It's here! It's finally here! The end of the Chosen saga! What will Iyanu choose- to save Yorubaland or an afterlife with her mother. The problem is, she can't choose both, and the Fallen One is fast approaching. Can Iyanu's friends and her guardians hold him off long enough for her to scale the mountain that protects the source? 

I had a few problems with the writing this time. While the story was clearly focused in Iyanu's journey, Biyi and Toye were sidelined a lot. Biyi got more of the action but only for a few pages, while we got overextended dialog and some repetitive scenes. How will this hold out on the cartoon? It's hard to say since HBO's taking its sweet time to release it. 

I really liked the art, for the most part. I didn't like her hair in the cover as it looks like Marge Simpson's to some degree. The leopard's head is a bit huge too but I think that's more of a bonus than a distraction.  The fight scenes and establishing frames were done really well, giving characters a bit of menace. Though I think they could have done a better job with the lighting and shadow. 

Overall, a fun end this saga. I think many readers will be pleased and I believe they'll like the art of the show. 4 out of 5 stars. You can find Volume 4 on Amazon and Kobo in e-book and paperback.

Now we get to the meat of the series in chapters 4 to 7. Jabari gets a rude awakening to the nature of the war he's been unexpectedly recruited into. Forced to join Alpha Squad, he shows up just in time to stop the Leaker's attacks and save the team. But his overpowered attack injured his hands and knocked the creature into the underground city, forcing the team into fighting in unknown streets. Can Jabari get his new team out in time?

This series reminds me a bit of Gantz and Darwin's Game. You've got the familiar aspects of high school hero, seedy high school, secret government activities, and strange mutant creatures who seem nice as humans but turn murderous real quick. There are the semi-cliche geek with glasses, calm nature girl, strong girl who doesn't show weakness (like Kikoryu from Kaiju No. 8), mysterious level-headed leader, and the semi-evil school principal/general (Like Makima from Chainsaw Man or Genji from NGE). If you're into high school shonen action, this might be the series for you.

Art remained the same with no major differences. I liked the manga style, though for some speech bubbles the convo was hard to follow, so I continue to recommend they add arrows or numbers. If this ever gets made into a TV show, then the crew would have a very good storyboard already ready to go.

You can buy volume I for $19.95 at their website here.

I know I said I would talk about Monsters one more time, but then this came out and well, as you can tell, I had to change tracks. Can't pass up one of my faves when new issues drop in my email!

We continue where we left off as Layla's city is being attacked by the Shadow Wraiths. E gets pummeled and Layla's allies are able to fend off the Wraiths with her. But the anti-violence crystals are damaged and E is sent on a mission by Layla to get replacements while she deals with the source of the attack. There's a lot of intrigue in this one and a lot of romantic postering from Layla and Mi-Chan to add the spicy to the story. But E doesn't figure much in this chapter. 

The art was really good with striking visuals and pretty art effects. The powers are given a tight glow, enhancing the feel of the story. But the paneling was seriously lacking in some points. I was reading the first battle and having trouble following the action. Perhaps arrows would have been helpful? I know they do that in manga. Also the lettering on the second page was seriously lacking.

CT Scribe and Yvan included a few helpful guides. You might find them excessive or expository, but that'll depend on how often we see the characters. 

You can find issue #3 at Kickstarter or at Amazon, when he adds it to the sale list.

Apparently there is a famous Youtuber called Coreyxkenshin who's famous for horror game streams. Everyone's got a hobby these days, but only the lucky/talented few can turn it into a hustle. So now he's branching into a new hustle; manga/comics. Monsters We Make is a collab with Andrew Gong and Elyas Magee-Sherman and Corey Mikell, to make a sci-fi horror manga. I don't know any of those names- they might be rookies. Let's find out if they're any good at it.

The comic opening is your semi-standard new-kid-goes-to-new-school-then fights monsters story, though this one has a varient in which a select few are commissioned to fight monsters in the city of New Edyn. Apparently an EMP/Flare knocked out power for 2 weeks 16 years ago, and those born in that timeline have developed new and amazing powers. We are given some hints as to what those powers might be with the main character and the monsterous opening villain. We also get a Chainsaw-Man esque vibe of the relationship between the main characters, though main Jabari is not a clueless dunce as Denji was.

The art is top-notch! I don't know why these artists didn't publish manga-style before, but I was quite impressed. Felt like I was reading something made with love. It didn't feel rushed or "processed" like a shonen jump copy. My main gripes are with the website; you can't download the file (though you can get a physical copy) and can only read it on their website. Zooming in isn't possible on computer, it might be on phone. I wasn't a big fan of some of the paneling. I think they could've made it a little more "dynamic". 

Anyway, I will write the rest of the review before Seollal. If you're interested in reading it before me, you can buy it for $19.95 at their website here.

Wingless Comics is back with a new series from Kicstarter that they are hoping will take off. And what takes off more than Mecha?! You might remember their previous big project Nightfall.

The story is that Earth has been divided into two regions. Our hero Nas Williams lives on lower Earth in the 7th Ward (no not New Orleans) but he's been having some odd dreams. On upper Earth, the winners of the EXODUS War are mad at him and his mother, and demand his capture. Fortunately for Nas and his friends, they skipped school and found a crashed mecha from that war. What could this mean? 

The artwork was mostly stylish, and somewhat polished through most of the frames. Some readers will like the characters and text bubbles extending into other frames, but I found it slightly distracting. The bulk of the lettering was good but there was 1 unfinished bubble where it looked like he said "gay" but really said "say". Anyhoo, it's fairly high quality in most regards. 

As of this moment, the rest of the series is due to come out later. The kickstarter's funded and the publisher says he couldn't wait for the following volumes and decided to release Vol.1 now. I'm not quite sure what he means by that statement. I went to see if this was available on their site but the site's temporarily down. You'll just have to stay tuned here for future releases!

This is the most recent issue in the series, hot off the Kickstarter shelves. The previous comics were included in the pack, hence why I got them. 

We continue with the plotline of Sadiqah heading west to find the second half of her map and the location of the relics related to Queen Calafia. On the way, they rescue a boy called Carlos from peonage and pain. This puts Sadiqah in a situation where fulfilling her mission clashes with her moral outlook. Will she leave Carlos to his fate, or will her cousin intervene? Also, her mom is back and hot on her trail!

The artwork had some improvements. The recurring characters look better, the framing's nicer, and the action's crisper. I didn't like how they drew Sadiqah's face- it reminds me of the brat dolls from years ago for some reason.

You can find Issue 2 at Platform7 and Tuskegee Heirs for now. 

More of Sadiqah this week. I'm not 100% impressed like I was with Niobe but it's still a fun read. Let's talk about it some more.

In this issue, we find Sadiqah at the start of her journey to California at the behest of her parents when they fell to the attackers. On the way, she encounters 3 heroic 'ninja' who are here to help her. But naturally she doesn't trust them and a fight breaks out. While this is going on, the Tulsa massacre rages nearby and she wants to go back and avenge her parents. But the mystic threats are close. Will she and her guardian survive?

The art was a touch below the first issue. The company changed colorists and so I noticed a difference. The tones a bit too bright at times and the shading's a little lacking. But I still liked the panel work and framing. 

If you're into a 1920s mystic adventure, give it a go. I think you'll like it.

You can find Issue 1 at Platform7 and Tuskegee Heirs for now. 

Another one of my Kickstarters cleared and it's a series I've been waiting on for awhile now. But before that, can I say that this year's been good for my Kickstarter choices? Yeah, some have been late, but the bulk of them published this year. Considering the issues post-COVID, I'd say that a good landmark.

And speaking of landmarks, have you ever heard of Tulsa? This story starts off with a slight nod to the massacre there in 1921 in the setting, though it's hard to tell if it really is Tulsa beforehand. But I see where this is going...

Sadiqah is a smart and strong 13-year-old girl living in this small city. Her father's bank sponsors her school but it is facing trouble as some scummy folks want to buy it out. There's a lesson here about not letting outsiders control your finances. But before we go further down that road, Sadiqah faces a ninja attack and the truth about her origins. 

The artwork is pretty good, though not quite amazing. I like the facial expressiveness, but the framing wasn't as inspiring.  I liked the background and scenes a bit better than the character art. Will we see improvements in issue #1? Well, I have it and I'll talk about it next week.

You can find Issue 0 at Platform7 and Tuskegee Heirs for now. 

ODB, the Ol' Dirty Bastard. Russell Jones had a lot of names and interests. Comics was apparently one of them. A group of comic artists and writer teamed up for this Kickstarter, with the blessing of his estate, to make this eclectic collab focused around NYCs black population & experience. 

The premise of the story is that the multiverse collided in NYC, forcing 119 versions of the city to merge into 1, with a corp called SoundCorp (I guess this is a stand-in for RCA or Columbia) trying to take the elemental power crystals that forced during the merge. There are 5 different stories related around the theme of encroaching corporations targeting the black communities and those people being inspired by the 'ghosts' of ODB to fight back. How much of that is related to his life? A bit here and there. They say he was a man of the people, and the strip joint. 

The art styles vary with each art team. The best art by far was the second story Demon Flow. The dark themes and paneling really impose the dread on the reader. You can tell something bad will happen from the second frame. The worst was the first story about the robots coming to steal dance moves, which is a shame because the story was fun.

Is it as good as other collabs I've read? No, not really. While the stories are not completely synced with each other, the general connection of the community seemed more present. You get the feel of the city and of what the ODB was getting at with most of his lyrics. But these stories lack his personal raw and jagged style. Perhaps that wasn't the direction the teams were allowed to go in. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. You can find it at various shops linked to Oni Press here.

Sorry for the delay. I was distracted by the madness that is Cinnamon Toast Crunch Bacon. Anyway, this dropped today. The cover locale looks a little familiar but I can't quite place it. I think it's the folk village in Seoul because of the stairs but I might be wrong.

We continue the story of Rayven adjusting to life in South Korea (the good one, most of the time) and learning taekwondo with a friend. It's a common hobby in Korea for kids and occasionally adults. She's not fond of school lunches and misses the usual pizza for lunch. Yeah, she's like 7 or 8, give her a break. She's also got an annoying bully on her tail who regularly racially incites her about not being Korean. Well, she isn't. But this is a huge problem for those who are mixed-race, as the entire educational/cultural touchstone is ethnic nationalism. Anyway, her class gets to participate in a taekwondo demonstration at Gyeongbukgung palace. It's a pretty common thing here. 

The artwork has improved a lot. I still think it needs a bit more improvement in shading, but because this is kinda geared for kids, I don't think they need to make it Sin City style. It'd be quite the mood shift LOLZ. I think readers will enjoy the elemental effects with the framing when Rayven is doing the taekwondo demo. 

This just came out so it'll be a while before it goes on sale. I'll keep an eye on it, but if you can't wait that long, here's the Kickstarter.

Today we go from Afrofuturism to Indofuturism with a mythic restyling of the Ramayan folk tale of India, written by Deepak Chopra of all people. Yeah, even I was confused. I always get the philosopher and the criminal mixed up. This was written by the good philosopher one.

Anyway, the world has survived the apocalypse but much has changed. A sliver of humanity still exists but sharing the planet are beast-men of all sorts and then the enemy led by Lord Raven on the southern continent. The old Maharaja decides to send his 4 sons to various locales to shore up the defenses in preparation for Lord Raven’s invasion. Rama and another annoying son are dispatched to a hinterland fort, where they party with the locals, get hangovers, argue about their mothers, and then the enemy attacks. This is like George Washington ordering his sons to Vermont just in case the British invade from Canada. Dunno if his sons were military or not, but I get a similar vibe. 

The artwork is amazing in some ways but pedestrian in others. The framing needs a bit of work. I had to zoom in a lot to read the narration boxes. The cover’s cool, at least. If a remake is ever ordered, I feel like greater attention to body parts and framing would be the first steps. I also suggest arrows so you know which panel to read next. 

I think this could be a worthwhile series to follow. Heck I might even get into Indofuturism. You can find Ramayan 3392 at Amazon here.

While I never have any regrets about a Kickstarter (except Japan Needs Heroes) this is one I could've avoided. I encountered the writer on the BCC group as he was asking why Black folks aren't pitching in. So I jumped in because I like it when creators ask folks to check out their products. Don't mind if I do...

I was suspicious that it was a religiously focused comic because of some text I saw in the Kickstarter. And yup, correct! It is heavy-handed in its religiousity and I do not like that one bit. Is it better than Left Behind? To be honest, everything is better than that steaming turd. The bar for religious fiction is soooo low that anything slightly better is automatically good. 

The art was quite good in many aspects. Framing was on point, character art was very consistent, info page reminded me of 90s Marvel Comics' style, the letter looked good as well. Art-wise, it's better than Scorpio. I also liked the covers (there are 2) and the pinups. Lighting/tone needs work.

Plot-wise, it's a bit weak. I liked the mini-stories a bit more than the main story but the forgiveness and come-to-Jesus angle kinda clashed with the first arc. They were chasing after the Cheetor wannabe for a reason. Later on, he becomes a good guy? What about his crimes? I don't get it, but it is a Christian focused comic, so I'll never get it. At least we got a good intro to Black Cobra the main character out of it, and we got a hint that #2 is on the way. 3.0 out of 5 stars, but 4 out of 5 in religious stars. Nightfall was better but that's a hard bar to climb over. 

You can find Black Cobra and other comics in the series at Remnant and Grok Comics.

Another series of Kickstarters cleared and I'm happy again to be talking about them. Today we get a Western comic. Don't usually get those, padner! Let's ride!

Mr. and Mrs. Rose are homesteaders with an interesting past. They have a daughter called Prim who is the cutest around. But one day trouble finds them in town and they have to take action to protect their home. That trouble comes in the form of surprise taxes on their house. When they can't afford to pay, a shootout happens and little Prim becomes an avatar of the...not sure what's that supposed to be? The Teddy Bear of Destruction? There weren't Teddy Bears in the wild west days so I'm not quite sure if that's what the comic is trying to invoke. You'll need to read and see.

The artwork is slightly above average, even though I found the cover art to be below average. The paneling really frames the shootouts and tension well. Mr. Quick is not the artist, so while I can't say whether or not he planned the paneling, I can say that Silva's style is a little weak in some aspects with the background and head shapes. I know the trend is to draw everyone pretty, but this is an ugly story and it needed to be drawn ugly to reflect that. I think in that regard, it came out pretty well. I also liked how they drew Prim, and the menace of the finale.

I'm not a super fan of western stories but I see some potential here. You can find Ballad of the Black Rose at 4thWallPros along with Aceblade and other works there. 

The Black Comics Creators Facebook group has a lot of comic book makers looking to make their big break into the industry. So today I heard from the proprietor of Trippy Bull Comics with a review request. Let's see if it lives up to the hype!

The slightly typical origin story follows Sam (the boy in the school jacket) a typical struggling high schooler. He and his friend get jumped/set up by a gang and Sam runs inside (where else but) a poorly guarded nuclear fusion facility. A stray bullet triggers an explosion and Sam gains superpowers. But street violence is not something easily solved by powers. See how long Batman's been fighting crime in Gotham?

As far as the art goes, I'd say it's better than many #1 issues. The art team has a good grasp of paneling and shading. My only complaint is they draw the heads a bit too large. That'll probably work its way out in future issues.  4 out of 5 stars.

You can find Kid Solar at TrippyBullComics for free or $8 for a hard copy.

Have you read this story before? Because that's the feeling I had when I read the first 5 pages. 

Former astronaut Jonathan DeVane struggles with life after leaving NASA in the wake of the mission to destroy a comet. Turns out, it wasn't a comet at all but an alien spaceship and debris from the crash killed hundreds across the world. But our hero doesn't know that, until his colleague Tommy asks him to help transport a Russian hacktivist to a swap meet. But it turns out the convoy was also carrying a secret. A secret named Lila. DeVane, the hacktivist, and the alien hybrid Lila must fight the US government to figure out her origin and what the evil general is up to, all before the invasion fleet shows up. 

This is a graphic novel of 120 some pages so I wasn't counting on the air being great throughout. I was a bit surprised to see that it was quite consistent in quality. The paneling and interspaced amount of full page spreads were good as well. The dialog bubbies are spaced quite well and I didn't have problems knowing who's talking and when.

But the main problem with the story is that I've read too many versions of it. The grizzled vet main character and Lila the alien hottie reminds me of Fifth Element, the Russian hacktivist reminds me of a dumber Edward Snowden, and the evil general reminds me of every B-movie Scify channel's produced. Hell even the alien invaders felt "stock" to me. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

You can get Astral Genesis from Pet Piranha Entertaiment on Indiegogo.