Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3226: Today's post is another publication that I 'found' at the recent SDCCI. This time I was at the CCAS (Christian Comic Arts Society) Booth, where Ralph Ellis Miley showed me one of his works. So, after talking him and others at this booth, I expressed my interest in seeing more of this publication with a Christian based storyline. Here is what the publication is about per their promotional literature: Judgment, hatred, doubt, and redemption. "Ragged Capes" is a superhero anthology exploring how both villains and heroes respond when they are confronted with the darker side of human nature. Join in the journey of Grip, Lioness, Excelsior, and Virtue as they cope with a world crying out with injustice -- and where even the most righteous deeds can be dirty rags. Stories by Warren Fitzpatrick, Bud Rogers, Kevin Yong and Ralph Ellis Miley, with art by Dan Barlow, Antonio Bifulco, Wayne Cash, Cassie Fuertez, Lisa Hutchinson, Eric Jansen, Bill Maus, Mark Melton, Montos, and Geoff Strout. This is what the publisher, New Creation Now is all about: New Creation Now creates Christian comic books and faith based webcomics that are ethnically diverse and denominationally open. We produces and promote God honoring themes through the medium of web comics, comic books, graphic novels and anthologies, tracts, and other cool stuff. NCN also functions as a publisher, and promoter of Christian creative work as it relates to the comic book genre and other related mediums. “Walk In The Newness of Life”. Here is 'My Take' on the Volume 1 of Ragged Capes: Front Cover - Possibly the usual superhero fare inside? As only the title 'Ragged Capes' and the four individuals are shown there. Inside Front Cover - Blank..No Intro.. Nothing, just blank...So it is in the format of a graphic novel. 1st Page - Can't call it a 'Splash page' as it starts right in with Chapter One: Grip. The 1st story / chapter: 8 pages - Turns out that this story has some good dialogue and storyline to it. A lot was covered in the 8 pages without it seeming to be 'squeezed' in. This was based on a story by Warren Fitzpatrick, and adapted well into sequential art by Dan Barlow and Montos. The 2nd story - 'Lioness' - 7 pages - I liked the way this story was presented...with no dialogue. Just being told in a narrative by 'Lioness'. With script and layouts by Ralph Ellis MIley. The artwork by Wayne Cash and Antonio Bifulco really added to this story. (BTW, each chapter is separated by a page with a gospel quote.) Chapter 3 - 'Excelsior' - Another 7 pager - The coloring immediately stood out in this story for me! The colorist was Lisa Hutchinson. Which emphasized the artwork by Bill Maus. Chapter 4 - 'Virtue' - 8 pages - To go from a brightly colored story in Chapter 3 to a darker story reminded me that this publication was an 'anthology'. With different teams of creators, you get different styles and presentations. However the final page really ended this publication on a high note. The art and coloring on that final page really stood out. Layouts by Eric Jansen, with finishing and coloring by Geoff Strout. The final section was a 6 page 'Behind the Capes' text piece. It told in an interview format the story as to how this publication came about. The interview was on the Editors of this publication, Ralph Ellis Miley and Kevin Yong. This interview really put the background as to how this anthology came into being and why. I almost wish it had been placed at the front of the publication instead of the back. As there was no intro to these characters or that this was an anthology except on the back cover. It was the Back Cover that was the only place that you can find what this publication was about. However, how many potential readers / buyers would start there? If you were casually thumbing through it at a LCBS or a book store you could. But odds are, many wouldn't do so. As with most anthologies, 'grading' this publication is a little harder to do than other genres of graphic novels or comic books for that matter. I found overall that this graphic novel was not overly preachy, and each chapter came through pretty well in presentation. I believe the lack of an 'intro' setting up what the reader was going to be reading was the only detraction in this graphic novel. As again, I want to emphasize that there wasn't anything on the front cover, inside cover, or the first page to give a potential reader an idea what was contained in the rest of the publication. Other than that, this was good reading, and the 'Behind the Capes' Feature was appreciated in tying this anthology together! My comic book grade for this publication is a VERY FINE PLUS, (VF+) 8.5 on a 10.0 grading scale. The Christian Comic Arts Society has a Facebook Fan Page, which can be found here. New Creation Now has its own web site, as found here.
--------------------------- Thanks again, Ralph, for sharing your time with me and my son at the recent San Diego Comic Con International! PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,225 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog! ~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com
http://www.comicbookscircus.com/
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We don't have any xtra copies of this publication for sale. Thus, I'm suggesting that if YOU would like to read it, here's a link to another quality online site: 
that has at least one copy for sale at the time of this blog posting!
Note: Our online comic book shop carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items at the link seen below. 
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