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WarLands: the Age of Ice issue 8, by Adrian Tsang, Mateo Guerrero, and Aure Jimenez, 2002, Dreamwave Productions I really liked the original WarLands comic series. I liked it a lot. Part of this was because I was deep in the middle of my Record of Lodoss War phase at the time, and WarLands obviously borrowed a lot of its visual style from the Lodoss War anime. The story also had some similarities, but it had enough differences to make it its own tale. It rocked. The Age of Ice is the follow-on series to the original WarLands story. One of the characters carries over, even though this story is set a couple hundred years in the future. For reasons I don't remember exactly (I think it's the fallout of one of the dragons dying at the end of the original series), the land has been under the grips of a severe ice age. A group of winged humanoids have taken advantage of the situation and put the rest of the world under their thumb. Our heroes have been fighting these overlords and trying to find a way to release the ice age from the planet, returning it to its normal climate. Of course, things don't go as planned. This comic series is a perfect example of why I don't like team-based comics. Specifically, team-based comics where the personnel constantly change out. We start out with a writer, a penciller, and an inker. Then we change inkers. Then we change pencillers. Then we have a guest writer for an issue. Then we get another inker. Maybe some people like it when their comics are different every month, but I much prefer it when the creative people involved in a project, especially a limited issue project like this, stay constant throughout the project's life. It loses cohesiveness, otherwise. I also liked the old penciller better than the current one. Not that it stops me from reading the comics, of course. There's only one more issue left in this series, so of course i'm gonna get it. I just wish that things had been smoother. Hopefully the ending will satisfy me. |
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Warlands Dark Tide Rising, issue 1 by Brian Augustyn, Mateo Guerrero, Aure Jimenez and others, 2002, Dreamwave Productions Dark Tide Rising is the third volume in the overall Warlands saga. Based on stuff in this issue I think this series takes place before the Age of Ice storyline, but I could be wrong. As first issues are supposed to do, this one introduces the reader to the main characters, three different duos that are all in different places, though I assume that they'll end up together at some point. The character designs fit within the rest of the Warlands designs, keeping the Record of Lodoss War influence. Naturally, the elf girl wears clothing more revealing than anyone else, but it still manages to cover everything important while providing protection in combat. Of course it does. The penciler here, Mateo Guerrero, is the same one that finished off the Age of Ice storyline, and his work is serviceable, but not my favorite. As usual for a Dreamwave book the coloring is good. That's kind of their hallmark. Nothing really to complain about on the art front. One neat thing is that the cover is a wrap-around one, and there's even an inside flap on the front cover that continues the image, giving you a nice panoramic view of the entire field. That's a nice touch. I'll be reading more of the series, and if anything really sticks out I'll be sure to let you know. |
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Warlands: Dark Tide Rising issue 6, by Brian Augustyn, Mateo Guerrero, and Aure Jimenez, 2003, Dreamwave Productions Well this was a let down. After the build-up from the earlier issues, I figured there was a lot more to this story. The mercenary army has arrived at the mountain, the heroes have gone up to talk to Lucien's spirit, everything was really getting set. So what happens? The heroes decide to not fight back, and the bad guys decide to not kill them. Then a fire dragon sprouts up, dives into the earth, and breathes fire on the evil spirit inside the world. That's it. I can appreciate the "Why can't we all just get along?" mentality of the story, but if I want to hear stuff like that I'll go to a United Nations meeting. It seriously feels like somebody decided to end the series prematurely. Maybe sales were bad and they didn't want to run it for a dozen issues, but they didn't want to just cancel it, either, so they compromised and came up with a quick ending, never mind that it sucked. Unless you are a die-hard Warlands fan and can't get enough I would recommend skipping out on this series, as it doesn't go anywhere you really want to follow. |
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Wish volume 1, by CLAMP, 2002, Tokyopop This book was an odd acquisition for me. I got it for cheap in an auction on eBay. I don't remember how I came across it, but I do remember finding the listing to be hilarious. It was obvious that the seller didn't think very highly of it, based on some of the statements in the auction listing, such as
The story is somewhat interesting, though it's really just a twist on the "magical girlfriend" genre. Shuichiro, a successful, single physician, is walking home one day to find a little person in a tree. He rescues this person from a bird, and it turns out that it is an angel named Kohaku. Kohaku wants to grant Shuichiro a wish in return for his help, but he turns Kohaku down, saying that he has everything he wants. This bums Kohaku out something fierce, and the angel tries everything in its powers to help out Shuichiro. Soon a demon intervenes, though, and things get complicated, as we learn the real reason why Kohaku is on the Earth in the first place... The story is OK, the art is pretty good, and the price was right. If you are a big CLAMP fan you'll definitely want the book, but the rest of us might want to pass. It is a little disturbing to look at the drawings of Kohaku, as she is referred to as "she" all the time, but her body is like a man's. Now, angels are supposed to be gender-less in the first place, so this makes sense, but I don't see why Kohaku should be referred to as a woman when she definitely ain't. Weird. The story was pretty cute, though. I'll probably get the rest of the series if I can find it on sale, but I'm not paying full price. |
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Wonder Woman issues 1 & 2, by Allan Heinberg, Terry Dodson, and Rachel Dodson, 2006, DC Comics As a result of DC's "One Year Later" story, they are re-launching a number of series, including Wonder Woman. I have never read a previous Wonder Woman comic (JLA doesn't count), but the premise (Wonder Girl becomes the new Wonder Woman when the old one disappears) interests me, so I have started reading it. Overall, I am quite impressed with the writing, and the art is good as well. The plot in the first books involves a band of superhero terrorists who have it out for the original Wonder Woman, and are threatening to destroy lots of property if she doesn't show herself. Of course, the original Wonder Woman is still around, keeping an eye on her protege. That is most interesting part of the book, to me. Diana has to struggle with her desire to really walk away from a job that has been a part of her for so many years, it has become part of her self-identity. Good stuff. I really don't understand what is going on with those freaky terrorists, but the rest of the books have been really good (and Wonder Woman looks great) so I can't get too worked up over it. Definitely a series I will be following for a while. |
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Wonder Woman issue 6, by Jodi Picoult, Drew Johnson, and Ray Snyder, 2007, DC Comics I continue to be fascinated by the new Wonder Woman series. I absolutely love the idea of Diana becoming a secret agent, tasked with tracking down and arresting Wonder Woman. Who she is. Hilarious. Even better is the attention being given to Diana's attempt to just live as a normal human. Which she isn't. She keeps dropping out of her Diana Prince disguise to rescue people, and she is obviously very conflicted by what her identity really is these days. The last couple issues have had Drew Johnson doing the penciling. While not the greatest I have seen, his work is up there, and it all looks great. If you haven't checked out this series yet, what are you waiting for? |
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The Wizard's Tale, by Kurt Busiek and David Wenzel, 1998, Homage Comics This book is fantastic. It's fantastic nature is based on many things. First, it deals with a wizard, and magic is fantastic in nature. Second, the entire thing is painted in what I am guessing is water colors. Third, the writing and art are both excellent and they support each other very well. The basic story is about Bafflerog Rumplewhisker, an "evil" wizard who lives outside of a village and torments them for a living. Actually, I should say that he tries to torment them, because Bafflerog is too much of a nice guy to actually torment anybody. I particularly enjoyed how early in the book Bafflerog tries to come up with an evil spell to cause torrential rains to flood the town, but he screws up and ends up causing nice, normal rain, which ends up saving the town from losing their crops to drought. He is assisted in this by his friend Gumpwort, a good wizard who was turned into a toad long ago, and whom Bafflerog is supposed to be torturing in order to find out where Gumpwort hid the Book of Worse, a tome of evil magic that the evil magicians need to take over the world. As in all good fantasy stories, there is a quest, and a princess, and evil wizards, and the final climactic battle between good and evil, and all that stuff. The direction taken is so slanted, though, that it comes off as very fresh. David Wenzel's art is so perfectly matched to the story and its subjects that it helps take an excellent story about three levels higher. One thing that you will notice is that the left page of the story is almost always one whole picture, filled with detail. I can't even imagine how long it must have taken to paint all of it. Better yet, this book is suitable for readers of all ages, so you can give it to your elementary-aged child or your grandmother, and they will all most likely enjoy it. It is just that good. |