The Praetorian
Written by Ryan Foley
Art by Robert Gill
Colors by Aikau
Letters by Shawn DePasquale
Edited by Amanda Hendrix
Arcana Comics
Release Date: July 25, 2012
Cover Price: $19.95

The Praetorian is full of potential with a story romanticizing gladiatorial glory and democratic revolution. Unfortunately, the comic limps to a slow start and never hits its stride. I’m usually a sucker for “Power to the People” stories, which might explain my great disappointment with this book. 

The land of Desperian is, as the name implies, a desperate city-state ruled under the iron fist of the dark wizard, Lord Zoranthar. Valoriss Bladesong, an imprisoned foreign warrior sold into slavery, proves herself in battle.  She earns a shot at glory in the Desperian gladiator arenas. Bladesong and fellow gladiator, Flay, team up to dominate the blood-sport. They quickly capture the hearts and imaginations of Desperian’s citizens. An upstart rebel group recognizes Bladesong’s worth as the face of their revolution and recruits her services.  

The Ancient Oak
Written by Sean Patrick O’Reilly
Art by Chris Uminga
Letters by Shawn DePasquale
Edited by Casey Jones
Arcana Comics
Release Date: August 29, 2012
Cover Price: $5.95

The Ancient Oak is a charming little graphic novel for all ages. I read this to my 8-year-old daughter and she loved it, definitely picking up on the moral of the story. Not to worry, though. This isn’t a preachy little book. Quite the opposite, it is a fun read with a point to be made.

I loved the tale and all of it’s Eco-friendliness. Centered around a young Princess, the story starts with her father, the King, cutting down a forest at record speed. Even after a warning, he continues until it seems he has destroyed the local climate. Luckily, the young Princess isn’t afraid to try to repair the damage. In the process, she learns a valuable lesson about doing her part to help nature.

Champions of The Wild Weird West
Written and Created by Michael David Nelson and Erik Hendrix
Artwork and Color by George Kambadais
Lettering by Erik Hendrix and Amanda Hendrix
Edited by Amanda Hendrix
Arcana Comics
Cover Price $14.95

It’s tricky pulling off a team story. Does every character get equal time to shine, like in The Avengers? Is it actually a story about a team or is that a smokescreen and it’s really about a single protagonist who learns to be a part of a team, like every single 3 Musketeers/D’Artagnan movie I’ve ever seen? Champions of The Wild Weird West features an old western posse of seven distinct, interesting characters – just about any of whom could lead in a compelling series on their own – in a story pitting them against an equally varied mish-mash of foes with art that I’ll gush over below because I really, really dig it. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t quite enjoy the story itself, but like I said, team stories are tricky.

The five-issue mini-series from Arcana opens with a saloon fight between a samurai and bounty hunters. Let that last part sink in for a second. It’s a kick-ass action sequence that quickly proclaims this book to be a Sergio Leone-esque spaghetti western by way of Samurai Jack. The whole first third of the book involves train robberies, zombies, introducing the squad of odd-balls, and generally topping absurdity upon absurdity. Bandits accidentally let loose a plague of the living dead on a train going over a Native American burial ground infecting both the passengers and the corpses below. The Samurai Taro, the dashing and well to do adventurer New York Jack and his posse, Polikwaptaqwast, a young Native American shaman, and a masked supernatural figure named The Grey Gun converge at the scene with their own missions in mind. The newly formed Champions forge an alliance against the well to-do villains they quickly deduce were behind the attack.

Ezra: Egyptian Exchange
Written by Sean O’Reilly
Pencils by Alfonso Ruiz
Colors by Benny Fuentes
Letters by Sean O’Reilly
Arcana Studios
Original Release Date: July 14, 2010
Re-Release Date: May 12, 2012
Cover Price: $14.95

Fans of Arcana Studio’s favorite undead swashbuckling hottie Ezra will delight in this 104-page reprint of the entire original 2004 storyline Ezra: Egyptian Exchange. Collecting issues #1-4 along with Arcana Studio Presents Free Comic Book Day, special goodies include never before seen commentary, drawings, interviews, and an insider’s glance at the mysterious origins of the mercenary “born under the black sun.” She has shared the comic universe with other headliners 10th Muse and Kade, but here she is one woman show against pirates, cat people, an immortal Goddess, some crime bosses, and they are just as few of the adversaries trying to mess up Ezra’s day.

All Fall Down
Written by Casey Jones
Art by Jason Reeves, Brian Brinlee, Gian Fernando, Anvit, Pericles Junior, Barnaby Bagenda
Color by Cirque Studios, Al Jerek Torrijas
Letters by Andrew Diroll-Black
Edited by William T. Marks
Arcana Studios
Release Date: December 6, 2011
Cover Price: $19.95

Ah, the old “superheroes lose their powers” story. GoD’ers have undoubtedly seen this storyline hundreds of times. Nearly every comic hero must endure this rite of passage where they lose their power and prove that their heroism comes from more than just their super-strength and heat vision. Given the countless derivations of this concept, writer Casey Jones presents an amazingly unique twist on the one of the most common story angles in his debut comic, All Fall Down.