It's rare to hear the craft-related thoughts of any cartoonists... particularly ones that do not regularly work on mainstream superhero comics. And yet, here's a wonderful discussion of story between three of my favorite American cartoonists: Paul Pope (THB), Sam Hiti (Tiempos Finales) and Brandon Graham (King City).

This reminds me that I have to pick up a copy of Sam Hiti's DEATH-DAY.

CLICK HERE to listen to the recorded TCAF panel via Ink Studs.

I've been hearing a lot about comic author Nick Spencer these days. He's created quite the buzz with his work on DC's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS, ACTION COMICS' JIMMY OLSEN back-up stories, and the recently released IRON MAN 2.0. I read and reasonably enjoyed his first three issues of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS (but wasn't too fond of the guest artist on flashbacks approach). So, as a creator-owned comics fan, it was easy for me to pick up the MORNING GLORIES volume 1 TPB. It helped that it was 6 issues of content (7 if you count the double-sized first issue) for only $9.99.

It's a promising concept that does more teasing than delivering. It's pulling inspiration from all the right places (stuff like THE INVISIBLES, RUNAWAYS, and THE PRISONER tv series)... but the "who the hell knows what's going on?!" approach frustrates in that LOST TV show way.

The premise is a bunch of high school students from disparate upbringings gain scholarship to a prestigious and exclusive boarding school. In a short period of time, the school has established itself as being one of the best. But there are plenty of disturbing secrets hidden around every hallway corner. First off, the kids quickly discover they share the same birthday. Then they are unwillingly put through a few life threatening "tests". Teachers and students conspire to fulfill their respective agendas. Most of the motives and goals are suggested but not explicitly shared with the reader.

The distinct personalities of the main students are effectively established from the get go. Although built on simple stereotypes (stuff like the jock, geek, emo girl, and snob) there's a depth to each student that keeps things enticing.

Beyond the elusive nature of the story's plot, my biggest problem is the artistic limitations of the book's cartoonist, Joe Eisma. Eisma and the colorist do a decent job of visually distinguishing the different characters and Eisma is competent at facial expressions. But Eisma has a very difficult time conveying movement from panel-to-panel and has an inherent stiffness in his art that makes the school's environment and the characters' body language stale. Since the overall universe of Morning Glories is mostly pedestrian (it's uniformed teenagers in a school) the staleness becomes very apparent.

Ironically, the cover artist Rodin Esquejo art has that style and vibrancy that Eisma lacks. There's a level of detail and apparent photo reference to Esquejo's art that assumingly makes it impossible or cost effective to produce the interior art of MORNING GLORY at a comparable frequency. But seeing those covers frustratingly teases on what MORNING GLORY could be (for comparison's sake the 3rd image below is by Eisma, the main cartoonist; the rest are by cover artist Esquejo).

If something starts with the word "Dragon" and is illustrated by Akira Toriyama... it's guaranteed to be magical; especially if it was made in the 1980s. There's a warmth, charm and confidence to Toriyama's art on the early Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest illustrations. I remember going to Japan in 1990 and being blown away with the cartridge art to Dragon Quest III.

I recently began playing Dragon Quest IX on the DS. I haven't had a chance to test out it's multiplayer feature (sorry, no DS buddies nearby)... but I'm loving the old school vibe of the main quest. The art is also the closest I'll probably ever get to that amazing Dragon Quest III illustration I fell in love with.

I recently finished reading issues 5-12 of Brandon Graham's KING CITY comics. I'm ashamed to admit that, although Brandon Graham's beautiful comics and illustrations have been on my interest "radar" for many years, I just recently got around to purchasing his KING CITY series. Unfortunately, I was unable to find issues 1-4. Overall, it was an engaging read that has me sure to purchase Brandon's future comics work.

King City is about Joe, one of the legendary Cat Masters. Cat Masters are trained to use their cats in battle by injecting them with different serums that give the cat special powers to become a weapon or tool. But Joe's more interested in staring at ladies' bubble butts or helping out his ex-girlfriend than fighting Demon Kings.

Graham's got a very smooth art style. At first glance, it appears to be influenced by manga. But the more you look at it, you begin to realize that Graham's taken inspiration and influence from a variety of disparate styles to create one that is utterly unique and wholly his own. I notice bits of Herge's Tin Tin from the roundness and suggestive simplicity of the character designs. The beautiful women Graham draws remind me of a refreshing mix of Milo Manara, Paul Pope, Ashley Wood and a tiny touch of Jim Mahfood's work. Also, his expansive city scapes have bits of Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira Toriyama, Geoff Darrow, and Moebius.

While reading King City, I was immediately intrigued by the overall style of the characters and environment; so much so, that the main story felt like an excuse to immerse myself into King City's rich world of architecture, culture and characters. Looking at the means by which Brandon Graham tells his story, I got the feeling that the cartoonist felt the same way that I did. The main narrative is frequently interrupted by fun little details like an illustration depicting the contents of a character's pockets (complete with arrows and labels) or a 2-page spread/game board that illustrates 3 different characters walking paths (shown below). Brandon Graham also riddles his panels with words describing various things on the page (and more often than not, done so in the form of a pun). He also occasionally depicts a character's dialogue through iconic illustration (simple doodles of things like 'shit' or 'dick'). This unconventional amalgam of word and illustration gives the reader the freedom to experience the work at a level of immersion that he/she feels most comfortable with. It also forms a linguistic bond between illustration and words. I just ended up reading everything.

Brandon Graham's an amazing talent. I just hope we get to see more of his artwork soon and more frequently. I also am very happy to hear that his next work will be in color. From the looks of his King City covers, it's clear that Graham has a great sent of color. I look forward to seeing what Brandon does once he adds color to his toolbox of materials.

Man, I'm loving me some ORC STAIN.

I've been familiar with James Stokoe's work for a few years now. I bought the first volume of his Wonton Soup comic when it initially came out. I immediately fell in love with Stokoe's art style (a unique mix of manga stylings, Geoff Darrow, and Vaughn Bode)... but was a bit thrown off by Wonton Soup being an intergalactic cooking comic. I was expecting sci-fi fantasy space battles. What I got was a bunch of crazy cooking recipes with intergalactic vegetables and extraterrestrial meats. In Wonton Soup, Stokoe deftly displays his strong sense of storytelling, world building and insane ability to convey a variety of textures through his linework. But I wanted some more ultra-violence!

I'm ashamed to say that initially I passed on ORC STAIN. The covers were beautifully drawn. The main character's design was awesome. But I ended up passing because I'm not that big of a swords & sorcery fan.

Then I read that, in the world of ORC STAIN, sliced orc penis was a symbol of wealth and power (there's even a "how-to" comic on the steps taken to make a chopped orc penis into coins!). That was enough to CONVINCE me to read it!

I am now officially an ORC STAIN fan! It may have taken murmurs of orc penis to read the comic (should I be ashamed?)... but having read the 5 issues that are currently available I'm baffled by the next level brilliance of what Stokoe has created. My geek-love for ORC STAIN is so strong that I bought BOTH the issues 1-5 and TPB collection of those very issues!

Even more so than WONTON SOUP, the world of ORC STAIN is richly realized. From a design and cultural standpoint, James Stokoe has built a brutal world where Orcs social culture of barbarism are seeds from which Stokoe visually and philosophically creates a beautifully bizarre universe.

Go out and buy ORC STAIN. If you still need a bit of convincing, read this FREE PREVIEW OF THE FIRST ISSUE and THEN buy it!

First off, have an awesome Halloween filled with terror, sweet costumes, and candy. And while we're at it, I wanted to give props to Mr. Dan Hipp, the cartooning mind behind Tokyopop's GyaKushu! His style is PERFECT for the creepy and silly. If you haven't checked out his blog, sample some of my favorite halloween/horror themed illustrations (below) and then CLICK HERE.