King Cryptid #1-4 from Alrerna Comics

 As I said in my previous post, this one's gonna be about the first 4 issues of the new ongoing series "King Cryptid" from Alterna Comics.

This one's written by Alterna head honcho Pete Simetti, so it's different in a few ways from other titles at the company. For one thing, Pete tends to sit back and be the publisher/editor these days, so having him write a title for his own company seems like a change of pace at the moment.

For Some Another Thing, this is not a limited series. Sure, plenty of titles at Alterna come out as a "series of mini-series," and Brian Baugh's "Wulf and Batsy" is an ongoing, but for the most part, Alterna has focused lately on published creator-owned titles in mini-series format.

That all being said, you could be forgiven for thinking that King Cryptid was a vanity project; the big boss decides to use his own company to put out his own stuff, etc.  

But I've read the first 4 issues and I can tell ya: it ain't like that.

Instead, this is clearly the opposite of anything like that. 

King Cryptid comes across as a long-held personal dream of a title, with a deeply crafted world being slowly unfolded with care to us readers with a mixture of joy and restraint.

Each issue features a different artist. You might think that would result in a lack of cohesion, or that it's a sign of unprofessional, scatter-shot practices.  Guess what?  It's not.

Instead, the rotating artists lend their styles to the very different tones of the stories in each issue, making King Cryptid feel like a character and a series that can handle a myriad of tones and genres. It's a great idea, and the execution is even better.

And then there's the writing. Simetti proves more than able to script a comic book story, build a world, and craft characters that you can care about, all without wasting your time or dumping anvils of exposition on your head from the sky.

The title character is interesting enough, and fragments of his deeper history bubble to the surface just often enough to let us know that there is far more to him than even meets the eye. And what meets the eye is pretty cool: KC has one of the cooler main character designs (and silhouettes!) that I've seen in a comic book in quite some time.

The supporting characters are great, too. You want to know more about them. The "monsters of the week/issue" could have series/specials of their own, and it all just feels very "lived in."

I backed the crowdfunding project for these first four issues, and I liked them so much that I recently backed the project for issues 5 through 9.  Here's hoping that Simetti gets to tell as much of this story and show us as much of this world as he wants to.

Here's the link to the Alterna Comics website where you can go and learn much more:

https://www.alternacomics.com/

And here's the excellent covers for issues 1 through 4:

Until the Next Thing, eh?

Alterna Comics, Comicsgate, and Me

Before I get to the next post, which will be about some really cool new books from a publisher called "Alterna Comics," I wanted to write a post about the company itself, and being me, about some other rambling nonsense, too.

Alterna Comics is a small outfit based in New Hampshire, and they rose to some degree of fame several years by putting cheap, creator-owned comics back on the market, and printed on good ol' fashioned newsprint-style paper to boot.

You can learn the rest of their story elsewhere; One of the reasons I burned out on my old blog was that in writing about these smaller publisher's comics, I started to feel like I was writing press releases for them instead of giving my opinions on the books.

Some publishers (okay, one) even started taking to telling me what I could and couldn't say (a bit) in my posts, and started over-reaching in other ways, too, like I was beholden to them or something.

That is not gonna fly this time around, and it really didn't fly last time, either.

Now, Alterna Comics is NOT the publisher I am vaguely referring to. And to be fair, I'm only non-referring to one person at that publisher.  But Alterna does come with some baggage.

I wouldn't bother to mention this if I was doing this for some reason other than my own personal journal writing indulgence, but guess what?  This is not a Small Press PR web site: this is my personal blog!

So, yes: Alterna comics came with some baggage, from my perspective.  Right around the time I was thinking of checking out some of their books, a bunch of Twitter drama erupted about them.

Yes, I know: fuck Twitter drama.  I've (mostly) learned.  But at the time, I was perhaps a bit hyper-aware of all the "Comicsgate" nonsense being talked about on that particular social media platform.  I'm not here to make or get involved with some screechy shouting match about the "true nature" of Comicsgate here, or to explain it to anyone who's reading this. I'd say "do your own research," but really, if you have no idea what the term "Comicsgate" means, I'd advise you just keep it that way.

I'm not saying you should avoid or buy stuff related to that (stupidly named) "movement" for one reason or another. I'm just saying that by the time I was investigating Alterna Comics, they were rightfully or not being associated with the worst purported elements/behaviors of that movement, and such association gave me pause.

I will go this far, for those of you (if there ARE any of you) who may need some indication of my barometer setting on the matter:  I don't know Ethan Van Sciver, but I've watched a bunch of his vids just to see what all the uproar around him is about, and I came away absolutely certain that I was never gonna engage with any of that shit ever again. 

So, Alterna's supposed "alignment" with the "CG" movement seemed disappointing to me at best and troubling at worst when I first caught digital wind of it.

Therefore, I stayed away from them for over a year.  Recently, however, I checked them out again, largely due to some videos I watched on the YouTube channel "John's Longbox."

The owner of "John's Longbox" does not, let's say, share my politics. And that's one of the major things that's flavored my opinion of the entire "Comicsgate" community.  It seems to be comprised almost entirely of Pro-Trump Far-Right Types.  

And yes: that's a turn-off for me.  So if that pisses you off or something: don't fucking tell me about it, because I couldn't care any less than I already do.

However, John's coverage of Alterna's books encouraged me, as did my (small) interactions with him in the Comments sections of his videos.

Plus, seeing that Alterna is a creator-owned company, who was I to assume that everyone they publish is a "Fox News ain't far Right enough for me" unhinged freaking lunatic?

Again: I'm not here to be political. But I'm not here to please everyone either. This blog is for me. Trump lost, January 6th was a Trump-Led Attempted Coup.  Fuck off with any noise to the contrary. 

Back on "topic:" I went ahead and backed the Kickstarter for "King Cryptid #1-4" at the digital level. This would be the first series form Alterna actually created and written by the founder of the company itself, Pete Simetti. I figured, you couldn't get closer to the "heart" of the company than this, right?  And while I was certainly in favor of their "cheap newsprint" model, I opted to take the cheaper (and far less space-consuming) option of PDF copies for my first time out.

Spoiler Alert: I got the comics, and I really liked the comics.  As for the "sinister right-wing leaning bias" reputation that I was gun-shy (heh) about; yeah, I'm pretty sure that Alterna leans toward and caters to more Right-leaning creators and for the most part, readers. 

However, as a follower of Simetti's YouTube channel and now a reader of (spoilers!) several more titles from Alterna, I've seen zero evidence of the "far right manifestos in comic book form" that I was afraid of discovering.

So: up next - A post about issues 1 through 4 of "King Cryptid!"

.....Surprised??

 

Beyond the Stars #1 and #2 from Silverline Comics

 Over the past few years, I've become a fan of a little independent comic book publisher based in Florida by the name of "Silverline Comics."

Silverline is headed by Roland Mann, who among other things, was a prominent team member at the Malibu Comics company, present for their pre-Ultraverse and Ultraverse eras.

So, once I discovered that Roland had his own imprint up and running, I just had to check it out.

And, at first, I wasn't super interested.

The main reason being that Silverline seemed only to sell physical copies of their books, mostly through IndyPlanet.com.  As I'm more conscious of preserving the space I dedicate to my hobby-stuff in my house these days, that really sorta killed it for me right there.

Then, I discovered that Silverline offers PDF Reward Tiers on the Kickstarters for their books. Not only that, but they often offer "catch-up" rewards, allowing KS backers to acquire digital copies of past issues for the series that that are currently promoting.

And with that, my barrier was removed!

I've since backed several Silverline Kickstarters, but today, we're here to talk about one in particular, and that's:

BEYOND THE STARS #1 and #2!

Check out the covers for these issues below!

Pretty great, aren't they? No excuses or allowances need be made here for "oh, they're just a little indie company, give 'em a break" or anything like that!

And it's not just the covers that measure up, either, folks: Not only are the interior pages rendered by the same artist as the one you see on the covers above (there are alternate covers, too), but the writing, lettering, and all the other comics craft found within is more than equal to be counted among the so-called "big leagues."

Story credits are shared by Scripter Ron Fortier and Artist Andrea Bormida, with Lettering provided by Mike Belcher.  Creator Profiles for each of these talented people are provided within the book on a page that looks very much like this:

What follows is the 22 pages of tightly written and excellently illustrated high-concept far-future space opera that brings you in quickly, holds you fast, and leaves you wanting more.

Not only is an entire world (comprised of galaxies!) built swiftly and concisely within these pages, but you also meet characters that are expertly introduced and provided with actual, well, character, in less time and with more sticking power than seems common in a lot of comics out there today. 

The threat presented to these characters (and to everyone in the universe!) is real as well, and it is also folded into the story with seemingly effortless style, just like everything else in these issues. And did I mention that the art is beautiful?  

Because the art. Is. Beautiful.

So here you go, folks, a new, ORIGINAL high-concept space opera that hits the ground running with likable, fully realized characters, and riveting adventure already unfolding to boot?  What are you waiting for?

Well, you may be waiting for the issues to become available on IndyPlanet, as that tends to take a while.

You can check on that at the link provided below:

https://www.indyplanet.com/silverline

(and while you're there, check out their other series, natch!)

And follow Roland Mann and Silverline on Kickstarter here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/rolandmann

https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/silverlinecomics

The Silverline crew has an active YouTube channel, too:

https://www.youtube.com/@SilverlineComics

So, if you are actually interested in something new under the sun (and all the countless stars!) in the comics multiverse, you don't have any excuses left, eh?

Go ahead and "Make Yours Silverline!", as Roland and the gang would say.

You won't be sorry.

All Good Things Must, They Say (The Quick and the Dad #36)

A little while back, one of my favorite comic book series came to an end.

I used to describe this series as "my favorite discovery of the past several years," or something like that. However, now that it's all over, and it's been a little bit since the end, I can definitely say that this is one of my favorite comics book series that I've ever read.

The series in question is/was called "The Quick and the Dad," a one-creator-show independently published by writer/artist/etc Ken Holtzhouser under his "Questionable Literature" imprint. At present, you can find every issue of the series (and some collected volumes) in print or digital form at IndyPlanet.com.

"QATD," as I refer to it, is a lighthearted superhero sitcom-style affair, with slightly "cartoony" art selling the mood, and charming characters brimming over the panel borders of every page.  In the words of Ken himself, it's a "post-adolescent fantasy," about a middle-aged father who feels he's losing touch with oldest son.

That mid-life moper soon discovers that his son is simply busier than usual because he is secretly operating as the city's greatest superhero! So, to catch up on lost time, Dad "offers" to become his son' super-heroic sidekick!

I say "offers" because the son isn't offered much choice in the matter for various reasons. Hilarity, as they say, ensues, but so does HEART. That's one thing that I want to get across very clearly, here: this series has more HEART than almost any superhero comic book I can remember.

In this final issue, the story picks up from the main character's wedding, which was of course interrupted by a super villain! Yes, it's a time-worn trope. But, this being QATD, the trope doesn't play out the way it usually does in all those other comics.  I won't spoil it, of course, but suffice to say, things are resolved in a way that very much fits the tone of this series.  

As I said up in the title of this post, "All Good Things Must," and if they must, may they all have a chance to end as well as this one did. All I can say is that if you're looking for something fun in the superhero genre, packed with characters you can actually like, and with stories that leave you smiling, then go to that link above and grab every single issue of this series, okay?

And ya know, I COULD have made this post all about the first part of the big wedding story, you know: the issue where I make an actual cameo appearance as a guest at the ceremony. But I didn't. If that's not proof that this is one of my favorite comic book series I've ever read, then I don't know what to tell ya.

One more time: follow this link IndyPlanet.com and go buy this entire series, eh?