Re: Catch up..

From: Dan Drazen <drazen_at_andrews.edu>
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 09:04:07 -0500 (EST)

 [Gripes about South African phone service deleted]

>
> Now.. On to some original material.. My good pal Ice-Blade, took me to
> meet some guy he knows who owns a comic store. Well, he was a really nice
> english chap, but that really has no relevance.. anyways.. Jeff managed to
> get me one of the Sonic comics from Archie.. (No #18) Okay, so it was the
> January edition.. but what the hell.. who can really complain, poor Jeff
> only has half a brain.. Dough.. off topic again.
>

I HAVE to get in on this discussion, Simon, if only because Sonic #18
was what prompted me to start buying the comics.

> Anyways.. the first story .. well.. sucked. Okay, let me be fair.. From my
> perspective it sucked.. There were a few pretty good humour pieces though..
> Well, I guess that it was a matter of taste.
>
> Darn.. I'm wondering off again.. [Coffie Sabotage I tell you!] But, I looked
> at the art, some of the pictures are sadly wasted... I have attributed these
> to when facial expression occurs. Okay.. looking again, the Manak dude
> draws them screaming nicely.. but when they smile.. AGH.. They get that
> "Casper the friendly ghost" type look. :(
>

I've never been a fan of Manak's artwork and have savaged it on several
occasions when reviewing comics for the FAQ File. The only decent part
of the story for me was the twist about the nature of the wedding.

> The 2nd story, pencilled by Art Mawhinney, was actually pretty danged
> impressive..
>
> But just wait a moment. #2 could have had a slightly deeper stoyline..
> "Ceremonial Acorn?" Why not some sort of crazy key, or thingemabob? Okay, I
> mean sure, Sal's last name is Acorn.. but.. um.. well.. Well.. you kinda
> get the idea...
>

I was able to enjoy it on another level: as a nice, neat solution to one
of the running bits on the old "Kung Fu" television series. But I was
even more impressed by the way Kanterovich and Penders handled the death
of Sally's old mentor, Julayla. Ken Penders actually posted to this
group to let us know that he ran this development past several mothers
he knew to determine if it was inappropriately heavy.

Still, that's what tipped it in for me. In a way, Julayla's death
helped me to think up my first effort at fanfic: "Bloodlines."

 [clip]
>
> Anyways.. Jeff will be acquiring some more comics for me.. I'll haveta
> compliment the Art Mawhinney chap.. his drawing style has been processed and
> uploaded to OrganicRAM for later usage. Or in simpler terms, "Me Simon, look
> conic, draw like comic."
>

Mawhinney is a strong Sonic artist, but let me run two words past you:
Pat Spaziante. He's doing the Sonic covers on a regular basis, and his
artwork for issue #25 (Sonic v. Mecha-Sonic) is guaranteed to knock your
socks off. His cover of #29 is also a major stunner.

Just my US$.02.

================================================================
|| ___------__ || Daniel J. Drazen
|| |\__-- /\ _- || drazen_at_andrews.edu
|| | / __ _ ||Sonic: "Whoa, you're not going to
|| //\ / \ /__ || use the L-word, are you?"
|| | o| 0|__ --_ ||Tails: "Well...."
|| \\____-- __ \ ___ - ||Sonic: "Then I will...I love you,
|| (_at_@ __/ / /_ || little bro."
|| -_____--- --_ ||AoStH: "Tails' New Home"
================================================================

Received on Mon Mar 18 1996 - 10:03:17 PST