Too sick to speak and some reviews

No podcast this week because I caught a cold from a co-worker, which I was kind enough to pass on to Daphne So here I am writing a blog entry

First I would like to say thanks to everyone who’s been coming by the Oswald site and supporting it by voting for it on topwebcmics.com and if you’re not what are you waiting for go do it and come back

Last week was NYCC and it was a blast and the best thing I got to do was see some old friends, make a few new ones and hang out with Daphne Looking forward to doing next years show.

As an addition here are two pages from a book I put together a few years ago called the Art of Oswald.

One Upon a Time

There’s been a slew of TV shows that I’ve been watching and I’ve been enjoying most but the one I review here is the one that stands out the most to me because of the story behind it and its relation to Fables. Allegedly, I don’t know all of the details, I’m sure a google search, I’m too lazy to do right now, would reveal many facts about it. But what I think I know is that Fables was being shopped around as a TV show but all of the studios passed on it, but wherever they went they left Fable babies like this show and I think this Friday we’re going to see another one The Brother’s Grim.

Anyway I watched the first episode of this show and I kinda liked it and kinda didn’t. I know it’s a contradiction but I’m a conflicted person, what do you want, lol. What I see in this show is a slick production crew who knows how to create a fantastic modern world but knows nothing about doing a fantastical one or how to make it believable. What I think these creators and I mean the whole crew including the director and producers of this show are skilled at making contemporary world but not a fantasy one and because of that the fantasy elements in the show look a bit cheesy. There’s a reason Jim Henson used Brian Froud to establish the look of Labyrinth and Dark Crystal, or why Guillermo del Toro is highly sought after as a producer when directors are making fantasy films or ones that have those elements. It does take a certain type of artistry to bring that kind of world to life in a way that isn’t so much believable but not cheesy. This is a talented cast and crew and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with the story. I do wish they would have done Fables instead of this but in this case I’ll take what I can get, at least until I can’t take it anymore, we’ll see.

Ozma of OZ L. Frank Baum, Eric Shanower, and Skottie Young

I was really looking forward to this book because Disney had produced a movie loosely on this story. In this story Dorothy returns to Oz and along with her comes a talking chicken which Daphne feels is the star of the story. I have to agree the story is a great one and I loved comparing the differences between this story and the movie Disney produced. Skottie Young and Eric Shanower along with Marvel should be commended for bringing a master’s work to a new generation. I’m looking forward to the next one and I hope they eventually do all of the books

The New Teen Titans Games By Marv Wolfman and George Perez

Just to let everyone know when I was a kid this was one of the series that I most looked forward to month in and month out. This book took twenty plus years to come out and it’s finally here and what’s really cool is that it’s done in the setting of the eighties run. In this story the Titans are faced with a criminal mastermind who’s playing a deadly game with them and the lives of their friends. This was a good story but as always the star of the book is George Perez and his art. What I found cool is if you take a look at George’s work from the last few years and this work this book is lighter in detail because he was looking to match his older style, but it’s still awesome and very much worth checking out.

Farscape Red Sky at Morning By Rockne S. Obannon, Kieth R. Decandido, and Will Sliney

I loved this TV show and I still feel it’s one of the best sc-fi shows ever if not the best. So when this series started I was looking forward to it due to the fact that the show creator Rockne S. Obannon was heavily involved. So because of that the writing is actually good and feels much like the TV show. The only place it falters is in the art and that’s been a complaint of mine since the beginning of this comic series. Someone at Boom is stuck on a realistic look for these books. I don’t have a problem with that normally but in this case the artists they’ve been employing are just not the best or even close to being good at this type of style. Most of the time it just looks like they’ve been tracing over screen grabs from the show and doing a shoddy job at inking them. I would rather see a more skilled cartoony artist who has good skills take over this series than a illustrator that can barely illustrate. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to hold out, I’ve done it for five volumes but if things don’t pick up in the next one I’m probably going to drop this series for good, shame really.

Deicide Rage Against the Gods By Carlos Portela and Das Pastoras

This is a French comic that Humanoids printed a few years ago. To start off the French create awesome looking comics. They don’t always read as well as they look but they do look incredible. This is volume 1 that I have so I’m going to hold off judgment about the story until I’ve read more of it. Great looking book but I can’t say more than that until I get the next volume.

Thanks again to you all and please vote for Oswald soon and often on topwebcomics.com
I’ll be talking to you all soon
JD Calderon