Michael D Hamersky On Comics Presents My Take On...    Boston Metaphysical Society Chapter One

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3817 -    Today's review blog is on the trade paperback titled: 'Boston Metaphysical Society - Chapter One' published by Madeline Holly-Rosing, (pictured at the top left of this blog post).

So what's the book about?

Here's the promotional info:

The year is 1895...An evil from a parallel dimension escaped and now roams the city of Boston.

Our world has developed along the lines of Steampunk technology, but with a modern twist.

Here exists steam driven rudimentary computers and electronics. And dirigibles rule the sky. But with it comes social and political upheaval as not everyone is comfortable with change. In fact, many people fear it. That fear and the violence that followed caused a psychic rift to puncture the veil of space and time allowing the entity known as "The Shifter" to escape.

And the only people who stand a chance in hell of destroying it are: Samuel Hunter, ex-Pinkerton Detective; Caitlin O'Sullivan, Medium and Spirit Photographer and Granville Woods, Scientist Extraordinaire.

They are the Boston Metaphysical Society.

Wish them luck. They're going to need it.. 

So what's my thoughts on this book?

First of all, I've got to say that this is the first print effort from the webcomic that Boston Metaphysical Society Chapter One is based on.

That being said...  The actual printing of the pages is very much like a traditional comic book.  Meaning that it is the standard vertical sized comic book... Not like several webcomics that are two panels in height size and are printed horizontally.  So that is a plus for this published effort.

The front cover is well aimed, (pun intended), showing that it appears to be some kind of 'steampunk' effort. 

The inside front cover is a list of the credits:

Madeline Holly-Rosing - creator and writer

Emily Hu - artist

Gloria Caeli and Fahriza Kamaputra - colorists

Troy Peteri - letterer

Then there are 22 pages, fully colored, and considered to be Chapter One.  I'm aware there is a Chapter Two, but not for sure how many total chapters this storyline is meant to be. 

There isn't any 'splash page' to start off this hard copy, so I'm missing that as an introduction to the story.

However, the story is laid out nicely, and the art is also fine.  I'm appreciative of the coloring, as a lot of webcomics are in black and white only.

I do want to point out that there is a secret organization called B.E.T.H. that is used in the storyline.  The members of B.E.T.H. are Alexander Graham-Bell, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and Harry Houdini!  So this type of story definitely appeals to me!

Oh, as for more info on the story... Boston Metaphysical Society is actually a team lead by detective Samuel Hunter, a medium named Andrew O’Sullivan, and a scientist named Granville Woods. Plus, when their most recent case ends with the death of O’Sullivan, that is when his daughter shows up to take his place.  Both as a medium and spirit photographer, so she does have assets to bring to the team.

I also want to mention that the lettering is placed in light green colored balloons.  Not for sure of the reasoning behind that, but it is a little hard to read in some panels.

Following the story, there are 20 pages of behind the scenes of Chapter One.  Including Early Sketches for the Cover, Notes to Emily from Madeline about the characters used in the story,  based on real people, character sketches, etc.

Not a bad effort on publishing a webcomic to print in my opinion!  I'm looking forward to seeing the continuation of this storyline either online in the web comic or in a printed version of Chapter Two!

Please note that this printed work is $10 in price. However, this edition is soft-bound with a hard spine and with a quality laminated cover. It contains the full first chapter of the webcomic, early sketches of scenes and characters, script pages and an excerpt of the short story 'THE DEVIL WITHIN'. It also comes signed by the writer/creator, Madeleine Holly-Rosing.  So this is just a caution to those of you on a limited budget for purchases.  Other than that, this is a finely published effort by the creator.  Plus the printed version actually makes a very good promotional plug for the online comic, which is still ongoing at this moment!

Thus, I'm giving this book a Very Fine Plus (VF+) 8.5 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.

If your LCBS doesn't have it in stock, which it probably doesn't... Then you can order it here online:  Shopping Page at Boston Metaphysical Society.  

Oh, in addition, don't forget to check out the Facebook Fan Page for this webcomic!

My thanks to Madeline for sending me a copy of this book after meeting her at the 2012 Long Beach Comic Con!  Oh, and for those of you attending the upcoming WonderCon at the end of March, she will have a table there also... So check this project / book out in person if you are attending WonderCon!

~ Michael

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