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rabbittstewcomics · 4 years ago

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Episode 289

Comic Reviews:

Infinite Frontier 0 by Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, John Timms, Alex Sinclair, Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, Tamra Bonvillain, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Emilio Lopez, Joelle Jones, Jordie Bellaire, Stephen Byrne, Tim Sheridan, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Alejandro Sanchez, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Jamal Igle, Hi-Fi, Alex Maleev, Geoff Johns, Todd Nauck, Geoffrey Thorne, Dexter Soy, Howard Porter, John Romita Jr, Klaus Janson, Brad Anderson

Suicide Squad 1 by Robbie Thompson, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Marcelo Maiolo

Swamp Thing 1 by Ram V, Mike Perkins, Mike Spicer

Crime Syndicate 1 by Andy Schmidt, Kieran McKeown, Dexter Vines, Steve Oliff

Demon Days: X-Men 1 by Peach Momoko, Zack Davisson

America Chavez: Made in the USA 1 by Kalinda Vazquez, Carlos Gomez, Jesus Aburtov

King in Black: Captain America 1 by Danny Lore, Mirko Colak, Stefano Landini, Roge Antonio, Nico Leon, Erick Arciniega

King in Black: Wiccan and Hulking 1 by Tini Howard, Luciano Vecchio, Espen Grundetjern

Nocterra 1 by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Tomeu Morey

Dead Dog's Bite 1 by Tyler Boss

Undone By Blood or The Other Side of Eden 1 by Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, Sami Kivela, Jason Wordie

Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters 1 by Chris Samnee, Laura Samnee, Matthew Wilson

James Bond: Agent of Spectre 1 by Christos Gage, Luca Casalanguida, Heather Moore

Chariot 1 by Bryan Edward Hill, Priscilla Petraites, Marco Lesko

BRZRKR 1 by Keanu Reeves, Matt Kindt, Ron Garney, Bill Crabtree

Nottingham 1 by David Hazan, Shane Connery Volk, Luca Romano

99 Cent Theatre (TKO):

Seeds of Eden 1 by Joe Corallo, Liana Kangas, Paul Azaceta

Night Train 1 by Steve Foxe, Patricio Delpeche, Lisandro Estherren, Steve Wands

Hand Me Down 1 by Alex Paknadel, Jen Hickman

Killiamsburgh 1 by Erick Freitas, Jesus Hervas

Dame From the Dark 1 by Rob Pilkington, Kit Mills

A Kitten by Nathaniel Wilson

Priya and the Wolves by Ruchira Gupta, Melanconnie

Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd, Michelle Mee Nuttler

The Goblet at the Black Oak by John Kratky, Walter Barna, Joel Cotejar, Janessa Douglas

The Goddess of Areth 1 by Tyrone Washington Hunte

Additional Reviews: 12 Angry Men, Colonel Weird Cosmagog, American Murder, Trust Me s2, Tom & Jerry, Paramount+, Detective 80th HC, The Thick of It, Raya and the Last Dragon, WandaVision ep9

News: new Boom! book by Seth Rogan?, Supergirl 8-issue mini by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, Superman & Lois renewed, Battle Chasers returning, rumors about MCU and X-Men, Cable ending at 12, Shadecraft optioned, Night-Gwen, Lola Bunny

Trailers: Thunder Force, Boss Baby 2

Comics Countdown:

Nocterra 1 by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Tomeu Morey

Fear Case 2 by Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, Hilary Jenkins

Runaways 34 by Rainbow Rowell, Andres Genolet, Dee Cunniffe

Batman 106 by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov

Infinite Frontier 0

Dead Dogs Bite 1 by Tyler Boss

King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling 1 by Tini Howard, Luciano Vecchio, Espen Grundetjern

Firepower 9 by Robert Kirkman, Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson

The Plot 8 by Michael Moreci, Tim Daniel, Joshua Hixson, Jordan Boyd

Avengers 43 by Jason Aaron, Javier Garron, David Curiel

Check out this episode!

#comics #podcast #podernfamily #rabbittstew

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stampington · 6 years ago

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Mixed Media Unmixed with Guest Artist Heather Kindt

Join us in welcoming guest artist, Heather Kindt, to Somerset Place! Heather is a talented mixed-media artist who has been featured in several of our magazines including Art Journaling and Stampers’ Sampler. We’re excited to have her here on the blog today to give us insight into the best kinds of texture media to use for various projects!

I have a lot of media (media is the plural form of medium when it comes to art talk). Let’s make sense of the products we use when it comes to acrylic paint and texture media.

The Products

1. Paint, acrylic from craft to fine art grades

Acrylic paint = pigment + acrylic polymers + moisture + filler

(Acrylic paint = color + plastic + water + chalk/talc etc)

*specifics depend on the brand, the higher the price is usually the greater concentration of pigment

2. Gel medium

Acrylic polymers + water = gel

3. Texture medium

Gel medium + mixative = texture medium

Acrylic Paint

Paint comes in different viscosities or forms. Check out the forms of acrylic paint.

Heavy body paint is usually in a tube, metal or plastic. Quality varies by brand.

A telling characteristic of heavy body paint is the peaks that can be formed with a pallet knife.

Heavy body paint works well with stencils. It leaves a crisp image with clean lines.

A softer paint, but also considered heavy body, is open acrylic.

With a longer drying time the paint formula has more water and does not have the ability to dry with sharp peaks.

It works well with stencils but is not as sharp.

The next type form of acrylic is called fluid.

It is a liquid thicker than water.

It is thick enough to use with a stencil, but can easily seep underneath the edges. Using a small amount of paint with a sponge prevents seepage.

The final form of acrylic is very runny and has many names: paint ink, high-flow, airbrush paint.

Any color that is pastel must be shaken because the pigments with settle at the bottom in a fluid so runny.

(The bubbles are from all the shaking.)

High flow does not work well straight on a stencil. For sure use a stencil brush or sponge.

Compare the high-viscosity to an ink that is compatible with dip pens but has many uses. Inks vary in permanence, some are water soluble.

This is a permanent ink called an India ink. The color is very dense.

Both look great when spread by a pallet knife.

Acrylic Gel Media

Next are the gel mediums; gels vary in thickness and shine. For example Golden sells all these options.

Extra heavy gel medium

Heavy gel medium

Regular gel medium

Soft gel medium

And each is available in three sheens:

Gloss, Semi-gloss (Satin), Matte

While they all dry clear, a little bit of white is added to the gel to knock back the shine from gloss to make semi-gloss. More white is added for matte.

My Soft Gel Matte is old enough to have dried into a stiffer gel, such as heavy gel medium. These dry really fast.

If you forget which heaviness does what, Golden explains it on the label.

Works well with stencils. Also my favorite for image transfers is Regular Gel Semi-gloss. Similar to this one.

Another brand that is like Golden’s actual Soft Gel is Prima’s 3-D Matte Gel by Finnabair.

It reminds me of the open acrylic paint since the peaks are soft.

Works well with stencils.

Texture Media

Gel medium + tiny clear balls, similar to sprinkles = Bead Gel (sometimes called glass bead gel).

If you take gel medium and add pearl or mica powder you will get an iridescent medium. They vary by brand.

This brand has a pretty thick gel that works with stencils and makes really cool image transfers.

There is a unique medium called Light Modeling Paste or Light Molding Paste or Ranger’s Texture Paste Opaque Matte. It is light and fluffy like marshmallow cream. I think that it is whipped, it has a surface that is porous. Much different from a gel, that has a consistency like paint, light pasted absorb liquid readily.

Thick moldings pastes hold a peak better than heavy body paint.

Perfect for stencils, go over them 2 or 3 times so you don’t waste paste.

Give extra drying time to thick applications.

Below is Ranger’s paste.

Regular Modeling Paste or Flexible Modeling Paste is much heavier than the light version. Trust me, it will make your journal heavy. It does make impressive texture.

Also brilliant with stencils.

I believe in dirty stencils, but you need to clean them after using pastes or they will mess up the clear lines.

Other texture pastes have a gel base with a particular mixture. Cement Paste and others mix sand with the gel the texture is very gritty. Mine dried out in the container (after a few years of neglect), but it is still flexible and you can see the gritty texture.

Another example is a black texture that can be made in different ways. This one is iron and a very heavy paste.

Now the formula is simple to understand. When you meet a new stencil consider what thickness of gel was used and what was the mixative. What it mica? Glitter? Metallic paint? Or you can make your own with gel and whatever you want! Yea us!

To keep up with Heather, you can visit her website and Facebook!

Website: https://heatherkindtart.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heather.kindt

The post Mixed Media Unmixed with Guest Artist Heather Kindt appeared first on Somerset Place: The Official Blog of Stampington & Company.

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 27 August 2018

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #4 focuses largely on flashbacks to the case the agents were working before whatever’s currently happening happened and...I’m not really sure of anything that’s going on. I think that’s kind of the point, unsure as to how everything is supposed to connect and what any of it all adds up to. Great art from Goran Sudžuka and Ive Svorcina, though.

| Published by AfterShock

Beyonders #1 is off to a great start. Between this and The Lost City Explorers, it seems like AfterShock right now has pseudoarchaeology stitched up and it’s wonderful. Paul Jenkins, Wesley St. Claire, and Marshall Dillon kick this one off with a wee bit more crunch, though there’s a very interesting upheaval this issue that will make you wonder what’s going on.

| Published by AfterShock

Blackwood #4 brings this series to an end and it is dark. Very dark. Evan Dorkin, Veronica & Andy Fish have crafted a wonderful horror story here, with some interesting twists, and one hell of an ending.

| Published by Dark Horse

Bone Parish #2 takes a deep dive in to some of the foundational moments of the Winters clan, even as they begin to deal with the fallout of one of their dealers dying from an overdose. This is great stuff. The art from Jonas Scharf and Alex Guimarães is incredible. Great detail and atmosphere, perfectly bringing to life the premise and characters from Cullen Bunn.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Brothers Dracul #5 circles back around to the beginning of the story, as we reach the end of this interesting retelling and interpretation of the intersection of both the historical and legendary story of Vlad the Impaler, from Cullen Bunn, Mirko Colak, Maria Santaolalla, and Simon Bowland. There’s an interesting twist here that certainly paints Vlad’s action in a different light, and I hope we see it followed up upon in a second series.

| Published by AfterShock

Cyber Force #5 is a nice change of pace as Bryan Hill, Matt Hawkins, Atilio Rojo, and Troy Peteri introduce us to another old familiar face. This incarnation of the team definitely is taking its time to be brought together, but when the storytelling is as entertaining and the artwork is as gorgeous as this, it doesn’t really matter. To note, though, this is not the kind of decompression that feels empty or padded, it’s just fleshing out characters and their lives more than what we’ve seen before.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Daredevil Annual #1 presents a standalone story of Misty Knight’s days as a detective and her first meeting with Daredevil. It’s good. It feels a bit more like a pilot for a Misty Knight series than necessarily a Daredevil tale, but, as I said, it’s good. The art from Marcio Takara and Marcelo Maiolo is nice. I really like Takara’s style which gives me hints of Phil Hester, Jim Mahfood, and Tomm Coker.

| Published by Marvel

Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate #5 is another fun one, with a focus this issue on Boo. I’ve really enjoyed this series, with Jim Zub giving the party a bit of a breather between larger adventures and giving a great look at them as individual characters. Great art, too, including this issue from Francesco Mortarino and Jordi Escuin.

| Published by IDW

Edge of Spider-Geddon #2 gives us a view into another alternate Spiderverse, circling back around to SP//dr, and giving us a new twist on the power and responsibility rubric and VEN#m. It’s nice to see Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson play with more technological horror, with some incredible artwork from Alberto Alburquerque and Tríona Farrell.

| Published by Marvel

Euthanauts #2 is a thing of beauty. Nick Robles and Eva De La Cruz are seriously delivering some of the best art in comics right now with this series. The page layouts, character designs, use of colour, and incorporation of lettering choices from Aditya Bidikar, just elevate the storytelling immensely. Not even to mention how Tini Howard is making the weird science seamless in the dialogue. This is great.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Exiles #7 concludes the Old West-ish arc with cowboy T’Challa. Drop dead gorgeous artwork from guest artist Rod Reis. His depiction of the ultimate villain here shows some nice influence from Bill Sienkiewicz.

| Published by Marvel

Extermination #2 brings the fight to the school, even as the team (and the reader, although it’s not a bad thing) is still confused as to what is really going on. I love this, the tension that Ed Brisson, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia are building is palpable, and the hints of kid!Cable’s actions are chilling. Also, the art is just phenomenal.

| Published by Marvel

Harbinger Wars 2 #4 is kind of the end to this, but the ramifications and fallout are all supposed to appear in the Aftermath issue. That being said, Matt Kindt, Tomás Giorello, Renato Guedes, Diego Rodriguez, and Dave Sharpe go all out for the spectacle in this final confrontation between Livewire and X-O Manowar. It is still kind of insane how Capshaw could possibly consider what GATE and OMEN have done as being “good”, especially in light of Palmer going absolutely batshit insane, but it does lead to interesting set-up for future conflicts.

| Published by Valiant

Hillbilly: Red-Eyed Witchery From Beyond #1 begins the next adventure of the black-eyed tramp. I get a bit of a Beowulf vibe from Eric Powell’s set-up and I’m interested to see where it goes. This series sees Powell passing on the artistic duties to Simone Di Meo, Brennan Wagner, and Warren Montgomery and it’s an interesting visual shift from the washes of Powell’s own work in the original series. I quite like Di Meo’s style, which reminds me a bit of James Harren and Troy Nixey.

| Published by Albatross Funnybooks

House Amok #1 is something I’m not sure I can describe. It’s kind of a family drama, but if that family were all collectively sharing a hallucinatory experience or delusion. It’s a very interesting concept that’s only partially revealed by Christopher Sebela, Shawn McManus, Lee Loughridge, and Aditya Baker, but it leads to a very compelling start here. Gorgeous artwork from McManus and Loughridge.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Hunt for Wolverine: Dead Ends #1, like all four of the Hunt for Wolverine mini-series, is kind of a bit of treading water. I cannot say it or any of the previous series are bad, taken on their own separated from this “event”, they’re usually quite good, but as a whole it’s kind of disappointing. It’s a search for Wolverine that kind of comes up empty, acting as a prequel to the return of Wolverine, despite already having returned in Marvel Legacy and hopped across numerous different titles, before apparently being used for evil, as per throwaway bits in the fourth issues of those previously mentioned minis that didn’t necessarily connect with the plots of those minis. It feels a bit scattered and unnecessary, unfortunately, especially when it comes to comparing notes, coming up with the organization we already knew was behind it, and a bit of hand-waving mystery and grandstanding that still tells us a whole lot of nothing. It’s sound and fury. All of which is a bit of a shame because I otherwise generally enjoy the work of Charles Soule and Ramon Rosanas.

| Published by Marvel

Isola #5... Just look at the artwork. Karl Kerschl and Msassyk just keep delivering page after page after page of beauty.

| Published by Image

Jessica Jones #2 reaffirms that this is one of the best things that Marvel is currently publishing, with the next two chapters in this story. Kelly Thompson’s dialogue, narration, and banter throughout this issue is spot on, propulsive, and funny as hell when it needs to be, but what elevates it is that this isn’t your typical talking heads approach. The characters are doing stuff, like hunting sea monsters, instead of sitting at a desk or whatever. It’s a refreshing change that overall just makes this all the better. Not to mention Mattia De Iulis’ stunning artwork. It’s slick and polished with a line style that somewhat reminds me of Paul Gulacy and a bit of Rick Mays, and an approach to shadow and colour similar to Frazer Irving. This is a great series that really shouldn’t be missed.

| Published by Marvel

Judge Dredd: Under Siege #4 wraps up this entertaining series from Mark Russell, Max Dunbar, Jose Luis Rio, and Shawn Lee. I really like Dunbar’s take on Dredd and the Russell’s idea of people creating their own law in the absence of law is an interesting philosophical counterpoint to the idea of man naturally sliding towards a state of chaos. Even the mutants striving for society is an interesting challenge to the typical idea of things falling apart.

| Published by IDW

New Mutants: Dead Souls #6 concludes the series with Illyana putting the pieces together for what actually has been going on, it isn’t a pretty picture. This has been a great series from Matthew Rosenberg, Adam Gorham, Michael Garland, and Clayton Cowles and the revelations this issue are heavy. The implications for the X-universe is huge and I want more.

| Published by Marvel

The New World #2 essentially reveals itself as a romance comic, amidst the ultraviolence and social engineering. Didn’t really see that coming, but it’s an interesting move. Trippy art from Tradd Moore, Heather Moore, and Ludwig Olimba.

| Published by Image

Paradise Court #2 continues to be an entertaining horror comic from Joe Brusha, Babisu Kourtis, Leonardo Paciarotti, and Taylor Esposito. This gives us the part of the story where our protagonist is experiencing the horror and everyone else is telling her she’s just imagining it, but it’s still well told and well illustrated.

| Published by Zenescope

Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1 is about as perfect a crossover of two properties as you can get. Morty trying to get into D&D because he thinks it will get him laid is the perfect in to the world of the game and the cartoon, perfectly blending the two for fans of both without alienating or diminishing either. Jim Zub, Patrick Rothfuss, Troy Little, Leonardo Ito, and Robbie Robbins are faithful to both and in doing so deliver a wonderful beginning to this story, that also educates along the way.

| Published by IDW & Oni Press

Runaways #12 is easily one of the best issues in what has already been an exemplary series. Rainbow Rowell, Kris Anka, Matthew Wilson, and Joe Carmagna focus here on forgiveness, acceptance, and second chances, with some truly beautiful character work between Gert & Victor and Nico & Karolina. If you don’t have a giant grin on your face by the end of the issue, I question your humanity.

| Published by Marvel

Submerged #2 is still weird, very weird, but there’s some really good bits in here demonstrating some of the emotional manipulation that family members sometimes employ. Beautiful, ethereal artwork from Lisa Sterle and Stelladia.

| Published by Vault

Venom: First Host #1 is somewhat strange to see in light of where Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman have taken the character, but this limited series from Mike Costa, Mark Bagley, Andrew Hennessy, Dono Sánchez-Almara, and Clayton Cowles serves as both an interesting addendum to the symbiote’s history and as a continuation (and likely capstone) to the previous creative team’s run. It’s pretty decent.

| Published by Marvel

Web of Venom: Ve’Nam #1 is a one shot fleshing out the backstory of Rex Strickland and the SHIELD experiment that bonded the early symbiotes to soldiers set loose during the Vietnam War. It’s an entertaining tale with some nice guest stars and sweet art by Donny Cates, Juanan Ramírez, Felipe Sobreiro, and Clayton Cowles. I particularly like the scratchy, faded look in the art to make it look a bit “old”.

| Published by Marvel

X-23 #3 is great. Mariko Tamaki has nailed the characters and the art from Juann Cabal and Nolan Woodard is incredible. The page designs alone elevate the storytelling immensely.

| Published by Marvel

The X-Files: Case Files - Hoot Goes There? #2 concludes the second of this new approach of a series of mini-series and it’s...weird? Funny, but weird. Definitely taking a page out of some of the more outlandish episodes of the series, where you question whether or not what you saw happened actually happened. Still, it’s entertaining, which is all that really matters. Fun from Joe and Keith Lansdale, Silvia Califano, Valentina Pinto, and Shawn Lee.

| Published by IDW

X-Men Blue #34 looks like it largely serves as a capstone to Cullen Bunn’s work with Magneto over the past four years or so, as he winds down his run here and continues to tidy the characters up a bit before he’s done and hands the reins off to the next band of storytellers. It feels like there’s a lot more here that he would have like to have told, but what we get here is still excellent. The hints at the next stage for Magneto and mutantkind are intriguing. Great art from Marcus To and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

X-O Manowar #18 gives an interesting transition from this flashback of Aric’s pre-Shanhara life to his return to Earth, focusing on how ideas, people, and culture keeps changing. Matt Kindt delivers a pretty chilling reaction to it. All with some nice artwork from Trevor Hairsine, Brian Thies, and Diego Rodriguez.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: Deadpool: Assassin #6, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #255, KINO #9, Marvel Two-in-One #9, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Shattered Grid #1, Modern Fantasy #3, Moon Knight #198, Ms. Marvel #33, Red Sonja #20, Rick & Morty #41, StarCraft: Scavengers #2, Star Wars: Lando - Double or Nothing #4, Star Wars: Poe Dameron Annual #2, Star Wars Adventures #13, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #5, Wayward #28, X-Men: Grand Design - Second Genesis #2

Recommended Collections: 2021 - Volume 1, 30 Days of Night, Big Trouble in Little China: Old Man Jack - Volume 1, Black Cloud - Volume 2: No Return, DuckTales Classics - Volume 1, Eugenic, Factory, Femme Magnifique, I Hate Fairyland - Volume 4, James Bond: Hammerhead, Judas, Killer Instinct, Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses - Volume 2

d. emerson eddy is not the very model of a modern major general. Nor a scientist salarian for that matter.

#This Week in Comics

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lexacourtney · 5 years ago

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Book Review: The Weaver (The Weaver Trilogy #1)

Book Review: The Weaver by #HeatherKindt - bringing characters to life? Sign me up! #newpost #blogpost #bookpost #bookblog #books #blog #blogger #bloggerswanted #bloggerstribe #bloggingcommunity #bookish #bookreview

Title: The Weaver (The Weaver Trilogy #1)

Author: Heather Kindt

Pub. Date: August 7, 2019

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Most writers choose the endings to their stories . . . most writers are not Weavers. Laney Holden is a freshman at Madison College whose life goes from normal to paranormal in a matter of seconds. When the antagonist in the book she’s writing shoves her down the stairs at the subway station,…

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#Book Blog #book review #book reviews #Bookish #books #Early Review #New Post #Reading #TBR

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christybis · 7 years ago

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(via Smorgasbord Blogger Daily - Friday 18th August, 2017 -Tony Riches/Wendy Janes, D.G. Kaye/ Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, Dan Alatorre/ Heather Kindt, Christy Birmingham)

#author #blogging #bedrest

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rijanjks-blog · 4 years ago

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JAN'S 2020 TOP TEN LIST

JAN’S 2020 TOP TEN LIST

Every year, I face the difficult task of choosing only ten books from the many I’ve read to go on this list. I think this year was the hardest so far, as I read so many great books. But, here we go. I’ve included purchase links in case one grabs your attention. PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE LINK PURCHASE…

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authorlenafrank · 6 years ago

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Interview with Heather Kindt Today I'm over on Heather Kindt's website for an interview! We talked about my latest book release, …

#author #books #fantasy #interview #writing

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smorgasbordinvitation · 4 years ago

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Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore – Christmas Book Fair - New Books - #FranceWWII Paulette Mahurin, #Fantasy Heather Kindt, #Reviews - #Pre-Historic Jacqui Murray, #Thriller Daniel Kemp, #Paranormal Cecilia Kennedy

Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore – Christmas Book Fair – New Books – #FranceWWII Paulette Mahurin, #Fantasy Heather Kindt, #Reviews – #Pre-Historic Jacqui Murray, #Thriller Daniel Kemp, #Paranormal Cecilia Kennedy

Welcome to the Christmas Book Fair where I will be featuring all the authors currently on the shelves of the Cafe and Bookstore. First today two new book releases The first author today is celebrating the release of her latest book which I am delighted to share. Where Irises Never Grow by Paulette Mahurin About the book With courage, depth, and passionate insight, bestselling author Paulette…

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#Fantasy Heather Kindt #Paranormal Cecilia Kennedy #Reviews - Pre-Historic Jacqui Murray #Thriller Daniel Kemp #New Books - FranceWWII Paulette Mahurin

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sallygcronin · 4 years ago

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#Fantasy Heather Kindt #Paranormal Cecilia Kennedy #Reviews - Pre-Historic Jacqui Murray #Thriller Daniel Kemp #New Books - FranceWWII Paulette Mahurin

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jdelarroz · 5 years ago

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The Fall Of Valiant Comics

Valiant Comics’ resurgence was quite an amazing success story.

Former CEO Dinesh Shamdasani really lined up some of the best talent available to recreate the characters from the short-lived 1992 Jim Shooter experiment of Valiant, a company that also had a very promising beginning, and was bought by Acclaim for video game production, soon tanking their comic book department.

We’re witnessing history repeating itself as a couple of years ago a Chinese investment firm bought Valiant. They phased out Dinesh and the top editor, Warren Simmons, the men responsible for bringing in greats like Jeff Lemire, Lewis LaRosa, Matt Kindt, and Tomas Giorello, and brought in an entirely new team of editors, including the notoriously controversial Heather Antos.

Storylines wrapped up with the last of the original era, and fans saw a pretty drastic change with the way the books were handled. Most of the relaunches of 2017 to bring the characters attention were brought to an end. Short mini-series and reboots with no particular direction began to appear.

The storylines and epic shared universe they created stalled out.

Valiant’s art quality saw a drop on the books, and industry rumors swirled that the company wasn’t even paying its talent or at least delaying payments (my source is a creator who worked for the company who will remain anonymous to protect this person, as I always do as a journalist). Moreover, Valiant pushed into political propaganda with its new books and the writers they hired, including notorious left-wing extremists Tini Howard and Mags Vissagio.

As a member of Valiant fan facebook groups and forums, I saw a drastic change in the way the fans reacted. Reviews of the books as of late have all been in the negative overall, and the amount of people commenting on the posts has dropped drastically. It led me to investigate their sales.

In January 2018, while Valiant still had its top tier talent working, their lineup for sales in units was like this:

2018:

Quantum and Woody #2 – 9,738

X-O Manowar #11 – 9,670

Ninja-K #3 – 9,369

Ninja-K vs. Valiant Universe (not in continuity) #1 – 8,927

Bloodshot Salvation #5 – 8,676

Eternity #4 – 8,487

Secret Weapons #0 – 6,554

Average Book Sales: 8,774

2020:

Bloodshot #5 – 6,007

Rai #3 – 5,080

Visitor #2 – 4,445

Roku #4 – 4,057

Psi-Lords #8 – 3,477

Average Book Sales: 4,613.

The drop in average sales across the line is at 48%.

We’re in a time as well where comparing overall industry sales, 2019 showed a big increase in sales which is propelling into 2020, where 2018 was at an industry low, so it’s not indicative of comic markets across the boards.

There can be no mistake – fans are not happy with the way that the current valiant universe is going. The company’s made drastic mistakes in both the properties they decided to push with Psi-Lords, a strange “social justice” experiment in cosmic superheroes.

But it’s not just that. Even Bloodshot’s numbers are down from the prior series by over 30%. And the troubling aspect of this is they are launching a Bloodshot movie starring Vin Diesel in two weeks. Sales should be tremendously up.

The relaunch of the #1 issue with all their variant covers and all sold a whopping 41,368 units – but they could only retain around 6000 readers from it? It’s a sign something’s wrong. It also shocks me since Bloodshot probably boasts their highest-regarded writer of this new crop with Tim Seeley of Hack/Slash and Nightwing fame. His draw alone should be pushing the book higher.

It stems from editorial, however. You look at their editorial across the board and it’s people who are promoting political ideology over great content that the fans want, which is what happens when the core business gets replaced with a company that cares more about holding onto movie IPs than they do producing an excellent comic line. The higher-ups don’t understand comics, and aren’t interested, so they bring in names like Antos to direct without really checking on what made the books great in the first place.

All of the old creators at Valiant seem to be out right now, which is a shame, since they’re what made Valiant great in this 2012 iteration. It’d be easy to refocus the organization and see what the fans want out of superheroes, but unless they have a major shake up, we’re not going to get the potential that this comic universe had to offer.

If you like classic comic storytelling with real heroism and a focus on fun, a book which doesn’t worry about being politically correct, read Dynamite Thor. This is the superhero of 2020 which is going to get people cheering, laughing, and enjoying comics again. Back on Kickstarter here, and support real indie alternatives.

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reader-fox · 5 years ago

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This month’s quote was chosen one hundred percent because October is not my favorite month of the year. For me, it’s when things start getting really cold. It’s Halloween, which isn’t my favorite holiday by any means. It’s also when The Nightmare Before Christmas–a movie I happen to hate–crops up. Granted, there are good things about October. Hocus Pocus, for example, is amazing. But as far as I go, October is kind of a different world from mine. And it only took me 10 days into November to get this posted!

October kind of sucked for me, both in reading and reviewing. I only managed 11 reviews and read only 20 books. It’s a pretty small number for me considering how much I’ve managed to do in the past. I’m not really sure what it is about October that left me so busy and unable to keep up, but hopefully, it won’t carry over into November. As I speak, though, my slump hasn’t quite passed yer.

If you’ve been here for a while, it should come as no surprise that October’s best read was The Navigator by Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown. I’ve been raving about The Wendy for over a year now and naturally, I loved its sequel. If you’ve not picked up either book thus far, I would highly suggest that you do!

I Love You Like No Otter [Sydney Hanson]

Bezkamp [Samuel Sattin]

An ABC of Equality [Chana Ginelle Ewing]

Half-Blood [Hubert Boulard]

What I Like About You [Marisa Kanter]

House of Salt and Sorrows [Erin A. Craig]

The Princess of Clèves [Madame De La Fayette / Catel and Claire Bouilhac]

The Weaver [Heather Kindt]

Wicked Saints [Emily A. Duncan]

Nothing Special (S1) [Katie Cook]

Nothing Special (S2) [Katie Cook]

October is a Foreign Country; They do Things Differently There. #bookblogs #bookbloggers October Wrap-Up This month's quote was chosen one hundred percent because October is not my favorite month of the year.

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 13 August 2018

Quick Bits:

Astonishing X-Men Annual #1 is a rather dark tale of reuniting the remaining members of the original five X-Men and the current creature claiming to be Charles Xavier running around as X. Given his attitude in Charles Soule’s run and now in this story penned by Matthew Rosenberg, there still seems to be something very wrong with the once altruistic, peaceful founder of the team. I personally don’t really like this character, but it still leads to a good story from Rosenberg, Travel Foreman, and Jim Charalampidis.

| Published by Marvel

By Night #3 is another fun issue with a bit of a twist as we follow Heather’s father and Jane’s co-worker instead of the women. The voice John Allison gives to Heather’s father, Chip, is hilarious, the perfect mix of no-nonsense “dad” thought and aimless absurdity.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / Boom! Box

Cable & Deadpool Annual #1 is a very entertaining issue of time-travel nonsense and Deadpool being tricked into a recreation of the plot of Terminator from an obsessive stalker. David F. Walker packs this story with humour, creepy lesson teaching, and a bit of a monologue on the nature of comics storytelling. All nicely illustrated by a rogues gallery of Paco Diaz, Danilo S. Beyruth, Nick Bradshaw, Luke Ross, Marco Rudy, Edgar Salazar, Flaviano, Francesco Manna, Leonard Kirk, Chris Sotomayor, and Jason Keith.

| Published by Marvel

Coda #4 packs the issue with more stunning artwork, from character designs to page layouts and panel transitions, by Matías Bergara (with colour assists from Michael Doig). This series is just a visual treat. It also helps that the story from Bergara and Si Spurrier is equally incredible, taking many of the traditional forms and modes of fantasy literature and turning them into something new. The opening poem outlining the fall of the world and the rise of Sir Hum’s wife is particularly inspired.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Coyotes #5 is a welcome return for this series after the trade break, beginning a new story-arc that goes more in depth to the history between the wolves and the grandmothers, as the book’s purpose pivots to the offence. I love the ingenuity of the mythology of this story being built by Sean Lewis and Caitlin Yarsky. Also, like the first four issues, Yarsky’s art is just stunning.

| Published by Image

Crowded #1 is great. The concept of tapping into our current app-driven and crowdfunded world is brilliant, especially as extended to an assassination app in reapr. Christopher Sebela, Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Triona Farrell, and Cardinal Rae seem to have captured magic in a bottle here and the execution is just phenomenal. The characters of Charlie and Vita are instantly relatable, the premise is on fire, and the art is exceptional. I really want to see what Charlie isn’t telling us.

| Published by Image

Ether: Copper Golems #4 is another stunning visual feast from David Rubín. Seriously, he has outdone himself this issue, as he handles the usual fantasy sequences, then changes art styles several times as we get our characters living out some of their fantasies. His work is just stunning. The story that he and Matt Kindt are telling just keeps getting better and better.

| Published by Dark Horse

Extermination #1 begins the next big X-Men event with a bang as past, present, future, and alternate universes collide in this explosive issue. I feel like discussing just about any piece of it is a spoiler, so I’ll just suggest that if you’re at all interested in the original five brought to our time, you need to read this. Ed Brisson, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia present an impressive opening salvo.

| Published by Marvel

Flavor #4 is a bit of a piece-shuffling issue, as Xoo spends a bit of time in jail and we get a couple more hints as to the something that is being done with children. Although we still don’t know what, and a bit of a revelation of Anant’s mother. Joseph Keatinge, Wook Jin Clark, and Tamra Bonvillain continue to work wonders on this series. Highly recommended for all ages.

| Published by Image

Gideon Falls #6 ups the level of weird in this concluding chapter of the first arc. To say that the implications of that final page are confusing, compelling, and chilling is an understatement, as Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, and Dave Stewart construct one of the oddest instalments of this series yet. A lot of this series has been in building tone and atmosphere, spooky unexplained happenings, and here the story goes full David Lynch. It’s wonderful.

| Published by Image

The Gravediggers Union #9 is the conclusion to what has been an exciting and different take on the occult and elder gods mythology from Wes Craig, Toby Cypress, and Niko Guardia. Fittingly, this end comes down to the family conflict that this arc has revolved around, and it’s a well played out finale. I highly recommend this series.

| Published by Image

Hunt for Wolverine: The Claws of a Killer #4 is probably the least satisfying “conclusion” of these minis so far, giving us a kind of hand-wavy explanation for what they were tracking, no insight into the organization who brought about these zombies while resurrecting family members, and Daken shuffled off to who knows where. Mariko Tamaki successfully captures the tone and atmosphere of many of the original Wolverine series stories laced with action and black ops, but unfortunately also carries on its tradition of obfuscation instead of an enticing mystery. Nice art from Butch Guice, Mack Chater, Cam Smith, and Jordan Boyd, though.

| Published by Marvel

Ice Cream Man #6 is highly inventive, even for a series as highly imaginative already that this one is. Instead of one story, here, W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran give us three different flavours to fulfill the “Strange Neapolitan”. It’s a mostly silent issue of three different paths our protagonist can possibly take with each of them presenting their own flavour of horror. This is a really great issue.

| Published by Image

Infinity Wars #2 is pretty damn epic. I know that the pieces will be reshuffled and everything will be put back together more or less as we found it, but hot damn are Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato Jr., and Frank Martin working overtime to tell a heavy story here. The art is some of the best I’ve ever seen from Deodato and Martin and the stakes have just ratcheted through the roof. I’m loving every moment of this book so far.

| Published by Marvel

The Lost City Explorers #3 is still doling out the tension as the kids continue to try to evade Sagan security on their way to try to find Hel and Homer Coates’ father’s discovery site under New York City. We’re still only get bits and pieces before a revelation of whatever the discovery actually is, but Zack Kaplan, Alvaro Sarraseca, and Dee Cunniffe are still presenting a compelling story.

| Published by AfterShock

Luke Cage #1 is another digital original like Cloak & Dagger and Jessica Jones, and also like the latter series offers two chapters at once, and is really rather good, from Anthony Del Col, Jahnoy Lindsay, and Ian Herring. This sets up an interesting mystery of a strange kind of serial killer, the possibility of Luke suffering from CTE, and the wonderful family dynamic between Luke and his daughter.

| Published by Marvel

The Magic Order #3 continues as a slow burn as Madame Albany and her coterie keep working their way through murdering her family members, all while those family members attempt to track down information on who her assassin is and how to stop him. Mark Millar, Olivier Coipel, and Dave Stewart are crafting a wonderful story here that reminds me a bit of Wanted, but good and about magic.

| Published by Image

Multiple Man #3 takes a particularly dark turn as Matthew Rosenberg, Andy MacDonald, and Tamra Bonvillain toss us into the dark future where an evil Madrox reigns. Of the dark futures where the X-Men stories have taken place, this is probably one of the most twisted, even as Rosenberg peppers it with some nice humour. The throw rug in particular is hilarious.

| Published by Marvel

Ninja-K #10 is a single issue story focusing on Ninja-H and the horrors that soldiers can have to deal with and how they sometimes cope with it. It has some great art from Larry Stroman, Ryan Winn, and Andrew Dalhouse.

| Published by Valiant

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #308 is probably the best issue of this series since Chip Zdarsky and Michael Walsh’s single issue story of Peter and Jonah hashing it out in issue 6. Zdarsky shows us here that he really excels at getting into the head’s of some of the characters, giving us a good look from their perspective, and humanizing them. He does that here with Flint Marko, the Sandman, and it feels like an interesting transition to something else. It also helps that it’s wonderfully illustrated by Chris Bachalo and his usual team of inkers of Tim Townsend, Al Vey, Wayne Faucher, and John Livesay. This is a great start and I’m excited to see what comes next for this story.

| Published by Marvel

Rumble #6 begins this volume’s second arc and is the other series with glorious David Rubín artwork this week (this one with colours from Dave Stewart). I love this book, with its fun mix of humour and arcane magic and fantasy, and how John Arcudi, originally James Harren, now Rubín have built the characters, the overall story, and the absolutely beautiful artwork.

| Published by Image

Stellar #3 takes an interesting look at the existential price of war and at the notion of “you can never go home again” in this somewhat depressing, but no less entertaining, issue.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Thor #4 is the glorious conclusion to this opening arc sending Thor to Niffleheim to fight Sindr in this leg of the War of the Realms. The artwork from Mike del Mundo is incredible.

| Published by Marvel

Tony Stark: Iron Man #3 builds another largely single issue story into the larger arc, with a beta test of Tony’s new eScape platform. I like how Dan Slott and Valerio Schiti have been approaching this series and building up Stark’s supporting cast, while also progressing the recurring subplot of Bethany Cabe’s subterfuge and X-51′s newfound robot rights activism.

| Published by Marvel

Volition #1 is another interesting debut from AfterShock, this time focusing on a world featuring artificial intelligence that hasn’t sparked an apocalypse, instead adapting and continuing on as just another class within society, fighting to survive and combat prejudice like their human counterparts, as created by Ryan Parrott and Omar Francia. The art is gorgeous and a real driving factor for the story, Francia’s style reminds me a bit of JG Jones and it’s incredible.

| Published by AfterShock

Weapon H #6 continues to be that weird, offbeat comic from Marvel that used to be published in the ‘80s or ‘90s that nobody read, but was actually rather good. Greg Pak has been doing a great job of building up this rather eclectic cast of characters and the art has been wonderful. Here Ario Anindito takes on the art chores with Morry Hollowell and it’s quite nice. His style reminds me a bit of Brian Hurtt mixed with Leinil Yu and it really fits the gritty action of the story.

| Published by Marvel

Weapon X #22 is more irreverent fun with the “new” Weapon X-Force team as they follow the money instead of altruistic reasons for saving people (though their second mission out already sees a reversion to the old remit). It’s a not-so-serious take on what is almost a team entirely composed of villains with a good sense of humour and action from Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Yildiray Cinar, and Frank D’Armata. It’s also another good place for some obscure X-mythology insertions and follow-ups in the story.

| Published by Marvel

The Weatherman #3 continues to keep readers a little off balance with some of the elements in the story, echoing what’s going on with out protagonist, Nathan Bright. Jody LeHeup, Nathan Fox, and Dave Stewart are crafting something here that feels a lot like some of the zanier action strips from 2000 AD and it’s pretty glorious.

| Published by Image

Other Highlights: Analog #5, Babyteeth #12, Cinema Purgatorio #15, Crude #5, Deadpool: Assassin #5, Doctor Strange #4, Edge of Spider-Geddon #1, Evolution #9, Infinity 8 #5, Jeepers Creepers #4, Jim Henson’s Beneath the Dark Crystal #2, Jughead: The Hunger #7, Mage: The Hero Denied #11, Manifest Destiny #36, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #30, Mysticons - Volume 1, Proxima Centauri #3, RuinWorld #2, Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #4, Spider: School’s Out #6, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Terra Incognita #2, Star Wars: Beckett #1, Star Wars: Poe Dameron #30, Summit #8, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #3, TMNT: Urban Legends #4, Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #5, The Wicked + The Divine #38, Witchfinder: The Gates of Heaven #4

Recommended Collections: Bettie Page - Volume 2: Model Agent, East of West - Volume 8, Hellboy: The Complete Short Stories - Volume 2, Kill or Be Killed - Volume 4, Old Man Hawkeye - Volume 1: An Eye for an Eye, , Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man - Volume 3: Amazing Fantasy, Rose - Volume 2, Transformers: Lost Light - Volume 3

d. emerson eddy has now been doing this incarnation of weekly round-ups for a year. Has it really been that long?

#This Week in Comics

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