TODAY'S 'MAIN FEATURE':

Last week I blogged about the upcoming 'Indy Comic Book Week' that starts December 27th, 2009.... 

The above pictured comic book is one that could be at your Local Comic Book Shop, (LCBS) during 'Indy Comic Book Week', depending on what part of the country you are in.

Kurt J Kolka, a new Facebook Friend of mine, saw my Blog, and one of my latest posts, "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!", and thus decided to send in his very FIRST Comic Book for possible mention / review!

So what's this first issue about?  Here is the press release:

"The story appearing in this comic book was created to appear as a newspaper strip.  Not until the tale was near completion did the idea to edit it into a comic book come about.  Realizing that adventure strips in newspapers are struggling but that the characters in my strip seemed to naturally fit into that more widely-read format, I tried to create a hybrid strip, blending elements of adventure, soap opera and life humor strips (like “For Better Or For Worse”) into a strip which would hopefully appeal to a wider audience than a simple adventure strip. 

OK, that's a good pitch for a comic strip and possibly a comic book.  So who's Kurt Kolka, and what's his background? Well, Kurt also sent in the following bio:

Kurt J. Kolka (creator/writer/artist)

Well, I'll deal with the cover first:  BEAUTIFUL cover, well done and grabbed my interest immediately when opening the package that the comic book came in.  Kudos to Kurt for having Doug Kaluba do the painting for this.  Also the logo and cover design by Sherwin Schwartzrock was striking.

Okay, you can't always tell "a book by its cover". So I'll next mention that this comic book also has a back cover that ISN'T an ad.  Well, okay, it's not an ad, but a collage of photos promo of 'The Cardinal' posing in front of mnay locales that those in 'the know' would recognize.  Not being a native of the area, I couldn't tell where these places were, but it was the IDEA of showing 'The Cardinal' at all these places on the back cover that was great!  As if 'The Cardinal' were a 'real' hero! And titling the back cover "Cardinal Sightings" was cool.  Good idea there.

So now both covers are 'covered'.  BTW, both covers are in color.  So when opening the inside, you are shown black and white pages.  Okay, I pretty much expected that. After all, wasn't this 'The Cardinal' idea first meant to be published in a newspaper?  OK, so I next read the 'Preface'.

The 'Preface' was an interesting read, written by David Crumm, Founding Editor of 'ReadTheSpirit.com'.

Then it was on to the 'splash page' itself.  However since it wasn't truly first devised as 'comic book' but instead as a 'comic strip', the 'splash page' was a modified one. 

I am pleased that Kurt decided to place at the top of the 'splash page' the following:  "The Following story was originally published online at ComicsSherpa.com from April 27, 2008 to May 17,2009".  That was helpful to a new reader like myself!

I settled in to read the comic book. There was a use of flashbacks to tell the origin story. The story flowed for me, once I realized that it would be semi-restarting for several of the pages.  That would be because of the fact that I was reading a comic strip, which meant that there was a possibility that the reader may have missed the earlier installment.

That could have been annoying in this 'comic book' format, but I understood the reason behind it, thus it didn't 'bother' me when reading. After all, don't I sometimes wish that other writers would treat each issue of their comic book as if someone was reading the latest issue as 'Their' first issue of the comic book series?! 

Too often I see new issues of comic book seriess continue on their way, figuring that the reader is aware of what happened before, and wondering what the heck I've missed?!  I remember when Stan Lee was actually writing comics, and he never treated his readers that way, even it was only a one line intro, he would bring a new reader 'up-to-date' with what was going on!

So, other than that bit of 'repeating' what went on earlier in some of the strips, the story flowed for me.  I enjoyed the background of the story, both of the characters and how the locale The Cardinal lived in fit in with the world-wide picture.

This is a good read, and a long one at that, although it is 'only' 32 interior pages.  It seems like a lot more for your money. Probably because of the comic strip aspect of the pages.  I personally liked this 'comic book', and would probably follow the ongoing series online, and / or wait until another 'special edition' was printed. 

Oh, did I say online?  Yes, you can read the ongoing tales of 'The Cardinal' at: http://www.thecardinal.org .

How do You purchase a copy of this 'Special Edition'? Well, Kurt tells me that  "A few area comic shops carry it and I will be signing copies at Motor City Comic Con in Novi, MI in May (2010)". However, if you aren't in the Michigan area,  please check the following web site for purchase details: 

http://communitycomics.webcomics.cc/ !

My thanks to Kurt J Kolka for bringing this comic book Special Edition to my attention, PLUS following my submittal guide "How To Best Submit YOUR Publication For Possible Review!". Thanks Kurt, I really do appreciate that effort on your part. Plus it got your publication to the top of the pile of comics to mention or review here! 

I will be blogging about more indy comics series right here at ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com in the days to come, straight into the New Year itself, as that is how long 'Indy Comic Book Week' continues into!

You can follow what is happening and how you can participate in 'Indy Comic Book Week' by checking out the details at:

http://indycomicbookweek.com/index.html.

For our part...Tina and I will be having all the independents comics / graphic novels that we have ready to be sold listed in our online store at low, low prices at:

http://www.makeitsomarketing.com/