Splash Panel » Fantasy

Pathfinder

James Huff — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:57:41 +0000

The Berserkers charge like demons from the depths of hell. Plunging from the cliff, or falling prey to the Dragon Men? Ghost makes his choice.

I seldom read and rarely enjoy graphic novel adaptations of movies, but Pathfinder is a visual feast from artist Christopher Shy and writer Laeta Kalogridis that is far superior to the film itself.

When director Marcus Nispel contacted artist Christopher Shy and expressed his interest in a film depicting a war between Vikings and Native Americans, Shy began to produce seemingly endless pages of concept art. So much concept art in fact, that they used all of it to produce the graphic novel adaptation.

The tale itself, with the exception of the overall concept of a war between Vikings and Native Americans, is unfortunately quite plain. A shipwrecked Viking longboat is attacked by the local tribe who slaughter everyone, except for the young son of their leader. The boy is raised by the tribe and eventually emerges as an unlikely hero when the Vikings return.

The graphic novel itself features Christopher Shy’s beautifully painted art in every single panel, and with an average of seven words per page, one could say that the story lets the art stand on its own. As the story is told from the tribe’s point of view, Shy made a great effort to realistically portray the Native Americans while also portraying the Vikings as almost faceless eight foot tall monsters wielding swords and axes the size of an average person.

The characters are detailed and imaginative, the scenery is vast, and the color palate and shading perfectly accent the mood in each panel. With each page being worthy of framing, this is a graphic novel that you must have in your collection.

American Born Chinese

Khaled Abou Alfa — Sat, 26 May 2007 11:28:37 +0000

I’ve been living in a bit of a bubble these past few years with respect to my comic book reading habits. I tend to read books that I hear about on websites and what I see on the shelf in front of me at the store. The problem is that this is limiting somewhat and I know that there is an absolute PLETHORA of books out there that I would really enjoy if only I knew about them. I guess as a reviewer of graphic novels it’s part of my mission to hunt these things out myself and really try new things. Sadly my reading of reviews is kind of limited as the number of review sites that I visit has diminished since the Fourth Rail went offline last year sometime. Fair enough the guys behind those particular sites are now doing other things in the form of ComicPants and Eyeoncomics however the consistency is just not there really, which is a shame, but I’m living in a glass box really and I shouldn’t be throwing stones myself to be honest.

The thing is I’ve been listening to more comic podcasts (in addition to producing my own) and that has seriously reinvigorated me in the reading and reviewing comics. One book that was mentioned and I thought was intriguing was a book that I mentioned from published First Second called, American born Chinese. And what an amazing find this book actually is.

I’m not particularly familiar with this publisher or this creator but I’ll definitely be hunting out his work in future and hunting his previous work as well, because in my mind this is one of the freshest talents to come into the graphic novel world in DONKEY years. Before I get further in this review let me just say that this book is without a doubt the best thing I’ve read this year, and I have read a tonne of really excellent books in the last month or so.

The creator of American Born Chinese is Gene Luen Yang and is without a doubt a talent you all should make yourselves more familiar with. The artwork is very simple and soft (that’s the best way I can describe it) and it’s got this seriously magical quality to it. Gene basically is using the graphic novel format to tell a story. That’s the main thing behind this. It’s not about the detail it’s not about the imagination, it’s about the story and the message that he is trying to convey, which he does with absolute ease.

The story follows three seemingly unrelated characters. The first being the Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain. A character who is trying to be more than he is and making sure all those around him know this to be true as well. The second follows Jin Wang an American born Chinese kid in school which follows his trials and tribulations as he goes through school and sees how he is treated by his fellow kids and how he feels oddly out of place but is trying to fit in. The final story is like a mocking sitcom, that is COMPLETELY over the top and racist in which feeds on the misconceptions of Chinese people. For a start the sitcom series is called Everyone Loves Chin-kee. The main character Chin-Kee is a complete stereotype and it’s meant to poke fun, not of Chinese people, but rather those that still have those misconceptions.

The real magic is how these three completely unrelated tales come together in the end to tell a brilliant story that has soo many defining moments that you end up with a massive smile on your face for a couple of days after you’ve finished reading it and so much so that you can’t stop talking about it.

Seriously do yourself a favour and get this book, it’s easily on my top ten graphic novels of this year unless Alan Moore comes back from retirement and published 10 new graphic novels that is. A preview of the book can be found on the website here.

Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi

James Huff — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 05:18:26 +0000

After so long in hibernation, and with damage to the carbonite unit, there’s little hope that Captain Solo will ever regain his sight.

Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi is an adventurous and thought-provoking “What if?” tale by writer Adam Gallardo and artists Ryan Benjamin, Dan Norton, and Juvaun Kirby. It begins in tandem with the original Return of the Jedi script, but when a rescue mission goes terribly wrong, history is forever altered.

The stage is lit, the curtain rises, and the battle for the galaxy begins as we are all too familiar with. But, what is familiar can become unfamiliar in the the blink of an eye. You see, the future is made possible through a series of events, like a chain whose links are defined by the laws of action and reaction. Alter a single link, and the overall position of the chain is altered. Like the position of the chain, the future can be altered by simply altering one of the events that led to it.

On the desert planet of Tatooine, Princess Leia Organa, on a secret rescue mission to free Han Solo in the guise of Boushh the bounty hunter, barters with Jabba the Hutt for the bounty on Chewbacca’s head. When Leia demands “Fifty-thousand, no less,” Jabba angrily lashes out at C-3P0, knocking him to the ground with such force that his head detaches. Without a protocol droid to translate her attempt a Boushh’s native language, Leia is forced to remove her mask and reveal her thermal detonator.

Lando Calrissian, disguised as one of of Jabba’s guards, tries to stop Boba Fett from firing at Leia. He fails, and Fett’s blast hits Leia’s shoulder, accidentally activating the thermal detonator and sending it to the ground.

Events begin to spin wildly out of control as Boba Fett flees with the frozen Han Solo and Leia, Lando, and Chewbacca are forced to flee the palace without Han.

The delay of Han Solo’s rescue will result in the death of Yoda before Luke’s final visit to Dagobah, the capture of both Luke and Leia by Imperial forces, a desperate battle with Boba Fett over the fate of Han Solo, the loss of Han’s eyesight, and a final confrontation between a father and his children.

Star Wars Infinities: Return of the Jedi will introduce you to a Star Wars that you never knew and never thought possible. George Lucas’s script only lasts for one page before Adam Gallardo slightly alters one seemingly insignificant event and ignites a radical domino effect, forever altering history as we know it.

The “What if?” concept has been explored by almost every comic series to date. It gives us a way to experience familiar characters and familiar settings in an unfamiliar way. Will the Empire be defeated? Can the mission to disable the Death Star’s shield succeed without Han Solo’s leadership? Will Darth Vader redeem himself, or will he sacrifice his own children at the will of his master? The possibilities are endless.

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Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back

James Huff — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 07:55:53 +0000

Commander Skywalker, do you copy? This is Rogue Two.

Rogue Two, this is Commander Solo. Come in, Rogue Two.

Commander Solo, I read you load and clear. Are you okay, Commander?

Affirmative, Rogue Two. But Luke . . . Luke is dead.

Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back is an adventurous and thought-provoking “What if?” tale by writer Dave Land and artist DavidÃ© Fabbri. It begins in tandem with the original The Empire Strikes Back script, but when a hero of the Rebellion dies before he can fulfill his destiny, history is forever altered.

On the desolate ice planet of Hoth, Luke Skywalker patrols the frozen tundra surrounding Echo Base for signs of an Imperial invasion, but little does he know that his own problems are more immediate. A hungry wampa has been following Luke. It suddenly rises before him, severely injuring him and killing his tauntaun. Held captive in the wampa’s cave, Luke manages to free his lightsaber and make a daring escape into the frozen wasteland outside.

Alarmed by Luke’s disappearance, Han Solo mounts a rescue, despite the rapidly decreasing temperature. His tauntaun freezes early on during his search, forcing him to continue the rescue on foot. After several hours, he finds Luke lying face-first in the snow, delirious and near death. Before losing consciousness, Luke orders Han to go to the Dagobah system, find master Yoda, and train as a Jedi Knight. He does not live through the night.

Events begin to spin wildly out of control as a glitch in Echo Base’s shield allows a squadron of TIE fighters to accompany the Imperial invasion force and decimate Rogue Squadron.

Han Solo escapes with Princess Leia Organa, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. His perilous journey to Dagobah will result in the death of Boba Fett, the destruction of Cloud City, a fateful reunion between C-3PO and his maker, the revelation of Luke Skywalker’s twin, and a final confrontation between father and daughter.

Star Wars Infinities: The Empire Strikes Back will introduce you to a Star Wars that you never knew and never thought possible. Dave Land’s intricate story immediately departs from George Lucas’s script as he begins to ingeniously focus on a series of small events whose alterations will have a profound effect on the original course of history.

The “What if?” concept has been explored by almost every comic series to date. It gives us a way to experience familiar characters and familiar settings in an unfamiliar way. Has the Empire crushed the Rebellion? Will Han become a Jedi Knight? Does he have the strength needed to save the galaxy from the Empire, or will he bow before it? The possibilities are endless.

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Dawn | Lucifer’s Halo

Khaled Abou Alfa — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 22:11:50 +0000

Rereading this series brings back a great deal of memories. Dawn was one of my oldest looks into the independent publishing world of comics in the mid 1990s. The landscape at the time was rife with pure and unreadable garbage. From that desolate land there were a couple of shining beacons for the faithful that decided to remain and continue to read comics in general; these included Billy Tucci’s Shi, David Lapham’s Stray Bullets, Frank Miller’s Sin City and Joesph Michael Linsner’s Dawn. I remember Wizard magazine lumping this along with a number of other series in what they claimed was a Bad Girl craze at the time. They seriously missed the point as Dawn was a great deal more than just a pretty picture. It was an intricate world unto it’s own, JML’s masterpiece stands tall and proud over 10 years after it was originally published by Sirus Entertainment and recently recollected from Image Comics.

Although the series is called Dawn, this first story revolves mainly around the character of Darrian Ashoka, a man living in a post apocalyptic New York City. This isn’t exactly the New York we know, or even a work that we fully understand, things are not exactly what they seem. Demons and Angels roam the world freely. Gods and Goddesses are part of the landscape.

In what seems to be a weekly ritual Darrian and Jaynus set off to “Time Square Free For All”

Kill who you want, and take what you can

However this time, things are different. Darrian’s night is interrupted as he catches the eye of Dawn. He follows her up to the rooftop of a building where they see angels being slain by demons. After a night of passion, Darrian’s world is turned upside down as he leaves New York City to get into the “Church” aka Heaven. Thus begins the story of Darrian on his quest to find himself.

Meanwhile God has summoned Dawn to ask a favour. Dawn is the Goddess of Birth and Rebirth. She is not part of Heaven nor of Hell. There is something in hell that he wants back. It was an oversight. He want’s Lucifer’s Halo back. These two separate threads are directly linked, but I wouldn’t dream of telling you how.

The story is a layered one, filled with odd metaphors and quotations. The real intentions of the story only become clear much later on in the game, around the fifth chapter, but Linsner plants the seeds right from the first chapter, dialogue, actions, reactions and events, they all intertwine into this story, nothing is there by chance.

In the landscape of the mid 90s glut of rubbish comics, Dawn was a crowning achievement, because it had a story. As you can imagine though, what brought it into the spotlight back then was the awesome artwork that graced the pages. In what was a rare thing indeed, Dawn was a fully painted series, printed on coverstock. Each cover was/is completely striking and can easily be framed and put on your wall, yes the artwork is that good. All the colours pop of the pages and the character designs are second to none.

What’s completely clear as the nose on my face is that ‘Lucifer’s Halo’ was in fact a complete and utter labour of love. Linsner pours his heart out into every single page, every single panel and really tries his best to tell the story, by using his craft to great effect. The characters have expressions of supreme sadness, of contempt, of surprise, of glee and the range goes on. It’s a wonderful thing to find a craftsman that can handle this in manner that comes across as easy. It’s not easy, it’s called pure talent and Linsner has buckets of it.

Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope

James Huff — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 18:57:26 +0000

The torpedoes detonated prematurely, your Highness. I only hope enough damage was done to buy us some time. Princess, you must get to a transport immediately! The future of the Rebellion depends on your safety!

Future? I’ve seen what that battle station can do, General. The Rebellion has no future.

Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope is an adventurous and thought-provoking “What if?” tale by writer Chris Warner and artists Drew Johnson and Al Rio. It begins in tandem with the original A New Hope script, but when a key opportunity for the Rebellion is lost, history is forever altered.

The Death Star looms like the harbinger of death over the Rebel base on Yavin IV. In its equatorial trench, Luke Skywalker begins his finial attack run. He fires his proton torpedoes and retreats to a safe distance with Han Solo and the remaining Rebel fighters, but the expected explosion never comes. The torpedoes had detonated just short of the reactor and the Death Star is still operational.

The Death Star retaliates by firing its primary weapon on Yavin IV, but the Imperial super weapon had sustained some damage from the premature detonation of the torpedoes and only fires with enough power to severely damage the Rebel base. Princess Leia Organa and the remaining Rebels retreat to their transports, but are taken prisoner by Darth Vader.

Luke, distracted by a dogfight on the opposite side of Yavin, believes that the Death Star’s first salvo had destroyed Yavin IV, thus murdering Leia and the rest of the Rebels. Luke and Han escape to Dagobah to find Master Yoda and complete Luke’s training as a Jedi Knight.

Meanwhile, under the care and tutelage of Darth Vader, Leia is appointed to a position as senator in the newly formed Imperial Senate, which she believes will place the Empire on a path to peace. Luke’s destiny as a Jedi and Leia’s place beside Vader will eventually lead to a final confrontation between both brother and sister.

Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope will introduce you to a Star Wars that you never knew and never thought possible. Chris Warner’s story immediately departs from George Lucas’s script into a tale that is just as intricate and captivating as the original.

The “What if?” concept has been explored by almost every comic series to date. It gives us a way to experience familiar characters and familiar settings in an unfamiliar way. Has the Rebellion been destroyed? Will the Empire prevail? Will Luke become a Jedi Knight? Will he save the galaxy, or destroy it? The possibilities are endless.

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Fables Volume 1 | Legends in Exile

Khaled Abou Alfa — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 10:52:23 +0000

Currently one of the best (and most popular) titles being published by Vertigo Comics, Fables is something unique in the graphic novel landscape, it gets better with every additional volume. Traditionally (at least for the past few years) Vertigo Comics tends to publish new titles in bulk. What I mean by that is that they’ll release several new series at around the same time. Title such as 100 Bullets, Y The Last Man and Fables began their publishing life around the same time, which happened to coincide with the end of the sublime Preacher series. Vertigo was trying to find a Preacher replacement to be it’s flagship title. Instead it got two series that in my eyes could fit the bill. I’ve already spoken about the greatness that is 100 Bullets, so it’s time for me to introduce you all to Fables.

When I first heard of this series I was slightly sceptical. In a move that surprised even myself I bought a trade paperback based on the dynamic art of the cover artist alone. You see this was the first time I actually saw the amazing work of James Jean. He’s since gone on to win an Eisner (the Oscars of the Comic Book world) and deservedly so, however I saw him when he was still wet behind the ears. The cover just had that European cool about it. So I started flipping through the book to see if the interior art could possible live up to the cover. Once again I was surprised by what I found, Lan Medina knocked this one right out of the park and for a good long while was in my eyes the definitive Fables artist. In future reviews I’ll explain what this means but needless to say Mark Buckingham (the artist on all the subesquent volumes) is the definitive Fables artist (and all around nice guy), however Lan serious is no slouch by any stretch of the imagination; and there is plent of imagination in these pages.

It’s a very simple setup for the story, something terrible has happened in the land where Fables live, as the Adversary has gone through and sought to conqure everything in his path. This has lead Fables to seek asylum elsewhere. They found this asylum in New York City where they live and work in a place they’ve called Fabletown. They interact with the mundies (that’s people like you and me) without them knowning who they are. The mayor of Fabletown is Snow White and the Sheriff is Bigby (the Big Bad Wolf). This volume serves as an introduction to the cast of characters and setting up the entire premise of the series. Did you know that Snow White had a sister? Apparently so, she’s called Rose Red and this story revolves around the mystery of her murder.

Willingham manages to make me laugh several times throughout this first story arc. There is no need to tell you that obviously the three little pigs are wary of Bigby, however after getting kicked out of their homeland everyone was exempt from their previous deeds. One of the pigs was squatting at Bigby’s house because all non-human looking fables have to stay uptown in an area they’ve called the Farm. I’m not going to ruin the dialogue between them because it’s very funny. Also the introduction of Prince Charming is priceless and worth the admission entry alone.

Willingham has seriously done his homework here and many have said this before so it doesn’t hurt for me to say it as well, but this is the book that Willingham was born to write. It’s funny, it’s clever, it keeps you on your toes always wanting to come back for more, just like any good Fable should.

Strange

Khaled Abou Alfa — Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:57:15 +0000

It’s been a good long while since I reviewed a Marvel book. To be honest I’ve not been all that enthused by most of their offerings of late. There are a couple of books I’ve got on my radar to buy, however the graphic novel landscape is open to a lot more. However every once in a while the boys at the ‘House of Ideas’ will nab a couple of creators that I have a huge affection for and will present me with a book that I’m bound to like based on the names attached alone. Just to get a couple of things clear, Brandon Peterson is one of my favourite artists of the 90s. I watched him grow into a powerhouse over at Top Cow, before doing some EXCELLENT issues of X-men for Marvel and then moving onto Crossgen to produce some good work, including a book which I really wish would get collected at some point as I’ve not read it (I’m talking about Chimera, which infuses Brandon’s superb lines with a good deal of 3D imagery in one of the best combinations I’ve seen since The Red Star). J. Michael Straczynski is the creator and writer of one of my favourite TV series of all time (Babylon 5) so you’re bound to get some magic (pun sooo intended) when you mix these two gentlemen together.

This story is effectively the retelling of the origin (this being the first Dr. Stange book I’ve ever brought, I can’t really claim to be an expert on this character) of Dr. Stephen Strange. This is the story of how Stephen Strange becomes the Sorceror Supreme. The only person standing between the force of darkness entering and devouring our world.

The story starts off with the good doctor still in University and how he made it to be for a summer in the Tibetan mountains. Stephen seems to be in place to become a great surgeon as he’s got a gift. However he makes several selfish decisions that hide his true potential. A sking accident causes him to loose the use of his hands and he beings on a mission to try and restore his hands. However fate had other plans for him.

I’ve read a great deal of what JMS has written for the comic book industry. I’ll admit that I’ve not been keeping up with his output this past year or so, but that mainly because he’s been so attached to the Marvel Universe and I honestly believe he writes his best stuff when it’s his own creations. However in all the work I’ve read he’s never really shown his television roots. Strange actually reads like a screenplay to a television pilot put into comic book format. I mean that in a good way. The material is approached in a similar manner to most television series. Set up your character show the elements of promise, put them through hell and make it seem as though there is no turning back from the dark and windy road they’ve taken, only to bring them back in a heroic fashion towards the end of the story. We all know that Stephen Strange will become Dr.Strange Sorcerer Supreme. However if you’ve ever watched any of JMS’s television work, you’ll know that he doesn’t really care about the outcome. That’s not what’s important to him. He’s more interested in the road taken and how the character will reach their final destination.

Brandon Peterson provides some superb artwork for this mini-series. It’s as good as anything that the man has ever produced. It’s clean and clear, tells the story very well and he litters the pages with great Brandon Peterson moments. He’s a big fan of the mystic and it shows how much he’s enjoying drawing this series. In my eyes he’s created the definitive looking Strange. Love his waistcoat, but it’s the look on the doc’s face which really gets to me. He’s got this air that he’s ALWAYS thinking and contemplating something or other. That’s a very difficult thing to pull off. The final page of the mini-series is a perfect way to end the story.

I can’t close this review without singing the praises of the colourist for this book, Justin Ponsor. He’s a familiar name to those that used to read Wildstorm books as he’s one of the best in the business. He’s colours pop off the page when they have to and in general elevate the artwork even further. Brandon always seems to associate himself with the top talent when it comes to colourists and Justin is no exception. I am kind of surprised that Richard Isanove (good buddy of Peterson’s from his Arcanum days) didn’t get the job, however there is little to choose between Ponsor and Isanove.

I enjoyed reading this introduction to Dr.Strange as my only real exposure to him was his cameo appearance in Kevin Smith which was superbly drawn by Joe Quesada (who actually provides the initial character designs). It’s a shame this series didn’t take off as we would have had an ongoing series right about now, but I guess Dr. Stange is a character that needs the right story to be interesting.

Spirit of Wonder

Khaled Abou Alfa — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 10:45:37 +0000

Few things can make me smile from ear to ear and make me feel good about life in general. I get this feeling whenever I watch a Miyazaki movie. However before I discovered Miyazaki, I was reading ‘Spirit of Wonder’.

This is arguably one of the most beautiful manga’s ever created. This work is far and above standard manga fair. It’s a special piece of printed history that deserves to be on everyone’s shelf.

Set in the late 19th Century, in Bristol England, a young Asian girl, Miss China is the owner of the Tenkai Tea and Boarding House. However not everything’s going well as one of her lodgers Breckenridge (a completely mad scientist) is always late with the rent and Miss China is finding it hard to run her business and make ends meet. Meanwhile she’s pinning after Jim who’s actions seem to imply that he’s actually out for the flower girl,..but we all know better.

I dare any warm blooded male to not fall in love with Miss China after reading this series, in the same way that guys fall for Amelie after watching that movie. While the story might seem girly, it has got something for everyone.

The one aspect of this book that will make you revisit the work again and again is the artwork which is absolutely breathe-taking. It’s seriously detailed and has an incredible amount of sheer class in every single page.

Artist/Writer: Kenji Tsuruta
Letterer: Studio Proteusâ€™s Toren Smith
Publisher: Dark Horse