This past Saturday I attended the Fargo-Moorhead Comic Con, my first con in a while. While it was mostly local shops shilling their bin comics and some notable issues, there were a couple of booths of people selling their self-published comic books. And since we're all about not giving Bendis money, I decided to support some local artists.
Reviews:
'Impure Blood'
Published by NA Squared out of St. Paul, Minnesota, 'Impure Blood' is an indie fantasy comic with professional polish that follows the adventures of an escaped gladiator and his accomplices. Written by Nadja Baer, issue 1 is a solid introduction to the main characters and their "universe" as a whole. The characters' personalities are clear and distinct but also show a hint of depth that goes beyond the typical fantasy roles of "tank", "rogue", and "magician".
While there are no glaring examples, the dialogue does read a bit... modern. That's not a bad thing (especially since I personally hate "Thor-speak"), in a world with coliseum battles, magic and robotic-sword arms, pretty much anything can fit. Baer's humor and general tone of the story work well with the dialogue and make this an enjoyable read.
The interior and cover art, by Nathan Lueth perfectly compliments the story laid out by Baer. The line work is clean and colors, vivid. The panel layouts and pacing is spot on. Dynamic with cool overlaps, at times, but never distracting or hard to read. At $4 for 24 full color pages (no ads), you certainly get your money's worth, an entertaining read, intriguing subplots, and rich art. I just wish I hadn't been a cheap bastard and bought the following two issues they had on sale at the booth. (but hey it could've been horrible and I would've been out two vodka crans worth of money, lol...)
Luckily, the comic is online for free (or you can order for $5 plus S&H) here so you can see if I'm just talking out of my ass...
http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter001/ib001.html
check it out and then add your comments below...
2nds: Another Anthology
2nds is a collection of four comic stories by Minnesota State students under the banner of Dragons Den Comics.
First up, 'Rocket to the Sun' by Steven Andy Stalboerger which is a short ethereal-ish comic with Snake Plissken-short dialogue. Some of the best art in the book and a strong start to the anthology though. This story of the first flight post World War III is simple, yet effective...
'Dragons Den: Chapter I' by Emilie bailey and Danielle Holzschuh is sort of a character study in nerd and romance with a generous helping of humor (and tiny pet dragons no one seems to think is odd). The simple (and black and white) art style works for the story but slight pixelation, from what I assume was the enlarging process to fit the larger page format, hurts the experience. While it sort of seems obvious where the story is going, likable characters and great execution more than make up for a simple plot...
'Galina Powers, Monster Hunter' by Carl Stewart is by far my favorite. It sort of reads like "What If... MTV's Daria and Jane had a lovechild that grew up to kill monsters?" Weird, but it works. I'm on the fence about the sketch-style ink pen work and brushstroke painted style. But I think that is just because I like th concept of the comic so much I want to see it in the traditional comic style. I do however hate the lettering/speech bubbles. Its jarring that their styles don't mesh with the comic art at all...
'Honor Alliance: Exposed Pt. 1' by John Berdahl and Tate Mlady was the hardest comic to get into. Even though this was part one of the story I felt left out of the loop of previous happenings within this comic world. The comic sports MAD magazine styled adaptations to DC's Justice League archetypal characters and a 'Watchmen'-type attitude and story. Their interesting aspects but this is decompressed to DCNU Justice League level. Can't say that I'd definitely buy a future issue but I'd definitely be tempted. The last panels of the space station scene and the section on the character in Africa are so well done and the comic's saving grace. The art and writing in those parts set a high bar for where future issues would need to be to bring me back in...
Check out the Dragons Den Comics site here (or order copies)... http://web.mnstate.edu/ddcomics/
All the above work is copyrighted and all rights reserved to their respective owners/creators...
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