Aceblade/4th Wall Pros
Harlem #1 by 4th Wall Productions
Another series of Kickstarters cleared and I'm happy again to be talking about them. This is second half of the same Kickstarter that Ballad came in, though it has a different producer.
We jump right into the action when Harlem (woman on the cover) wakes up and sees charred corpses around her. She checks the room next to her and finds her parents shot dead on the floor. And of course the police are on the way. Someone wants her dead as is using the police to get it done. Harlem gets to her grandma's house and the truth of power's origin and its activation comes out. Can she handle the threats arrayed against her alone? Apparently she isn't as a fan favorite shows up to help. Here's a hint; he wields an axe. No, not the body spray.
The cover artwork's better than Black Rose but not exceptionally impressive. I liked the flame effect as it's a good representation of her powers and style. I wasn't a big fan of the overall art and the consistency of the characters. On page 9, there is a police photo of the main character that the news is broadcasting but it doesn' t look like the character so IDK what they were thinking. People would be calling the cops on the wrong person all night long. The action and power effects were consistently good and I'm hoping that the series continues with the same styling for those scenes.
I'm giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars. You can find Harlem at 4thWallPros along with Aceblade and other works there.
Kickstarter Comic Reviews Part VII: Aceblade Edition
Aceblade’s back, like Vegas, baby~!
Unfortunately, the art’s not as good as previous works in the series. The story was easily one of my favorite indie comic stories in a long time, though it had a few plot holes.
In a nutshell, Aceblade visits a crook (Gutshot I think) in a rathe posh jail (or office) who proposes they set up fights between him and the crook’s stable of villains. Aceblade predictably wrecks them. Some of the fighters are those from the mini-comics and other series I haven’t read yet. Gutshot (let’s just call him that because I don’t want to get up from my chair and check Aceblade #4), thinks he has Aceblade over a hot plate- either he loses or the betters will go bankrupt, but if he doesn’t fight the citizens will fight the villains and get killed like Squid Game vs MMA for that 1 million dollar payout. How will Aceblade get out of this situation?
At the end of the comic, there’s a new character who’s come for a fight with Aceblade. He looks VERY familiar. If it’s who I think it is, I am quite impressed. That’s a good ‘get’.
The smeariness of the art doesn’t quite match the story but it does help with the mood. I wasn’t fond of a lot of the art in the fights either, though it wasn’t hard to follow. Not their best work by far, but I like the framing and pacing more here than in the first Aceblade comic. Naturally, as a Danny Quick Kickstarter, it was late (haha) but he always delivers. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Aceblade #7 by 4th Wall Productions
I'm getting through my Kickstarter backlog with another fave (of sorts), and it's also a 4WP production. What can I say, Mr. Quick may be slow on deliveries but he brings a lot *da-dum twis*.
We return to an Aceblade frustrated with things in the city and the jailing of his gym student. He almost takes out his frustration on a local punk but pulls himself back. Aceblade's alter ego has a gym business and he pestered by the media, which includes a reporter from LumberJax's turf. Crossover! Anyway, Aceblade's student is the victim in some sort of scam and Aceblade returns to the bank attacked last ish to find clues that could free her. Unfortunately, Aceblade's evidence isn't enough to sway the judge.
I'm no legal expert, but I'm fairly certain there's no way that ruling would survive appeal. Also, I think the judge in real-life (bribed or otherwise) wouldn't admit Aceblade's evidence upon his barging into court. I think he would've called a closed door hearing in his chambers first. So the writing team got the court drama a bit wrong.
The art isn't great. I think Ballad had better art. The cover is slightly misleading in that Aceblade isn't on trial, though he is going through a trial. I think the paneling was done well, especially in the last scene, but I wasn't a fan of the city backgrounds. While I'm not THAT familiar with Las Vegas, I don't recall as many tall building there, outside of the touristy gambling/hotel zones. So I felt like some backgrounds looked real, others didn't. Though I noticed some building looked copied from photographs, which I felt is a good way to add authenticity to a background. Props to the team if that's the case. I wasn't a fan of some of the people scenes in that they lacked 'grit' and looked too 'clean. But that just might be art team's style.
I'm giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars. You can find Aceblade #7 at 4thWallPros along with Harlem and other works there.