Beyond the Kuiper Belt #1
Am I being a little too optimistic to give these guys their own page when I have so much crap stored on the assorted Various pages? Maybe, but judging from their website they do make a fair amount of comics. This is what they call a “graphic novel magazine”, which sounds like they were just picking comics words out of a hat. Hey, it could all make sense if they keep these stories going and serialize them in a few years. The first story is Killer Cortez (by Keith Murphy, Alex Rivera & John Escobales) dealing with an, um, killer. We’re given the basics on his background and meet him while he’s fighting other people in something resembling an arena. He’s taken captive by some people who need him for a political dispute (although he was captured off-page, which was a damned odd and confusing choice if he’s the baddest of killers), and it’s tough to say much more about this without reading future installments. It has potential but the writing can be a bit stilted. The art’s amazing though, no troubles there. The other comic story is Black Roses (by Matt Ryan & David Kaminski), dealing with a crew of space pirate ladies, their captives and a floating pile of parts they manage to assemble into a robot. Again, it’s tough to get too much from this short piece, and things were flying around so much that it was a little tough to keep track of what was happening, but it has some potential once the characters get established. There’s also a short story by Michael Glenzel but, at the risk of losing my reviewers card, I didn’t read it. Lost interest almost right away, which is far more of an indictment on me than it is on the story one way or the other. One thing I really liked is that this book started and ended with words from Maximillian Lehrer, a man who lets the reader know the purpose of the book, the history behind it and gives us peeks into the future. Throw in a hefty (and quite possibly fake) letters page and it really makes the comic. Little extra things like that always get bonus points from me, as I’m all for widening the range of the average reading of a comic (or graphic novel magazine). For that reason alone this is worth a look, even if the jury is still out on the actual comics. $3.95
