Tag Archives: broken icon comics

Indy Spotlight: The Showdown Vol. 1

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The Showdown Vol 1Welcome back everyone to another Graphic Policy Indy spotlight review! This week Brett gave me another fantastic comic for you guys to know about. Its called The Showdown Vol. 1 and it was created by Russ Lippitt and Tony Guaraldi-Brown. Looking at this cover alone had brought me back to my youth of great horror movies I would watch on late night HBO during October or listening to The Misfits for the first time. This book was the perfect match made in hell! I really do wish this book was given to me in October, it would’ve been a great Halloween article. But none the less, I surely enjoyed the crap out of this book.

As a horror fan, there aren’t really that many comics out there that hit the coffin nail that often. I enjoyed 30 days of night was great, but, hated The Dracula stuff that came out after. Or when Walking Dead came out and blew everyone away, so everyone thought they could write a “good zombie” comic? Believe me when I say, here is that new horror story. Something that looked deep into our enriched dark past and pulled something out of the closet so awesome, its hard not to check it out. Let alone talk about it.

When Russ wrote this books script, I can only imagine the demons he must have beaten with a baseball bat to ensure this book came out just right. I mean any time a writer creates a world with so many characters that have so many influences, the story can be sacrificed to the boring origin story god that is currently killing The Fantastic Four movies (plus a million other things). But Russ has this really cool chaotic plan. Its like twisted metal, leaped into the great horror era of the 1950’s B cult films with a 1970’s punk embraced attitude while toping it off with a nod to the great spaghetti westerns! And Holy Cheese on a shmacker, is it awesome! It defiantly follows the tropes of American Goth for sure the way it speaks and passes the story through the panels. My favorite “gang” or “racing crew”, would be The Mischiefs followed by the The Dead Belles! Who will win? Don’t know yet, but I cant wait to find out!

As for the art, like I said this book was the perfect match in hell! Tony knows how to make this story roll dude, pun intended! The cars look amazing. The cars are cool nightmarish and sexy. This book thanks to him like the cast of Grease went to hell and thanked the devil for the trip. Each character has their own signature look as they pay homage to the great monsters of old without getting tiresome or boring. The other thing too, he makes the art look like the old drive in movie posters you’d see from back in the day and it really pays off for this book. Defiantly check this book out if you’re a horror fan.

The only bad things I can say for this book however, is that its a horror book inside a story about racing. And if you’re not a fan of either one of these things, you might not like this book . The other is, sometimes the color didn’t flow like the rest of the pages. Some were waaaaay, too dark to the point it was hard to make out the image. While others were just perfect.

For sure, please check out the comic here and if you agree with my assessment please support these guys by buying it. Thanks again and I hope to entertain you guys soon!

Story: Russ Lippitt Art: Tony Guaraldi-Brown
Story: 8 Art: 7 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy!

Broken Icon Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

The digital copy we were sent was just a galley (uncorrected). The difference in colors will be addressed when it goes to print for sure. – The Management

Review: Eccentrix One Shot

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eccentrixWhat happens when you fight crime too hard? You get Eccentrix! Struggling to find his place on a superhero team, the titular hero Eccentrix has defeated some powerful enemies. But when he turns that power to non-super crime with spectacularly bad results?

This is the third project by collaborators James Maddox and Rob Dumo have worked on, but is the first with colorist Nick Wentland. Eccentrix is very fun and enjoyable, if a fairly violent comic that probably shouldn’t be given to kids. As a mature comic, however, it’s certainly worth your time. The story focuses on the seemingly naive Eccentrix trying to find his place in the world as a superhero who doesn’t seem to know just how powerful he is.

Balancing the action with story driven scenes that are by no means slow, Eccentrix also adds that which can be very difficult to convey in a comic; dark comedy. Although not quite as evident on the first reading, James Maddox ensures that the comic is worth a second (and even a third) reading. The more I read the comic, the more it made me smirk. Rob Dumo and Nick Wentland’s artwork is good, bordering on great for much of the comic, and joyously compliments the story ever so well.

As a standalone digital only comic book, Eccentrix is very enjoyable. Yes, it may lack a bit of the polish of the big publishers, but the comic is stronger, and more vibrant because of that. Offering a fresh take on super teams once the big bad is defeated, Eccentrix left me wanting to read more. At the end of the day isn’t that what we want from our comics?

Look for Eccentrix on comiXology on July 1st!

Story: James Maddox  Art: Rob Dumo Colors: Nick Wentland
Story: 8.0 Art: 7.5 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation:  Buy

Broken Icon provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy for review.

Review: Sevara #0

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Sevara Poster 2Science Fiction is a broad catch-all in terms of a genre. Some science fiction is so hard and realistic that people tend to not even think of it as science fiction.  For instance, although he a character that is based on ridiculously powerful technological devices, how often do people classify Batman as science fiction.  On the opposite side of the spectrum comes science fiction which is a bit more fantastic and less rooted in reality. As one progresses through this spectrum there becomes very little difference between fantasy and science fiction.  Though based in a supposed future, how do the worlds of Anne McCaffrey differ much from pure fantasy? Only by the substitution of laser guns for swords is the difference seen by some fantasy and some science fiction.

What is interesting about this descent into science fiction and fantasy is that at some point through the process that there becomes somewhat of a fertile ground for something a little more.  It could be called religion, but it is more so that these worlds create their own mythologies. In the worlds of Star Wars or Dune, there exists the ability not only to impress with the fantastic but to ask philosophical questions. For those that debate Star Wars against Star Trek, it mostly comes down to this. Both are equally absurd in terms of real life science, but it becomes more about whether someone likes some moral and ethical dilemmas with their space operas.  While this is not true in absolutes, as for instance Harlan Ellison’s Star Trek episode entitled City at the Edge of Tomorrow became one of the most beloved science fiction stories of all time, it is still generally true that the richer the worlds, the more engaging that they are and the more that people are drawn to them.

Sevara would seem to be ambitious enough to try for this type of a world. In recent years in comics, some science fiction has reached to the past to draw upon material for future worlds, whether it be from fairy tales or even from the Bible. This is a kind of bargain mythology, instead of trying to invent its own, it relies on the material from generations past. The writer for Sevara, Damian Wampler, seems to understand this shortcut and the reason to avoid it. In the postscript to this first issue (actually it is issue #0) he explains some of the basic concepts behind his own inspiration for this series, but to his credit, he does not delve into the easy way out.  Instead he creates his own mythology, rooted in some basic religious concepts but distinctly different.  At this point it is too early to know exactly what he has in mind for his characters, but Sevara is essentially an angel, if not by actual divine appointment, then at least by action, thought and appearance.

This issue thus provides a promising start. As is mentioned in the preamble to this issue, the small company printing this comic is putting its main effort behind this series, making it the flagship upon which they are pinning their hopes. In terms of what can make really good science-fiction, it would seem as though the pieces are all here, with it being setup well thus far.  The question becomes where it will go from here, but with the right pieces in place, it would seem as though the creators had at least put their money on the right bet.

Story: Damian Wimpler Art: Andre Siregar
Story: 8.3 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.3 Recommendation: Buy

Broken Icon Comics provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review.