Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Love for the SPCs

Hey guys,

So much for bi-weekly posts, eh? Honestly, I don't know where the time goes on me. I suppose that the fun of spending most of your "free" time making comics! Hahaha. Sorry. But I'm back with a new post for folks!

I was/am up really early for me (working over-nights generally equals sleeping during the day) and was thinking about my brothers and sisters in arms in the Small Press Commandos. If you don't know who they are let me give you a brief run down... they are the absolute best and brightest comics writers and artists working in the independent community. The idea initially came from Jeff McComsey while putting together FUBAR (yeah, that FUBAR) and I kind of took it and ran with it. Think of it as a digital comics studio where we can all share our work, bounce ideas off one another, and help promote each other. It started off as about thirty of us and since since grown to nearly two-hundred members.

Since the inception of the Small Press Commandos, I've discovered so many new series and these guys are taking more and more of my money. I think SPC books take up between fifty and seventy five percent of my comics budget these days, depending on the month. (The other fifty to twenty five going to Dark Horse, Image, IDW, and occasionally Marvel or DC.) So, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite titles within the last couple years.


AMERICAN TERROR Vols. 1 & 2
by Jeff McComsey
Alterna Comics

American Terror follows Victor Sheppard as he comes out of retirement as a gun-for-hire. Gritty, funny, and seriously bad-ass! McComsey nails the dirty gritty world of Sheppard. Sadly Volume 3 is kind of in limbo right now but you should not miss this title!




BEWARE
by Michael & Will Perkins
215Ink
Only the first issue of Beware is out now but man is it great! Think 1950's science fiction with a bit of real science thrown in and tons and tons of humor. It great and weird and just, damn, so fun! Will's art walks a great line between realistic and cartoony that is perfect for the series.



BLUE MOTH
By Rolf Lejdegård
215Ink
Blue Moth follows interstellar mercenary/soldier I'm not sure what... badass? Blue Moth as he battles against various galactic menaces. Again the humor here is great! Rolf's art is absolutely gorgeous and the writing is super cool. It may be a little abrasive for some folk with more fragile sensibilities but holy crap do I love this series.



BREAKNECK
By Mark Bertolini & James Boulton
215Ink
Breakneck is the story of Ethan Shade a D-List super villain who accidentally murders a popular superhero during a botched bank robbery -- then all hell breaks loose. Bertolini's writing here is just fantastic in his little darkly humorous super villain story. You can't help but feel that the deck is stacked against Ethan which makes you feel bad for him. My only complaint about this is that sometimes Boulton's art is a little sloppy and it can be hard to tell what's going on. But Bertonlini's writing more than makes up for it.

EXTINCT
by Fabian Rangel Jr. & Jethro Morales
215Ink
Holy damn do I love Extinct. It's like an 80's horror/adventure movie in a comic book! Think the Goonies or Monster Squad and you're pretty close, but you know with werewolves. Well, Monster Squad has a werewolf too but... anyway... holy shit! Writing teenagers is tough especially when you're not one anymore, but Rangel Jr. nails it with Extinct. And Morales' art always impresses. I really can't say anything bad about this at all. Really this is a must own comic for anyone!

FOOTPRINTS
by Joey Esposito & Jonathan Moore
215Ink
I know, I know there a lot of 215Ink titles on here, but there's a damn good reason for that... they put out awesome comics! Footprints has a premise so great that I wish I had thought of it. Bigfoot is a 1950's style detective hunting down the murderer of his brother the Yeti. So he assembles a team of other cryptozoological creatures to help him out including the New Jersey Devil and Nessi. Esposito is great here, winding a neat little mystery and Moore's sketchy style art is beautiful. This one really is just all sorts of amazing.

FUBAR VOLS. 1, 2, & (COMING SOON) 3
By Jeff McComsey, Steve Becker, Shawn Williams, H. Giles Crawford, Jim McMunn, Jonathan Moore, Shawn Aldridge, Joe Dunn, Rob Croonenborghs and many many more!
Alterna Comics
You knew this one was coming. But seriously, this is not here because I worked on it. This is on here because if you want a real true idea of what all of these guys are able to pull off you just need to read FUBAR. Almost every Small Press Commando has worked on these and they always bring their A-Game! If you like zombie or war comics FUBAR is for you!

JESUS HATES ZOMBIES
By Stephen Lindsay, Daniel Thollin, Rob Croonenborghs & others
Alterna Comics/215Ink
Let me tell you something about Stephen Lindsay -- he's the funniest son of a bitch I've ever met. Hands down. And holy crap does JHZ show that off! It's got all sorts of craziness... Jesus and Abe Lincoln fighting zombies, werewolves, evil angels, zombie-dinosaurs... you get the point. It's nuts! And JHZ looks great! The art always delivers especially Croonenborgh's run on the series.

KUZIMU
By Brett Uren
215Ink
Kuzimu follows Pt'eros, a dead man who, during a living death, must face the ghosts of his life. The highlight of this is truly Uren's art. Holy crap is it gorgeous! The story is interesting and very cool, based on East African myth though it does get a little wordy at times.




VIC BOONE
By Shawn Aldridge, Geoffo, Jim McMunn, & others
215Ink
Vic Boone is last but certainly not least on this list. Holy crap, I don't even know where to start... Vic Boone is a 50's style detective set in a modern Portland, OR where 50's sci-fi stuff exists now. Robots, clones, gorilla henchmen, flies with human heads, holy shit! It's smart, it's beautiful, I cannot sing enough praises for Vic Boone. Buy this! NOW!