TODAY'S 'MAIN FEATURE':

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

The above pictured comic book was issued prior to that period of time, but still fits in with my blog series on Indy Comics. Plus you can still buy copies of it at the address I'll be providing below.

I have already blogged about 'Iconic', which is also from C.A.G. That annual anthology, (#8), in graphic novel format was published in time for the 2009 MoCCA Fest.

Well, the issue was sent to me courtesy of Carl Hering Jr. owner of Three J Productions, who as mentioned in the above promo release, has a feature in the comic book.

As I have mentioned numerous times here in my Blog, reviewing an anthology is one of the hardest publications to review.  That's because too often stories are published together that don't mesh well when reading in one publication in my opinion. However, when the stories don't clash with one another, then that is when reading them is a pleasure.  So how did this anthology do?

Here in CAG #7 are the following stories:

Agent Unknown: Kill Zone - Story and art well done by Robert Sodaro and Chris Torres. The shades of gray / black / white are fitting for the genre of this story.

Recollections of a Commander - I go back to my earlier statement.  This doesn't flow after the first printed story, and doesn't with the next one either. In another anthology with more stories like this one, it could fare better.

Reflection In The Water - Story by Carl Herring Jr. with art by Ed Coutts. Story and art flowed well.  Enough for me to want to seek out more of this Jonas McCabe - Bounty Hunter series.

Steel and Paper - Written by Ed Pereira with artwork and lettering by Ed Traquino. Well plotted story, with art that flowed with that genre.

Rockabilly Rex: Riders In the Sky - Story and art presented well by several persons.  Having the story title and the credits on the last page of the story was the only aspect of this story that didn't work for me.  Would have preferred to see that on the first page of the story.

Then the rest of the 'comic book' is printed in a 'flip' option.

The story there is called 'A History Lesson starring: Tarchaka and Squeeature' -  I'm glad that this segment was in a 'flip' option printing with a 'flip' back cover. That's because this story didn't mesh with any of the earlier stories!  But I can forgive that because of the 'flip' printing.  Reading it from this side is like having an xtra comic book for 'free'.  So okay... taken by itself, the story and art were OK for me. (Maybe the second story could have been placed at the end of the stories presented, before the flip option?)

So for an anthology publication, I would have to rate it as a pretty good read.  There was enough in here to make it worth the cover price.  Plus as a reader, you are exposed to creative teams that you probably don't see that much.  I recognized several of the names, but not all of them...

I stated earlier that I would give you the address on where to obtain this comic book. Carl Herring Jr.'s web site has this available for purchase at $5.00 by clicking here!

Plus, while you are there, take a look at his Crime Wave Anthology Volume 1 that I blogged about here! That was a great read, and I'm looking forward to Volume 2 of that anthology series! 

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:

http://www.makeitsomarketing.com/