Xenozoic

A few months ago Lee didn't know who might by this, the Flesk version collecting all 14 issues of Mark Schultz's Xenozoic Tales. Well, here I am. The thing is, even though it's been published several times previously by other publishers, I hadn't seen any of those. And this is a lovely version. Plus, from what I've read, none of the other collections had all the issues that this one does.

Patience is one of my things. It's also required for a fan of this work. I started reading Xenozoic Tales in its original single issue format, starting with its appearance in Death Rattle #8 in 1986. I then got various of the 14 issues, but unfortunately not all. Publication was generously described as erratic, which meant it was 1994 by the time the 14th issue came out. By then I had gone from a college sophomore to a working drudge with a law degree and a wife. I never knew if there was an ending to the story because it was mostly the later issues that I missed.

Guess what? There isn't an ending to the story. Sometimes that's a writer's choice, leaving things open ended. That's not what this feels like. It feels like Schultz just didn't finish it.

Here's the story that there is. In the late 20th, early 21st Century humanity moved to living underground because the surface became uninhabitable due to pollution. This wasn't just a toxic morass but also increased natural disasters triggered by pollution. This was fairly insightful in 1986. Global Warming had not been presented as an impending issue at that time, but that's a lot of what the disaster was.

Anyway, about 500 years later, humanity came back out of its caves only to discover that something had been triggered while they were gone. Latitudes as far north as NYC were now tropical. Sea level was much higher. The remnants of NYC are half submerged, fully submerged if not among the taller buildings. Most noticably, once extinct species are now dominant. Not just the dinosaurs but also mammoths and other long gone mammals. There are new species, too. The secretive Grith are the most notable. These are humanoid lizards who don't speak but can communicate with humans, if they so choose, via Scrabble tiles. They are telepathic amongst themselves and other lizards.

Into that setting we find Hannah Dundee, an ambassador from the Wassoon community that lives in the swamps. She's coming to the City in the Sea (the submerged NYC), ostensibly to improve trade relations and to seek some cessation of Jack Tenrec chasing undesirables into Wassoon territory. In fact, her arrival at the City in the Sea is almost the moment of her death at the hands of poachers who want to kill her.

Jack Tenrec is a mechanic in the City in the Sea, though he doesn't actually live in the city. He lives across a bay in a huge garage where he restores 1950s era cars, particularly Cadillacs, and makes them operable on fuel derived from dinosaur guano. Jack's role isn't simply devising and restoring mechanisms, though. Mechanics in this culture are keepers of the faith, almost shamans. Their role is to remind the people of the decisions of their ancestors that lead to the disasters that drove them underground. They are also the ones the Grith most often choose to communicate with amongst humans.

This post apocolyptic future merely provides a back drop for Schultz to tell stories. Really great stories. Each issue is largely a complete story in itself with underlying themes that continue to run forward into other stories. When it starts, Jack is an influential man in the City in the Sea, though his influence is both feared and the subject of jealousy for many members of the ruling counsel of governors. The counsel are made of representatives of different segments of society, akin to a gathering of guild leaders. Function is the determining social glue, not race or ethnicity. Hannah is trying to learn more information about how the cataclysm occurred, which she thinks she can find in a vast library that's slowly being recovered from its watery fate. This library is closely guarded by the City in the Sea. No outsider has ever been permitted to enter, but Hannah manages to do so, with some assistance from Jack. Jack had saved her from the poachers on her arrival and she allied herself to him quickly.

A romantic relationship develops between them, which is only hinted at through most of the tales. In fact, there's a more noticable animosity between them in the early stories, with the romance being more subtle. Eventually Schultz reaches an issue where he flashes back in time to just before the cataclysm. It's revealed that there's a substance that was part of an experiment that likely caused the explosion of species that occurred after the humans retreated underground. In fact, the issue in question centers around the discovery of some of this substance and its escape into a nearby lake. The scientists monitor and try to isolate it but despite their efforts a new niche of life develops at an exponential rate. Jack and Hannah are there, trying to contain the substance with the scientists. This is the first issue where it's directly shown that they're spending time between the sheets together.

Unfortunately for Jack and Hannah, a segment of underground workers who've been the primary workers on pumping water out of the buildings to recover books and other items have developed a philosophy that the mechanics are holding humanity back and that nature needs to be exploited more to the benefit of humanity. As a result of some nefarious, and criminal, actions, as well as some deals with other counsel members, a new counsel member named Scharnhorst takes control. She promptly has Jack seized but in the confusion, Hannah escapes, as does another ally of Jack named Mustapha Cairo.

Hannah, and Jack's one ally on the counsel, Governor Dahlgren, effect his escape. Dahlgren continues on the counsel, appearing to go along with Scharnhorst, while Cairo begins a guerilla campaign to stop Scharnhorst and the counsel from reigniting another cataclysm. Meanwhile, Jack and Hannah escape to Wassoon. There they run into royal court machinations, including an ex-boyfriend of Hannah. This, unfortunately, is where things end. Wassoon is plotting to help Jack return to the City in the Sea and some level of power that would allow them access to the books therein.

It's unbelievable how much story Schultz packed into one teaser in Death Rattle #8 and 14 single issues. The synopsis here only touches on the surface. There's so much character developed, as well as individual stories of minor characters who haven't even been mentioned. In fact, several of the story devices use the story of a minor character, such as Remfro Rynchus, to advance the larger story of intrigue.

Schultz also is able to develop strong characters of both genders. In addition to Hannah, Governor Dahlgren and Governor Scharnhorst are pimary female characters with strong personalities, even when only sketched in short appearances. With Dahlgren there's a clear past of romantic relationship with Jack to complicate matters with Hannah. On the male side, Mustapha Cairo is the most oft mentioned, though Governor Nock is also well developed. Each character is not only well drawn in pen and ink but well drawn in character. Individual physical traits are expressed in both movement and behavior.

Would that there were more. But I'll be patient. My patience was rewarded with this collection. Perhaps more patience will bring at least a few more issues to further the tale to a concluding point.

Still, I recommend this tome. There's a nice introduction by Craig Elliott and a foreward by Schultz, as well as some new drawings by Schultz. It's also in the original black and white, not the colored version that came out under the name Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. It's comics and not movies, but it always seemed a bit wrong to read the stories in color.

Like a Hammer

Frank Miller, though one of my favorite writers, is not an adherent to subtlety. Usually, though, he's subtle enough to include a plot and some story to his writing, but with Hard Boiled, he reached a nadir. Nothing but poke in the eye protest to this one.

Dark Horse produced this three issue book, which started in September 1990. It was oversized at about 8"x 10 1/2", and actually somewhat larger in the second two issues than the first. This was nice for the detailed artwork of Geof Darrow. Darrow put in Perez level details to this, so every extra inch of space helps the reader pick up on all that work. In fact, the main reason to have read this is for Darrow's work, much more so than Miller's story. Darrow has created a sort of art deco near future. The buildings are evocative of the 1920s architecture and the vehicles, so long as they're not oversized behemoths, are very much of the 1950s style, which matches very well with the '20s architecture. His human renderings are beautiful. The inclusion of sex scenes in the book, with all the oft hidden bits, is something like I'd like Invincible to do. They're appropriate for the book and done in feasible depictions (actual humans could manage these positions).

My only quibble with Darrow is one of cultural detail. In the second issue there's a scene in a subway that says "Way Out". This would be fine if the story were set in England, but it's set in LA. Should say "Exit", then.

Ah, but let's get to the fine story. I think I can summarize it pretty quickly. Robot/cyborg malfunctions, kills hundreds. Robot/cyborg is rebuilt and reintigrated into his "human" life. Other robot/cyborgs who have rebelled against their programming seek him out to free them. Evil corporation's programming holds and robot/cyborg remains loyal to his masters. "Free" robot/cyborgs die.

Now, what I think Miller's really going for is a parody of the excesses he sees in modern America, which he pushes to further excess to hammer home his point. The book is one endless flow of over the top sex and violence, mostly violence. Our lead is Nixon, surely not an accidental choice of name, who is a robot/cyborg whose function is to assassinate rivals of his corporate creator, an appliance company. He kills hundreds without repercussion. He has lovely sex with his "wife". His over the top violence spills over into a public orgy. I think I get it. America is in love with sex and violence. There seems to be some population explosion commentary, too, because LA is nothing but wall to wall people. All of this makes for dehumanization, as there's little concern for the countless dead. Just line up somemore, there's plenty left.

If that's all Miller hoped to achieve, it would have been nice if it could have been done in a reasonable time span. While it was 3 months between the first two issues, it was 15 months 'til the last. If you're going to do a 3 issue series, why not have all 3 issues ready to go as soon as the first one comes out? (Ok, it's 20 years gone now, so there's not much point in criticizing a publishing schedule that far out, but it's not like that sort of thing has improved in the intervening years.)

I also think the failings in story are detractions to the overall point Miller wanted to make (at least the one I think he wanted to make). There's never any explanation of why or how Nixon is going to free the other robot/cyborgs. Why's he necessary at all for their freedom? I understand why he kills the robot/cyborg that tries to seduce him, but I totally fail to understand why the other female robot/cyborg then kills herself when he doesn't overcome the programming. I think this is because her suicide is dependent on her pinning all of her hopes for freedom on Nixon, but because I have no idea why all her hopes are linked to him, I have no understanding of her suicide. Miller manages to get across the despondency a reader should feel in Nixon's continuing slavery to his programming by his corporate masters, but loses the reader in the rather important details of Nixon's importance to others of his kind.

The story could have been condensed into a one shot issue. That, I think, would have left the plot shortcomings more understandable and acceptable. Making it three issues should have made for more development of the motivations, though. The payoff of the ironic final panel is undermined too much as it stands.

Sparks The Motion Comic

Worth the 99 cents it cost to see it.

I lovedthis book and lovedthe Motion Comic maybe a tiny bit more.

This is an ad they are doing for the back of "The Greatest American Hero" comic.

Go buy it and check it out, for a buck it is hard to wrong.

Sparks Trailer

I loved this trailer. I think it really captures the feeling of making into something that is a cross between a comic book and a movie. The full length product is worth the 99 cents.

PS THIS IS POST #1,000!

JM Ringuet Interview Artist Sparks and Transhuman

JM Rinquet was kind enough to do a second interview with us. I enjoy hearing JM’s views as I think what he has to say about commercial art and how it is changing is interesting and important. The digital age continues to change the way we do and look at everything.

JM is currently the artist on two books that I’m enjoying a lot and obviously his art work is a part of that enjoyment. To see previews of Sparks and examples of his work on that book go here. For a five page preview of Transhuman go here. Finally to see other work by JM check out his own website here.

Jim: JM, Sparks and Transhuman are both in the home stretch, have you completed work on both books?

JM: I've just started working on Issue #6 of Sparks which is jumbo sized, over thirty pages of noir drama and twists and flashbacks galore. I'm also starting on Transhuman Issue #4, so that's a lot of things happening at the same time but I'm used to it, and I'm always trying to work faster and better. I streamlined my process even more. Freelancing is all about streamlining.

Jim: Have you changed your approach or how you work during the course of these projects?

JM: Yes because I'm always trying to learn something, learning from my mistakes and what I could do better, more efficiently. For example I switched to doing everything digitally now (sorry about those original pages I won't be able to sell) which allows me more fluidity and more focus. Instead of having three distinct processes (penciling, inking and coloring) which was a bit artificial I now have only one long coherent process that starts in Photoshop with thumbnails and ends in Photoshop with a finished colored page. Only one space (one program) where everything grows more organically. Hopefully that will also make my pages look better.

Jim: So if everything is digital and you have no originals to sell does that impact on what a job is worth? And what is original art in the digital age?

JM: I don't think that it changes the value of the work because a comic page is made to be printed and read and then probably thrown away. Collecting original comic art is just a side thing that does not really bring anything to the industry in my opinion. I'm producing art to be printed so that's only what matters to me. More and more artists are moving to 'all digital'.

Jim: By going all digital in some ways it is returning comics back to how it used back in the early years. One last process question and excuse my ignorance as I'm not an artist, but I'm curious to understand how things work. You said that it is more of an organic process by doing it all digitally. Do you save your work as different files along the way so that if you decide to edit your work so you have early stages to start from? I guess I'm asking to give me a little more detail in how you would do a page of art totally on the computer.

JM:: It's not really about having multiple versions (and I really save only one version by the way), it's more about being able to do only what's necessary and nothing more. For example if I am penciling on paper I can have a tendency to draw things tighter that they are needed at the inking stage just because I want the penciled page to look good. On the computer I can start inking one panel even if the others panels are not penciled yet. Another example is if I make a size mistake at the penciling stage on paper I have to erase and redraw, on the computer I can just resize, move things around, change the framing very easily. That's how it makes creation more dynamic, more fluid. Nothing is ever 'set' when it's digital, it can be manipulated and adjusted to have the best effect.

I think pretty soon we're going to get very thin very responsive screen tablets that mimic drawing or painting on paper very closely and we will see all graphic artists, including comic artists, going digital. I think we are just starting to see how far the digital tools can go, it's a historical turning point of sort. When I was a kid people were still doing everything on paper, inking over graphite lines, erasing, painting with inks or watercolors, lettering with a pen... now it all seems a bit quaint. Comics are mass production entertainment, and I have to think of my art as production. A tool to entertainment people but not an end in itself. It really makes sense to use all the available tools to be able to produce quality in the right amount of time. My advice to a young artist (if I can give any advice) is to study and master the digital tools.

Jim: As a freelancer you have to always be working towards your next job. With Transhuman and Sparks winding down, what is next on your horizon?

JM: I'm doing some coloring jobs, like Death and the Man Who Would Not Die for Spacedog and Top Cow, some concept art for videogames and music videos, and I'm preparing some pitches to submit soon (my own writing and my own art). I have some solid ideas I think, stuff that's different in many ways. And I have a handful of offers for work for hire jobs. I'm always looking for jobs anyway, there is always more time for cool projects.

Jim: You live in China now. Even with it being a digital world is it harder to get your proposals to the right people and are you focused only on American comics at this time?

JM: I can't really attend conventions, so that could make things more difficult for me, I'm not sure. I don't really meet publishers or editors face to face, and I don't have a lot of contacts in the industry. I'm sure it's easier for local artists to get contacts. On the other hand there are some really good open publishers like Image that always allow people to pitch ideas even if they don't know them and live half a world apart. I think that's one of the strengths of Image and why they keep publishing great original material: they accept unsolicited submissions and make the effort to find new creators. I regret that a lot of other publishers do not do the same. They just shoot themselves in the foot.

At the moment I'm only focused on American comics. The three big markets for comics in my opinion are the US, France and Japan. France has a rather inbred creator-rights unfriendly system that I don't really like. Japan is mostly closed to anything that is not culturally linked to Japan. The US comic industry is by far the best for any creator. The only problem is distribution. While successful creators in France or Japan can sell tons of books, it's still almost impossible to reach a big audience in the US if you're not Alan Moore or Frank Miller. If the industry can find a parallel alternative to the direct market through major bookstores (like in France) or magazine type distribution (like in Japan) it can become the best and biggest thing in the world. I think comic readers and comic creators in America are the most diverse and enthusiastic. America invented comics and modern sequential story telling, and there is more innovation happening with US indie publishers than anywhere else.

Jim: Vertigo is started a new line of Crime graphic novels. I have always felt that in a fair contest many independent projects or non-super hero books could win the sales war, but the direct market is an uphill climb for a smaller publisher. In a perfect world how would you promote your product to try and break through the barriers we have in the market place?

JM: My current opinion about this question (and this could change at any point in the future) is I think going through bookstores (brick and mortar and online) and comic shops at the same time in a graphic novel format (over 100 pages). Translated manga are popular because they are sold in big bookstores at a reasonable price. Sure there are other reasons they're selling well but I think they would never do as well if they were only available in small specialty shops (as most comic shops are).

So the way to do it would be for big book publishers to enter the comic market seriously, give advances to creators (like they do to any novel writer), not take too much of the rights and make a marketing push through bookstore chains so they stock up on comic titles.

The best way to publicize those books would be to put some chapters, or even the whole graphic novel, for free on the net. It has been proven that this work very well. Comparing the sales and the size of population with France for example (where all comics are sold in regular bookstores) I think the sales of independant non-superhero continuity titles could be multiplied by 5 or 6. So Matt Fraction's Casanova would sell maybe 30,000 or 40,000 copies instead of the criminally low numbers it's doing now.

I think what Vertigo is doing with that new line of graphic novels is a great idea. If they can push the books aggressively in regular bookstores I'm sure they are going to win over a lot of new readers. And frankly at that point in time what comics have to do is to gain more and more readers. It's not right that millions of people want to see comicbook movies but just a handful buy comicbooks. There is a real problem there that has nothing to do with the medium but the way it is delivered. Can you imagine if Stephen King was selling 5000 copies of each of his novels but his movies were making hundred of millions? That's just absurd.

Jim: It is absurd. I have a theory that the industry has almost created barriers against its own success. Hopefully with comic book movies making over $1.2 Billion dollars this year just to August we may see some larger publishers start to enter the fray and take US comics to a new level.

You said you have some ideas as writer and artist. It seems like a natural progression for you to go from coloring, to the art to writing as each one brings a greater level of control to the final product.

How has your experience with Sparks and Transhuman been different?

JM: Each book has a very distinctive flavor to it as Sparks is a film noir and Transhuman is almost a documentary.
I approached the books differently, especially for the art style.

For Sparks I wanted to do something a little bit reminiscent of the Golden Age, a rigid grid, no full bleed, no weird shaped panels, everything very classic. I opted for clear lineart with no inked shadows because I wanted to create all the light effects at the painting stage. I guess I could have gone with classic blacks like Alex Toth but the coloring would have looked different. I also made some choices with the writer to have a lot of rain, fog, snow, and overcast skies, nothing bright, to reflect the internal feelings of the main character.

For Transhuman I actually started with a style that was simpler, more Tim Sale and probably 'funnier', but reading the script I realized that it wouldn't work. So just before I started drawing the first issue I shifted to a more realistic style, an exagerated look, almost carricature. I also wanted the book to look like one of those late 70s documentaries on rather bad film stock, with a shift toward yellow, scratches and dirt on the lens. And I make sure to frame every panel as if it was shot by a camera, either on a stand or carried on the shoulder. Even on wide shots like in Issue 2 where we see a boat from a distance I put in the frame the rope that links the dingey where the 'camera man' is sitting in, being trailed by the yacht. I wanted the 'camera' to be a presence. I'm not sure a lot of people will see this though. I got a lot of complaints that the book look static even if that's the idea we were going for. It's pure mockumentary in comic form. 'The Office' also looks static because that's the concept. It's difficult to not rub people the wrong way with style. Introducing something new is always risky. As Todd McFarlane was saying when he started working on Spiderman everybody wanted him to draw like the previous artist, but when he left the book they wanted the new artist to draw like McFarlane. I'm not Todd but I try new things all the time.

On every project I work on I try to change the art style and adapt it to the story, from the lines themselves, to the way I ink, and then color the page. There are so many different graphic choices an artist can make to create an atmosphere. That's always my goal: find the right atmosphere to immerse the reader in a different world.

Jim: In fact the choices are probably wider with some much being available with it all being digital. How do you know when to leave it alone and say a page is finished?

JM: It's a matter of time. Comics are mostly about time: how much time can I spend on one page? It's a good way to limit the tweaking that could go on forever. I have to have a clear idea of where I want to go and when I'm there it's done. I can't afford to do and redo and try different things or it would take me weeks to produce a page and that's not good for anybody. The most important thing for a freelancer is good scheduling.

Jim: So I was checking out your blog site and noticed some Burroughs Mars stuff. First off I love that series and read that to me daughters when they were growing up and now they both still love it. Is that work for a project or what?

JM: I was reading the first 3 books of the John Carter series and I thought it was a bit difficult to picture the creatures from the story, and a lot of illustrations of the Tharks for example looked a bit silly. So I decided to do my own version, following really closely the description in the text, and since I do concept art from time to time I decided to do some nice finished pieces for my portfolio (I think Pixar should hire me to do the concept art for the upcoming movie, no really). I'm not the biggest fan of those books but they are very enjoyable and Burroughs had a wild imagination. I wouldn't mind working on some project based on the series.

Jim: Any advice for people trying to break in the business? And where will we see your work next?

JM: I think the main thing is that nobody really 'breaks' into comics. I think a lot of people have this crazy idea that they can draw some pages, show them to an editor at a convention and then bam! three weeks later they're drawing Wolverine or Batman and going to Comicon to sign autographs. It doesn't work like that. As an artist you have to draw a lot pages (and I say pages, not pinups) with your own style, your own sensibility, your own uniqueness and put them in front of people, maybe doing a webcomic, or some anthology, or even a fanzine if those still exist. Find a writer and do your own stuff, something you really like, something you have fun with. Then people will noticed it and slowly (or not so slowly) you will get some offers, you'll build up on them, you will get better and some day you will reach your goals.

It's a process, it's a process that takes a bit of time (but it's not that long if you are talented AND different), it's progressive. Like Rick Remender said it can take 10 years to be an overnight success. The main thing is you have to be original, you have to be different, in a word you have to be YOU. If you try to be like someone else, or as good as someone else, you will never go very far. Even if you want to draw Wolverine or Batman, editors will hire you because they want to see your take on the character, not because you can do a reasonable imitation of whomever is drawing them now. Paul Pope did a great Batman because he wasn't trying to do it in any other way than his own way. So to conclude, be yourself, be patient, be hard working, be passionate. If you're good at all that you will be working in comics for sure. Don't think about 'breaking in', think about 'working in'.

I'm not sure where you will be seeing my work next. Catastrophic Comics approached me to do another project so that's a possibility, and I'm also doing coloring for a variety of things. One of my future projects is called Supercharger, a hi-octane (litterally) chase accross the South-West with hotrods, hot girls, demons and rock n' roll action, a 4 issue miniseries that is not far from being signed by an indie publisher. I have some pages on my blog and I got some really nice comments from the likes of Matt Fraction or Ivan Brandon so hopefully it doesn't suck when I'm done with it.

I also have 3 more pitches almost ready, stuff that's pretty original (no ninjas, no zombies), different from a lot of things out there, packed, very dense, with a little bit of a subtext. Stuff that's good on the eyes but reads well, hopefully. I will be able submit those to various publishers very soon and maybe start on something in October for an early next year release. I am also open to do some work for hire. I would like 2009 to be a special year. Keep checking my blog at http://jmringuet.blogspot.com/ to know more.

JM thanks for all your time in talking to us and I will be looking for your name in the credits. I think we will be hearing a lot from JM in the years to come.

Spotlight Review - Spark #3 (of 6)

Sparks #3
Publisher Catastrophic Comics
Executive Producer: William Katt
Writer Christopher Folino
Art : JM Ringuet


This is the best issue to date and I have loved this book from the jump. The actual series is melding the super hero genre with the film noir genre. By setting it in the “golden age” the story takes on the noir quality naturally.

This issue we see Sparks at what appears to be rock bottom, as how much further down can you go in the food chain then a failed suicide. It some ways I think a failed suicide is looked on as even worse then a suicide as people think you are such a loser you could not even kill yourself. Sparks in his the hospital and a mysterious stranger arrives and injects him with something that (dare I say it) sparks him back to life. The stranger tells him to meet him at an intersection at midnight, turns out to be where his parents were killed. Once you hit rock bottom, you can only go up and Sparks manages to do just that.

This book has a lot going for it and not the least is the artwork of JM Ringuet. For a more or less self taught artist I have to say that his talent must be innate. Each issue he continues to improve and his ability to render perspective, detail, mood and page design is excellent. It is fun to see a good artist just get better.

Chris’ work also is excellent. I have a big thing about pacing of comics. I think the pace of a book is as important an element in comics, movie and TV shows as any other element that is involved. One of the absolute best pacing jobs ever done in a comic in recent memory was Left on Mission from BOOM written by Chip Mosher. This book is also in that class in my opinion. Dialogue is dropped when it is not needed and the artwork and action take over and pull you along. Then after that action sequence is over the books slows down and we get exposition to explain why the man who saved Sparks did so. As Sparks is recovering and being trained by this man, the dialogue is narrative in nature and sparse so the story moves on in perfect rhythm.

Overall Grade A

Tagline: Super-heroes meets film noir as we learn about the man called Sparks.

Two additional side notes:

1) Diamond made a mistake and missed putting in the order code for issue #5 – so tell you retailer to order it anyway JUN088056 F SPARKS #5 (OF 6) (MR) (PP #829).

2) So you have heard me telling you to read this book and have come to your senses, but your retailer did not order enough and is not helping. Buy it right from the source and go here. Get issue #1-#3 and if you want to you can buy copies signed by William Katt himself.

Sparks #2 (of 6) – A Spotlight Review

Sparks #2 (of 6)

Publisher: Catastrophic Comics
Writer Christopher Folino
Art: JM Ringuet
On the Stands July 23, 2008

The Premise: A “golden age” super hero walks into a newspaper to report a murder, his. Then we begin to learn the story of Sparks. The first issue relates his origin and how he teams up with a super heroine and life is sweet.

The Story for Part 2: This issue his life takes a hard downward turn. Last issue we saw Sparks and Lady go after the bad guy. This issue we see Sparks has no memory of what happened, the cop they were trying to save is dead and Lady is beaten up. Another hero is seen comforting Lady. Sparks' life is basically ruined as they believe him to be the killer and his secret identity is now public. The new hero Sledge has taken Sparks place as the city’s main hero and as Lady’s lover. Sparks is on the outside looking in. His life continues into a downward spiral. Parallel to that story line we also see that someone is coming after Sparks in the present day story line also. I want spoil the ending, but some of the choices Sparks make are not typical hero choices.

I like the time setting being pre-World War II, it gives it more flair and a higher believability factor as Sparks is basically a non-powered hero as far as we know. The story is so good that when we flash back to “present day” I had forgotten that we were flashing back.

JM Ringuet’s art has a strong noir quality to it and you can see his work getting stronger and stronger. JM’s work has a perfect vibe to it that creates a unique look for Sparks. It has the feeling of being a classic 30s/40s noir type film.

Even if you missed the first issue I believe the book to be very accessible and I would encourage you to buy issue #2 even if you never got issue #1.

Overall Grade A

The tag line: Sparks is a golden age noir super hero saga that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go.

William Katt Interview - Catastrophic Comics

Rounding out our interviews with the fine people behind Catastrophic Comics is William Katt, who was kind enough to subject himself to our interview process. Please note the art pages are two pages from the forthcoming Mythology Wars which will not be out until Late 2008 or Early 2009 - Thank you Chris for the early look at what looks to be a great series.

Jim: Who is William Katt?

William: A little naughty - a little nice – comfortable in jeans but okay with tights. And I’m a sucker for rhyming couplets did you notice?

Jim: And how did we get from the star of “The Greatest American Hero” 25 years ago to being the executive producer of Sparks?

William: Ah… the long and winding road! In both cases it was dumb luck!

Jim: What is you involvement with Sparks? Editor? Money man? Both?
William: When I met Chris Folino my partner he was looking for someone with half a brain who’d be willing to risk it all financially – there I was!

Jim: Chris has told me that you have an idea for a comic called “Mythology Wars” what is the premise of that story?

William: Guess I have to get serious for a second – the genesis of that story evolved from a script I wrote several years ago that never got made. I brought it to Chris thinking it might make a great animated feature – of course he thought it sucked – but over the course of the next few years largely with Chris’s ever critical eye it became a terrific story of Mythological Wars set in a modern day world. We are well into production on that and it’s turning out really dark and cool! Whew….That was really long winded wasn’t it?

Jim: Will this be an ongoing, limited series and what will be your level of involvement with that book?

William: ‘Sparks’ and ‘Mythology Wars’ will both be ongoing books. I mostly get Chris to take me out to lunch and pitch story ideas to him for ‘Sparks’ which he almost always disregards but with ‘Mythology Wars’ I get to co-write with him and that way he’s forced to use my ideas.

Jim: I have also heard that you are very serious about getting the right artist. Have you been conducting try outs or how have you been determining who is the right artist for this job?
William: I couldn’t convince Chris that I should do all the drawing – he said my stick figures were nice but the rest had to go. I said if he didn’t like the hearts and arrows he couldn’t use anything… so we looked at pages and pages of artists work and found some terrific individuals… I’m still planning on my stick figures appearing as a special bonus feature.

Jim: An artist is a big part of a comic as it is a visual medium first, what style are you looking for, realism, super hero, impressionistic, dark, animation?
William: To be honest… I’m never quite sure what I’m looking for! It just jumps off the page somehow and hits you square between the
Eyeballs and you know that’s the artist for the story. The two books are drawn entirely different from one another but each makes me feel something when I look at the pages. Maybe I won’t include my stick figures after all.

Jim: What has been the hardest thing to do so far in trying to start you own comic book company?
William: Chris is very controlling and has a loud whinny voice! If he doesn’t get his way it’s painful.

Jim: Based on some brief biographical information I have read on you, we are about the same age. I have always been into comic books and owned a store for four years in the early nineties. Has this art form always been of interest to you or are you new to the field?
William: I have great memories of racing my buddy Jimmy $#%^*# ( better not use his real last name he’s an attorney now and he scares me ) But I’d beat him to Burwood pharmacy in Sherman Oaks a mile or so away and hog the new issues of Superman and Green Lantern.

Jim: Back to Mythology Wars, do you have a target date to get issue #1 out?
William: ‘Mythology Wars’ is scheduled for release next summer. We would have released it sooner but the artist locked away in Chris’s cellar stopped drawing until we promised to trade out the black light for an incandescent table lamp and give him Sundays off to watch the Box set of ‘Greatest American Hero’. That reminds me… I should bring him down his Taco Bell soon.

Jim: Chris says you were Perry Mason’s (Raymond Burr) boy toy. True or false?
William: See… now the thing is… ya have to know that my partner Chris has issues… okay… it’s all through the book of ‘Sparks’ if you read between the lines. Chris is a sick man!

Jim: Being the “Greatest American Hero” has to be a double edged sword. One a certain generation identifies you with that character and therefore probably projects the characters traits onto you. What is the biggest plus from this fame and what is the biggest negative?
William: The biggest plus is that I got to wear the red tights! The biggest negative is that they sagged in the crotch!

Jim: If you could be a tree what type of tree would you be?
William: The tree of knowledge.

Jim: What else are you involved in currently?
William: Right now I’m doing an episode of ‘Heroes’. Only one episode and they have the nerve to kill me off. Maybe you can launch a letter writing campaign to keep me on the show. Yeah… you could do a raffle or something!

Jim: What do you hope to accomplish with Catastrophic Comics?
William: World domination of course!

Jim: Why publish on your own as opposed to going to Image or pitch it to another company?
William: Why do something the easy way? Half a brain… remember!

William was a great sport and I want to thank him again for answering our questions and having fun with it. Of course I want to see Mythology Wars now and then want the "director's cut" with Bill's stick figures.

Sparks #1 - A Review

CATASTROPHIC COMICS

Sparks #1 by Christopher Folino & JM Ringuet



Summary: A film noir story about a man who will do anything to be the super hero of his dreams.

The Story:
Lee: Talk about grim and gritty. WOW! This is as grim and gritty as I have seen in a long time. This was advertised as Superhero Noir and that is certainly and apt description. Overall it was very well done. The story in a nutshell is superheroes without powers or the ordinary man wearing a costume and protecting the innocent. The opening in typical noir with the bloody hero telling his tale to a tape recorder but that’s perfect! The story moves quickly and gives us enough detail to make the main character interesting and leaves enough out to fill back story later. It also did a good job with the cliffhanger ending.
Jim: I loved the beginning; it is a direct lift (homage) of an old movie D.O.A. The first version was 1950 and the second was 1988 (I looked it up). The guy walks into a police station and asks for help for someone the find his murderer. It was done perfectly here and gave us the lead in to “Sparks” story. The setting is in 1948, which helps the “noir” quality of the book”.

The origin is a mix of a classic tragic beginning as Sparks is in the back seat of his parents’ car when a police chase pushes them into the path of an oncoming train. Mom and Dad are killed and a strange substance hits our hero. We have not seen any powers from this in issues #1, but still it was classic and horrific. At his parents’ greave site as he is narrating his story the quote of the book is “I believe it was fate to become a super and to save others, proof right there I was a moron at an early age.” He then goes on to become a local hero (think Kick-Ass, but this was being done long before that book and does not dwell on that period) and is successful.

He then moves to the big city, meets a female super and they are a couple. The ending was terrific as you want to get to the next page as they are exploring a mystery as to what is going on inside of this building. What was so well done is they dropped all narration and dialogue so the pace was increased since you only needed to look at the pictures. At the end of issue #1, you have to get issue #2.

The Art:
Lee: The art was really good. It has a hard angular edge that reminds me of older Eric Canete. There were a couple of “contortionist” moments and some generally looonnng bodies where the figure work broke down but for the most part it held up and conveyed the story. When it comes to anatomy, I feel that if it’s the same disproportion or wonky anatomy throughout, it’s ok but when it’s grossly inconsistent between pages then there’s trouble. For example, Basil Wolverton has “interesting” anatomy but it was always the same “interesting “anatomy”. Honestly, I enjoyed that the “errors” were consistent too.
Jim: I agree the art is well done. There was one contortionist move by “Lady” in one panel that had me scratching my head, but otherwise the art was well done. The level of detail in the backgrounds was another huge plus for me. Especially since the setting is in a city.

Lee: The panel composition was nice too. Ringuet certainly isn’t afraid of panels, that’s for sure. There’s some splash pages but for the most part each page has anywhere from 3-10 panels. And, they all worked pretty well. Its obvious Ringuet put lots of effort and thought into the layout and we readers were rewarded by it.
Jim: The design of the book was very good. Each page lead into the next and splash panels worked to add dramatic effect when the story called for it. An excellent marriage and story and art.

Lee: Finally, the colors were fantastic. Except for a few cheerful moments, it’s always dark and always morbid. The colors convey the atmosphere without making the art muddy. It’s a fine line that Ultimates couldn’t achieve but is perfectly done here. It reminded me of the movie Seven in which, until the last scene in the movie, it always rained.
Jim: With the technology and printing capabilities we have today if you are going to have color it has to be done right. A bad coloring job can kill a book and a good one can make it even better. This book did the later and the colors really worked well.

Overall:
Lee:I would go A-. It’s a very strong start and much better than I expected. I’m looking forward to reading more.
Jim: I was the one who was worried about this comic as they used the producer’s past history with “Greatest American Hero” as an advertising point. It was scaring me off the book as that show was not something I enjoyed, but this book is excellent.
Grade A.