Straight Forward Reviews : Skyward # 8

Jeremy Dale's adventure epic returns for issue 8.

Writer - Jeremy Dale

Artist - Jeremy Dale 

Publisher - Action Lab

Review by Jeremias de Leon

Story

Three Rivers is in the sights of an enemy with a powerful army on his side and the ruler of Three Rivers is preparing his own for the attack. In the meantime the Rabites are training and scouting for the attack as well and run into some people usually unlikely to be as deep into the woods as they are.

This issue is certainly building towards something epic and possibly catastrophic in the Skyward universe as there's an underlying tension through the whole issue and quite a big bang at the end.

The story moves at a decent pace this issue and gives enough time for characters personalities to be revealed more. Though the issue is remarkably short.

Art

Jeremy's lines and Kathryn Layno's and Hoyt Silva's colors come together to form some of the most charming and full of personality art I've seen in a while. Where a lot of comics, especially in the big two seem to have some technically great, but very similar, art styles this comic is full of a style that is it's own and easily identifiable.

Verdict

While I loved the art and the story is solid it felt like it ended much too quickly. Understandably it has quite a younger reader fanbase but the rest of the story never insulted the intelligence of the kids and it felt like it could have been the length of a standard comic. But the story is still, as stated before, very solid and the art is wonderful so I give Skyward # 8 a 9 out of 10.

MOLLY DANGER PARTY SOARS at JHU COMIC BOOKS!

MOLLY DANGER PARTY SOARS at JHU COMIC BOOKS!
Successful launch event raises funds for Hero Initiative.

New York, N.Y.-During a whirlwind New York Comic Con, the biggest and most popular comics and media convention on the east coast, Action Lab Entertainment held a fun filled night of celebration. On Saturday, October 12^th Action Lab Entertainment, the newest and most exciting  publisher to enter the comics arena, cemented their place with the successful launch of writer/cartoonist Jamal Igle’s graphic album series.
The event, Sponsored by Jerry’s Artarama, Strathmore paper and Artograph inc. was held at JHU Comic books, the legendary New York based comic book chain. Revelry could be heard from their midtown Manhattan location as Igle, a 24-year veteran of the comics industry held court with friends, fans and well-wishers.

Comics and media luminaries who attended included ‘Thief of Thieves’ artist Shawn Martinbrough, ‘G.I. Joe’ artist Will Rosado, fan favorite creators like Stuart Moore (Marvel’s Civil war novel adaptation), Fred Van Lente (Brain Boy from Dark horse Comics, Valliant’s Archer and Armstrong, playwright Crystal Skillman (Cut, Birthday and Nobody), Dan jolly (Bloodhound, The Terminator: Enemy of My enemy),  West Side Cultural Center Managing Director Nanci Callahan, journalists, podcasters and fans from as far away as Venezuela, France, and Japan.
Igle also played a six-minute sample of the upcoming Molly Danger “Audio companion”, (produced by the Audiocomics Company. The upcoming release, Adapted by legendary writer Elaine Lee (Starstruck) directed by William Dufris (the original voice of Bob the Builder) stars Dufris himself, Awarding winning voiceover actors Robin Miles (The Pirate’s Daughter), Lance Roger Axt (Starstruck) and newcomer Olivia DuFord as Molly Danger. Met by rousing and thunderous applause, it was a proper end to a fantastic evening.

Proceeds from the event were also donated to The Hero Initiative, The first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Action Lab donated a portion of the sales of copies of Molly Danger Book One; “To honor the creators of the past in a small way, and celebrate the future,” said Igle.

Molly Danger book One is available for sale Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble. Com and WalMart.com. The Molly Danger Audiobook is available on iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Amazon MP3 UK

 starting on October 31^st, 2013.

For more information contact Jwhitley@Actionlabcomics.com

About Jamal Igle
The Creator, writer and illustrator behind Molly Danger

One of the most popular and prolific pencillers in the comic book industry, Jamal Igle is an award winning artist and writer. Best known for his run on Supergirl with writer Sterling Gates, Jamal has been a professional jack of all trades for nearly 24 years, drawing every title from Action Comics to Zatanna for DC Comics.

For more information ccontact Jamal at www.JamalIgle.com

About Action Lab Entertainment

Formed in 2010 with the purpose of pooling their collective talents into a single, powerful entity, the members of Action Lab Entertainment have over 25 years experience in multimedia publishing, design, and business. Their first release, Fracture, was successfully funded through Kickstarter and since then they have continued their mission to produce high quality, genre-spanning entertainment.

For more information on all of their titles, visit the Action Lab website http://www.actionlabcomics.com or http://www.actionlabcomics.com/action-lab-digitalf or information on the new Digital First offerings.

About Jerry’s Artarama

Jerry’s Artarama is a national retailer of art materials and supplies headquartered in Raleigh, NC with 15 physical locations throughout the U.S. and a popular online store. Jerry Goldstein opened the first Jerry’s Artarama in Long Island, NY in 1968 with the goal of offering quality discount-priced products to established artists. Jerry believed in treating customers like family, a tradition that still continues. Today, Jerry’s offers more than 70,000 top-quality art materials at direct savings-with as much as 75 percent off tradition retail on products from the industry’s top leading art manufacturers, as well as Jerry’s own exclusive product lines via the online store, art supply catalog and Jerry’s Artarama Superstores. In addition, Jerry’s Artarama serves as an artist resource by offering instructional workshops, new art supply demos and special art-related events, including the Art of the Carolinas Tradeshow, an annual event held in Raleigh.

For more information, visit http://www.jerrysartarama.com.

About AudiocomicsAudioComics, under the guidance of producers Lance Roger Axt, William Dufris, and Elaine Lee, provides superior audio entertainment with its professional full-cast audio theatre productions of both licensed properties and original works from the world of comic books, graphic novels, and related media, accessible in today’s market with today’s sound. Productions include Starstruck, the forthcoming Bad Planet, and the first part of Titanium Rain, for which AudioComics was nominated for two Audie Awards from the Audiobook Publishers Association.

For more information, visit http://audiocomicscompany.com/

Jamal Y. Igle

Creative Director/Owner

Jamal Igle and Company LLC.

"Fortune favors the bold"

Straight Forward Reviews: Princeless Vol. 2 issue 4

We're back with another Straight Forward Review and this time we're looking at the Princeless series. A series I've been on since the beginning. It's always been good but does this issue keep up the quality? Does it lag or might it even surpass the previous issues?

Review by Jeremias de Leon

Story

We get a nice intro from Angelica explaining her family including Adrienne and how she got her curses. Then it gets right into the action with Adrienne and Bedelia trying to come up with a plan to deal with Angelica's guardian.

There's great dialog that happens while they're trying to frantically defeat the guardian and we get to see some nice character progression with Angelica and Adrienne. Adrienne proves herself in this issue, maybe not the way she wanted to but she did. Angelica ends up doing things she probably didn't think she would do. Sorry about being vague about it but I dont' want to spoil things.

Art

Emily Martin definitely comes into her own in this issue. It's still definitely Princeless but you can see that she definitely gives everything her own unique flair. The characters look like they are stylized but also have proportions that are more realistic. Thinking mainly of the size of their head compared to the rest of the body.

It's also just really fun to look at, seeing the action in this issue with Angelica's guardian it all looks like the angles were well thought out and the movement of characters makes it feel like watching a cartoon. Which is great.

Verdict

This gets a 10 out of 10. Here's why it deserves one, first you get a quick and fun recap so if you don't know what's going on from reading the previous issues (you should anyway) you're good to go. Second, the character progression in this issue is nice as it's not only Adrienne who learns and grows bur her sister Angelica too. Third, everything comes together in this issue. Smart writing, nice action, character progression and a proper set up stage for the story that looks like things are only going to be picking up from here. Not only that but it looks like Adrienne is shaping up to a real hero by what she does and is starting to realize it with the help of her friends. So it looks like even though the obstacles might be getting tougher she'll be becoming more capable to meet those obstacles.

StraightForward Reviews: Princeless Vol.2 issue 3

Welcome to another edition of StraightForward Reviews this time we look at the continuation of Jeremy Whitley's Princeless

Review by Jeremias de Leon

Story

Adrienne meets her sister Angelica and tries to rescue her though it seems she doesn't want to get rescued. During this we also get more backstory on Adrienne's father and his allies. Then not much later we see a fight scene between Adrienne and one of the king's men. A comically awesome fight scene at that. This issue does a little bit of world building too. At least in glimpses. We learn more of other races of people and how the people besides Adrienne view the world and at least one of her sisters.

Jeremy Whitley continues, like in the past issues, with great character dialog and interactions that make the comic really engrossing.

Art

The direction the art takes in this issue is reminiscent of animation more than a comic book. Which makes sense with a story about colorful characters in a fantasy world. It truly lends itself well to the action scenes especially. Since it shows great dynamic movement but doesn't come across as too gritty or dark which you wouldn't want in an all ages book that can be seen as being given to younger readers. It's extremely eye-catching and imaginative. Going back to the action scenes it's the kind of art you should go back and look at over and over so you can soak in how creative it really is.

Verdict

No doubt about it Princeless is a real winner. It's captivating, charming, and has real substance to it. The characters really shine and the art is enjoyable. I give Princeless a well deserved 9.5 out of 10.

Comic News: Jamal Igle's "MOLLY DANGER" Gets Sound From AudioComics

         www.audiocomicscompany.com          audiocomicsinfo@gmail.com

AUDIOCOMICS PRESENTS JAMAL IGLE’S “MOLLY DANGER”

For immediate release:

In 2013, the audio movie studio AudioComics will release its second AC Kids title based on the forthcoming children’s graphic novel series from industry superstar Jamal Igle (Action Comics, Supergirl, Firestorm, Daredevil/Shi): Molly Danger! Produced in association with Action Lab Entertainment, and directed by AudioComics co-founder William Dufris, the first episode in the series will record in New York for a projected summer release.

Molly is “the princess of finesse,” the most powerful ten-year old in the world. Protector of Coopersville, New York from the villainous Supermechs, including Two-Fisted Tommy and Lil’ Cavey, she has legions of devoted fans, movies and merchandise bearing her name, and more fame than anyone can fathom. But what she really wants more than anything…is a friend. A family. And a real life.

Meanwhile, the forces of evil are converging to rock Molly’s world. For 20 years she has been led to believe she’s an immortal alien whose family died when their ship crash-landed on Earth, genetically altered by the earth’s atmosphere. She also believes that she is the last of her people. She is wrong--very wrong…

As with AudioComics’ productions of Titanium Rain, Starstruck, and Honey West: Murder on Mars, the finished work will be available on both compact disc and pay-per-Mp3 digital download, with cover art by Igle, and for sale through AudioComics’ and Action Lab's websites, iTunes, Amazon, and at comic book and sci-fi conventions.

"This is another exciting step in getting the Action Lab brand known to comic book fans everywhere," explained Action Lab President Kevin Freeman.  "Jamal is one of the nicest guys in the industry, and not only does Molly Danger look spectacular on the printed page, but it is perfectly suited for the AudioComics treatment.  We couldn't be happier."

Igle introduced Molly Danger in a highly-successful Kickstarter campaign last fall, and the first hardcover edition, under the Action Lab banner, will be in comic book stores in July.  There will also be a preview of the book released during Free Comic Book Day on May 4 in stores nationwide.

AudioComics, under the guidance of producers Lance Roger Axt, William Dufris, and Elaine Lee, provides superior audio entertainment with its professional full-cast audio theatre productions of both licensed properties and original works from the world of comic books, graphic novels, and related media, accessible in today’s market with today’s sound. The AudioComics team is working to establish relationships with top name comic book companies, sci-fi writers, sponsors and the entertainment industry in Hollywood and New York, and to give these audio theatre pieces worldwide exposure. Productions include Starstruck, the forthcoming Bad Planet, and the first part of Titanium Rain, for which AudioComics was nominated for two Audie Awards from the Audiobook Publishers Association.

Action Lab Entertainment was founded in 2010 by a group of indie-maverick comic creators with the sole intent to bring the world the most action packed, most thought-provoking, most entertaining comics available, thereby ushering in a new age of world peace under the dominating, yet benign control of the Action Lab. Action Lab Entertainment is the public front for all the activities of the Action Lab and its members. Although most of the Action Lab’s activities remain classified, Action Lab Entertainment can disclose that two of its many functions are the marketing of comic books through various sales outlets, and the expansion of their domination into other mediums.