Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Spotlight on: Spectrum

Two Gargoyles Comics' Thunder was among the first characters I discovered, and became a fan of, after starting the They Stand On Guard blog in 2012.

Sadly, only four issues of his series have been released to date (and they are available on Indyplanet individually or collected as volume 1) and I believe the last one was in early 2014, perhaps even late 2013.

It appears as though the character has gone through intensive restructuring during that time, however. His appearance has changed, the art chores are now being handled by one Myk Emmshin and pages of the fifth issue are being posted on a weekly basis on the publisher's website, presumably to also be made available in print at a later date. The publisher's renewed commitment to the character is further underscored by the merchandise they now offer with his image.

Here are the basics, if you're new to the character.
In January. Two Gargoyles introduced a new series and character, using the same page-a-week format. Meet Spectrum:


As I write this, page 13 is about to become available. I'd been waiting for him to be seen in costume before sharing a page from the series. At a page a week, it was taking a while. But Two Gargoyles facilitated matters by creating the promotional fact sheet above.

I'm trying to avoid reading too much of that book, and the fifth issue of Thunder, because I plan on getting the print versions at some point. But I do know that you can follow Spectrum's adventures from the beginning on this page.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Crowdfunding For Psychosis, Volume 3, Coming Soon!

Big fan of this series.


The Kickstarter goes live on March 15th and I want to reiterate (while not putting any pressure on unrealistic expectation on the creators) that these guys have been as reliable as anyone in terms of meeting their goals for delivery. 90% of the projects I've backed are late. Psychosis is in the 10%.

If you're new to Psychosis, the Kickstarter will offer the opportunity to purchase the previous volumes as well so it will easy to catch up. Here's some background on those.

The year is 2134. It has been almost a hundred years since society as we know it disappeared. Cities were brought to the ground in days, governments in weeks, and entire countries in mere months. Two thirds of the population had died off before the year's end. This is what is written in the history books as "The Great Purge". 
The Great Purge tore the Earth asunder. Many of the remaining population mutated and gained abilities forming a new species dubbed NewGens. The NewGens rose to power decimating the population of the world and eventually gave rise to SeVeN, Six Newgens and one very rich and powerful human. They make the decisions now. They choose who lives, who dies and who prospers.. 
That was nearly 50 years ago... 
Victor Stevens is a calm, collected and stable young man. He does his best to get by with what life has given him... the short end of the stick. His other side, Psychosis, is cocky, arrogant, and always one step ahead of the opposition, Psychosis relies on no one but himself while Victor trusts his friends to help them through. Despite their differences they stand against the might of SeVeN together. 
Which side will prove stronger in their battle for control? 
(In volume two) Victor struggles to fend off his demons, while the world around him is brought to its knees. Can he hold it together long enough to make a difference?
I see there'll be an option to get slaughtered in the comic among the Kickstarter perks. I've already had my throat ripped out in an issue of Z'Isle so perhaps I'll start a tradition. Let's see how many Canadian comics I can be butchered in!

According to their Facebook Page, Atkinson and Coates plan on crowdfunding volume four in September or so, so there's more Psychosis in our futures!

Saturday, March 4, 2017

One More To Watch: The Sentinels from Standard Comics

I regret not including this among the projects to watch in 2017 when rebooting the blog earlier this year.

Almost five years ago now, I stumbled into Roy Johnson's gallery on Comic Art Fans, probably while looking for Captain Canuck material. Like many, I was momentarily suckered by the image below, believing it to be, at the time, yet another attempt at a Captain Canuck series.


Shortly thereafter, the following image was added which not only included Commander Steel again, but this time added Nelvana and The Penguin.


Unfortunately, it was not preview art for an upcoming team-up book (although Chapterhouse might want to give that option some thought). When Mr. Johnson began collecting commissioned artwork, he chose to apply the name of a defunct publisher to it. The final result appears very authentic.

Mr. Johnson has since created a reference guide to the various characters that populate the Standard Universe, mixing updated (to various degrees) public domain characters and his own original creations.

Standard Comics Encyclopedia (Abridged) is where you will find entries on the colorful characters in the Standard Comics Universe, including information on their personal data, personality, history, powers, and abilities.
Interest in his product has proved to be such that Mr. Johnson is now preparing to publish not only a second volume of the encyclopedia but a "real" version of the Sentinels book. And that book might/should include a Canadian character or two (three?) as there are a handful in the Standard Universe. We'll have to wait until the Kickstarter campaign kicks off soon to know which among them will appear and to what extent, but reading the current line-up in the Encyclopedia makes me optimistic.

In the meantime, additional work had been on Commander General Steel, presumably with the intention of putting him to use at some point, if not in that Sentinels book.


Art by Luis Rivera and Escomic! 
A forceful, dynamic man, Steel is a natural leader. He sees the humor in life, and, although his attitude briefly soured after the murder of his family, he has never let it overwhelm him. 
Jack Steel was mortally wounded by a German shell at the Battle of El Alamein (1942). A strange scientist took him to a hidden cave laboratory and injected the "elixir of life" into the dying soldier, reviving Steel and giving him superhuman abilities. Steel had no idea where he was born or what his true nationality was, therefore, he considered himself a champion of all nations against Dictatorships. His activities during WWII included battling Nazi Werewolves with the Grim Reaper in Transylvania (see Grim Reaper, The Grim Reaper #22), freeing German Prisoner of War camps, leading resistance movements in occupied countries, and so on. 
One of the Canadian Standard Universe characters will be appearing in another project that is expected to be launched through Kickstarter soon.  More on that later but in the meantime, you can track Standard's progress on Facebook here.