Glorified Fanart, You Guys

I'm gonna try and facilitate a couple art-dumps here soon. Here's an appetizer--three bits from my current sketchbook, all recent. And all comics-related. And all technically fanart. Bluh.

Quick Comics News!

You guys! YOU GUYS!

Paul Chadwick is making more Concrete!

AND

Ross Campbell has a tumblr!

That is all.

[Holden Out.]

Sunday Comics: Wonton Soup...Again!

Wonton Soup Volume 2: Hyper Wonton Soup 2 Two Ton Soup: The Quickening 2: ...Soup, by James Stokoe

Format: Graphic Novel

Content Rating: Definitely R. Keep this one away from your kids. For reasons of language, a prominent plot point involving some hefty drug use, and getting a terrifying glimpse into the twisted madness that is Deacon's sex life.

Plot: Picking up more-or-less where the first volume did, Wonton Soup volume 2 focuses less on Johnny Boyo's past as a master chef and far more on his and Deacon's on-the-job antics. When Deacon orders some legendary drugs from a duty-free at a spaceport, he and Johnny wake up two weeks later coming down off an absolutely ludicrous high, having crash-landed in a forest on an unknown planet. As they scour the area for a civilization that might have some fuel for their ship, several stories unfold in various ways, including the (possible) origin of Deacon's skeazy behavior, a trip to a shady bar, and a story that takes place entirely inside Johnny's stomach.

Thoughts: I hate to say it. But this second volume, in my opinion, isn't quite as good as the one that preceded it. It feels a bit too loosely knit, like James Stokoe wasn't quite sure what direction he wanted to take it in. If it's meant to be more of a collection of Wonton Soup-universe vignettes, that's great, and they actually transition pretty smoothly for that, but it feels uncertain, as said. I can't tell if it was meant to be that, or a story that just went a few too many directions. It feels a teense distracted. Luckily, the art stays at the same high-caliber, crazy-detailed quality the first volume has made me expect from Stokoe and the writing, my previous commentary aside, feels a bit tighter taken on its own. His mostly-raunchy--but well-done--sense of humor is still totally present, and the dialogue still sounds like actual conversation, something I always appreciate. My complaint about the alien language appears to have possibly been that of others as well, and addressed--it is still thankfully there but not as heavily. I have to admit, though, that I was also a little sad that the cooking element of Wonton Soup wasn't present as frequently here...the comic itself seems to recognize this, though. So, overall, a small step down but my hopes for this series remain high. If there's a third volume you can bet I'll still check it out. Sail on, Stokoe. Regale us with further Space Trucker Cooking Opera.

[Holden Out.]

Sunday Comics: Shadoweyes

Shadoweyes, by Ross Campbell

Sunday Comics: Pepper Penwell

Pepper Penwell and the Land Creature of Monster Lake, by Steph Cherrywell

Format: Graphic Novel

Content Rating: PG, mostly for the bits of inneuendo native to Cherrywell's work.

Plot: A brilliant teen detective, Pepper Penwell has been cracking cases both mundane and extraordinary since she was but a child. But when what seems like a fairly routine missing-person case leads her to the town of Monster Lake, she finds far more than she bargained for. Between the legend of the namesake monster being more than it seems, the mysterious tribe in the nearby woods, a mad scientist, and an all-too-shifty head of the chamber of commerce, Monster Lake is about to become a very messed-up place...and Pepper, along with the missing person she seeks, is about to find herself at the center of it all.

Thoughts: Though Widgey Q. Butterfluff was her first published comics work, it was a series of vignettes rather than a single continuous story, and thus Pepper Penwell represents her first "graphic novel" work, in a purer sense of the term. And while Widgey was by no means bad, improvement is definitely evident in Pepper. It feels like an evolution of Cherrywell's art, writing, and style. It feels tighter than Widgey, with a bit better pacing to the writing and the comedy hitting a more consistent stride (though it is also slightly less of an overtly comedic work than Widgey). Also like its predecessor, it's a parody work--this time of young-adult detective novel series (such as Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, et al) and like what came before it, does this excellently, with a well-honed sense of snark that still has lingering tinges of affection. Pepper's various deductions strike a good line between crazy Adam West Batman-logic and actual logic and evidence, and the answer to the mystery is thankfully still a bit complicated--there wasn't a single perpetrator, I'll say that much. And will say no more. I don't want to spoil anything. The story has definite structure, too--characters that are introduced once continue to stay in the loop, places are revisited, and I never felt lost. It's exciting to see Cherrywell's skills grow as she continues to shimmy deeper into the published world, and I look forward to further work. At present, Pepper Penwell would probably serve as my introduction to Cherrywell if I wanted to get someone into her larger body of work.

[Holden Out.]