Seajay Ventures / Star Verse Comics Press Release

The following was sent by Seajay Ventures yesterday.

 

Our friends at Star Verse Comics are looking for someone to pencil a two-issue story in which their Techstorm character teams up with our (meaning Seajay Ventures') Destiny. Each issue is 20-pages in length.

Interested parties can contact Star Verse publisher Ryan Crouse at Star_Verse@hotmail.com . For more information on Star Verse Comics please visit http://www.starverse.ca/index.html.

Jonathan A. Gilbert, publisher
SeajayVentures

Seajay Ventures is the parent company of Red Lion Publications based out of Port Stanley, Ontario.  Their most recent release is She is...Silkie, available on Graphicly.

Star Verse, meanwhile, is based out of Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  Their site is rather easy to navigate, but if you're and artist and interested in the project in particular, here is a page specific to the first issue.

I'm not familiar with Destiny however.  Poor Jonathan Gilbert may get another e-mail from me soon...

Tales of the Red Panda: The Mind Master

It's an easy reference to make, and I use it from time to time, but this is the Batman Begins book for the Red Panda (and of course, trusty, sassy sidekick The Flying Squirrel.  While the bulk of the story takes place in the present, a number of chapters are flashbacks that cover a significant portion of his training, motivation and even appearance.

I was pleasantly surprised by this because I thought there was no intention to ever do so.  The impression I got from the few episodes I listened to was that all Panda adventures would take place with the character already fully established, basically like he's always been there.  Now looking around at the show list a bit more, I see that there has been some focus on Red Panda's agents and the first meeting between Panda and Squirrel among the (now) 87 performances.

The book was a bit more intense than expected as well. There were still humourous elements but the overall tone was darker.  The villains in The Crime Cable were more cartoon-like (in my perception and opinion, at least) than Mind Master's Ajay Shah, who is capable of a particularly heinous mental ability.

Like the majority of the episodes, you can read this book individually without feeling like you've missed something.  There is a Panda agent whom I believe is introduced in Crime Cable that has a small part in The Mind Master, but not having read his first appearance will not make this book confusing.

The more I read (or listen to) this character's adventures the more I enjoy him.  Being that I'm far behind where the audio shows are concerned, it'll probably be a while until I get around to reading the third book as I think I'd like to catch up to those a bit more first, but I do look forward to obtaining it.

Help Self-Publisher Magazine Help You!

I came across a mention of Self-Publisher! magazine on the Surprising Comics message board some time ago.  Thinking it may provide an introduction to other indy book, but also that I would likely forget to ever check in again, I signed up for their newsletter.

I received the latest one earlier this week and figured it might be of interest to those who are directly involved in "the business" in whatever capacity.  Here is an abbreviated version (the full version, as I write this, appears on their front page):

...I dumped the way we had news displayed, because for one, very few people send in news releases.

So in reality, we are looking for MORE: More article writers, more people TO be featured, more things to review and more people to review those things. SP! is looking at increasing readership by multiples of it's current readership, and we're inviting everyone along for the ride. SP! Will continue to be "by the people for the people" - we're just going to have more people reading, and participating. What's in it for the people making new content? Well, readers. If you are ALREADY doing coverage of indy stuff, let's talk...we'll promote your site as part of our family.

There may not be many people submitting news, but it seems our friends at Frozen Light Comics are among those who have taken advantage of the opportunity.  As they should; There's absolutely nothing to lose so may as well leave no stone unturned.  Failing that, if writing a press release is not really your thing, then submit your book to be reviewed.  In whatever way you choose to do so, it's a chance for more exposure, so why not take it?

Continuing to be specific to the Canadian character theme of this blog, issue #58 includes an interview with John Michael Helmer of Red Leaf Comics.  It is quite thorough, touching on the company's beginnings, past collaborations, present and future projects for its various characters, etc. Check that out, then see if any of the books featured in the reviews and previews strike your fancy.  There is a wide variety of styles on display and opportunities to support indy talent (Canadian or otherwise).

Puck's Got Better Things To Do.

Unresolved issue.  That's the other thing that has bugged me about the news that Puck would join X-Force.  Never mind that his motivation to join such a group is unclear, he has a clear option if he's looking for a hobby.

Here is the "team" Puck should be on.

Mug shots lifted from the impressive uncannyxmen.net site

Guardian, Puck, Madison Jeffries and, yes, Wolverine.  Of course, Wolverine.  But aside from milking his popularity, he would have a specific cause to appear.  Their mission should be to locate/apprehend...

Disclaimer: This is said not having read any of Jeffries' appearances in the X family of books.  I don't even know if he's of sound mind or what.  For that matter, I have no idea about Puck's mental state either (or how he got out of hell.  But I digress).

These are the four gentlemen who are closest to Heather/Vindicator.  But there are also close friendships within the group.  And those could be strained depending on individual motivation.

If it wasn't bad enough that Heather took off with Guardian's daughter, she also killed two people to snatch her.  Maybe the intention was to resolve that issue in future issues when Alpha Flight was expected to be an ongoing series, but regardless of the reason, it's a dangling loose end I find irritating.

This doesn't have to be a team as such, just a bunch of guys with the same goal but perhaps different motivation.  Guardian needs to step up the search for his kid.  Among the others, one might feel she needs to be apprehended for her crimes, another may feel she can be restored to her "old self".  Another might actually want to defend her ("she wasn't responsible for her actions") and take her side.  There are plenty of possibilities there.

If the recent Alpha Flight title didn't sell all that well, then it's difficult to believe that Marvel would release a limited series in order to give closure to an unfinished storyline that relatively few people read.  This might be addressed in one of Wolverine's twenty-something books as a multi-part arc.  The storyline is an obvious one, but the motivation and character dynamics are what could make it outstanding.

Not going to happen, but in terms of Alpha Flight, it's at the top of my wish list right now.

Puck to Appear in Uncanny X-Force

Eh.

I'm a couple of issues behind on Astonishing X-Men.  That's in large part because I hate the book.  Sure, it was nice to see Northstar featured but I find the book boring as hell (though I did appreciate how his wedding was handled).

Puck joining X-Force feels like more of the same.

They're killers. They're heroes. They're UNCANNY X-FORCE. The X-Men's most dangerous and deadly team is getting a new start this January as part of Marvel NOW! courtesy of writer Sam Humphries and artist Ron Garney.

...

Marvel.com: Puck always struck me as the tragic clown type, but he's also an ex-soldier of fortune with a demonic origin story. Should we see him as a dark figure? What's his place on the team?

Sam Humphries: I see him as a Canadian Indiana Jones. He's gone some dark places in his past, and he's a dwarf, which can present challenges most of us never have to deal with. But he's also a bad ass who has confronted the darkness with a wry sense of humor, and he has yet to find a situation where being small of stature has stopped him from kicking some butt.

The rest of the announced cast is Psylocke, Storm and Spiral.

So here's where this feels similar to Astonishing X-Men; several issues into that book, I still haven't figured out what these characters, most of which I dislike, are doing together.  Maybe it's been explained in more recent issues but if so, it sure took a while to get there.

I don't really get what Puck would be doing with this bunch (all of which I dislike).  I don't know the other characters, or their history, so whether the three of them joining forces makes any sort of sense is beyond me.  Maybe it does, but Puck's inclusion seems rather random.

On the other hand, it seems that there has been in effort in recent years to give the Alpha Flight group and individual members a bit of a boost in exposure (you know, AFTER killing them unceremoniously) and I can't help but feel I should support that.  So maybe I'll give writer Sam Humphries an opportunity to tell me how Puck fits.  It could be as simple as doing it at Wolverine's request, I suppose.  We'll find out in January.

Daydreamer of the Young Gods

Man alive...I don't know how many thousands of comics I've read over the years but damned if I knew that Marvel Comics had a team called the Young Gods, let alone that one of their members is Canadian.  From the Marvel Directory:

Daydreamer, the Young Gods' philosopher, was once Catherine Moranis, who was a 25 year-old farm woman living in 19th century Ottawa, Canada when she was contacted to become one of the Young Gods. Daydreamer can control the minds of others through verbal or mental command. She can create visions in the minds of others or dispel illusions in their minds. Daydreamer also possesses limited precognitive powers.

I'll let you read the description of the team, and their purpose in life, from the link above because I'm not sure I could summarize it.  I don't really do cosmic all that well.

Daydreamer first appeared along with the Young Gods in Thor #300 and 301 in 1980.  They weren't seen again until Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #8 about eight years later, making the announcement of their return at bottom right of that book's cover somewhat eyebrow-raising.  You have to wonder how many readers read that and wondered who the hell the Young Gods even were.

Still, it was a pretty nice bit of exposure as Daydreamer had some brief but impactful (at the time, at least) contribution to Spidey's Clone Saga.  She was responsible for making the woman who believed she was a clone of  Gwen Stacy realise that this was not the case.  The scan below is from this Comic Book Resources article about abandoned storylines (file name "sendintheclones8".  Good one!).

Apparently, Daydreamer also has the power of instant hair-styling.

As you'll see from the CBR article, that whole thing was pretty much unraveled later and Marvel showed their respect for the character, and their editorial savoir-faire, by botching her name later in Web of Spider-Man #125 in referring to her as Dreamweaver (which, in fairness, is actually a better name).  See Jean-Claude Beaubier?  It doesn't only happen to you!

The Young Gods continued their sporadic appearances, next showing up in Marvel Comics Presents issues 101 through 109 in 1992.  In fact, I believe that's our girl in the box at top left of the cover to #105 (Hmmm...Might have to track those down, since the Wolverine story makes for a fair bit of Can-con...).  The team's most recent appearance was in Eternals Annual #1 in 2008.

Masked Mosaic; Canadian Super Stories

Superheroes! Supervillains! Masked vigilantes, superpowered antiheroes, super scientists. Adventurers into the unknown, costumed crimefighters, mutant superterrorists . . . we want to see any and all permutations of the superhero genre, but with a uniquely Canadian perspective. Stories must involve a Canadian element — setting, politics, culture, history, characters, etc. Any genre-mashing goes: alternate history, crime, horror, romance, SF, fantasy, surrealism; we want a variety of tones, approaches, subgenres, cultural perspectives, etc. We’re especially interested in submissions where setting (a specific city, region, or province) plays an essential role, but we’re open to other types of stories, too.

The above was the "pitch" for Masked Mosaic, an anthology from Tyche Books scheduled to be available in February of next year.  Editors Claude Lalumiere and Camille Alexa have reviewed the submissions (the period for which opened June 1st and closed August 1st) and the following selections were announced early last week.

E.L Chen – Nocturne
Kristi Charish - Canadian Blood Diamonds
Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Iron Justice versus the Fiends of Evil
Jonathan Olfert – Never the Twain
Kevin Cockle – Circe and the Gunboat
David Nickle - Knife Fight
Derryl Murphy – On-to-Ottawa
D.K. Latta – The Secret History of the Intrepids
Emma Faraday – The Man in the Mask
Mike Rimar – A Bunny Hug for Karl
Emma Vossen – “Not a Dream! Not a Hoax! Not an Imaginary Story!” The Lost Years of Joe Shuster
Patrick T. Goddard – Giant Canadian Comics
A.C. Wise – Kid Wonder
Rhea Rose – Leaf Man
David Perlmutter – Octopi Bleakly Corners
Lisa Poh – The Seamstress without a Costume
Marie Bilodeau – The Kevlar Canoe
Rhonda & Jonathan Parrish – Sea and Sky
Chantal Boudreau – A Face in the Wind
Michael S. Chong – The Creep
Jason Sharp – Lonesome Charlie Johnstone’s Strange Boon
Alyxandra Harvey – The Shield Maiden
Michael Matheson – The Many Lives of the Xun Long
Jason S. Ridler – Revenge of the Iron Shadow: A Tale of Kingstonia

See Tyche Books' announcement for links to some of the writers' blogs, websites, etc.

Sounds like a rather eclectic collection.  I am not familiar with most of these writers so this should make for a good introduction to their work.

Along similar lines, finding out about this superhero anthology reminded me that Cloudscape Comics were planning one of their own.  There had been little news about their version of All-Canadian Comics in recent weeks, so I wrote to Cloudscape president Jeff Ellis to inquire as to its status.  Mr Ellis was kind to confirm that the project is still underway and to expect news soon.

Also, writer J. Torres has planned a similar anthology called True Patriot.  He first announced it last week and has begun naming some of the talent/characters involved.  This link will take you to the True Patriot tag on his blog so that you can follow the project's progress.  Torres plans an Indiegogo campaign next month in order to help fund the project.

The Amazing Darkon!

This character's discovery came about as a result of seeing Heroic Publishing's late 2012 solicitations earlier today.

I've long been impressed with the Champions line of comics.  When the books began being published in the mid-80's I ignored them in anticipation of a quick cancellation but they are still being produced more than 25 years later.

With a little free time on a long weekend, looking for cheap entertainment, and figuring that such a large cast is bound to have a Canadian character, I purchased a few digital versions (from DriveThru) of their books this morning.  And I was rewarded with Can-Con right off the bat!

Sort of.  "Reward" is a relative term.  The character I found is a villain named The Amazing Darkon.  And he is pretty awful.

He appears in the first issue of Flare (at right), who arguably became the company's most visible character.  That book has a publishing date of November 1988, by which time the Champions team book was already about two years old, so it may be that Darkon was already a running gag by then.

Flare's abilities are light-based so naturally she must deal with a villain with  darkness control powers.  Seems like a good fit, right?

So what makes him so bad?  Read for yourself...

That is an awful lot of stereotyping in less than one page!

It actually gets a little worse.  He wears a cardboard (??!!) hat which apparently serves no real purpose.  I suppose he just likes its appearance.  Here is our boy on the back cover.

Shockingly, writer Dennis Mallonee resisted the temptation to Darkon wear a toque.

This guy is pretty much Heroic's version of DC's Dr. Light (well, from before Identity Crisis anyway...); a lightweight jobber.  I don't know how many more appearances he makes.  Mercifully, it doesn't seem to be very many.

A character named Lady Darkon appears in later issues of Flare's adventures, however I am unaware at this point whether she is also Canadian or has any direct connection to our boy.  Perhaps her name is based on obtaining her powers (if she has any, and whatever they may be) from the same source as the original Darkon.

Whatever.  That's not a mystery I'm in any real hurry to solve, frankly.  Mind you, she seems like a completely different type of character which, of course, can only be to her credit.

ICYMI Art: Snowbird by Jean-Louis Sanglan

An artist by the name of Jean-Louis Sanglan is selling this piece on comicartfans.com.  I'll have to be content with it as my computer background for a while.  Gorgeous...

Title:  Snowbird
Artist:  Jean-Louis Sanglan (Painter)
Media Type:  Paint - Watercolor
Art Type:  Pin Up
Added to Site:     8/29/2012