Review: Witch

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Chantaal

Girlsreadcomics.comWitch

For as long as she can remember, Kylie Woods has heard a voice in her head. Now that she’s coming of age, she’ll learn she’s not crazy, but that the voice belongs to her familiar: an eight foot tall demonic black cat. You see, Kylie is a witch, and witches are nothing like you thought…

Kickstart has been coming out with some great stuff lately, the high point of which, for me, was Witch. I absolutely loved it from the very start, loved the new take on the genre  – especially when her familiar turns out to be a creepy, giant, demonic black cat. Look at the cover for this and tell me that familiar idea is not kickass.

The storyline moves along very well, enjoyable where it might be entirely too cliched, amusing when it needs to be, and Matalas and Fickett handle the drama with a light hand, not making anything too melodramatic. Shasteen’s art is delightful as well. It’s a touch darker than what I truly love, but that quality lends to the general aura the book has; dark enough for the subject matter, but not too dark to turn me off.

In the end, this book is fantastic. Kylie is written as a strong young woman, but not so much so that it feels forced. Kickstart is, in my opinion, at the top of the chain when it comes to strong female leads in comics right now.

A Beautiful Gory Display-  BOOK OF LILAH and WARD 6

By EJ Feddes On May 26, 2011. Pulled from: www.spunkybean.com

Book of Lilah – This could not have hit my nerd buttons better if they planned it.  I mean, a centuries-old order of librarians protects the world’s knowledge and guides human development, cultivating a mystic library that is also connected to every other library in the world.  Oh, and some books unlock the full intellectual potential of anybody who leafs through the pages.  My only regret is that this didn’t come out when I was 12, because it would have blown my mind.

Of course, even at my jaded age, I had a lot of fun with Book of Lilah.  The titular Lilah is a college student who ends up with a very important book after bumping into a shady fellow in the library.  The book basically turns her into the Beautiful Mind guy.  She figures out “Particle Physics.  Entropy.  Electromagnetism.  The Colonel’s Secret Recipe” before declaring she needs “a new math”.  She reads every book on the shelf and discovers that she’s fluent in French.  (So fluent, in fact, she doesn’t even realize that she isn’t speaking English.)  And when she manages to accidentally cross the Atlantic Ocean without ever leaving the library, she comes to the attention of two different organizations. 

It’s not immediately clear which group she can trust.  The monastic Keepers who move between the mystical stacks seem like they know the score, but there’s another group who tells Lilah that the Keepers have held back human development for their own ends.  (Why didn’t Leonardo DaVinci ever build that helicopter he designed?  The Keepers.)  And there’s a rather charming young man who connects with Lilah who seems to be firmly anti-Keeper. 

Lilah breezes along without sacrificing character development.  There are a lot of ideas here,from the secret society to the mystical library, and yet Lilah still seems fully realized.  That’s especially impressive when you consider that we know her for all of five pages before the adventure kicks in.  She’s really a delightful heroine.  And I absolutely love the idea that the Keepers meddled in history to keep humanity from advancing too fast – the fact that this great concept is only the background of a fast-moving adventure story just makes the book seems that much bigger.  If feels like an expansive and developed world, even though we really only see a small part of it.

Best of all, Lilah doesn’t take itself too seriously.  There are some good jokes here – particularly when Lilah is surprised (and sometimes irritated) to discover things that she learned by taking possession of the book.  I particularly like her horror at her pedantic speech on the number of stars in the sky.

Book of Lilah is written by former Pushing Daisies writer Jim Monaco (The second Daisies contributor to write for Kickstart so far), and you can see a little similarity to the show.  Not so much in terms of plot of approach, but just the fact that he creates a likeable character with a gift that they don’t quite understand, and then sets them loose in a world with its own rules.  The art comes from Javi Fernandez (who also drew Kickstart’s Hero Complex), and it’s really lovely.  The characters are appealing and the weird settings are really well-executed.

It’s a fun read, and surprisingly dense – you’re getting a lot of story in here.  It’s an all-around quality book!

Ward 6 – This one had actually been specifically recommended to me back when Kickstart was putting out its first solicitations.  It’s a complex, twisted mindscrew.  The story focuses on five medical ward inmates.  They have no memories of their past, and when they start to achieve awareness, they are “reset” and have to start over as blank slates. 

Here’s the first cool thing about the premise.  The inmates have knowledge, but no personal information.  They can solve complex logic problems, but have no idea who they are.  They are somehow valuable to their keepers, and they have no idea why.  And the complications keep on coming – one of them dies, and then later returns to the group in perfect health and with his memory freshly reset.

This is really fantastic – there’s this great paranoid vibe, and it’s just maddening.  Whenever the inmates make any progress, they end up back at the starting point.  Even if they manage to leave some information behind, it’s incomprehensible to them after their reset.   Their interpersonal relationships, whatever measure of trust they manage to build, that just goes back to zero anytime somebody learns something they shouldn’t. 

I want to be careful of what I say here, because I don’t want to spoil any surprises.  The reveals are surprising and elegant, and it all makes complete sense by the end.  I’m not going to get into further plot specifics here, but it’s really excellent.  The story had me guessing the whole time.  Ward 6 is not a book to be read casually – you’ll want to give it your full attention.  It pays off. 

The writer, Kevin Fox, is best known for The Negotiator, which is a movie I’ve watched more times than I can reasonably hope to justify.  And this is just an excellent script – it’s complicated and engrossing.  He balances a lot of characters and gives us a reason to care about them, even if those characters don’t actually know why that is.  Their relationships are fascinating, as every time somebody is reset, the other characters have to help them rebuild the personality that they remember.  The main characters are collections of their own instincts, held together with the pieces of information that other people can tell them about themselves.  We’ve seen stories of amnesiacs before, but this is five amnesiacs trying to work as a collective and also occasionally losing all of their progress.  That’s a tricky path to take, and Fox handles it beautifully.

Salvador Navarro handles the art, and it really looks great.  Kickstart’s books are printed at smaller dimensions than average comic books, and Navarro packs the pages with small panels and lots of detail.  There’s a lot happening on every page, but it’s clean and crisp and keeps the story moving at just the right pace.

Ward 6 is terrific.  It’s dark, complicated, and deeply satisfying.  I loved it and highly recommend it.

Next time, we’ll take a look at Kickstart’s June release, Witch.  If history has taught us anything, it should be darned good!

Joy and Athena Give The Gods A "Headache"

by Josie Campbell, Staff Writer | Pulled from: www.comicbookresources.com; May 23rd, 2011 

 

Last year, brand new comic book company Kickstart Comics, founded by film producer Jason Netter, promised to change the face of comic sales and distribution by rolling out original graphic novels in both comic stores and Walmarts across the country. This month sees the release of their latest original comics property, "Headache," written by "Pushing Daisies" and "Burn Notice" scribe Lisa Joy with art by Jim Fern, Vertigo artist for "Crossing Midnight" and "Fables."

Taking Greek mythology and turning it on its head, "Headache" centers on Sarah, a young girl locked in an insane asylum for believing she is the goddess Athena. "Everybody says she's crazy, and she's on all these meds that innervate her and is told again and again to repeat, 'I am not a god,'" Joy told CBR News about the graphic novel. "They are basically trying to convince [Sarah] that she's a schizophrenic and convince her she's a weak human."

Of course, it isn't long before Sarah uncovers the truth: she's actually the half-human, half-goddess Athena, locked away by her divine brethren after opposing their plans to destroy humanity. Now wide awake and determined to prevent that fate, Sarah breaks out of the asylum and embarks on a 90-page stint of taking names and, in Joy's own words, "kicking ass!"

"Here is a girl capable of so much. The biggest prison she has is her own self-doubt. In order to become a goddess, she has to first overcome that and realize her own strength," said Joy, summing up the main theme of the graphic novel, the idea for which came to her from a combination of reading "Wonder Woman," real life inspiration from friends and trying to address the "deep, crushing hole in my heart" left by the cancellation of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"I've been looking for a superhero I could tune into and relate to for years, and when nobody stepped in to take the place of "Buffy" in my poor soul, I thought, 'Maybe I can create somebody!' That's how "Headache" came to be."

While the graphic novel ostensibly revolves around Sarah/Athena, Joy rounds out her cast with a dysfunctional family of gods and goddesses, all of whom have been forced to make concessions to fit into modern times. "Hera is a trophy wife; Neptune is a surfer; Hades has a nightclub called the Styx. I try to keep it so that all of the huge Greek elements had a foothold in reality, to keep the metaphors true and also to make the characters as rounded and relatable as possible," said Joy.

Illustrating this point, Joy touched on Aphrodite, goddess of love, as an example of a secondary character grounded in reality while still keeping magical elements.

"In Greek mythology she is this beautiful face of love. To me, I started thinking what would it be like to be that person? What I realized was, it must be such a curse! Aphrodite's gift is to literally be the face of love, so everyone who gazes upon her sees the image of the person they are in love with," said Joy. The end result is that aside from the goddess herself, no one in "Headache" actually knows what Aphrodite looks like -- other than Ares, who is incapable of feeling love. "When [Aphrodite] looks in the mirror, she sees a middle-aged frumpy person," added Joy.

  Jim Fern illustrates "Headache"

Acknowledging that many writers have tackled modernizing the Greek gods in recent years (think "Percy Jackson and the Olympians"), Joy wanted to approach the story from a distinctive female perspective. "There was a lot I wanted to do with playing with traditional gender and roles," the writer told CBR. Citing Wonder Woman as her starting point, Joy began asking herself what elements made up the iconic character. "The appealing thing to me about Wonder Woman is the question of, who is this woman in tights and leotard walking around? What's her story and how does it resonate with women today? The point of it is, she's trying to figure out who she is. I wanted to do an update of that with a protagonist who was a little grittier and darker and more contemporary."

While Joy worried that a grim, gritty tone would cause editorial to change her story in order to fit the Walmart demographic, she was pleasantly surprised to find Kickstart supportive of her endeavors. "On one hand, it is great to get distribution at Walmart and it's great to get a wide audience like that; on the other hand, I didn't know if there would be a ton of creative interference. Happily, there really wasn't."

Touching on her years of work in TV prior to "Headache," Joy said she believed working with Bryan Fuller on "Pushing Daises" helped fundamentally shape her as a writer. A dedicated fan of his short-lived series "Wonderfalls," upon graduating college Joy was presented with the opportunity to apply for a writing job on "Daises" and meet the creator himself. "I got hired on the first job I ever went out for by Bryan," she said. "It was an incredibly lucky break."

"The two things you learn to appreciate most in Bryan is, beware of clichés and make the world spectacular, but keep the people grounded. You can have wackiness, but the heart of all of Bryan's things is very true and very real. It's people's dreams and people's love," Joy said, explaining Fuller's writing philosophy. "I think working with him has made me a much better writer and much more sensitive to those things."

Four years after "Daises" went off the air, Joy teamed up with Fuller once again to write an original pilot for USA titled "Mind Fields." With Fuller supervising and Joy writing, the "Headache" creator happily divulged the basic premise to CBR.

"It's about a couple of MIT pranksters who, after graduating, are basically private instigators. People come to them with problems, and they use engineering and high-technology to engineer solutions," said Joy. Diving headfirst into the world of genius jokesters, Joy spent much of her time researching various MIT pranks over the years, citing a stunt where students turned the campus into a hayfield as her favorite. "['Mind Fields'] adds that dash of Bryan Fuller, 'Pushing Daisies' kind of flair, so the characters are all whimsical but still grounded and emotionally relatable."

  Pages from "Headache"

With a laugh she added, "They are really fun to write and they are cool people -- and there are octopi and Amish people, too!"

This combination of whimsy and reality is something Joy says drew her to writing in the first place. "I think that sense of wonderment, where you walk out expecting the ordinary and are confronted by the extraordinary, is something that has always interested me, whether in TV or comic books," said Joy.

Though "Headache" has only just hit stores, Joy is already in talks about potential "Headache" television and feature film projects. However, she admitted ] those ideas are on the backburner until her work on "Mind Fields" is finished. And beyond the pilot and her current work on "Burn Notice," the writer is collaborating with her husband and "Dark Knight" scripter Jonathan Nolan on a prose novel. "It's kind of a thriller with a sci-fi twist, which is fun, but my goodness -- writing a book takes a lot of time!" laughed Joy.

The world and gender politics of "Headache" may be complex, but Joy believes her ultimate message is simple: "I would love people to feel empowered by it and understand everyone carries self-doubt, even superheroes. It's a universal predicament. And it's sort of beautiful, it makes triumphs that more triumphant and failings that much more forgivable," said Joy.

Laughing, the writer added, "I hope the ladies like it. I hope they read it and say, 'I'm going to go kick ass!'"

"Headache" is available online through Amazon and in Walmarts and comic book stores across the country

Pulled from: Spunkybean.com

A Beautiful Gory Display – Kickstart’s

BLACKSMITH and ENDANGERED

By EJ Feddes On May 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment · In A Beautiful Gory Display, Comic Books, Kickstart Comics

This week, our friends at Kickstart Comics have two new books coming out.  And once again, they were kind enough to send me copies for review.  That’s always an exciting event, and not just because getting to read comics before they come out has been my career goal since I was a small child.  It’s also because Kickstart’s original graphic novels have been consistently enjoyable.  I’m a big fan of the format, and so far all of their books have been solid, fun reads.  This week, they’re releasing Blacksmith and Endangered

 Blacksmith – Ever since the Revolutionary War, an organization known as the Blacksmiths has created new and unique weapons on behalf of the government.  Blacksmith gives us Alex Malloy, an ingenious young weapons designer who finds himself on the run from the CIA after one of his guns is used to kill a US Senator.  And as I say about so many Kickstart books, that’s a pretty awesome premise.

The thing I liked about it right off is that Alex is kind of a weird dude.  He’s a guy who spends all his time coming up with new ways to kill people and never deals with any of his contacts face-to-face.  He’s a twitchy guy with a strange sense of humor (one of his favorite places for a weapons drop is underneath a pile of manur), and I really like that he’s not idealized in any way.  Alex’s only friend is his dog, and it’s a neat touch to have him talk to Tiger like a person. 

I also really liked the inventive weapons.  Frankly, I would read a whole book about a guy who assassinated people with bullets made of ice.  There are so many cool ideas that the book could have just coasted on that.  Heck, I found myself thinking I’d read a monthly series about the Blacksmith.  But instead, it’s a story about his life unraveling when he’s branded a traitor.  Not only does the CIA come after him, but the people who set him up are also on his trail.  And again, this is a guy who doesn’t have human friends and has never met the people he works for – he’s all alone.  Alex isn’t an immediate badass, either.  He’s a tech guy with a lot of tricks, but he’s not going to win in a fistfight.  It makes for some unconventional action scenes.

Blacksmith is written by Malik Evans and Richard Sparkman, who are billed as newcomers.  (I did find a Malik Evans who’s running for the State Assembly in New York.  I assume that’s not the same guy.)  If this is their first comics work, it’s really impressive.  It reads a little like a movie script to me, but since more people buy movie tickets than read comics, I don’t really see that as being a problem.  It’s cinematic, with cool action scenes and strong characterization.  And I love that they didn’t go in an easy direction with the story.  Rather than having a story that’s nothing but guys with increasingly complicated guns shooting at one another, this is a more human approach to Alex’s story.  The big guns are just window dressing. 

Artist Alberto Muriel also drew Kickstart’s Heavy Water, which came out earlier this month.  He’s got a really good style for large-cast adventures.  His characters are easily distinguishable and expressive.  He also has a real talent for small-scale action scenes.  A fistfight between regular people is exciting, and when there’s an explosion, it seems big and important even though things blow up in comics all the time.  I really like his style, and he fits well with the world of Blacksmith.

Oh, there’s also an iPhone game available.  I’ve got it on my iPod Touch, and it’s pretty awesome.  Check out both the book and the game!

Endangered –

This is the second Kickstart book written by spunkybuddy Josh Williamson.  I was a big fan of Mirror, Mirror.  His new book, Endangered, is similarly great.  It’s quite a bit different from his real-life fairy tale, too.  This one is a sci-fi adventure with warring alien races and galactic heroes and monsters. 

Chris and Mikey are teenage brothers, raised by an exceedingly boring father.  He’s a safety specialist who cares very much about the importance of kneepads.  But when he doesn’t come home from a business trip, Mikey learns that his dorky father is actually an intergalactic hero.  (The more mature Chris already knows and helped keep the secret.)  With their father kidnapped by an intergalactic tyrant and the universe in danger, the boys are drafted into service.  Now, the “young man learns about the secret life of his parent(s)” was the basic set-up for Mirror, Mirror, but that’s where the resemblance between the two ends.

Endangered throws us into the middle of a space opera.  There’s a magical girl (Caysea), the last survivor of her people, who may be able to return peace to the universe.  There are ridiculously evil villains and alien assassins.  Where Mirror, Mirror grounded fairy tales in the real world, Endangered just takes off into a well-realized cosmos.  It’s full of big action, with starship battles and mystical light, and a trio of monsters who look like the Hulk’s bad-tempered cousins.  And my favorite, a fish man who pilots a robot exoskeleton from inside a water-filled globe.  I can’t even tell you how much I love that guy.

The big moments are fantastic – there are crazy fights that look amazing.  But there are some really small details that made me love Endangered.  When dad Donner spills coffee on himself on the first page, it’s such a perfect Clark Kent homage.  It’s a neat way to clue people in that something might be different about this guy, but it’s not too obvious.  I also like the way that, at first, it doesn’t occur to Mikey to be hurt that his father kept this secret from him.  Naturally, he’s much more excited about the spaceship and the alien girl at first.  Only later does he feel left out, and that’s really nicely observed.  I really liked Mirror, Mirror, but Endangered might be even better – it’s big and crazy and fun.  It’s all-out science fiction adventure, and I loved it.

The art comes from Juan Santacruz, who’s done some work for DC and Marvel, and it is really gorgeous.  There are so many weird creatures, and he just nails the designs on each of them.  Ruin, the villain, has such a great look – he just screams “galactic conqueror” from his very first panel.  And man, there is a lot happening on every page.  Futuristic buildings, monsters, explosions, it all looks great.  I especially like the way that every time Caysea uses her powers, it’s a full-page shot.  We don’t see many of those in the Kickstart books, so it makes those moments seem huge.  It’s a perfect marriage of writer and artist – Williamson’s big ideas come to life beautifully. 

I’m running out of ways to say nice things about Kickstart, but they keep publishing really good stuff.  Blacksmith and Endangered are in stores today and you should definitely check them out.  As always, thanks to Managing Editor Samantha Shear for sending us the books to review.  They’re good people over there at Kickstart!

By the way, these two books include previews for a couple of upcoming releases.  One, Knowbodys, is a paranormal comedy written by Matt Maiellaro, who’s best known in these parts for co-creating Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force.  I’m not even sure I can tell you how excited I am for that one.

 

'Random Acts Of Violence' Creator Jimmy Palmiotti Discusses Jay Baruchel's Big-Screen Adaptation

Posted 5/16/11 1:31 pm ET by Josh Wigler in Image Comics, News, interviews

Pulled from www.mtvnews.com

We first told you that someone should turn Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray's "Random Acts of Violence" into a movie nearly a full year ago. It took some time, yes, but it looks like Hollywood's finally received the message.

Heat Vision reported earlier this month that actor and screenwriter Jay Baruchel has signed on to write an adaptation of "Random Acts." The Kickstart and Image Comics graphic novella centers on Todd and Ezra, two struggling comic book creators who hit it big with their creator-owned "Slasherman" series.

But when a string of murders modeled after "Slasherman" starts following Todd and Ezra in the middle of their signing tour, the two creators must confront their best-selling creation or die trying.

"I know [Baruchel] is a horror fan," co-creator Jimmy Palmiotti told MTV News in an exclusive interview about "Random Acts" getting the big-screen treatment. "I personally think he's a great actor and Kickstart thinks that Jay and [his co-writer Jesse Chabot] not only liked the book, but their pitch was something that [Kickstart] thought was dead on. They brought the thing that Justin and I always look for in creative people: a real passion for their work."

Palmiotti said that it's too early to start speculate on casting, but given Baruchel's involvement, one has to wonder whether or not the "Tropic Thunder" actor might star in the movie himself.

"That's far off for now, but if you want my opinion, I would love him to play one of the main two characters — either the writer or artist would be perfect," said Palmiotti. "Honestly, we're thrilled that he can see what we saw in this book, so having him also star in it would be a super bonus."

As for how closely the adaptation will adhere to the source material, Palmiotti said: "That remains to be seen. But we trust Kickstart and Jay and Jesse to nail the basic idea and key scenes. With graphic novels going to film, there are always minor changes that are going to happen, and we expect that on some level. This is a project that involves many creative talents. With the right people, creative license isn't always a bad thing. 'Random Acts of Violence' is a true partnership with Kickstart and us, so we will be there along the way."

One aspect of "Random Acts" that could go through some creative changes is the gore factor; this is a very vicious and violent story, as the title and premise clearly illustrate. So is there any way to make a "Random Acts" movie that isn't saddled with a hard R-rating?

"The graphic novel is violent — there are severed heads and naked women, some of it set at an actual comics convention," Palmiotti conceded with a laugh. "That all aside, the right director could pull off sex and violence within any rating. But I'll tell you right now: it'll never be a G-rated picture. That's for sure!"

Palmiotti stressed that while he's beyond excited for a big-screen "Random Acts," it's the comic book itself that brings him the most pride.

"We wrote the craziest horror/drama story we could and infused it with a lot of the world we come from, as far as creating graphic novels and the people who buy them," he said. "In the end, the book managed to tell the story we wanted to tell. No strings attached."

None of that's to say he isn't thrilled to death about watching his creation come to life through Baruchel's vision, of course.

"The idea and the set up of characters and events make this a very obvious franchise if handled correctly," said the writer. "It's fun, scary, sexy and out of control, and for me, any film that can have these elements and stay a buddy movie… well, I am so there."