I am looking to interview the creator of the Kickstarter with this great artwork, J. Miles Dunn and his project Grinidon: A Fantasy Graphic Novel – Vol. 1.
The visuals are stunning enough but I think he’s onto something with the story too. A bit about a new land, and old rivalries. Interested?
Seriously, just take a look at the artwork.
Issue #2 of Pathways by Dragon Phoenix Media is out now ($2.99 Digital) and again I’ve had my chance to look it over. I’m glad I did.
Pathways #2 caught me off guard just like the last time…I had forgotten the depth of story that Bill Lutz put into the the first two installments in the series (Issues #0 and #1). So, I find that I have to stop partway through and get comfortable because this book is something that you actually read, not just skim through like the latest Daredevil reboot.
The opening act sets in motion the ‘why’ of the upcoming adventure. Writer/Artist Bill Lutz again uses some great panel placement to allow for dense dialog while also using the art itself to tell the story.
The art first introduces us to a slightly alien cityscape (with fantastic coloring by Robert Barnes) that tells us so much before we even get into the story. We can tell that this is not earth (twin suns, etc.) and that this city is advanced yet peaceful.
As the panels then move indoors we see a room that is recognizable for it’s purpose, but filled with enough aliens to let you know this is no earthly government debating their future.
A sample of the aliens from Pathways #2
It may seem like I am making a big deal about the paneling, and maybe I am. It’s just nice to see a comic book that actually does the little things to tell the story visually and not act like some illustrated book aimed at children. For some reason I feel compelled to say something unkind about the Star Wars prequels here as well.
So anyway…I started reading and was just getting into the ‘suspension of disbelieve’ zone when suddenly…it’s time for act 2! Arrgghhh! More! This is the problem with good comic books…you always end up wanting them to be graphic novels and such. Still, there is act 2 which continues a story from issue #1, and also a third story to round out the book that introduces two sisters on opposite sides of good and evil.
I have been informed that the line art for issue three is done and awaiting the coloring work of Rob Barnes and lettering/editing of Glenn E Smith, which is great news.
Moby just needs to learn to be patient. On the plus side, I get to look forward to seeing if I am guessing right about ol’ red eyes from act 2. I think he’s forming some sort of evil cadre, like the Beatles or something….
You can get Pathways now at Dragon Phoenix Media (available on Kindle and Comixology). Be sure to check out DPM’s selection of free Zero issue comics as well!
Moby’s Digital Pick for Free Comic Book Day 2015 is…
Pathways Issue #0 is now available for
download at dragonphoenixmedia.com
Pathways is a brand new miniseries from Dragon Phoenix Media that will lead into the upcoming ‘The Return of the Frontiersmen‘.
I’ve already reviewed a preview copy here on the site (you can see that review HERE), but it is always nice to see the finished product from a new company.
Again, I was surprised by the density of the story. I was expecting the usual origin stuff (after all it is a comic book) but Pathways really surprised me with the depth and range this opening issue covered. I said it pretty well the first time, so here’s the core of my previous review:
Moby was thinking this would be a simple superhero origin story, diluted by having to deal with an ensemble cast. But this zero issue was not that at all. By use of time distortions we get a glimpse of the past, and a taste of the future. Foes protecting heroes without their knowledge, and mixed allegiances.”
‘The Glut’ was not all crap, though you had to look hard to find stuff worth keeping.
I’ve decided to post a few example here on the site to give an idea of what Silverwolf and Greater Mercury Comics were competing against.
Up first: Nomads of Antiquity by M.E. Comix.
There’s practically no information available online about this company, which is a shame. Here’s what we know: ‘M. E.’ apparently stood for McNeil Enterprises, after Pierre R. McNeil. The company was based out of Atlanta, Georgia and this first Issue was published in January, 1987.
Altogether, there would be 5 issues of Nomads of Antiquity published. The series’s covers featured limited color and the art by John Skoglund was actually decent for a ‘Glut’ book. I’d have to put it near par with much of what we saw from Greater Mercury Comics.
Click for a larger image.
I keep referring to ‘The Glut’ that occurred in the B&W comic book markets in the late ’80s, and came across this great series of re-posts from the Comics Journal. Of course, I cannot re-post the whole thing, but here is the pertinent page from the article, one that explains it all perfectly.
I highly suggest anyone trying to understand just how the heck the comic book industry destroyed itself once upon a time read the whole thing over at The Comics Journal; http://classic.tcj.com/history/a-comics-journal-history-of-the-direct-market-part-two/
From A Comics Journal History of the Direct Market, Part Two by Gary Groth.
(Originally published in The Comics Journal #116, July 1987; reprinted in The Comics Journal #277, July 2006.
Page 2:
The bloom was off the rose in December [1986] or, if you were slow about it, January of last year [1987]. What rose, you ask? The most sacred and cherished rose in America: the belief that the American public will consume limitless quantities of useless garbage.
This idea ran afoul of a very basic economic reality: you cannot shovel shit into a finite market forever. The profiteers who jumped on the black-and-white comics-publishing bandwagon within the last year learned this when the black-and-white comics market collapsed. (The ripple was felt in the market for color comics and other formats, too.) From December through April at least, publishers have reported a drop in sales from 15 to 50 percent across the board. (That means even comics you may have thought were rock-solid have suffered.) The sales of some black-and-white comics may have plummeted even more dramatically over the four or five month period. The cause of the glut and subsequent collapse was partly greed and partly passivity on the part of “publishers,” distributors and retailers. One must wonder why, with all the breast-beating of the distributors and the ballyhooing of the innumerable trade shows held all year, there wasn’t a single mechanism within the entire infrastructure of the direct-sales system that could have foreseen or mitigated the disastrous economic collapse. Part of the explanation is that the infrastructure’s primary purpose is to create a self-perpetuating consumer frenzy at the expense of any responsible or even sane sense of proportion.
The crash began as a boom and the boom was in black-and-white comics. You would’ve had to have been particularly inept to publish black-and-white comics in 1986 and fail. As nearly as I can piece it together, this is what happened: Continue reading »
