The Skyrocket takes off

I got my hands on The Skyrocket #1 last week from Paper Tiger Comics. This is the first book out from PTC and they made a strong start of it. Mike Federali weaves a tale about a bad girl gone good and the book is illustrated by Os Petroli. The book is in the super hero genre but definitely has an indy feel to it. It's black and white and very utilitarian in its visual storytelling. Petroli seems to be finding his way with things, but his work is solid and I'm sure he'll do nothing but improve as he continues. Federali turns in a good story and good dialogue.

The Skyrocket is Samantha Robbins, a science adventure gal who has turned over a new leaf after her father passed away. The book tries not to hit us over the head with exposition, which is hard for a new title. There's plenty of questions that need answered, but the reader isn't hindered by them. We don't need to know how Sam can fly, we just need to know that she can. The character design is refreshing. Sam is an attractive young woman who doesn't flaunt it. She's realistically proportioned. Her costume features neither a battle thong nor a boob hole and is in fact well designed and functional. She's even got a robot companion to talk with, and thank goodness, because Watson the robot is fun and this way the reader is spared massive internal dialogue which is just completely overdone in many titles.

Sam is trying to get back into the good graces of the law but has a pesky criminal record which a certain Agent Evans uses to get Sam to go on a mission for him. We get a few twists and turns, and a fair amount of action. It sets in a few effective plot hooks to get us to want to see issue two sooner than later.

I like this book. I deal a lot with second generation adventurers in my own work so this speaks to me quite a bit. It's got a bit of charm to it. That's going to carry it a ways as Federali and Petroli find their feet with this work. I'll be waiting for issue two to see where this takes me.

Times achangin'...: part 3

Comics have changed a lot over the years and the evolution is continuing. Independent comics are not what they once were. It used to be a creator had a vision and would put his work together and find a way to get his work printed and distributed. I'm talking about the guys who were working their day jobs to keep those bills paid and trying to get the work done and stash away enough money for supplies and printing. These were the guys very familiar with the taste of Ramen noodles. Hunger can bring out the best in a creator.

With the coming of the internet and the advances of high speed connections the game has changed. It is possible for viewers to check out full color pages efficiently. Used to be it too a while for even black and white images to come up. I know this because NIGHT LIFE was on the web back in '95 and '96. James Madison University had stuff from the campus newspaper online back then and my comic strip was part of it.

So, now you don't need the money for a print run, you just need a site for hosting your work, and you can find free ones out there. You need a scanner. Really, that's about it. This makes it a lot easier for creators to get their work out there, and solves the problem of distribution.

This also poses a problem.

There's an absolute glut of webcomics out there. It's unreal how much there is. So, you have to sift through them to find the good stuff. This can be a rather involved process, but much like browsing the racks at the comic shop for something new you're going to find stinkers as well as gold.

Right now I'm following a few: Finder, Girl Genius, Sinfest, Fragile Gravity and a few others. These have been around for a while. They have firm readerships and they put out a quality product. They're a good jumping on point for those of you that are new to webcomics.

Really it breaks down to three types.

Hobbyists: these are the folks that are just doing it for fun. Absolutely nothing wrong with it. They don't take it very seriously, but sometimes you can find some gems in there.

Wannabes: these are the guys who think they have the hottest thing out there. Their parents and friends told them how awesome they're stuff is so they're inflicting it upon anyone who clicks their way. They often don't take criticism well.

The real deal: these are the ones to watch. They meet their update schedules. They consistently turn out decent work. They thrive on criticism both good and bad and use it to try to improve. They don't conduct themselves like petulant children. These are the people who are actually trying, and have the chops. They have stories to tell.

The web is the new proving ground for new writers and artists. The next generation of talent that you will see working for the big companies will be culled from the web. This is the new indy scene.