Tuesday, May 9, 2017

What the hell are they thinking?

Josh Howard wrote and illustrated a multi volume tale of a warrior.  First she died, then she got better.  She understood her opponent, and carried the war to them.  Then she realized, it was much more dangerous than what one person could do.  So she raised a rebellion.  And with this comrades, she took the fight to the heart of evil.  Dead@17 has powerful women heroes.  Men are there, but the lead character is a girl, who died at 17.  Comic publishers across the board have sought to build a female audience, and they've done better in recent days than the previous 3 decades.

But this book is great, and is worth noticing.


His art alone is worth the price of admission.  He has a style that is young, energetic, smart, and is beautiful.  Anime and manga fans would deeply enjoy his work.  They could see his understanding of the form, and mastery of the conventions of the genres and formats.
 

And he has an impressive body of work on other stories and illustration for Topps cards.  However, similarly to the previous series, his stories feature strong women characters.  They draw attention and capture the reader's attention.  But while they are attractive, but they are deeper in conception and more interesting for their thoughts, than they might seem, from superficial glance.


But I want the reader here to understand my issue.  Why aren't comic publishers gathering at Josh Howard's door?  He is talented, has a work ethic that sees continual production, and his style and perspective aims at a community, a group of readers who have only recently seen efforts worthwhile to garner their attention.


Why aren't the publishers asking him for work?

I don't know.
I find it curious.

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