Indy-Pendant is the first column ever written by Brant W. Fowler running from May 2005 to January 2007. It's a focus on independent comics creators, publishers and titles. These are the reprinted archives, which were originally published on www.comicavalanche.com.
Week 14 - Originally published on September 4, 2005
What up my peeps? Back again with a couple of books this week.
"Three wishes. Three chances to change anything about yourself or even change the world itself. Legend has it that a Djinn would grant all that power to any person that freed them, but it's just a myth... just a story. Or is it?"
It
is a story, and it's a pretty entertaining one at that from an up
and coming new publisher, Funnel Cloud
9 Publishing (FC9). The layout of the first issue was
interesting to say the least. I have to admit at first it was
a little hard to follow, but eventually you figure out what's going
on. Basically it's a story about genies, but this first issue
takes place in the middle east a few centuries ago, so you think
that's where the story takes place. Wrong. It soon
shifts to 1885 again in the middle east, but featuring some
Londoners. It doesn't stay there either though as it finally
shifts to the main locale of the story premise, which is current day
Tennessee. Yes, I said Tennessee. That's definitely different.
The first issue lays out where the genie came from, starting with a battle over an oasis. This part of the story appears to be a fairytale shortly into it as Xanda, a London native is reading stories to children in Baghdad in 1885. This was a neat little segue. We are then led to believe that Xanda is a main character in this tale, which in a way she is. But as the story unveils we segue once again to current day Tennessee where we see Jeffrey Allen getting a swirlie in a mall. Gotta love that. Anyway, Jeffrey evidently is our main character as he discovers a genie in a toy from a prize machine, hence the title. Now you may be wondering how these all interconnect, but without giving too much away, trust me, they do.
The story was decent, but could have been a little clearer in delivery. I am still curious about what will happen to Jeffrey Allen, one of the poor souls that gets bullied all the time, now that he has a genie at his disposal. But how long will that genie last? What kind of adventures can they get into in Morristown, TN? We'll just have to wait and find out.
The story is brought to us, of course, by FC9 Publishing located in, yep, you guessed it, Morristown, TN. It's written by former "Shadowhawk" writer and Scryptic Studios co-founder Jim "Kep" Keplinger with art by Eliseu "Zeu" Gouveia, whose art suits the title, and covers by Small Gods artist, Juan E. Ferreya. Kep just keeps on racking up the writing gigs. The cool thing about it though is that Kep is a self professed mythology nut, as is stated in the would-be letters page, so he knows a thing or two about Djinn, or "Genies". Kep also lays out his process for writing each script, which is kind of a bonus for the readers, Kep being an up and coming writer nowadays. In issue 2 we'll see how Zeu lays down the pencils.
Also to note, if it hasn't ended already, there is a contest to name their letters page. My vote is for "Messages from the Bottle", though that could probably be interpreted in many ways.
My summation is if you want some nice, clean, entertaining fun check this out. For more about Genie and FC9 check out www.fc9.net.
I've
had this one for a while, and I've read it through a few times
because it's just so funny. So I had to cover it here when I
came across it again today. The cover to the first issue says
it all. As Major Amazing stands on a ledge about to jump, two
cops stand idly by drinking coffee and Dr. Blink stares at him
through the open window he says, "This would concern me more if you
couldn't fly, you know..."
Though superhero satire and spoof comics are a hard sell to hear most publishers say, this is definitely one of the better ones. It's right up there with Common Grounds and the classic What The? Even better than the latter in my book. the thought of a psychiatrist for superheroes is just a great concept, and the team of John Kovalic (Dork Tower), Christopher Jones and Melissa Kaercher do an excellent job at making this tale both entertaining and interesting. What's not entertaining about a former child superhero sidekick trying to sell autographs for five bucks? It's not only a superhero spoof, it's a spoof on any celebrity with kernels of truth sprinkled throughout. I highly recommend this title.
I hope you all enjoyed the books I brought to you this week. I have many others I haven't gotten to yet, and some I just won't share because they're just not my cup of tea. Now if Comic Avalanche wanted to give me another column to warn of indy titles to stay away from...
I also haven't forgotten about those of you that have emailed me, and I still have those in the pipeline as well, so keep a look out for features on Twisted Gate, Vicious Circle, Midnite Comics, and Bocas, 'cause that's how I roll!
B.-Out
Brant W. Fowler / Writer, Letter, Creator, Reviewer, Columnist and Comic Related PR Coordinator
Brant W. Fowler has been a professional comic book letterer and logo designer for three years, and has been a freelance editor for the past five years. He has also worked with graphic design, writing and many other area of skills for several years honing his talents. You can learn all about what he's up to by visiting Gonzogoose
Design. Brant is also a member of the core
operations team at Comic Related.
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