Owls of the Ironwork Isle #2

It’s been a while since the first issue of this one came out, so let’s review: We’re in a steampunk version of London, following the adventures of Lady Penelope Ayre, a leader of the Owls, a team of secret agents dedicated to protecting the city from all possible threats. Queen Victoria plans to levitate the city with the miraculous aetheric generator, and shadowy forces have taken the announcement as an excuse to attack, and Penelope’s adoptive mother is killed and framed as a conspirator. From that point on, it’s an all-out battle/chase scene between the Owls and the many high-ranking soldiers and officials who are attempting to take control of the city.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Mad props to writer Stephen Phillips and especially to Lubbock’s Will Terrell, who provides the fantastic black-and-white art. This is full of high-energy action, suspense, and drama, fun dialogue, and extremely charismatic artwork. I hope y’all are able to pick this one up.

X-Men #5

Arrgh, crossovers! The bane of a comic fan’s existence! This is part of the “Battle of the Atom” crossover, where the time-traveling X-Men of the past meet the X-Men of the present and then run headlong into the X-Men of the future. Arrgh, time-travel crossovers! The other bane of a comic fan’s existence!

So the future X-Men, who include monster versions of Beast and Iceman, much older versions of Kitty Pryde, Jean Grey, and Deadpool, Charles Xavier’s grandson, and an all-grown-up Molly Hayes, say that the time-traveling original X-Men are going to wreck the future unless they return to the past. And most of the X-Men have basically decided the younger X-Men shouldn’t be in the present anyway — but original Jean Grey and Cyclops decide they don’t wanna go, so they steal the Blackbird and go on the run. Pretty much the whole issue is chasing Scott and Jean around.

Verdict: Thumbs down. Arrgh, crossovers! So destructive to fun comics!

Batman: Li’l Gotham #6

This issue focuses on both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Damian and Colin hang out, make fun of the old Robin costumes, and then go out to fight crime together, with Colin stealing a spare Bat-costume and using his muscle-growing powers to impersonate the Dark Knight. Later, Colin takes flowers to the nuns who raised him, and Damian gets to spend quality time with both Batman and Talia. In the second story, Commissioner Gordon and Barbara Gordon go out for a Father’s Day dinner, but have to share a table with Ra’s al Ghul and Talia, which makes for a pretty tense meal. The rest of the Bat-family, meanwhile, tries to make dinner for Alfred, which makes for a pretty tense kitchen…

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s adorable and funny — and it’s set in the pre-reboot universe, so it’s something all sensible comics fans can enjoy.

Today’s Cool Links:

• More commentary on the ongoing trainwreck at DC Comics.
• Seriously, Bob Kane really was the worst.
• The headline says it all: The world’s largest walking robot is a fire-breathing dragon.

Owls of the Ironwork Isle #1

Lubbock’s Will Terrell provides the art for this new comic miniseries from Antarctic Press, while Stephen Phillips handles the writing chores.

The story is set in a steampunk version of London and focuses on Lady Penelope Ayre, a leader of the Owls, a covert team of guardians, super-spies, and thieves dedicated to protecting the city from all possible threats. For all her responsibility, however, Penelope would very much like the occasional opportunity to enjoy the privileges of high society — but she’s usually required to fulfill her duties to London, the aristocracy, and the Owls. But tonight, Queen Victoria is announcing that new technologies will allow the cream of London society to take up a permanent place above the underclass — namely, as a floating city over everyone else. But a deeply inconvenient murder and a conspiracy in high places has the potential to bring everything crashing to earth.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The story is plenty of fun. The action is nice, and the dialogue is pretty good, too. Loved the characterization, as well — we had quite a few different characters, and they all spoke with their own unique voices. And if y’all are familiar with Will’s art (and for cryin’ out loud, you ought to be), you’ll find the artwork here plays straight into some of his strengths — excellent character design and caricature, strong cartooning, wonderfully expressive facial expressions, great storytelling and action flow. Let’s just put it down here — I loved this — and I’m not often a person with much affinity for steampunk — and you ought to try to pick it up.

Captain Marvel #11

Yet another issue of this comic that suckers you in with beautiful cover art, then stabs you in the back with horrifically bad interior art, courtesy of Filipe Andrade, who apparently has some really amazing blackmail photos of Marvel execs.

So Carol Danvers isn’t allowed to fly because she’s got some sort of bizarre mass in her brain that reacts to her flight powers by moving deeper into her brain and putting herself at risk of a brain hemorrhage — which she’d be able to survive, but without any of her memories or personality. Private eye Dakota North gets her a flying motorcycle and helps her bust up some bad guys, but Carol knows that the mysterious new Deathbird is stalking her… and her friends. How can Captain Marvel stop a flying villain when she’s not allowed to fly?

Verdict: I’m going to give it a thumbs up, because the writing and story are genuinely excellent. But the artwork — man, I’m starting to get the impression that Marvel wants this comic to fail. People get unhappy when you bait-and-switch them with gorgeous covers and gruesome interior art, and a comic this good deserves great art both outside and inside.

Free is good, and free comic books are even better. And tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day.

Lubbock’s own Star Comics is once again participating in this year’s FCBD, so you’ll want to stop in on Saturday and pick up your loot.

Now remember “free comics” doesn’t mean “all comics are free.” You can’t walk in and get all your comics for free. The publishers create their own special FCBD comics just to hand out for Free Comic Book Day, and that’s all there is to it. Showing up and demanding a free copy of Action Comics #1 is just going to make you look silly.

This year, Star is giving out prepacks — bags of comics geared different age groups — in this case, adults, teens, and all-ages readers. The free stuff only lasts while supplies last, and since the store opens at 11, you should get there pretty early, or they’ll run out.

They’ll also have balloons, stickers, friendly faces, comics you can pay for (and you should pay for some, because all those FCBD comics actually cost the shops money, so help ’em offset the cash outflow a little. Besides, comics are awesome), and Will Terrell will be on hand, too — he’ll be selling books and prints, doing free sketches when you BUY some comics, and he’ll be doing a cartooning-for-kids demonstration from 2-3 p.m.

So remember — stop by Star Comics, 2014 34th Street in Lubbock, on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m. for Free Comic Book Day!

Hey! Ya seen the latest edition of the Avalanche-Journal’s GO! entertainment magazine? Here’s the cover, for those of you who don’t have access to the paper edition:

You may recognize the artistic style. Yes, that is by Will Terrell, founder of the Lubbock Sketch Club, creator of the “Super Zeroes” webcomic, and one of the organizers of this Saturday’s West Texas Comic Con!

You want more details? Let’s check in with the cover article, written by — why, I do declare, it was written by me!

YAY, ME!

Anyway, go read the article, show it to your friends, go get yerself a good costume, and show up for the West Texas Comic Con this Saturday! Do it or face my undying wrath!

And it looks like they’ve been adding more and more special guests as time goes by — I looked at the list just last night and found a few new ones, so here’s the latest roster of guests for the convention:

• Matt Sturges, who is one of DC’s go-to writers, working on everything from “Jack of Fables” to “Justice Society of America” to “Blue Beetle” to “Final Crisis Aftermath: Run!” to “House of Mystery.”
• Josh Howard, writer/artist of Dead@17.
• Paul Benjamin, who has written several “Marvel Adventures” titles and done writing/producing for computer games like “Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.”
• Dirk Strangely, who writes and illustrates creepy-crawly titles like “Darkened Bedtime Stories for Children” and “Agnes and the Flies. (I just love that title)
• Scott Zirkel, a writer for Viper Comics and Penny Farthing Press.
• Joel Watson, creator of the “Hijinks Ensue” webcomic. 
• Chris Nicholas, founder of the “Staple!” independent media expo in Austin.
• 7,000 BC!, which is the entirely awesome name for the sketch club out of Albuquerque.   (Artists and members from the Albuquerque based Sketch Group!)
• Twitchy Dolphin Flix, an independent film company out of Austin.
• The Abilene chapter of the 501st Legion, an international organization of “Star Wars” cosplayers. I have no idea if they’ll be allowed to compete in the costume contest, but you better bring your best costume, just in case.

So anyway, go read my article (Yeah, I do think I need to link that again), gasp over how impossibly awesome it is, and make your plans to be at the West Texas Comic Con tomorrow!

I’ve been anxiously awaiting Will Terrell’s “SuperZeroes” webcomic since before the last Comic Book Expo in May. Back then, it was going to be a regular comic book, and Will put out a preview during the Expo. I liked what I saw then and have been eagerly waiting for its grand debut since I read the preview.
 
Looks like the wait is over.
 
There’s not a lot of backstory you’ll have to learn yet, but it looks like our main characters are a bunch of Texas high school outcasts — lanky class clown Johnny Hopkins, rotund moper Bob Krumple, sarcastic goth-girl Rosina “Muertina” Mantano, and spacey California surfergirl Elysium M. Fields. Oh, and Potato, a very lazy bulldog.
 
Will describes the set-up this way: 

“A romantic-superpowers-adventure-comedy about growing up strange in an average world.  It’s a story in the style of ‘Amelie’ meets ‘The Breakfast Club’ with a quirky imagination and a predilection for spinning stereotype on its ear.”

Four lovable high school losers are drawn together as they discover they each possess strange powers that allow them to take slacking to SUPER ZERO proportions.  With incredible, limitless powers, teenage angst and no common sense, there is no end to the adventures in store.

Go check it out, and get it added to your own bookmarks.

Another Lubbock comic convention? Heck, yeah!

The West Texas Comic Con is happening on Saturday, November 7th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the main exhibit hall in the Lubbock Science Spectrum at 2579 S. Loop 289, Ste 250. There will be panels and presentations, vendors, artists, comics, costumed folks, and more fun than you can shake a stick at without getting investigated by the Lubbock PD.

Admission fees are cheaper’n dirt, too. Adults pay $4. Kids 12 and under pay $2. Toddlers get in free. And people who come in costume get in free! So keep your Halloween costume for an extra week so you can use it to get into the Comic Con, alright?

“Aww, come on, man! A Saturday in November?! I gotta go tailgating!” No, actually, November 7 is a bye week for Tech! Ain’t no football — so come on down!

Numerous presentations are planned, including a writers workshop, at least one humorous fan panel on “How to Read Comics,” a game show, and of course, the ever-popular costume contest, starting around 1 p.m.

And listen up — this year, there are going to be special guests.

The featured guest: Matt Sturges, writer of “Jack of Fables” and “Justice Society of America.” He’s also worked on “Blue Beetle,” “House of Mystery,” “Shadowpact,” and “Final Crisis Aftermath: Run!” Matt lives in Austin, believe it or not! He’ll be participating in the writers panel and a Q&A session.

Will Terrell will be there, of course. He’s the Lubbock artist who’s worked on “Disney’s Gargoyles” and “The Goblin Chronicles,” as well as helping found the Lubbock Sketch Club. And he designed the convention logo at the top of this post! He’ll be helping out on the writers panel and probably almost everything else. His current big project is the webcomic “Super Zeroes.”

And a guy named Dirk Strangely will be there, too. Dirk does extremely creepy (and often, very funny) illustrations and has written a couple of nicely morbid children’s books. I spent a lot of last night clicking through his gallery on his site, and I’m entirely loving his stuff. I’m really looking forward to meeting him.

So go ahead and make your plans for the West Texas Comic Con — Nov. 7, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Science Spectrum! Be there or I’ll whup ya with sticks!

It’s past time for another entry in our semi-regular series on current and former Lubbockites who’ve worked in comics, cartooning, and animation. We’ve already taken a look at Dirk West, Alex Ross, and Jim Smith — and since we’re getting closer and closer to the Lubbock Comic Book Expo on May 2, let’s take a look at someone who’s currently living in Lubbock: Will Terrell.

Terrell is a comic book artist/writer and a teacher living in Lubbock.  He was the founder of the Lubbock Sketch Club and has worked as a professional comic book artist for several years.  His professional credits include colorist on Disney’s “Gargoyles” comic book series from Slave Labor graphics and “The Goblin Chronicles” from Ape Entertainment and Archon Comics.

Will got his start in comic books publishing mini-comics through his small-press company “Lucid Comics” from 1997-2003 and now works primarily as a freelance illustrator and creator. And don’t forget you can check out his website for more of his artwork.

And he’s got a new comic he’s hoping to debut for this year’s Expo! “SuperZeroes” is, as Will describes it, a “romantic-superpowers-adventure-comedy about growing up strange in an average world.” It’s about four high school pals from West Texas who discover that they have strange powers, and how that complicates their lives.

There will be a lot more West Texas and Lubbock artists at the Expo, and a ton of them, like Will, are going to have tables to sell some comics and draw some sketches. You should make plans to stop over at the Lubbock Civic Center on Saturday, May 2, to say hi.

I completely forgot that the Lubbock Sketch Club was going to get featured in yesterday’s GO! section of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, and by the time I remembered, I was a few miles away from a working computer. So here’s some belated linkage — if you haven’t read the article yet, go read it now.

And dig the cover up there — it was drawn by Sketch Club head honcho Will Terrell. Excellent cartooning and caricature work there — I wonder how many of those folks sprang completely from Will’s imagination and how many are caricatures of real people…?

 

The Goblin Chronicles #3

The final issue of this miniseries is out, with colors again ably provided by Will Terrell, Chief Hierophant of the Lubbock Sketch Club. Gorim the goblin, Zara the troll, Sprig the shapeshifter, and Gween the elf finally encounter the oracle and ask him how to defeat the Dark Queen, but his answer is pretty nonspecific. The group is ambushed by a trio of swamp monsters and forced to surrender to the Dark Queen, but the Four Realms have put aside their differences and are marching to battle against the Queen’s forces. The Queen casts a spell to start all the various races fighting each other, but the quartet of young adventurers manages to escape from the dungeon and free some of the leaders of the Four Realms. The leaders persuade their followers to turn their attentions back on the Dark Queen. Desperate for some way to stop the heroes, the Queen begins to summon the Host, a horde of demonic imps who can destroy everyone who opposes the Queen. Can Gorim, Zara, Sprig, and Gween stop the Dark Queen before it’s too late?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A charming and fun end to the series, with promises of more possibly on the horizon.

And speaking of the Lubbock Sketch Club, the First Friday Art Trail hits this Friday, August 1, and the Sketch Club’s artists are going to be featured at an art show at the Lubbock Garden and Arts Center at 44th and University. Remember, the Art Trail runs from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, and many of the artists from the Sketch Club will be displaying their works, including comics, prints, and sketches, at tables at the Garden and Arts Center. And their works will be on display throughout the month of August, too — some of them will even be for sale. So if you’re not able to make it out for the Art Trail on Friday, you’ll still have a chance to stop by and see their artwork.

And as long as we’re talking about Sketch Club events, don’t forget the Lubbock Comic Book Workshop on August 9th! It’s going to be a great resource for any aspiring comic artists who want to learn how to improve their artwork!

Picked up a couple comics featuring work by Lubbock-based creators. Let’s give ’em a once-over, oy?

 

The Goblin Chronicles #2

This one features coloring work by Lubbock Sketch Club poobah Will Terrell. Our story focuses on youthful fantasy heroes Gorim, Zara, Sprig, and Gween as they try to avoid the Dark Queen’s troops, fulfill a wizard’s quests, and free some slaves. But the more they succeed, the more the Dark Queen will try to capture them all.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Still good fun. You almost feel sorry for the Dark Queen’s soldiers — they really don’t stand a chance the whole time…

 

The Idea #1

This comic is illustrated by local artist Luis Estrada. It follows a young writer named Johnson Doyle who has paralyzing writer’s block. When he attempts to break the block through meditation, he discovers that he can take a mostly immaterial form and is able to change into anything that anyone else thinks of — specifically, when he overhears a father reading a bedtime story to his son, Johnson ends up becoming the dragon in the story. Can he escape from the angry crowd pursuing him, or is his path to enlightenment going to be cut short?

Verdict: Thumbs up. The story is plenty cool, and the artwork is really interesting and expressive. I think it even gets more expressive when Johnson takes his mostly-featureless “Idea” form, but as we’ve noted before, good cartooning becomes more universal as it becomes simpler and less complex. At any rate, it’s definitely worth picking up.