Various Recent Single Issues by Small Companies

Comic Book Guy The Comic Book #1 by Ian Boothby and John Delaney. Bongo comics.

This comic is about the comic book guy in the Simpsons. He makes a funny video of himself acting out famous death scenes but is beaten out by another geek who made an even better video (although we don't get to see that video).
While the issue was funny at times, I didn't like the comic too much. I will read two more issues because I already ordered them, but unless they are fantastic, this will be it for me.

Shrapnel: Hubris #1 by Nick Sagan and Clinnette Minnis. Radical Comics.

The miniseries Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising was pretty good. It wasn't great but it was good enough to make me interested in getting this issue. This issue was actually very good. The issue builds up for another confrontation between Venus and the Solar alliance and I am looking forward to how it goes down.

I like how Radical Comics sells issues that are much longer than usual (over 60 pages instead of 22) and charges just $1 more than usual (they charge $4.99). One thing I don't like that much is the art. It looks too static. Some scenes are hard to understand and others just seem very unnatural. Overall, the art works fine enough, it doesn't detract too much from the story. I am looking forward to the next two issues.

Royal Historian of Oz #1 by Tommy Kovac and Andy Hirsch.

This issue started weakly with a not too interesting premise, however by the end I was hooked. The idea is that Oz really exists and a fan of the series discovers it. Since he really wants to tell a good Oz story he steals stuff from Oz and brings it into the real world. This creates issues with Oz as they don't like to mingle with the real world. It should create some fun issues in the future.

Mindfield #1 by J.T. Krul and Alex Konat.

Mindfield is a comic about four psychics that work for the CIA. They use their psychic powers to stop terrorists. The art in the early pages was really good, creating really dynamic scenes where we can see the psychic powers in action. I enjoyed it very much. The second half of the issue is a bit more calm, where we find out a bit more about the protagonists. I liked it as there are clear differences between the four members of the group.

There a couple of pages that don't relate yet to the main group. It seems to be setting up a difficult challenge for the protagonists. I am looking forward to finding out what happens. Solid first issue.

Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising

Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising by Zachary Sherman and Bagus Hutomo collects issues 1 through 5 of Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising.

Shrapnel is a science fiction comic in a dystopian future created by Mark Long and Nick Sagan. The story is in a future where humans have colonized the Solar System. The Solar Alliance, a powerful government is trying to conquest the different colonies (Mars, Jupiter, Venus) and in this story we get to see what happens when the Alliance goes against Venus.

The story is entertaining. I like it but I don't love it. The story doesn't have a strong ending which is probably because they are planning three stories.

The art, while very beautiful, doesn't do a very good job of telling us what's going on. The main problem with the art, might not be the artists fault as the people fight in some high technology suits and it is very hard to tell which character is which due to this. The painted art many times gets in the way of the story with images that look blurry. I usually love painted art, but in a book where there's a lot of war scenes, I would have preferred sleeker, cleaner art.

The thing I liked about this book was the price. It says 5 issues, but two of them are double sized, so you get 7 issues for the price of 5 which is a pretty good deal.