Vim #1
Ink Tank Comics
Story and Art - Ric Carrasquill
Black and White, 24 pages.
This is an indy comic Sheryl was nice enough to get for me at San
Diego. Despite the title, this book has nothing to do with a
kitchen/bathroom cleaning liquid. Although the main character is a
weird white squiggly thing that makes you wonder if it's a bottle of
Vim mutated after it was exposed to radiation.
The story is a mess. It bounces around from one thing to the next with no
relation to each other. It's very confusing. Throughout the comic one joke
gets repeated a few times, that being a sweet little girl dying a violent
death. And in all cases it's the same girl. A lot of this gets explained
in the last few pages and at the same time a new direction for the comic
is set, but after reading this issue I don't believe the title will stick
with it.
I wasn't too thrilled with the art. With most pages, there is little
sense of depth. Everything is flat and you have to look around at the
panel before you understand what's going on. Everything is very loose
and sketchy, on purpose I believe. The inking is very thick, looks like it was
done with a broom, again done to fit the style of the book. I've seen a
number of indy books with the same style, though and most of them
were crap.
Enough to make me think the book is done this way because the artist
can't do a better job. I hope that isn't the case, but the art in Vim looks
exactly like the hordes of amateur, crap indy comics clogging up
Previews.
The one difference being better production values. This comic has a stiff,
glossy cover and stiff bright white pages.
While on principle I hate to bash a struggling indy creator, I can't
recommend this book. If this book doesn't succeed, I hope Ric can come
back with something better.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark #28
Claypool Comics
Various writers and artists.
Black and white, 32 pages
We get a photo cover, but the photo looks like it was done in the
60's. The cover blurb sounds like a line out of Wizard magazine saying
"Elvira's got such good ideas...! where does she get 'em?" The plot
simply has Elvira posing with a picnic basket with some sand under her, in a
bluntly obvious stage as the background is pure white.
The first story credits read by Frank Storm, Tom Sumonton, Louis
Lachance, Brent Carpenter and Richard Howell. Inside the front cover
Howell is the editor so I assume that's his role in the book. The
story has Elvira interviewing Steven Sting (King) about bad movies
made from his books. Through the interview it's revealed that Steven
Sting gets his ideas through his Muse, which is a small look alike
goblin. The Muse went missing though and it was discovered to be in
Ann Spice (Rice) house. She had it locked up and giving her ideas.
Elvira tries some magic but it screws everything up and chaos happens. I
won't spoil the rest of the story but I'll say it lasts about a half of
the book.
We then get 4 pages of ads and letter pages mixed in. The next story
has more defined credits. Lou Mougin did the script, Dave Cockrum and
Jim Mooney did the art. The story is called Son of Back to the Bloodbank and
is a part two. From what I can make of it, some vampire got killed and he
was involved in a movie that Ted Turnip (Turner) was going to do. A lot
of other monsters (Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein) go to Vampirella for
help.
She visits Ted Turnip and gets him to talk. The story cuts away
seemingly unresolved at the end for a one page new plot to continue on the story.
We then get more ads.
The stories were okay but blah. They were not particularly funny or
interesting. I guess the writers/editors think re-naming celebrities
is supposed to be a funny joke we can't get enough of. It didn't make me
laugh the first time, nor did it any other time afterwards. The artwork
was okay, but I kinda expected better considering the talent behind the
book. I suppose Claypool gets what they pay for.
I don't see how anyone other than a die-hard Elvira fan would enjoy
this comic, but people have different tastes. You've read my review,
if it's something you think you'd enjoy, pick it up. Nothing is
outright bad, just average.
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