Tag Archives: marley zarcone

Preview: Shade the Changing Girl #2

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Shade the Changing Girl #2

Written by: Cecil Castellucci
Art by: Marley Zarcone
Backup Art by: Mirka Andolfo
Backup Written by: Asher Powell
Cover by: Becky Cloonan
Variant cover by: Chynna Clugston Flores

Shade has settled into her adopted human body, but the rest of her high school isn’t sure how to deal with this strange new behavior from the girl they once knew. The more Shade learns about Megan’s former life, the more she realizes everyone hates her. It’s one of many fresh sensations Shade is getting to know. Being a human is galaxies different than being from Meta, and it’s not going to be easy balancing all of that with the madness that brought her here.

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Review: Shade, The Changing Girl #1

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stcg_cv1_dsThere’s no such thing as a little bit of madness.

Far away on the planet Meta, Loma’s going nowhere fast. She’s dropped out of school, dumped her boyfriend, and is bored out of her mind.  She longs to feel things. That’s where her idol, the lunatic poet Rac Shade, and his infamous madness coat come it. Loma steals the garment and makes a break across galaxies to take up residence in a new body: Earth girl Megan Boyer. Surely everything will be better on this passionate primitive planet with a dash of madness on her side and this human girl’s easy life. Only now that she’s here, Loma discovers being a teenaged Earth girl comes with its own challenges and Earth may not be everything she thought it’d be. Megan Boyer was a bully whom everyone was glad was almost dead, and now Loma has to survive High School and navigate the consequences of the life she didn’t live with the ever-growing and uncontrollable madness at her side. Not to mention that there are people back on her homeworld who might just want Shade’s coat back.

I really had no idea what to expect from Shade, the Changing Girl #1, the latest comic to come out from DC’s Young Animal imprint. I don’t know the classic character this spins out of, so I felt a bit behind the curve as most of the issue feels like the comic equivalent of an acide trip, more poetry than narrative and floating around like much of the art within.

But, as the first issue went on, writer Cecil Castellucci does a solid job of bringing things together into a much clearer picture and by the end I had a much better idea as to what was occurring. What was me scratching my head turned into me nodding a bunch as things fell into place and what felt like a disaster of a start coaleced into a solid debut, much like how some paintings look like splatches up close but further away forms a beautiful picture. What starts as a weird trippy sci-fi story turns into a tragic story about teenagers.

Marley Zarcone‘s art matches the story bringing a trippy read to life into trippy visuals. I feel an influence of Mike Allred in some ways, so if you like that art you might like this.

It took me quite a while to get into the first issue, but when I got to the end I really enjoyed it. I’m still not 100% sold, but the issue has an interesting thing going on and where it goes from here, I honestly have no idea. With so many options, I’m intrigued more than anything and want to see what comes next.

Story: Cecil Castellucci Art: Marley Zarcone
Story: 7.5 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Preview: Shade, The Changing Girl #1

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Shade, The Changing Girl #1

Written by: Cecil Castellucci
Art by: Marley Zarcone
Cover by: Becky Cloonan
Variant cover by: Duncan Fegredo, Tula Lotay

There’s no such thing as a little bit of madness.

Far away on the planet Meta, Loma’s going nowhere fast. She’s dropped out of school, dumped her boyfriend, and is bored out of her mind.  She longs to feel things. That’s where her idol, the lunatic poet Rac Shade, and his infamous madness coat come it. Loma steals the garment and makes a break across galaxies to take up residence in a new body: Earth girl Megan Boyer. Surely everything will be better on this passionate primitive planet with a dash of madness on her side and this human girl’s easy life. Only now that she’s here, Loma discovers being a teenaged Earth girl comes with its own challenges and Earth may not be everything she thought it’d be. Megan Boyer was a bully whom everyone was glad was almost dead, and now Loma has to survive High School and navigate the consequences of the life she didn’t live with the ever-growing and uncontrollable madness at her side. Not to mention that there are people back on her homeworld who might just want Shade’s coat back.

Written by Cecil Castellucci (THE PLAIN JANES, Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure), drawn by Marley Zarcone (EFFIGY) and overseen by Gerard Way, SHADE, THE CHANGING GIRL starts a whole new chapter in the story of one of comics’ most unique series.

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ECCC 2016: DC Comics Announces DC’s Young Animal and Gerard Way on Doom Patrol

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The DC All Access panel at Emerald City Comicon was crashed by none other than Gerard Way, Eisner Award-winning writer of The Umbrella Academy and former vocalist and co-founder of the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance. Way announced that he will be curating DC’s Young Animal, a new mature reader pop-up imprint of DC Comics that will consist of four series and feature his creative direction.

The flagship title for this monthly lineup is Doom Patrol, written by Way, which will set the tone for the other titles in the series, described by Way as “comics for dangerous humans.”

The lineup includes:

DOOM PATROL – This September, in the spirit of Grant Morrison’s legendary run on the series, along with other classic incarnations of the characters, writer Gerard Way and artist Nick Derington will put their unique stamp on the world’s strangest heroes taking on the universe’s strangest villains.

SHADE, THE CHANGING GIRL – An alien takes over the body of a 16-year-old bully and must face the challenges of being a stranger in a foreign land, plus the consequences of a life she didn’t live. Star Wars’ Moving Target writer Cecil Castellucci and artist Marley Zarcone explore themes of madness, alienation, and the bizarre in this sci-fi thriller, with covers by Becky Cloonan. The new series hits shelves in October.

CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE – Writers Gerard Way and Jon Rivera, along with artist Michael Avon Oeming take readers on a strange adventure with DC Comics’ Silver Age character Cave Carson, his cybernetic eye and his college–age daughter as they travel to dark places deep in the earth and mind. Catch this new series in October.

MOTHER PANIC – Meet Violet Paige, a celebrity heiress by day and brutal vigilante by night as she takes on the underbelly of Gotham City’s high society. Hitting shelves in November, the series is written by Gerard Way and Jody Houser with art by Tommy Lee Edwards.

Sounds like a Vertigo-like imprint with superheroes and we’ve seen Way can deliver!

Review: Fairest: In All the Land

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FAIRATL_HC_DJ_FRONTFairest: In All the Land is the latest original graphic novel set in the Fables/Fairest universe. Featuring short stories by Bill Willingham, the graphic novel is told through the perspective of the Magic Mirror! The murder mystery contains two illustrated prose chapters that bookend thirty comic chapters, that all combine to tell the story of the worst week of Cinderella’s life. The art is provided by a murderers row of artists, showing off their unique talent with the help of Willingham’s story telling ability.

I’ve been a long time fan of the Fables world and it’s spin-offs, even going so far as to buy original art from Mark Buckingham who contributes here. One of the highlights has been the spy-like mini-series featuring Cinderella, that have mixed the fantasy setting, mashing it up with Bond like spy dramas. Here, instead of having to wait months for a new mini-series, we’re treated to a full story in one go, one that has actual impact in the continuity.

While Cinderella is usually thrown into spy-action thrillers, instead we’re given a murder mystery, as she attempts to figure out who is killing some of the fairest in the land. It’s fun watching this character who usually solves her problems with kicking, punching and weapons, attempt to fill the role of Bigby Wolf, the usual detective/sheriff. Her stumbling throughout is charming and a nice change from what we usually see with her.

Overall the story is really solid, and it’s great to read a graphic novel with these characters. Hopefully we’ll get one or two more before Willingham wraps up his series (or more after he does!). There’s also some nice commentary on the women we’ve come to expect and accept in classic fairy tales. Read the graphic novel and you’ll understand.

The mix of art is an interesting mix as well. I can’t say it added anything for me, but all of these artists are top notch, so seeing all their styles and takes on the same characters is interesting. It being one narrative throughout is interesting as well, as opposed to an anthology of related by standalone stories. Overall, the art is solid and much beautiful to look at.

The graphic novel is a great addition for long-time fans and the fact it has impact on continuity makes it even better. This is how you do a solid graphic novel tie-in.

As I said, I want to see more of this, here’s hoping we do. If not, at least we’ve got a few great graphic novels of this fabulous comic world.

Story: Bill Willingham Art: Chrissie Zullo, Karl Kerschl, Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon, Fiona Meng, Mark Buckingham, Phil Noto, Meghan Hetrick, Russ Braun, Tony Akins, Gene Ha, Tula Lotay, Marley Zarcone, Ming Doyle, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Nimit Malavia, Dean Ormston, Kurt Huggins, Adam Hughes, Al Davison, Shawn McManus, Inaki Maranda, Kevin Maguire
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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