The second set of comics I want to talk about in the Horror Renaissance are from the camp of artists and writers that are not necessarily the ones that are trying to keep you up at night, afraid for you life or as my daughter so wonderfully put it “not really a before bed book” (parental note: I did not have her read any of these books… her quote was in reference to The Spiderwick Chronicles), but they are trying to entertain first, and then shock and possibly frighten second. These are stories and plots that are set in the horror genre… not necessarily horror concepts fleshed out into a storyline. Once again: Not for the kids!!!

Nocturnal Essence (Rogue Wolf - Scott / Divine / Fowler) - This was a great, fun read. As of the writing of this review I have only read Blood, Fate and Silver: books #1 and 2… but looking for more. Nocturnal Essence takes place in Chicago and has the feel of Underworld meets Vampire: the Masquerade meets the Sopranos. A drama in the supernatural underworld that draws in a slew of characters ranging from gritty and hard to sexy and over the top, and a plot that varies from melodramatic archetypes and plot hooks to giving a fresh feel to some standard mythology. If you reading this has hardcore horror, you might be disappointed… but if you wanted a good story revolving around underworld crime, vampires, werewolves and the gods of yore… you might want to check out Rogue wolf… here Story: A Art: B

Melby Comics (Melby - Hodson / Daughterty / Reese) - Okay, this comic is more cheese and less horror. Melby comics has put out what I assumed was meant as a humor spoof comic based around zombies and monsters. Let it be known if you are looking for any sort of real horror or story, this is not your book. But, if you take it as for what it was written, a horror spoof… well… you still might be disappointed because Shaun of the Dead it ain’t. The tongue in cheek humor has it’s moments, but not enough to support the sketchy notepad art and the montage of used gags. Check it out for yourself though… here. Story: C Art:D

Queen of Sin (Legion Studios - Guffey / Bottom / Kruse) The best intro to this very raw book comes from Legion studios themselves… “Meet Lilith…the first woman created - Through centuries of time, Lilith has been invoking her reign of unseen terror in the examples of all types, through Lucretia Borgia, Elizabeth Bathory, Marie de Brinvilliers, Mary Ann Colton, Lizzie Bordon, or Anne Bonney. Regardless, Evil femininity has existed for hundreds and hundreds of years and still exists today. Legend tells us that she is alive and lurks within the darkest thoughts of all women… I think its time we tell her story.” The book is set up into two stories… The first showing Lilith getting thrown out of the garden and the second being Lilith in her modern day setting, The Hellfire Club, naturally. While the art is not meant to be realistic, it’s not goofy or cartoony either. Roc Bottom (not making it up) does a good job of keeping the art fun and entertaining, he gives the reader massive eye candy while still letting us know he’s an hardcore artist. For the plot, definitely not for everyone… but if the condensed storyline blurb “vengeful hot demon woman plots against humanity” peaks your interest, you have to check out Legion Studios here. Please do remember, this is one of those Mature Reader only books… not for the kids. Plot: B Art: B+

Trailer Park of Terror (Imperium - Dracoules / various) - Trailer Park was written as a send up to the classic horror anthology book. Sort of a Tales from the Crypt type book, TPoT is hosted by Norma (Elvira meets NASCAR). This book is what Melby was trying to do and failed. TPoT is made up of several short entertaining stories (some of them only a few pages) that follow the dark and demonfolk who live in the park. Some of them focus on the gore, some focus on the wit… but I think there’s enough of both to keep everyone happy. If campy horror fun is your ticket, then Trailer Park of Terror should be in your sites… here . Plot: B+ Art: A

As I stated before in my Fangoria review, there has been a real upswing in horror / terror / dark storytelling in the comic scene. I am calling this the Renaissance of the Horror comic. While I was at WWC, I got a wide sampling of artist and storytellers in this upcoming renaissance. I have grouped the books into several groups… this first set contains books meant for the serious horror fan, the ones that believe that some of the scariest stories out there don’t have to have any blood / gore or any light hearted comic relief… Warning: not for the kids

Pogrom (Hypergraphia comics - Tomao / Medors / Ruffs / Templesmith) As of this review, I have only seen the WWC exclusive preview, but Pogrom looks like a book to watch. Pogrom is a dark future story, where a twisted theocracy has a terror grip on the world and a specter-like monster is society’s only hope. Throw in the living Avatars of the deadly sins, war priests and pretty decent art… and Pogrom is a book you should look into. Look for them here Story: A Art: A-

Awakeing (Archaia - Tapalansky / Eckman-Lawn / Mauer) Awakening is a story told from the point of view of an ex-police officer in a small town who is in the position of the reluctant hero. Derreck Peters is given information about the recent gruesome killings from an unlikely and unreliable source… and that it is not a killer, but rather a zombie attack. Great story premise and fantastic fleshing out… no pun intended. The art, while done well for the style it is, is not my cup of tea… splashy, sketchy does set the right mood for the story, but I still struggle when there are no definitive borders of objects. Awakening is the next 30 Days of Night. Look for this book here. Story: A Art: A (very stylized)

Insiginifcant Gods (Dead City Comics - Derian) - Evan Derian is the one man show (writer / artist / publisher) in this almost anti-Heroes story. I have only read issue #6, so I am not up to speed on how certain characters gained their powers, but the storyline revolves around the fact that getting powers might not bring out the best in us (via NBC’s Heroes) but rather take us to the darkest most selfish parts of our souls. This graphic story is actually rather involved and there was a lot of thought put into the rash , violent and often self-destructive actions of the characters. In the middle of this dark drama you have ritual killings, demon possessions and double crossing plots. The B&W art gets a tad crowded with the amount of dialogue the characters have. Overall I can see why this book could become a grassroots fan favorite. Check out Evan Derian’s work here. Story: B Art: B

 The Honor Brigade (Spinner Rack Comics - Still well / Bowers) - Two words sum up Spinner Rack’s The Honor Brigade… Indy Fun!  As I sat with issue one in my lap and this smiley face belt buckle staring up at me (the cover) I thought this might go one of two ways.  I was absolutely correct. The Honor Brigade is a prime example of the independent talent out there that is not being seen.  The first issue had me hooked and I just sat down and followed Toy Boy, Lightning Rod and Joe Irvin into the well-thought out and very intriguing Spinner Rack Universe.  Tom Stillwell’s storytelling starts off a tad stiff which made me start predicting some very cliche type conclusions, but within a few pages and definitely into the second issue, Tom’s plotline and dialogue had made stop guessing and start enjoying the ride.  Brad Bowers B&W art got better for me as I read.  Not that the first issue art is bad, but as I read I could watch his talent continue to grow.  I can’t wait to see issue #5.  The Honor Brigade is a great family book with enough action and plot to keep us full grown geeks tuned in.  Keep on rocking Spinner Rack… get a hold of them here.

Okay, I’m not quite sure how to phrase this, without hurting the feelings of a bunch of good folks out there… I guess I will start by putting out there that I take my faith pretty seriously, so as I make the following statement, understand it is not out of any vindictiveness or irrational grumbling against faith-based stories… but most Christian comics are “Meh” at best. I can say this after spending years at cons, looking for that faith-based comic that had both art and story. Most of the Christian or faith-based comics are simply tracts with a graphic to them. At a Christian youth gathering that might be a fantastic evangelism tool… at a comic convention at best it’s a tough sell, at worst it’s mock-able and embarrassing. A few years ago the now defunct Metron Press had a great book, Testament. Testament had fantastic writing, great art and at the time seemed like a full-blown marketing machine behind them. But Metron, to put it simply, went away. It would seem that The Guardian Line out of Chicago has picked up that torch and has raised the bar for what should be expected for the family friendly faith-based comic.

Michael Davis and the rest of the Guardian Line family has done a FANTASTIC job of making a line of comics that is plot driven, interesting, fun to look at, all around well done and Biblically based. I don’t know whether or not Mr. Davis would agree with me or not, but it very much seemed like an urban update to Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness. Guardian has released four intertwining series and a one-shot (Alpha) introducing the characters. The overall plot takes place in New Hope City (a variation of Chicago) where one Steven Dark is attempting to come into complete political power with demonic forces at his side. Steven is a great enemy that is one part Smallville Lex Luthor, one part Kurgan, one part smooth Wesley Snipes and one hundred percent demonic villain. One of the many things that I have appreciated about the Guardian Line books is that heroes, while they may be faulted and may make bad choices, are heroes… and villains, no matter how charming, are still villains. You aren’t going to get them confused. Other things that stand out about the Guardian Line is that they are multicultural, girls are represented and that most of the characters seem like they are people you might know… not just your stereotypical superhero archetypes. Guardian uses classic comic book hooks, but in wonderful new ways. Here is the four series at a bullet’s pace…

Code (Baron / Simpson / Frogrocket) - Code is one of God’s special agents on Earth. He has been struck with amnesia and given abilities that allow him to fight Dark on his own terms. This is Guardian’s high action series.

Joe & Max (Medley / St. Aubin / Frogrocket) - Steven Dark has foreseen that it is young Joseph Julian Davis who is going to grow up and be Dark’s downfall… so why not take him out when he’s a 10 year old? The Lord sends Max, a large Hispanic angel, to be Joe’s protector. While it seems very T2, Jason Medley takes the story in a fun and fresh direction. This book was my family’s favorite.

Genesis 5 (Kindzierski / St. Aubin / Frogrocket) - Genesis 5 is about five angels who are doing a less then stellar job individually when the Lord calls them together to be a task force witha very specific focus. The idea being that the five less-than-average-individuals working as a team they can accomplish great things.

The Seekers (McCarthy / Martinbrough / Kindzierski) - This late add to the Guardian line follow a couple teenagers as the find an i-podish time machine that allows them to travel wherever they want to go. It is my guess that where this is going is that this is the team that will be the information gatherers in the war against Dark and his minions.

The Guardian Line is one of the best things I found this year at WWC. If you are looking for a faith-based comic to share with your family / friends / youth at your church… this is it. And even if that is not your angle, but you are looking for fresh stories from fresh faces who have real talent check out the Guardian Line

The All New Booster Gold #1 (DC - Johns / Katz / Jurgens / Rapmund) - I never thought I would say this, but Booster Gold Rocks! Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz takes what is maybe the most unlikeable hero in the DC universe and makes him someone to watch. Booster is now the greatest hero you never knew, he’s fixing timelines behind the scenes and keeping quiet about it… sort of like an updated version of Voyagers (hehehehe). I don’t think you can ever fault Dan Jurgens art… and tie that in with a storyline than enables Johns and Katz to go anywhere in the DC timeline, this book is a must for all 52 / Countdown fans.

Issue Grade: A
Omega Flight #5 (Marvel - Oeming / Kolins / Reber) - This ends the limited series updating the Alpha Flight mythology… and me being a 20 year Flight fan, I have some real mixed feelings. Michael Avon Oeming did a great job writing and giving a set-up for future Flight stories (in particular the Guardian storyline in the upcoming Marvel Comics Presents), gave us some good development for Sasquatch and Talisman… Beta Ray, US Agent and Arachne seemed like filler characters specifically inserted for fight scenes. Scott Kolins’ art was what Scott Kolins art is… sketchy, compacted, crowded and sometimes hard to follow. It’s not that Scott isn’t a talented artist, he is, his line work shows character emotion with the best of them… but he just puts too much in too little a space. The overall feel of the series is that is was a B-story used for some set up that is coming up (possibly a non-comedic Alpha Flight series in the future… I could only hope)

Issue Grade: B-

Series Grade: B

Annihilation: Conquest Wraith #2 (Marvel - Grillo-Marxuach / Hotz)

Story: If you remember back to my review of Wraith I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t find out who the heck Wraith is. That is remedied in this issue. We open the issue techno-organic race known as the Phalanx has overrun all the Kree empire and has Kree leader, Ronin, under its power. We also get to see some other major characters like the Super-Skrull under the control of the Phalanx. After a few brief scenes, Ronin comes in and kicks the crap out of Wraith as an interrogation tactic. You see, Wraith did something to the Phalanx that they had never experienced before, they felt fear. Yep, the Phalanx are scared to death of Wraith and it not hard to see why. At one point he’s impaled on a spike and he tears himself off to continue the fight. COOL! After that fight we get a flashback scene of just who and what Wraith is. And you know what, the Phalanx should be scared. Art: Not much to speak of here. It’s not bad, but nothing really jumps out at me as having that special quality that make it memorable. Bottom line is that it gets the job done. It doesn’t distract me from the overall story and Hotz shows promise that after a few years could be great.

Grade B

Annihilation: Conquest Quasar #2 (Marvel - Gage /Lilly)
Story: This issue opens up with Quasar and Moondragon fighting a giant Brood queen in space. Yep, Brood queen. Marvel is trying their best to bring the Brood back as a major player in the Marvel U (see World War Hulk for more), but this particular Brood only makes it to page 5. So Quasar and Moondragon are on the run from a Phalanx army, lead by the Super-Adaptoid, and are also looking for the “Savior of the Kree” (Mar-Vell?). We are let in on the flaws of our characters in the beginning of the book told thought flashback and dialog. Both Quasar and Moondragon will lose control of they get too emotional and Quasar’s quantum bands are losing their charge. The end of the issue we see our heroes squaring off against the Super-Adaptoid and his soliders, and they are not doing well.

Art: Kinda the same story as Wraith. The art is nothing too special, but I can see moments of greatness, like the fight with Super-Adaptoid. Lilly was successful in conveying the story, I’m just not going to be calling up my friends and telling them how great the art is. Maybe some day, but not today.

Grade: B

First off I have to say that taking part in the IFL seminar was not my idea. The IFL’s marketing director, by name of Marie Camaya’s, idea. She’s a very nice and pretty girl who conned me into getting my ass kicked by professional fighters for two hours while someone took pictures. Secondly, keep in mind that I’m not a fighter. I have been studying martial arts for awhile, but MMA is far from what I’ve been doing and I was just not ready for the IFL level. Fortunately for me, neither were the seven other poor saps that were also taking the seminar.

The seminar was held partially in one of the many conference rooms at Wizard World Chicago and part on the convention floor. Both had been outfitted with a mat as to not injure ourselves when we fell, or were thrown down. Notice I wrote “injure” and not”hurt”, because when Carlos Newton decides to drop you…it hurts. Which brings to just who was running this show.

First was Carlos “The Ronin” Newton who has created his own style of jiu-jitsu, which he calls “Dragon Ball Jiu-Jitsu” and is not only one of the top grapplers in the world, but has also taught linguistics at Toronto’s York University, and is a student of Japanese culture. He’s also the one who beat up on me the most.

Then there was Gideon Ray, who is has eight years and over 40 fights to his name. The man knows what he’s doing and, in my opinion as a professional educator, was an excellent teacher. Gideon is exactly the kind of guy you want to learn from.

There’s the staff, now back to the seminar. We started with some very simple step moves (e.g. how to move from a punch) and steadily moved to more complex grappling moves. We did standing choke holds, take downs,knee submissions, ankle submissions, and an elbow submission. All of which were very fun to learn, but not so fun to be a victim of, but I was often the demonstration guy, hooray for me. Luckily for me, the guy I was partnered with was not very good and by the time he got to the point when the maneuver hurt, time was up and we moved on. The highlight for me was more the lecture portion of the the seminar. Gideon let everyone know that a large part of fighting knowing your body position compared to your opponent.

The most impressive physical display was when Carlos decided to give us a lesson on using the body’s powerline (creating a straight line from your arm to your leg) to life a guy by the neck and holding him there. Everyone had to get lifted, and yes, it hurt.

All sarcasm and and joking aside, it was a great time and I learned a few things that took my martial arts instructor by surprise. The IFL can my seen on regular broadcast television on every Monday on MyNetworkTV from 8-10 pm. Thank-you to Marie Camaya, Carlos Newton, and Gideon Ray for the great time.

Check out The Pullbox MySpace page for all out convention pictures

I’m not supposed to have these..enjoy them while they last.

Headlocked - (Kingston / Randy Valiente)

The Markosia Enterprises webpage describes Headlocked as “a dramatic series based on the world of professional wrestling. The series focuses on Mike Hartmann, a skinny theater major and his unlikely journey to become a pro wrestler. “Basically he gets dragged to a WWE-style wrestling match and he gets caught up in the show,” explains series creator Michael Kingston. “A lot of wrestlers start out as fans. At some point they’ve all had that moment where they see something amazing in the ring and in their head they say, “I want to do this”. Well that happens to Hartmann in a big way.

As a first run at comics this isn’t bad. Kingston does a nice job of conveying the Mike Hartmann’s, main character, inspiration and awe at seeing a professional wrestling match. Mike Hartmann, and I have a feeling Michael Kingston, see professional wrestling as being full of drama, emotion, passion, and some of the most captivating stories a person can get. The writing shows real love for the “sport” and an understanding that a person does not simply waltz into the world of sports entertainment.

The art was not the best in artist alley, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. The framing and scenes were well structured, but I expected the characters to have body types like I would see in the WWE. I know it would be hard to do that without being cartoony, but there’s got to be a way.

Overall I felt that Headlocked was a big “meh” to me. It’s very possible that my lack of enthusiasm is heightened by the fact that I find professional wrestling completely absurd. Especially when I can watch any number of IFL or UFC fighters who throw down for real. Taking my bias out of it, Kingston and Valiente are still going to need to up their game to get my hard earned cash.

Grade: C

The Last Sin of Mark Grimm #1 (Silent Devil - McMannus / Moreno)

The best thing to say about Mark Grimm is that is left me wanting more, lots more. The book itself is a hard boiled detective story with a tough as nails main character. I mean it, Mark Grimm would make Bruce Willis cry like a little school girl. The book it completely narrated from Grimm’s perspective, which I loved. McMannus writing style fit perfectly with the visual style of the book. And if your looking carefully at the pictures, you can see that this is no ordinary noir story.

Which brings me to Chris Moreno’s art. Now I’m a big fan of the Sin City books with their stark contrast of black and white and I used to think that was the only way to visualize this kind of story. Thank you Chris for proving me wrong. In the Mark Grimm world there is black and white, but there’s lots of grey too. Grey tones that fit both written and visual text like a well worn hat. While reading, I could almost feel the rain coming down or hear the sounds of the dark alley. Seriously, this stuff is brilliant.

Take a look at the Last Sin of Mark Grimm website to get a preview of what I mean, then run to your local comic shop and demand some Mark Grimm.
Grade: A