Blood, Hex and Violence

Every once in awhile you get a comic that comes along and shocks you to the core. Not because it’s necessarily terrifying, but because it re-invents the wheel. Hexed is a comic by Michael Alan Nelson’s, BOOM! Studios in house horror savant who writes among many other things, Fall of Cthulhu.

courtesy BOOM!

Hexed is a comic about Lucifer, a female occult thief. This may seem like an overused gimmick, and to be truthful, there have been a lot of female protagonist occult thrillers on the market recently due to the success of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books. But this series redefines that genre not just in the way the conflict is set up, but in how Nelson uses unique devices to progress that conflict.

There are a lot of really cool throw away ideas in here, like a portal into a person or demons captured in toys, that are unique and fresh interpretations of this sort of story. While first issue critiques are always sketchy because you can’t judge an entire novel from its first chapter, Hexed makes you want to keep reading the other issues, which is more than I can say for other series.

Michael Alan Nelson said in the press release for Hexed, “I think a great story needs more than flashy gimmicks and a couple of neat concepts. You absolutely must have a compelling story and fleshed-out characters before you can start throwing labyrinthine plots into the mix. I look for chilling conflicts, then find ways to make them as unsettling and riveting as possible.” I see exactly what he means.

Hexed takes this almost tired genre, turns it on its head in new and creative ways, and sets up an inventive premise with the promise for more occult nonsensery that could disturb and/or fascinate you. A great indie must read.

On tonight’s LA Ink, and its subsequent reruns, Hannah heads out to the BOOM! Studios offices for super hero inspiration with Mark Waid, EiC of BOOM! and writer of several DC and Marvel comics.

courtesy BOOM!

Sadly, I missed the episode, but my DVR didn’t! I think its cool when the mainstream, like TV, gives credibility to comics. The movies help, but they deal with comics only so much as the family acknowledges the adopted child at a reunion. Yeah, comics are cool, media says, but only cool when we’ve changed it and made it our own bastardization.

What is also cool about this “crossover” is the combination of two misunderstood and ignored art forms - tattoo artists are just as talented as comic artists, dealing with beauty and transposing a persons’ desire onto page and skin. What’s sad is these under appreciated art forms may not realize how popular culture pats them on the head and sends them away with a lollipop. Comics are starting to get there, I don’t know about tattoos, but as long as comics always have to be talked about in special episodes or segments, they probably aren’t there yet.

I made a promise I couldn’t keep. Covering Comic-Con by oneself is impossible. The convention center took days to explore, and each panel had a line so long, you would have had to be there an hour before hand to ensure attendance. I thought I’d have free time, but at night when I thought I’d post, I was occupied by parties.

As far as the Con went, I have mixed feelings. As a comic fan, everyone and everything you’d want to see would be there, and lines in teh comic book area wouldn’t be too horrible. But, the movie and TV and video game and toy stuff really stole comics’ limelight, and filled the con with tourists and kids who admittedly didn’t read. Harold & Kumar were there, for example, and their booth put Marvel’s to shame. But once I stayed out of the entertainment section and kept to the comics area, I had a good time meeting with publishers and creators.

The parties were by far the best part of the Con because I could meet and talk to people one on one. You’d turn around and Joss Whedon or Bruce Campbell would be chilling. I met Mark Waid, Stephen Baldwin, Bill Willingham, the heads of DC and Marvel, Keith Giffen, and Grant Morrison at these parties, and as a professional and a fan boy I had a great time just talking to people.

News: Read the rest of this entry »

The following press release has shown up online. Released from BOOM! Studios, it leaves a lot to the imagination. Hopefully all the removed information will be revealed at San Diego Comic Con?

BOOM! Studios is putting out a four part miniseries featuring writer Gary Phillips sharing his background and knowledge of Los Angeles, the foundation of his new series High Rollers.

This series has been an unexpected hit for BOOM!, and Phillips continues his comic writing career, which focuses on crime and the underworld. This is a good bonus for the many fans of this book, and also a good look at a writer’s process. Check the video out below, and look for future installments on YouTube.

One of the big criticisms for this crime thriller set in L.A. I saw in another review was that:

“Novelist Gary Phillips aims to paint a picture of the underbelly of the Los Angeles underworld, “showing us The Dark Side of the American Dream”. Unfortunately, what gets depicted is more like The Dark Side of Beverly Hills; perhaps 90211. Everything is pretty and clean. The gang leader, Trey, drives a Mercedes convertible and preaches his “bid’ness” to his desegregated officers over a lunch of wine and fine food. And the muscle-car driving protagonist, Cameron (or CQ, as he goes by on those impeccably-swept streets), has a sister, Rita, who lives the high-life with her gambling-addicted husband. If anything, the characters are culled from an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and if this is what the “underbelly” of Los Angeles is like, then I’m on the first flight out.”

As one commentator pointed out “I actually kinda liked how the atmosphere wasn’t the same stereotypical hoods always on tv and video games”, which got me thinking about crime and how we perceive it. Read the rest of this entry »

BOOM! Studios continues it’s expansion by hiring big names in the entertainment industry. Following the appointment of Mark Waid as Editor-in-Chief last year, and Chip Mosher as Marketing and Sales Director, last month BOOM! appointed Wendy Wallace as General Manager.

According to the press release:

“Ms. Wallace started out at Universal Studios in the cable television department, ultimately becoming involved with the development, production, and distribution of many television series, movies-of-the-week, miniseries, and DVD releases. Some of her efforts include USA Network’s MONK and PRANCER RETURNS, as well as The Sci-Fi Channel’s INVISIBLE MAN series and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA mini-series. Since leaving NBC/Universal, Ms. Wallace has worked on such diverse projects as UPN’s AMISH IN THE CITY, USA Network’s DC SNIPER: 23 DAYS OF FEAR and the cable comedy hit, PSYCH. Most recently, she served as Co-Producer on The Sci-Fi Channel’s number one series to date, EUREKA. She has also functioned as a producer and consultant for feature films, music videos and various Internet-exclusive and print projects.”

The folks at BOOM! were kind enough to allow me to ask Ms. Wallace a few questions about her work and future with comics. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey kids! Sorry for not updating for a few days - the Convention was amazing! There was so much to see, so much to do - everything vaguely nerd was there - from Japanese designer toys to trading card games to comics. Walking around, there was so much going on you actually forget to eat and drink. You bump into famous people and realize they are human beings, or hear them speak and become more convinced they are a literary god. I’m still absorbing the events, but I’ll share with you some of the cool news I picked up. Read the rest of this entry »

The Spy Who Killed Me

Spy fiction in the 50s and 60s was one of the more successful of pulp fictions with a popularity bolstered by movies and TV. Due to the success of the spy formula, what followed was a repetition of the existing archetypes, usually drawing exclusively from James Bond. Recently, spy thrillers have tried to remind consumers of the very human emotions and struggles that spies would experience as humans, not empty stock characters. While many writers continue to fall back on the badass Bauer or swashbuckling Bond characteristics, Chip Mosher’s Left on Mission deals with the implications of being a spy AND a real human.

Mr. Mosher took time to speak with me about his Broken Frontier nominated series. Read the rest of this entry »

alexrossart.com

Mark Waid is an author whose books are staples in many (like mine) comic collections. His most popular work, Kingdom Come, was illustrated by Alex Ross and continues to shape the direction of DC today (Current issues of Justice Society of America feature the Superman from this series). He has worked for DC and Marvel, taking the reigns of characters like the Fantastic Four and helping write 52, DC’s weekly series detailing the fallout from Infinite Crisis.

Currently, his work includes Brave and the Bold, a relaunch of DC’s team-up book as well as the limited series, Potter’s Field, which he wrote for BOOM! Studios, the comic publisher where he is now Editor. I spoke with him about his work and BOOM! Studios for an upcoming article in The Buzz.

There is EXCLUSIVE information here about an upcoming project! Okay, it’s just a title, but let me have my moment. Read the rest of this entry »