My comic got quite a nice write-up from Ryan McLelland at http://www.newsarama.com, an all things comic related website by the folks of View Askew (Kevin Smith). Also featured is our company’s other offering by founder Michael Wood.
hate your friends #6
Love in a Time of Super-Villains #1
Space Monkey Comics – $2.50 each
www.spacemonkeyonline.com
It seems like the brains behind Space Monkey Comics can do no wrong with their two latest books. Many moons ago I had reviewed hate your friends and now the title is back with its sixth issue, a double sized issue that has the events of the five past issues come to a head.
It would be easy to compare hate your friends to the classic John Cusack film High Fidelity or the quasi-classic Rory Cochrane/ Renee Zellweger film Empire Records because both films deal with a record store and the personalities that work inside them. However as hate your friends has gone on, the characters go from being caricatures of those you might see working retail to feeling like real people that you care about issue after issue. This was very obvious as I reach through this latest issue where we see main character Phineas imploding he catches his roommate, who recently went to work at a big retail record store, hooking up with his best friend and bandmate. This all comes out just as Phineas’ band is about to release their latest CD, an album that looks to take the indy music scene by storm. However after the storm he’s just gone through, which includes his boss getting beat up in the music storm, Phineas has just about had enough of everything and everyone. The character of Phineas is written beautifully by creator/writer Kristin Blank who captures beautifully what it feels like to be a man scorned. The fact that his character development is only one of many throughout the issue marks this issue the best of a series that only continues to get better as each issue is released.
Michael Wood’s artwork helps bring the indy music scene to life in hate your friends but it his unique writing style that brings inanity to a whole new level in Love in a Time of Super-Villains #1. It’s a book that shows how superheroes would live if they really lived in our world. They are snobby. They are rude. They have agents. They all care about themselves. Yeah, pretty much how Angelina and Brad would act if they have superpowers. In the world where a superhero cares more about their popularity rating than defeating the villain, heroes Cosmic Man and The Amaze-On Princess wake up in their Las Vegas hotel room. Amaze-On is nursing a mean hangover and is unable to remember the night before. Something about Elvis or something…
Turns out both her and Cosmic Man got super-trashed and ended up getting the Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Love package at the Chapel O’ Love. Amaze-On can’t believe it…she’s going to the Oscars with the Hawk next Sunday! Her approval rating will plummet like a stock market crash! Her only thought is to call her agent to try and sweep this mess under a rug, but as paparazzi do, someone snapped some shots of the couple wandering out of the chapel. The marriage made front page news but what is worse is that the public LOVE that the two are married. Suddenly two heroes who don’t really like each other have to continue like this just to placate their egos in the public’s eye. Wood shines on both series with a art style that is all his own and a writing wit that brings emotion and heart to even the stupidest of situations.
