Category: Comics

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I read Shadowpact #2 last night. So far the book does read better than Day of Vengeance, probably in large part because Bill Willingham can set his own schedule instead of the must-be-6-issues policy of the Infinite Crisis lead-ins.

One of the villains struck me as familiar, though: an albino swordsman with a magic sword, apparently allied to a sinister god-like being, who has picked up the nickname, “the White Rabbit.”

Elric: The Making of a Sorcerer #3Maybe it’s just the timing—just a few days ago I read a comic about Elric, an albino swordsman with a magic sword, allied to a sinister god-like being, with the nickname, “the White Wolf.”

Michael Moorcock's MultiverseActually, I was first reminded of Count Zodiac from Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse, largely because Zodiac is based in the 20th century, rather than an ancient sword-and-sorcery landscape. Count Zodiac is one of at least three versions of Count Ulric von Bek*—the others appear in The Dragon in the Sword and the trilogy that begins with The Dreamthief’s Daughter—and, like Elric, an incarnation of the Eternal Champion.

The Eternal Champion in all his forms fights for the balance between order and chaos, and often finds himself fighting for order while indebted to a lord of chaos. At least two versions** of von Bek are albinos who wield the Black Sword (Ravenbrand, rather than Stormbringer), and while I don’t recall Ulric himself being linked to a demon the way Elric is reluctantly linked to Arioch of Chaos, the von Bek family has ties to Lucifer going back to the Hundred Thirty Years War. Continue reading →

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[New Spring #1 Cover]I’ve been really enjoying the comic-book adaptation of Robert Jordan’s New Spring, the prequel to The Wheel of Time. Unfortunately, the last few issues have been very sporadic, and there’s been no way to get any kind of schedule. New issues would just pop up on the shipping list the week they arrived in stores. It didn’t help that the publisher, Red Eagle Entertainment, is a complete unknown.

So every week, I’ve scoured Diamond’s shipping list, hoping to see “New Spring” on there. Today I figured I’d check the publisher’s site again, even though it’s been useless from the beginning. Still nothing, just a cover and March 2006 date for issue #6, which has yet to appear.

I thought of another source, though: WoT fan site Dragonmount is where I learned about Book 11. So I looked over there, and guess what? Just last week, Red Eagle issued a press release that they’re cancelling New Spring with only 5 out of 8 issues published.

On the plus side, a rep from Dabel Brothers (the studio that actually wrote and drew the comics) commented in the thread at Dragonmount, saying that “the New Spring series is being continued just not through Red Eagle. The remaining issues are all completed…”

Not surprisingly, the publisher and studio blame each other. The dispute is apparently in arbitration. But given the realities of the comics industry, the fact that the publisher appeared out of nowhere and has no other products, and the presence of artwork for issue #7 on the studio’s forums, I’m inclined to believe Dabel Brothers’ claims that Red Eagle stopped actually paying them for the work they were doing.

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Fallen Angel TPB #1 (DC) coverIt seems that there will be two Fallen Angel collections on the shelves this August. To coincide with IDW’s book collecting the first story arc of their series, DC is reprinting their TPB of the first few issues of the original series.

Fallen Angel started as a creator-owned book at DC and ran for 20 issues. DC published a TPB collection of the first 6 issues, but stopped there. As much as the cancellation rankled, DC gave it a lot of opportunities… it just wasn’t a good fit for the DC brand (it probably would have thrived at Vertigo) or the DC sales targets.

Fallen Angel TPB #1 (IDW) CoverAfter it was canceled, Peter David took the series to IDW, with J.K. Woodward taking over the art from David Lopez. The first arc set in place a new status quo, and finally answered two key questions: Was Lee really a fallen angel? And if so, how did she fall? Fallen Angel proved to be a better fit with IDW, who immediately extended it from a 5-issue mini to an ongoing series when sales figures started coming in.

I highly recommend reading DC’s trade, which Amazon still has in stock. If you like that, pick up the next issue of the monthly. (Keep in mind that the art style is vastly different, and twenty years have passed, story-wise, between the end of one series and beginning of the next.) I don’t know how easy it’ll be to pick up the back issues, but the IDW trade will be out soon.

And who knows? If capitalizing on IDW’s success works out for DC, maybe they’ll see the light and collect the remaining 14 issues!

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Spam subject:

this going to expolad

It’s a stock spam, and what they’re trying to say is “This is going to explode.” But doesn’t “Expo-Lad” sound like a character from the Legion of Super-Heroes?

Just imagine:

“No one wants to come to our convention! What can we do?”
“Never fear! Expo-Lad will save us!”

Update: I can’t believe I didn’t think of this earlier, but maybe ExpoLad is related to TypoLad!