Freak Comics

Recnetly I’ve made some fairly pointed comments about Image Comics, and I’m not going to apologize. Their new site sucks almost as bad as their last one. I wish that Molly would review it like she did the UK Disney Store (I’m sure it would put my review to shame)… they deserve it.

But let’s set one thing strait: outside of their terrible website, I have nothing against Image. In fact, I would go as far as saying that they are my favorite comic book company. Take Fear Agent for example. I saw a preview on the internet a few months ago, it came out last month and I finally got around to reading it tonight.

If I were a high-budget Hollywood advertisment I would call Fear Agent “A Grade ‘A’, Edge-of-your-seat Thrill Ride, Jam Packed With Thrills and Thrilling Thrill!”. If I were me (and I am) I would call it pure gold (and it is). I was instantly excited about this title when I found out Tony Moore would be one of the illustrators (he’s taking turns with Cory Walker, 5 months on, 5 months off), and I made it to the comic shop just in time to pick myself up some other guy’s copy: they were sold out save for the copy which was being reserved for another customer… but he was late and I’m a regular so I got his copy!

Fear Agent didn’t impress me… ‘impress’ isn’t a strong enough word. It didn’t live up to my expectations either. Rather it blew me away and shattered my expectations replacing them with pure joy. Thanks to the title I was expecting to read an X-Files knock-off. A typical guy-working-for-government scenario. Oh how wrong I was!

The whole concept of this series is summed up perfectly by Rick Remender (author of Fear Agent) in the afterward. It’s a return to 50’s pulp sci-fi… the good stuff. The days of War of the Worlds and This Island Earth. The days when no explanation was necessary and “shocking excitment” would fill a theater. Remender is a genius, and Issue #1 is beautifully illustrated.

Fear Agent follows Heath Huston (nice misspelling of Houston seeing as he’s from Texas) who is an ‘Alien Exterminator’. Think of Huston as Indiana Jones meets Han Solo… addicted to whiskey… and a native of Texas. That’s all I’m going to reveal about the plot… you’ll have to buy the book for the rest, and trust me, if you like action mixed with 50’s movies you will love Fear Agent.

I do have one gripe (don’t I always?)… on page four, first panel, Heath’s narration box says “It’s now a direct violation of the Quintala Convention for any class A, B or C to consciously kill a class D intellect or lower.” Then in the second panel his self narration reads: “The Zlasfons I’m looking for are G class — so I’m in safe legal territory.” This is a mistake, right? The reading in the first panel should be: “…consciously kill a class D or higher… “, correct?

If the afore mentioned mistake is enough to make you shun Fear Agent, then you’re an idiot. Go to your local comic shop, if they don’t have it make them order it. If it’s in stock, purchase it, read it and bask in the warm pulp sci-fi goodness it provides.

Much to the dismay of many faithful Freak Comics readers, The Adventures of Stickman #43 didn’t go live yesterday… nor did it this morning as I had planned, but for good reason!

The wait is over and now you can view this and every issue of Stickman in a new easier to read format. This new Comic section is linked in the navigation below the heading “Extras”.

But that’s not all! Stickman’s format has changed significantly. Gone are the days of 4 panel newspaper-esque Stickman strips. No my friends, Stickman will now be writen in standard comic book size! If that’s not enough for you, try this out: Stickman’s new day will be every Friday and will feature two pages… two full pages rather than 4 small panels! That’s a major undertaking for myself, but I’m up for the task.

Now stop reading this post and start reading The Adventures of Stickman #43.

On August 1st DC released an amazing new title called Justice. As the name implies, the comic features the Justice League (of America), which is comprised of Earths most dedicated Heroes: Superman, Batman, Aquaman and more.

Throughout all these years I was never a very big Justice League fan. I was never a DC fan either and that contributed to not being in to the Justice League… but Justice is enough to make me a devout follower.

Written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger, and beautifully illustrated by Ross (known for his realistic paintings) and Doug Braithwaite, Justice had me hooked from page 1. The dialog, narration, illustrations… everything just seems to flow together so perfectly. That being said I’m not without a couple of small gripes (how could I be?).

Justice is a 12 issue maxiseries that is being released Bi-Monthly. Issue number one starts with nuclear bombs going off throughout the Earth. This instantly grabbed my attention and the story kept it all the way through the end of issue 2. When you read Justice, you get the sense that things are bigger than the heroes themselves. That everything is beyond you and Earth shattering. This is what usually turns me of to DC comic books, but in this instance it works, and it works oh so scrumptiously.

But as I mentioned, I do have a gripe or two. The first being the artwork. Alex Ross is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s strange to read a comic book done entirely in paintings. Sometimes it feels a little surreal and keeps you from speeding through the issue… not that these are bad things, just different for me and it’s hard to get used to. Secondly, I hate DC’s obsession with using gradient narration boxes with logos or what-not embedded inside of them. It’s distracting and looks cheap. The third complaint is an error on ross’s part really. In issue #2 Batman has a clue left to him from the Riddler: an eye and an ear. Batman says “No trace of blood” however in the illustration there is clearly blood on the ear and eye. Inconsistencies irritate me.

The good doesn’t outnumber the bad with this series. Rather the good crushes the bad’s spine in to a fine paste and declares itself supreme ruller. I will be sad to see Justice go after it’s run is complete and I highly recommend reading this series in it’s entirety.

Just before joining the 9rules Network I decided to abandon the posting of press releases in their standard form. I feel this is a cheap way to blog. However, there is also some valuable information in the press releases that I receive, and I wanted to be able to bring this content to you, while still maintaining a higher standard for my actual articles that I write.

Enter the new side bar. You’ll notice on the right of your screen a couple of small tabs. One labeled ‘News’, the other ‘Newest releases’. News gives you just that: news via press releases and information gathered from other sites. This will feature short blurbs that I find interesting and brief news articles… things that just don’t quite constitute writing a full article. Another small feature will be added to this section later today, namely: when a press release is posted, you will be informed that it is such. This way you can be sure of the type of content you’re reading: original or prefabbed.

Newest Releases is a place you can go to check out what’s hitting the shelves of your local comic shop that week. Currently this only features releases from Marvel (aka: the devil), but I’m working on a way to bring you comic releases from a wide array of companies.

There are a couple of small browser bugs to work out (mainly for Internet Explorer 6… big suprise) and these will be addressed as soon as possible. I will also be adding an RSS feed for the news and the newest releases very shortly.

This is just the start of some of the new features I’ll be giving away at FreakComics.com. If you think that’s cool, wait until you see today’s Adventures of Stickman!