Michael D Hamersky On Comics Presents Vinnie's Review On... The Dare Detectives! Case Number One - Published by Archaia Entertainment!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3630 -  Yesterday we received another package of items published at Archaia Entertainment. On looking at the publications, the title "The Dare Detectives!" stood out loud and clear to me. I decided to start reading through, and I was immediately hooked. The creator, Ben Caldwell, had an beautiful style of writing. In the first "case", or issue, he greatly developed the characters, making sure to keep all of their personalities specifically tied to them. I greatly enjoyed this publication, and I will explain why in more detail.

The dialogue of the characters remained fluid, and kept to the style originally introduced with them. I love that the author also took the time to make each character different - not all just honest good-doers, but real, imaginable people. The three main characters, the "dare detectives," are Maria Dare, Toby Taylor, and Jojo. They are all briefly described on the back with "Meet the world's most defective detectives -- hot-headed Maria, thick-headed Toby, and bunny-headed Jojo." Maria, the "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of woman often jumps straight into the action, rather than wait for the police to show up. Toby, the kind, hard-headed guy, who is often targeted by Maria and Jojo's cruel jokes, is more brawn than brain. Jojo, the last of the detectives is a rabbit who can be defined as "insensitive." He likes to speak before he thinks, often leading to being rude to others, and humor to the reader. Although I usually have a favorite main character, all of these guys have their quirks, and I have to say, I love them all.

The story advanced at a steady pace, not going too fast or to slow to leave the reader either confused or bored. This issue contained interesting villains with unique powers or weapons, such as the main villain in this issue, Madame Bleu, with her "freeze ring."

[SPOILER] The author, Ben Caldwell, also left the story of Bleu shrouded in mystery, and despite ending with Bleu in jail, I have a good feeling she'll be making a return in the near future. [END SPOILER]

The artwork was, to say the least, beautiful. Each character group seemed to have their own style. The women were drawn with more abrupt curves, while the men were drawn with more rounded curves. To prevent spoiling even more, I will use the term "creatures" but those, with the addition of Jojo, were also drawn with more "loosely drawn" lines, being that it was more flowing, rather than being more curvy. The way that this was done made it feel like it had multiple illustrators, although it was all done by Ben Caldwell, except the added touches of coloring and inking done by Bill Halliar and Mike Mucci. It added great variety, and made for more interesting artwork.

There was an added section, affectionately named "Bonus Junk" which included some mock-ups of possible future covers, as well as some concept art. I felt it was a nice addition, showing the readers the path that Ben took to get to the final images.

All in all, "The Dare Detectives!" issue #1 was a great success, if you ask me. I give this graphic novel a comic book grade of Near Mint (NM), a 9.4 out of 10.0 grade scale. My only deduction of rating was due to some awkwardness with a couple panels, being that it read from left to right across two pages, and then changed to up to down going left to right. Although it occured maybe two times at most, I think it would be easier for people to read if it kept one simple pattern per page. I do really like that uniqueness of it covering the two pages, and I would love to see that incorporated, just by itself, though. I thank you for this magnificient book, and I can't wait to read case #2!

~Vinnie

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,630 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 2,725 '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!!!

Note:  My online 'Loca8' 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'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com, including the book 'Gotham City 14 Miles' that I am shown holding to the left. I'm 1 of 14 essayists in that book! !     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly 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:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

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!

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In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews... Dames In The Atomic Age Volume 1 - From Art Of Fiction.com

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3629 -   I met Christopher Ryder at the recent WonderCon in Anaheim, California, as seen in the above photo at the Art of Fiction booth!

Christopher gave me a copy of his new graphic novel, 'Dames In The Atomic Age'.  Here's what the publisher had as a promo blurb about the graphic novel:

"Welcome to the digital home of Dames in the Atomic Age, an original graphic novel written by Christopher Ryder, with art by Marc Sandroni, Mike Vosburg, Ragnar, Andy Suriano, Tony Fleecs, Chris Moreno, Mark Dos Santos, Tone Rodriguez, Brad Rader, and Rahsan Ekedal.

Set in Post- World War II Los Angeles, Dames in the Atomic Age is a unique pulp tale that pays homage to the B-movies, Sci-fi serials, and crime magazines of the 1940s and ‘50s.

Private Investigator Andrew Fisch is good at finding people, especially those who don’t want to be found. Unfortunately, his latest assignment, the seductive wife of a high-level Defense Department scientist, turned up in the bed of his best friend, a failed boxer known as “The Eclipse.” What follows is a night of back alley beatings, triplet Russian thugs, and ... lightning shooting revolvers?"

Okay... So what did I think of this graphic novel?

The front cover to the graphic novel is what caught my eyes at the WonderCon.  Thumbing through the graphic novel, the interior art with giant ants kept me interested.

When I read this graphic novel, I realized that there was a good storyline along with the artwork.  The execution of this graphic novel is pretty top notch.

Putting all this together, I found that this graphic novel did pay homage to the B-movies, sci-fi serieals, and crime magazines of the 1940s and '50s!

My comic book grade for this book is a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.

Here is where you can purchase this comic book:  Dames In The Atomic Age Volume 1!

My thanks to the writer, Christopher Ryder (pictured above), for bringing this graphic novel to my attention for possible review!

~Michael D Hamersky On Comics

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,629 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 2,724 '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!!!

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'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com, including the book 'Gotham City 14 Miles' that I am shown holding to the left. I'm 1 of 14 essayists in that book! !     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly 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:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

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!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews... Black Powder #1 Bloody Frontier Adventure From Asylum Press

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3628 -  As mentioned in Blog #3627, I met Publisher Frank Forte at the recent WonderCon in Anaheim, California, as seen in the above photo at the Asylum Press booth!

Frank gave me a few of his most recent publications to read for possible review purposes. I'm choosing this one as the second one to review blog, as it was the one with the inside artwork that that 'grabbed' me. Why?  Here's what the publisher had as a promo blurb about the first issue of the proposed six issue run:

"Black Powder is the story of Robert Young, a former captain in the Barbary Wars, and his river journey on America's first steamboat to rescue the woman he loves from a gang of river pirates led by his cutthroat nemesis and former commander. Along the way he encounters hostile Indians, swashbuckling battles, and several historical figures, all set against the backdrop of the catastrophic New Madrid earthquake of 1812 that reverses the flow of the Mississippi river!"

Okay... So what did I think of this first issue of the proposed six issue run?

The front cover to this first issue brought me to thinking about pirates! 

And indeed, it is about pirates, 'river pirates'! This comic book is chapter one to a six chapter comic book issue run. Written and illustrated by Dwayne Harris, lettered by Bernie Lee, with production by Phil Smith.  Edited by Frank Forte & Dana Haring.

I found the illustrations / painting to be a little 'strange' at first, but the likenesses of the characters grew on me while reading.

The storyline was fascinating. I enjoy reading history, and this 'historical' encounter is one that intrigued me.

What was also neat was the 'Next Issue' page.  Plus three pages on the characters, Robert Young, Samuel Mzson, and Molly Livingston.  Plus a 'Rumbles and Rambles' page. The historical background of this series is one that definitely caught my eyes!

I for one am looking for the next part of this six issue series!

My comic book grade for this book is a NEAR MINT MINUS (NM-) 9.2 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.

Here is where you can purchase this comic book:  Black Powder #1!

My thanks to the Publisher, Frank Forte, for bringing this comic book series to my attention for possible review!

~Michael D Hamersky On Comics

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,628 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 2,720 '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!!!

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'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com, including the book 'Gotham City 14 Miles' that I am shown holding to the left. I'm 1 of 14 essayists in that book! !     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly 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:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

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!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews... EEEK! By Jason Paulos From Asylum Press

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3627 -  I met Publisher Frank Forte at the recent WonderCon in Anaheim, California, as seen in the above photo at the Asylum Press booth!

Frank gave me a few of his most recent publications to read for possible review purposes. I'm choosing this one to start out with, as it was the one that 'grabbed' me the most. Why? Here's what the publisher had as a promo blurb about the graphic novel:

"This retro-style anthology of all-new horror tales is guaranteed to give you the eeries and the creepies! Taking a pinch of black humour from EC comics and mixing it with the art stylings of House of Mystery and Warren comics, EEEK! blends a heady broth that hits you like a burning incense stick to the retina. Jason Paulos delivers the goods with over 15 tales of revenge, zombies, vampires, ghouls and monsters. Each tale drawn in a different style reminiscent of the B&W horror mags of the 70's and 80's!"

Okay... So what did I think of this graphic novel?

The front cover to this anthology graphic novel showed just a bit of what lies inside!  A really good visual as to what should be found inside! 

As mentioned above, there are fiveteen different stories in this 'graphic novel'.  There is also a nice foreword by Bruce Jones, and then an introduction by Stephen 'Karswell' Banes.  Then there is the 'table of contents' or 'innards' as it is called.

I found the stories to be of different style of illustrating.  I'm not for certain of the time period that all these stories were written / drawn, but I found myself fascinated by them.  The dates I found were from 2004 - 2010. 

Although the stories were anthologies, the mixture of them in this 'graphic novel' format was delicious.  The artwork did remind me of the 'Creepy' and 'Eerie' days, which is probably why this graphic novel hit me the way it did.

The fact that these stories were basically told by one creator, Jason Paulos, evened out what is usually found in anthology publications, an 'unevenness'.  I found this book to be a good read, and am recommending it to those that like this type of genre.

My comic book grade for this book is a NEAR MINT (NM) 9.4 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale.

Here is where you can purchase this graphic novel:  EEEK!

My thanks to the Publisher, Frank Forte, for bringing this graphic novel to my attention for possible review!

~Michael D Hamersky On Comics

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,627 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 2,720 '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!!!

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'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com, including the book 'Gotham City 14 Miles' that I am shown holding to the left. I'm 1 of 14 essayists in that book! !     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly 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:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

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!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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Michael D Hamersky On Comics Reviews... Rip Haywire And The Curse of Tangaroa! By Dan Thompson

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3626 -  I'm back to present to you one of the latest graphic novels that I have received for possible review in this blog!

I'm choosing this one to start out with, as it was mailed in to me, and I found it to be a fun read!  What is it?  Here's what the writer had as a promo blurb about the graphic novel:

"Action! Danger! Dysfunctional Romance! The adventure comic strip is back - with a twist! Rip Haywire is a soldier of fortune, a contemporary adventure hero in the classic mold: a brave, square-jawed man of honor who lives for danger. Accompanied by his cowardly dog, TNT, and his venomous ex-girlfriend, Cobra, Rip tracks down lost treasure, takes down madmen, and takes any job that promises heart-pounding action, danger, intrigue - and cash!"

Okay... So what did I think of this graphic novel?

The front cover to the graphic novel showed a  kind of 'cartoony' style in illustration. Which kind of grabbed me to read it first. It's an IDW Comics graphic novel, BTW. 

The storyline is a fun one, and you didn't need to read the source material online first to get where this graphic novel is going! The canine sidekick is a good idea, and adds to the storyline.

The graphic novel presentation doesn't look like it came from an online presentation first, which is a good thing.  It looks like it was formatted for print first, so that is a big plus for this graphic novel.

The artwork and storyline mesh well in this graphic novel.  Also, the coloring for the pages is done very well.

I'm giving this graphic novel a VERY FINE / NEAR MINT (VF/NM) 9.0 out of a possible 10.0 comic book grading scale. 

Here is where you can purchase this graphic novel,  Rip Haywire and the Curse of Tangaroa!

My thanks to Dan Thompson for sending this graphic novel in for possible review!

~Michael D Hamersky On Comics

NOTE FROM Michael D Hamersky On Comics:  My thanks again to all of YOU reading this blog and our archived blog posts, now at 3,626 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 2,720 '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!!!

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'll find under the BIG TOP of Comics, at Comic Books Circus.com, including the book 'Gotham City 14 Miles' that I am shown holding to the left. I'm 1 of 14 essayists in that book! !     

Web Page Note:  This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards.  Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly 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:  Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. 

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!

---------------            

      

In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related.  You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also!  As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'!

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