CON SWAG: Emerald City Comicon 2007 part 2

RAZOR KID #1 - RoninStudios: Written by Marcus Almand, pencils by Jeffrey Cruz

Picked up Razor Kid from DeviantArtist FooRay, who's working on issue 2 of the book. I'd seen it somewhere online and thought the style looked interesting if familiar. Upon flipping through and seeing it had the great work of Cruz, I had to check it out.

RK is standard superpowered storytelling, a young aspiring hero, competing to get a license from C.A.P.E. (citizens authorized for protection and enforcement), but where it shines in in the execution. The plotting and character, Alex Tanaka, are fresh and fun to follow. Turns out Alex is a genius who though he lost both his arms, devised his own prosthetics, that not only give him the functionality he's missing, but much more.

RK is a nice mix of good writing, solid art, and a well developed concept. Check this out if you like books like Invincible, where the creators make the tried-and-true seem fresh and fun!

STEVE LAWLIS: FRANKENSTEIN'S MONKEY - Rorshach Entertainment: Created/Written by Brian Meredith, art by Erik Thompson

I'd seen Erik's nice cartoon artwork for some time now, so I was excited to see he'd worked on a comic and was quick to pick up this new entry from Seattle Publisher Rorschach.

Steve Lawlis is well suited to Erik's style, as it feels much like a mash-up of 3 cartoon network shows; Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter's Laboratory. In fact, after a fun intro that feels like we're going to be treated to a nice cartoon inspired yet adult focused tale, things spiral into the all-too-familiar, with Lawlis being the macho stand in for Bravo, directed by the mayor to fend off outlandish threats to the city ala Powerpuff Girls, and alongside and up against evil/crazed scientists and situations born from their mischief, that would be Dexter's Labortory. Now, I don't think Meredith was actually going for that trifecta, but in hindsight that's what I found. I wish I had better things to say here, I wanted to like this, but it just seemed uninspired, and I really don't need to hear anyone quote Charlton Heston's key line from Planet of the Apes (you know it), EVER. AGAIN. THANKS.

I advise you go ahead and check this out if you like Thompson's cartoony style, the book doesn't get in the way of enjoying his work (though it could stand colors to make it really pop, like on the cover).

CON SWAG: Emerald City Comicon 2007

Just off my fourth con in the span of 6 weeks, it's time, no past time to share some of the treasures I've unearthed cruising through the artist alley exhibitors. But since the most recent swag is freshest in my mind, I'll start with that, and some of the stuff I grabbed at this past weekends Emerald City Comicon (a great show, that's back on track this year).

First up is the latest work from Super Real friend, Edward Pun. Edward you may recall turned in the slick variant cover of participant number 3 for issue 2, and also contributed 5 pages to the recent Super Real Special. In the meantime Edward put the finishing touches on his first issue of BETSY MAE BITE, a full size black and white comic featruing a mysterious farm girl, her cow, ufo's and men in black.

In BMB Ed weaves a light, fun, and pulpy tale centered around the titular cute girl Betsy, and the events that transpire one evening on her farm. With Ed's clean and ultra smooth storytelling, he could make a book about paint drying a fun read. Here though, he plays with some much cooler material and the result is one good comic book yarn that's a little bit manga, even more "animated", and a whole bunch of fun!

You can check it out HERE for now, but I'm sure Ed will be adding it, along with his latest group venture ATOMIC LEAD, to his website store found HERE

Next we have a heady concoction from James Stokoe, SNACK COMIX issue 1.

James is a friend or current/former roomey (or sumthin like that) of the incomparable comic kids Brandon Graham and Corey Lewis, and their influence is all over Stokoe's work that I've seen (or ya know, his influence is on their stuff, it's all mixed in ya know?). That said, it's a good thing, as Graham and Lewis got enough style and crazy ideas to fuel a line of books each, and the work I've seen of Stokoe is equally impressive. This however is the first time I've been able to pick up a book of Stokoe's. (I know he's got something due soon from ONI PRESS too, of which I'm down for and eager to see)

Snack Comix is 40 pages of black and white goodness. Stokoe presents 2 stories here, the first longer story centered around a visored biker dude hangin back to watch giant monsters throw down and tear apart a city, as the rest of the population heads for the hills. His writing and work on the page are fresh, cool, and most of all fun. His stuff, again as with Graham and The Rey, exudes a unique spirit that's contagious. The second shorter story is a simple tale behind the scenes of an Orc army.

Very cool goods here.
Check out his website or DA page!

Stay tuned kids! Much much more good, "You have to see this shit!" stuff to come...