Outlaw Entertainment
Welcome to a very special Why I Love Comics dedicated to the first outing of Outlaw Entertainment's first three comics. The three books in question are all written by the company's editor in chief, Jason M Burns. Jason is no stranger to ComicRelated.com so let's jump right into things with Praetorian.
Praetorian [Preview]
Praetorian follows the story of a mysterious murder and its links to religion. Things start to get deep by the 8th page of the story as we follow Kasandra Rodriguez who works for the FBI. As every Jason Burns story before it, not everything is as it appears as Kas soon finds herself following an eccentric teacher who is hiding a very big secret connected to the mysterious killings.
I like the face that the story changes it's focus about 20 pages in and use a nice twist on a classic part of the bible. I honestly thought the praetorians would turn out to be the four named apostles but I like the idea of who they actually turn out to be. Adding religion into things added a unique element to the book, but it never went heavy handed on you and was really just treated as a plot point.
Ramon Espinoza's art is shining through in the story, especially the pages that show off the immortality of certain characters. The coloring really excels at selling the penciled work. Juliana's quest to stop the judgment killer really brings a lot of interesting pieces into the overall story. In this story, the character's morality, death and life are explored in some really great ways. Not to mention the character design of the main villain really shines through.
The story is involving, the art is powerful and the character's are all believable in a story with themes ranging from religion, to life and death and even morality. I'd say this is probably the strongest work of Jay's career (so far) and obviously I don't think we've seen anything yet. Definitely a buy.
Imaginary Friends [Preview]
Imaginary friend was the first comic ever written by Jason Burns and it's being rereleased here as one of the launch books for Outlaw. It's the story of Rex Mason who is an imaginary friend in the vain of Indiana Jones. Rex is tasked with stopping an imaginary friend named Sift Valentine who wants to break into the real world. Of course Rex doesn't do this alone as he's given a team of unique friends to help him get the job done.
The art fits the theme of the book and definitely adds to the overall story which mostly stays pretty light. There are plenty of surprises packed into the story as we follow the team as they visit the man responsible for lightning and even bump into a very big name that has scared kids for years. Oh, and if you think you know santa, guess again.
Rex is a great leader who goes through a lot of surprising changes in the story and the more that's revealed about the character, the more likable he becomes. His team consists of people like Bones, a deer, a young girl who is not what she appears at all, a woman who knows a lot about meat and a clown with a very unusual fear. The team all have unique personalities and I ended up liking them all before it was done.
I was shocked to learn that this was Jay's first book as it honestly feels like some of his strongest work. It's as fresh as if he just wrote it. I think it's something fans of movies like Never Ending Story, Princess Bride and the Pagemaster would love. Definitely a buy!
Hat Trick [Preview]
Hat Trick is about magician Ray Kalpino. He's a down on his luck man who's stuck doing birthday parties and his magic seems to have left him a long time ago. His fate changes when he goes to the funeral of his uncle and receives a top hat that will change his life forever. This was a fun all ages read. Sure, there are some dark elements to it but I didn't see any gore in the story.
Ray is a likable character over all but it takes a while for you to be able to root for him. The twists and turns in the story are actually pretty unpredictable and the supporting characters are great. You really can't help but to love Poof, the 6 foot tall rabbit.
Armando's art on the story excels at showing the best parts of magic that anyone should love.
I've been a huge of magic since I was a little kid and even seeing a reference to a very famous location in Las Vegas where magician's go to train brought a smile to my face. Jay packs this just as much he does his other works with crazy situations that normal people are forced into and they come out stronger by the story's finale. Definitely another great addition to his work that grows by leaps and bounds.
So Outlaw's first three outings are all great choices which should match just about anyone's taste. We have a light all ages read in Hat Trick, a dark murder mystery involving immortality in Praetorian and a story about what happens to those friends you create when you're a kid in Imaginary friends. Since each one is $7.99 for a full 112 page graphic novel, how can you go wrong? It will be interesting to see how the company evolves and what other projects are yet to come. This though, is a great start!
Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching dvd's, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice. Eric shops at TJ's Collectibles. Visit them on the web at www.tjcollect.com!
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