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.

Lucid #2-4
Written and Created by: Michael McMillan
Illustrated by: Anna Wieszcyk
Lettered by: Shawn DePasquale
Archaia Comics

A black president getting assassinated? Looks a little close to home”¦

The world of Lucid is a world of magic: a modern world where a secret cabal of sorcerers who work for the United States government. A member of the Ambrosian Order, Matthew works to protect the government, including the president from other magical forces seek to assassinate him.

While pursuing assassins, battling demons, and neutralizing magical threats, Matthew and the rest of the Order are investigating an organization known as Artemis Megacorp and its connection to the Pendragon Prophecy, a foretelling of an age when everyone on the planet has magical power.

Eve: Vampire Diva #1-3 of 4
Written by Frank J. Laperch
Pencils, inks, and colors by Ash Jackson
Colors by Andre “Good Times” Richardson, Nick Losso
Letters by Dino DePasquale, Shawn DePasquale
Arcana Studios
Available now

Jessica Evelyn Murphy has a lot of problems in her life. Not only is she on the downslide of a once successful music career, she has a taskmaster of a manager who has signed her up for a reality show to chronicle her life. One top of all this, is the fact that she’s a vampire who hunts other nasty creatures of the night, has more taskmaster overseers in the form of a Council (of some sort) and she has to keep her horrific nature from her friends and normal coworkers. She’s got a lot of balls in the air and things only get worse when an ex-boyfriend comes back into the picture. Oh yeah, the ex happens to be a werewolf that she thought she killed years ago. Plus, the always popular demonic evil has decided it’s time to take over the world. All in a day’s work, I guess.