The last of the physical comics without a category and it’s a Free Comic Book Day preview. Ah well, here we go:
So that’s what the Big Floating Head looks like normally. (That’s a Third Rock From The Sun reference, not about Shatner’s ego.)
William Shatner Presents Free Comic Book Day preview
Bluewater Productions (2009)
STORIES: William Shatner
LETTERER: Wilson Ramos Jr.
LOGO DESIGN: Patrick Foster
EDITOR: Craig Nevius
PRODUCTION: Chand Jones
This is a preview of the three comics that Shatner was putting together for Bluewater, two of which I have reviewed in the actual release here on this website. I took a look at this back when it came out for Free Comic Book Day (that review if you’re curious). This is a fresh look having seen two of the stories presented here.
The Tekwar Chronicles
WRITER: Scott Davis | ARTIST: Erich Owen | COLORIST: Zac Atkinson
You may have already read my review of the individual issues of The Tekwar Chronicles. It had problems, like all the narration that worked in a novel but not in a comic. Well, that’s here. We also get the impression that Jake Cardigan, hero of the franchise, may have been dirty, or maybe it was a sting operation. The preview isn’t clear but we do know that Jake was supposed to get a file for Sonny Hokori to clear his debts and give him permanent access to the virtual drug Tek. All of this is being told to Jake’s defense attorney robot, but when Jake met up with Sid they’re attacked and Sid ends up dead.
It’s a total re-imagining of the novel I reviewed for Chapter By Chapter but beyond that it’s a pretty good preview if you didn’t read the book or see the TV adaptation. The preview still suffers from the narration and the later art issues where the artist didn’t use inked lineart, which even the colorist stopped over in one of the reviews to note didn’t make the comic look very good, but here the art is quite good. I do tentatively recommend the series because of the flaws (read my reviews first, even though they were done in the old Today’s Comic format and thus limited spoilers) but overall it’s not a bad series.
Man O’ War
WRITER: C.J. Henderson | ARTIST: Patrick Broderick | COLORIST: Erick Marquez
It’s sad that the one I like the least is the one written by someone I’ve actually met and a good friend to another acquittance. Henderson was a good writer and his passing is a loss to storytelling surpassed only by the loss to his family and friends. He was part of one of my first ConnectiCon video interviews (which as of this writing I need to fix the closed captions formatting for). However, this preview doesn’t really tell you much. The first scene is a bunch of people on Mars being shot by the corrupt government they’re trying to explore while back on Earth an ambassador actually tried to do his job right while keeping Australia and a New Zealand…chocolate company?…from going to war, while some senator wants to do away with the 10th Amendment and States Rights.
Really, I have no idea what’s going on and frankly it sounds rather boring. You thought the political talk in The Phantom Menace was uninteresting it has nothing on this preview. It did not make me interested in the comic and it’s the one series in here besides a teaser poster for something called Chimera 2009 that I didn’t read.
Quest For Tomorrow
WRITER: David Mcintee | ARTIST/COLORIST: Joey Mason
This one has a more cartoonish art style than the other two, and didn’t last long. I did review the sadly one issue they made and this was the one I was most looking forward to after this preview comic originally came out. This is almost a complete story, as the comic’s main character, Jim, goes hoverbike racing with his friends but gets caught by the police. He gets a break because his dad is a hero and it’s Jim’s birthday. I really wish this one had gone more than one issue because it is the most interesting of the three. I stuck with Tekwar Chronicles because I liked the novel and really wanted to see where the comic was going, and Man Of War just didn’t grab my attention from the preview, but this one was original and interesting and I liked the first full issue.
Overall the preview isn’t worth hunting down unless you can still find it free. You can check my reviews on the two comics I did pick up here at the Spotlight.
BW Media Spotlight 