The Komik Box

Cari cari cari

2009-02-24T23:32:00.000-08:00

Tengah mengumpul reviu-reviu geng kedai komik. Nanti kita tempek kat sini macam biasa...

Review Rail 03 : I cast resurrect!

2009-01-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

Hey, there! It's back again, so here's our resident reviewers recommended pull list.

Johan

Thought we'd pimp some neglected titles we had in the store. Come on now, the Big Two aren't the only game in town!

The Walking Dead by Writer: Robert Kirkman and Artist: Tony Moore

Better than watching survivor.

"Oh, greeaaat. More zombies, pffft.", I hear the jaded ones groan but I got to say this is one of the best zombies stories I've read. Seriously, follow this title if you haven't already. The way the story folds makes you want to know what happens next. Kirkman has created a believable world where the dead have risen to feast on the living, but has concentrated more on the human dynamic of survival in the face of approaching extinction. It certainly doesn't hurt Kirkman's story to have an artist as fine as Tony Moore bringing his vision to life. The black & white panels, the shadings, the crispness of the art---all of it is gorgeous, helping to accentuate the horror, but also to highlight the brutal beauty of a world gone feral. The zombies are hungry... Brains.....

Neozoic by Writer: Paul Ens Artist: J. Korim

The cover is okay, I guess.

An alternate future where dinosaurs roams the earth. The story is engaging, the artwork is beautifully unique. In Neozoic we follow the adventures of Lili, a member of the Predator Defense League, who has inadvisedly taken a Talpidic child (a race of reptilian/human hybrids) into the protection of the walled city of Monanti.

Interiors look nice though.

Trade Paperback version is available for pre-ordering collecting #1-#8.

Spawn Book Of The Dead Hc by Writer: David Hine Artist: Ashley Wood, Geirrod Van Dyke

I can haz a hardcover?

The highly anticipated Spawn: Book of the Dead is the ultimate guide for any Spawn fan. At long last, the unholy legend can be told! Secrets revealed! In-depth character backgrounds! Hellishly brilliant character art! From Malebolgia to Sam and Twitch to the Heap, each character in the Spawn comic mythos is beautifully rendered by renowned artist Ashley Wood and mind blowing new comer Geirrod Van Dyke. The secret history of the Hellspawn is finally divulged with comprehensive text by Spawn writer David Hine. This is it!

Sam & Max Surfin' The Highway by Writer: Steve Purcell Artist: Steve Purcell

This tome... she is beautiful!

Pirates are always fun. Well, for them at least.

Before spawning a television series and a smatter of adventure games, Steve Purcell's 6-foot-tall talking dog detective, Sam, and his "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" sidekick, Max, were having offbeat adventures in the comic realm. Funny as heck, makes you laugh even when your not reading it. Highly recommended.

See you at the store!

Sure has been quiet around here...

2009-01-21T09:03:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned for a long overdue update ya'll.

Review Rail 02 : Cuti lagi

2008-09-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

As if I don't go on enough timeouts but you know, I like the outdoors. Before I go out for a while let's roll this message out from our resident geeks:

Johan:

Hello there! Just thought I throw in my suggestions for the month. First up is a piece of software to keep your comic collection organized. With Comic Collecterz I can record how much each comic was, where I purchased it, what condition it's in. I'm completely blown away by how the website already has so much information on the books I have! It works with Issues, Hardcovers and Trade paperbacks. Try it at http://www.collectorz.com/comic/

Now let's get to the comics.

1. Ultimate Spider-Man Vol 20 TPB - And His Amazing Friends. Writer - Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils - Stuart Immonen

Story involves around young Peter Parker in his school days with appearance from Johnny Storm a.k.a Human Torch of Fantastic Four, Shocker and even Magneto. New illustrator Stuart Immonen marks his debut for this volume as a permanent artist. The writing and story line are very good and the art work is excellent. Gathers issues #112-117.

2. Scud The Disposable Assassin The Whole Shebang TPB - Story - Rob Schrab, Dan Harmon & Mondy Carter, Art & Cover - Rob Schrab

Scud is programmed to destroy a basement monster but he will self destruct if he does, so the robotic assassin puts the wounded creature on life support and becomes a freelance assassin to pay for the hospital bills. Collects SCUD # 1 - #24.

3. Fathom : The Definitive Edition TPB. Written by Michael Turner and Bill O'Neil, Pencils by Michael Turner

Aspen presents the most complete collection of Michael Turner's first creator-owned series, Fathom, with this Definitive Trade Paperback Edition! The rare Fathom Preview, issues #0 and #1/2, both of which have never been collected in a trade before now! Issues #1 through #9, and the sold-out issues #10 and #11, also making their first trade debut! Now available for pre-ordering at your local comic store. Comics Mart Midvalley!

4. Hulk Premium Hardcover Vol 1 - Red Hulk - Writer - Jeph Loeb, Pencils - Ed McGuinness

Superstars Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness will change the way you see the Hulk! In this startling origin epic, the breathtaking events that ended WORLD WAR HULK rocket into this brand-new saga. When one of the Hulk`s oldest cast members is murdered, everyone turns to the team of Iron Man, She-Hulk and Leonard Samson to solve the grizzly case. All the evidence points to the Hulk as the killer, but all is not as it seems! Collecting HULK #1-6 and the backup story from WOLVERINE #50.

SHAZ:

TODAY I TAKE THIS MEDICINE. TODAY I AM CALM. NORMAN! I EMAIL THIS TO YOU, YOU BASTARD!

Hai,

My Opinion of Spiderman : Civil War, Spiderman : Back in Black & One More Day.

Do not groan at me! Groan elsewhere!

I have been following these titles starting from Spiderman civil war, Peter Parker civil war,
Back in Black to Brand New Day. I have to admit that in Civil war Spiderman stories is more interesting to follow than BIB and OMD. It all started with CW when Peter decided to reveal his identity and how everything went downhill from there. In Back in Black, the stories bring together Peter's problems with his wife, aunt May and the death of Captain America.
I felt the stories are too slow with a lot of drama between Peter Parker, Mary Jane and his fellow superheroes.

Spiderman : One More Day is another week of stories about saving aunt May from death and the deal with Mephisto. What a stupid reason it is to save someone life, and this doesn't look like Peter Parker in his true self. I always figured him much smarter than to agree to a deal with frigging Mephisto.

In conclusion I like Spiderman and I don't care what the haters (including Norman) thinks. I don't even care if this is old news. HAH!

HAH!

With that we wrap up this month's Review Rail. Thanks everyone and see you again when I get back.

Debut: The Review Rail

2008-08-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well here we are! I finally got some volunteer geeks to do the Review Rail. Johan and Shaz will be here every so often. Drop by once in a while for their opinions on comic books, toys, and whatever unholy gadget they just bought. These are their personal recommendations but feel free to chime in your own.

Oh, they might tell it in english or in bahasa since we figure our local comic book readers could speak more than one language anyway. I'm pretty much letting them say whatever they like.

Let's start shall we?

Hi all!

Wormwood Gentleman Corpse Calamari Rising TP by Ben Templesmith

This is a fun, action packed installment that allows Templesmith to show off his artistry, with big weapons, weird robot suits, exploding things, and big alien squid things. It's all as pretty as can be, in a bizarre, expressionistic-surrealistic way.

I guess it depends on your own personal definition of pretty (but it fits mine, so there). The coloring is rich, and you really do feel like you're submerged in a bizarre new world. It's a good buy!

Captain Stoneheart And The Truth Fairy HC by Joe Kelly and artist Chris Bachalo

Pirates and Hippos. What's not to love? No, really! Head over to www.hipflask.com and take a look.

Avengers Disassembled : Thor TP by Michael Oeming and artist Andrea Di Vito

As you can expect by the title "Ragnarok," or the end of the world in Norse mythology, a lot of things get shaken up. Thor is now king of Asgard, and his reign is threatened by his maniacal half brother, Loki, who apparently carries out his most ambitious scheme yet. This leads to a number of Asgardian deaths, but you never know for sure when you are dealing with gods and goddesses.

The first few pages was a pleasure to read. The book also gives a brief origin of Thor, Loki and the hammer Mjlonir.

The art was very appropriate for the armageddon-like atmosphere of the story. One two-page diagonal spread shows Loki in all his glory above his fallen arch enemy.
At any rate, I recommend this book.

Thank you Johan. Now let's see what Shaz has for us. Brace yourself, he's kinda loud...

HAI!

LAST SON #1, DC.

WHEN A KRYPTONIAN CHILD CRASH LANDS IN METROPOLIS. CLARK KENT RAISES THE BOY AS HIS OWN AND GIVING HIM A SECRET IDENTITY AS CHRISTOPHER KENT.
BIZARRO, GENERAL ZOD, LEX LUTHOR AND THE SUPERMAN REVENGE SQUAD.EACH HASENOUGH POWER TO RIVAL SUPERMAN, AND EACH WILL DO ANYTHING TO HAVE CHRISTOPHER FOR THEIR OWN.AS WAR THIS EXTRAORDINARY CHILD RAGES IN THE SKIES OF METROPOLIS,SUPERMAN IS TRAPPED IN THE PHANTOM ZONE.LOST AND TRAPPED IN THE PHANTOM ZONE SUPERMAN MEET HIS LONG LOST FRIEND MON EL WHOM HE EXILEDTO THE PHANTOM ZONE TO SAVE HIM FROM LEAD RADIATION. MON EL HELP SUPERMAN FIND HIS WAY OUT TO SAVE THE WORLD BUT THERE'S ANOTHER DANGER INSIDE THE PHANTOM ZONE A WAITING FOR SUPERMAN AND HIS FRIEND.

RATING FOUR STARS OF FIVE! POWER EXTREME!

Translation: Shaz likes this book about Superman.

ALL STAR BATMAN AND ROBIN HC VOL 1 BY JIM LEE & FRANK MILLER PUBLISHER DC COMIC

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF BATMAN AND ROBIN BECOMING THE DYNAMIC DUO, WHEN BRUCE WAYNE WENT TO THE CIRCUSWITH HIS GROUPIES TO WATCH THE FLYING GRAYSONS. DURING THE SHOW, THE GRAYSON FAMILY WAS ASSASSINATED LEAVING DICK GRAYSON AS THE ONLY SURVIVOR IN HIS FAMILY. BRUCE THEN SAVES GRAYSON'S LIFE AS THE GODDAMNED BATMAN!

RATING FOUR STAR OF FIVE! MMMM! BITCHES!

Translation: It's another retelling of Batman & Robin. This time Jim Lee and Frank Miller hold the reigns. Campy as hell but it grows on you. Frank trolls you because he loves you.

CONAN BORN ON BATTLEFIELD TP VOL 0 BY KURT BUSIEK & GREG RUTH PUBLISHER DARKHORSE

FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS IN THE HARSH NORTHERN LANDS OF CIMMERIA, TO LEGENDARY FEAT ON THE BATTLEFIELDS OF VENARIUM. THIS IS THE ORIGINS STORY OF CONAN BORN ON BATTLEFIELD. FROM NOMAD TO BARBARIAN TO A KING.THIS IS CONAN PROPHECY, LATER TO BE A STORY TO TALE BY HIS FOLK. CONAN GREW WITH ADVENTURE OF HIS GRANDFATHER CONNAUCHT WHEN HE WAS YOUNG, AND A WISDOM OF STEEL AND CROM FROM HIS FATHER CENAN.

RATING FOUR STAR OF FIVE! I AM A MAN OF GREAT MIRTH AND MELANCHOLY!

Translation: It's Conan's origin in all it's bloody magnificence. Conan destroys for great justice then broods in the dark. It's all good.

Well, there's our first Review Rail! Tune for more on the next installment whenever we bother!

Watch this space

2008-07-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to get some contributors for a new slot I'm planning for this blog.

KRANK

2008-07-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

Heeey.

You CAN ride a bike with no handlebars!

Sequen

2007-07-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

A friend left this on my desk one fine evening. From a cursory glance, Sequen appears to be in the vein of Fantasi, complete with articles and comics.

I'll get to it when I finally have some things sorted out.

The Eden Factor

2007-07-17T23:47:00.000-07:00

You know I went to several book stands, and since I can't get the second issue yet I'll just go ahead with the first. This is another KLP comic book out there trying to blaze a trail for the modern Malaysian comic scene. I admit I bought this issue totally because I'm a fan of Kromosom, and just like back in the 90's when I was shallow enough to buy YoungBlood, I'm somewhat disappointed.

The plot involves a team of four, young cyborg women and their mannish makcik, known as The Pack. Together they're a part of the rebellion against the diabolical mechanations of the Megatech Corporation... IN THE FUTURE. We have all the standard superspy team components here:

Alya: Leader, gun expert with a tendency for self narration. Like Deadpool, only not funny.
Jade: Mostly silent, resident martial arts expert with a droll sense of humor.
Nell: Bossy explosives expert.
Alex: (not on the cover) Computer & communications wizard. Baby of the group. Cosplayer.

In this premier issue, the girls go on a vague mission. I don't know what exactly they're trying to do other than the bit where they're going to retrieve some information. The writer seems to care more about Alya's ramblings about her team mates than actually letting the art do that. Honestly, economy with your words is key in comics. Leave the self-insertion and huge text boxes to deviantart manga dweebs.

The art is uneven throughout, most of Kromosom's usual stunning polish is dimmed by bad inking. Lots of action and sniping guards. Other than that, Eden looks to serve you a standard action fare. Just like Fetus in Fetu, it has an overall promising story line (I simplified it in here for review purposes). Hopefully Lulu's writing improves along with the artwork next issue.

Good: Lots of action, snappy dialog. Nubile women in tight bodysuits.

Bad: Rushed intro and art. Huge narration boxes that don't actually help the plot.

Overall: Okay action title with a lukewarm start. I'll be watching.

The Sadhu

2007-07-15T04:04:00.000-07:00

I picked this up today along with some other titles.

I got to say the story is going pretty well and told at a much more even pace than most action titles. I liked the art so far even though the action is bland in some panels. I don't care for the crappy banner ruining the cover there and I don't know if I want to see Nicholas Cage in another superhero role. Face it, Ghostrider sucked huge donkey balls. Uh, where was I?

The story revolves around James Jensen, a British officer in India. While charged in suppressing the natives like a proper imperial soldier, he began to have an awesome streak of 'Bad Day Syndrome'. All this villainy comes in the form of the malevolent, mustachioed menace of colonel Timothy Townsend, his superior officer.

Delightful bastard isn't he? When James refused an order to execute a native soldier, the colonel decides to have James beaten to a pulp while he kills the man's wife. Such classic movie villainy!

Our tragic hero then escapes and meets Dada, who decides that James is indeed someone he's been looking for...
Like I said, the art in this comic is pretty good. So what do I think? Good enough to keep reading? Let's see:

Good: Nice art with an attempt to "logically" explain magical superpowers that the Sadhu wields. Some very cool moments mostly involving Dada being cool.

Bad: Some action scenes are quite bland or downright unexciting. This may be due to my recent binge of Marvel books.

Overall: Interesting so far, and is much cheaper than a KLP comic. I'll keep it in my pull list.

Hi

2007-07-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm back in full capacity. I apologize for the looooong gap between March and July, including the gap at The Fortress Lab. I also apologize for the angry tone I have taken with some people who didn't really deserve it.

I had to climb up a deep well. A deep red well.

Review : Fetus in Fetu

2007-07-04T02:13:00.001-07:00

Yeah, yeah I've been gone for a while. I didn't feel like saying anything then. Anyway, let's start with something new. This comic has been out for some time but I have yet to see a review. So I thought, " Why don't I buy one and give a crappy review of it myself?"

Let's start with the bombastically named Fetus in Fetu. As you guessed, it's about a fetus thing killing people with the police hot on his trail! Let's see, issue #1's got a shiny KLP cover with quality printing and has that charming sludge-from-the-drain color scheme the we of the Quake generation have come to love! The characters on the cover look bored with each other and the use of a photo backdrop annoys me greatly. Then there's the title! The text is barely readable and that photoshop effect really ruins it.

The story starts out fine enough, some guy gets killed by something that walks on the ceiling. An old detective is on the scene as he mumbles his way in a whimsy. He also talks to himself a lot. I realize this is a way for the writer to give as much information about the character per book, but come on! Look here:

Was that really necessary? You could have told his background story in smaller bits, decompress it through several issues! The only character who can pull off long text like this was classic Starman. I can't say anything about the rest of the cast since there's still very little development but hey, it's still the first issue!

The plot: FIF is a detective story laced with supernatural elements. Yes, of course there's some sort of psycho-monster running around with a knife! It's on the cover! The gritty artwork done by Ajif and Sup lends to Roy's script well though somewhat bland in many panels. Instead of details, much of the characters and background looked too dark with muted colors.

Good: Promising murder mystery plot and interestingly odd art.

Bad: Art is too bland most of the time. Colors are too watery. Too much internal and very stilted dialog.

Overall: I feel the story has promise and I hope it starts to pick up in later issues. Hopefully they'll cut down on the long internal dialog stuff and more action.

Pesta Buku

2007-03-21T01:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long silence. I'll be a bit busier than usual now since I have to take over the inking for the 5th issue for our upcoming Satria Alam comic on top of my other projects. If everything goes smoothly you'll be seeing our crew and our first comic book out at the International Book Fair this year. Here's the location:

Pesta Buku AntaraBangsa Malaysia 2007.
(Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair 2007)
26 April - 6 May 2007
Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) Kuala Lumpur.

If you need more information, just visit this site.

Happy CNY!

2007-02-16T05:14:00.000-08:00

Wear pants

2007-02-02T22:05:00.000-08:00

Discomfort

2007-01-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

One thing usually lead to another, that's why precedents are so important. I'm not exactly a political blogger, but I'm sure most Malaysian bloggers and their readers have at least heard the NST vs Jeff Ooi and Rocky controversy.

Nothing like this has ever been done before and it seems the NST wants to set another Malaysian World Record for all the wrong reasons. My concern is if this comes to pass and NST somehow wins, then what's to stop more of these censorship bully tactics from spilling to other types of media? More importantly, what will it do to the already stiflingly controlled creative landscape in this country? Will there be blanket bans and news blackouts?

What do I know? I haven't bought a single newspaper for years. I'm just a guy who designs stuff.

See more here at Kickdefella or this article in the Centre for Independent Journalism.

Oooh! Shiny!

2007-01-20T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ubuntu Studio
"Coming this April" it says. Let's see how this one develops.

TypeTypeType

2007-01-14T22:13:00.000-08:00

I just thought this should be spread around :

The Free Font Manifesto

Me? I really like the Gentium and Vera Sans fonts!

Watch what you download

2007-01-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

If you've been following this new blog for a while, you'll notice that I've started to add links to clip art and fonts. I would like to say that when you download these files you should be aware that each may have different licenses and how much freedom is given to you as a user.

So always read the accompanying legal document that comes with your download. Especially if you're planning to create a product like books, magazines or even software for commercial purposes. Got it?

Good.

Now let me introduce to the side, the Open Clipart Library and it's twin sister the Open Font Library. Yes! Now you too can furnish that last minute documentation with a little more style that what your lecturer/manager is used to! If you like someone's work, tell them and if you can contribute, please do so.

Writer's Space One

2007-01-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

Let's see... you have this idea for a story and you need to get it down fast. There's the pencil and notebook you have at your desk or you can try these:

OpenOffice has been making the rounds so far as one of the contenders to the office suite crown. It has all the familiar components of MSOffice. There is more than enough power in the package for your average home user and good enough for a small office environment. The OO Writer is it's best component and even has good community backing in Malaysia. In fact, PTS has joined in by providing a Malay dictionary component, which is now automatically included within the download. Mind you, OpenOffice is a hefty download (around 93mb) for the bandwidth poor. But there is another alternative:

Abiword is a blazingly fast word processor with strong support and constant updates. The program is only a 5mb download and perfect for any novelist and script writer alike.

Now let's get you a tool for organizing your project time line. Yes, I believe that unless you actually set a deadline for yourself, you wouldn't even get to starting! GanttProject is one alternative application to organize your projects. Try it out and see if you like it.

Using Celebrities

2007-01-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

In his regular column in CBR, Erik Larsen weighs in on using celebrities to help promoting comics. Question is though, are local publishers & creators willing to approach them with the right promotional strategy? Perhaps its time Malaysian comics expand their promos into a broader spectrum other than print. The drug of choice today is still the idiot box, possibly now and forever. The sensation of visual and audio fed directly to my brain while my body vegetates on a couch is high on the list of civilized modern pleasures.

Personally, I feel that television will still be king, followed by the internet followed by magazines. Newspapers and radio is pretty much dead anyway and who actually eyeballs the promo at the back of your comic?

What do you think?

A Moment of Clarity goes to print!

2007-01-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

A Moment of Clarity
This colorful all-ages comic by John Bintz was made using some elbow grease, GIMP, Inkscape and put together in Scribus. The comic is light-hearted and may not be the thing for the jaded and cynical among us. The love and dedication however shines through the story and characters. It's one the best examples how comics can be made on shoestring budgets. Take a look for yourself, just reading about it here isn't going to make it any clearer.

PDF pogo

2006-12-31T03:46:00.000-08:00

Are you tired of the ever increasing bloat of a particular PDF reader? Is it too much of a hassle just to view a damn pdf file? Then try Foxit Reader, it's free, fast and installs with a small footprint in your hard drive. You can get it here.

PrimoPDF is a free PDF converter for your documentation needs. It can run as a virtual printer and produces good pre-press quality PDF documents. That alone makes it one of the most useful publishing tools around. You can get here and try it out.

Starters

2006-12-29T04:28:00.000-08:00

As a matter of principle, the applications and fonts I'll be posting feature links to open-source or freeware tools. First up are the most prominent and especially great for a wannabe with no cash:

The GIMP or GNU Image Manipulation Program. It could do most of what Photoshop is capable of and should be good enough for on-screen content. Please note the current version has no internal CMYK support, that means if you're printing you'd better make friends with your local printer. Color matching can be a bitch, so be prepared to visit them often. The good news is there is CMYK support planned for the next version of GIMP, so let's keep an eye out for it.

Inkscape is a vector drawing program that seems to be a good candidate to replace that pirate copy of Illustrator, harhar. The current version is great!

Scribus is a free DTP program that is good enough for most amateur comic producers and novelist. Check out it's latest capabilities at their website, the amount of work put into making must be staggering because it's a pretty good program for someone like me. You'll need to install GhostScript first, just follow the instructions.

"Will it replace Quark and Indesign?", I can almost hear you ask. The answers is no, Scribus is an on-going project just like any other open-source program. You can at best call them alternatives, but for me they'll do just fine.

The starter link pack for fonts will just have to wait since I gotta leave the intertubes alone for a while (or you can just click and surf the links in the sidebar). See you in two or three days.

It's okay, pick up the phone...

2006-12-29T03:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome! In this blog I'll be posting stuff I think is useful for the D.I.Y comic scene here in Malaysia. Sometimes a fellow aspiring comic producer would ask me about applications or tutorials in the mistaken belief that I know the answer. Suggestions as well as news about an application, font or comic book designs are welcome. Send me an email and if you think it's good.

Think of this as a collaborative toolbox for independent comics. So keep an eye on the sidebar, I'll post new links from time to time.