CWR WEEKEND BLOG EXTRA

Welcome to the latest edition of the Blog Extra. Today, we have two self-published indy books on tap for your enjoyment.

ACTION FIGURE #1 is written and drawn by Richard Marcej. Marcej was an artist and designer for both Hasbro and Hallmark early in his career, and this series was set to be a semi-autobiographical take on his experiences working for those companies and what came afterwards. Unfortunately, ACTION FIGURE didn’t make the Diamond minimum for orders, so the author is now selling the book direct through his Baboon Books website. It’s sort of a shame that the book didn’t get wide distribution; this opening tale of his stand-in “Richard Marzelak” is an accomplished piece of work, even with its flaws. Marcej certainly has plenty of artistic talent, and he shows a decent grasp of layout for someone putting together his first comic. The story of an everyman trying to figure out his dreams and escaping a soul-sucking job rings true as well. The one place where he does go off the rails a bit is in his depiction of Marzelak’s character. He comes across as very whiny more than once, making it a bit difficult to sympathize with him. Still, this is a book with real merit, and worth your attention.

GHOST ASSASSIN: PRELUDE is written by Adam Watson and drawn by Charles Carvalho, and is available via Darkslinger Comics. An assassin named David has a more unusual life that you might imagine; along with his lack of remorse about killing people for a living, he can also see ghosts. And as an added bonus, the ghosts of some he has killed are bonded to him, giving him the ability to have a running dialogue with someone who doesn’t exist… and little-to-no private time. It makes you wonder when he feels comfortable to take a dookie or rub one out. But I digress. The Prelude issue introduces David, sets up his latest murder-for-hire, and brings two ghosts into the picture who play a pivotal role, including one who was his friend and that now watches his back. The story is pretty solidly executed, showing us that David has his own twisted sense of honor, even when he knows that his life is immoral, but the art has a few letdowns that put a drag on the story; some pages are inked too heavy to work well with the colors and the book looks murky because of it.

That’s all for this week. Pop in for site updates throughout the week, and be back here next weekend for the final Blog Extra of 2006!

/Mason