Dredd and Kickstarter along with some reviews updated

As I’m sure many of you know I have a kickstarter campaign currently running and at this point we’re about 1/3rd of where we need to be. I know we have plenty of time still left on the clock but that doesn’t stop me from worrying about it. So please if you can please pledge and pick up a book and some artwork and if you can’t just do me a favor and pass along the info for the campaign on your blogs, facebook or twitter feeds. I really want to keep this site and this book running in comic form until I’m done telling Oswald’s story. I don’t know how long that’s going to be but I do know it’s at least for a few more years. No matter what I’ll always work on Oswald whether as a comic or as prose I will finish the series but I would really like to do it in comic form if possible and that’s only going to happen with the collective help of all of you who read and enjoy this comic as much as I do. So please go out support the campaign where you can and spread the word to any and all who will listen. Sorry for the pressure but I’m losing my mind one day at a time and I’m sure it won’t stop until this process is done.

I also just got a nice write from my buddy Raphael Moran on comicbooked.com go check it out here: http://www.comicbooked.com/kickstarter-spotlight-the-oswald-chronicles/

Thank you to all of you who have helped and will continue to help and now onto the reviews.

Dredd

Some critics say this movie is light on plot and has too much violence, yea and what were you expecting it’s Judge Dredd. That’s not to say that all of Judge Dredd’s stories are light on plot just that it can and does happen. In this one we have two cops who get pinned down in a bad situation and they have to fight/think their way out of the situation. We also have Judge Anderson who’s a rookie along with Dredd on her first day in the field. If you’re a comic fan on any level I would suggest going to see this movie it looks great and I want more of these to come out.

Lorelei: Sects and the City by Steve Roman Art by Eliseu Gouveia, Steve Geiger, Neil Vokes, and Ernie Colon

Lorelei is a fantastic book filled with monsters, fights, and long legged woman So if you like bad girls trying to do good things this may be the book for you I warn everyone that the book is filled with adult situations and is aimed at persons over the age of 18. So if you don’t meet that criteria you have a few years to wait before enjoying this gem.

Tails by Ethan Young

Tails is the story of a young artist trying to find his way through the rough and tumble world of comics while trying to save as many animals as possible, while attempting to hold onto a relationship and completely lose it. I picked this book on a lark which is something I do quite a bit of when ordering indy books. I look at the covers read the blurb and if there’s something in there I can latch onto I tend to order it and I got lucky again this was a great book and I’m looking forward to seeing the next trade.

American Vampire by Scott Snyder and various

It was the first volume of this series that convinced me that Scott Snyder is a great comic writer and he hasn’t proved me wrong since. If you like your vampires with no sparkles and plenty of fangs then this may be the series you’ve been looking for.
Abarat: Absolute Midnight by Clive Barker

This is a YA novel series that I’ve been following for a few years now although this is only the 3rd installment. I’ve been a Clive Barker fan for years and I’ve been an even larger fan since he’s switched over from doing horror to doing strange fantasy. I think the first book he did within this theme was Weave World perhaps one of my favorites along with Imajica. It’s been a number of years since I’ve read either book but I remember them fondly. It’s what keeps driving me back to Barker time after time despite the long periods between each book. This book was good and filled a number of those weird fantasy elements for me but Mr. Barker did a number of things in this book that if they were done by anyone else I think would be looked upon askance by many, but it’s Clive so we’ll let him slide for now at least until the next book which I am looking forward to, except for the likelihood that it will take five years to get here if not longer. My advice if you haven’t read any of these books is to start at the beginning or read Weave World first and if you find you enjoy the atmosphere of those books you’ll probably enjoy this series, I do

Fables vol. 17 by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham

The stories within this series are done and Mr. Willingham is building towards something new with this volume with Bigby wolf’s kids being put to the test to take over his father’s mantle along with several other subplots he’s developing. This is vol. 17 and the only thing I’m looking more forward to than vol. 18 is the yet unannounced Absolute slipcase reprints of these books, a man can hope

Witch Doctor by Brandon Seifert and Lukas Ketner

This is one of those weird image books that they’re producing in great quantity of these days and I have to say if they all read like this I’m going to have to pick up more of them. This was a fun book and I’m sure the writer of it will be working at one of the two larger companies in short order if he so chooses. This book is like Doctor Who mashed with Hell Raiser, fun stuff for the whole family and again I’m looking forward to seeing vol. 2.

Battlepug by Mike Norton, Allan Passalaqua

This book is fun and looks great with a charming story to go along with a great package. I don’t know if this book is a right fit for me as of just yet, but I’m going to give vol. 2 a shot just to see if it is. If you like great art with giant sized pugs and barbarians then you may want to check this one out.

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano

This graphic novel is adapted from an actual novel and I have to say that it’s pretty damn obvious. Someone needs to explain to the writer of the series who they allowed to take a hand in the adaptation of the work (not always a good thing) that when the artist draws something you don’t have to repeat it as exposition on the pages. There are obviously things you would place on the page like what the characters are feeling and thinking but not what they’re seeing because that’s the artist’s job and the artist did a fine job in this case. I’m just being nitpicky and I know how hard it is to adapt a story from prose I do all the time for Oswald and that’s what makes me a bit more sensitive to it as a reviewer, although I know I sometimes I fail in this regard as well, but we’re not talking about me now are we a:) The book over all was enjoyable and if they release a second one I will take a look.

Free Mars Riot Girls: by David Pauwels and Nicolas R. Giacondino

Rock music and rebels on Mars, fun book with some great artwork. This was another one that a took a shot in the dark and again I wasn’t disappointed and I’m looking forward to seeing the second volume of this series.

The Monolith by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Phil Winslade

I really enjoyed the art in this book and unfortunately that’s about it and it’s a shame because I wanted to really enjoy this book and there were some things I did enjoy. But the points within the book I didn’t enjoy were the depictions of inner city life. My feeling is if you’re not going to go whole hog into this area and depict it with the type of people that live within those areas. Now I’m figuring they didn’t want to depict minorities in a bad light and I understand this but if that’s the case why situate the story in a place that would make your story ring false. That’s not to say they don’t have a right to try but man it didn’t work for me in this case, but Phil Winslade’s art is awesome and if you’re on the fence about this book pick it up for that reason, classic lines with solid draftsmanship, awesome.

And once again thank you all for your support and please keep supporting the site by voting for t on topwebcomics.com and please pledge on Kickstarter I promise you I will always do my best to bring you the oddest, weirdest, and adventure filled worlds my mind can pump out and if you think you’ve seen something thus far wait until you see My Time With Clive, ah the future

Best always
JD Calderon