An urban fantasy about a mouse most unusual…
Hello everyone
I would like to start with my deepest thanks to all of you for supporting myself and my projects over the years.
And I want to let those of you know that the first arc in Oswald’s life is complete and now available here: https://kck.st/2HbaESf
So please feel free to take a look and see how a mouse most uncommon began his life š
Please help spread the word š
Best
JD
Hello everyone
Itās time for an update š
First thank you all for supporting our work we wouldnāt be able to continue our work without your generosity.
Daphne and I have been busy these last few weeks getting out all of physical pledges for Oswaldās last Kickstarter. The final packages went out today š
Also please vote for The Oswald Chronicles on Top Web Comics here: https://topwebcomics.com/vote/10871
Now the big news is that weāre launching another Kickstarter for Tall Tails the Peace Keepers a 3 part limited series that had only a limited run as a trade. Weāre now offering this series, that exists in the same universe and time frame as our current Tall Tails comic, for the first time in comic format. If youāre interested please check it out and help support the cause it can be seen here: https://kck.st/2hFyUB7
And here are 3 pages from my super secret not so secret Oswald project š
We also have 2 reviews
Shutter Vol. 5 by Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca
Iāve been reading this series since the first volume and Iāve enjoyed it all the way through this is its final volume. The story revolves around a young lady named Kate Kristopher and her very bizarre family, a clock cat that goes from cute to murderous and weird cabalistic groups looking to end the world in multi dimensional planes. The story is engaging across all five volumes. Itās a series that Iām going to have to reread all in one sitting so if you like strange dimension hoping stories you may want to give this one a shot.
Batman the Dark Knight: Master Race by Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello, Andy Kubert and Klaus Janson
The one thing I expected from this series was nothing because I had read so many negative things about it on line before I had even seen the book that my expectations were pretty low, but what I got was a good book that was actually a nice bit of fun. We have an aging Bruce Wayne whoās been presumed dead for many years, while Robin has taken his place along with Wonder Woman whoās had 2 children with Superman, one a young woman while the second is an infant boy that WW carries around like a back pack, while mommy does her WW stuff. We also have Green Lantern, The Atom, Hawkman and Hawkwoman, and a slew of enlarged Kandorians who just make a mess of things. The story is well done and nicely paced and Andy Kubertās artwork is awesome as always. The pieces of the story that are illustrated by Frank Miller are a little rough but theyāre still pretty good. All in all I enjoyed it and Iāll probably give it another read down the road. Is it as good as The Dark Knight Returns, no, but very little is, I liked it more than DK II, but thatās not really saying much because I hated what he did to Dick Greyson in that story, so Iām biased. For me I hope Frank Miller keeps working and putting out comics, he was one of my earliest inspiration to become a comics writer and although I donāt always gel with his politics I still enjoy his work, so if you want to read a fun comic thatās not really tied into the whole DC universe thing you may want to check this one out.
Thank you all once again.
JD Calderon
Hello everyone
Thank you to everyone who helped support our last Kickstarter for Oswald and for those of you who didn’t get the chance to you will have another in the future š
This time around I have a couple of reviews here and a few pages from the future š
And for those of you who haven’t signed up here’s a link for our newsletter, where we released these pages lettered plus a free comic to download, so sign up now: https://eepurl.com/bok1hf
Larksās Killer by Bill Willingham and Mark Dos Santos
The story starts off simply, a modern day troubled girl finds her way into medieval world. Thatās it in a nutshell but thereās quite a bit more going on like why she was brought through, how she was able to get away from her summoners and how a $1.00 bill goes a long way in a fantasy world. So far thereās only been 2 issues printed, normally I wait for collections, but this is Billās first creator owned work since Fables so I decided to pick up the single issues and I wasnāt disappointed. Aside from the main story in the second issue Bill gives us a prose story and Iām a huge fan of his prose so itās a lot of fun to see it there and Iāll be picking up the rest of the series as it comes out in comic form, which is rare for me but Iām looking forward to them.
The Dark Horse Book of Horror with work by Mike Mignola, Gary Gianni, Jill Thompson, Evan Dorkin, Sean Phillips, P.Craig Russell, Paul Chadwick, Kurt Busiek and many others.
This hard cover collects the four volumes of horror stories DH published between 2003-2006. Inside the book youāll find stories featuring Hellboy, and The Beast of Burdens (an awesome book that should also be looked into) along with various other shorts by a number of great creators. There are also 4 prose stories by classic authors like Clark Ashton Smith, Perceval Landon, Robert E. Howard, and William Hope Hodgson, all of which are worth reading and rereading. There are also a few interviews conducted by Scott Allie that are also worth reading. All in all a fun read if youāre into horror.
Thank all once again and please help support The Oswald Chronicles by voting for him on Topwebcomics.com
Best
JD
First of all thank you all for supporting The Oswald Chronicles, all of you are awesome š
Okay, this is a first for us. The project is doing well and we want it to continue doing so, so weāre going to be offering our very first stretch goal, which will be unlocked at $2500 and with another 10 days to go I think itās both reasonable and doable. Once we reach that goal weāll be giving to all backers a new Oswald story called āWhat My Eyes See I Cannot Tell,ā as a PDF download, it is a prose story that takes place during Oswaldās time in dream when he is the Emperor of the Mar. So please if you can help us spread the word and make this happen.
It can be seen here: https://kck.st/2vJev48
Thank you all again youāre the best š
JD
Hello everyone
Iāve been a bit delinquent with these so hereās a new update along with some reviews.
First we have a new Kickstarter campaign for Oswald running which you can find here:
https://kck.st/2vJev48
The link is below:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/17217803/the-oswald-chronicles-passing-queens-4-5-6?ref=card
Also please remember that what ever you give to the campaign always goes back into the creation of the series, so please help if you can, and help spread the word if you can’t.
This is a page that David Montoya colored for My First Day, illustrated by the awesome Jade Gonzalez of course.
The First is Birthright vol. 5 by Joshua Williamson and Andrei Bressan
Iāve been reading Birthright since volume 1 and I have to say that it has yet to fail me. The story is based around the basic story trope of a boy goes through a portal to a magical world and he is found to be that special boy that will grow up to be the great hero warrior that will kill the evil mage king that has ruined their world. It throws a curve ball into the story mix by sending the boy back home to Earth a few years later, after his family has fallen apart because of his disappearance, and now heās no longer a young boy but a full grown man with a beard and a body that would make the Rock say yea thatās a big dude. The other difference is that heās a bit haunted by his actions on the other world and has failed to kill the evil mage king and has sided with him, but he still wants to see his family. Thatās all Iām going to give away, the story is fun and I hope that Joshua and Andrei have a definitive ending in mind. It does look that way. The book is published by Image through their Sky Bound imprint. So if you like some good fantasy this may be for you.
The next book on my list is Ether vol.1 by Matt Kindt and David Rubin
First I have to say that Matt Kindt is probably one of the best writers working in comics today and that I consider him the best super hero writer working, bar none. His work at Valiant has been consistently great if not better and if nothing else lots of fun. But weāre not here to talk about that, weāre here to talk about his personal work Ether with some awesome art by David Rubin. This is another portal adventure book, I guess Iām really drawn to these, where a professor finds himself going into the Ether where he finds himself at an interdimensional crossroads where a monkey then kicks him into the world of his choosing. This adventurer is a man of science who doesnāt believe in magic and who believes he can use scientific methodology and analysis to explain magic and how it works. This is a fun book that has some heavy themes about the loss of family, trust, abandonment, and obsession masked by a fantasy world adventure/mystery and thereās a lot more that Iām not going to mention. Matt only lightly touches on many of the themes I did mention but I have a sense that heās going to be delving deeper into them all as the series continues and again thatās where Iām going to leave it to say more is to spoil and we donāt want that. Again if you love fantasy books the way I do you could do a lot worse for yourself then take a look at this one. Ether is published by Dark Horse comics.
If all of you like this please help us spread the word and help us bring The Oswald Chronicles into more peopleās lives, and vote for Oswald on https://topwebcomics.com/vote/10871/default.aspx it does help š
Best
JD Calderon
Hello everyone
I really have to start doing more of these š
I just wanted to drop by and tell everyone thank you for supporting The Oswald Chronicles and I wanted to share a little something.
Here’s a page from My First Day in color by David Montoya and of course awesome pen and ink by Jade Gonzalez.
Thank you all once again and please be sure to vote for Oswald on topwebcomics.com it really does help.
Best
JD Calderon
Hello everyone
I have a new Kickstarter for The Oswald Chronicles which can be found here: https://kck.st/2mxSdwA
The new KS is to help in publish the new line of Oswald comics and features the first 3 issues of the series.
Please note that this is the first time that I’m doing a KS that features books that have never been published on the main Oswald page, so if you want to see something new this is your opportunity.
So please go check it out and even if you can’t buy a book please help by spreading the word.
Thank you all.
JD Calderon
Hello everyone
itās been too long since Iāve done one of these, but Jade Gonzalez tagged me on Facebook about a cover challenge and hereās my reply.
All of these books represent to me my early years as a comic book fan and the love they fostered in me for indy comics.
First on the list is Captain Victory, I love this book because it was the very first indy comic I ever saw and picked up. The other reason I love it is because it was by none other than Jack āKingā Kirby. The man knew 15 years before the Image guys that you had to get out and do your own thing.
Next up is Elementals by Bill Willingham one of my all time favorite writer / artists. This wasnāt the first appearance of the group that would have been in Justice Machine annual number 1, but this is the first with them in their own solo book. This is perhaps one of the best superhero comics ever produced that weāll probably never see collected due to Bill selling off the rights to a gentlemen who practically fell off the face of the earth, who knows what happened.
Next up Dalgoda fun space adventure by Denis Fujitake on art and Jan Strnad was the writer. A great book I honestly donāt remember too much about other than I enjoyed it. Iām going to have to make an effort to go through my collection and dig them out and give them another read. It would be nice to see a collection of these stories.
Armor and Megolith both from Neal Adams Continuity comics. Growing up I would take the NYC subway to school and somewhere during that time I remember seeing these images in the subways as large ads. At the time I thought they were going to be movies because only movies advertised in the subway system this way not comicbooks. The movies never came but one day in one of my local comic shops, the Bat Cave I think, were these two books and I was hooked. The art was great and the stories were fun but mostly consisted of origins.
Elflord by Barry Blair during the early eighties there was a period called the black and white glut which was caused primarily by the rise of TMNT. Many books came out and many of them should be forgotten and this may be one of them but I love this cover and I do remember enjoying this series for as long as I collected it.
Faze One Fazers Americomics by Vic Bridges. He was a John Byrne clone, it was thing back in the day but I loved it and I loved this book. At the time it was new and shiny and full of hope of great adventures. It only lasted 4 issues. It seems Vic and the publisher Bill Black didnāt see eye to eye on certain things and Faze One was never seen again, shame.
Dragon Force by Dale Keown I picked it up for the art and again it was being done by a John Byrne clone, who eventually grew out of it and is now the ultra popular artist who brought us Pitt and many great Hulk images. Another book I enjoyed because it was fresh and new and not part of the big two. It was around for about 14 issues before Dale got his big break doing the Hulk. It was fun while it lasted.
The Realm by Guy Davis. I know there was a writer but I have to be honest with you I didnāt get it for the story, it was all Guy, I know this because once he was gone from the book so was I. Itās a shame because it was a great book with some fun fantasy elements that I remember with fondness, but once Guy left they couldnāt find an artist who could fill his shoes. Guy went on to work at DC and for Mike Mignola on BPRD for a long stretch. My only real problem with Guy is that he changed his style, his choice I know he did what he had to, but I liked the paperclip noses, š
Warlock 5 by writer Gordon Derry and artist Denis Beauvais. Honestly I donāt remember much about this book other than the art by Denis Beauvais being incredible and their being 5 avatars that represented 5 different worlds battling for supremacy or something like that. I do remember enjoying it and being very disappointed when Gordon Derry and artist Denis Beauvais abandoned the book over a dispute with the publisher.
Captain Paragon by Bill Black published by AC comics. Early on I was attracted to non Marvel\DC super hero comics, they just seemed more interesting because they worked outside of the normal frame work of those two companies and presented to me an early insight into the type of work I would eventually find myself doing indy comics.
Dynamo Joe by Doug Rice, Phil Foglio and others. Perhaps my favorite giant robot comic of all time, not that thereās that many on this side of the Pacific. This is the story of the human race pairing up with the 2 other species to fight a third alien species that is traveling through their space destroying their ships, people and worlds. This book is a lot of fun and it was a shame when it ended and especially since there was more story to be told by the creators but bad sales brought the book to an end after 15 issues, shame, but well looking into.
Justice Machine by Mike Gustovich. A great book with some of the greatest costume designs outside of Dave Cockrum. This is another one of those early super heroes outside of the big two that I was happy to see. It didnāt really run for too long, I believe the initial series ran 5-6 issues and then made a short come back at Comico for a cross over with the Elementals and then a miniseries soon after. The series was purchased by another creator but I havenāt kept up with the new series so I wonāt comment, but those early issues are a lot of fun.
Zooniverse by Fil Barlow. This one was just weird and crazed looking book that I just loved. Filās art is incredible and the coloring was awesome and this book was being done long before computer coloring. The art is super detailed and the story revolves around a group of guards called plastiods and how theyāre caught in the political intrigues of warring factions in their universe. This book needs to be reprinted in hardcover. The awesome thing is that this series has made a comeback at Image and with any luck that reprint will happen.
Sun Runners by Roger McKenzie. Art and cover by Pat Broderick. Another awesome series that traveled around several publishers. I donāt remember much about the series except that I really enjoyed it and Iām going to have to go back into my collection and reread it from start to finish, although I donāt think it ever really did finish.
I also want to show off a few pages from The Oswald Chronicles that David Montoya has been coloring for the series. One day that color book is going to come out š
And once again please vote for Oswald on topwebcomics.com it really does help.
Thank you all once again and please help spread the word about The Oswald Chronicles.
JD
So what book is the voice of this era?
Hello everyone
Itās been too long since I did one of these and Iāve been meaning on doing this one for a hot minute š
First I would like to announce for those of you who donāt already know the Tall Tails Kickstarter is now live and it is very possible for you to get all 560 plus pages of the first story arc in one volume, so go check it out now and get yourself a copy š
Also hereās a little something to whet the appetites for all of those who enjoy Oswald and his chronicles. Hereās the cover for the final issue of the Clive cycle with Clive and his parents no less. The cover is illustrated by the always awesome Jade Gonzalez and colored by the man himself Derwin Roberson.
Now onto a few comments about some books I read last week.
The Divine (Illustrator), Tomer Hanuka (Illustrator by Boaz Lavie (Author), Asaf Hanuka)
I picked this book up on a lark hoping that it would be something I would enjoy and I did. The art is mangaish but doesnāt completely owe everything to that fine heritage, instead it comes off as a fusion of European and Manga styles to give it strange and appealing look and feel. The story is self contained and is one of those things that made me think of things that are just out of site and whatās happening to people in other places far away from home.
Divinity by Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine
I didnāt know what to expect from this book since I hadnāt picked up any books from the new Valiant line and Iām glad to report that this was a good one. The story is of a Russian cosmonaut who gets sent into deep space and comes back to earth 30 years in the future totally changed from his experience. This story is just a primer for a greater story and I hope Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine keep going forward with this title.
Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland Paperback ā July 2, 2015
by Eric Shanower (Author), Gabriel Rodriguez (Illustrator)
Iāve been interested in Little Nemo for several years now and more so since I picked up a copy of the Teschen reprint of the series. The series interests me for a number of reasons mostly because I touch upon similar themes in The Oswald Chronicles. My original inspiration for this was HP Lovecraft and his Randolph Carter character who travels through dream and lives entire life times and wakes only to wish to return to those long lost lands even though thereās always something dark and strange just beyond the horizon. The art by Gabriel Rodriguez is awesome and I think Winsor McKay himself would have been happy with it. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is the pages produced larger and for Gabriel Rodriguez to have been allowed to work on a grander scale, because when you see the original Nemo pages in such a large format itās breath taking and it would have been nice to have seen Gabriel Rodriguez given that same opportunity. The story by Eric Shanower was okay but fell short for me, I think the trope of Nemo waking up as many times as he does slows the pace of the story and is destructive because of it. Many would argue thatās how the original was done and I would agree but the great Winsor Mckay wasnāt producing a serialized story where the reader would read page after page but rather a story that would be contained on page and Iām certain if he had been presented with a longer format he would have adjusted Nemoās waking. It does look like this series has come to an end since Gabriel Rodriguez has moved on to another project, shame I would have liked to have seen more.
Thor: God of Thunder Volume 2 Hardcover ā July 14, 2015
by Jason Aaron (Author), Nic Klein (Illustrator), Ron Garney (Illustrator), Emanuela Lupacchino (Illustrator), Das Pastoras (Illustrator), Esad Ribic (Illustrator), Agustin Alessio (Illustrator), RM Guera (Illustrator)
I have to admit that my enjoyment of Thor as a character started early on and heās been my favorite superhero since I was a kid and it all started with Roy Thomas and his run that adopted the Ring of the Nibelung and pasted Thor and Odin in the various roles within the great story that then culminated in issue 300 where Thor takes on the Celestials and brings down Arishem, Iām going into full geek mode š Itās one of my favorite runs on Thor and even though Roy didnāt write issue 300 it was still awesome.
The next great Thor run which followed a few years later when the title was rumored to be close to being cancelled was Walter Simonsonās run which is epic and to this day my all time favorite but after Walter I left the title and didnāt really look back for a long time and I had heard many sad things had happen to the title. Iām sure there were some good books in there somewhere but I wouldnāt take that challenge to find them, but I had heard some whispers a while ago that J. Michael Straczynski was doing some awesome things on the title and had brought it back from the dead literally, since they had destroyed Asgard and killed everyone off. I had picked up the complete run in a hard cover that JMS had done and I was very happy with it and I have to say that his version of Loki is perhaps the most conniving and disturbing version of the character I had ever seen. He returned as a beautiful woman and instead of changing himself to his normal form of a man he decided to stay as a woman and have a good time with it, the trickster god had never looked so good or scared me so much as that version and it saddened me to find out the JMS had departed the title on bad terms with Marvel because he didnāt want to do one of these massive cross over events that centered around Thor and Asgard and thus another great run ended, prematurely, sad.
Now here comes Jason Aaron the Vertigo Scalped guy, who what why, oh now I see why once I read the first volume of this series and I have to say that Iām enjoying JAās run immensely and I love how he shows current Thor and future all father Thor and on occasion young immature Thor. The story line I found the most intriguing was the all father Thor story where he fights Galactus for Earth and has help from his very awesome granddaughters of thunder. Now those three young ladies should have their own title š I have yet to read any of the new Thor stories with Jane Foster as Goddess of thunder and the only thing I have to say is Iām looking forward to them even after all of the kvetching Iāve read about it on line about Jane Foster not really being Thor and the hair splitting about the whole thing, me I was always on the side that she has assumed the title of Goddess of Thunder the same way Betta Ray Bill had done back in the Walter Simonson run. Now the reason they want her to stay with the Thor moniker is because if they changed the title to Jane Foster Goddess of Thunder it would be just a little weird but I would have bought it if Jason Aaron was writing it. Now for all of those folks who hate that version rest assured the original Thor will be back sometime in the future when I donāt know and I donāt want to know I want to be surprised by it and I know heāll be back because JA has given us a big clue, you know the whole thing with All Father Thor fighting Galactus , yea that was Thor not Jane Foster as Thor so at some point heāll be back after he learns how to forgive himself for something heās done, Nick Furyās such a prick š So yea go get this one if you like some good Thor action.
Now onto the original question, so what book is the voice of this era? I ask this because while I was at Boston Comicon (awesome show by the way ) I was asked by a fan from Spain who had been out of the loop when it comes to American comics and the last thing he had really read was Watchmen which he felt was the voice of comics for that era. Now for me itās Watchmen and Dark Knight and the two go hand in hand and no matter what the 2 creators have gone on to do or say after this, these were great works by them all. I had to say I was stumped when he first asked I could point out great books by various creators like Fables, Sandman, Preacher, Planetary, Authority, Scalped, Marvels, Kingdome Come, American Vampire, Locke and key, East of West and various others and have to say I think itās Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples along with the Oswald Chronicles, okay that last one is a little self serving of course š So what do you think? Whatās the comic that most speaks to you as the comic title of this era?
Thank you one and all for indulging me here and please vote for the Oswald Chronicles on topwebcomics.com it does help and please go support the Tall Tails Kickstarter and get yourself an awesome book š
Thank you all again
JD Calderon