This is the place where I discuss all things Sacred and Profane. Stop by and check me out. Leave a comment (or not), as this is done for my own amusement. If you too are entertained, all the better, but that is not the motivation here. For I, am a...Writer with attitude! Comics, Sci Fi, movies, TV, Books, the Internet, Pop Culture, you name it. I talk about all of these things and more. These are the things that entertain me. I can only hope that some of them will entertain you as well.
Showing posts with label Shawnti Therrien. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shawnti Therrien. Show all posts
No, I haven't gone sappy, chick-lit" on you all, this is the name of a very well-done, Manga-style ash can comic produced by a friend of mine. Jennifer Allen (who was introduced to me by my pal Hot Pants, Liz Ortiz. Jen, Like Liz is a fan of Manga, proven by this entertaining ash can.
The story starts out with Hikari celebrating her 16th birthday, which should have been pretty much like any other day, only including party and presents. However, there seems to be a mysterious fellow who is stalking her, and when he catches up with her, demands she turn over a key. Only Hikari has no Earthly idea what he is talking about. As can be expected, this day turns out to be anything but ordinary.
Truthfully, I'm a usual reader of Manga, but I have read enough to say that this one is an excellent occidental version of the genre, right down to the “backwards” way the comic is constructed (being read from right to left, rather than the “normal” way. It also involves a cute young girl, in a short, flaring skirt, and contains all of the other traditional elements of Manga.
More importantly, it is an easy read, with an understandable story that flows coherently throughout the small book. Plus it is wonderfully rendered in clean lines and contains solid storytelling techniques. Further it makes me want Jennifer to continue the story, and produce a longer tale.
Her web site is www.sweetsakura.net, only I’m not entirely sure that it is active just yet. Hopefully it will be available soon, and we can all enjoy the firuyter adventures of Hikari. In the mean time, you’ll just have to hope to catch Jennifer at a local con (she'll probably be sitting with Liz and/or Shawnti).
No, really. While I'm not much of a vampire-lover, I do still have a favorite, it is Meth, as produced by my good friend Shawnti Therrien. Yeah, yeah, I totally know what you are going to say, that of course I'm going to like all of the comics produced by all of my friends. Not really.
Besides, not all of my comicbook-producing friends are a talented (and prolific) as Shawnti. Her character, Meth, is a wholly different kind of vampire who is, well, uncomfortable with his immortality.
Not only are Shawnti’s stories haunting and lyrical, but they break the boundaries of we (oh so jaded) readers have come to expect from “standard” comics (well, at least this reader) are used to seeing. This, wonderfully-rendered, tome collects the many already-published stories concerning Meth, combine them with new material, and re-present it here is a package that is enticing and disturbing all at the same time.
Shawnti had delivered a beautiful, 76-page graphic novel-in-the-making combining moody, B&W and color sequential art, prose (rendered as both traditional storytelling and hand-written missives) to move this eternal tale of suffering and regret forward, crafting it into something more than “just another” vampire tale.
No, kids, these creatures of the night don't simply bite you on the neck ans suck down your blood. Nope, they (if you pardon the reference) live and breath. They are more than just fearsome, iconic creatures to scare us in the dark, but lenses through which we can examine our own lives and motivations.
It is clear that Shawnti has a clear vision of her characters, and not only knows from whence they came, but towards they are going as well. As the story unfolds, you see that she isn’t so much directing the action, but revealing what choreographed events as they take place.
These are real people, to Shawnti, and as you read her story, they will become real to you as well. check out Meth, The Collection available from Immortal Gothic(via Indie Planet), you’ll be eternally pleased with yourself that you took my advice.As stated, the collection combines new material with previously-published work that has appeared in Psychosis! Today (Atlas Unleashed), Psychosis!, CAG) and elsewhere. Finding it all together in this outstanding work for $14.50, is a terrific find.
For the record, I do have one (minor) gripe with this book, and it is solely a “novice” production issue. The primary difference between saddle-stitched (standard) and square-bound (like this) comics, is that square-bound books don’t lay flat, and regular comics do. Hence, when laying out the pages, it is important to leave an extra quarter inch or so on the interior margin, otherwise the text and art will get lost in the center fold. Needless to say, having never produced a square-bound book before, Shawnti didn’t know this, and thus on a couple of pages it is sort of annoying to read the story. Still, now that she has produced a square-bound book, it is a safe bet that she will never make this mistake again.
I know that I’ve spoken about my friend Shawnti Therrien’s on-going vampire-themed comics (Am I Immortal & Meth), well, I just wanted you all to know that I’m not the only one singing her praises. Turns out that other folk find her as talented as do I, one of them even posted a review of her books.
Well, since you’ve heard me yammer about them a-plenty, I thought that I’d pass along what others think of her mesmerizing art and storytelling. The review I’m citing here is from Sarah L. Covert’s lovely website, She Never Slept (which I also highly recommend).
OK, now you’ve heard it from two of us, what is stopping you from going in out to buy (multiple) copies of everything that Shawnti has ever published?
OK, I’ve been hinting about this for quite some time, but haven’t yet shown it off, it is the first title of Atlas Unleashed, the start-up publisher that I’m associated with these days. My good friend, Mark Mazz is the publisher, President of the company, Visionary, and inspiration behind it all (he is also the constant buzzing sound I hear in the back of my head whenever I fall behind on the creative end of my own work).
This book has been out for a month or so now, and will be one of the titles that we will have on display at our table at the upcoming New York Comic Con (October 8 - 10, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Center). To be sure, we are hoping to have a couple of other titles also available, but more on them later. Right now I want to talk about Schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is the sister title to Psychosis! (to be re-released and retitled Psychosis Today! If Psychosis Today! is the doorway to madness, then Schizophrenia steps on through to the other side.
Both titles are horror anthologies that delve into the darker things that frighten us. Personally, I find the stories that I read in these two books much scarier than most of the hack and slash films that proport to be horror films.
In this debut issue we find a disturbing tail written by Nathan Barker and illustrated the the always talented and ever-lovely Shawnti Therrien entitled Static Lullaby, This is followed by Angry Man, which was written Acevedo-Marcarzan, and is one of the last stories illustrated by Rusty Haller. Compulsion is by Rich Terdoslavich, and the issue is rounded out by the Mark Mazz & James Web story A visit with good ole...Doctor Frommenstadt.
I hightly suggest that you get uyour hands on a copy of this extraordinary comic, and, well, enjoy yourself. Hopefully we will have e-commerce up on the website soon, but in the meantime, if you get yourselves to the NY Comic Con, you'll be able to find us in Artist's Ally. Swing on by, say high, and pursue this and the other comics we'll be selling there.
For several months I’ve been talking about this new publisher that I’ve been working with to develop new properties, and bring some older ones back into the limelight. The name of that company is Atlas Unleashed. Well, I am very pleased to say that the first issue under the Atlas Unleashed logo has hit the shelves.
That’s right, effendis, Schizophrenia #1 is out there, and it is a very compelling package. It contains four stories that range from the eerily compelling, haunting dream-like state of by Nathaniel Baker & Shawnti Therrien; to the off-kilter oddness of Angry Man by Acevedo Marzan & the late, great, Rusty Haller. Then there is the Spartan starkness of Rich Terdoslavich’s Compulsion, and finally, rounded out by A visit with good Ole...Doctor Frommenstadt by our imperious leader, mark mazz aided and abetted by the able-bodied Mr. James Webb.
Yep, this first issue of our premier title dares our readers to — quite literally — “Unleash the nightmares within...”
Yeah, we certainly have our work cut out for ourselves, and yep, we truly believe ourselves up for the task at hand. We will be debuting the comic at the upcoming NY ComicCon. Make sure you stop up and talk to us.
So, A few weeks back, my good pal Liz and I (along with other friends) attended ComiCONN ’09 and, while were there, she did this very nice (Manga) Spidey sketch for me.
I really like it — in spite of the fact that it is “only” in B&W — (and she did another sketch for someone else that was inked and in full color).
Sigh.
Anyway, I really do like it, and eventually, I’m really going to get around to tell you all how much I liked her comic Rasgal, which is published by Immortal Gothic, which also publishes Am I Immortal.
So, a few days back I ran on-and-on about the upcoming War of the Independents that my buddy Dave Ryan is magnificently orchestrating telling you all about the inclusion of the inclusion of Sean Koury's Bounty Hunter, and my very own Wülf Girlz. in this magnum opus, and, bone-head that I am, I completely forgot to mention the Mark Mazz’s King of the Realm and Shawnti Therrien’s Meth in the mix.
Both Mark’s & Shawnti’s work was on display in the first three issues of GWP’s critically acclaimed Psychosis! (soon to be reborn as Psychosis Today from Atlas Unleashed (which, I might add will not only also be publishing the further adventures of the aforementioned Wülf Girlz and my other on-going project, the resurrected Agent Unknown.
Mark’s tale postulates a world where Great Britain's royalty is secretly a race of bat-like creatures, while Shawnti’s character Meth is a tortured soul (who happens to be a vampire) who is in an eternal search for the vampire that caused him to enter into this hellish un-living nightmare into which he as fallen.
Both are powerful stories told by supremely-talented creators, and, should prove to be interesting additions to Dave’s story. As I mentioned in my earlier post, Dave plans on releasing the first issue at this year’s NY ComicCon, so if you weren’t planning on attending prior to this announcement, I would strongly suggest that you change your plans now and come on out, because it is going to be huge.
Anyway, I don’t want anyone to think that I was slighting my good friends and Atlas Unleashed collaborators, I — well — simply flaked. Sorry guys, you folk rock!
So I was at ComiCONN this past weekend, and I managed to score a pair of wicked cool indie comics. One of them was from my good friend and Atlas Unleashed compatriot, Shawnti Therrien and the other is from by good friend and fellow CAGer Liz Ortiz.
I haven’t read either of the books as of yet*, but I wanted to let you folks out there know about them, and I wanted to direct you to the Immortal Gothic website where you can score copies of both of these books for yourselves.
__________
*OK, technically I have read some of Am I Immortal, but that’s only because portions of the book originally appeared in the edition of Am I Immortal, that was published by Free Lunch Comics. Shawnti has re-acquired the publishing rights to her magnum opus, and is releasing it under her own Immortal Gothic imprint. There is — however — new material including “Little Cain” which you have to read to believe.
__________
Not to slight Liz, this issue (which follows on the heals of her character appearing in an issue of Mysterious Visions. Liz is a wonderful Manga artist, who is going places and you are going to be pleased with yourself that you get your hands on this, her “early” work.
So, Atlas Unleashed spent the weekend at MoCCA Fest 2010 this past weekend, and well, we dd pretty well, Company bossman, Mark Mazz, Badgirl Shawnti Therrien, and yours truly were joined by friends and fans as we celebrated the Sundance Film Festival of the Indie Comic Art world.
We moved some of our product, (I sold a couple of three-packs of Agent Unknown, thanks to a wicked-cool cover art from Springload & Renegade artist Chris Torres, and superior production by Mr. Mazz).
We are now looking forward to our next event witch will be the Bronx Heroes Convention on Free Comic Book Day over at Hostos College in the Bronx. Hope to see you all there!
We'll have all of our backstock, as well as some brand spaknin'-new material that will be unveiled for the very first time.
So, I spent today in the City, at the NY Comicbook Marketplace, siting at the Atlas Unleashed table with both Mark Mazz and Shawnti Therrien. Well, while I was there I did get the opportunity to wander around the place for a bit, and while doing so, I managed to pick up three issues of Amazing Spider-Man that I was missing.
So now I have ASM (V2) #s 19, 22, & 25. This means that I am only missing three issues of ASM to complete my full run of this series.
Hey folks, you need to check out this hot new blog by my good friend Shawnti Therrien, she is the creative force behind Am I Immortal, a wicked-cool Vampyre comic that I totally love. You need to read it (both the blog and the comic itself).
The book is great, and the blog is...well, every bit as good. Shawnti published the first two issues with Free Lunch Comics, but has not taken back full control of the book, and is going it solo, so she really could use your support.
Oh yeah, in case I didn’t mention it, the book is about Vampyres, and ties in with Meth, that appeared in Psychosis! (formerly under GWP, and soon to appear under Atlas Unleashed).
Got to jam now, but we’ll talk more about this soon.
As I mentioned, I spent yesterday in New York at the Big Apple Wizard comic show. While I was there IO picked up a pair of very important comics from a pair of very talented friends of mine, James Rodriguez (The Chronicles of Sara) and Shawnti Therrien (Am I Immortal). Shawnti is the VP Production at Atlas Unleashed, and James is not only the driving force behind NovaStar Studios (they produced the Belkis Calendar I’ve been raving about all year), but he just drew a story of mine slated to appear in an upcoming Atlas Unleashed publication.
James issued a 16-page ashcan of his up-coming sci-fi comic The Chronicles of Sara, while Shawnti had on hand a copy of her comic Am I Immortal from Free Lunch. While I have yet to actually read either, I have read the first issue of Am I Immortal, and I’ve been watching James slave over his book for the past several months, so I already know that both books will be totally awesome.
James’ ashcan is just two bucks while Shawnti’s goes for $3.50. You can score a copy of The Chronicles of Sara and Am I Immortal by going to their respective websites, and asking, or by hunting up these two talents at funnybook shows in and around the tri-state area.
Oh, the Sara ashcan has two very cool covers, so I thought I’d nshow you both.
I know that I’ve been saying that quite a bit these days but man do I have a couple of books that you should be reading now. Both of the stories that I am going to be discussing occurred in Mysterious Visions (#s 7 & 15) from Spa Comics.
The first one is from issue #7, and cover-features Shawnti Therrien’s Am I Immortal I’ve been a fan of Shawnti’s sings I first saw her work (Meth) in Psychosis! #1. Shawnti has, over the course of a number of years, and the span of a number publishers has been build quite an impressive universe. Her Gothic vampire lore is both erotic and compelling as she interweaves her story it simply draws you into the mythos and makes you believe that it is all possible.
Hey, forget that vampire-lite teen whinny angst of Twilight, all the really cool vampire stuff is happening here.
This issue of Visions is rounded out by Ill (Ryan Cox & Al Ullman) and The History Collective (Terry Montimore). Ill is the story of someone who seems to have voices going off in his head, while The History Collective is part one of a story that involves time travel and the space-time continuum. Both deliver solid art and intriguing premises.
Issue #15 gives us the debut work of Liz Ortiz’s Rasgal who place high in last years Comicbook Idol thus ensuring her this stand-alone issue of her work. The Manga-style story involves other-worldly creatures, swordplay, and high adventure. It marks an impressive debut of an obviously talented individual who is certainly worth watching.
I do, however have one (smallish) nit to pick about this issue, in that I totally didn’t like the lettering on this story, which was (for some inexplicable reason) was rendered in Times Roman (a serif font) rather than in a tradition comicbook-style (sans-serif) font.This proved to be the most jarring element of this otherwise wonderful comic. After over 40 years of reading comics it just didn’t look right to me.
Still, this is a small point, and I still recommend acquiring this comic.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
The New Face of Fear!
This is the first (of four) covers for the upcoming Psychosis! #2. This cover is by my good friend Keith Murphey, and it features Shawnti Therrien’s vampyre character, Meth.
