Reviews up on Bleeding cool
Giant-Sized Action, published by Red Giant
New press Red Giant brought out four FCBD issues this year, each with two tales, making for a sudden plunge into their world of storytelling.
Tesla/Wayward Sons
Tesla is a semi-historical action piece with plenty of chases and intrigue following the inventor under the pressure of sabotage, as well as a budding romance with his assistant. It’s highly readable, though I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the constant rebuff of a female character proving the source of humor and her own mopey reactions. Still, there are elements that suggest she’ll take on a stronger role down the road. Wayward Sons also treads a tricky path in handling Native American elements. I say that because the radar immediately goes up for stereotypes being used. However, so far the characters who possess super powers with a sci-fi twist have some subtlety in their portrayal, and the settings show research.
Shadow Children/Darchon
Shadow Children invites readers into an “elsewhere” reality where children who have been mistreated by adults in the “real” world seem to go under the dark protection of mysterious beings. It’s a Twilight Zoney Neverland where central characters are introduced and many of the interpersonal tensions are established. This book has potential because of its unsentimental handling of youthful aggression and a blending of horror with fantasy. This might be a series to keep an eye on. Darchon is a very unusual book, toeing the line between magic/horror and a discussion of mental illness as a central character becomes convinced he’s the voice of a comic-based sorcerer. The story keeps you guessing about just how dangerous these possible delusions might be to himself and the world around him.
Pandora’s Blogs/Duel Identity
Pandora’s Blogs has strong artwork and winning colors, and makes a valiant effort to be relevant to young teen life, brings in romance, weird tale elements, and of course, high-school drama. It’s hard to tell from this short narrative whether this will be a “monster of the week” storyline, which may be recommended, and if for your sins you’ve ever seen Hemlock Grove, this is like a kinder, gentler version of that soap-operatic Netflix narrative, including an experimental medical center. Duel Identity has an edginess to it that may expand well during full narratives and also some very confident artwork. This superheroine created by a company who owns and directs her actions relishes going under cover as a human and may not be as goody-goody as she seems at first, an interesting ambiguity in characterization. It would be nice if most of the plot of the first story wasn’t about toying with multiple romances and her power over men since the story is doing well to set up a female hero otherwise, but the elements of the story put in place may bring out more substantial storytelling later in.
The First Daughter/Magika
The First Daughter surprised me as a story because its wackiness and leaps of imagination-challenging logic seemed unlikely to win me over in such a short format, however, the artwork is sprightly and confident and the idea that the “first daughters” of American Presidents might form some kind of sleeping super alliance to save the world is, in the end, quite bold and fun. This looks to be a book that encourages female hero identification among young audiences and handles that attempt well. Magika has stellar artwork in painted style and seems to conjure the worlds of video games like Zelda and is certainly steeped in fantasy tradition. It has a simple plot, a host of foes to be avoided, and focuses on a slightly “new” character to the world of Magika to help reader identification set in.
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