Mood:
caffeinatedTopic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3279: I visited with Robert W. Zailo at the recent Long Beach Comic Con, (LBCC). Which reminded me that I hadn't yet blogged about issue #1 of his TPB that he gave me at the San Gabriel Valley Comic Book Festival in September for a possible review blog. As stated here before... At times I do get a little behind on comics / graphic novels that I would want to blog about, IF I attend multiple conventions during each quarter of the year, which I've been doing now for the past two quarters. There are even more comic cons & pop culture cons than ever before it seems! I also only blog once a day now at the most, as I've been on a three month on-site project... but as you can see, this is blog #3279 in total numbers, so I do get around to those publications that grab my interest or that are unique enough to be blog worthy! Here is what this TPB is about, per the web site: The Experts’ Guide on How to Kill Things That Go Bump in the Night is an Ignatz-nominated horror/comedy about the world of monster hunting, as seen through the newly-inducted Expert Simon. (Additionally, from the back of the publication...) Simon is a normal teenager. At least, normal for someone that sees dead people. He's been looking for help, and now he's found them: THE EXPERTS! Traveling arcross the country in their tricked-out RV, the Experts deal wsiht the worst villains - Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and the Invisible Man. And if Simon is going to survive traveling with them, he's going to need every ghost he can find. Okay...So what is 'My Take' on this web comic compilation in TPB format?
Front Cover: The illustration shown on the front cover goes with the title of the series. It truly does look like an expert's guide! Good start! Inside Front Cover: The credits are immediately shown as to whom are involved with this production. That would be Darren J. Gendron, (writer), and Robert Zailo, (artist). In addition, there are character illos / bios to help introduce you to the main characters, which is another good thing! Splash Page: Starts right in with a story page! The Interior Pages: The interior pages are black & white, which is okay for this genre of story. The stories seemed to read in a sort of 'jumpy' way for me when first reading it. When I went to the web site that was suggested to look at, I realized that this was first a web comic that had been written in different chapters when presented on the web. I didn't get that impression when reading this in printed format. At first I thought I was reading a 'graphic novel', which is why it seemed kind of 'jumpy' in story presentation. I'm thinking there should have been 'intro chapter pages' for each chapter, which would have lessened my confusion when first reading this. Or a 'Table of Contents', (TOC), outlining this fact would have been good. The artwork fit the storylines that were presented. Black & white pages were just fine for this presentation. At the end there were a few extra pages... There was an 'Application To Become An Expert'. I like that 'touch'. Also a schematic for the 'Mystery Airstream' - another nice feature. Then there was the one page feature: 'The Weapons Locker' - Which showed that this project had been thought out in its presentation on the web. Lastly for the interior pages, was the ad page to go to ExpertComic.com, which is the re-direction url to the web comic. Pretty sharp advertising! The Inside Back Cover: Was the ad from the printing company that printed this publication, ComiXpress. The back cover was the promo copy text for those casual browsers in a book store looking at publications front and back covers, before thumbing through the interior pages. The back cover blended in with the format that was shown on the front cover, in a sort of wrap-a-round fashion. Overall, my thoughts on the printed format for this project were 'mixed'. That is, I first thought it was a graphic novel, because of the format it was printed as. I first read it that way, and found that the lack of clear distinct chapters, (at least to me), were just a little confusing or jumpy to me. The story background was a good one, and original, and I give it kudos for that. The artwork fit the genre of this story. The black and white pages also fit the presentation of the storylines published here. The additional pages introducing the characters, and the additional info on the team's weapons and mode of transportation were informative and added value to the printed format. Yet, I found that after realizing it was a web comic, that the printed format for this web comic didn't come over as well for me in this first volume. There are more volumes planned. As well as additional pages to be found at the web comic itself. I'm sure that the next volume could have a 'TOC' added easily enough. My final thoughts are that I found that this project had a good premise and storylines. Just that it could be a little more 'defined' when it is brought to the printed format. Thus my 'comic book grade' for this publication is a VERY FINE / VERY FINE PLUS (VF/VF+) 8.25 on a 10.0 comic book grading scale. Here is the link to the web site so that YOU can check out the web comic additional pages, and find how to purchase this publication online, if your own LCBS doesn't have it in stock: ExpertComic.con ! My thanks to Robert for bringing this 1st volume of the series to my attention at both the San Gabriel Valley Comic Book Festival, and this past weekend's Long Beach Comic Con! PLUS: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now over 3,275 total posts in number! I do appreciate your continued reading and support of this Blog! BTW, You can 'follow' this Blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app! We currently have over 2,010 'Followers'! Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! And for those of YOU that haven't yet...I would appreciate it if YOU would!!! ~ Michael D Hamersky @ ComicBookCollectorsBlog.com
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