Comic Related Reviews

Ringtail Cafe #1-4

Ringtail Cafe Productions LLC

Review by Chuck Moore

As has become increasingly common for me, I seem to be meeting creators before reading their actual series. Comic Related has been attending a lot of shows this year and we've discovered a massive mix of comics (roughly four long boxes in total ... hey, we believe in supporting small press) simply by walking up to a creator's tables and walking away having purchased their series. One of my favorite pastimes is discovering new work from up and coming talent and letting them tell me their story. It's that drive toward discovery that brings me, as a fan of comics, back to conventions time and again.

That's how I met Darren Mueller, Jackie Hernandez and Krista Mueller. I bumped into the trio earlier this year while attending Comics2Games annual Free Comic Book Day celebration. I watched throughout the day as Darren and Krista explained their series to fans at this almost-mini-con-esque gathering of creators. Jackie, the series artist, joined in the discussion when she could but was limited by a flurry of sketch work and commission requests. Darren and Jackie were the original co-creators of Ringtail Cafe with Krista joining the project in a significant way as it moved forward.

Two things struck me during that initial meeting. First, the trio had an honest and clear love for creating comics and, second, they had that unique ability to present themselves in a professional way and hold your attention, not just with their current work but with a portfolio of art highlighting their side projects and the next issue of Ringtail Cafe.

As you may already know, this is a a companion feature as all three creators turned up on last week's episode of the Related Recap. During that extended interview, we covered much of this team's growing slate of current and upcoming projects. Unlike that interview, here I want to take a slightly closer look at the Ringtail Cafe series itself as, after all, this is a review.

So what is Ringtail Cafe?

It's an anthropomorphic story of action/adventure laced with humor, dangling plot clues and just a touch of conspiracy theory. Like many of the best stories, Ringtail Cafe is self-published and has a definite beginning, middle and end. It's also a fun read.

The first issue of the series was originally presented in black and white. The team jumped to color with issue number two and have been evolving their color palette ever since. In fact, if you begin reading Ringtail Cafe with the upcoming trade, you'll never know there was a change as that early issue is being updated with color added even as this review is being written.

Currently set as an on-going series, the story itself is finite and the creators have mapped out the story's beat, crescendo and ultimate finale. This is a fact I enjoyed knowing up front as it allows the creators the chance to weave in plot elements now that may not become relevant until later in the series. Knowing this, I found myself watching for tidbits along the way. Ultimately it drew me a bit further into the story.

Interestingly enough, the Cafe referenced in the title is just what the name implies... it's a coffee shop that serves as a front for a clandestine group of individuals who owe allegiance to a group known, quite simply, as The Organization. They work in opposition to L.o.V.E.. No, that isn't some 60's counterculture opposition organization. Here, L.o.V.E. stands for The League of Villainous Evil. Within the story various plots emerge, counter plots take shape and a third organization known as NEXT adds additional layers to the story.

Four issues into the series, I'm not yet sure how all these elements will eventually play together as we're seeing The Organization through the eyes of Adam Imada, a new recruit who just happened to stumble into this multi-layered conspiracy. Here, you're provided just enough information to give you the feel that things are beginning to unfold. There is insight into some of the characters personality and hints at a possible double cross. All in all, an interesting start.

Ringtail Cafe is the first full, on-going project for this group of creators and this is a series that is growing both in quality and strength as each issue is unveiled. From issue #1 to issue #4, the series has evolved significantly both in presentation and execution. In the beginning the backgrounds were a bit sparse, but as you turn the corner toward issue #5 the environments in which the characters exist have quickly become almost as involved as the wide array of animals represented by the lead (and secondary) characters.

Over the course of four issues, you can see the growth of these creators both in terms of plotting, story detail and art. Not being a reader who has been exposed to a lot of traditional animal based anthropomorphic (aka the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures) styled storytelling, I was intrigued both by the diversity of creatures presented within the series, the attention to natural detail and the expressive potential the choice of this kind of character offers. Jackie's art seems well suited to this style of storytelling yet leafing through her portfolio and watching her sketch she's equally strong portraying humans. Also interesting is the way in which Darren and Jackie utilizing the non-human characters to touch upon issues that would be more difficult to address with standard human characters.

Ringtail Cafe is a series I'm looking forward to watching as it continues to evolve. If these creators continue their current rate of growth, the end result in a very short amount of time should be staggering. These first four issue provide a solid start for what I feel will be a fun series. If you ask me, you gotta L.o.V.E. it.

Learn more about the series by visiting www.ringtailcafe.com