Tag Archives: soda pop comics

Review: Paracosm

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Silent movies, much like foreign language movie, requires the audience’s full attention. There is no way for one to catchup on what they lost, unless they have a companion who they went to see the movie with. There is something both tenuous and beautiful about it, as makes it that you are committed to the experience. As technology has made these things less of an opportunity as in times before.

No one really makes silent movie anymore, nor can one can really find them, as some of those movies are becoming lost to time and degradation. Foreign language movies on the other hand are a little different, as there is still many movies that benefit form close captions. In the realm of comics, these opportunities are still there, and continue to thrive. One such example is the perfect Paracosm by the brilliant minds of Soda Pop Comics, Rosa Colon, and Carla Rodriguez.

In this story, we find a character in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, who finds a camera on the street, where starts taking pictures to find it’s not what she thought it was. As each picture unfolds a weirder, darker truth to everything in front of her. Eventually she starts taking pictures all over the island, and exposing the truth behind on only objects but people as well. By the end of the book, the reader finds an even more intriguing twist, as what is inside the camera will blow you away.

Overall, an interesting trip of the mind as the reader gets a true understanding of the power of perceptions. The story by Carla Rodriguez is engaging and entertains at every beat. The art by Rosa Colon, gives me feels of the work that the Hernandez brothers do on Love and Rockets. Altogether, an interesting fable that will keep the reader guessing until the very end.

Story: Carla Rodriguez Art: Rosa Colon
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy

Review: Goodbye, For Now

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Throughout time, writers and artists have examined the meaning of life, deriving various metaphors and vehicles that only the creator ever truly understands. Me personally, I always like the metaphor of life as a train. On a train, passengers board and passengers depart, as human beings are born, they also die. As a train heads to different destinations, so do people in your lives do as well. As change is the only constant that any of us can count on and it is never easy to swallow.

This same concept of boarding can also be looked at on from a different perspective, where people are not as present in your life or even move away. There may be rifts in friendships, where you are no longer the best for each other, thus this “grow apart” adage plays its part. These breaches have a more permanent effect in families, as when this effect happens along bloodlines, the only time they do see each other, is at weddings or at worse, funerals. This very concept of “moving on,” is examined in Carla Rodriguez and Rosa Colon’s superior Goodbye, For Now.

In this story, we meet Mariana and Sofia, lifelong friends, who have been through thick and thin, and whose relationship each other hangs onto as most of us do, our best friends. So, when Mariana, breaks the news that she is moving to Chicago from their lives in Puerto Rico, Sofia is not only shocked but severely dismayed. The two friends decide to embark on a road trip all over the island, revisiting some old places and visiting new ones. As you get invested in these two, you realize the most painful part of having someone who is so integral to your life, as Mariana and Sofia has for each other shines throughout the story, is the inevitable heartbreak of knowing that it will never be the same.

Overall, a strong book that engages the reader at the most intimate level as it beckons to the past relationships for any reader. The story by Carla Rodriguez is engaging, realistic and heartfelt. The art by Rosa Colon is beautiful and vibrant. By the end of the book, the reader takes in the sights and sounds of Puerto Rico, but also question how true their own relationships are, and if they have held not only friends and family back but themselves.

Story: Carla Rodriguez Art: Rosa Colon
Story: 10 Art:10 Overall:10 Recommendation: Buy