Stormfield, the Collected Strips vol. 1 by Wes Alexander Publisher: Cartoon Conquest Publishing Price: 3.95 US Format: Black and White, 44 pages, including covers. 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 inches. Stormfield is a comic strip about two boys, one of whom gets into a lot of trouble. It's a kind of mix of Dennis the Menace with Calvin and Hobbes. The strip is about two boys, one (Alex) gets almost all the focus while the other (Dalton) plays the straight man. It has a few reoccurring themes, among them is Alex trying to impress the girls, giving his teacher a hard time, getting sent to the principles office, and his active imagination. The problem with the strip is some of the humor doesn't feel like something kids that age would do. It comes across as something an adult thought up and put into the kids. An obvious example would be Alex singing David Bowie's "Major Tom," a song that's older than I am (and I'm 31). It's missing a believability factor that Dennis and Calvin had. I personally would like to see more focus on Dalton as he's a likable character, sometimes his only role is to stand beside Alex while he does his antics. I've always enjoyed Wes Alexander's art. I like that he can draw a wide range of faces and styles. He can draw characters from different perspectives, something that some comic strip artists don't bother with. I'm a bit sad that he's doing comic strips instead of comic books, but I guess one has to go where the path of success leads you. The format of this book fits the material, allowing for two strips per page. I like it and hope he uses the same size if he were to publish a thicker book with a spine. I give the book a 2 out of 5 stars. I'm hoping Wes can improve on the humor. Toxic Shock Comics #1 Various Writers and Artists Publisher: Toxic Shock Comics Price: $3 US Format: black and white, 32(?) page comic I did this review from a PDF file and I'm guessing there will be some ads or something to fill the comic to the standard 32 pages. This comic has a mix of stories and gags. The first story is actually pretty compelling. It's very much in the Kevin Smith slackers / potheads territory. Lots of swearing, stuff about relationships and some breaking of the 4th wall. The artwork is amateurish, perspective is typically limited to straight on shots of people facing the reader or a side profile. Panels are usually aimed at chest or face level. Still, the artist varies it up within their ability to make it interesting. There are a couple one page Generic Super-Hero Man stories, in the spirit of Hostess Fruit Pie ads of old. It's a one note joke that gets old real quick. A 3 page Killer Lawn Gnomes from Hell is in here, but there is very little story to judge it from. The rest of the book is called The Subcultural Syndicate. It's a weird mix. It starts with two pothead comic readers debating Eisner vs. Kirby. Then a talking monkey named Kirby comes out. Then they all go down to kill some ninjas that's wreaking havoc. It all doesn't hold together very well. I get the impression the writer had 3 ideas he wanted to do and crammed them all into the one story. It also goes against what a former pot head friend once told me. You can not smoke pot and then be violent. But whatever, I understand this comic is for laughs and not to be taken seriously in that way. All the artists are at roughly the same level and need to work on their figure drawing and perspective, among other things. The final page is kinda funny, where they announce another issue next month, then make fun of the likelihood of them keeping their deadline. It's not really professional, but here's hoping it's just a joke and they can keep on schedule. Anyhow, I give this book a 1.5 out of 5. Much of which goes to the first story.

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Text Copyright © 2006 Jamie Coville About the Author E-mail: jcoville@kingston.net