Small Press Comics Review: reviews

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Morgan's Organs - Issue #2 - Craps by Daniel Brodie, Robert Jennex & Tyler Kelting

Comic: Morgan's Organs #2 - Craps
Release date: September 2017
Writer & Lettering: Daniel Brodie
Pencils & Inks: Robert Jennex
Colors: Tyler Kelting
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: A comedy comic book series that takes place inside our insides. What if there are micro-beings living within us who are responsible for the functioning of our inner body systems? They can influence our thoughts, our actions, and our urges. It's like Pixar's Inside Out but for grown-ups!

Comic: Bastard Son: Murderborn, issue 1
Release date: Soon
Writer: Frank T. Allen
Artist: Marco Fontanili
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Cover: Full-color
Interior: Full-color
Synopsis: There is something very wrong with Ethan Welles.
As a child, Ethan would wake every night to the sound of his own screams. Through terrified tears the boy would tell his mother of a monstrous figure that pursued him through endless dark corridors, whispering awful things in an inhuman voice. Eventually, to preserve the boy's sanity, professional help was sought.
Now a grown man, Ethan thought the nightmares from his childhood to be a thing of the past. He thought the terror banished by years of therapy and anti-psychotics.
He was wrong. The nightmares came back. He came back.
The darkness inside Ethan won't stop until it claims him and it isn't alone.
There are others.

The Deal

I received an e-mail with a link to the finished first chapter/issue of Bastard Son: Murderborn. The link led me to Issuu where I read the comic. The co-creator of Bastard Son, writer Frank T. Allen, started a Kickstarter project at the end of 2015. However Christmas isn't the best time to have a project on Kickstarter because it failed. Now the creators are on the verge of starting a new Kickstarter and I hope they succeed. Unfortunately I wasn't available for a review then but now my schedule is clear and honestly, who can resist a proper horror comic?

The Feel

I'll hopefully be able to tell you more about the print quality once the new Kickstarter finishes, but for now there's nothing to touch, or lick for those so inclined.

The Story

This first of the five total chapters serves as an introductory tale of Ethan, his family and the thing that has haunted his dreams ever since he was young. The beginning of a horror tale with snippets of things to come. The first impressions of Ethan and his family are good. You get a quick sense of who everyone is as a character and you can quickly get on with the story. The ever present feeling of despair and fright in Ethan is never far off. The digital version of the comic is a full 23 pages long, which does not include a splash or back page, just one story from the inside cover page to the last.

The Look

Fontanili made a clear distinction between present day, the past, dreamworld and the dark devil worshippers environment. His use of color is fantastic, bright where life is good and dark where it needs to be. The line-art is crisp and clean. Shading is spot-on and Fontanili is able to support Allen's story with great art. Whether you're looking at the faces, background images or the colors, everything blends in perfect harmony. I like the subtle use of Photoshop brushes and textures on some of the clothes and backgrounds. The only thing I was a little disappointed by are the large eyeballs as featured on page three as I would have preferred these to be a bit more realistic. It feels a little out of touch with the rest of the art, which is fantastic. That being said I don't think a couple of eyeballs should deter you from purchasing this good start.

The Conclusion

This is definitely not a comic for the younger crowd as there are many gory and scary details. If you're older than sixteen or seventeen and you love horror, well then you really can't go wrong with this comic horror series. I was left with a feeling of wanting more. Perhaps even needing more. I love a good slasher movie and this feels right up my alley. My gut says we haven't even gotten to the good part yet. After reading this first issue I am so ready for the next installments, which will hopefully include more blood, guts and gore. Bring it on!

How to Get a Copy

Curious about Bastard Son? Want to read the prequel to the story and be dazzled by some amazing artwork? Please check out the Bastard Son Trailer issue on Issuu. More information can be found on the Bastard Son website. A new Kickstarter campaign for the first chapter is about to kick off. You'll find the link here later when the Kickstarter goes live. You can also get your hands on some of Fontanili's artwork.

Comic: Dragon Slayer: The Collected Edition
Release date: August 2014
Writer: Devin Kraft
Artist: Devin Kraft, Matthew Warlick and Jake Ekiss
Publisher: Cheshire Cat Art
Cover: red, black and white
Interior: full color
Synopsis: Dragon Slayer follows a ronin, a king, and a dragon as they each seek revenge for their own reasons.
It takes a man to kill a dragon. What does it take to kill the Dragon Slayer?

Comic: Fun-O-Planet: Failed Alien
Release date: September 2014
Writer: Nathan Ward
Artist: Nathan Ward
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Fun-O-Planet is a comic series about a group of brainless humanoid teenagers and their weirdo adventures on an unfamiliar planet.

Comic: TRS-80 Computer Whiz Kids
Release date: 1984
Writer: Paul Kuppenberg
Artists: Dick Ayers, Chic Stone
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color

Synopsis: Archie comics made this comic to be used as a promotional device for Radio Shack Division of the Tandy Corporation. The comic is partly a step by step guide on how to use the TSR-80 model 12 computer and partly an adventure where Alec and Shanna prevent terrorism.

Comic: Unit 44, Part 2 of 4
Release date: 22 April 2015
Writer: Wes Locher
Artist: Eduardo Jiménez
Publisher: Alterna
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Agents Gibson and Hatch catch up with Chester and Ike, the men who purchased the contents of unit 44, but the items have disappeared once again. Just what was inside the locker and why is Senior Agent Ballard so desperate to get it back? In the midst of the chaos a new threat reveals itself.

Comic: Unit 44, Part 1 of 4
Release date: 25 March 2015
Writer: Wes Locher
Artist: Eduardo Jiménez
Publisher: Alterna
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Inept Area 51 employees forget to pay the rent on the facility's off-site storage unit, leaving the secret contents to be sold to a pair of backwoods rednecks at public auction.

Graphic novel: Legend of the Mantamaji: Book Three
Release date: Febuary 2015
Writer: Eric Dean Seaton
Artist: Brandon Palas
Publisher: And... Action Entertainment
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Beaten, betrayed, and left for dead, Elijah Alexander, the last Mantamaji, knows the end of the world is at hand Soon Sirach will carry out his plan to open the Gates of Time and after Earth's history to suit his purposes. How can Elijah stop Sirach, when he's already failed before? To succeed, he will have to put aside vengeance, ignore his pain, and listen to a wisdom he's forgotten. But he, and the world, are running out of time.

Graphic novel: Legend of the Mantamaji: Book Two
Release date: December 2014
Writer: Eric Dean Seaton
Artist: Brandon Palas
Publisher: And... Action Entertainment
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: In a single week, Elijah Alexander has gone from being a famous and successful ADA in New York, to a hunted, haunted renegade on a mission of vengeance. Because Elijah is the last of a race of ancient warriors called the Mantamaji who once fought the world's greatest evils. And now the only one with the power to get it done-- because it takes a warrior to kill a mystical being. Or four of them.

Graphic novel: Legend of the Mantamaji: Book One
Release date: October 2014
Writer: Eric Dean Seaton
Artist: Brandon Palas
Publisher: And... Action Entertainment
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Elijah Alexander, New York's hottest, cockiest, and most media-hungry Assistant District Attorney, is about to learn something shocking: he is not even human. He's the last of the Mantamaji, a long-lost race of warriors who once protected humanity when the world was young. Now another Mantamaji--the worst of all their kind--has reawakened to visit doom on all of humanity. Can Elijah accept his past, reject his present life, and learn about his talents, in time to defeat the villain who killed all the other Mantamaji before him.

Comic: Space Babe 113 The Knights of Mars Episode Three: Sin
Release date: December 2014
Writer and artist: John Maybury
Rating: 18+ (adult humor)
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Space Babe 113 wants to have fun on Mars with Doctor Stones but first she must save everyone from the consequences of a lack of trigonometric understanding in the action packed finale of The Knights Of Mars.

Comic: Turtles in College
Release date: Not in booklet but I suspect somewhere in 2014
Writer and artist: David Felizarda
Cover: Green paper with black ink
Interior: black on white paper
Synopsis: Cute little fan-comic.

Comic: Space Babe 113 The Knights of Mars Episode Two: Cos
Release date: September 2013
Writer and artist: John Maybury
Rating: 18+ (adult humor)
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Arriving at Syrtis Major, Space Babe is annoyed to discover that Thora Doris, Dr. Stones new Martian archaeology, assistant is even more curvy than she is...

Comic: Space Babe 113 The Knights of Mars Episode One: Tan
Genre: 18+ (adult humor)
Release date: April 2013
Writer and artist: John Maybury
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Space Babe is holidaying on Mars, preparing to join Doctor Stones for some archaeological action at Syrtis Major. But why is she obsessed with getting tanned and why is it harder than she expects?

Comic: 1X
Release date: September 2014
Writer and artist: Charles Butler
Publisher: a Planet Z Production
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Four self-contained tales of the good, the strange and the mythical, collected in one genre-hopping comic book.

Comic: Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia
Release date: (pre-release) September 2014 (English version)
Writer: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adapted by Petr Kopl
Artist: Petr Kopl
Cover: full-color
Interior: full-color
Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes meets his femme fatale in one of his most famous adventures. The beautiful Irene Adler, perhaps the only woman in the world who can get one over on the greatest detective in the world has ever seen, is once again on the side of crime... but maybe not everything is as it first appears. Petr Kopl masterfully weaves events that seem unrelated while simultaneously solving two cases - the deadly danger of the speckled band and a foolish mistake by the King of Bohemia. The story takes place at the turn of the 20th century, which Petr Kopl calls Victoria Regina, a time of revolutionary inventions, precipitous events, ruthless criminals and the invincible Sherlock Holmes.

Comic: Trollords, issue no.2
Release date: May 1986
Writer: Scott Beaderstadt and Paul Fricke
Artist: Scott Beaderstadt and Paul Fricke
Publisher: Tru Studios
Cover: full color
Interior: pen drawings (black on white paper)
Synopsis: When their cave home is destroyed by flood waters, the trolls find themselves literally facing death!
Rejecting the 'Final Option', the trolls return to earth and life. Resolved to find meaning in their renewed existence, our heroes get their chance when they save the lovely and disturbed Kelly Nugrowski.
Draw away from her shortly thereafter, they find that it's not so easy to escape death... and now they are...