Soulfire #2 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Jason Fabok (artist), John Starr (colorist)

The Story: Aw, shucks, Onyx—can’t we all just try to get along?

The Review: Probably Krul’s most self-defeating weakness is his inability to deliver a story that reaches beyond the expected or cliché.  While the source material for Soulfire seems like it never had much in the way of original thought to begin with, Krul had the opportunity to break that trend in this third volume of the series, and he has squandered it disappointingly.  So far, the title reads like a steady jumble of classic fantasy tropes, a prime example of formulaic writing.

I confess I’ve never read the other volumes of Soulfire, but I can only imagine the war between Sethoru and Rahtumi made the bulk of its previous plots.  So it’s rather frustrating to see Krul opening that can of worms again, especially since the two races only just started their integration.  Had we seen signs of discontent between them, maybe a revisit to their old antagonism would work, but by all appearances, the transition has gone smoothly, to the relief of all.

All of which makes the Sethoru’s decision to follow Onyx at the end an inexplicably unwise choice, especially since Onyx is a deranged, babbling, egomaniacal racist.  With her newfound powers she strikes not only the Rahtumi she hates, but her own people as well, essentially coercing them to depart from the beautiful, peaceful kingdom they’ve only begun to appreciate in favor of a life full of big, snarling, winged leeches.

While Onyx is clearly a one-note villain designed to be disliked (but only in a distant sort of way, as frankly, you don’t really give a hoot what she gets up to), the rest of the title’s cast don’t venture much beyond their types.  Even Grace, one of the most important leads, shows so little personality other than “determined warrior princess” that she’s not much more than a glorified extra in terms of character depth.

Soulfire #1 – Review

By: J.T. Krul (writer), Jason Fabok (penciller), John Starr (colorist)

The Story: With all that magic, you’d think you’d be able to whip up a meal that isn’t vodka.

The Review: Considering Aspen MLT was cofounded by the late Michael Turner, one of the more distinctive artists in the comics biz, it’s no wonder their titles tend to look far more impressive than they read.  Not to say their comics are completely insubstantial, story-wise; it just seems like they tend to base their series in the most formulaic of plots, using them as a vehicle for splashy artwork than for serious storytelling.

You can’t find any better evidence of this trend than Soulfire having Krul handle writing duties.  He can always be depended upon to deliver the plot in logical, well-paced fashion, but he lacks either the chops or inspiration to do so in any way that isn’t predictable.  He also offers dialogue equally as needlessly fraught and melodramatic as he does on anything else he writes: “Grace, must you always interfere?  It will be the death of you—sooner than you might expect.”

Certainly he’s not helped by the fact that issue serves primarily as a summation of events from the previous Soulfire titles, a somewhat redundant effort, since the issue comes with a fairly effective recap page.  Even though I have no familiarity whatsoever with the series, I still find it more annoying than useful that every character spends time recalling the past: the conflict between the Rahtumi and Sethoru races over their dwindling magic; Malikai returning magic to the world as the Bringer of Light; and the infant alliance between the two races.

Soulfire #9 – Review

By: JT Krul (writer), Marcus To (pencils), Richard Zajac (inks), Beth Sotelo (colors) & Josh Reed (letters)

The Story: A super-powered teenage boy in a modern land of dragons and magic starts to come into his own with devastating results.

What’s Good: A caveat before getting into the review…  We were given this issue by the publisher and I’m not a regular Soulfire reader.  So, this review is my “coming at it cold” impressions.  Take it for what you will…

The story for this issue is pretty standard fare in terms of its general concept: teenage boy just beginning to realize his power is sought by the bad guys who want to tap/use that power.  During the ensuing battle, the boy unleashes his full might and overcomes all the bad guys, but with some nasty, unintentional consequences.  This well told story could have been pulled from an X-Men comic, but what makes Soulfire unique is that this story is set in a near future where dragons and magic exist.

I’m a huge proponent of comics outside of the Marvel/DC duopoly, so I give Aspen a lot of credit for doing something to distinguish this title because I (personally) don’t think there is a lot of room for more superhero fare.  But, neither Marvel or DC does much with this type of setting featuring noble dragons, so this is a niche that Aspen can exploit.  Plus it is probably appealing to readers outside the traditional comics demographic: 30-45 year old men.

I’m a fan of Marcus To’s art on Red Robin and I was unaware that he also was the regular artist on Soulfire.  That kinda makes me wonder how fast he works because most artists have their hands full with one title and even though Soulfire doesn’t ship monthly, it still represents an impressive amount of drawing from Mr. To.  While I think I enjoy To’s art in Red Robin more, this is very solid work featuring good layouts and storytelling.  A fantastical setting such as this also calls for more than the standard art and we get that.  Beth Sotelo’s colors are what really catch your eye with this issue.  She makes good use of brilliant whites and vibrant blues to accentuate magical things.

FanExpo 2009 Recap

Last weekend, I attended Fan Expo 2009 in Toronto, Canada, a convention featuring science fiction, comics, anime, horror, and games. I paid the most attention to the comics stream (obviously) and attended panels by five publishers and sat in on two sessions by Len Wein (creator of Wolverine, some of the New X-Men, Swamp Thing, etc). Here’s what I pulled out of it, straight to you, hot off the presses.

Aspen MLT Inc

Frank Mastromauro, Peter Steigerwald, Joe Benitez, Micah Gunnall, Mark Roslan, Alex Konat, Dave Wohl and Marcus To did the A to Z of Aspen comics. It’s hard to believe that Fathom is ten years old and finishing its third arc, and that it’s got a movie deal. Soulfire, Aspen’s other flagship book, is five years old. Aspen has lots of other great titles on the go, including Dellec, Shrugged and especially Executive Assistant Iris. Part of this year’s business strategy will be to do more trades so that fans can easily catch up on their books as new story arcs come out. Executive Assistant Iris also seems to be laying the groundwork for other executive assistant books and stories that would really round out that milieu.

Marvel Digital panel

Joe Quesada showed off the Spider-Woman and Astonishing X-Men motion comics. This was the first time I’d seen either one, and I was impressed, but not sold of the medium. I asked a question about the business model, and they’re using access to motion comics through iTunes sales as a platform to reach new audiences. Smart idea, I hope it works. My only question here is, since when did Jessica Drew get a British accent? Maybe I missed something in Secret Invasion.

DC Universe Editorial Presentation

Dan Didio and a big DC contingent talked shop for an hour and answered questions from all comers. One of the most interesting things I found about this was the focus that DC is doing on each of its eight cornerstone franchises. The franchises are obviously Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, the Flash and Wonder Woman, as well as the three team franchises: the JLA, the JSA and the Titans. One question that came up was “Where’s the love for Aquaman?” Didio diplomatically and rightly pointed out that Aquaman was never really that popular (same with Hawkman). Sure, they both have fans, but they don’t have the same draw as the flagship characters. Neither has the same sort of unambiguous, iconic image in the public’s eye that someone like Batman does. And, with a cast of characters as large as DC has, it makes sense to focus on a few flagship brands, make them really good, so that you can do more stuff with the people and characters and situations around them. I think it’s a great decision and I was pleased to hear that Wonder Woman was part of the lovin’ too.

Cup o’ Joe

Joe Quesada took us on a review of the Marvel universe, but mostly answered questions. One of the most important things for me, personally, was hearing the news about Marvel’s submission policy for people who want to write for Marvel. That was why I went to the con, and I was pleased that I was able to talk to C.B. Cebulski afterwards to get more details. In the session, I asked Joe a question about the Immortal Iron Fist, and how I thought it was a really quality book, but since it didn’t hold the readers in numbers to justify keeping it around, what could they have done differently creatively? There were also plans for Danny Rand after the current Immortal Weapons miniseries. They called it a cooling off period to build up anticipation. I hope it works. IIF was a brilliant series. Someone else asked a question about Dr. Strange, and I was glad to hear that Marvel had plans for him as well.

BOOM! Studios

BOOM! Studios really gave the impression of being dynamic and on the go. They’re hitting new markets, acquiring licenses left and right, looking at new distribution systems, and putting out quality books. Very impressive… They rightly pointed out the sales successes of Irredeemable and Unknown, and especially the artists that they were able to pull in who wanted a chance to work with Mark Waid. Everyone should be keeping an eye on BOOM!

Michael Turner Passes Away

From Aspen’s Vince Hernandez:

“Unfortunately it’s with great sadness that I must inform everyone that Michael Turner tragically passed away last night, June 27th at approximately 10:42 pm in Santa Monica, Ca. Turner had been dealing with recent health complications arisen in the past few weeks. More details concerning Turner’s passing, and services, will be given shortly.”

Anyone wishing to send their condolences to Michael Turner’s family is encouraged to send to:

Aspen MLT, Inc.
C/O Michael Turner
5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 111
Culver City, CA, 90230

Aspen also encourages anyone wishing to make a charitable donation to please send to Michael Turner’s requested charities:

The American Cancer Society or The Make-A-Wish Foundation

Official Contact: Vince Hernandez