BOOKS FOR TERMINUS

NOT the FINAL EDITION
By Alex Ness
April 30, 2023

As I'd written comics to read, music to listen to, now we reach the books I think you would enjoy these, if you enjoy what I recommend. But this comes with a few explanations. One, this was begun as a final edition of my blogging experience. I was given in February long term diagnoses of having cancer, that was so far un-typed, untreated, and unknown. If the type could not be found and I could not be treated, I'd be dead in 4 months. It turns out that I have a type of cancer that is slow moving. The physician's words were, you are in fourth stage, but the type of cancer is indolent, so you will survive if you get treatment. And I am going to get treatment. My general practice doctor is responsible for my survival. My infectious disease specialist doctor saved my life. And the people at Mayo Clinic seem poised to save me from a very painful end. So this edition of my work is not the final, but will be, the works that move me, and I think they might move you as well.

Note well, this is a look at those I read and enjoy the most. There are others, of course, but I've been fighting the cancer, trying to live my obligations, and have not yet finished my article.  So, in two weeks or less, I will present a deep look at a series of books that are appropriate for young teens to old fart adults, and are amongst the more thoughtful genre works I've had the pleasure to read. But trips to Rochester and Moorhead, a convention, and sleepless nights due to pain and cancer have limited my past bulletproof ability to work on little sleep. Two weeks and then boom. I don't know what will happen after that. For now, presented in no order and more a sampling of the artists than the exact works (although, my favorites are shown in each)...

THE BOOKS

GETTING REVIEWS?

I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

My Creative Blogs:


My 5000 poem Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
 
Cthulhu Alien Horrors CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com

Atlantis & Lost Worlds AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com
Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

All images are copyright © their respective owners, use is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.

Authors who wrote books that actually caused me to feel horror

I must not be afraid
by Alex Ness
April 28, 2022

A reader wrote to say, "Hey Nessman, I read your reviews of comics and books especially, not enough games or music to really mention, but overall I like what you say, and can use what you say to guide whether or not I will buy that item. But you often say that the book or comic, despite being in the genre of horror, didn't scare you. If the genre was horror, can that product be considered successful for what it was? Now I hear people say this writer scares them or that one... but like you I don't find 99% of the horror books I read to inspire horror. So which books, or authors if you prefer, cause you to experience the feeling of horror?"

Thanks for the email. Since I don't have an issue with anything in this question*, no secret agendas, no clue that I should now mention so and so I'll do my best but I am going to choose two books from each author who spooked me. Why? In case you like one you might like others by the same author.  Also, as some get tired of me mentioning, I find the only true horror to be books on The Holocaust, The Rwandan Genocide, the Armenian Genocide...  Because they are proof that humans can be purely evil, and become more so as they gather into groups of similar views on life.

*There have been PR people who write hoping I'll mention their client's work, or the person wants me to reconsider what I reported about a book. But I'm honestly too tired and have been in too much pain for a long time to rewrite something or reconsider something the author or publisher weren't happy with.

Without any order of preference here are 6 authors who wrote stuff that spooked me.

Predictable, yes, I love Joe Monks as a human, and love his wife Pamela. But the reason Monks writes works that work for me, is that he is honest, he writes without unnecessary added baloney, and he understands that the best approach to horror isn't absolute gore, it isn't writing about ugly or vile feelings or thoughts.  It is the experiencing of the horror. To see a zombie would scare me, but Monks gives you a gun and you can fight it. But the things that dwell in the heart of the evil in the books he writes, aren't targets you can kill with a gun. He understands being lost in the darkness with evil surrounding you, and having the advantage against you. He makes you feel the fear the characters he writes about feel.

I rarely talk about Stephen King, and it isn't about his personality. I find his work good in quality, but they rarely frighten me. However, Salem's Lot scared me poopless. The images in Cycle of the Werewolf were more than frightening. The prose wasn't that dark, or fear inducing, but perhaps he wrote knowing Berni Wrightson could express horror better than most other authors. I am not suggesting King is the best at evoking horror, or making you feel it, but in his best works, he lays open your vein of fear, and doesn't severe it, he licks it, he plays with it and then when you feel relief that you might survive, he severs your jugular. 

The title Black Easter and Day after Judgment refer directly to what the subject of this book series is about. The devil and his minions attack and kill God. Nietzsche's famous term God is dead was a phrase that had a philosophical meaning behind it. It meant, listen humans, quit living your lives for something you do not know exists, likely doesn't, and shouldn't rule over your existence.  Which arose the theory of their being a higher man and blah blah... But in this case, when James Blish says God is dead, that bastich means it.  It is by far the most dark work I've ever read, and I read it to learn what a concept about such a dethroning of the king of all creation could mean. I wish I hadn't read it, but as the books on this list go, it is certainly a work that scared the shit out of me

The world found out that the personal character of HP Lovecraft was filled with xenophobic, ugly racist views. He lived in his own private hell, with numerous health issues, having lost most of his family, and lived upon very little money with two aunts with equally poor health. He was isolated, kept out of school but self educated, to a very high degree. His fascination with astronomy and his life's lesson that there is very little in the world of a kind or benevolent nature. He imagined aliens who had powers, and to the primitive and bestial human mind, they'd surely appear to be gods. So when he wrote his horror, he did so in a way, that was devoid of fear as we might think. He imagined a mostly empty cold and vast universe, where the beings that now found earth could do almost anything with, and find rewards in followers and powers. His works aren't jump scares, or monsters who tear out your throats. They are so bright humans can't understand them, and see them as Gods or godlike beings. And no one exists that will come and save us.

The works of Alma Katsu are almost unfair. They take normal and introduce the abnormal, they use realism to create the backdrop for the surrealistic horror that follows. She uses the Japanese Internment camp in Idaho as the stage for a drama that brings demons to the foreground, but Oni, not Western Demons, and by adding that cultural flavor, it is deeply unsettling. The Hunger is a retelling of the famed cannibalistic event, the Donner Party. And frankly, if cannibalism from a HISTORICAL backdrop doesn't make you gag or run in fear, you are immune to it and a better person than me.

Mary Shelley is not a current name, but she was a genius for the era in which she wrote. Imagining the first world pandemic was brilliant if it didn't induce fear in me, I think it is nonetheless worth reading for what someone 200 years ago imagined would destroy the human population. For me Frankenstein held less horror as it did a lesson that was taught, again, far sooner than could be imagined had you only now first heard of it and was asked, when would you guess the first story of humans reanimating flesh through science would have appeared. The genius concept compares man to God and asks if humans are morally as wise as they've now appeared to be bright. And for me, not the monster or events, the true horror for me comes in the fact that people saw this monster and thought, it is just dead flesh, that lightning revived, but in the original unabridged novel, Frankenstein is bright, angry but not evil per se, and he has the sole punishment of a being born by science, and not a soul. He is isolated, screams for human friendship or company, and is condemned in the end to walk the arctic ice pack since he cannot die, and doesn't have a soul to worry about his actions affecting. The monster itself isn't scary, it is that humans created him, and think HE is the monster.  I really really adore Mary Shelley's mind and work.

GETTING REVIEWS?

I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

My Creative Blogs:


My 5000 poem Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
 
Cthulhu Alien Horrors CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com

Atlantis & Lost Worlds AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com
Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

All images are copyright © their respective owners, use is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.

Musicians or bands you should find and listen to

I've regretted not being able to not interview many bands or individuals.  You might think I am mistaken thinking I've done any, but there are bands and individuals from such who have honored me with their music.  Since this is a memory of 22 years of writing blogs and considering music, I can't, obviously, reprint or post links to my over 100 reviews of cd's I wrote from 2000 to 2002.  Sadly when I was told an advertiser didn't like what I said about his restaurant, the site owner told me to edit my post.  I said no. He said, you have to, or I won't let you post your reviews and commentary here.  I said, your choice is this, tell the restaurant owner that I went twice. First time the waitress was kind, if slow, and the food was way overpriced and mediocre.  The second time, the service was bitchy, cold, nasty in replies to requests, but the food was better, but still expensive. I am not changing that. If the restaurant owner doesn't want people to know that his prices are high, his servers are mediocre and the food just isn't worth going to and waiting to get it, and spending my money, he needs to fix the problem. The issue isn't from my review. It was from his bad restaurant.

He came back two days later and said, the owner said it is libelous what you just said. I said it was my personal experience, so it might have been an unkind review, but it was honest, and honesty/truth is always a defense. The website owner came back and said, the owner of the restaurant said he is willing to give you a free third meal, drinks free, food free, you'll be his guest. I said, I am not taking down my honest review. The website owner said make the owner happy (who paid for a banner advertisement that the website owner desperately wanted to keep), take the free meal, write a new and not the same sort of review, and it will be fine. I said, I wrote the truth, so if you take down or edit my piece in any way, delete them all. The next morning I couldn't log in, and the enormous amount of reviews I'd written, of movies, music, food, and books, all of them, were gone.

My current favorite music is:

Smashing Pumpkins, The Clash, Johnny Marr, Sleeper Pins, The Smiths, The Swallows, Joy Division, Peter Gabriel

I learned as a writer you have to be honest, and since I didn't get paid much at all, I lost the only thing I was getting, people viewing my posts. The Smashing Pumpkins reviews were gone. An assortment of Jazz and classical music reviews were gone. Everything I said, was permanently gone. However, on my own website, Popthought.com which mostly died in 2008 I interviewed Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter, a drummer for a band no longer around call Cry of the Afflicted who I like very much. I interviewed a highly talented creative who also was married to a Star Wars artist (Cynthia Narcisi). Ian Narcisi was the musician and he created music that was mind blowingly beautiful but also, totally unique. And then the Chinese person or group of people (I was told by the FBI where the attack came from) who hacked our site wiped out all my back "issues" and ruined whatever they didn't outright remove.

I started interviewing and reviewing on poplitiko because I figured, google, who owned blogger, could defeat the hackers. I first interviewed a "band" where the creator of music for the band The Widow wrote and performed all of the music for the recording, but had a live crew for live performances. When I had been taken off Facebook, he had been inactive, when I returned exonerated without an apology from Fkbook, he was gone. So while I like him, and his music is incredible, we aren't friends, I guess, I thought we were.

I interviewed members of the band the Swallows, and that, truly changed my life.  It gave me hope in a time of despair. And getting to know them all, and interviewing them, was a gift from God. They were bright, deeply talented, kind, and gave me a great many hours of musical pleasure.

I interviewed more talented people but chemo has destroyed my memory. Below I'll list whatever I can of the interviews.

FIND THE INTERVIEWS

AARON KERR (The Swallows, Dissonant Creatures, Full Pedal Cello)
http://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2019/09/an-interview-asking-questions-about.html

JEFF CRANDALL (Swallows)
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2022/11/jeff-crandall-creative-talent.html
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2021/10/interview-week-jeff-crandall.html

BRETT HANSEN (Swallows)
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2022/06/interview-week-ends-with-brett-hansen.html

MIKE NORBY (Swallows)
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2022/01/interview-week-concludes-michael-norby.html

DISSONANT CREATURES (off shoot of the Swallows)
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2021/08/dissonant-creatures-live.html

TYSON ALLISON (music publisher, creative, Swallows, Sleeper Pins, much more...O)
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2000/05/a-talk-with-creative-artist-and-record.html

JOHN CARPENTER (independent creations and soundtracks)
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2022/09/nycc-place-to-be-to-for-john-carpenter.html

THE WIDOW
https://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2012/01/widow-band-interview.html
http://poplitiko.blogspot.com/2011/12/presenting-widow.html

GETTING REVIEWS?
I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

My Creative Blogs:


My 5000 poem Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
 
Cthulhu Alien Horrors CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com

Atlantis & Lost Worlds AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com
Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

All images are copyright © their respective owners, use is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.

Thanks to Lys

 She was one of the first who got involved in sending me PR, arranging interviews, and sending review content. She and I would joke, and laugh, my two favorite were slightly naughty but not flirty. One of  her co-workers had a last name of Knipple. SO I asked first if he was the lead singer of a Korean Pop band focused upon Nipples. Then asked, does Mr Knipple have giant sized nipples and he got made into the lead singer of the band due to his pancake size nipples? She didn't get annoyed, she replied in kind. And my memories of her have only positive content. When my radiation from 2014 cancer ended up killing my thyroid at first and perhaps still the doctors assumed it was cancerous.  I don't know, I only know they check it every visit.  She had her own thyroid stories, and quite truthfully, she made it possible to endure something quite frightening. 

In my recent cancer crisis she has been forefront and acting advocating for me with advice from her own life events.

She is like a sister to me, and I love her in that fashion.  I've enjoyed all of our time interacting for about 20 years.  And I wanted to publicly thank her.

If you need an agent or PR GO TO HER SITE

Approaching Terminus?

The Beginning of the End?  No, not yet.
By Alex Ness
April 19, 2023

This column will be less explanatory and more show and tell. There are many books by great people to share. Explaining each might break my brain. This was going to be part of the previous edition of this column, but as it was quite long, I chose to make it part 2 of the series. If you missed previous editions or forgot, I was told I'd likely be dead or close to it, due to cancer or possible leukemia, but was saved when the diagnoses was false, or mistaken. I am alive and I will continue to be until the powers that be pull the plug.

So this column's subject is no longer, I am dying so here are some great comics to know about before I die. So here are the comics I've considered to be great.

THESE COMICS ARE GREAT:

The Black Lamb:
Published by DC/Helix
Writing/Art by Timothy Truman

The concept was new, the art fantastic and the story was deep, without being written, as so many others, for the purpose of showing violence. It is about outsiders, and how even those canceled by society form their own society and have need of justice and laws of their own. The Black Lamb is the one who brings justice. I truly loved this comic, and think it should be a tpb, more than most.

Scout:
Published by Eclipse Comics
Writing/Art by Timothy Truman

The world is f'ked beyond f'ked.  Water, petroleum, order, and all resources are such limited quantities, that there is no way for the world to go forward. Scout is an Apache, and was a former elite soldier, trained, and able to fight a war on his own, Scout becomes a fugitive, and ends up fighting the remaining government that is chasing him, and various rebel states who consider him a dangerous enemy.  He ends up with two children, and must also become their defender as they cannot be left with anyone for their own safety, the US is in such disarray, there are no allies, only questionable friends, and enemies. This work moved me deeply.  And still does.

Ultraman
Published by Harvey Comics
Written by Dwayne McDuffie and Larry Yakata, Art by Ernie Colon

The character Ultraman is a long time favorite and rarely did I find comics featuring him. I love the character, the first tv series was perfect for me, despite flaws, and these comics were the same. I thrilled to the concept of a benevolent and powerful alien overseeing humans in an attempt to help the good humans succeed versus the challenges and dangers they face. These comic book series were beautiful in cover, written with fun in mind, and with competent art within. The series were supposedly adaptations of various media featured in Japan, but that aspect was never apparent to me. I loved the art, liked the writing, and the covers kicked so much ass.

Battle of the Ultra-Brothers
From VIZ
I don't know the creatives as this is from memory

I really enjoyed this comic when it came out, which was a long time ago, and it was expensive for the era.  I think too, it was in black and white, and expensive, so, for me, an Ultraman fan, I felt initially, "This better be good or I'll be pissed off." However I entered the book, I was either prone to hate it, or appreciate it and wish it had been less expensive.  Well it was really good. It introduced to me the concept of more than one Ultraman, it played in the same playing field as all the nostalgic memories of Ultraman I'd had, and it was really intelligent, for the genre/medium, really entertaining, and I loved the damn thing. It well exceeded my high ceiling it had to reach for me to even like it.

The Legion of the Super-Heroes
From DC Comics
Written by many, but particularly Cary Bates and Paul Levitz
Art by many, but particularly Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, James Sherman & Steve Lightle

I was almost a teen, 11 or 12 when I discovered the Legion of Superheroes. I loved the style of art, the stories were written just for my age group, and I loved the characters. And, there was action, romance, and villains who were perfect, and heroes that could actually die. The art by Dave Cockrum, Mike Grell, James Sherman, and Steve Lightle moved me deeply.  The costumes were modernized by Dave Cockrum, perfectly. Grell's scenes and group shots were more than perfect.  James Sherman was the artist who followed Grell, and if he wasn't Cockrum or Grell, he had a style that didn't lower the standard, it was just different.  And Steve Lightle was essentially, to me, a detail oriented Grell or Cockrum. You might wonder, if you are familiar with the run of comics from 1975 to 1990, why not Keith Giffen. In the beginning I loved Griffin, but the more experimental he became, the less I enjoyed it, particularly on the Legion.

Writer Cary Bates was good, for what he did. Paul Levitz was made to write the Legion, giving every character from a huge cast their moment in the sun.  Other writers were ok, and Jim Shooter, while young and working with less sophisticated, created 3 of my 5 favorite legionnaires.

The New X-Men
From MARVEL COMICS
Written primarily by Len Wein and Chris Clairmont
Art primarily, for me, Dave Cockrum and John Byrne

When I was really sick for five days when I was 11 years old, I had a 102F+ temp and was woozy. When my mother and brother went to Bill's Superfoods, unknown to me, they also stopped at Daley's Drug store, where they sold comics and magazines. When they came home I found out my brother bought two comics for me, X-Men #90, and GI Combat #179.  He rarely spent money on me, but that wasn't selfishness, we each got an allowance, and he spent his usually before it arrived.  So he might have had an advance from my mother on it.

I loved the old X-Men, their original uniforms, the setting of a being a school for those with special talents. I loved it all. When the NEW X-Men happened, I couldn't like a comic more than I did. It was smart, exciting, the art was great, the stories new and different. And the team was multi-national in make up. The work by both Cockrum and Byrne on art was over the top brilliant. The writing was less cheesy as some comics could be, it felt more real than comics of the day felt.  But when Chris Clairmont took over, the work became of the highest quality.

Captain America
From MARVEL
Writing, Art and Edits Jack Fucking Kirby

After the United Methodist confirmation class I'd have a chance to stop at Daley's Drug. I had money because I had been a newspaper boy, and could spend money, that I'd saved and spent very little. In Daley's Drug store they carried a buttload of comics. I found Captain America with Jack Kirby writing and drawing. The splash pages were amazing, the action spectacular, the work was pure Kirby, but, this felt like a roller coaster of heroes, self doubt, and the heart of one with heroics as his template.  I loved it.  It was truly great. I was a 12-13 year old who finally had funding to buy small things that I'd always wanted. For me there is a memory involved of independence and ability to pursue what I was formerly unable to do. 

Savage Dragon
From IMAGE
All creative aspects by Erik Larsen

I've been reading/watching the work of Erik Larsen since I was reading the Doom Patrol. Then I read his Spider-Man, and other works. He did some of the works after Doom Patrol as a writer as  well as solely an artist. As an artist there was something I liked for sure. But, the moment I read his Savage Dragon, I said WOW! His writing, concept of his character, and his art married to his words, makes for pure entertainment.

As for the Savage Dragon, there are moments of genius that makes me say it is great. Especially the run during the so called THIS SAVAGE WORLD. It was a pure and beautiful and an homage to Jack Kirby in a pure way, not stealing anything, not borrowing, but understanding what he was doing, and making it his own.

Erik Larsen has done many fantastic interviews for me. He did these when I was at my own sites, blogs and other much larger sites. He has been generous and kind. He is a bright man with brilliant concepts and should be thought of with far more appreciation than he has now.  But from me, he gets top marks.

Ghostdancing, Rawbone & Narcopolis
From Vertigo and Avatar Press
Written by Jamie Mad Genius Delano
Art by Richard Case, Max Fiumara, & Jeremy Rock

These are not my favorite books by Jamie Delano though I liked each one a great deal. Each book shown sure as hell should be made into a TPB. Ghostdancing is a brilliant work that with the insightful words of Jamie Delano, and with excellent art by Richard Case just tells a ripping good tale. It is amazing and how it hasn't been made into TPB is insane to me. Narcopolis is almost as good if not equally so, as The Filth by Grant Morrison and Chris Weston. It tells a story of a world over medicated, with almost no freedom, and utilizes the subject population to abuse from those in power.  Rawbone is a work that hasn't been seen in comics before. A lesbian pirate queen does whatever she desires to achieve whatever is able to be achieved. It is sexual, violent, and dark as fook. How Avatar hasn't put it in trade yet, is madness. (My favorites are his run on Animal Man, World without End, and Hellblazer of course).

Regarding Jamie, he has treated me so well, I consider him a mentor, a friend, and someone who I'd do anything for, even kneecapping someone he dislikes. I didn't just say that, don't quote me.

Badger & Nexus
From Capital Comics, First Comics and many more
Mike Baron, Steve Rude, Bill Reinhold & more

Whatever you wish to say about Badger and Nexus, they are not similar characters. Badger is a war veteran with PTSD who also possesses multi-personalities. Nexus was destined to become the powerful being, with cosmic powers, and assassinates evil men. He frees slaves. He provides refuge to the lost. And he has dreams that are nightmares that drive him to act.  There are no bad issues of either comic, and each offer different ideas. Nexus even offers a future falled Soviet empire, so it has an exacting prescience.  That Mike Baron has provided me with advice, kindness, and honor by mentoring me, is a kindness gift.  That he has provided review material is great, but it is his heart that moves me so deeply.

Sonata, Strange Embrace, September Mourning, Daredevil: Redemption
From Image, Marvel and more
By David Hine, Brian Haberlin, Michael Gaydos, and more

I think David Hine is a multi talented genius creator. He writes in ways that others couldn't even imagine doing. I think it is due to the fact, that he is also an artist and writing for sequential interpretation, that has got to help. He writes in a fashion that touches my emotions, and his art is less slick or dynamic, but it digs deep into the primal emotions and form, and accompanying the writing, his art is the perfect accompaniment.  I do not in anyway mean to suggest everything is for everyone, but if you were to read his Spawn run where evil and heroics are balanced in such ways you'd be blown away. And then follow it with Daredevil Redemption, where the sin and the anger are made into background for a character named for the Devil and lives a righteous existence. Even better than a favorite work of mine, Daredevil Born Again, this work is more spiritual, powerful and thoughtful, with gorgeous art.  Add the fact that Hine is a greatly talented human, he is kind, bright, and sincere and what you get is a magnificent and original piece of art.

GETTING REVIEWS?

I can be found on Facebook, Twitter or through email Alexanderness63@gmail.com. I accept hard copies, so when you inquire at any of these places, I'll follow through by telling you my street address.If you send hard copies for review I will try to always review them, but if you prefer to send pdf or ebooks to my email, I will review these at my discretion. I don't share my pdf/ebooks, so you can avoid worry that I'd dispense them for free to others.

My Creative Blogs:


My 5000 poem Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
 
Cthulhu Alien Horrors CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com

Atlantis & Lost Worlds AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com
Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

All images are copyright © their respective owners, use is simply as fair use and no ownership rights asserted.

GREAT COMIC ENTERING THE KICKSTARTER PORTAL

DAUGHTERs OF NUDISTS BECOME CLOTHING DESIGNERs
by Alex Ness
April 18, 2023

THREADS

Writing:  Scott O. Brown & Andrew Foley
Pencils & Inks: Russell Hossain pp1-44 Michael Shoykhet pp 45-88
Colors: Stuart Chaifetz
Lettering: Scott O. Brown
Original Story Editor: Lee Nordling
Comic Editor: Warden Foyle
Cover Art & Colors: Michael Shoykhet with Stuart Chaifetz
The Material TM Art, Design & Effects: Stuart Chaifetz

I don't normally find it a pleasure to do kickstarter prematerial or reviews of them, because I think the process is difficult for the creative talents and often end up being find works, but harder to find for the non Kickstarter buyers to find and buy. That isn't a complaint about the product, nor talent, not a complaint about the stores or buyers.  It just reflects the world in which we live over in the comic book industry. So by now you might wonder, ok Nessman, you've given us your unsolicited opinion, tell about the book, or whatever it is you are planning to write.  I thought a few things.

The concept of the book is the initial draw of reading it.You could tell yourself well what is a concept without being fulfilled. And I'd agree, there are many books that have potential but never come near fulfilling it. This work begins well, and develops the story without wavering from the concept, at all. It isn't a work that just exists and you move forward.  You remember reading it, because it was worth your time.

The dialogue was amazing, it felt authentic and not like a ditzy teenage girl dialogue, but something I might hear someone say. The ear for dialogue was accurate and that means something.  So many movie and comics use dialogue as if they have to, because they are supposed to do so,  But in this work, you feel like you not only heard from the characters, the story advanced, and you appreciated the notes and accents of what was said and how it was said.

The story telling moves at a pace that feels swift, but it is not unduly swift. It has a note of importance, and clarity, without being over dramatic or forced. In the 1930s to 1950s in serials, short subject chapter based films, to imply importance or action, a character would enter a room running or just short of running. It was the convention of the medium. This actually does the reverse, almost faking out the reader by writing it at a pace that feels normal, and works to frame the events and interactions to feel as if as important as an action scene might feel.

The art was truly unique and interesting throughout. I often have opinions about super heroes, that they live in a fake universe, that they exist in a time and place that would have to be different due to the fact that people with powers exist, and by that fact, the world would have to change.  The artist here shows a normal existence, changed by someone possessing something powerful. I think that is a skill few modern artists display, whether they possess it or not. Comic artist of the past Don Heck was roundly disliked or people found his work boring, but, he did the opposite of what I described. His world and backgrounds were perfect for the story, but his characters were a bit less than interestingly drawn. I appreciate him when I see the art by modern artists who create out of nothing, normal, turned abnormal.

THE FINAL PRODUCT The concept is that a child of nudists has a fascination with fashion, and she longs to live in a different world and contribute to it, when she discovers a special sort of advantage in her creations, a kind of fabric that no other creator has access to use. This leads to envy, and makes enemies. It makes enemies of the sort no one would want. The story makes a truly apt commentary about what we do with our lives, to be unique, to be perceived as special and great.  The work is easily one of the best for starting in one direction, and ending where no one thought it might go.

If you think this is a comic written just for girls, don't be stupid.  It is a story. It has worth, and for me if I were grading it as a teacher in college, it would get an A for concept, for all aspects of the creative process and a special nod to the fact that in world of comics based on the same idea, this is something new.

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My 5000 poem Blog AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com
 
Cthulhu Alien Horrors CthulhuDarkness.Blogspot.Com

Atlantis & Lost Worlds AlexNessLostWorlds.Blogspot.Com
Published Work  AlexNessPoetry.Blogspot.Com/2007/01/My-Work.html

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CONTACT INFORMATION: Bronco Ink Comics Scott O. Brown 251-348-9026 broncoinkpublishing@gmail.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bronco Ink Comics Announces the Launch of their latest graphic novel, THREADS! APRIL 18, 2023, Mobile, AL – Bronco Ink Comics is excited to announce the launch of its newest original graphic novel, THREADS, by Super Team International ’88 scribe Scott O. Brown and co-written by Andrew Foley with Russell Hossain, Stuart Chaifetz, and Mike Shoykhet on art.  THREADS is a B-Movie sartorial satire about Phoebe and Devin Strand two sisters looking to break into the fashion industry. They both face issues with Devin’s sudden success until Phoebe discovers an alien fabric that changes their fortunes, challenges their relationship, and tries to take over the world! According to co-writer and publisher, Scott O. Brown, THREADS “…has been a long time coming and almost a movie more times than we can count, so we decided that 2023 was time to unleash our love of b-movies and the fashion industry on an unsuspecting public as an original graphic novel.” At 96 pages, standard comic size, and in full, fashionable color, THREADS will be available exclusively on Kickstarter on the official launch date of April 18 in digital, softcover, and hardcover formats. Visit our launch site at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/broncoinkcomics/threads-are-you-wearing-it-or-is-it-wearing-you for a preview and more information about the team! MORE ABOUT BRONCO INK COMICS Located in Mobile, Alabama, Bronco Ink Comics is a subsidiary of Bronco Ink Publishing, LLC, publisher of unique comics and graphic novels, including the fan favorite 80’s superhero pastiche Super Team International ’88. ###