Klarion #4 (Comic Review #3)

Blotchy crimson spots and vermilion stains like gathered rust condense and mottle autumn leaves of whispering gold, strangling the bright, shimmering promises of winter yet to come.

Like a virus the red spreads.

Contaminating and churning, the infesting rash envelopes each leaf fresh from the still of an endless summer in an agonizing grip of blood-freezing ice and a fierce fire of angry colors; the bloody christening of the seasons as they march toward the endless tomorrow.

As the nights grow cold and the days they shorten, the dark reaches for us, for our sanity, our security, our comfort. As lights flicker and shadows crawl, our imagination steals to places of unholy beasts and horror grandeur. We become lost in fear itself and we tremble. We stumble. We fall. The darkness...it takes us.

 Behold, October is upon us.

Welcome to my blog.

Here at www.kdvan.blogspot.com, I like to start the week off with a lengthy bargain bin comic book review. All comic book stores seem to have at least a few boxes dedicated to cheap comic book rejects. Whether these are little known indie comics, one-shots that didn't stand up to the test of time, familiar faces in embarrassing crossovers, or forgotten heroes who've simply been passed over one too often, there's always the opportunity for the occasional dumpster dive to reveal a treasure among the trash. Its time to give this week's book a read, a review, and a rating so you can either add this steal to your reading list, or know to pass over a mounting catastrophe.

Before you all get all feisty from the lack of comic reviews the last couple of weeks, cool it. They will continue to be published on Mondays as previously established. As an individual of uncannily average work ethic and skill, I can only do so much within a single given day. Its quite something to juggle my art career, work opportunities, school, and an ongoing internet personality while constantly marketing myself and my work and all that nonsense while still managing to do normal human things like spending time with friends, family, and myself and just living and enjoying life in general. 

Anyhow, as my introduction so eloquently explained, it is mid-October, and preparations for Halloween are in full swing. In honor of the change of seasons, this month I'll be bringing you three horrifying October themed comic book reviews, undoubtedly sure to bring a trembling to your spine and keep you up late into the night.

So without further ado, I bring to you the first of 3 weeks of October themed comic book reviews! 

Quick Specs:

Title:  Klarion the Witchboy

Issue: #4 out of 4

Publisher: DC

Publication date:  December 2005

Staff:

Writer:  Grant Morrison

Artist:  Frazer Irving

Letterer:  Pat Brosseau

Associate Editor: Michael Siglain

Editor: Peter Tomasi

Are you possibly as intrigued as I am? Excited to get this review underway? Then let's get to it! My younger sister Jessica lent me this little gem that she picked up for $0.50 at an awesome little hole in the wall comic shop in Eugene. As for the store, If you didn't know it was there, you'd probably miss it. As far as the comic book goes, plenty of people probably avoided making eye contact and purposely passed it over (for shame!). Being a huge fan of all things horror and the occult, I knew she would have something great to kick off a month of terrifying halloween inspired  comic books, and Klarion was just what I was looking for.

Now, take a moment to get a good long look at this cover. No, seriously. A mob of pale-skinned vampire-esque puritans seem to be burning an androgynous child and Hermione's cat Crookshanks at the stake. Flames engulf the whole bottom portion of the comic book cover, as well as the top of his left shoe. Huh. The atmosphere of the scene definitely translates as "witchhunt," but there don't appear to be any witches in sight...Just a poor boy with the same unfortunate hair cut as that guy from Flock of Seagulls. In fact, the whole witch idea is so indefinitely burned into our minds to be associated with females, that I first assumed he was a girl--until I flipped past the comic cover that is. The structure of his face and features strongly suggests otherwise.

I imagine that that haircut is supposed to be reminiscent of horns, but seriously. Look at the similarity here. And you thought that the witch burning part was what was going to give you nightmares.

The title of the book introduces to us the main character of our story, our dashing dimwit of a child, Klarion the witchboy (I believe the appropriate term is warlock, or perhaps, even better, wizard. A childhood spent reading Harry Potter taught me that much). As his fellow witch people (appaently they're all witches) begin to burn him, he yells for his mother, claiming that they don't understand what they're doing and that all are in grave peril--their little fire-burn-a-witchboy-palooza is interrupted by the same digging machine that either flattened the grey jinjo house in Banjo tooie or was Shredder's preferred sewer digging vehicle in TMNT, which proceeds to emerge from beneath the ground leaving the townspeople in an uproar of fear, disbelief, and utter shock. A man aboard the machine claims to be the genetic ancestor of these dilapidated people, and says he has returned to claim the legacy that's rightfully his. The witches release Klarion, and all out war breaks loose between the witch people and these strange new technology savvy immigrants and their untouchable war machines.

The bare bones of this story wasn't really much to sneeze at--nothing we haven't heard before--even the bits that happened in the previous 3 issues weren't exactly novel concepts, as far as my understanding goes. Now, that being said, there were several sharp turns in this story that as a reader, I not only didn't see coming but accepted with warm arms; their indefinite intrigue a vital pulsing organ to the body of the overall story. My absolute favorite bit occurred just after the drill vehicle from hell arrives. Realizing the painful truth in his warning, the witches release Klarion, and his mother orders him to ring the nine ceremonial bells. "Nine bells of welcoming?" the mysterious adverse man who appears to have just stepped off the set of SAW asks. "No," Klarion's mother replies. "Nine to ring our dead back from the fields." And I kid you not, a hoard of zombies shamble through the down pouring rain towards the intrusive burrowers. And that, my friends, is how you tell a story.

In complete honesty, I feel like the cover art for this particular comic book entirely undersells the artwork of this book as a whole. I'm not even sure that the provided scans in this post do justice to the images as you experience them while actually reading the book. I didn't feel necessarily attached to the art style going in, undoubtedly because I was judging this book by its cover (as we're often told as children and young adults and forever constantly judging beings to never do). Something about this art style was both highly attractive and yet completely repulsive; often times I simultaneously felt like I wanted  to look away but at the same time simply couldn't. The Image below shows a panel where Klarion and his demon cat  join together as one sentient being to fight the onslaught of attackers. The overall effect is absolutely stunning. The image is extremely stylized but gorgeous nonetheless. Bizarre? yes. Disturbing? Quite. Completely Awesome? You bethcha.

So what was it that made Klarion stand out to me as a comic book? 

The story and plot was decent, well-paced, and fairly easy to follow despite odd supporting details and bizarre twists in events. I absolutely adored the art style. There were some character design choices I questioned, and it wasn't perhaps my all-time favorite art style, but the pictures were fluent and graceful; action sequences powerful, perspective employed to an effective degree. The cat demon beast? Fantastic. And the colors coordinated with the theme of the story and overall atmosphere. This comic was a basic but effective example of how pictures should not simply aid the words but tell a story of their own; both panels and words should pull equal weight of the storytelling load in a well-balanced illustrated story.

Now, let the negativity commence.

Klarion's hair was a bit to be desired. And I'm certain that's understating it. His hairdresser ought to be fired, but despite his sinful style choices and personal preference, his haircut seems to not impede the actual story in any significant way. I didn't care much for his personality either, as he seemed sort of hollow and generic as a character, especially considering he was the main character. And not in a clever, Holden Caulfield sort of way. Another thing that deeply bothered me was that little was said about the main villain or adversary, and I wasn't quite sure why he was considered threatening as far as designs go. Slanting eyebrows on any character type doesn't necessarily make them a villain, but then again, perhaps the artist was trying to distract from the fact that he looks more than a little like Jigsaw.

As a final thought, I'd like to share this little tidbit with you: Clarion is a type of loud and resounding horn; also defined as clear and loud. Also, I forgot everything memorable in this comic book once I flipped past the last page and saw the full page Fable advertisement there, and had the sudden urge to play RPG games.

Story: 3 stars
art: 5 stars
Theme: 3 stars
Characters: 3 stars
Presentation: 5 stars

Overall: 4 out of 5 star performance

This was actually a surprisingly good read. No, really. It wasn't half bad. After doing a tad of research, Klarion turns out to be a four part mini-series introducing the origin story of the character before his appearance in Seven Soldiers (whatever that is). I don't know the specifics, as I haven't read the rest of the series or this other one, but if you have, feel free to comment and tell me what you thought of this book and what role his character plays in this other series.

I recommend purchasing the whole 4 issue set if you're tempted to buy any at all: a whole $2.00. Better empty your pockets, or search beneath the cushions for some loose change.


Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt

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Caravan Kidd #3 (Comic Review #2)

Here at www.kdvan.blogspot.com, Mondays mean one thing: bargain bin comic book reviews! All comic book stores seem to have at least a few boxes dedicated to cheap comic book rejects. Whether these are little known indie comics, one-shots that didn't stand up to the test of time, familiar faces in embarrassing crossovers, or forgotten heroes who've simply been passed over one too many times, there's always the opportunity for the occasional dumpster dive to reveal a treasure among the trash. Its time to give this week's book a read, a review, and a rating so you can either add this steal to your reading list, or know to pass over a mounting catastrophe.

Quick Specs:

Title: Caravan Kidd

Issue: Part 1, #3

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Publication Date: September, 1992

Staff:

Story and Art: Johji Manabe

Translations: Dana Lewis, Toren Smith

Lettering and Touch-Up: Wayne Truman

Edited by: Chris Warner, John Weeks

Alright, so for today's bargain bin comic book review, we'll be taking a closer look at an early issue of Caravan Kidd. Issue #3 to be exact. I picked this up at a comic book store in a neighboring town, quite literally from an actual bargain bin, so it's bound to be filled with cheap thrills.

To kick things off, let me take the liberty of saying that before today's reading, I was not familiar with this comic book series at all. Not in the slightest. Typically what I see sold for close to nothing are not-so-super-hero comics and one-shot indie forgottens. Manga in general is a bit rarer to find as it's considered widely popular to many. I used to be quite the manga authority, but had never once heard of this book before now. 

As it turns out, my ignorance was a blessing in disguise.

Judging by the cover art, this book is chock full of stereotypical manga style artwork. Look at this chick's eyes--they're huge. Unruly, unnaturally colored unisex hairstyle? Check. And her outfit? Skimpy. Perfect. Looks like we've got a classic 90's manga on our hands. If it weren't for her eyelashes and the sliver of cleavage,  I would've mistaken her for a man...Yikes. The art in itself however is crisp, clean, and the colors are extremely fresh and vivid. Classic copic marker style coloring technique seems to have been used to great effect. Next time though, I'd like to see a few more lines describing the texture of her hair, and less highlights in the fabric covering her crotch. Could you do that for me, Manabe?

Let's get right into our synopsis here. Wataru seems to be a normal kid.. Err, pre-teen? Tween? 17 year old? Twenty something or other...? It's hard to tell with this art style, so let's just assume Wataru's just our average 12-22 year old nomadic guy travelling with his alien companion. Him and his alien friend, "Babo," are forcibly accompanied by a strange, headstrong part woman/part animal anime girl named "Mian" who possesses unknown strength, a mysterious past, and borderline risque costume attire. After Babo lashes out at Wataru for something that occurred in the previous issue, he storms out to literally "take a dump" outside his and Wataru's camp (a tiny tent in the middle of nowhere). Here, Babo runs into hundreds of armored soldiers while doing his business as well as dozens of military vehicles, an air ship, and a massive armed battle ship.The issue goes out with a bang when this mysterious woman manages to somehow take out the entire battle ship and unnamed military armada without the use of a single weapon and is then professed by the defeated general to be a "breaker," intent and capable of bringing down the very mechanism and workings of civilization as they know it.

Are you ready? Are you sure? Alright, let's do it.

So, before we start trashing the story line, dialogue and plot, we've got to take two things into account. The first thing is this: This story has been translated from its original language and form. The intention of the author was left in tact as much as was appropriate for American audiences I'm sure, but in the overall scheme of things, it makes no sense to nit pick and grumble over minor details that aren't the writer's fault (At the very least we must blame those who edited the story). Now the second thing to consider will be a bit of a shock to some of you: once you look past the obvious character stereotypes, poorly carried over dialogue translations, and pace-less mess of nonstop nonsense events, you'll realize the actual story and concept itself isn't half bad. The story is oh-so-anime, but there were details added to the plot that, while limited, that provided the necessary interest level to keep the reader turning the pages. For example, the general making a brief rference to his knowledge of exactly who Mian was and more importantly what she was. More often than not, however, it seemed I was flipping back through the pages so I could accurately piece together what in the world was going on, as the story was quite difficult to follow.

The art, now, is a whole other sack of potatoes.

Yes, the artwork is extremely reminiscent of every other manga artist in the history of manga artists. That aside, some of the artwork is truly gorgeous to look at, especially the elaborate machines of mass weaponry, intricate explosions, extensive clouds of dust particles and explosive action sequences. The characters were clean and tolerable, but don't feel at home in their finely wrought world of gingerly clipped detail and solidly employed design principles. The whole feel of the atmosphere illustrated gave off a very "Akira Toriyama" vibe, and I was keenly aware that I felt as though I were reading a not as well written, watered down Sand Land knock off throughout the entire story.

First, let's talk about the positive aspects of this mish-mash of mediocre story-telling and fairly decent artwork.

I really loved the art style when it was used to depict the precise angles and technological detail of mechanical weaponry, armor, and machines. Thanks to the artist's attention to detail, there were panels where even the dirt looked exotic and exciting...Man, I really wish I had more reasons to like this book.

Now let's take a few moments to get into what really, really bothered me about this comic as a whole.

There was an abundance of unnecessary swearing in the character's dialogue. What I mean by unnecessary is that none of the curse words were used in a way that added any sort of depth or meaning to the situations presented in the story. They were hollow, empty. Words used simply for the sake of using them. The dialogue between characters sounded too generic. There wasn't any sort of chemistry between the characters in a way that made you care about them or their relationships to one another, or their relationship to you yourself as the reader. Wataru's alien sidekick Babo was certainly intended to be comic relief of sorts, but was instead nothing short of repulsive both visually and verbally. Also, for obvious reasons, the female character's outfit is ridiculous. Oh, and to complete the circle of silly traditional manga stereotypes? SERIES SPOILER ALERT: she's a robot. You're welcome.

Final Thoughts?

I've got to learn to read Japanese someday. I've got the feeling that the original translations in conjunction with ideas and concepts native to the culture they were influenced by probably make a lot more sense than what we end up with here. All in all, decent art, but poor story telling.

Story: 2 stars

Art: 3 stars

Theme: 2 stars

Characters: 1 star

Presentation: 2 stars

Overall: 2 out of 5 stars performance.

If you're interested in authentic manga, give it a glance, you might like it, but don't expect too much. If you're not really into the Japanese art style, I don't think this is the one that's going to win you over. Just go ahead and give it a pass. 

Interesting fact: if you look this manga up on wikipedia, there's literally nothing there but a 4 sentence synopsis of the entire series, a fragmented description of 4 characters, and a few unreliable references.

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt

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Wonder Woman #78 (Comic Review #1)

Are You Ready? 

Here at www.kdvan.blogspot.com, Mondays mean one thing: bargain bin comic book reviews! All comic book stores seem to have at least a few boxes dedicated to cheap comic book rejects. Whether these are little known indie comics, one-shots that didn't stand up to the test of time, familiar faces in embarrassing crossovers, or forgotten heroes who've simply been passed over one too many times, there's always the opportunity for the occasional dumpster dive to reveal a treasure among the trash. Its time to give this week's book a read, a review, and a rating so you can either add this steal to your reading list, or know to pass over a mounting catastrophe.

Quick Specs:
Title: Wonder Woman
Issue: #78
Publisher: DC
Publication Date: September, 1993

Staff:
Writer: William Messner-Loebs
Penciller: Lee Moder
Inkers: Ande Parks, Aaron McClellan
Colorist: Patricia Mulvihill
Letterer: John Costanza
Assistant: Ruben Diaz
Editor: Brian Augustyn

Cover Artist: Bolland

Today's pick is Wonder Woman Issue #78. I picked this up at a garage sale hosted by a comic book collector who was looking to downsize his admirably vast collection. When the type of collector who typically asks full retail for even the lamest of comic books labels boxes upon boxes of comics "5 for $1.00," you know there's something up. Naturally, I had no choice but to go digging, and this is but one of the many books I snagged that day.

Right off the bat, we've got a couple of things going on before we even open the book. We've got Wonder woman looking stoically towards a vanishing point beyond the reader's perspective, her rigid jaw framed by some sort of weapon crosshair. She appears to be looking right at her would-be assassin's face, but looks much less concerned than I would be in such a scenario, and in fact looks almost disgusted in a way. Now, notice Flash's expression? Completely at contrast with how Wonder Woman seems to be feeling. His comically over-the-top campy "O" of surprise is more than ridiculous, and awfully humorous in a bizarre, pity laugh sort of way. Over all, the cover art is clean, interesting, well-balanced. Excellent job rendering those angel hair spaghetti noodles, Bolland.

"The Fast Contract" may sound like a Vin Diesel racing film parody, but is in fact the comfortably paced story tucked between this comic book's covers. An unnamed man looks to hire a female assassin to kill Diana, Wonder Woman herself, who oddly enough is down on her luck and has little money and virtually no living space to speak of. While this assassin (code-named "Mayfly") follows Wonder Woman around stealthily and without Wonder Woman's knowledge, Diana worries over her friend Etta's weight and possible anorexia as they go wedding dress shopping. Things take a turn for the worse when Etta passes out from malnutrition, refuses to eat her salad, and Flash shows up just in time to not only eat the poor girl's meal but to take off his mask and be of no use whatsoever when Mayfly shows up and starts shooting up the place. No, really. That's essentially the whole comic.

Alright, let's break this down best we can.

The story's pacing is decent enough, if not a tad too slow, but the main conflict within the plot is so predictable and so overused that there is little to keep the reader interested. Even in 1993, I'm pretty darn sure the whole "unknown adversary hires a mysterious assassin of unpredictable powers to take out our hero" scenario--or in this case, the heroine--was way overused. The plot aside, the details don't entice me as a reader at all. Her friend's marriage arrangements and possibly aggressive eating disorder weren't presented in a way that made me care about the character's predicament. Now, you could argue that this was because I hadn't been reading the already ongoing series, or that its unfair to judge this book as a single story when it's merely a continuation. I understand that perspective, but it doesn't stand in my opinion. I have had experiences where I picked up comic books from in the middle of a story with no preconceived notions of what was going on and no expectations whatsoever and found myself so completely compelled that I went and found and read the entire rest of the mini-series.

The overall artwork (pencilling and colors), were good quality and satisfying. There were some costuming choices that I questioned, but that wasn't necessarily the penciller's choice nor their fault. There were a couple of panels where Wonder woman's friend Etta looked like a man, especially in the face, which didn't help the reader feel empathetic towards her life situation. There are ways to draw women with short hair and still maintain a feminine face shape and feminine features. As an artist, I understand that translating the same face multiple times into different panels while maintaining a certain amount of continuity can be challenging, but when you're getting paid to do it, you better be doing your absolute best. She better look more like a fashion-forward, business savvy couture model than Archie Andrews friend Jughead Jones, or you've got some serious issues that need immediate attention. Wonder woman often took up a massive amount of a panel's limited space, even when standing on the same level with her friend. Ideally, I think this was a decent approach towards conveying her size and height as compared to the average woman, but  was done too a slightly ineffective manner, resulting in wonder woman often looking as though she had large, brutish man-shoulders.

Let's think positive.

There were a few things I really liked about this comic book, even with it being the haphazard snore that it is. In one panel there's an image of wonder woman wearing her typical low-cut top and crimson boots, but they've been paired with a khaki jacket with cuffed sleeves and high-waisted denim jeans. To top it off, she's holding a broom in one hand. She actually looks sort of like an actual woman, almost a mother figure of sorts. And seriously, her outfit is to die for. The Flash's appearance in the story was a nice distraction from the serious, somewhat off the mark attempt of the writer's to tell a story conveying female conflicts and emotion. He was dorky, yes. Goofy, yes. But he was also the comic relief of the story.

Now, let's rip it apart.

The Mayfly character looked like a cross between Mega Man and Zonic, the dimension crossing space and time zone cop from the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series. Even though Flash's only super power is super speed, he wasn't fast enough to catch up with a woman who's special power was...Having an unlimited metabolic rate? Apparently Wonder Woman gets paid to be a part of the Justice League. I understand why one needs a salary, but why does she get one for being a superhero? Come on DC. Explain that one to me. Because it sounds like a cop-out way to explain how she has the money for the down payments on her invisible jet. Also, there was no spaghetti in the story. The cover artist simply escalated salad and turned it into Italian food to create some excitement. And I don't blame him.

Final thoughts? Why, yes, I do have some of those. I have read comic books that were much, much worse than this one. But just because its passable, doesn't make it good.

Story:  2 stars
Art : 3 stars
Theme: 2 stars
Characters: 2 stars
Presentation: 2 stars

Overall: 2 out of 5 Star Performance.

If you're a fan of Wonder Woman, of course you'll need to have this issue in your possession. Otherwise I'd pass it by and not look back. Well, maybe just once, if only to wonder for a moment why the spaghetti wasn't actually in the story.

Facebook: Krystal Dawn
Twitter: KrystalDawnArt

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