Mood: caffeinated
Topic: Comic Books - New
TODAY'S FEATURE - Blog #3509: I first 'met' Grasiela Rodriguez on Facebook, when I was contacting her and Javier Hernandez regarding the 2010 San Gabriel Valley Comic Book Fest (SGVCBF), that I was looking at to 'cover' via this blog. Grasiela was the primary con promoter contact of the SGVCBF for that year's show, and was gracious in meeting myself and my wife Tina at the front door of the show when we arrived. For more info and photos on that show, please see this link to the special photo album at my Facebook fan page, 2010 San Gabriel Valley Comic Book Festival. As I link to it, I see that I haven't uploaded all of the pics taken... As I was using / saving the rest for blogs, some of which were used for blog #3239. Plus individual blogs on several of the comics creators. At the same time I was at that show I was given several comics by indie comics creators who were exhibiting there. Including Rafael Navarro, Geo Brawn IV, Javier Hernandez, Jim Lujan, Michael Aushenker, John Narcomey, and more! Since that great show was cancelled for this year 2011, due the death of one of the persons who sponsored it, I didn't think I'd get to see Grasiela until later on in 2011. So I was pleased to see Grasiela driving down to attend the recent 2011 So Cal Comic Con in Oceanside, (as seen in the top right photo of this blog). She presented me with a copy of her latest work, 'Lunatic Fringe' #1, so I asked her to pose with it for review purposes. So what's this comic book about? Here's a description: "It started with a boy and a girl...and a heart and a game... The life of a "normal" girl intertwines in a tale of love/hate and redemption." Lunatic Fringe #1 TM and © Not Your Friend Comic Books. All rights reserved. Written and Illustrated by Grasiela Rodriguez Standard Comic What were my thoughts on this comic book? Front Cover - Very striking! The black, pink, red, & white colors really accentuate the front cover! With the tag line 'We All Know You're Out There!'... Well, I just had to turn the page right away! Inside Front Cover - The acknowledgements page include personal thank yous. Plus it tells that this issue is the story of Sarah Starr and that it was inspired by Tom Petty's "Woman In Love". Splash Page - Not used as a splash page, but rather as page 1, so the story starts right away... I have seen Grasiela's artwork before, but not in a sequential format such as this. The art work reminds me of good underground comix artwork, and the lettering flows within the frames, without covering up the art. The colors used in this issue blend together in some panels, and then in other panels is very striking... Making a strong emphasis! The storyline is illustrated in a 'groovy' kind of style, which reminds me of both the underground comix style I mentioned earlier, plus a 'taste' of what Marvel Comics tried to do with 'My Love', 'Our Love Story', and other romance comics of the late Silver Age of Comics, when they had Jim Steranko, John Buscema, John Romita, Gene Colan, and others jump start the last gasp of romance comics. I found this issue #1 to be refreshing and one that should 'click' with today's comic reading audience looking for alternative comics! I'm giving this comic book a VERY FINE / NEAR MINT (VF/NM) 9.0 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grade. You can see it and other works by Grasiela Rodriguez at her web site ProjectUnit83.com. You can also see some of the animation mentioned in the comic book at her own YouTube Channel: NotYourFriendComics! Here is where you can purchase this comic book, if you aren't lucky enough to see Grasiela set up at a comic con: Indy Planet - an online comic book shop. For where you can interact with the publisher, Not My Friend Comic Books, be sure to 'LIKE' their Facebook Fan Page! Oh... For those of you going to APE in San Francisco... Grasiela will be at booth 211, along with Jim Lujan. Stop by and say 'hello' to both! Thanks again to Grasiela for bringing this first issue of 'Lunatic Fringe' to my attention! ~Michael D Hamersky On Comics! NOTE FROM THE BLOGGER: My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,509 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 link! We currently have over 2,558 '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 Note: My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...!If I have it... You can find it 'Under The Big Top Of Comics' at: http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com/ Web Page Note: This blog post is written for the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. Note: As of Monday, June 27th, 2011, I'll be using my new laptop, where the default resolution is 'higher', so there may be some temporary glitches until I am used to the new resolution. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners. Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to: Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013 Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there. Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page! |