LUCIDMEDIA

Lucid Comics – July 2nd

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Thursday, 02 July 2009 11:08

This second edition of the new Lucid Comics column features zombies, convention news and dark X-Men. Oh, my.

The Web Comics Questionnaire - Jenny Romanchuk

Zombies are hot, and are constantly the subject of new film, book, or comic products. Well, there’s no exception when it comes to the world of webcomics, and Jenny Romanchuk is doing her part at least once a week with her take on zombiegeddon, The Zombie Hunter. In this edition of Lucid Comics, we fire off the Questionnaire to Ontario-native Romanchuk.

1) Why web comics?

I have been asked this question before, and till this day I haven’t had a really good answer. I seriously rolled out of bed one day, and decided to just do a webcomic, because I could! But I think some of the reasons why I chose webcomics over print, and other mediums, was because it was the fastest and cheapest of getting the story out there.

2) Who are your influences?

Survival tales from the WW1, WW2, and the Vietnam war, Joss Whedon (Firefly), Tony Moore (Chapter One of The Walking Dead), Carla Speed McNeil (The Finder series) To name a few :)

3) If I wasn’t making comics, I’d be…?

Probably working at a Graphic Design Firm, praying for the sweet embrace of death.

4) What’s the best comment about your work you’ve ever received?

I think the best comments are the ones where people say that they are inspired to work on their own thing, or the comic gave them the push they needed to finish something that they have had on the backburner for a while. That’s like the best ego growing feeling: inspiring people to create.

5) Reversely, what’s the worst criticism you’ve ever received?

Accusatory comments claiming that I got my ideas off of a certain videogame (Left4Dead) that came out years after my comic had been online. It’s like yes, I get my ideas from THE FUTURE! Or just ones that say ‘I suck’ and not really giving me any reason why they think that, it’s like, stop wasting my time! And yours! Go play outside haha.

6) What inspires you?

People inspire me, and normal everyday things can inspire me. I really like listening to music and looking out the window during long car trips, it’s relaxing and I can let my mind wander. I get some great ideas while traveling!

7) What are some of the challenges that you face in getting out your comic?

Well currently I am unable to go to any conventions I was invited to in the US, because we came across a border guard who was having a bad day, and decided that he didn’t like me, and he flagged my passport. So now I am unable to cross into the United States at all. Greg and I are currently working to fix that, but it’s going to take us a lot of time, and money to do this, which is keeping us from being able to go to any conventions at all in the US or in Canada. And because we cannot travel to these conventions, which is where we would make most of our money so we can make merch and comics…. It’s just a terrible cycle that we are struggling to break currently.

8) How did you get into comics to begin with?

I have always been doing comics here and there since I was little. They were just one of the easiest forms of expression for me, telling a story though pictures instead of using a bunch of words on a page, especially since I was little—couldn’t write, but I could draw!

9) What’s worse: an irate fan boy or a bear with a thorn stuck in its paw?

An irate fanboy, because you can’t shoot them. But you can shoot bears!

10) Anything you want to plug?

Yes! We are currently taking pre-orders for our first book! It contains chapters 1-4. 152 pages in total, the book will be printed full-colour, on a high-gloss paper. The book is softcover, notch bound and will be full of extras! Once pre-orders reach 100 per cent we will begin printing books! :) You can find them in the store on the site.

Check out Romanchuk’s Zombie Hunters and find links to her other works at http://www.thezombiehunters.com/

Reviews

Captain America #600
Various Writers and Artists
Marvel Comics

This special issue of Captain America is positively stuffed with offerings. The main story is set up as being the first anniversary of original Cap, Steve Rogers’ assassination following the Civil War and from there it leaps off various points to cover new Cap Bucky Barnes, his New Avengers colleagues, the Black Widow, Patriot, Crossbones and the female Bucky just in from the Heroes Reborn universe. On the one hand, this is a great, classic special edition where there’s a proverbial buffet of things to keep the mind of a fan occupied. On the other hand though, the main story, involving the reflections of various characters on Rogers’ anniversary, creates a whole lot of things going on at once, while not spending too much time on anyone thing. And for a special edition of Captain America, we don’t spend a lot of time with Captain America. Either of them. The live one or the one that might be coming back to life sometime soon.

Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia
Matt Fraction and Marc Silvestri
Marvel Comics

The saga of the all new Dark X-Men starts here and it ain’t pretty. I don’t mean the issue of course, that’s actually pretty solid, it’s the story inside that’s messed up. The seemingly perfect lives in San Francisco of the X-Men and their fellow surviving mutants is shattered when the racist group Humanity Now shows up to protest and riots result. Naturally, this brings the attention of Marvel’s million-appearance man Norman Osborn, who was content to let fellow Cabal member Emma Frost run mutant affairs, but only so long as they keep their business out of Norman’s. We already know who’s going to on the eventual Dark X-Men team, but it’ll still be interesting to see what comes of all this. Long time readers know that the X-Men are always at their best when they’re being pushed against a wall. And can I just say for the record that it was a real treat to see Silvestri draw the X-Men again. He’s still got game.

Dark Wolverine #75
Daniel Way & Marjorie Liu and Giuseppe Camuncoli
Marvel Comics

I guess since Wolverine has so many comics already, as well as his numerous team appearances, he can afford to throw his illegitimate son a bone, I guess. Dark Wolverine is definitely a different type of creature than his father, more sophisticated and erudite with a nifty pheromone power that can make people do what he wants. Also, he’s a dick and he seems to be picking on Hawkeye, AKA: Bullseye, for some reason. I’m not that impressed with this book, but I’m not that repelled by it either. And if you’re like me, and this whole son of Wolverine thing seemed to come out of nowhere, then there’s a nifty Dark Wolverine guide in the back.

New Avengers #54
Brian Michael Bendis and Billy Tan
Marvel Comics

Bother Voodoo is the new Sorcerer Supreme. And Clint Barton vows to kill Norman Osborn. That is all.




Detective Comics #854
Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III
DC Comics

So Detective Comics is now all about Batwoman and that’s okay. Not great news, judging from this initial issue, but rather just okay. Seeing strong, independent female superheroes is important, and I think Batwoman is an interesting idea that has yet to be truly capitalized on following her hype-filled debut. And certainly having a lesbian character front and centre on DC’s second most important book is a powerful statement in this day and age. So why then does Rucka saddle her with the tired old angry girlfriend routine where they break-up because the hero’s significant other thinks she’s cheating on her with all the late nights? Come on, this is Gotham City! If someone can’t be reached at night, doesn’t the possibility that they’re a superhero or a super-villain seem more plausible than an affair? Still, it’s one small step for progressive costumed heroes everywhere, and for that I salute DC Comics.

Gotham City Sirens
Paul Dini and Guillem March
DC Comics

Paul Dini is an exceptionally talented writer, but if there’s one area that he’s more skilled at than others, it’s finding new and different ways to put weird combinations of Batman characters together. In Sirens, it’s the improbable team-up of Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Catwoman for non-specific reasons. Actually, Ivy and Harley need a hideout and Catwoman needs protection, still recovering from her recent heart surgery. There’s great dialogue and just a cool vibe in reading this issues. Little things like how Ivy has the Riddler doped up as she’s using his apartment, and a character named Boneblaster trying to make his street cred by taking out some A-list rogues combines to make an action-filled and humorous story. I’m not sure how the series can be sustained over the long-term, but this could be a fun, little book for a while anyway.

Special Comment – Wizard Buys Toronto Comicon

It came as a bit of a surprise last week when it was announced that Wizard magazine founder Gareb Shamus had bought the Toronto Paradise Comicon. Since 2003, Paradise Conventions was been putting on Comicon to tremendous local acclaim and five Best International (Non-USA) Comic Book Convention awards from comicbookconventions.com. Earlier this year, it was announced that due to trouble tacking down a venue and a date that the 2009 con had to be cancelled, and the focus put on lining everything up for 2010. Well, it seems that that job has just been made a heck of a lot easier now with the Wizard brand taking Toronto under its wing.

Wizard already produces Chicago Comic-Con at the Rosemont Convention Center, the Big Apple Comic-Con at Pier 94 and Wizard World Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Shamus and Wizard have been looking to expand and Toronto was an obvious candidate to do so. What’s the upside? Well, for one thing, big names. The National Fan Expo is great, I’m a big fan and go every year, but frankly they’ve had the monopoly on getting the bigger names in comics and bringing them into Toronto. The name “Wizard” is the first word in mainstream comics’ journalism, so it’s obviously going to be able to draw from a bigger pool.

That’s not to say that Paradise hasn’t done a phenomenal job, and I was glad to hear that Peter Dixon, the owner of Paradise Conventions, was going to be sticking around to administer this new convention. Attendance will definitely go up with more celebrities but the one thing that Dixon did well was keep the focus on comic books. Some of that may be lost now, but the recently completed second annual Toronto Comic Arts Festival will be indeed doing a third year in 2010, so indie comics in particular will still have an outlet that caters to them.

Curiously though, it remains to be seen what the full extent of this news will be. Two other Wizard-sponsored cons, Wizard World Texas and Wizard World Los Angeles, saw the one cancelled and the other “postponed” this year. The original magazine, of course, has not been immune to the recent economic effect on the print media industry with staff members being cut and advertising revenues down. I trust that there’s a plan in the works, otherwise Shamus wouldn’t be going around buying up comic cons. In the meantime, I say anything that draws attention to the medium is a good thing, and if keeping Comicon around in Toronto comes at the expense of a bit of non-comic book, celebrity pandering, I guess I’ll take it.

New Releases

ARCHIE COMICS

Betty & Veronica Double Digest #172
Jughead And Friends Digest #33
Veronica #195

ASPEN ENTERTAINMENT

Soulfire #10

AVATAR PRESS

Crossed #6 (of 9)
Gravel #12

BONGO COMICS

Simpsons Super Spectacular #9

BOOM! STUDIOS

Dead Run #2
Farscape Strange Detractors #4 (of 4)
Finding Nemo Reef Rescue #1 (of 4)
Irredeemable #4
Mr Stuffins #3 (New Edition)
Muppet Robin Hood #2 (of 4)
Muppet Show #4 (of 4)
Toy Story Mysterious Stranger #2 (of 4)

DARK HORSE

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8#26
Goon TP Vol 8 Those That Is Damned
Oh My Goddess TP Vol 12
POP Wonderland HC Volume 1 Thumbelina
Solomon Kane TP Vol 1 Castle Of The Devil
Star Wars Invasion #1 (of 5)
Unbound Saga (One Shot)
Witchfinder In The Service Of Angels #1

DC COMICS

Astro City The Dark Age Book Three #3 (of 4)
Authority #12
Bang Tango #6 (of 6)
Batman And Robin #2
Batman Confidential #3
Brave And The Bold Without Sin TP
Broken Blade TP Vol 1
Dead Romeo #4 (of 6)
El Diablo The Haunted Horseman TP
Emma TP Vol 9
Final Crisis Aftermath Run #3 (of 6)
Gears Of War #8
Green Lantern Corps #38
Green Lantern Rage Of The Red Lanterns HC
Jonah Hex #45, $2.99
Justice League Cry For Justice #1 (of 6)
Looney Tunes #176
Mighty #6
Secret Six #11
Solomon Grundy #5 (of 7)
Strange Adventures #5 (of 8)
Y The Last Man #1 (Special Edition)

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
Battlestar Galactica Final Five #4 (of 4)
Boys #32
Boys TP Vol 4 We Gotta Go Now
Lone Ranger Vol 3 Scorched Earth

HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE

Forgotten HC Vol 2

IDW PUBLISHING

American McGees Grimm #3
Angel #23
Art Of Michael Parkes HC II
Classic GI Joe TP Vol 4
Classic Transformers TP Vol 4
Doctor Who Classics Series 2 #8
G.I. Joe Combat Heroes HC Vol 1 We Are G.I. Joe
G.I. Joe Movie Adaptation #1 (of 4)
Locke & Key Head Games #6
Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan #3
Star Trek Omnibus TP Vol 2 Early Voyages
Transformers Spotlight Metroplex

IMAGE COMICS

Astounding Wolf-Man #17
Chew #2
Existence 2.0 #1 (of 3)
Firebreather TP Vol 1
Savage Dragon #150
Spawn #193
Spawn Endgame TP Vol 1,
Sword #18
Witchblade #128

MARVEL COMICS

Agents Of Atlas #7
Amazing Spider-Man Family #8
Astonishing Tales #6
Cable #16
Captain America Fighting Chance TP Vol 2 Acceptance
Captain America Reborn #1 (of 5)
Daredevil Father TP
Daredevil Noir #4 (of 4)
Deadpool Merc With A Mouth #1
Destroyer #4 (of 5)
Exiles #4
Fantastic Four #568
Invincible Iron Man #15
Marvel Divas #1 (of 5)
Marvel Your Universe #6
New Avengers #54
Official Index To Marvel Universe #7
Runaways Rock Zombies Premiere HC
Scourge Of Gods Fall #1 (of 3)
Spider-Man Election Day Premiere HC
Trojan War #3 (of 5)
Uncanny X-Men #513
USA Comics #1
War Of Kings #5 (of 6)

TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS

Far Arden HC