Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3387: Jamie Chase sent in this Trade PaperBack, (TPB), compiling the 'Artist's Cut' from Issues # 1 - 4 of the comic book series, 'MYX'. I had not seen the comic book series that had been printed in black & white, when they were first published, The series was a 'Midnight Fiction Favorite 2010 Award Winner'. So what is the TPB about? Here's the promo blurb: "Artist Jamie Chase offers a new limited-edition anthology of issues 1-4 of his underground hit comic series MYX -- and now in vibrant full color. This special collection again features Chase's illustrations for his own horror stories and those of contributing writers Bram Meeghan and Darryl Lorenzo Wellington." My thoughts on this first volume are this: As stated above, I hadn't seen these stories when they were first published in black & white in the 'floppy' comic book format. So I don't have the original publications to compare this TPB to. However, from what I've seen in this TPB, this series definitely is one to be published in full color! The front cover design by Sahsa Pyle doesn't give me an idea of what I am in for when opening the TPB. It is sharp looking, and immediately got my attention, but I couldn't tell what genre this TPB was in, when I first pulled it out of the package it was sent in. (Note: If I had known that 'Myx' is prounced 'mix', then I would have realized that the illustration would be a 'mix', and that the front cover illustration showed that.) So I looked at the back cover to see what this would be about. The back cover does a quick intro that this TPB is a compilation, PLUS the fact that it is printed in 'full color' exclusively for this editon. So without further ado, I proceeded to check out the front pages. The front pages included a table of contents, which listed the guest featured writers, for three of the ten stories presented. They were Bram Meehan, and Darryl Wellington. So I could see that this anthology would be presenting a lot of publisher Jamie Chase's writing and art... I was immediately struck by the story & art combinations... It seemed that I was reading something that could have been published years ago by Warren Magazines 'Creepy' title, or seen on TV in an anthology series, such as 'Outer Limits'. When I did a little research later on this, I found that Jamie is a fan of those series, so that is where some of the influence comes in. I enjoyed those magazines & TV episodes also, and found that the 'dark fiction' that this TPB presented was something that kept my interested, even though there were a total of ten stories presented, so some were shorter than others.
True, this HoRRoR / 'dark fiction' wouldn't be for everyone's tastes, but for me the combination of colored art with imaginative storylines made this anthology series one that I enjoyed reading... enough to spend the time to present a review blog here. Jamie states in the creators mini-bios at the back of the TPB, that he first presented the series apart from his 'fine art' work as a 'moonlight art form' away from his day job. The creators that he credits as influences are ones that I can see in this TPB, including Gene Colan, Jeff Jones, and Angelo Torres, among others. The guest writers had stories that contributed to this anthology series, and it was nice to see how Jamie would present those. (From Bram Meehan and Darryl Wellington.) As with all anthology publications, there were stories that I preferred more than others, which is why 'reviewing' anthologies are so hard to do. In this case, I've decided to take the TPB as a 'whole' presentation, (as it was mostly Jamie's stories & art), and decided that it is a well produced & printed book in this format. It is a presentation of stories of varying page lengths, which is a good mix for an anthology series. For those of you that enjoy different styles of artwork, Jamie presents different dynamic perspectives, which kind of reminds me of the comics that I enjoyed years ago from Gene Colan using his cinematic techniques. There is a good mix of HoRRoR, MoNSTers, and Sci-Fi stories in this TPB. A limited edition to be proud of, IMO. Please Note: There are some scenes with nudity and of off-color language, so it is not for younger readers. Here is more info on the TPB: MYX - limited edition - full color collection. Fans of Creepy magazine and the Outer Limits TV show will love this post-modern horror/science fiction anthology series. Limited edition, collecting issues 1-4, printed in full color for the first time! My review rating for this comic book is a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2 out of a 10.0 possible comic book grading scale. Again, I want to state that this is an anthology format publication and in the HoRRoR genre / 'dark fiction' style. Anthologies are the hardest format to review blog on... To purchase this graphic novel, please see the following link: JamieChaseArts.com There isn't a Facebook Fan Page for this publication nor the Publisher at this time, so no link is provided. So please see the above link to see what else Jamie Chase has in stock, including the b&w comics that this TPB compiles. Plus check out his 'Fine Art' links while you are there! My thanks to Jamie Chase for sending this TPB to me for possible review in my Blog! ~Michael D Hamersky
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It was the artwork & writing combination by Jamie that pulled me back to reading more of this TPB compilation over a few nights. 
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