Free Comic Book Day Mini Comic Reviews

These are little reviews of the comics I picked up yesterday on free comic day.

Malika: Warrior Queen by Roye Okupe, Young EK Studios

 - Strong opening with a mother observing her daughter’s attempts at martial arts. There’s set-up and a battle and the hint of more war to come. Gorgeous artwork.

Spill Night by Scott Westerfeld, First Second Books

- A short prequel comic showing a bit of what the younger sister went through the night of the spill. It ends with a few pages from Spill Zone. It’s got some tension going on and a lot of action, and more snarky conversation from Vespertine

Catalyst Prime: The Event by Priest and Joseph Phillip Illidge, Lion Forge

- The setting and time changed every few pages making this rather confusing and hard to follow. By the end things settled into a ‘just before the event’ segment that was very interesting, and the ending was a huge surprise. Not sure I’d continue this though.

Lady Mechanika by Joe Benitez, Benitez Productions

- This volume consists of 3 excerpts, one from each of the current graphic novels. I read and enjoyed the first story. Since I bought the first two graphic novels I decided not to read the other excerpts. I love the artwork and Mechanika’s an amazing character so far.

Doctor Who 2016 

- This was a collection of 4 short stories featuring different doctors. They were too short to have much development and so I didn’t find them that interesting.

Doctor Who 2017

- I enjoyed this story. It’s a single story that involves several doctors (but not at the same time) and how they interacted with a particular alien over the years.

Free Comic Book Day

For what might be the first time ever, I went to my local comic book store on 'free comic book day' and picked up some free comics (and a couple of not free graphic novels).

I went specifically for the Spill Night comic (prequel to the Spill Zone graphic novel I reviewed recently). I've heard of Lady Mechanika and like the artwork, and was curious about the Doctor Who stories (I got last year's as well as this year's). Catalist Prime: The Event and Malika: Warrior Queen were cool finds I picked up on a whim.

Manjar blanco vs dulche de leche

I picked up a container of manjar blanco in Peru and wanted to see how it compared (or if it was the same as) the dulche de leche I got at the local grocery store. Online sources tell me that both are made by boiling milk and adding sugar, so my expectation is that they’ll be pretty similar. 

Opening the packages, it’s clear they’re not the same stuff. Dulche de leche smells like the caramel you get when you heat sweetened condensed milk (which, I learned when I looked it up, is how recipes suggest making it). Manjar blanco smells more like the caramel you get as an ice cream topping. 

The manjar blanco spreads more like peanut butter and is matt, while the dulche de leche is shiny and spreads thinner, more like jelly.

The taste was like the smell, with one having a more milk flavour and the other a richer caramel taste. It's strange that foods that are so similar can turn out so different.

So why am I mentioning this on my SFF blog? Because it's easy to forget when creating new worlds just how many minute differences between communities there are. There's this idea that everyone in your city or country or planet speaks the same, eats the same, worships the same. A great way to make your world feel real is to have characters point out that the food isn't quite the way they do it back home - spicier, richer tasting, more watery, fewer ingredients, etc. 

Food is a comfort. It reminds us of home and - hopefully - safety and love. And people complain about it all they time. They also praise it when it's exceptional and comment on it when it's unexpected. New foods when travelling can be an adventure all they're own, and when we're done travelling, they can also remind us of the places we've been, the things we've done and the people we've met. As such, it could be a great way to start a sequel, having a protagonist eating a dish that reminds them of the events of the previous book. The meal doesn't have to go uninterrupted of course. 

Shout-Out: Hero Lost: Mysteries of Life and Death by Insecure Writer’s Support Group

Can a lost hero find redemption?

What if Death himself wanted to die? Can deliverance be found on a bloody battlefield? Could the gift of silvering become a prison for those who possessed it? Will an ancient warrior be forever the caretaker of a house of mystery?

Delving into the depths of the tortured hero, twelve authors explore the realms of fantasy in this enthralling and thought-provoking collection. Featuring the talents of Jen Chandler, L. Nahay, Renee Cheung, Roland Yeomans, Elizabeth Seckman, Olga Godim, Yvonne Ventresca, Ellen Jacobson, Sean McLachlan, Erika Beebe, Tyrean Martinson, and Sarah Foster.

Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these twelve tales will take you into the heart of heroes who have fallen from grace. Join the journey and discover a hero’s redemption!

Video: Fear of the Known

I got an email about this short video on H.P. Lovecraft's influence on art and why his works have endured. It's by Articulate, which is syndicated on PBS.

I didn't realize Lovecraft's work had inspired musicians as well as artists and authors. Pretty interesting.



Articulate with Jim Cotter is an Emmy Award winning magazine show that examines the human condition as expressed through culture and creativity. From ballet to busking, and grand opera to gaming, Articulate invites viewers to engage with the unfamiliar to discover truths common to us all.  

Graphic Novel Review: Spill Zone by Scott Westerfeld

Illustrated by Alex Puvilland

Pros: atmospheric, interesting characters, intriguing story

Cons: a little slow

No one knows what caused the Spill Zone, but its dangers are numerous. Addison supports herself and her younger sister by sneaking into her old hometown, now a quarantine zone, and selling the pictures she takes. She stays safe by obeying a set of rules. Now she’s offered a large sum of money to bring something back from the zone, but it means breaking the rules…

This is the first volume and so mostly sets up the spill zone and the characters. It’s a bit slow, but that’s due to the many panelled atmospheric nature of the artwork. While the artwork wasn’t entirely to my liking, it does embody the post-apocalyptic feel of the city and the creepy stuff going on inside it. It’s also highly expressive, showing a lot of motion and emotion.

Addison’s pretty interesting as a protagonist, gutsy if not terribly business savvy. Her obvious love for her sister shines through. I have to admit, I’m most intrigued by Vespertine, her sister’s telepathic, snarky doll.

The story ends with several mysteries introduced and I’m very curious to see what happens next.

TOR Books Announces “TOR LABS” Dramatic Podcast Imprint

Got this intriguing press release this morning:

Tor Books, a leading global publisher of science fiction and fantasy, announced today that it is launching TOR LABS, a new imprint emphasizing experimental approaches to genre publishing, beginning with original dramatic podcasts.

Helmed by Senior Editor Marco Palmieri and Editor Jennifer Gunnels, Tor Labs will debut this summer with Steal the Stars, a science fiction audio drama which will be produced in partnership with Gideon Media and written by Mac Rogers, the award-winning writer of the global hit podcast thrillers, The Message and LifeAfter.

Steal the Stars is the story of Dakota Prentiss and Matt Salem, two government employees guarding the biggest secret in the world: a crashed UFO. Despite being forbidden to fraternize, Dak and Matt fall in love and decide to escape to a better life on the wings of an incredibly dangerous plan: They're going to steal the alien body they've been guarding and sell the secret of its existence.

Steal the Stars is a noir science fiction thriller in 14 episodes, airing weekly from August 2 – November 1, 2017, and available worldwide on all major podcast distributors through the Macmillan Podcast Network. It will be followed immediately by a novelization of the entire serial from Tor Books, as well as an ads-free audio book of the podcast from Macmillan Audio.

In a joint statement, Gunnels and Palmieri said, "There's a little mad science in every new publishing experiment, and we're tremendously excited about the creative possibilities of Tor Labs. We're especially thrilled to be partnering with Gideon Media on Steal the Stars, and bringing their phenomenal work to a wide audience."

"I was intrigued by the idea of a science fiction heist thriller told in the classic noir tradition of James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith," said writer Mac Rogers. "I've always loved those stories of illicit lovers trying to pull off one nearly impossible crime in order to be together. As forces close in on them from all sides, they're pushed to greater extremes than they ever imagined."