Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3214: One of the great pleasures I receive at visiting comic-cons, no matter what the size of them, is visiting the sections named 'Artists Alley', and 'Small Press' or 'Indy Aisles'. I usually end up with several new publications to read and possibly review in this blog, after striking up conversations with the creators of the comics or graphic novels, due to this blog being the #1 'Followed' blog on Facebook for 'comics', 'comic books', and 'graphic novels' per the NetworkedBlogs app, as seen here. So as usual I left with multiple new publications to read after this year's SDCC... One that jumped right up at me out of the stack to read was a 'promotional' comic title 'Spectra' #1 - The Original Laser Superhero, from the APS.org, (American Physical Society). Cover dated May of 2010, I had not seen this comic book before or even heard about it. And it's on its 5th Printing!
Just briefly, here is a little bit what the comic character is about in Rebecca's own words: "Spectra is a laser superhero,” Thompson-Flagg said. “Anything a laser can do, she can do. Anything light can do, she can do.” Throughout the course of the story, Spectra uses her powers to save her kidnapped friends from the clutches of the evil Miss Alignment. She can travel at the speed of light, change color, cut through solid metal, pass through windows, reflect off of mirrors and diffract into multiple copies of herself". Here's 'My Take' on the #1 issue: Front cover - Great introductory scene of Spectra appearing on the cover. Plus even the casual browser can see that it is being presented by 'The American Physical Society', so that should bring some credence to the credibility of what appears to be a superhero. Inside front cover - blank...Which you would think would at least have some promotional blurb about the APS? Splash Page - Not used as a splash page, it is a story page. Not the most exciting way to start off a comic book, after the great cover... Interior pages - which number 12 in total. The storyline is well presented. The characters are introduced in an orderly fashion, and for an 'origin story' it is pretty darn good! Inside back cover - blank again. The two inside covers are the only detraction I can see for the promotional comic book presentation. The Back Cover - Now THAT's a great back cover for a 'promotional comic book'! It has the name of the sponsor, the web site address, and the physical address of the APS, as well as credits to the creators of the comic book. The storyline - Even though it is aimed at pre-teens, I found myself enjoying the storyline! It was a fun read! The language sounds like kids talking and the adults are shown to be regular people except for the villainess of course! The artwork - I liked this artwork! It really fit the genre of this promotional comic book very well. The colors fit the style as well, and the lettering was placed properly and did not interfere with the artwork or bog down the storyline. In final summation, I found this promotional comic book to be well written and illustrated to fit the genre. The only detraction was the two inside covers which could have had some inside scoop on the characters, how lasers work, or more about APS. Thus I give this publication a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2, and recommend it as a good gift to give to those pre-teens that have an interest in science, or that you would like to expose to more science subjects using a superhero as a character based on science fact to read about. The APS web site is at: APS.org for more info. Just type in 'Spectra comic' in the search bar on the portal page to see what links they have to stories about the creators and the comic book. Again, my thanks to Rebecca Thompson-Flagg and Kerry G Johnson for introducing this promotional comic book to me at this year's San Diego Comic Con International! Oh...AND You can purchase this and others published by APS at this web site. PLUS...My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over the 3,210 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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I met the creators, Rebecca Thompson-Flagg & Kerry G Johnson at the Comic-Con, and they were kind enough to explain the premise, and to pose for pics.
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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