Greetings again
Here we are at the butt-end of April, just in time for those May flowers to start their thing...
Just a quick update on what's been going on with me. "LandLine" continues to drop here on Zestworld, and we're now into Season 2, which features our heroine Land learning a bit more about the strange new world she's found herself trapped in. So hopefully you're keeping up with that and enjoying it. Don't forget to leave comments! As an artist, I live for kudos and as a writer I enjoy answering your questions.
Aside from that, a big other project I've been working on... well I've been working on it and hopefully you'll get to see it here this summer. It's a doozy!
I've been struggling with some burnout a bit, which is why I'm just getting into the swing of using this email update/blog feature on Zestworld. I've realized that while I enjoy making and sharing comics, being a "content creator" as we think of it is actually rather difficult and draining. So you will see more of these here, but they probably will not be particularly structured though I will hopefully be making sure they're worth your time. I'll do about one a month, and it will probably include updates on the comics I'm making, a little bit of behind-the-scenes, and thoughts on stuff I've been reading or watching. So stay tuned.
Whatcha readin'?
Quite a bit! And much of it related to Robert E. Howard's CONAN THE BARBARIAN. The big review I have today is this bad boy: SAVAGE AVENGERS by the following:
Writer: Gerry Duggan, Chris ClaremontInker: Greg Smallwood, Butch Guice, Dan Green, Kev Walker, John Romita Jr., Kim Jacinto, Adam Gorham, Patch Zircher, Scott Hanna, Ron Garney, Mike Deodato Jr.Colorist: Matt Milla, Tamra Bonvillain, Glynis Oliver, Javier Tartaglia, Greg Smallwood, Frank Martin, Alex GomesLetterer: Tom Orzechowski, Vc Travis LanhamEditor: Jeff YoungquistPenciler: Mike Deodato Jr., Ron Garney, Greg Smallwood, Butch Guice, Kev Walker, John Romita Jr., Kim Jacinto, Adam Gorham, Patch Zircher
As a big fan of Howard and his Hyborian Age heroes, particularly their Marvel Comics incarnations, I was a bit skeptical about bringing Conan into the Marvel Universe at large. But then a bit over a year ago, somehow I received a free digital copy of the first issue and let me tell you I was immediately hooked. There's a lot here that ended up appealing to me, not the least of which are the sheer number of "oh SHIT" moments that writer Gerry Duggan crafts here right from the start. I've never been a huge fan of The Punisher, but the way he's introduced in the first chapter of this book is one of the biggest "You f'd up" moments for a villain I've ever seen in comics.
The next 28-odd issues follow Conan, Dr. Strange, and a host of other heros and anti-heroes as they attempt to save the universe from an evil sorcerer named Khulan Gath, with whom Conan and the Avengers have separate but equally hostile histories. I really appreciate the ways Conan adapts to the modern world here, which is to say... he mostly doesn't. He's still a thieving, boozing adventurer but instead of wandering fictitious landscapes of the Hyborian Age, he's cutting a swath across South America, Europe and the United States in his quest to find -- and kill -- Khulan Gath. Along the way he partners up with a variety of Marvel heroes, and these pairings are often quite fun.
Duggan's Conan has a knack for getting under other characters' skin with ease. The most fun, perhaps, are the ways he will casually taunt Dr. Doom or Deadpool to get them to do what he wants. No small feat, when it comes to Victor von Doom, and a dinner scene between the two of them is an absolute howler.
Anyway, this was an incredibly satisfying read. The coda issue featuring Conan getting one over on Kang the Conquerer was a perfect ending to the Cimmerian's time in the Marvel Universe, and I'm glad I overcame my initial reticence on this one.
What else are you reading?
IDW's two ongoing STAR TREK series are a blast. I am not a huge fan of bringing back Captain Sisko; I think leaving his fate nebulous is the way to go and DEEP SPACE NINE itself is pretty perfect the way it is. So I'm also kind of glad that the newest incarnations of the TREK franchise have largely left it alone. Still, this series, which follows Sisko returning to corporeal reality when someone begins killing the gods of the STAR TREK universe, is quite good. It's from the same team that brought us STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE a few years ago, which I consider the high water mark for TREK comics. There's a summer crossover event coming called DAY OF BLOOD that will pit Sisko, Worf, and a host of other heroes against the Klingon Empire that I'm excited to check out.
Elsewhere, Marvel's PREDATOR series continues to impress. The first issue of PLANET OF THE APES was intriguing, too. It's set in the continuity of the reboot trilogy that started with 2011's RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.
And speaking of Conan, Ablaze Comics has just launched THE MIGHTY BARBARIANS which features Conan's predecessor KING KULL leading a mutliversal team of heroes against a universe-conquering magical threat. I think that one's gonna be really fun. Also from Ablaze is a really intriguing slow-burn horror book called CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SUN. There are four issues of it, and it's really gripping and interesitng, so check that out if you're into sort of Lovecraftian space-horror in the suburbs kind of stuff.
Band of Bards also has a new superhero series called AMERICAN DREAMS you should check out if you're a fan of SUPERMAN.
So that's it for this month. LANDLINE will continue, as I said, and I'll be back next month for some more musings on comics!