CBLDF Liberty Annual 2010 – Review

By: Various including Darick Robertson, Fabio Moon, Gabriel Ba, Garth Ennis, Paul Pope, Evan Dorkin, Rob Liefeld, Gail Simone, Scott Morse, Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Brian Azzarello, Frank Miller, Terry Moore, Jeff Smith, Skottie Young, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Ben McCool, Billy Tucci, Larry Marder and more

The Story: Comic creators collaborate on an anthology comic to raise money to protect free speech!

What’s Good: You know what’s good: free speech!  Too often the term “free speech” is only thought of as it applies to journalists, but as soon as you start eroding artists abilities to portray their art in whatever why they please because some people find it distasteful, you start to threaten some of the essential liberties that are part of what it means to be human (much less American).  There are places in the world where people cannot say and print what they please and there are people in the good old USA who occasionally give a comic shop a hard time about displaying comics with – gasp – wanton violence or – double gasp – naked people or – triple gasp – naked people doing naughty things! And by “hard time” we mean “take the comic shop to court”.  The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit that helps comic shops and creators defend themselves against such intrusions into free speech and every so often they put out an Annual to raise awareness and money.

Rasl #1 – Review

By Jeff Smith

Back in the early 1990s I discovered Jeff Smith’s Bone. But I wasn’t the only one, it stands as one of the biggest independent success stories of all time. It was a charming and cute little book that broke demographics, appealing to all ages. The book ended in 2004, and other than a few books like the Shazam mini-series Smith did for DC, he’s been pretty quiet… until now.

I didn’t know what to expect from Jeff Smith’s Rasl. I thought it might be another book in the same vane as Bone, but the first page quickly dispelled that notion. Rasl’s premise is quite interesting. He’s an art thief who possesses an odd machine that can warp him into a pocket dimension known as “The Drift”. This pocket dimension acts as a hiding place for him until the coast is clear.

There’s no back story on how Rasl’s acquired this machine or how it works, but judging from what I’ve read, it’s probably safe to assume that he either stole it or just stumbled upon it. This, “Drift” or alternate dimension he escapes to is largely unknown. What Smith does tell us is that it’s easy going in, but painful coming out. So painful, that Rasl needs a variety of drinks and cigarettes to calm his nerves after returning to the real world. The kicker to this first issue is that while he manages to come back from his latest heist, things are seemingly different in the world around him. This is the mystery of Rasl’s story.

I’ll admit it, Rasl came in under my radar this week. I just happened to see it on the shelf and decided to give it a shot. I’m glad I did, too. The premise, while nothing new, is engaging and it gives way to a lot of curiosity (not to mention a bevy possibilities). Smith’s art is sharp and clean, while not being overly cartoony in style. My only reservation is that the issue reads very quickly. Don’t get me wrong here, it’s not decompressed at all. Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with a book paced this quickly, but having to wait until May 2008 for the next issue is madness! (Grade: B+)

– J. Montes