Hum
Graphic Novel
Written By Scott Marcano and Tom Lenoci
Illustrated by Renzo Podesta
Diablo Productions
Cover price: $15.95; 250 pages, B&W w/ partial Color
March 2009

Throughout the history of humans, also apparent in our own everyday experience, the affluent have taken advantage of the downtrodden. Humans are also great adapters. We eventually, as a people, make the best of the situation we find ourselves in. We are also susceptible to the promise of ease and ecstasy. Well, off world and in the future people are no different.

Such is the story of Hum which is slowly, masterfully untwined over the first few chapters of the book. Earthling colonists travel through space and find what they believe to be a perfect new world. However, most of the population is debilitated by a natural element of the planet. The non-afflicted take this as a sign of their superiority and use the disadvantaged to do their bidding. This is a story all too familiar in our human history. It seems like a natural extension of our progeny. Just as it is that the afflicted rise to overcome their disabilities and begin to live life anew and begin…hum. But the masters won’t give up easily, using their own people with the vices of the time and planet, to fight their battles for them.

Dusk Vol. 1
Written by David Doub
Pencils by Maki Naro, Jerry Gonzales, Franc Czuba
Inks by Chris Scott, Jerry Gonzales
Letters by Jaymes Reed
Independent

A newly turned vampire must resist his own unnatural urges in order to save his wife’s life. A chance encounter with a private investigator leads to a reunion between a vampire hunter and the husband she’d almost forgotten. A teen’s mystical dalliances place a curse on his school that few, if any, may survive.

These are the tales of Dusk, David Doub‘s independently published Gothic horror comic. Collected in this trade paperback volume are the first four issues of the black & white series, created and written by Doub, illustrated by Maki Naro, Jerry Gonzales, Franc Czuba, and Chris Scott, and lettered by Jaymes Reed.

This was a difficult review for me to pin down. Typically, I have a prevailing feeling after finishing a given book that will guide me through the process of writing about it, but in this case, I was left very much in limbo. I have negative things to say, yet I can’t bring myself to give a wholly bad review. I have positive things to say, yet I’d be remiss if I just fluffed it and went on my way. So, I’m going to try something new…

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF THE GODS
2007 Xeric Award Winner Erik Evensen takes a fresh look at some very old stories.

Gods of Asgard
Adapted and Illustrated by Erik Evensen
Letters by Matt Talbot
Additional Inks by Ken McFarlane
Published by Studio E3
On-sale date: Sept. 2007
Cover price: $14.99

Fans, scholars, and academics have often referred to comic books as “The Mythology Of 20th Century.”

However, many comic books have borrowed heavily from myths that are much, much older.

Wonder Woman has always been steeped in Greek mythology and many of her friends and allies through the years of been gods of the Greek pantheon. Thor, Hercules, and now Aries have long been featured characters in Marvel comic books and have fought with and beside standard superheroes. (In fact the trickster god Loki, in an effort to defeat Thor, inadvertently created the first team of The Avengers.) Captain Marvel gets his power from several mythical gods (and, for reasons I’ve never understood, the Biblical King Solomon — what’s HE doing hanging out with Mercury and Hercules?).

Now, Erik Evensen has produced a new look at the old gods in God Of Asgard, one of the most ambitious graphic novel projects of recent years.

Make no mistake — this is not a gods-as-superheroes project or even a gods-as-valiant warriors comic book. Using source material from the translation of Snorri Sturluson‘s Prose Edda; Bulfinch’s Mythology; Kevin Crossley-Holland‘s The Norse Myths, and numerous other sources, Evensen has created a work as richly satisfying as happy hour in Valhalla.

Although there are action/adventure stories in Gods Of Asgard, there are also plenty of “origin stories” of the various gods, stories of deceit, lust, friendship, loyalty, and just about every other aspect of the private lives of the Norse gods. All told clearly and orderly and all told with an obvious interest and affection for these ancient tales.