Still on the Shelf #39 – El Cazador
Well, everyone else is doing a “Year End” edition of their columns, so you are probably expecting one from me… well too bad! In all honesty, I has considered it, but I have not yet been writing this column for a full year, so a “year in review” column seems premature for me. However, for those who really enjoy that sort of thing, be on the lookout for a pretty big announcement regarding this column once we approach my ACTUAL year anniversary with #50. (Contest? Wha? A real prize? A good one? Trivia???).
If I was to do any reflection over my work here over the last year- I would have to admit that I covered CrossGen quite heavily- devoting nine columns this year to something out of that publisher. Maybe some might find that somewhat excessive, but in all honesty, before I covered Meridian way back in week four, I never picked up a single copy of a CrossGen book (aside from the Primer). Boy was that a mistake- over the last couple of years, CrossGen has put out some of the consistently best books on the market. On top of that, they fit perfectly in Still on the Shelf’s little niche in the market- and most of their titles are exactly the sort of thing that need and deserve the extra attention.
This year also marks a turning point for CrossGen, with their widely discussed financial problems, and their virtually ignored rebirth. The latter is somewhat disturbing for me- it seemed as if everyone was rushing out to bash the company (save for avid fans) when they rightly deserved some criticism, but those same people have been quite silent regarding the righting of the ship. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that some people are just unwilling to admit that someone new has a chance of succeeding.
This is not to say that CrossGen has totally bounced back- in fact, they still have a long way to go. But the “New CrossGen” has begun to take shape, with a crop of three new titles now finding their way to the shelves. The first of which- El Cazador, met with rave reviews and its first three issues promptly sold out. They sold out so quickly that I was totally unable to get copies until fairly recently.
Pirates are in vogue once again, and CrossGen jumped on that bandwagon super-fast with this comic, and it sold like hotcakes. In what I consider to be an excellent move, they have released a “collected edition” of the first three issues in one book at a very low price of $5.95, along with the fourth issue this past week. A steal if you ask me.
So what El Cazador all about? Let’s make it an even ten for CrossGen this year and talk about it.
Cast of Characters
Donessa Cinzia Elena Maria Esperanza Diego-Luis Hidalgo, or Lady Sin, was aboard the La Misericordia when it was taken by a group of pirates after it left port at Vera Cruz en route for Spain. One of her brothers was killed in the fighting, and her mother and other brother were taken captive aboard another vessel.
Cinzia hid during the attack, and was later discovered by Captain Dane, the pirate assigned to captain the newly captured ship. He was a bit shortsighted and blinded with lust when he tried to “enjoy” this lady he discovered oh-so-convienently in his cabin, and ended up with a knife to the back for his troubles. Cinzia managed to take the rest of the crew hostage, and forced them to swear fealty to her as the new captain of the La Misericordia, newly renamed El Cazador- the Hunter. To help entice the crew to follow her, Captain Sin offered a rich reward of treasure to the crew aboard the ship- once Blackjack Tom, their former Captain, was hunted down and killed.
Redhand Harry Newcomb (having just been to the theater, the similarity for “Redhand Jill” had me chuckling) is a British Privateer who was taken captive by the French and was set to be hanged for piracy. His crew rescued him, and they set out in their remaining, rotting ship to bolster their compliment and resources. They stumble upon El Cazador, seeing the ship as a potential upgrade to their own failing vessel. Of course, they move to take the ship.
Jean Gillon is the sole survivor of the few who mutinied against Captain Sin after she took over the ship. Mistake or no, she left the men alive and stranded them on a seemingly deserted island. Of course, it was populated, but by a group of cannibals who made a meal out of the entire group. Gillon, the lone survivor, was later rescued by Redhand Harry, who happened upon the island after his initial conflict with El Cazador. Of course, revenge is on the mind of Mr. Gillon, and he is sure to pop back into the picture very, very soon.
Thoughts
After reading the first issue of El Cazador, my first thought was “horse-hockey!” I just could not imagine ever a situation like the one presented that allowed Sin to take control over the ship actually happening. It kind of spoiled the whole first issue for me, and I began to wonder exactly why this book achieved so much acclaim out of the gate.
Mercifully, I was reading the 1-3 Collectors Edition (another reason why this is such a great idea) and it picked up rather quickly. The action was great, and the remaining details of the world Dixon crafted were right on. Sure just tossing some swashbuckling action together works good in the movies (sometimes) but in something like this, more detail is needed, and when I read about crews needing shore-leave, supplies of fresh water and fruit, and the like- I have to smile.
When taken all together- issues 1-4 have combined for one of the best new story starts of the year, and I am excited to see where it goes from here. As to the initial distaste- I can IMAGINE a crew of pirates with a woman as captain, just not under those circumstances. However, with a healthy dose of “Suspension of Disbelief,” and some patience, it is really easy to work past that one minor point and see what is so entertaining about this book. I am not so much of a fanboy that I am going to let one minor bothersome plot point ruin a story that has the potential to be otherwise great for years to come.
CrossGen has a high standard of art to live up to with this new crop of titles, and so far, El Cazador lives up to it. This shouldn’t be a surprise, as Steve Epting is something of a CrossGen veteran at this point, having previously worked on Crux. One of the most important things an artist can do on a title is to capture the feel of the setting the writer is trying to convey, and the art on El Cazador just screams “pirates.” I am not the best art critic out there to be sure, but as always with CrossGen, nothing about this book was visually unappealing in the least.
Bottom Line
El Cazador is completely sigil-less- in fact, it does not even take place in the “Sigil-verse.” All of you out there who shied away from CrossGen books because of that sigil interdependency owe it to yourselves to finally give this publisher a shot. I cannot stress enough the awesome-ness of the Collected Edition- in this day and age, it really does take a few issues to really see if a new title is worth the expense. For this title in particular- I am not entirely sure I would have continued past the first issue if that was all I had to go on. It really took all of the first three issues for this title to settle into its stride, and $5.95 for all three is just too good to pass up. With the players all set in place, I expect some good storytelling out of this title in the near future. I am glad I waited this long to cover El Cazador- honestly it has only improved since #1 and I am not sure I would have been able to recommend it as highly had I covered it sooner than this point.
CrossGen has lead the industry in genre-hopping over the last few years, and El Cazador continues that tradition. I can’t think of any real pirate comics out there today that don’t bring in other elements (sci-fi and horror often are added in a hybrid mix), so in that respect this title is truly unique.
That wraps up 2003 for me, and I was glad to go out on a good note. Thank you all for sticking with me over the last several months- hopefully I managed to turn some of you on to some new titles that you would not have otherwise sampled. Let’s hear some testimonials out there! “Gee Craig, I am really glad you covered Strangers… had you not talked about that one, I would have never read it!” I really need the ego boost here!
I do have some cool things planned for next year, so be sure to keep reading. I really must still renew my invitation to all of you to let me know if there is a title out there that you feel deserves special attention, especially amongst the ranks of the independents. It is my goal to focus more on them in the next year, and I think that is a step in the right direction. It is so tough for an independent title to succeed in this market, and with gems out there like Super Hero Happy Hour and Dead@17: maybe it is time that someone out here in editorial land worked a little harder to shine the spotlight on titles that would never see print in the now corporate powerhouses of Marvel and DC.
Thoughts, suggestions, testimonials, hate mail? I want to see it all. Thanks for reading, and have a happy New Year!
Credit where credit is due-
El Cazador is
Written by – Chuck Dixon
Illustrated by – Steve Epting
Colored by – Jason Keith
with Letters by – Dave Lanphear
Post your comments in the Forum!
December 22, 2003
Still on the Shelf #38 – Jingle Belle
I went through a great deal of back and forth over the last couple of months on whether or not to do a holiday edition of Still on the Shelf. I figured everyone else was going to do something special for the holidays, so I decided to take a different approach. I figured everyone does Christmas, why not spend some time going in depth into uncharted territory- a Hanukkah book! I spend weeks researching, and though I met with much failure, I did stumble across ONE title that might fit the bill. Unfortunately, after some initial excitement by the creator of said title- they dropped off the face of the earth. A shame too, that one would have been fun.
So, I went back to my original idea- Paul Dini’s Jingle Belle. This was my original idea, however, since Oni pushed back the release of the new Jingle Belle graphic novel, Dash Away All from late November to New Year’s Eve. As it was so eloquently put by Blake Petit- that would be as ridiculous as a “Simpson’s Halloween Special coming out on November 1st- ummm…” It seems that perhaps Oni has seen the error of their ways, and have recently announced that the book will come out this Wednesday after all, which can only mean good things for sales on this book.
Cast of Characters
Jingle Belle Kringle is the one and only daughter of Santa Claus. Though she is well over 200 years old, she is still very much a teenager by elf standards. As one might imagine, being the daughter of the one and only Saint Nick would mean all of the presents her heart could desire- unfortunately this has made her perhaps the most spoiled child in all of existence. Now a “teenager,” she both rebels against her father and on occasion tries very hard to please him- both of which almost always end in disaster, and a lump of coal for Christmas (but I wanted a snowboard!), which she has gotten for the last one hundred and sixty-nine years.
Santa, her father, is very much like any frustrated father of a rebellious teenage daughter would be. It is clear that he loves his daughter very much, but she infuriates him to no end. He longs for the days of his sweet, innocent child, but it is really unclear (is it ever in this situation) exactly what it would take for Jing to get back into his good graces. He married Mrs. Claus, the Queen of the Northern Elves, after rescuing her from the evil Bliz Wiz, Santa’s arc enemy. Mrs. Claus is very much the doting, loving mother, much more forgiving of Jing’s foibles than her father, though Jingle does drive her to eat an entire box of bourbon balls on occasion.
Rusty, Jingle’s cousin, is the bane of her existence. Very much like a little brother would be, he is slimy and annoying, and always seems to be looked at with much more favor by Santa than his own daughter. Quite rightly, he is the target of much abuse by the vindictive Jing, when she can get her hands on him.
Jing may not have reindeer of her own, but when she needs to travel, she relies on her faithful ox Thrasher. Magic corn is not enough to get this lumbering steed off the ground- he needs a healthy dose of beans to get the job done. As you might imagine, the take-offs stink quite a bit.
Ida Red, Polly, and Tashi are Jing’s “girl-pals,” who turn up from time to time. Polly is the future Halloween witch, Ida is the super-powered sheriff of Mutant El Paso, and Tashi is Jing’s snow leopard adversary who she has established something of a friendship with. All three pop up from time to time and keep Jing distracted from the hell that is living at the North Pole.
And lemmings. Lots and lots of lemmings.
Thoughts
In a word, Jingle Belle is charming. You really can’t go into a title like this and expect deeply meaningful storytelling, even though there is a small bit of that hidden here and there. The art is also black and white, which should be expected coming from Oni, and ranges throughout the different issues from somewhat fair to outstanding. The stories are fun and accessible, no need to have ever read a single issue of Jingle Belle to pick up and enjoy a new one. Ideal for a “holiday treat.”
There is really very little in the way of analysis that I can say about this book. The issues I managed to scrape up (as you might imagine, tracking down old Oni issues can be something of a chore) were quite fun reads- the only real drawback being the issues where the stories had heavy involvement of Jing’s “girlfriends.” I much more enjoyed the interaction between Jing and her family, in her never-ending quest to be accepted by her father for all the wrong reasons. When Dini delves into very un-Christmasy material, the story starts to drag a bit. The title really hits its stride when Jingle has somehow ruined Christmas, or hurt her father in some way in an effort to please him, and has to go and pick up the pieces.
A good number of the stories definitely had the feel of a half-hour holiday cartoon special, which is exactly the sort of thing I was hoping it would be. While I would not mind seeing an actual Jingle Belle holiday special on TV at some point, news that development on a Jingle Belle film leaves me a little worried. I fear seeing a Britany Spears clone clad in Santa-slutwear saving Christmas, which would really ruin the whole point of the story. I suppose I will have to wait and see before I pass judgement on that.
Bottom Line
As much as I enjoyed the subject of this week’s column, I was pretty well disappointed that I failed in my quest to come up with a Hanukkah book to cover. I know that it is unlikely that such a title would meet with great success in the mainstream market, but you would think that there would be an independent publisher out there somewhere with their finger on the appropriate market for that sort of book. Even if it is somewhat educational in nature- so few people outside the Jewish faith seem to understand what the holiday is about- I have to think there is a place for that sort of book in today’s multi-cultural market.
Jingle Belle was a fun read, and is pretty well perfect for a semi-annual Holiday season purchase. If you are at all curious about what you will be getting into picking up an issue of Jingle Belle, go check out Dini’s website at jinglebelle.com.
Until next week- Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry-whatever-else you might celebrate! And be sure to log onto X-World Comics and sign up for the weekly newsletter- now penned by your’s truly!
(And be sure to check out another Paul Dini project- Duck Dodgers! Man, I am loving that toon….)
Credit where credit is due-
Jingle Belle- Dash Away All is by-
Paul Dini
and Jose Garibaldi
with Dave Mandel and Steve Rolston
Post your comments in the Forum!
December 15, 2003
Still on the Shelf #0 – Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories
By Blake M. Petit
The final guest spot I had lined up over the last year was taken up by Mr. Blake Petit, a short 2 weeks after Brandon’s fill-in. Actually, Blake’s had been planned long before (as I needed a vacation), and the “Column switch’s” timing just happened to fall close to the same time.
Blake is an avid Cark Barks fan, and as such, was the ideal person for a Disney edition of Still on the Shelf. Blake wrote a great piece, and I am thankful for that!
The Great Comixtreme Column Switch was a couple weeks ago, but long before that was even in the works our own Craig Reade asked me to sit in for a December “Still on the Shelf.” Since I’ll take virtually any excuse to run my mouth off, I readily agreed. Craig also suggested that, as my topic, I write about one of the Disney comics currently being published by Gemstone, since I’ve more or less made myself their unofficial advocate here at Comixtreme.
The question then became, of course, which title to cover. Uncle Scrooge? Donald Duck and Friends? Mickey Mouse and Friends? I finally decided to go with the first and longest-lived of the Disney comics, as well as the one that offers the best mixture of the various characters the publisher offers: Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories.
Cast of Characters
WDC&S covers the adventures of several Disney characters, mostly from the classic animated shorts, the early full-length films (you won’t find Lilo and Stitch or the Lion King in here), and a few others created exclusively in the comics. Chief among them are…
Donald Duck: Hot-tempered but basically good-natured, Donald is your average resident of the town of Duckberg. He makes his living working odd jobs, most for his uncle Scrooge, and raising his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.
Scrooge McDuck: Born to a poor but once-noble clan in Glascow, Scotland, young Scrooge started out with nothing but a shoeshine kit and one worthless American dime. Scrooge traveled the world for years, earning and losing money, before he finally struck it rich in the Klondike and made his home in Duckberg as the richest duck in the world. Scrooge now spends his time on treasure hunts, running his business, and protecting his fortune from the likes of Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys and Magica DeSpell.
Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck: Donald’s nephews, Scrooge’s great-nephews, the boys are the heirs to the McDuck fortune. (Scrooge named them his heirs after his other relatives, Donald and Gladstone Gander, showed no business sense at all, whereas the boys showed ingenuity, cleverness and good economic acumen with their lemonade stand.) The boys are proud members of the Junior Woodchucks and frequently accompany Scrooge and Donald on their adventures.
Mickey Mouse: Mickey is a sharp little guy, but one without much goal or ambition. He also works a variety of jobs to get by, most of them at the urging of his girlfriend, Minnie, and always seems to find himself involved in various mysteries and thwarting villains like Black Pete.
Goofy: Dim-witted but with a heart of purest gold, Goofy is Mickey’s best friend and frequent partner on his adventures.
The Big Bad Wolf and Lil’ Bad Wolf: Still smarting from being outwitted by the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf had hoped his son would join him in his campaign against them. To his utter shame, though, Lil’ Bad Wolf not only befriended the pigs, but turned out to be a sweet, kindhearted child – quite an embarrassment to his dastardly Pop.
Thoughts
As with any anthology title, the quality of any given issue of WDC&S rises and falls on the strength of the creative team in that particular issue. The title frequently reprints Scrooge and Donald stories by Scrooge’s creator, the late Carl Barks. Barks made Donald a sharp, relatable character for the first time, and adding Scrooge to the mythos opened up the gates to tell hundreds of stories. Barks’s stories were always funny and always smart, often employing a tremendous amount of research on history, geography and foreign cultures. Even the cultures Barks made up were clever and detailed enough that the reader could often mistake them for a real one. In recent years, Barks’ torch has been picked up by Don Rosa, who tells the same sort of incredible tale, often building on the foundation Barks built. Even when he deviates from Barks stories, as he did with the wonderful three-part story “The Return of the Three Caballeros” in WDC&S #635-637, Rosa tells witty, intelligent tales with some of the most beautiful artwork in comics. If he had turned his pencil to superheroes instead of talking animals, he would be a superstar today.
Aside from Rosa, the best duck artist of the modern comics is William Van Horn, who tells less far-flung adventures, but is more likely to drift into fantastic tales, such as in WDC&S #636’s “Perchance to Dream”, in which a dragon escapes from Donald’s dreams and began causing trouble around Duckberg.
The creators of the Mickey comics have recognized something that the animators did many years ago – while Mickey Mouse is a beloved, likeable character, he really isn’t that funny by himself. That’s the reason so many of the old shorts teamed him up with Donald, Goofy or Pluto – other characters he could bounce off of. In the comics, they’ve taken a different tack entirely, largely eschewing any effort at straight comedy and instead telling Scooby Doo-style takes where he and Goofy take on some mysterious haunting figure that’s plaguing an unsuspecting businessman, or a western tale where they’re riding through the desert hot on the trail of some bandit who made off with the local payroll. Other times they lapse into satiric tales, such as issue #635’s “Spidermouse” by Pat McGreal, which made fun of superhero comics from Spider-Man to Plastic Man.
The stories in WDC&S are, for the most part, quite clever and entertaining, and the sort of thing you can give to kids to get them into reading comic books. It’s the perfect “gateway” title – featuring characters the children are already familiar with and almost totally continuity-free, anybody can pick up any issue of this book and jump right in. Even with the one or two serialized stories you may find in any issue, missing earlier chapters isn’t a problem because you know the characters and you know the formula.
That brings us, unfortunately, to the big problem with this book; the price point. This title, along with Uncle Scrooge, is printed in a 64-page prestige format and costs $6.95 an issue. They inherited this format from the previous publisher of the Disney titles, Gladstone, which published the line through most of the 80s and 90s, shfting two titles to the prestige format shortly before closing shop a few years ago. Obviously, the books are aimed at collectors rather than casual readers (Donald Duck and Friends and Mickey Mouse and Friends are in the standard format, costing $2.95 an issue). I can understand the desire to target collectors – an enormous portion of the audience for this title is people like myself, who grew up with the books and appreciates having them in a sturdier, more permanent format than the standard magazine comic book allows. But I can’t help but feel it’s a big mistake to make such a wonderful comic book that could garner so many new readers if marketed properly, then make it totally inaccessible to the youngest readers by pricing it higher than most kids can, or would, spend on a monthly basis.
Why can’t this be a regular-format book at a lower price? Even if they kept the 64 pages and charged, say, $4.95, it would be better for kids than the seven bucks they have to shell out now.
Bottom Line
This is a fun title. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a book that a lot of people would really enjoy if they gave it a chance. People expecting a “kiddie” comic will instead find one of the true all-ages titles out there – most of the stories are smart enough for adults without delving into themes you’d be uncomfortable sharing with the little ones. If you’ve got a kid that you want to get into reading comics, this is a book you could all read together. It’s just unfortunate that, in all likelihood, you’ll have to buy them all for them, because Gemstone, like the previous license-holder Gladstone at the end of its run, is targeting the wrong audience.
Credit Where Credit is Due
Each issue of WDC&S is written and drawn by a variety of creators. Among the most frequent and most recent contributors are Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Pat and Carol McGreal, John Lustig and Stefan Petrucha, along with reprints of classic comics by creators such as Carl Barks.
Next Week – Beats me! You’ll have to wait to see what Craig has got up his sleeve!
Post your comments in the Forum!
December 8, 2003
Still on the Shelf #37 – Dead@17
One of the hardest things to do in the comic industry is start a new company. Unless you have the resources to jump right up to the “second tier” with publishers like Image and CrossGen, often times your product gets lost in the shuffle. No matter how good it is, no matter how exciting and new, your book is just another title buried in pages and pages of Previews solicitations. You can forget about good exposure at the comic shop- unless the storeowner has a personal love of the title- you will find your book buried back in the indie section, where few dare to tread. Part of my mission here is to draw your attention to books exactly like this, so enough about Marvel, how about Viper?
Viper Comics has tasted the good and the bad of this uphill battle. One of their two debut titles, Moon Rush, was shelved prior to publication due to low orders. Their other egg, Dead@17, made the cut, and just had its second issue released.
If the buzz at my local comic shop is any indication, Josh Howard’s debut work is picking up steam. At first, my local shop’s owner expressed no interest in either of Viper’s titles, yet last Wednesday I actually found a copy of issue #2 on the shelf. Apparently people began requesting the title, so he ordered a few copies of the first issue, which all sold out. He bumped his order for #2, and by the time I got to the shop there was but one issue left on the shelf. With any luck, this trend is continuing everywhere for Dead@17.
So Dead@17 has started out by outlasting a great deal of adversity, and seems to be picking up steam in the comic shops. So what is the book all about?
Cast of Characters
Nara Kilday seemed to be your ordinary teenage girl with ordinary problems, until the day she was brutally murdered in her own home. You would think that would be the end of it, until she returned from the dead, wielding an axe, and saved her friend Hazy Foss from a hoard of zombies. So what exactly is Nara now, who killer her, and why exactly has she been returned to the land of the living? That is the question Dead@17 sets out to answer.
Hazy’s biggest problem before the death of her friend was breaking up with her boyfriend Patrick. Her life turned around after Nara’s death. Special Agent Raddemer, who was looking into the death of her friend, soon visited her. Curiosity piqued, she began to look into the life of her departed friend, only to discover that she did not know as much as she thought about Nara.
Nara, before she died, was subject to violent dreams in which she seemed to lash out at evil demons, In her diary, Hazy found strange runic writing and insane pleas for help, which more and more dominated the pages of the book in the days leading up to her death. Things take an even weirder twist when Hazy was attacked by zombies- only to be saved by her newly resurrected friend.
Several factions are out to get Nara for yet unrevealed reasons- her ability to fight back the zombies with such ease no doubt plays a huge part. Special Agent Noel Raddemer was the first on the scene, from an agency who deals with “more important matters than the FBI.” Another group, far more evil in nature than Agent Raddemer, is also seeking Nara, and is willing to stop at nothing in order to get to her. Hazy’s brother Simon is also involved, and is being commanded by a dark force for some evil purpose. Unfortunately for Hazy and Nara, they still trust him and have already called on him for help. Harried by zombies at every turn, Nara and Hazy struggle to find out why everyone is interested in Nara, and why she has returned from the dead.
Thoughts
Horror comics do seem to be making a resurgence in today’s market, and that it a fantastic thing- there are only so many fresh super-hero stories to be told. With any luck, the horror genre will flourish to a point that all of the great writers and artists will have a chance to shine- to tell a different kind of story than what we are all used to seeing.
In the meantime, newcomer Josh Howard, who does everything but letter Dead@17, has been given a great opportunity by Viper to tell this unique story. At first I honestly expected something very similar to Route 666 or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While this story does share one or two elements of both of those popular titles, I am happy to say that they are merely superficial. There is a lot more going on in this title than a simple rip-off.
Josh Howard’s art is one of the greatest things about this book (hell, I have a story I want him to draw for me someday). It is very simple and direct, and pulls of dark very well. Sure you don’t have hypersensitive gore scenes, but with this story, it couldn’t be any other way. Nara’s death scene in issue #1 is a stunning example, it just would not have the impact that it does if it was drawn with extreme realism. His color choices are superb, and his restraint produces a visually stunning book that is elegant in its simplicity.
As to his story, it is equally as simple. Sure there is a bit of mystery and build to it, but only where necessary. Too often a comic writer will cram too many questions into a single issue, so many mysteries that you can’t make heads not tails of what is going on until the arc is at an end. This is not the case with Dead@17. One mystery to ponder at a time, and as all good riddles go- once you have the answer to one question, another one pops up to take its place.
It was a real shame to see Moon Rush fall by the wayside for Viper, as I am sure they would like more exposure for their first outing by having a couple of different books on the market. However, to be perfectly frank- the better title survived, and if Viper was going to have one title carry their banner through their opening days, this was the one to go with.
Bottom Line
Dead@17 is slated to be a four-part mini series, but according to an interview Josh Howard gave on this site, there is more Dead@17 in the works, and after reading the first two issues, I can’t see how their couldn’t be. It is simply too good of a concept and story at this point to let fade into obscurity with a measly four issues.
For more information on Dead@17, check out Viper’s Website. There you can find preview pages for the first issue (we have those too here at ComiXtreme in the News section), and a flash trailer for the series. In addition to the interview and previews, you can find a review of issue #1 here, and hopefully another of issue #2 coming soon.
Dead@17 #2 hit stores last Wednesday, December 3rd, and issue 4 is expected out in January. You can get copies of the first two issues online at Viper’s site, or by asking your local comic shop to order you a copy. Dead@17 is in Previews, so they should be able to fill your request. It sounds like a bit of trouble, but believe me, it is worth it.
Credit where credit is due-
Dead@17 is
Written, Pencilled, and Colored by- Josh Howard
and Lettered by- Greg Gatlin
Next week? – Another Guest-shot? That lazy bastard!
Post your comments in the Forum!
December 1, 2003
Still on the Shelf #36 – Sentinel
Written by Brandon Schatz
Marvel Month Part 5(of 5) – Another fellow CXer, Brandon Schatz, handled the job this week. All of the regular columnists on Comixtreme swapped pieces for the week, and while I was working on the Fanboy News Network, Brandon did an expemplary job on my column. Thanks Brandon!
Before you get all anxious, set fire to a pile of kittens, and start claiming “the END is nigh”, allow me to explain one thing: Craig Reade (comiXtreme news aficionado and regular SOTS columnist), is not dead, nor has he lost both of his arms to scurvy. He is merely taking a break for this edition so that the whole world can experience a little something called:
The Great comiXtreme Column Switch!!!
Anyway, long story short, all of us columnists here at cX are swapping our respective columns like spit at a cheerleader’s sleepover (or so I imagine), and by the luck of the draw, I’ve been given Craig’s column.
I’m sorry for your loss, but until this thing is over, you’ll have to deal with me. So if you’re ready, let’s get to what you actually came here to read.
I remember the first edition of “Still on the Shelf”. It was a particularly inspired piece on a comic named “Spider-Girl”, which had been marked for cancellation at the time. Key words here: at the time.
You see, a short time after Craig posted his Spider-Girl manifesto, Marvel decided to renew the series for another six issues. Soon after that, another seven were ordered on top of the previous six. Now, I don’t want to blow too much air up Craig’s skirt by making the claim that his little ol’ column single handedly saved the floundering title but… I’m hoping that it had even the remotest kind of pull at Marvel. Why? Well, as everyone should know, Sentinel is about to be cancelled by Marvel, and obviously, I’m a little distraught by that news.
Long story short? My edition of SOTS is going to be focused on the grand majesty that is Sentinel.
Let the pimping begin.
Characters
At the core of every great story, are characters you have feelings for. And I don’t mean feelings as in all that mushy, gushy, “throw me down and make sweet, sweet love to me” kind of stuff. I mean feelings as in hate, and caring and all those other emotions that make us humans. Sentinel has characters that make you exude emotion and cry while your in a room, surrounded by people who are starting to move slowly away from you. Or so I’ve heard from my — uh — my friends…
Juston Seyfert- Juston Seyfert was the new millennium’s version of Peter Parker. The kids at school barely acknowledged his existence, except for when they were slightly bored and wanted to see how fast a geek could run, given a sufficient amount of chasing. His family, although very loving and slightly broken, was practically dirt poor and living off of what they could to get by. And somehow… he seemed to be quite the ladies man, despite himself.
Yes, things were… well, things were not the greatest for Juston. And then, he went and found himself a big ol’ Sentinel, and a whole new world opened up to him.
Suddenly, the problem of going unnoticed, except for things such as “Nimrod Football”, became solvable. The family troubles seemed to become more and more distant, and the ladies… well, you know what they say about women and men who have big robots. Irresistible!
Yes, the giant robot certainly seemed to solve many a problem on the Seyfert front. However, it didn’t seem to make Juston happy. Sure, the Sentinel had brought him almost everything he wanted, but it was all too fake. All to… unreal.
And so, Juston went off to go and fix that problem. He went off to make the fictional life the robot had brought him, into a more realistic life, and he seemingly succeeded in doing so. But for every success Juston has, another failure that needs fixing becomes revealed as something horrible happens to someone very close to him. Such is the never-ending struggle for the “hero” of this piece…
The Sentinel- The Sentinel recap page that appears at the beginning of every issue does not list the actual Sentinel as an actual character, but I’ll be damned if the robot isn’t a fine piece of work in itself. The Sentinel in question, is a bit of an enigma, whose loyalties are very fuzzy. Sure, in times of dire trouble, it has been there to save Juston, but recently, there have been little things that suggest that it has an agenda of it’s own. Gone, obviously, are the carefree days of Juston teaching it to say “Word, Homey”, and here, are the days of mystery.
Alex- Juston’s “Best Friend, Part I”, according to the recap page. Alex is a kid who knows all kinds of crazy, minute facts about Reece’s Pieces and other such paraphernalia, and is too shy to ask a girl out. Apparently, his massive knowledge of a large cross section of topics hasn’t reached as far as “pick up lines” yet.
Anyway, he’s a good friend to Juston, and is always there to point his friend in the right direction.
Matt- “Best Friend, the Sequel” just happens to be almost all the things Alex is not. Matt is brash and angry, and has threatened to take his dad’s gun to school and… well, in his own words, “BAM! BAM!”. Talk about a ticking time bomb…
Matt is, in more ways than one, the foil to Alex’s helpful nature. For all the good Alex suggests, Matt is there to tell Juston what a load of crap it all is. It’s a small wonder how the two of them managed to be in the same circle of friends.
Chris Seyfert- Juston’s little brother is very close to him. So close, he’s the only person Juston has even considered showing the Sentinel to. For a little brother, he is pretty cool, but those nasty migraines of his… boy, I’m sure they’re going to cause him some trouble, which is the last thing the cash strapped Seyfert family need.
Jessie- She is the girl of Juston’s dreams, despite the fact that she’s “taken”, and although she has kept her emotional distance from Juston, you can’t help but notice how she takes a much… deeper interest in him when another (hot!) girl hits on him.
And the rest…- There are more characters to Sentinel than what I just listed, but they’re influence, up until now, has been fairly small and/or no longer plays a part in the current story line. However, each of them are dripping with the stuff that makes you feel.
The bullies, Josh and Greg, did things so despicable and manipulative, you feel angry enough to… well, squash them with a giant robot of some sort. The father, Pete Seyfert, is a genuinely caring man who only wants the best for his sons. The CIA agent, Brian Rinehart is a guy who will do anything to keep his job and get his way, something that I know will cause Juston some major trouble. And the passengers who were in a sinking passenger plane made you litterally hold your breath in hopeful suspense as their lives rested in the palms of Juston’s hand.
All of them are great, moving characters that make up the building blocks of a great story and comic book.
Thoughts
If you haven’t already guessed it by now, I am obviously completely enamoured by the grandeur that is Sentinel. However, other than “great characters”, you don’t really know why I feel this way.
Well, allow me to enlighten you.
Ever since the first issue, I knew that there was something special about this comic book. It almost seemed to tap into my life and distil it’s essence from all the personal sludge that accompanied it. I was Juston Seyfert. Except for the fact that I didn’t live in Wisconsin (although I have met people from there). And, I guess, the fact that I didn’t find a giant robot and the like… but the whole “loner kid with a small group of friends and a crush” formula that had been done so many times in so many different mediums just seemed a lot more… real and meaningful.
And suddenly, I’m starting to sound a lot like an after school special.
But irregardless, my previous statement stands. Sentinel, despite having it’s roots in fantasy, seems very, very real. The situations presented happen very logically. Everyone’s reactions are dead bang on.
It’s something that’s very refreshing, in a world that’s filled with meaningless guest appearances by Wolverine, who just happens to be going through town every two weeks or so.
Yes, Sentinel is a great read, but I’m sure you’ve heard that enough from the “legitimate” critics and other posters on the internet. You don’t need to hear another two pages of it from me, and even if you wanted to, I don’t think sitting here, listing the things that make Sentinel a must read is going to help in the least. If it did, Sentinel would be selling in the millions by now, for all the praise that it gets.
So, instead of writing with stars in my eyes, I’m going to fill you in as to why Sentinel doesn’t sell as well as it should, in hopes that it will help you see the error in your ways, whether you have been going about things the wrong way while trying to get your friends to read the book, or whether you won’t go near the title with a twelve and a half inch pole. And I’m going to start with the biggest reason of them all: Tsunami.
For those of you who just finally decided to crawl out from whatever rock-like substance you’ve been living under, or for those of you who tend to block out anything remotely related to “Nu Marvel”, Tsunami was an idea concocted by the higher ups at Marvel. It’s intent was to tap into new talent and artists, in hopes that their manga-esque styles would bring in all those kids who watched the Saturday morning cartoons religiously to find out what’s going to happen to [manga flavor of the moment] this week.
And while their intentions were good, the way they went executing the whole thing was wrong. For you see, for the hard-core manga fans, the Marvel style of manga was too American to stomach, and for those in the comic book world who didn’t (and probably still don’t) like manga, the style of comics was too cartoony for their tastes.
Needless to say, any of the Marvel Tsunami books immediately became a hard sale, and Sentinel, being one of those title’s, suffered dearly as a result.
Readers would pick up the title, look at the art, and immediately become somewhat turned off. “Browsing” readers who just flipped through comic books before they bought them, didn’t want to give Sentinel a chance.
However, neither of those groups actually sat themselves down to try and read the book. Because if they did, and if they looked past the art that they revile so much, they would see a meticulously crafted story, to which the art merely was the backdrop for.
Sean McKeever is a brilliant story teller. For every action taken in Sentinel, there is a very feasible reaction, something which is missing too much in comics nowadays. And that great action/reaction thing will be missing even more so if the title is truly cancelled…
Reason the second: Nu Marvel. For some reason, some comic book readers hate the way Marvel tastes nowadays so much so, that they’ve taken to calling any new projects the company churns out, as Nu Marvel waste. Sentinel, being one of those Nu Marvel titles, suffers from those who would more than willingly chase Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada around with giant sticks, and that is very sad. Because if certain people are willing to forgo a great title, just because you don’t like the people who helped bring the project to fruition, then comics will be in a sorry state for longer than is really necessary.
Problem the third: lack of trades. This point is almost a mixture of my last two, so bear with me.
When the Tsunami titles came out, it was assumed by everyone (including myself and my comic shop “guy”) that trades would be coming out immediately after the first arcs of each of the Tsunami titles. And while that’s the way Marvel had initially planned things, those little pipe dreams were blown up due to low sales. People who wanted to experience the Tsunami titles at a “lower price” were waiting for the trades, and therefore, not reading the titles.
Naturally, that wasn’t a gooder. But what’s been done, is done. Now, it is time to fix the problem.
What you must do, is go to your comic shop. Ask if you could buy a copy of Sentinel #10, which comes out two days from now and features the beginning of what could be the last story arc. Read the comic. If you like it (and I know you will) immediately phone your shop and ask for it to be added to your list. If they won’t do that for whatever reason, find a place that will save the comic for you.
Then, pimp that thing out to your friends. I have gotten no less than five people into reading comics by showing them Sentinel. And yes… Sentinel is their favorite title.
If we play things right, sales for the comics will start to go on the upswing. And while that happens, all of the e-mail and snail mail (which works much better when one is trying to save a title) Marvel receives, will become more and more meaningful as the sales charts light up.
We can do this people. We can save Sentinel. But first, you have to be willing to try something new, something that isn’t Spider-Man or Batman, or even X-Men, despite the small and obvious tie to the title. What’s there to lose? You can either buy one issue and decide it’s not for you and drop it before you… *ahem*… “waste” all your money, or you can discover a title that would have skipped right under your radar, and you would have never known how much you could really enjoy a comic book.
Either way, it’s not like you’re loosing much.
Signing off…
-b. schatz
Credit Where Credit Is Due…
Sean McKeever – Author
Udon – Artists
Marvel – Publisher
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