I read A LOT of blogs so you don’t have to.
Everything from publishing and politics to comic books and video games, the best of the best can be found on this page, and my commentary on each post can be found here.
You can also follow along via FriendFeed for the full fire hose!
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten a clearer vision of what I want to do with this site and where it fits in the bigger picture of my own writing, and now that I can see it, I’m ready to move towards it. Quickly!
First things first, the “Comic Book Commentary” blog will be moving over to PopCultureShock, effective immediately. Here, to be exact: http://cbc.popcultureshock.com
NOTE: The new direct RSS feed can be found here:
http://popcultureshock.com/pcs/blogs/cbc/feed/
…or you can sign up for the entire PCS feed here:
LiveJournalers can “friend” this one:
http://syndicated.livejournal.com/popcshock/
I’ll be posting my usual assortment of random opinions and commentary over there, while getting back to writing the occasional feature article, interview and reviews for the main site; keeping an eye out for potential contributors I’d like to see in the mix (Hint: many of them are listed in my Blogs of Note over on the left); and posting some of the better PR I get from time to time.
As much as I enjoy being a [mostly] one-man show, I miss the community aspect of being associated with a larger site, and PCS will always have a place in my heart as the first comics site I found that really felt like home. It doesn’t hurt that the redesign looks a million times better than anything I’d ever be able to do over here; plus, I’d particularly like the reviews I write to reach a larger audience because identifying good comics people might have missed out on is one of the main reasons I still blog.
There’s a couplafew things still up in the air that I need to figure out, though, including my Marketing Monday column, which doesn’t really fit the tone of PCS, so I’d like to place that somewhere more appropriate. I’d also like to continue adding to the “Resource” aspects of this site as much as I can, so it won’t be disappearing completely.
As of right now, though, the action moves to Comic Book Commentary @ PopCultureShock.
Stop by and say hello, update your bookmarks and feed subscriptions, and check out some of the other great features they have running.
The Dreamland Chronicles: Book One
By Scott Christian Sava (Blue Dream Studios, 2006; $19.95)
I have to admit that I was initially put off by the computer animated artwork when I first flipped through The Dreamland Chronicles, especially compared to Diego Jourdan’s more familiar cartoony style in Scott Christian Sava’s Ed’s Terrestrials, which I received in the same review package. At first glance, it struck me as too similar to fumetti or cinemanga, the characters seeming unnaturally stiff, almost like the worst of Greg Land’s work for Marvel over the past few years. Having enjoyed Sava’s writing in Ed’s Terrestrials, however, and always intrigued by the concept of our dreams actually being other worlds, I gave it a chance and halfway through, was extremely glad I did.
The Dreamland Chronicles: Book One is a fun and entertaining all-ages tale that posits the existence of a magical world of fantastic creatures, visited by children in their dreams. Alexander Carter used to visit every night as a child, and upon waking, would tell his twin brother, Dan, of his adventures, who would write them down and eventually be inspired to become a writer. Now college roommates, Alexander returns to Dreamland after nearly eight years of not dreaming, only to discover he is destined to play a part in the upcoming war between Dreamland and the Nightmare Realm. Sava has once again created an excellent cast of characters — Paddington Rumblebottom III, the adorable dancing rock giant, is my favorite — and deftly balances the two worlds by crafting a realistic relationship between the two brothers that is equal in dramatic weight to the more fantastic elements of Dreamland.
As the story reeled me in, I warmed up to the artwork and was eventually able to appreciate its dexterity, as the impressive team of computer artists Sava assembled not only offer distinctive character designs and settings, but manage to communicate emotion surprisingly well. Sava helps by taking full advantage of his nearly 300 pages, pacing the story in a way that allows it to breathe without feeling decompressed. The extras include a look at some of his original painted pages as well as an assortment of character models and page layouts that give the book the feel of a big-budget CGI movie.
Highly recommended for fantasy fans young and old!
[Review copy provided by Sphinx Group, for Blue Dream Studios.]
A number of new comics publishers have targeted specific niches over the years, seeking to better serve and/or exploit untapped audiences in an effort to carve out a viable niche for themselves. Whether its minorities, women, GLBT, pre-teens, etc., it’s a topic I’ve covered specifically or peripherally several times in the past, so this latest effort caught my eye as taking a unique angle and, perhaps, having the most potential next to those targeting Christian readers.
MILITARY VETS FORM ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION COMPANY
Military veterans Ernesto Haibi, Tom Waltz, Gerry Kissell, Robert Scott McCall, Steven Fish and Michael Abrams, along with Richard Pille, who served as a civilian contractor for the U.S. military in Vietnam, announce their formation of Charlie Foxtrot Entertainment, Inc., an entertainment company whose primary focus is on making motion pictures, comic books and other entertainment about soldiers and the military.
Gerry Kissell of Charlie Foxtrot Entertainment states, “All of us at Charlie Foxtrot feel that in a time when war is at the center of mass consciousness of this great nation, somehow Hollywood, and others in the entertainment industry, manage to produce less than 1% of their over all productions about the military. There has been a gaping hole in entertainment, whether it is in film, television or in publication, regarding our soldiers serving in harm’s way. We see it as our job to fill that void, and to expand the coverage, making certain audiences and readers have the chance to experience what and who our soldiers really are, and to let our military know that they are not forgotten and are appreciated, and to insure that they are not dehumanized and relegated to being just some anecdote on the evening news. They are not just cannon and news fodder. Our men and women in uniform are amazing people, doing amazing things, and its time everyone knows it. We have made our creed simple and to the point, ‘By soldiers, about soldiers and for soldiers’.”
First project on their list is the epic war comic series, CITY of FIRE, due out in early 2007.
