ROAM Octavio Studios Written and illustrated by Chris Medellin Roam: Demon Engine Vol. 1, No. 1 March 2003 $4.00 US/ $6.26 Canada

It's not often I get a chance like this. It's not often that I want to do something like this. But, as the writer/artist of "ROAM: Demon Engine" happens to be a friend of mine, and one of the first people to every buy a sketch from me, way back in the olden days of the Dallas Fantasy Festivals, I thought I'd give it a shot. This is what Chris Medellin says about ROAM on his web site: "ROAM is the umbrella title for a series of western stories I have planned. They range in size to 8-10 pages in count to epic stories. Some will have supernatural elements, some will be straight action-adventure, some will be horrific, some will be funny, some will be serious. All will be set in the western genre. There are no continuing characters, but that's not to say there will not be several stories with the same characters. The good thing, storywise, is I can tell a tale, kill all the characters, then tell a story about the characters long before their untimely demise. Not to say I would do that.:)" Artistically, ROAM is somewhat simplistic and cartoonish. This does not detract from the story in any way. Chris' style isn't the usual comic book fare. The characters are distinctive, recognizable and his faces and figures are expressive. The backgrounds need work, they're a bit sparse, but they serve the story well enough, indicating to me, an artist who hasn't yet learned to stretch his artistic muscles. I'll be back for more. The story is interesting, an Old West alien abduction/invasion scheme. Gunplay, "ghost trains", and weird, mind-controlling aliens. It asks more questions than it answers, leaving me ready to read the next installment. There's a story, here. Unfortunately, Diamond Distributors has declined to distribute the book. This means, apart from a few local comic shops with vision, but Chris says he'll offer sales over the web, in the future. http://www.octaviostudios.fws1.com/ROAM.html Check out his sample pages and ask your local comic shop to contact him. This is Hope and Glory, Texas, in 1897. Hang on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

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