Vertigo Quarterly: Cyan #1 – Review

By: Too many to list—or even to review. Just check out the issue.

The Story: It’s impossible not to feel blue after reading this.

The Review: Of all the showcase titles out in recent years, the ones from Vertigo have been the best by far, with a good mix of known and unknown writers confidently spinning self-contained yarns from the chosen motif. Until now, I haven’t had a proper appreciation for the choice of motif, which provides some degree of unity to what would otherwise be jumbles of disparate, unconnected stories. But revolving stories around a color doesn’t quite do the same trick.

The big difference is that a color is an abstract concept in comparison to, say, witches or ghosts, which are somewhat more defined, even if a writer takes the notion in some radical direction. In theory, you can write any story and shoehorn a bit of cyan in there, which is what a lot of the features in this issue do, whether it’s Shaun Simon’s unconvincing “Serial Artist” or a metaphysical numbers extravaganza in Mony Nero’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” It’s easy enough for the colorists to dab a bit of sharp light blue in any given feature, but difficult to grasp the color’s effect on the story.

Planetoid #4 – Review

By: Ken Garing (writer/artist/letters)

The Story: Silas has done a good job of rallying the other nomads into a post-apocalyptic society, but such efforts can’t escape the notice of the powers that be.

Quick review (with SPOILERS): It’s been a few months since the last issue of Planetoid.  A three-month delay can be deadly to a young, creator-owned comic as the hype dies down and readers’ attentions shift to new, shiny objects.  However, a delay can also be a nice test of the strength of the story.  Does the reader still feel compelled to buy the issue after a delay?  Is the story still fresh enough in the readers’ minds after a delay?  [Note: It’s really hard to complain about the delays on a creator-owned comic when the creator is doing the whole thing himself and surely doing the comic around a full-time job….]

I can report that Planetoid is back and it is fine.  I didn’t feel lost or confused about the story.  Frankly, you could probably pick this up without having read the previous issues and manage.  If you remember that there was solider named Silas who was marooned on some alien planet and that he was organizing the other creatures of the wasteland into a society, you’ll be just fine.  Naturally, the brutal alien overlords of this crappy planet aren’t pleased with what Silas is doing and they nab him in this issue.

Planetoid #3 – Review

By: Ken Garing (writer/artist/letters)

The Story: Silas tries to rally various nomadic groups together to escape the “planetoid”.

Review: This is a pretty easy review to write.  If you like sci-fi, post-apocalypse themed adventures…you’ll love Planetoid.  Even though the setting isn’t a post-apocalyptic Earth, the set-up is pretty much the same: loner survivor in the barren wasteland.  It just so happens that this barren wasteland is another planet, but that is irrelevant to the basic vibe of the story.  It could just as easily be Snake Pliskin trying to escape Manhattan.

Planetoid #1 – Quick Review

By: Ken Garing (writer, art, everything)

The Story: A solider is stranded on an alien planet.

Quick Review: This is a series that will probably be well worth your time.  The story is about as simple as you can find (for now): Soldier crash-lands on an alien planet and wants to escape.  That’s something that will appeal to a lot of science fiction fans because we all like to learn about new worlds.  I think humans naturally want to explore, but there isn’t a lot of exploring left for the average person on Earth – the big stuff has all been seen by someone already.  True, there are many things left to explore in the worlds of science, but that takes things out of the realm of the everyman and into the area of specialists.  Our protagonist in Planetoid seems to be just a soldier; there’s nothing special about him.  Yet, he is getting to explore a wholly new world that no human has laid eyes on before….and we get to tag along.  The whole issue gives you a taste of the sense of mystery and awe that this solider feels.