Egg #2: Hard-Boiled Stories Reviewed

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Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #2 is, not surprisingly, a follow-up to to Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #1. Like the first, it’s an anthology with all stories written by Eric Skillman.  Issue two features the art of Ming Doyle, Victor Kerlow and Evan Bryce. Let’s look at the issue…

Lost & Found by Eric Skillman and Ming Doyle kicks off the issue with an eight page story about a midwestern girl who moved to the big city after high school.  Now nearly a decade later she reconnects with Tommy, an old friend who loves to party hard.  Hanging with Tommy could be the death of her.

Skillman’s colors mesh well with Ming Doyle’s pen and ink work.  Doyle has a unique style but it felt really right for this story.

Our second tale, The Platform teams Eric Skillman with Victor Kerlow in an six page story about two subway workers who learn how dangerous it can be coming to the aide of a young lady late at night.

This story, like many of Skillman’s, has a shocker of an ending.

Our final story brings Eric Skillman and Evan Bryce together for a tale that they call Cold Feet.  Kermit and Nate are two crime partners debating whether of not the snowy and icy roads make it the right night for a robbery.  Before the night is over, they’ll have their answer.

Cold Feet was my favorite story in the issue.  I’m a big fan of Evan Bryce’s art.  Evan is always pushing the envelope and I think he had the right balance of realism/cartooniness for this tale.  Skillman did an excellent job of coloring the story — at first glance I thought that Evan had done the colors as well.  Let’s hope we see more stories from this team in the future.

I really enjoyed Egg: Hard-Boiled Stories #2.  Eric Skillman is an excellent writer and has an obvious love of the crime/hard-boiled genre. He’s also been able to bring excellent artists to the table, so I’m hoping that we’re going to see future issues.

Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman

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That’s the cover to Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman #1.  It first came out in 2009, so I’m a little late discovering it, but I’m glad that I did.  Thomas Boatwright and Ryan Rubio successfully meld two genres that I enjoy [westerns and zombies] and throw in the right amount of comedy to create a really enjoyable comic.

It’s a simple story, Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman rides into a “town in trouble” and sets things right.  Deadwood is a lawman, but he’s not your typical zombie.  He’s not a mindless eating creature.  In fact, Deadwood doesn’t eat anyone [at least in this issue].  Second of all he can think and speak.  Still he is like a zombie in that he moves slowly and, boy, does he smell bad.  Of course you would too if you were dead.

It’s no secret that I love Thomas Boatwright’s art which for this issue is done in pen and ink with tones/wash.  Boatwright brings the right amount of cartooniness to really make the issue sing.  TJ Kirsch, Havard S. Johansen and Guy Davis all provide bonus pinups for the issue.

I really enjoyed the first issue and am looking forward to picking up the 2nd which is available now.

Jeremy Treece Rocks Rambo

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Jeremy Treece has created art for comic books, trading cards, animation and independent films. Not too long ago, Jeremy was sketching live on U-Stream in a marathon session. My buddy, John Beatty called me to say that he’d ordered a couple of pieces for me. The first was his take on a young Rambo. [JB also requested a Barney Ross of The Expendables and I ordered up a Jack Carter — they’ll be posted in the future.]

You can see more of Jeremy’s art here… and definitely again here at the SZ in the future.

The Urbanbarbarian Speaks

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One of my favorite artists, Dan Panosian is featured in an interview with Chris Arrant over at Newsarama.  Here are a few quotes from the Dan…

  • Dave Johnson, Jeff Johnson and I started Drink and Draw in early 2005 and it’s taken off like Fight Club around the globe. There are literally Drink and Draw Chapters all over the country and all over the world. It’s amazing.
  • Comic Twart is a real honor to be a part of and a great excuse to draw some eclectic/off beat character studies.
  • The Retro 70’s Luke Cage/Iron Fist pin-up/pitch you mentioned was something I really wanted to see Marvel do. I wrote a very fun script for what could be a four issue limited series and I was genuinely thrilled by the tons and tons of re-posts across the internet clamoring for it to happen.
  • I got into the comic business because I loved the Conan comic book so much. Even my website, www.UrbanBabarian.com is a homage to Conan…  I’m drawing issues 9-10 of Conan: Road of Kings written by Roy Thomas for Dark Horse. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am. It’s a dream of mine to work on this book.

Dan also discusses his start in comics, how he hooked up with Image in the early days, what he was doing when he “disappeared” from comics, his work on video games and a character called Duke Nukem, and much, much more.

Captain America Poster… Blues

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This is the first thing relating to the new Captain America movie that I’ve seen that I haven’t really liked.  This poster could have been so much better… the Red Skull should have looked more menacing… Cap should have looked bigger/broader and in a more action pose… Dum Dum Dugan should have been much bigger…

The good news is the poster may not be up to par, but the movie looks to rock.