Comic Related: Bill Gladman's Life in Four Colors

Life In Four Colors:
Independent Thinking Part Two
Small Press Reviews

I’ll be starting this column off with an apology of sorts. I wanted to have this column, the second of what has now grown into four columns that are focused on reviews of small press books I picked up at Mid-Ohio Con earlier in the month, up and “live” much sooner than this.

But one of the books I reviewed this time around is a collected trade paperback, and that took a little longer to read.

The book reviewed in this column I thought deserved to be spotlighted in its own column….seeing how the review on just this one book continued to grow….over eleven pages in all. That’s how much I liked it. So what started out as a review on five different books…got changed really quickly.

The review/column after this one will focus on the Chimera Collection….and the brand new The Chimera Strikes comic….seeing how both focus on the same character I thought I would pair them together. Troy Gillogly’s Wild Breed #1 will also be featured in that one as well to even out the size of the column.

The last of the “Independent Thinking” columns will focus solely on what I thought was a book that …like this one….deserved a column all to itself. A book that I will be supporting with every iota of energy I have. A true highlight of Mid-Ohio Con 2008 and a book I feel will be making a great deal of noise in the future as more and more people discover it.

But never fear. The reading is done….and the time has come to share my thoughts on them all. Believe me it will be well worth the wait.

Let’s get this party started with…..Safe Words the 2007 edition.

Safe Words is another anthology book….this one the brainchild of Jon Hodges over at Bad Place productions. Jon wrote two of the stories in the book (City of Iron…a preview of a comic series yet to be released and Mr. Boo).

I reviewed two anthology books in the last column….Zonetrooper Magazine #2 and Dracula Inc. #1. At the time I mentioned how it must be difficult for an editor on one of these books (this case Jon) to decide the order of the stories that will be featured in a book like Safe Words. Some books (Dracula Inc.) seemed to like putting the strongest story as the lead story….other books (Zonetrooper) seemed to like to have an equally strong piece at the front and the end of the book with an unique stand alone piece at the center.

I also compared editing an anthology book like Safe Words is in ways like deciding the line-up of a live rock show that features several different bands on the same ticket. And to me it feels that Jon took a very “rock-n-roll” approach to putting this book together. A lot of different stories, paced out nicely, that gradually built to a huge pyrotechnic, confetti streaming, smoke bomb finish.

The first story “Should” written and illustrated by Brendan Firem is eleven pages (kudos to Jon for allowing these stories to run their natural course and allow the creators featured in this book the complete freedom of whatever page count they felt was necessary)….and has a very experimental feel to it with both the art layouts and text. The story itself may not be for everybody but it’s a very solid start to what would end up being a very solid book. Placed in the line-up of things to come perfectly.

Story two is actually a five page preview of the upcoming City of Iron comic…as I mentioned earlier…written by Jon and illustrated by a very talented Carey Maynard. Visually this thing is stunning….but there’s no words. I’m not sure if this portion of the book was designed to tell the story without the use of words (which it manages to achieve to a large degree) or if this preview went to print before these panels were lettered.

Either way….when finished this story seems to be very promising and I plan to pick it up when it is completed.

Story three… (expletive) written and illustrated by David Watt. This is the part that IF this was indeed a rock show…the lead singer for what would be the third band would walk out on stage just as the roadies from the band before was removing the last bits and pieces of sound equipment. He (or she) would pump their hands in the air and get the crowd fired up….find a mike that was functional and scream into it “Alright you crazy mother#@*$*# !!!!!! Are you ready for some Rock-N-Roll?!???” The crowd would scream in a deafening response which he would act as though he couldn’t hear….and repeat the question. “Are you ready for some Rock-N-Roll?!!??”

Again the crowd would respond….after which the curtain would come up, the lights would go down….and David Watt would take center stage…in a piece that is once again placed in perfect pecking order.

If the name David Watt sounds familiar (and hopefully it does) it’s because he’s the artist for another incredible book written by Mr. Hodges….Invisible World…a book whose cover and the cover of Safe Words were both designed by…Brendan Firem who did the “Should” story that opened up Safe Words. Brendan also letters Invisible World.

David Watt is also the writer and illustrator for Woodboy.

Both books were featured in an earlier column…and if you haven’t checked them out yet…what are you waiting for?

David’s (expletive) that appears in Safe Words is a dark, moody story that hits you hard. Punches you right and the gut and doubles you over, gasping for air.

It’s about a guy named Denny….who has had enough. Of everything. He plans out his suicide…which he wants to go about accomplishing…in a very public place. Things go as planned….for the span of about 42 seconds….after that….life decides to show Denny it’s not finished with him yet.

Good stuff….and unfortunately a story I can relate to in my own way. Perhaps a little too much.

Story Four. Jon pulls a couple of masterful moves here. After a story like (expletive) he decides to tone it down a bit. After the moody darkness of David Watt’s 13 page journey through the things that make up the different elements of life and death…despair and hope….he sends writer Giles Johnson and illustrator Jennifer Gordon out on stage…with just two chairs and two acoustic guitars.

Despite the fact the crowd is still chanting David’s name….they start playing what will become a three page master piece. An enlightening piece of poetry entitled “In Between.”

After the last few words of In Between start to fade away like smoke over the now silent and stunned and silent crowd…..a feeling of Déjà vu seems to settle in. There was something familiar about those two as well….but something you just couldn’t put your finger on.

Allow this humble writer to help you out with that…Jennifer Gordon is the writer of a comic book series called Stiletto Heights. She also illustrates portions of the book while there are other parts of the book that are illustrated by a very talented Columbus based artist by the name of Seth Lyons.

A page from Stiletto Heights #2 which features words
by Jennifer Gordon and art by Seth Lyons.

The book has also featured cover art by Green Lantern legend and good friend…Daryl Banks. Jennifer, Seth, and Daryl are just some of the high caliber talent that tends to frequent Pack Rat Comics in Hilliard Ohio.

Back to Safe Words. Story five. Mr. Boo….written by Jon Hodges and illustrated by Jay Fife. This story is only one page long….but don’t let the size fool you. Dynamite comes in small packages so they say.

Mr. Boo is about a Teddy Bear….which happens to belong to an unnamed hired assassin…who confides to the silent stuffed partner before and after each hit.

If the talent of Jon and Jay wasn’t enough to make this story such a wonderful piece of work….they added Braille Korp into the mix. Braille is a musician and photographer from the Dayton Ohio area who has posed for several of Jay’s illustrations including the cover of Zonetrooper Magazine #1 and a stunning Batman piece that also features Jay himself as the Penguin and Jon as Ra’s Al Ghul. Braille appears as the Riddler in the piece.

Braille is also drawn in the Mr. Boo panels as the unnamed professional killer.

Raichal with the infamous “Mr. Boo” Mid-Ohio Con 2007

Both Jon and Jay have mentioned that Braille plans to continue the adventures of this very “Odd Couple” with sequential photography. That should prove to very interesting…and if I know Braille….very twisted.

In a perfect world Jon and Jay would combine their collective talent for some kind of project at least once every year or so…but this world as we know is far from perfect so we’ll take what we can get…..and what we are in store to get is more great work from both of these guys on various projects of their own if not together.

Finally we make it to the last story of this “Rock-N-Roll Straightjacket.” And Jon saves the best for last. I know what you’re thinking right now…who could possibly come out and top this incredible, show-stopping line up of talent?

Who can possibly out perform the dark magic of Dave Watt…whose centerpiece of the book still lingers in the smoke drenched corners of this Journey To the Center of Your Mind….

How about…..David Watt?

That’s right…..Jon slips in a powerful David Watt encore…..and do I mean powerful. Nothing less than the very first appearance of Watt’s Woodboy….a story that pre-dates the Woodboy comic entitled “Woodboy and the L’il Lites”

This eight page finale not only Outshines (expletive), as difficult as they may be to believe….but once again…placed perfectly in the book by Mr. Hodges…brings the house down. David takes the story, flips it on its side, pours some lighter fuel on it, sets it ablaze and leaves it smoking on the stage while still plugged into his Marshall stack.

The feedback is still screaming in your ears as you close the cover on the book.

I hope you’re interested enough to check the book out for yourself. As always a friendly nudge in the right direction from yours truly.

More Info.

www.badplaceproductions.com

And related links…..

www.stilettoheights.etsy.com
www.packratcomics.com
www.jayfife.com

Until next time.
See you in the funny papers.

Bill Gladman - Bill is a writer and illustrator and currently working on several different projects including the first issue of an ongoing comic book series (Prodigy), an illustrated fantasy novel (The Book of Noheim), and the first of four illustrated science fiction/fantasy novels (Jack the Rabbit, Living Legend of the Purple Plains) as well as a light-hearted on going mini-comic (Three Wise Men). Bill also pens a column for Comic Related and will be doing a mix of regional convention coverage.