smartly plotted.
Head Case Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 62: Head Case by Ale Mangiarotti
Buried in volume 56, Head Case is another short story with a twist. The first half is a silent comic about an artist and his hat. But somewhere in the middle it takes a turn.
Existential dread and writer’s block are the backbones for Mangiarotti’s tale — one that needs to be read to be believed.
Nothing Maybe Something Credit: Aces Weekly
Comic Number 63: Nothing Maybe Something by Chris Geary
It’s a love story, of sorts. A tale of friendship told in the simplest of ways. Often abstract and occasionally touching, this comic exemplifies the genius of an anthology like Aces Weekly. It is so different from everything else in this week’s list and a breath of fresh air in general.
Read it in issue 50. Also read “Swell” in issue 44. It’s about a man in a boat on a rough sea. The artwork is sublime.
Aces Weekly is an online comics anthology that showcases a mix of talent from all over the world. You can buy specific volumes or subscribe and get the weekly editions as they are released, even if you only log in once a year. Along with the mixed talent there is also an array of genres and styles on offer; it really does have something for everyone, whether you are into gag strips, sci-fi action stories, or avant-garde tales. Check it out here.
Welcome to Self-Published Spotlight, a regular interview column where I will be highlighting self-published comics and the creators and small print publishers who make them.
As soon as I laid eyes on Sam Blanchard’s (aka Shlepzig) art, I was taken. Heavily stylized, flowing and clean, his art has a ton of movement and design. You don’t so much look at it, it jumps right off the page and straight into your eyes. Sam has also had a storied life in and out of comics (for example, the dude is also a swashbuckling fencer swordsman who coaches kids). Talking to Sam was a lot like ingesting his comics, full of love for the comics medium, with true artistic sensibility and the talent of delivering A LOT in a short amount of time.
Monkeys Fighting Robots: Sam what’s your comic book origin? How and when did you get into comics? Sam Blanchard: Like pretty much everyone else, I started reading comics as soon as I could read. Normal fare, Superman, Spiderman, Peanuts… the stuff everybody read in the mid-70s. I also loved cartoons, the Fleischer Popeyes, Loony Tunes and Disney shorts. I was drawn to everything cartoony, I would run home in 3rd grade to catch Speed Racer on local channel 12 making me a weeb at an astonishingly young age. There was a FF I remember from when I was 7 or 8. The Four are kidnapped Prisoner style to Latveria where Doctor Doom has them kept in this creepy community, it must have been a Kirby issue because the weird technology and designs were intoxicating to look at. My parents were both art teachers and aspiring professional fine artists. So drawing and painting were the default activities whenever kids were over or there was just a little downtime. Maybe that’s what made me sensitive to visual narrative, maybe it changed something deep inside me. All those factors came together and by my early teen years, it was clear there was something different about me. I gravitated to D&D in the early 80s, I obsessed over the Toth-designed Herculoids and Johnny Quest, Thundarr blew my mind. I bought comics obsessively in the early to mid-80s when amazing things were happening in the medium. I discovered Heavy Metal in 1979 on the back shelf of the Magazine rack where I wasn’t supposed to look, next to the Easy Riders. Rick Veitch’s Abraxas and the Earth Man, Corben’s Den and my favorite Ranxerox. My mutant powers were somehow unleashed around high school. I would never again be like other humans, I was doomed to be a cartoonist. In 85 to 86, the year I graduated from high school, there was the indy comic boom. Previously it was just whispered legends of zines like the Freak Brothers found in head shops or behind the beaded curtains at used record stores. Now there was Cerebus and ElfQuest, creator-owned properties. AD2000 stuff coming out of Europe… stuff beyond just Marvel or DC. The turning point was the Turtles. TMNT was fantastic but that’s not its key to success, it was a balance of goofy and gritty and the art was good but not too good. You read it and were inspired to think, “I could do that”. So I started to believe. So did everybody else, when I went to the campus comic shop it was filled with TMNT imitators as well as a million others. Most of them were awful. I took a step back and thought how can I do this without making something as awful as most of this? There was a long pause.
Eastman & Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as drawn by Shlepzig
MFR: That’s a Tolkienish journey! So when did you make a conscious effort to create your own book? SB:I checked out of the comics scene around the time I left my first college journey in 1990. I rode my motorcycle around Oregon, couch surfing, playing in the SCA and other salacious lifestyle choices. I narrowly missed becoming a tattoo artist. One thing led to another, I was studying engineering and art in Portland, Or. I was doing freelance illustration through the indy zine circles in 1993 and illustrations for the never published Great Adventure Game (aka GAG). I was doing ok but not making a ton of money when I found myself a single father to my son Bjorn. I kinda figured I should get a steady job. So I quit studying art, buckled down, moved out to the desert and got my engineering degree in another year (25 credit quarters and a Summer term). That kinda stuck for many years until the USA decided a Scooby Doo villain should be the president. I had picked up my art supplies now and again over the years but not seriously. I occasionally picked up a copy of Spider-man or Daredevil to read on the train to and from NYC every day. I kept coming back to comics, exciting stuff was happening in comics and manga through the 2000s but it never stuck for long. Now though, I needed some serious art therapy or I would just refresh the Washington Post feed to find out what president cheeto had done next… The work culture was awful, and the evil bank I worked for was going downhill (they had to pay billions of dollars in fines after the subprime fiasco) so I was pretty much left alone in my office. I could draw most of the day, answer a few emails and run the scripts I had written that mostly did my job for me. I discovered the Cartoonist Kayfabe vlog through BoingBoing (that had been running Ed’s Hip-Hop Family Tree) and started posting my art on Instagram as I started getting my chops back. I was considering making a comic again once I felt I could draw a bit now. I started doing Draw This In Your Style challenges #DTIYS and was doing them as little 4-panel strips to learn how to tell stories (in print in collection Number 1). I met James Edward Clark and Matt King (Tales To Enlighten) through Instagram. I was definitely getting more confident in my art and storytelling. The bank decided to let me go in December of 2019, and I was cool with that, they gave me a generous severance and I was ready to take on the dual life of fencing coach and cartoonist. Things were going swimmingly, I finished the high school fencing season in Feb. I opened my fencing club in the same month. I had met a bunch of makers online like Erik Klaus and was following Jamie Jones and Matt Sardo with Monkeys Fighting Robots. My plan was to go to a bunch of cons in 2020 to network and figure out the ropes. I had my first con badge and was super excited for Zapp Con, on March 20, 2020. We know how that worked out. So we were all scrambling to figure out if this was going to be a 28-day or a Mad Max scenario. I discovered Cartoonist Kayfabe Ringside Seats. Matt King was just starting work on TTE 2 while finishing up TTE 1 and asked me to do an 8-pager for him. So that was a long-term gig to do whenever (I think it took over two years to get done). Then the fateful call to arms for Image Grand Disaster to do some coloring for a story that was running late. That was it… I was locked in a small room, never coming out, drawing all day or reading comic books, and watching anime with my daughter. I was a full-fledged cartoonist now.
Sam combines his love of comics and fencing!
MFR: From finance to fencing to funny books! I love it! SB:Engineering for a finance company. I was part of the global engineering team leading data center strategy.
MFR: Still makes you a man of many hats!
SB: Like Johnny two-hats!
MFR: One thing I admire about you is your speed at cartooning. Having sat with you through various zoom drawing/hanging out group sessions you have an amazing pace. And not only that, your art doesn’t suffer for it. How do you accomplish that level of speed?
SB: I draw fast for a couple of reasons, firstly I just can’t stick with a piece for too long, I get bored and lose interest, or overwork the piece. Dealing with my children’s ADHD I’m pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADD and high-functioning autism myself. So I also suspect that’s part of it. Just kinda working within the confines of my own head. Why does it work? I think I have good instincts and my first decision is probably the best one, that way I don’t fall prey to self-doubt and rework a piece until it’s just mud. It’s a philosophy I think is true for most people. I don’t think I have extraordinary instincts, I think we all intrinsically understand what works and what doesn’t. The trick is committing to that raw unedited idea without flinching. I use a phrase when I am coaching “being fully committed to a bad plan is better than half committed to a good plan”. Artistically, the idea is that we will edit ourselves out of something really innovative when we start to hold back. Not that everything comes out as pure gold, but those raw ideas are the ones that are most interesting and most honest to our true inspiration. So I just throw ink down and see what happens. It’s usually pretty interesting. I think my work gets a lot less interesting when I start to think about it too much. Of course, some of it is just not good, but I try to move on to the next thing and see what happens.
MFR: With all that in mind then, what would you say is the favorite of your works or the one that best represents you and your art? SB:That’s a tough one. I have only been at this a couple of years so I don’t have an expansive body of work like a lot of the cartoonists I know. I feel like my skills are still growing really quickly and I am evolving as a storyteller. So the best representation of me as a storyteller is probably yet to come. I really love the book Red and the world of File 2231 in which it resides (there is more upcoming). That scratches a lot of itches for me, the sisters of our lady of extraterrestrial lament are semi-erotic, hyper-violent, supernatural nuns in retro 60s miniskirts and gogo boots fighting against sll the things that go bump in the night: over-the-top action, pulp sensibility, supernatural horror, sexy ladies and a little goofball humor. There so much more to come. If you read my 2021 Collection you get a pretty clear view of who I am, but I was just a baby cartoonist then (fundamentally, I still am). That collection is a really wide view of me, my influences, my history, my process and learning how to do cartooning. It’s a very personal project. The work I did for a Troma tribute comic (hopefully coming out soon) is really astounding (and unspeakably filthy). Certainly outside of my explicitness comfort zone but pushed me with composition and color so I learned a lot. Perhaps a turning point for me was the Cyber-Ice-Strike six pager I did for the Ringside-Thology session on Liefeld night. I solidified a couple of things for myself that are becoming signature design elements for me, borderless panels and a single color palette defined as a background color that the rest of the art sits on top of in both positive and negative space. Narratively, the character came together and the story leaves you wanting more (I am often asked when more is coming out with this character). I think I have danced around that answer sufficiently.
MFR: Can you talk about your process? Do you approach each project the same? or does it change for each? And what’s in your tool kit, both analog and digital?SB: As far as making comics it can vary depending on where my story is coming from. If I am writing myself it’s very loose. I get some plot points on paper and start drawing some images that match. I string them together on the page and act out dialog looking for those “I’ll be back” moments where the dialog clicks with the scene to bring the right nuance. When I get a script from another author I prefer to get something really loose. I want to use my storytelling instincts and style to set the pace and mood i am getting from the story. My favorite collaboration was Heavy Traffic written by Jonathan Thompson and visually compiled by me (featured in Wizerd #2). Jonathan had a set of plot points for a 16-page story about the world and we had a 6-page limit for our submission. I banged some ideas back and forth with Jonathan and trimmed it back and I think we delivered a really powerful piece. I did a great project recently with David Allen where he had already written a ‘full’ script and it was a really good story but I had a couple of issues with the pacing. We worked on a bunch of edits to get the story but never settled on the edits to the page composition I wanted. I ended up doing it twice with both layouts (it only required a couple of extra panels to be drawn – digital composition FTW). The end result is fantastic, Pepere will be in Fugitive Poems Fall release of Containment Breach #4. So i kinda roll with the punches, but really prefer an open sandbox to play in. What is called The Marvel Method is my favorite collaboration method for that reason. I feel that you’re going with an artist to tell your story because you like how they do it, let them tell your story they way they think is best. Artistically, I usually do really loose pencils on paper and follow with ink on paoer. There’s something about what I can do with a tool in my hand on actual paper i can’t achieve with digital. I use mechanical pencils with regular or blue line Iead in .5mm .9mm and 2mm sizes (mostly the bigger ones). I ink mostly with Pilot Parallel calligraphy pens and Microns but also use some manga nylon brush nibs (kuretake? maybe) and felt chisel tip pens. I’m playing with stamps as well (another inspiration borrowed from Jesse Lonergan whom I probably owe money for the ideas I have lifted from him).
Cover to bootleg/fan Weapon X homage ‘Weapon Echh’
MFR: Do you have a favorite part of the process and by contrast one that you just HATE? I’d also love to hear your specific influences, both in terms of comics and any other medium or media. SB:My favorite part is probably inking, that’s where the art comes to life. I enjoy the entire process, if I had to hand letter everything, I would hate that. I don’t hate page layout, but it is the part I find most daunting and frustrating. In part, because I collage my pages together, sometimes I don’t get the image size right and I have to trim or squish it to get it to fit the panel in the page. Or sometimes i just have to redraw a panel because I changed my mind about layout. All in all, I really enjoy the entire process, writing, drawing, lettering and pre-press editing. I’m always learning new things, so maybe ill eventually learn a process I hate.
Influences is a big one. Classic comics from the Silver Age through the 80s and the early indy scene. All the big names fit in there. Ditko, Kirby, Buscema, Byrne, Neal Adams, Perez etc Later, Sienkiewicz (New Mutants), BWS (Machine Man), Kaluta (Starstruck), Corben (general horror), Veitch (Abraxas), Moebius (Arzach, Incal), Jansen (DD), Sim (Cerebus), Eastman, Laird (TMNT). Michael Golden (Micronauts) And oddballs like Edward Gorey and Charles Addams Classic comic creators like McCay, Herge, Herriman, Schultz are also big influences. Heavily influenced by Alex Toth’s adventure cartoons from Hanna-Barbera. Illustrators/painters like Maxfield Parrish, Arthur Rackham, Gustav Dore were big inspirations from the books I read they illustrated. Story wise I love pulp lit. Robert E Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lovecraft, Poe, Hammett, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, that whole lot. Miller really captured pulp sensibility in his seminal series from DD to DKR to Sin City, it’s all pulp tropes. I love anime and manga, the view of storytelling outside of western culture is a really fresh take. So n the anime and manga world, that’s what I was picking up in the 90s. In the post-Robotech/pre-Streaming world you could find all manner of VHS insanity and Viz was just starting to invade bookstores. Early stuff like Battle AngelAlita, Patlabor, and M66 led to the theatrical releases of Fist of The North Star, Akira and Ninja Scroll. I love all that over-the-top stuff. I moved to the east coast in ’98 the internet was changing everything, so much stuff. It was all influencing me. Post 9-11 I was minding a data center in SoHo that the company I worked for was moving out of. It was basically just me in the building for 3 months with practically nothing to do. I started drawing again for a while. Browsing the internet with the new search engine Google I discovered some incredibly influential artists, Celia Calle and through her Ashley Wood. Lately, my favorite modern manga work has been Tsutomo Nihei and his combined world of Blame, anything and everything by Masaaki Yuasa or Satoshi Kon and Pluto by Naoki Urasawa. Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe also has a golden touch. Incredible stuff all around. The Gonzo Studio era is also a favorite, expansive work like the Range Murata designed Last Exile, the crazed Count of Monte Cristo adaptation, Ergo Proxy and Serial Experiments Lain and TekkonKinkreet. The abstracted designs and deeply layered stories are intoxicating. There was the dawn of Trigger studios, I adore everything out of Trigger. It’s so fluid and crazy kinetic. The opposite is the Ghibli creations. I remember relentlessly hunting down the first (terribly edited) release of VHS of Nausicaa after seeing part of it airing on channel 12. All of Miyazaki’s work has such heart. I strive for that kind of honesty in my own work. Films and such, I love all the cheesy sci-fi exploitation flicks of the 70s. Invasion of the Bee Girls is such a touchstone, but that whole era pre-Star Wars. After Star Wars everything was kinda trying to be Star Wars, but before that, you had goofy navel-gazers like Silent Running or Zardoz to Planet of the Apes. Those are my favorites. I lean into some of that sensibility in making comics. I dont think in operatic arcs but in smaller scenes in back alleys and obscure corners (like The Maxx). Same for my musical tastes, I was a goth/punk aficionado in the 80s after growing up on hippie folk music. That DIY gritty art punk scene was my favorite stuff. Basically, if it was a band that launched itself after listening to the Velvet Underground I loved it. We are the sum of our influence after all. All the parts of my history inform the art and stories I create now. Uniquely weird and a bit off-kilter. I don’t need or want my art or stories to be beautiful or objectively perfect draftsmanship but I want them to make you think about the subject or look at the medium in a new way.
MFR: Why the nome de plume Shlepzig? What’s the story behind it? SB:That’s an interesting one. I’ve used Shlepzig as a handle since before the world wide web was part of the internet. The origin is a deep cut from Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (a favorite novel of mine, I forgot to write a fourth essay on my deep love of post-modern writing…) In the story, the protagonist, Tyrone Slothrop, has to sneak across enemy lines into Nazi Germany to determine the secret payload on a V2 rocket the schwarzgerat. To do so he secures a fake ID for Max Schlepzig (who is apparently a historical reference to an actual german actor at the time, near as I can tell he was not a sympathizer). So in those days a limited amount of memory was allocated for your login ID and you were limited to 8 characters. As a result, I dropped the C as the least important letter and thus Shlepzig was established. That didn’t stop Jim Rugg from spelling it Schlepzig in his Octobriana process book with the bit of fan art I did. Shlepzig is kinda funny as it seems to trigger any latent dyslexia people may have. Invariably people get the letters mixed up one way or another. Once they get it though, they don’t forget it. That’s the story of Shlepzig, which is almost as interesting as the story of how I came to be called Sam (which isn’t really my name either).
MFR: And where can people find your work? SB: To browse most stuff, my Instagram and Facebook accounts:@Shlepzig.comics and @Shlepzig.nsfw. There’s my Twitter @Shlepzig I have a YouTube channel @Shlepzig with tutorials. I also have a Twitch @Shlepzig. You can buy books and prints and stuff at my Etsy shop @ShlepzigIllustration Or support me on my Patreon @Shlepzig It’s all linked through my Linktree https://www.linktr.ee/Shlepzig or my website https://www.shlepzig.com My Deviant account is active again as well. Search me up on Amazon for Shlepzig or Drive Thru Comics for ebooks (not as cool as physical books) Lastly, find me at cons. I am booked for NJ CollectorFest on March 12, HeroesCon in June, and Black Label ComicCon in August. I am applying to SPX, Baltimore CC, NYCC, Rose City CC and SDCC.
