In The Local Pocket #1 - How To Make A Friend

In The Local Pocket #1

Whenever new comic book day comes round I always try and pick up a series that I haven't read before it's a great way to find different series that you might enjoy and I always think the more variety the better. I always look in the local section as I think it is incredibly important to support local talent in all art forms. Local, creator owned comics are usually funded by the creators personally or through websites like Kickstarter. Creating these comics is more than just a job for them it's a passion that they pour their heart and soul into.

Local creators usually love signing their work

How To Make A Friend

How To Make A Friend is written, illustrated and published by Chris McQuinlan. How To Make A Friend is one of the most charming comic I have come across and I enjoyed it immensely. I showed How To Make A Friend to my mother, who has never read a comic in her entire life, and she enjoyed it so much that she asked me to get a copy for her because there was no way in hell I was parting with mine.

I wish I could make friends this easily

How To Make A Friend is about an old wizard who misses is late wife and is shunned by the people in the local town. He is so lonely he decides to make a friend using a magic spell book and creates a small pixie like creature and that's as much as I can tell you about the story. One of the things I love most about How To Make A Friend is that their are no words in the comic because you interpret the story the way you see it. I won't tell you how I interpreted this comic because I want you to come to your own conclusion about the story and the wizard.

Right in the feels :'(

The characters are drawn in a delightfully simple, way with magical smiles that will just melt your heart. The panels in the town are simple and clear and seem to be drawn as an entire piece of art rather than a character and background but as the story moves into the wizard's home and forest the backgrounds are drawn with a few trees, rocks and tufts of grass that don't draw the eye away from the characters but still give a clear in-depth look to each panel. The art is done in entirely blue, black, white and a tiny splash of red. The use of the blue to show light and shadows is magnificent and one of may favourite parts about this comic giving some of the panels an almost 3D look. The artist has clearly worked incredibly hard to have these wonderful details in every panel with not a single panel of lower quality in the entire comic.

If your heart isn't melting right now there is something wrong with you

If it sounds like I'm having a nerd-gasm over How To Make A Friend its because I am. I really enjoyed this comic and really just loved its innocence, joy and sadness. Unfortunately it is a little hard to get a hold of a copy at the moment so I actually emailed the creator, Chris McQuinlan, to both let him know how much I enjoyed his comic and to find out where I could possibly get a copy for my mother. Chris is hoping to have more copies printed up for Super Nova this year.

Check out Chris McQuinlan's website here and his twitter

I give How To Make A Friend 4.5 out of 5 magical smiles

Nawwwww I want one

Saga - The crack of comic books

Saga volume #1

Any comic that's first printed words are "am I shitting? It feels like I'm shitting" and continues to be published must be good. Saga, written by Brian Vaughan and art by Fiona Staples and published by Image comics, It is basically the crack of the comic world and turns you into a comic junkie desperate for the next issue.

Very first page of entire series

Landfall, home to the wings, and its moon Wreath, home to the horns, have been at war for as long as anyone can remember, so long in fact that the war has moved away from these place and onto surrounding planets and moons. Alana was a Landfall solider and Marko a Wreath solider who met in a POW camp and fell in love. Saga begins with the birth of their daughter Hazel after which within minutes we learn that Alana and Marko are wanted by both sides as a traitors. The story follows the new family as they try and escape the hit men, spies, royalty and soldiers after them as they just try and live their life in peace together. The story also follows a freelancer named The Will and his side kick Lying Cat, an alien cat who can tell if a person is lying, as they have been hired to find Marko and Alana kill them and bring baby Hazel back to his employers alive. The Will and Lying Cat's mission gets sidetracked as they attempt to rescue a young girl from the planet Sextillion where she is held captive as a prostitute.

Seriously even the plants want to kill them

The art of Saga is as close to perfect as a comic book can get, the sheer volume of character designs is staggering and the fact that they are all done well is a real achievement. One of my favourite things about the art in Saga is that all of the wings have different kinds of wings such as bat wings, feathered wings, butterfly wings and other bug wings and the horns all have different kinds of horns such as ram horns, antelope horns, cow horns, rhino horns and unicorn horns. the faces are expressive and show off the personalities of the characters such as sassy Alana, hopeful Marko and somber The Will. Saga doesn't shy away from surprising its readers with disturbing images without any notice such as a new born baby covered in blood and fluids, robots having sex, exploding heads and later in the series a giant humanoid monster with gigantic hairy testicles and it works surprisingly well.

Beautiful images like this then BAM! EXPLODING HEAD!!

A huge part of what makes Saga work so well are the characters, they have some of the most three dimensional and well rounded personalities that I have ever seen in any medium. All the characters make good decisions, they make bad decisions, they become irrational, they make selfish choices, they are frightened and through all of it they still try to make the best of the circumstances they find themselves in. You feel Immensely for Alana and Marko as they struggle with being newly weds and new parents situations that are hard enough without the complications of being wanted fugitives with an entire galaxy wanting them dead. I feel it is very realistic that Alana and Marko don't have any great heroic goals of trying to end a war that has lasted centuries all they want is to be left alone and raise their family in peace.

Setting realistic goals

Saga is one of the finest comics available and has had no drop in the quality of the writing or art since it began in 2012. Most people who buy volume #1 of Saga usually end up becoming hooked and turn into another Saga addict.

I give Saga a 4.5 out of 5 Lying Cats

Find out more about Saga here

My Top 5 Couples In Comics

Couples in comics are more than just super heroes and the damsels in distress that they rescue. Many comics involve deep, layered relationships between characters. These are 5 of my favourite relationships in comics. Happy Valentine's Day.

5

Andrea & Dale

The Walking Dead

I saved you guys the picture of them having sex. You're welcome.

Nothing Like the end of the world to let a person aim for a partner way out of their league. Andrea and Dale are part of a small group of survivors who travel together after the dead start rising as vicious zombies (you've seen the show I don't really need to explain the premise to you). Despite the huge age difference between the two Andrea and Dale fall in love and find some comfort and stability in each other and even get to have a family for a short time with two adopted sons.

4

Janni & Jack

Nemo Heart Of Ice & Nemo Rose Of Berlin

Not exactly my idea of romance but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Captain Janni is the daughter of Captain Nemo (of League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen fame) and Jack is her crewman and later her husband. They are supportive of each other and couldn't imagine a life apart, so much so that Janni is offered a chance at immortality she refuses because she wouldn't even consider living forever without Jack.

3

Toni Chu & Praveen

Chew

At least she didn't bite him

Toni and her boss Paneer are in love and they just have the most adorable goofy relationship you can really tell these two characters just adore each other and deserve to be together. Toni can see the future of anything she eats providing it is still alive, This makes for some shenanigans as Paneer even forgives Toni for taking a bite out of his shoulder after he asks her to marry him.

2

Suzie & Jon

Sex Criminals

The kinky ones are never the ones you'd suspect

Suzie and Jon meet at a party, Jon Spends the night at Suzie's place, Suzie and Jon have sex, Suzie and Jon both stop time when they have an orgasm. Well that was unexpected. Suzie and Jon not only have a sweet relationship that feels very real but they also have their fair share of problems including the the fact that they both end up in a suspended state of time after climaxing. This means they have finally found somebody just like themselves and have a plan for how they will use their powers together.

1

Alana & Marko

Saga

Smarter than Romeo & Juliette

Alana and Marko are like Romeo and Juliette but nowhere near as fucking stupid. They meet as enemies, come together as lovers and then continue their journey as husband and wife. These two not only put aside centuries of animosity between their two cultures they are willing to take on an entire universe to be together. Alana and Marko truly love each other and all they want is to be left alone with their family and just enjoy life. If you don't find that romantic your heart is made of stone.

Carmen - Its okay we know where in the world she is.

Carmen #0 & #1

Carmen is created by Mike Speakman, Issue #0 written by Mike Speakman & Aharon Claridge illustration & letters by Blake Wilkie. Issue #1 written by Mike Speakman & Aharon Claridge, illustrations & letters by Matt Kyme, colours & cover art by Matty Taylor and published by If? Commix. Carmen is a thriller/mystery/spy comic about a woman named Carmen who's boyfriend Cody Sinclair, an American solider, was recently killed in action under suspicious circumstances, those suspicious circumstances being that he was straight up murdered by another American soldier. A shady organization called King-Dome Come Industries, run by the terrifying Mr. King, steals Cody's body needing his brain for something. The brain is damaged during transportation and the information now unreadable. A person who was special to Cody is needed to transfer his memories so Mr. King can unlocks Cody's secrets. Carmen, now in danger, is being hunted.

Oh this? This is just my copy signed by Matty Taylor

The art style is very interesting and different straying away from the "classic" comic book style and uses thick lines and deep colours that reminds me of a stain glass window. Some of the backgrounds creatively use real pictures and textures enhanced with colours and outlines makings the backgrounds interestingly detailed without drawing your eye away from the focus of the panel. Those who like incredibly realistic art may be a little turned off by the art in Carmen but it is an unusual and engaging style that is refreshingly different.

I usually make my coffee after I get out of the shower but whatever

Carmen, although we haven't learned much about her personality yet, has already shown us an insight into her character as she reacts realistically when large frightening men force their way into her apartment by freaking the hell out but shows that she isn't going to be just another damsel in distress as she fights back by elbowing one of her attackers in the throat. What makes Carmen such an interesting character is that she really has no idea what is going on or why people are after her, she is just a normal person. We don't know much about her skills yet but she neither turns into a blubbering, helpless mess waiting to be rescued or into a super solider that can defeat her attackers without breaking a sweat. Carmen, although she may pick up some skills along the way, is looking like a story about an ordinary person in an extraordinary situations.

Carmen isn't going down without a fight

Normally I am not a huge fan of spy/thriller comics but I enjoyed Carmen immensely and was intrigued at what direction the story would progress in. I read a comic many times while writing reviews and each time I read Carmen I enjoyed it more. Carmen is a locally produced comic and like many creator owned local comics it doesn't have a monthly schedule with each issue coming out every few months or so. Many creator owned comics are funded via Kickstarter and other such websites and by their creators personally.

I'm both excited and inpatient so, so very inpatient

I give Carmen 4 out of 5 brains in a jar and remember support local talent!

Follow Carmen on Twitter and get your own copy of Carmen here.


I also just wanted to share this wonderful picture of me as a zombie drawn by Matty Taylor at an event at All Star Comics where he was doing free sketches for people.

This hangs proudly on my sketch wall

New Comic Book Day Swag Bag 07.02.2015

New Comic Book Day Swag Bag 07.02.2015

It's a mini swag this week.

The Li'l Depressed Boy Volume #0: I love LDB! What happened before our story begins? What was before road trips, before unrequited love and before thrift store shopping.

Batgirl Volume #3: James Jr. is Back and that is very bad news for the amazing Batgirl! The Joker is back? Well that's a problem.

Saga #25: OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!! Saga's back! Prince IV & Marko are working together to save their families.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Gil #2: I love Squirrel Girl and her awesome awesomeness! Lets all join Mew Club!

Wytches #4: Sailor is still missing what are her parents going to do? Who was the old woman who broke into their house?

Wolf Moon #3 Is the curse a skin walker or something else? Who is killing the survivors of the curse? Issue 3 of 6.

Angela Asgard's Assassin #3: Angela & Sera are still on the run from Thor with the heir to Asgard. Whats their plan?

Bitch Planet - Unleash your inner bitch

Bitch Planet - Issue #1

Bitch Planet is written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by Valentine De Landro and published by Image Comics. Bitch Planet is set in a future where women can be judged "non-compliant" by their male peers, work colleagues and husbands and be sent to an "auxiliary compliance outpost" also known as "Bitch Planet" to live out the rest of their lives, which may not be very long, away from society. The first issue follows Marian as she insists she doesn't belong in this prison and attempts to explain how her non-compliance issue is a mistake and that her and her husband had made amends as we also watch her husband try to get his wife back insisting that a mistake has been made. If you are looking for comedy steer clear of Bitch Planet.

You've come to the wrong place if you're looking for laughs

The art of Bitch Planet has a really vintage feel to it using a lot of dark shadows and simple art but has surprisingly expressive faces, I personally find the eyes done very well and think they display the most emotion in each face. the characters are diverse and range from Penny the "Born Big" tough as nails woman who will kick your ass if it needs kicking, Marian the middle-aged, blonde professional, our hero Kamau sporting an afro, muscular frame and scar over her lip and "The Catholic" a holographic, pink nun used to control the women, preach and talk to them of their sins.

Nuns are fucking scary as shit

You feel for the characters who have been thrown into a constantly violent living-hell as they attempt to band together and help each other stay safe from the sadistic guards and corrupt policies. You can understand how some of the characters feel defeated by the world that they live in and the terror that they are now facing yet they are still are willing to try and help others as when one of the prisoners is being attacked by the guards another prisoner stands up and tries to help her as she can't just stand by and watch as a riot begins in an attempt to save this inmate. It feels very real and is a great show of how people will always band together despite the hopelessness of the situation.

When the going gets tough the tough band together and kick ass

As I was writing this review I had to think how much I wanted to talk about this comic being a critique of society with a strong feminist theme to it as the mere mention of the word feminism seems to turn people into frothing at the mouth fanatics about how its an "outdated movement", "it's about hating men", "I don't need feminism" are and the one that annoys me the most especially coming from young women "I'm no feminist". Feminism isn't about taking rights away from men or forcing women to become more manly its about everybody having the opportunity to choose to do whatever they want with their life. The fact that I had to think twice about whether I wanted to talk about this in my personal blog is proof that there is still work to be done for equality. Bitch Planet is a critique of women becoming outcasts for not conforming to what society expects of them whether its not fulfilling their wifely duties, not conforming to the traditional standard of beauty or simply not trying to fit the mold of how a woman should look and act. Bitch Planet is going to be a serious comic tackling some serious issues and looks like it will be a fantastic series for those who like things a little more serious in their comics

I give Bitch Planet 4 & 1/2 out of 5 badass bitches