Are You Reading Rachel Rising?

If not you should be.

Rachel Rising is the new series by indie comic artist Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) it is a story of a woman named Rachel who wakes up one day in her own grave, what follows is her attempt to figure out what's going on, we then find out that her home town has many chilling secrets. I would love to tell more, but to discuss the plot at all is too inviting to spoilers. But lets just say this horror comic "has it" Horror comics have long been problematic because in a comic, as opposed to a film you only have one sense to work with, and as opposed to  a novel you don't have the luxury of Drawn out prose. Moore uses this limitation as the books strength, using mood and atmosphere as his agents of fright. murky shadows and deep texture, give the work an eerie moon lit feel, even in the daytime scenes. And a story about death and what may come after makes for a great read. It is the only comic that I have to get every month. The cartooning in Rachel Rising is everything that we've come to expect from Moore well drawn women, great expressiveness, and a stunning attention to detail. But I find that his work has been evolving in a much more fluid way, the expressiveness of line and texture being a bit of a departure from his style of the past. It's a bit looser and freer allowing the image to be read  quite well, in other words Terry Moore makes it look easy. It amazes me Rachel Rising makes Strangers in Paradise and Echo seem like "warm up" and I found both of those series' remarkable. So do yourself a favour and check out  Rachel Rising.

Image copyright 2011-12 Terry Moore

My First Interview

While at Free Comic Book day I was interviewed by Daniel from Random Dreamer Studios about The Super Cliche Hero Chick.And here it is

David

The Belated Yet Somehow Inevitable Post About the Avengers Movie

I don’t think I have to tell you that the Avengers movie is a huge hit, statistically there is no one in the western world who hasn’t seen this Joss Whedon film.  And like many I loved it. The movie worked, and I’m amazed. If you would have told me five years ago that the crazy plan at the end of Iron Man would not only happen but become the second biggest superhero movie of all time (soon to be the biggest I’m predicting) I would have laughed. This movie should have been impossible. To make a sequel to five separate films that share a world and continuity, that’s big. As in possibly game changing big.

Since I’m two weeks to late on this (if your reading in Europe a Month.) I won’t review the film many have done so and done so better than I could. But I will say Hulk stole the show, and Marc Ruffalo, should play Banner forever. Scarlet Johansson in 3D, I’ll just let that explain itself.  And the end credit sting, damn! So what I’m gonna do instead is give you my humble opinion of what would be best for making sure the inevitable Avengers 2 is as good as the first.

1.  Keep the slow burn. Disney I know Avengers is printing money for you right now but don’t , please don’t, rush the sequel. A big part of why this movie is so successful right now is that we as fans have been anticipating it since Nick Fury showed up at the end of Iron Man five years ago. And every movie that led to the Avengers built on that excitement until it was released this May. The same should be done for the second. If an Avengers 2 gets released without a full four movie cycle like the first it will not be as big of a hit. 
2.  Keep Joss Whedon happy. I had my doubts about Joss Whedon as the director, but he was defiantly up to the task. Keep him. Do anything it takes, agree to his new show on ABC, let him make more Dr Horrible, build a Serenity ride at Disneyland. Just make sure he doesn’t bail.  
3.    Don’t change the team.  Seriously, this group of superheroes works, they compliment each other well , and all have something to do in the scheme of things. Now the urge to get more of the characters from the comic in there is strong but it should be resisted. Adding more characters can severely gum up the works for an already complex movie. Same goes for the actors, try to keep as many of them as possible and don’t change the Hulk again, Ruffalo was amazing.  I seriously want to see a Tony Stark Bruce Banner buddy film. 
4.  Make a bigger better story. Let’s not mince words here the weakest part of the Avengers was the plot. It was literally stop Loki and seal the hole in the sky.  Luckily the movie was made by a guy like Joss Whedon, so the interactions between the characters was the real point and main event. But a sequel, it has to be bigger and the plot has to be a functioning part of it. But if you saw the reveal in the credits, you know this won’t likely be an issue. 
5. And seriously stop killing beloved characters Joss. There are other ways to move a storyline this is seriously becoming a crutch almost as bad as M. Night Shayamalan’s twist endings. My brother, cousin, and I were even making bets on who he’d kill. I don’t mind death in my movies and stories, but I like it to be something other than a plot contrivance. But more on that when I make my “Troubles I have with Joss Whedon” post.  

So there you go the things that I feel need to happen to make avengers 2 as good as this one. I loved Avengers,  and I’m looking forward to the next few years of Marvel Movies.  

cool cosplayers

 Some cool cosplayers I saw at the LBCE. They Don't do badges at the Long Beach cons so I sadly don't know any of their names X( but if any of these are you let me know in the comments.











a cool Arkham City Harley Quinn and Joker Goon  

 A Great Rule 63 link

Commission Time

Here's the only commission that I did at the Long Beach Comics Expo. But it was for a return customer so that counts for something. The theme his commissions take are famous characters depicted as mermaids, this one is of Jane from the Disney Tarzan. I had a lot of fun trying to make the edwardian dress work with a merfolk, note the "layered dress" fin. I was going to put a few sea sponges in but as you can see that grew. 

Long Beach Comic Expo

Last weekend I worked the Long Beach Comic Expo, promoting my new comic "The Super Cliche Hero Chick"and I had a great time met a bunch of people, and saw many great things. Sold a good amount, so it was a really good start for my new comic.

1. 
   

Wonder Con.

Went to Wonder Con last Saturday. And it was fun, I was a bit bummed early in the day as my companions had to bow out for various reasons, and it was raining, which always puts a funk on things. But I had a really good time. Didn't make it to any panels, but had a fun time on the floor, talked to some friends in Artist Alley, and found some cool stuff. Got myself some old Star Trek and Supergirl stuff, and Womanthology. Much will be said about that book when I've finished with it. One of the neat things about the con is that the Anaheim Convention Center had a few other things going on (which is standard operating procedure for the place), a volleyball tournament and the ever present cheer competition. But it added a fun energy to the place, and I saw many volleyball girls taking pictures with cosplayers. It was great.

But one thing that Wonder Con 2012 left me with was a feeling that Comic-Con International made the right choice staying in San Diego. The big problem is that the Convention Center though large is in a neghbourhood that has no infastructure for it. The parking for the center was full by 9:30 (the con opened at 10:00) and all but the hotels in walking distance had no connection to it. We parked at Disneyland (we have free parking on our annual passes) and walked. The only other option was to go to Anaheim Stadium and get bussed in. And this was a small convention. Comic Con is larger than both of the things going on in the main convention center. And most likely Comic Con would be sharing the facility, something would at least be in the arena. Wonder Con was great but, if it was any indication, Comic-Con International would turn the city of Anaheim into a black hole.