The Local Pocket #6 - Nevermorrow

I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview at the unfinished, let alone published, Never Morrow. Never Morrow is written and illustrated by Chris McQuinlan and self published through Kickstarter. There are still a few days left on the Kickstarter so if you hurry there is still time to pledge for your own copy for as little as $3.

Never Morrow begins with the crew of a spaceship waking up after time in cryosleep as their ship approaches a previously undiscovered planet. As the crew take their positions, the ship's landing gear fails causing it to crash land on this new uncharted planet. As the dust settles the only survivor is Professor Mannix and the ships A.I. Ozma. With few options Professor Mannix leaves the ship with Ozma and searches the plant for intelligent life that may be able to help. It doesn't take long for Professor Mannix to realise that something is very wrong on this peculiar planet.

The copy that I was given the chance to read did not have the completed art so I will be making my assessment of the art by the promotional material and panels already released. The design of the ship is very different from the standard sleek and streamline spaceship and has a boxier look, that I can only describe as a flying USB, and is a much more interesting design than the standard sleek "sports model" style space ships that is so common. The design of the Ozma drone is essentially just a floating camera with fins but is still adorable and somehow manages to give the little A.I. computer heaps of personality.

Never Morrow is focused entirely on professor Mannix who is full of a mixture of wonder and apprehension about the uncharted planet. As I was reading I originally found it very strange that Professor Mannix decided to leave the ship immediately after the crash landing, paying no attention to the bodies of the unfortunate crew. But as Mannix traverses the terrain the professor is struck with a sudden realisation that everyone else is dead and the only one left is the A.I. Ozma. After reading the moment where Mannix has the sudden realisation of the true gravity of the situation made me think that leaving the ship immediately and ignoring dead is similar to how a person in shock would react and gave Professor Mannix a huge amount of depth very quickly.

Professor Mannix

Being familiar with Chris' other work Never Morrow is very different from what I expected which is no way a criticism. I really enjoyed Never Morrow and I can't wait to see it all put together, polished and finished.

It is very difficult to give a rating to an unfinished comic so from what I've seen so far I give Never Morrow 4 out of 5 Ozma drones

Find out more about Never Morrow here and pledge on Kickstarter here.
See more of Chris McQuinlan's work here.

Big Trouble In Little China Volume #1

Big Trouble In Little China (BTILC) volume #1 contains issue 1-4 is written by Eric Powell & John Carpenter, art by Brian Churilla, colours by Michael Garland, letters by Ed Dukeshire and published by Boom! studios. Big Trouble In Little China was originally a John Carpenter movie staring Kurt Russell released in 1986 and it is one of those terribly cheesy so-bad-its-good kind of movies, seriously if you haven't seen it go watch it, right now, this is a blog you can come back anytime, I'll wait. I was so excited when Big Trouble In Little China was announced as a comic the first thing I did was sit down and watch the movie. Fortunately the first volume does not disappoint.

I would strongly recommend seeing the movie before reading the comic as it introduces all the characters and, as the comic picks up almost immediately after the movie ends, makes the story much easier to understand. The story begins with Jack Burton finding the monster from the final scene stowed away in his truck, the Pork Chop Express. Jack learns that this monster is now bound to him as he killed its last master Lo Pan and names him Pete. Jack decides he will figure out what to do with Pete later as he is heading back to China Town for the wedding of  his friends Wang and Mao Yin and to seek the advice of the wise Egg Shen. Jack arrives just in time for the ceremony before it is interrupted by the Wing Kong (the rival gang from the movie) and their current leader Qiang Wu, a servant of the movie villain  Lo Pan, who kidnaps Wang. Jack, Egg Shen and the monster Pete have to journey through the "midnight road", one of the many Chinese hells, to retrieve the souls of the three storms and return them to Qiang Wu in exchange for Wang's life.

The comic perfectly captures the personality of the good old Jack Burton as though he was pulled straight out of the movie and pasted onto the page. He is the same arrogant, goofy, naive, lovable idiot that he is in the movie and still constantly refers to himself in the third person. The comic gives a little more background into the character of Jack revealing pieces of his past giving the character more depth without taking away the lovable fool aspect. Egg Shen is still the wise mentor who seems to be the only one with any real idea of what is going on. All of the different characters they come across in hell are both bizarre and hilarious keeping with the light hearted tone of the comic.

The art has a very grungy look with almost a rushed unfinished look to it with a lot of backgrounds missing details or missing entirely with just colours and no detail at all. I wouldn't classify the art as bad by any means, I expected a little more detail.  Despite my criticisms on the lack of detail the art still is enjoyable and the characters are clearly recognisable as the actors from the movie. Although one thing that does annoy me is Jack's disappearing and reappearing facial hair this for me is a little similar to changing eye colour and bothers me more than it should.

Big Trouble In Little China keeps all the fun and silliness of the movie and tells a new and interesting chapter that fits perfectly with the existing story. If you liked the movie then you will love the comic and the wider world and story it provides.

I give Big Trouble In Little China 4 out of 5 Pete kisses

Find out more about Big Trouble In Little China here.

In The Local Pocket #7 - 5 Seconds

5 Seconds


5 Seconds is written by Sydney local Stephen Kok, illustrated by P.R. Dedelis, colours by Peyton Freeman and self published through Kickstarter. As a child I always wanted time travel powers, more than any other super power, but I wasn't greedy about it. I only wanted to be able to rewind or see into the future by about 10 seconds so I could change my answer to a question or change the outcome of an awkward situations. So when I read the concept for 5 seconds I was pretty interested, being able to see five seconds into the future could be an incredibly useful super power.

5 Seconds begins with our two main characters, Ellie and Jake, on the phone as Jake reveals his newly discovered talent, he can see five seconds into the future. Jake, rather adorkably, asks Ellie on a date so he can demonstrate his new found powers to her. During their coffee date Ellie tests Jake's new talent with a deck of cards discovering that he can see exactly five seconds into the future. Jake decides that the local casino may be the perfect place to test exactly how well his powers work despite Ellie's concerns of running into a "Joe Pesci" type character and possible repercussions from the casino. Unfortunately for Ellie and Jake they should have been more concerned about the criminal in a tough spot who overheard their conversation and thinks that perhaps he may also be able to cash in on Jake's new ability and follows them to the casino to see the proof for himself.

The three main characters are Ellie, Jake and Lucas the criminal. Ellie and Jake interact really well together as they explore Jake's newly discovered precognitive powers. Often character's in comics (and most stories in general) immediately accept unbelievable claims that are placed before them and its refreshing to see a character actually test their friend's power as Ellie does in 5 Seconds. After Jake proves his power Ellie plays the part of a great supportive friend. Lucas is in no way a good guy but he does actually have some motivation as to why he decides to go after Ellie and Jake as he is in a desperate situation and in trouble with even worse people. It's refreshing to see a bad guy written with more motivation than "is a bad guy" and makes the reader feel at least a little sorry for them or gives some explanation as to why they are doing the things they do.

5 Seconds incorporates a very interesting art style to show past, present and future explained in a foreword by Ellie and Jake. Sepia is used for past, regular colours for present and a whitewash kind of style for the future, this is a creative and practical way to easily tell the time periods apart including clearly showing a vision of the future that happens in the past that sounds like it would be complicated but with this system is easily understandable. The art of 5 Seconds is bright, colourful and seems to have a bit of an anime influence with clear facial expressions that are emotive and easy to read.

A lot of comics waste time with an origin story of the protagonist's powers but 5 Seconds has none of that and decides to just skip any reason for the powers and just cut straight to the story. Skipping a power origin actually works in this case but 5 Seconds is still an origin story as Jake learns to control and use his powers and I'm already excited for the sequel that has been confirmed and you can keep track of here.

I give 5 Seconds 3.5 Decks of cards

Find out more about 5 Seconds here.

DC Super Hero Girls #1

DC Super Hero Girls is written by Shea Fontana, art and letters by Yancey Labat, colours by Monica Kubina, and published by DC comics. I picked up DC Super Hero Girls #1 at Free Comic Book Day.  It came out of the "kids box" choices and honestly, don't kill me but I wanted to cut it up and make badges out of it because I thought the designs of the characters were so cute. I thought I should probably at least have a quick glance through before I started the chopping and was presently surprised by the quality of the comic, so much so that it has been saved from my badge maker..... For now.

Super Hero Girls takes place in a universe where both superheroes and villains attend Super Hero High. They train in superhero related classes such as sparring in Coach Wildcat's P.E. class, Super Suit class with Mr. Crazy Quilt, all overseen by Vice Principal Grodd and Principal Waller. The first issue follows Supergirl as she worries about finals and a problem that all high schoolers face, bullies. Supergirl begins to panic about her final examinations and runs away to her Uncle Johnathan and Aunt Martha's house and confides in them about her fears as they encourage her to head back to school. On her way back to school Supergirl is attacked by an unknown assailant who is also going after the other super hero girls.

Being for kids the characters are not exactly full of depth and personality, nor do I think we are going to be seeing things such as Harley Quinn's abusive backstory. That being said I feel sometimes it's appropriate to forgo things like this when the comic is aimed at children. The comic includes well known characters such as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy and some less known characters such as bumblebee and Katana. There are some fantastic little Easter eggs in the comic such as Comet Supergirl's horse in her Krypton flashback, Batgirl's personal computer is called Oracle, teachers being older heroes and villains such as Gorilla Grodd, Amanda Waller, Wildcat and Crazy Quilt and many well loved characters making appearances as background characters.

A huge and constantly debated issue in comics is its representation of women, especially in regards to unrealistic body shape and unnecessarily revealing costumes. Despite that, DC Super Hero Girls has done a fantastic job of making the characters and their costumes recognizable without having them over sexualised or inappropriate for children. The characters are made to look more like teenagers, without the ridiculous breasts or micro waists that plague their grown up counterparts. Their costumes are still clearly recognizable, but made not only more casual with things such as hoodies and sneakers but far less sexualised than their other series.

While DC Super Hero Girls is for children it is pretty enough and has enough Easter eggs to keep adults helping their children read it interested. It is a great starting point for children, especially little girls, to begin reading their first comic with well known and popular characters and as a bonus you can get dolls and action figures with these awesome kid friendly costumes.

I give DC Super Hero Girls #1 3 out of 5 super heroines.

Find out more about DC Superhero Girls here and order yourself a set of dolls here or at Target.

Monsters - A Frighteningly adorable anthology

Monsters is an anthology of short comics about monsters and the fears children have about them. All of the stories are written by creator Karen Beilharz with the illustrations done by 10 Australian artists (Well, 9 Australians and 1 American living down under). It features 11 short stories and is self published with the help of crowd funding website Pozible and if you hurry there is still time to pledge for your own copy to read for yourself or with your own little monsters.

As a child I was plagued by fears of the monster under the bed and in the closet (and just between you and me I was also 100% sure there was a monster living in the toilet) and I really could have used a book like Monsters to address these irrational yet incredibly common fear that so many children have. Most of the stories deal with the reasons why children might be afraid of monsters and does so in a child friendly yet sophisticated way. Many of the stories run with the idea that children are afraid of things they don't understand, with my personal favourite being the story Scared by Karen Beilharz with art by Nathan Seabolt. Scared involves a little boy finding a monster trapped in his attic during a thunderstorm. As the boy chastises the monster for constantly scaring him, the monster becomes upset and tells the boy he thought it was a game and the little boy enjoyed it. Both the boy and monster realise that they misunderstood the other and become friends.

Scared

One of the best things about any anthology is that you get a diverse sample of art from many different artist usually covering a wide range of styles. One of the art styles I find particularly interesting in Monsters comes from the story Hungry written and illustrated by Karen Beilharz which is drawn the way a child would draw with crayons. The people are stick figures and the monster, which I find especially cute, is just a purple swirl with pointy teeth in the middle. I've never seen a comic use such a minimalist style so effectively and I can really see children loving the art style of Hungry. Not all of the art styles are as unique as they appear in Hungry. Some of the stories lean towards a more traditional style. Those include The Dark, illustrated by Peter Fairfax, which has a similar feel to a classic fairy tale with solid dark colours set in a creepy twisted forest or Monstrous Part 2, illustrated by Jemima Trappel, which reminds me of the kind of illustrated children's book I remember reading as a child.

Hungry

Throughout the book are pictures of monsters drawn by the children of the writer and artists, along with short descriptions which can be used as a great way to encourage children to draw their own monsters. In my mind anything that encourages children's creativity is a fantastic idea.

I think the idea behind Monsters is brilliant in encouraging children to talk about their fears and to help them understand that things may not always be quite the way they seem. Teaching children that they may be frightened of some things simply because they don't understand them is incredibly important and is a lesson they can use all through life, and not just in regards to the monster under the bed.

Monstrous Part 2

Monsters is written specifically for children so there won't be a lot of reread value for adults but I can see children loving Monsters and being perfect for the nightly bedtime story.
I give Monsters 4 out of 5 squiggle monsters.

Find out more about Monsters here.

A Dream - Art within art

A Dream is written and self published by David Goei, which incorporates the works of two famous poets, illustrated and coloured by Serene Lau, song performed by (yes that's right, song) Jonathan Ong. I was originally drawn to A Dream because of the glorious cover, as I've mentioned many times before I just love anything colourful, especially watercolour, I honestly knew nothing else about it so I wasn't quite prepared to read A Dream.

A Dream begins with a young girl, Victoria, drifting off into a beautiful dream world. As she enjoys the colourful world around her she comes across a lost and exhausted mother ant who has become separated from her family. After hearing the ant's tale of woe they set off on an adventure across the dream world to find her family. On my first read through I didn't think that there was going to be much of a story behind in A Dream and that the entire thing was more of an excuse to create an art book with beautiful and fantastical imagery. I love anything whimsical so I didn't mind the lack of story but then, in a matter of a few pages I quickly changed my tune.

A Dream's first few panels are done in entirely blue and white but then the comic suddenly explodes with enough colour to make a rainbow look dull by comparison. Every page is a mixture of all the colour of a Disney movie with the design of a more traditional fairy tale and are an absolute delight to look at. With every read through of A Dream I notice something new, as small as a frog wearing a hat or kangaroos in the background. The little girl in the story is cute but still has the realistic look of a child which is nice to see rather than an angelic looking cherub with perfect hair and clothes. The artist perfectly captures the child's expressions ranging from joy, sadness and wonder and despite the complete lack of dialogue from the child allows the reader to easily interpret her mood.

A Dream is the first comic I've ever even heard of with an accompanying song; now don't get me wrong I know probably less than nothing about music but the beautifully haunting melody of A Dream's theme song perfectly compliments the story allowing the highs and lows to echo just a little bit deeper. A Dream is a beautiful comic with a surprising amount of depth. I'd recommend A Dream to long term comic readers and fans of poetry. 

I give A Dream 4 out of 5 ice-cream lizards.

Find out more about A Dream here and more about the author here.

Top 5 Lessons in comics

Comic book characters go through character development as much as any movie or book character and through this development these characters can set great examples and lessons that everybody can learn something from.

#5 Believe in yourself - Help Us Great Warrior!

I don't think we need to go further than when the Great Warrior says "Do you hear that? It's the sound of me believing in myself". The Great Warrior doesn't need other people to tell her she can succeed she knows she can succeed.

#4 It doesn't matter if people laugh at you - Aquaman the new 52

Aquaman is often laughed at and made fun of in both real life and the Marvel universe with many jokes referencing Aquaman's ability to talk to fish. despite being told he is nobody's favourite superhero and made fun of he still does his job as best he can and just ignores the haters.

#3 Leadership is difficult - A-Force

Being a leader doesn't mean you just get to tell people what to do, it means you have to solve problems, organize your team and sometimes do the hard jobs. In A-force #1 She-Hulk is forced to banish Miss America despite not agreeing with the decision. She-Hulk takes the brunt of the team's anger and betrayal with grace and dignity, despite not being ultimately responsible for the decision she takes responsibility for it because she is the leader.

#2 You can always learn something - Princess Ugg

Princess Ulga is a warrior princess from the mountains who decides to attend a school to teach princess' proper etiquette and behavior. Princess Ulga doesn't understand the point of learning to walk with a book on her head or proper tea drinking etiquette but she does know that this other way of life can teach her lessons that she couldn't possibly learn from her own culture.

#1 Taking responsibility for your actions - Captain America Civil War

During the Marvel Civil War event Captain America fights against the super hero registration act forcing superheros to register their secret identity with the gouvenrment. SPOILERS After an enormous fight with the pro registration heroes Captain America realizes that despite still believing in his cause it is coming at the cost of the civilians he wants to protect, so he peacefully surrenders. Captain America knows that despite his intentions he has made mistakes and must answer for them.