Lady Robotika #1 – Review

By: Jane Wiedlin & Bill Morrison (co-writers), Morrison & Tone Rodridguez (pencils), Morrison & Davis (inks), Rachelle Rosenberg (colors) & Tony Fleecs (letters)

The Story: Jane Wiedlin is a rocker kidnapped by aliens obsessed with Earth pop-culture who want her to perform for their emperor.

What’s Good: I buy a lot of books on a “what the hell” kind of impulse.  That leads to reading a lot of C-R-A-P, but I also occasionally get a comic that is way better than I expected.  The main thrust of the plot is summarized above.  It is just that simple.  I generally avoid celebrity books like the plague, but where they go wrong is that they’re really trying their hands at world-building and they fail.  But, Ms. Wiedlin has success here because she is writing a story about herself.  At no point do you get the sense that this is a failed screenplay or that she is working out some angst because no one will finance her to direct a feature film.

And what a fun story it is…..The story was somewhat evocative of a movie I remember from my childhood called The Explorers where some kids met some silly aliens who had learned about Earth via our television and have become huge fans of pop culture.  While I was already grooving on the overall campiness of the story before, when she convinces the aliens to spare her friend by telling them he is Ace Frehley of KISS and the aliens get excited and tell them they will live in the lap of luxury drinking Rock Star energy drinks and feasting on seasonal McRibs…Well… I was hooked then.  I can’t wait to see their planet!

I also quite enjoyed the art in this issue.  It has a certain cheesecake-feel to it, but it’s appropriate to the book.  I’m also surprised that the art looks as good as it does given mix of inkers and pencilers.  I honestly didn’t notice until I was typing the credits for this review.

Urban Monsters #1 – Review

By: Andrew Stroscher (creator), Will Wilson & Joanne Moore (writer), Tone Rodriguez & Rick Ross (illustrator) & Nei Ruffino (colors)

A century ago, monsters and mutants started to come out of their closets, becoming part of human traditions and way of life. Some became movie stars, while others had to work hard the old fashioned way to earn their money. In a place where David Hasselhoff is highly regarded as an actor, I guess I’m lucky to be living in real world.

In Urban Monsters, a group of monster companions decide to make it big at Hollywood; it’s a road trip story that follows them as they attempt to make a casting call. We get to see a lot of how this world works. The zombie character of the group gets in a little trouble with the police and accidentally infects one of them – a rare case. Some people outside the big cities are prejudiced against monsters, not allowing them to enter to stores. And when the group gets invited to a county fair, it’s later discovered that it’s plagued with werewolves.

This comic looks like it’s a love project that got approved for publishing. I’m trying to read new independent works whenever I have the chance – sometimes I discover great things, sometimes not so much. Urban Monsters falls in the middle. I don’t know if I should take the comic as a serious piece with social commentary or just as a humor story (or both). I’ll stick around for another issue, but hope to see some changes. (Grade: C-)

-Daniel Yanez