ec2-3-22-240-205.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | SmallPressOneLineReviews | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic So these first few comics are from Camcon (August) and I am expecting to get some at Expo (although I will only be there for a day) and some more at Thought Bubble, hence the "Autumn 2014" title.
I've already reviewed the ashcan of this, which I got for free at Thought Bubble (I think) in 2012. Synopsis: An orphan is shoved into a rich man's garden to steal stuff, and is rescued by him from his guard dogs. They and his servants are all made from porcelain, in an alchemical type of way. The orphan, named only "Child", is adopted by the rich man, "Uncle", and learns some of the details of the making, but there is always one room forbidden to her... Artwork: Absolutely gorgeous, full colour. Good expressive faces and body language. Storytelling: Easy to read in terms of panel layout, well-paced and believable. Both Child and Uncle are well developed and distinct characters. The overall direction is not unpredictable but the ending has quite an emotional impact. Presentation: B4, perfect bound, good quality printing, no typoes.
Synopsis: A knight is engaged by a village to fight off a dragon, and promised the hand of one of the prettier village girls. Then the leader of the village has the girl tied up for the dragon to eat. Also, there is a farmhand who fancies the girl. If that all sounds a bit odd, it's because the story has six different paths through it following six different characters; the knight, his horse, the dragon, the girl, the village chief and the farmhand. Each path shares some pages with the others, but they all have their own different happenings. There are three different endings. Artwork: Full colour, thick outlines, stylised and very easy to look at. Storytelling: Nowhere near as hard to follow as it might sound. There's no text, which works really well, and it's very fun trying the different routes through. Presentation: B4, good printing (it's the same publisher as Porcelain, above). And: The girl's ending was totally my favourite!
Synopsis: Indiana Jones with mice. Jack Redpath, an adventurer, and Vicky Jones, a reporter, get caught up in the happenings around an archaeological dig in Egypt. An ancient stone tablet is found which speaks of an ancient and powerful artefact. But they have been preempted by an unscrupulous group who are keen to get their paws on it first... Artwork: Beautifully rendered mice, with each character very distinctive. It's in full colour - I think it might be markers; it's certainly not flat colours. Lots of detail in the backgrounds. Storytelling: Lots of action, easy to read, although I got a bit confused by the switch right at the beginning. The MacGuffin? is properly intriguing, and I'm keen to find out more about it. This is part 1 of 6, apparently. Presentation: B4, floppy, good quality printing.
Here's the Expo haul! Quite small, because I was only there one day, I haven't finished reading all my comics yet, and I don't want to review sequels, of which I bought quite a few.
Synopsis: Devin Beckett is a new inpatient at Broadmoor psychiatric hospital, convicted of a brutal murder he swears he didn't commit. This is the start of the story, so the first issue consists basically of introductions. We meet his doctor first, one Tamara Swain, an attractive and sympathetic character, then Devin himself, then his roommate, Jameson. Jameson is intriguing; a psychiatrist himself and now an inmate, hints are dropped of his history. The last character we meet is another doctor, Archie Turner. Artwork: Gorgeous full colour, with Bex' characteristic expressive style. I really like the way thoughts from different characters have different colour backgrounds - it allows fast head-switching without confusion, and it works very well for this story. Storytelling: Easy to read and follow. Good hints dropped about various characters, promising depth and interest, and a mystery from the start - who did Devin murder, and did he really? Characters are well-realised and believable. Presentation: A5, staple bound, good quality printing.
Synopsis: Kathleen, a young Irish girl, has to go and live with her aunt and uncle after her mother becomes ill. But she doesn't speak Irish, and finds herself very lonely in her new, principally Irish-speaking class. Also, something is causing the children of the town to fall ill one by one. Kathleen makes a new friend, Iona, who tells her (via drawing - Iona doesn't speak English) about An Bruid, the monster. And then, late one night, Kathleen is woken by something tapping at the window, only there are no trees outside her room... Artwork: Fairly realistic, greyscale. Anatomy is not always spot-on, but it's always clear what's happening, and the characters are recognisable and attractively drawn. Storytelling: Clear and easy to follow, despite half the speech being in Irish, which makes Kathleen's plight very understandable to the reader (there is a translation, at the back). Presentation: A5, staple bound. Nice sound effects.
Synopsis: Amy and Debbie are best friends since school, now young adults and looking for work. There are jobs in the pound shop, but the girls working there were bullies from the same class. In the conversation, the story goes back to things that happened then, in a nostalgic look at the past and how it affects the present and the future. It's a funny, gentle story and I really enjoyed it. Artwork: Sammy has a distinct style, with expressive, exaggerated faces and thick lines. It's in full colour, which works very well. Storytelling: Easy to follow, well laid out, expressive. Presentation: A5, staple-bound, good clean printing.
Finally, Thought Bubble comics ^^
Scars Sally Jane Thompson http://www.sallyjanethompson.co.uk/ Synopsis: Two segments of a woman's life, bringing together the marks, external and internal, gained from painful experiences, and the peace of having survived them. Artwork: Pencil, so sketchy, but clear and expressive in Sally's lovely style. Storytelling: It's a very simple story, told well with interesting panels and layouts. Presentation: Black and white A6 portrait, cover is colour card. The text is handwritten but very neat and easy to read (I wish mine was that good!) And: Read it online and see for yourself :) Use the link above.
Slightly Eccentric 1&2 Constance Armitage http://slightlyeccentric.com Synopsis: A strange apple grows, the one solitary fruit of an old, gnarled tree. One night it falls, still green, where all the other apples are ripe. They shun the Sour Apple, but she finds a friend in a wandering loaf of bread. The rest of the apples, forced by their robot overlords (the Tithe Collection), give up their sacred tree (Sour Apple's parental tree, of course) rather than their children, a sacrifice which occasions great mourning. In the meantime, Little Bread gets captured by a dodgy potato dude and a walrus, later revealed to be in collusion with an egg called Egbert, and linked to the Resistance. I am not making any of that up. Artwork: Clean, attractive and expressive, full colour. Storytelling: As bizarre as the setup is, the story is easy to follow, although it's worth reading it through again just to pick up the various hints missed the first time through. There looks to be a hefty bit of world-building underneath this, which is promising. Presentation: Staple-bound A5, good colour printing. And: Read it online! Link above :)
I Am Fire Rachael Smith http://www.rachaelsmith.org Synopsis: Jenny is a selfish little cow, who's on work experience at the crafts section of a department store thanks to her mother's poor friend Joan, who has taken on considerably more than she expected. So has Bryan, who works for Remember About Fire, a fire safety consultancy, who's agreed to mentor Chris, a young pyromaniac. The department store has had a visit from RAF, and in the resulting fire drill Jenny runs into Chris in the middle of a real emergency. Artwork: Full colour, with stylised lineart which isn't always consistent but works well. Storytelling: Easy to follow, with plenty of funny bits along the way. Jenny's growth as a character is predictable, but the rest of the story not so much, which is good. Presentation: Nice chunky A5 staple-bound floppy, all full colour.
Princeless: The Pirate Princess Whitley, Higgins and Brandt http://actionlabcomics.com Synopsis: Raven, daughter of the Pirate King, is locked up in a tower like any princess might be. But her rescuers Adrienne and Bedelia are not standard knights, and after the rescue Raven joins them in wreaking havoc through the town, at which she is more than proficient. To be fair to her, it's mostly in revenge against those who had her locked up in the first place. Artwork: Clean Western animation-style art, full colour and cel shading. Storytelling: Generally easy to follow, I occasionally had to check back to make sure I was reading correctly. This is just the start of what looks to be a fun and action-filled story. Presentation: B5 full colour staple-bound floppy.
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