Indie Friday - Quick Hits

Well it's a little late but it's still an Indie Friday, I've been mixing the articles up a bit so that you get a taste of each one and what it's about so today we have a bunch of Quick Hits on Indie Comics that have come out in the last few weeks... or months in some cases, so enjoy! Also I bought all of these at Comic Factory in Pasadena, CA if live in California and have access to the shop then check it out they have a huge selection of independent comics including stuff that's printed in non comic size and limited to about 100 prints some times. It's a cool place so check it out.

Multiple Warheads #1 - It's not often that I find an Oni Press book that I don't like... but I found one. This book is 1/2 Tank Girl, 1/2 Heavy Metal and 1/2 Manga and yeah I know my math is wrong but I was always better at decimals. It's basically about this girl that hunts for organs off of the dead out in the dead world... then a space ship from the space were-wolf war crashes because they were all on auto return... and frankly I didn't care. I wanted to like the book but it really didn't do anything worth reading. The art was interesting but the character was sexier when she had her clothes on. Yeah... that's all I have to say about it... next book.



Bonds #1 - I missed this Image books release. Even though it's Image not every store will stock it so some times these rare gems get missed or under bought. Bonds is an interesting story, basically the girl on the front, her dad gets killed by someone using a medical company to make a biological weapon that would of course would wreck havoc on the world. The main character goes somewhere else when she's asleep and during one of her visits to the forest her guide which is either her mother or mother nature I'm not sure, tells her that anything she does there will have affects on the real world. If she strikes a spider then something bad will happen to a real person, and if she's the chosen one then she will not be mark with a "Bond." Well she does and she awakens to find a spider "tattoo" growing darker and darker on her skin. There's more to this complicated story that I care not to explain to you just know that even though it starts slow it finishes strong. Quick Pick: Runner Up!

Bushi Tales #1 of 3 - What happens when you mix Japanese and Greek mythology? You get a mess of a story and a main character that cries more times then she speaks. The underlining plot of this comic was lost on me, perhaps I'm just not a "big picture" type when it comes to the structure of this story. The issues plot was this, wolves attack the guards of a fortress (why the guards are on the outside is beyond me) the leaders daughter goes after the wolves because they mauled her lover or boyfriend or hey they didn't really say; she finds a Titan of Greek Mythology cooking the other missing guard and then they get ambushed. The main chick wounds the Titan and he vows they'll meet again while the retreat to the fortress that he could easily break into... but doesn't. But hey the art was okay! Quick Picks: Save You're Money!

White Picket Fences #3 of 3 - This is more of a series review since I read the first two issues as well. Let me first say that I loved the art, and it reminded my of Herobear and the Kid. It has that classic 40's and 50's motif to it and that's when the story also takes place. Basically the Martian's are ready to wage war on us because we didn't disarm or give back all the technology they gave us to defeat... another planet's people I'm sorry I don't remember which one I think it was Venus so Verusians or whatever. These kids that are obsessed with one of those classic space adventurers decide they want to help the army that's in the town protecting the secret weapon that's hidden there. Well as kids often do they end up getting into trouble and they nearly cause the end of the planet. The concept is cool, because they refer to the Martin's as "Reds" which is something we're all familiar with but it adds that extra twist to it. The problem with this story is the dialog, the parents are funny and they work but the government people talk to much, the Martin's are boring and the kids sound stupid. They don't really talk like kids, they talk more like uneducated adults and that's not interesting to read. Stay for the art but skip most of the story and you'll be fine with this book from Ape Entertainment.

Johnny Hiro #1 - I have been trying to get my hands on this book for some time now and so the hype I had given the book myself made me nervous to read it. But let's just say it shall we... Quick Picks: Pick of the Week! Yeah it was that good. Godazilla (Godzilla knock off) comes to New York to extract revenge on the daughter of a Japanese Voltron type group that kicked his ass years ago. That daughter just so happens to be Johnny Hiro's girlfriend. With a book like this you can't really say anything that's not going to ruin the book for you, all I can say is that I loved how it was written. I love the style of jumping into a short tale about something that doesn't really matter to the story but it's fun to read and makes the book more enjoyable. This story is all over the map and the ending is freaking hilarious. The art was tight and the composition put together nicely and reminded me of Jim Mahfood but without some of the BS that comes with his art. I really hope that there's another issue of Johnny Hiro in the works because I just want to read more of it, it doesn't matter what happens or if they even do anything exciting I just want more of the characters and to me that's what any comic should be about but with Indie's I love it when they step out of the box and tell a story in a way that's not common, so again Quick Picks: Pick of the Week!

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Indie Friday - Weakerthans, Bat For Lashes and The Consumer Goods

Welcome back for another Indie Friday, this week I'm taking not one, but three CD's head on. There's no time to waste since your attention span only last 3 minutes max. Let's go!

Up first is The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour. The title of this CD is ironic since the band had broken up at one time, at least that's what I had heard. So I was very excited about a new CD from the group, and boy was I happy after listening all the way through the CD. They had managed to keep their same style that made me like them initially, but grow just enough to where it didn't feel like I just getting a Weakerthans CD for the sake of getting it. They've made some good steps towards become a great band once again. If you haven't heard of or listened to a Weakerthans than allow me to lift the rock you've been living under and cast it aside. This is one of the premiere Indie bands ever and with tracks like Virtue the Cat explains her Departure and Sun in an empty room, they show that they really are well put together band that knows it's stuff. I enjoyed Virtue the Cat the most because once again the song writer took the perspective of a cat, and frankly that's just damn creative. They did this once before on Reconstruction Site but the two songs only similarity is the Cat factor. All in all this CD is a good listen from start to finish, and times in at about a half an hour. I was able to listen to it almost twice on my way to work. If you've never listened to the Weakerthans before, then this is a good CD to start with.

Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold. I first heard this band on Indie 103's Big Sonic Heaven with Darren Revell. Initially I was blown away with the CD, but then I let it sit for a few weeks and listened to it again and found it to be a very different beast. There we're still several songs that I enjoyed but now I found that I was skipping just about every third song to find a better one. Also her voice and style is very familiar, like I had heard someone else singing the same way but doing it better but for the life of me I couldn't remember again! I did enjoy the CD but I don't think it'll become a staple in my collection but I would give Bat for Lashes another listen to if they put out another CD.

Lastly we have The Consumer Goods - Happy Bidet. I had never heard of this band before and basically got it out of sheer curiosity. I wish I could say that I was pleasantly surprised in a good way from this CD, but it was more surprising to listen to such a weirdly put together CD. Perhaps another listening is needed, but I felt that half the songs were just nice pleasant, good songs, and the others were Political songs that felt forced and offered no new incite to American politics. One song ask if Donald Rumsfeld needed a hug and if Dick Cheney's dad had called talked down to him and they wondered if they could ever give them enough love, and how sorry they were. This isn't a joke, no ones laughing, the chorus doesn't become humorous and funny, they are actually singing about this subject. They mean it in an almost mean way. Still I laughed because I really just couldn't take a song like that serious. Then the next song is all melodic and has a nice tempo and is pretty up beat, I found myself kinda lost in the music... then another political song. I won't say that the CD is bad, because it's not. The music is quite good, the singing is good, I'm just not sold on the content of the lyrics. It also amused me to learn that they were Canadian from the bands Myspace page (since they were a pain to track down through Google). I know this Administration sucks and that more than likely the next won't be much better, hell I've written about it myself! But Canadians singing about how our government sucks is just kinda ridiculous to me, it's like Celebrities getting involved in stopping the war. The bands Myspace page also offers four songs to download or listen to... I kinda wish I knew that before hand. I will say this... the name is very catchy!

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Indie Friday - Uptight

Something else I'm trying is an Indie spotlight article that would focus on all things Indie. Be it Movies, comics or music, each Friday I'll find something independent to bring to you. This week we'll start with a comic since I haven't watched any movies lately and I can't find the CD I want to listen to.

Uptight #2 - The book contains three short stories, by three different artists and writers. That means no preview pages because frankly I'd be post half their story and that's lame for them. The first tale is about a guy who's hitch-hiking to work because his car broke down. A man stops to pick him up, but really the man is stopping to get help himself. He's dying and wants to go home. Well our stranger doesn't know where he lives so he takes him to the Hospital where he's pronounced dead. Now the man's voice is haunting the good Samaritan, asking to be taken home.

The second story is a bit more like life, which kinda makes it hard to read. An Old man comes home early from a slow day at work. He's visibly up-set from the day and pretty much hates being at home. His wife yells out chores for him to do the minute he walks in, but when he informs her that the neighbor's dog crapped in the yard she spouts off, "No I'm fine thanks for asking." Isn't that just like life? She did the same thing but he's the bad guy for not asking how her day was before talking about anything else. Well the Husband and Wife's daughter come over bring their Grand-daughter. Apparently the Daughter is having marital problems of her own and has decided to take the night away from her husband. The Grand-daughter is the cutest part of the story, and of course she loves her "Gramp" above anything. Even though it hits close to home with it's real world scenarios, it's a beautifully written story, the writer described things that you typically don't find in comics but it worked so well that I'm truly hoping they'll write more and that others will adapt their style.

The last story is pretty simple, a guy's girlfriend goes to the video store and hasn't returned for an hour and he's running through all the different things that could have happened to her none of them being happy. Due to the short nature of the story it's hard to say if one of the scenarios truly happened or if she just left the guy that sat at home instead of looking for her.

Well that concludes the first Indie Friday, Jonzy's Jukebox Jewelery will be on in an hour I believe which is always a good listen check it out on the web if you don't live in LA.

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