IF-X Vol. 2 #3

IF-X Vol. 2 #3
Hamtramck Idea Men
(w) Jill Hill, George McVey, Sam Johnson, Kathryn O’Connor, Chad Boudreau
(a) George McVey, Mike Bunt, Bruno Letizia, S.T. Smith
B&W 32 pgs w/ ads $2.99 US / Higher in Canada

This is another small press anthology comic book, one that has been getting published for a couple of years now. Each issue features several different writers and artist trying their craft with each issue being a different theme. This issue is the Halloween issue and that means horror stories.

The stories vary, the first is called Night Shift by Jill Hill and George McVey featuring an Ash / Army of Darkness like story about a man named Derringer Wesson who works at a Walmart like store and fights monsters and such in his spare time. The second story is called Voodoo Moon by Sam Johnson and Bruno Letizia and features a woman with the power of voodoo fighting a werewolf. The third story is a prose story by Kathryn O’Connor entitled Seance. The final story is by Chad Boudreau and S.T. Smith and it’s called Cutter’s Reward which is about a sheriff holding a criminal in his prison and receiving an unexpected visitor. The format reminds me of Regina’s local anthology comic book Value Comics. The quality varies from story to story but the format does give up and coming writers and artists a chance to show their stuff.(Shane Hnetka)

Special Edition #1

Special Edition #1
Ronin Studios / Bohemian Zen
(w) William Blankenship Jr., Mike Colbert, Josh Wigler, Chad Boudreau & Jeremy Still
(a) William Blankenship Jr.
FC 52 pgs $5.99 US / Higher in Canada

This anthology comic reprints several web comics that appeared on the Bohemian Zen’s website. All the stories are drawn by William Blankenship Jr.  and are written by a variety of different writers. The stories range from superhero stories to a modern pirate story. There is standard superhero story and couple more humorous stories.

Blankenship ‘s art style manges to cover the different variety of stories quite nicely. And the move from a single panel web comic to the comic book page works quite nicely and reaffirms my belief that nothing beats the printed page. Some of the stories are stronger than the others but that happens in all anthologies. Overall an enjoyable read. (Shane Hnetka)

Black Salt

Fellow Comicreader Chad Boudreau has a new project coming out, an adapation of the upcoming film Black Salt. The news release states.

BLACK SALT: THE LAST HEROES LEFT

One of our latest acquisitions, Black Salt is a multi-media project in development by Ratti Entertainment Inc. out of Columbus, Ohio. Owen Ratliff, President of Ratti, has created the Black Salt property as an action-packed thriller merging the dark world of modern-day espionage and political intrigue with the even darker world of the ancient, forbidden martial arts of the Shaolin Temple. The Black Salt franchise consists of a motion picture screenplay, a cartoon series, an apparel line, a video game and a comic book series, entitled Black Salt: the Last Heroes Left, currently all in development. Through exclusive arrangement, Blackline Comics will be publishing the Black Salt comic beginning in the fall, as created by writer Chad Boudreau (adapting Owen Ratliff’s screenplay), with artwork by J.C. Grande and colors by Santosh Kumar Rath. For more information about the Black Salt franchise, please visit www.blacksaltfilm.com.

It’s available for download here. It will available for sale in a print edition later in the fall.